43 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



difference of potential he obtained between 

 the earth and an insulated burning match 

 placed nine feet above the ground was from 

 two hundred to four thousand volts. What, 

 then, is the result of permanently connecting 

 by a good conductor the earth and the at- 

 mosphere directly above it, a condition that 

 exists in the case of single-wire circuits? 

 Such an arrangement must tend to equalize 

 potential and prevent the accumulation of 

 those charged masses which no doubt form 

 the nucleus of the storm cloud. This equali- 

 zation will continue to take place in all con- 

 ditions of weather. But when a storm oc- 

 curs it is obvious that if struck by lightning 

 the wire carries the current to the point of 

 greatest range viz., to the instrument and 

 to any one in its vicinity. Therefore, unless 

 the strictest structural precautions be taken, 

 such a wire becomes a source of danger 

 rather than of safety. To obviate this dan- 

 ger, every post or support for overhead wires 

 ought to be fitted with a lightning guard, 

 and every instrument, whether using the 

 earth as a return or not, should be furnished 

 with a lightning arrester. 



Conditions of Sleep. Some interesting 

 experiments on sleep have been made by 

 Prof. I. Tarchanoff, of St. Petersburg, upon 

 puppies from three weeks to three months 

 old. The animals at this age have a strong 

 disposition to sleep, and are not awakened 

 even when physiological experiments are 

 made upon them a few minutes' stroking 

 of the head and back assuring the persist- 

 ence of their slumbers or their return to 

 sleep if they are aroused. Adult dogs will 

 not sleep under such circumstances, except 

 with the aid of a narcotic. Position of the 

 body exerts a distinct influence on the sleep- 

 ing. Puppies lightly strapped were placed, 

 some in a horizontal and others in a ver- 

 tical position, and of the latter some were 

 held with the head downward and others 

 with the tail down. Stroking and caressing 

 failed to induce sleep only when the head 

 was kept down. Other experiments demon- 

 strated that the arterial pressure falls during 

 sleep, and that when the animal wakes it 

 returns to its former height. These facts 

 agree with the statements and observations 

 of Mr. Darben that the brain is anaemic 

 during sleep. Further experiments were 



made by Prof. Tarchanoff on animals in 

 which the spinal cord had been divided be- 

 tween the dorsal and lumbar regions, and the 

 animals had recovered from the immediate 

 effects of the injury. The result was ex- 

 pressed in the observation that the spinal 

 cord never sleeps. The author thinks, fur- 

 ther, that the brain is not during sleep in- 

 active in all its parts, but is a source of 

 depressed action propagating itself to all 

 parts of the cord which are in perfect con- 

 tinuity with the brain. 



Physiological Influence of Music. In 



the investigation of the influence of music 

 on man and animals, Prof. Tarchanoff, of St. 

 Petersburg, used the ergograph of Mosso, 

 and found that, if the fingers were com- 

 pletely fatigued, music had the power of 

 making the fatigue disappear. It appeared 

 that music of a sad and lugubrious character 

 had the opposite effect, and could check or 

 inhibit the contractions. The author is in- 

 clined to suppose that the voluntary muscles, 

 being furnished with excito-motor and de- 

 pressant fibers, act in reference to the music 

 similarly to the heart that is, that joyful 

 music resounds along the excito-motor fibers 

 and sad music along the depressant or in- 

 hibitory fibers. Experiments on dogs showed 

 that music was capable of increasing the 

 elimination of carbonic acid by \&'1 per cent, 

 and of increasing the consumption of oxygen 

 by 201 per cent. It was also found that 

 music increases the functional activity of the 

 skin. The author claims as the result of his 

 experiments that music may fairly be re- 

 garded as a serious therapeutic agent, and 

 that it exercises a genuine and considerable 

 influence over the functions of the body. 



NOTES. 



A timely protest is made in the Pharma- 

 ceutische Rundschau against the proposition 

 of some pharmaceutical schools to confer the 

 degree of Doctor of Pharmacy. A forcible 

 objection to the use of the term doctor in this 

 connection was uttered in 18*74 by the Board 

 of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 

 which deprecated the use of that title because 

 the practices of pharmacy and medicine were 

 so closely connected with each other that it 

 would tend to confusion. A dispensing drug- 

 gist possessing it would be supposed to have 

 the right to prescribe, and danger of conflict 



