554 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE PHENOMENA OF SPOUTING 

 SPRINGS. 



2re8rs. Editors. 



DEAR SIRS : On pages 28 and 29 of 

 the May number of the " Monthly " 

 there is given an explanation of the fact 

 that some of the Saratoga springs spout 

 intermittently, which seems to be entirely 

 inadequate. 



The author says : " As the water flows 

 into the pocket from the surrounding in- 

 lets it gradually rises above the outlet, 

 which results in the compression of the gas 

 between the roof of the cavity and the sur- 

 face of the accumulating water ; when the 

 force of compression reaches its maximum, 

 it drives the water from the chamber up 

 through the tube, from which it escapes in 

 some instances to a distance of thirty feet 

 in a vertical direction. After the pent-up 

 water and gas have escaped, the spouting 

 ceases," etc. There is nothing in the ex- 

 planation or the diagram referred to in 

 connection with it that would warrant the 

 conclusion that gas thus pent up would re- 

 lieve itself of pressure with a suddenness 

 sufficient to produce the spouting. On the 

 contrary, the flow of the spring, under the 

 conditions stated, ought to be very uniform 

 instead of intermittent. If the inflowing 

 water " gradually rises above the outlet," 

 the gas in the upper portion of the pocket 

 would be as gradually compressed, and its 

 reaction upon the water would tend, pre- 

 cisely like that of the air in the air-cham- 

 ber of the common force-pump, to steady 

 the outflowing stream and to prevent spout- 

 Very respectfully, 



G. H. COLTON. 



ing 



Hiram, Ohio, 3Iay 9, 1881. 



CONTROL OP PAIN BY MECHANICAL 

 VIBRATIONS. 



Messrs. Editors. 



As the article entitled " Mechanical Vi- 

 bration as a Remedy in Neuralgia," in the 

 Miscellany Department of the June number 

 of " The Popular Science Monthly," is likely 

 to elicit further inquiry, on account of the 

 wellnigh universal interest in the conclu- 

 sions set forth, I may be pardoned for of- 

 fering a few facts pertinent to the same 

 subject. 



The control of neuralgia, and indeed of 

 pain in almost any chronic form, by mechani- 

 cal vibration, as asserted by M. Boudet dc 

 Paris and Dr. Granville, has been so thor- 



oughly demonstrated as no longer to admit 

 of question, and should be considered as 

 well settled as any principle in medicine. 

 Nor is the control of this agent over the 

 nerves limited to pathological conditions. 

 It is an ansesthetic as powerful as simple. 

 Under its influence I have repeatedly wit- 

 nessed such injury to the skin and flesh as 

 would ordinarily produce unbearable pain, 

 without in the least affecting the conscious- 

 ness of the subject of the experiment. In- 

 deed, so complete may the anaesthetic effect 

 be made, that I have no doubt, were it 

 possible to secure other mechanical condi- 

 tions necessary, the capital operations of 

 surgery might be painlessly performed un- 

 der its influence. The same agent is also 

 efficacious in removing obstinate insomnia. 



The essential facts presented by M. Bou- 

 det de Paris and Dr. Granville, especially 

 those relating to therapeutics, were given by 

 the writer in considerable detail, in the 

 *' New York Medical Journal " (Appletons'), 

 about ten years ago. These were then pre- 

 sented as the result of several years of ex- 

 perimenting with the agency in question, 

 to determine the forms of apparatus re- 

 quired (which was found to admit of con- 

 siderable variety, providing only that due 

 rapidity of motion and shortness of stroke 

 were preserved), and the efforts of varied 

 methods of application in different patho- 

 logical conditions of the nervous system. 

 These articles were afterward published in 

 book form, entitled "Paralysis and other 

 Affections of the Nerves, and their Cure by 

 Transmitted Energy." 



The hypothesis of M. Boudet de Paris, 

 that abnormal vibrations of the neuralgic 

 nerve are opposed and annulled by mechani- 

 cal vibrations, seems to imply a fixed rate 

 for each of the differing conditions. In 

 practice, it is found that the removal of pain 

 is progressive, and the anaesthetic effect in- 

 creases with increase of rate of mechanical 

 vibration which appears unfavorable to 

 this hypothesis. 



The efficacy of mechanical vibration to 

 abolish pain may probably be explained on 

 physiological grounds easily understood by 

 all. For the application of this agent is in 

 reality a supply of energy, which is imme- 

 diately transformed into and merges with 

 preexisting physical operations of the vital 

 system of course, aiding to perfect these 

 actions. No portion of such transmitted 

 energy is lost it only changes its form 

 and reappears in increase of temperature, 



