MISCELLANY. 



765 



These wise judges declare M. Robin to be 

 incapacitated, by his religious belief, from 

 serving on a jury. They used to order such 

 things better than this in France, but just 

 at present there is an effervescence of emo- 

 tional religionism in that country, and, as M. 

 Robin is not in sympathy with it, he must 

 be put down. The disqualified doctor is 

 one of the foremost medico-legal authorities 

 in Europe, and can well smile at the pettish- 

 ness of the justices and their backers. 



Causes of Horse-Influenza. Prof. James 

 Law contributes to the Lens a highly-impor- 

 tant paper on " The Causes of Influenza in 

 Horses." This is by far the ablest study 

 on the subject which has yet been published, 

 and we earnestly advise those of our readers 

 who take an interest in the matter to pro- 

 cure the January number of the Lens, and 

 peruse the discussion in full. We have 

 space only for a brief summary. The author 

 considers, one by one, the various causes 

 assigned both by men of science and by em- 

 pirics, for the outbreak and propagation of 

 the disease. As regards the influence of 

 soil and elevation, he finds that these cannot 

 be proved factors in the problem, since the 

 mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire 

 were visited by the epizootic no less than 

 the flat and malarious sea-coast of New Jer- 

 sey, Maryland, and Yirginia. Again, it has 

 been supposed that a low temperature is an 

 active agent in aggravating the disorder; 

 but Fulton County, Gaj, showed a mortality 

 threefold greater than that of Dodge Coun- 

 ty, Wis. And yet, after the outbreak of 

 the disorder, in the last-named locality, 

 there occurred a great and sudden fall of 

 the thermometer. The author shows very 

 clearly indeed that sudden changes of 

 weather are not the cause of the outbreak, 

 from the meteorological tables of Toronto, 

 where the equine influenza first appeared. 

 These tables show that during September, 

 1872 (the month of the outbreak), there was 

 the average barometer and thermometer, 

 and that the relative humidity of the atmos- 

 phere and the direction and velocity of the 

 wind were normal. 



Another cause often assigned is acrid or 

 fetid fogs. But, in this respect, the month 

 of September, 18*72, showed nothing pecul- 

 iar. With regard to the amount of ozone 



in the air, the author had no estimates ; but 

 he shows that, even were that gas proved to 

 be in excess in September, it cannot be re- 

 garded as the cause of the rise or spread of 

 the disease. His facts on this point are en- 

 tirely conclusive. 



He next considers what influence is 

 to be attributed to the action of electrical 

 disturbance. It is certain that September, 

 1872, was, at Toronto, marked by a high 

 degree of electrical disturbance. But then 

 was that the cause of the outbreak ? That 

 is by no means proved. If it were the cause, 

 then we should have influenza at all periods 

 of great electrical disturbance, which is not 

 the case. The author is, however, disposed 

 to allow that this disturbance may have 

 " predisposed the system to the attack of a 

 poison which existed previously." 



There remains the theory of contagion, 

 and this the author adopts. The contagion 

 in this case is specific, confined to one spe- 

 cies. Breaking out first in Toronto, it ra- 

 diated in all directions, following the great 

 routes of travel, and its progress is in nearly 

 every instance traceable to the importation 

 of animab from infected districts. But 

 what is the nature of the contagiicm here 

 of the diseased or morbific matter trans- 

 mitted from one animal to another? On 

 this point there are two theories. One of 

 these holds that the specific poison consists 

 of fungi or the like. The other, which is 

 that of our author, sees in the granules, 

 existing abundantly in the diseased organs, 

 the morbific agent. These multiply very 

 rapidly, and are conveyed to a considerable 

 distance through the atmosphere, in the 

 clothing of human beings, etc. 



The first-named theory, that which at- 

 tributes the origin and propagation of influ- 

 enza to vegetal organisms, is adopted by 

 Mr. G. W. Morehouse, in the American 

 Naturalist. He found in the matter from 

 a diseased horse's nostrils, and also in the 

 air, the spores of three different cryptoga- 

 mous plants, of which he gives engravings. 

 But he fails to tell us whether or no these 

 same spores were in the air long before or 

 after the disorder, as well as during its prev- 

 alence. Also whether these vegetal organ- 

 isms are not equally to be found in the mu- 

 cous discharges of sound horses. On this 

 point, however, we are not left to conjecture, 



