536 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



can not be excited either by introducing the above moulds 

 into the stomach or directly into the circulation, but that 

 it can be produced by the administration of corn meal that 

 has become rancid. He contends, therefore, that the disease 

 in Lombardy results in part from late planting, which pre- 

 vents the ripening of the grain, and that planting too thickly, 

 harvesting too early, drying the ears imperfectly, together 

 with storage of the corn and meal in damp places, all con- 

 tribute to render the disease epidemic. He attributes the 

 total absence of the disease from portions of America where 

 maize is almost exclusively used for food to the thorough 

 ripening and drying of the grain, and the conversion of com- 

 paratively small portions into meal at a time. He recom- 

 mends, therefore, the keeping on liand of but a limited supply 

 of freshly ground meal, and the preparation of small cakes 

 instead of the usual large loaves, which are seldom baked 

 through, and which, as they are often kept fourteen days, 

 are very liable to spoil. According to Professor Haberland, 

 the disease has not yet been noticed in the southern por- 

 tions of Austria, where corn is also largely consumed. He 

 suggests that the rancidity may be prevented with certainty 

 by removing the oleaginous germ before grinding. 1 (7, 

 1875,218. 



IMPROVED DENTAL PEOCESS. 



Napier, the well-known English dentist, has devised what 

 he considers a valuable process in dental surgery, especially 

 in a case where the teeth are extremely sensitive, and it be- 

 comes necessary to file them down for the purpose of intro- 

 ducing artificial teeth on the stumps. For the sake of avoid- 

 ing pain in the operation as far as possible, ether spray is 

 first made use of in reducing the sensibility of the teeth a 

 piece of cotton dipped in ether and laid first on the teeth and 

 then on the instrument being found to answer a still better 

 purpose. While engaged in this operation, it occurred to Dr. 

 Napier to avoid the usual practice of dentists of extirpating 

 the nerve, with which object he took a bit of hard wood, dip- 

 ping it in nitric acid, and with this cauterizing the exposed 

 portion of the nerve in each tooth successively. He then 

 filed the teeth down to the level of the gums w^ithout pro- 

 ducing any pain whatever. He found that in this way the 



