638 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Dr. Dujardin-Beaumetz has treated some recent cases of ar- 

 ticular rheumatism with thisprej^aration instead of trimethyla- 

 mine, and he finds it to be greatly preferable in every respect. 

 The usual dose is from half a gramme to a gramme every 

 twenty-four hours, taken in considerable dilution, a teaspoon- 

 ful at a time, from liour to hour. The effect upon a healthy 

 individual is first seen in a depression of the pulse and of the 

 temperature, this being decidedly marked in almost every 

 instance. In one case the pulse was reduced in two hours 

 from eighty-eight to seventy-six. It will of course be j^roper 

 to decide by experiment how far this action upon the heart 

 may be of service in certain diseases of that organ, and the 

 extent to which its use may actually be allowed. 



The testimony of those who have recently reported on this 

 remedy is quite concurrent as to its specific action on articu- 

 lar rheumatism. In one instance a complete cure was said 

 to have been obtained in two days after the administration 

 of fifty centigrammes of the hydrochlorate. 12^,^^77 30, 

 1873,337. ; 



PEECAUTIOXS AGAINST CHOLERA. 



In a lecture on this subject. Professor Forster calls partic- 

 ular attention to the efiect of wells in spreading cholera, and 

 gives numerous instances, not only of different cities, but of 

 different parts of the same city, in which cholera was epi- 

 demic, where the water supply was from surface wells, while 

 it did not prevail where water was obtained from other 

 sources, or from deep rock wells. He states that in Dresden 

 the water in one well sank when seven feet were pumped out 

 of another 120 feet distant ; that carcasses contaminated the 

 water IGO feet off, and that the ammoniacal liquor of the gas- 

 works at Munich was detected in wells 700 feet distant. In 

 short, wells, generally, seem to collect fluid matter from a 

 space of at least 200 feet radius ; and, since very few are re- 

 moved that distance from privies, they are liable to be contam- 

 inated by them. Indeed, chemical analysis shows that well- 

 water is rich in nitrates which could only have such a source. 

 It is plain, therefore, why rocky or impenetrable clay soils 

 are not favorable to the appearance of cholera, while the 

 rapid sinking of surface water and a j^orous soil involves a 

 contrary tendency ; so that cholera may continue epidemic 



