MISCELLANY 



381 



Statistics of Suicide ia Prussia. The 



number of suicides occurring in the king- 

 do:ii of Prussia during the four years pre- 

 ceding 1873 is given as follows in the offi- 

 cial journal of the Statistical Bureau : 



From this it would appear that either 

 the female se.x is less exposed to the temp- 

 tation of suicide, or resists that temptation 

 better than the male. The table shows that 

 the frequency of suicide increases with age. 

 This is true with regard to the whole num- 

 ber of suicides, not with regard to those of 

 each sex taken separately. Thus suicide is 

 most frequent among males between the 

 ages of ten and fifteen, and again between 

 fifty and sixty, while among females it is 

 most frequent between fifteen and twenty, 

 and again after seventy. Of suicides, mar- 

 ried persons constitute 452 per 1,000, un- 

 married, 339 per 1,000, and the remainder 

 is made up of widows, widowers, divorced 

 persons, etc. Mental disease is by far the 

 most frequent occasion of suicide. Reli- 

 gious belief does not appear to have any 

 marked influence. On the other hand, the 

 influence of various avocations is very evi- 

 dent. The favorite modes of suicide are, 

 in both sexes, hanging and drowning the 

 latter more frequent in the case of females ; 

 then by fire-arms on the part of the males, 

 by poison on the part of the females. 



Defects of the Human Eye. The human 

 eye, because it is practically achromatic, 

 has been supposed to be absohitely so. 

 But it is not difficult to show that the organ 

 is not faultless in this respect. The sub- 

 ject was recently discussed in a lecture by 

 Prof. H. McLeod, at the London Physical 

 Society, and the lecturer cited many facts 

 to show that the eye is not achromatic. 

 Thus to short-sighted persons the moon ap- 

 pears to have a blue fringe. In using the 

 spectroscope, the red and blue ends of the 

 spectrum cannot be seen with equal dis- 

 tinctness without adjusting the focussing 

 glass. A black patch of paper on a blue 

 ground appears to have a fringed edge if 

 viewed from even a short distance ; while a 



black patch on a red ground, when observed 

 under similar conditions, has a perfectly 

 distinct margin. It is interesting to note 

 that Wollaston considered that the colored 

 bands of the spectrum were really divided 

 by the black (Fraunhofer) lines, and his 

 statement, that the red end of the spectrum 

 does not appear to have a boundary-line 

 " because the eye is not competent to con- 

 verge the red rays properly," shows that he 

 had very nearly, if not quite, discovered the 

 achromatic defects of the eye. An experi- 

 ment was exhibited by Prof. McLeod to 

 show the relative distinctness of a dark line 

 on grounds of various colors. A wire was 

 so arranged that its shadow traversed the 

 entire length of the spectrum, which was 

 thrown on a screen by an electric lamp. 

 Viewed from a short distance, the edges of 

 the shadow appeared to be sharp at the red 

 end, but gradually became less distinct, un- 

 til at the blue end nothing but a blurred 

 line remained. 



Infrequency of Pulse. A case of extra- 

 ordinary infrcquency of pulse was recently 

 mentioned by Mr. Pugin Thornton, at a meet- 

 ing of the Clinical Society of London. The 

 subject was a woman, twenty-nine years of 

 age, thin and anasmic, and suffering from 

 severe inflammation of the larynx, for which 

 the operation of tracheotomy was performed. 

 Just before the operation her pulse was 40, 

 and after it she had an epileptiform attack. 

 She was discharged from the hospital much 

 improved, but was readmitted soon after- 

 ward. Her pulse was then found to be 

 beating only at the rate of 16 per minute, 

 the pulsations being strong. The frequency 

 increased slowly for a month, when it was 

 20, and soon afterward it was again 40. 

 This was some two years ago. Her pulse 

 is now 48, and the patient has grown stout. 

 Normally, the number of pulsations per 

 minute differs at different periods of life : at 

 birth, it is about 135 ; at the age of seven, 

 from 80 to 85 ; in adults, 70 to 75 ; in old 

 age, from 50 to 65. In females, the pulse 

 is quicker than in males. 



Ornamentation of Copper and Bronze. 



A new mode of ornamenting bronze or cop- 

 per work is described as follows : After the 

 object has received the desired form, the 



