POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



the books of the United States Mint the 

 names of at least one tliousand collectors 

 who receive yearly the issue of the mint, 

 with special proof-polish. In New York, 

 alone, during the year 1882, thirty-nine col- 

 lections were sold at public auction, and 

 brought, in all, 863,441.36. Several of our 

 large cities have numismatic societies, some 

 of which are designated as numismatic and 

 archaeological societies ; and a number of 

 periodicals devoted simply to the interest 

 of numismatics obtain a satisfactory circu- 

 lation. 



Seasonal Variations of Elienmatism.— 



The records of rheumatic cases in the Lon- 

 don Hospital fail to show any clear relation 

 between the prevalence of the disease and 

 particular climatic conditions. Dr. Henry 

 S. Gabbett has compared the graphic curves 

 representing the numbers of cases observed 

 for nine years, and remarks a general simi- 

 larity between them. In nearly every case 

 a wave is noticed beginning to rise at the 

 opening of summer, and reaching its high- 

 est elevation in July or August ; then comes 

 a temporary check or fall, followed by a 

 rapid ascent till the summit is reached, at 

 the end of autumn, when a steady fall 

 occurs through the months of December, 

 January, and February, till a low level is 

 reached, which continues nearly even till 

 about the beginning of the next summer 

 elevation. The curves for different years 

 do not appear to be affected by variations 

 in the character of the seasons from which 

 it is possible to make any deduction respect- 

 ing the influence of variations of tempera- 

 ture or of conditions of moisture. Accept- 

 ing Messrs. Buchan and Mitchell's division 

 of the London year into six periods, each 

 having a climate peculiar to itself, "we 

 find that rheumatism was most prevalent in 

 the annual damp and cold period ; next in 

 the damp and warm period ; cases were 

 about equally frequent in the two periods 

 characterized respectively by heat and cold ; 

 below these comes the dry and warm period ; 

 and lowest of all, as regards the frequency 

 of the disease, the period described as dry 

 and cold. ... It does not, however, necessa- 

 rily follow that there is any etiological con- 

 nection between the above facts ; the peri- 

 odical prevalence of the disease may possibly 



be independent of conditions of climate." 

 Dr. Gabbett draws the conclusions, with a 

 little more confidence, that the disease is 

 neither most prevalent in the coldest months 

 of the year, nor least prevalent in the warm- 

 est; that it does not occur with greatest 

 frequency in those months in which the 

 daily variations of temperature are greatest ; 

 that, although there is a certain correspond- 

 ence between the rainy periods and the 

 times when rheumatism is common, it is not 

 close enough to point to any necessary con- 

 nection. But cases of the disease are very 

 numerous at that period of the year during 

 which there is usually a coexistence of low 

 temperature and heavy rainfall — viz., the 

 end of autumn. 



Shall we pnt Spectacles on Children ? — 



In a paper with this title Professor Julian 

 J. Chisholm, M. D., of the University of 

 Maryland, makes a plea for providing chil- 

 dren with the means of counteracting their 

 congenital or acquired defects of vision. 

 According to the traditions, the need of 

 spectacles is an indication of old age, and 

 so the world interprets it. A better knowl- 

 edge, however, is diffusing itself among the 

 medical profession, and from them to the 

 public. While advancing years may be a 

 factor, it is only one of many causes induc- 

 ing defective vision. The action of the per- 

 fect eye conforms to the law of optics that, 

 unless a lens focuses accurately on the re- 

 cipient surface, the image made must be 

 more or less imperfect. In front of the 

 lens there is a broad, circular ligament of 

 the eye, which presses against it, and, when 

 objects at a short distance are to be looked 

 at, by the action of a muscle (the ciliary), 

 the compressing ligament is relaxed, so that 

 the lens, its natural elasticity responding 

 at once to the relief, becomes more con- 

 vex, and is, therefore, in condition to focus 

 more powerfully light coming from near 

 objects. What is called accommodation, or 

 ability to change the focus, is, then, a muscu- 

 lar act. When the accommodating muscles 

 arc temporarily enfeebled by diseased condi- 

 tions of the system at large, they do not lift 

 off sufficiently the flattening band, or they are 

 too weak to keep up the continued action for 

 the relief of lens pressure; hence we often 

 find children recently recovered from an at- 



