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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MOXTHLY 



more so. M. Cartaillac, in a paper in the 

 Anthropological Section, on primitive burial 

 rites, maintained that the custom of letting 

 corpses entirely decompose before giving 

 them a definitive burial had been a very 

 prevalent one. Of the excursions, one con- 

 templated to Mount Douon, which is in Ger- 

 man territory, was prevented by the jealousy 

 of the German officers, who were not ac- 

 quainted with the nature of the Association, 

 and feared it might be a political body. The 

 meeting of the Association for 1887 is ap- 

 pointed to be in Toulouse, and that for 18S8 

 in Oran, Algeria. 



Reginien for Inebriates. — Dr. Joseph 

 Parrish, in his address as president, at its 

 last meeting, of the American Association 

 for the Cure of Inebriates, analyzed the 

 English system for the care of persons of 

 this class as exemplified in the " Habitual 

 Drunkards Act," and described the five re- 

 treats that have been licensed under the 

 act, together with several retreats under the 

 voluntary system which have not taken out 

 licenses. The licensed retreats are : Dalryrn- 

 ple House, Rickmansworth ; Tower House, 

 Westgate-on-the-3ca ; Old Park Hall, Wall- 

 sail, Staffordshire ; High-shot House, Twick- 

 enham ; and Colman Hill House, Hales- 

 owen, Worcestershire. These institutions 

 gave good accounts of their operations, but 

 seemed to regard themselves, generally, as 

 still in the experimental stage. The reports 

 from the voluntary retreats are more varied, 

 and some of them furnish suggestions. The 

 " sister in charge " of one house, a woman's 

 home of the Church of England, believes 

 that "one year is necessary for a cure. To 

 tide over the broken-down condition, and 

 remove physical disability, requires at least 

 six months, and the last six months are 

 needed to restore and establish the moral 

 and religious character." Dr. James Green- 

 wood, whose institution is of twenty-five 

 years' standing, says, as a result of his ex- 

 perience, that "bad cases of confirmed in- 

 ebriety can only be cured by compelling 

 total abstinence for a period of not less 

 than twelve months." He has been tol- 

 erably successful, though some cases have 

 taken two years to cure; "but from six to 

 twelve months i-< usually sufficient." He 

 can more readily obtain patients and induce 



them to place themselves under treatment 

 by considering them merely as visitors come 

 to reside with him for a time as a private 

 medical man. Dr. James Stewart, late sur- 

 geon in her Majesty's navy, says : " Having 

 attendants is a choice of evils ; I do not 

 have them. To place a man of intelligence 

 and culture in the care of an ignorant and 

 possibly a rude hireling, is therapeutically 

 wrong. All sources of irritation should be 

 avoided. ... I consider the first three 

 months of a patient's residence should be 

 given to physical renovation. The second 

 three months should be employed in learn- 

 ing to enjoy life without the usual accom- 

 paniment of alcoholic stimulants. ... The 

 third three months, they should learn to do 

 just as sober and upright people do — to 

 live like other people — and, the longer they 

 continue to accommodate themselves to the 

 new life, the better for them and for all 

 concerned. . . . Rest, abstinence, and ton- 

 ics, establish a cure." Two rules, recog- 

 nized as cardinal by all the retreats and 

 homes but one, are — that no intoxicating 

 drink shall be introduced on the premises 

 under any circumstances, unless ordered as 

 a medicine by the medical superintendent ; 

 and that no drug of any kind shall be taken 

 by the patients except with the consent of 

 the physicians. 



Dow Water becomes Oxygenized. — In a 



paper on " The Relations of Air and Water," 

 which he read before the American Asso- 

 ciation, Professor W. H. Pitt observed that 

 " water falling through air, as, for instance, 

 a small stream poured from a pitcher into 

 a basin of water, will carry down air with 

 it beneath the surface. The air is carried 

 down by adhering to and mechanically mix- 

 ing with the falling water. Now, as oxygen 

 has greater adhesive property for water than 

 nitrogen, the proportion of these two gases 

 carried along by water in its fall is undoubt- 

 edly different from that which exists in the 

 common atmosphere. Water, then, has a 

 selective affinity for oxygen and very little 

 comparatively for the inert nitrogen of our 

 atmosphere. An application of this prin- 

 ciple on a magnificent scale may be seen in 

 the great storms of water falling from the 

 clouds to the earth. We may then expect, 

 for a short time at least, and in appreciable 



