PHYSIOLOGY. 



PORTO RICO. 



587 



been followed by as remarkable changes in the 

 character of the wounds produced by them. ' The 

 subject has been experimentally investigated in 

 the case of wounds inflicted in the South African 

 War by Sir William MacCormac, who has been 

 aided in his study by the light of observations 

 which he made during the Franco-Prussian War. 

 According to a summary of the author's observa- 

 tions given in the Lancet, the damage caused by 

 the modern bullet, especially by the Mauser bul- 

 let, can not be compared in severity with that 

 inflicted by the needle gun or the chassepot. The 

 projectile bores a small clean hole right through 

 the part, and the exit opening can hardly, if at 

 all, be distinguished from that of entrance. The 

 wounds are on the whole aseptic, and heal readily 

 under a simple antiseptic dressing. When only 

 the soft parts of a limb are perforated and no 

 important vessels have been torn, the shock at 

 the time of infliction of the injury is slight, and 

 recovery is rapid and complete. Even when a 

 bone has been hit the bullet may make a clean 

 hole through it without any, or with only a very 

 little, splintering. This is naturally more com- 

 mon in the case of fiat bones, such as the scapula, 

 than in the long bones; but it has also occurred 

 in the case of the bones of the limbs. In many 

 instances, even when important structures have 

 been in the line of the bullet, no harm seems to 

 have resulted. In one case where the direction of 

 the wound indicated that the bullet must have 

 pierced the stomach, no symptoms of any such 

 injury appeared. In another case, where it 

 seemed almost certain that the colon was perfo- 

 rated, while obstinate constipation followed the 

 injury, no peritonitis arose. Not the least re- 

 markable of the effects of the Mauser bullet is 

 the very slight haemorrhage resulting from the 

 perforation of the lung. A little more haemopty- 

 sis may result, but it soon ceases and convales- 

 cence ensues. Even when a comminuted fracture 

 of a bone has been produced, complete consolida- 

 tion of the broken bone may result. A slight 

 case of perforation of a joint shows that only a 

 slight synovitis may follow. These effects are 

 very different from the havoc produced by a 

 large-bore bullet. 



" Plastic activity " is the term used by M. L. 

 Ranvier to denote a phenomenon of change of form 

 exhibited by cells in contact with an air bubble. 

 Having gradually heated to 36 C. the peritoneal 

 serum of a rat which contained some air bubbles, 

 the author noticed that the lymphocytes of the 

 fluid moved toward the bullre, and on arriving at 

 their surface became flattened, just as the cells 

 would have clone if they had impinged against a 

 solid substance. When the temperature was al- 

 lowed to fall to 21 C., the cells resumed their 

 spheroidal shape; but on increasing the tempera- 

 ture they again became flattened. He regards the 

 change of form as a consequence of the activity 

 of the cell that is, as a vital phenomenon, and 

 looks upon it as showing that cells are highly 

 sensitive and possess extremely delicate motor 

 reactions. 



By means of a process described by F. G. Hop- 

 kins a crystalline albumin may be separated from 

 | egg white which upon repeated fractional crys- 

 tallization shows absolute constancy of rotatory 

 power (30.7) and a constant proportion of sul- 

 phur. The product is obtained with great ease 

 and rapidity, and the yield is 50 grammes and 

 upward per litre of egg white. The albumin has 

 tho percentage composition: Carbon, 52.75; 

 hydrogen, 7.12; nitrogen. 15.43; sulphur, 1.57; 

 oxygen, 23.13. It is obtained practically ash 

 Albumin crystals obtained by the use of 



ammonium sulphate may, as was shown in the 

 investigation, be washed free from sulphate by 

 means of a saturated sodium chloride solution 

 containing 1 per cent, acetic acid, the crystals 

 meanwhile retaining their form and their solu- 

 bility in water. The crystals, being thus freed 

 from adherent sulphate and dissolved in water, 

 coagulation of the dissolved proteid liberates no 

 further trace of sulphur. It is therefore unlikely 

 that ammonium sulphate enters into the forma- 

 tion of the original crystal. 



The results of two experiments made by John 

 Haldane to test the supposition of Helmholtz that 

 carbonic oxide is oxidized or otherwise destroyed 

 in the living body were entirely negative, and 

 the author was convinced by them that no de- 

 struction of the kind takes place to any appre- 

 ciable extent. 



Among the more notable books of the year 

 on physiology are the two important cyclo- 

 paedias of Prof. Schafer, on the lines of the Hand- 

 book of Prof. Herrmann, the subjects being com- 

 mitted to the hands of experts, of Prof. W. H. 

 Howell, of Johns Hopkins University, who has 

 been assisted in the preparation of the work by 

 several American physiologists of repute; one 

 edited by Prof. Richet, of Paris, to extend to nine 

 volumes, of which four are completed; the second 

 volume of the Traite de Physiologie of Prof. Moyat 

 and Prof. Doyon; a text-book by Dr. Winfield 

 Hall, of the University of Chicago; new editions 

 of the Manuals of Waller, Stewart, and Starling; 

 and a translation by Miss Emma Bilstein of the 

 well-known text-book of Storr. 



PORTO RICO, an island of the West Indies, 

 formerly a colony of Spain, ceded to the United 

 States by the treaty signed at Paris on Dec. 10, 

 1898. In the beginning of 1900 it was under 

 military rule until Congress should provide for 

 the establishment of representative civil govern- 

 ment. Gen. George W. Davis was the military 

 governor. 



Area and Population. The area of the island 

 is 3,688 square miles. The population in 1887 

 numbered 399,022 males and 399,554 females. In 

 1899 the total population was estimated at 957,000. 



Commerce. Since the tariff relations with the 

 United States were settled commerce has increased 

 rapidly, although the results of war and the hur- 

 ricane of 1899 have lessened for the present the 

 producing capacity of the island. In 1899 the 

 imports from Porto Rico into the United States 

 were $3,179,827, already double as much as in 

 1895, and the exports from the United States to 

 Porto Rico were $2,685,848, nearly 50 per cent, 

 greater. 



Political and Economical Reconstruction. 

 The general condition of Porto Rico in the 

 first period of American rule was unfortunate. 

 The war had paralyzed the trade of the island, 

 and when Spain surrendered the sovereignty she 

 closed her ports to Porto Rican products, while 

 the occupation of Cuba destroyed the only other 

 important market. The trade in coffee and to- 

 bacco was ruined, and nothing was provided to 

 take their place. In most cases money could not 

 be procured by the planters to pay the interest 

 on mortgages. Then in August, 1899, a terrible 

 hurricane wrecked the plantations, destroying the 

 food supplies and resources of the lower classes, 

 killing over 2,000 and injuring over 3.000 persons, 

 and sweeping away $22.000,000 worth of prop- 

 erty, including nine tenths of the coffee crop. 

 The principal work of the army was to distribute 

 30,000,000 rations of one pound each to the fam- 

 ishing natives during the greater part of a year, 

 and organize relief work on the roads, by which 



