Feb. 14, 1878] 



NATURE 



305 



Bernard's experimental correctness, but the soundness of 

 his theoretical deductions, have been universally recog- 

 nised by leading physiologists. 



As an author Bernard was not so fertile as most of 'the 

 scientists of the present day in France. The few works 

 emanating from his pen are regarded as standard even 

 outside the limits of his own country. This is especially 

 true of his " Legons de Physiologie Expdrimentale Appli- 

 qude k la M^decine" (1865), a work valuable not only for 

 the exceedingly thorough, systematic, scientific treatment 

 of the subject, but also on account of the numerous indi- 

 cations for the application in medicine and surgery of the 

 results gained by physiological research. His other works 

 are " Legons sur les Efifets des Substances Toxiques et 

 M^dicamenteuses," 1857, " Introduction k I'Etude de la 

 M^decine Expdrimentale," 1865, and " Lemons de Patho- 

 logie Expdrimentale," 1874. 



As a lecturer Prof. Bernard was not only peculiarly 

 successful in the professor's chair, but was also distin- 

 guished among the savans of Paris for his able and lucid 

 presentation of scientific facts to general audiences. He 

 was busily engaged in the fulfilment of his professorial 

 duties when the short sudden disease preceding his death 

 interrupted the courses of lectures, and put an end to a 

 life of rich and varied scientific activity. 



As a mark of the universal respect and honour in which 

 he was held, the authorities of the French Republic have 

 decided that his funeral shall be at the expense of the 

 nation. T. H. N. 



A PHYSICIAN'S EXPERIMENT 



A T a public lecture at Salisbury Hall, Oxford Street, 

 •**- recently, Dr. T. L. Nichols, of Malvern, related 

 particulars of a " Dietetic Experiment " upon him- 

 self, which he had made with a view to solving a 

 difficulty as to the quantity of food per diem which 

 would best sustain health. He had always been tempe- 

 rate, his only excess being to be overworked. He rose 

 between five and six, and worked well through the day, 

 but avoided night-work. He seldom knew pain, never 

 took medicine, and had excellent health. He usually ate 

 twice in the twenty-four hours, at nine and five, because, 

 for him, long rest for the stomach was better than shorter 

 intervals. He appeared to sleep better for not eating after 

 four o'clock Every one should sleep upon, at least a quiet 

 stomach. He had carefully noted the " dry weight " of 

 the food he had taken, oatmeal, &c., he counted as dry 

 weight. The weigTit of water forming a large portion of all 

 food had not been reckoned, because it did not supply nutri- 

 tion. Eggs and milk were perfect foods, but were largely 

 composed of water. Milk was the most perfect food, though 

 not the best for adults. He began on November 5, his food 

 being chiefly bread, fruit, milk, and vegetables. During 

 the experiment he had taken no flesh meat, wine, beer, 

 spirits, tea, coffee, or tobacco. With regard to smoking, 

 if it were the good thing people said it was, why not 

 encourage their wives and daughters to smoke 1 Medical 

 authorities differed as to the quantity of food that should 

 be eaten, and it was a common belief that the more food 

 we ate the greater would be our strength. 



The first week, the lecturer stated, he lived on bread, 

 milk, fruit, and vegetables, the total weight being 31b. 

 9.^oz , costing 3^. id., i.e., a daily average of 8,3^-oz., costing 

 5*^. ; this was slightly below his standard of 6d. a day. 

 He felt better, and clearer, and. brighter than usual. 

 The second week he studied quality rather than cheap- 

 ness, his food being Food of Health, milk and fruit. 

 Total weight 41b. 4^02., cost y. 8d., average per diem 

 9f oz., costing 6fd., and nothing could have been better, 

 physiologically, than the effect of that food upon him. 

 His digestion was simply perfect, and the action of the 

 whole system as good as it could be. He then dis- 

 continued milk as unnecessary. For the third week the 

 total amounted to 3 lbs. 2 oz. = u. gd., giving an average 



of 7^ oz. of food costing only 2^- per day. Milk was not 

 so cheap for food as Gloster, Dutch, and American 

 cheese ; because they had to pay for the water it con- 

 tained. Doctors recommended 2 or 3 lbs. of food daily 

 to repair the waste of the system ; but he asserted that 

 the waste of brain atoms and nerve force could not be 

 measured. The food eaten had to be disposed of at great 

 cost of life and strength, and he believed the wisest plan 

 was to eat the smallest quantity that would properly support 

 the body. The fourth week, his food being similar, weighed 

 3 lbs. 6 oz., costing is. 2\d., giving an average of 8 oz. = 2d. 

 per day. He considered 8 oz. the minimum and 12 oz. 

 the maximum quantity of food that should be taken per 

 day. The total weight of his food during the four weeks 

 was 14 lbs. 6 oz., costing 95-. 8^^^., average per week 

 3 lbs. 9| oz. ; per day 8^ oz., costing per week 2s. $d., and 

 per day 4}d. He then added soups, puddings, eggs, &c., 

 and the filth week his food weighed 3 lbs. i2| oz., costing 

 2s. 4d., being at the rate of 8f oz., a ^id. per day. For 

 the sixth week the figures were 63 oz., at 2s. id., or 9 or. 

 at ^id. per day. He had taken the diet without stimulants 

 and had experienced a constant increase of health and 

 strength and power to work, and his weight had remained 

 at about 1 2 st. 2 lbs., except that at the end of the fourth 

 week there had been a slight decrease which had since 

 been recovered. The experiment had been fairly made 

 upon an average subject and the results were satisfactory. 

 He was convinced that they ought to give rest to the 

 stomach, and that this would cure all cases of dyspepsia. 

 The diet question was at the root of all diseases. Pure 

 blood could only be made from pure food. Proper atten- 

 tion to diet would reduce the rate of infant mortality and 

 remove many diseases. If the drink of a nation were 

 pure and free from stimulating qualities and the food was 

 also pure the result would be pure health. 



SOCIAL ELECTRICAL NERVES 



/^UR modern Mercury since the year 1846, when the 

 ^-^ first system of electrical highways was laid down 

 from the metropolis to Norwich, Southampton, Crewe, and 

 Exeter, has not been idle. The wonderful development 

 of the laws enunciated by Wheatstone which regulate 

 the transmission of electric currents through solid con- 

 ductors has resulted in some very remarkable invea- 

 tions. At the date at which we write, from a crude 

 beginning when with difficulty electric speech could be 

 conveyed to such limited distances as Manchester and 

 Norwich, we are now able to record the transmission of 

 the Queen's speech to the confines of the empire in a 

 few minutes. 



Since the first introduction of private and social tele- 

 graphy in i86r, when Reuter first proposed to connect 

 the Reporting Gallery of the House of Commons with 

 the editor's room of each of the leading metropolitan 

 newspapers, the electrical wire has become the means of 

 reducing the cost of newspapers and of sending the news 

 almost simultaneously over the country. Before that 

 time the press paid large sums for "special correspond- 

 ents," and papers were exceedingly jealous of each oth.-r's 

 privileges. 



Year by year the public have reaped additional advaa- 

 tages. Submarine telegraphy now includes within its 

 grasp New Zealand, Japan, and the western shores of 

 South America. The private wire system of alphabetical 

 telegraphy between offices and works, carried out over the 

 chief centres of the United Kingdom by Holmes in 

 1 861-5, is in still further process of development. The 

 express speed of the Wheatstone automatic system, 

 duplex and quadruplex telegraphy, and the telephone of 

 Bell, with its delicate electrical sound-wave indications, 

 have all passed into practical existence and become the 

 property of the civilised globe. Still, notwithstanding 

 the advances indicated, much remains to be done. 



