16 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[January, 1890. 
had at the Brushmakers at the Old Court Sadler's 
Shop in Broad Street in Colln-on-the-Spree." Manj 
a one may have wished to be able once in a while to 
have his stomach thoroughly cleaned out, and this 
speculative brushmaker gave a practicable means to 
give effect to this wish. In the pamphlet there is a 
drawing of the stomach-brush : it resembles a pipe- 
cleaner, but, of course, is larger. The stalk is made 
of four wires twisted together, covered with thread, 
silk, or small ribbons; it is twenty-six inches long. 
The brush at the under end is two inches long and 
one and a half broad, and is made of goat's-beard 
hair; but, when one has been accustomed to use it 
for three or four weeks, a horse-hair brush is sub- 
stituted, this hair being somewhat stronger, and so 
the effect is better. The application of this most 
excellent brush is very simple. It is pressed through 
the throat down into the stomach, which, by draw- 
ing up and down of the brush, is cleaned. There- 
after cold water or brandy is to be drunk, and the 
operation is repeated till the cleaning is perfect. 
The cure is repeated every morning. The author 
says, according to the British Medical Journal, "At 
first you will find it rather troublesome to get the 
brush down, but when you put it in your mouth 
and on your palate, draw in breath and wind, and 
press it gently and gradually down, and, without 
any particular trouble, it will i-each the stomach. 
After eight to fourteen days' practice, it will come 
as easily to you as eating or drinking." Of course, 
the daily application of the stomach-brush is the 
infallible remedy or preventive of all diseases that 
can be imagined. " Whoever uses this cure requires 
no other medicine, for it is good against all — cold, 
hot, and poisonous fevers, it gives a good appetite 
for eating, it is good against asthma, hemorrhage, 
headache, chest complaints, coughs, consumptions, 
apoplexy, toothache, sore eyes, dysentery, quinsy 
on the tongue, quinsy in the throat, ulcers, ab- 
scesses, cardialgy; it favors digestion, strengthens 
the heart, drives away pimples on the skin, is 
against choking in the stomach, etc., makes too 
fat and asthmatical and swoUen-iip people thin", and, 
on the other hand, makes meagre and thin people 
fat. The great effect, however, is produced only 
when the use of the brush is combined with that of 
an elixir. This is compounded of aloes, saffron, 
rhubarbona, lark-mushroom, wormseed, eugian, 
myrrh, theriac. After the stomach-washing, forty 
to fifty drops of the elixir is to be taken in wine, 
and this preserves for twenty-four hours against all 
poison and pestilence." — Science. 
FORMYL AMIDOPHENOL ETHER. 
One of the most recently patented syntheticcom- 
pounds that has made its appearance in Germany is 
neither a hypnotic nor an antipyretic, but is said to 
act to an extraordinary degree on the spinal cord, 
completely antagonizing the action of strychnine. 
It is therefore proposed as a physiological antidote 
for that poison, and it is expected to prove of value 
in the treatment of tetanic affections. This com- 
pound is said to be made by heating together defi- 
nite quantities of the hydrochloric acid compound 
of paraamidophenolethyl ether, sodium formate, and 
formic acid in a flask with a reflux condenser, and 
separating the formyl compound formed by boiling 
the fused mass in water. On cooling, the water 
deposits the formyl amidophenol ether in handsome 
white brilliant tasteless scales, which melt at 69° 
C.) are slightly soluble in cold water, and are read- 
ily soluble in hot water, in ether, and in alcohol. 
This compound corresponds in its composition to 
that of phenacetin, save for the substitution of the 
formyl for the acetyl group. 
THE NUTMEG IN MEDICINE. 
Many familiar culinary substances have been 
found to have valuable medicinal properties, at 
least in household therapeutics ; but the nutmeg, so 
far as we are aware, has not been among the num- 
ber. Its turn has now come, however, for Dr. J. O. 
Shoemaker tells us, in the Medical Bulletin, that it 
is useful in the treatment of summer diarrhoea, 
many cases yielding readily to doses of half a 
drachm administered in milk. Insomnia is said to 
be effectually relieved by it, when opium has failed 
and chloral is objectionable. In delirium tremens 
it can be employed with safety and benefit, when 
anv other sedative would be dangerous. For itching 
and irritable hajmorrhoids an ointment of two 
drachms of powdered nutmeg, one drachm of tannic 
acid, and one ounce of lard, is an excellent applica- 
tion. Powdered nutmeg may be administered in 
doses of from two to ten grains for children, and 
from ten grains to two drachms for adults. Larger 
doses have produced profound coma, lasting for 
hours. 
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HAIR-BALLS FROM THE STOMACH. 
At a recent meeting of the New York Pathologi- 
cal Society, Dr. T. Mitchell showed some hair-balls 
from the stomach of a pig. The balls were made up 
of the hair of the pig, which had been licked off and 
swallowed, mixed with sand and other matters. The 
hair had a curious spiral arrangement, showing the 
effect of the gastric movements. These hair-balls 
are found very commonly in the pig's stomach, but 
their occurrence is of interest by reason of the bear- 
ing that it has on human pathology, since they are 
sometimes found in the stomach of man. Dr. Prud- 
den then showed two hair-balls from the stomach of 
a 3'oung woman, which had been removed by Dr. 
Finder, of Troy, and presented by him to the mu- 
seum. There were two balls, one considerably larger 
than the other, which were made up of human hair, 
horse-hair, threads from blankets, pieces of string, 
etc. The girl had been insufficiently fed in her 
youth, and had got into the habit of swallowing 
miny kinds of inert and indigestible substances. 
Other specimens were presented of hair-halls from 
the cow's stomach. — Medical Record. 
MEDICAL MEMORANDA. 
A School for Children's Nurses. ^-A long- 
cherished plan of a training-school in New York 
for nurses for children has assumed definite shape, 
and such a school is expected to be in operation by 
January ist. Quarters have been taken in the 
Nursery and Child's Hospital, at No. 571 Lexington 
avenue. A regular six months' course of training 
in the care of children is to be adopted. This will 
include instruction in matters of hygiene, such as 
the care of the nursery, ventilation, preparation and 
administration of food, and dressing and washing 
children. A post-graduate course will provide in- 
struction in some of the simpler methods o( medical 
treatment of children. 
A reporter of the Pittsburgh Dispatch "does 
up" an amputation for the delectation of his readers, 
and explains the great care taken "to keep small 
insects out of the wounds." "After the leg was 
severed from the body," says the scribe, " the stump 
was scraped very carefully; the chloride of mercury 
was kept flowing constantly over the wound to kill 
any insects that might be drawn by the wound. 
The doctors hold that the air is full of poisonous 
germs, which are attracted to a wound where blood 
flows. All the linens and gauze which are used in 
operations, are soaked for twenty-four hours in 
bichloride from 100 to 500 per cent, in strength. 
This is done to pi-event the slightest irritation after 
the operation has lieen performed ! " 
Publisliers' Colimji!. 
The writing master who wrote that his business was flourish- 
ing, doubtless used Esterbrook's Xo. 128 extra fine elastic 
pen, the best for ornamental writing. 
All subscriptions to this journal received lo Dec. 26th have 
been credited on our mailing books, and the printed address 
label of this number. See if yours reads, Jan., '91. 
Try our Clubbing List when ordering your reading matter 
for 1S90. Send in the list of periodicals you want, for esti- 
mates, and see what we can save you. 
Why not have a good memory? Send a card to tlie Memory 
Co., 6 W. 14th St., N. Y. City, for a pamphlet giving u rive- 
ininute chat upon the subject. 
From Wilmer Brinton, M. D., Baltimore; " 1 have used 
CoLDEN's LiQjJiD Beef Tonic in my practice, and have 
been much gratified with the result. As a tonic in all cases of 
debility and weakness, aniemia, chlorosis, etc., it cannot be 
surpassed." 
Frye's Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil is continually grow- 
ing in favor among pliysicians, owing to the purity of its con- 
stituents, and the care and skill with which they are combined. 
Being emulsified by steam-power, the complete and minute 
subdivision of the oil globules is always assured. 
The Ice Machines made by David Boyle, of Chicago, 
have an enviable reputation for economy, efficiency, and relia- 
bility. In many cases they have been substituted for the 
machines of other manufacturers, with satisfaction and profit. 
They incidentally produce a large quantity of pure distilled 
water, which can be sold for domestic uses in localities where 
the natural supply is unsatisfactory. 
Dr. W. S. Leonard, Hinsdale, N. H., says : *' I have used 
Horsford's Acid Phosphate in my practice for the past 
eight or ten years, and have been much gratified with the 
results obtained from its use. In various forms of dyspepsia it 
reaches a class of cases that no other medicine seems to touch, 
and I have repeatedly seen patients, where opiates were contra- 
indicated, obtain refreshing sleep and rest at night from a 
single dose at bed-time." 
Littell's Living Age for 1S90. — In 1S90 JJttelf's Living 
Age enters upon its forty-seventh year of continuous and suc- 
cessful publication. A weekly magazine, it gives over three 
and a quarter thousand large and closely-printed pages of read- 
ing matter — forming four large volumes — every year. Its fre- 
quent issue and ample space enable it to present with freshness 
and satisfactory completeness the ablest essays and reviews, 
the choicest tales, the most interesting sketches of travel and 
discovery, the best poetry, and the most valuable biographical, 
historical, scientific, and political information from the entire 
body of foreign periodical literature, and from the pens of the 
most eminent writers of the time. Such authors as Prof. Max 
MuUer, Jas. A. Fronde, Prof. Huxley, Rt. IIon.W.E.Gladstone, 
Edward A. Freeriian, Prot. Goldwin Smith, Prof, Tyndall, 
Francis Cialton, The Duke of Argyll, Sir Lyon Playfair, Arch, 
deacon Farrar, \Vm. Black, Mrs. Thackeray-Ritchie, Mrs. 
Oliphant, Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Parr, R.D.Blackmore,Th(unas 
Hardy, W. E. Norris, B. L. Farjeon, \V. E. H. Lceky, Alfred 
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