Vol. XXIV. No. 7.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
Ill 
that, since bile plajs so important a role in the 
absorption of fat, it is fair to assume that the 
presence of fattj food in some way calls forth the 
bile which is so necessary for its assimilation. In 
his endeavor to prove this, be tried a number of ex- 
periments on two dogs with permanent biliary 
listula;, giving them in the morning a large dose 
of oil (sometimes a quarter of a pound of solid fat 
of ham or bacon was substituted by way of variety), 
and noting each hour the amount of bile whicli had 
flowed from the fistuhe. In every case he found a 
very considerable increase in the amount and dura- 
tion of the flow over that produced by an ordinary 
meal of carbohydrates and albuminoids. It was 
also considerably more than the secretion he could 
produce by giving salicylate of soda or bile itself, 
both of which he had previously regarded as active 
excitors of the biliary function. He concludes from 
his experiments that oil acts as a powerful chola- 
gogue, perhaps the most active of any, and to this 
.action he attributes his success in the treatment 
of gall-stones. 
Dr. Rosenberg considers it very important to 
flavor and disguise the oil as much as possible, for 
the very idea of drinking a glass of it is extremely 
disgusting to patients. To remove the nauseous 
taste, he adds one-quarter of one per cent, of men- 
thol and ten or fifteen per cent, of brandy; and also 
advi.ses adding the yolks of two eggs, finely divided 
and worked in, so as to be perfectly smooth; this 
materially alters the appearance of the oil. The 
dose should be from five and a quarter to seven 
ounces (150 to 200 grammes); it is best to give 
about an ounce at a time, in such a way that the 
whole amount will be consumed in three hours. — 
Jour. Amer. Med. Sciences. 
IIvDRoi'itoiiiA — Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago, an 
ex-president of the American Medical Association, 
formerly editor of its .Journal, and a practitioner 
of many years' experience, said in a recent discus- 
sion that he had seen but one case of supposed 
hydrophobia. It was that of an engineer, who had 
first been seen by other ph^'sicians, who sent him to 
the hospital, where he died within eighteen hours. 
Neither the patient, while conscious, nor any of his 
friends, could recall the history of a dog-bite or 
of any injury. He had been on something of a 
spree two or three weeks while out of a job. Dr. 
Davis had seen many cases of dog-bite, but none in 
which the animal had not been killed, so that 
the existence of rabies could not be proven. Dur- 
ing the past twenty years he had directed such 
patients to keep the wound covered by a cloth 
saturated with a solution of carbolic acid and hypo- 
sulphite of soda, and to take in water ten grains 
of the hyposulphite of soda three times a day, con- 
tinuing it three or four weeks. He did not pretend 
to say this prevented the development of hydrophc 
bia, but none of his cases had had it, and thereloiL 
it could be said he had had better results than 
Pasteur. 
Use of Chloroform. — Dr. Arthur Neve con- 
tributes to the British Medical Journal a statement 
of his experience with chloroform, and his dis- 
belief in much of its alleged dangerousness. He 
says that in 3,000 operative cases chloroform has 
been administered in his presence ; not a single fatal 
case has occurred. The cases in which serious dan- 
ger has threatened might be counted on the fingers 
of one hand. None of these cases were due to any 
heart affection ; it was a question of arrested respi- 
ration. Once the patency of the respiratory tract 
was secured, and a few artificial respiratory move- 
ments were performed, all danger passed away. 
Promptitude is necessary, but it is not a quality in 
which surgeons are deficient. It is to general sur- 
geons, not to an.xsthetists, that we are indebted for 
the knowledge how to meet the danger. As far as 
the inhabitants of Central Asia and North India are 
concerned, chloroform may be regarded as a perfect 
an;esthetic. True, the beer-drinking Tibetans occa- 
sionally struggle before succumbing to its influence, 
but of other races — Yarkandis, Hillmen, Pathans, 
Dards, Kashmiris, etc.^ — it may be said that to 
ninety-nine per cent, chloroform may be given 
deeply and its administration prolonged without a 
drawback — no cardiac weakness, no bronchial irri- 
tation, very rarely signs of an over-dose. That no 
powerful an;esthetic is free from risk is a truism. 
Professor Chiene used to say that it was like a 
fast train passing many stations without stopping, 
and halting or fluctuating between the signal-point 
of semi-conscious refle.xes and the terminus of ces- 
sation of vital reflexes, namely, respiratory stop- 
page, arrest of heart action, death. Let every 
driver beware the pace, watch the signals, and he 
will be safe. 
Embalming and the Concealment of Crime. 
— Attention has been recently directed by Dr. T. M. 
Durell, one of the medical examiners of Massachu- 
setts, {Boston Medical and Surgical .Journal), to the 
hindrances to a proper post mortem examination, in 
cases of suspected poi.soning, occasioned by the 
practice, common with undertakers, of so-called 
"embalming," or injecting into the body, soon after 
death, a solution of chemicals intended to preserve 
it. These consist, for the most part, of arsenic or 
mercury, and it is plain that the question would be 
at once raised by the attorney for the defense, 
where, upon the strength of the medical examina- 
tion after death, homicide by poisoning was alleged, 
whether the poison was introduced before or after 
death, by the criminal or the undertaker. The 
question might be very ditlicult to settle, and, in 
any case, the issue would be unnecessarily befogged. 
Presumably bodies could be as well preserved by ice. 
Ichthyol. — Among a long series of remedies for 
skin diseases, there is perhaps none which has made 
such strides in favor and use as ichthyol, a sub- 
stance prepared from the petrified remains of pre- 
historic fish and sea animals, which are found in 
large beds in the Tyrol. This bituminous mineral, 
when subjected to dry distillation, yields among 
other products a brownish-yellow translucent oil, 
of a specific gravity about o S65. This raw oil is 
treated with an excess of concentrated sulphuric 
acid, and warmed ; subsequently the excess of acid 
is removed, and from the product the sajts are pre- 
pared. Ichthyol was first recommended for rheu- 
matism, and the success which attended its use was 
described ae astonishing. Further and recent expe- 
ience with ichthyol preparations has developed 
new features in its therapeutical action. Externally 
it still maintains its reputation as a remedy for 
rheumatism, wh;le for chilblains, erysipelas, and 
especially for ulcers of the legs, it is highly recom- 
mended. For all these affections it is being applied 
in the form of an ointment, composed of ichthyol 
one part, and lanolin ointment nine parts. In this 
form the substance is used in some of the leading 
hospitals. Internally ichthyol is found to be useful 
in all forms of indigestion and diseases of the liver, 
and such morbid conditions as arise from hyper- 
a;mia and capillary dilatation with anomalies in the 
circulatory system, of disturbances of the digestive 
organs, of neuralgia, etc. The average internal 
dose is about eight grains of the sodium sulphich- 
thyolate twice a day; it is given either as pills 
or gelatine enclosed capsules. — Cor. Jour. Amer. 
Med. Asso. • 
Anthrax Cured by Corro.sive Sublimate. — 
Subcutaneous injection of corrosive sublimate has 
cured a severe case of anthrax, says the London 
correspondent of the .lournal of the American Medi- 
cal Association. A large malignant pustule was 
situated on the back of the hand of a man who had 
been engaged in removing the hides of cows, hav- 
ing a superficial graze on the back of his hand. 
The index finger was ef double its normal size, two 
extensive vesicles filled with dark serum included 
the dorsal aspect of the first and second ])halanx, 
lymphatic inflammation extended from the hand up 
the forearm on the radial side. Six subcutaneous 
injections with a four-thousandth solution of subli- 
mate were given with the view of forming a protec- 
tion against the encroachment of the bacteria. It 
was not without some resistance on the part of the 
patient, in consequence of the intensity of the pain 
occasioned by them, that these injections were 
repeated during eight days. Besides the injections, 
the hand was kept in a warm bath of sublimate 
solution during the day-time, and at night was 
covered with a cataplasm of chopped walnut leaves, 
moistened with the sublimate solution. This treat- 
ment was continued for six days longer, and ter- 
minated in cure of the gangrene. Cicatrization 
was complete in fifteen days. 
The Microbe of Old Age. — Under the heading, 
" Professor JJrown-Sequard Distanced," Dr. Burg- 
graeve writes ir» his Repertoire Universal de Mede- 
cine Dosimetrique that a Dr. Malin-Conico, of 
Naples, pretends to have discovered the microbe 
of old age. The publications of Italy announce 
very seriously that the microbe of old age exists 
and is transmitted by heredity; invades with age 
the entire human organism, which it ravages and 
destroys, leading to caducity and finally to death. 
The above-named Dr. Malin-Conico hopes thus to 
have found the means of combating this invisible 
enemy, and preventing man from getting old. All 
of which is " important if true." 
Another Remedy for Sea-Sickness is put for- 
ward by Mr. Charles W. Hamilton, Surgeon R. N. 
{liritish Medical .Journal.) It is the seeds of the 
kola nut, of which half a drachm to a drachm are to 
be chewed slowly. 
The Man with the Cracked Ear. — Dr. Wag- 
ner, of St. Johann-Sarrebruck, reports the case of a 
man who for a year and a half suffered from most 
unpleasant cracking noises in his left ear. These 
occurred every five or six seconds, and could be 
distinctly heard by a person standing twenty centi- 
metres away. The patient had no deafness or 
inflammatory trouble, but examination of the drum 
showed a split in it, through which air was forced 
with each act of deglutition. 
The Massachusetts Medical Society, one of the 
oldest and largest associations of medical men in 
the United States, held its one hundred and ninth 
annual meeting in Boston in June. It now pumbers 
over 1.700 members. 
OLD AGE. 
Dr. George M. Humi'iiry, of England, has pub- 
lished the results of his inquiry into the causes 
afliecting longevity, based upon information obtained 
concerning nine hundred persons over eighty years 
of age, including seventy-four centenarians. 
In his general remarks the author points out that 
the current idea of development is associated with 
the periods of adolescence and maturity. It should 
not end there, but continue in a definite and orderly 
manner, though with lessening activity, to the ter- 
