Vol. XXT. No. 2.] 
POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 
» 
thought to be of great value, not onlj- as a general 
stimulant and food, hut as an arterial depressor. 
Dr. Smith asserts that too much food, especially 
liquid food, should not be given to pneumonia 
patients, as this embarrasses digestion and fills up 
the circulatory system with fluid. Oxygen gas and 
artificial respiration are also recommended, to be 
used even before the patient's condition is criti- 
cal. Digitalis should not be used in most cases 
of pneumonia. This is a dictum supported by 
good authority and large experience. Yet digi- 
! talis continues to be given. 
Dr. Smitli's contribution to the therapeutics of 
t pneumonia is the best that has been made for 
j years. Yet he malces no allusion to antipyretics 
^or baths. His conclusions are given as follows : 
1. In acute pulmonary ol)struction, the danger 
tbelng from exhaustion of the right heart, the pulse 
fat the wrist does not give reliable indications as 
Lto the gravity of the condition. 
2. This can be appreciated more correctly by 
fstudying the pulmonary circulation by the aid of 
jthe pulmonary valve-sound. 
3. Marlced accentuation of tlie pulmonary valve- 
t Bound indicates a fairly vigorous riglit heart la- 
[boring to overcome resistance in the pulmonary 
circulation. - 
4. Decrease of previously existing accentuation, 
pith only moderate dj'spna'a, indicates decrease 
I>f pulmonary obstruction. 
5. Decrease of accentuation, with increase of 
espiratory distress, indicates that tlie right heart 
I becoming exhausted. 
6. Eelief is to be sought : a, by regulating the 
Jlet in conformity with the diminished power of 
ligestion and sanguification : fi, by the use of 
aedicines which dilate the arteries and promote 
ftransferrence of blood to them from the veins; 
by the inhalation of oxygen gas : d, by artifi- 
lial respiration ; c, by placing ligatures about the 
extremities in order to retain tlie ttlood in them 
nd prevent its return to the heart. — JV. Y. Med. 
Secord. 
the last being mueli less common than the others ; 
tlie special symptoms most observed in the nervous 
group being extreme depression, pain, and weak- 
ness ; in the catarrhal group, cough, dyspncea, 
and coryza: and in the enteric group, nausea, 
vomiting, and diarrha»a. 8. The chief diseases 
which followed in the train of influenza, and were 
Intimately associated with it, were tironchitis and 
pneumonia. Phtliisis, when alrea(iy existing in 
the victim of the attack, was undoubtedly aggra- 
vated ; and, in many cases, a fatal termination 
was hastened. 9. ITie ratio of persons attacked 
in industrial and other establisliments employing 
large numbers was about .3.5. .5 per cent., or less 
than that of the population at large. That of the in- 
mates of put)lic institutions was still less — twenty- 
nine per cent. 10. The ratio of persons who were 
oblidged to leave their work on account of illness 
from Influenza was about twenty-seven per cent, 
of the whole number employed. 11. The average 
length of their absence from work was five Jays. 
12. Special occupations lio not appear to have 
had a marked effect in modifying the severity of 
the epidemic upon operatives in such occupations. 
While tlie atmosphere may constitute one impor- 
tant medium of its communication, human inter- 
course also suggests itself as an equally important 
factor." 
The iNFi.i'ENZA IN Massachusktts. — The 
ecretary of the Massachusetts State Board of 
lealth closes his annual report with the follow- 
Bg interesting facts about last winter's epidemic : 
' 1. The first appearance of the influenza in Mass- 
chusetts as an epidemic, in the past season, may 
stated to have been on December 19 or 20, 
nd the place of its first appearance was Boston 
nd its immediate ueigliborhood. 2. It increased 
Bpidly in the number of persons attacked, and 
ached its crisis generally throughout the State 
the week ending January 11, 1890, after which 
ate it gradually declined in severity, and had 
nearly ceased as an epidemic by February 10th, so 
liat the duration of the epidemic was about seven 
reeks. It reached its crisis earlier by several 
jlays in Boston than in the smaller cities and the 
emoter parts of the State. Its course was still 
»ter in Xantucket, Dukes, and Barnstable Coun- 
3. The ratio of the population attacked was 
But forty per cent., — or more exactly, as indi- 
Bted by the returns, thirty-iiine per cent., — or 
about eight hundred and fifty thousand persons 
of ;11 ages. 4. People of all ages were attacked, 
but the ratio of adults was greatest ; of old people 
next, and of children and infants least. 5. The 
weight of testimony appears to favor the state- 
ment that persons of the male sex were attacked 
in greater number and with greater severity than 
females. 6. the average duration of the attack 
(acute stage) was from three to five days. 7. 
The predominant symptoms were mainly of three 
general groups — nervous, catarrhal,^and enteric, 
Distribution of Tubf.kcle Bacilli Oitside 
THE Body. — The following are the most impor- 
tant results of Cornefs investigations on this sub- 
ject : 1. In the dust of rooms of private patients 
suftering from consumption who were careful al- 
ways to expectorate into a spitting-cup, and never 
into a handkerchief or on the floor, tubercle bacilli 
were never found; if, on the contrary, they ex- 
pectorated into a handkerchief or on the floor, 
bacilli were always present in tlie dust. 2. The 
dust of most consumptive wards in hospitals con- 
tained tubercle bacilli. 3. The air of two poli- 
clinics, of a theatre in a pathological institute, of 
the dormitory in an orplian-house. of several 
streets, and of several public buildings, was found 
free from bacilli. Tubercle bacilli are incapable 
of multiplying and flourishing except in the 
tissues of men and other animals. Many cases of 
tuberculous disease are due to the ingestion of 
bacilli in meat, and especially in milk; Imt in 
most cases in consumption the virus is derived 
from other consumptive patients. 'I'lie breath of 
such patients does not contain bacilli — the sputum 
is the means of infection. From moist sputum 
bacilli can never get into tlie air ; it is when tlie 
sputum becomes dry and is converted into a fine 
powder that it becomes dangerous. It can easily 
be understood that as long as the sputum is ex- 
pectorated into a sj)itting-cup the danger of infec- 
tion is slight ; but if the sputum is deposited on 
the floor or in handkerchiefs, towels, etc., it soon 
dries, and movement and friction — e. g., shaking 
and using the handkerchief — readily convert it 
into powder which can float about in the air. 
VVlien sputum is expectorated in the open air, as 
in streets, the danger of infection is slight. Rain 
and damp weather keep the sputum moist and 
harmless ; and if it does dry and become pulver- 
ized the winds dilute it to an infinite degree and 
blow it away. The practical , rules which Dr. 
Cornet lays down are : Consumptives should never 
expectorate into a handkerchief or other cloth, or 
on the floor, but should always use a suitable 
spitting-cup, in which some fluid may be kept in 
order further to prevent the chance of drying. If 
expectoration is ever unavoidable, the handker- 
chief should be at once boiled and washed. Con- 
sumptives should not be kissed ; if this must be, 
the forehead or cheek should be chosen rather 
than the mouth. Spoons, glasses, etc., used by 
consumptives should be carefully cleaned. — The 
Dublin Journal of Medical Science. 
The Valie of the Cystoscoi'e. — Dr. O. K. 
\ewell, of Boston, who has had considerable ex- 
perience in the use of the cystoscope, quotes Xitze 
as follows : " In the first place we are enabled to 
determine with the cystoscope whether or not two 
uretal orifices are present, which is of great im- 
portance in those cases where a second kidney 
does not exist. We are enabled to see whether 
or not both orifices empty fluid into the bladder, 
and further we can observe by extended observa- 
tion whether the fluid comes in equal quantity 
from both sides, whether it is clear or cloudy, and 
in the latter case whether the cloudiness is due 
to the admixture of pus or blood." 
Dr. Newell adds that this tallies with his own 
experience, and that the cystoscope is of great 
diagnostic value in determining whether hajraa- 
turia, e. y.. comes from disease of the bladder or 
farther up the urinary tract. 
Examination of the Sittum kok Tubekcle 
Bacilli. — Kilhne, Wiesbaden, (Centr. f. SaH. und 
Parasitenk), after referring to the fallacies and 
difliculties with which the search for tubercle ba- 
cilli in sputum from phthisical patiiMits is sur- 
rounded, describes a new method of staining the 
bacilli. Wien it is difficult to spread out the spu- 
tum on a cover glass he uses a concentrated solu- 
tion of borax, to which at li'ast an equal (|uantity 
of sputum is added. The mixture is shalvcn up in 
a suitable glass, or is worked up in a mortar, after 
which it is easily spread in a thin layer over the 
cover glass. Xummular sputa from cavities may 
be broken down bj' a watery solution of carbonate 
of ammonia ; this has the advantage that it is par- 
tially volatized as soon as the cover glass is 
heated, and what remains is broken up by the ac- 
tion of the acid. An equable layer on the cover 
glass being obtained, the albumen is coagulated 
by careful heating over a flame, after which the 
specimen is stained in Ziehls fuchsin solution for 
five minutes, the color is con:pletely removed with 
a 30 per cent, solution of nitric or sulphuric acid, 
and the specimens are washed in water .ind dried. 
In order to obtiiln a contrast stain, two or three 
drops of a concentrated solution of picric acid in 
aniline oil may be added to a w atch glass contain- 
ing pure aniline oil ; a ilrop of this, placed on the 
slide before the cover glass is lowered into posi- 
tion, gives a sufficient yellow contrast stain to 
cause the red tubercle bacilli to stand out very 
prominently. 'I'liey may be examined with a 
magnifying power of x60 to xlOO, and where they 
are in great number, as is the rule in " cavernous " 
sputa, they appear under still weaker magnifying 
power as particles of reil dust on a yellow ground. 
To make a permanent preparation, Kuhne recom- 
mends that the aniline oil be driven oft" by means 
of his hand blower, and that the specimen be 
mounted in Canada balsam. By this method the 
tubercle bacilli only are stained. 
The Treatment of Enlakged Bihs.e ani> 
Ganglia. — Mr. Bond states in the Practitioner, 
that he is strongly in favor of the treatment of 
enlarged bursas in the neighborhood of large 
joints by the radical method of excision of the 
whole or a large part of the cyst-wall. In deal- 
ing with these swellings in the popliteal space, 
the incision must be made well down to the cyst- 
wall before beginning any dissection ; if this be 
done, and the cyst well defined while tense aud 
