Vol. XXV. No. 4.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
55 
Sfyie popular Seience F^ew§. 
BOSTON, APRIL 1, 
189 J. 
AUSTIN P. 
NICHOLS, 
J. EOLFE, 
S.B. . . . 
WILLIAM 
LiTT. D. . . 
Associate Editok 
The paper by Dr. C. F. Nichols, on homeo- 
pathy as illustrated by Koch's treatment for con- 
sumption, published in this number of the Science 
News, is worthy of a perusal, and no apology is 
necessary for its presence in columns usually con- 
ducted from an allopathic standpoint. In the 
present state of science, systems of medicine 
must be Judged by results and not by theories; 
and if it can be proved that definite physiological 
and remedial effects can be pi-oduced by the ad- 
ministration of infinitesimal quantities of common 
salt, for instance, or even more powerful sub- 
stances, then by all means let them be adminis- 
tered. VVliile, personally, we do not believe that 
such effects can be obtained, that is a matter for 
physician and patient to determine between them- 
selves. The only object of medical treatment is 
the relief and cure of pain and disease, and, as a 
recent writer has said, in all scliools of medicine 
there is, as yet, " more of hope than of achiev- 
ment." 
This view is particularly well illustrated by the 
present status of Koch"s alleged remedy. While 
it cannot by any means be said to be a failure, 
there is a discouraging absence of definite curative 
results, and the whole matter seems to have pro- 
gressed very little since the first announcement. 
Some cases under treatment have, apparently, im- 
proved; others have not; and it certainly seems 
' as if the remedy had been brought to public notice 
rather prematurely, and without the minute and 
careful study and investigatioii which such an im- 
portant subject demanded; but for this Koch him- 
self is not in any way responsible. That the mys- 
terious substance is one of immense strengtii and 
capable of producing the most powerful physio- 
logical effects, cannot be disputed; but the atti- 
tude of the profession for some time to come will 
necessarily be one of "hopeful expectation," as 
the remedy has not really passed beyond the ex- 
perimental stage, and there is not sufficient know- 
ledge of its action to justify its unqualified accept- 
ance as the long-sought cure for the dreaded and 
fatal disease. 
scientific value, and may have an important bear- 
ing upon the much debated question of the true 
nature of the so-called elements. 
Since the publication of his original paper on 
the allotropic forms of silver, {American Journal 
of Science, .lune, 1889), Mr. Cakev Lea has con- 
tinned his investigations upon these remarkable 
bodies, and has discovered still another allotropic 
form of the metal intermediate between the forms 
previously described and ordinary silver, and dif- 
fering mai-kedly from both. Also that all the 
forms of energy act upon allotropic silver, con- 
verting it either into ordinary silver or into the 
intermediate form. Mechanical force (shearing 
stress) and high tension electricity convert it 
I directly into ordinary silver, while beat and chem- 
ical action convert it first into the intermediate 
Drm and then into ordinary silver. The action of 
?ht is to produce the intermediate form only, 
fmd even the most prolonged action at ordinary 
emperatures does not carry it beyond this. He 
Iso finds that there exists a remarkable parallel- 
Bm between the action of these forms of force on 
jjlilotropic silver and their action on the silver 
nloids, indicating that it is not improbable that 
these haloids silver may exist in the allotropic 
ondition, Tliese discoveries are of the highest 
The history of the metal aluminium is a striking 
illustration of the way in which the demand for 
the cheap production of any substance is met by 
the inventors and investigators, with the result of 
a constantly decreasing price and an increasing 
supplj'. Six years ago, aluminium sold for .$12 a 
pound, three years ago for $5, today it is being 
sold in England at $1.,50, and there is a strong 
probability that the present year will see its price 
reduced to .§1 a pound. Mr. A. E. Hunt, of the 
Pittsburg Keduction Company, in a paper recently 
read before the Society of Arts of the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Techuologj-, in Boston, figured, 
from theoretical considerations, the lowest cost of 
a pound of aluminium reduced by the electrical 
furnace process, at twenty cents, but this has not 
as yet been practically attained. The prospect 
for cheap aluminium is very promising, although 
we doubt if it ever can be made so cheaply as to 
take the place of iron and steel. 
PitOFESsOR V. 0. Vaughn, who, it will be 
remembered, was the discoverer of the poisonous 
alkaloid, tyrotoxicon, which sometimes occurs in 
cheese and milk, announces the discovery of 
anotlier form of poison which has been found in 
cheese not containing tyrotoxicon. The substance 
has not been fully investigated as yet, but appears 
to belong to the class of poisonous albumens. It 
is quite probahle that the poisonous effects of 
certain samples of sausages and canned meats are 
due to this or allied substances. 
Every student of chemistry is familiar with 
the strong affinity of the metal potassium for 
oxygen, which enables it to decompose water and 
inflame the escaping bydrogfU. In the next ele- 
ment of the group, sodium, this afiiuit}-, while less 
powerful, is still very strong. I'roceeding in the 
opposite direction, we come to the rare metals, 
rubidium and cnesium, which possess an affinity 
for oxygen even greater than potassium. \ small 
specimen of the former metal carefully preserved 
in naphtha recently came into our i)ossession, and 
was placed upon a porcelain tile for the purpose 
of cutting oft" a small pii^ce. \o sooner, howc^ver. 
was it exposed to the air than oxidation com- 
menced at once, and, strangely enougli, seemed to 
continue after the metal was replaced in the 
naphtha. The liquid commenced to boil, and 
finally took fire, naphtha, rubidium and all, van- 
ishing in a red-colored flame, which, although 
very beautiful, was a very expensive chemical 
experiment, and especially unsatisfactory in the 
absence of the spectroscope with which it was 
intended to view the characteristic lines of the 
metal. A small piece saved from the general 
destruction has been kept covered with naphtha 
for several days, but has in some way picked up a 
few molecules of oxygen, and is covered with a 
light crust of oxide. The action of the hydrate 
on silicates like glass also appears to be very 
strong, as a minute particle pressed between the 
neck of the bottle and the glass stopper has firmly 
cemented them together, ('.-esium is said to have 
even a-more powerful affinity for oxygen than 
rubidium, but we have had no practical experience 
with that metal. 
HARMONY WITH THE ENVIRONMENT. 
The above phrase, which is the corner-stone of 
the modern evolutionarj* philosophy, is at the 
same time a mere truism, as applied to living 
organisms. Life and the conditions of life must 
necessarily be co-existent, and the question of the 
variation of existing forms of life to meet the con- 
ditions of a changed environment, or to put them- 
selves more in harmony with the environment 
already existing, is the one of the most importance 
in any discussions of theories of evolution. 
To many evolutionists the shape and action of 
every limb and organ, the color of every feather, 
the form of every leaf, all indicate the attempt of 
the animal or plant possessing it to put itself 
more in harmony with its environment, or, in 
other words, the minutest detail of bodily struct- 
ure is of definite use to the organism in performing 
the two great functions of its existence, nutrition 
and reproduction. Without discussing any of 
these minor points, interesting and important as 
the}' are, it may be interesting to consider certain 
wide-spread and universal examples of the adapta- 
tion of living forms to surrounding conditions, 
which are often overlooked from their very 
universality. 
All terrestrial animals and plants are constantly 
sui'rounded by a gaseous form of matter, composed 
of a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. We have 
no reason to believe that its comi)osition has been 
materially different since the time when we note 
the first indications of life on our globe. It is 
exactly adapted to sustain the vital processes of 
the organisms living in it. An atmosphere of pure 
oxygen or pire nitrogen woulil cause the death of 
any animal imnieised in it, but the proportions in 
which they are inixi'd are exactly right, and the 
small amount of carbonic acid present is exactly 
what is needed for the wants of giowing vegeta- 
tion. Nearly every other gas known is either 
corrosive, irrespirable, or poisonous, but the air is 
practically a neutral, harmless bodj' with its 
active oxygen so diluted by the inert nitrogen, 
that the oxidizing processes in tne Ijodies of 
animals take jjlaee with just the proper rapidity to 
enable them to ])ass through their life cycle under 
the most favorable circumstances for themselves 
and their descendants. 
It is evident that this adaption of the air to the 
needs of the animal organism, must necessarily 
exist, otherwise all animal life would have per- 
ished at the moment of its coining into existence, 
but every teaching of science shows that the air 
was in existence before animals, and as it could 
iiot have (^hanged its co)n])()sition to meet the 
needs of an organized being, howc^ver introduced, 
it is certain that the form ami nature of these 
beings, if modified at all, must have been modified 
in a way to meet the conditions demanded by the 
air. The lowest forms of life can better with- 
stand change in the composition of the air, and 
to account for the harmony between animals and 
plants and the atmosphere in which they live 
the inference is almost irresistible that in the grad- 
ual development and modification of inferior forms, 
each succeeding generation, however it might 
change in other ways, alwaj^s retained those organs 
and functions which were best fitted to utilize the 
previously existing properties of that mixture of 
oxygen and nitrogen gases surrounding them. 
Assuming the existence of life in the first place, — 
and its origin and nature is a mystery about 
which we know nothing, and which we fear 
can neveV be penetrated, — we cannot but be- 
lieve that if the atmosphere had been composed 
of chlorine, or even if the present gases instead of 
being mechanically mixed had b(?en chemically 
combined into nitrous acid, that organisms would 
have been developed capable of existing in these 
corrosive gases, and that to the man living under 
such conditions the chlorine or nitrous acid would 
