124 
POPTJLAE SCIEI^CE I^EWS. 
[August, 1891. 
flTedicine and pharmaetj. 
THE ELECTRICAL EXECUTIONS. 
The recent executions by electricity at the New 
York State penitentiary at Sing Sing were suc- 
cessful in that they accomplished the purpose of 
destroying life instantaneously, painlessly, and 
without the barbarous accompaniments of a pub- 
lic hanging. It is to be regretted that the foolisli 
policy of secrecy has prevented a complete knowl- 
edge of the particulars of the affair, but enough is 
known to sustain all the claims made by the advo- 
cates of tliis method of capital punishment. 
The outcry in certain quarters against the 
"barbarity" of electrocution is hard to under- 
stand, except on the supposition that it is capital 
punishment itself, and not any particular method, 
to which these foolish and ultra-sentimental en- 
thusiasts object. There is not the slightest doubt 
that a current of 1,600 volts (the number of am- 
peres is not given) passed through the body in 
the method used in these cases will produce total 
unconsciousness and death before the slightest 
sensation of pain is felt. Pe«sons who have been 
struck by lightning and afterwards revived, agree 
in stating that no sensation whatever was felt by 
them at the time of the stroke. The speed of the 
electric current is so much greater than that with 
which the sensation of pain travels along the 
nerves, that the sensory organs are paralyzed and 
destroyed by the electric energy before the sensa- 
tion of pain can reach them. An apt illustration 
of the comparatively slow speed at which sensa- 
tion is transmitted along the nerves has been 
given by supposing an infant with an arm long 
enough to touch the sun. If, in the first year 
of his life, he burned his fingers in this manner, 
he would never feel the pain of the burn unless 
his life far exceeded that of most men, the time 
required for the sensation of pain to pass through 
the ninety million or more miles of nerve fiber 
being much longer than that of an ordinary life- 
time. 
In a recent number of the Medical Becord the 
editor. Dr. Shradt, states that at the electrical 
execution of the murderer Kemmler, a year ago, 
death was not instantaneous, and that he suf- 
fered- indescribable torture. This is in direct con- 
tradiction of the testimony of other physicians 
who were also present on the occasion. But 
whatever mistakes may have been made at the 
first trial of a new method of execution by those 
who of necessity were more or less inexperienced 
in its operation, the more recent executions have 
shown that in the future no unfortunate accidents 
are to be anticipated, and that the use of electric- 
itj- for this purpose is effectual and, perhaps, de- 
sirable. 
But whether it is really worth while to be at so 
much trouble and expense in the execution of 
criminals, is an open question. Death by hang- 
ing, as far as all testimony goes, is practically 
painless and instantaneous. The world is well 
rid of the miserable wretches who were removed 
from it at Sing Sing last month, and they are cer- 
tainly beyond the power to do further harm to 
their fellow beings. The comipunity takes the 
life of a murderer as it would that of a rabid dog, 
to prevent him from doing any more harm, and 
while it is only the part of ordinary humanity and 
decency to do so with as little bodily and mental 
pain as possible, it is doubtful if there is any great 
uJvantage gained in these respects by electric exe- 
cution over the older and equally effective meth- 
ods. The suggestion of the London Times that 
criminals should be rendered unconscious by a 
strong narcotic previous to execution, seems to be 
a humane and practical one. The narcotic could 
be administered without their knowledge, and in 
whatever way life was finally destroyed the con- 
demned criminal would only fall asleep, never to 
wake. In this way the demands of justice would 
be satisfied and the safety of society attained 
without the revolting scenes which must neces- 
sarily accompany executions as at present con- 
ducted. 
DISEASE-PRODUCING MICROBES. 
The theory of the bacterial origin of certain 
diseases has come into general acceptance among 
physicians within the past few years, and, while 
we doubt if the exact relations of these bacteria 
to disease can be determined, and to what extent 
they may be the result instead of the cause of the 
disturbed condition of the system, there can be 
no doubt but that micro-organisms of a perfectly 
definite and specific form and character are found 
in the secretions or excretions of the bodies of 
persons suffering from particular diseases. Koch's 
discovery of the bacillus of tuberculosis a few 
years ago was a most brilliant piece of work, and 
the presence or absence of this microbe in the 
sputum, in cases where consumption is suspected, 
is now considered one of the most reliable diag- 
nostic signs that can be obtained. 
We copy from La Nature some engravings made 
from micro-photographs of some of those microbes 
which are of special interest. In Fig. 1 the small 
rod-like bacilli of consumption, above referred to, 
are shown, and the few blood-corpuscles also rep- 
resented serve to indicate their comparative size. 
Fig. 2 is the celebrated "comma" bacillus of 
Asiatic cholera, which was also discovered by Dr. 
Fig. 1. Tuberculosis. 
Fig. 2. Cholera. 
Koch while on an expedition to India for the pur- 
pose of studying the disease in its original local- 
ity. Fig. 3 shows the characteristic microbe of 
typhoid fever, which has so often been detected 
in polluted water, from which persons have con- 
tracted the disease ; and, perhaps, the most dreaded 
microbe of all — that found in the membrane formed 
in the throat of persons suffering with diphtheria 
— is shown in Fig. 4. These last named micro- 
organisms are often extremely tenacious of life. 
Fig. 3. Typliuid fever 
Diphtheria. 
and an instance is reported where a prolonged soak- 
ing in the strongest carbolic acid- failed to destroy 
their vitality. This tenacity of life may explain 
the sometimes malignant character of the disease 
and the unsatisfactory results of the usual meth- 
ods of treatment. 
Such immense advances have been made in the 
field of bacteriology during the past few years, 
and the results of the investigations have been of 
such preeminent value to medical and surgical 
science, that we may confidently look for still 
greater and more important discoveries in the 
years to come; and we may even hope that 
some method may be found of absolutely con- 
trolling those diseases which are connected with 
the existence of bacteria in the organism. If 
this hope is not realized it will not be for the 
lack of hundreds of earnest, patient students who 
are devoting their lives and energies to the solu- 
tion of just such problems. 
[Bacteriological World.] 
THE STERILIZATION OF MILK. 
The first endeavors to sterilize milk were madi 
chiefly from a commercial standpoint, i. e., to] 
preserve the fluid sweet a longer time. But, ai 
the knowledge of pathogenic germs and thi 
action of ferment organisms became clearer, thi 
suggestion naturally entered the medical mind to' 
sterilize milk from a hygienic and therapeutic 
point of view, chiefly for the nourishment of 
infants in health or disease. 
A large number of experiments have been made 
by various experimentalists, with a view to dis- 
cover the most practicable means of sterilization 
combining eft'ectiveness, cheapness, and harndess- 
ness. 
To that end, drug after drug, gas after gas, 
were tried in vain ; we have still to rely on the 
action of heat, though perhaps electricity under 
proper conditions may prove successful. But for 
every home, for every physician, heating is the 
only practical process. 
To kill all the bacteria usually found in milk — 
and there is always a wonderfully great and diver- 
sified army of them — it requires to be heated a few 
minutes at about 224° F. A special steam sterilizer is 
necessary to attain such a high temperature. The 
same effects may be obtained usually by boiling 
the milk about thu-ty minutes. Heating a few 
minutes between 158° and 176° is sufficient to 
destroy temporarily the energy of a large number 
of milk microbes including several disease germs, 
but does not kill many of them, and is not, 
therefore, suflicient as a preservative moans. This 
is the temperature (about 167°), the application 
of which is known as pasteurization. 
Unfortunately for the people, there are yet 
some medical men who will not concede any dan- 
gerous properties to microbes, and a vast number 
who are in ignorance of the action of germs in 
milk before or after ingestion. 
Is is only to destroy disease germs that sterili- 
zation is indicated? By no means. Indeed, in 
infant-feeding, it is chiefly to pervent the irrita- 
tive action of acid produced by microbes or germs 
of all kinds, whether truly milk ferments, patho- 
genic bacteria, or organisms harmless under ordi- 
nary circumstances. 
Milk coagulates, acidifies, under the influence 
or vegetative phenomena of various ferment or 
ganisms. The acid produced has the most baneful' 
action on the delicate stomach and intestinal 
canal of the child. Sterilization of fresh milk 
destroys the property of the germs before any 
acid is produced by their process of nutrition. 
Besides the true milk ferments of various kinds, 
there is a number of cocci and bacilli which grow 
in milk. Among the former, there are many 
which produce acids. Hence they, too, are de- 
leterious and dangerous in the milk fed to the 
young. 
Duclaux, in his researches on the subject, noted 
i 
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