1 66 



NATURE 



[December 13, 1900 



occurred at 9.51 p.m.], and all nearly crazed with fear and ex- 

 citement. ... A few steps away, under the gas-lamp, a woman 

 lies prone and motionless on the pavement, with upturned face 

 and outstretched limbs, and the crowd which has now gathered 

 in the street passes her by, none pausing to see whether she is 

 alive or dead . . . ; many voices are speaking at once, but few 

 heed what is said." Between this, which must surely be almost 

 the limit of wild fear in a crowd, and the merely interested 

 curiosity of the most distant observers, there seems to be 

 nearly every stage of mental effect recorded. Such 

 terms as "greatest consternation," "fright and excite- 

 ment unparalleled," and " terror amounting to wild frenzy," 

 are, of course, too dependent on the narrator and too vague to be 

 of any value as degrees in a scale of mental effects ; but the 

 resulting actions are less liable to error or exaggeration, and 

 these may be roughly classified as follows, the different degrees 

 being lettered to avoid confusion with the numbers of the 

 soseismal lines : 



(A) No persons leave their rooms. 



(B) Some persons leave their houses. 



(C) Most persons run into the streets, which are full of 

 excited people. 



(D) People rush wildly for open spaces, and remain all night 

 out of doors. 



In the third degree of the scale, I included at first 

 the hasty dispersal of meetings ; but, when the places at which 

 this occurred are plotted on a map, it is evident that this effect 

 would find an appropriate place under the second heading. A 

 crowd in one room is more liable to excitement and fear than 

 are persons in separate houses. 



In the accompanying map, the dotted curves are the isoseismal 

 lines as drawn by Captain Button. The continuous curves bound 

 the areas in which the effects corresponding to the three higher 

 degrees of the scale were observed. The curve for the first 

 degree of course coincides with the outermost isoseismal line. 



It will be seen that there is a certain rough agreement be- 

 tween these curves and the isoseismal lines. The curve D and 

 the isoseismal 8 are not far apart ; in other words, if the shock 

 was strong enough to throw down chimneys or make cracks in 

 the walls of buildings, then people thought it wiser to camp 

 out for the night. The curve c and the isoseismal 6 coincide ap- 

 proximately ; that is, people rushed precipitately into the 

 streets if the movement made chandeliers, pictures, &c., swing. 



NO. 1624, VOL. 63] 



On the whole, the curve B roughly follows the isoseismal 3 ; so 

 that, if the shock was not even strong enough to cause doors 

 and windows to rattle, some persons were so alarmed that they 

 left their houses, and public meetings were dispersed. Whether 

 these effects were due to the rarity of the phenomenon or to 

 the highly-strung nerves of the American people, it may, I think, 

 be inferred that in no other civilised country would such alarm 

 be shown at a sudden and unexpected occurrence. 



Captain Button also gives many records of a feeling of nausea 

 at the time of the earthquake ; and, however excitable the 

 observers may have been, these accounts are probably trust- 

 worthy, for this is not at all generally known to be a result of 

 earthquake-motion. I have marked these places on a map, and 

 it is curious that, with one or two exceptions, they all lie 

 between the two broken lines of the figure. The most distant 

 places at which the feeling was noticed are Blue Mountain 

 Creek (New York), 823 miles, and Bubuque (Iowa), 886 miles, 

 from Charleston. The outer boundary of the nausea area follows 

 roughly the curve B, but is generally inside it ; the inner 

 boundary is so close to the curve c as to suggest that there may 

 be some connection between them, that, in the wild hurry to 

 reach the street, the slight feeling of nausea might escape notice. 



Charles Bavison. 



TBE CAMBRIDGE SENTINEL MILK 

 STERILISER. 



"T^HIS is a simple and automatic milk steriliser for domestic 

 use. It is made in three forms ; in one, which is intended 

 for use on an ordinary fire, a tube which carries an alarm bell 

 at the top is inserted through the lid of the saucepan. When the de- 

 sired temperature (85° C.) is reached, a trigger contained in the 

 tube is automatically released, and the bell rings, thus warning the 

 attendant to take theipan off the fire. In a second form the 

 action is automatic. A saucepan containing the sensitive 

 trigger is placed on a gas stove, and when the proper tempera- 

 ture is reached the release of the trigger causes the supply of 

 gas to be automatically cut oft'. A third form is arranged for 

 use with a spirit lamp. In each case, the automatic mechanism 

 is actuated through the melting of an easily fusible alloy. 



For the apparatus it is claimed (l) that it is simple and works 

 automatically, (2) that the temperature (85° C.) attained does 

 not impair the flavour or the nutritive qualities of the milk, (3) 

 that injurious micro-organisms, including tubercle, are destroyed. 

 Bealing with these claims in order, the apparatus certainly acts 

 automatically and seems to be of simple construction. With 

 regard to the first or bell form, however, the sound of the bell 

 is so slightly audible that it would certainly be missed unless 

 the attendant were listening for it, and in all probability in nine 

 cases out of ten the milk would be boiled. The second form, 

 with gas stove and automatic cut-off, works quite well and is 

 much to be preferred. With regard to the temperature at which 

 the signal is given or the cut-off takes place there is some dif- 

 ference, according to the amount of fluid which is being treated. 

 Bealing with the two-pint size we have observed the following 

 temperatures : 



Bell Form. Cut-off Form. 



["Half pint 94° and 95° C. 95° and 93° C. 



Water-^ One pint 87-5° ,, 89'' 86° „ 87° 



(^ Two pints 87" ,, 86° 84° ,,85° 



„.,,[ Half pint 98° (frothing) 95° 



"^"•^ i Two pints 87° 84° 



It will thus be seen that there is a considerable variation in 

 the temperatures. 



As to the second point, we consider that the temperature of 

 85" C. is too high, and we believe that the experiments of 

 Buclaux and others have conclusively shown that milk cannot 

 be heated above 70° C. without altering its flavour and nutritive 

 quaHties. Tested practically, milk heated in the apparatus and 

 immediately cooled has a pronounced flavour, little less marked 

 than milk which has been just boiled and then cooled. Three 

 samples — (i) untreated, (2) sterilised in the apparatus and imme- 

 diately cooled, (3) boiled and cooled — were submitted to three 

 individuals, who separately tasted them ; two of the individuals 

 were unable to distinguish between the sterilised and boiled 

 samples; the third said "that the sterilised sample seemed a 

 little less boiled than the other." The flavour being so markedly 

 altered, we doubt whether the claim that the nutritive qualities 

 of the milk are unchanged can be substantiated. 



