Aug. 29, 1884.] 



- KNOAA^LEDGE 



173 



Smith has only attacked half the problem, while Lehmann 

 has grasped the whole. 



All the popular stimulauts, refreshing drugs, and " pick- 

 me-ups" have two distinct and opposite actions — an imme- 

 diate exaltation which lasts for a certain period, varying 

 with the drug and the constitution of its victim, and a sub- 

 sequent depression proportionate to the primary exaltation, 

 but, as I believe, always exceeding it either in duration 

 or intensity, or both, thus giving as a nett or mean result a 

 loss of vitality. 



Dr. Smith's experiments only measured a partial result 

 (the carbonic acid exhaled from the lungs without that from 

 the skin) of the first stage, the period of exaltation. His 

 experiments were extended to 50 minutes, 71 minutes, 65 

 minutes, and in one case to 1 hour and 50 minutes. It is 

 worthy of note that in Experimeut 1 were 100 grains of 

 black tea, which were given to two persons, and the time 

 of the experiment was 50 and 71 minutes ; the average 

 increase was 71 and GS cubic inches per minute, while in 

 No. G, with the same dose and the carbonic acid collected 

 during 1 hour and 50 minutes, the average increase per 

 minute was only 4 7 '5 cubic inches. These indicate the 

 decline of the exaltation, and the curves on his diagrams 

 show the same. His coffee residts were similar. 



We all know that the " refreshing " action often extends 

 over a considerable period. !My own experiments on my- 

 self show that this is three or four hours, while that of beer 

 or wine is less than one hour (moderate doses in each case). 



I have tested this by walking measured distances after 

 taking the stimulant and comparing with my walking 

 powers when taking no other beverage than cold water. 

 The duration of the tea stimulation has been also 

 measured (painfully so) by the duration of sleeplessness 

 when female seduction has led me to drink tea late in the 

 evening. The duration of coffee about one-third less than 

 tea. 



Lehmann's experiments extending over weeks (days 

 instead of minutes), measured the whole effect of the 

 alkaloid and oil of the coffee during both the periods of 

 exaltation and depression, and, therefore, supplied a mean 

 or total result which accords with ordinary everyday ex- 

 perience. It is well known that the pot of tea of the poor 

 needlewoman subdues the natural craving for food ; the 

 habitual smoker claims the same merit for his pipe, and the 

 chewer for his quid. Wonderful stories are told of the 

 long abstinence of the drinkers of mate, chewers of betel- 

 nut, Siberian fungus, coca-leaf, and pepper-wort, and the 

 smokers and eaters of haschish, ka. Not only is the sense 

 of hunger allayed, but less food is demanded for sustaining 

 life. 



It is a curious fact that similar effects should be pro- 

 duced, and similar advantages claimed for the use of a drug 

 which is totally different in its other chemical properties 

 and relations. " White arsenic," or arsenious acid, is the 

 oxide of a metal, and far as the poles asunder from the 

 alkaloids, alcohols, and aromatic resins, in chemical classi- 

 fication. But it does check the waste of the tissues, and is 

 eaten by the Styrians and others with physiological effects 

 curiously resembling those of its chemical antipodeans 

 above named. Foremost among these physiological effects 

 is that of " making the food appear to go farther." 



It is strange that any physiologist should claim this 

 diminution of the normal waste and renewal of tissue as a 

 merit, seeing that life itself is the product of such change, 

 and death the result of its cessation. But in the eagerness 

 that has been displayed to justify existing indulgences, 

 this claim has been extensively made by men who ought to 

 know better than admit such a plea. 



I speak, of course, of the habitual use of such drugs, 



not of their occasional medicinal use. The waste of the 

 body may be going on with killing rapidity, as in fever, 

 and then such medicines may save life, provided always 

 that the body has not become " tolerant," or partially in- 

 seu-sible, to them by daily usage. I once watched a dangerous 

 case of typhoid fever. Acting under the instructions of 

 skilful medical attendants, and aided by a clinical thermo- 

 meter and a seconds watch, I so applied small doses of 

 brandy at short intervals as to keep down both pulse and 

 temperature within the limits of fatal combustion. The 

 patient had scarcely tasted alcohol before this, and therefore 

 it exerted its maximum efficacy. I was surprised at the 

 certain response of both pulse and temperature to this most 

 valuable medicine and most pernicious beverage. 



The argument that has been the most industriously 

 urged in favour of all the vice-drugs, and each in its 

 turn, is that miserable apology that has been made for 

 every folly, every vice, every political abuse, every social 

 crime (such as slavery, polygamy, &c.), when the time has 

 arrived for reformation. I cannot condescend to seriously 

 argue against it, but merely state the fact that the widely- 

 diffused practice of using some kind of stimulating drug has 

 been claimed as a sufficient proof of the necessity or advan- 

 tage of such practice. I leave my readers to bestow on 

 such a plea the treatment they may think it deserves. 

 Those who believe that a rational being should have rational 

 grounds for his conduct will treat this customary refuge of 

 blind conservatism as I do. 



THE ELECTRO-MAGNET. 



By W. Slingo. 



THE experiments referred to at the close of the previous 

 article as having been made by Professors Ayrton 

 and Perry* present many features full of interest and 

 worthy of study. They are all such as may be easily 

 repeated by the student. The object was to determine 

 which mode of winding a given length of wire on an iron 

 bar "ave the strongest electro-magnet for the same current. 

 Four bars of iron, each 12 inches long, were cut from the 

 same rod § in. thick ; and an exactly equal length of wire 

 was wound on the four bars respectively, in the following 

 way : — • 



Fig. 1 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



1. Wire wound equally over the whole length, Fig. I. 



2. Wire coned towards each end. Fig. 2. 



3. Wire wound equally over half the iron bar, leaving 

 the other end bare (Fig. 3). 



* " Phil. Mag.," Vol. XY., p. 397. 



