177 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Discovery 

 Disintegration 



name of " Kjokkenmoddings " (derived from 

 Kjokken, " kitchen," and mb'dding, corre- 

 sponding to our local word midding, a 

 " refuse heap " ) [in English commonly 

 "kitchen-midden" or "-midding"], and 

 were long supposed to be raised beaches, like 

 those which are found at so many points 

 along our own shores. True raised beaches, 

 however, necessarily contain a variety of 

 species; the individuals are of different 

 ages, and the shells are, of course, mixed 

 with a considerable quantity of sand and 

 gravel. But it was observed, in the first in- 

 stance, I believe, by Professor Steenstrup, 

 that in. these supposed beaches the shells 

 belonged entirely to full-grown, or to nearly 

 full-grown individuals; that they consisted 

 of four species which do not live together, 

 nor require the same conditions, and would 

 not, therefore, be found together alone in a 

 natural deposit; and, thirdly, that the 

 stratum contained scarcely any gravel, but 

 consisted almost entirely of shells. AVE- 

 BURY Prehistoric Times, ch. 7, p. 214. (A., 

 1900.) 



862. DISEASE DEALT WITH AS A 

 FUNCTION OF A SOUL Auscultation and 

 the Like All Needless. The vitalistic phy- 

 sician considered that the essential part of 

 the vital processes did not depend upon nat- 

 ural forces, which, doing their work with 

 blind necessity and according to a fixed law, 

 determined the result. What these forces 

 could do appeared quite subordinate, and 

 scarcely worthy of a minute study. He 

 thought that he had to deal with a soul-like 

 being, to which a thinker, a . philosopher, 

 and an intelligent man must be opposed. 

 . . . At this time auscultation and per- 

 cussion of the organs of the chest were being 

 regularly practised in the clinical wards. 

 But I have often heard it maintained that 

 they were a coarse mechanical means of in- 

 vestigation which a physician with a clear 

 mental vision did not need; and it indeed 

 lowered and debased the patient, who was 

 anyhow a human being, by treating him as 

 a machine. HELMHOLTZ Popular Lectures, 

 lect. 5, p. 218. (L. G. & Co., 1898.) 



863. DISEASE ONCE MYSTERIOUS 

 NOW EXPLAINED Tetanus or Lockjaw 

 Caused by Bacteria. The pathology of this 

 terrible disease [tetanus or lockjaw] has 

 during recent years been considerably eluci- 

 dated. It was the custom to look upon it as 

 " spontaneous," and arising no one knew 

 how; now, however, after the experiments 

 of Sternberg and Nicolaier, the disease is 

 known to be due to a micro-organism com- 

 mon in the soil of certain localities, existing 

 there either as a bacillus or in a resting 

 stage of spores. Fortunately tetanus is com- 

 paratively rare, and one of the peculiar bio- 

 logical characteristics of the bacillus is that 

 it grows only in the absence of oxygen 

 [whence the special danger of a punctured 

 wound]. NEWMAN Bacteria, ch. 5, p. 168. 

 (G. P. P., 1899.) 



864. DISEASES, FUNCTIONAL, 



MAINTAINED BY HABIT Cure by Sudden 

 Arrest. We find how many so-called func- 

 tional diseases seem to keep themselves go- 

 ing simply because they happen to have once 

 begun; and the forcible cutting short by 

 medicine of a few attacks is often sufficient 

 to enable the physiological forces to get pos- 

 session of the field again, and to bring the 

 organs back to functions of health. Epilep- 

 sies, neuralgias, convulsive affections of 

 various sorts, insomnias, are so many cases 

 in point. And, to take what are more ob- 

 viously habits, the success with which a 

 " weaning " treatment can often be applied 

 to the victims of unhealthy indulgence of 

 passion, or of mere complaining or irascible 

 disposition, shows us how much the morbid 

 manifestations themselves were due to the 

 mere inertia of the nervous organs, when 

 once launched on a false career. JAMES 

 Psychology, vol. i, ch. 4, p. 106. (H. H. & 

 Co., 1899.) 



865. DISINFECTION, PROBLEM OF 



In Many Cases to Kill Microbes without 

 Killing Patient, or Destroying Property. 

 It should at the outset be understood that 

 we desire in practical disinfection to in- 

 hibit or kill micro-organisms without in- 

 jury to or destruction of the substance har- 

 boring the germs for the time being. If this 

 latter is of no moment, as in rags or car- 

 casses, burning is the simplest and most 

 thorough treatment. But with mattresses 

 and beddings, bedclothes and garments, as 

 well as with the human body, it is obvious 

 that something short of burning is required. 

 NEWMAN Bacteria, ch. 9, p. -325. (G. P. 

 P., 1899.) 



866. DISINTEGRATION OF MOUN- 

 TAINS Falling Fragments of Matterhorn 

 A Sudden Avalanche of Rocks (Job xiv, 18). 

 Again and again we looked to the cliffs [of 

 the Matterhorn] above us, ignorant of the 

 treatment that we were to receive at their 

 hands. We had gathered up our traps, and 

 bent to the work before us, when suddenly 

 an explosion occurred overhead. We looked 

 aloft and saw in mid-air a solid shot from 

 the Matterhorn, describing its proper par- 

 abola, and finally splitting into fragments as 

 it smote one of the rocky towers in front of 

 us. Down the scattered fragments came like 

 a kind of spray, slightly wide of us, but still 

 near enough to compel a sharp lookout. 

 Two or three such explosions occurred, but 

 we chose the back-fin of the mountain for 

 our track, and from this the falling stones 

 were speedily deflected right or left. Be- 

 fore the set of sun we reached our place of 

 bivouac. TYNDALL Hours of Exercise in the 

 Alps, ch. 14, p. 158. (A., 1898.) 



867. DISINTEGRATION OF ROCKS 



Earth and Ocean-floor Covered with Rock- 

 debris. The disintegration and decomposi- 

 tion of rocks is a process everywhere being 



