Vol. XXII. No. 6.] 



POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 



96 



urea is always diminished by a vegetable diet, while 

 the quantity of uric acid is not appreciably affected. 

 A knowledge of this fact is important in the treat- 

 ment of Bright's disease : vegetable diet increases 

 the amount of extractive matter in healthy urine, 

 while animal diet diminishes it; but tlie amount of 

 phosphates, lactic acid, and lactates is but slightly 

 changed by an animal or mixed diet. 



In testing the urine for albumen, it is always well 

 to employ both heat and nitric acid. Heat alone 

 often separates earthy salts, which to the eye may 

 resemble a slight cloud of albumen, and nitric acid 

 alone sometimes precipitates uric acid, with urate 

 of ammonia in exce.ss. But if the coagulum pro- 

 duced by heat also resist the nitric acid, we may be 

 reasonably sure that we have albumen in the urine. 

 The mere presence of albumen in the urine is not 

 sufficient evidence of Bright's disease: it may ac- 

 company cystitis or htematuiia, or may follow the 

 action of a blister affecting the kidneys, or result 

 from mercurialism, errors in diet, or confirmed 

 dyspepsia. But in all such cases the presence of 

 albumen is only temporary, and does not present the 

 diagnostic test of persistency. 



The question whether albumen is ever found in 

 the urine of persons apparently healthy, in whom 

 no trace of disease can be detected, is receiving 

 some attention, and the recent investigations of 

 Professor (Jrainger Stewart upon this subject, and 

 communicated by him to the Edinburgh Royal 

 Society, are interesting. lie found albumen present 

 in thirty-one per cent of the urines of four hundred 

 and seven healthy persons. These individuals were 

 engaged in a great variety of occupations ; but it is 

 worthy of notice that nearly all were of the poorer 

 classes, living under bad hygienic conditions. Thus, 

 in forty children of one of the city poorhouses, 17.5 

 per cent had albumen; and of forty male inmates, 

 67.5 per cent. From his observations, Professor 

 Stewart concluded that albumen may be elimi- 

 nated from the healthy kidney, and is not in itself a 

 sign of disease, and that therefore the presence of 

 albumen in the urine is not a sufficient cause for 

 rejecting a candidate for life insurance. Such 

 deductions are not worth much in establishing a 

 theory, and they should be accepted with caution. 

 Experiments, to be reliable in the premises, should 

 come from a much larger number of individuals 

 living amid the most healthy surroundings, and 

 under the most favorable conditions. 



For the present, therefore, it will be safe to adhere 

 to the test that the persistent presence of albumen 

 in the urine is a pretty sure indication of albumi- 

 nuria. But as this is an age of investigation, the 

 practitioner gladly welcomes the results of experi- 

 ments; and he should not be too slow in accepting 

 theories based upon a broad and intelligent line of 

 study, observation, and experiment. 



English and American authorities generally agree 

 in classifying Bright's di.sease under two condi- 

 tions, — the acute and the chronic. 



Upon the continent of Europe this division is not 

 rigidly followed. The acute form is far less .com- 

 mon than the chronic, and is apt to follow the acute 

 stages of smallpox, scarlet-fever, and diphtheria. In 

 scarlet-fever it sets in about the second week in 

 cases where the eruption is not well defined, and is 

 aggravated by exposure to cold and dampness. 



In smallpox it occurs during the period of des- 

 quamation, and in cases where the system has 

 received a severe shock from the poison. In diph- 

 theria we find it in cases where the system ha.s 

 become very much reduced by the severity of the 

 disease. 



In the early stages of this form of the disease, the 

 urine presents a smoky color, having an acid re- 

 action, and a specific gravity ranging from 1025 to 

 1030. After standing a while, a flocculent, brown- 



ish sedimeijt forms, which under the microscope 

 will be found to consist of blood-corpuscles, epithe- 

 lial cells, free nuclei, coagulated fibriue, and tube- 

 casts, which consist of three forms, corresponding 

 to the three layers of the walls of the uriniferous 

 tubes. 



The microscope is necessary in order to detect the 

 diagnostic elements of the casts of the tubuli urin- 

 iferi, which constitute a marked feature in this 

 disease. These casts are of four kinds, indicative 

 of different stages of the disease: but sometimes the 

 exudative, desquamative, fatty, and waxy casts 

 are found mingled, one with another, in various 

 proportions ; but the predominance of any one kind 

 will enable us to distinguish the condition of the 

 disease. The unfavorable symptoms of the acute 

 form are, increase of albumen, a diminution in the 

 quantity of urine passed, and the elimination of 

 blood, as evinced in the darkened color of the urine, 

 and more clearly revealed by the microscope. 

 (To be continued.) 



THE INFLICTION OF THE DEATH PENALTY 

 BY ELECTHICITY. 



In the month of July, 1887, there was conducted 

 a series of experiments calculated to throw consid- 

 erable light upon the value of electricity in killing 

 dogs. 



The electrical apparatus consisted of a common 

 pine box lined with zinc, and connected with one 

 pole of the electric-light current for that portion of 

 the city. When in use, the box was partially filled 

 with water. Connected with the electric-light wire, 

 representing the other pole, was an ordinaiy dog 

 muzzle, supplied with an iron or copper bit, which 

 was inserted into the mouth of the canine. 



The animal being placed in the box, the switch 

 making the circuit was turned, causing the appar- 

 ent instantaneous death of the animal. Only in 

 exceptional cases were any movements noted after 

 the current was made. 



The results obtained by experiments conducted 

 in this manner leaves the subject just where public 

 opinion would place it; viz., that electricity will kill 

 quickly. However, to ascertain how quickly and 

 thoroughly, requires further demonstration. 



The heart may rightfully be considered the 

 centre of function, and, in the execution of crim- 

 inals by the legalized hanging process, is always 

 examined to ascertain when death ensues. In 

 favorable cases it is known that the heart may 

 beat from six to ten minutes, and in some cases it 

 has been known to beat from fifteen to thirty 

 minutes, before death. 



To refer to the experiments: A fair-sized dog 

 was placed under the influence of chloroform ; an 

 incision was made in the trachea, in which a tube, 

 connecting with the foot-bellows, and supplied with 

 suitable valve for respiratory purposes, was at- 

 tached. Respirations were then kept up by these 

 artificial means. The chest walls (thoiax) were 

 then removed, so that the heart and lungs were 

 exposed to view. The dog was then placed in the 

 zinc-lined box, the muzzle put on, and the forced 

 respiration kept up until just before the cui'rent was 

 made. The heart was beating as in life; but, the 

 instant the circuit was made, it ceased its action, 

 and became a mere mass of quivering tlesh; not 

 the least resemblance to a rythmical movement 

 was observed after the current was made. The 

 demonstration as to suddenness of stoppage of the 

 heart exceeded all anticipation. The interference 

 with all function was electrically in.stantaneous; 

 death ensued from electrical shock; the ordinary 

 conditions of dying were absent. Nothing could 

 be more sudden. 



In this second experiment it was also noticed 



that an attempt to respire was made by the animal 

 after the current was made. This undoubtedly 

 indicated that the respiratory centre in the brain 

 (medulla) had not completely lost its susceptibility 

 to impressions, and that, through the want of 

 oxygen in the blood and centre noted, the effort to 

 breathe was formulated. This has an important 

 bearing upon the apparatus to be used in execu- 

 tions, inasmuch as it indicates that the poles should 

 be arranged to pass the current through the centre 

 of function in the brain. Upon physiological 

 grounds, also, this is indicated. 



Even without this refinement of precision in the 

 apparatus, as has been shown in this experiment, 

 where the current was not passed directly through 

 the functional brain centres, the sudden stoppage 

 of the heart would indicate that electricity offers 

 the most rapid agent in producing death that we 

 have at our command. The mere estimates of the 

 difference in the speed of the electric as compared 

 with the nervous current would further indicate 

 that our senses could not interpret or apprehend 

 the passage, or that death produced by such means 

 would be absolutely painless to the culprit. 



From these observations the following deduc- 

 tions may be drawn : — 



1. That death produced by a sufficiently power- 

 ful electric current is the most rapid and humane 

 of that produced by any agent at our command. 



2. That resuscitation after the passage of such 

 a current through the body and functional centres 

 of the brain is impossible. 



3 That the apparatus to be used should be 

 arranged to permit the current to pass through the 

 centres of function and intelligence in the brain. — 

 George E. Fell, M.D., in Buffalo Medical and 

 Surgical Journal. 



— • — 



[Original in Popular Science News.] 

 BUTTERMILK AS A MEDICINE. 



BY DR. S. F. LANDREY. 



With the rapid growth of reconstructive medi- 

 cine, comes opportunely the re-introduction of old 

 and well-known domestic remedies, among which 

 buttermilk demands a respectable place. A young 

 lady patient of the writer's was suffering from a 

 severe consumptive cough. None of the usual 

 antispasmodics, expectorants, etc. , seemed to do any 

 good, simply because her stomach was too weak 

 to bear enough medicine to effect the purpose. 

 Finally I suggested to her mother the use of hot 

 buttermilk. It was adopted at once. Her first 

 night's experience was one of comparative freedom 

 from cough and pain, and a pleasant slumber for 

 several hours. It was continued for a long time, 

 with an unvarying relief of all her previous distress- 

 ing symptoms, and an almost perfect freedom from 

 cough for several hours after each draught of the 

 hot buttermilk. Lingering at one time for weeks 

 from an attack of congestive fever, dosed with cal- 

 omel and quinine almost beyond endurance, the 

 writer began to desire buttermilk to drink. The 

 physician " didn't believe in humoring the whims 

 of patients," as he expressed it; besides, he con- 

 tended that a single drink of the obnoxious fluid 

 might produce death, as acids and calomel were 

 incompatible dwellers in the same stomach. But 

 I was a good persuader, and my mother was a sus- 

 ceptible subject. The buttermilk, "fresh from the 

 churn," was procured and drank. No evil re- 

 sulted; instead came a perspiration and .speedy 

 recovery. 



Many years afterward I had mis.sed my usual 

 noon-meal. It was about two or three o'clock 

 P.M. — dinner, of course, was over — when I reached 

 a farmhouse, weak, tired, hungry, and " all out 

 of condition " for active work. Dinner was sug- 



