330 



NA TURE 



[August 4, 1904 



subject, especially in cases of drowning (Mt'rf. Chirurg. 

 Trans., vol. Ixxxvii.). Immediately the patient is re- 

 covered from the water he is placed face downwards, the 

 head being turned sideways so that the mouth and nose are 

 unobstructed, with a folded coat under the lower part of 

 the chest ; if respiration has ceased every instant of delay 

 is serious. The operator then places himself athwart, or 

 on one side of, the patient's body in a kneeling posture 

 and facing the head. He places his hands flat over the lower 

 part of the back (on tlie lowest ribs), one on each side, and 

 gradually throws the weight of his body on to them so as 

 to produce firm pressure — which must not be violent — on the 

 patient's chest. This compresses the chest, and air (and 

 water if there be any) is driven out of the patient's lungs. 

 He then raises his body slowly so as to remove the pressure, 

 still keeping his hands in position. This process of apply- 

 ing pressure and of rela.xation of pressure by the forward 

 and backward movement of the operator's body is repeated 

 every four or five seconds without any marked pause between 

 the movements. This course must be pursued for at least 

 half an hour, or until the natural respirations are resumed. 

 If the respirations after being established tend to fail, the 

 fiocess of artificial respiration must again be resorted to. 

 If there be means, others may remove the wet clothing by 

 cutting it off, and may apply hot flannels to the body and 

 limbs and hot bottles to the feet, but nothing should be 

 allowed to interfere with the regular and systematic appli- 

 cation of artificial respiration. No attempt should be made 

 to give restoratives by the mouth until natural breathing 

 has re-commenced. In another paper Prof. Schafer gives 

 the results of the experiments he has performed, showing 

 the efficiency of his system of treatment (Proc. Roy. Soc. 

 Edin., XXV., part i.). 



It has always been more or less tacitly assumed that the 

 difiiculties which attend respiration at great altitudes are 

 due solely to the diminished tension of the atmospheric 

 oxygen. Two papers by A. Mosso in the Atti dei Lincei 

 for June 19 would tend to disprove this assumption. It is 

 shown, in the first place, that when the barometric pressure 

 of a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen is diminished to one- 

 third of an atmosphere, whilst the proportion of oxygen 

 is increased so that its partial pressure is the same as in 

 ordinary circumstances, severe inconvenience is incurred by 

 breathing the mixture, and an abnormal respiration and 

 pulse frequency are produced. That this is due not merely 

 to the increased proportion of o.xygen is shown by a study 

 of the effects produced by breathing pure oxygen on the 

 summit of Monte Rosa. Analyses of the blood indicate that 

 a diminution in the proportion of carbon dioxide, caused 

 by the low pressure, is probably responsible for the result, 

 and this view is upheld by the fact that a mixture of oxygen 

 and carbon dioxide, containing 20 per cent, of the latter, 

 which on being inhaled in Turin caused giddiness and 

 vomiting was breathed with ease and a sense of pleasure 

 on Monte Rosa. 



In a paper by G. Gallo in the same number of the Atti 

 an account is given of the conditions under which tellurium 

 can be estimated electrolytically. Previous attempts to effect 

 the electrolytic deposition of the element have been un- 

 satisfactory because of the powdery nature of the product. 

 It is now shown that the presence of sodium pyrophosphate 

 in the electrolysed solution causes the tellurium to be de- 

 posited as a firmly adherent film ; when, by saturating the 

 solution with carbon dioxide, this film is protected from 

 oxidation, its weight corresponds with a quantitative 

 separation. 



NO. 1814, VOL. 70] 



In the same journal for July 3 appear two papers of 

 considerable physiological interest. In the first, by 

 A. Mosso and G. Galeotti, it is shown that when alcohol 

 is ingested at great altitudes, for instance at the summit 

 of Monte Rosa, it fails altogether to produce its usual 

 characteristic effects. There is no indication of either 

 excitement or intoxication, and it appears that at such a 

 height the nerve cells are no longer responsive to alcoholic 

 stimulus. The second paper, by A. Herlitzka, deals with 

 the self-digestion of pepsin. From the experiments de- 

 scribed it is concluded that, as a proteid, pepsin is capable 

 of being digested by itself to form peptone, and that this- 

 change alwavs occurs in a warm aqueous solution of pepsin 

 containing hydrochloric acid. A falling-off of the digestive 

 activity with regard to other proteids is a measure of the 

 gradual change. 



In the Mcmorie of the R. 1st. Bologna (series vi., vol. i.) 

 Prof. Augusto Righi describes a number of measurements- 

 he has made on the radio-activity of common metals. The- 

 rate of discharge, in dry carbon dioxide gas, of an especially 

 constructed single-leaf electroscope of small capacity was 

 observed when the leaf was hanging immediately above a 

 disc of the metal in question. It was found that nearly all 

 the common metals had practically the same ionising effect 

 as glass ; lead and bismuth were exceptions, their power of 

 rendering a gas conducting being abnormally great. The- 

 observation is of significance because particularly active 

 modifications of lead and bismuth have already been obtained 

 by other workers. 



A FURTHER contribution to the subject of Mendelian laws- 

 by Mr. C. C. Hurst appears in the Journal of the RoyaP 

 Horticultural Society (May), wherein he describes his 

 experiments upon heredity in peas, undertaken with the 

 object of repeating Mendel's original observations; an im- 

 portant point is the consideration of the histological differ- 

 ence between races, as, for instance, between round and 

 wrinkled peas. In the same volume will be found two 

 papers devoted to the iris. In the first Miss Armitage treats 

 of bulbous irises for the rock garden, and of rhizomatous 

 species for the water garden, and appends a list of pheno- 

 logical observations which shows that by judicious selection 

 of species it is possible to have iris flowers continuously for 

 eight months ; the variability of the flower, and the distinc- 

 tion between bearded and heardless irises is the subject of 

 an article by Mr. W. J. Caparne. 



It has been stated on good authority that more than half 

 of the waste lands in Ireland are suitable for forest plant- 

 ations, and Dr. Henry, in the course of a lecture on 

 " Forests, Wild and Cultivated," delivered before the Roya! 

 Society of Dublin in February, advanced further arguments; 

 in favour of afforestation. He pointed out that Ireland 

 possesses an ideal forest climate on account of the heavy 

 rainfall, the mild climate, and the absence of cold winds 

 in winter. To illustrate his remarks on forest manage- 

 ment, the author took his descriptions from French practice, 

 including plantations in the districts of the Jura and the 

 Vosges, and in the Landes, where successful results have 

 been obtained with a strict regard for economy. 



The Natural History Museum recently received from 

 Osborne House two mounted heads and one skull of Spanish 

 draught oxen, sent by command of His Majesty the King. 

 They have remarkably fine horns, and serve to illustrate 

 the difference between this handsome breed and the Spanish 

 fighting bull, of which an entire specimen has been exhibited 

 for the past few years. 



