Apeil 29, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



599 



that these rays could be used for the cure of 

 disease in a mariner capable of perfect control 

 by means of a more or less intense application 

 for a longer or shorter period, producing reac- 

 tion in the exact degree required. In this way 

 it has been possible for the lecturer, on the one 

 hand, to remove hair from parts of the body 

 where it constituted a disfigurement without 

 causing the slightest inflammation, while, on the 

 other hand, he has been able to treat lupus with 

 uniform success by means of an artificial inflam- 

 mation, the intensity of which he was in a posi- 

 tion to increase or reduce at will. The results 

 secured by the new method both in the removal 

 of superfluous hair and the treatment of lupus 

 were demonstrated in the persons of some of 

 Dr. Schift's patients. 



At the annual meeting of the Michigan Board 

 of Health on April 8th the President, Mr. 

 Frank Wells, made an address, the greater 

 part of which related to the outbreaks of typhoid 

 fever along the St. Clair and Detroit rivers, at 

 Port Huron, St. Clair, Marine City, Detroit and 

 Wyandotte, especially the recent one at the 

 city of St. Clair. He was emphatic in his belief 

 that the Board should enter upon a more thor- 

 ough investigation of the waters of St. Clair 

 river, with a view to ascertaining, if possible, 

 where, when, under what circumstances, and 

 how the river is contaminated, whether the 

 contamination is intermittent or constant, what 

 is the result of dredging the sewage sludge out 

 of Black river at Port Huron, and whether the 

 contaminations which constantly enter the river 

 at Port Huron find their way into the water 

 supplies of the cities along the river, and under 

 what circumstances such contaminating material 

 finds its way into the water supply of Detroit. 

 The questions are of vital importance to the 

 citizens residing along the St. Clair and Detroit 

 rivers, and such investigations would be of in- 

 estimable value. The President said he knew 

 that the funds at the disposal of the State 

 Board were inadequate, but he hoped that the 

 Board would see its way clear to pushing the 

 investigation at least far enough to learn the 

 importance of such work, when if it proves to 

 be as important as he thought, the Legislature 

 would undoubtedly do as they have in other 

 States, make provision for having the investi- 



gation properly made. The Secretary of the 

 Board mentioned that he had had several sam- 

 ples of water from the river examined, from 

 the river as it leaves Port Huron, from the 

 river opposite the intake at St. Clair, from the 

 water works in St. Clair, from a tap in St. 

 Clair, and from the river as it leaves St. Clair. 

 All of the samples were found to be contami- 

 nated. 



The following note from our literary con- 

 temporary. The Critic, may prove of interest to 

 men of science : " One might enjoy the humor 

 injected into the situation at the Castle Garden 

 Aquarium, if it were not such a direct menace 

 to the best interests of that admirable institu- 

 tion. If Col. James E. Jones has said all the 

 things attributed to him by the papers, and 

 there is no reason for doubting that he has, he 

 should be keeping a fish-stand in Washington 

 Market, rather than managing an aquarium 

 that is designed to be of scientific benefit to the 

 public. His predecessor. Dr. Bean, knew his 

 business, and managed the interests of the 

 Aquarium as it was intended they should 

 be managed. He was not a Tammany 

 man in politics nor in his methods. Hun- 

 gry Tammanyites were after the ofiice, how- 

 ever. Mr. Croker is said to have hinted to 

 Dr. Bean that his salary was wanted for another 

 man, but he refused to take the hint. Tam- 

 many has an excellent plan for securing any 

 salary that it wants for its own people, when it 

 cannot oust the person who is drawing it. The 

 ofiice is abolished — and afterwards re-created. 

 The Tammany man is then put into the newly- 

 created ofBce, and all goes well — that is, as far 

 as he is concerned ; but it goes very ill for the 

 public. Most of us thought that Dr. Bean was 

 the right man in the right place, but we are 

 told by his successor that he was ' too damn 

 scientific to run an Aquarium.' That was a 

 new view of the situation. Col. Jones has 

 expressed other views quite as new and start- 

 ling. He may know a hawk from a hern-shaw, 

 but he tells us quite frankly that he does not 

 know much. He said to a Times reporter : 



" Take those specimens of sea anemones, for in- 

 stance. They're out there in the laboratory, and few 

 know anything about them, and more care less. What 



