October o, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



457 



the actual tliscoveries the}' report. To satisfy 

 this yearning for artistic completeness, elabo- 

 rate anil tedious disquisitions, and hackneyed 

 princi|)les, and facts long known, are interpo- 

 lated ; and even worse may be, when the imagi- 

 nation helps to create the completeness. Most 

 scientific men liarbor a little distrust of French 

 work. This sentiment is further fostered by 

 the almost systematic neglect of German re- 

 search on the part of the French. Such a 

 frank exhibition of rancor makes one suspect 

 the impartialitj' of the French in science gen- 

 erally- : indeed, we believe that science has 

 never been so depressed in France as at pres- 

 ent. Ital}' is above her ; but Italy, with all 

 her innate ability, is striving to learn from 

 Germany, and has already risen high, and will 

 rise higher. We trust and believe that the 

 present phase of French science which abounds 

 in inefficient work will soon end, and the people 

 terminate their present voluntary isolation. 

 The French sta}' at home : the}- used to travel 

 abroad much. Let us hope that they will soon 

 resume their ancient habit, and, above all, that 

 they will re-establish mental intercourse with 

 foreigners. There are savants in France who 

 are esteemed throughout the scientific world : 

 may their number rapidly increase ! 



America's contributions to pure science are 

 by no means very extensive, or often verj- im- 

 portant : compared with the great volume of 

 German production, they seem almost insig- 

 nificant. We have never duly fostered re- 

 search, for we have bestowed upon it neither 

 the proper esteem nor office. There are, we 

 suppose, at least six thousand ' professors ' in 

 the United States : are one hundred and fiftj- of 

 them active investigators? The time seems 

 remote when every American professor will be 

 expected to be also an investigator ; but among 

 us is a little band of men who have before them 

 the model of German^-, and who are working 

 earnestly for the intellectual elevation of their 

 country. Their first object is necessarily to 

 render research inorc important in public esti- 

 mation, and so to smootli the way for a corps 

 of professional investigators. Every thought- 

 ful [lerson must wish success to the attempt. 



CLIMATE rN THE CURE OF CONSUMP- 

 TION.^— II. 



Humidity. 



Theke is a unaniuiit}- of opinion amongst 

 autliorities in regard to the relation of moist- 

 ure to the production of phthisis. The sev- 

 enth annual report of the registrar-general of 

 Scotland showed that the deatii-rate from 

 phthisis diminished in proportion to the dr}-- 

 ness of the location. Dr. H. I. Bowditcii of 

 Boston has shown that phthisis is prevalent in 

 damp soils in the United States. "It is also 

 common in Holland, and other countries liable 

 to damp fogs and an atmosphere saturated 

 with moisture" (Reynold's System of medi- 

 cine, iii. .548). Ruehle, in Ziemssen, saj-s, 

 "It appears that moist air favors consump- 

 tion." Dr. Austin Flint says, " It maj- be 

 stated that the prevalence of the disease is 

 less in climates either uniformly warm and dry 

 or uniformly cold and drj-." And Dr. C. T. 

 Williams writes, " As to the desirabilit}- of 

 moist climates for consumptive patients, the 

 evidence is decidedly against their use in the 

 treatment of ordinarj- chronic phthisis." 



If we attempt to explain why it is that 

 phthisis is more prevalent in moist climates 

 than in drj-, we might assign as a cause the 

 prevalence of germs, or the impurity of the 

 air, containing the effluvia of decay, or per- 

 haps the greater susceptibilitj- of the system 

 to cold in moist climates ; or it maj- be that 

 the air, being so near saturation, cannot take 

 up the requisite amount of the aqueous vapor 

 exhaled from the lungs. Causa latet vis est 

 nota maj- adequately express the state of our 

 knowledge in regard to this point. A moist 

 climate is acknowledged to be a breeder of 

 phthisis ; and, au conlraire, a dry climate is 

 known to alTord a certain exemption from the 

 disease. This is showi^ b^- tlie fact that the 

 disease is rare in Iceland, in the island of 

 Morstrand, on the steppes of Kirghis, and in 

 the interior of Egypt ; in all of which places 

 the element of elevation is wanting. It may, 

 then, be conceded, that dryness of tlie air is an 

 important element in the prophylaxis and cure 

 of phthisis. 



The method of determining the' humidit}' of 

 the air is that introduced b}- Regnault, known 

 as the wet- and dry-bulb test. It can easil}- 

 be seen that the results obtained will depend 

 on the exposure of the thermometers, and on 

 the accuracy of the readings, iloreover, the 

 amount of moisture that the air is capable of 



* Concluded from No. 54. 



