August 9, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



95 



all fat people are subject to this fate, but that it is only the fat, 

 elderlj' alcoholic subjects that have been shown to manifest abnor- 

 mal combustibility. Possibly the alcohol in such cases has the 

 double effect of laying up fat and stupefying the subject, so that 

 he is unable to save himself when he does take fire. 



One of the best recent monographs on this subject is that of Dr. 

 F. Ogsten {British Foreign Medico- Cliirurgical Review, vol. xlv. 

 p. 1 79), which details a case of his own, — again, be it observed, one 

 where the spontaneous element was wanting, or was not proved. 

 A woman, fat, imtemperate, was in front of smouldering ashes in a 

 grate, and was almost wholly consumed, with little burning of the 

 surrounding objects, and with nothing specially inflammable 

 about her. Ogsten seems to have had some doubt on this subject, 

 seven years later, in referring to the same case {Medical Times 

 and Gazette, vol. i. 1877, p. 27), when he says the question is still 

 subjudice; but he admits that one cannot explain the facts in this 

 case without assuming that the body was in a condition unusually 

 favorable for and predisposed to the feeding at its own fire. 



In the monograph referred to, Ogsten collected the opinions of 

 thirty-five authors who treated of this subject, and he thus classi- 

 fied them : five were quite sceptical on the whole subject, three 

 believed in increased combustibility only, and twenty- seven believed 

 in spontaneous ignitability as well. 



The opinion of the editor of the Medical and Surgical fournal 

 is, therefore, that the necessarily isolated condition of all persons who 

 perish in this way, and the commonness of fires and lights or of 

 the means of producing them in all places, would make it extremely 

 difficult to establish the fact of spontaneous ignitability, even did it 

 exist. Certainly such proof has not yet been given us. The other 

 point, that of increased combustibility, seems to have received con- 

 siderable confirmation. 



Elimination of Poisons. 



In an exceedingly interesting and valuable Croonian lecture on 

 chemical structure and physiological action, recently delivered be- 

 fore the Royal College of Physicians of London by Dr. T. Lauder 

 Brunton, there is a passage in which he discusses the treatment of 

 diseases depending upon infection of the blood or tissues by mi- 

 crobes. In this he calls attention to the difficulty of destroying or 

 weakening microbes, once fairly occupying the animal economy, 

 and the greater probability of success by promoting rapid elimina- 

 tion of the poisonous products of micro-organisms, as well as of 

 the micro-organisms themselves. 



One of the most important methods of such elimination is free 

 purgation; another is active diuresis ; and a third, not alluded to 

 here by Dr. Brunton, is free sweating. 



One of the best diuretics. Dr. Brunton says, is a free supply of 

 water ; and Ringer has pointed out the possibility of lessening the 

 effect of poisons by washing them, as it were, rapidly out of the 

 system. This plan has recently been followed by Sanquirico with 

 very striking results. In his experiments he injected quantities of 

 a weak saline solution directly into the veins immediately after the 

 poison had been administered, or just when the symptoms of 

 poisoning began to appear. By treatment in this way he found 

 that three times the ordinary lethal dose of strychnine had to be 

 administered before death occurred. The poisonous action of 

 chloral, alcohol, urethan, pareldehyde, caffeine, and aconitine was 

 also diminished, but not very much ; while that of morphine and 

 nicotine was unaffected. In all cases the beneficial effect of the 

 treatment was most marked when the diuresis was greatest. No 

 doubt, the effect of fluids is likely to be greater when they are in- 

 troduced directly into the veins than when they are introduced in- 

 directly through the alimentary canal ; but the effect in both cases 

 will be the same in kind, though different in degree. 



The principles laid down in these statements. The Medical and 

 Surgical Reporter remarks, are probably those which lie at the 

 base of the empirical practice of hundreds and even thousands of 

 years; and they furnish an interesting demonstration of the way in 

 which reason often, by slow steps, demonstrates the wisdom of 

 practices long since adopted under the spur of instinct or in imita- 

 tion of nature. 



Hygienic Police Regulations in Berlin. — The Berlin 

 correspondent of the jl/^^fiVa/ 4§-^ Qune 10, 1889) says that the 



city of Berlin in many respects is exemplary in its hygienic care 

 and dispositions, especially in its regulations concerning buildings, 

 streets, victuals, and, last but not least, the patent-medicine man. 

 No house is allowed to be built until its plans have passed not only 

 ordinary police inspection, but also a special " hygienic committee," 

 which rejects, of course, every thing which is not in accordance 

 with the principles of hygiene. The streets of Berlin are the ob- 

 jects of admiration of all foreigners, who speedily are awakened to 

 the shameful and outrageous treatment to which they have been 

 subjected for years. Berlin is paved almost exclusively with 

 asphaltum and Belgian blocks, and the streets are always bright and 

 clean-looking, regardless of weather. The inspection of victuals is 

 so rigorous that poisoning from trichinae, or 'from decomposed 

 meat, fish, or other eatables, is an exceedingly rare occurrence. 

 Quite recently, 24.000 pounds of fish, just from Denmark, were 

 confiscated and destroyed. No milk-wagon is allowed to enter the 

 city until the specific gravity of the milk has been ascertained. 

 Regarding patent medicines, the Berlin police have resorted to very 

 simple means to protect the public ; viz., by the absolute interdic- 

 tion of patent-medicine advertisements in newspapers and other 

 public prints. It will be seen by the foregoing that citizens of 

 Berlin are not permitted to care for themselves, as is the hazardous 

 privilege of Americans, but the government assumes the responsi- 

 bility of all hygienic and sanitary precautions. 



Sir Spencer Wells on Cremation. — The London Z««ir^/ 

 (June 8, 1889) says that Sir Spencer Wells deserves credit for the 

 pains he takes to disseminate a knowledge of the arguments for 

 cremation in Great Britain, and of the success which this method 

 of disposing of the dead meets with. It is impossible to deny the 

 strength of the arguments in favor of cremation as a most effective 

 and prompt way of reducing the body to its mineral elements, 

 which process, the Lancet says, can be carried out now at Woking 

 at the small cost of ten shillings per body. Sir Spencer Wells 

 argues, that, however light the covering of the dead body, its burial 

 in earth is objectionable, for the reason that infective germs are in 

 this way preserved and carried about by water or air, to operate 

 injuriously when favorable meteorological or social states occur. 

 The rapid growth of population, and especially of urban popula- 

 tions, due to a greater prevalence of peace and a more satisfactory 

 sanitary system, invests this question with ever-increasing impor- 

 tance. The religious objections have been completely answered 

 by men like Lord Shaftesbury and Bishop Fraser. There is evi- 

 dence that the number of cremations is increasing in Italy ana Eng- 

 land, as in the week preceding Sir Spencer Wells's speech there had 

 been three cremations at Woking; while in Italy, in the three years 

 1886, 1887, and 1888, there were 119, 155, and 202. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The opening season of the tenth annual convention of the 

 National Photographers' Association was held at the Mechanics 

 Building, Boston, on Aug. 6. Mr. J. F. Ryder of Cleveland gave 

 an address of welcome. The next meeting will be held at Detroit. 

 The exhibition of apparatus and pictures was open till to-day. The 

 Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. of Rochester showed a notable 

 collection of large pictures. Cramer of St. Louis displayed some 

 of the results from his orthochromatic dry plates, which give the 

 true value of the colors in originals. 



— London Industries reports that C. A. Paillard has recently 

 drawn attention to the valuable properties of some of the alloys of 

 palladium, and advocates their use in the manufacture of non-mag- 

 netizable watches. The composition of four alloys has been ascer- 

 tained, and the author has examined their respective properties. 

 An alloy consisting of palladium 60.75, copper 15.25, and iron 1.5 

 per cent, is readily formed by mixing half the palladium with the 

 copper and iron, and fusing the mixture with borax and powdered 

 charcoal. The remaining palladium is then added, and the alloy 

 fused and poured into moulds. 



— A sister of the late Maria Mitchell will prepare for the press 

 the " Life and Letters " of the distinguished teacher. Her corre- 

 spondence is said to be very rich in letters from Herschel, Hum- 

 boldt, and others. 



