August 30, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



147 



and the same conception might be adopted with respect to the art 

 of milling, preparing grain, and making bread. 



It is sometimes affirmed that there is no science of political 

 economy. Such an exhibition as I have sketched in this somewhat 

 visionary way would show in a concrete for.n the very object-les- 

 sons with which the political economy must deal ; and I think one 

 would soon predicate on the record of the past four centuries the 

 possibilities of the next, yet it has only been within the last century 

 that covers the existence of this nation that the chief part of this 

 progress has been made. This has been the century in which an 

 abundance of metals, which lie at the foundation of all arts, have 

 been placed at the disposal of the science of metallurgy. It has 

 been the century in which heat has been converted into power by 

 methods which are even yet crude and imperfect ; it has been the 

 century in which time and distance have ceased in a great measure 

 to obstruct the mutual services on which human welfare depends. 

 We stand at the beginning of the century in which known agencies 

 or new directions of energy — new inventions of which we can 

 only dimly perceive and forecast in the future — will alter, change, 

 and ameliorate the conditions of men in even greater measure than 

 the inventions of the past, the only conditions precedent and neces- 

 sary to such progress in welfare being that there shall be commen- 

 surate progress m the general intelligence of the people, especially 

 of those who are chosen to legislate for them, equal in its measure 

 to the progress in the arts. 



Therefore the final objective point of this proposed exhibition of 

 1S92 might well be to make it an object-lesson illustrating the in- 

 terdependence of men and of nations, and their power to serve 

 each other, in all the arts of peace which make for plenty. . . . 

 It goes without saying that if any such comprehensive plan should 

 be undertaken, a specific call would be made upon each State to 

 make an exhibit of its power of serving others, by bringing to- 

 gether its minerals, its timbers, and the products of its soil and its 

 forests, in a thoroughly systematic way, — after the manner of the 

 exhibits of Kansas and Colorado in the Centennial, and after the 

 manner of the exhibits of the Southern minerals and timber at 

 Atlanta. 



ELECTRICAL NEWS. 



Atmospheric Electricity. — A study of the electric phe- 

 nomena produced by solar radiations was presented at a meeting 

 of the French Academy on Aug. 5 by M. Albert Nodon. Numer- 

 ous observations made at the laboratories of the Sorbonne and the 

 College de France show that on meeting an insulated metallic or 

 carbon conductor the solar rays communicate to it a positive elec- 

 tric charge ; that the amplitude of this charge increases with the 

 intensity of the rays and decreases with the hygrometric state of 

 the air, the phenomenon attaining its maximum value in Paris about 

 I P.M. in summer, when the atmosphere is pure and dry ; lastly, 

 that the effects cease during the transit of clouds across the face of 

 the sun. If these results can be extended to non-metallic bodies, 

 then solar radiation may be regarded as one of the causes of the 

 electrization of the clouds. 



A New Lamp. — M. Henri Pieper, of Liege, has just invented a 

 new incandescent lamp of very simple construction. It consists of 

 two horizontal rods of copper placed about four millimetres apart. 

 A thin pointed rod of carbon, placed vertically, rests on the copper 

 rods and forms a bridge between them. The current passes 

 between the copper rods through the carbon, which it renders in- 

 candescent. The copper rods are mounted on springs, which cause 

 them to rise slightly when the carbon is totally consumed, and 

 bring them against two contact pieces, thus preventing the rupture 

 of the circuit. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 The Kola-nut. — The value of the kola-nut (seeds oi SUr- 

 cuUa acuminata) as a dietetic and therapeutic agent has been re- 

 cently tested by surgeon R. H. Firth, according to the Lancet. 

 These nuts are allied in composition to cocoa, coffee, and tea, but 

 contain a relatively large amount of caffeine. The properties or- 

 dinarily assigned to kola are those of a strong tonic and stimulant 

 to the nervous system, counteracting and removing the sense of 



exhaustion after fasting and fatigue ; it has also been credited with 

 having an antagonistic action to alcohol, and it has been said to 

 purify water. From his observations surgeon Firth concludes that 

 kola is in no sense a food ; that it increases the total urinary water 

 with a slight reduction of its total solids, and a marked reduction 

 of the extractive ; that it has a peculiar stimulant action on the 

 nervous system, temporarily strengthens the heart-beat, and in- 

 creases the arterial tension. In times of exertion and fasting it 

 wards off the sense of mental and physical depression and exhaus- 

 tion. As a therapeutic agent in convalescence, and as an antag- 

 onist to alcoholic sequelse, kola has not yielded any positive results 

 in surgeon Firth's hands. For the purification of water it does 

 not appear to be superior to other mucilaginous seeds, its action 

 being purely mechanical. In this report due prominence is given 

 to the importance of separating seeds which contain no caffeine, 

 such as Garcina kola and Sterculia cordifolia, as these would 

 speedily discredit the employment of kola by the troops under con- 

 ditions when it might possibly be of service. It appears that an 

 infusion, from its astringent action, might be used for those suffer- 

 ing from diarrhoea. 



Near-Sightedness. — Dr. Duclaux has communicated to the 

 Academy of Sciences, in the name of Dr. Boucheron, says the 

 Paris correspondent of The Medical Record, a note relative to 

 hereditary myopia and its treatment in adolescence. The children 

 of myopes are not born myopes ; they become so, but at an age 

 more and more young, according as generations succeed. Thus, a 

 grandfather who became myopic at twenty years, having a son 

 myopic at fifteen years, they would both have a slight myopia, and 

 would be able to read without spectacles in their old age ; but their 

 grandchildren will become myopic at twelve years, and will already 

 have been so to a great degree. The great-grandson will be a 

 myope at eight years, will arrive at six dioptrics of myopia at fifteen 

 years, at eight dioptrics at thirty years, will lose an eye at thirty -five 

 years, and will have great difficulty in preserving his second eye to 

 the end of his days. It is therefore necessary that this state of 

 things should be more rigorously attended to. Dr. Boucheron re- 

 marked that in children somewhat the same thing happens with 

 the muscles of the eye as what occurs in writer's cramp. The 

 child strains in writing, contracts himself, and there is produced 

 cramp of the accommodation of the eye, and this abnormal accom- 

 modation tends to become permanent in myopic pupils. Dr. 

 Boucheron examined one hundred lyceens, and took the measure 

 of their myopia. He instilled atropine into their eyes, and their 

 myopia was modified. Hence, beyond the principles of hygiene, 

 so easy to institute, he recommends the employment, in feeble 

 doses, of atropine, duboisine, or simply cocaine. 



Eau de Cologne Tippling. — It is said that the practice of 

 drinking cologne is becoming very common both in Europe and in 

 this country, and, as an indication of this, that the sale of the per- 

 fume has increased greatly of late years. Women are more ad- 

 dicted to the habit than men, and a writer in the Quarterly Jour- 

 nal of Inebriety sa.ys, that the presence of obscure and complex 

 nervous disorders in a woman who uses cologne externally should 

 always suggest the possibility of its internal use. 



Hygiene Congress. — The Hygiene Congress at Paris brought 

 its labors to a close on Aug. 10. Among the subjects discussed 

 during the week was that of the pollution of rivers. The congress 

 decided, says Nature, that the pollution of underground water- 

 courses and of rivers by the residue of factories should in principle 

 be forbidden, and that water from factories should not flow into a 

 stream till it had been proved to be absolutely free from all injurious 

 substances. The congress was strongly of opinion that the most 

 perfect method of purification was by irrigation. This, of course, 

 must, in certain cases, be preceded by such mechanical and chemi- 

 cal processes as would render the water fit for agricultural purposes. 

 It was related that many manufacturers had benefited by the appli- 

 cation of the law, as in their efforts to prevent the pollution of 

 watercourses they had made discoveries enabling them to utilize 

 waste products. The difficulty was with the smaller manufacturers, 

 who were not rich enough to take the necessarj' measures. The 

 congress decided that where persistent resistance was displayed 



