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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 351 



SCIENCE; 



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Vol. XIV. NEW YORK, October 25, i88g. No. 351. 



CONTENTS: 



A Remarkable Electric-Light 



Plant 275 



Condensed Fruits and Vegetables 276 

 The Boynton Bicycle Railroad . . 278 

 The Kongo Railway 279 



Health Matters. 

 A Physiological Study of Absinthe. 280 

 The Native Egyptian as a Subject 



for Surgical Operation . . 280 



The Diseased-Meat Scare . 280 



Sawdust as a Dressing for Wounds. a8 



Danger in Silk Thread 28: 



Some Domestic Remedies in the 



Transvaal 28 



Efiect of Cannon-Firing on the 



Eiffel Tower 28 



Poisoning by Potatoes 28 



Amminol for the Disinfection of 



Sewage 28 



Variations in the Composition of 



Milk 28 



How Drunkards are treated in Nor- 



28 



Notes and News 



Public Health Associ; 



America 



TION 



Progress of China 



Jade in Burmah 



Mental Science. 



New Experiments upon the Time 



Relations of Mental Processes . . 



The Nature of Negative Halluci 



nations 



1 Railways 



1 Lightning-Flash 



Elsctrical Nev 

 The Telephone 

 The Duration c 



Book-Reviews. 



The Struggle for Immortality 



A Dictionary of Electrical Words, 

 Terms and Phrases 



I Publishers 



Notes. 

 The Bower-Barfl Rustless Ire 



AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION. 



The seventeenth annual convention of the American Public 

 Health Association was opened Tuesday in the Brooklyn Institute. 

 About two hundred members from all parts of this country and 

 Canada were present. 



The first paper was upon " The Overshading of Our Homes," 

 by Dr. William Thornton Parker of Newport, R.I. It was read 

 by Dr. C. A. Lindsley of New Haven. In the paper the writer 

 said in part, " Overshading is a serious fault, and directly lessens 

 the value of real estate, and noticeably increases disease and 

 shortens life. Houses overshaded are not healthful, no matter 

 how commodious or" well built they may be. This condition of 

 overshading is very noticeable in our New England and Middle 

 States towns. The white faces and sickly appearance of so many 

 of our people are largely attributable to this cause, and suggest that 

 medical men should call attention to the growing evil. Where 

 houses are overshaded, the nervous system also suffers, as well as 

 the general bodily health." The discussion brought out clearly 

 that this is a subject on which doctors disagree. 



Dr. Lindsley said that it was his belief that the great number of 

 trees in New Haven was unquestionably the cause of much malaria 

 and other disease in that city. Dr. Henry P. Walcott of Massa- 

 chusetts remarked that he had lived in a town as much shaded as 

 New Haven, and found no harm from the great number of trees, 

 but a direct benefit. Dr. George M. Sternberg, U.S.A., believed 

 that many malarious places were redeemed by the planting of 

 trees. Dr. Gilhon of Washington mentioned the fact that the 

 Roman Campagna had been freed from malaria to a great degree 



by the planting of eucalyptus trees. The swamps in California 

 were dried in the same way. 



The second paper, upon " Clothing in its Relation to Hygiene," 

 was by Dr. James F. Hibberd of Richmond, Ind. His conclusions 

 are that many persons dress too warmly, and thus induce disease. 

 Most persons only regard the amount of clothing to be worn so 

 that it should protect sufficiently against cold, and wholly disre- 

 gard the effect of over-heating and thus disarranging the functions 

 of the skin. 



Dr. Hibberd maintained that an insufficiently clothed person was 

 not the one who caught cold, but it was the overclad one who was 

 most subject to it. 



He summed up as follows :. " It seems time that the relation of 

 clothing to the health of the people of temperate climates engaged 

 in civil industries should be reviewed, and the points for investiga- 

 tion maybe summarized thus: viz., i. The popular and profes- 

 sional estimate of the hygiene of the skin is much below its real im- 

 portance ; 2. The physiology of the skin cannot be largely inter- 

 fered wilh without endangering the general health ; 3. One of the 

 influential factors in the sound health of man is to establish and 

 maintain in his organization a resisting power to the causes of dis- 

 ease ; 4. The tendency is to overdress, enervating the skin, and 

 curtailing its power, and thereby the power of the whole system, to 

 resist the causes of disease ; 5. A proper e.xposure of the surface 

 of the body to environing low temperature is a valuable general 

 tonic ; 6. Ventilation of the skin is indispensable to good health ; 

 7. Habit may enable one to bear wide differences in clothing un- 

 der similar surroundings without detriment, and this should im- 

 press the necessity of cultivating correct habits of dress. 



A paper on " Causes and Prevention of Infant Mortality " was 

 presented by Dr. Jerome Walker of Brooklyn. Dr. Walker finds 

 from statistics that the common belief was not sustained that infant 

 mortality in this country had decreased of late years. The hope of 

 the future lies in a radical change, so that mere political doctors 

 may not control the health boards, and in the sanitary education of 

 the masses. The speaker said, " We may conclude from what is 

 known of institutions for children, (l) that a large proportion of 

 the deaths in them are preventable ; (2) that the younger the chil- 

 dren and the larger the number, the greater the mortality ; (3) that 

 the mortality can be lessened, but the decrease costs money, time, 

 patience, and energy ; and to obtain the best results the attending 

 and resident physicians should be reliable, should be given control 

 over all medical and sanitary matters, and should be held responsi- 

 ble for the same." 



In the next paper, on " The Relations of the Dwellings of the 

 Poor to Infant Mortality," by Alfred F. White, C.E., of Brooklyn, 

 were quoted statistics to show that such institutions as the Pea- 

 body Association of London were needed here. Through the re- 

 forms thus instituted in tenement-house construction, the infant 

 mortality of London had been reduced to 15 per cent of all deaths, 

 while in this city it was 26 per cent. 



Dr. George Homan of St. Louis, secretary of the Missouri State 

 Board of Health, read a paper advocating the employment of better 

 men as local health-officers at higher pay. 



In the evening the delegates and their friends went to the 

 Academy of Music. Dr. J. H. Raymond opened the exercises with 

 a short address of welcome. Mayor Chapin welcomed the dele- 

 gates on behalf of the city, and Dr. Hutchins performed a similar 

 office for the medical profession. Then came the address of Presi- 

 dent Johnson. His piarpose, he said, was to talk to the people, not 

 to scientists. He said, — 



" A death from typhoid-fever now means not so much a dispen- 

 sation of Providence as it means foul water, foul food, or foul air. 

 A city is decimated by a pestilence, and it is found that its founda- 

 tions are honeycombed with cesspools, and its drinking-water is 

 diluted sewage. The judgments of God, in the light of these 

 revelations, become no more mysterious than the pains of the child 

 that laughingly thrusts its tiny finger into the brilliant flame only 

 to feel the terrible infliction that follows. There has come to be 

 an enthusiasm in the medical profession on this subject which has 

 made itself felt in various ways. This zeal has communicated it- 

 self to the public. An intelligent foundation has been laid for 

 sanitary reforms. 



