November 29, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



365 



Four-fifths of the varieties of tomatoes now offered by dealers 

 possess no points of superiority for general culture. It should be 

 borne in mind that a variety which is simply good is not worth in- 

 troducing. It must present some point of decided superiority over 

 the best kinds at present known, in order to possess merit. This 

 fact appears to be commonly overlooked in all classes of vege- 

 tables, and every year the grower is bewildered with the display of 

 novelties. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



Is Man Left-Legged .' — Dr. W. K. Sibley read a paper be- 

 fore the British Association in which he argued that man was 

 naturally left-legged. Standing working with the right hand, there 

 was a tendency to balance on the left leg. Race-paths were nearly 

 always made for running in circles to the right, and the majority of 

 movements (such as dancing, running, etc.) were more readily per- 

 formed to the right. In walking it was natural to bear to the right : 

 crowds as well as individuals did so. Troops started off with the 

 left foot ; the left foot was placed in the stirrup or step of the bi- 

 cycle in mounting ; the left foot was the one from which a man 

 took off in jumping. The Medical Record, to which we are in- 

 debted for the above information, goes on to say, that, from meas- 

 urements made by Dr. Garson of the skeletons of the two legs, in 

 54.3 per cent the left leg was the longer, and in 35.8 the right. 

 From measurements of 200 pairs of feet, it was found that in 44 

 per cent the left, and in 21.5 the right, was longer, while in 34.5 

 they were equal. 



The Stomach-Brush. — A dental journal publishes the fol- 

 lowing, translated from the German : In 1713 there was published 

 a pamphlet entitled " A Complete Account of the most Useful 

 Stomach Brush which is now to be had at the Brushmakers at the 

 Old Court Sadler's Shop in Broad Street in CoUn-on-the-Spree." 

 Many a one may have wished to be able once in a while to have 

 his stomach thoroughly cleaned out, and this speculative brush- 

 maker gave a practicable means to give effect to this wish. In the 

 pamphlet there is a drawing of the stomach-brush : it resembles a 

 pipe-cleaner, but of course is larger. The stalk is made of four 

 wires twisted together, covered with thread, silk, or small ribbons : 

 it is twenty-six inches long. The brush at the under end is two 

 inches long and one and a half broad, and is made of goat's-beard 

 hair ; but, when one has been accustomed to use it for three or 

 four weeks, a horse-hair brush is substituted, .this hair being some- 

 what stronger, and so the effect is better. The application of this 

 most excellent brush is very simple. It is pressed through the 

 throat down into the stomach, which, by drawing up and down of 

 the brush, is cleaned. Thereafter cold water or brandy is to be 

 drunk, and the operation is repeated till the cleaning is perfect. 

 The cure is to be repeated every morning. The author says, ac- 

 cording to the British Medical Journal, " At first you will find it 

 rather troublesome to get the brush down, but when you put it in 

 your mouth and on your palate, draw in breath and wind, and 

 press it gently and gradually down, and, without any particular 

 trouble, it will reach the stomach. After eight to fourteen days' 

 practice, it will come as easily to you as eating or drinking." Of 

 course, the daily application of the stomach-brush is the infallible 

 remedy or preventive of all diseases that can be imagined. " Who- 

 ever uses this cure requires no other medicine, for it is good against 

 all— cold, hot, and poisonous fevers, it gives a good appetite for eat- 

 ing, it is good against asthma, hemorrhage, headache, chest com- 

 plaints, coughs, consumptions, apoplexy, toothache, sore eyes, dysen- 

 tery, quinsy on the tongue, quinsy in the throat, ulcers, abscesses, car- 

 dialgy ; it favors digestion, strengthens the heart, drives away pim- 

 ples on the skin, is against choking in the stomach, etc., makes too 

 fat and asthmatical and swollen-up people thin, and, on the other 

 hand, makes meagre and thin people fat. The great effect, how- 

 ever, is produced only when the use of the brush is combined with 

 that of an elixir. This is compounded of aloes, saffron, rhubar- 

 bona, lark-mushroom, wormseed, eugian, myrrh, theriac. After 

 the stomach-washing, forty to fifty drops of the elixir is to betaken 

 in wine, and this preserves for twenty-four hours against all poison 

 and pestilence." 



Vaccination on the Leg. — A French practitioner, in the 

 course of a large number of revaccinations, was struck with the 

 fact that the operation was far more successful when performed on 

 the leg than when the arm was selected. He has since availed 

 himself of an opportunity of verifying his first impression ; and last 

 year, having to revaccinate 177 school-children, he chose the left 

 leg in 99, and the left arm in 78, and carefully compared the re- 

 sults obtained, dividing them into three groups according as the 

 eruption was typical, doubtful, or absent. Of the 99 cases vacci- 

 nated on the leg, as we learn from the Medical Press and Circular, 

 ■22, were typical, 31 doubtful, and 45 unsuccessful, being equivalent 

 to a percentage of 23.2 and 31.3 respectively. Of the 78 children 

 vaccinated on the arm, the numbers were 11 typical, 25 doubtful, 

 and 42 failures, equal to 14.1 and 32 per cent respectively. The 

 percentage of failures was 45.45 on the leg, as compared with 53.84 

 on the arm. 



African Jumpers. — Dr. Bennett of Griqualand writes in the 

 Sottlk African Journal an account of a peculiar nervous affection 

 which is met with among the Griquas and other natives and indi- 

 viduals of mixed descent living in Griqualand. He suggests that 

 perhaps the affection is similar to that prevalent among the French 

 Canadians, and known there by the name of "jumpers." Dr. 

 Bennett says, " The affection is entirely confined to the male sex, 

 and I have never seen or heard of a case in the female. The vic- 

 tims of this strange form of neurosis go through the most extraor- 

 dinary and grotesque antics on the slightest provocation. A 

 whistle, a touch, a shout, — anything, in fact, sudden and unex- 

 pected, — will ' set them going.' Some will stiffen their limbs, 

 make hideous grimaces, and waltz about as if they had no joints in 

 their body. Others will jump wildly about like dancing dervishes, 

 imitating the particular sound that had acted as an exciting cause. 

 Some, again, will make use of the most obscene expressions on a 

 transient impulse, correcting themselves immediately afterward, 

 and expressing their regret for having used such language ; while 

 others, on the spur of the moment, will do any thing they are told 

 to do. If they should happen to have a piece- of tobacco in their 

 hand, and one should suddenly shout, ' Throw it away ! ' they will 

 do so at once, running away for a short distance, and trembling all 

 over their body. I remember one case in particular : it was that 

 of a ' bastard ' boy, a mason by trade. He had been handed a 

 piece of tobacco, and the person who handed it to him shouted out 

 suddenly, ' Throw it away : it is a snake ! ' He first danced about 

 wildly for a short time, and then ran away as fast as he was able ; 

 but he had not gone far, when he fell down in a ' fit,' and it was 

 some time before he recovered." 



Small-Pox. — Dr. Lewentaner of Constantinople, writing in 

 the Bulletin Gindral de Therapeutique, No. 32, i88g, speaks very 

 encouragingly of the success attending an antiseptic method of 

 treating this disease, which he tried in several cases. The advan- 

 tages of this method of treatment are summed up by The Medical 

 Record a.s ioWows : i. All the children treated in this way recov- 

 ered, although the ordinary mortality of the disease is forty per 

 cent. 2. The duration of the disease was decidedly shortened, the 

 period elapsing from the commencement of the eruption to the 

 falling-off of the crusts being twelve or thirteen days. 3. The dis- 

 ease ran its entire course almost without fever. 4. The danger to 

 those around the patient is greatly lessened. In Dr. Lewentaner's 

 cases there were other children exposed, but, notwithstanding that 

 they were not vaccinated, they did not contract the disease. 5. 

 The simplicity of the method, as compared with the treatment by 

 baths and cold applications, has much to recommend it. 6. .(Es- 

 thetically, also, the antiseptic method of treatment offers great ad- 

 vantages, since it prevents absolutely all pitting. 



Heredity of Acquired Characteristics. — Professor 

 William H. Brewer of Yale read a paper on the above subject at 

 the recent meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Phil- 

 adelphia. He combats the view of Weissmann, who has published 

 a volume in support of the proposition that characteristics acquired 

 by individuals are not transmissible. Weissmann supports this 

 proposition by experiments on mice, whose tails he cut off for suc- 

 cessive generations, without inducing a tailless diathesis in their 

 offspring. Brewer discussed four kmds of variation: i. Variation 



