390 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 357 



in saying that practically all the fats in milk are products of diges- 

 tion, and none of them results of simple translation through the 

 digestive organs of fats already present in food. On the other 

 hand, we have undoubted evidence of th'e translation of other sub- 

 stances directly from the food of the cow to the butter-fat, as is 

 shown in the presence of the aldehyde in cotton-oil, which reduces 

 silver, in the butter of cows fed on these substances. Among 

 other studies on the influence of the food on the composition of 

 butter, I might cite the paper of Ladd, already noted ; and also 

 •one by C. J. von Lookeren, published in the Milch Zeilung (No. 

 3, 1889, p. 47) ; and the paper of Mayer, published in Die Land- 

 'wirtschafilichen Versiichs Stationen (vol. xxxv. p. 261). These 

 studies are of such practical interest, that it is my intention to con- 

 tinue them during the coming year on an extended series of feed- 

 ing experiments, in which I hope to interest experimenters in differ- 

 ent parts of the country. 



THE STING OF THE JELLY-FISH. 



Dr. B. W. Richardson writes on the above subject in the last 

 number of the Asclepiad, giving a personal experience of his own. 

 He says, — 



■' In my case I was caught by the shoulders and chest in the 

 tentacles of a large medusa, and had really for a minute or two a 

 difficulty in freeing myself. The surface of the skin touched by 

 the tentacles began to smart at once, and, by the time I was out 

 of the water and partly dressed, the skin was covered, over the 

 surface attacked, with a bright erjthema, accompanied with a 

 sense of extreme heat and irritation. The sensation was much the 

 same as that brought on by the application of a mustard poultice, 

 •except that it was not so uniformly diffused, but was rather in the 

 form of wheals in slightly raised lines, with a considerable number 

 of points at which the tingling and heat were most severe. Un- 

 fortunately, I had no clinical thermometer by me with which to 

 take the local temperature, but, judging by the touch of the hand, 

 the local temperature was raised at least two or three degrees. 

 The redness and irritation lasted seven hours, and did not abso- 

 lutely subside until after a night's rest ; but, during the time it was 

 on in the acute form, it was soothed considerably by the applica- 

 tion of water, rendered alkaline by common washing soda in 

 the proportion of an ounce of the soda to about two quarts of 

 •water. 



" A friend of the writer suffered far more severely. He was 

 bathing where a number of jelly-fish were present, and got so en- 

 tangled amongst them, that, as he said, he was 'stung over almost 

 -all the surface of his body.' He suffered from an acute erythema- 

 tous eruption, which lasted over sixteen hours, attended with two 

 <legrees of general fever, and followed by malaise that lasted three 

 ■days. 



" A still more important case happened in a very singular man- 

 ner to another friend and patient. I had gone down to a bathing- 

 place in the summer of 1872, not knowing that my friend was there. 

 I had not been on the spot two hours, when a messenger came to 

 me, asking if I would go at once to Mr. G., the friend in question, 

 teca'use he had been ' stung in the throat by a jelly-fish, and they 

 ■were afraid he would not live.' On reaching my friend, who had 

 -accidentally heard I was near to him, I learned that about two hours 

 before, while he had been floating on his back in the sea, with his 

 mouth open, the tentacles of a jelly-fish swept into his mouth, and 

 stung him severely in the back of the throat. There could be no 

 doubt about the mischief, for the throat over the whole of the 

 pharynx was intensely red, and the surface was rough and raised. 

 With this condition there were considerable heat and irritation, 

 amounting to acute pain, and attended with inability to swallow 

 any thing except fluids cooled with iced water. The idea of ex- 

 treme danger was present in ths mind of the sufferer, and I believe 

 my firm assurance that he would take no harm contributed as 

 much to the recovery that succeeded as the simple alkaline reme- 

 dies which formed the chief part of the medical treatment. In this 

 case also there was a lise of two degrees of temperature, and dur- 

 ing convalescence there was marked depression of both mind and 

 body for a period of two or three days. 



•• In describing these phenomena," he adds, " I have used the 



ordinary word ' sting ' for the want of one more accurate. Really, 

 I do not know whether it is a sting, like that of a wasp or a nettle, 

 that is inflicted, or whether a secretion, acrid in kind, is thrown 

 upon the surface, and acts directly as an irritant fluid. On the 

 whole, I suspect it is a fluid, or organic acid, which is the cause of 

 the irritation. For the resultant erythema, local alkaline treatment 

 is particularly effective. In the throat case, bicarbonate of soda 

 with mel boracis proved very grateful and useful." 



MENTAL SCIENCE. 



The Energy and Rapidity of Voluntary Movements. ' 

 M. FfiRfi, whose volume upon the relations of sensation and 

 movement, upon the phases of hypnotism and kindred topics, has 

 given him a deserved reputation, has recently investigated the re- 

 lation between the ener.gy or physical power at the disposal of the 

 individual and the rapidity of his re-actions to simple physical pro- 

 cesses. His main thesis is, that great energy and great quickness 

 of movements are concomitant, and vary in the same way under 

 similar circumstances. He has studied this relation among the 

 hysterical and epileptic (as typical instances of abnormal sensori- 

 motor organisms) as well as in normal individuals. 



M. Fere had shown that in hysteria the influence of certain emo- 

 tions, pleasant in their nature, was to increase the maximum power 

 of exertion, as tested by the " squeezing " of a dynamometer, which 

 action he terms " sthenic; " while opposite emotions decrease such 

 power, and are " asthenic." " He now studies the variations in the 

 re-action times to an electrical shock under the same influences, 

 and the concomitant variation in dynamometric power. In five 

 subjects re-acting from the forehead and the back of the hand, 

 both on the right side and on the left, the average re-action times 

 were, T .61, M .61, V .42, R .28, and B .27 of a second, when the 

 dynamometer registered respectively, T, 24 ; M, 24 ; V, 28 ; R, 28 ; 

 and B, 29. Furthermore, the side of the body from which the re- 

 action is quickest (the subjects are affected with partial anesthesia) 

 also claims the hand with greatest dynamometric force. 



If these subjects are put into the somnambulic stage of hypno- 

 tism, the effect upon the re-action time may be either to shorten it 

 or lengthen it, or leave it unaltered ; but in every case the power 

 of the maximum contraction is affected in the same way. The re- 

 action times are, for T .61, for V .61, for R .35, for B .25, for M 

 .20, of a second ; and the strength of squeeze respectively, 24, 25, 

 30, 36, 40. Under the influence of an " asthenic " or strength- 

 depriving unpleasant emotion, such as fear, B's re-action time in- 

 creased from the normal of .29 to .44 of a second, and his muscular 

 force decreased from 29 to 20 ; M's re-action time of .61 becomes 

 .65 of a second, and his dynamometric record of 24 becomes 25. 

 Similar changes for V are from .42 to .51 of a second, and from 28 

 to 24 ; for R, from .28 to .45 of a second, and from 28 to 16 ; for 

 T, from .61 to .62 of a second, and from 24 to 30. We notice the 

 individual variations, but in general the law is maintained. Under 

 the influence of a ■' sthenic " or strength-giving emotion, the re- 

 action times decreased and the squeeze increases as follows : for 

 B, .13 of a second and 40 ; for M, .16 of a second and 4^ ; for V, 

 .28 of a second and 37 ; for R, .14 of a second and 42 ; for T, .19 

 of a second and 38. Essentially similar results are shown for two 

 hysterical patients re-acting to sound instead of to touch impres- 

 sions. M. Fere records the form of the contraction of the hand, 

 and finds, that, when the effort is powerful and there-action quick, 

 the curve of contraction rises suddenly, while in the opposite case it 

 rises slowly. He notes, too, many other mainly physiological con- 

 ditions into which we cannot here enter, but all of which go to 

 show that the speed of re-action times depends upon the rate at 

 which the nutritive processes of circulation, etc., proceed. Essen- 

 tially similar results were obtained in epileptics. In one case the 

 re-action time to a touch impression was .34 of a second ; to a 

 sound impression, .28 in the normal condition ; one hour alter an 



1 Revue Philosophique, No. 7, 1S80. 

 ^ - It is interesting to compare this action witti the re-enforcement of the patellar- 

 tendon reflex or knee-jerk by similar means. Any impressive sensation will cause an 

 increase in the response to a simple blow below the knee. Both may be regarded as 

 veiy sensitive and quickly registering indices of the effect of stimuli upon the ner- 

 vous system, and have the extreme value that the great rarity of such indications gives 

 them (see Lombard, in Vol. I. No. i. of the Amencan Journal of Psychology). 



