4i8 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 359 



the widespread diffusion of the swine-plague bacilli is due to 

 secondary invasion following infection with the hog-cholera bacilli. 

 This, however, does not remove the grave significance of the swine- 

 plague bacilU, which certainly cannot be ignored in the studies in 

 this country of the diseases known as hog-cholera or swine-plague. 



While differing in some points from the conclusions reached by 

 the workers on this subject in the Bureau of Animal Industry, great 

 pleasure is taken in recording the essential harmony of the obser- 

 vations here made with the facts which they have observed in their 

 painstaking and creditable investigations of this difficult subject as 

 reported since the year 1885. 



Through the kindness of Dr. F. S. Billings, Professor Welch has 

 had the opportunity of examining a number of cultures from dis- 

 eased swine in Nebraska, chiefly direct cultures from the spleen. 

 These in nearly all instances were pure cultures of the hog-cholera 

 bacillus. Much confusion has resulted from Dr. Billings's attempt 

 to identify this organism with that of Schweine-Seuche. 



The former has had the opportunity of examining cultures of 

 Schweine-Seuche and also of the Scandinavian swine-pest, obtained 

 from the Hygienic Institute in Berlin. The organism in Schweine- 

 Seuche cultures is apparently identical with the swine-plague 

 bacillus which he has isolated. The organism in the swine-pest 

 cultures is a different species of bacillus, and appears to resemble 

 closely, if it is not identical with, the hog-cholera bacillus. 



It is regarded of importance that the future study of swine af- 

 fected with hog-cholera or swine-plague should be accompanied 

 with a more thorough bacteriological examination of each case 

 than has hitherto been customary. The mere production of a 

 direct stab-culture from one organ, such as the spleen, or the mere 

 inoculation of an animal with material from one organ, affords very 

 incomplete and unsatisfactory information. So long as the rela- 

 tions of the two organisms — the hog-cholera bacillus and the 

 swine- plague bacillus — to the diseases of swine are not thoroughly 

 clear, it seems necessary to make Esmarch or plate cultures from 

 the blood, the intestine, and the principal organs of the body, and 

 also to inoculate animals with material from the lungs, spleen, in- 

 testine, etc. A single case thoroughly investigated according to 

 modern bacteriological methods is of more value than many cases 

 in which only stab- cultures have been made from one or two 

 organs, or in which reliance is placed solely on the results of in- 

 oculating animals. Little reliance can be placed upon the results 

 of experimental inoculations of swine with the suspected organisms 

 of hog-cholera and of swine-plague in regions where the disease 

 prevails, unless very strict precautions are taken in the selection 

 and care of the experimental animals. 



RUMINATION IN THE HUMAN SUBJECT. 



In the London Medical Recorder for Nov. 20, 1889, Dr. Ireland 

 summarizes the contents of a paper on this curious phenomenon 

 by Dr. Sievers in the Finska Ldkaresdllskapets Handlingar , No. 

 5, 1889. 



This author first gives a rhume of the different opinions upon 

 rumination since 1618 (when Fabricius ab Aquapendente published 

 the first case of this affection) until the present time. He recalls 

 that since the appearance of the classical work by Adrien Dumur 

 on the " Paralysis of the Cardiac Orifice or Merycism," the most 

 recent authors see in this affection a nervous moving of the 

 stomach accompanied by more or less diminution of the tone of the 

 cardiac orifice. He thinks, however, that the true nature of rumi- 

 nation has not yet been thoroughly studied. Like Johannessen, to 

 whom we owe the most detailed examination of this subject. Dr. 

 Sievers says, that, before drawing any conclusion, the details should 

 be more minutely studied. But while the researches already made 

 do not e.xplain satisfactorily the nature of rumination, they furnish 

 us with very important facts for the therapeutic treatment. 



Dr. Sievers publishes three cases of rumination which he ob- 

 served in private practice at Helsingfors. Besides these, so far as 

 he knows, there are only three other cases of rumination mentioned 

 in Scandinavia, and reported by Johannessen in Zeitsch.fiir klin, 

 Mediczn, Bander X. and XII. In the first case described, the patient, 

 aged twenty-seven, who had been a governess and sick-nurse, be- 

 longed to a very nervous family, though none of them suffered 



from insanity or any other grave disorder. She had previously en- 

 joyed good health. She always ate very quickly, and did not 

 properly masticate her food. It is now ten years since she com- 

 menced to ruminate her food, after a sea-voyage lasting from three 

 to four days, during which time she had not defecated, owing to 

 want of convenience. Five, ten, or thirty minutes after eating, the 

 food is collected in little balls in the mouth in order to be subjected 

 to a second mastication. The patient seems quite at ease during- 

 rumination. After an ordinary dinner the rumination lasts from 

 an hour and a half to two hours. If she moves about, or even if 

 she is disturbed, rumination begins sooner, and is more active.. 

 Trying to restrain the process brings on such distress that the 

 patient is compelled immediately to give in. During rumination 

 she prefers to be seated. She leans forward, and at every mouth- 

 ful which returns she lowers her head. 



On scrutinizing the abdomen during the act of ruminating, one 

 notices a dimple-like depression under the ribs. This is accom- 

 panied by an uneasy sensation passing from right to left. This 

 does not extend farther than about the cardiac orifice. The patient 

 feels a slight shock, and the food returns to the mouth. The 

 stomach was found to be moderately distended with air. There 

 was no retardation of digestion, and no excessive secretion of gas- 

 tric juice ; but there was found to be unusual acidity of the con- 

 tents of the stomach, owing to the increased production of hydro- 

 chloric acid. No lactic acid could be detected. For this patient 

 Dr. Sievers prescribed a teaspoonful of Carlsbad salts before 

 dinner and supper, and a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda after 

 each meal. The diet was to consist of milk, eggs, meat, and a 

 very little bread. Under this treatment there was a gradual im- 

 provement ; and at the end of five weeks the rumination had en- 

 tirely ceased, nor did it return after she had discontinued using the 

 alkalies. 



The second case was a priest sixty years old. He had always 

 ruminated. His father, now eighty-eight, did the same. The pro- 

 cess commenced after a meal, and lasted from two to three hours. 

 He never tried to stop it, and does not think he could, as it goes 

 on independently of his will. He did not desire medical treatment 

 with a view to remove it. 



The third case was a Jewess, thirty-five years old, of a highly 

 neurotic family. Her father also ruminated ; and one brother out 

 of the family of nine occasionally did the same. She herself has 

 ruminated from childhood. The food returns of itself. The act 

 causes her no uneasiness, which would not be the case if she tried 

 to resist it. She did not desire medical treatment. The contents 

 of the stomach were found to be very acid. 



In La Psichiatria (Fasc. III.-IV.) there is a paper on " Rumi- 

 nation," by Dr. Cantarant). He had opportunities of studying this 

 affection in four idiots, two imbeciles, and three patients deeply 

 demented. No uneasiness seems in these cases to have followed 

 the process. Dr. Sievers, among other contributions to this curious 

 subject, refers to the papers of Alt {Berl. klin. Wochensch., 1888, 

 Nos. 26 and 27) and of Boas (No. 31 same journal) ; and in the 

 Archives de Neurologie (VII. 1884) the reader will find an interest- 

 ing paper on " Merycism," by Drs. Bourneville and Seglas. 



HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 



In an address on highway improvement delivered before the 

 Carriage Builders' National Association at Syracuse, N.Y., re- 

 cently, Col. Albert A. Pope of Boston said that the best roads in 

 the world to-day are those of England, France, and Germany, their 

 excellence being due to the fact that those countries were the first 

 to awaken from the long sleep of the dark ages, and that the grow- 

 ing rivalry between them necessitated attention to their roads, for 

 the proper prosecution of both their military and their mercantile 

 interests. In each country the roads early came under the na- 

 tional supervision, the results of which are seen in the most splendid 

 highways in existence, costing the least to maintain, and in every 

 way the most satisfactory and economical for those who use them. 



No country has a greater road mileage in proportion to the pop- 

 ulation than the United States, according to Col. Pope ; but while, 

 with characteristic American push and hurry, the more extensive 

 means of communication and intercourse have been provided, we 



