February 6, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



79 



corps to Tunis in 1881, consisting of 30,000 men, had 4,500 cases 

 of typhoid, with 884 deaths. 



Dr. Brouardel concludes by affirming that if vaccination and 

 re-vaccination were rendered obligatory in France, and if the 

 towns were everywhere supplied with pure water, the country 

 would save from 25,000 to 30,000 lives annually, and these, for 

 the most part, of young persons of marriageable age. He there- 

 fore proposes to the academy to adopt the following conclusions : 

 ■" that the sanitary law in preparation ought to render vaccination 

 obligatory ; it ought to furnish sufficient authority to the muni- 

 cipalities, or in their default the prefect or the government, to 

 secure the public health against the dangers which result from 

 using polluted water." 



In the discussion which followed Dr. Brouardel's communi- 

 cation many important points were elicited. One speaker drew 

 attention to the evils vvhich arose from cheap lodging-houses. 

 Another insisted upon the superiority of supplying pure water to 

 any methods of filtration. At Angouleme filtration was tried with 

 some advantage, but the provision of a pure supply proved much 

 moi-e successful. 



We may learn something from the anxieties of our neighbors. 

 If the outcry against compulsory vaccination now prevailing in 

 some quarters in this country should unhappily effect any slacken- 

 ing in our vigilance in this matter, we shall surely pay the pen- 

 alty in a heavier mortality from one of the most loathsome of 

 diseases. The example of Germany in this matter is admirable, 

 and cannot be too widely known or too carefully followed. The 

 provision of an absolutely pure supply of water to our large cities 

 is a much more difficult problem than the thorough enforcement 

 of vaccination, but it is at least the ideal towards which our efforts 

 must be directed. It is an immense gain to know positively both 

 the source of danger and the means of averting it, and we must 

 never rest content so long as an acknowledged source of disease, 

 misery, and national weakness is permitted to exist in our 

 midst. 



MEA.T-PRESERVATION. 



Dr. Hans Beu points out that nearly all the newer methods of 

 preparing preserved meats have had to give way before the older 

 methods of boiling, drying, salting, and smoking, which, along 

 with freezing, preserve the taste and digestibility of meats better 

 than any of the chemical methods that have more recently been 

 recommended. As stated in the British Medical Journal, all 

 these old methods hinder decomposition, and keep meats eatable 

 for a longer or shorter period. Cold acts by preventing putrefac- 

 tive changes in meat, 2° to 4° C, with good ventilation, prevent- 

 ing the development of most organisms. Boiling, with subse- 

 quent exclusion of air, is, of course, good, but can only be carried 

 out in large establishments and under specially favorable condi- 

 tions. Drying gets rid of the water, without which mici'o-organ- 

 isms cannot develop; but, although there is no loss of albuminoid 

 orsalts when this method is used, the taste is somewhat impaired. 

 Salt also acts by removing water, but it also removes the extrac- 

 tives, and interferes with the delicate flavor of both meat and tish. 

 Smoke acts partly by drying, the heat at which it is generated 

 rendering this necessary, but partly, also, by the action of the 

 small quantities of the antifermentative constituents, such as cre- 

 osote, carbolic acid, and even volatile oils, which appear to have 

 a direct aption on the vitality of putrefactive organisms. 



The author agrees with Forster, that salt has little or no effect 

 upon most pathogenic organisms, but it undoubtedly interferes 

 with the development of the cholera bacillus and of anthrax ba- 

 cillus that contaiiis no spores, and probably, also, of some of the 

 non-pathogenic but putrefactive forms. 



As the result of his experiments on a very large number of 

 food-materials, such as ham, bacon, pork, various kinds of sau- 

 sages, and fish, Beu comes to the conclusion that most meats are 

 salted not only to preserve the taste, but also to withdraw a large 

 proportion of the water from flesh ; that smoking also withdraws 

 a considerable quantity of water, that it hides the salty taste, and 

 that, being able to penetrate dried flesh, it is better able to exert 

 its antiputrefactive action than on fresh meat. Salted lean flesh, 

 exposed to the action of smoke at from 22° to 25° C. for forty- 



eight hours, no longer contained liquefying organisms, which had 

 been present in considerable numbers before the smoking opera- 

 tion was commenced, but non-liquefying organisms disappeared 

 only on the ninth day of smoking. Sail bacon salted for ten days, 

 and then exposed to the action of smoke for forty eight hours, 

 also showed no liquefying organisms with a fragment from near 

 the centre taken with the most strict precautions, and broken up 

 in liquid gelatine, which was afterwards allowed to solidify. All 

 non-liquefying organisms had disappeared on the seventh day of 

 smoking. Bacon salted for five weeks contained no organisms after 

 seven days' smoking. Fresh unsalted meat contained both kinds 

 after six days of smoking, and sausage also contained both at the 

 end of twelve days ; this being exactly in accordance with what 

 would be expected from the large amount of water that it contained, 

 from the nature of the meat used, and from the many manipula- 

 tive processes through which it has to go before the smoking is 

 commenced. Fish may be preserved for a short time by smoking 

 only, but it could not be kept permanently. Hams and larger 

 sausages require a longer period of smoking than do similar 

 smaller articles of diet. 



THE MAHOGANY TRADE OF HONDURAS.' 



The Republic of Honduras, as well as the territory known as 

 British Honduras, have long been celebrated for their forests of 

 mahogany and other fine-grained woods. Belize, the capital of 

 the British possessions in Central America, now a city of con- 

 siderable commercial importanc.e, owes, says the United States 

 consul at Rualan, its origin and wealth to the mahogany-cutters. 

 During the first half of the jsresent century, princely fortunes were 

 quickly accumulated in the business ; but, since iron and steel 

 have taken the place of wood in the construction of vessels, the 

 mahogany trade has decreased to a notable extent, although it is 

 still large and profitable. The mahogany cuttings of British Hon- 

 duras require at present more capital to carry them on than 

 formerly. The expense and difficulty of getting out the wood has 

 greatly increased, as but comparatively few trees can now be 

 found near to the banks of rivers and streams of sufficient depth 

 of water to float the logs to the coast. In Spanish Honduras, and 

 especially within the limits of the consular district of Ruatan, 

 there are still forests abounding in mahogany and other precious 

 woods, where foreign industry and capital might be safely and 

 profitably employed. 



The following is the system employed in manipulating the 

 mahogany and in felling the trees, and in hewing, hauling, raft- 

 ing, and embarking the logs in Honduras. Having selected and 

 secured a suitable locality, and arranged with one of the export- 

 ing-houses of Belize to advance the means in provisions and 

 money to carry on the works, the mahogany-cutter hires his gang 

 of laborers for the season. Nearly all labor contracts are made 

 during the Christmas holidays, as the gangs from the mahogany- 

 works all congregate in Belize at that period. The men are hired 

 for a year, at wages varying from twelve to twenty dollars a 

 month. They generally receive six months' wages in advance, 

 one-half of which is paid in goods from the house which furnishes 

 the capital. The cash received by the laborers is mostly wasted 

 in dissipation before they leave the city. Early in January the 

 works are commenced. Camps, or "banks" as they are called, 

 are organized at convenient places on the margin of some river in. 

 the district to be worked. Temporary houses, thatched with 

 palm-leaves, are erected for the laborers, and a substantial budd- 

 ing for the store aad dwelling of the overseer. The workmen are 

 divided into gangs, and a captain appointed over each gang, 

 whose principal duty is to give each man his daily task, and see 

 that the same is properly done. 



All work in mahogany-cutting is done by tasks. The best 

 laborers are out at daybreak, and generally finish their task be- 

 fore eleven o'clock. The rest of the day can be spent, in fishing, 

 hunting, collecting India-rubber and sarsaparilla, or in working up 

 mahogany into dories, paddles, bowls, etc.. for all of which a 

 ready market is found. The mahogany-tree hunter is the best 

 paid and the most important laborer in the service. Upon 

 1 From the Journal of the Society of Arts, London. 



