304 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No. 434 



diminution of the sugar-destroying power of the blood dependent 

 on pancreatic extirpation or disease is thus a factor, and perhaps 

 an important one, in the causation of an over- abundance of sugar 

 in the blood, and will certainly have to be reckoned with before 

 the true pathogeny of diabetes is understood. 



Effects of Tuberculine on Monkeys. 



M. Henocque has recently tried the eflfect of tuberculine on a 

 monkey which presented no symptoms of pulmonary phthisis. 

 Two days after the first injection, according to the British Medi- 

 cal Journal, the animal, which had exhibited the characteristic 

 re-action, presented dullness and a few rales at the right apex. 

 After the third injection the dullness was more marked on the 

 right side, and began to be perceptible at the left apex. Soon all 

 the symptoms of acute phthisis manifested themselves, with in- 

 tense fever, the animal dying ten days after the last injection, 

 after losing a tenth of its weight during that time. The total 

 amount used was six milligrammes of the diluted fluid. On post> 

 mortem examination, four tuberculous nodules of the size of a pea 

 were found in the right lung, and caseous pneumonia involving 

 two-thirds of the organ in the left. In both cases the tuberculous 

 lesions were surrounded by a zone of very intense red hepatiza- 

 tion. Pieces of the caseous tissues were injected into two guinea- 

 pigs, in one after mixture with sterilized water, in the other with 

 diluted tuberculine. Both animals showed signs of cutaneous and 

 glandular tuberculosis. 



A New Antiseptic. 



At the Academie de Medecine, Paris, on April 28, M. Polaillon 

 read a paper contributed by Dr. Berlioz of Grenoble on a new an- 

 tiseptic agent called " microcidine," which is composed of seventy- 

 five per cent of naphtholate of sodium and twenty-five per cent of 

 naphol and and phenyl compounds. According to the Lancet, it 

 is a white powder obtained by adding to fused /3-naphthoI half its 

 weight of caustic soda, and allowing the mixture to cool. It is 

 soluble in three parts of water, and the solution, which is cheap, 

 is said to possess considerable antiseptic powers, without being 

 toxic or caustic, or injurious to instruments or Unen. The anti- 

 septic properties of microcidine, while inferior to those of corrosive 

 sublimate or naphthol, surpass those of carbolic and boraoic acids 

 ten and twenty times, respectively. Microcidine is eUminated by 

 the kidneys, and is antipyretic. M. Polaillon has experimented 

 with this new agent largely as a dressing to recent and other 

 wounds, utilizing as a dressing, after a preliminary cleansing of 

 the raw surface with a three per cent solution, gauze soaked in 

 the same and covered with a layer of oil silk and a thick pad of 

 cotton-wool. The results are reported to have been excellent. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



•»* Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. Hie writer's name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



On request, twenty copies of the number containing his communication will 

 be furnished free to any correspondent. 



Electric Storms and Tornadoes in France on Aug. i8 and 19, 

 1890. 



On the very day of the tornado at Wilkesbarre, Penn., 

 last year, another, almost unprecedented, was raging at St. 

 Claude, France, near the Swiss frontier, south-east from Paris. 

 On the previous day electric storms and very strong wind-rushes, 

 perhaps tornadic in their character, devasted other portions of 

 France. In the reports of these violent storms there is a continual 

 mention of their simOanty to the tornadoes in this country. Quite 

 full accounts by several prominent physicists have appeared in 

 Comptes Reudus, and these will be freely quoted from. 



On Aug. 18, 1890, at 7.15 p.m., a trombe (this word is used for 

 water-spout usually, and seems to indicate, on land, a funnel cloud 

 but of somewhat narrower dimensions than those in this country) 

 struck the commune of Pire, situated in Ille-et-Vilaine, and about 

 180 miles a little south of west of Paris. It moved to the north- 

 east, and next struck Domagne, 3.5 miles from Pire. The length 



of its track was about 10 miles, and width 650 to 870 yards. Its 

 velocity was almost 37 miles per hour. 



A second tromhe struck Dreux, situated 45 miles west of Paris, 

 at 10.35 P.M.; then it passed north-east to St. Thibault, and on 

 through the Blaise valley to Fontaine, about one mile from Dreux, 

 It then turned to the left in the valley of the Eure River, and 

 again turning to its former course, it struck Brissard. 



On the next day a tromhe struck St. Claude, at the eastern 

 boundary of France, at 7.37 p.m. It moved north-east 15.5 miles 

 to Brassus, then to Bris-d'Amont, and to the station Croy, which 

 it reached at 8.37 p.m. The velocity was 43 miles per hour, and 

 the width of destruction 320 to 1,100 yards. 



These facts show clearly that there were several violent storms 

 on the 18th running in parallel lines, beginning toward the west 

 early in the evening and occurring at points farther east later on ; 

 that is to say, the several appearances near Pir6 and Dreux were 

 separate occurrences, and the violent storm did not go from one to 

 the other, but each devastated its own narrow strip. It will be 

 seen that this bears a most remarkable resemblance to the action 

 of tornadoes in this country. 



At Pire the trombe was investigated by M. G. Jeannel. There 

 was an apparent whirlwind, transported parallel to itself, and 

 turning counter-clock- wise, as shown by the fallen trees. The first 

 thrown down were from the south-east, the next from the east, 

 and so on to the north-west. The greater damage was on the 

 right hand of the track. The velocity of gyration was great and 

 that of translation relatively much less. 



The roofs damaged were peculiar. On the right of the path 

 those facing north were carried away, while those facing south 

 were unharmed ; on the left of the track just the reverse was true. 

 During the whole time the lightning was continuous. The odor 

 of ozone was noted at different places. At Reinou a woman tend- 

 ing a cow, grazing in the meadow, saw her enveloped in violet 

 flames. These were so intense that the woman, from fright, 

 covered her face with her handkerchief. A moment later the 

 wind struck down every thing. 



At Domagne Dr. Pettier suddenly heard an extraordinary in- 

 definite roaring. He rushed toward the garden, where the firs 

 were being plucked up. At the gate he felt a kind of pressure 

 from above ; he noticed an unusual smell of ozone ; then be felt 

 himself raised up, and this not by the wind, for it was calm, but 

 as though by some invisible force. On many trees the foliage was 

 scorched. About a mile west of Domagne, hail of the size of a 

 walnut fell to a depth of over three inches, covering the ground. 



At Dreux the report was by M. Bort. At 10 p.m. a great 

 cumulo-nimbus thunder-cloud was seen to the south-south-west of 

 the town. On its upper part a very brilliant plume of sparks was 

 directed toward heaven. In this cloud the lightning was incessant 

 and the thunder loud. After some hail had fallen, at about 10.35 

 p.m., a loud roar was heard, like that of a train entering a tunnel, 

 and in less than a minute the storm reached the town. It blew 

 off the tiles, plucked out the trees, and destroyed many houses. 

 At the moment of the passage the sky was on fire, and some per- 

 sons saw a cloud which reached the height of a house. Reaching 

 the Blaise valley it plucked up many poplars, and left them lying 

 generally from south-south-west to north north-east. In the en- 

 virons of Fontaine many trees were uprooted. At Brissard the 

 hurricane made a passage through the western part of the village, 

 destroying twenty houses. At another point most of the trees lay 

 from south-west to north-east, but there were many, 320 yards 

 from the first, that lay in an opposite direction. 



Lightning strokes were very rare, because no traces were found 

 upon trees, and no houses were fired. There was a remarkable 

 exception, however, in the Vivien house, built solidly of brick, 

 which had traces of electric discharges. Some window-panes 

 were pierced by circular holes, and these holes had a sharp edge 

 on the outside. On the inside the edge had suffered a beginning 

 of fusion, which had rounded it off. The damage was reported at 

 $300,000 in Dreux, and one person was killed. At the instant of 

 the passage all the gas-lights were extinguished, and it is sug- 

 gested that "this indicated a rarefaction of the air near the centre 

 of the whirl." By the synoptic charts it appears that the passage 

 of this trombe was coincident with the existence of a secondary 



