February 15, [889.] 



SCIENCE. 



119 



The history of this derelict furnishes the strongest possible proof 

 of the importance of this subject to masters of vessels, as well as 

 of the cordial support which they have given to the Hydrographic 

 Office in its efforts to collect and publish early and accurate infor- 

 mation by means of which this danger to navigation may be dimin- 

 ished. The various commercial nations should unite in the effort 

 to keep the seas clear of such obstructions, and it is a subject that 

 may well be discussed by the forthcoming International Maritime 

 Conference. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



Typhoid Statistics. — Professor Ruata of Perugia is author- 

 ity for the statement that there are annually in Italy nearly 300,000 

 cases of typhoid-fever, of which number 27,000 prove fatal. One- 

 third of the persons in Italy who reach the age of forty-five have 

 the fever, and in some districts more than three per cent of the 

 population die fron\ this one cause. 



Arsenic in Fabrics. — The London Chemical News states 

 that Mr. A. W. Stokes has examined a hundred samples of imita- 

 tion Indian muslins and cretonnes, and found that twenty-three per 

 ■cent contained arsenic in appreciable quantities, the highest pro- 

 portion 2.1 grains of white arsenic per square yard. The colors in 

 which arsenic was principally present were the terra-cotta reds and 

 the greenish-browns. Of the wall-papers submitted to Mr. Stokes 

 by various manufacturers, ten per cent were found to contain arse- 

 nic. Thirty other articles of household use, such as plushes, vel- 

 vets, carpets, mats, silks, etc., were examined, and in only one 

 sample — a little flax mat of green color — was arsenic found. 



Bacteria in the Glaciers. — Dr. Schmelk of Christiania 

 {Ceiitralblati fiir Bacteriologie) has found vast colonies of bacteria 

 in the ice of the Jerstedalsbra; glacier and in the streams fed by it. 

 They appear under the form of rods, and resemble the Bacillus 

 Jiuorescens liquefaciens. During their period of growth these 

 bacteria emit a fluorescent material. They multiply with great 

 rapidity during periods of thaw. 



A New Deodorant. — Bromine has for a long time been 

 recognized as being valuable in the treatment of gangrene and foul- 

 smelling ulcers ; but until recently its merits as an effectual and 

 cheap deodorant have not been appreciated, according to the New 

 York Medical Journal. It was brought into prominence a few 

 months ago by Mr. Martin, the chemist of the health department 

 of this city, who suggested its use upon the earth thrown up in lay- 

 ing the electric subways. As it is a by-product obtained in the 

 manufacture of salt, and is not used extensively in the arts, it is 

 sold at a very reasonable price, — about seventy cents per pound. 

 It has the property of precipitating the hydrocarbons of illuminat- 

 ing-gas, and thus can be used to deodorize the earth exposed m 

 excavations in the vicinity of gas-mains. More valuable than this 

 is its -effect upon decomposing organic bodies, which it renders 

 completely inoffensive. This property renders it particularly valu- 

 able for use in stables, privy-vaults, urinals, cesspools, or in any 

 iplace which may contain foul-smelling organic matters. It is 

 soluble in about thirty-three parts of water ; but a solution of this 

 ■strength is not advisable, as there is a constant escape from it of the 

 vapor of bromine, which is very irritating to the eyes and air-pas- 

 sages, and which may even attack wood and metals. For ordinary 

 purposes it is used in solutions containing one part by weight to 

 -about eight hundred of water. In this strength it may be used 

 -freely without its affecting any thing which it may touch. A few 

 gallons used daily will remove all ammoniacal odors from stables, 

 or a few quarts will thoroughly deodorize the entire plumbing sys- 

 tem of an ordinary house. It also might be used with advantage 

 upon ordinary house-garbage, which usually becomes offensive so 

 speedily in warm weather. There would appear to be scarcely any 

 limit to its usefulness in this branch of sanitary science ; and it 

 -will, as soon as its merits are better known, undoubtedly be adopted 

 universally as a substitute for the deodorants now in use, which 

 usually act by substituting one unpleasant odor for another. The 

 only drawback in its use lies in the fact that the undiluted bromine 

 is strongly, corrosive, and, if it touches the skin, causes a painful 



burn. Where it is used in large quantities, this can be obviated 

 by opening the bottle, or, what is simpler, breaking it, under water. 

 As its use becomes more extended, it will undoubtedly be put up 

 in pearls or tubes containing only as much as would be needed at 

 one time in the average household. 



Tran.smission OF Diphtheria.— Dr. De la Roche believes 

 that diphtheria can be transmitted from animals to man. He has 

 had under his care two women suffering from diphtheria, which he 

 thinks he has traced to the contamination of drinking-water from 

 a cistern by the excrement of pigeons, which had been washed down 

 by the rain from the roof on which these birds had perched. Ad- 

 mitting the possibility of the transmission of diphtheria in this 

 manner, the means of combating it are simple. In places where 

 spring-water and well-water are not available, or where the supply 

 consists of rain-water collected in cisterns, it is well to limit pigeon- 

 breeding, and to construct dove-cotes as far away as possible from 

 dwelling-houses. As to the construction of cisterns, they should 

 be built according to the rules of public hygiene laid down by 

 Gania in his work entitled " Utilite des Citernes." 



Malaria. — Dr. Henry B. Baker, the well-known sanitarian, 

 contributed a paper, at the last meeting of the American Medical 

 Association, on " Malaria, and the Causation of Periodic Fever." 

 After an able discussion of the subject, he sums up as follows: 

 "So far as evidence is yet presented, it seems to be proved, then, 

 that (i) intermittent fever is proportional, directly or inversely, to 

 the average daily range of atmospheric temperature ; (2) the con- 

 trolling cause of intermittent fever is exposure to insidious changes, 

 or changes to which one is unaccustomed, in the atmospheric 

 temperature ; (3) iri the mechanism of the causation of intermittent 

 fever, the chief factor is the delay in the re-aclion from exposure to 

 cool air (this delay, extending to a time when greater heat-loss 

 should occur, results in the abnormal accumulation of heat in the 

 interior of the body, and in disturbed nervous action, — the chill), 

 and the final re-action is excessive because of the accumulation of 

 heat, and sometimes because it occurs at the warmest part of the 

 day; (4) the fever is the excessive re-action from the insidious in- 

 fluence of the exposure to cool air, and it is periodical because of 

 the periodicity of nervous action, and because the exposure and the 

 consequent chill are periodical, owing to the nightly absence of the 

 warmth from the sun ; (5) residence in valleys, or on low lands 

 through which or upon which cold air flows at night, and thus 

 causes insidious changes in the atmospheric temperature, favors 

 intermittent fever; (5) in our climate, those measures, such as 

 drainage, which enable the soil to retain warmth during the night, 

 and thus reduce the daily range of temperature immediately over 

 such soil, tend to decrease intermittent fever among residents there- 

 on ; (7) in the cure and prophylaxis of intermittent fever, those 

 remedies are useful which lessen torpidity, and tend to increase the 

 power of the body to re-act promptly to insidious changes in at- 

 mospheric temperature ; (8) the slowness of the pulse, and other 

 indications of torpidity, associated with retention of bile or with 

 certain disturbances of the functions of the liver, are well known ; 

 but, so far as known to the writer, these conditions have not here- 

 tofore been considered as causative of the fever in the manner 

 herein suggested. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS IN WASHINGTON. 



Rock-Gas and Related Bitumens. — A Diagram of the World's War- 

 Vessels. — The Eastern Cherokees. — Some Habits of Koreans. 



Rock-Gas and Related Bitumens. 



In a communication (the second on the list) presented before the 

 Philosophical Society on Feb. 2, Mr. W. J. McGee pointed out, that, 

 pari passu vi'Ah the industrial development accompanying the utili- 

 zation of rock-gas, geologic science has made an unparalleled stride 

 within a few months. When exploitation for gas began in Ohio in 

 1886, the geologist found himself utterly unable either to guide the 

 efforts of the prospector or to predict the results of his work ; yet 

 within the ensuing two years the laws governing the accumulation 

 and distribution of gas and oil have been so fully developed that 

 the rock-gas problem to day claims a solution as satisfactory as 



