March 8, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



175 



and be able to note a larger percentage of advanced cases as im- 

 proved ; and if tiie second was faithfully observed, there would be 

 more cures and fewer relapses. 



Overcoats. 



The custom in this country is so prevalent of wearing heavy 

 overcoats, whether one is outdoors or seated in overheated cars, 

 that the remarks of the London Lancet on this useful garment will 

 probably find interested readers. The teaching of modern science 

 and of ancient custom goes to show that heat-production withm 

 the body has much to do with the tissue changes concerned in 

 muscular activity and with healthy digestion. It is conserved by 

 warm and moderate, wasted in evaporation by excessive, clothing. 

 Finally, by a simple nervous re-action, it is increased after the con- 

 tact of external cold. 



It follows from these observations, that, if we be so clad with 

 comfortable underclothing that surface perspiration is not formed 

 in excess, and is rapidly removed, one great cause of chill — sud- 

 den evaporation — is done away with. Outer cold, then, provided 

 it is not too severe, only touches, as it were, the spring of the heat- 

 making metabolism, and, exciting an elastic rebound in the chain 

 of vaso-motor fibres, awakens that oxidative action by which every 

 tissue is made to yield its share of heat to the body. This bracing 

 influence is lost wholly or partly to those who are too heavily 

 clothed, and in its place we may have a dangerous excess of surface 

 heat. It is for this reason that the Lancet has before protested, as 

 it now does, against the indiscriminate use of the thick and heavy 

 ■overcoat ; and it thinks that men in fairly robust condition, espe- 

 cially if young, should be clad warmly next the skin, and wear 

 •either a light top coat or none at all. 



There can be no doubt that the habitual use of great-coats is 

 indirectly accountable for the chills which they are intended to pre- 

 vent. Were the overcoat worn continuously, it might attain its 

 object. Its intermittent use, even when ample underclothing is 

 worn, affords no solid guaranty of safety, but rather the reverse. 

 The man of sedentary habits has especial need to remember this. 

 He emerges daily from a warm breakfast-room clothed in his or- 

 dinary winter garments, with probably woollen underwear, and 

 over all the heavy ulster or top coat. After a short walk he finds 

 that the sense of warmth he began with is more than maintained. 

 He arrives at his office or place of business, and off goes the over- 

 coat, though the air of the newly opened room is as cold as that 

 without, and draughty in addition. During the day perhaps he 

 travels to and from adjacent business-houses, wearing only his 

 house clothing. The overcoat is laid aside till closing time reminds 

 him of the journey home. The frequent result is, that somehow, 

 between the hours of his departure and return, he is chilled. No 

 doubt he would run as great a risk if, lightly clad, he were to face 

 the rigor of a winter day. In this case, however, exercise and 

 habit might do much to develop the power of endurance, and there 

 would, at all events, be less danger of sudden cold acting upon a 

 freely perspiring surface. Woollen underclothing represents a 

 state of healthy comfort intermediate between these extremes, and 

 more resistant to chill than either. 



In commending its use, however, the Lancet does not assert that 

 the influence of age and constitution is to be overlooked. Youth 

 can oppose a power of resistance to depressing agencies which 

 does not reside in the worn-out nerve-centres of a riper age. 

 Similarly, that elastic re-action which characterizes the nervous 

 and sanguine types is not to be looked for in the lax tissues of the 

 lymphatic. The weaker physique naturally calls for fuller protec- 

 tion than the stronger ; and any rule requiring the disuse of the 

 overcoat should allow of reasonable exceptions in favor of the old 

 and constitutionally feeble. Unusual severity of weather, espe- 

 cially if associated with night air and the loss of sleep which this 

 implies, is another condition which might well constitute an excep- 

 tion. In such a case we are compelled to add some form of over- 

 coat to the ordinary amount of clothing. Some parts of the body 

 '—for example, the chest, throat, and feet — are certainly more 

 susceptible to cold than others. As a useful safeguard, cold or 

 tepid bathing of such parts is in merited favor. The custom so 

 common with many persons, especially women, of walking out in 

 thin-soled boots, often plays an important part in catching cold. 



The progress of time and of rational thought may be expected to 

 bring in a more comfortable arrangement by clothing the foot in 

 woollen hosiery and a stouter boot. 



Swine OR Man. — It is said that more money has been spent 

 by the United States Government in the investigation of the 

 diseases which affect swine than of those which affect the human 

 species. 



Air and Water Analyses. — Modern investigators are not 

 satisfied with chemical analyses of drinking-water and air as tests of 

 their purity, but demand a biological test as well. Bujwid has re- 

 cently been examining the air and water of the city of Warsaw by 

 the most modern methods. He states that pathogenic micro- 

 organisms are ordinarily found in the air : it therefore follows that 

 disinfection of hospitals and operating-rooms is of no practical 

 value or significance. Certain micro-organisms which may be 

 found in the air Bujwid failed to find during investigations over a 

 period of three years. Of those found in the air non-pathogenic, 

 but one not yet known gives rise to suppuration in mice and rabbits : 

 the rest are innocuous. The number of bacteria in the air is sub- 

 ject to great variations, and depends largely upon the winds and 

 conditions of habitation. After a rain or snow the number is 

 smaller. Basement rooms and abodes contain the largest num- 

 bers. On an average, one hundred thousand times more bacteria 

 are found in water than in air. Good water should not contain 

 more than three hundred rod bacteria to the cubic centimetre 

 (0.06 of a cubic inch). Different results were obtained from the 

 examinations of water from various springs and running streams. 

 Above the city the water contained about three hundred bacteria, 

 in the midst of the town over fifty thousand, to the cubic centi- 

 metre. Bujwid found no pathogenic micro-organisms whatever. 

 After filtering this same water (sand-filters have recently been in- 

 troduced into Warsaw), the proportion of bacteria diminished from 

 twenty to sixty. Spring water contains a still larger number of 

 micro-organisms. In the discussion which followed a presentation 

 of these views by Bujwid, Barzyci stated that in a village near the 

 city of Rzeszow, having no spring, a peasant living by the creek was 

 affected with typhoid. His linen was washed in the stream. Short- 

 ly many of the inhabitants who obtained their drinking-water from 

 the creek, and who lived below the house in question, likewise 

 sickened with typhoid : all living above escaped. 



Baldness. — As our readers are already aware from the dis- 

 cussions which have already appeared in Science, various theories 

 have been proposed to account for the baldness which prevails 

 to such an extent in civilized countries. A Swiss writer attributes 

 it to a microscopic fungus, which, however, he has not as yet been 

 able to describe or indeed to discover. He thinks that barbers 

 should be compelled to disinfect their combs and brushes. 



Boston Milk-Supply. — In no city of the United States is the 

 food-supply more carefully watched than in Boston. The inspec- 

 tor of milk of that city has just made his thirtieth annual report, 

 which covers the work performed by him during the year 1888. 

 From this report it appears that 915,867 more gallons of milk were 

 sold in 1888 than in 1887, and, notwithstanding this increase, the 

 quality was much better. In 1883, 60 per cent of the milk ex- 

 amined was found to be below the standard fixed by law. In 

 1884, only 40 per cent was below ; in 1885, 30 per cent ; in 1886, 

 18 per cent; in 1887, 12 per cent; and in 1888, but 8 per cent. 

 The inspector justly claims this great improvement as the result of 

 the labors of his department. 



The Microbe OF Malaria. — The evidence is accumulating 

 that the microbe of malaria which was described by Laveran is 

 the cause of intermittent fever. At a recent meeting of the French 

 Academy of Sciences, Professor Bouchard expressed the opinion 

 that Laveran's claim had been substantiated. 



Books from Circulating Libraries. — Subscribers of 

 public libraries have of late been warned against the danger 

 of contracting contagious diseases from books which have been in 

 houses where these diseases existed at the time. The health au- 

 thorities of Dresden have been examining the dust which had ac- 

 cumulated on unused volumes, with reference to the discovery of 



