3i8 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 325 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 Bacteriology of SnoTV. 



The following extract from the Briiish Medical Journal treats 

 of a subject which is of great interest and decidedly novel : — 



" While the bacteriology of ice and hail-stones has been studied 

 with considerable success by Drs. Frankel, Bischoff, Mitchell 

 Prudden, Puinpley, Hills, Stoben, A. V. Poehl, Bordone-Ufreduzzi, 

 Bujwid, etc., that of snow has been up to the present almost wholly 

 neglected. Even in Russia the subject has been touched only in 

 a cursory way by Professor A. V. Poehl of St. Petersburg, in the 

 Vratch. In it he points out (i) that snow always contains viable 

 microbes liquefying gelatine ; (2) that, when snow falls, the first 

 portions invariably contain greater numbers of bacteria than the 

 subsequent ones (for example, 8,324 per cubic centimetre of snow- 

 water, against 3,380 several hours later) ; (3) that, when snow lies 

 on the ground, the superficial layers become richer in microbes (for 

 example, 780 just after the fall, against 962 about three hours 

 later). The fact is of interest from a sanitary point of view, as Dr. 

 Poehl's researches furnish an additional proof that exposure of mi- 

 crobes to low temperatures does not destroy their vitality ; at least, 

 in certain species of micro-organisms. 



" In many countries, such as Russia or Sweden, snow forms, so 

 to speak, a natural ground or soil during several months of the 

 year, receiving excrementitious matter and every possible kind of 

 refuse and filth. In spring, when the snow melts, it is imbibed by 

 the soil, carrying with it all the polluting matters referred to. 

 Hence an interesting question arises, ' Are such microbes as hap- 

 pen to be present in these matters in any way changed by their 

 contact with snow, or not .' ' This point can be determined only 

 by further bacterioscopic researches. 



" A contribution to the subject has just been published by Dr. 

 F. G. lanovsky of Kiev, who has examined bacterioscopically, un- 

 der Professor K. G. Tritshel's guidance, a February snow in its 

 purest state, collected both immediately and from one to three days 

 after its fall. This observer has found : i. That, even when col- 

 lected during its fall, snow is invariably found to contain living 

 bacteria in considerable numbers, varying from 34 to 463 per cubic 

 centimetre of snow-water. 2. That their number does not de- 

 crease from exposure of snow to low temperatures (—16° C.) for 

 several days. 3. That the following three species of microbes are 

 met with constantly in great numbers : (a) a. large diplococcus 

 composed of ovoid cocci, endowed with energetic motion, and 

 characterized by its rapidly liquefying jelly (the test-tube culture on 

 the third day, forming greenish colonies along the track of the nee- 

 dle, assumes the shape of a funnel-like sac with a whitish floccu- 

 lent deposit, while on the fifth the whole medium becomes lique- 

 fied, the precipitate sinking to the bottom ; on agar, a pale grayish- 

 white streak is formed at the site of inoculation, on potato a fairly 

 thick white film); (d) small-sized cocci, often arranged two and 

 two, energetically mobile, and slowly growing on jelly without 

 liquefying the medium, the growth proceeding solely along the 

 track of the needle in the shape of a narrow stripe consisting of 

 non-coalescing minute points of a yellow color, while on the surface 

 the colony is seen as a grayish-white, circular, slightly prominent 

 patch with somewhat fringed edges (on agar, the coccus forms a 

 white streak with sinuous edges ; on potato, a gray film with a 

 brownish tint); (<r) very large cocci, liquefying jelly as late as three 

 weeks after inoculation, and growing along the track of the needle 

 in the form of a sharply defined streak of a beautiful pink color, 

 with a slightly elevated pink circular patch or ' cap ' on the surface 

 (on agar the microbe forms a freely spreading white film with a 

 rosy tint ; on potato, a thick, tallow-like, pink coat, with sharply 

 defined fringed contours). 4. That the first two species, {a) and 

 (3), are also met with commonly in the water of the river Dnieper, 

 which flows through the town, while the peculiar pink micrococcus 

 seems to occur only in snow. 5. That, generally speaking, the 

 microbes liquefying jelly in falling or recently fallen snow are met 

 with invariably in far greater numbers than in snow which has 

 been on the ground for some time ; this, in fact, very often contains 

 only such bacteria as do not liquefy gelatine. 6. That the bacteria 

 of snow originate partly from aqueous vapors which are trans- 

 formed into snow ; partly and chiefly from the air, that is, they are 



carried away by the snow-flakes on their passage through the at- 

 mosphere." 



Scarlet-Fever. — At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island 

 Medical Society, Charles V. Chapin, M.D., the health-officer of 

 Providence, read a most valuable paper on the method for the 

 prevention of scarlet- fever. In speaking of the origin of the dis- 

 ease, he said that where and when scarlet-fever first appeared is 

 not known, but it has certainly prevailed continuously in Europe 

 since the middle ages, and thence has spread to many other parts 

 of the world. In 1735 it first appeared in this country at Kings- 

 ton, Mass. It quipkly broke out in Boston, a little later in New 

 Hampshire, and gradually within a few years spread over New 

 England, reached New York, and appeared in Philadelphia in 1746. 

 Thence it extended down the coast, and passed over the AUegha- 

 nies into Kentucky and Ohio in 1791 and 1793. In 1851 it ap- 

 peared in California. It was carried to New Zealand and Austra- 

 lia in 1848. During the first part of this century it was imported 

 into MaTdeira, where it disappeared in 1814, only to re-appear in 

 1824. In South America it is said to have been prevalent in 1796, 

 but became extinct, and appeared again in Chili in 1829, and in 

 1 83 1 in Buenos Ayres, whence it spread in 1832 to Brazil. It 

 first appeared in Iceland in 1827, in the Bahamas in 1845, and it 

 was carried to India in a transport-ship in 1870. We know that 

 the aborigines of Africa, North and South America, and Austra- 

 lasia were entirely exempt from this disease until the advent of 

 Europeans. We know also that the early settlements were exempt 

 often for many years ; and we know that, in some cases at least, the 

 direct transportation of the disease can be traced. These general 

 facts, taken by themselves and without the corroboration of other 

 testimony, show almost conclusively that scarlet-fever must be due 

 to a material poison introduced from without the body, which poi- 

 son must be intimately associated with the bodies of the sick. The 

 hypothesis that the disease can be due to any atmospheric or tellu- 

 ric conditions is absolutely untenable. We should cease to talk 

 about mysterious epidemic influences. Specific, by which is meant 

 infectious, diseases can only be caused by specific poisons ; and, 

 though obscure meteorological conditions may favor or hinder the 

 development and spread of these poisons, they cannot produce 

 them. If scarlet-fever can be carried in ships half round the globe, 

 or in emigrant trains hundreds of miles across uninhabited conti- 

 nents, and, set free at the journey's end, spread without hinder- 

 ance, it must be caused by a specific poison. He refers to the 

 work which has been done by Ecklund, Klein, Edington, and others, 

 in the search for the germ of the disease, and comes to the con- 

 clusion that it has not as yet been discovered. Extended reference 

 is made to the investigation which was made by Science in 1887 

 and 1888. He summarizes our knowledge of scarlet-fever in say- 

 ing that it is a contagious disease, the virus of which behaves ex- 

 actly as if it were a living organism ; that it probably does not 

 develop outside the living body, it is probably received through 

 either the alimentary or respira,tory mucous membrane ; after a 

 brief incubation, the disease is established, and the poison is thrown 

 off from the mucous and cutaneous surfaces as long as inflamma- 

 tion exists or desquamation continues, and is thus disseminated in 

 the air and attached to various articles, is carried from place to 

 place, retaining its vitality for many months. For the prevention 

 of the spread of the disease, he rcommends that the patient be 

 isolated ; that a sheet wet with corrosive sublimate be hung before 

 the door of the room which he occupies ; that the patient be 

 thoroughly anointed, including his head, morning and night, with 

 the following, advised by Jamieson : carbolic acid, lo to 30 grains ; 

 thymol, 10 grains in an ounce of ointment. Where it becomes ne- 

 cessary, and hospitals exist, patients should be removed to these 

 institutions. At the close of the sickness, every thing should be 

 disinfected. Dr. Chapin concludes his paper by quoting statistics 

 from the report of boards of health, especially those of Massachu- 

 setts and Michigan, which demonstrate that sanitary measures 

 have greatly reduced the prevalence of the disease. 



Diphtheria. — Dr. J. Lewis Smith, in a paper read before the 

 New York County Medical Association, entitled "The Cause, 

 Mode of Propagation, and Prevention of Diphtheria," says the ex- 



