March 1, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



247 



which he finds himself able to direct some- 

 what in their future combinations, as the 

 chemist handles radicles and proximate 

 principles ; but President Schurman has 

 long since pointed out that there is a ■ fun- 

 damental contrast betwe(>n the initial varia- 

 tions and the subsequent means of their 

 preservation'; for example, between modi- 

 fying organisms and originating idiosomes 

 and ' that where science stops, philosophy 

 begins.' 



It is to this lothfulness to directly admit 

 that Czolbe was right in saying: "The 

 power of organisms cannot be explained by 

 the planless and formless physical and chem- 

 ical activities;" that Schurman refers in 

 saying: "This jugglery with causality, as 

 though in time everything could be got out 

 of almost nothing, is the besetting sin of 

 Dsirwinists." Charles S. Dollev. 



PHILAni-XPHIA. 



Aero-therapeutics or the Treatment of Lung Dis- 

 eases by Climate. By Charles Theodore 

 Williams. London and New York, 

 Macmillan & Co. 1S94. 8°, pp. 187. 

 This is a good book by a competent au- 

 thority, being the Lumleian lectures for 

 1893, by Dr. "Williams, who is the senior 

 physician to the hospital for consumj)tives 

 at Brompton, and the late President of the 

 Royal Jleteorological Society. It includes 

 a discussion of those factors and elements 

 of climate which bear directly upon human 

 health, and is especially full upon the sub- 

 ject of atmospheric pressure and its varia- 

 tions, and on the eflects of high altitudes 

 upon cases of consumption. 



The effects of such altitudes as are usually 

 resorted to for curative purposes depend in 

 part upon the rarefaction and increased 

 diathermancy of the atmosphere, and in 

 part upon the change in habits, exercise 

 and food which is made when becoming a 

 resident of such a resort. One of the most 

 definite effects produced by diminished at- 

 mospheric pressure upon the healthy animal 



organism is an increase in the number of 

 the red corpuscles of the blood, which has 

 been shown by Vianlt and Eggar to occur 

 in man to the amount of 16 per cent, in the 

 course of three or four weeks. Mountiiin 

 races usually have large chests, compara- 

 tivelj- great acti\-ity of the respiratory or- 

 gans, and great power of endurance for 

 walking. They are usually remarkably 

 free from scrofula and consumption, which 

 is probably due to absence of overcrowding 

 and to their comparatively great amount 

 of out-door life, which greatly lessen the 

 chances of their becoming infected with the 

 tubercle bacillus. The sending of consump- 

 tives to high altitudes is a method of treat- 

 ment which has come into vogue within the 

 last thu'ty j'cars, Davos and St. Moritz be- 

 ing the first of this class of health resorts to 

 attract special attention. Dr. Williams 

 concludes that this mode of treatment is 

 most effective in recent cases of consump- 

 tion, that at least six months', and in many 

 cases two j^ears', stay is desirable, and that 

 it produces great improvement in about 75 

 per cent, of the cases, and a cure in about 

 40 per cent. One chapter of the book is de- 

 voted to the liigh altitudes of Colorado and 

 their climates, and is based on the author's 

 personal observations. The greater part of 

 the surface of tliis State is over 5000 feet 

 above the sea level, and some of the most 

 beautiful parks are above 7000 feet in alti- 

 tude, the atmosphere is dry and clear, and 

 there is sunshine the year round, all of 

 which are important factors in the treat- 

 ment of consumption. Physicians will find 

 Dr. Williams' comments upon the import- 

 ance of these great mountain plateaus and 

 parks, as a location for consumptive pa- 

 tients in the first stages of their disease, to 

 be interesting and valuable. 



On the Vobintary Formation of Hollow Bubbles, 

 Foam and Myelin Forms by the Alkaline 



