SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



Not infrequently statements appear of the 

 death of some individual who has passed his hun- 

 dredth year. The evidence in these instances of 

 gTeat longevity is, as a rule, exceedingly unre- 

 liable, and oftentimes there is not so much as an 

 entry in a family Bible upon which to rest the 

 claim. Professor Humphi-ey of England has de- 

 termined to investigate, so far as he can, these 

 reported cases, and is now collecting the informa- 

 tion from every available som-ce. While there 

 can be no doubt that there have been many true 

 claimants to the title of centenarians, yet it will 

 probably be found, as a result of Professor Hum- 

 phrey's labors, that a not inconsiderable number 

 have falsely or ignorantly laid claim to an honor 

 which they did not deserve. 



The examination of the brain of the late 

 King of Bavaria by six of the medical profession 

 of Germany has resulted in confirmmg the opin- 

 ion of his physicians given during his lifetime, 

 that he was insane. Marked changes of the brain 

 substance and its membranes, and also of the 

 bones of the skull, were found ; some of them 

 showing evidences of having existed for a con- 

 siderable time, and others of more recent forma- 

 tion. These signs of degeneration, coupled with 

 the idiosyncrasies which marked the later years 

 of his reign, leave but little room for doubt as to 

 the insanity of King Louis. 



From time to time epidemics of scarlet-fever 

 more or less extensive have been traced to the 

 dairy. The usual history has been that of some 

 attendant, while convalescing from the disease, 

 and before the skin had thoroughly desquamated, 

 being found in the act of milking. Portions of 

 skin containing the infectious material have thus 

 found their way into the milk, and the disease 

 has appeared among the consumers. Another 

 method by which this disease may be propagated 

 has just been brought to light by Professor Cam- 

 eron of London. He finds that the cows them- 



No. 179. — 1SS6. 



selves may have scarlet-fever ; and in an epidemic 

 recently investigated by him, this was, in his 

 opinion, the source of infection in a family at- 

 tacked with the disease. Dr. Cameron regards it 

 as occurring usually in the first instance in newly- 

 calved cows, and communicated to healthy cows 

 by the hands of those who do the milking. The 

 symptoms in the cow are very similar to those ob- 

 served in the human species, including fever, sore 

 throat, discharges from the nostrils, and an erup- 

 tion upon the skin. 



The search for the germ of hydrophobia, or 

 rabies as it should more properly be termed, has 

 up to very recent date been unsuccessful. The 

 London Lancet announces that Dr. Dowdeswell 

 claims to have found it in the central canal of the 

 spinal cord and in the medulla oblongata. He has 

 also found it in other parts of the brain and cord, 

 but not in such abundance. He describes it as a 

 micrococcus, and accounts for the failure of 

 others to find it, by the fact that the hitherto 

 known methods of staining will not affect it. He 

 will shortly describe his own method, and an op- 

 portunity will then be given to experts to examine 

 the evidence on which he bases his claim : until 

 then the matter remains suh juclice. 



The field-work of the coast and geodetic sur- 

 vey is almost at a standstill, owing to the lack of 

 money to conduct it. Only those parties are 

 at work which had been sent out prior to the close 

 of the fiscal year. The parties on the transconti- 

 nental arc will be put in the field as soon as the 

 appropriation passes. All the parties from the 

 south are now in, except those of Assistant Hodg- 

 kins, who has been detained at Cape Lookout 

 by bad weather, which has prevented his making 

 a survey to show the changes in that locality, 

 which, from casual observations and a partial re- 

 port by Mr. Fairman Rodgers, are very great. 

 This form of delay in work is common to all 

 the government departments, first to one and 

 then the other, when the i^roper committees fail 

 to do their work jaromptly. Some delay may 

 be justifiable under the conditions ; but it is none 

 the less injurious. 



