140 



8CIEWCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 184 



a noteworthy fact that the professional criminal 

 is not nearly so common in Spain as in France. 



— The Entomological society of V^ashington, 

 founded but two years ago, has given an evidence 

 of its activity by the publication of the first part 

 of its first volume of proceedings. There can 

 hardly be any place in the United States so favor- 

 ably located as Washington for an active ento- 

 mological society, and the list of well-known 

 entomologists enrolled as members is an assurance 

 that much can, and we believe wiU be, accom- 

 plished by the society. 



— Statistics from a German periodical give a 

 very unfavorable showing of the crowded condi- 

 tion of Berlin. Of the forty thousand houses 

 contained m the city, one half have from twenty 

 to thirty tenements each, while in another thou- 

 sand or more there are a still greater number of 

 tenements. Among these apartment or tene- 

 ments there are seventy-five thovisand consisting 

 of a single room, inhabited by two hundred and 

 seventy thousand people, or an average of about 

 four to each room. The apartments divided mto 

 two rooms also number about seventy-five 

 thousand, occupied by three hundred and sixty 

 thousand persons. The houses in the poorer quar- 

 ter are five or six stories high, and built so close 

 to each other that there is insufficient light and 

 air. Filth and repulsive odors are the inevitable 

 result. The promiscuous crowding into single 

 rooms of adults and young of both sexes, natu- 

 rally results in debased morals, and the city is re- 

 nowned for the extravagant number of juvenile 

 criminals who prowl around the streets. The 

 death-rate of Berlin is one of the highest among 

 the large cities of Europe. 



— The Neurological review (Chicago, Rand, 

 McNally & Co.) is the title of anew monthly to be 

 devoted to original articles, as weU as a review 

 of the recent literature in this field of medical and 

 psychological science. The largely increased 

 number of periodicals devoted to these and allied 

 subjects of late, is a strong evidence of the greatly 

 increased activity in researches pertaining to the 

 mental and nervous functions in America as well 

 as in Europe. The present review appears to be 

 well edited by Dr. J. S. JeweU. 



— ' Lanohn ' is the name given to a substance 

 which is being extensively recommended as a 

 basis for ointments. It possesses properties which 

 are not found in any other variety of fat. In 1868 

 Hartman and Schultze found that the fatty acids 

 of sheep's wool were in combination with 

 cholesterine. Such a fat will take up one hundi-ed 

 per cent of water, and will not readily decompose. 

 Ordinarily tlie neutral glycerine fats and vaseline 



have been used as the bases of ointments. Fatty 

 ointments by their decomposition form irritating 

 substances, and thus tend to injure the skin. 

 Vaseline is not readily absorbed. Lanolin appears 

 to be free from both these objections, and will 

 doubtless come into general use. 



— Dr. Wooster Beach, in the Medical record 

 for July 24, discusses the proper mode of infliction 

 of the death penalty. He states that the autopsies 

 of those who have been hung show that in not 

 over five per cent is either dislocation, fracture, or 

 any injury to the spinal cord observed. He thinks 

 that any of the follow^ing methods could, with 

 advantage, be substituted for hanging. The con- 

 demned man should be firmly secured, and a vital 

 part should be struck by a ball from a rifle which 



had previously been sighted and secured fast ; or Ml 

 electricity might be employed. The recent im- ■ 

 provements in the apparatus for generating elec- 

 tricity make this method of causing death much 

 surer than it formerly would have been. Dr. 

 W. A. Hammond thinks that the usual apparatus 

 of traps and weights should be dispensed with, 

 and that the body of the criminal should be 

 drawn up slowly by a rope around his neck. 

 Death would be speedy, certain, and painless. 

 Dr. N. E. Brill criticised, some months ago, the 

 present methods of hanging, and as a result a com- 

 mittee of the Society of medical jurisprudence of 

 New York drew up a bill and submitted it to the 

 legislature, in which the condemned was per- 

 mitted to select the method by which his life 

 should be taken. This bill failed of passage. In 

 Germany decapitation is done with the sword, 

 in France with the guillotine, and in Spain by the 

 garotte. Poisoning by carbonic-acid gas, chloro- 

 form, and hydrocyanic acid has also been sug- 

 gested as substitutes for hanging. 



— A study of ten thousand physicians' prescrip- 

 tions has recently been made by the editor of the 

 Chemist and druggist. Spirits of chloroform, 

 glycerine, and sirup of orange-peel, are the most 

 frequently prescribed ; then come bromide of 

 potash, wine of ipecac, sulphate of quinine, bi- 

 carbonate of soda, liquor ammoniae acetatis, 

 bicarbonate of potash, and sweet spirits of nitre. 



— The commercial exportations of France dur- 

 ing the year 1884, we learn from the Revue 

 scientifique, amounted in total value to $843,400,- 

 000, an increase of only about $65,000 over that 

 of 1869. The largest exportations during this 

 time were in the years 1873, 1875, and 1882, when 

 they were more than $100,000,000 greater. Of 

 the exportation in 1884, about $200,000,000 went 

 to England, $83,000,000 to the United States, 

 $103,000,000 to Belgium, $75,000,000 to Germany, 



