292 



8CIEN'CE, 



[Vol. Vni., No. 191 



trils, which thus communicates the disease. In- 

 fecting the horses is not the only danger to be 

 feared : numerous cases are on record where 

 grooms, and others whose duties brought them in 

 contact with the diseased animals, have become 

 themselves diseased, and have in most cases suc- 

 cumbed after suffering the most excruciating 

 torture. The health and other oflScials should 

 make every effort to discover infected horses, and 

 to isolate them until they can be destroyed. The 

 probabilities of recovery are so slight, and the dan- 

 ger both to animals and man so great, that the 

 retention of the glandered beasts in public stables, 

 or their passage through the streets, should not 

 be permitted. Like the Indian, the only good 

 glandered horse is a dead one. 



The bad effects of the use of circular curves 

 on city railways is shown in a striking way in 

 Philadelphia, where the cable-road on Market 

 Street has to make eight right-angle turns (four 

 for each track) in passing around the public build- 

 ings on Broad Street. The harm is not only in 

 the sudden development of centrifugal force in 

 passing from the straight tangent to the circular 

 arc, but also in the sudden starting and stopping 

 of a moment of rotation — a turntable movement 

 — as the car runs on and off the curve. In pass- 

 ing around the curve, every car is rotated through 

 ninety degrees at a uniform rate ; much as if an 

 engine on a turntable were suddenly set turning, 

 then moved steadily, until it as suddenly stopped. 

 It is manifest that great strains are caused by such 

 violent changes of motion, not only on the cars, 

 but on the cables as well ; and it would be worth 

 while to go to much trouble and expense in the 

 construction of parabolic curves in the beginning, 

 to save wear and tear in the long-run. Horse-cars 

 feel the bad effects of circular curves less than 

 the cable-cars, because the velocity of the former 

 can be adjusted to the occasion by good driving ; 

 while the latter move steadily and rapidly, with- 

 out any allowance for the strain on the cars and 

 the stretch of the cable that the curves produce. 

 It is curious that so antiquated a device as the 

 circular curve should survive in a construction 

 involving so much special and ingenious arrange- 

 ment as a cable-road. 



those who look upon it as an evil only second to 

 that connected with the excessive use of alcohol. 

 Tea is spoken of as an agreeable cerebral stimu- 

 lant, quickening intellectual operations, removing 

 headache and fatigue, and promoting cheerfulness 

 and a sense of well-bemg. When it is used to ex- 

 cess, the digestive and nervous systems are espe- 

 cially affected. There is no doubt that there are 

 cases of dyspepsia caused by the inordinate use of 

 strong tea ; and it is also a matter of common 

 observation ,that sleeplessness, palpitation of the 

 heart, and nervous irritability often follow the 

 prolonged use of this beverage. Tea-drinkers, by 

 which we mean those who use tea to excess, are 

 to be found in all classes of society. The fact 

 should be impressed upon such persons, that tea is 

 not a food, and cannot therefore, without risk to 

 health, be substituted for articles of diet which 

 form both flesh and bone. 



Another fatal result from the administra- 

 tion of chloroform is reported from Dallas, Tex. 

 The patient was a vigorous Swede forty-one years 

 of age. He was suffering from diseased bone, 

 due to a gunshot wound received during the late 

 war. There wei'e two of the most careful and 

 skilful physicians present, who exhausted all 

 available means for his restoration to life, but 

 their efforts were fruitless. This case illustrates 

 in a most striking manner the great and unavoid- 

 able danger connected with the use of chloroform 

 as an anaesthetic in surgical operations. This 

 patient was examined prior to its administration, 

 and pronounced free from any heart or other 

 disease which would contra-indicate the use of 

 chloroform ; and yet while the anaesthetic was 

 being given, with the surgeon's finger on the pulse 

 to detect the first evidence of danger, the heart 

 stopped beating instantly, nor was there any 

 pulsation after that moment. As we have already 

 said, and as we propose to continue to say when- 

 ever opportunity offers, the administration of 

 chloroform in surgical operations is ordinarily 

 unjustifiable, and, imless the surgeon can give 

 some good reason for using it instead of ether, 

 he should be held civilly and criminally responsi- 

 ble in case of the death of his patient. 



The consumption of tea has become so 

 enormous as to have suggested a study of its 

 effects upon the health of the people. There are 



Much has been written on the subject of 

 mysterious noises, which in most cases, if intelli- 

 gently inquired into, would be found to have no 

 mystery at all about them. A professor at Phila- 

 delphia recently recorded that at a certain hour 



