SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 Schools for the training of nurses are being 

 organized in every city, and the value of such 

 skilled help is being more and more appreciated 

 by the physician, who, in his busy professional 

 life, cannot make the observations as to the tem- 

 perature, pulse, and respiration of his patient as 

 often as he would like, or as the welfare of the 

 patient demands. In all these methods, nurses 

 are now trained, and their services are well-nigh 

 indispensable. A trained nurse is, however, an 

 expensive luxury, three dollars *a day being the 

 usual price paid them ; so that only the rich can 

 enjoy their educated aid. What is greatly needed 

 in our cities is an organization which will supply 

 such succor to the poor, by whom such services 

 are in reality more needed than by the rich. 

 Every physician whose practice has taken him into 

 tenement-houses has felt the great need of some 

 one to nurse his patients, when, through igno- 

 rance or poverty, neither they nor their friends can 

 do any thing to aid him. In Philadelphia a district 

 nurse society has been formed for the care of the 

 sick poor who cannot be sent to the hospital. A 

 trained niirse is provided by this society to visit 

 and attend the sick. Bed-linen and other neces- 

 saries are also furnished. For these services a 

 charge of five cents a day is made, except when 

 the patient or liis relatives cannot afford to pay 

 any thing, in which case every thing is furnished 

 without recompense. The motive which underlies 

 this system is an admirable one, and we shall 

 watch the working of the plan with great interest. 



The best method for the disposal of garbage 

 lias been a subject of discussion among sanitari- 

 ans for many years. There is no one system 

 which is equally applicable to all places. In small 

 villages it may with safety be utilized as food for 

 hogs, if proj)er facilities for the keejiing of these 

 animals exist ; but, where there is a ijopulation of 

 any considerable magnitude, pig-keeping should 

 be discouraged, and, if need be, prohibited. In 

 small families the kitchen refuse can be burned in 

 the range ; but in large families, hotels and res- 

 taurants, this method of garbage disposal is usu- 



No. 193. — 1886. 



ally not feasible. Under such circumstances, it 

 must be removed from the house ; and this is 

 j)roperly the work of the municipal authorities. 

 Boston has undoubtedly the best system for this 

 purpose ; but this is in a large measure due to the 

 favorable construction of the city, by which each 

 block or square is divided by an alley-way, into 

 which the garbage-collector can go, and remove 

 the refuse from the rear of the buildings, and 

 thus avoid carrying the offensive material through 

 the dwelling. In New York and Brooklyn such 

 an arrangement of streets does not exist, and the 

 garbage must therefore be brought through the 

 hallways of the houses. In New York garbage 

 and ashes are placed in the same receptacle, and 

 removed together. In Brooklyn they are removed 

 separately. One of the most disagreeable sights in 

 these two cities is the long line of ash-baiTels 

 which line the streets on ' ash days.' Brooklyn 

 is about to make this still more disagreeable by 

 compelling the householder to place his garbage- 

 vessel, usually a soap-box or a tin pan, on the 

 sidewalk in front of his dwelling, there to remain 

 until the proverbially dilatory ' swill-man ' comes 

 along to collect it. As this is to be done twice 

 and three times a week, according to the season, 

 the Brooklyn streets wUl be any thing but attrac- 

 tive to the foot-passenger. There can certainly be 

 but one advantage claimed for this plan, and that 

 is the reduced cost ; but, unless we are much 

 mistaken, the nuisance which will result will make 

 a change imperative. 



We have already referred to the new objec- 

 tive invented by Professor Abbe of Jena. The 

 German government appropriated fifteen thousand 

 dollars for experimental purposes ; and after five 

 years of work. Professor Abbe produced this new 

 objective, which, it is claimed, more perfectly 

 corrects spherical and chromatic observation than 

 any hitherto manufactured. Some of the lenses 

 in the combination are of siliceous glass, while 

 the others contaua borax and phosphorus. The 

 mechanical part of the work was done by Zeiss. 

 We extract the following description of the objec- 

 tive from the Journal de micrographie, by Dr. 

 van Heurck : " The objective is homogeneous im- 

 mersion, of a focal distance of three millimetres, 



