206 



SCIENOR 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 110. 



negative result, even after exposure to the 

 oxonized air for twenty minutes at a time 

 on four successive days. In another expe- 

 riment several test organisms (Bacillus an- 

 thracis, Bacillus pneumoniae of Friedlander, 

 Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, Staphylo- 

 coccus pyogenes albus. Bacillus murisepti- 

 icus, Bacillus crassus sputigenus) were ex- 

 posed on silk threads for twenty-four hours 

 in an atmosphere containing 4.1 milli- 

 grammes of ozone to the litre of air (0.19 

 volumes per cent.). The result was entirely 

 negative. When the amount was increased 

 to 13.53 milligrammes per litre the anthrax 

 bacillus and Staphylococcus pyogenes albus 

 failed to grow after twenty-four hours' ex- 

 posure. The conclusion reached by Nissen, 

 from his own experiments and a careful 

 consideration of those previously made by 

 others, is that ozone is of no practical value 

 as a germicide in therapeutics or disinfec- 

 tion." 



From a practical point of view the use of 

 the X-ray in the practice of the Chicago 

 doctor, to whom the above quoted explana- 

 tion of its therapeutic action is attributed, 

 appears to have been quite successful. He 

 says : 



" For the last eight months I have had patients un- 

 der the X-ray in my laboratory from 9 a. m. to 6 

 p. ni., duration of treatment varying from a-half to 

 four hours at each treatment, and not once with any 

 bad result in any case."j 



ISTow it is evident that a physician who 

 has patients coming to his ofi&ce from 9 a. m. 

 to 6 p. m. every day is in the enjoyment of a 

 very handsome professional income. And 

 if, as I imagine, many of these patients 

 are well-dressed ladies with more leisure 

 than judgment, they are no doubt satisfied 

 to pay well for the opportunity of having 

 the latest scientific treatment applied to their 

 cases and to await their turn in the ante- 

 room of this distinguished ' professor of 

 electro- therapeutics. ' 



The article from which we have quoted, 



and which appears to answer all the pur- 

 poses of a free advertisement, concludes as 

 follows : 



' ' It must not be forgotten that electric phenomena 

 are very powerful, and not every man who can buy a 

 machine is capable of applying it. The electric ma- 

 chine must be as skillfully adjusted to each indi- 

 vidual as the microscope to a specimen submitted to 

 it. It is a treatment full of danger if ignorantly or 

 rashly handled, but beyond price in value to the 

 skilled and careful electro-therapeutist." 



We do not propose to prejudge the ques- 

 tion of the possible therapeutic value of the 

 X-ray, but we think it safe to predict that 

 it will not be found of any value for the 

 destruction of pathogenic bacteria in the 

 tissues, inasmuch as it has been shown by 

 several competent observers to have very 

 little, if any, germicidal action ; and be- 

 cause there is no experimental evidence 

 which justifies the belief that these low 

 vegetable organisms can be destroyed by 

 any physical or chemical agents which 

 would not at the same time destroy the 

 vitality of the less resistant cellular elements 

 of the tissues. 



If time permitted I might further illus- 

 trate the temporary successes of recent 

 pseudo-scientific discoveries by referring to 

 the ' cryptococous xanthogenicus ' of Do- 

 mingos Freire, of Brazil, the Bacillus ma- 

 lariie of Klebs and Tomasi Crudelli, etc., etc. 



The spectacle of a learned clergyman, 

 supplied by nature with a brain and a pair 

 of lungs, sitting day after day with an 

 ' electropoise ' attached to his leg for the 

 purpose of ' taking on oxygen freely from 

 the atmosphere ' recalls the ' blue grass 

 craze ' of twenty-five years ago. 



George M. Steenbeeg. 



Washington, D. C. 



THE A31ERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 

 The fifth annual meeting of the American 

 Psychological Association was held in Bos- 

 ton, Tuesday and Wednesday, December 



