178 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 399 



nature employs them in the living organism; for it seems very 

 difficult to believe that the light of a fire-fly, for instance, is ac- 

 ■companied by a temperature of 3000° F. or more, which is what 

 we should have to produce to gain it by our usual processes. 

 That it is, however, not necessarily impossible, we may infer from 

 the fact that we can, by a Isnown physical process, produce a still 

 more brilliant light without sensible heat, where we are yet sure 

 that the temperature exceeds this. No sensible heat accompanies 

 the firefly's light, any more than need accompany that of the 

 Geissler tube ; but this might be the case in either instance, even 

 though heat were there, owing to its minute quantity, which 

 seems to defy direct investigation. It is usually assumed, with 

 apparent reason, that the insect's light is produced without the 

 invisible heat that accompanies our ordinary processes; and this 

 "view is strengthened by study of the fire-fly's spectrum, which 

 has been frequently observed to diminish more rapidly toward the 

 red than that of ordinary flames. 



Nevertheless, this, though a highly probable and reasonable 

 assumption, remains assumption rather than proof, until we can 

 measure with a sufHciently delicate apparatus the heat which ac- 

 companies the light, and learn not only its quantity, but, what is 

 more important, its quality. Apart from the Ecientiflo interest 

 of such a demonstration, is its economic value, which may be 

 inferred from what has already been said. It therefore seems 

 desirable to make the light of the fire-fly the subject of a new 

 research, in which it is endeavored to make the bolometer supple- 

 ment the very incomplete evidence obtainable from the visible 

 spectrum. 



As we may learn from elementary treatises, phenomena of 

 phosphorescence are common to insects, fishes, moUusks, vegeta- 

 bles, and organic and mineral matter. Among luminous insects 

 the firefly of our fields is a familiar exam pie; though other of the 

 species attain greater size, and perhaps greater intrinsic brilliancy, 

 especially the Pyrophorus noctilucus Linn., found in Cuba and 

 elsewhere. Its length is about 37 millimetres, width 11 millime- 

 tres, and it has, like Pyrophori, three light-reservou's, — two in the 

 thorax, and one in the abdomen. To procure this Cuban fire-fiy, 

 the aid of the Smithsonian Institution was sought and through 

 the kindness of Professor Felipe Poey of Havana, and Senor Al- 

 bert Bonzon of Santiago de Cuba, in the Island of Cuba, living 

 specimens of the Pyrophorus noctihieus were received during the 

 summer of 1889. 



After a preliminary spectral examination in Washington, it 

 was found more convenient to continue the research at the Alle- 

 gheny Observatory by means of the very special apparatus sup- 

 plied by the liberality of the late William Thaw of Pittsburgh, for 

 researches in the lunar heat-spectrum. Photometric measure- 

 ments throiighout the spectrum of the insect's light were also 

 made. 



Resuming, then, what we have said, we repeat, that nature pro- 

 duces this cheapest light at about one four-hundredth part of the 

 cost of the energy which is expended in the candle-flame, and at 

 but an insignificant fraction of the cost of the electric light or the 

 most economic light which has yet been devised; and that finally 

 there seems to be no reason why we are forbidden to hope that we 

 may yet discover a method (since such a one certainly exists, and 

 is in use on the small scale) of obtaining an enormously greater 

 result than we now do from our present ordinary means for pro- 

 ducing light. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 Female Medical Students in India. 



The study of medicine is becoming very popular with the native 

 women of India. At the close of the academic session in 1889, 

 says the Medical Record, there were 24 female students at the 

 ■Calcutta Medical College, 14 at the Campbell Medical School, and 

 5 at the Cuttack Medical School. At Agra, during the year, 7 

 young women received licenses to practise. At Lahore there 

 were 19, and at Madras 39, female medical students, one of the 

 latter being the first to take the degree of M.B. at the Madras 

 University. There were also female students at the Grant Medical 



College of Bombay, and at the Government Medical Schools at 

 Poonah, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad. The movement was 

 initiated a few years ago by Lady Duilerin, the wife of the Vice- 

 roy of India. Madame Pirn, a diplomaed surgeon from Paris, has 

 settled down in Bengalore, and is doing a large practice among 

 the Zenana ladies there. A Bengalore paper believes that there is 

 ample room for a lady surgeon or two in the Mysore Province, 

 and it is said that the Maharajah will offer a scholarship to any 

 girl student of the Maharanee's College who cares to enter on a 

 course of medical study at the Madras Medical College. It is also 

 stated in the Indian Medical Gazette that a large number of 

 female pupils at the Agra Medical School have just passed their 

 final examinations. These include several students who were 

 especially sent by the Durbars of Ulwar and Tezpur and the muni- 

 cipalities of Etah, Fyzabad, and Raipur. 



Treatment of Diphtheria. 



In the Repertoire de Pharmacie for July 10, 1890, it is stated 

 that Dr. Babchinski was attending a case of grave diphtheria 

 occurring in his own son, in which a rapid change for the better 

 occurred coincidentally with the appearance of ez-ysipelas on the 

 face. The fever rapidly fell, the false membrane disappeared, 

 and cure rapidly took place. Dr. Babchinski also states {The 

 Therapeutic Gazette) that in several other cases he noted a great 

 improvement coincident with the appearance of erysipelas, and in 

 one of them the erysipelas occurred on the leg, and not on the face. 

 These facts suggested to Dr. Babchinski the idea of inoculating 

 diphtheria cases with blood taken from patients suffering from ery- 

 sipelas, and he states that in several cases in which he employed 

 this procedure cure resulted. Later on, he practised inoculation 

 of other cases of diphtheria with cultures of the microbe of ery- 

 sipelas in agar-agar, and likewise noticed the disappearance of the 

 symptoms of diphtheria. He further adds, that, when the inocu- 

 lations were made, all special treatment was suspended, and in no 

 case did the erysipelas present any sufficient gravity to cause 

 uneasiness. He concludes by stating, that, if his observations 

 and experiences are confirmed, this treatment should rob diphtheria 

 of all its dangers. 



The Work of a Health-OEficer. 



Dr. Frank W. Wright, the health-officer of New Haven, in his 

 annual report just issued, expresses himself on some important 

 points as follows: — 



" In making this report, I feel that I should express the opinion 

 that it is the duty of the Board of Health to take as active measures 

 to preserve the good health of the community as it does to suppress 

 the spread of disease after it has made ils appearance. I know 

 that public sentiment is directly opposed to any progress, and 

 always will be until sickness and death have caused serious havoc; 

 and then the cry will go forth, ' Why has the Board of Health 

 done nothing to prevent this f ' 



" It is urgently demanded, in justice to yourselves and by all 

 who wish to have our city regarded as a sanitary locality, that 

 your board should see that a proper bill is introduced before the 

 next Legislature, more fully defining your powers, and granting 

 power to you in such directions as seems to you necessary for the 

 jDreservation of the public health. 



"The code of plumbing laws now pending before the Court of 

 Common Council, if adopted, will be a step in the right direction. 

 I firmly believe that more sickness is caused in tbis city by poor 

 plumbing than by any other single condition. This is proved by 

 the fact that the death-rate is larger every month in those wards 

 where the prevailing plumbing is rusted-out sheet-iron pipes, loose 

 joints, and untrapped sinks, than in those wards where the plumb- 

 ing is generally good. I have carefully prepared a comparison of 

 the three wards where the plumbing is the poorest with the three 

 wards that have the best plumbing. As the wards representing 

 poor plumbing, I have taken the third, fourth, and seventh. For 

 the year ending Nov. 30, 1889, the death-rate per thousand was 

 aO.6, 16.4, and 20.8 respectively. In the wards I'epresenting good 

 plumbing, the fu-st, eighth, and tenth, the death-rate per thousand 

 for the same year was 7.9, 12.8, and 18.1 respectively. To any 

 fair-minded person this must be convincing." 



