December 5, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



313 



in this particular year 41 deaths from small-pox occurred in the 

 district, not one of which was recorded outside the district supplied 

 by the underground water. 



Mr. Latham, in his address, dealt largely with zymotic diseases 

 as affected by ground water, and showed that cholera ordinarily 

 breaks out when there is the least ground water; a high air and 

 ground temperature is also necessary for its development; and, 

 as a rule, the low-lying districts are favorable to the production of 

 these high temperatures. Smallpox is almost always preceded 

 by a long period of dryness of the ground, as measured by the 

 absence of percolation. Typhoid-fever is most prevalent after a 

 dry period, and the first wetting of the ground or percolation from 

 any cause takes place. The condition essential to the development 

 of diphtheria is a damp state of the ground marked by extreme 

 sensitiveness to percolation of rain. Scarlet-fever follows the state 

 of the dryness of the ground which is essential for its develop- 

 ment, and it occurs in the percolation period. The conditions 

 that precede small-pox are those favorable for the development of 

 sea ilet-f ever, and, like small-pox, the dampness of the ground for 

 any considerable period in any particular locality may check its 

 development or render it less virulent, and it is most rife in low- 

 water years. Measles are least .prevalent at the low-water periods, 

 and mostly rife at and near high-water periods. Whooping-cough 

 follows the percolation period In its incidence, increasing with 

 percolation, and diminishing as the waters in the ground subside. 

 Diarrhoea is generally more prevalent in a low-water year than in 

 other years; that is, with a very much colder temperature in a 

 low-water year there is a very much higher death-rate from this 

 disease. 



Mr. Latham finds that the general death-rate of a district is 

 amenable to the state of the ground water, years of drought and 

 low water being always the most unhealthy. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



A Faster in the Seventeenth Century. 

 Now that Succi, the Italian fasting man, is attracting universal 

 attention, it may be interesting to recall a case of total abstinence 

 from food for forty days, which occurred more than two centuries 

 ago. In the winter of 1684, according to Tlie Hospital, a certain 

 Isaac Henry Stiphont of Haarlem was confined in a lunatic-asylum. 

 At this date he was forty years old, and, although born of an 

 insane mother, had learned a handicraft, married, and conducted 

 himself like other people, until, in the previous autumn, he quar- 

 relled with his brother-in-law, and in a scuffle accidentally broke 

 the man's leg, when the fear of falling into the hands of justice 

 drove him mad. He had been in the asylum a few months, when 

 he suddenly took it into his head that he was the Messiah, and 

 resolved to fast forty days and forty nights. Accordingly, on 

 Dec. 6 he began to abstain from all food, and continued to do so 

 untilJan. 15, 1685. During all this time he took no sustenance 

 whatever. Nothing passed his lips but an occasional sip of water 

 for the purpose of cleansing his mouth. If a little broth or brandy 

 was put into the water, he discovered the addition instantly, and 

 thrust the cup away untasted. Every effort was made to persuade 

 or compel him to take food It was even sought to influence him 

 by the pretended apparition of an angel, who brought to him the 

 express command of God that he should eat He does not appear 

 to have doubted the reality of the visitation, but continued to de- 

 clare that it was the will of his heavenly Father that he should 

 fast forty days and forty nights. Stiphont had been a smoker 

 before the commencement of his fast, and continued the daily use 

 of tobacco during the whole time of his abstinence from food. 

 The case had excited great interest, and when the fast was ended 

 the doctors desired the man to take some medicine to stimulate 

 the action of the stomach. He refused, and would only take fish 

 and a special soup to be prepared by his wife. So singular an 

 occurrence made a great noise at the time. Some people ascribed 

 it to a miracle, others to the combined effect of madness and 

 tobacco. A madman, it was said, could endure a temperature 

 that froze his companions; so, if insanity made a man impervious 

 to cold, why should it not render him insensible to hunger? The 

 wild hordes of Canada were known, during times of scarcity, to 



exist for weeks upon water and tobacco, so why should not Sti- 

 phont, the civilized, do the same by the help of his madness ? 



Deafness for High Notes. 



We learn from the Medical Record of Nov. 29 that Mr. Edwin 

 Cowles, editor of the Cleveland Leader, who died last March, bad 

 a peculiar form of deafness. He never heard the sound of a bird's 

 note, and until he grew to manhood he always-thought the music 

 of the bird was a poetical fiction. "You may fill the room with 

 canary birds," he once said, "and they may all sing at once, and 

 I would never hear a note, but I would hear the fluttering of their 

 wings. I never heard the hissing sound in the human voice: con- 

 sequently, not knowing of the existence of that sound, I grew up 

 to manhood without ever making it in my speech. A portion of 

 the consonants I never hear, yet I can hear all the vowels. About 

 a quarter of the sounds in the human voice I never hear, and I 

 have to watch the motion of the lips and be governed by the sense 

 of the remarks, in order to understand what is said to me. I have 

 walked by the side of a policeman going hom.e at night, and seen 

 him blow his whistle, and I never could hear it, although it could 

 be heard by others half a mile away. I never heard the upper 

 notes of the piano, violin, or other musical instruments, although 

 I would hear all the lower notes." 



Summer Drinks. 



The Medical Record of Calcutta contains some interesting re- 

 marks upon the beneficial efl'ects to be derived from non-alcoholic 

 drinks in the height of summer, says the Lancet. After remark- 

 ing that the very bane of European existence in India lies in the- 

 habits of eating and drinking, physiological arguments are adduced 

 to show that highly carbonized materials are very deleterious in 

 hot climates. The custom of the Moguls, who for luxury have- 

 had no equal in Indian history, is referred to as offering a fitting- 

 example. Their drinks consisted of milk, sweetened waters, or 

 sherbets prepared from sub acid fruits, such as lemons, tamarinds, 

 pomegranates, etc., flavored with rose or Keora essences, date- juice, 

 numerous vegetable tisanes, and some infusions of glutinous seeds 

 flavored with sugar and essential oils. These were often cooled with 

 ice collected in pits, v.'here it was stored during the winter months. 

 The Oriental races, it is asserted, suffer from few of the diseases 

 which are common to the copious meat-eating, wine-drinking 

 Europeans. For a hot day, a light vegetable diet is recommended, 

 with a spare quantity of meat food and an abundance of cooling, 

 non-alcoholic drinks. Ice is regarded as a necessity, and coffee, 

 tea, and cocoa are to take the place of whiskey-and-soda. The 

 use of aerated waters, prepared from pure and wholesome ingre- 

 dients, and the admixture in them of the numerous fruit flavorings 

 which abound in the tropics, are regarded with favor, as likely to 

 offer a lucrative source of income to persons engaged in such 

 trade, while also giving the European community a very accepta- 

 ble form of summer drinks. 



Antiseptics among the Ancient Greeks. 



Professor Anagostakis of Athens has published some interesting 

 facts in reference to the employment of antiseptic measures among 

 the ancient Greeks, as we learn from the Druggists' Circular. 

 Hippocrates and Galen were aware that an unclean condition of 

 wounds retarded healing. They were also well acquainted with 

 the fact that by thorough hsemostasis, suture, and the employment 

 of antiseptic measures, infection of wounds might be prevented. 

 Hippocrates warned his disciples against the use of moist dressings, 

 on account of the danger of suppuration, and forbade the employ- 

 ment of drugs before the wound was dry. Above all, says Galen, 

 avoid dirt, as it prevents healing. The ancient Greeks boiled their 

 water before applying it to wounds. Sponges were avoided, and 

 charpie recommended in their stead, which was to be destroyed 

 after use. One of the principal antiseptic substances then in use 

 was wine, which was usually heated before using, and with 

 which, according to Hippocrates, all wounds were to be washed. 

 Dressings dipped in wine were also applied to the wound. Salt 

 was in very general use, either in solution or in the form of sea- 

 water. The solutions were rendered aseptic by boiling. Sulphate 

 of copper was relied upon as an antiseptic for foul woun 's, and 



