68 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 2S8 



easy to explain how meat could be infected by the typhoid element ; 

 but if we accept the bacillus as the sole specific cause, and rejeet 

 the pythogenic theory, which attributes the generation of the con- 

 tagium to the fermentation of facal matters independently of any 

 specific germ, we must prove that thesa.epidemics were caused by 

 meat containing the bacillus first seen by Klebs and then by 

 Eberth, and lately found in the living body by Chantemesse and 

 Widal in Paris. But this is far from proved. Chauveau and No- 

 card, who are among the most celebrated of French physiologists 

 occupied with the study of animals, state that they do not believe 

 in the existence of typhoid fever in animals. Walder, however, 

 while making an autopsy of a heifer during the epidemic at Kloten, 

 saw that the animal had tumefaction and softening of the mesen- 

 teric gangUa and of Peyer's patches, the latter presenting signs of 

 ulceration. A second animal examined presented the same lesions, 

 and both belonged to a farmer who had the fever himself. It was 

 thought, however, that these animals had had access to matters 

 coming from the family who were ill with the fever, and also to 

 matters coming from autopsies made on other animals. In any 

 case, Walder sought to prove that animals could take typhoid fever. 

 The modern progress of bacteriological study will allow us to prove 

 the existence of Eberth's bacillus in man, as well as in animals, in 

 case of an epidemic ; but quite recent observations seem to show 

 that different bacilli may produce typhoid states in both man and 

 animals, so that the question is not as yet settlfed. There have 

 been five well-known epidemics where typhoid symptoms resulted 

 from the ingestion of meat in Switzerland since 1839. when it com- 

 menced at Andelfingen, up to Kloten in 1S78, and Wiirenlos and 

 Spreitenbach in 1880-81. In the first, some 450 persons were at- 

 tacked, and over 700 at Kloten. Both of these epidemics followed 

 great dinners given by musical societies, and the meat eaten was 

 veal. The symptoms were those of typhoid fever, with the usual 

 thermometric rise and fall so well described by Wunderlich. The 

 autopsies made showed also the usual signs found after typhoid 

 fever. The matter is important enough to make us insist on the 

 fullest examination of all meat exposed for sale. 



A Simple Filter. — Dr. F. A. Castle of New York thus de- 

 scribes, in a letter to the New York Medical Journal, a simple, and, 

 as he claims, efficient filter : " For a long time I have used in my 

 butler's pantry a simple contrivance for filtering water used on the 

 table, which has been so serviceable, and at the same time so in- 

 expensive, that I venture to recommend it. I took an ordinary glass 

 pharmaceutical percolator, and packed the outlet with absorbent 

 cotton so tightly that the water could only flow in drops. By means 

 of a piece of copper wire for a bale, it was suspended from a hook 

 on the lower side of one of the pantry shelves, over the shelf of the 

 sink. As often as necessary, water is poured into the percolator, 

 and the water-pitcher is placed under the outlet. Whenever the 

 cotton shows much discoloration, — a thing which is easily observed, 

 owing to the percolator being of glass, — the maid replaces it with 

 fresh absorbent cotton. It is in all respects the most practical and 

 cheapest filter I know of, and has no machinery to get out of order, 

 no patent right to carry, and the advantage over most filters that 

 the filtering medium is always under observation, so that there is 

 little risk of contamination of the water by accumulations of 

 filth." 



Precautions IN Bathing. —We have already called atten- 

 tion in Science to the danger of injury to the ear in bathing as 

 described by Dr. Samuel Sexton. The London Lancet, in the fol- 

 lowing language, directs attention to still another danger. The 

 bathing season, though not yet advanced, has already been marked 

 by the levy of that fatal tribute which year by year is exacted of the 

 ignorant and the indiscreet. The recent death by drowning of a 

 young man in the public baths at Poplar suggests one cause of ac- 

 cident which is too apt to be overlooked. The deceased had en- 

 tered the water soon after partaking of a hearty meal, and the fatal 

 result was attributed to cerebral congestion due to sudden immer- 

 sion at such a time. What may have been the particular appear- 

 ances observed after death in this case we have no means of judging, 

 but it may be well to consider shortly some reasons why the prac- 

 tice of bathing soon after meals is justly condemned. Effusion of 

 blood in or upon the brain, when it occurs in such cases as that 



already referred to, is probably not a primary cause of mischief, but 

 rather a consequence founded on other circulatory and nervous 

 disturbances. It is an evidence of eclampsia, and the physiological 

 basis upon which this is founded consists in that inward diversion 

 of blood toward the alimentary tract which characterizes normal 

 digestion ; the other tissues, notably the brain, being at the same 

 time proportionally anaemic, and the action of heart and lungs im- 

 peded by a distended stomach. A natural result of cold immersion 

 at this stage is to encourage or induce a tendency to syncope, to 

 concentrate surface blood still more about the central organs, in- 

 cluding the heart, which, especially if at all unequal to its duties, 

 labors ineffectually to re-adjust the blood-pressure, and finally suc- 

 cumbs with lungs and venous system engorged by passive conges- 

 tion. It is as if an enemy occupied the outworks of a fortress left 

 for a time unguarded, and forthwith paralyzed the resistance of the 

 citadel. It is best, therefore, to wait for at least an hour and a 

 half or two hours after a good meal before bathing. Another 

 danger to be avoided is that of cramp. This is particularly apt to 

 occur after severe exercise or long immersion. The effect of cold 

 being to prolong the contraction, while exhaustion lowers both the 

 power and the elastic recoil of muscle, it is evident that we have in 

 a combination of these forces all that is required for the production 

 of this dangerous condition. The obvious warning implied in 

 these remarks requires no further admonition to impress the fact 

 that the bather in cold water must be economical of time, and free 

 from any appreciable signs of muscular exhaustion. 



The Tuning-Fork in the Diagnosis of Ear Affections. 

 — Dr. O. D. Pomeroy of New York, in a paper read before the 

 Medical Society of the State of New York at its last annual meet- 

 ing, discussed the use of the tuning-fork in the differential diagnosis 

 of ear affections. The fork which he employs is of large size, 

 being eight inches in length. It has thick prongs, and gives a 

 strong vibration. Its pitch is A of the middle tenor register, and 

 it vibrates something over four hundred to the second. He finds 

 that the absolute or total bone-conduction, with the fork placed on 

 the mastoid of a closed normal ear, is as great as can be found in 

 any case of middle-ear disease, and greater than when disease of 

 the labyrinth is present. There are several difficulties in the way 

 of obtaining a reliable test for bone-conduction. One is the inabil- 

 ity of many patients to distinguish between vibrations which are 

 felt and those which are heard. Any part of the body susceptible 

 of vibrating in unison with a tuning-fork of a given pitch will feel 

 the vibration without having heard it. Few people who have heard 

 a pipe-organ will fail to remember, that, when some of the lower 

 notes are sounded, a rumbling or a jarring sensation in some part 

 of the body is experienced, which, of course, is not a matter of 

 acoustic irritation, but one of general sensation. In one case of a 

 patient who had suffered from meningitis, which left her totally 

 deaf, when the tuning-fork was applied to the elbow she insisted 

 that she heard it distinctly. Dr. Pomeroy gives the following sum- 

 mary as the result of his study of the subject : " I conclude that 

 the greatest amount of bone-conduction proceeds from a norma! 

 ear closed, and that the principal diagnostic sign of labyrinthine 

 disease appears in weakened bone-conduction ; that the apparent 

 increase of bone-conduction in middle-ear disease will disappear 

 when the test is made with the ear closed, when it will be found 

 not to exceed that of the normal ear (in those cases called ' mixed ' 

 the bone-conduction will be found weakened when the test is made 

 with the ear closed, although with both ears open the affected one 

 may have better bone-conduction than its fellow) ; that, so far, it 

 seems that the good or bad condition of the middle-ear mechan- 

 ism has little influence on bone-conduction ; that the occasional 

 phenomenon of intermittent bone-conduction cannot be satisfac- 

 torily explained ; that cases of pure labyrinthine disease cannot 

 always be distinguished from those of middle-ear affections with 

 secondary labyrinthine changes by the tuning-fork, and that the 

 history of the cases must materially aid us in the distinction ; that 

 the phenomenon of secondary labyrinthine changes in middle-ear 

 diseases is easily explainable ; that there are numerous exceptions 

 to the rules for finding the best points on the head for eUciting 

 bone-conduction ; that the bone-conduction is rarely or never of 

 less than its proper ratio to aerial conduction." 



