September 21, il 



•] 



SCIENCE. 



139 



porary interruption of the vigorous functions of the tree, induced 

 by defoliation, for instance, or l)y extreme climatic conditions, such 

 as sudden changes of temperature, cold days followed by sudden 

 warm weather, or droughts followed by rain. 



" The absolute breadth of the annual ring depends on the length 

 of the period of vegetation ; also, the deeper and richer the soil, 

 and the greater the influence of light upon the tree, the more of 

 formative material can be produced by the tree, and the broader 

 will be the annual ring. 



" In coniferous wood the width of the autumn wood, with cells of 

 thickened walls, is almost the same in width as in narrow annual 

 rings, while the more porous spring wood changes in width with 

 the general width of the annual ring. Consequently, on account of 

 the more frequent occurrence of heavy autumn wood in a given 

 volume of narrow-ringed wood than in that of wider-ringed wood, 

 such wood is heavier, and, as a rule, narrow-ringed conifer wood is 

 the better. And, with certain limitations, the opposite is true for 

 broad-leaved trees which have their vessels chiefly in the spring 

 wood, while those with the vessels distributed through the ring are 

 less influenced in their weight and quality by the width of the an- 

 nual ring. Slow-grown conifers and quickly-grown hard woods 

 furnish, therefore, as a rule, the best quality. 



" Besides the temperature of the atmosphere and the moisture con- 

 ditions of the soil, it is the amount of light and consequent develop- 

 ment of foliage which is perhaps the most powerful factor in wood- 

 formations, other considerations not being unfavorable. In the 

 proper use of this factor mainly has the forester the means of reg- 

 ulating the slower or quicker development, and consequently the 

 quality of his crop." 



Temperance-Instruction in the United States. 



In the autumn of 1SS7 the Bureau of Education at Washington, 

 desirous of obtaining a knowledge of the present status of temper- 

 ance-instruction in the United States, addressed the following in- 

 quiry to the State superintendents: " Is the study of physiology and 

 hygiene with special reference to the effects of stimulants and nar- 

 cotics required by law, and in what grades ? " From the replies 

 it appears that instruction in physiology and hygiene with special 

 reference to the effects of stimulants and narcotics is made com- 

 pulsory by statute, in some part of their school-life, on all pupils in 

 twenty-five out of the thirty-eight States ; viz., Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 

 York, Pennsylvania. Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, South 

 Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and California. 

 The same compulsion exists in all the Territories and in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia by United States statute. In Missouri the in- 

 struction under consideration is compulsory upon the demand of 

 patrons of the public schools, and forbidden otherwise. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 Seasickness. 



New remedies for the prevention of seasickness continue to be 

 brought forward. At a recent meeting of the Academy of Medi- 

 cine of Paris, M. Bonnet presented the claims of antipyrine as a pre- 

 ventive. It was suggested, that as delegates from the academy to 

 the meeting of the French Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, to be held at Ivan, Algeria, were soon to sail for that 

 place, an excellent opportunity to test the drug would thus be of- 

 fered. M. Rollet, who went with the delegates, and who was ex- 

 empt from seasickness, made a careful study of the subject, and 

 contributes the results to the Btilhtin Medical. The vessel sailed 

 at four o'clock, and at six only four of the passengers remained at the 

 table to finish dinner, although sixty had taken antipyrine, some of 

 whom had begun the treatment three days before. He reports that 

 antipyrine has no effect on seasickness. 



In a previous number of Sc/e/icewe referred to another means to 

 be adopted for the prevention of seasickness : to rub vigorously 

 with the fingers the prominences behind the ears. An opportunity 

 recently occurred to partially test this method. A party went for 

 bluefish thirty miles off Sandy Hook. Two of them, at the first 

 approach of the sickness, practised the rubbing and escaped ; a 



third ridiculed it until thoroughly sick, and then gave it a trial, but 

 without result ; the others in the party were not sick, and of course 

 had no occasion for the use of any preventive. 



Still another remedy is oxalate of cerium. In a letter to the 

 Ni:7v York Medical Record, Dr. M. M. Waldron of Hampton, Va., 

 writes, " The value of oxalate of cerium in seasickness has been 

 known to me for years. Its application to this condition suggested 

 itself from its supposed physiological action. . . . After repeated 

 experiments on myself and others, I am satisfied that it will re- 

 lieve more cases of seasickness than any remedy yet suggested. I 

 have tested its efficacy both in coast and transatlantic voyages. 

 Last summer I crossed the ocean with a party of friends. One of 

 the number proved perverse, and would not take the remedy I of- 

 fered. As the passage was somewhat rough, she was rewarded 

 by being confined to her state-room during nearly the entire voy- 

 age. Another member of the party, hitherto a hopeless victim of 

 seasickness, who had, in crossing the ocean fourteen times, made 

 use of every known remedy without benefit, obtained decided relief 

 from the oxalate of cerium. Two others, not ' good sailors,' took 

 it regularly, from the time of going on board until the motion of 

 the steamer ceased to be unpleasantly suggestive, and were kept 

 from any serious symptoms, omitting, in all the passage, but one 

 meal on a stormy night. The best results were obtained by fifteen- 

 grain doses given every two hours. It can easily be taken dry on 

 the tongue, and I belive this mode of administration is most effec- 

 tive." 



Writing on this same subject to the same journal, Dr. W. H. 

 Gardner, U.S.A., says, " I have been a traveller by land and water 

 ever since I was able to toddle around, and have met many cases 

 of seasickness, — in stages, ambulances, cars, boats, and ships, — 

 and I can confidently assert that oxalate of cerium, administered 

 in ten, fifteen, or twenty grain doses every two or three hours, in 

 about one tablespoonful of water, will cure more cases than cham- 

 pagne, bromide of potassium, chloral, or any thing else I ever tried. 

 I do not think I exaggerate when I state that it will cure, or mate- 

 rially relieve, seventy-five per cent of all cases that come up for 

 treatment. ... I have used the oxalate in hundreds of cases of 

 sick-headache, and almost always with marked success ; but it 

 must be used in at least ten-grain doses for adults, to do any good. 

 I have also found it very useful in relieving the cough of phthisis in 

 these doses. I do not pretend to know its modus operandi, but 

 believe it acts as a sedative to the pneumogastric and sympathetic 

 system of nerves, and I have never seen any unpleasant effects 

 from its administration in twenty-grain doses every three hours." 



Warm Air .a.t Night. — Dr. Shepherd expresses in the Lancet 

 the belief that consumption is due to a constant irritation of the 

 air-passages, and that cold air breathed at night is one of the great- 

 est irritants. Those who live most of the time in the open air are 

 the least likely to suffer from phthisis, because their lungs are so 

 accustomed to cold air as not to be irritated by it at night. 



Disposal of Garbage in Buffalo. — A company has been 

 incorporated at Buffalo for the purpose of manufacturing grease 

 and fertilizers from the city refuse. The Vienna system has been 

 adopted, and from twenty-five to fifty men besides teamsters will 

 be employed. An ordinance requiring the separation of ashes and 

 swill from garbage will be enforced, and the company will provide 

 garbage-boxes, and collect, clean, and return them. The garbage 

 will be removed in air-tight boxes and vehicles, and the factory is 

 not expected to be in any way a nuisance. 



Cremation of Garbage. — The I^Iinneapolis Board of Health, 

 after a study of the methods of garbage-disposal in Nashville, Chi- 

 cago, and Milwaukee, has decided to construct a crematory for the 

 burning of the garbage of that city. The furnace is expected to be 

 smokeless, and to consume all solids and liquids. It is of a rever- 

 beratory construction, and receives the garbage on a grate some 

 distance above an iron bottom plate that is intended to in tercept 

 and consume any falling material. The iron smoke-stack is to be 

 one hundred feet high. The furnace is represented as no more of 

 a nuisance on any street than a well-regulated livery-stable would 

 be. In default of available municipal funds, the board of health 

 has raised the necessary money among the citizens, and secured a 

 remission of royalty upon the patent furnace. In connection with 



