172 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 297 



In from three to five minutes the first sign of life appeared in the 

 flexion of the right leg. The dark color disappeared from the face, 

 and the pulse could be felt at the wrist. It was then weak, rapid, 

 and irregular. The treatment was kept up for ten or fifteen min- 

 utes, until the body began to feel cold, when the woman was re- 

 moved to the house, and placed upon a bed. The moving caused 

 a disturbance of the circulation, as was shown by the pulse, which 

 became very faint and fluttering. In order to encourage the circu- 

 lation, hot fomentations were applied to the chest, and as soon as 

 they became cold were replaced by fresh ones. 



Soon a new train of symptoms set in. There was difficult res- 

 piration. The mucus and saliva, which were very abundant, had 

 gravitated back, and could not be swallowed because of complete 

 paralysis of the pharynx, etc. There was, in fact, paralysis of al- 

 most all the muscles of the uppermost parts of the body, including 

 the arms. The symptoms were those exhibited by an animal when 

 being asphyxiated : violent muscular contraction, difficult and forced 

 respiration, etc. To remove the saliva and mucus, which caused 

 the obstruction, the head and trunk were lowered. Handkerchiefs 

 were also used. These were placed over the finger and passed 

 back as far as possible into the throat, and in this way large quan- 

 tities of the saliva and mucus were gotten away. 



From one-half to three-quarters of an hour after the accident, 

 consciousness began to return, and the muscles of the arm to re- 

 gain strength. Sight was restored to the right eye, although it 

 could not be moved. Though the subject could hear, she could not 

 speak. This was shown by the fact, that, when asked to press the 

 hand if she felt better, she responded. About this time paralysis 

 began to disappear gradually from the tongue. Improvement con- 

 tinued : brief intervals of sleep were enjoyed through the night, and 

 there was absence of any considerable pain. 



In addition to the paralysis, the left eye was seriously affected. 

 In discussing the case, Dr. Wesley Mills asked whether the patient 

 would have recovered without the assistance rendered just after the 

 accident. Considering that respiration was suspended, that the 

 circulation, even with artificial respiration, was so feeble that the 

 temperature fell, that consciousness did not return for so long, it 

 does not seem reasonable to believe in the possibility of spontaneous 

 recovery. But the case does seem to teach, in the clearest way, 

 the importance of using such means as those employed in this in- 

 stance promptly and perseveringly. 



Death of Professor Proctor. — That the disease from 

 which the late Prof. Richard A. Proctor died was actually yellow- 

 fever has been questioned by some of his friends. In order to de- 

 termine the question, a post-mortem examination was made at the 

 hospital on North Brother Island by Drs. T. Mitchell Prudden and 

 H. M. Biggs, pathologists to the Board of Health, in the presence 

 of Dr. Cyrus Edson chief inspector of contagious diseases. Health 

 Commissioner Joseph D. Bryant, and others. The preliminary re- 

 port of the examination, presented to the president of the Board of 

 Health, is as follows : " Decomposition was so far advanced that it 

 was impossible to arrive at a definite conclusion as to the cause of 

 death. The organs presented no evidence whatever of pernicious 

 remittent-fever, or other form of malarial disease, such as, even in 

 the condition of decomposition presented by the body, would ordi- 

 narily be apparent. The only positive change due to disease which 

 could be made out was in the kidneys, which showed the appearances 

 of old, though not advanced disease. The alterations produced in 

 the body by yellow-fever are usually of such a character as to be 

 nearly or completely obliterated by advanced decomposition. We 

 are therefore only able to say in this connection that there was no 

 other evident cause of death, and nothing which could be incom- 

 patible with that disease. The final conclusion as to the cause of 

 death must therefore, in our opinion, be largely based upon the 

 clinical history." 



Physical Exercise among Celestials. — A correspondent of 

 the Shanghai North China Herald says that to the average Celes- 

 tial it is a matter of indifference how long he remains in one posi- 

 tion. He will write all day like an automaton, he will work from 

 morn to eve without any variation and apparently without any con- 

 sciousness of the monotony. The Chinese school-children will un- 

 dergo an amount of confinement, unrelieved by recesses or changes 



of work, which would drive a western pupil to the verge of insanity. 

 Even Chinese infants are said to remain as impassive as ' mud gods.' 

 To the Chinese, exercise appears to be superfluous, and they can 

 sleep anywhere. With a brick for a pillow, the ' heathen Chinee ' 

 can lie down on his bed of stalks, or mud bricks, or rattan, and sleep 

 the sleep of the just, with no reference to the rest of creation. He 

 does not want a darkened room, nor does he require others to be still. 

 The ' infant crying in the night ' may continue to cry, for all he cares : 

 it does not disturb him. In the case of most working-people, and 

 also in that of many others, position in sleep is of no sort of conse- 

 quence. 



Poisonous Effect of Petroleum. — In a letter to the Medi- 

 cal News, Dr. W. H. Sharp of Volcano, W.Va., discusses the 

 poisonous effects of petroleum. For nineteen years he has prac- 

 tised medicine in an oil town, surrounded by oil-wells, and in daily 

 contact with laborers connected with the oil-industry. He says 

 that in considering the effects of petroleum it is necessary to know 

 clearly which kind of oil is indicated, as there are different grades 

 of natural oil, which must have different effects as they are richer 

 or poorer in the lighter products, as gasoline, benzene, naphtha, 

 and carbon-oil. The heavier natural oils, of specific gravities ran- 

 ging from 26° B. to 35° B., such as are produced in West Virginia 

 at this point, in Pennsylvania at Franklin, and at a few other points, 

 are very different in composition from the lighter petroleum oils 

 which range from 35° B. to 50° B., such as are so largely produced 

 in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and are used for refining for illuminating 

 purposes. The former are almost devoid of the gasoline, naphtha, 

 and benzene found in the latter, and do not make a satisfactory car- 

 bon-oil. Where this heavy oil is produced, there is found less gas than 

 accompanies the light oils. The worker in these heavy natural oils 

 runs no risk at any time from the inhalation of gas, even in the tank- 

 sheds where the oil is stored, and the engineers at the pumping- 

 stations of the transportation companies are exposed to no dangers 

 from inhalation of gas. In all the light-oil districts serious accidents 

 are quite frequent from the inhalation of gas. It is the practice to have 

 the receiving-tanks at the wells closely housed with wooden sheds, at 

 the roofs of which are ventilators for the escape of gas. This past 

 spring an oil-man who had gone to North Baltimore, O., for work, 

 was suffocated in one of these tank-sheds while making a run of 

 oil ; viz., running the oil from the receiving-tank to the transporta- 

 tion or pipe-line company's tanks. It is said that the men employed 

 in this work by the transportation companies become somewhat 

 accustomed to this gas, and can then remain longer exposed to it 

 before feeling its effects. Oil-well drillers affirm that the sense of 

 suffocation comes on very suddenly. When the gas is very plenty 

 around drilling-wells, and if there be any delay in getting pure air, 

 suffocation ensues. In the section around Volcano, even when 

 drilling in light-oil territory, there is little danger from this, as the 

 derricks are seldom tightly housed, as is the practice in other re- 

 gions. Heavy lubricating-oils applied locally are not irritating : 

 they are as bland to the skin as the best petroleum jelly or oint- 

 ment. They have had a well-deserved reputation as soothing ap- 

 plications to burns and wounds : the heavier the oil, the better it is 

 suited for this purpose. These oils do not irritate any inflamed 

 surface, but relieve the pain as well as does the Iznzmentum calczs, 

 or white-lead dressing. The only disadvantages in its use are, that 

 the cloths become stiff from drying, and the application is a dirty 

 one, penetrating the bedding, etc., if applied freely. A light oil 

 40" to 50'' gravity would probably prove irritating from the pres- 

 ence of benzene, etc. Internally these heavy natural oils have been 

 used in pulmonary troubles, viz., bronchitis and phthisis ; persons 

 taking them in doses of from i to 4 f 3 several times a day. Dr. 

 Sharp has never known or heard of any ill effects from their adminis- 

 tration. He has made a careful search in the Americati Journal of 

 the Medical Sciences since. 1^6:^, and in other journals, and finds 

 only two cases of poisoning by petroleum recorded ; viz., in the 

 April number of the American yotirnalof the Medical Sciences lor 

 1873, and in the Medical Record. Sept. 26, 1885. From these two 

 cases petroleum would not seem to be very poisonous, and to be 

 chiefly eliminated by the skin and kidneys, especially the latter, un- 

 changed by transudation. That it is the lighter oils in the crude 

 petroleum which produce the intoxicating effects, and that the acne 

 seen in workmen is due to something used in the process of refin- 



