56 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 364: 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



The Blood in Phthisis and Cancer. — Dr. G. Neuber* 

 has examined the blood in twenty-four cases of phthisis at various 

 stages, says The Lancet, and found that in nine the number of 

 corpuscles.was normal, in three it was above, and in twelve more 

 or less below, the average. On the whole, there was an average 

 diminution of about eight per cent. The increase noted in three 

 cases might perhaps be attributed to profuse night-sweats. The 

 hsemoglobin showed a reduction to seventy-three per cent in the 

 females, and eighty-five per cent in the males. There was no 

 notable? change in the number of leucocytes, but it was observed 

 that multi-enucleated forms predominated. In five cases of cancer 

 of the oesophagus, and four of cancer of the stomach, there was an 

 invariable diminution in the number of red corpuscles, and also 

 notably of haemoglobin. It is inferred that the hjemoglobin, being 

 the more " sensitive " element of red corpuscles, is more profoundly 

 affected in cachexia than the stroma of the corpuscles. A distinc- 

 tion was made between the anaemic and marasmic types of cancer, 

 the latter exhibiting an average reduction of thirteen per cent of 

 corpuscles, while the hsemoglobin fell to eighty-seven per cent of 

 the normal ; the former showing a corpuscular reduction of thirty- 

 five per cent, while the haemoglobin was as much as seventy per 

 cent. 



The " Normal " Diet. —According to Dr. G. Munro Smith, 

 in the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Journal, the daily destructive 

 metabolism, which is the great criterion of work done, does not 

 vary much among different occupations. Premising that he does 

 not consider moderate over-eating injurious, he finds that very 

 many men eat considerably more than the most liberal tables : it 

 is not an uncommon thing for an average-sized man on very mod- 

 erate work to eat twenty-five or twenty-seven ounces of chemically 

 dry food a day. Women eat much less than men, after making 

 allowances for differences in weight and work. Where a man eats 

 nineteen ounces, a woman of the same weight and of active habits 

 eats only fourteen or fifteen ounces. On a diet from which all 

 meat is excluded, he has found that twelve to thirteen ounces per 

 diem will comfortably feed a hard-working man. A moderate 

 amount of stimulants appears to increase the average : moderately 

 free drinking diminishes it. A diet consisting of one part of nitro- 

 genous to seven or eight non-nitrogenous is a good combination : 

 it is greatly exceeded on the nitrogenous side by the majority of 

 men and women, especially the former. A diet of twelve to four- 

 teen ounces of chemically dry food, digestible, with the ingredients 

 in proper proportion, is sufficient to keep in good health an average- 

 sized man on moderate work. The majority of people (in Eng- 

 land) eat literally twice as much as this. 



Tolerance of Operations on the Liver. — Professor 

 Ponfick of Breslau has been for a number of years engaged in 

 making experiments in regard to the relation between the liver and 

 certain anomalies in the formation of blood. In the course of 

 these investigations he has made some striking discoveries, which, 

 although not directly connected with the object of his investiga- 

 tions, are yet of great importance. One of the most curious re- 

 sults of his experiments has been the discovery that the animal 

 functions may be conducted without serious disturbance even after 

 the loss of a very large portion of so important an organ as the 

 liver, says The Medical and Surgical Reporter of Oct. 12, 1889. 

 In some cases, operating with strict antisepsis, he succeeded in re- 

 moving as much as three-fourths of the liver, either at several 

 sittings or in one single operation ; and the animals upon which he 

 experimented did not lose their lives, nor seem to be seriously dis- 

 turbed in their health. In hundreds of experiments, in which he 

 removed sometimes one lobe and sometimes another, the animals 

 remained, in a considerable number of cases, perfectly well for 

 months, and even for as long as a year. Clinical experience has 

 already taught us that the whole of the liver is not absolutely 

 essential to health, because large portions of this organ have been 

 practically destroyed — as in the case of echinococcus and pro- 

 found fatty infiltration — without any disturbance of the general 

 functions of the body. But this, as Ponfick says, is hardly to be 

 compared with the sudden and immediate removal of large portions 

 of an organ which is supposed to be so important to health. The 



explanation of this curious fact seems to be that the liver has a 

 wonderful power of reproduction. Ponfick found, that, within a 

 few days after the removal of portions of the liver, the work of its 

 reproduction began, and that it proceeded with great rapidity to- 

 completion. In certain cases he found that within a period of a 

 few weeks as much was reproduced as had been removed ; that is,, 

 twice as much as had been left behind. These investigations have an 

 interest altogether outside of that which is absolutely scientific, be- 

 cause it cannot fail to influence the development of abdominal 

 surgery, if it is understood that large portions of the liver may be 

 removed without serious danger to life. 



Leprosy Here and Elsewhere. — Dr. Hansen, the Norwe- 

 gian discoverer of the bacillus of leprosy, came over to this country 

 a while ago to trace the history of leper immigrants who had set- 

 tled in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Dakota. Of 160 original leper 

 immigrants, he was able to find only 13 ; a few more may be living,, 

 but nearly 147 are dead. Of all their descendants, so far as great- 

 grandchildren, not one has become a leper. In this country the 

 disease does not increase, nor does it appear to be hereditary. The 

 failure to spread here is thought to be due to the improved condi- 

 tions of living which the immigrants are able to secure on this side 

 of the ocean. The Sanitary htspector, in speaking of a leper lately 

 found at Brentwood, Eng., says that many persons believe that 

 leprosy has entirely disappeared from England, yet there has prob- 

 ably never been a year in which a score of lepers could not 

 be produced, and that, though England used to have lepers enough,, 

 leprosy has become a very rare disease since English homes and 

 English roads have been kept clean. 



Phthisis in High Altitudes. — From a report in the Za«- 

 cet by Dr. L. Schrotter on the distribution of phthisis in Switzer- 

 land, it would seem that the inhabitants even of high altitudes are 

 by no means so free from phthisis as we are wont to suppose^ 

 The tables of deaths for the eleven years 1876-86 show that 

 phthisis is endemic in every part of Switzerland, not a single dis- 

 trict being free from it. On the whole, the deaths from this cause 

 are fewer in the high than in the low lying districts, but it cannot 

 be said that the mortality from this cause is inversely proportionate 

 to the altitude. Wherever there is a large industrial population, 

 the phthisis mortality is considerable. Industrial populations al- 

 ways suffer much more than agricultural populations where the 

 altitude is the same. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The San Francisco Bulletin says that the California beet- 

 sugar experiment is a success. Last year 2,000 acres were planted, 

 and yielded 13,500 tons of sugar-beets, from which were extracted 

 1,650 tons of sugar. This was done at the Watsonville factory, 

 which ran forty-seven days. The beets brought an average of 

 five dollars a ton, and the farmers feel satisfied that they can raise 

 them at a profit. They have guaranteed to greatly increase the 

 acreage this year, and the output will probably be more than, 

 doubled. 



— The United States consul at Bahia describes a substance 

 called turfa, lately discovered in Brazil, at a place called Maratiu,^ 

 about sixty miles south of Bahia. Turfa has been found to con- 

 tain the main ingredient now extracted from it by distillation, viz., 

 petroleum, or, as it is locally called, " brazolina " or " petroleo- 

 nacionale," besides paraffine, gasoline, and lubricating-oils result- 

 ing from the process. A company was formed, and the conces- 

 sion purchased. Machinery has been imported from England, and 

 from four hundred to four hundred and fifty hands are employed 

 at the mines. The company, it is stated, will manufacture fifty 

 tons of candles per month ; and if the enterprise should prove a 

 success, it will probably interfere with the trade in kerosene,, 

 candles, and lubricating-oils which the United States now has with. 

 Brazil and with the countries south of Brazil. 



— The thirty- seventh annual meeting of the American Society 

 of Civil Engineers was held at the society's rooms in this city lastr 

 week, beginning on the 15th. The society now has a total mem- 

 bership of 1,335. The Norman medal was awarded to Mr. Theo- 

 dore Cooper, for a paper on American railroad-bridges ; and the 



