February 14, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



107 



epidemic came from Persia again in 1853, and it resulted in a 

 severe outbreak during the years 1853-55 in Europe, followed by- 

 feebler outbrealis till 1861. The fourth cholera epidemic came 

 through the Mediterranean ports in 1865, and lasted in Europe 

 till 1868, with feebler epidemics in 1869-74. The latest invasion 

 of cholera was in 1884, when it came again tlirough the Mediter- 

 ranean ports. As to the cliolera epidemic which now begins to 

 die out in Persia and Mesopotamia, it certainly is a danger ; the 

 more so, as, out of the five epidemics of cholera which have 

 visited Europe, three have come from Persia. 



BoRiAL Reform in England. —After a period of incubation 

 whicli has been spent in educating public opinion in the matter 

 of the hygienic iniquity of the present system of interment, 

 the group of sanitary philanthropists, with the Duke of "West- 

 minster at their bead, who have taken up the ungrateful task 

 of bringing the necessary reforms to jsass, liave at last decided 

 to approach the government with the object of having their 

 contentions indorsed by the Legislature. How far the general 

 public will consent to allow their cherished usages in this 

 respect to be interfered with, we are unable to guess, but the 

 ■object in view will certainly commend itself to those who have 

 a thought beyond the morrow. "What is required, says the 

 Medical Press and Circular of Jan. 1, 1890, is the prohibition 

 of leaden and other solidly constructed coffins, the effect of 

 which is to indefinitely retard complete decomposition, and so 

 prolong the period during which the dead are not only 

 aesthetically objectionable, but are an indisputable source of 

 danger to the living, wicker-work or papier-mache receptacles 

 alone being used. Tl is is, after all, no very startling innova- 

 tion, and is not open to the sentimental and theological objec- 

 tions which some persons entertain to the more radical plan of 

 ■cremation. It is merely a sanitary precaution of an elementary 

 kind : and, whatever the immediate fate of the movement may 

 be, it must sooner or later impose itself. The effect of legisla- 

 tive interference would simply be to hasten and generalize the 

 practice among those who have too much to do in this world 

 to find time to decide upon the material of which their coflin 

 is to be made. "We are rather inclined to agree with Sir 

 Spencer "Wells in his suggestion that in future only properly 

 cremated remains should be admitted to funeral honors in 

 "Westminster Abbey and other national mausoleums. Not only 

 would there result a valuable economy of space, but the very 

 deleterious odor of decomposing sanctity which pervades many 

 sacred edifices would be done away with. 



Action of the Liver on Poisons. — Dr. Roger points out that 

 the liver modifies the toxic effects of several poisons, as has 

 ■already been noted by SchifE, Hegar, Jacques, and Lautenbach. 

 He has performed certain experiments, as we learn from the 

 Provincial Medical Journal, which demonstrate clearly its 

 modifying action with regard to nicotine, atropine, quinine, 

 and strychnine; also certain putrid and intestinal poisons, 

 peptones, and some salts, particularly ammoniacal salts. On 

 the other hand, the liver exercises no influence over other sub- 

 stances, such as digitaline, some salts (potash and soda), 

 glycerine, etc. The liver, therefore, like the kidney, possesses 

 an elective action. To control these results, it is necessary that 

 the poison should be absorbed very slowly. In the case of a 

 diseased liver (cirrhosis, fatty degeneration, etc.), in which the 

 parenchyma no longer contains glycogen, the liver does not act 

 on poisons, but it suffices to administer substances capable of 

 forming glycogen, to see the hepatic gland again competent to 

 transform poisons. The action of the healthy liver is continu- 

 ally exerted against toxic substances in the system ; it is still 

 more marked in those infectious diseases in which decided toxic 

 effects are produced. Some clinical facts go to prove that 

 many morbid symptoms are due to insufficiency of the liver in 

 regard to poisons. 



Does Salting Meat destroy Bacteria? — Professor J. Forster 

 of Amsterdam has published an account of some investigations 

 made in his laboratory by himself and De Freytag, having for 

 their object the determination of the effect of the common 

 process of salting or pickling meat on various forms of bacteria. 



It was found, as stateS Jin the British Medical Journal, that 

 cholera bacilli were soon destroyed under the influence of 

 abundance of salt, usually in a few hours, but that typhoid 

 bacilli, pyogenic staphylococci, the streptococci of erysipelas, 

 and the bacilli of porcine infectious diseases, frequently retained 

 their vitality for several weeks, or even months, in spite of the 

 presence of abundance of salt. The same was also true of the 

 bacilli of tubercle. In some cases these bacilli were found 

 alive after being two months in pickle, their vitality being 

 proved by their capacity for infecting new cultures. Portions 

 of the viscera of a tuberculous animal, preserved for a consid- 

 erable time in salt, were found capable of causing tuberculosis 

 in a healthy animal when introduced into its peritoneal c&vity. 

 Experiments on the spleen of an animal which had died of 

 malignant anthrax showed that salt possessed the power of 

 destroying the bacilli of this disease in about eighteen hours. 

 These, as well as cholera bacilli, were found to require seven 

 and one-half per cent of salt to destroy them. From these 

 facts it would appear that salting or pickling has but little 

 destructive effect on many of the more common forms of bacilli 

 liable to be found in diseased meat. 



The Electrical Phenomena of the Human Heart. — A 

 special meeting of the Berlin Physiological Society was called 

 by Professor Dubois-Reymond on Dec. 37, 1889, in order to see 

 a demonstration by Dr. Augustus Waller on man and uninjured 

 animals of the electro-motive action accompanying the beat of 

 the heart. Besides the ordinary members of the society, the 

 leading physicists of Berlin were invited, and Professors Helm- 

 holtz and Kundt witnessed the experiments. Dr. "Waller, says 

 the British .Medical Journal of Jan. 11, employed the capillary 

 electrometer magnified 1,250 times, and thrown on a ground - 

 glass screen in one of the lecture-rooms of the Physiological 

 Institute, and demonstrated the electro-motive action of the 

 heart on a horse and on a dog. The horse stood in a courtyard 

 near the lecture-room. Electrodes were attached to his extremi- 

 ties by firm bands, and the wires from the electrodes were 

 passed through the window to the electrometer in the prepara- 

 tion-room adjoining the lecture-room. The dog stood in the 

 lecture-room. In the library of the institute. Professor Dubois- 

 Reymond allowed the demonstration to be made on himself, so 

 that the pulsations might be seen directly through the micro- 

 scope by all the members present. 



The Health of London in 1889. — Remarkable as has been 

 the continual decline of the death-rate in England and "Wales 

 in recent years, the decrease of the rate of mortality in London, 

 with its aggregate population of more than four millions, with 

 constantly increasing density, is still more remarkable, says 

 the Lancet of Jan. 4, 1890. The registrar -general, in his last 

 annual summary, reported that the death-rate registration in 

 London in 1888 was 18.5 per 1,000, being "far the lowest 

 death-rate as yet recorded in London," the next lowest being 

 19.8, 19.9, and 19.6 in the three immediately preceding 

 years, 1885, 1886, 1887, previous to which the London death- 

 rate had never fallen below 20 per 1,000. The death-rate in 

 1889, moreover, again fell, and was considerably below the 

 low rate in 1888. The i-egistrar-general's return for the fifty- 

 second week of 1889 affords the means of calculating that the 

 mean annual death-rate in London in the fifty-two weeks of 

 last year did not exceed 17.5 per 1,000, which was 1 per 1,000 

 below the rate in 1888. 



Floods and Their Results from a Sanitary Standpoint.— 

 "We learn from the Medical Record that arrangements have been 

 made to hold a tri-State sanitary convention at Wheeling, 

 "W. "Va., Feb 37 and 28, 1890. Representatives will be iiresent 

 with papers and addresses from Pennsylvania, "West Virginia, 

 and Ohio. The object of the convention is to consider the 

 question of floods and their results from a sanitary standpoint, 

 and the best methods of managing the sanitary interests of a 

 given community after such a calamity. Owing to the mutual 

 relations held by these three States with reference to large 

 rivers, and the numerous tovvns in each one of these States 

 that are annually affected by floods and their results, it has 



