536 



SCIENCE. 



[VuL. XV. No. 375 



HEALTH MATTERS. , 



The Influence of Cold on Pneumonic Infection. 



De. G. Lipaei of Palermo, in his recent experiments on the 

 infectious nature of fibrinous pneumonia, essentially confirms 

 what is known of Fraenkel's pneumonococcus, and has also 

 succeeded in proving the influence of cold as a factor in the origin 

 of fibrinous pneumonia. According to the Lancet, the endo- 

 tracheal injection of pneumonic sputa or pleuritic exudation of 

 animals which had died from pneumcnocccci gave a negative 

 result; but when the author, before cr after the endo- tracheal 

 injection, exposed the animals to cold, the result was very 

 ■different. Of eight animals so treated, six died with clearly 

 established pneumonic infiltration. The author supposes that 

 the cold paralyzes the ciliated ephithelium of the bronchi, and 

 at the same time causes the mucous membrane to swell, both 

 of which pathological processes favor the descent of the infec- 

 tious material into the alveoli. These experiments were doubt- 

 less undertaken with a view to harmonize the old and new 

 teaching upon the origin of this prevalent disease. 



A Long Fall. 

 A remarkable fall of a miner down 100 metres of shaft (say, 

 333 feet) without being killed is recorded by M. Eeumeaux in 

 the Bulletin de V Industrie Minerale. Working with his brother 

 in a gallery which issued on the shaft, he forgot the direction 

 in which he was pushing a truck: so it went over, and he after 

 it, falling into some mud with about tliree inches of water. 

 As stated in Nature, he seems neither to have struck any of the 

 wood debris, nor the sides of the shaft, and he showed no 

 contusions when he was helped out by his brother after about 

 ten minutes. He could not, however, recall any of his im- 

 pressions during the fall. The velocity on reaching the bottom 

 would he about 140 feet, and time of fall 4.12 seconds: but it 

 is thought he must have taken longer. It appears strange that 

 he should have escaped simple suffocation and loss of con- 

 sciousness during a time sufficient for the water to have 

 •drowned him. 



Tight Collars and Vision. 



The influence of tight collars in impeding the circulation in 

 the head by pressing on the jugular veins is well-known to 

 military surgeons with the troops in India, says the London 

 Lancet; but the bad effects of such pressure in cooler climates 

 have been demonstrated by the observations of Professor Forster 

 of Breslau, who states that three hundred cases have come 

 xinder his notice in which the eyesight has been affected by the 

 disturbance of the circulation caused by wearing collars that 

 were too small. A large number of these cases were probably 

 subjects of myopia. 



The Treatment of PhthiEis by Carbonic Acid. 

 It is said that lime-burners enjoy a certain degree of im- 

 munity from phthisis, not because they take in more carbonic 

 acid, but because its diffusion when expired is impeded. 

 Again, the course of phthisis is often seen to he arrested in 

 pregnancy, and this has been ascribed to the increased amount 

 of carbonic acid in the maternal blood. Chronic heart-disease, 

 by causing chronic hyperaemia of the lungs, also affords a kind 

 of immunity against phthisis. Lastly, in emphysema there is 

 -also permanent dyspnoea in more or less degree, and the blood 

 is overcharged with carbonic acid. Acting on these ideas. Dr. 

 Hugo Weber {Berliner klinische Wochenschrift) proposes to 

 administer carbonic acid by the stomach, in the form of effer- 

 vescing powders. Ten cases are reported in which decided im- 

 provement was noted after this treatment, which certainly 

 merits further trial, especially as it can be carried out at the 

 patients' own homes. According to Ebstein's theory of dia- 

 betes, the increased proneness to phthisis which that disease 

 ■entails is due to the defective development of carbonic acid, 

 this being not only the final product of tissue oxidation, but a 

 body which exerts a regulatory restraining influence on the 

 tJestruction of glycogen and albuminoids. Bergeon, Dujardin- 

 JBeaumetz, and others, have used in phthisis gaseous injections 



per rectum of hydrofluoric acid, copiously diluted with car- 

 bonic acid, and the good results they met with are claimed by 

 Dr. Weber as due to the diluent. 



BOOK-REVIEWS 



Numbers Universalized: An Advanced Algebra. Part If. By 

 David M. Sensenig. New York. Appleton. 13-'. 

 The volume forming the first part of this work was noticed 

 in these columns last August. The work as a whole embraces 

 all algebraic subjects usually taught in the preparatory and 

 scientific schools and colleges of this country. The object in 

 dividing the work into two parts is to accommodate all kinds 

 and grades of schools sufficiently advanced to adopt its use. 

 The work may be had bound either in one or two volumes, as 

 may seem desirable to the teacher. 



AJyiONG THE~PUBLISHERS. 



The three latest issues of the Modern Science Essayist, Nos. 

 •22, 23, and 24, are devoted to "The Evolution of the State," 

 by John A. Taylor; "The Evolution of Law," by Rufus Shel- 

 don ; and ' 'Evolution of Medical Science, ' ' by Robert G. 

 Eccles, M.D. 



— Two useful and convenient little pocket volumes just pub- 

 lished by E. & F. N. Spon of London and New York are 

 "Tables and Memoranda for Engineers," by J. T. Hurst (tenth 

 edition), and "Practical Electrical Notes and Definitions," by 

 W. Perren Maycock. The first-named volume, which is of vest- 

 pocket size, contains memoranda for excavators, brick-layers, 

 masons, carpenters, plasterers, iron-workers, plumbers, painters 

 and glaziers, and others, besides tables on every subject con- 

 nected with engineering. The other volume is intended to be 

 a vade-ineciim for all persons even remotely interested in elec- 

 trical engineering. It treats, briefly but clearly, of wires and 

 lightning-conductors; electrical circuits, units, and Ohm's 

 law ; magnets, batteries, bells, indicators, switches, and alarms ; 

 electric light and dynamos; the telegraph and telephone; the 

 electrical transmission of power, electric motors, and telpher- 

 age. It also contains rules and regulations to he observed in 

 the fitting-up of electrical installations, all diagrams necessary 

 to make its subjects clear, and is provided with a very full 

 index. 



— "Giordano Bruno: Philosopher and Martyr, " is the title 

 of a pamphlet containing two addresses before the Contempo- 

 rary Club of Philadelphia, and published by David McKay of 

 that city. The first is by Daniel G. Brinton, and treats more 

 particularly of Bruno's life, martyrdom, and character, though 

 with some notice also of his philosophy. The second, by 

 Thomas Davidson, is devoted almost exclusively to Bruno's 

 doctrines, their nature, their history, and their present signifi- 

 cance. Both authors show too strong a tendency to read their 

 own oijinions into Bruno's works, or at least to find anticipa- 

 tions of them even in his casual utterances, — a common fault 

 in philosophical writers, at the present day, when treating of 

 earlier thinkers. Bruno's philosophy is too vague and mystical 

 to be identified with any of those now prevalent, though it 

 has points of contact with several of them. Besides, what is 

 most interesting in Bruno is not his philosophy, nor yet his 

 personal character, which was not of the best, but his spirit of 

 independent thought and his heroic resistance to ecclesiastical 

 tyranny. For these he will be remembered and honored, what- 

 ever the defects of his character or his creed. 



— The leading article in Garden and Forest last week is on 

 the sugar-maple, and it is illustrated by a striking picture of 

 one of these trees. The number also contains an illustration 

 of Syringa Pekinensis (the so-called weeping lilac) , with a 

 description of this new shrub; while Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, 

 the distinguished editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle, London, 

 writes instructively on sports, and Professor Budd of the Iowa 

 Agricultural College discusses hardy trees and shrubs. "Chrys- 

 anthemums," "Plants for Easter Decoration," "The Spring 



