420 



SCIEJSrCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 331 



certain point, together with the prevention of 

 compensatory action of other organs, is followed 

 by a local and general state not to be distinguished 

 from consumption ; 2^. That arrest of this arti- 

 ficially induced reduction of the breathing surface 

 of the lungs, together with induced compensatory 

 action of other organs, is followed by relief of the 

 prominent symptoms, and improvement of the 

 general state ; 3'^. That artificially induced full 

 development of the breathing surface of the lungs 

 is followed by an entire absence of all symptoms 

 of disease, and by general good health. 



In corroboration of these propositions, Mr. Ham- 

 bleton calls attention to the invariable association 

 of phthisis with confinement. In a convent in 

 Paris all the nuns became phthisical, while the 

 portress, who was not subjected to the same regu- 

 lations, and went out daily for supplies, remained 

 in good health. Perfectly healthy men, brought 

 up in the country, have gone into towns, and en- 

 gaged in occupations that either necessitated long 

 hours, in close rooms, in cramped positions, or the 

 inhalations of particles of dust, and after a time 

 have become ill with all the symptoms of consump- 

 tion. This disease has thus been shown to be pro- 

 duced by two distinct sets of conditions : in the 

 one we have those that reduce the breathing 

 capacity by habitual disease of the lungs ; and 

 in the other, those that reduce the breathing 

 capacity either by habitual compression of the 

 chest or by injury to the lungs. 



The prevention of consumption is, accoi'ding to 

 this theory, a very simple one, — to place all persons 

 under conditions of habitation, clothing, educa- 

 tion, and habits that tend individually and collec- 

 tively to develop the lungs, and that prevent or ob- 

 viate compression of the chest or injury tothelungs. 

 These views of Mr. Hambleton are very fully set 

 forth in a brochure entitled ' What is consumption ? ' 

 and in a paper read at a meeting of the British 

 association, on the scientific prevention of con- 

 sumption. 



Some months ago a number of persons went 

 from Glasgow to Loch Fyne to see a large blasting 

 operation in which six and one-half tons of gun- 

 powder were exploded. A short time after the 

 explosion many of the observers became faint, six 

 of the number died almost immediately, one died 

 shortly after, and five others were very ill but re- 

 covered. The cause of death is believed to have 

 been the carbonic oxide generated from the gun- 

 powder. It is estimated that the amount must 

 have been 468 pounds, — a quantity sufficient to 

 occupy 6,333 cubic feet of air space, or to vitiate 

 for respiratory purposes a space one hundred times 



as great. There were also generated 3,575 pounds 

 of carbonic anhydride ; so that, in all, there were 

 1,266,000 cubic feet of air rendered irrespirable. 



— Dr. D. F. Lincoln, in a letter to the Boston 

 medical and surgical journal, narrates a personal 

 experience in Savannah with a kerosene-stove. In 

 a room containing 1,100 cubic feet of air space, he 

 introduced a kerosene-stove for heating-purposes, 

 being able to raise the temperature by its means 

 eighteen degrees. Although there was some odor, 

 nevertheless he did not experience any personal 

 discomfort. One evening he noticed that the 

 reading-lamp was dim, the flame having shrunk to 

 half its size. When he carried it into the entry, it 

 burned brightly. He subsequently tested the air 

 with Walpert's air-testing apparatus, and found 

 the amount of carbonic acid had reached sixty- 

 seven parts per thousand, the normal amount be- 

 ing three or four parts. Each of the two burners 

 in the stove was four inches in length, and gen- 

 erated as much carbonic acid as eight or ten com- 

 mon lamps. In a well-built house with tight 

 doors the efi'ect might be doubled. 



— In the British medical journal are reported 

 two cases of chronic cocaine-poisoning. The 

 patients were a man and wife who had formerly 

 been addicted to opium, and who had taken 

 cocaine as an antidote. They commenced with 

 small doses, but finally took daily 3.5 grams 

 hypodermically. The prominent symptoms were 

 incoherence of ideas and optical delusions. They 

 saw on their hands, on the beds and walls, small 

 spots and worms of all forms. Complete recovery 

 followed the discontinuance of the cocaine. 



— The figures representing the mortality of a 

 great city like London for a single week are ap- 

 palling. During the week ending Jan. 1, 1887, 

 there were registered in that city 1,899 deaths, of 

 which 114 were from measles, 25 from scarlet- 

 fever, 27 from whooping-cough, and 17 from ty- 

 phoid-fever: 74 deaths were caused by violence, 

 66 being the result of negligence or accident, and 

 7 being suicides. 



— A physician of Cairo has been treating an 

 opium habitu6 with cocaine, the result being that 

 a cocaine habit was soon established, the patient 

 so enjoying the sensation produced by the drug as 

 to be led to use it on the slightest provocation. 

 At one time the amount injected hypodermically 

 was one and a half grams daily. As a result, he 

 suffered from a condition similar to delirium tre- 

 mens, became greatly agitated, and had hallucina- 

 tions. He fired a pistol at imaginary objects, 

 attacked his servant, and was at last put into a 

 hospital. He recovered subsequently, injections 

 of morphine being the treatment adopted. 



