510 



BCIBNCE, 



[Vol. IX., No. 225 



55,8, and for the second, 66.1, an increase of nearly 

 11. In considering these statistics, it would seem 

 that the transmission of typhoid-fever by means 

 of sewers is overlooked. In Brooklyn the out- 

 break of 1885 was distinctly traced to communi- 

 cation through sewers, and it was also fairly well 

 demonstrated that the water-supply played no 

 part at all in the transmission of the disease. 

 The fact is undoubtedly that typhoid-fever is com- 

 municated both by means of sewers and the water- 

 supply, and that neither is to be regarded as the 

 sole factor in its propagation. 



Pasteur's work. — Pasteur is at the present 

 time being very severely criticised by his oppo- 

 nents, some charging him with causing the death 

 of his patients by his inoculation experiments. 

 The following table of statistics, taken from the 

 Lancet, would seem to indicate, that, notwith- 

 standing the adverse criticisms, Pasteur's claims 

 to having saved life are established on a substan- 

 tial basis. 



These statistics include those treated up to the 

 close of 1886. Since then, twelve or fifteen more 

 deaths have occurred, making the total mortality 

 less than 80, or 21 per cent. In contrast with 

 this, we find the rate of mortality after bites of 

 rabid animals to be about 16 per cent ; or, in 

 other words, the treatment pursued by Pasteur 

 and those who have practised his method else- 

 where, has been followed by but one death, while 

 without the treatment there would have been 

 seven deaths, per thousand. 



Geographical distribution op consumption. 

 — The New Sydenham society has recently pub- 

 lished the third volume of Hirsch's ' Handbook of 

 geographical and historical pathology,' in which 

 the author treats of pulmonary phthisis. He finds 



the disease to be one of all times, countries, and 

 races. Its mortality is 3 per 1,000, or nearly one- 

 seventh of the total mortality. In Vienna the 

 rate is 7.7 per 1,000 ; in Berlin and Dresden, but 

 3.8. Among nomad tribes, the Kirghiz of Central 

 Asia and the Bedouins of Arabia, phthisis is al- 

 most unknown. When, however, these tribes 

 change their abodes and dwell in towns, then the 

 disease appears among them. The conclusions of 

 Professor Hirsch are as follows : 1°. Phthisis is 

 everywhere prevalent, but it is rare in polar re- 

 gions, and rarer still at high altitudes ; 2". The 

 main factors in its production are over-crowding 

 and bad hygiene ; 3°. Heat and cold, per se, have 

 no influence : 4°. Damp, when conjoined with 

 frequent oscillations of temperature, predisposes 

 to the disease, but humidity of the air is less im- 

 portant than dampness of soil ; 5°. Occupation is 

 extremely important, but mainly indirectly, as 

 tending to good or bad hygienic conditions. 



Whooping-cough. — At the sixth German con- 

 gress for internal medicine, held at Wiesbaden in 

 April, the subject of whooping-cough was dis- 

 cussed. Professor Vogel of Munich regards the 

 disease as infectious. In an epidemic which oc- 

 curred at Wurzburg, 52 children under one year 

 of age were affected, and 13, or 25 per cent, died ; 

 248 between one and five years were also aflfected. 

 Of this latter number, 12, or 4 8 per cent, died ; 

 while between the ages of six and fifteen years 

 there were 87 cases, of which but one case, or 1.1 

 per cent, was fatal. Professor Hagenbach of 

 Basle said that 240,000 children in Germany have 

 this disease annually ; the mortality being, on 

 the average, four or five per cent. He regards it 

 as communicable so long as much mucus is pro- 

 duced. Schools should be most carefully watched,, 

 and children who have paroxysmal coughs should 

 beexcluded ; and, if the disease occurs and spreads,^ 

 the schools should be closed. The moving of chil- 

 dren from place to place for change of air is oftea 

 the cause of an epidemic in places free from the 

 disease. 



MENTAL SCIENCE. 



Para-psychology. 



When, through disease of the nerves or the 

 action of drugs, the sense-organs lose their sensi- 

 bility, the state thus produced is called 'anaes- 

 thesia ; ' when, for similar reasons, their activity 

 is unduly heightened, the condition is spoken of 

 as ' hyperaesthesia ; ' and when the abnormality 

 of sensation consists in the production of unusual 

 effects by ordinary stimuli (for example, when 

 every touch is regarded as the creeping of an ant 



