June 3, 1887.] 



sciujsrcjs. 



531 



Janeiro. During these two years, 1,675 persons 

 died from that disease ; and of that number, 1,667 

 were un vaccinated, eight only of those who had re- 

 ceived the treatment having died. This statement 

 was made by Freire and others to the Academy of 

 science. These gentlemen state, that, taking as 

 the basis of their calculation the population ex- 

 posed to the contagion, the percentage of deaths 

 for the whole number was one per cent, whereas 

 for those who had been subjected to preventive 

 inoculations it was only one per thousand. 



A THREE-TEAE TRANCE. — In the Reviie cThyp- 

 notisme is reported the case of a young lady who 

 has been in an uninterrupted trance for nearly 

 four years. In 1883 she received a fright, and 

 shortly after had convulsions, from which she 

 passed into a profound sleep which has continued 

 to the present time. She takes food in small quan- 

 tities. Dr. B6rillon, who reports the case, has, as 

 the result of his examination, found the limbs 

 wasted, and the fat of the body to have disap- 

 peared. Anaesthesia is complete. The pulse is 

 very weak, and beats one hundred to the minute. 

 The face is pale, waxy, and expressionless. She 

 is totally unconscious, and cannot be aroused. 



Purification of sewage. — L. P. Kinnicutt, 

 professor of applied chemistry at the Worcester 

 free institute, has recently given his opinion as 

 to purification of the sewage of that city by means 

 of chemical precipitation. In his report to the 

 city engineer, he discusses the three general meth- 

 ods used for the purification of sewage, — irriga- 

 tion, intermittent filtration, and chemical precipi- 

 tation. That sewage can be purified in England 

 by the system of broad irrigation, when the sys- 

 tem is carefully carried out, there is no question. 

 The amount of land required, however, is very 

 great, probably an acre for every fifty persons. 

 This, together with the cost of properly preparing 

 the land, conducting the sewage thereto, and 

 carrying the efiiuent away, makes the system a 

 most costly one for a city of any size. Purifica- 

 tion of sewage by means of intermittent filtration 

 is an attempt to reduce the amount of land by ap- 

 plying the sewage intermittently, the amount of 

 land betag, as given by the most careful authori- 

 ties, one acre to five hundred persons. The cost 

 of preparing the land for this purpose is very 

 great, as it must be deeply under-drained. The 

 land, when used, is not well fitted for the produc- 

 tion of crops, and the decomposition of the or- 

 ganic matter contained in the sewage depends al- 

 most entirely on the oxygen contained in the soil. 

 The third method, chemical precipitation, con- 

 sists in adding certain chemicals to the sewage, 

 which precipitates practically all the suspended 



matter, and which could undoubtedly be carried 

 to a point where most of the offensive matter in 

 solution was destroyed. The efiiuent obtained by 

 this process can either be carried directly into a 

 running stream, or first filtered through a small 

 area of land. The recommendation of Professor 

 Kinnicutt in reference to the best method for the 

 purification of the sewage of Worcester is that 

 chemical precipitation be adopted, with the addi- 

 tion of a small area of land, for possible use in 

 very hot, dry weather ; and, for every million 

 gallons of sewage, the addition of about 900 

 pounds of quickhme for the neutralization of free 

 acid, and 3,150 pounds in the form of milk of 

 lime, or 1,000 pounds in the form of lime-water, 

 for the precipitation process proper. 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 

 Africa. 



The journal of Bishop Hannington, who was 

 murdered in Uganda, contains some interesting- 

 notes on Masai Land, according to Petermann^s 

 Mitteilungen for May. His travels between the 

 "Victoria Nyanza and the Nile are important, as 

 he was the first white man to visit that part of 

 the country. 



Count Teleki has organized an expedition to 

 Central Africa, which left Zanzibar on Jan. 24, 

 under the command of Lieutenant von Hohnel. 

 The object of the expedition is the exploration of 

 the Kilima Njaro. 



Extracts from letters of H. M. Stanley, dated 

 from the Kongo on March 20 and 21, are published 

 in the London Times. The expedition arrived at 

 Banana Point on March 18, after a pleasant and 

 satisfactory voyage. Stanley chartered three 

 small steamers belonging to the trading com- 

 panies of the lower Kongo, and on March 20 and 

 21 the whole expedition was conveyed to Matadi. 

 The expedition appears to be in a very satisfac- 

 tory condition. A serious disturbance between 

 the Zanzibari and Tippo-Tip's men on the one side, 

 and the Sudanese on the other, was quickly sup- 

 pressed ; and Stanley says that later on perfect 

 peace prevailed among the different elements 

 composing the expedition. The news he received 

 at Bomo from the committee in charge of the ad- 

 ministration of the Kongo Free State was very 

 discouraging. He was informed that a serious 

 famine existed as far as Stanley Pool, and that 

 the steamer Stanley is at present hauled up for 

 repairs. Besides this, the Baptist mission refused 

 to lend its steamer Peace to the expedition. Thus 

 Stanley encounters numerous obstacles; but we 

 may expect, nevertheless, to hear soon of his ar- 

 rival at Stanley Pool. 



