74 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Jan. 27, li 



the voluntary managers of elementary schools. Not only 

 are their hands already too full, but experience shows 

 that School Boards often represent the denominations 

 or the political clubs of the districts to the exclusion of 

 practical men who know and care most about education. 

 Politics and denominationalism have nothing to do with 

 technical instruction. As a second principle he insists 

 th"-t the rates shall not be the source from which the 

 technical schools must draw their supplies. 



The Inundation in China. — The past autumn has 

 witnessed the most disastrous inundation recorded in 

 modern history. The vast and rapid river Hoang-ho 

 has burst its embankments at a point about 300 miles 

 from the sea, made itself a new channel, and submerged 

 in one district alone 1,500 villages. The number of 

 persons drowned in the province of Honan is estimated 

 at from one to two millions, but a European resident in 

 Pekin and coming in contact with high officials considers 

 that it may reach seven millions ! Multitudes more along 

 a tract of 400 miles are left homeless and destitute, 

 and many of them must by this time have perished. This 

 catastrophe should be an impressive lesson on the neces- 

 sity of keeping the uplands about the head waters of 

 rivers as forests, and further it is a warning that the beds 

 of streams should be kept clear by dredging instead of 

 attempting to bank the water in vnth dams. Every 

 river which is allowed to flow at a level higher than that 

 of the surrounding country is a standing menace. 



Singular Explosions. — The town of Rochester, in the 

 State of New York, has been the scene of a novel 

 calamity. The " Vacuum Oil Company " supplies the 

 gas works of the town with naphtha, which flows along 

 a pipe two miles in length, passing through the midst 

 of the town. The supply suddenly ceased, though the 

 Oil Company maintained that they had pumped 14,000 

 gallons on that day. On examination it was found that 

 the tube had burst, so that all the naphtha had found 

 its way into the sewers. Here it took fire from some 

 unknown cause. Flames burst through the pavements 

 of the streets, and there occurred a number of explosions, 

 producing much injury and several fatal accidents. 



Bricklaying in Winter. — In Norway building opera- 

 tions are carried on without interruption through the 

 winter, unless the temperature falls lower than 14" to 

 18° Fahrenheit. The whole secret of the matter is that 

 the Norwegians buy their lime, not slaked, but only 

 burned, and, like the ancient Romans, ■ mix their mortar 

 only in small quantities for immediate use. The bricks 

 are kept under cover prior to use, and the upper courses 

 of bricks which have been laid are shielded from rain 

 or snow by means of planks and mats during the night 

 or whenever work is suspended. By attending to these 



simple precautions building operations can be carried on 

 through the winter, to the benefit of all concerned. 



The Cattle Diseases of the past Year. — Among 

 the events summarised at the conclusion of 1887 the dis- 

 eases among live stock cannot be overlooked. No wide- 

 spread outbreak of cattle plague has, indeed, taken place, 

 but pleuro-pneumonia among horned cattle and swine- 

 fever continue to exist, and add to the burdens of 

 agriculturists. There have been 272 outbreaks of 

 pleuropneumonia in England and 314 in Scotland. 

 Cattle actually attacked were slaughtered to the number 

 of 2,322, whilst 3,245 head were killed for fear of in- 

 fection. 



The least satisfactory feature here is that, in spite of 

 all remedial measures, pleuro-pneumonia is still steadily 

 increasing, that the annual number of cases has nearly 

 doubled itself since 1884. Swine-fever has also reached 

 a point higher than had been known before, the number 

 of outbreaks having been 7,000. Anthrax has occurred 

 in forty-nine counties in England and nine in Scotland. 

 The " stamping-out " system is not calculated to be 

 here successful. There have been 500 cases of rabies in 

 twenty-two counties in England, affecting dogs, horses, 

 cattle, sheep, swine, and deer. Of the last-mentioned 

 animals 200 head have thus perished in Richmond Park. 



Electric Quackery. — The Lancet and the Electrical 

 Review are labouring to expose the electro-medical 

 quackery which is believed to be carried on upon an 

 enormous scale. It is said that ^^20,000 a year is 

 spent on producing and advertising fraudulent ap- 

 pliances by persons as ignorant of electricity as they 

 are of every branch of medical science. The undoubted 

 fact that electricity under proper conditions and in skilled 

 hands is a therapeutic agent of great performance and 

 still greater promise has opened the door to this ad- 

 vertising quackery, and, unfortunately for scientific 

 medicine, people in general are unable to discriminate 

 between the one and the other. 



The Future of Public Health. — Under this head- 

 ing Dr. C. A. Gordon writes to the Medical Press, point- 

 ing out certain facts which seem to show that, in spite of 

 any increase of stature and of longevity, there are in our 

 race indications of degeneration. The standard height 

 for military service has been reduced, the ratio of rejec- 

 tions for bodily disability among recruits has risen con- 

 siderably, and those who are accepted seem lacking in 

 that robustness which characterised their predecessors 

 many years ago. In civil life also it is now increasingly 

 difficult to obtain men fit for the heavier kinds of labour. 

 The facts are that we and other civilised nations are in 

 many ways striving to ensure the "survival of the 

 unfittest." 



