NOVKMBKR 18, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



247 



and upon the vitality of its germs, is a matter of deep moment at 

 the present time, and we shall be glad to receive any information 

 from our readers which will throw light upon the subject. 



Sewer-Gas. — In an editorial on the subject of the air of sewers, 

 the New York Medical Joicrnal refers to the fact that some authori- 

 ties do not regard sewer-air as of itself usually deleterious, while 

 others attribute to it cases of sickness which have from time to time 

 been reported, and asks how this apparent discrepancy is to be ac- 

 counted for. Sewer-air is regarded by some sanitarians as danger- 

 ous only when it contains the germs of specific diseases ; but the 

 many instances in which it has seemed to be the sole cause of per- 

 sistent sore throats, headaches, and diarrhoeal troubles without the 

 development of any well-defined disease would seem to militate 

 against this view. Dr. Playfair reports a case in the Lancet in 

 which serious symptoms were developed in a puerperal woman, 

 which were undoubtedly due to exposure to foul air from the house- 

 drains. In the Proceedings of the Royal Society is a paper on this 

 subject by Professor Carnelly and J. S. Haldane, M.B., in which it 

 is shown that the air of large and well-ventilated sewers is compara- 

 tively free from no.xious gases, and contains proportionately fewer 

 micro-organisms than the outer air of the same locality. These ob- 

 servers also found that most of the micro-organisms found in the 

 sewer-air were drawn in from the outer air, and not developed in 

 the sewer; that micro-organisms tend to settle instead of remaining 

 in the air ; and that, when bubbles of sewage burst, a number of 

 micro-organisms are set free into the air. The editor of the New 

 York Medical Journal states that it has been noticed that illness 

 traced to defective drainage is more frequent in houses. where there 

 are holes in the pipes, open joints, or unused fi.xtures, than where 

 there is simply an absence of traps under fixtures in constant use. 

 Holes in vertical or branch pipes, and open joints, will often be 

 found covered about the edge with slime deposited from fluids that 

 have spurted through the holes during their passage. The outer 

 border of this deposit is often dry and crumbling, and from that 

 point to the edge of the opening will be found all degrees of moist- 

 ure. He asks whether it may not be that such deposits around 

 holes and lining dry unused pipes are the real breeding-places of 

 the micro-organisms believed to be productive of so much sickness 

 in houses, every outward current of air passing into the room being 

 loaded with them. He calls attention to what is undoubtedly the 

 fact, that pathogenic micro-organisms may produce their injurious 

 results by being swallowed, as well as inhaled, and that the im- 

 munity of sewer-men, scavengers, and plumbers may be due to 

 tobacco-chewing, and the ejection of the buccal fluids instead of 

 their deglutition. The value of bacteriological science was well 

 illustrated recently in the recognition of the cholera microbe, the 

 comma bacillus or cholera spirillum, in cultures obtained from the 

 e.xcreta of cases at the quarantine of New York, which were sus- 

 pected to be cholera. Such cultures were made by Drs. Biggs, 

 Prudden, Kinyoun, Armstrong, and Weeks, and the microbe was 

 discovered by each one of these investigators, thus determining 

 absolutely the nature of the disease. In a paper on the diagnostic 

 value of the cholera spirillum, read before the Society of Bellevue 

 Hospital Alumni, Dr. Biggs gives a history of his experiments, and 

 states that this is, he believes, the first case in this country where 

 a diagnosis of Asiatic cholera has been based upon biological ex- 

 aminations. , 



Health of School-Children. — The following recommenda- 

 tions have been made by the State Board of Health of New York, 

 and will doubtless be brought before the Legislature at its next 

 session : I. That its organic law be so amended as to authorize 

 its executive officer, where an emergency arises and the local 

 board of health of the town or village in which the emergency oc- 

 curs has not organized and appointed a health-officer, to appoint a 

 physician as acting health-officer at the expense of the town or vil- 

 lage concerned, who shall, until such time as a board of health for 

 said place has been organized, as provided for in Chapter 270, Laws 

 of 1885, have and exercise, under the direction of the secretary of 

 the State Board of Health, all the powers and duties of a board of 

 health regularly appointed. II. That the following requirerrients be 

 embodied in a law as essential to the sanitary welfare of the school- 

 children of the State : {a) Building should rest on a good dry founda- 



tion, and be constructed to insure the comfort of children during 

 inclement weather ; {b) Class-rooms should be arranged so as to 

 admit light from left side and back of pupils, and the area of win- 

 dows should be one-fourth of floor-space; {c) Not less than 250 

 cubic feet of air-space should be allowed per pupil, and provision 

 for changing air should be made, so as to secure each pupil not 

 less than thirty cubic feet of fresh air per minute ; {d) The tem- 

 perature of the school-rooms should in winter be maintained at a 

 range not to exceed from 68° F. to 70° F.; ie) Closets should be 

 provided for each sex, entirely separate from each other, and hav- 

 ing entirely separate means of access ; when situated outside the 

 building, they should be about fifty feet distant, and should be con- 

 nected with it by a covered walk ; privy-vaults should be utterly 

 abolished ; movable boxes or buckets should be placed under the 

 seats, and earth or ashes provided as a deodorant ; buckets should 

 be cleaned out at least once a week ; {/) In addition to his other 

 powers over schools, the superintendent of public instruction should 

 have authority to oblige school-trustees to make improvements or 

 repairs in school-buildings for sanitary purposes, whenever the local 

 board of health considers such necessary, and their judgment is 

 supported by that of the State Board of Health. 



Yellow-Fever at Tampa. — During the week ending Nov. 

 2, there were at Tampa, Fla., 74 cases of yellow-fever, with 9 

 deaths. The total number of cases during the epidemic is approx- 

 imately 325, of which 48 have proved fatal. On the 3d instant 

 there were three new cases and 2 deaths. The quarantine inspect- 

 or telegraphs that he thinks the epidemic is rapidly subsiding. 

 Two cases, one of which died, occurred three weeks ago at Many 

 Lakes, Fla., but there has been no spread of the disease. At Man- 

 atee, having a population of 300, it is reported that there are 16 

 cases of yellow-fever, and that there have been 3 deaths from that 

 disease. 



Old Observations on Hydrophobia. — In a letter to the 

 Boston Medical and Sitrgical Journal, Dr. Goodale of the Botanic 

 Garden of Harvard University says, " In the course of my reading, 

 I have chanced upon the following passage, which may prove of 

 some interest to your readers. It is taken from ' Observations on 

 Hydrophobia,' by James Thacher, M.D., Plymouth, Mass., 1812. 

 It seems as if Dr. Thacher's project was in a fair way of being car- 

 ried into successful execution, after a lapse of more than seventy 

 years. From p. 300 of the work cited above, the Italics standing 

 as in the original : ' Experiments made upon the canine poison in 

 brutes, might be considered as an arduous and hazardous under- 

 taking, but it is not to be deemed altogether impracticable and I 

 will suggest the following project for the purpose. In the first place, 

 dogs when affected with madness, instead of being killed, should 

 be confined and secured that the disease may run its course, and 

 for the ascertainment of many useful facts connected with its sev- 

 eral stages. If experiments on dogs should be deemed too hazard- 

 ous, let other animals of little value be selected, provided a sufficient 

 number can be procured. Having provided for their security in 

 some proper enclosure, let them be inoculated with the saliva of 

 the mad dog, by the point of the lancet, which would undoubtedly 

 prove as effectual as the dog's teeth. The animals thus infected, 

 are to be the subjects of various experiments and the most atten- 

 tive observation. With some, the inoculated part might be cut out 

 at different stages, to ascertain the latest period in which it may be 

 done successfully. To others, various counter-poisons and specific 

 remedies might be applied to the wound and administered inter- 

 nally. In fact, it would be difficult to determine, a priori, the ex- 

 tent of the advantages of this novel plan, if judiciously conducted. 

 You may smile at my project, but however chimerical and vision- 

 ary it may appear, I would rejoice to be the Jenner of the proposed 

 institution ; though I might fail in realizing my thousands, I could 

 pride myself in being the candidate for the honor, and the author 

 of an attempt to mitigate the horrors attending one of the greatest 

 of all human calamities." " It will be seen from this that Dr. 

 Thacher anticipated Pasteur by many years. 



In Science of last week, first column, 4th line from bottom, 

 ' 1886 ' should read '1885;' same column, 6th line from bottom, 

 '1885' should read '1886.' 



