506 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



to the average, and notably during July and August excessive. The snowfall 

 during the winter of i88o~8i, as every one remembers, was the largest known 

 for years, and the rainfall during the spring and summer just closed was about 

 one-half the average; in consequence of which the ground was scorched and the 

 grass and growing ctops completely burned up in many instances, which would 

 not have been the case if the snowfall in the mountains governs the amount of 

 rain that falls in Kansas. 



WHAT IS AN INCH OF RAIN? 



An inch of rain is that quantity which, falling upon a level surface and not 

 absorbed or allowed to run off would stand one inch in depth. The amount of 

 water falling on one acre of land when the rainfall is one inch, would astonish 

 any one who has given no thought to the subject. On each square foot of sur- 

 face there would be 144 cubic inches, and on one acre, which contains 43,600 

 square feet, would be 6,272,640 cubic inches, which, reduced to imperial gallons, 

 each containing ten pounds avoirdupois, would be 22,623 gallons, or 226,230 

 pounds, something more than 113 tons weight to the acre. The average annual 

 rainfall in this locality approximates 50 inches; consequently, each acre receives 

 5^655^ tons weight of water in a year. This amount of water would require a 

 train of 565 freight cars to carry it. If one had to water a 640 acre farm at this 

 rate, it would require figures like those of the distance to the nearest fixed star. 



MEDICINE AND HYGIENE. 



THE USE OF POWERFUL REMEDIES. 



BY J. B. MORRISON, M. D., MARYVILLE, MO. 



There is a class of remedial agents used pretty extensively in the practice of 

 medicine, which agents are so potent, so very powerful in their influence upon 

 the animal system, that their use in the hands of practitioners generally, is begin- 

 ing to create considerable apprehension. The class referred to is that denominat- 

 ed narcotics or arterial sedatives, such as Veratrum Viride, Aconite, Gelseminum, 

 Prussic acid, etc. It may be said at the outset, that these powerful agents are 

 not without their excellent qualities and their usefulness, when carefully and 

 properly handled ; but a little negligence in the administration of them, may prove 

 to be a very serious, and, I may say terrible, thing. As a rule, the human family 

 value hfe very highly ; too highly to have it jeopardized by carelessness or by 

 over-confidence of those who assume, or are authorized, to take upon themselves 

 the protection of the same. 



