January 20, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



29 



which he regards as due to the changes in the climatic conditions, 

 but this is not as yet securely established. His study of the height 

 reveals some very interesting points. It is well known that we are 

 longer when we lie down than when we stand up, and this differ- 

 ence may be as much as a centimetre. So, too, after a long walk, 

 when the weight of the body has compressed all those parts that 

 furnish room for contraction, the height is smaller. Twenty-two 

 boys, thirteen to sixteen years old, were measured at different times 

 of day. During the hours of leisure, from 6 to 8 a.m., a boy lost, 

 on the average, 4 millimetres in height ; while resting on the school- 

 bench, from 8 to 9 o'clock, he gained .3 of a millimetre ; during the 

 instruction, from 9 to 10, he loses i millimetre ; during the recess, 

 from 10 to IX, the loss in height was 3 millimetres for each boy; 

 from II to 12 during school-hours the body expands by 2 millime- 

 tres, but in the next hour in school loses .4 of a millimetre ; in the 

 leisure time from i to 5 o'clock the body loses 3 millimetres. In 

 general, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. there is a loss of 9 millimetres ; from 

 5 to 9 P.M. there are variations ; and from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. there is 

 a gain of 9 millimetres. These measurements were taken during the 

 winter months. The daily variations in weight were also observed. 

 From the end of the chief meal, at 2 p.m., until 9 o'clock, each boy 

 loses .13 of a kilogram, and from 9 P.M. to 6 A.M. there was a loss of 

 .57 of a kilogram : of this, .28 of a kilogram was due to perspira- 

 tion and exhalations, and the rest to excretions. From 6 a.m. to 

 I P.M. there was a gain of .11 of a kilogram, and dinner added .59 

 of a kilogram. It is very much to be hoped that the custom of tak- 

 ing a variety of this kind of measurements will become widespread, 

 and systematic attempts be made to extend and collect such obser- 

 vations. 



SCARLET-FEVER REPORT.' 



■IV. 



S. H. DURGIN, M.D., Boston, Mass., health commissioner, re- 

 ports that the law of Massachusetts requires reports of scarlet-fever 

 to be made by both the attending physician and the householder. 

 Boards of health should verify the diagnosis, and cause strict isola- 

 tion and thorough disinfection to be practised. Dr. Durgin believes 

 that isolation can best be carried out in hospitals. Inasmuch as 

 these measures are often successful in preventing the spread of the 

 fever in schools and families, he thinks they would be equally effi- 

 cacious in preventing its spread in a community. He thinks the use 

 ■of drugs to prevent well persons from contracting the disease to be 

 nonsense. 



Mary B. Moody, M.D., New Haven, Conn., relates the following 

 incidents, which have come under her personal observation, as 

 showing the communicability of scarlet-fever : i. Two children re- 

 ceived a call from a little playmate who was affected with scarla- 

 tina. The disease was so light that it was not recognized for some 

 days. The exposed children suffered from the anginose variety, 

 but did not come down for six weeks. They were very ill, and at- 

 tacked within a few hours of each other. 2. A young physician, 

 male, called upon a lady directly after attending a scarlet-fever case, 

 and without ablutions or change of clothing. She had unmistakable 

 scarlet-fever two weeks later. Dr. Moody believes that in hypo- 

 sulphite of sodium we have an agent which will protect well persons 

 from contracting the fever when exposed. She says, " Hyposul- 

 phite of sodium in solution has appeared in two cases, at least, 

 which came under my observation, to have sufficient protective 

 power to enable a sister to attend the funeral of a brother dead of 

 the disease, and to enter his two-roomed house, v/hich was infected 

 by it. She went against protest into what seemed certain exposure, 

 was sixteen years of age. All the other children of the family had 

 it, four or five of them within two months of the first case. The 

 late Dr. Thomas F. Rochester of Buffalo related to his classes in 

 college instances he had personally known where contagion of 

 scarlet-fever was carried in clothing. One lady. wore a wrapper to 

 assist in caring for the daughter of a friend where she was 

 visiting, who was ill with scarlet-fever. When her visit was 

 ended, she put the wrapper in her trunk and went to the house of 

 another friend, who had a daughter about the same age of the one 

 to whom she had recently ministered. There were no cases of 

 scarlet-fever in the vicinity, nor had there been for a long time. 



1 Continued from Science of Jan, 13, 1888. 



She wore the wrapper soon after her arrival. In a few days the 

 little girl sickened with scarlet-fever and died." 



Fred. K. Smith, M.D., Calumet, Mich., says, " I have seen re- 

 peatedly successive cases, occurring in families at intervals of a few 

 days or one or two weeks, where it has apparently been communi- 

 cated from one to another. In one case which I observed, a young 

 lady, having a mild attack in Michigan at a place where it was epi- 

 demic, went home to Ohio about two weeks after the beginning of 

 the attack. Within two weeks after her return, her sister was 

 attacked with the same disease, no other cases existing in the 

 neighborhood at that time. The weight of evidence indicates that 

 a scarlet-fever patient may communicate the disease to others for a 

 period of six weeks from the beginning of the disease, and, if com- 

 plete disinfection is not then accomplished, for an additional period 

 from virus retained on the skin and clothing." Dr. Smith thinks 

 that placards should be affixed to houses in which scarlet-fever 

 exists, and that the occupants should not be permitted either to 

 make or receive visits. 



D. L. Phares, M.D., Agricultural and Mechanical College, Agri- 

 cultural College P.O., Miss., narrates a case m which a gentleman 

 spent about a week helping to nurse a case of scarlet-fever. When 

 the patient died, he rode about twenty miles, taking his clothing 

 with him, to spend some days with his sister and her children. In 

 a few days the children took the disease, and part of them died. 

 No other means could be discovered of taking tlie disease. 



W. W. Daniells, Madison, Wis., reports the following case : " A 

 lady nursed her sister's children in a house adjoining mine, and 

 when she went home (after a thorough bath) wore no clothing that 

 had been near the house where the sickness occurred ; yet her own 

 child, who had not been otherwise exposed, took the disease, the 

 germs having been probably carried in the hair, which had not 

 been cleansed." 



Charles Schaffer, M.D., Philadelphia, Penn., reports the case of a 

 young nephew of his, less than a year old, who contracted the 

 disease in a house where a death had occurred three months before, 

 and was supposed to have been disinfected. In another instance 

 two children of a friend died from the disease after returning to 

 their home several weeks after the recovery of another member of 

 the family from the fever. 



Charles N. Chapin, Providence, R.I., superintendent of health, 

 makes the following statement as showing the practice of the health 

 department in that city : " At present we placard houses ; exclude 

 children of household from school, Sunday school, etc. ; distribute 

 circulars of information ; forbid public funerals ; and fumigate with 

 sulphur. We should, in addition, fumigate all textile fabrics, etc., 

 with steam, and have a hospital for the treatment of those cases 

 which cannot be isolated at home. Our rules are fairly well com- 

 plied with ; and it is possible, that, if they could have been strictly 

 enforced at the beginning of this epidemic in August, it might have 

 been stopped. But I do not feel at all sure but that the only way 

 to prevent the spread of this disease is to remove every case to a 

 hosoital, or else put a guard around every infected house, and pre- 

 vent every possible contact with the community. I shall be 

 pleased to give you the results of our efforts later in the season, 

 whether they are favorable or not. Thus far the cases reported per 

 week have been as follows : — 



Cases 04 4 7 93 8 33 49 S8 56 37 .14 



" Reports of cases should be made by physicians, because they 

 are cognizant of the majority of cases, and because they can recog- 

 nize the disease. Physicians should be licensed by State boards 

 of health. The physicians should be paid for this service by the 

 local government. When a physician is not employed (and perhaps 

 in all cases), the head of the household should be obliged to report. 

 This is the law in this State. But it is by the rules of the board 

 of health in this city that the reporting by physicians is made com- 

 pulsory. They are not, however, paid for this service. About 

 ninety per cent of all cases are reported by physicians. We learn 

 of the others through the assistance of school-teachers chiefly. 

 Probably very few cases now escape us." 



