March 30, 1888.] 



SCIENCE 



155 



being dissolved from the positive plate ; and this is changed into 

 sulphate of lead, and afterwards by the current into peroxide of 

 lead. In a few hours the plate is covered with a layer of crystal- 

 line peroxide of lead. During the formation, air is forced through 

 the cell, or the plates are lifted from the liquid at intervals. In the 

 absence of data as to the performance of plates formed in this way, 

 it is impossible to compare them with the ordinary ' grid ' plates, 

 pasted with red lead by the Faure process. The disadvantages of 

 this last form have been pointed out in a previous number. The 

 type of cell under which that of M. Dujardin comes — the ' Plante ' 

 form — generally offers the advantage of quicker discharge rate, 

 and freedom from ' buckling,' as against the greater storage-capa- 

 city of the Faure type. How far M. Dujardin has remedied the 

 difficulties of the type outside of the time necessary for formation, 

 remains to be seen. 



Discussion of Alternating-Current Transformers. — 

 The papers of Messrs. Kapp and Mackenzie before the English 

 Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians have excited a 

 great deal of interest and discussion on the subject of alternating 

 currents. A number of people, many of them directly interested in 

 electric lighting, have spoken on the matter. The majority of the 

 speakers seemed in favor of the system, although it was attacked 

 by Messrs. Gordon and Crompton, who prefer using storage-bat- 

 teries for distribution. Arguments in favor of the alternating-cur- 

 rent system were drawn from the experience of the Westinghouse 

 Company in the States, that would be more weighty on this side of 

 the ocean, if they were known to have been carefully verified. Some 

 results of tests of the efficiency of transformers were given by Pro- 

 fessor Ayrton, — the method of testing having been borrowed from 

 our side of the water, — and values of 96 per cent were obtained 

 under the most favorable conditions. As has been pointed out, 

 however, in a former number of this journal, the transformers only 

 work at the maximum efficiency for a short time during the day, so 

 that the average efficiency will not probably be above So per cent. 

 Various speakers favored different systems of distribution, but 

 there were very few who had no experience to give ; and the dis- 

 cussion was an interesting and instructive one. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Transactions of the Association of American Physicians. Sec- 

 ond session, held at Washington, D.C., June 2 and 3, 1887. 

 Philadelphia, Assoc. Amer. Phys. 



The Transactions of the Association of American Physicians at 

 their second annual meeting in Washington has been published. 

 This association is without doubt the most representative body of 

 the medical profession of the United States, having on its roll of 

 membership the most prominent physicians of the country. The 

 papers which are contained in this volume are of a very high order, 

 and the discussions are exceedingly pointed and valuable. 



The treatment of consumption by Bergeon's method, that is, by 

 gaseous enemata, was the subject of three of the seventeen papers, 

 the authors being Edward T. Bruen, M.D. ; F. C. Shattuck, M.D., 

 and Henry Jackson, M.D.; and William Pepper, M.D., LL.D., and 

 J. P. C. Griffith, M.D. 



Dr. Bruen sums up his views in these words : " I incline to think 

 that suitable climatic environment is an all-important adjunct to 

 the proper settlement of the value of Bergeon's treatment. But it 

 is certainly an important addition to our therapeutic equipment to 

 have an agent capable of influencing very markedly bronchial 

 catarrh in so many cases, especially the ' stay-at-homes.' In a 

 word, Bergeon's method, so far as I have used it, is chiefly valuable 

 in those cases of pulmonary disease attended with bronchial catarrh. 

 But I fear the trouble and detail necessary to its successful use will 

 prevent many from employing the method, and I can easily see that 

 the limitation of the power of Bergeon's method will cause it often 

 to be set aside for other plans of treatment." 



Drs. Shattuck and Jackson say, " This method is in no sense a 

 specific for phthisis. If useful, it is only as auxiliary to older and 

 generally accepted methods. The only benefit which we saw in 

 our cases that can fairly be attributed to the enemata was diminu- 



tion in the amount of the expectoration. The good effects which 

 have unquestionably followed the treatment on this side of the 

 water, as well as in France, are perhaps largely attributable to the 

 stimulus afforded by a novel method of treatment, which is of such 

 a nature that the patient cannot but feel that not only something, 

 but much, is being done for him." 



Drs. Pepper and Griffith conclude as follows : " Our conclusions, 

 so far as they can be formulated in a preliminary report of com- 

 paratively few cases, are, that the treatment of phthisis by gaseous 

 enemata has had very undue value attributed to it ; that it is sel- 

 dom of any real benefit, but that it may prove serviceable in occa- 

 sional cases." 



Dr. Henry Hun presented a paper on sewer-gas poisoning, 

 with a history of twenty-nine cases. He concludes that it is prob- 

 able that the following conditions may result from poisoning by 

 sewer-gas: i. Vomiting and purging, either separately or com- 

 bined ; 2. A form of nephritis ; 3. General debility, in some cases 

 of which the heart is especially involved ; 4. Fever, which is fre- 

 quently accompanied by chills ; 5. Sore throat, which is frequently 

 of a diphtheritic character ; 6. Neuralgia ; 7. Perhaps also myelitis 

 of the anterior horns ; 8. Zymotic diseases, such as typhoid-fever, 

 pneumonia, diphtheria, cholera, dysentery, cerebro -spinal menin- 

 gitis, erysipelas, and scarlet-fever (in these cases, undoubtedly, the 

 sewer-gas merely acts as a vehicle for the specific germs) ; 9. A 

 condition of asphyxia, which in its severe form is characterized by 

 coma, convulsions, and collapse ; 10. Puerperal fever ; 11. Abscesses ; 

 12. Lymphadenitis; 13. Acute aural catarrh (?). 



The only other paper read at the meeting, which was of general 

 interest, was one on methods of research in medical literature, by 

 John S. Billings, M.D., U.S.A. This paper contains a good deal 

 of excellent advice to physicians who desire to read up on any par- 

 ticular subject for the preparation of articles for publication or 

 presentation to medical societies. Dr. Billings thinks that one of 

 the most useful pieces of work which could now be undertaken for 

 the benefit of medical writers and investigators would be the prep- 

 aration of a dictionary of critical bibliography of medical bibliog- 

 raphy, in which should be indicated for each subject, in alphabet- 

 ical order, a reference to where the best bibliography relating to 

 that subject can be found. This could only be well done by a 

 co-operation of a number of writers, each taking a special field. 

 This useful paper of Dr. Billings closes with a list of forty of the 

 most useful reference-books, commencing with Albertus Haller's 

 ' Bibliotheca Botanica ' (1751), and ending with Richard Neale's 

 ' First Appendix to the Medical Digest ' (1886). 



The other papers which were presented to the association were 

 purely medical, and of little general interest. 



Sewage Treatment, Purification and Utilisation. A Practical 

 Manual for the Use of Corporations, Local Boards, Medical 

 Officers of Health, Inspectors of Nuisances, Chemists, Manu- 

 facturers, Riparian Owners, Engijieers, arid Rate-Payers. By 

 J. W. Slater, F.E.S. New York, Van Nostrand. 8°. 



This octavo of 271 pages is one of the Specialists' Series, of 

 which a number of treatises have already been issued, and of which 

 several more are now in preparation. The title of the book before 

 us is, we think, a little misleading. The reader expects from such 

 a comprehensive title a good deal more than he actually finds when 

 he reads the book. Still, the subjects which the author treats are 

 handled in a very interesting and decidedly original manner, and, 

 when the book has been read through, the reader is surprised that 

 so much has been put into so small a space. Its perusal impresses 

 one with the idea that Mr. Slater is a practical man, and that he 

 writes of that which he knows from personal experience and obser- 

 vation, and not from a closet study of the books of others. 



In his preface he refers to the unsettled state of the sewage ques- 

 tion. Freezing and heating, concentration and dilution, electrization 

 and magnetizing, the addition of oxidizers and deoxidizers, of fer- 

 ments and preventives of fermentation recommended, if not actually 

 tried, show the want of any distinct and generally recognized prin- 

 ciple. This is still more forcibly illustrated by the fact that since 

 1846 there have been no less than 454 patents issued for the chem- 

 ical treatment of sewage. In the space at our disposal it will be 

 impossible to follow the author in detail ; but there are some points 



