484 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 147. 



possibility that space contains broad belts of small 

 particles moving with velocities which are the 

 resultant of all the forces acting on them since pri- 

 meval chaos, and which have not yet been gathered 

 into the control of any one of the stellar systems 

 among which they are sweeping, would find 

 much to confirm his ideas in these giant swiftly 

 flying suns. The question is certainly of sufficient 

 interest and importance to call for a thorough 

 overhauling of the present methods of determining 

 meteor-radiants, for probably most astronomers 

 would to-day be disposed to deny in toto the exist- 

 ence of the greater part of these so-called radiant- 

 points. H. M. Paul. 



ALPINE CRETINISM. 



Cretinism is a peculiar form of idiocy which 

 Dr. Kratter defines as "an arrest of psychical 

 development, associated with very manifest mal- 

 formations of the body, and especially of the 

 skeleton." Goitre is frequently, though not in- 

 variably, present. Rachitic deformities, deafness 

 and mutism, and that pecuHar disease myxoedema, 

 combine with idiocy to characterize the cretin. 

 The cause of cretinism has never been satisfac- 

 torily determined. Operations upon human beings 

 for the removal of goitre have shown that cretin- 

 ism will occasionally follow the extirpation of the 

 thyroid glands, and therefore the disease A^'ould 

 seem to be connected, in some measure, with the 

 function of those glands. Moreover, in places 

 where cretins are numerous, goitre is also preva- 

 lent, even to a greater degree. 



It is a fixed belief among the laity that goitre 

 and cretinism are developed through the drinking- 

 water, and in some places particular wells are 

 designated as being especially endowed in this 

 dhection. Such wells are even sought out and 

 used by those who wish to develop goitre, in order 

 to escape military conscription. The noxious 

 element in such waters has been claimed by some 

 to be an excess of chalk, while others say that too 

 much magnesia is the baneful ingredient. 



In order to contrast, within a limited area, the 

 frequency of cretinism with the geological forma- 

 tion of the land, Dr. Kratter has carefully studied 

 a district in the Austrian central Alps, where 

 cretinism is so frequent that it amounts to an 

 actual scourge. 



In Tyrol there are 112 cretins to every 100,000 of 

 population. Salzburg presents 309, Karnten 343, 

 and Steiermark 240, cretins for every 100,000. In 

 Muran one per cent of the entire population is 

 tainted with this disease. When we remember, 



Der alpine cretinismus insbesondere in Steiermark. 

 Von Dr. Julius Kratter. Graz, Leuschner c& iM&eris%,1884. 



he remarks, that the officially recorded cretins 

 are not nearly the entire number, and that be- 

 tween the healthy people and the fully developed 

 cretins there must exist a broad zone of partially 

 feeble-minded folk ; and, still further, when it is 

 known that in the same communities pure goitre 

 is five to ten times more frequent than cretinism, 

 — we have a picture of endemic affliction which 

 may well be called a scourge. 



Kratter found that the maximum frequency of 

 goitre followed the gneiss and granite formations 

 which are rich in magnesia, while, on the other 

 hand, the disease was extremely rare over chalky 

 areas. The people in the regions noted were of 

 the same nationality, and exhibited the same 

 habits and customs. Elevation also appears to 

 have a marked influence upon the frequency of 

 cretinism. Cases are not developed higher than 

 1,000 metres above the sea, and they are extremely 

 rare below 300 metres elevation. The greatest 

 frequency occurs in mountain valleys which are 

 between 400 and 700 metres above sea-level. 

 Many villages in such valleys present the high 

 proportions mentioned above. 



Dr. Kratter gives his short paper simply as a 

 summary of his work thus far, but he does not 

 attempt to draw ultimate conclusions from it, 

 because the field in which he labored was limited. 

 He hopes that government interest may be at- 

 tracted to this disease, and that a wide-spread and 

 systematic investigation of the subject may be 

 undertaken. 



At a recent meeting of the Paris academy of 

 medicine, M. Roullier, a surgeon attached to the 

 French navy, gave an account of the practice of 

 transfusion of blood in cholera cases at the St. 

 Mandrier hospital, Toulon. The operations were 

 jjerformed during the state of collapse. Of 55 

 cases, 18 recovered. The transfusion of 1,500 to 

 2,000 grams 'literally effected a resurrection;' 

 but, unfortunately, in the majority of cases the 

 patients did not permanently recover. 



— A manufacturer of Breslau is stated to have 

 built a chimney over fifty feet in height entirely 

 of paper. The blocks used in its construction, in- 

 stead of being of brick or stone, were made of 

 compressed paper, jointed with silicious cement. 

 The chimney is said to be very elastic, and also 

 fireproof. We may add that picture-frames are 

 now made of paper. Paper-pulp, glue, linseed oil, 

 and carbonate of lime, or whiting, are mixed to- 

 gether, and heated into a thick cream, which, on 

 being allowed to cool, is run into moulds and 

 hardened. The frames are then gilded or bronzed 

 in the usual way. 



