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SCIENCE. 



545 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



TERMS: 



Per Year, .... Four Dollars 

 6 Months, .... Two 



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Single Copies, .... Ten Cents. 



Published at 

 TRIBUNE BUILDING, NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 3838. 



London, England, - - - - 150 Leadenhall St. 

 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1881. 



EDISON'S METHOD OF PRESERVING OR- 

 GANIC SUBSTANCES. 



In a recent number of this Journal,* we published 

 a report by Mr. Otto Hehner, an official analyist of 

 London, England, who had endeavored to trace the 

 cause of the gastric disturbances, which were trace- 

 able in persons who had consumed preserved articles 

 of food put up in tin cases. This poisoning had been 

 attributed by some to traces of lead dissolved from the 

 solder with which the tins were closed, but Mr. Heh- 

 ner, although admitting the occasional presence of 

 lead in such cases, found on a careful analysis of both 

 vegetable and animal foods thus prepared in tin cases, 

 that the trouble was caused by tin. 



With one exception he found that the whole of the 

 samples contained more or less tin, many to such an 

 extent that abundant reactions could be obtained from 

 two or three grammes of the vegetable substances ; 

 whilst of the animal foods one of the soups contained 

 thirty-five milligrammes, one of the condensed milks 

 eight milligrammes, and oysters forty-five milligram- 

 mes of tin to the pound. 



In reply to the question whether tin when thus 

 taken up in the system was injurious or not, he states 

 that as forensic literature does not furnish a positive 

 and satisfactory reply, he endeavored to settle the 

 question by making a few experiments. 



These experiments which will be found on page 507 of 

 this Journal, produced results which caused him to 

 draw the following conclusions: "it plainly follows 

 that while stannic compounds are not injurious in the 

 doses given, tin in the stannous condition, is a virulent 

 irritant poison." 



*" Science," No. 69, October 22, 1881. 



These facts induced Mr. Hehner to demand some 

 other and improved method of packing preserved food 

 other than by the use of tin cases. 



A remedy appears to hand at a most opportune 

 moment. In the Patent office reports for October 18, 

 last, we find that Mr. Edison has invented a method 

 of preserving articles of food in glass vessels from 

 which the air has been exhausted and a high vacuum 

 produced. The glass vessel is then hermetically 

 closed by sealing off the channel to the air pump, the 

 envelope produced being essentially a homogenous 

 piece of glass. This invention appears to meet the 

 difficulty experienced in the use of tin cans and 

 promises great results in offering a method of preserv- 

 ing fruits and other organic substances in which 'their 

 original purity and freshness is maintained to a great 

 degree,and the introduction of mineral poisons rendered 

 an impossibility. The specification, as usual, is very 

 brief and we hope to present our readers with a more 

 detailed description of this interesting invention, on a 

 future occasion. 



ALCOHOLIC TRANCE. 



At a meeting of the New York Medico-Legal Society, 

 held at the Hall of the Academy of Medicine, Novem- 

 ber 2, Dr. Crothers read a paper on "Alcoholic Trance." 

 The main point of the paptr consisted in an attempt to 

 establish the existence oi a trance-like condition in ine- 

 briates. In this condition t hey were supposed to com- 

 mit all sorts of ridiculous, or injurious, or even criminal 

 actions, without a subsequent recollection of what they 

 had done. Dr. Crothers related cases, the like of certain 

 of which no other physician has yet seen cr reported, 

 and the like of which it may be quite safe to say no 

 other physician is likely to record in the future. One 

 was that of an engineer who ran a Mississippi steamer 

 an entire trip without knowing it ; another of a gentle- 

 man who tegularly woke out of his "trance " at a rail- 

 road station, and was compelled to ask his fellow passen- 

 gers where he was ; a third, a house-painter, who would 

 regularly climb to the top of a house, paint a whole 

 story correctly, come down and "wake up." Other 

 cases were still more complicated, and evidently called 

 into action the risorius muscles of the Doctor's audi- 

 ence. Among the less remarkable instances was one of a 

 hack-driver who became a confirmed drunkard, and sev- 

 eral times went to States Prison, finally dying there, after 

 being convicted of stealing horses ; and of a solicitor, 

 who had fits of jealousy and suspicion concerning his 

 wife, and made a number of wills in a trance-like state. 



Dr. Spitzka stated that he would like to ask the reader 

 of the paper two questions. As far as he could gather, 

 the reports were all ob:ained from third parties. His 

 first question was whether Dr. Crothers had ever himself 

 seen patients in this alcoholic "trance?" 



Dr. Crothers replied that he had. 



Dr. Spitzka reiterated that in that case the attendant 

 phenomena had not been described by the Doctor in a 

 convincing manner. His second question was, whether 

 the hack-driver referred to had exhibited any inequality 

 or anomaly of the pupils, the facial folds or tremor of 

 the tongue and hands? 



Dr. Crothers replied that he had manifested none of 

 these symptoms, after some hesitation. 



Dr. Beard took the floor. His remarks were not ot 

 such a nature as to permit the reporter to follow him, but 



