SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



That addiction to the use of opium is very 

 much more common than is generally supposed, 

 and that it is on the increase, is shown by a 

 recently published brochure of Dr. Meylert (' Notes 

 on the opium habit,' New York, Putnam) ; and 

 that there is a wide-spread interest in the subject, 

 not confined to the medical profession, is evinced 

 by the fact that this pamphlet has now reached 

 its fourth edition, and that other treatises more 

 pretentious have recently been published, and 

 attained a circulation more or less extensive. Dr. 

 Meylert attributes many deaths of patients in 

 hospitals and asylums, and of soldiers on the 

 march, to the sudden deprivation of opium to 

 which they have been accustomed ; and on this, 

 and the suffering which habitues experience in 

 their efforts to discontinue at once the use of 

 the drug, he makes his plea for the abandonment 

 of the ' rack-and-thumbscrew ' treatment, and the 

 adoption in its place of more humane methods. 

 The basis of the author's method of cure is, that 

 the opium habit is not an indulgence to be 

 humored, nor a vice to be punished, but a disease 

 which must be treated as other diseases are, by 

 appropriate remedies. x\tropia, which has become 

 a favorite remedy with those who advertise rapid 

 cure, does not stand the tests of experience. Coca 

 and Avena sativa are not of any special value. 

 The bromides of potassium and sodium, quinine, 

 Cannabis indica, strychnia, hydrocyanic acid, 

 chloroform, hyoscyamus, and phosphorus are the 

 remedies in which the greatest reliance is placed ; 

 the one or the other, or combinations of them, 

 being prescribed according to the special indi- 

 cation in each case. The moral treatment is not 

 neglected in Dr. Meylert's plan, and the necessity 

 for implicit trust and reliance in the physician 

 by the patient is not overlooked. After all, ' the 

 best test of success is success ; ' and whether the 

 methods here advocated are adapted to bring 

 about the desired results can only be ascertained 

 by careful and patient study of a long series 

 of cases. We shall watch with interest for these 

 results, which should as soon as obtained be pub- 

 No. 153. — 1386. 



m 



lished, whether they speak for or against the 

 methods advocated. 



In a paper recently read before the American 

 institute of mining engineers, Mr. A. E. Lehman 

 describes some of the methods of construction 

 and the uses of topographic models or relief- 

 maps. Their use for educational and economic 

 as well as scientific purposes is rapidly increas- 

 ing, as the belief in the importance of represent- 

 ing quantitatively the vertical element of topog- 

 raphy gains strength. The value of the relief - 

 map for all purposes, and especially for educa- 

 tional uses, is seriously impaired by exaggeration 

 of the vertical scale. This should be avoided 

 whenever possible, and in other cases should be 

 reduced to a minimum. While Mr. Lehman 

 advises exaggeration, the appearance of his model 

 of the Cumberland valley, wherein the exaggera- 

 tion is four and five-sevenths, is a strong argument 

 against it. An even stronger argument is fur- 

 nished in the form of an ambitious relief-map 

 of the United States, by Mr. F. H. King, and 

 mentioned by Mr. Lehman. In this model the 

 vertical scale is exaggerated over the horizontal 

 sixty-eight and a half times ; and the effect, 

 especially in an abrupt mountain region, can be 

 easily imagined. This map has other faults, 

 which will probably limit its sphere of useful- 

 ness. Another notable example of the distortion 

 produced by the exaggeration of the vertical scale 

 is the well-known model of the Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts, made by the U. S. coast and geodetic 

 survey. That effective models can be made, 

 even of extensive areas, without exaggeration of 

 the vertical scale, is abundantly shown by the 

 relief -maps in the national museum. 



The recent meeting of the society of natural- 

 ists in Boston was a successful one, as such meet- 

 ings go. The attendance was fair, considering 

 the eccentric position of the place of meeting, and 

 the papers were in nearly every case of distinct 

 value and interest. But in spite of full attend- 

 ance at the sessions, and at the dinner that closed 

 the first day of meeting, there was not sufficient 

 acquaintance among the members ; and during 

 the sessions the silence of formality settled down 



