SCIENCE. 
1 77 
SCIENCE: 
A Weekly Record of Scientific 
Prog r ess. 
JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 
Published at 
229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
P. O. Box 3838. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1880. 
Two or three weeks ago we complained of the 
coldness of British writers in neglecting to recognize 
and acknowledge the full scientific value of Bell’s and 
Edison’s discoveries, and we condemned, more partic- 
ularly, their omission from Gordon’s illustrated cata- 
logue of recent advances in electrical science, which 
had then just appeared in London. To day, after 
having read a four column pean of eulogy and encom- 
ium on Prof. Bell and his Photophone, in the last 
number of Engineering we make a candid confes- 
sion, that, in order to arrive at the real estimate of an 
American discovery in the average English mind, it is 
indispensable that the ‘ mean’ of English criticism 
should first be drawn. 
The concluding paragraph of this article reads as 
follows : “ Who can say tp what great fields of science 
this one discovery of Prof. Bell may not lead, fields of 
research not limited in locality to this earth, but 
reaching to the planets, and to the farthest limits of 
visible stellar space. It is by a beam of light that the 
modern astronomer is able to analyse the chemical 
constitution of the farthest stars and nebula;, and is 
enabled to detect and to deal with metallic vapors 
through distances of thousands of millions of miles as 
surely as in his own laboratory, who, after Prof. Bell’s 
experiments will have the hardihood to affirm that 
sounds taking place in the far off regions of the uni- 
verse may not one day be heard on the earth, and 
new fields of acoustical astronomy may not be opened 
to the intelligence of man. When such a time arrives, 
the thought of the poet will be clothed with the truth 
of the fact, that “ Light is the voice of the stars.” 
In the same strain which excites Engineering to this 
transcendental flight of fancy, may we not also hope, 
in the future, to catch the whisperings of Venus as 
she waltzes among her heavenly companions, and if 
we dare to reach so far in our aspirations for the per- 
fection of the Photophone, may we not yet be able to 
hear the reflections of light, mixed with heat, which 
Mars, an ardent admirer of old, throws to that splen- 
did luminary as they near each other ? It is also 
true that Mr. Edison has helped to begin that sort of 
business ; for did he not, long since, catch the 
warmth of the coronal beams, when the sun with- 
drew behind fair Luna’s screen, and didn’t Mr. 
Lockyer (who was there) tell us all that hap- 
pened ? Let us not, however, go too far and admit 
that the era has arrived which Gulliver predicted, 
when he discribed the process of the philosopher of 
Laputa who extracted sunbeams out of cucumbers. 
Engineering should know that the Photophone is 
but a simple machine for registering heat waves that 
have impinged upon a piece of hard rubber, and that 
these waves, originally set in motion by the voice, 
when made to act on any material expansible by 
heat, will reproduce, more or less effectually, the origi- 
nal motion which gave them birth. Such an instru- 
ment is the Tasimeter, which Professor Bell has 
stripped of its swaddling clothes and made to talk. 
Considerable alarm has been created among those 
interested in horse flesh by certain reports circulated 
regarding a new so-called epizootic among horses. 
We have been at some pains to collect reliable data 
concerning this matter, and have found, as we antici- 
pated, that its importance is greatly exaggerated by 
enterprising reporters of daily papers. We have be- 
come satisfied of the fact that the distemper now pre- 
vailing in New York, has nothing in common with the 
epizootic which was such a memorable feature of the 
year 1873, and so severe a one that hardly a carriage 
could be seen on our streets, while but few of the 
horse-car lines were able to keep their conveyances 
running with any regularity. 
Veterinarians are accustomed to expect a more or 
less severe endemic of catarrhal troubles among horses 
about the first of October of every year. The horse 
is very liable to atmospheric influences, far more so 
than the human species, and the changes in the weather 
occurring about that time suffice tQ produce an appa- 
rent epidemic of catarrhal troubles among them. In 
some years few, in others many horses are affected; 
the present year the number has been so large as to 
temporarily interfere with business, but this is excep- 
tional. 
The disease lasts but a few days, the main trouble 
is a bronchitis associated with a slight catarrh of the 
nasal mucus membrane ; for a period of from twelve 
to forty-eight hours there is also a febrile disturbance. 
The highest temperature recorded by a veterinarian, 
from an observation of fully one thousand cases has been 
