m.  Jour.  Pharai.) 
August.  18S9.  [ 
Notes  and  News. 
xxvii 
by  the  destruction  of  bacteria  through  the  agency  of  the  oxygen  which  they 
exhale.  Those  algae,  on  the  other  hand,  which  are  inclosed  in  a  mucilaginous 
sheath,  especially  diatoms,  have  a  very  prejudicial  effect  on  drinking  water 
by  stopping  the  niters  through  which  it  passes. — Scientific  American,  Vol. 
IvXXIX,  No.  13,  p.  194. 
Ignorance  and  Infant  Mortality  furnishes  the  subject  of  an  editorial, 
in  the  issue  of  Pediatrics,  for  January  15th,  which  should  find  its  way  into  lay 
publications.  Reference  was  made  to  a  "Howard  Medal  Prize  Essay,"  by 
Hugh  R.  Jones,  in  which  he  stated  that  diarrhoea  is  exceedingly  fatal  during 
the  first  year  of  life — more  especially  during  the  earlier  months.  This  fatality, 
in  great  measure  is  due  to  the  improper  feeding  of  infants.  Owing  to  the 
neglect  and  ignorance  of  mothers  the  infants  are  fed  on  contaminated  milk  or 
other  food.  Among  the  data  presented  by  Dr.  Jones  was  a  table,  from  a 
report  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  Boston  in  1875,  which  showed  that  in  the 
New  England  and  the  Middle  States  the  infant  mortality  from  cholera  in- 
fantum and  diarrhoea  was  in  proportion  to  the  illiteracy.  Dr.  Vernon,  Medi- 
cal Officer  of  Health  for  Southport,  England,  was  quoted  as  saying:  "My 
belief  is  that  all  the  principal  causes  of  infantile  mortality  are  mostly  results 
of  ignorance — ignorance  of  the  modes  of  spreading  and  means  of  restricting 
dangerous  diseases;  ignorance  of  the  practical  application  of  bacteriology  and 
mycology  to  every-day  affairs,  particularly  to  food,  water  and  food  materials, 
on  which  human  existence  depends;  ignorance  of  the  effects  of  exposure  of 
children  to  the  ordinary  atmospheric  conditions;  ignorance  of  that  sort  of 
knowledge  which  Herbert  Spencer  characterized  as  of  '  most  worth  ' — knowl- 
edge which  tends  to  directly  preserve  life;  knowledge  which  it  should  be  the 
function  of  the  public  school  system  to  make  paramount  '  because  the  life  of 
the  people  is  the  supreme  law.'  " 
Tea  and  Rheumatism.  —The  habitual  use  of  tea  as  a  means  of  relieving 
headache  is  without  doubt  an  efficient  cause  of  rheumatism  in  numerous  ways. 
The  writer  has  met  many  persons  who  could  not  forego  the  morning  cup  of 
tea  or  coffee  without  suffering  severely  from  headache  and  depression  during 
the  day.  Haig  has  shown  that  a  dose  of  uric  acid  will  cure  a  headache,  by 
driving  the  uric  acid  out  of  the  blood.  The  day  following,  however,  the  re- 
verse condition  exists.  The  amount  of  uric  acid  found  in  the  blood  is  increased, 
and  a  new  dose  must  be  given  to  protect  the  nervous  system  from  the  result  of 
the  contact  of  this  nerve  poison.  The  thein  or  caffein  of  tea  has  precisely  the 
same  effect  as  uric  acid,  and  hence  has  come  to  be  a  favorite  domestic  remedy 
for  headache.  When  used  habitually,  however,  as  will  readily  appear,  the 
effect  must  be  to  cause  a  storing  up  in  the  body  of  uric  acid  and  urates,  thus 
laying  the  foundation  for  chronic  rheumatism  and  the  various  allied  conditions 
which  have  their  foundation  in  the  so-called  uric  acid  diathesis  or  lithemia. — 
Editorial  in  Good  Health. 
Testing  Spirits  of  Turpentine. — C.  B.  Dudley  and  F.  N.  Pease  (Abs.  in 
Jour.  Amer.  Chem.  Soe.,  1898,  p.  61)  employ  four  tests  :  Specific  gravity,  dis- 
tillation-point, residue  on  evaporation,  and  treatment  with  oil  of  vitriol.  The 
gravity  is  determined  by  the  Westphal  balance,  and  varies  from  0*862  to  0*872. 
The  distillation-point  is  determined  by  boiling  100  c.c.  in  a  500  c.c.  distillation 
flask.    This  point  varies  from  305 0  to  3080  F.  (i52°-i53°  C.)  and  29  inches 
