farm stock should be located within two hundred feet of the family quarters, and that they should then be managed with great care as to cleanli ness. The cellars are often dangerous as well as useful adjuncts of our houses. They are not always constructed with care and given such attention afterward as to scrupulous cleanliness and ventilation as the health of the families of others. The best arrangement of rooms for the admission of sunlight and proper ventilation are matters mostly of a wise forethought, and the materials-other than wood-which is undoubtedly the best for isolated situations, usually a question of choice. The larger the house and the greater the number of rooms the more complicated and difficult the construction becomes to avoid difficulties in the heating and ventilation, and to secure all the advantages of sunlight, and that cheerful arrangement of apartments so much to be desired, and when accomplished so much appreciated. We have, I fear, been too successful in rigorously excluding sunlight from our houses and persons by window shades, blinds, curtains, plants and clothing of such texture and thickness as to prevent the penetrating good offices of the light and warmth of the sun's rays. Dr. O. W. Holmes said that he was satisfied "man was created for a warm climate or he would have been provided with some natural protection against cold." We may be the victims of the errors of our ancestors in straying into northern regions, and by many generations having the vitality reduced by clothing and other means of protection, thus pro-. ducing a tuberculous diasthesis, wheth living over them demand. Not many physicians are without the experience of finding on examination closed and musty rooms with decaying wood and vegetables, and frequently stagnant water, even under houses occupied by the most intelligent of our citizens, as well as those of whom little is expected in regard to the observation of sanitary laws of health. If a rattlesnake was known to be in a cellar there would be no rest or peace to that household until the reptile was found and removed; but a poison as deadly as the bite of a rattler may be diffused through all the apartments of the house, unseen and unregarded, except in its effects, if the basement is neglected. In this respect, "Eternal vigilance is the price of safety." And the outside surroundings should not be slighted. A few years ago the inspector of public institutions in Canada issued an order to the super-er from bacilli or something else which intendents "To keep the rear premises of their buildings and the grounds in as good and clean condition as the front." If such an order could be carried out with our farm houses and the houses in the cities what a contrast to the present should we see in the appearance of all our dwellings, and what an immense amount of sickness and discomfort would be avoided. In the construction of our houses there is large opportunity to profit by well digested plans and the experience now destroys one-sixth of the human race by consumption. Darkness, dampness and cold combined will soon produce tuberculous disease in animals, as proved by experiment. Water supply. This is one of the most important requisites of a home, and should not only be abundant at all times, but free from suspicion of impurity. In fact, however, it is one about which little care is frequently taken, and less thought apparently than was given the subject five thou sand years ago. Then wells were provided and preserved with great care; but now a shallow hole in the ground, in which a scanty supply of impure surface water collects, subject to the ever varying but always present decaying vegetable matter through which it percolates, being also a successful trap for insects, reptiles and sometimes larger game, is the family well frequently found on the farms in the newly settled country, and from which the household supply is drawn. When something deeper as a well is found, it is not seldom polluted by the neighboring yards of domestic animals, or by the cesspools of the family and the flowage from sinks and imperfect drainage. In an outbreak of typhoid fever some years ago in a village of Massachusetts, a favorite resort and summer residence of as intelligent a class of persons as our country boasts, the wells were found contaminated by defective sewers and neglected drainage from kitchen sinks, etc. Some abandoned their wells and used only the water from cisterns; but these did not escape the disease and on analyzing the contents of the cisterns human hair and ammonia were found in such abundance as to appear mysterious until it was ascertained that the chamber maids emptied the contents of slop jars on the roofs from which the cisterns derived their supply. In close connection with the water supply is that of ice, which is now considered a necessity, and enters largely into daily use in many families. It has been supposed, by some, that ice could not be impure; that the process of congelation excluded all deleterious elements, and therefore the source from which it was procured was only a matter of convenience without respect to the quality of the water frozen. This is a fallacy, and the wonder is that any one, aside from some selfish interest, should ever entertain such a delusion. Many years ago the professors of Harvard university proved by experiments. conclusively, "That during the congelation of water its impurities are collected together, concentrated and intensified in the resulting ice." It is therefore imprudent to drink water cooled directly with ice, the source of which is unknown, and may be highly dangerous to health. In the selection of our food, circumstances may restrict us in variety as well as in that quality which would best serve our wants, or the gratification of moderate and healthy desires; but the proper preparation of such as can be provided is within the control and ability of all individuals of common intelligence who are willing to give the subject due attention; but, under existing circumstances, sanitary science may find much to improve in modern cooking as it is generally practiced. ticed. The experience of all physicians will probably agree that in this respect there is an average ignorance that is really cruelty to the race, resulting in a waste of materials and derangement of digestive organs which if habit did not become second nature a large proportion of the human family would be "soon cut off and fly away." The care of our persons, and the regulation of labor and recreation include so much to be done and avoided that these matters may be found in several excellent works on "Hygiene," and need not be repeated here. As to labor and recreation, we all know there is too much of the former and not enough of the latter, and that the two are not alternated with that judicious regulation which would contribute to the highest welfare of the individuals. C. K. BARTLETT, M. D. Medical Miscellany Health Officer. We are glad to see the renomination by Gov. Odell of Dr. Albert H. Doty as health officer of the port of New York. Dr. Doty in his long administration has not only received the warmest commendation from the business men of this city, but from a scientific standpoint from the entire medical profession. Long-Distance Runners. This subject takes up most of this issue, and includes general observations as to the condition of the runners,, pulse, weight, temperature, condition of the blood, heart, kidneys and physical characteristics. The distance run was about twenty-four miles over a more or less hilly country. The effects seem to have been largely physiologic; pathologie conditions were not noted. So far as known none suffered serious or permanent harm from the race. The heart changes seemed to be physiologic. The article is an interesting study. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Wireless Telegraphy the Invention of a Physician. The first private wireless message sent across the English channel was from Marconi, and was addressed to Dr. E. Branly of Paris. It was a message of congratulation on the success of wireless telegraphy, "due in part," it stated, "to the remarkable labors of Dr. Branly." As long ago as 1890 he reported experiments before the Academie des Sciences which established the practicability of telegraphing without wire communication, and the Comptes Rendus of the Academie and of journals devoted to physics contain many reports by him. He is professor of physics at Paris, and the last Gazette Med. de Paris contains his portrait and an interview on the subject of his discoveries, which contain the germ of wireless telegraphy and the opening and closing of an electric circuit at a distance. Intestinal Obstruction. The different forms of intestinal obstruction and their non-surgical treatment are described by Harrington. In cases where foreign bodies have been swallowed. he. advises against castor oil administration, but to give food that will require bowel evacuation. Examine the rectum frequently, as the foreign body often lodges there. In intussusception he thinks it best to chloroform the child, lay it on its back, and slowly inject one or two gallons of warm water into the rectum. He remarks that the rectum is capable of holding 6 quarts (?). Large enemata should always be tried before advising surgical interfer ment of scarlet fever with the newly discovered serum. He claims to have established the fact that scarlet fever has a microbic origin known as strep tococcus. The germ is one which appears also in erysipelas and occasionally may be encountered in complications with diphtheria. During his 12 years of investigation 701 patients have been subjected to the antistrep tococcus serum treatment, with the result that the character of scarlet fever has been definitely established and its germ classified with bacteria. The percentage of deaths has been reduced to such an extent that only eight.per cent of scarlet fever patients succumbed. This was far below the percentage of death in the Willard Parker Hospital or in the private practice of physicians in this city. Infectious Colds. According to the Hospital, many experiments have been undertaken to satisfy the medical mind that a thing that most people outside Our profession have always taken for grantednamely, "colds"-are catching. That they are catching no one now doubts. It is recognized by those who have the management of sanatoria for consumptives that one of the great disadvantages attending the visits of friends is that "colds" are introduced, much to the detriment of the patients. Of course, every lady knows that "sniffy" people are as well avoided when social functions are on hand, and now a serious question is being asked-namely, should a doctor visit his patient when suffering from "cold?" In the ordinary daily life of those who go out into the world and take their chance of all infections, who ride in trains and omnibuses, and even go to church, the opportunities of infection are so many that it is probable that one more is of no moment. But to the chronic invalid, shut off rigorously from external influences, the visit of a catarrhal person may undoubtedly be productive of injurious results. If ever this view should be seriously taken by the public and they are kittle cattle to shoe, that same public-no one knows what fancy they will take up next. The matter might become a very anxious one, not only for medical men, but for those sick insurance societies which profess to give so much a week to medical men while incapacitated by illness. What is meant by incapacity? Vegetarian Athletes. vue: "Is a vegetarian diet proper for those who are to engage in athletic sports?" asks the Revue Scientifique (Lit. Dig.). We must certainly answer in the affirmative if we accept the results of a recent contest in Germany. where the six foremost places were gained by vegetarians. Says the Re"The trial consisted in a walking match from Dresden to Berlin, 200 kilometers (124 miles). It was an international championship contest, and the entries included French, English, Russians, Austrians and Americans. besides about twenty Germans. A very severe rule forbade the contestants to stop for sleep, and gave them The start only one hour for eating. was made at 7:45 a. m. Les Inventions Illustrees remarks that the first six arrivals at Berlin were all vegetarians. Karl Mann, the winner, who was twenty-eight years of age, and who has lived on vegetable food for ten years, covered the distance in 26 hours, 53 minutes. He was declared the champion pedestrian of the world. The Wrong Name. "The trouble with you," the doctor said after examining the young man, "seems to be that something is the matter with your heart." With my heart!" "Yes, to give it a name, it is angina pectoris-" "You'll have to guess again, doctor, said the young man. "That isn't her name at all." eases of the imagination rarely, if ever, kill. In fact, we do not at this writing recall a single instance. The truth of these facts is painfully brought home by the recent death of the young son of a New York physician from rabies. The case seems to have been an unequivocal one, and the members of the profession everywhere will sympathize deeply with the bereaved father. He has lost his child from an affection which has always been a peculiarly but of aluminum, horrifying one, which modern "A German investigator," says the Scientific American, "has recently discovered an exceedingly valuable and important property of which consists in its application as a whetting agent, the effect produced on cutlery set with it being most astonishing. Though a metal, aluminum possesses the structure of a fine stone, has a strong dissolving power, and develops, upon use for honing, an exceedingly fine metal setting substance of greasy feel, while showing great adhesion to steel. The knives, etc., treated with it quickly obtain such a fine razor-like edge that even the best whetstone cannot produce a like result. Thus, knives which had been carefully set on a whetstone, when magnified a thousand times, still exhibited irregularities and roughness in the edge, while the edge of knives sharpened on aluminum, upon exactly the same magnification, appeared as a straight, smooth line." Hydrophobia in Children. The doctrine that hydrophobia is a disease of the imagination is refuted with great force by the fact that it occurs both in children and in the lower animals, and that it is rapidly fatal in both. Even if this were not So, the fact that the disease is rapidly fatal in the adult ought to convince even a Philadelphia coroner that it is something more than a disease of the imagination, for dis science has done much to rob of its terrors. It seems that in this particular case the treatment according to the methods of Pasteur was tried but failed. Inoculations from the body of the rabid dog gave prompt results in rabbits. From a case so painful, and so adapted to draw the sympathies of our readers, we have felt it justifiable, in the cause both of science and humanity, to point to the only logical conclusion--a conclusion that seems to require to be illustrated with amazing frequency. That conclusion, of course, is that hydrophobia is not only a disease, but one of the most malignant affections that can assail mankind. And yet in Philadelphia we have a coroner who has abolished hydrophobia by his official fiat!-From Editorial (Philadelphia Medical Journal.) |