Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

THE SHIPPING ON THE THAMES.

DR. LETHEBY'S Report on the Sanitary Inspection of the Shipping within the district of the City of London during the last two years has just been presented to the local authorities. The Sanitary Act, it will be remembered, applies to the case of ships within the City district equally with that of private houses, and after the passing of the Act a sanitary officer was appointed to carry out its provisions. The whole of the district is only 2270 yards in length (that is, from the Temple to the Tower), and 650 yards of this space (i.e., below London-bridge) is much frequented by shipping; but the inspections have numbered 4223, and on 140 occasions it has been found necessary to order sanitary improvements. Dr. Letheby agrees entirely with Dr. Dickson, Mr. Harry Leach, and others, as to the influence of insanitation in leading to the development of fevers, other analogous diseases, and scurvy on board the crafts in the river, and the desirability of appointing additional inspectors in other districts; and he believes with Dr. Barnes that every vessel and crew should be examined on arrival in port, and if found affected with scurvy, the master should be held primá facie culpable of neglect, and be put on his trial to clear himself. What is needed, the reporter thinks, is a combined movement on the part of the several nuisance authorities in favour of a more uniform and general system of inspection of shipping.

A. J. O., (Manchester.)-What we wrote upon the subject was not couched in offensive or deprecatory terms of the veterinary officers, and our correspondent may spare his indignation for some more fitting occasion. The display of wounded vanity may not be so much on the side of the writer of the paragraph in question as on that of our correspondent. WILL Dr. Russell (Neath) oblige by sending us Dr. Ryding's account of the matter? Is he one of the union medical officers ?

Vincit Omnia Veritas.-A.'s behaviour throughout appears to have been most honourable. The charge for the certificate of death seems to us quite proper.

Scrutator. We quite concur with our correspondent. A man who advertises after the fashion represented places himself upon a level with advertising quacks. The only thing to be done is for all respectable professional men to hold themselves entirely aloof from such persons, and avoid all intercourse with them.

Enquirer.-Yes, Albert Smith was a medical student at the Middlesex Hospital. He practised his profession for only a few years.

DAO. J.-The average increase of stature between the ages named is generally very trifling, under one inch.

Dr. Charles H. Robinson. Our correspondent will find the information he seeks in THE LANCET for October 17th, p. 525.

J. J. G.-Consult some registered medical practitioner.

SOLIDIFICATION OF POWDERED MARBLE.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-Your correspondent, M.D., wished to find some substance which, when mixed with powdered marble, would cause it to harden. I think he will find an alkaline solution of silicate of potash have the desired effect. I am, Sir, yours, &c., Edinburgh University, December 29th, 1888. R. MACKINTOSH.

If our correspondent at Coleford had inquired of the merest tyro in surgery, he might have learned that the operation of "removing a stone in its entirety by incision (the patient being alive at the time) without crushing it" is one of the most ordinary and frequently performed capital operations of surgery.

Medicus.-The statement is beneath notice.

An Assistant.-An assistant who has passed merely the assistants' examination at the Hall is not a duly qualified apothecary, nor can he be registered under the Medical Act. He would therefore not be allowed to carry on business for himself. It will be necessary for him to pass the examination at the Pharmaceutical Society in order to "keep open shop."

THE SANITARY ACT.

Enquirer wishes to know what boroughs and towns have taken advantage of the Sanitary Act of 1866 (29 & 30 Vict., cap. 90, clause 37), which gives power to the Town Council to erect and maintain a Fever Hospital out of the borough rates?

SEVERAL members of the dental profession have written to say that they have satisfactorily removed several teeth at one sitting from patients under the influence of the nitrous oxide gas, and without pain. This is, of course, confirmatory of the Report of the Committee of the Odontological Society.

Mr. J. R. Binley.-The length multiplied by the breadth and the height gives the cubical contents of the room, and that divided by the number of beds gives the amount for each bed. The respective dimensions of a room cannot be determined solely from the cubical contents.

Dr. J. M. Bryan's (Moreton-in-Marsh) interesting case shall appear next week.

Dr. Cameron.-We presume our correspondent means the matriculation examination. There is no such thing as a registration examination in the University named.

COMMUNICATIONS, LETTERS, &c., have been received from-Baron Liebig,
Munich; Dr. Brown-Séquard; Dr. Wilks, Dr. Hyde Salter; Dr. Haughton;
Dr. Ringer; Dr. Hall, Brighton; Mr. Torrens, M.P.; Dr. Wilson Fox;
Dr. Althaus; Dr. Peacock; Dr. Wolfe, Glasgow; Mr. Foster; Dr. Scott,
San Francisco; Dr. Miles, Gillingham; Dr. Murphy; Mr. Thompson, New-
castle; Dr. Gibson, West Cowes; Mr. Blackburn, Liverpool; Dr. Gore,
Dublin; Mr. Parke; Mr. J. Hartley, Malton; Dr. Pinkerton, Bombay;
Mr. Chadwick; Dr. Cameron, Kirton-in-Lindsey; Dr. Churchill, Birming-
ham; Mr. Johnson; Mr. Greenway; Mr. Cunningham; Mr. Duncan;
Dr. Moore, King's Norton; Mr. Prosser; Mr. Lubbock; Mr. Binley, Roth-
well; Dr. Coales; Dr. M'Kelvie, Appin; Mr. Brown, Tredegar; Dr. Good,
Paris; Dr. Wilson, St. Mary's, Ontario; Mr. Green; Dr. Bradbury, Cam-
bridge; Mr. Cattlin, Brighton; Mr. Skaife; Mr. C. Booth, Altrincham ;
Mr. Howard, New Buckenham; Mr. Prince; Dr. Griffiths, Worcester;
Dr. Macrae, Whitby; Dr. Cheshire, Birmingham; Dr. Mulrany, Dundalk;
Mr. Copland; Dr. Lipscomb; Mr. Heele; Mr. Cresswell; Mr. Edmonds;
Dr. Robert; Mr. Ireland; Mr. Barker; Mr. Rogers; Dr. Gooding, Chel-
tenham; Mr. Devereux, Newcastle; Dr. Clayton; Dr. Evans, Lampeter;
Dr. Lawrence, Chepstow; Mr. Keys; Dr. Myers, Windsor; Mr. Hughes;
Mr. Warren; Dr. Walker, Hanley; Dr. Kerr, Wednesbury; Mr. Gifford,
Launceston; Mr. Phillips; Mr. Woodhouse, Hartford; Mr. W. H. Clarke;
Mr. Ward; Mr. Hamilton, Liverpool; Dr. Coleman; Mr. Pitts, Coleford;
Dr. Bryan, Moreton-in-Marsh; Dr. Alleyne, Rathkeale; Dr. Hare:
Mr. Daly; Dr. Hollis, Yarmouth; Dr. Goodwin, Twyford; Rev. L. Taplin,
Todmorden; Dr. Hall, Burton; Mr. Pugh, Brighouse; Dr. Macarthur,
Bow; Mr. Norton; Dr. Morell Mackenzie; Dr. Fletcher; Mr. Whitford;
Mr. Love; Mr. Barnes; Dr. Owen, Liverpool; Dr. Watson, Creetown;
Dr. Tylecote, Sandon; Dr. Brown, Belfast; Dr. Melhuish, Exmouth;
Messrs. Coxeter and Son; Dr. Brunton, Redditch; Dr. Allen, Longton;
Mr. Tennant; Mr. Treves; Dr. Sutherland, Castletown; Dr. Birch, Gore
Lodge; Dr. Martin, Sandgate; Mr. Philipson; Dr. Jackson, Plymouth;
Dr. Bentham; Dr. Clarke, Lynton; Dr. Bower; Dr. Palfrey; Dr. Wallace;
Dr. Gill, Dover; Mr. Latham; Dr. Morris, Spalding; J. Wallis, Cork;
Mr. Gibson; Mr. Dudley, Youghal; Mr. Mackintosh, Edinburgh; Dr. Coats;
Dr. Crosby, Leeds; Mr. Pearce; Mr. Mortimer; Dr. Wadd; Mr. Broughton,
Bradford; Dr. Cooke; Mr. Crampton, Eye; Mr. Grant; Dr. Evans, Seaforth;
Dr. Cooper; Mr. Hubbard; Dr. Haddon, Honeyburn; Dr. Green, Burford;
Dr. Millar, Edinburgh; Mr. Wells; &c. &c.
Glasgow Weekly Herald, Birmingham Daily Gazette, Nottingham Journal,
Parochial Critic, Brighton Gazette, Birmingham Daily Post, Lincolnshire
Gazette, Free Lance, Surrey Times, Liverpool Albion, Brighton Times,
Staffordshire Sentinel, Journal of the Irish Medical Association, Shadow,
Cork Daily Herald, Surrey Advertiser, Bucks Herald, Brecon County
Times, Lincolnshire Chronicle, Edinburgh Daily Review, Dublin General
Advertiser, California Medical Gazette, Gateshead Observer, Japan Times,
and Revue des Cours Scientifiques have been received.

[blocks in formation]

THE LANCET can be obtained from all the principal Booksellers and Newsmen throughout the world, or from the following special agents:EDINBURGH: MACLACHLAN & CO. DUBLIN: FANNIN & CO.

PARIS: G. GERMER BAILLIERE, Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, 17. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: KELLY, PIET, & Co., Baltimore Terms of Subscription by mail to any part of the United States (Territories excepted), 12 dollars currency per annum, per Messrs. KELLY, PIET, and Co., Baltimore.

CANADA: DAWSON BROTHERS, Montreal.

BARHAM, HILL, & CO., Dalhousie-square, Calcutta.
INDIA: THACKER, SPINK, & CO., Calcutta.
THACKER, VINING, & CO., Bombay.

ERRATUM.-In Dr. Miles's letter on "Bromide of Potassium in the Nursery," AUSTRALIA : which appeared in our last issue, the word "chlorodyne" should be substituted for "chloroform."

GEORGE ROBERTSON, Melbourne.
WILLIAM MADDOCK, Sydney.
W. C. RIGBY, Adelaide.

NEW ZEALAND: J. T. HUGHES, Christchurch.

[blocks in formation]

is occasioned, or otherwise contraction is induced by inflammatory adhesion. Thus there are three pathological conditions which especially demand attention when treating of contractions of the limbs-namely, spastic rigidity, paralysis, and the result of local inflammation.

FIG. 16.

ORTHOPEDIC

Delivered at St. George's Hospital, 1868.

BY BERNARD E. BRODHURST, F.R.C.S.,

LECTURER ON ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY AT THE HOSPITAL.

[graphic]

LECTURE V.

ON CONTRACTIONS OF THE LIMBS.

Congenital contractions of the knee and hip are rare; yet there are found, together with congenital distortions of the feet, retraction of the flexor muscles of the leg, as well as of those of the thigh. Usually both limbs are together affected, and in a similar manner, as in the case now before you. In this instance there is double talipes varus, and both knees are contracted at right angles. (Fig. 15.) But although it is

FIG. 15.

[graphic]

the rule that both knees or both hips shall be contracted, exceptions occur. Such an instance lately came under the care of my colleague, Mr. Adams, where, together with talipes varus of the left foot, there was also congenital contraction of the flexors of the leg, and this was so great that the distorted foot was drawn up almost to the pubes, and was habitually placed at the top of the opposite thigh, on the front of which it lay. The other leg was in a perfectly normal and well developed condition.

Again, you will remember to have seen in Drummond ward a case of contraction of the flexor muscles of the thigh, through which the lower limbs were laid flat upon the trunk, while the feet, which were contracted in a severe form of talipes varus, as I believe is always the case in these distortions, were crossed below the chin. The case is well represented in Fig. 16. The child was brought here from the Belgrave Children's Hospital by Mr. Pick's permission. Not only are the flexors of the thighs and the adductors and extensors of the feet retracted, but also the extensors of the legs, so that the knees remain stiff and immovable. I have never seen or heard of a case of equal severity. Slighter cases have come under my care, and in these also there has been talipes varus and retraction of the extensors of the legs. Non-congenital contraction of the knee and hip. It has already been stated that these contractions are occasioned by spastic rigidity through spinal irritation; that they arise from injury to a portion of the nervous system through which paralysis is induced; or that they result from inflammation of the structures which enter into the formation of the limb, by which muscular retraction through irritation No. 2367.

The muscles of the lower limbs which are especially affected with spastic rigidity are the flexors and the adductors of the thighs, the flexors of the legs, and the extensors of the feet. Cases are, however, occasionally met with-such as that to which I alluded in my first lecture, and which is portrayed in Fig. 1-where not only a limb, but the entire trunk and extremities, appear to be permanently affected with rigid spasm. In the case now alluded to, the rigidity continued after death. The cast, which was taken after death, shows how unchangeably the limbs were fixed in their distorted positions. Every limb was more or less contracted, whether the upper or the lower extremities; and not the limbs only, but the trunk also. The spine was curved as you rarely see a spine curved; and, further, there was wry-neck and strabismus. Less severe cases than this are, of course, more common; and it is not uncommon to find in young children spastic contraction of the adductors extension of the feet. Such children also suffer from weakof the thighs, with slight flexion of the thighs and legs, and ness of the muscles of the back and neck; so that the head rolls from side to side, or falls backwards or forwards, and they cannot sit or stand upright. The hands also are wanting in power. Perhaps, however, the slightest and most frequent form in which this affection presents itself is slight the fingers of the same side. talipes equinus or equino-varus, together with weakness of

Congenital contractions of the toes are sometimes hereditary. I know a family in which for three generations every member has been born with contraction of the second toe of each foot. Contraction occurs much more frequently, however, as a non-congenital affection, and for the most part through wearing tight boots. From this cause one or more toes may be contracted, or even they may be doubled under the sole of the foot, and be almost hidden from view.

In a general hospital it is more common to see contraction of a limb as a result of local inflammation than from the causes above mentioned. No period of life is exempt from inflammation of the joints; but there are many varieties of articular inflammation, and the liability to suffer from these several varieties is not alike at all ages. Thus childhood is particularly obnoxious to strumous diseases; but primary synovial inflammations are comparatively rare at this period. In the adult, however, inflammation of the synovial membranes is the rule. No joint occasions more trouble than the knee when it becomes inflamed; it is less painful than the hip, its capsule being less resisting, but, on account of its large and complicated synovial surface, it is more liable to inflammatory action than any other joint, and the effects of inflammation are very frequently disastrous. The

B

synovial secretion is poured out in increased quantity, and is of a more aqueous quality than in health, causing great distension of the capsule, and extension of the ligaments of the joint. The limb is at this time flexed; for this position allows of the greatest amount of distension of the joints with the least pain. The ligaments become softened and extended; and as the fluid in the joint is absorbed, the head of the tibia undergoes displacement backwards. This was the course of the disease in the case of Brewster M-,who lately left Fitzwilliam ward. He was admitted with a contracted knee, the result of inflammation about the joint. Abscess had formed, and a portion of the head of the tibia was necrosed. This portion of bone was lying loose in the ham, and having been removed, the wound closed. The flexor tendons were then divided, and the leg was gradually extended, and the head of the tibia restored to its normal position, or nearly so.

Occasionally, contraction of the flexor muscles of the leg causes excruciating pain, and especially is this the case when there is commencing ulceration. Some years since I saw, together with Sir Benjamin Brodie and Dr. Metcalfe Babington, such a case. I allude to it, for I never before or since saw an instance of such powerful contraction of the flexors of the leg, attended with such acute pain. Pain was great and incessant, and so severe that this patient was anxious to lose his limb. Every night he swallowed half an ounce of tincture of opium at a dose, and frequently he repeated it, for it never secured for him more than one hour's rest. It was determined in consultation to divide the flexors, and gradually to extend the limb. So soon as the tendons were divided, pain immediately ceased, and in half an hour our patient was asleep, and without the help of opium. There was no recurrence of pain. In the course of six weeks or two months he began again to use his leg.

Contractions of the upper extremity.-In the same manner as that already described, there is also found flexion of the forearm upon the arm, through retraction of the biceps and the brachialis anticus; of the wrist, through retraction of the flexores carpi; and of the fingers, through retraction of their flexors. But of all the various forms of contraction of the upper extremity, none are more interesting and of so frequent occurrence as those of the hand.

the most part, in a gouty or a rheumatic diathesis, and especially where spirituous liquors are habitually taken in considerable quantities. Yet, even with this foundation, there is usually some inciting cause to produce contraction-some local irritation, together, perhaps, with exposure to cold and damp. The cabman's whip and reins, for instance, appear to act frequently as causes of this common form of contraction. It may also be produced by handling a sword, by wearing a ring, or by pressure in the palm of the hand, such as is produced by the carpenter's or the jeweller's tools, or by leaning heavily on a stick or a crutch. In these cases the fascia in the palm of the hand undergoes chronic thickening. It is a painless affection, and its course is very slow. Contraction, for the most part, commences in that portion of the fascia which passes to the little finger, and this finger becomes somewhat flexed into the palm; and subsequently the ring, middle, and index fingers, and very rarely also the thumb, become more or less drawn down towards the palm, and they cannot be extended. This affection is well shown in Fig. 18. The FIG. 18.

[graphic]

process of fascia which passes to each contracted finger beco:nes more and more dense as the finger becomes more contracted; and occasionally instances are seen where the fingers are so firmly closed that it is difficult to introduce the knife beneath the band of fascia, and even where the pressure of the nail excoriates the palm.

(To be concluded.)

ON

SORTS OF FOOD.

Congenital contractions of the fingers and hand are occasioned by thickening and a contracted condition of those portions of the palmar fascia which pass to the first and second phalanges, and which are attached to the ligaments of the articulation between these phalanges. The little finger is very commonly alone contracted. This may seem THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT to be only a trifling affection. It occasions, however, considerable inconvenience; for the fingers cannot be fully expanded, and, consequently, among other things, the performance of instrumental music is seriously interfered with. Occasionally, however, cases are met with where not only accomplishments are interfered with, but where the fingers are so much contracted that the ordinary avocations of life cannot be fulfilled. Such is the case with a girl (E. Bat this time in Wright's ward, in whom all the fingers of both hands are more or less affected. The second phalanx is, in this instance, bent upon the first. (Fig. 17.) It is a conFIG. 17.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

BY

BARON LIEBIG.
(Continued from page 5.)

MEAT contains the albuminates, which are the flesh-producers, in the most soluble form; it is digested in the shortest time, and for its transition into the blood the least amount of work is required. Indeed, the intestine of carnivorous animals is the shortest and most simple of any. The carnivorous animal bolts its food without it being necessary to reduce its size by mastication. The smaller the quantity of the albuminates in vegetables, the more complicated are the organs of digestion of the animals which feed on them. With many, a chewing and rechewing is necessary, in order to separate the food sufficiently for the extraction of the nutritive parts.

Inasmuch as the effect of food depends on its transformation into blood, it must be self-evident that in a given time the effect of the food is in proportion to the rapidity with which its transmission from the intestines to the bloodvessels is effected. Experience shows that with energetic work, for work to be performed in the shortest time, a purely vegetable diet is not compatible.

A woodman in the Bavarian highlands consumes in winter, in six working days, 14lb. of flour, from 21b. to 3 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of bread, and half a pint of brandy. He consumes the flour in the form of a sort of pancake, fried in butter, and chopped into small pieces, for he thus saves a good deal of the work of mastication. The quantity of flour corresponds to 24 lb. of bread daily (100 16. of flour = 1401b. of bread), which at S per cent. contains 130 grammes of albuminates. Thus he

[graphic]

consumes altogether as much as a well-fed working man. His work is hard, but not requiring energy; after every blow with his axe he can rest as long as he pleases, for the tree stands still, and does not force him to make haste. The man in the Munich brewery requires another diet. The work he has to do is the hardest of all, and only strong men are able to endure it, for the operations follow one another uninterruptedly, and tax the strength of the workman unceasingly. He has no time for resting during his work, which must be done as quickly as possible. According to the quantity of food consumed in seven months by 95 men in a Munich brewery, each man, in meat alone, consumed 120 grammes of albuminates, with bread -altogether, from 160 to 170 grammes daily: thus nearly threequarters meat, and one quarter bread. And this is easily to be accounted for. The brewer's man consumes in meat a nutritive matter, which for its transition into the body requires a minimum of inner organic work, and he receives in less than three hours, from the albuminates of the meat, a store of strength in his body which enables him to dispose of it at pleasure. The woodman in the mountains must, on the other hand, wait from eight to ten hours until the component parts of his meal act on his body with full effect. Two workmen of the same weight require daily a certain number of grammes of albuminate in their food in order to lift or remove a certain weight a given number of feet; he, however, who is pressed for time, and forced to accomplish his work with greater speed, must have a meat diet, while for the other a purely vegetable diet will suffice.

For a soldier, in time of peace, 125 grammes of albuminate are enough to maintain him in health, of which one quarter must be in the form of meat; but in war time, with fatiguing marches, and laden with 60 lb. of clothing and ammunition, he would, with such a diet, succumb to the over-exertion; he requires at least from 140 to 148 grammes of albuminate, the half of which should be in the form of meat. Thus we may assume that, under similar circumstances, an army of soldiers whose daily rations did not exceed 125 grammes of albuminate, one quarter of which only was in the form of meat, would be beaten by an army in which each man received 145 grammes of albuminate, half of which was in the form of meat: for the effect would be the same as if the latter army had better weapons; its capacity for motion is greater, and it is in a given time capable of greater exertion. We are too apt to forget that the soldier's food is for the man what the powder is for his musket.

All these are very simple and intelligible matters, which may be learned from any coachman; for exactly the same laws obtain for the work we require of our cattle. "Our horses must have oats; the oats must be in them," said an English omnibus driver to Professor Playfair. "If they come from the farmer they are round and plump, for the farmers feed them well. But such horses are not fit for use. They sweat directly, and cannot bear a hard run. The oats must be in them."

What meat is to a man, oats are to horses, or, in Arabia, barley, which of all vegetable fodder contains the albuminates in the most concentrated form, and in a state the most easily transmissible.

With regard to the organic work by which the heat-generating substances are fitted for generating warmth, the same relation exists between starch, sugar, dextrin, fat, and alcoholic beverages. Starch demands the longest work; it requires more time and more additional juices which the stomach must secrete, in order that it may be fitted for passing into the blood, than sugar and dextrin, which are both of themselves soluble in water. Thus the higher value which flour possesses for making bread is explained. By its porosity bread is more easily penetrated by the gastric juice, and is soon amalgamated, because a part of the starch in the flour has already undergone a transmutation into dextrin, or some other similar easily-soluble matter. Fat is slowly received into the circulation, but its effect is of longest duration. Fat food is most fitted for winter, starch and saccharine nourishment for the summer. Beverages abounding in alcohol act, as regards the generation of warmth, the quickest of all.

In the animal body a certain number of degrees of warmth, and a certain quantum of force (strength), must be daily generated, according to exterior circumstances, and as the requirements of one day or one season are greater than in another; and a right nutrition pre-supposes that those component parts of the food which serve to nourish and to warm are contained exactly, or nearly so, in the nutriment in such proportions as the body requires. An extra amount of warmth-producing nourishment could not make up for a paucity of strength

producing substances; it would be of no effect in nourishing the body, and would only burden it. An extra amount of strengthproducing food would, beyond a certain limit, not add strength, because in the individual only a certain measure of strength can be generated.

Economically considered, an acquaintance with the right relations of the warmth- and strength-producing component parts of our daily food is of the greatest importance. Long before science had furnished breeders with a sure basis to go upon, the husbandman endeavoured to find out the relative nutritive value of his different sorts of fodder, and it is to this endeavour that we owe the solution of some of the most wonderful and most important physiological problems. The food of men and of animal scontains, namely, the albuminates, which are necessary for producing flesh and strength, and the heat-producers (starch, sugar, and fat) in very different relative quantities.

The seeds of the cereals-wheat, rye, barley contain for every ten parts albuminate fifty to fifty-five parts of starch. A similar proportion (one to five) of the albuminates to the digestable warmth-generating substances is also found in good meadow hay. In potatoes, rice, turnips, &c., this proportion is quite different. In potatoes, for 10 parts albuminate are 85 and often 90 parts of starch; in rice 120; in peas, on the contrary, only 25 parts; and in rape-seed flour there are but 13 to 14 parts of heat-generating substances. Be the state of the animal what it may, there is for satisfying all its wants but one right proportion of the albuminates, heat-producing matters, and nutritive salts to be adopted. But this proportion varies according to circumstances, and must be altered as the breeder or grazier has this or that aim in view. If, for example, he desires to obtain weight by his system of feeding, then the proportion of the albuminates in the fodder must be increased; and that fodder is, of course, for him the best which enables him to produce a maximum of meat, milk, and wool at the smallest expenditure for nourishment.

It is clear that if an animal- -a pig or a sheep-requires in its food 10 oz. albuminate, and 55 oz. heat-generating matter, for its nutrition, it will, if the 10 oz. albuminate be given in the form of potatoes, have to eat fifteen pounds of steamed potatoes, and in these 95 oz. to 100 cz. of starch-thus, 40 oz. to 45 oz. of heat-generating matter more than the animal can turn to account. These 40 oz. of starch have a certain nutritive, and for the breeder a pecuniary, value; which, however, are in this case wholly lost to him, as starch in manure does not add to its value. A similar loss would accrue if the animal were fed exclusively on beans or peas. In 50 oz. of peas the pig would get 10 oz. of albuminate, but only 12 oz. of starch, 424 oz. therefore less than it required. For the perfect nutrition of the animal somewhat more than 100 oz. of peas would be required, and therein 10 oz. more albuminates would have to be given, which are ineffective for producing flesh, because they would be used up instead of the missing starch, in order to generate warmth.

Thus it will be easily understood what an advantage to the breeder it must be, since science has made him exactly acquainted with the component parts of fodder and their rela tive worth, to be enabled by properly mixing food to obtain, without loss of means expended, the most favourable results. It teaches him that with a mixture of 74lb. of steamed potatoes, and 25 oz. of peas, he can feed his pig well, and turn to the best account the whole quantity of albuminates in the peas and all the starch. In this wise the cattle breeder makes up for the missing hay by a blending of other fodder which he can command, such as turnips, potatoes, peas, rye, straw, clover, rape-seed cake, and peas-flour. What he has to do is this he must so mix them that they are really a surrogate for the nourishment contained in the hay; and by finding out the fitting proportions of their component parts-fitting as regards the aim to be attained-the most extraordinary results have been arrived at in breeding, fattening, and in producing milk and wool.

The chief means of subsistence-grass or hay-provided by nature for herbivorous animals contains the albuminates, warmth-producing matter, and the nutritive salts in such admixture that by their co-presence in the process of digestion and nutrition each of these elements produces the full effect belonging to it; and when the breeder, who has no hay, but other fodder, makes up a mixture of food which in its nutritive capability supplies the place of the missing hay, he in no wise alters the nutritive value of the food thus prepared.

In the nutrition of men, however, totally different relations are to be taken into account. By preparing his victuals by means of boiling, baking, roasting, by turning the corn into

flour, man changes not only the condition and the nature of his food, but very frequently its composition also; and, in many cases, its nutritive value is notably changed by the process of preparation. This is principally effected by the change in the proportion of the nutritive salts which his food contains in its natural state.

Although the part which these salts play in the process of digestion, in the formation of blood, and in general assimilation, has been known for more than twenty years, with the most positive certainty (see "Chemical Letters," vol. ii.), it seems as if in practice the knowledge of it were still ignored.

The importance of the albuminates and the heat-generating matters is recognised, it is true; also that the first, in comparison with the others, have a higher value. It is possible, indeed, in the process of nutrition to supply the place of the heat-generating substances, such as starch, sugar, and fat, by means of meat; but not vice versa, because the heat-generating substances are quite incapable from their composition of serving to aid in the structure of the body, and therefore it may be said that the albuminates possess a pre-eminent value. On the other hand, the nutritive salts, without whose co-operation the albuminates, as well as the heat-generators, would be quite incapable of giving nourishment, are generally hardly taken account of; and we read long dissertations on food and nutrition in which everything under the sun is spoken of except the nutritive salts, and in which even the words "nutritive salts" are not to be found, just as if they had no existence. (To be continued.),

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES OF CHOLERA. (Continued from p. 4.)

II. REPORT OF INTERVIEWS WITH PROFESSOR DE BARY, AT HALLE.

BY

DR. D. DOUGLAS CUNNINGHAM

AND

DR. TIMOTHY LEWIS.

ASSISTANT-SURGEONS IN H.M. INDIAN AND BRITISH SERVICES.

PROFESSOR DE BARY gave us

First. Some general instructions as to experiments in the cultivation of fungi, and the conclusions to be derived from such experiments.

1. Observations on development in order to be of any value must be made frequently, in some cases hourly.

2. Only a very little material should be employed at a time, in order that the field under observation may be clear. 3. One must actually see that a given growth proceeds from a given origin, and not conclude, when two or more forms exist in the same preparation, that they necessarily have a developmental relation to one another, even although at the beginning of the experiment there appeared to be only one kind of element present.

4. As a general rule never believe anything but what is seen, and never found conclusions on mere probabilities.

Second. Apparatuses necessary for experiments on cultivation and development.-These Prof. de Bary prefers of as simple a nature as possible, considering that the less complicated any apparatus is the fewer sources of fallacy does it involve. The apparatus which he recommends is as follows:

(a) Apparatus for common cultivations.

1. Means of protection from dust and other foreign bodies. This consists of three parts-A common glass bason; a bellglass fitting into this; a small metal stage suitable for bearing object-glasses, &c.

When the above apparatus is employed the bason is half filled with water, mercury, permanganate of potassium solution, &c. The stage is next placed in it, and the bell-glass is finally added, so that, dipping into the solution all round, it effectually isolates the stage and anything on it from the external air. (Fig. 1.)

2. Means of cultivation: Fluids of various natures suitable, from their chemical constitution, for affording nourishment to fungi. Object-glasses, watch-glasses, &c., on which such fluids, and the fungi to be developed, may be placed. Before introducing any preparation into the isolation ap

paratus, a careful microscopic examination of it must be made in order to learn its geography, in order to be able to secure the detection of any special body in it at a later period. After a cultivation is fairly started, all that remains to be done is to make repeated careful examinations in order to trace the steps in the development of the bodies under investigation. FIG. 1.

(b) Apparatus for permitting continuous microscopic observations for development, the same preparation remaining for days under the microscope. This consists of two parts -viz., a thick glass plate, with a deep circular groove ground in it; this groove has (at the opposite extremities of one of its diameters) its edges beveled off in some degree. (Fig. 2, a.) A thin glass cover, with its edges turned down and fitting into the groove; connected with this cover are two tubes (one at either side), allowing the entrance of a continuous supply of purified air, if this be desired. (Fig.2,b.) FIG. 2.

Ъ

In applying this apparatus to practice, the fungi to be cultivated are placed on the portion of the plate which is surrounded by the groove. The cover is now fitted on, and the groove and the mouths of the tubes filled with some fluid so as to secure isolation. The whole apparatus is now placed on the stage of the microscope, and every step in the development of the bodies under examination can be followed without at any time removing them from their position. (Fig. 2, c.)

As to the microscopic powers necessary in such observations on the development of fungi, Prof. de Bary considers that, as a general rule, moderate powers are quite sufficient.

In experiments on development, certain reagents are quite indispensable. Those most necessary are (1) ether, (2) absolute alcohol, (3) solution of iodine, (4) glycerine, and (5) sulphuric acid.

Third. Cultivations illustrating the employment of apparatus, as well as the relations which various fungal forms bear to one another.

1. Cultivations illustrative of the development of Mucor Racemosus. The material cultivated had been obtained directly from Prof. Hofmann of Giessen, who is the describer

« ForrigeFortsæt »