THE Dietetic and Hygienic A Monthly Journal of Physiological Medicine VOLUME XXVIII 1912 THE GAZETTE PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK THE DIETETIC AND HYGIENIC GAZETTE Vol. XXVIII. * AMONTHLY JOURNAL PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDICINE No. 1 Published by THE GAZETTE PUBLISHING CO., NEW YORK, January, 1912 THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRICITY UPON LIFE. THE strides made by electricity, or rather in man's knowledge of how to utilize its powers, have been so vast that there would seem to be hardly any limits to these powers. Recently certain claims have been made for electricity which appear to the man in the street extravagant. A few A few weeks ago the news came from Stockholm that the results of investigations had shown the development of children to have been greatly and favorably influenced by the aid of electricity. The matter was referred to in THE DIETETIC AND HYGIENIC GAZETTE for October. The majority of readers of this account were perhaps inclined to scout the validity of the statements therein made. Of course THE GAZETTE disavows responsibility for those assertions. However, there is more than a likelihood that there may be at least a grain of truth in such revolutionary pronouncements. So long ago as 1885, Professor Lemstrom, a Swede of Helsingfors University, made the first scientific experiments with regard to the influence of electricity on the growth of plants. Although these experiments were successful so far as they went, they led at that time to no practical results. Yet undoubtedly recent advances in the same field had their origin in Professor Lemstrom's experiments. Soon after the death of the Swedish scientist, similar experiments were undertaken by Mr. J. E. Newman, of Gloucester, England. The early experiments carried out at Gloucester were of so encouraging a nature that Mr. Newman decided to work on a larger scale, and with this end in view arranged to coöperate with Mr. R. Bomford, the owner of an estate near Evesham, England. Furthermore, these pioneers had the inestimable advantage of the active assistance of Sir Oliver Lodge, of Birmingham, one of the very foremost authorities on electricity of the world. Under the supervision of Sir Oliver Lodge the system in vogue at Evesham is as follows: Wires are strung from insulating supports over a field of twenty-five acres sown with wheat. The wires are placed at a considerable distance from the ground, giving ample space for carrying out necessary labor underneath. It will be superfluous to describe exactly the manner in which all the details are arranged. But it may be inentioned that the quantities of energy involved are very small and consequently free from danger. When the current is turned on a discharge occurs from the wires to the ground. These experiments have been attended with most satisfactory results so far as yield and quality of grain are concerned. The increase of yield was 39.2 in case of Canadian wheat, and 29 per cent. in case of English wheat. Also the wheat was of better quality by far than that grown in the ordinary way. Other experiments in the same direction by different methods have been conducted successfully on fruit and vegetables in France and Italy. Thus the statement may be definitely made that as regards certain forms of vegetable life the outcome of experiments with electric currents have 259514 |