TheMetallarbeiterremarks that metals have in most cases experienced a reduction in value of late years, this depreciation being attributed in some measure to the cheaper methods of obtaining metals as well as to the discovery of new sources of mineral wealth.
The following comparative table shows the approximate prices of various metals in December, 1874, and December, 1884:
Dec., 1874. Dec., 1884.Per lb. Per lb.£ s d. £ s. d.Osmium 71 10 0 62 0 0Iridium 70 0 0 45 0 0Gold 62 15 0 63 0 0Platinum 25 7 6 21 7 6Thallium 23 17 6 4 15 0Magnesium 10 5 0 1 15 0Potassium 5 0 0 4 0 0Silver 3 17 6 (in Hamburg) 3 7 6Aluminum 1 16 0 1 16 0Cobalt 1 14 0 1 2 0Sodium 0 14 2 0 8 8Nickel 0 11 0 0 3 1Bismuth 0 8 1 0 8 1Cadmium 0 7 1 0 4 0Quicksilver 0 2 0 (in London) 0 1 9Tin 0 1 1 (in Berlin) 0 0 9Copper 0 0 10 (" " ) 0 0 7Arsenic 0 0 8 0 0 4-1/2Antimony 0 0 6-1/4 (" " ) 0 0 5Lead 0 0 2-3/4 (" " ) 0 0 1-3/8Zinc 0 0 2-1/2 (" " ) 0 0 1-3/4Steel 0 0 1-3/8 ( in 0 0 0-3/4Bar iron 0 0 1-1/8 Upper 0 0 0-5/8Pig iron 0 0 0-7/16 Silesia ) 0 0 0-1/4
Gold now ranks highest in value of all metals, the competition of osmium and iridium having been over come. It is only by reason of improved methods of preparation that the latter have become cheaper, while their use has at the same time increased. Iridium is mixed with platinum in order to increase its strength and durability. The normal standards of the metrical system are made of platinum-iridium on account of its known immutabilty. In 1882, platinum stood 15 per cent. below its present value; but its increased employment for industrial purposes led to the subsequent improvement in price. Thallium has experienced a severe depreciation on account of the economical process by which it is extracted from the residue of the lead chambers used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The use of this metal is mainly confined to experimental purposes. The fall in silver has arisen from increased production and diminished use for coinage.
Magnesium was scarcely of any industrial value prior to the fall in price now recorded. Improved processes for its treatment have successfully engaged the attention of scientific men, and it is now capable of being used as an alloy with other metals. The Salindres factory regulates the price to a certain extent, and its system of working is regarded as a guide in the various processes connected with this branch of industry. The manufacture of potassium and sodium will, it is expected, be more fully elucidated than hitherto, by means of researches made at Schering's Charlottenburg factory. The course of nickel prices illustrates the stimulus to economical production afforded by an increased consumption. This latter fact is principally due to the employment of nickel for coinage, as alloy for alfenide, etc. The use of cadmium is materially restricted by its relatively limited supply. Hitherto, its only source was in the incidental products of zinc distillation, but of late it has been attempted to bring it into solution from its oxide combinations. An increased employment of cadmium for industrial purposes is expected to follow.
Production in excess of the demand has caused the depreciation recorded in tin, and various other metals not commented upon, this remark applying even to the scarce metals, arsenic and antimony. Even the better marks of Cornwall tin and Mansfield refined copper have had to follow the downward course of the market.
The annexed figure represents a perpetual calendar, which any one can construct for himself, and which permits of finding the day that corresponds to a given date, and conversely.
The apparatus consists of a certain number of circles and arcs of circles divided by radii. The ring formed by the two last internal circles is divided into 28 equal parts, which bear the names of the week, the first seven letters of the alphabet in reversed order, and two signs X. The circle formed by the external circumference of the ring constitutes the movable part of the apparatus, and revolves around its center. Two circular sectors, which are diametrically opposite, are each divided into seven parts and constitute the fixed portions. In the divisions of the upper sector are distributed the months, according to the order of the monthly numbers. In the other sector the days of the month are regularly distributed. In order to render the affair complete, a table is arranged upon the movable disk for giving the annual numbers, or rather, in this case, the annual letters. The calendar is used as follows: Say, for example, we wish to find what days correspond to the different dates of August, 1885; we look in the table for the letter (D) that corresponds to this year; then we bring this letter under the given month (August) and the days marked upon the movable disk corresponding to the dates sought, and it only remains to make a simple reading.
PERPETUAL CALENDAR.
PERPETUAL CALENDAR.
It will be seen that the leap-years correspond to two letters. We here employ the first to Feb. 29 inclusive, and the second for the balance of the year. The calendar may be made of cardboard, and be fixed to wood.—La Nature.
Around the door of a Sixth Ave. bird store near Twenty-third St. was gathered the other day a crowd so large that it was a work of several minutes to gain entrance to the interior. From within there proceeded a hoarse voice dashed with a suspicion of whisky, which bellowed in Irish-American brogue the enlivening strains of "Peek-a-boo." With each reiteration of "Peek-a-boo" the crowd hallooed with delight, and one small boy, in the exuberance of his joy, tied himself into a sort of knot and rolled on the pavement. Suddenly the inebriated Irishman came to a dead stop, and another voice, pleasanter in quality, sang the inspiring national ode of "Yankee Doodle," followed by the stentorian query and answer all in one, "How are the Psi-Upsilon boys? Oh, they're all right!"
A passer-by, puzzled at the scene, made his way into the store and soon solved the mystery. In a large cage in the center was an enormous green and yellow parrot, which was hanging by one foot to a swinging perch, and trolling forth in different voices with the ease of an accomplished ventriloquist. He resumed a normal position as he was approached, and flapping his wings bellowed out, "Hurrah for Elaine and Logan!" Then, cocking his head on one side, he dropped into a more conversational tone, and with a regular "Alice in Wonderland" air remarked: "It's never too late to mend a bird in the hand;" and again, after a pause, "It's a long lane that never won fair lady." His visitor affably remarked:
"You're quite an accomplished bird, Polly," and quick as a flash the creature replied:
"I can spell, I can. C-a-t, cat. D-o-g, fox," with an affectation of juvenility which was grewsome. He resented an ill-advised attempt at familiarity by snapping at the finger which tried to scratch his poll, and barked out:
"Take care! I'm a bad bird, I am. You betcher life!"
"He's one of the cleverest parrots I have had for some time," said his owner, Mr. Holden. "In fact, he is almost as good as Ben Butler, whom I sold to Patti. His stock of proverbs seems inexhaustible, and he makes them quite funny by the ingenious way in which he mixes them up. I could not begin to tell you all the things he says, but his greatest accomplishment is his singing. He is a double yellowhead—the only species of parrot which does sing. The African grays are better talkers, but they do not sing. They only whistle. What do I ask for him? Oh, I think $200 is cheap for such a paragon, don't you?"—N.Y. Tribune.
The celebrated Roscoff zoological station was founded in 1872, and has therefore been in existence for thirteen years; but it may be said that it has changed appearance thirteen times. Those who, for the last six or seven years, have gone thither to work with diligence find at every recurring season some improvement or new progress.
A rented house, a small shed in a yard, little or no apparatus, and four work rooms—such was the debut of the station; and modest it was, as may be seen. Later on, the introduction of a temporary aquarium, which, without being ornamental, was not lacking in convenience, sufficed for making some fine discoveries regarding numerous animals.
A small boat served for supplying necessaries to the few workers who were then visiting Roscoff; but as the number of these kept gradually increasing, it became necessary to think of enlarging the station, and the purchase of a piece of property was decided upon. Since then, Mr. Lacaze Duthiers has done nothing but develop and transform this first acquisition. A large house, which was fitted up in 1879, formed the new laboratory. This was built in a large garden situated nearly at the edge of the sea. We saynearly, as the garden in fact was separated from the sea by a small road. The plan in Fig. 1 shows that this road makes an angle; but formerly it was straight, and passed over the terrace which now borders upon the fish pond. How many measures, voyages, and endless discussions, and how much paper and ink, it has taken to get this road ceded to the laboratory! Finally, after months of contest, victory rewarded Mr. Duthiers's tenacity, and he was then able to begin the construction of a pond and aquarium. All this was not done at once.
FIG. 1.—PLAN OF THE ROSCOFF LABORATORY.
FIG. 1.—PLAN OF THE ROSCOFF LABORATORY.
Another capital improvement was made in 1882. The public school adjoining the establishment was ceded to it, the separating walls fell, the school became a laboratory, the class rooms were replaced by halls for research, and now no trace of the former separation can be seen—so uniform a whole does the laboratory form. No one knows what patience it required to form, piecemeal as it were, so vast an establishment, and one whose every part so completely harmonizes.
During the same year a park, one acre in area, was laid out on the beach opposite the laboratory. This is daily covered by the sea, and forms a preserve in which animals multiply, and which, during the inclement season, when distant excursions are impossible, permits of satisfying the demands that come from every quarter. All, however, is not finished. Last year a small piece of land was purchased for the installation of hydraulic apparatus for filling the aquarium. This acquisition was likewise indispensable, in order to prevent buildings from being erected upon the land and shutting off the light from the work rooms opposite. Alas, here we find our enemy again—the little road! Negotiations have been going on for eighteen months with the common council, and, what is worse, with the army engineers, concerning the cession of this wretched footpath.
The reader now knows the principal phases of the increases and improvements through which the Roscoff station has passed. If, with the plan before his eyes, he will follow us, we will together visit the various parts of the laboratory. The principal entrance is situated upon the city square, one of the sides of which is formed by the buildings of the station. We first enter a large and beautiful garden ornamented with large trees and magnificent flowers which the mild and damp climate of Roscoff makes bloom in profusion. We next enter a work room which is designed for those pupils who, doing no special work, come to Roscoff in order to study from nature what has been taught them theoretically in the lecture courses of schools, etc. There is room here for nine pupils, to each of whom the laboratory offers two tables, with tanks, bowls, reagents, microscopes, and instruments of all kinds for cabinet study, as well as for researches upon animals on the beach. Here the pupils are in presence of each other, and so the explanations given by the laboratory assistants are taken advantage of by all. At the end of this room, on turning to the left, we find two large apartments—the library and museum. Here have been gradually collected together the principal works concerning the fauna of Roscoff and the English Channel, maps and plans useful for consultation, numerous memoirs, and a small literary library. The scientific collection contains the greater portion of the animals that inhabit the vicinity of Roscoff. To every specimen is affixed a label giving a host of data concerning the habits, method of capture, and the various biological conditions special to it. In a few years, when the data thus accumulated every season by naturalists have been brought together, we shall have a most valuable collection of facts concerning the fauna of the coast of France. Two store rooms at the end of these apartments occupy the center of the laboratory, and are thus more easy of access from the work rooms, and the objects that each one desires can be quickly got for him.
FIG. 2.—INTERIOR OF ONE OF THE STALLS FOR STUDY.
FIG. 2.—INTERIOR OF ONE OF THE STALLS FOR STUDY.
After the store rooms comes what was formerly the class room for boys, and which has space for three workers, and then the former girls' class room, which has space for eight more. Let us stop for a moment in this large room, which is divided up into eight stalls, each of which is put at the disposal of some naturalist who is making original researches. Fig. 2 represents one of these, and all the rest are like it. Three tables are provided, the space between which is occupied by the worker. Of these, one is reserved for the tanks that contain the animals, another, placed opposite a window giving a good light, supports the optical apparatus, and the last is occupied by delicate objects, drawings, notes, etc., and is, after a manner, the worker's desk. Some shelving, some pegs, and a small cupboard complete the stall. It is unnecessary to say that the laboratory furnishes gratuitously to those who are making researches everything that can be of service to them.
Four of these stalls are situated to the north, with a view of the sea, and the other four overlook the garden. They are separated from each other by a simple partition, and all open on a wide central corridor that leads to the aquarium. Before reaching the latter we find two offices that face each other, one of them for the lecturer and the other for the preparator. These rooms, as far as their arrangement is concerned, are identical with the stalls of the workers. The laboratory, then, is capable of receiving twenty-three workers at a time, and of offering them every facility for researches.
FIG. 3.—GENERAL VIEW OF THE ROSCOFF LABORATORY.
FIG. 3.—GENERAL VIEW OF THE ROSCOFF LABORATORY.
The aquarium is an immense room, 98 ft. in length by 33 in width, glazed at the two sides. It is at present occupied only by temporary tanks that are to be replaced before long by twenty large ones of 130 gallons capacity, and two oval basins of from 650 to 875 gallons capacity, constructed after the model of the one that is giving so good results at Banyuls. At the extremity of the aquarium there is a store room containing trawls, nets of all kinds, and mops, for the capture of animals. Here too is kept the rigging of the two laboratory boats, the Dentale and Laura. Above the store room is located the director's work room.
A wide terrace separates the aquarium from the pond. This latter is 38 yards long by 35 wide. Thanks to a system of sluice valves, it is filled during high tide, and the water is shut in at low tide, thus permitting of having a supply of living animals in boxes and baskets until the resources of the laboratory permit of a more improved arrangement. This basin is shown in Fig. 3. It is at the north side of the laboratory as seen from the beach. Here too we see the aquarium, the garden, and a portion of the shore that serves as a post for the station boats.
We must not, in passing, fail to mention the extreme convenience that the proximity of the aquarium work room to the pond and sea offers to the student.
This entire collection of halls, constituting the scientific portion of the laboratory, occupies the ground floor. The first and second stories are occupied by sleeping apartments, fourteen in number. These, without being luxurious, are sufficiently comfortable, and offer the great advantage that they are very near the work rooms, thus permitting of observing, at leisure, and at any hour of the day or night, the animals under study.
Everything is absolutely free at the laboratory. The work rooms, instruments, reagents, boats, dwelling apartments, etc., are put at the disposal of all with an equal liberality; and this absence of distinction between rich or poor, Frenchmen or foreigners, is the source of a charming cordiality and good will among the workers.
Shall we speak, too, of the richness of the Roscoff fauna? This has become proverbial among zoologists, as can be attested by the 265 of them who have worked at the laboratory. The very numerous and remarkable memoirs that have been prepared here are to be found recorded in the fourteen volumes of theArchives de Zoologie Experimentalefounded by Mr. Lacaze Duthiers.
It only remains to express our hope that the aquarium may be soon finished; but before this is done it will be necessary to get possession of that unfortunate little road. After this final victory, Mr. Duthiers in his turn will be able, amid his pupils, to enjoy all those advantages of his work which he has until now offered to others, but from which he himself has gained no benefit.—La Nature.
Of all fish, eels are probably the most interesting, as the least is known of them. Electricians are now examining the animal source of electricity in the electric eel (Gymnotus electricus); zoologists are still searching for the solution of the problem of the generation of eels, of which no more is known than that the young eels are not born alive; and numerous fishing societies are now studying the important question of raising eels in ponds, lakes, etc., that are not connected with the sea.
THE MURÆNÆ AT THE BERLIN AQUARIUM.
THE MURÆNÆ AT THE BERLIN AQUARIUM.
The annexed cut, taken from theIllustrirte Zeitung, is a copy of a drawing by Muetzel, and represents a group of Mediterranean Murænæ (Muræna Helena). This fish attains a length of from 5 ft. to 6 ft., and has a smooth, scaleless body of a dark color, on which large light-yellow spots appear, which give the fish a very peculiar appearance. The pectoral fin is missing, but it has the dorsal and anal fins, which it uses with great ability. Its head is pointed, and its jaws are provided with extraordinarily sharp teeth, which are inclined toward the rear; and at each side of the head it is provided with a gill. The nostrils are on the upper side of the snout, and a second, tubular, pair of nostrils is located near the eyes. The bright eyes have a fierce expression, which makes the fish appear very much like a snake. These fish are ravenous, and devour crabs, snails, worms, and fishes, and if they have no other food, bite off the tails of their brethren. They are caught in eel baskets or cages, and by means of hooks; but they are rather dangerous to handle, as they attack the fishermen and injure them severely.
Since the times of the ancients, Murænæ have been prized very highly on account of their savory flesh. The Romans were great experts at feeding these fish, Vidius Pollio being the master of them all, as he made a practice of feeding his Murænæ with the flesh of slaves sentenced to death. Pliny states that at Cæsar's triumphal entry Hirius furnished six thousand Murænæ. Slaves were frequently driven into the ponds, and were immediately attacked by the voracious fishes, and killed in a very short time.
In the chapter entitled "Das insektenleben in arktischen ländern," which Dr. Christopher Aurivillius contributes to the account of A.E. Nordenskiöld's Arctic investigations, published this year in Leipzig,8the author says: "The question of the mode of life of insects and of its relation to their environment in the extreme north is one of especial interest. Knowing, as we do, that any insect in the extreme north has at the most not more than from four to six weeks in each year for its development, we wonder how certain species can pass through their metamorphosis in so short a period. R. McLachlan adverts, in his work upon the insects of Grinnell Land, to the difficulties which the shortness of the summer appears to put in the way of the development of the insects, and expresses the belief that the metamorphosis which we are accustomed here to see passed through in one summer there requires several summers. The correctness of this supposition has been completely shown by the interesting observations which G. Sandberg has made upon species of lepidoptera in South Varanger, at 69° 40' north latitude. Sandberg succeeded in following the development from the egg onward of some species of the extreme north.Oeneis bore, Schn., a purely Arctic butterfly, may be taken as an example. This species has never been found outside of Arctic regions, and even there occurs only in places of purely Arctic stamp. It flies from the middle of June onward, and lays its eggs on different species of grass. The eggs hatch the same summer; the larva hibernates under ground, continues eating and growing the next summer, and does not even then reach its full development, but winters a second time and pupates the following spring. The pupa, which in closely related forms, in regions further to the south, is suspended free in the air upon a blade of grass or like object, is in this case made in the ground, which must be a very advantageous habit is so raw a climate. The imago leaves the pupa after from five or six weeks, an uncommonly long period for a butterfly. In more southern regions the butterfly pupa rests not more than fourteen days in summer. The entire development, then, takes place much more slowly than it does in regions further south. Sandberg has shown, then, by this and other observations, that the Arctic summer, even at 70° N., is not sufficient for the development of many butterflies, but that they make use of two or more summers for it. If then more than one summer is requisite for the metamorphosis of the butterflies, it appears to me still more likely that the humble-bees need more than one summer for their metamorphosis. With us only the developed female lives over from one year to the next; in spring she builds the new nest, lays eggs, and rears the larvæ which develop into the workers, who immediately begin to help in the support of the family; finally, toward autumn, males and females are developed. It seems scarcely credible that all this can take place each summer in the same way in Grinnell Land, at 82° N., especially as the access to food must be more limited than it is with us. The development of the humble-bee colony must surely be quite different there. If it is not surely proved that the humble-bees occur at so high latitudes, one would not, with a knowledge of their mode of life, be inclined to believe that they could live under such conditions. They seem, however, to have one advantage over their relatives in the south. In the Arctic regions none of those parasites are found which in other regions lessen their numbers, such as theconopidæamong the flies, the mutillas among the hymenoptera, and others."—Psyche.
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Nordenskiöld, A.E., Studien und forschungen veranlasst durch meine reisen im hohen norden. Autorisirte ausgabe. Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1885, 9 + 581 pp., 8 pl., maps, O. il.
The records of the Nebraska State Medical Society show that the only report of progress on nervous and mental diseases ever made in the history of the society (sixteen years) was made by the writer last year; and expecting that those appointed to make a report this year would, judging by the history of the past, fail to prepare such a report, I have seen fit to prepare a brief volunteer report of such items of progress as have come to my notice during the last twelve months. I have not been able to learn that any original work has been done in our State during the past year, nor that those having charge of the insane hospital have utilized the material at their command to add to the sum of our knowledge of mental diseases.
Last year I said: "There is a growing sentiment that many diseases not heretofore regarded as nervous (and perhaps all diseases) are of nervous origin." This truth, that all pathologico-histological changes in the tissues of the body are degenerative in character, and, whether caused by a parasite, a poison, or some unknown influence, are first brought about by or through a changed innervation, is one that is being accepted very largely by the best men in the profession, and the accumulation of facts is increasing rapidly, and the acceptance of this great truth will prove to be little short of revolutionary in its influence on the treatment of the disease. This is the outgrowth of the study of disease from the standpoint of the evolution hypothesis. Derangements of function precede abnormalities of structure; hence the innervation must be at fault before the organ fails. Hence the art of healing should aim at grappling with the neuroses first, for the local trophic changes, perverted secretions, and structural abnormalities are the effects or symptoms, not the causes of the disease. Dr. J.L. Thudicum has studied the chemical constitution of the brain, and he holds that, "When the normal composition of the brain shall be known to the uttermost item, then pathology can begin its search for abnormal compounds or derangements of quantities." The great diseases of the brain and spine, such as general paralysis, acute and chronic mania, and others, the author believes will all be shown to be connected with special chemical changes in neuroplasm, and that a knowledge of the composition and properties of this tissue and of its constituents will materially aid in devising modes of radical treatment in cases in which, at present, only tentative symptomatic measures are taken.
The whole drift of recent brain inquiry sets toward the notion that the brain always acts as a whole, and that no part of it can be discharging without altering the tensions of all the other parts; for an identical feeling cannot recur, for it would have to recur in an unmodified brain, which is an impossibility, since the structure of the brain itself is continually growing different under the pressure of experience.
Insanity is a disease of the most highly differentiated parts of the nervous system, in which the psychical functions, as thought, feeling, and volition, are seriously impaired, revealing itself in a series of mental phenomena. Institutions for the insane were at first founded for public relief, and not to benefit the insane; but this idea has changed in the past, and there is a growing feeling that a natural and domestic abode, adapted to the varying severity of the different degrees of insanity, should be the place for the insane, with some reference to their wants and necessities, and that many patients (not all) could be better treated in a domestic or segregate asylum than in the prison-like structures that so often exist, and that the asylum should be as much house-like and home-like in character as the nature of the insanity would permit; while exercise and feeding are accounted as among the best remedies in some cases of insanity, particularly in acute mania.
The new disease called morbus Thomsenii, of which I wrote in my report last year, has been carefully studied by several men of eminence, and the following conclusions have been reached as to its pathology: The weight of the evidence seems to prove that it is of a neuropathic rather than a myopathic nature, and that it depends on an exaggerated activity of the nervous apparatus which produces muscular tone, and that it has much analogy to the muscular phenomena of hysterical hypnosis, the genesis of which is precisely explained by a functional hyperactivity of the nervous centers of muscular activity. Until quite recently it was supposed that the rhythmical action of the heart was entirely due to the periodical and orderly discharge of motor nerve force in the nerve ganglia which are scattered through the organ; but recent physiological observations, more especially the brilliant researches of Graskell, seem to show that the influence of the cardiac ganglia is not indispensable, and that the muscular fiber itself, in some of the lower animals, at all events possesses the power of rhythmical contraction.
Several valuable additions to our knowledge of the anatomy of the nervous system have been made by Huschke, Exner, Fuchs, and Tuczek.
Tuczek and Fuchs have confirmed the discoveries of Exner, that there are no medullated nerve fibers in the convolutions of the infant, and Flechzig has developed this law, that "medullated nerve fibers appear first in the region of the pyramidal tracts and corona radiata, and extend from them to the convolutions and periphery of the brain," being practically completed about the eighth year. This fact is of practical importance in nervous and mental diseases, since it is becoming an admitted truth that the histological changes in disease follow in an inverse order the developmental processes taking place in the embryo. Hence the recent physiological division of the nervous system by Dr. Hughlings Jackson into highest, middle, and lowest centers, and the evolution of the cerebro-spinal functions from the most automatic to the least automatic, from the most simple to the most complex, from the most organized to the least organized. In the recognition of this division we have the promise of a steadier and more scientific advance, both in the physiology and in the pathology of the nervous system.
Mr. Victor Horsley has recently demonstrated the existence of true sensory nerves supplying the nerve trunks of nervi-nervorum.
Prof. Hamilton, of Aberdeen, claims that the corpus callosum is not a commissure, but the decussation of cortical fibers on their way down to enter the internal and external capsules of the opposite side.
Profs. Burt G. Wilder, of Ithaca, and T. Jefrie Parker, of New Zealand Institute, have proposed a new nomenclature for macroscopic encephalic anatomy, which, while seemingly imperfect in many respects, has, at least, the merit of stimulating thought, and has given an impulse to a reform which will not cease until something has been actually accomplished in this direction. The object being to substitute for many of the polynomial terms, technical and vernacular, now in use, technical names which are brief and consist of a single word. This has already been adopted by several neurologists, of whom we may mention Spitzka, Ramsey, Wright, and H.T. Osborn.
Luys holds that the brain, as a whole, changes its position in the cranial cavity according to different attitudes of the body, the free spaces on the upper side being occupied by cerebro-spinal fluid, which, obeying the laws of gravity, is displaced by the heavier brain substance in different positions of the body.
Luys claims that momentary vertigo, often produced by changing from a horizontal to a vertical position, seasickness, pain in movement in cases of meningitis, epileptic attacks at night, etc., may be by this explained. These views of Luys are accepted as true, but to a less extent than taught by Luys. The prevalent idea that a lesion of one hemisphere produces a paralysis upon the opposite side of the body alone is no longer tenable, for each hemisphere is connected with both sides of the body by motor tracts, the larger of the motor tracts decussating and the smaller not decussating in the medulla. Hence a lesion of one hemisphere produces paralysis upon the opposite side of the body. It has recently been established that a lesion of one hemisphere in the visual area produces, not blindness in the opposite eye, as was formerly supposed, but a certain degree of blindness in both eyes, that in the opposite eye being greater in extent than that in the eye of the same side. Analogy would indicate that other sensations follow the same law, hence the probability is that all the sensations from one side of the body do not pass to the parietal cortex of the opposite side, but that, while the majority so pass, a portion go up to the cortex of the same side from which they come.
Dr. Hammond says that the chief feature of the new Siberian disease called miryachit is, that the victims are obliged to mimic and execute movements that they see in others, and which motions they are ordered to execute.
Dr. Beard, in June, 1880, observed the same condition when traveling among the Maine hunters, near Moosehead Lake. These men are called jumpers, or jumping Frenchmen. Those subject to it start when any sudden noise reaches the ears. It appears to be due to the fact that motor impulse is excited by perceptions without the necessary concurrence of the volition of the individual to cause the discharge, and are analogous to epileptiform paroxysms due to reflex action.
The term spiritualism has come to signify more than has usually been ascribed to it, for some recent authors are now using the term to denote a neurosis or nervous affection peculiar to that class of people who claim to be able to commune with the spirits of the dead.
Evidence obtained from clinical observations has tended of late to locate the pathological lesions of chorea in the cerebral cortex.
Dr. Godlee's operation of removing a tumor from the brain marks an important step in cerebral localization, and cerebral surgery bids fair to take a prominent place in the treatment of mental diseases.
Wernicke has observed that the size of the occipital lobes is in proportion to the size of the optic tracts, and that the occipital lobes are the centers of vision.
Hughlings Jackson has observed that limited and general convulsions were often produced by disease in the cortex of the so-called motor convolutions. The sense of smell has been localized by Munk in the gyri hippocampi, while the center of hearing has been demonstrated to be in the temporal lobes. The center for the muscles of the face and tongue is in the inferior part of the central convolution; that for the arm, in the central part; that for the leg, in the superior part of the same convolution; the center for the muscles and for general sensibility, in the angular gyrus; and the center for the muscles of the trunk, in the frontal lobes. In pure motor aphasia the lesion is in the posterior part of the left third frontal convolution; in cases of pure sensory aphasia, the lesion is in the left first temporal convolution.
The relation of the cerebrum to cutaneous diseases has been studied much of late, and it is now held that the cutaneous eruptions are mainly due to the degree of inhibiting effect exerted upon the vaso-motor center.
The relation of the spinal cord to skin eruptions has been more thoroughly investigated and more abundant evidence supplied to demonstrate the influence degeneration of the spinal cord has in causing skin diseases, notably zoster, urticaria, and eczema.
This rheumatism, pneumonia, diabetes, and some kidney diseases and liver affections are often the result of persistent nervous disturbance is now held. That a high temperature (the highest recorded) has resulted from injuries of the spinal cord, and where the influence of microzymes is excluded, is not a matter of question. In one instance, the temperature reached 122° F., and remained for seven weeks between 108° and 118° F. The patient was a lady; the result was recovery. Hence it cannot be fever which kills or produces rapid softening of the heart and other organs in fatal cases of typhoid. Fever, so far as it consists in elevation of temperature, can be a simple neurosis.
Many other items of progress might be presented did time permit, particularly in the treatment of nervous affections, but this I leave for another occasion.
[9]
Volunteer report presented to Nebraska State Medical Society, May, 1885, at Grand Island, Neb.
Dr. Grangier, surgeon in the French army, writes from Algeria: "A few days after the occupation of Brizerte, when the military authorities had forbidden, under the severest penalties, the discharge of firearms within the town, the whole garrison was awakened at three o'clock one morning by the tremendous explosion of a heavily loaded gun in the neighborhood of the ramparts; a guard of soldiers rushed into the house from whence the sound had come, and found a woman lying on the floor with a newly born babe between her thighs. The father of the child stood over his wife with the smoking musket still in his hand, but his intentions in firing the gun had been wholly medical, and not hostile to the French troops. The husband discovered that his wife had been in labor for thirty-six hours. Labor was slow and the contractions weak and far apart. He had thought it advisable to provoke speedy contraction, and, following the Algerian custom toscare the babyout, he had fired the musket near his wife's ear; instantanously the accouchement was terminated. After being imprisoned twenty-four hours, the Arab was released."—Cincinnati Lancet.
TheEngineering and Mining Journalraises the question whether steel, which is becoming so popular a substitute for wrought iron, will, when it is subjected to continuous strain in suspension bridges and other similar structures, do as well as iron has proved that it can. Recent tests of sections from the cables at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, and at Niagara Falls show that long use has not materially changed the structure. TheJournalsays: "It is a serious question, and one which time only can completely answer, whether steel structures will prove as uniformly and permanently reliable as wrought iron has proved itself to be. In other words, whether the fibrous texture of wrought iron can be equaled in this respect by the granulated texture of steel or ingot iron. In this connection it is interesting to note that the fibrous texture referred to is imparted to wrought iron by the presence in it of a small proportion of slag from the puddling furnace, and that this can be secured in the Bessemer converter also if desired. The so-calledKlein-Bessemerei,carried on at Avesta in Sweden for several years past, produces an exclusively soft, fibrous iron by the simple device of pouring slag and iron together into the ingot mould. This requires however a very small charge (usually not more than half a ton), and a direct pouring from the converter, without the intervention of a ladle, which would chill the slag."
The effect of the introduction of slag would seem to be to retrace the steps usually taken in producing steel, viz., to separate the iron from its impurities, and then to add definite quantities of carbon and such other ingredients as are found to neutralize the effects of certain impurities not fully removed.
The most intelligent engineers, after ascertaining by exhaustive physical tests what they need, present their "requirements" to the iron and steel makers, whose practical experience and science guide them in the protracted metallurgical experiments necessary to find the exact process required. The engineer verifies the product by further tests, and by practical use may find that his "requirement" needs further modifications. As a result of all this care, some degree of certainty is secured as to what the material may be expected to do.
No doubt the chemical composition of the slag used at Avesta was known and met some equally well known want in the iron, and thus the result arrived at was one which had been definitely and intelligently sought.
An important factor in selecting material for the cables of suspension bridges is itstrue elastic limit. By this term we mean the percentage of the total strength of the material which it can exert continuously without losing its resilience, i.e., its power to resume its former shape and position when stress is removed. Now, in the case particularly of steel wire as commonly furnished in spiral coils, the curve put into the wire in the process of manufacture seriously diminishes this available sustaining power.
For it is evident that it would be unsafe to subject these cables at any time to a stress beyond their elastic limit. If, e.g., a snowstorm or a great crowd of people should load a bridge beyond this limit, when the extra weight was removed the cables could not bring the bridge back to its normal place, and the result would be a permanent flattening and weakening of the arch.
By a process invented and patented by Col. Paine, the wire in the New York and Brooklyn bridge was furnishedstraightinstead of curved. Now, if a short piece of common steel wire is taken from the coil, and pulled toward a straight position, and then released, it springs back into its former curve; but if a short piece of the straight-furnished wire that was put into this bridge is bent, and then released, it springs back toward its straight position.
It is easy to see that if a curved wire is pulled straight, there must occur a distention of the particles on the inside of the curve and a compression of those on the outside. The inside is in fact strained past its elastic limit beforeanystress comes upon the outside. Hence, after the wire has been pulled straight, the elastic limit of only a portion of it can be taken into the account in calculating the load that can safely be put upon it. In the case of curved steel wire pulled straight, its ultimate strength was found to be only about 90 per cent. that of similar wire furnished straight by this process. The superior ductility of iron wire in some measure compensates for the distention of the particles on the inside of the curve, and that is a reason why it has heretofore been used for suspension bridges. But with straight steel wire there is no such distention, and itsentire elastic limitis available. This elastic limit is 66 per cent. of the ultimate strength, and, besides, that ultimate strength is 10 per cent. greater than that of similar curved wire. Thus if we have a curved steel wire large enough to sustain 1,000 lb. without breaking, a similar straight wire, such as those in this bridge, will hold up 1,100 lb., and 66 per cent. of this 1,100 lb = 720 lb.
The elastic limit of curved wire has never been determined, since any stress that will cause it to reach a straight line is beyond the elastic limit of the inside of its sectional area. That of curved iron wire has been estimated at 40 per cent. of its ultimate strength, which is about half the ultimate strength of curved steel wire; that is, it would be unsafe to put more than 40 per cent. of 500 lb.—or 200 lb.—upon a curved iron wire when astraightsteel one can sustain 720 lb. without injury. In the New York and Brooklyn bridge the cost of a sufficient amount of such iron wire as is used in all other suspension bridges would have been some $200,000 greater than that of the straight steel wire which was used. At five per cent., this effects an annual saving in interest of $10,000.
There must, too, be a considerable saving in the current expense for painting and care, to say nothing of the more neat and elegant appearance of the less bulky steel. And as the whole area of the section of these wires is subjected to an even strain that is always far within the elastic limit, there is no danger of a change of structure under that stress.
It is highly probable—although Col. Paine has been too busy to work up the matter—that piano wire made in this straight method could be drawn up to and kept at pitch, without approaching very near the elastic limit. In that case not only would they seldom if ever require tuning, but probably all along the tone would be more satisfactory. And there would not be those exasperating periods when the pitch is not quite perfect, but yet is not far enough out to make it seem worth while to send for a tuner.
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