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delegate, proposed "that vessels which had cases of cholera on board should be subjected to seven days' isolation, and that all the people on board should be divided off into groups, each of which should be released separately, if, after five days' observation, no case of cholera should have appeared among the persons composing such a group."

-The U. S. entomologist informs us that the destructive locust of California this year, as appears from larvae recently received, is Melanoplus devastator. Caloptenus differentialis has also been sent, but the former must be the chief source of injury.

The Meteorological society of Vienna has resolved, says Nature, to erect a meteorological station on Mount Sonnenblick, near Tauern, in the central range of the Tyrolese Alps, thirty-one hundred metres above sea-level, and thus the highest station of the kind in Europe.

-The Geological magazine of London attains its majority the present summer; and as the present editor, Dr. Henry Woodward of the British museum, has been connected with it from the beginning, and during almost the whole time as its editor in chief, his friends are proposing to present him with a testimonial for the ability and fairness with which this successful magazine has been conducted. Friends of Dr. Woodward and of the magazine can forward any subscriptions to the treasurer, Mr. G. J. Hinde, 11 Glebe Villas, Mitcham, Surrey.

-One Prof. A. H. Lockwood,' alias 'Rev. J. H. Rockwell,' was arrested on June 17, at Garden Grove, Io., charged with using the U. S. mails for conducting fraudulent operations in the purchase and sale of scientific books. Any of our subscribers who have been defrauded will do well to communicate with D. H. Pulcifer, post-office inspector at Des Moines, Io.

- We learn from Nature that important experiments in aerial navigation are now being made by Mr. A. F. Gower, well known in connection with the Gower-Bell telephone. The operations being carried on are more particularly directed towards the adaptation of balloons to war purposes. On May 31, the wind being favorable, one of the automatic pilot balloons invented by Mr. Gower, with appliances for giving out its own gas and ballast, one compensating for the loss of the other, was filled with twenty-three hundred feet of gas, and ascended at about 11 o'clock. In the car a written statement was of course placed, explaining the ownership of the machine and its object, with the result that it was next heard of at Dieppe, having made a rapid passage of about seventytwo miles in a straight direction, and descended at 2.30 in the afternoon. On June 1 another pilot balloon, with a capacity of forty-three hundred feet, was started, and immediately followed by Mr. Gower in his own balloon (containing twenty-three thousand feet of gas). The object of Mr. Gower in ascending was to watch the action of the pilot; but the smaller machine made such rapid progress, that it got out of his observation, and came down in the vicinity of Paris. Meanwhile, Mr. Gower, who ascended about

noon, reached the French coast at Boulogne at 2.15, and then, taking a northerly curve, travelled overland to Calais, where he made a smooth descent at 4 P.M.

- Among recent deaths we note the following: Professor Dunkes of Marburg, a well-known mineralogist and paleontologist; Samuel Cabot, ornithologist, at Boston (the type specimens of his collection are left to the Boston society of natural history); Prof. H. Weyenbergh, professor of zoölogy at the University of Cordoba, during a visit to his home in Holland; Dr. Fred. Gustave Henle, physiologist and anatomist, at Berlin, May 18, in his seventy-sixth year; Dr. Richard Böhm of Berlin, African explorer, in his thirtysecond year; Dr. Carl Ohrtmann, mathematician, at Berlin, April 22; T. R. Peale, entomologist, at Philadelphia, March 13; C. Cornelius, entomologist, at Elberfeld, April 1, in his eightieth year; J. P. Jacobsen, at Thisthdt, Jutland, April 30; Prof. P. L. Panum, physiologist, at Copenhagen, May 1, in his sixty-sixth year; Paul Desains, physicist, at Paris, May 3; Dr. K. J. Andrae, professor of mineralogy and paleontology at the University of Bonn, at Bonn, May 8; Mr. William Ladd, the well-known scientific instrument-maker, in his seventy-first year; Robert von Schlagintweit, professor of geography and ethnology at the University of Giessen, in his fifty-third year.

- Dr. Herman Koch, the bacteriologist, has been created professor in the University of Berlin.

Last year was a tolerably productive one for the collectors of prehistoric remains in Switzerland. The water of the lakes was almost constantly below the highest level, which is the most favorable state of things for explorations around the lake-dwellings. The remains discovered belong mostly to the bronze period; and the chief localities in which they were found were Lake Neuchâtel, and the settlement of Walleshofen near Zurich, the latter of which is the only station of the bronze period yet known in eastern Switzerland. Amongst the most remarkable articles discovered at this settlement in 1884 were a splendidly preserved bronze sword, several dozens of bronze hatchets, bracelets, etc. Of the remains of the stone period discovered in the same year, the most notable are those obtained at Robenhausen, including several pretty knife-handles made of yew; some excellent specimens of mechanical industry, such as thread, woven fabrics, fishing-nets, etc.; and ears of barley and wheat, one being a specimen of the rare Triticum turgidum.

- The sultan of Zanzibar claims the whole coast from Cape Delgado to the mouth of the river Juba, which is on the equator. Nevertheless, the German explorers, the brothers Denhardt, have planted the German flag at Vitu, thirty German miles south of the river Juba, and six miles inland. The explorers report the district as fertile. A German squadron, consisting of three frigates and two transports, has been sent to the coast of Zanzibar to protect this new annexation; to which, of course, the sultan objects. Three German exploring expeditions have already started from Vitu for the interior of Africa.

SCIENCE.

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1885.

A WESTERN SCHOOL OF BOTANY.

In anticipation of the full development of his noble foundation for botany and horticulture at St. Louis, Mo., Mr. Henry Shaw, the venerable founder, has specially endowed a school of botany in Washington university, which will for the present be served by a professor and a laboratory assistant. Professor William Trelease of the Wisconsin state university, a doctor of science of Harvard, has been called to this chair; and we understand that he will accept this hopeful position. When, in the course of time, the Missouri botanic garden, which Mr. Shaw originated, and has for many years so sedulously nourished and supported, comes with its generous endowment into completer connection with this school of botany, it will be seen that this central city in the valley of the Mississippi, happily placed for the purpose, is to have within its bounds an ample establishment for the promotion of botany and its dependent branches (such as arboriculture and horticulture), in the way of scientific advancement as well as of practical and educational teaching.

We understand that a laboratory and its appliances, sufficient for the present, will be supplied at once at the university in the city. But eventually the principal work of the school will probably be carried on at the garden at Tower Grove, adjacent to the park (a gift of Mr. Shaw to the city), which of itself will nearly serve for an arboretum. Here an adequate botanical library and an herbarium (both essentials) will doubtless be provided: we believe there is already a foundation for them. And so, if Mr. Shaw's long-cherished intentions and bountiful provisions are wisely carried into effect, the city in which Engelmann, alone and unaided, pursued his botan

No. 127.-1885.

ical investigations for a lifetime, may before long rejoice in the possession of much better facilities and larger means for botany than any other part of our country has now, or is likely to have. May the success of the new school of botany be commensurate with such advantages!

SANITATION AND SCIENCE.

PRACTICAL sanitation is devoted to the prevention, avoidance, or destruction of the causes of disease and death, and is founded on our knowledge of these causes. This knowledge is the scientific aspect of hygiene, or what many call sanitary science. It is at present very fragmentary and imperfect. Our powers of prediction as to the effect which certain circumstances will produce on the health of an individual or a community are limited, and in many cases we cannot, with any approach to scientific precision, explain why a given locality is, or is not, unhealthy. The first step towards a scientific investigation of a phenomenon must be the verification of its existence; but in much the larger portion of this country we can obtain little positive information as to the extent to which the inhabitants of a given place are liable to special forms of disease, or even as to the death-rate to which they are subject.

Until within a comparatively recent period, the method which has been almost exclusively employed in the investigation of problems of public hygiene has been that of observation of general and special mortality rates in different communities, and of endeavoring to connect the results of such observations with the circumstances of the environment in order to discover the causal relation between the two. But in such complicated biological problems as these, in which the result observed may depend on the concurrence of many causes or circum

stances, it is usually very difficult, and often impossible, to obtain precise knowledge by mere observation of results, even when such observation can be made accurately. The most rapid and satisfactory progress is made when we can subject the problem to the test of experiment, and, by varying the conditions at our pleasure, can thus determine those which are essential to any particular result which may appear.

This experimental method is now being applied to sanitary questions, and especially to those connected with the prevention or suppression of the infective or spreading diseases, which are those of most interest in public hygiene. We can now study the causes of splenic-fever, erysipelas, infectious pneumonia, tuberculosis, glanders, and probably cholera, in the laboratory as well as in the sick-room; their causes may be cultivated, like plants, and the effects of various foods, temperatures, etc., upon them determined; and the efficacy of means proposed for eradicating them may be tested by direct experiment.

It is true that as yet comparatively few diseases can be thus investigated; because for the majority we have not yet found any animals, other than man, who are susceptible to them, and we cannot use man for inoculation experiments. We cannot say whether we have present in a specimen of water or a piece of clothing the specific cause of typhoid-fever, or of yellow-fever, or of scarlet-fever, except by tests applied to man; and hence we can only surmise with more or less probability as to whether such causes exist in a given well, or ship, or bale of rags. Nevertheless, the progress has been so great during the last five years, that we have every reason to hope that science will before long be able to use her right hand (experiment) to aid her left hand (observation) in unravelling not a few of these tangled skeins.

It is no longer a satisfactory explanation of an outbreak of diphtheria or typhoid to say that the place was filthy: if that were a sufficient cause, there are few towns that would not soon suffer from epidemics of these dis

eases.

The apparent anomalies in the distribution of disease, which are apparent to every one who has investigated the subject, the good health of persons who work in the midst of offensive effluvia and typical filth, the progress of an epidemic along one side of a street while the other side is free from disease, the people who drink dilute sewage with impunity and enjoyment, all these things are illustrations of our own ignorance, and not of variability in natural law, to which all alike must be subject.

For every person who is affected with typhoid, or cholera, or tubercle, there are fifty who, so far as we can see, have been exposed to the same causes, and remain unaffected. It is easy to find instances where children have slept with others affected with scarlet-fever without contracting the disease. We cannot say to a person, "If you let your child visit his playmate sick with scarlet-fever, he will contract the disease: " we can only say that it is very probable that he will do so. In like manner, we cannot say to the inhabitants of a town or village where the wells are within a few yards of leaky privy-vaults, "You will have typhoid or cholera :" the probabilities may be only one out of four or out of ten that this will happen.

Sensible people take some precautions when their cattle are in such danger: they insure their houses and barns against much smaller probabilities of loss, but they have not yet learned that it also pays to insure against disease.

This instruction must be given them, not in the form of spasmodic declamation and vague threats, but as clear, definite information, distinguishing carefully between that which is known, or sanitary science, and that which is only more or less probable; and scientific investigators, whether chemists, geologists, biologists, or physicians, must all aid in the work. Their special knowledge gives them power, and it also imposes on them responsibility, a responsibility which, if neglected, may result in crippling their chosen work and filling their own homes with sorrow.

QUARANTINES AND THEIR SCIENTIFIC VALUE.

THE Outbreak of cholera in Europe during the past summer has naturally awakened a lively interest in precautionary measures to prevent its access to this country. The experience of all epidemics shows that among the chief and first obstructions suggested is that of quarantines. From their early application against the progress of plague in Italy, to their latest use during the past summer to prevent the introduction of cholera in Spain and Italy, this institution has met with indifferent success in preventing the spread of an epidemic; so that to-day the practical question of its efficacy remains still unsettled in the minds of many. Indeed, there is a large and influential number who inveigh against all quarantine measures as useless in a sanitary point of view, and as causing needless obstructions to the free intercourse of persons and commerce. It will be the object of this paper briefly to review the position, and establish, if possible, a reliable stand-point from which the work of sanitarians may be rationally carried on.

To approach the subject properly, we must first disabuse our minds of many European prejudices and ideas. So much of our medical literature comes from these sources, that we insensibly adopt conclusions drawn from these writings, without considering the differences of geographical position, and the facility which this gives us of employing measures which may be impracticable in most of the European countries. While this would eminently be the case, even were the conclusions reached by European governments founded on the recognized natural history of epidemics, another element of distrust is presented when we know that other factors enter into and bias their writings.

Governmental jealousies, geographical positions, impeded commercial relations, the difficulty of demonstrating an intangible element, with the consequent contrariety of opinions, have each and all tended to perpetuate the diversity of measures taken by different governments to obstruct the progress of a scourge. The several international sanitary congresses which have from time to time been held since the outbreak of the first cholera epidemic in 1831, have rarely been harmonious in action, adopting their conclusions mostly by a majority vote, or, if harmonious, the governments they represented have often failed through interested motives to give them cordial force and efficiency. Particularly is this notable with the English. Cholera is endemic upon a large

area of her richest possessions. Her commercial relations with these countries are constant and immense. Any action taken to repress the spread of cholera must contravene more or less these relations, and is met either by evasion, or distinct refusal to adopt such action.

Her medical men insensibly imbibe the same spirit; and we find her medical literature teeming with articles on epidemic influence,' noncontagiousness of cholera,' the non-efficiency of quarantine,'' cholera purely a filth disease,' etc.

While there is much in these writings which should command respect and attention, particularly in all that pertains to local sanitation, we should notice that their principal value lies in restricting and jugulating a scourge once admitted, rather than preventing in the first instance its ingress to the country. The geographical position of the different nationalities of Europe with respect to one another precludes the application of the principles of quarantine as understood in this country. Land quarantines have always proved ineffectual and there is but one spot where quarantine applied to vessels can hope to be effectual against the incursion of cholera; that is the one established within the past few years at the island of Camaran, at the entrance of the Red Sea. In a paper recently published, I have detailed the principles and purposes which actuated the European international sanitary commission in its establishment.1 If the regulations established at this point are faithfully carried out, the danger from cholera, so far as its transportation by Mohammedan pilgrims is concerned, should be effectually prevented.

Before making our estimate of the efficiency of quarantine measures to prevent the incursion of an epidemic, we must consider for a moment the position of this country with reference to the two great scourges which it is desired to contravene. In no part of this country are cholera or yellow-fever endemic: neither can reach our shores except through the intervention of shipping. The time of transit from Europe is longer than the incubative period of cholera; to all northern ports, from Havana, it is nearly equal to the incubative stage of yellow-fever: disease, therefore, contracted before going on the ship, would be developed before arrival at our ports. We shall see, when we speak of the detail of measures for repression, that a vessel, so far from being unfavorable, is really an efficient spot to jugulate cholera. The same rule does not apply to yellow-fever.

1 New-York Medical record, April 18, 1885.

But what, then, is quarantine as understood in this country? Is it mere blind repression, established through the instinct of fear, and calculated to obstruct all intercourse among nations, both personal and commercial? Dealing with intangible agencies, is it equally vague in its principles of repression? The term is an unfortunate one; for it naturally carries us back to the derivation of the word, with all its inconveniences and sufferings of detention, its useless and blind precautions, its superstitions and silly forms as practised for centuries in the south of Europe, and as enforced in Spain and Italy even during the past year. It has no such meaning to-day, but comprises the whole series of measures, hygienic as well as restrictive, employed to contravene the incursion of an epidemic. These are not limited to those taken at the port of arrival of a vessel, but include those which in my judgment are far more important, the inspection of passengers and luggage before embarkation, the systematic inspection of passengers in transit, and, finally, their observation and inspection on arrival at port. The underlying principles upon which its workings are based, are the modes of transmission, and the period of incubation of the disease to be contravened. Intelligent quarantine, while working on these principles, will vary the details according to the locality to be protected, and the particular disease to be excluded. The series of measures necessary to repress cholera would in no way be applicable to the exclusion of yellow-fever, for they are transmitted by wholly different agencies. Cholera, while the most pandemic of all epidemics, is also among the most contagious, or, rather, secondary influences enlarge widely the sphere of the contagious influence; while yellow-fever, limited to certain zones and altitudes, is non-contagious, its transmission depending wholly upon the surroundings of man. Strange as may seem the assertion, a ship should be one of the best places to jugulate cholera; for if due precautions of cleanliness, and disinfection of discharges, are promptly made, we avoid the secondary sources which arise from soil and contaminated water. On the other hand, yellow-fever, appearing on shipboard, can have no ending, so long as there is fresh material upon which to feed, short of seeking a zone where it loses its virulence, or discharging the vessel, and subjecting it to the most minute cleansing and purification.

In an article of this kind, it is unnecessary to recite the details of measures of repression of the two diseases, based on the above principles. I have already done so in the article

era.

'Quarantine,' in Buck's Hygiene,' and the paper referred to, lately published in the Medical record. There are, however, two or three points to which it is well to refer, and the discussion of which may correct popular misapprehensions. I have stated that the time of transit from European countries to our shores is longer than the incubative period of cholIf, therefore, by careful inspection of all soiled clothing at the point of departure, this factor for conveying the disease is eliminated, we have only to watch the development on shipboard of such cases as may have acquired the disease before coming on the vessel. The moment a case is recognized, or even suspected from any diarrhoeal discharge, it should be promptly isolated, attendants quarantined, discharges at once disinfected, all soiled clothing promptly destroyed, attendants' hands washed for the slightest stain, and it would be promptly suppressed. There is here but the primary factor with which we have to deal. The secondary ones, of contaminated water, floating germs, and conditions of the soil, are absent. If efficient measures are taken, a ship should be a favorable place to repress the disease. It would remain, then, for the land quarantine to maintain the vessel under observation for the requisite time to determine that no new cases occur. A series of measures which would suggest themselves promptly to any health-officer should be taken; such as the removal of all from the vessel to a spot of absolute isolation, the thorough cleansing and disinfection of all the cabins, linen, etc.

While yellow-fever may be transmitted by any of the surroundings of an individual, its favorite habitat is in the filth which accumulates in the bilge of a vessel. Nothing short of reaching this filth, and removing it with the most scrupulous care, can insure a protective influence. Disinfectants, fumigations, great heat in its various applications, are but secondary adjuvants, to be employed only after most scrupulous cleanliness has been effected. I believe in the efficiency of quarantine, if the measures recited cursorily above are rigidly carried out. They are measures to which the most minute attention must be given in every detail. The neglect to carry out any single provision will cause failure, and throw discredit upon the system.

It is a subject of interest to consider the influence of steam-navigation upon the dissemination of cholera and yellow-fever. As neither disease travels faster than man himself (for I discard the theory of epidemic influence'),

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