The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-03-14
SCIENCE AND HEALTH.

SrAMMERING.-Stammering is the
result of functional disorder
of that part of the brain
which presides over the faculty of
speech, according to an article by DR..
Hammond in the Voice. This is proved,
he saws, by the fact that all stammerers
can at times speak as well as other per-
sons. "There is no defect with the
organs of speech, ne paralysis of the
tongue or lips; but there is q condition
present which, at times, especially when
the subject is excited or interested, or
specially tries to do his best, prevents
the normal systematic articulation of
certain syllables. And this appc ars to
be due to an impossibilitJ of co-ordinat-
ing the muscles by which speech is
effected-of bringing them into harmo-
NOUS and systematic action" DIR. Ham,
mond was q stammerer al 10, but en-
tirely cured himself, mainly by the per-
Torrance of some slight muscular ac-
ton spontaneously with the articulation
of the difficult syllables. "With each
troublesome word" he explains, "es-
pecially with one beginning sentence,
made some slight motion with the
hand or foot, or even with a single
finger, and l found that this plan ena-
bled me to get the word out without
stammering. In this procedure the at
tention is diverted from the effort to
speak to the performance of the muscu-
lar action mentioned, and hence the
speech becomes more automatic than it
is with stammerers generally. And this
is the whole system of cure. 1t consists
in efforts to render the speech auto
matte" He occupied two years in cur
ing himself.
| Is CONSUMPTION CONTAGIOUs?-T The
remarkable instances now and then
seen, in which persons without hered-
itary tendency to phthisis become
phthisical after long continued attend
ance on sufferers from the disease, have
suggested to many physicians the idea
that phthisis is contagious. If there is
such q contagion, the mechanism has
been supposed to be the inhalation with
the breath of fine particles of tubercu-
lous sputa, atomized into the air by the
patients cough. An attempt has been
made by DR.. Tappeincr, of Meran, to
ascertain whether, by a similar means,
animals could be rendered tubercular,
and the result of the experiments, which
are published in the current number oil
NrchoW's ArchiU, are of great interest.
The animals experimental on were
made to breathe for several hours daily
in chamber, in which the fine particles
of phthisis sputum were suspended.
The sputum having been mixed with
water, the mixture was atomized by q
steam atomizer. In all cases the sputa
were from persons with cavities in their
lungs. Dogs alone were employed in
the experiments, nee they very rarely
suffer from spontaneous tuberculosis
The result was that of II animals ex.
perimented on, with one doubtful eX.
ception, after period varying from %
to As days, all being killed, presented
we'll developed military tubercles in botf
lungs, and, in most of the cases, tuber.
cles were present to smaller extent in
the kidneys, and, in some cases, also in
the liver and spleen. Microscopical ex
animation was in accord with the naked.
eye appearances. The quantity of spu.
tum necessary for the effect is certainly
very small one. In three experiment.
only one gramme of sputum was daily
atomized in the air of the chamber, and
the quantity of dry sputum must have
been exceedingly small.-London Lan-
Get.
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SODA
"In what way do cooking soda and wash
ing soda differ?" asks q correspondent
In reply to this question we give very
thorough explanation, much needed
copied from the Agriculturist: "Tht
bicarbonate of soda of the shops is wha
is known as baking or cooking soda
We use this soda with sour milk, mo
lasses or whatever an acid is present (as
there usually is in molasses, even though
it is sweet) for double purpose: in The
first place to neutralize the acid, and
secondly, that the carbonic acid, or gas
set free by this action of the acid on the
soda may permeate the mixture in min
ute bubbles, and there, when expanded
by the heat of cooking, is what make:
the article eight We use washing
} soda for cleansing purposes, and the bi