Morning journal and courier., 1892-04-15

produce Rn irritable nervous system, and in the long run criminslity or lupAcy. These are fscts, not fsncies and fade. They are facts which science has not only recognized, but verified again snd again. But if they be facts, they should be taken into account by all sorts of persons who have anything to do with criminals; by the parents of children who commit crime; by friends whose trusted companions dis appoint and deceive them; by judges and turies who have control of the liberty and life of criminals.
 It must be admitted that justice is to be done even on behalf of those who commit crimes. Nay, the very act of crime so places man in sntagonism against all the rest of the world that the criminal be- comes st once entitled to a certain amount Of help and defence against odds that would otherwise be altogether too over whelming. The laws of most civiiszed countries recognize this already, and in s mere spirit of fairness assign 10 every un- aided criminal an advocate who can pre- sumably put his case in the best possible light. What the law already does in sn elementary kind of way, science, out of her mere love of truth and justice. strives to get done as completely as possible. And in order to bring about this advance in civilization che gathers facts from every
 
 she considers and weighs them with care full accuracy. and when she has done all these things she presents the facts 10 judges, clergymen, fathers of families, friends, employers of labor. and indeed to all sorts and conditions of men, in order that they may become wiser, fsirer and more helpful persons 10 criminals ss well as to the rest of the world.
 The ProphyIactic Innuence of To.
 bacco.
 From the London Lancet
 Dr. V. Tsssinari, of the Institute of Ex- perimental Hygiene attached to the Uni versity of Rome, has been attempting to demonstrate the prophylactic advantages of tobacco-smoking. He recalls the fact that in the eighteenth century, and even in the seventeenth. & certain number of medical nen-Willis, Dimerbrock and others-sdvised their friends to smoke in times of epidemic At SmAssburg, in 1S42, Ruef called attention to the fact that the workers at the tobacco msnufactory were exempt from almost all the prevail ing epidemics. Pecholier, in the Revue d Hygiene uss3. p. 529 proclaimed the same opinion, and Dr. Walter Cook of Texas was rash enough to recommend, in 1889. the use of tobacco as a preservative against phthisis- An American hensist- Dr. Miller of New York-msde experi- ments in 1884 with the smofe of tobacco on the micro germs of dental carries, and declared that the results were satisfactory and conclusive.
 Dr. Vassili, of Naples, employed in 1888 & small balloon, which he lined internally with layer of gelstine cont tsining cholera bacilh. He found that by drawing thr"ngh this balloon the smoke of from one to four cigsrs-the number of cigars required de- pending on their strength in nicotine-fhe gelatine was completely st@riliy-d- Dr. v. Tsssinsri has now repeated these various experiments, and maintains that the smoke of tobacco either entirely destroys or in any case retards the development of the bacillus of cholera, of anthrax and of pneumonia. Dr. Tassinsr published twenty-one charts indicating the action of tobacco on various known microbes, &C., cordins to the nature of the tobacco and the amount consumed The latter varied from one to six grsmnes, smoked in from ten to thirty minutes The hacilh of Asi- asc cholera and that of Friedlander (pneu- monis) were always completely destroyed, no matter what sort of tobacco was used. The bacillus of anthrax resisted better. and that of typhoid WAS hardly affected by the smoke. As practical result of these experiments Dr. Tassinsri insists on the utility of smoking as & means of prevent ing the decay of teeth He seems to inn sgine that women suffer more from dental carries than men, and attributes this differ ence to the fact that but few women smoke.
 It must be confessed that these experi- ments are not conclusive. There is a great difference between the sterilizing of mi- crobes in nutritive gelstine and in the hu- man being. No one doubts the Antiseptic qualities of nicotine. Sulphurous acid Is also an antiseptic. but it still remains to be proved that London fogs and London smoke save the metropolis from zymotic disease.