New-York tribune., 1897-08-06
MEDICAL AND SANITARY NOTES.

MEDICAL AND SANITARY NOTES.
STREET ICE CREAM EXAMINED.-An inves.
tgation into the nature and quality OF the creams
vended on the streets Of London has been made by
the British Institute of Preventive Medicine with
some strange results. The report shows that such
ice cream has only 2G.5 per cent of solids the rest
being water, and that the solids consists OF fats.
per cent: Of sugar. II cent; starch. per cents
albuminods, per cent. and mineral matter one.
half OF per cent. The microscope shows the pres
ence Of various insects legs straw. hair. coal dust
woollen and linen fibre. tobacco. muscular tissue;
still worse. a meteorological study reveals in the
street barrow cream maSimum number OF seven
million microbes per cubic centime;re. while the
shops have only ono million thus reckoned The
character OF the micro-organisms is extremely
mixed. including the bacteria coll communis. be-
sides spirlae and putrefacti~ microbes Of various
kinds
INDICATIONS OF LONG OR SHORT LIFE
In remarkng upon this subject before the Academy
OF Science, the position was taken by F. W.
Warner. adept in the study of bomery. that
every person carries about with him the physical
indications of his longevity long-ived person
may be distinguished from a short-lived person.
says Warner. at sight and in many instances
a physician may look at the hand OF patient and
tell whether he will live or die. According to his
theory. the primary conditions OF longevity arc
that the heart. lungs and digestive organs. we'll
the brain. should be large. and these being so.
the trunk will be long and the limbs comparatively
short the person also appearing tall IN sitting
and short in standing Further. the hand will have
a long and somewhat heayy palm and short
fingers; the brain wi; be deeply seated. as shown
by the orifce OF the being low; the bue-hazel
or brown-haze eye as showing an ntermission OF
temporal ment. is Il favorable indication; the nos
lungs. while a pinched or haif-c'oscd nostril in
dicates small or weak lungs The foregoing are
those Of short-lived tendencies though. OF course
subject 10 the usual individual exceptions. as In all
general rules or theories.
SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF TETANUS.-
Professors Won Behrng and knorr's method OF
treating tetanus, as brought forward by them at
Marburg. Germany. has been thought Of such value
that II is now prepared under Government super
vision, a commercial product. by the Farbewerke
at Hoechst-on- Main. This has hitherto usually
been considered a fatal disease caused by blood
poisoning generally the result of wound. II is
believed by physicians to proceed from the intro
duction into the system OF minute ~ ~orgamism
which rises fr r)m the ground IN certain locanues.
so that the prevalence OF tetanus varies greatly,
even in different districts OF the country; at
crobe which has been recogr lied. isolated.
described and reproduced hy artificial culture; The
distinctive symptom of the disease Is persistent h
spasm of the voluntary muscles aggravated "
light. noise or other disturhng ihhpehee 10 WHICH
the patient may bc subjected
ARTIFICIAL NTRSTNG.-The value OF child life
has come to be more appreciated in France, 1t
would SEEM Judging by the favor with which tho
"couveuse" originated by DR.. Alexandra Lion has
has been received, and under the designation or
"Oeuvre Maternelle des CouYeuses d'Enflnts' Bou-
levord Poissonare there has for some time been IN
operation in Paris institution for the conserva-
ton of those preTaturely born and apparently
helpless. by means Of sufficient warmth AS II now
well understood by the public. the couveuse s
t.-g-n 10 fl,al1
woven wire mattress suspended In glass case. tho
latter being heated by water con ana kspl sWee.
and wholesoms by constant inflow Et pNns. purisa
departure in infant life preservation Is declared 10
De born ea c chd Il Exempt from hereditary
disease maintains its life In the Lion instn,u.on
pounds: that is about one-tard Of the normal
standard and provided also. that It's lnstalaton
sihc doiay ard cxpos.Ire for at this stage Of the
Infants fran existence chill Is a'most certainly
fatal.
BACTERIAL WATER PURIFICATIoN.-In re-
gard to Kochs well-known declaration that a So
called good" water should not contain more than
one hundred microbes per cubic centmeter, Dr.
Percy Frankand points out that as this statemens
was made in the infant days of meteorological In
vestiaat,on no serious meaning can be attached TO
IL now He refers to the fact that many years ago
he showed how. on keeping a Sample OF the very
unrest drinking water obtaInable tho original MI
Ohss
sands and yet one would venture 10 condemn
said water. In some experiments made recently
with typhoid germs some OF these microbes were
introduced into deep We'll water which was almost
free from bacteria, also into Thames water whicn
contained n large number, and into Lock katrine
water where the number was intermediate De.
tween these two the outcome was that the typho'd
baci died off more rapidly in the Thames water: he
IL appeared. than in that from Ioch katrine, Wnne
they persisted longest in the sparseiy popuiated
deep well water.
DANGER FROM FLESH OF POISONED AMI
! MAIS-The degree OF danger that may exist In
eating the flesh OF poisoned animals has been In
| vestgated by Levin whose experiments have been
| described 10 the Medical Society OF Berlin. Thus.
,he flesh OF a fowl that had been killed by three
| Grains OF strychnine was fed to dog. which be-
| came III on eating half pound, was then seized
| with tetanic convulsions and died after consum-
ing n second portion. Some animals are not readily
| affected by certain poisons-for example fowls
nroved very tolerant of strychnine. goats OF hem
! lock- partrdges OF arsenic rabbits OF nicotine In
| the animals that have swallowed poison did not
seem have suffered inconvenience. the hesn may
| be unsafe food for man.
| HEAT APOPLEXY.-"The British Medical Jour.
| nal' reports with reference TO the Australian
| colonies that during the month OF January, when
three hundred persons died OF sunstroke. request
| WAS made OF the Medical Board 10 issue some In
strucons for the avoidance OF this grave disease.
The Board is stated to have declared that. OF all
| nredisposing cases undue Indulgence In in,oxi-
| eating liquor Is the most common and the most
dangerous: further. that during the attack It IL
dangerous TO employ in,oxlcanta as remedy. To
| this 1.-The Journal adds that In many cases SUM-
stroke has practically been alcohol stroke. and In
other ases an injudcious resor, alcohol thera-
| peuticaly has endangered the sufferers life All
| usual precautions being observed me strictly ao-
| stinent are least liable to heat apoplexy
|
L