The citizen., 1897-02-19
written for the citizen.)


the direction in which to seek for So
cial improvement. One of the earliest
steps toward placing that science on a
sound basis was the recommendation
of the association, in 1885, which was
followed by the establishment of the
British registry of births and deaths
in lS4S. This was regarded as the
only means of deGucipg general laws
of disease and death. But death and
preventive disease are not our only
dangerous enemies, aud the modern
anthropomelic laboratory has given
the student means of analyzing the
causes of weakness in mental as we'll
as in bodily life. A committee of the
association has reported on the men,
tai and physical condition OF 100000
school children. This shows that
about 10 in every 1000 of the pupils in
the elementary schools are so far de-
fective in bodily or brain condition as
to need special training to enable them
to undertake the duties of life, and to
keep them from paupersm and crime.
Many of the feebe-minded children,
and much disease and vice, are the
outcome of Inherited proclivities.
Such considerations point to the i'm
portance of preventing those suffering
from trausmissble disease, or the Grim
inal, or the lunatic, from adding fresh
sufferers to the teeming misery of the
large towns; aud 10 the necessity of
removing those who are born with
feeble minds, Or under conditions of
mortal danger, from surrounding de-
teriorating influences. These are i'm
portanct problems in human progress.
and as we gradually draw nearer their
solution we may eventually be led TO
understand how in the drama of crea-
tion man has been evolved as the
highest work of the Creator.
Certain substances, such as peptone.
prevent the coagulation of blood if in.
troductd into the circulation before
the animal is bled, but do not if placed
in blood after drawn. An investiga-
ton by Gley and Pachon indicates
that the phenomenon is due to an un-
known substance elaborated by The
liver.
The average number of hogs infect
ed by trichinae has been estimated by
the Department of Agriculture to be
per cent. of all these contained in
the United States. Professor John
Michels states, however, that the To-
cal average Is very much higher, for
Professor Mark, of Harvard College,
mas found the proportion of infected
hogs in the New England States TO he
as high as IA per cent, while Indiana
bears Tad reputation for its trichinae
In the Southern States the hogs are
comparatively free from the parasite.
Casesot trlchinoss in man appears to he
more numerous than is generally sup
posed, but the disease is only likely to
prove fatal when large numbers of
trichinae-say $4,000 or more to the
ounce-are contained in the pork
eaten, and there are thousands of per-
sons, chiefly German, eaters of raw
pork, whose bodies contain trichinae,
yet who do not suspect the fact On
being taken into the stomach the
trlchlnae at once seek the muscles
In the latter they become permanently
encysted and incapable of further
harm, the cases of death being due to
the very painful Inflammation set up
by the great brood of young trichinae
which may number $4,000, 600 in
one lndividual-as they bore through
the walls of the intestiues and rend
apart the fibres of the muscles in
their migration. When the trichinae
fpxu 90 10 nrdi oril
tation of the stomach is probably
caused, and there may be pains in the
muscles which are attributed to rheu-
matism, but with no serious harm. The
hogs sometimes carry immense num-
bers of the worms. In one carcas in
spected the cysts were so abundant in
some portions that the point of a
pin could scarcely be placed between
them, yet the animal had Leen appar-
emily healthy and the pork 10 the
naked eye was unohjectionable. Ouly
thorough cooking will destroy the
tTichinae, and rare or uncooked pork is
dangerous food. Sausages, as ordinarily
eaten, are only partly cooked. 1t is the
custom with many packing houses to
place the bodies of infected hogs, re-
jected for export trade, ON the nome
market, thus adding TO the risk in eat
ing pork.
Not less than 80 species of plants
have been found by Mr.. J. G, Wllis,a
botanist of Cambridge, England, to
to have taken root on willows that
have been polIarded-or cut off an
Dually at considerable height-by
basket-makers. The plants thus made
epiphytes, or air plants, include GA per-
ennial, of which % are shrubs or small
trees. The elder, current, gooseberry
aud hswthorn flourish, and one plant
q species of lettuce-is not now to be
found elsewhere in the vicinity.
Promising fields for inventors and
scientific investigators are indicated by
some of the competitions recently an
nouBced by the Societe d d'Encourage-
ment dour PIndustrie Rationale, of
Paris. A prize of $400 is to be awarded |
in 1897 for an engine to weigh less than |
ITO pounds per horsepower, this |
weight to include the complete engine,
boiler (if any,, steam-piping, tools,
ETC., and the necessary coal, oil, water, |
ETC., for running at least two hours. |
A prize of $500 is offered for an engine
actuated by petroleum oil, heavy oils,
or the reslduum of the distil alton of |
petroleum schists or coal. To encour-
age steam engine economy, prize is
TO lie given next year for an engine
of 25 TO 100 horse power with steam
consumption of not more than 161