The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-16

Prepared For the Sunday Journal by
An Old Practitioner.

| eagerness for alcohol, have learned suff1-
| cient crude chemistry TO extract shellac
| from the alcohol in which 1T is cut, even
| thought it be mixed with Venetian red.
| Alcohol, even wood alcohol, kept on board
ship for mixing paints and varnishes. leads
to drunkenness, as the sailors viii find some
method of utilizing it drink. For this
reason Captain Sigsbee recommended that
an order be issued requiring all alcohol
used in the construction department TO
be mixed with given proportion OF tar
tar emetic and labeled in accordance with
the contents. The Navy Department
however. did not approve the suggestion.
The idea is not a new one. During the
SOS government expedition, exploring
in the West, was troubled by the. lnoian
guides who appropriated the alcohol used
for preserving natural history specimens
AS a result the specimens were o1ten
spoiled, the Indians draining off the alco-
hol from the containers. The presence of
snakes in cans made no difference. To
remedy this a little tartar emetc was
put into the alcohol, and this nauseated
the Indians when the snakes did not IL
has also been a common occurrence, IN
shops where quantities of shellac are used,
for workmen to drink the spirit used Tor
cutting shellac. In some cases the I'M
initiated have thought that the workmen
were drinking shellac and have taken a
drink of that mixture with disastrous con-
sequences to themselves, since the gum Is
thrown down in the system and lines the
stomach and bowels with a gummy coating
which leads to serious sickness and even
induces death. The sailors, 1T seems, have
learned how to get the alcohol out of the
shellac but even then it is not a whole
some drink, and it seems reasonable sug-
gestion that tartar emetic should be added
to alcohol used for manufacturing pur-
poses, since it in no way Injuries its quail
tiles and would not injure the sailors or
others who might drink it, other than to
nauseate them and perhaps make them
sick of 'booze" altogether.
DR.. r. Percy Smith. an English physician,
In an article upon the prevention of in
sanity, based upon a study of statistics in
England and Wales, states that inheritance
is the greatest cause of the continued in
crease of insanity. He believes that medi-
cal men should give advice to prevent the
union of bad stock Concealment of insan-
ity in the family and in the individual may
be due to ignorance or carelessness, but in
large families where the means is limited
and the number of manageable daughters
great, insanity may be concealed that 1t
may not ruin their chances" while in
cases where large amount of property is
involved insanity may be concealed to avoid
financial complications. Persons who have
once suffered from an attack Of insanity
should not be allowed to marry, and this
is especially true of women, in spite of the
popular idea that such a woman will be all
right when married, the fact being that
such a woman, after bearing a child, is
more liable to insanity than before. Chronic
epilepsy and imbecility should also be
bar to marriage. The prevention of in
sanity depends greatly upon the reduction
of propagation by those mentally unsound
by insane inheritance. Inebrety, the second
greatest cause of insanity, affects not only
the individual, but extends its baneful in
fuence even to the third and fourth gen.
Grafton In itself a manifestation of a
mentally unbalanced and uncontrolled char
acter it can only be checked by legislation.
Weygandt, a German physician. reports
an interesting case describing his own sem
sations in gas-poisoning. Intending to take
a hot bath in a small room he heated the
room and the water by gas stove. As
soon as he had entered the room he became
dizzy, felt a throbbing fullness in the
temples had ringing in the ears and a feel
ing of anxiety, and became very uneasy
and irritable. He recollected going into his
sleeping room and then he became uncon-
scious. Soon after he awoke and found
himself stretched upon the floor, suffering
with severe headache and vertigo, but,
nevertheless, Indifferent as to what hap
rened to him. AT this period he imagined
that he had had an epileptic fit and thought
OF number of personal peculiarities that
assured him in his opinion. He then arose
and went into another room and again be-
came unconscious. Upon awakening again
he found that he had vomited, suffered
from a roaring in his head, and was ex-
tremely weak. This time he imagined that
he had been poisoned by preserves. but
directed those who came to his assistance
to give him stimulants and wrote note
to medical friend describing the occur
renee. His experience would show that
death by illuminating gas is far from the
cribed to it. as there was a painful period
of mental and bodily disturbance before I'M
consciousness came on.
The mosquito may have much to do with
malaria and its causation, but Grawitz,
who has studied the history of many cases
in the Prussan army, believes that this is
not the whole solution of the question. In
that army the disease is marked from the
month Of March until the month of June,
when 1t reaches its maximum. At this time
mosquitoes are rare, and, as a regulation
of the water supply has led to a marked
reduction in the severity and number of
cases. he believes that drinking water has
much to do with the causation of malaria.
1t is probable that night air also has much
to do with the causation, the miasm
cannot rise upward through heavy. dew
moistened air. 1t is for this reason that
soldiers are greatly afflicted with chills and
fever on account of sleeping upon the
ground. On the other hand, jewellers in
malarial regions have an idea that the
laria-bearing miasm cannot rise over eight
feet above the ground. and believe that
they escape the dangers of night air by