The Washington times., 1901-09-09
WITH THE SCIENTISTS.

dread and hitherto fatal malady. aneu-
risn of the aorta, or. In other words en-
iargement OF the main artery leadinxsf from
the heart. The evidence was ELECTED by
the coroner for Southwark. Dr. Waldo,
| at an inquest held August &c upon two
! men who had unfortunately died under
tne treatment 1t was averred by Dr.
Stamm that death was brought about by
circumstances which would probably not
occur again In one case out of hundred
thousand. Adopting this view Of the mat
ter. the jury returned verdict of acci-
dental death I'D exonerated DR.. Stamm
fron. all blame What is this novel pro-
cess for relieving the sufrerings of man
kind?' says the London Daily Teie-
graph BY the injection of solution
OF gelatine under the skin the blood Is
made to coagulate. This. in turn. hardens
the blood in the sac the tissue and re-
duces to a minimum the chance of the
aneurism bursting. or course. the gela-
tine is sterilized in order to prevent the
intrusion of any organism which might
set UP blood-poisoning. Sterilization Is q
long and delicate task. the preparation Of
each injection generally occupying three
whole days.
ITO a French physician, DIR. Lancer
eaux. belongs the credit of first describ-
ing the treatment. and he did so before
one OF the medical societies in Paris.
Several cases of aneurism were reported
to have been dealt with, and with the
most favorable results. Experiments by
English, French, and American doctors
followed, as a natural consequence. and
were in every way satisfactory. Three
months ago case of an,1rism came
before DIR. Stamm at Guys Hospital. and
the patient. who had swelling about
half the size of an egg pr1truding near
the chestbone. consented to undergo the
new treatment. By the first injection
the enlargement was considerably re-
duced. and in forty-eight hours the condi-
ton of the patient was vastly improved
Successive injections diminished the
swelling. and at length the man left the
hospital perfectly cured Later on two
other patients, named Craner and Morris,
the one a carman and the other an en-.
Sineers laborer, were admitted at Guys
suffering from the same malady- Tho
case of Morris was particularly serious,
the man having been under treatment on
and off at another hospital for the last
three years. So difficult was his BREATH
ing that DIR. Stamm was forced to admin
lister chloroform to relieve his distress.
Both Craner and Morris voluntarily sub
mitted to the new treatment, and every
thing went smoothly and well until the
injection, which proved fatal to them
and led to the holding of the inquest
Notwithstanding what has happened,
We understand that the authorities at
Guys retain the utmost confidence in the
treatment In some mysterious fashion
tetanus microbe must have got into the
gelatine, and the unfortunate patients
died of lockjaw. Death from this disease
is rare, and IL was altogether unexpected
in the present instance. Having regard
to the care with which the gelatine was
prepared, medical experts declare that the
admission of the microbe and its fatal
nr1h rirara of
fortunes which is not likely to recur.'
In a paper read before the international
Railway Congress at Paris in 1890. which
has just been published, ]. Holden gave
the details of the use of liquid fuel in
locomotives. 1t was in part as follows:
Extensive trials carried out on the Great
Eastern Railway resulted in the equip
ment of fifey-eight locomotives with ap-
paratus for burning oil fuel, and the con-
struetion of storage plan. consisting Of
underground tanks hL,ding 80 900 gallons
of oil, which they receiv by gravity from
travelling tanks brought rS rail- Six cyl
indrical tanks holding 42,000 gallons,
twenty feet above rail level, receive oil
by means of a rotary pump and steam
engine, and distribute it to locomotives
by means of filling posts or arms like
water cranes. main line express engine
can take III coo gallons in from four to
five minutes Air pressure from the brake
pump of the locomotive is also used at
country depots to effect delivery of the
liquid fuel. improvements were also eff
fected in the burners used to spray the
liquid, in the number and disposition of
burners used. the regulation of air and
steam, and other points. A single Great
Eastern express locomotive has run 12S
minutes. on consumption of 100 gallons
OF tar residues tsp gr- I'D, equivalent to
IA pounds Of oil fuel per train-mile. with
six hundredweight of coal used to light
the fire and raise steam-five pounds per
mile. a total of 1874 pounds per mile.
The same system has been adopted in
France, and the Far East. The
saving in carriage is great inducement
to the adoption of liquid fuel. one ton of
it being equal in effect to two tons of coal.
The Belgian Royal Meteorological OBJ
servatory has published the estimates
made by various mathematicians and
physicists regarding the depth of the at
mosphere surrounding the earth. The cal
culations of the various savants upon this
subject are widely divergent Blot esti-
mated that the depth was only about 40
miles; Bravais. 20 miles; Mann, 81 miles;
Callandrau, 100 miles; Schiaparelli. 125
miles; Marie Davy. 1S7. while Ritter stated
that it reached to a height of 216 miles.
In Great Britain during the early nart os
the last century the depth of the atmos-
phere was generally accepted as being II
miles. but the fact that meteors became
incandescent at a much greater altitude
incontrovertibly proved that this calcula-
ton was fallacious. Sir Robert Ball
states that meteors have been observed at
an altitude of more than 900 miles. and
since they only become incaIdescent when
they come into contact with the air the
calculation of Ritter appears to be the
most correct
The department of mechanical engineer
ng of Lehigh University received from
Warren A Wilbur, of South Bethlehem.
Pa, a gift of $500 last Christmas for
he equipment of an engineering labora-
.ory. This led to great activity and in
crest among the graduates of this de-
,artment, and brought to the university
,ver $4,000 worth of apparatus-bOilers,
and machinery suitable for the
Experimental laboratory in view. The
;pace assigned for lodging the aforesaid
equipment quickly became Inadequate,
ind new building for the steam engine
portion was authorized by the board of
rustees Half the necessary cash for
his la laboratory was subscribed by James
iayley, of Pittsburg; Robert H. Sayre.
VI South Bethlehem; w. L. COnyngham,
# Wilkcsbarre, and Percival Roberts, jr.,
# Philadelphia, and the balance by pub
ic-spirited citizens Of Northampton
county. Pa. either in the form of cash or
# materials of construction. The labora-
ory will be 90X44, of Potsdam sandstone
o match the other buildings of the cam
'us. The work is already in progress.
nder the direction of the architects,
acoby. Weishampel & Biggin of Allen
own and will be finished in time for some
all.