The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-07


During the last year 1920 persons
were treated at the Pasteur Institute
at Paris. Eleven died of hydrophobia,
and seven of these received treatment
too late. OF the 1.413 patients who were
treated in time four died-the percent
age being 2S-100 of / per cent. In 1881,
when the institute began operations,
the percentage was 94-10O; by 1888 1t
had fallen to $500; since that date it
has, with the exception of one year.
been less that 40-l00: and since 1898
il has been less than 30-100 of per
cent.
DIR. Morris. a prominent English
physician. who has used hypnotism to
a considerable extent in his practice,
says in a public statement that II is
"a dangerous resource" which should
only be resorted to in special cases, IL
at all. He found it easy to hypnotic
children and most adults and was
tempted to make use of this power in
treating headaches and other minor
ills. His experience was. however, that
the operation tended to weaken the
will of the patient, leaving him sus-
ceptible to suggestion from any source,
and he came to the conclusion that
there is so much real danger in the
use of the power as TO exclude IL from
rational therapeutics.
--One of the methods of protecting
broad grasslands from fire is to burn a
swath called fire guard" around the
area to be protected. A Montana
stockman suggests that this offers a
good opportunity for inventors to de-
wise a machine which, passing over
the ground like. horse rake, shall
burn the grass clean from a space
about eight or ten feet in width. Al
ready an apparatus of this kind has
been invented, using gasoline to set
the grass on fire and a train of steel
brushes to extinguish it before it has
spread beyond the proper limits, but
the stockman thinks that a cheaper
machine can be made. Fire guards"
fifty miles or more in length are desir-
able.
The greatest danger of nervous
prostration is that so many sufferers
anxious to avoid giving up their vari
Gus pursuits resort to remedies that
produce only an artificial calmness to
the nerves. These are the cases most
difficult to cure. Open-air exercise is
a great preventive of nervous sickness.
Cold baths. the plunge and shower and
needle spray should be the accompani-
ments of the morning ablution of those
disposed to nervousness even slightly.
1t is never wise to adopt harsh or sud-
den methods in this cold-water treat
ment. IL one is accustomed to warm
baths the temperature of the water
should be changed gradually. Above
all exercise-not with bells or pulleys,
but in the open air, with deep breath
ing and plenty of walking and running,
if possible Well-ventilated bedrooms
are a necessity.
Many persons have erroneous no
tons as to the ease with which bac-
terra are destroyed by heat, says an ex-
change. In fact, the thermal death
point for bacterial organisms varies
widely. Some forms of water bacteria
are killed by simple blood heat, while
pathogenic bacteria develop best at
that temperature. During their multi
plying and negotiating phase of life
bacteria are more easily destroyed by
heat than they are after passing to
the resting or spore stage. Some spores
derived from the soil require boiling
for sixteen hours to insure their death.
Moist heat in the form of steam Is the
most effectual disinfectant. No spore,
<
one minutes exposure to steam at the
40 degrees Centigrade. But no degree
of cold has been found sufficient to
destroy bacterial life.
What are probably the largest
bluestone sidewalk slabs in the world
are now being laid in front Of the Pru-
Dental Insurance Building, Newark, N.
j., according to Engineering News:
nr7lV
35 stones will be used. The largest will
be u feet wide and q feet inches in
length. The length of the longest stone
will be 20 feet / inch, and the widest
will be II feet in breadth. AS
there has never before been call for
stones of such large dimensions, it was
necessary to build a IS ton machine
for the purpose of planning down the
huge blocks and putting them into
shape for use as paving stones. This
planer is said to be the largest in ex-
istence, and is capable Of handling a
block rs feet long and IA feet wide.
Seventeen stones have thus far been
received from the quarry, and IA of
these have been dressed for use"
DIR. George H. Denny, of the chair
of Latin in Washington and Lee Uni
versity, who has been elected to the
presidency of that institution, was born
in Hanover County, Va, In 1870, ana
was graduated from Hampden-S Sidney
College in 1891. He received the degree
of Phi. D. from the University of Vir-
gnia in 1897 From 1896 to 1899 he was
professor of Latin and German at
Hampden-Sidney, and in July, 1899, he
was elected to the chair of Latin at
Washington and Lee University. The
board of trustees of this University last
June selected him as acting president,
to hold the guiding reins of a univer-
sity over which some of the best known
men in the country have presided,
among them General Robert Z. Lee.
General G. w. c. Lee and the Hon.
William Lyme Wilson. He is very
popular, is with the students on their
athletic fields, and takes a deep inter.
est in all their undertakings.
The Baudot naultiplex type-printing
telegraph is said to be operating very
successfully on the Berlin-Paris tele-
graph line. The whole telegraph bust
ness between Berlin and Paris, which
heretofore required five telegraph lines.
can now be easily done over one by
means of the Baudot system. The op-
Grafton is said to be uninfluenced by
minor Interruptions of the conduit The
work for the operators is not more
arduous than with the Hughes appar-
atus. Says Consul General Guenther,
of Frankfort. Germany: THE new sue
cesses in quick and multiplex telegra-
nh will create rararIfar cff1a ffop for-