Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883
by
Various
Part 2 out of 2
into moulds made of iron and brass. After drying for a few days in a
closed place, it is heated in a furnace where it is protected from the
direct flames and burned, feebly at first, then strongly, the fire being
gradually raised to white heat which is maintained for 6 or 8 hours. The
fire is then permitted to slowly go down, and when perfectly cold the
carbon is taken out of the furnace.
* * * * *
RECENT STUDIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ALKALOIDS.
By SAMUEL P. SADTLER, Ph.D.
[Footnote: Introductory lecture, Course of 1883-84, Philadelphia College
of Pharmacy.]
The sciences of to-day present, as might be expected, a very different
aspect from the same branches of knowledge as they appeared fifty or
sixty years ago. It is not merely that the mass of observations in most
of these lines of study has enormously increased during this interval.
Were that all, the change could hardly be considered as an unmixed
benefit, because of the increased difficulty of assimilation of this
additional matter. Many would be the contradictions in the observations
and hopeless would be the task of bringing order out of such a chaos.
The advance in the several branches of knowledge has been largely one
resulting from improved methods of study, rather than one following
simply from diligence in the application of the old ways.
Let us turn to chemistry for our illustration of this. The chemistry of
the last century and the early decades of this was largely a descriptive
science, such as the natural history branches, zoology, and botany are
still in great part. Reasonably exact mineral analyses were made, it is
true, but the laws of chemical combination and the fundamental
conceptions of atoms and molecules had not been as yet generally
established. Now, this want of comprehensive views of chemical
reactions, their why and wherefore, was bad enough as it affected the
study of inorganic and metallic compounds, but what must have been the
conditions for studying the complex compounds of carbon, so widely
spread in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Their number is so enormous
that, in the absence of any established relationships, not much more
than a mere enumeration was possible for the student of this branch of
chemistry. It is only within the last twenty years that chemists have
attained to any comprehensive views at all in the domain of organic
chemistry. It has been found possible to gradually range most carbon
compounds under two categories, either as marsh-gas or as benzol
derivatives, as fatty compounds or as aromatic compounds. To do this,
methods of analysis very different from those used in mineral chemistry
had to be applied. The mere finding out of percentage composition tells
us little or nothing about an organic compound. What the elements are
that compose the compound is not to be found out. That can be told
beforehand with almost absolute certainty. What is wanted is to know how
the atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are linked together,
for, strange to say, these differences of groupings, which may be found
to exist between these three or four elements, endow the compounds with
radically different properties and serve us as a basis of
classification.
The development of this part of chemistry, therefore, required very
different methods of research. Instead of at once destroying a compound
in order to learn of what elements it was composed, we submit it to a
course of treatment with reagents, which take it apart very gradually,
or modify it in the production of some related substance. In this way,
we are enabled to establish its relations with well defined classes and
to put it in its proper place. Of equal importance with the analytical
method of study, however, is the synthetical. This method of research,
as applied to organic compounds, embodies in it the highest triumphs of
modern chemistry. It has been most fruitful of results, both theoretical
and practical. Within recent years, hundreds of the products of
vegetable and animal life have been built up from simpler compounds.
Thousands of valuable dye-colors and other compounds used in the arts
attest its practical value. It may, therefore, seem anomalous when I say
that one of the most important of all the classes of organic compounds
has not shared in this advance. The alkaloids, that most important class
from a medical and pharmaceutical point of view, have until quite
recently been defined in the books simply as "vegetable bases,
containing nitrogen." Whether they were marsh-gas or benzol derivatives
was not made out; how the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen, were grouped together in them was absolutely a thing unknown.
Chemists all admitted two things--first, that their constitution was
very complex, and, second, that the synthesis of any of the more
important medicinal alkaloids would be an eminently desirable thing to
effect from every point of view. Within the last five years, however,
quite considerable progress has been made in arriving at a clearer
understanding of these most important compounds, and I shall offer to
your attention this evening a brief statement of what has been done and
what seems likely to be accomplished in the near future.
It was early recognized that the alkaloids were complex amines or
ammonia derivatives. The more or less strongly marked basic character of
these bodies, the presence of nitrogen as an essential element, and,
above all, the analogy shown to ammonia in the way these bases united
with acids to form salts, not by replacement of the hydrogen of the
acid, but by direct addition of acid and base, pointed unmistakably to
this constitution. But with this granted, the simplest alkaloid
formulas, those of conine, C_{8}H_{17}N, and nicotine,
C_{10}H_{14}N_{2}, still showed that the amine molecule contained quite
complex groups of carbon and hydrogen atoms, and the great majority of
the alkaloids--the non-volatile ones--contained groups in which the
three elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, all entered. Hence the
difficulty in acquiring a knowledge of the molecular structure of those
alkaloids at all comparable with that attained in the case of other
organic compounds. Of course synthesis could not be applied until
analysis had revealed something of the molecular grouping of these
compounds, so the action of different classes of reagents was tried upon
the alkaloids. Before summarizing the results of this study of the
decomposition and alteration products of the alkaloids, a brief
reference to a related class of organic compounds will be of assistance
to those unfamiliar with recent researches in this field.
It is well known that in coal-tar is found a series of ammonia-like
bases, aniline or amido-benzol, toluidine or amido-toluol, and xylidine
or amido-xylol, which are utilized practically in the manufacture of the
so-called aniline dye-colors. It is perhaps not so well known that there
are other series of bases found there too. The first of these is the
pyridine series, including _pyridine_, C_{5}H_{5}N, _picoline_
(methyl-pyridine), C_{5}H_{4}N(CH_{3}), _lutidine_ (dimethyl-pyridine),
C_{5}H_{5}N(CH_{3})_{2}, and _collidine_ (trimethyl-pyridine),
C_{5}H_{2}N(CH_{3})_{3}. This series is also found in relatively larger
proportion in what is known as Dippel's oil, the product of the dry
distillation of bones.
The second series is the quinoline series, including _quinoline_,
C_{9}H_{7}N, _lepidine_ (methyl-quinoline), C_{10}H_{9}N, and
_cryptidine_ (dimethyl-quinoline), C_{11}H_{11}N. The two compounds
which give name to these series, pyridine, C_{5}H_{5}N, and quinoline,
C_{9}H_{7}N, respectively, bear to each other a relation analogous to
that existing between benzol, C_{6}H_{6}, and naphthalene, C_{10}H_{8};
and the theory generally accepted by those chemists who have been
occupying themselves with these bases and their derivatives is that
pyridine is simply benzol, in which an atom of nitrogen replaces the
triad group, CH, and quinoline, the naphthalene molecule with a similar
change. Indeed, Ladenberg has recently succeeded in obtaining benzol as
an alteration product from pyridine, in certain reactions. Moreover,
from methyl-pyridine, C_{5}H_{4}N(CH_{3}), would be derived an acid know
as pyridine-carboxylic acid, C_{5}H_{4}N(COOH), just as benzoic acid,
C_{6}H_{5}COOH, is derived from methyl-benzol, C_{6}H_{5}CH_{3}, and
from dimethyl-pyridine, C_{5}H_{3}N(CH_{3})_{2}, an acid known as
pyridine-dicarboxylic acid, C_{5}H_{3}N(COOH)_{2}, just as phthalic
acid, C_{6}H_{4}(COOH)_{2}, is derived from dimethyl-benzol,
C_{6}H_{4}(CH_{3})_{2}. The same thing applies to quinoline as compared
to naphthalene.
We may now look at the question of the decomposing effect of reagents
upon the alkaloids. The means which have proved most efficacious in
decomposing these bases are the action of oxidizing and reducing agents,
of bromine, of organic iodides, of concentrated acids and alkalies, and
of heat.
Taking up the volatile alkaloids, we find with regard to _conine_,
first, that the action of methyl iodide shows it to be a secondary
amine, that is, it restrains only one replaceable hydrogen atom of the
original ammonia molecule. Its formula is therefore C_{8}H_{16}NH. From
conine can be prepared methyl-conine, which also occurs in nature, and
dimethyl-conine. From this latter has been gotten a hydrocarbon,
C_{8}H_{14}, conylene, homologous with acetylene, C_{2}H_{2}. Conine, on
oxidation, yields chiefly butyric acid, but among the products of
oxidation has been found the pyridine carboxylic acid before referred
to. The formula of conine, C_{8}H_{17}N, shows it to be homologous with
piperidine, C_{5}H_{11}N, a derivative of piperine, the alkaloid of
pepper, to be spoken of later; and, just as piperidine is derived from
pyridine by the action of reducing agents, so conine is probably derived
from a propyl-pyridine. The artificial alkaloid paraconine, isomeric
with the natural conine, will be referred to later.
_Nicotine_, C_{10}H_{14}N_{2}, the next simplest in formula of the
alkaloids, is a tertiary base, that is, contains no replaceable hydrogen
atoms in its molecule. It shows very close relations to pyridine. When
nicotine vapor is passed through a red-hot tube, it yields essentially
collidine, and, with this, some pyridine, picoline, lutidine, and gases
such as hydrogen, marsh-gas, and ethylene. Heated with bromine water to
120 deg.C. it decomposes into bromoform, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and
pyridine. When its alcoholic solution is treated with ferricyanide of
potassium it is oxidized to dipyridine, C_{10}H_{10}N_{2}. Potassium
permanganate, chromic or nitric acid oxidises it to nicotinic acid,
C_{6}H_{5}NO_{2}, which is simply pyridine-carboxylic acid,
C_{5}H_{4}N(COOH), and which, distilled over quick-lime, yields
pyridine, C_{5}H_{5}N.
Turning now to the non-volatile and oxygenized bases, we take up first
the opium alkaloids. _Morphine_, C_{17}H_{19}NO_{3}, is a tertiary
amine, and appears to contain a hydroxyl group like phenols, to which
class of bodies it has some analogies, as is shown in its reaction with
ferric chloride. Its meythl ester, which can be formed from it, is
_codeine_, one of the accompanying alkaloids of opium. Besides the
methyl derivative, however, others are possible, and several have been
recently prepared, giving rise to a class of artificial alkaloids known
as _codeines_. Morphine, rapidly distilled over zinc dust, yields
phenanthren, trimethyl-amine, pyrrol, pyridine, quinoline, and other
bases. The action of strong hydrocholoric acid upon morphine changes it
into apomorphine, C_{17}H_{17}NO_{2}, by the withdrawal of a molecule of
water. Ferricyanide of potassium and caustic soda solution change
morphine into oxidimorphine, C_{34}H_{36}N_{2}O_{6}. When heated with
strong potassium hydrate, it yields methylamine.
_Narcotine_, another of the opium alkaloids, when heated with manganese
dioxide and sulphuric acid, is oxidized and splits apart into opianic
acid, C_{10}H_{10}O_{5}, and cotarnine, C_{12}H_{13}NO_{3}. This latter,
by careful oxidation, yields apophyllenic acid, C_{8}H_{7}NO_{4}, and
this, on heating with hydrochloric acid to 240 deg. C., yields
pyridine-dicarboxylic acid, C_{5}H_{9}N(COOH)_{2}. The base cotarnine
also results from the prolonged heating of narcotine with water alone.
In this case, instead of opianic acid, its reduction product meconine,
C_{10}H_{10}O_{4}, is produced.
_Meconic acid_, C_{7}H_{4}O_{7}, which is found in opium in combination
with the different bases, has also been investigated. By acting upon
meconic acid with ammonia, comenamic acid is formed, and this latter,
when heated with zinc dust, yields pyridine.
If we go now to the cinchona alkaloids, we meet with exceedingly
interesting results. _Quinine_, C_{20}H_{24}N_{2}O_{2}, when carefully
oxidized with chromic acid or potassium permanganate, yields a series of
products. First is formed quitenine, C_{19}H_{22}N_{2}O_{4}, a weak
base, then quininic acid, C_{11}H_{9}NO_{3}, then the so-called
oxycinchomeronic acid, C_{8}H_{5}N0_{6}, and finally cinchomeronic acid,
C_{7}H_{6}NO_{4}. Now the two acids last mentioned are simple
substitution products of pyridine, oxycinchomeronic acid being a
pyridine-dicarboxylic acid, C_{5}H_{2}N(COOH)_{3}, and cinchomeronic
acid, a pyridine-dicarboxylic acid, C_{5}H_{3}N(COOH)_{2}. When
distilled with potassium hydrate, quinine yields quinoline and its
homologues. The alkaloid has been shown to be a tertiary base.
_Quinidine_ yields with chromic acid the same decomposition products as
quinine.
_Cinchonine_, C_{19}H_{22}N_{2}O, the second most important alkaloid of
these barks, when oxidized with potassium permanganate, yields cinchonic
acid, which is a quinoline-carboxylic acid, C_{9}H_{6}N(COOH),
cinchomeronic acid, which has just been stated to be a pyridine
dicarboxylic acid, and a pyridine tricarboxylic acid. When cinchonine is
treated with potassium hydrate, it is decomposed into quinoline and a
solid body, which on further treatment yields a liquid base,
C_{7}H_{9}N, which is probably lutidine. It has been found, moreover,
that both tetrahydroquinoline and dihydroquinoline, hydrogen addition
products of quinoline, are present. When cinchonine is distilled with
solid potassium hydrate, it yields pyrrol and bases of both the pyridine
and quinoline series.
_Cinchonidine_, when heated with potassium hydrate, yields quinoline
also, and with nitric acid the same products as cinchonine.
_Strychnine_ has been found to be a tertiary amine. When distilled with
potassium hydrate, quinoline is formed.
_Brucine_ is a tertiary diamine, that is, formed by substitution in a
double ammonia molecule. When distilled with potassium hydrate it yields
quinoline, lutidine, and two isomeric collidines.
The alkaloid _atropine_ has been quite thoroughly studied with results
of great interest. When heated with baryta-water or hydrochloric acid,
it takes up a molecule of water and is split into tropine,
C_{8}H_{15}NO, and tropic acid, C_{9}H_{10}O_{3}. This latter is
phenyl-oxypropionic acid. Tropine, when heated to 180 deg.C. with
concentrated hydrochloric acid, splits off a molecule of water, and
yields tropidine, C_{8}H_{13}N, a liquid base, with an odor resembling
conine. When this tropidine is heated with an excess of bromine, it
yields dibrompyridine.
_Piperine_, the alkaloid of pepper, has also been well studied. When
boiled with alcoholic potash solution, it takes up a molecule of water
and splits apart into piperic acid, C_{12}H_{10}O_{4}, and piperidine,
C_{5}H_{11}N. This latter base has been shown to be a hydrogen addition
product of pyridine, C_{5}H_{5}N. When heated with concentrated
sulphuric acid, it is oxidized to pyridine. Piperidine hydrochlorate,
also, when heated with excess of bromine to 180 deg. C., yields
dibrompyridine.
_Sinapine_, the alkaloid which exists as sulphocyanate in white mustard
seed, yields, under the same reaction as that applied to atropine and
piperine, quite different results. When boiled with baryta water,
sinapine decomposes into sinapic acid, C_{11}H_{12}O_{5}, and choline,
C_{5}H_{15}NO_{2}, the latter a well-known constituent of the bile, and
produced also in the decomposition of the lecithin of the brain and yolk
of egg.
_Cocaine_, the alkaloid of coca leaves, is decomposed by heating with
hydrochloric acid into methyl alcohol, benzoic acid, and a crystalline
base, ecgonine, C_{9}H_{15}NO_{3}.
_Caffeine_ and _theobromine_ have also quite different relations.
Caffeine, it will be remembered, is the methyl ester of theobromine, and
can be prepared from it. When caffeine is carefully oxidized with
chlorine, it yields dimethyl-alloxan and methyl-urea. Both theobromine
and caffeine are decomposed by heating to 240 deg. C. in sealed tubes with
hydrochloric acid, identical products being obtained. These products are
carbon dioxide, formic acid, ammonia, methyl-amine, and sarcosine, the
last three being of course in combination with the excess of
hydrochloric acid. The artificial preparation of theobromine and
caffeine from xanthine, and guanine also show clearly their relations.
If, having completed our survey of what has been done in the way of
decomposing the alkaloids by the different classes of reagents, we
review the field, it will be seen that with all the alkaloids mentioned,
except the last four, a more or less immediate connection with the
pyridine and quinoline bases has been indicated. The conviction
accordingly forces itself upon us that, if we want to attack the problem
of building up any of these important alkaloids artificially, we must
turn to these bases as our starting point.
As already stated, both series occur in coal-tar and the pyridine series
also more abundantly in bone-oil. Pyridine, picoline, lutidine, and
collidine, the first four members of the pyridine series, have,
moreover, all been formed synthetically, although the processes are not
such as would yield the products as cheaply as they can be gotten from
Dippel's oil. Quinoline, the first member of the higher series, had been
made synthetically by several chemists, but by expensive and involved
methods, when Skraup, in 1881, effected its synthesis from nitrobenzol
and glycerin, or still better, a mixture of nitrobenzol and aniline with
glycerin. This process allows of its being made on a commercial scale if
desirable. Shortly after, by an application of the same principle,
Dobner and Miller effected the synthesis of lepidine, the second member
of the quinoline series.
At the same time that this general agreement to consider these bases as
the starting point in the endeavor to effect the synthesis of the
natural alkaloids had been arrived at by chemists, it was thought well
to look into the question whether these bases and their immediate
derivatives had any therapeutic value of their own.
Piperidine, the decomposition product of piperine, which we have shown
may be considered to be hexahydropyridine, was examined by Dr.
Kronecker, of Berlin, at the request of Prof. Hofmann, and was found to
have an action upon animals in many respects resembling that of conine.
Prof. Filehne, of Erlangen, who has studied a large number of these
pyridine and quinoline derivatives, found, moreover, that the
hydrochlorate of ethyl-piperidine had a physiological action quite
analogous to that of conine.
The physiological action of quinoline itself has been studied quite
extensively by Donath and others, and it was found that several of its
salts were quite valuable febrifuges, acting very like quinine, and
capable in cases of being used as a substitute for it. In general, the
hydrogen addition products were found to be more active than the simple
base, an observation entirely in accord with the theory formed by
Wischnegradsky, and by Konigs, as the result of the study of the
decomposition products of the alkaloids, viz., the alkaloids are in
general hydrogen addition products of pyridine and quinoline, or of the
two bases combined. Thus Prof. Filehne found that hydrochlorate of
tetrahydroquinoline was much more energetic in its action than
quinoline, but could not be used on account of a too powerful local
effect. The hydrochlorate of dimethyl-tetrahydroquinoline, which was
distinguished by its strong bitter taste, much resembling that of
quinine, had an effect like that of curare poison. The most decided
febrifuge action, however was found by Prof. Filehne to reside in the
hydrochlorate of oxyhydro-methyl-quinoline, introduced to public notice
by Prof. O. Fischer under the name of "Kairin," and in the acid sulphate
of tetrahydro-methylquinoline, introduced under the name of "Kairolin."
These compounds had a very surprising febrifuge action, without any
unpleasant after effects or local disturbances.
The most active workers in the field of synthetic formation of the
alkaloids have been Wischnegradsky, of St. Petersburg--who,
unfortunately for science, died at an untimely age in 1880--Koenigs and
Fischer, of Munich, and Ladenburg, of Kiel. The study of the
decomposition products of the cinchona alkaloids especially points quite
distinctly to the probable existence in quinine of a hydrogen addition
product of pyridine, in combination with a methyl-quinoline group. The
many experiments that are now being made to test this and other
questions that suggest themselves, will not long leave us in the dark.
Whether a practical commercial synthesis of quinine will follow is
another matter, but it is within the bounds of possibility, or perhaps
even of probability.
It must not be supposed that no syntheses of alkaloids have been
effected as yet. By heating butyl-aldehyde with alcoholic ammonia is
formed _paraconine_, an alkaloid isomeric with the natural conine, but
differing in physiological action. By the action of sodium upon pyridine
is produced a compound C_{10}H_{8}N_{2}, known as dipyridyl, and this,
under the influence of nascent hydrogen, takes up six atoms and becomes
_isonicotine_ C_{10}H_{14}N_{2}, a physiologically active alkaloid,
isomeric with the true nicotine. The formation of a series of alkaloids
under the name of _codeines_, by the substitution of other organic
radicals instead of methyl in the codeine reaction, has already been
alluded to. _Atropine_ can be formed by uniting tropine and tropic acid,
the two decomposition products already noted. The latter of these
products is already shown to be capable of synthetical formation, and
the other will no doubt be formed in the same way. The artificial
atropine is identical with the natural alkaloid. Ladenburg has also
formed a series of artificial alkaloids, called _tropeines_, by uniting
the base tropine with different organic acids, as in the case of the
compound of mandelic acid and tropine, known as _homatropine_, an
alkaloid of action similar to atropine, but possessing some decided
advantages in its use. _Piperine_ has also been made by the uniting of
piperidine and piperic acid, and, as piperidine has already been formed
from pyridine, we have here a true synthesis also. Both _theobromine_
and _caffeine_, its methyl derivative, have been made from xanthine,
which itself can be formed from guanine, a constituent of guano.
We may conclude from this reference to what has been done in the last
few years, that the reproach mentioned in first speaking of the
alkaloids as a class, that almost nothing was known of their
constitution, will not long remain, and that as their molecular
structure is laid bare in these studies now being made, keen-sighted
chemists will effect their artificial formation. When these most
valuable compounds can be made by exact methods, in a state of entire
purity, and at a cost much below that paid for the present extraction of
them from relatively rare plants, organic chemistry will have placed all
of us under obligations as great as those owing any branch of science,
no matter how practical we call it.--_Amer. Jour. of Pharmacy_.
* * * * *
ON THE TREATMENT OF CONGESTIVE HEADACHE.
By J. LEONARD CORNING, M.D., New York.
If we examine the literature of our theme, we are astounded by the
apparently hopeless confusion in which the whole is involved. Everywhere
attempts at ill-founded generalization are encountered. We are compelled
to admit, after perusing long debates in regard to the relative merits
of various therapeutic measures, that those who were foremost to
disparage the treatment pursued by others were totally ignorant of the
fact that those same symptomatic manifestations which they were
considering might be owing to entirely different causes from similar
conditions described by others. Hence a commensurate modification in
therapy might not only be admissible, but eminently desirable. It is
more especially of recent years that a laudable attempt to differentiate
the various etiological factors involved in different forms of headache
has been made. In 1832 Dr. James Mease, of Philadelphia published a
monograph on "The Cause, Cure, and Prevention of the Sick Headache,"
which is substantially a treatise on the dietetics of this particular
form of headache. The work, however, is conspicuously lacking in those
philosophical qualities which are so necessary to a true understanding
of the questions involved. Dr. E.H. Sieveking published in 1854[1] a
most interesting paper on "Chronic and Periodical Headache." The views
therein expressed are remarkable for their succinct and thoroughly
scientific elucidation of the two great physiological principles
involved in the consideration of by far the greater majority of
instances of cephalalgia. I refer namely to the importance ascribed by
this eminent physician to the fluctuations of the blood-stream within
the cranial vault. In speaking of this subject Dr. Sieveking says:
"Nothing is of more importance in reference to the pathology and
therapeutics of the head than clear and well-defined notions on the
physiological subject of the circulation within the cranium; for, among
the various sources of medical skepticism, no one is more puzzling or
more destructive of logical practice than a contradiction between the
doctrine of physiology and the daily practice of medicine."
[Footnote 1: On Chronic and Periodical Headache, by E.H. Sieveking,
M.D., _Medical Times and Gazette_ London, August 12, 1854.]
What Dr. Sieveking said in 1854 holds equally good to-day; and, indeed,
the position then taken has received substantial indorsement through the
positive results of more recent experimental physiology. Conspicuous in
this connection are the inductive researches of Durham, Fleming, and
Hammond, touching the modifications in the cerebral circulation during
sleep and wakefulness. By these experiments it has been conclusively
proved that the amount of blood in the brain is decreased during sleep
and increased during wakefulness. More, recently I have had occasion to
confirm the experiments of Fleming in this direction, and have published
the results of those researches in various papers and articles.[1] "What
Hippocrates said of spasm," says Dr. Sieveking, "that it results either
from fullness or emptiness, or, to use more modern terms, from hyperaemia
or anaemia, applies equally to headache; but, to embrace all the causes
of this affection we must add a third element, which, though most
commonly complicating one of the above circumstances, is not necessarily
included in them, namely a change in the constitution of the blood."
While I agree with Dr. Sieveking as regards the importance to be
ascribed to the first two factors--cerebral hyperaemia and anaemia, in the
production of the group of symptoms known as "headache,"--I fail to
perceive why especial prominence should be given to the third condition
mentioned by Dr. Sieveking. Indeed, I am quite unable to imagine how the
periodical, and more especially the intermittent form, of headache is to
be explained by what Dr. Sieveking describes rather ambiguously as a
"change in the constitution of the blood." It is quite evident,
admitting that such a change is capable of producing an amount of
cerebral irritation sufficient to develop well-marked cephalalgia, that
the latter must of necessity be within certain limits continuous. This
is not the case, as the causative factor is constant and not
fluctuating. I am, therefore, not prepared to accept this third
causative factor without question. Nevertheless I am perfectly willing
to admit that other factors besides cerebral hyperaemia and anaemia may
produce the functional variety of headache. There would seem to be ample
ground for ascribing great causative importance to excessive irritation
of the brain plasma itself. Hence those forms of headache which while,
being unaccompanied by any especial circulatory derangements, succeed,
oftentimes, with relentless regularity upon any considerable degree of
mental work. It is not my purpose to discuss the treatment of the
multifarious forms of cephalalgia on this occasion, did time permit. As
regards the so-called "neuralgic" variety I content myself by referring
to the admirable work on "Neuralgia and Kindred Diseases of the Nervous
System," by Dr. John Chapman of London, in which will be found many
interesting facts bearing on the question. Accepting the propositions,
then, that the more adjacent causes of headache are (1) cerebral
hyperaemia, (2) cerebral anaemia, and (3) irritation of the cerebral
plasma itself, let us now consider how these morbid factors are most
scientifically and speedily met at the bedside; and how, more
particularly, those distressing conditions of engorgement, which are so
baneful an item in the causation of a certain form of cephalalgia, are
best overcome.
[Footnote 1: _Vide_ Carotid Compression and Brain Rest, by J.L. Corning,
M.D. New York: Anson D.F. Randolph & Co.]
Two years ago I began a series of experiments on epileptics and maniacs,
which involved the application of protracted pressure to the common
carotid artery on both sides. In the course of these experiments the
thought suggested itself that suppression of the carotids might prove a
salutary means of reducing that form of cerebral congestion which is so
prolific a source of headache and vertigo. Accordingly I made a
protracted series of experiments with carotid compression upon those
suffering from congestive headache, and I can only say that I have been
so far pleased with the uniformly good results obtained, that I have
felt it a duty to call the attention of the profession to a procedure
which, for obvious reasons, possesses all the advantages of local
depletion by leeching or cupping, without the manifest disadvantages of
either of these methods. The instruments which I have devised as
substitutes for the primitive procedure of digital compression of the
carotids have already been described in former communications. It is
only necessary to say that the implements in question are of two kinds;
one, the "carotid fork," is an adjustable instrument, which being held
in the hand of the operator permits him to exert any degree of pressure
upon both carotids for any desired length of time. The other instrument,
which I have designated as the "carotid truss," for lack of a better
name, is a circular spring provided with adjustable pads at each
extremity. The spring is placed about the neck of the patient, and by
suitable appliances the pads at the extremities can be placed directly
above the trunks of the two common carotid arteries. By turning the
screws to which the pads are attached the desired amount of pressure can
be applied to the arteries, and the apparatus can be worn for any length
of time by the patient.
With these instruments I have frequently succeeded in arresting the most
obstinate form of congestive headache in an incredibly short time (on
one occasion in about five minutes). Where, however, the headache is of
manifestly nervous origin and uncomplicated by any especial circulatory
derangements, I have never been able to achieve notable results with
this method. Indeed, pressure upon the carotids is an excellent method
of differentiating the congestive form of headache from the nervous
varieties of head pains.
Of galvanism this much may be said, that it is one of the most valuable
methods which we possess for treating the form of headache under
consideration, for not only does it cause contraction of the smaller
arteries, but it also exerts a soothing influence upon the plasma of the
brain itself.
A powerful therapeutic agent, and one which has been more or less
extensively employed in the treatment of various forms of head and
spinal symptoms, is cold.
A very excellent method of applying both cold and galvanism to the head,
at the same time, is afforded by a species of refrigerating electrode,
designed by myself for this purpose. The apparatus in question consists
of a concave sponge electrode, the concavity of which corresponds to the
convexity of the external aspect of the cranium. Above the electrode is
a chamber of metal or India-rubber, designed to contain ice. The whole
is secured to the head of the patient by a single chin-strap, and
connection established with an ordinary galvanic battery by means of an
appropriate clamp and insulated cord. The indifferent pole is applied
over the sternum or other convenient point. Care should be taken not to
employ too strong currents, as otherwise vertigo and other unpleasant
symptoms may be produced. An application of from five to ten minutes is
usually sufficient to arrest the head-pain. As an additional security it
is well to recommend the patient to take a hot foot-bath, and to remain
as quiet as possible for twelve hours succeeding the treatment. In
hyperaemic headache cupping and blood-letting have been recommended; but
as a rule both procedures are not only unnecessary but positively
inadmissible, as exclusion of the superfluous amount of blood by
compression upon the carotids, followed by a corresponding dilatation of
the peripheral circulation by means of the foot-bath, will almost always
be sufficient to cause a permanent cessation of the symptoms. Among the
internal remedies which may be employed with good effect in certain
cases are aconite, bromide of potassium, and Indian hemp. The inhalation
of from five to ten drops of chloroform is an excellent expedient in
some instances. Chlorodyne, which is nothing more than a mixture of
sedatives, often works well, and indeed frequently excels other
remedies. The regulation of the heart's action is also of very great
importance in these cases, and the physician should have no hesitancy in
resorting to such remedies as digitalis and belladonna for the purpose
of reducing the tension in the domain of the cerebral circulation. As a
matter of course the digestive functions should be carefully looked to;
the bowels should be kept open; and in all cases where there are
indications of a congestive origin, alcohol in all forms should be
absolutely forbidden.--_Med. Record_.
* * * * *
THE USE OF THE MULLEIN PLANT IN THE TREATMENT OF PULMONARY CONSUMPTION.
[Footnote: From a paper published in the _British Medical Journal_.]
By F.J.B. QUINLAN, M.D., M.R.I.A., F.K.Q.C P., Physician to St.
Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.
From time immemorial, the _Verbascum thapsus_, or great mullein, has
been a trusted popular remedy, in Ireland, for the treatment of the
above formidable malady. It is a wild plant--most persons would call it
a weed--found in many parts of the United Kingdom; and, according to
Sowerby's _British Botany_, vol. vi., page 110, is "rather sparingly
distributed over England and the south of Scotland." In most parts of
Ireland, however, in addition to growing wild it is carefully cultivated
in gardens, and occasionally on a rather extensive scale; and this is
done wholly and solely in obedience to a steady popular call for the
herb by phthisical sufferers. Constantly, in Irish newspapers, there are
advertisements offering it for sale; and there are, in this city,
pharmaceutical establishments of the first rank in which it can be
bought. Still it does not appear in the Pharmacopoeia; nor, as far as I
know, has its use received the official sanction of the medical
profession. Some friends with whom I talked over the matter at the
Pharmaceutical Conference at Southampton last August, suggested that it
would be desirable to make a therapeutical research into the powers of
this drug, and ascertain by actual experiment its efficacy or otherwise.
Having partially accomplished this, I am anxious to very briefly set
forth what has been done, in order that others may be induced to
co-operate in the work.
"There are five mulleins, all belonging to the parent order of the
Scrophulariaceae; but the old Irish remedy is the great mullein, or
_Verbascum thapsus_, a faithful delineation of which will be found in
Plate 1, 437, vol. vi., of Sowerby. It is a hardy biennial, with a thick
stalk, from eighteen inches to four feet high, and with very peculiar
large woolly and mucilaginous leaves, and a long flower spike with ugly
yellow and nearly sessile flowers. The leaves are best gathered in late
summer or autumn, shortly before the plant flowers. In former times it
appears to have been rather highly thought of, particularly as a remedy
for diarrhoea; and Dioscorides, Culpepper, and Gerarde favorably allude
to it.
"Having been furnished with a good supply of fresh mullein from a garden
near this city, where it is extensively grown, I commenced operations.
As it proved useful, subsequent supplies were procured from our
drug-contractor.
"The old Irish method of administering the mullein is to place an ounce
of dried leaves, or a corresponding quantity of the fresh ones, in a
pint of milk; to boil for ten minutes, and then to strain. This strained
fluid is given warm to the patient, with or without a little sugar. It
is administered twice a day; and the taste of the mixture is bland,
mucilaginous, comforting to the praecordia, and not disagreeable. I
resolved to try this method, and also the watery infusion; and,
moreover, the natural expressed juice fortified with glycerin. This
latter preparation was carefully made for me, from fresh mullein leaves,
by Dr. John Evans, chemist to the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
"Some phthisical sufferers, of whom there are here, alas! too many, were
now admitted from time to time into St. Vincent's Hospital. They were
admitted in all stages, from an early one to the most advanced. On each
admission the case was carefully examined; the history, symptoms, and
physical signs were exactly noted; and the patient was weighed on a
stage balance with great accuracy. The patient was put as much as
possible on the mullein treatment only. For obvious reasons, no
cod-liver oil, koumiss, or other weight producer was given; the patients
got the diet suitable to such sufferers; and, if the special symptoms
became troublesome, received appropriate treatment. As much as possible,
however, they were left to the mullein--a proceeding which was entirely
satisfactory to themselves. In addition to the admission weighing, they
were carefully weighed every week, and care was taken that this should
be done as nearly as possible on the same day and hour, with the same
clothes, and, in fact, as much as could be under the same conditions. In
securing this the patients anxiously co-operated; and it was frequently
amusing, but sometimes painful, to watch the satisfaction or chagrin
with which the weekly result was received. I must here tender my
acknowledgments to our zealous, attentive, and accurate house surgeon,
Mr. Denis P. Kenna, by whom this important, but tedious, duty was
discharged."
Dr. Quinlan then refers to several cases, in which the mullein plant has
been tried as a remedy for consumption, and remarks that these cases,
although too few to justify any general conclusion, appear to establish
some useful facts. The mullein plant boiled in milk is liked by the
patients; in watery infusion it is disagreeable, and the succus is still
more so. The hot milk decoction causes a comfortable (what our Gallic
neighbors call _pectorale_) sensation, and when once patients take it
they experience a physiological want, and when the supply was once or
twice interrupted, complained much in consequence. That it eases
phthisical cough there can be no doubt; in fact, some of the patients
scarcely took their cough mixtures at all--an unmixed boon to phthisical
sufferers with delicate stomachs. Its power of checking phthisical
looseness of the bowels was very marked, and experiment proved that this
was not merely due to the well known astringent properties of boiled
milk. It also gave great relief to the dyspnoea. For phthisical night
sweats it is utterly useless; but these can be completely checked by the
hypodermic use of from one-eighteenth to one-fiftieth of a grain of the
atropia sulphate; the smaller dose, if it will answer, being preferable,
as the larger causes dryness of the pharynx, and interferes with ocular
accommodation. In advanced cases, it does not prevent loss of weight,
nor am I aware of anything that will, except koumiss. Dr. Carrick, in
his interesting work on the koumiss treatment of Southern Russia (page
213), says: "I have seen a consumption invalid gain largely in weight,
while the disease was making rapid progress in her lungs, and the
evening temperature rarely fell below 101 deg. Fahr. Until then I considered
that an increase of weight in phthisis pulmonalis was a proof of the
arrest of the malady." If koumiss possesses this power, mullein does
not; but unfortunately, as real koumiss can be made from the milk of the
mare only, and as it does not bear traveling, the consumptive invalid
must go at least to Samara or Southern Russia. In pretubercular and
early cases of pulmonary consumption, mullein appears to have a distinct
weight-increasing power; and I have observed this in several private
cases also. Having no weighings of these latter, however, makes this
statement merely an expression of opinion. In early cases, mullein milk
appears to act very much in the same manner as cod-liver oil; and when
we consider that it is at once cheap and palatable it is certainly worth
a trial. I will continue the research by careful weighings of early
cases; and will further endeavor to ascertain whether the addition of
mullein to the cultivating solution prevents the propagation of the
phthisical bacillus.
* * * * *
ACTION OF MINERAL WATERS AND OF HOT WATER UPON THE BILE.
Lewaschew and Klikowitch, from experiments upon dogs, conclude that the
use of ordinary alkaline mineral waters was to increase the quantity of
bile and to make it more fluid and watery. This increased flow is
beneficial in clearing out any bile stagnating in the gall-bladder. A
subsequent increase in the quantity of bile indicates a greater flow of
bile into the gall-bladder, and this also is of service in emptying out
any stagnant bile, and restoring the normal condition when this is
disturbed. Artificial solutions of alkaline salts were found to have a
similar action to the natural mineral waters, and, as with them, the
action varies according to the concentration of the solution.
Bicarbonate of sodium has a quicker, more powerful, and more lasting
effect on the composition of the bile than the sulphate of sodium, and
weak solutions than strong ones. Vichy was more efficacious than
Carlsbad water. Hot water was found to have an effect on the bile much
like that of the mineral waters.
* * * * *
VIVISECTION.
Although Magendie is rightly considered the true initiator of
experimentation upon living beings, the practice of vivisection is as
old as science itself.
Galien, the physician of Marcus Aurelius (in the second century of the
Christian era), dissected living animals, and yet he is regarded as
having merited his name (_Galenus_, "gentle") from the mildness of his
character. Five centuries before him, under the Ptolemies, Egyptian
experimenters had operated upon condemned persons. So, then, vivisection
is not, as usually thought, a diabolical invention of modern science.
[Illustration: Fig. 1-5 APPARATUS USED IN VIVISECTION.]
In all ages the necessity has been recognized of operating upon animals
that are nearest allied to man, such as the monkey, the hog, and the
dog, and who share with the king of creation the privilege of eating a
little of everything. Claude Bernard, however, had another way of
looking at things. It is true that he especially made researches into
the general laws of physiology, the secret of the vital functions, and
the operation of the various organic systems that constitute living
matter, but his immediate object was not to furnish weapons for the art
of curing. He left to physicians and surgeons the care of drawing
conclusions from his great work in biology, and of acting experimentally
upon animals allied to man in order to found a rational system of
therapeutics. So he preferred to operate upon beings placed low in the
animal scale--the frog especially, an animal that has rendered him
greater service than even man himself could have done. Cold-blooded
animals offer, moreover, the advantage of being less impressionable than
others, and the experiments to which they are submitted present more
accurate conclusions, since it is not necessary to take so much account
of the victim's restlessness. And then it is necessary in many cases to
choose subjects that possess endurance. The unfortunate frog, so aptly
named "the Job of physiology," becomes resigned to living under most
dreadful conditions, and when, through sheer exhaustion, he has
succumbed, his twitching limbs may still he used as an object of
experimentation for twenty-four hours. Thanks are due to nature for
giving so extraordinary a vitality to the tissues of a modest
batrachian! We owe to it the famous experiment of Galvani that led Volta
to the discovery of the pile and what followed it, the astonishing
conquests of electricity and those more marvelous ones still that are
now in their dawn. Science is much indebted to the frog, and may the
homage that we pay him help to alleviate the sufferings that have been
imposed upon this brave animal!
[Illustration: Fig. 6-8 APPARATUS USED IN VIVISECTION.]
The simple fact that we have just enunciated pleads loudly enough for
the cause of vivisection to make it useless to defend it. No one,
however, has risen to ask for an absolute proscription of it, but it is
only desired that the abuse of an abominable practice shall be curbed.
Does the abuse exist? That is the question, and it may be answered in
the affirmative. Yes, we do sometimes impose useless sufferings upon
animals. It is a culpable folly, a beastly cruelty, to constantly repeat
barbarous experiments with the object of exhibiting a well known
physical fact, a hundred times verified and always the same, when it
would only be necessary to enunciate it. But this is not the place to
expatiate upon the subject. After proclaiming the utility of
vivisection, we give it as our opinion that the practice of it should be
confined within narrow limits. It is not too much to ask that it be
confined to the privacy of laboratories, with the exclusion of visitors,
and to require from students a diploma guaranteeing their knowledge and
giving a programme of researches to be made. It is useless to seek in
the living what a study of the corpse reveals in all its details.
[Illustration: Fig. 9-11 APPARATUS USED IN VIVISECTION.]
And now, after these preliminary remarks, we present herewith a series
of cuts representing the various apparatus used in the practice of
vivisection, which are taken from a recent work by Claude Bernard. Fig.
1 shows the mode of muzzling a dog with a strong cord placed behind an
iron bit. Fig. 2 shows a method of tying a dog. Fig. 3 is a vessel in
which hares or cats are placed in order to anaesthetize them. Fig. 4
shows the mode of fixing an animal on its side, and Fig. 5 the mode of
fixing him on his back. Fig. 6 shows a dog fixed upon the vivisecting
table, and Fig. 7 a hare secured to the same. Fig. 8 exhibits the
general arrangement of a vivisecting table, properly so called. Fig. 9
shows (1) an anaesthetizing muzzle applied to a dog, and (2) the
extremity of the apparatus in section. Fig. 10 shows how the muzzle is
applied for anaesthetizing, and gives the details of construction of the
chloroform box. Fig. 11 exhibits the arrangement of the apparatus used
for holding the animal's jaws open upon the vivisecting
table.--_L'Illustration_.
* * * * *
INSANITY FROM ALCOHOL.
[Footnote: Read at the late meeting of the National Association for the
Protection of the Insane and translated for the American Psychological
Journal by Carl Sieler, M.D., of Philadelphia.]
By A. BAER, M.D., of Berlin, Germany.
The benevolent efforts of your society diverge in two different
directions, which have totally different aims and purposes, and which
require different means in order to attain lasting success. Since the
number of insane has increased alarmingly within the last few years, in
all civilized countries, so that the responsibility of the proper charge
of them occupies continually not only the community, but also the State;
and since the public as well as the private asylums are filled almost
before they are finished, it becomes necessary to rid the institutions,
as soon as possible, of those patients which have been cured, as well as
of those which are improved. Patients of this kind are, as early as
possible, returned to the unrestrained enjoyment of liberty with the
expectation that the new scenes and surroundings may have a beneficial
influence, besides having the advantage of relieving the overcrowded
institutions. Unfortunately, however, it has been frequently found that
the hut suddenly restored mental and emotional equilibrium is not of
sufficient stability to withstand the storm of conflicting interests.
Frequently it happens that the but recently discharged patient returns
to the institution, after a short lapse of time, because the "rudder"
(steuer) of his intelligence was soon shattered in the turmoil of life.
How can, for instance, the indigent and poor patient, after his
discharge from the institution in which he has found a shelter and the
proper care, stand up in the struggle for existence and the support of
his family? Is it not to be expected that a large proportion of those
who have been discharged as improved, or even cured, cannot withstand
the ever-moving sea of the outside life and bear up under the turmoil
which constantly stirs mind and soul?
Starting with the recognition of this fact, societies of benevolent
people have been formed in all countries in which true civilization and
humanity are at work, to diminish or abolish social evils, whose object
is to assist the restored patient who has been discharged from the
institution, at a time when he is most in need of help and assistance.
Switzerland has taken the lead of all countries by her brilliant
example, and there these societies found the greatest encouragement. It
should be looked upon as a good sign of the spirit of modern times, that
the seed of true humanity, with astonishing rapidity, found its way, far
and wide, for the benefit of suffering mankind. Everywhere, in all
European countries, and also on the American continent, has this branch
of a truly noble thought become acclimated, and many societies have been
organized for the purpose of assisting cured insane patients, by aiding
them in obtaining suitable occupations, or by direct donations of money,
etc., with a view of preventing, if possible, a relapse of the disease.
May this portion of the work of your society be an ever-flowing fountain
of joy and satisfaction to your members!
Of much greater importance is the best portion of your work, namely,
_the prevention of insanity_. It is nevertheless true, and cannot be
doubted, that in all civilized countries insanity increases in a manner
which is out of proportion to the increase of the population. Much
thought has been given to the cause of this phenomenon, and physicians
as well as moralists, national economists as well as philosophers and
philanthropists, have endeavored to fathom the connection between this
fact and the conditions of modern social life. According to all
observations, it is certain that the cause of this phenomenon is not a
single etiological condition, but that it is the sum of a number of
influences which act upon the human race and produce their travages in
the mental and moral life of our patients. The conditions which give
rise to this increase of insanity may be looked for in the manner in
which modern civilization influences mankind, in its development and
culture, in the family and in the school-room, in its views of life and
habits; also in the manner in which civilization forces a man to fight a
heavier and harder battle for pleasure and possessions, power and
knowledge, and causes him to go even beyond his powers of endurance.
More than even civilization itself, are at fault those pernicious
abnormities, rare monstrosities, which are transmitted from generation
to generation, or are also often newly developed and appear to belong to
our civilization. If we want to prevent the increase of insanity, we
must endeavor to do away with these monstrosities and eccentricities
from our social life which remove mankind more and more, in a pernicious
manner, from its natural development and from the normal conditions of
moral and physical life; we must endeavor to kill these poisonous
offshoots of pseudo civilization, which are the enemies of the normal
existence of man. It is necessary to liberate the individual, as well as
the entire society of modern times, from the potentiated egotism which
spurs man on in overhaste, and in all departments of mental and physical
life, to a feverish activity, and then leads to an early senile decay of
both body and mind; from that terrible materialism which causes the
modern individual in every class of society to find satisfaction in over
excited taste and ingenious luxury. It is necessary to strengthen more
than has been done heretofore the young, by means of their education, in
their physical development, and at the same time to diminish, in proper
proportion, the amount of mental over-exertion; and finally it is
necessary to fight against, to do away with, those habits of modern
society-life which have a pernicious influence upon the physical as well
as the mental and moral organization of man. And of these latter, there
is none so lasting in its effects, none so harmful to the physical as
well as moral life, as the abuse of intoxicating liquors.
Intemperance is an inexhaustible source of the development and increase
of insanity. It demands our undivided attention, not only on account of
its existing relation, but particularly because intemperance, among all
the factors which aid in the increase of insanity, can best be
diminished, and its influence weakened, through the will of the single
individual, as well as of society as a whole. The relation between
intemperance and insanity is so definite and clear, that it is not
necessary to adduce proofs of this fact. I will not refer to the
writings of the older authors, such as Rush, in America; Hutchison,
Macnish, Carpenter, and others, in England; Huss and Dahl, in Sweden;
Ramaer, in Holland; Esquirol, Pinel Brierre de Boismont, Morel, and
others, in France; Flemming, Jameson, Roller, Griesinger, and others, in
Germany. I could name a much larger number of the greatest modern
authorities on insanity, who are all unanimous in their opinion that the
increase of intemperance (alcoholism) produces a corresponding increase
of insanity. Of especial interest is this fact in those countries in
which the consumption of concentrated alcohol, and particularly in the
form of whiskies distilled from potatoes and corn, has only in later
years become general. Thus Lunier has shown the number of alcoholic
insane increased by ten per cent. in those departments in which more
whisky and less wine is consumed.
In Italy a similar result has been reached by investigation; and in that
country (according to Kanti, Sormani, Vesay, Rareri, Castiglione, Ferri,
and others) the frequency of insanity caused by the abuse of alcohol
stands in an unmistakable relation to the consumption of alcohol in
certain provinces of Italy.
In a discussion at one of the meetings (1876) of the London
Medico-Psychological Society, the general opinion of the members was,
that intemperance is the most fruitful source of the increase of
insanity, even when no other etiological element could be found, and
alcohol had to be looked upon as the sole cause of the mental disease.
Maudsley laid especial stress upon the observation, that intemperance,
without hereditary predisposition, was one of the most powerful agencies
in the production of aberration of the mind. Even Beckwith, who could
not coincide with others as to the great importance of intemperance as
an etiological element, says distinctly, that intemperance was, by far,
the most potent of all removable causes of mental disease.
In comparing the number of drinking saloons in the different provinces
of the kingdom of Prussia with the number of insane, both in public
institutions and in private families, as gleaned from the census report
of 1871, I was enabled to show conclusively, that everywhere, where the
number of drinking places, i.e., the consumption of alcohol, was
greatest, the number of insane was also largest. Without doubt, to my
mind it is in alcohol that we must look for and will find the most
potent cause of the development and spread of mental diseases.
As is well known, alcohol acts as a disturbing element upon the nerve
centers, even if it has only once been imbibed in excessive quantity. In
consequence of the acute disturbance of circulation and nutrition an
acute intoxication takes place, which may range from a slight excitation
to a complete loss of consciousness. After habitual abuse of alcohol,
the functional disturbances of the brain and spinal cord became constant
and disappear the less, as in the central organs degenerative processes
are more and more developed, processes which lead to congestions and
hemorrhagic effusions in the meninges and in the brain itself, to
softening or hardening, and finally to disappearance of the brain
substance. These degenerations of the nervous system give rise to a
progressive decay of all intellectual and also, more especially, of the
ethical functions, a decay which presents the phenomena of feeble
mindedness, complicated with a large number of sensational and motor
disturbances, and gradually ends in complete idiocy.
The number of those mental disturbances which are caused by alcohol
intoxication is a very considerable one. We do not err if we assert that
from 20 to 25 per cent. of all mental diseases stand in a direct or
indirect relation to the evil consequences of intemperance in the use of
intoxicating liquors. This is the opinion of a large number of
authorities on mental diseases in all countries. Habitual intemperance
leads to severe (psychical?) lesions (of the nervous system) which may
show themselves in the different forms of insanity, but express
themselves chiefly as mental weakness, not only in persons whose nervous
system was weakened through inherited or acquired defects, but also in
those whose mental organization was intact. In many other cases we see
less complete forms of insanity and more indistinct psychological
disturbances and neuroses, and among the latter epilepsy demands
particular attention.
An investigation among the patients in the insane department of the
Berlin Charite Hospital, in charge of Prof. Westfahl, which was lately
carried on by Dr. T. Galle (Uber die Beziehunger des Alcoholismus zur
Epilepsie. Inaug. Dissert. 1881, Berlin), showed that among 607 patients
who had entered the ward as epileptics or epileptic insane, 150 = 24.7
per cent. had been addicted to drink; 133 before, and 17 after the
disease had shown itself; further, that of 1572 patients with delirium
tremens, alcoholism, alcoholic dementia, and ebrietas, 243, or 15.4 per
cent., were epileptic; and that in 221 intemperance was present before
the outbreak of epilepsy; finally, that among 2679 patients which
entered the department in six and a half years, 393, or 18 per cent.,
were inebriates and epileptics. Among 128 epileptics which I had
occasion to note in the receiving institute, Plotseurie, 21 per cent.
were drunkards and 20 per cent. were the offspring of intemperate
parents.
If the list of injuries which intemperance, as we have seen, does
directly to the mental life of man is a very considerable one, the
baneful effect which is produced indirectly, by the intemperance of
parents, upon the mental constitution of their progeny is surely just as
great and disastrous. The children of intemperate parents frequently
become drunkards themselves; they have inherited a degeneration of the
vitiated constitution, and carry the stamp of this degeneration within
themselves. The offspring of drunkards are not only weakly and sickly,
and die early, especially of diseases of the brain, but, as Dahl, Morel,
Howe, Beach, and others have shown, they are frequently born idiotic, or
show early signs of insanity. Under the influence of alcohol, the
individual constitution of the drinker becomes lowered and depraved,
and, according to the law of inheritance, is transmitted through the
progeny to the race.
Prof. Bollinger, the latest writer on inheritance of disease (Stuttgart,
1882--Cotta--Uber Dererbung von Krankheiten), names alcoholism among the
transient abnormal conditions which, during conception, exert their
influence, so that children of intemperate parents acquire pathological,
and especially neuro-pathological, dispositions. Intemperance, says this
author, in its acute, as well as in its chronic form, causes frequently
pathological changes in the nervous system, and thus may the
pathological differences in children of the same parents be partially
explained. On account of the inheritance of a depraved and pathological
constitution, the children of intemperate parents frequently suffer from
an abnormal psychical organization. As in the progeny of insane,
epileptics, suicides, and criminals, so also among the children of
drunkards, do we see cases of congenital idiocy and imbecility, of
neurasthenia and inebriety, of psychical and somatic degeneracy, also of
depraved morality, of vagrancy and crime.
Mr. President and Gentlemen: In the light of the enumerated facts,
nobody will dispute that intemperance is a fruitful as well as
inexhaustible source for the increase and development of insanity; and
that every effort toward diminution of the frequency of insanity, toward
the prevention of mental diseases, must be directed against this
widespread evil, intemperance.
May your noble society succeed in confining this torrent of evil in a
narrower growing bed, and to deliver mankind from a curse which cannot
be too much contended with.
* * * * *
PLANTAIN AS A STYPTIC.
[Footnote: Read at the meeting of the Amer. Pharm. Assoc.]
By J.W. COLCORD.
Several articles during the past few months, copied from English
pharmaceutical journals, calling attention to the styptic properties of
plantain leaves--Plantago major--having attracted my attention, I
determined to try a few experiments when opportunity offered. Having a
shiftless neighbor whose yard produced a bountiful crop of the article,
I was easily able to secure an abundant supply for my experiments.
Believing that better results would be obtained from fresh plants than
from dried, I expressed the juice from them by means of an "Enterprise"
mill, obtaining about 16 fluid ounces of juice from 3 pounds of leaves.
The juice was of a light green color, very turbid, evidently caused by a
large amount of chlorophyl. Setting aside 4 ounces of the filtered
liquid for further experimenting, I packed the residue from the press
into a conical glass percolator and exhausted with dilute alcohol,
evaporating the percolate in a water-bath to two ounces, mixing with the
12 ounces of expressed juice and adding 2 ounces of alcohol. This
preparation, which I call a fluid extract, represents virtually equal
parts by weight of the dried plants. It is of a dark brown color with a
marked odor of the recent plant, and so far, after standing three months
undisturbed on my shelves, shows no sign of precipitation.
My next experiment was a mixture of equal quantities of the expressed
juice with glycerin. At the present time, after standing three months,
the mixture is clear and bright, with no sign of precipitation. This, I
think, promises to be the most efficient preparation, and will prove
valuable as an injection in the treatment of leucorrhoea, hemorrhages,
and similar disorders.
Experiment number three was made with equal parts of the juice and
alcohol, and number four with three parts of the juice with one part of
alcohol.
In a short time a precipitate was observed in both samples in about
equal proportions, and was removed about one month after making by
filtering through paper, and neither has shown signs of precipitation
since, and continue bright, clear, light-brown liquids.
Of their therapeutic value as styptics, I have not had sufficient trial
to form an opinion, although, as far as I can judge, they have proved
satisfactory. While writing this article, a cook from a neighboring
restaurant, with a finger sliced off in a potato slicer, exposing the
bone, came in for treatment. Having bandaged I applied the glycerate,
which soon stopped the profuse bleeding, giving her a small bottle of it
to apply subsequently. I asked her to report to me in two or three days,
and, on reporting, I found a healthy granulation presenting. Its styptic
properties are undoubtedly due to tannic acid, as all the tests I have
been able to make prove this to be the case. The readiness with which it
can be obtained in the summer renders it a valuable adjunct,
undoubtedly, to the materia medica of the country practitioner or
housewife for stopping hemorrhages in simple wounds.
The bruised leaves applied directly usually prove sufficient for the
purpose; as to whether it will prove sufficiently valuable to add to our
list of pharmaceutical preparations will require longer and more
extended experiment.--_New Remedies_.
* * * * *
DANGER FROM FLIES.
Dr. Grassi is said (_British Medical Journal_) to have made an
important, and by no means pleasant, discovery in regard to flies. It
was always recognized that these insects might carry the germs of
infection on their wings or feet, but it was not known that they are
capable of taking in at the mouth such objects as the ova of various
worms, and of discharging them again unchanged in their faeces. This
point has now been established, and several striking experiments
illustrate it. Dr. Grassi exposed in his laboratory a plate containing a
great number of the eggs of a human parasite, the _Tricocephalus
dispar_. Some sheets of white paper were placed in the kitchen, which
stands about ten meters from the laboratory. After some hours, the usual
little spots produced by the faeces of flies were found on the paper.
These spots, when examined by the microscope, were found to contain some
of the eggs of the tricocephalus. Some of the flies themselves were then
caught, and their intestines presented large numbers of the ova. Similar
experiments with the ova of the _Oxyuris vermicularis_ and of the
_Toenia solium_ afforded corresponding results. Shortly after the flies
had some mouldy cream, the _Oidium lactis_ was found in their faeces. Dr.
Grassi mentions an innocuous and yet conclusive experiment that every
one can try. Sprinkle a little lycopodium on sweetened water, and
afterward examine the faeces and intestines of the flies; numerous spores
will be found. As flies are by no means particular in choosing either a
place to feed or a place to defecate, often selecting meat or food for
the purpose, a somewhat alarming vision of possible consequences is
raised.
* * * * *
THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS.
The erection of the new house for the accommodation of the serpents,
alligators, and other reptiles, which is shown in our illustration, must
be commended as a valuable improvement of the Zoological Society's
establishment in Regent's Park. This building, which has a rather
stately aspect and is of imposing dimensions, constructed of brick and
terracotta, with a roof of glass and iron, stands close to the south
gate of the Gardens, entered from the Broad Walk of the Park. The
visitor, on entering by that gate, should turn immediately to the left
hand, along the narrow path beside the aviary of the Chinese golden
pheasants, and will presently come to the Reptile House, which is too
much concealed from view by some of the sheds for the deer. The spacious
interior, represented in our view, is one of the most agreeable places
in the whole precinct of these gardens, being well aired and lighted,
very nicely paved, and tastefully decorated in pale color, with some
fine tropical plants in tubs on the floor, or in the windows, and in
baskets hanging from the roof. Three oval basins, with substantial
margins of concrete, so formed as to prevent the reptiles crawling over
them, while one basin is further protected by an iron grating, contain
water in which the alligators, the infant crocodiles, and a number of
tortoises, but none of the larger species, make themselves quite at
home. One side of the house, with its windows looking into a pleasant
airy vestibule, is occupied by many small glass cases for the smaller
lizards, with boxes and pots of flowers set between them upon tables,
which present a very attractive exhibition. The other three sides of the
hall, which is nearly square, are entirely devoted to the large wall
cages, with fronts of stout plate glass, in single sheets, rising about
14 feet to the roof, in which the serpents are confined--the huge
pythons, anaconda, and boa constrictor, the poisonous cobras and
rattlesnakes, and others well known to the visitors at these gardens.
Each cage or compartment has a sliding door of iron behind, to which the
keeper has access in a passage running along the back of the wall, and
there are doors also from one compartment to another. The floor is of
smooth slate, and the largest snake has ample space to uncoil itself, or
to climb up the trunks and branches of trees placed there for its
exercise and amusement.
[Illustration: THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS. THE BABIROUSSA FAMILY.]
THE BABIROUSSA.
We present, on the same page, a few sketches of the babiroussas, a male
and two females, with a young one, recently presented to the society by
Dr. F.H. Bauer. These animals, which are from Celebes, in the Malay
Archipelago, have been placed temporarily in different stalls of the
ostrich house, on the north side of the gardens. The babiroussa is a
species of wild hog, peculiar to the islands of Eastern Asia, and
remarkable, in the male animal, for the extraordinary growth and
direction of the canine teeth. The upper pair of canine teeth, growing
out through the upper jaw, curve backward and upward on the forehead,
having somewhat the aspect of horns; while the lower canine teeth form a
pair of crooked tusks in the under jaw. These teeth may be useful for
defensive fighting, as a guard to the head, but could not serve for
attack. The skull of a babiroussa, with the teeth fully developed, is in
the possession of Mr. Bartlett, the able superintendent of the
Zoological Society's collection.--_Illustrated London News_.
[Illustration: THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS. THE NEW REPTILE HOUSE.]
* * * * *
Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 363, page 5797.
ON THE MINERALOGICAL LOCALITIES IN AND AROUND NEW YORK CITY.
PART IV.
By NELSON H. DARTON.
Montville, Morris County, New Jersey.--This locality is an old one, and
well known to mineralogists. It is outside of the limits prescribed in
introducing this series of paper, but by only a few miles, and being
such an interesting locality, I have included it in the granular
limestone, which occurs in a small isolated ridge in the gneiss within a
space of ten acres, about two miles north of the railroad station of
Montville, on the Boonton Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and
Western Railroad, and is reached by a road running north from about a
mile east of the railroad station. This road branches into two at the
limestone kilns, about a mile from the railroad track, and the left hand
branch is taken, which leads more directly to the quarry, which is on
the right hand, about a mile further on, and quite conspicuous by the
loose rock lying in front of the quarry. It is on the property of a Mr.
John J. Gordon, and produces a very fine limestone for use in the
furnaces and forges in the vicinity, as well as lime for agricultural
purposes, it being the only limestone in the vicinity for fifteen miles.
Between it and its walk of gneiss occur veins of the minerals so
characteristic of the locality, and for which it has become
famous--serpentine, asbestos, phlozopite, gurhofite pyrites, biotite,
aragonite, dolomite, tremolite, and possibly others in lesser quantity.
_Serpentine_.--All the varieties of this species, and of every color
from nearly white to black, is profusely distributed through the
limestone in the lower or main quarry in veins and pockets. It is
generally soft, translucent, and to be found in masses from a pea to a
cubic foot in size. Much of it is of a pure oil green color, rich and
translucent, making a very fine and attractive looking mineral specimen.
No difficulty need be experienced in producing all the varieties of this
mineral, as much has been removed and may be found in the vicinity of
the quarry, as it is always carefully separated from the limestone as
being useless, and thrown aside, or in some instances, when of peculiar
beauty, sold as specimens. The variety of serpentine known as marmolite,
which is made up of numberless plates of the mineral packed together
similar to mica, but of the green color of the serpentine picolite, or
fibrous serpentine, also frequently occurs of a light grass green color,
and is a very interesting variety.
In selecting specimens of serpentine, care should be taken to procure
that which is the most translucent, and that holding miniature veins of
asbestos. These are not so plentiful as those of the pure serpentine
alone, but occur in the southern end of the main quarry. The width of
these veins of asbestos is seldom over an inch, but those of even much
less are highly prized as specimens. These veins of asbestos are, in
places, several inches in length, but are generally much broken in
removing them, as their fibrous structure, at right angles to their
length, makes them very fragile, and pure specimens of asbestos can
seldom be found. However, they make much finer specimens when with the
serpentine. Frequently these specimens may be obtained with a layer of
gurhofite above them, and separated by the serpentine; this assortment
is very interesting, revealing to us the manner in which they were
formed, which was by a process termed segregation.
This gurhofite, called bone
by the quarrymen, occurs in white, dense looking masses, intermingled
with the serpentine, especially in the upper end of the quarry, where
veins six and eight inches in thickness are abundant, and from which
specimens may be readily obtained showing the fibrous structure of the
gurhofite and the association with the serpentine, to which it is found
attached; it is quite different from the limestone in appearance, and
need not be mistaken for it.
_Phlozopite_.--In a vein near the lower end of the quarry, near the
asbestos locality, occurs large plates of this mineral, which is a
variety of mica, and has all of the characteristics of a pure silvery
white color, and from one by three inches in area to less. It is easily
separable in folia, and cannot be confounded with any of the other
minerals. A huge mass of the veinstone holding abundance of this mineral
is exposed, whence it may be plentifully obtained in excellent crystals.
_Pyrites_.--White and yellow iron pyrites are abundant in the gneissic
rock adjoining the limestone, and frequently very fine, perfect crystals
may be found handsomely dressed upon the rock. There is no particular
portion of the quarries in which they abound.
_Biotite_.--This is a variety of mica in small crystals, of a dark brown
color, and quite plentiful in the gneiss inclosing the veins of
limestone. Up in the older quarries it is more abundant; on the north
wall of the vein it is often in very fine specimens, and there even in
large number, in a locality, generally a pocket in the gneiss.
_Tremolite_ is quite abundant on a large mass of limestone in the
extreme upper quarry, which is a short distance east of the main one,
over a small hill. The tremolite occurs in white crystals, about a
quarter inch in width and from a half to three inches in length. The
crystals are opaque, but very smooth and glistening, lining cavities in
this mass of limestone. It is a variety of hornblende, composed of
silica, lime, and magnesia, with a little alumina. It probably occurs in
places in the vicinity of this block, and in finer specimens, as these
are frequently, when near the surface, much weathered and worn. This is
a characteristic granular limestone mineral, and a very interesting one.
We will again meet it when examining the New York city localities.
_Aragonite_ occurs in very small masses, of a light yellow color and
fibrous structure, between layers of serpentine. When they are separated
by a small interspace, as it frequently is, the fibers are very large,
coarse, and brittle, and thus do not resemble asbestos, although in some
instances they might be mistaken for picolite, but, distinguished from
it by effervescing on contact with a drop of acid, as it is a carbonate
of lime, and also containing a trace of iron. I have never seen any fine
specimens of it from this locality, but deeper down in the rock it may
occur in greater profusion.
Dolomite occurs to a limited extent as such; most of it, being in the
form of gurhofite crystals, may be occasionally found with aragonite of
a light pearly gray color and rhombohedral crystals. As before noticed,
Staten Island is the best locality for this species.
_Calcite_.--In places the limestone is perfectly crystallized, and of a
pure white or other color, when it forms an attractive mineral, and
often worth removing. The limestone of the main quarry, carefully
averaged, was found to have the following chemical composition.
Lime. 11.09
Magnesia. 37.94
Carbonic acid. 30.61
Silica. 10.22
Water and loss. 4.90
Iron and alumina. 5.24
------
100.00
In places it is spotted with the serpentine, and judging from its rough
state resembles "_verde antique_," and at that of a beautiful color;
samples of this should be obtained.
_Feldspar_.--This mineral occurs very plentfully in the space between
the limestones and gneiss. It is generally of a flesh red color and
often in very perfect crystals, in some instances an inch and a half in
length; as its hardness is 6, it can be readily distinguished from
calcite, which it much resembles, but which has only a hardness of 3,
and dissolves with effervescence in acids.
A visit to this locality is a delightful manner in which to spend a
holiday or other time of leisure; and as it affords so many interesting
and valuable minerals, it forms a very profitable trip as well. In
reaching it many interesting localities are passed, and if one has an
early start these may all be visited. I will describe a few of these,
which are alike possessors of beautiful scenery and instructing
geological features and not far from the main line of travel.
Starting from the Erie depot, on the Greenwood Lake road, the first stop
may be at Arlington, about seven miles west of Jersey City. Here a visit
to the Schuyler copper mine may be profitably taken; and as I have
written a full account of this locality in a previous portion of these
articles,[1] I will not reiterate it here, but refer to that paper. The
mine, I might add, is only a mile north of the railroad station, and on
Schuyler Avenue, a short distance north from its junction with the
Jersey City and Paterson turnpike. Coming back to Arlington depot, and
walking on the track for about a quarter of a mile west through the deep
cut, the manner in which the sandstones and shales which constitute so
large a portion of New Jersey are laid and arranged can be seen to great
advantage, this being one of the finest exposures in the formation. At a
point about equidistant from either end is a fault in the layers of
shales and sandstone; this fault is noticeable as a slight irregularity
in the otherwise continuous sides of the cut, and is a point at which
the layers of rock on the east have fallen vertically, the western side
remaining in its original position. This fault has a thrust of only
three feet, but is an instructive example of faults which occur on a
tremendous scale in some of the other formations. It will be noticed
that between the two edges of the separated layers there is a deposit of
a talcky substance, which has been derived from infiltrating waters.
Fissure veins are generally in positions of this kind, formed and filled
in a similar manner, but with the various metallic ores. Passing further
west a short distance we reach the Passaic River, and walk along its
banks for a mile north to the Belleville bridge; at this point is the
intake of the Jersey City water works, with their huge Worthington pumps
and other accessories, which may be conveniently visited. The Passaic
River is then crossed, and the train on the Newark and Paterson road may
be taken for three miles to Avondale, from whence it is two miles east
to the Belleville sandstone quarries, or the bank of the Passaic may be
followed and the quarries reached in an hour from Belleville. Here again
are met the sandstones and shales, besides another and larger fault, and
many interesting features of the sandstone and its quarrying may be
examined. The railroad station having been regained, Paterson is the
next point of interest. The first thing noticeable in approaching the
city are the quarries in the side of the hills to the south, and these
may be visited the first; they are but a short distance southeast of the
station. Here the sandstone will be found in contact with the trap above
and the layers of basalt, trap, tufa, sandstone, shales and
conglomerates are exposed. Regaining the nearest railroad track (the
Boonton branch of the D., L. & W.R.R.), this is followed for some
distance west, when the various strata can be examined in the cut of the
railroad and a fault of nearly sixty feet in the trap; this is noticed
as a depression in the face of the cliff, and it may be seen by the
superposition of the layers of trap and basalt. Where the fault occurs a
short distance further west, there is another smaller fault. A visit to
the Great Falls of the Passaic is a very pleasurable diversion at this
point, and these are about a half mile north of this locality. Here the
arrangement of the trap and sandstones can be again profitably studied,
and the mineralogical localities which I have described in a former one
of these articles[2] examined, not omitting the one at West Paterson,
wherein so much phrenite may be found. Taking the train from West
Paterson to Little Falls, a walk of a few miles south brings us to the
Little Falls, and here is another interesting locality wherein the
contact of the sandstone and trap may be examined and the numerous
additional phenomena studied. A quarry near the Falls is the best point
in which to find these exposures, and from the viaduct crossing the
river an excellent view of the surrounding country may be obtained.
Regaining the train, Montville is soon reached and visited, and after
this, if time sufficient Boonville, two miles west, may be taken in, or
it may be necessary to go there to catch a return train, as but few stop
at Montville. At Boonton there are many interesting features--iron works
furnaces, localities in which fossil remains are found, footprints,
conglomeritic beds, and many other things, of which I will endeavor to
give a detailed account in some other of this series of articles.
[Footnote 1: See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, No. 363.]
[Footnote 2: See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, No. 363.]
* * * * *
DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT CHURCH IN JERUSALEM.
An account of the newly discovered church, north of the Damascus Gate,
Jerusalem, appears in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine
Exploration Fund. The author is Dr. Selah Merrill. The ruin has proved
to be one of great extent, and of special interest. The way in which it
was brought to light is worth recording. In an uneven field, which rose
considerably above the land about it, parts of which appearing, indeed,
like little hillocks, the owner of the soil tried to maintain a
vegetable garden, but the ground was so dry that neither grain nor
vegetables would flourish, and even irrigation did little or no good;
besides, here and there large holes appeared in the ground which could
not be accounted for. At last the owner determined to dig and see what
there was below the surface of his field, and to his surprise he very
soon came upon fine walls and a pavement. The excavations being followed
up have laid bare a church with some of the surrounding buildings. The
amount of _debris_ which had accumulated above the floor of these
buildings was 10 to 20 feet in depth. To remove this mass of earth has
required much time and labor, and the work is not yet completed. The
piece of ground in question has about 60 yards of frontage on the main
road, and extends, so far as the excavations go, about the same distance
back from the road, that is, to the east.
The church itself is situated on the south side of this plot, and is
very near the street. The ground in front of the church is paved with
fine slabs of stone. The steps by which the church was entered were 5
feet wide, but the doorway itself was somewhat wider. From the entrance
to the altar step, or platform, the distance is 55 feet, and from that
point to the back of the apse 15 feet 6 inches; the width of the apse is
16 feet 6 inches. The width of the church is 24 feet 6 inches. Nine feet
in front of the altar step a wall has been thrown across the church in a
manner similar to that in the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. This
wall, also those of the church, of which several courses remain, and the
interior of the apse, show that the building was originally painted, and
some of the figures and designs can still be traced. At the southeast
corner of the church, leading from the apse, there is a narrow but well
built passageway to the buildings in the rear. The character of these
buildings is not very evident; certainly they did not stand on a line
with the church, but at an angle of 25 deg. with that line. Between the
church and what appears now to have been the main building in the rear,
there was a passage not over 3 feet wide. The main building in the rear
of the church is 47 feet 6 inches long, but to this must be added 20
feet more of a special room, which seems to have belonged to it, and
which had a beautiful mosaic pavement. Thus the extreme length from the
entrance of the church to the (present) east side of this mosaic floor
is 140 feet.
On the west side of this mosaic floor, where it joins the wall of the
main building, there is a threshold of a single stone, 9 feet 6 inches
long, with a step 6 feet 9 inches in the clear. This is considerably
wider, it will be seen, than the steps, and even the entrance of the
church. Several patches of mosaic pavement have been found, but in one
place two or three square yards have been preserved, enough to show that
the work was extremely beautiful. The colored tracings resemble those in
the church on the Mount of Olives, and on one side are the large Greek
letters [Theta][epsilon][omicron][nu]. North of this mosaic floor, and
of the main building which joins it, and running alongside of both,
there is a watercourse or channel cut in the solid rock, which has been
leveled to accommodate the buildings above. This can be traced in an
east and west line for a distance of 37 feet; it is 2 feet 3 inches
deep, 20 inches wide at the top and 12 at the bottom. From about the
middle of the mosaic floor this channel turns a right angle and runs 20
feet or more to the north; it is possible that it led _from_ the north,
and at the point indicated turned a right angle and ran to the west.
Piles of stones and _debris_ prevent us at present from deciding as to
the length of the channel or where it comes from. In the bank of
_debris_, which rises on the east side of the mosaic floor to a height
of 20 feet, there is, about 6 feet above the floor, a watercourse formed
of cement, running north and south at right angles to the line of the
church and the other buildings, which must have belonged to a much later
period. In fact--and this is an interesting circumstance--the mosaic
pavement appears to extend under and beyond this canal and the mass of
_debris_ which is yet to be removed.
In the northwest corner of the room, where the mosaic floor is found,
very near the angle (already mentioned) of the rock-cut channel, there
is a tomb about 6 feet below the surface or level of the floor. The tomb
is 10 feet long and 9 feet wide, and is entered by a doorway 26 inches
wide, which is well built, and in the sides of which are grooves for a
door to slide up and down. On the wall of the tomb at the east end there
is a raised Greek cross, 22 inches long and 13 inches wide. One cannot
stand erect in its highest part, but it is to be considered that the
loculi are two-thirds full of _debris_, composed chiefly of decayed
bones and bits of glass. Those in charge of the excavations have not, up
to the present time, allowed the tombs to be cleared out. The loculi are
2 feet in depth.
What Captain Conder speaks of as "vaults north of the church," turn out
to be the tops of houses. They are four in number, each 75 feet long by
28 feet wide, and faced the street. They were divided (one or two of
them at least) into apartments by means of arches. The lower courses of
the walls, to the height of several feet, are of squared stones, while
the upper portions and the roofs are of rubble work, which was covered
with a heavy coating of plaster. The threshold of one has been exposed,
which is 6 feet in the clear, and the sides of the doorway show
excellent work.
Among the ruins there are two sections of marble columns, each 33 inches
in diameter. Three large cisterns have been found, two of which were
nearly full of water; the mouths of these, which were closed, were many
feet below the surface of the ground before the excavations began, hence
no one knows how old the water in them may be. Some of the slabs with
which the church was paved were 6 feet long by 21/2 feet wide. In the
church two pieces of cornice were found, each 8 feet in length. One is
entire and quite plain, while the other is broken in the middle. It is
upon this that the figures of Christ and his twelve apostles were
painted. They can still be traced, although exposure has nearly
obliterated the colors. Pottery and a considerable quantity of broken
glass have been found and some small articles in marble of no great
value. The top of a certain block of marble has been formed into a
basin, and a hole drilled the entire length of the block for the water
to run off.
South of the mosaic floor and of the east end of the main building there
is a large underground chamber with seven openings (each the size of a
man's body) to the surface. The chamber is 12 feet wide and nearly 20
feet long, but the depth is not yet ascertained, owing to the
accumulation of _debris_ on the bottom. On the west and north sides a
wall of solid rock appears to a depth of 6 feet, showing that the
chamber was excavated in part at least in the solid rock. The use of
this chamber does not appear evident, unless it may have been a store
room. The place within the city shown as "Peter's Prison" consists of a
similar chamber (not dug in the solid rock, however), with similar
openings in the ceiling or roof. The ruins extend underground some
distance to the east of the mosaic floor, and efforts are being made to
purchase the land in that direction, in order to allow of the
excavations being extended there. It is almost equally certain that the
buildings extended to the south and southeast of the present plat of
ground. But the owners of the land are jealous, and everybody is
superstitious; consequently, excavations must be abandoned, or move with
aggravating slowness.
Dr. Selah Merrill, in a note describing a late visit, says that the west
wall of what he called the "main building," toward the apse of the
church, has been removed and the floor cleared, exposing a fine
pavement. This pavement, the threshold before mentioned, and the mosaic
floor all belong to one period, and to a structure very much older than
the date of the "main building." It puzzled the doctor, because the
threshold west of the mosaic floor was not square with the east wall of
the "main buildings," but the reason is now clear. Captain Conder says
of this church with such of the ruins about it as were exposed when he
was there, that "the whole is evidently of the Crusading period." As
regards the church itself, this is not clear, and the mosaic floor
especially may belong to a time many centuries previous to that era. At
the south side of the floor of the "main building" a new mouth to the
largest cistern has been discovered; over the mouth there is a thick
stone 5 feet in diameter. This was eight sided, and was built against
the wall, so that five sides are exposed. The stone was cut in such a
way as to leave on two of its sides small brackets shaped like the two
halves of the utensil called a "tunnel." It may be of interest to state
that this piece of land was offered for sale a few years since, and for
a long time went a begging for a purchaser; at last it was sold for 40
Napoleons. During the present year it has passed into the hands of the
French for 2,000 Napoleons.
* * * * *
DAMMARA AUSTRALIS
One of the noblest evergreen trees in that noblest of collections of
such plants contained in the Temperate House at Kew, is the subject of
the present note. Some months since cones were observed to be forming on
this tree, and a representation of which we are now enabled, through the
courtesy of Mrs. Dyer, to lay before our readers. We are not aware
whether the tree has previously produced cones at Kew, though we have
the impression that such is the case; at any rate it has done so
elsewhere, as recorded in the _Flore des Serres_, 1856, p. 75, but
fertile seed was not yielded, owing to the absence of pollen.
In this country the tree is only valuable for its massive aspect and
richly colored thick evergreen leaves, borne on successive tiers of
branches, which render it specially suitable for the decoration of
winter gardens, corridors, and such like situations, where no great
amount of heat is required. In the northern island of New Zealand,
however, it is quite another matter, for there, where it is known as the
Kauri Pine, it furnishes the most valuable of timbers, as may be judged
from the fact that the trunk of the tree attains a height of from 50 to
100 feet clear of the branches; moreover, it yields a gum resin like
copal, which exudes from the trunk, and which is sometimes found below
ground in the vicinity of the trees, thus giving the clew to the real
nature of amber and other similar substances.
[Illustration: THE KAURI PINE.--DAMMARA AUSTRALIS.]
The timber is of slow growth, especially valuable for the construction
of masts of ships, its durability, strength, and elasticity rendering it
particularly suitable for this purpose, and Laslett speaks of it as one
of the best woods for working that the carpenter can take in hand, and
recommends its use for the decks of yachts, for cabin panels, for
joiner's work generally, or for ornamental purposes. Owing to the
difficulty and expense of working the forests, and the great distance,
comparatively little of it comes to this country.--_The London
Gardeners' Chronicle_.
* * * * *
HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPLANT TREES.
Many think it cheaper and better to take up large trees from the woods,
and transplant them to their grounds or to the road-side, than to buy
nursery trees. As a rule, such trees die; they fail because proper
precautions have not been taken. In digging up a tree, all the roots
outside of a circle a few feet in diameter are cut off, and the tree is
reset with its full head of branches. Whoever has seen trees in the
forest that were upturned by a tornado, must have been struck by the
manner in which the roots run very near to the surface, and to a great
distance. When the roots of these trees are cut off at two or three feet
from the trunk, few or no fibrous or feeding roots are left; and if the
mass of tops is left, the expansion of the buds in the spring will not
be responded to by a supply of sap from the roots, and death must
follow. If such trees have the tops completely removed, leaving only a
bare pole, they will usually grow when transplanted. The tree is little
more than an immense cutting; but there are roots enough left to meet
the demand of the few shoots that start from the top, and growth above
and below ground is well balanced.
We have seen maples, elms, and basswood trees, fifteen feet or more
high, transplanted in this manner, without failure. Some trees treated
in this manner were planted in our neighborhood about ten years ago.
They have now as fine heads as one would wish, and show no signs of
former rough treatment. Trees in pastures, or on the edge of the woods,
are better furnished with roots. These should be prepared for
transplanting by digging down to the roots, and cutting off all that
extended beyond the desired distance. This will cause the formation of
fibrous roots near the tree. It will be safer to take two years for the
operation, cutting half of the roots each year. Such trees may be
removed in safety, especially if a good share of the top is removed at
transplanting--_American Agriculturist_.
* * * * *
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