- Email: [email protected]
SOCIETY AND THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS.
934
mortality from consumption of 17 ’Gl per cent. out of a total deaths, a rate of 9.68 per cent. less then the average general phthiical mortality, and 16’12 per cent. less than this mortality among firemen. Dr. Mays’ calculation?, which we fail to follow, arrive at the conclusion that 53’09 per cent. represents the relative death-rate of firemen from consumption. Such a high death-rate amongst a class exposed to great vicissitudes of weather, combined with fatigue, disturbed rest, and other enervating influences, proves, he thinks, that the argument for contagiousness based by Cornet upon the high mortality amongst the of 5224
inmates of convents and monasteries is not well founded. For apart from the fact that a like high consumptive deathrate occurs in prisons and among those who are in solitary confinement, it cannot be said that firemen are exposed to influences favouring contagion. Their mode of life alone is the main factor in inducing a vulnerability to the disease, almost as marked as in those who pass their lives in quite opposite conditions, as in the classes cited by Cornet. In the one case, as in the other, the depression of the vital powers is, he considers, the chief element.
EFFECTS OF WATER-DRINKING ON THE HEART. PROF. KORANYI of Budapest has published a series of observations on the effects upon the heart of drinking water in various quantities and of various temperatures. He found that the action on the heart takes place very quickly after taking the water, cold water slowing the heart and generally raising the blood pressure, while hot water quickens the heart and always raises the blood pressure. In one case, thirty seconds after drinking water at 39° F., the blood pressure rose 15 mm.; it then began tofall until, in seventeen minutes, it was 17 mm. below the normal; it then
began to rise again, regaining its original height in twenty minutes. Tepid water appeared to lower the blood pressure. The colder or hotter the water the more the rapidity of the heart’s beats and the blood pressure were affected, and the longer the effects lasted. -
THE
REFRACTIVE CHARACTER OF THE EYES OF MAMMALIA.
MR. LANG and Dr. BARRETT have
publisbed
in the
Royal
a tapetum and of retinal vessels, but of twenty-eight eyes examined without the use of atropine one was hypermetropic, sixteen were hypermetropic and astigmatic, three
of
myopic and astigmatic, and two were characterised by mixed astigmatisru. In two instances theie were nebule on the cornea. In astigmatic eyes of both rabbits and of least curvature seemed to be the meridian guinea-pigs the horizontal one. In the case of mice it was almost impossible to keep the animals quiet enough for examination, and it was equally difficult to make out in which direction the animal was looking, but all of those examined, ten in number, appeared to be hypermetropic. The eyes of five rats examined under atropine gave the following result : Five were hypermetropic, three were hypermetropic and astigmatic, one was slightly myopic, and one had mixed astigmatism. Of ten eyes of cows five were hypermetropic, four were hypermetropic and astigmatic, and one was slightly myopic. Of six horses’ eyes it was found that one or was emmetropic possessed normal refraction, three were hypermetropic and astigmatic, and two were characterised by very slight mixed astigmatism, which agrees with Berlin’s statement that in several horses he examined there was emmetropia or very slight hypermetropia., though in others there was myopia, in one In cats, of fourteen eyes case amounting to 8’5 D. examined before the instillation of atropine six were hypermetropic, four were hypermetropic and astigmatic, two were slightly myopic, and two were myopic and slightly astigmatic. In the astigmatic eyes the meiidian of least curvature was always vertical. Other animals examined by the authors of the memoir were the peccary, Jeanette cat, paradoxus cat, Australian native cat, mongoose, byaena, opossum, and porcupine, the eyes all of which were hypermetropic in the animals examined. In monkeys, two were hypermetropic in both eyes, and nine were hypermetropic in one eye. A general survey of these determinations of the refraction of the eyes has satisfied the observers that as an optical instrument the eye of the horse, cow, cat, and rabbit is superior to that of the rat, mouse, and guineapig. Mr. Lang and Dr. Barrett deserve much credit for their long, laborious, and careful research.
were
London Ophthalmic Hospital Repoits a paper of exceptional SOCIETY AND THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS. IT has been asserted that letters have been received both interest on the Refraction of the Eyes of various Mammals. The inquiry was, it is easy to understand, surrounded with by the police and by the Vigilance Committee of Whitedifficulties. Except in a few instances it was not possible chapel, from some individual threatening a renewal of the to place the animals under the influence of an anaesthetic. horrors which last year sent a shock through the whole Then it is very difficult to keep the eyeof an animal in civilised world. These have been noticed in the metrosuch a state of rest as will allow the refraction to be deter- politan and provincial press, while, in addition, comments mined ; and lastly, the refraction of the line passing through have been made in the London correspondence of respectable the centre of the cornea and the fovea centralis is not the provincial papers attaching more or less importance to these statement8. At the Chutch Congress the Bishop same as one passing through the cornea and the optic disc, which is the part most easily seen. Hence the results, of Liverpool alluded to the streets to be found in all as the authors cf the memoir willingly admit, can large towns situate within a short distance from the only be regarded as approximately correct. The methods palatial halls and buildings of the wealthy, which they usually adopted was that known as retinoscopy or the streets and their inhabitants Rere such as to call down shadow test, and in most cases the direction of the move- upon us the vengeance of heaven. It is not a little remarkment of the shadow indicating the presence of hyper- able, and it i8 certainly a curious commentary upon our metropia or myopia was rendered conspicuous by the social system, that the acts of an assassin as atrocious as instillation of atropine. The authors found that in fifty- the annals of crime have yet produced should have had the two eyes of rabbits examined without previous appli- effect of producing a vigilance committee to watch over the cation of atropine, thirty-six were hypermetropic and lives of the fallen women in Whitechapel-as low and deastigmatic, eight were hypermetropic only, five were graded a class of the frail sisterhood as could be found myopic and astigmatic, and three presented mixed anywhere. The undiscovered murderer has done more astigmatism. Their accommodation was thtn set at rest to call attention to these wretched women and the by the instillation of atropine. The action of atropine claims which they have on society than all that has showed that rabbits have no latent hypermetropia, or that been effected by clergy and philantLropists in this atropine does not paralyse their accommodation. The re- century. Whether any permanent good will result refraction of the eye of the guinea-pig is difficult to determine mains to be seen. It may, however, be remarked now, on account of the mobility of the animal and the absence that long before the "social evil" was noticed by the
935 many persons of both sexes who have taken it in hand of recent years, it received due attention from members In an exhaustive work pubof the medical profession. lished twenty-one years ago the late Mr. Acton remarked, "Who are those miserable creatures—ill-fed, ill-clothed, uncared for-from whose misery the eye recoils, cowering under dark arches and among by-lanes? Why is the State—which alone can remedy a condition of things thati all deplore-alone to refuse recognition?" The Contagiousi Diseases Acts did do something to remedy the evil; and women at Chatham, Portsmouth, Plvmouth, and the Curragh, as abandoned as those in Whitechapel, were reclaimed and restored to a virtuous life Those Acts havei been repealed, but the "social (zvilcontinues as rampant as ever, constituting in its brazen effrontery and shamelessThose who were instruness a foul blot on our civilisation. mental in the repeal of those Acts, which did more for these unfortunate women than religion or philanthropy had ever attempted, will do well to ask themselves the questions, Was it wise ? Has it proved a blessing, or the
of
,
......
.
reverse! ___
THE ASSOCIATION OF MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND. DURING the last session of Parliament the Association
of Members were promoting a Bill for the amendment of the constitution of the College of Surgeons, and it had been arranged that this Bill should be introduced into the, House of Lords by Lord Dunraven, and afterwards into the House of Commons by Lord Randolph Churchill. The Bill was considered and to some extent amended by the Parliamentary Bills Committee of the British Medical Association. Its non-introduction last session appears to have been due to its having been declared by the House of Lords a private measure. The illembers’ Association are now, we understand, endeavouring to obtain the cooperation of the above-mentioned committee, and with their aid to try to have it presented to the House of Commons as a public measure. The action in the Court of Chancery, Steele v Savory," which was commenced by the instructions of the Committee of the Association against the President and Council of the College to prevent the enforcement of By-law 17, and to have the same declared void as being contrary to law, and for a declaration of certain rights of the Members of the College as a whole, is not likely to come on before ,
.
-
Christmas. __
THE STRUCTURE OF BACTERIA. .LV
yvc
an account VI
the stucture m
so
twenty-four hours when digested in artificial gastric juice
in a 10 per cent. solution of soda. The Chromatium Okenii contains a red colouring matter, named by Prof. Ray Lankester "Bacterio-purpurin." Its form when seen on the side resembles that of a bean, but on transverse section is circular. The maximum length is 0-14 mm. The majority move rapidly forwards or backwards by means of a whiplike cilium. Each organism is provided with a thick, firm, colourless, investing membrane, presenting net-like markings on the surface, which seems to be continuous with the flagellum. This membrane does not give the reactions either of cellulose with iodine or of albumen with Millon’s reagent, but it stains well with hæmatoxylin and other staining agents. On pressure being carefully applied, the outer tunic bursts and the body of the animal flows out in a manner that shows it to be of soft consistence, with an external reddish layer which is retiform, and an internal colourless one which contains all the sulphur granules. The addition of alcohol quickly dissolves out the red colouring matter, but leaves the plasma green; Butschli therefore admits the The presence of a red and a green colouring matter. former is deposited in red rhombic laminae on evaporation of the alcohol. When the crystals are treated with diluted sulphuric acid they become blue; when with diluted nitric acid, gra’s-green. The central mass of the organism stains more deeply with colouring agents than the cortical, and, like the cortical, shows a kind of retiform or felt-like arrangement. The sulphur droplets are connected with the web, and not with the enclosed plasma, and are situated at the points of intersection of the web. Butschli finds a very similar structure to that above described in spermatozoa. He recommends that the light, under which they are examined, should not be too strong. or
small as
those that belong to the bacteria would seem to exceed the powers of the best microscopist armed with lenses of the deepest focus, yet it has been essayed by Biitschli, the accomplished Professor of Zoology in Heidelberg. He has taken as the subjects of his examinations two large and well-known forms, which were recognised by Ehrenberg, and belong to the peculiar group of sulphur bacteria-one of’ these was named " Monas Okeniiby Ehrenberg, " Beggiatoa" by Zopf, and "Chromatium" by Perty-the Ophidomonas jenensis. These bacteria grow only in soil water impregnated with hydrogen sulphide; without that gas they dwindle and die, with it they have an active and vigorous life, and grow and multiply. They possess the remarkable: power of decomposing sodium sulphate and fixing the: sulphur. In their interior may be seen a variable number of dark, highly refracting granules or droplets, the accumulation of which sometimes renders the animal quite! opaque. These granules are composed of soft sulphur, which dissolves readily in alcohol and reappears on evaporation of the alcohol. The droplets disappear in the course .
,
.
DEATHS UNDER ANÆSTHETICS. WE drew attention last week to the alarming frequency of the occurrence of deaths under chloroform. The press reports cf four more are before us. An inquest was held at Brighton upon the body cf a man aged sixtyfour, who died during the administration of chloroform. From the evidence it appeared that deceased, who was a builder’s foreman, fell on Sept. 22nd from a ladder, dislocating his thigh, and suffering much contusion and bruising of the parts. When seen by a surgeon there was too much swelling for any accurate diagnosis to be arrived at, so that it was not until nineteen days after the accident that chloroform was administered and replacement of the femur attempted. The patient is described as having taken the chloroform quite satisfactorily, the operation of reducing the dislocation being duly accomplished, when "the heart suddenly stopped vibrating," and all attempts at restoration failed. Examination of the heart before death gave no evidence of disease, but the post-mortem inspection showed that viscus to have possessed very thin walls. The surgeon in whose care the deceased had been attributed death to the " action of the chloroform upon the heart." Deaths from chloroform, as has been asserted over and over again, result from insufficient doses as well as overdoses. A correspondent of the Glasgow Herald, writing presumably as a layman, asserts that the profession have overlooked the danger of " an underdose." But he is quite wrong. The teaching of those who regard chloroform as a useful but dangerous anaesthetic has been consistently that there is a grave danger of reflex inhibition of the heart when operations are carried on during imperfect anaesthesia, and that this peril is no less than that of destroying the activity of the respiratory and cardiac A fact of sigcentres in the medulla by overdosage. nificance in the case is that at the necropsy thinning of the walls was present, and this is an important factox
mortality from consumption of 17 ’Gl per cent. out of a total deaths, a rate of 9.68 per cent. less then the average general phthiical mortality, and 16’12 per cent. less than this mortality among firemen. Dr. Mays’ calculation?, which we fail to follow, arrive at the conclusion that 53’09 per cent. represents the relative death-rate of firemen from consumption. Such a high death-rate amongst a class exposed to great vicissitudes of weather, combined with fatigue, disturbed rest, and other enervating influences, proves, he thinks, that the argument for contagiousness based by Cornet upon the high mortality amongst the of 5224
inmates of convents and monasteries is not well founded. For apart from the fact that a like high consumptive deathrate occurs in prisons and among those who are in solitary confinement, it cannot be said that firemen are exposed to influences favouring contagion. Their mode of life alone is the main factor in inducing a vulnerability to the disease, almost as marked as in those who pass their lives in quite opposite conditions, as in the classes cited by Cornet. In the one case, as in the other, the depression of the vital powers is, he considers, the chief element.
EFFECTS OF WATER-DRINKING ON THE HEART. PROF. KORANYI of Budapest has published a series of observations on the effects upon the heart of drinking water in various quantities and of various temperatures. He found that the action on the heart takes place very quickly after taking the water, cold water slowing the heart and generally raising the blood pressure, while hot water quickens the heart and always raises the blood pressure. In one case, thirty seconds after drinking water at 39° F., the blood pressure rose 15 mm.; it then began tofall until, in seventeen minutes, it was 17 mm. below the normal; it then
began to rise again, regaining its original height in twenty minutes. Tepid water appeared to lower the blood pressure. The colder or hotter the water the more the rapidity of the heart’s beats and the blood pressure were affected, and the longer the effects lasted. -
THE
REFRACTIVE CHARACTER OF THE EYES OF MAMMALIA.
MR. LANG and Dr. BARRETT have
publisbed
in the
Royal
a tapetum and of retinal vessels, but of twenty-eight eyes examined without the use of atropine one was hypermetropic, sixteen were hypermetropic and astigmatic, three
of
myopic and astigmatic, and two were characterised by mixed astigmatisru. In two instances theie were nebule on the cornea. In astigmatic eyes of both rabbits and of least curvature seemed to be the meridian guinea-pigs the horizontal one. In the case of mice it was almost impossible to keep the animals quiet enough for examination, and it was equally difficult to make out in which direction the animal was looking, but all of those examined, ten in number, appeared to be hypermetropic. The eyes of five rats examined under atropine gave the following result : Five were hypermetropic, three were hypermetropic and astigmatic, one was slightly myopic, and one had mixed astigmatism. Of ten eyes of cows five were hypermetropic, four were hypermetropic and astigmatic, and one was slightly myopic. Of six horses’ eyes it was found that one or was emmetropic possessed normal refraction, three were hypermetropic and astigmatic, and two were characterised by very slight mixed astigmatism, which agrees with Berlin’s statement that in several horses he examined there was emmetropia or very slight hypermetropia., though in others there was myopia, in one In cats, of fourteen eyes case amounting to 8’5 D. examined before the instillation of atropine six were hypermetropic, four were hypermetropic and astigmatic, two were slightly myopic, and two were myopic and slightly astigmatic. In the astigmatic eyes the meiidian of least curvature was always vertical. Other animals examined by the authors of the memoir were the peccary, Jeanette cat, paradoxus cat, Australian native cat, mongoose, byaena, opossum, and porcupine, the eyes all of which were hypermetropic in the animals examined. In monkeys, two were hypermetropic in both eyes, and nine were hypermetropic in one eye. A general survey of these determinations of the refraction of the eyes has satisfied the observers that as an optical instrument the eye of the horse, cow, cat, and rabbit is superior to that of the rat, mouse, and guineapig. Mr. Lang and Dr. Barrett deserve much credit for their long, laborious, and careful research.
were
London Ophthalmic Hospital Repoits a paper of exceptional SOCIETY AND THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS. IT has been asserted that letters have been received both interest on the Refraction of the Eyes of various Mammals. The inquiry was, it is easy to understand, surrounded with by the police and by the Vigilance Committee of Whitedifficulties. Except in a few instances it was not possible chapel, from some individual threatening a renewal of the to place the animals under the influence of an anaesthetic. horrors which last year sent a shock through the whole Then it is very difficult to keep the eyeof an animal in civilised world. These have been noticed in the metrosuch a state of rest as will allow the refraction to be deter- politan and provincial press, while, in addition, comments mined ; and lastly, the refraction of the line passing through have been made in the London correspondence of respectable the centre of the cornea and the fovea centralis is not the provincial papers attaching more or less importance to these statement8. At the Chutch Congress the Bishop same as one passing through the cornea and the optic disc, which is the part most easily seen. Hence the results, of Liverpool alluded to the streets to be found in all as the authors cf the memoir willingly admit, can large towns situate within a short distance from the only be regarded as approximately correct. The methods palatial halls and buildings of the wealthy, which they usually adopted was that known as retinoscopy or the streets and their inhabitants Rere such as to call down shadow test, and in most cases the direction of the move- upon us the vengeance of heaven. It is not a little remarkment of the shadow indicating the presence of hyper- able, and it i8 certainly a curious commentary upon our metropia or myopia was rendered conspicuous by the social system, that the acts of an assassin as atrocious as instillation of atropine. The authors found that in fifty- the annals of crime have yet produced should have had the two eyes of rabbits examined without previous appli- effect of producing a vigilance committee to watch over the cation of atropine, thirty-six were hypermetropic and lives of the fallen women in Whitechapel-as low and deastigmatic, eight were hypermetropic only, five were graded a class of the frail sisterhood as could be found myopic and astigmatic, and three presented mixed anywhere. The undiscovered murderer has done more astigmatism. Their accommodation was thtn set at rest to call attention to these wretched women and the by the instillation of atropine. The action of atropine claims which they have on society than all that has showed that rabbits have no latent hypermetropia, or that been effected by clergy and philantLropists in this atropine does not paralyse their accommodation. The re- century. Whether any permanent good will result refraction of the eye of the guinea-pig is difficult to determine mains to be seen. It may, however, be remarked now, on account of the mobility of the animal and the absence that long before the "social evil" was noticed by the
935 many persons of both sexes who have taken it in hand of recent years, it received due attention from members In an exhaustive work pubof the medical profession. lished twenty-one years ago the late Mr. Acton remarked, "Who are those miserable creatures—ill-fed, ill-clothed, uncared for-from whose misery the eye recoils, cowering under dark arches and among by-lanes? Why is the State—which alone can remedy a condition of things thati all deplore-alone to refuse recognition?" The Contagiousi Diseases Acts did do something to remedy the evil; and women at Chatham, Portsmouth, Plvmouth, and the Curragh, as abandoned as those in Whitechapel, were reclaimed and restored to a virtuous life Those Acts havei been repealed, but the "social (zvilcontinues as rampant as ever, constituting in its brazen effrontery and shamelessThose who were instruness a foul blot on our civilisation. mental in the repeal of those Acts, which did more for these unfortunate women than religion or philanthropy had ever attempted, will do well to ask themselves the questions, Was it wise ? Has it proved a blessing, or the
of
,
......
.
reverse! ___
THE ASSOCIATION OF MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND. DURING the last session of Parliament the Association
of Members were promoting a Bill for the amendment of the constitution of the College of Surgeons, and it had been arranged that this Bill should be introduced into the, House of Lords by Lord Dunraven, and afterwards into the House of Commons by Lord Randolph Churchill. The Bill was considered and to some extent amended by the Parliamentary Bills Committee of the British Medical Association. Its non-introduction last session appears to have been due to its having been declared by the House of Lords a private measure. The illembers’ Association are now, we understand, endeavouring to obtain the cooperation of the above-mentioned committee, and with their aid to try to have it presented to the House of Commons as a public measure. The action in the Court of Chancery, Steele v Savory," which was commenced by the instructions of the Committee of the Association against the President and Council of the College to prevent the enforcement of By-law 17, and to have the same declared void as being contrary to law, and for a declaration of certain rights of the Members of the College as a whole, is not likely to come on before ,
.
-
Christmas. __
THE STRUCTURE OF BACTERIA. .LV
yvc
an account VI
the stucture m
so
twenty-four hours when digested in artificial gastric juice
in a 10 per cent. solution of soda. The Chromatium Okenii contains a red colouring matter, named by Prof. Ray Lankester "Bacterio-purpurin." Its form when seen on the side resembles that of a bean, but on transverse section is circular. The maximum length is 0-14 mm. The majority move rapidly forwards or backwards by means of a whiplike cilium. Each organism is provided with a thick, firm, colourless, investing membrane, presenting net-like markings on the surface, which seems to be continuous with the flagellum. This membrane does not give the reactions either of cellulose with iodine or of albumen with Millon’s reagent, but it stains well with hæmatoxylin and other staining agents. On pressure being carefully applied, the outer tunic bursts and the body of the animal flows out in a manner that shows it to be of soft consistence, with an external reddish layer which is retiform, and an internal colourless one which contains all the sulphur granules. The addition of alcohol quickly dissolves out the red colouring matter, but leaves the plasma green; Butschli therefore admits the The presence of a red and a green colouring matter. former is deposited in red rhombic laminae on evaporation of the alcohol. When the crystals are treated with diluted sulphuric acid they become blue; when with diluted nitric acid, gra’s-green. The central mass of the organism stains more deeply with colouring agents than the cortical, and, like the cortical, shows a kind of retiform or felt-like arrangement. The sulphur droplets are connected with the web, and not with the enclosed plasma, and are situated at the points of intersection of the web. Butschli finds a very similar structure to that above described in spermatozoa. He recommends that the light, under which they are examined, should not be too strong. or
small as
those that belong to the bacteria would seem to exceed the powers of the best microscopist armed with lenses of the deepest focus, yet it has been essayed by Biitschli, the accomplished Professor of Zoology in Heidelberg. He has taken as the subjects of his examinations two large and well-known forms, which were recognised by Ehrenberg, and belong to the peculiar group of sulphur bacteria-one of’ these was named " Monas Okeniiby Ehrenberg, " Beggiatoa" by Zopf, and "Chromatium" by Perty-the Ophidomonas jenensis. These bacteria grow only in soil water impregnated with hydrogen sulphide; without that gas they dwindle and die, with it they have an active and vigorous life, and grow and multiply. They possess the remarkable: power of decomposing sodium sulphate and fixing the: sulphur. In their interior may be seen a variable number of dark, highly refracting granules or droplets, the accumulation of which sometimes renders the animal quite! opaque. These granules are composed of soft sulphur, which dissolves readily in alcohol and reappears on evaporation of the alcohol. The droplets disappear in the course .
,
.
DEATHS UNDER ANÆSTHETICS. WE drew attention last week to the alarming frequency of the occurrence of deaths under chloroform. The press reports cf four more are before us. An inquest was held at Brighton upon the body cf a man aged sixtyfour, who died during the administration of chloroform. From the evidence it appeared that deceased, who was a builder’s foreman, fell on Sept. 22nd from a ladder, dislocating his thigh, and suffering much contusion and bruising of the parts. When seen by a surgeon there was too much swelling for any accurate diagnosis to be arrived at, so that it was not until nineteen days after the accident that chloroform was administered and replacement of the femur attempted. The patient is described as having taken the chloroform quite satisfactorily, the operation of reducing the dislocation being duly accomplished, when "the heart suddenly stopped vibrating," and all attempts at restoration failed. Examination of the heart before death gave no evidence of disease, but the post-mortem inspection showed that viscus to have possessed very thin walls. The surgeon in whose care the deceased had been attributed death to the " action of the chloroform upon the heart." Deaths from chloroform, as has been asserted over and over again, result from insufficient doses as well as overdoses. A correspondent of the Glasgow Herald, writing presumably as a layman, asserts that the profession have overlooked the danger of " an underdose." But he is quite wrong. The teaching of those who regard chloroform as a useful but dangerous anaesthetic has been consistently that there is a grave danger of reflex inhibition of the heart when operations are carried on during imperfect anaesthesia, and that this peril is no less than that of destroying the activity of the respiratory and cardiac A fact of sigcentres in the medulla by overdosage. nificance in the case is that at the necropsy thinning of the walls was present, and this is an important factox