August, 1879.
THE WEST SHORE.
243
KPIDKMICS.
The limitation of epidemic pestilential dis
hw, aa the yellow fever, typhus and typhoid,
diphtheria, etc., ia at all timet a question uf iu
tenae interest to every thoughtful person. The
July number of the New York Sanitarian 00a
taint interesting and valuable matter upon the
tubjoct of epidemics, which we unhesitatingly
appropriate:
The oholera it a product of the jungles of
India and Barmah, and the yellow fever it at
surely of Wett Indian origin. That it is an ex
otio as relates to the United Htatea is the opin
ion of the last national commission; and that it
never originates uV novo, except in its primal
birth-place, whatever elsewhere may he the ex
cess of heat moisture, tilth, and vegetable and
animal decomposition, is almost demonstrated,
perhaps established. Aa to oommnniuability, it
11 certainly conveyed from individual to indi
vidual, not precisely by what we understand to
be direct oontaginn, but through various media,
especially by bed and body clothing, by articles
of furniture, by apartment!, cars and steam and
ailing vessela, by baggage anil hy cargoes; and
these propagators, deriving from the tick the
pestilontial material (intentionally not called
germ), hold it with wonderful tenacity, and con
vey it to mankind with intense effect. Both
may be held at bar by quarantine and literally
"fenced out" In KM cholera prevailed in
Southern Kurope anil in Algeria, nut not one
cms occurred that year in Spam by reason of vig
orous quarantine. Two yean later, when the
embargo waa not strictly maintained, it ravaged
the Spaniah peninsula. It alwaye followed the
linea of travel and was always carried by man
kind. The infectious germ might he Ions in
germinating, but it could always he traced to
individuals. Quarantine, to be effectual, how.
ever, mutt have a very wide applicability. It
will not lattice to limit It to veaaelt from foreiirn
ports. It mutt extend to all conveyances for
the transportation of passengers and merchsn
dia mutt have relation! with municipal, (State
and national authority. It ii estimated that
the coat of the lata yellow fever epidemio in
lose amounted to 200, OOO.OOU
Typhoid fever ia certainly communicated
through a tainted water supply exposed to the
taint of infected vaults. Poisoned apringt have
been tracd to this infection, and in a celebrated
Knglish dairy ease, when poieoned milk mi
claimed to have been sold, scientific examina
tion disclosed the fact that the milk had been
contaminated through the cowa having lain
upon ground manured from infected suits.
Another eouros it in the toe supply, often taken
from shallow pondt in the neighborhood of large
cities, freexiug not destroying the germ aa
tuppnaed. The air in localities becomes con
taminated from sewage deposits; and Hudd
states, as early as IMS, that the germ of this
disease never originates o nnco, but proceeds
from a special and specific oison, cajrahls of
gnat diffusion and preserving its noxious quali
ties for a long period, even if buried lor
many months. In Kngland the preventability
of typhoid fever ia so thoroughly established
that an innkeeper who hat a guest ill with it. U
held crimittalhr reapontilde if anv other oaas
could he traced to the one under his roof. Hy
this means infections auhttaooea are destroyed
and the spread of the disease pnventod. Boil
ing water applied to the dischargee is said to de
stroy the infection. But when ths suhetaaea is
allowed to canape aa sewage it must be disin
fected by prompt means
INphtharia ia much more prevalent and much
worse in localities supplied with bad water.
The microscope oan detect a few of the germs of
epidemic diseases either ia the water or in the
system, and taw only san method is to wstrh
the slightest approaches of disease and investi
gate the sonnet of our water supply, whether la
city or country, fhloriae gas, from recant ex
pen meats, seems to be a disinfectant at well aa
a daodoriaar. This rireenish ootored gat effects
ally seises upon and destroys any hidden germs
ettatlno in ttwellineai .Ki... . "a,!, jsj hax
been used successfully et'Hellevuo hospital and
other places. We most purily and quarantine.
Mediums of communication have been made
available to epidemics aa well as to mankind in
hit business affairs.
Thk Kli'iim or Tim Bonv.-I'rof. Jager, of
U'ipaic, has recently published a work in which
he maiutaina that an increased prortimi of
water in the tissues slid humors of the body is
one of the most essential conditions of liability
to disease. To guard against disease, there
foro, it it necessary to make the body
yield as muoh water aa imaaiblc through
akin and lungs, slid to avoid all that favors
the accumulation of water. To thta end he
recommends the wearing of cloee lltting
woolen clothing throughout the year; all bodily
mnvementa which promote perspiration; on out
break of diaeate the use of vsior or sweating
hatha, of drinks that excite perspiration, and of
foode that do the same; constant ventilation ol
lifting and bed rooms, an that the moistoro of
the air may not become great I r Jager asserts
thst ths ipecilic gravity of a living body is an
accurate criterion of the strength of constitution
of a man or a domestic animal that it to say,
for its capability of resistance to causes of
diseases, such sa chills, infection, etc , and Its
Hiwer ol work, bodily and mental.
WiMiliAH.it. A simple apparatus for con
tinuously recording the direction of the wind,
con, 1 in. led by M Kodier, ia now in uae at the
observatory st Lyons. A weathercock of ami
able form is supported by a sort of tripod of
grooved wheels running upon s circular rail uf
tteel (the m heels having individually a hnnronUI
axia, hut oolleutively a vertical . Kn.m the
weathercock paaaet down a vertical rod to con
nection with a cylinder (placed with atit verti
cal), which is tupHirled Mow by a ttool pivot
raiting on s plate of agate, ami is guided at the
upier part by horisontal pulleys Thus each
movement of the weathercock it transmitted to
the cylinder. The latter hat wound round it t
theet of paper, graduated vertically and hurt
rontally (the vertical divisions representing the
houn, the Imriontal the directions), and a
pencil applied to the paper ia moved in vertical
directions by clock-work. It wiltnui be teeu
that the tracing obtained on the p r ludn stes
the successive positions taken by tun weather
ouok, and, accordingly, the direction of the
wind for any given time.
Lh.iiimhi Hons. Mr. II. S. Hrough list
been discussing, ill ths I'hiUmtfJiiml Jugo ..,
ths rnpr sectional areas of iron and crqqrer
lightning rods. Ho far aa mate conductivity is
concerned, a ooiuperelitsly thin wire ol either
metal would luflloa for any orsnductor , but
such a thin conductor would lie dangerous, I,
cause it would be fused by a heavy dieuhcrge of
lightuing. Iron being more liable to 1st ftlSrd
than copper, Mr. Brough sought to determine
the relative sectional arses of rods of two metals,
so that neither wuuld be more liaUe to fuse
than the other. Ordinarily, It isilalrd thai ths
iron rod should lias a four timee the sectional
area of the oopper rod. Mr Brough shows that
these areas should be as sight to three ; or since
the rods are invariably matte circular, aad cir
cular areas an to each other as the square
of their diameters, the diameters of iron and
oopper rode of equal effecUveeaas should 1st In
the propurttua of I. A3 to I. Iron ia, therefore,
much the cheaper metal for lightning rods.
IstMXUtsUI lag. - The Artt'kir X'Ummj glvea
the following formate I 7ft grammea aniline
black are ground op with art drops hydrusaUfle
arid and VI (rain fuse alcoasd. awl the liquid
diluted with a hot solution o 'i I grssansee gam
states ia 170 siaasaise water, ft the aniline
black enlatsoa dilated until a sntattea oft A
gtawiet shellac in 1 70 grnsnsaea spinl laetead
of gnas water. Use retail la an ink suitable foe
writing an wood, brass or liauhir.
TtlgTgUtTBrtgl Aa aLsuUI... I
Mr. li.orge M. Il.qd.ms. of Brooklyn, N, V.,
during a recent thunder llorm 'sinnecled the
gai and water pipe of his dwelling with an or
dinary Bell telephone, and discovered that the
electrical discharge! wen plainly indicated,
either by a sharp crack or hy a succession of
taps. This occurred when the discharge waa so
distant that the thunder was Inaudible The
sound also teemed to he perceived by the ear
before the lightning could lav seen Ttiele was
a marked difference in the chars. 1. 1 .,1 the .lis
charges, some that appeared single to the eye
wore nally multiple. Ortan the discharges
would consist of a tcrica, Ugiuiiing and ending
ailh discharges Isrger llisu the rest, thus
mm sssaste sometimes it would he thus
mmmm ...... sumetliues the reverts, ami
often a single crack. The gaa and water pipes
were used, licing the most convenient and at the
sain, tune the safest conductors fur the pur
pose. Special api.an.lus might U devised, hai -ing
a good ground, anil a sense of points for
gathering the rle.tii.it. from the air, but 111
using sppst.tus of this kind there It always
mon or less danger MaJfjli .1 mm
Kl riTKii Itisi nii-i in 01 WiiHtst, The tram,
milling apparatus is a microphonic sreaker, lire
catlrous of which insti ad of bring press.. I by a
spring, are simply msim un.d 10 . .mtrtcl by the
pressure uf a small f pap. 1 folded in the
form of a The til. rations .1 the diaphragm
of the receiving epiaratui cannot Ire written,
tince the movements uf the style, hunaver dell,
oate the ar.par it us, call scarcely be distinguished
the lamp black To enlarge the magneto
vibrations of ll .1 tl ver and the
diairliragm of a Bell's telephone are taken swat,
and on the wuftd ..I the instiuinanl there ts tiv.d
the end of s small, still steel spring 1 1 ther
Slid uf the spring abuts oil the surfs. 1 of the
msgnelle nucleus surround. d !. its .ml, to
this eitiemity is soldei.d a small mass nf soft
iron, weighing sl-.ut III grms, and upon this
mass and in the prn.li I In... ol the sue of the
spring Ii In i, a light style of hemlaiu, III ...nil
meters 111 length and teimiualing 111 a tlender
whale lame ren .1 ...,.
t'ouui si. iriosi wiiii 1 .10 11 1 no 1 iu A
new deecnptinn of rocket, eallesl ths "hstoyant
rocket, has been prialuraxl hy the lloysl lalarr
t-'y llenartiusnt sl the request of the l..ard
of 'I rade A rocket wss required as s means ol
communication between the shore and light
b.uis. s a few hundred yards from the mala land
during had weather, and in circumstance un
dee which the ordinary lite saving rock apsara
tns by which a line Is conseyed to s wrecked
eeeel would be unavailable The Initiatory
have antweretl Uie demand hy adopting the old
fashn.n.d t'ongnre rocket to meat the required
sod. A email iron tubs, containing Use mm
wreitloft Is ensrlrsse.1 m s easing of nosh, and
lilted to s sli. k in srimlll.s lashlon, with s
line maris fast to the eilremlly, anil the simple
arrangement has admirably eiicceatsted. I hrse
of the rockets have Ireen tiled at lnel.ryaeee,
being fired from a trough at the eutfeee fat the
aea, ami plowing a direst course Ihnsugh the
water with a atrong line alts bed, by aseaiss 4
which an aaeiatanl or a huelloaat of provisions
ooabl be conveyed to the llghthusiee k as pes.
IwrsovsntsT is Mi.iss Masr rar ri ss
A sugar planter end aiaas'aeturee sends Use
Martini. pre jVerAiV an sssstssat of aa eipeft
mental application to sugar eaae of Use dill -.son
prn ana swiploye.1 in the Issel sugar faetortee of
Praam esvf I ternsaay. The eapsmosaia were
made at the plantation Strsnssprse, llaatsel'mpe,
with aa apparatus uf sli maeeralot s. sse
badly adapted to meet the dihValliee la lilanl
to lite pembar nature isf eaae, yet It shows.! 1 1 1
that by a ntetholHssJ washing of Use slseee ol
eaae aa aettrktal )elee nearly ssal la d easily
to nalaral eaae lutae wmU ae ..Uaiaed , east it)
thai oae hear of eysUsaatieal snar-eratusn le en
elssjst to eosapsetely etbaael the eaae gkef of the
sugar which It analalas