March, 1880
66
THE WEST SHORE.
planted and standing all kinds of rough
usage, but abundantly repaying any
lover of flowers for all the care that
may be bestowed upon it. It growl
readily from culling, and Increases
rapidly by underground runners. In
short, it is in every respect a satisfactory
plant to cultivate, and being found so
sparingly in its wild state, makes it all
the more valuable. S.
SANITARY EFFECTS OF DRAINAGE,
W. I.. WADS, M 11.
Leaving out of our calculation the
advantages of drainage for agricultural
purposes which are such as to cause it
to take the first place among the essen
tials of successful farming, we propose
to speak of it in its relation to public
health. Water, in a state of stagna
tion, has long been recognized as a pro
lific source of danger l health. As
water undergoes putrefaction only he
cause of foreign material held in solu
tion, it follows that the more it is con
taminated by such material the more
offensive it becomes. Under the influ
ence ef light and heat, stagnant water
becomes a nidus for innumerable germs
of all the lower forms of fungoid veg
etation. A good idea of the offensive
character of such water can be obtained
by smelling of water in which cut Unw
orn have stood for a few hours in warm
weather. Wo are then prepared with
data from w hich to estimate the amount
(f effluvia arising from a square mile ol
our ponds and swales. The quantity
of matter, chiefly vegetable, which is
in a state of decomposition in the course
of a year is almost beyond calculation
The Spring and Autumn are the sea
sons in which putrefaction is most ac
tive. This is owing to the fact; that
heat and moisture, both essential to the
change in question, are present in the
proper proportions at this season.
Streams, so long as they are in rapid
motion, nrc not a source of danger
This is one reason .wbv the streams of
the Mississippi valley aie so much tttOR
unhealthful than those of Oregon
which having their sources fed by
mountain springs, arc never dried up
by the summer heat.
To just what extent these putrescent
matters are the causes of disease has
never leen definitely settled. Thei
can be little doubt that malarial dil
eases, most of the fevers, dysentery, and
perhaps, diphlhciia, have this origin-
while rheumatism, bronchitis, asthma,
catarrh, and, perhaps, other affections,
owe their origin to excessive moisture,
conjoined with cold. Water standing
and nvnnnvntin" mlTICs off a VBSt
amount of heat, and this is without
doubt, a prolific cause of consumption,
which fell disease carries off its thou
sands annually. So close is the con
nection between the rainfall, evapora
tion and physical conformation of a
country with its sanitary condition, that
a knowledge of the former is all suffi
cient from which to predict the latter.
Sewerage was the fust remedy for
the large amount of decaying matter
accumulating in cities; but from its very
nature it is almost valueless as a sani
tary precaution. Millions of dollars
have been expended to remove the filth
a short distance from the city, while,
perhaps, the very next breeze bears the
on y dangerous part, its noxious gasses,
ack to the nostrils of the citizens,
while the unventilated trap sends up its
lUOta of death-dealing poison from the
sewer. In one week, during July, 1866,
200 children died in New York City
uul 700 in Philadelphia, from causes
tracable to decaying animal and veget
able matter. Tens of thousands of
hildren die in our great cities yearly
Irom causes 111 their nature largely
eventable, The remedy for all this
must be radical, and ample to the
fullest extent. The key-note of the
reform is the perfect separation of
ill matter liable to undergo decom
position from the waste water; this,
liter being deodorized, to take the
usual course of the sewers, which will
convey nothing else. All the matters
separated are then to be completely
lessicated and used for agricultural
pm poses. 1 lie complete execution 01
this plan would exert a remarkable ef
fect on the vital statistics ot the cities.
We learn that the Russian Minister
f the Interior has signed a concession
giving the American firm of Hutchin
son, Kohl & Co. the right to the fur
trade of the Komcndoiskin and Sulin
Islands, oil' Kamtschatka, for a term of
twenty-five years, at a rent of 5,000
roubles per annum. This, it is stated,
is the first of a series of concessions that
will be granted to American citizens in
connection with the fur trade and fish
eries upon the Pacific-Siberian coast, as
being the best means of dealing with
the disputes that have occurred recently
between the Russian and the United
States Governments in respect to those
I ud list t ies.
THE AUD1PHONE AND DENTAMIONE.
BY K. B. BATON, M. D. PORTLAND, OREGON'.
Perhaps no appliance of equal notori
ety has won a reputation so equivocal
as the Audiphone. To-day il is regard
ed by many all over the land as an
inestimable boon, and, by perhaps an
ccpial number, is, after a brief trial,
thrown aside us worthless. Now,
strange as it may sound, the principal
cause of this disagreement of opinion
and experience rests neither in the in
strument nor yet in the physical condi
tion of the patient, but, it must be said,
in the ignorance of the latter concerning
the principles upon which it is con
structed and used, and in want of per
severance and faith.
The writer has arrived at these con
clusions by actual experience with the
deaf, and it would seem that the very
simplicity of the audiphone has misled
patients into supposing that its practical
use is equally simple, lie ventures the
statement that proper instruction in its
use is as needful as that to enable a pa
tient to use an artificial eye or limb. A
couple of cases will be appended to this
article illustrating these points. In the
mean time, let us determine those deaf
.individuals who can and those who can
not, be benefited by the instrument ;
this, of course, will include a description
of its modus operandi.
Deafness may be considered as arising
from two principal abnormal conditions
of the ear, viz : Disease of the appar
atus which conducts the sounds to the
auditory nerve; and disease of the nerve
itself. It should be clearly understood
that the audiphone is useless where
great deafness is caused by disease of
the nerve ; a condition only to be ascer
tained by a competent physician,
Fortunately, nervous deafness is com
paratively infrequent, while deafness
from disease of the conducting appar
atus (i. c., the drum, etc.), is precisely
the kind which the audiphone assists,
ami the greater the deafness the more
marked the assistance derived.
For the sake of those who have not
seen the instrument, the following de
scription of its nature and working may
prove acceptable. Advantage is taken
of the acoustic principle that solid
bodies possess the superior power of
conducting and transmitting sonorousi
vibrations. With this is counted a
1
I physiological fact, viz : that the nerves