Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1883 — CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC. [ARTICLE]

CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

Some curious facts were related regarding hydrophobia before the Academy of' Sciences, Paris, by M. Bert. It seems that inoculation with mucus from the respiratory passages of a mad dog caused rabies, l>ut that with the salivary liquids did not. Reciprocal transfusion of blood betw'eCn a ■ healthy and a mad dog caused no rabies l in the former. ’ A malignant tumor, Les Mondes states, was produced on the cheek of a rnanby the bite of a large black-fly,which was killed in the act. The pustule was cauterized, and the patient took internally, in twenty-four hours. 500 i grammes of Spanish wine. 300 grammes Jof rum, end 200 grammes of Chartreuse without experiencing the least symptom of intoxication. A cow will give more milk and make ' more butter on a bright sunshiny day I'thahduring one of a dull, dark charac- . ter. The animal eats more heartily, digests better, while the vital forces are active during the pleasant day. These ! facts are not in themselves very im- ' portant, yet they suggest the query whether close stabling of cows in winter i or summer is better than giving them i the run of a yard or pasture lot. I M. Regnakd, a French savant, has ! been lately trying the effect-of “blood diet” on lambs. Three lambs, which for , some unexplained cause had been abandoned by their mothers, were fed on “powdered blood” with the most gratifying results. The Jambs increased in size in the most marvelous fashion, and attained unusual proporI tions for their age. The coats of wool j also became double in thickness. Encouraged by his success with the lambs, j M. Regnard is now feeding some calves ton blood.

At the Nuremberg Exhibition was I shown a novel use' of bricks of cork. These bricks have not only beenused for building purposes, on account of their lightness and isolating properties; but ; they are now also used as a covering.for boilers, and are said to excel even asbestos in preventing the radiation of heat. They are stated to be very cheap, being composed of small corks, refuse and isolating cement. At Nnremlierg the application of cork bricks was largely shown. The usual size of cork bricks is 16 by by 2) inches.. Dr. Merkel states that the height of ian individual after a night’s rest, meas- | ured before rising from the bed, is two inches greater than it is in the - evening, measured standing. There is i a gradual diminution in height, caused by the yielding of the plantar arches and of the intervertebral discs; and a sudden diminution when the individual rises, occurring at the articulations of low er extremities. The sinking at the ankle is 4 inch; at the knee 1-12 to i inch; at the hip, 2-5 inch. The shortening at the knee is probably due to the elasticity of the cartilages. At the hip there is, in addition, a sinking of the head of the femur into the cotyloid cavity.—Journal de Medecine de Paris. Dr. Formad. in a letter to the Medical Times, of Chicago, states that “by a German imperial order in military hospitals phthisical patients are separated from other cases as carefully as small-pox patients; so a gentleman tells me who has just come from Germany, i Even here the community begins to reI gard the disease as eminently conta- ! gious. I know of an instance of a ■ young woman suffering from phthisis ! being locked up and avoided, perhaps j neglected by the members of her own i family, for fear of contagion. I have learned of several consumptives who ■ have become worse from the mortification of having their friends avoid them, some even going so far as not to shake bands with them.” '■ "Sw .facts concerning rabies have I been presented to the French Academy lof Sciences by Pasteur and others. All : forms of rabies they hold come from ' the same virus; that is to say, whatever ! symptoms might be manifested in the victim the origin could be traced and I proven to be identical. It has been i proven that death after inoculation ■ with rabid saliva may be either from a i microbe found in the saliva, from much pus formation, or from rabies produced i and communicated directly. That' virus is contained not only in the medulpa obhmg^^Jmt in the brmn . andspinal cord. Experiments on animals show j that rabies may be produced very certainly and quickly either by the acta of ■ trepanation or inoculation -or by intraveneous injection. It was noted that as- - ter the first symptoms there was a recovery, but that when the acute ones . set in all hope of life was - over.