1384 REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.-NEW INVENTIONS.

Stock. 1903. Pp. 31. Price ls.-This little pamphlet iscompiled "from State papers, historical documents, officialsources, &c., and a seventeenth century private diary nothitherto published," and is an extremely interesting work.The victualling of the navy in Georgian, and even in earlyVictorian, times was by no means above reproach, but thenew scale of victualling which comes into operation this yearseems very good. Readers of Marryat will remember Mr.Chucks’s opprobrious epithet of "burgoo swilling " appliedto the unhappy cooper who had lurched against him.

"Burgoo," or "bargow," is described by Surgeon ThomasTrotter, M.D., R.N., 1792, as thick gruel made of oatmeal.Oatmeal, however, no longer forms part of the ordinaryration but is retained for stokers to be mixed with water as adrink.

The City of London Directory, 1903. London: W. H. andL. Collingridge. Pp. 1194. Price 12s 6d.-In the prefaceto this directory, which is the thirty-third annual edition,it is stated that it "is the only annual volume containingvaluable and exclusive information in regard to the City ofLondon, the Corporation, the Livery Companies, and otherpublic bodies."

" With this statement we acquiesce, as we

think that in this respect the Directory is a valuable book ofreference, but we consider that the remaining portions couldbe improved. We notice, for example, that a firm of well-known carriers is called Piekford’s (lim.), that the BritishPhoto-Engraving Co. is called the British Photo-En-gineering Co., that in one case at least ’’ Verulam" " is

spelled "Verulum," that in one instance at least the old

address of a firm is given from which they removed somemonths ago, and that in the Street Directory ’° Bishopsgate-street Without" is continued on the next page as

"Bishopsgate-street Within." We may also point out thatTHE LANCET is published on Fridays and not on Saturdays,as stated in the Newspaper List. On the whole, however,the present issue is an improvement on that of last year.Horv and Where to Insure. By CHARLES Cox:. London

Effingham Wilson. Pp. 125. Price ls.-The greater partof Mr. Cox’s useful work was contributed to the EmpireRevierv, where he writes under the pseudonym of ,Thrift."

"

He appears to have an excellent grasp of his subject andto have written in the interests of the would-be insurer

and not in that of any particular office. Therefore his

deductions are the more worthy of consideration, and, in

our opinion, cannot fail to be useful in guiding to thesuccessful choice of a suitable office in any particular classof insurance.

JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES.

The Medical Jou’l’llal of the Italian Navy. -The first issueof the nnali di Al-eel,eiqza Na1’ale for the present yearappears in the form of a double number owing, we areinformed in a prefatory note, to the fact that some

important and richly illustrated articles have taken more

time in preparation than was anticipated. In order to

compensate subscribers for the delay the editor consequentlydecided to publish the parts for January and February undera single cover and he has, moreover, endeavoured to improvethe quality of the journal by making it respond more

adequately to the labour of his collaborators and byrendering it more worthy of the sympathetic receptionwhich is accorded to it by the medical public-foreignas well as Italian. So manifold and complex are the

duties imposed on medical oflicers of the Italian navythat the editor would not have felt surprised had theyentirely failed to furnish him with material. That some

among them did supply him is an example of the utmostzeal and self-abnegation. Had they only the necessary timeto collect and to arrange their clinical notes what a richand useful harvest would be reaped by the An7taZi. The

double number thus introduced contains several articlesof merit evincing much labour, but there is nothing speciallyreferable to the navy or to naval matters. A feature of the

periodical consists in a review of current medical literature.The synopsis is not only copious but well arranged andreflects much credit on the compilers and translators.

New Inventions.THE "SPEEDON " HOT-WATER RADIATOR.

THERE are one or two important advantages connectedwith the use of this appliance for warming apartments thatare well worth attention. The apparatus consists in realityof a series of tubes communicating with each other and upand down which a rapid circulation of hot water is main-tained. The heat of the water radiates readily into theroom owing to the great radiating area which the stove pre-sents. The surfaces of the columns are zig-zag, thus -<..The radiator which we tested contained almost exactly threegallons of water. The source of heat is an atmospheric gas-burner consuming, according to our observations, about

4t cubic feet of gas per hour. We found that it takes a

little over two hours to raise the water from ordinary tem-perature to the boiling point, that is to say. at the expense ofrather less than 10 cubic feet of gas. All this time there is a

steady emission of heat into the room. As a matter of fact,

when the water has reached to within a few degrees ofboiling point the gas may be turned down, the water servingto distribute the heat of the gas flames in a uniform and

regular manner. This principle of heating by means of gas iswell adapted for bedrooms as there need be no danger of gasescaping or of objectionable fumes arising. Thus the gasmay be lighted an hour or so before retiring and at the timeof retiring the gas may be turned off altogether, when theradiator will continue to warm the room for some time andno anxiety need be felt as to gas fumes or as to the workingcondition of the burner. According to our experiments ittakes quite four hours before the stove cools down to thetemperature of the room again. A flue is provided to carrythe products of combustion up the chimney, but as we havealready said the stove requires no attention after the gas hasbeen turned out, it then continuing to exert a marked warm-ing effect upon the room. The appliance is thus economical,effective, and safe. The Speedon radiator is manufacturedby the Coalbrookdale Company, Limited, of 141, QueenVictoria-street, London, E C.

THE BROWNLOW FIELD SERVICE FILTER.

I THIS filter has been designed especially for transportI purposes. It may easily be packed in a wicker basket

which can be strapped to the pack saddle. The dimensions

of the basket are 2 feet 3 inches in length, 14 inchesin width, and 10 inches in depth. A glance at the accom-panying illustration will show that the filter consists

1385NEW INVENTIONS.

practically of three sections. The filtering-tube is con-

tained in a copper jacket which communicates with a

clarifying filter immediately above a semi-rotary pump.The water enters the hose at the bottom by the suctioncaused by a few strokes of the rotary pump and then passesinto the clarifying cylinder which, as shown in theillustration, is grasped by the left hand of the operator.The clarified water is then discharged into the sterilisingfilter, germ-free water escaping ready for drinking purposesat the two pipes shown. The clarifying cylinder contains aninside case of gauze and two clarifying bags. The sterilising

cylinder contains an unglazed porcelain filtering tube or

candle which, according to the experiments of Professor G.Sims Woodhead and Dr. G. E. Cartwright Wood, prevents thetransmission of disease germs when worked under properconditions, so that it was concluded that this filter wouldprotect against the transmission of water-borne disease.Excellent attention, we find, has been paid to details, bearingin mind the special uses of this filter. It is compact, veryeasily put together, and all the parts are well made and ofsolid construction. One field-service filter is sufficient, it isstated, for the needs of a unit of 100 men and one man atleast in each section is expected to superintend its manage-ment. The rate of pumping should not exceed 20 to 35strokes per minute and in the event of the rate of filtrationbecoming slow a new clarifying bag should be introducedand, if considered necessary, a new cylinder also. Instruc-tions to this effect are supplied with each outfit. The (manufacturers are Messrs. Slack and Brownlow of Gorton, I,Manchester.

----’ I"OOCILANA" CLOTH.

THE manufacturers of ’’ Occilana" cloth have afforded us

an opportunity of examining it at various stages in its

preparation and samples of fabric have been submitted

to us representing first the unscoured fleece with thenatural oil retained, secondly the yarn spun ready for

weaving, and finally the finished material. Chemical and

microscopical tests throughout determined at once that thefabric is all pure wool. The wool is said to be producedentirely in the west of England. Further, no evidencewas obtained of the presence of irritating substancesin the form of injurious dye stuffs or of any residue ofobjectionable bleaching agents. The material is warm andcomfortable and porous, though shower proof. It has beenpronounced a cloth material of good quality by a clothexpert. The cloth may be had in a variety of patterns andis supplied by Messrs. S. Fisher and Sons of 215, 217, and

I219, Regent-street, London, W.

A FOUR-CELLED ELECTRIC BATH.

THE four-celled electric bath, devised by Dr. C. E. Schneeof Carlsbad and shown in the illustration, presents no

intricate complications either in the arrangement of its partsor in its therapeutic use. It may be said to consist of two

principal portions-namely, (1) an armchair capable of

adjustment in a variety of positions ; and (2) a set of fourbasins or small baths, two of which stand on the floor,while the other two stand on the arms of the chair. Thepatient uncovers only his arms and lower legs and sits inthe chair with each of these limbs in one of the baths. Thebaths are filled with water or medicated solutions, and ineach of them two carbon electrodes dip into the liquid.When the patient’s limbs are immersed it is obvious that acurrent may be sent through his body in either direc-tion from any bath to any other one, or even from anyone to the other three collectively, so that a diversity ofcombinations is offered for the choice of the medicalattendant. These variations of direction can be madeinstantly by means of moveable plugs fitting into holes in aswitch-board, in addition to which arrangements are pro.vided for measuring and regulating both the quantityof the current (in milliarn,6res) and its intensity (in

volts) ; these two conditions may also be variously

combined, so that a current of small quantity may have ahigh intensity and vice verEd. In each of thel’e baths theeffective electrode is of course not the carbon conductor butthe liquid contained in the bath. The current is thereforeapplied to the whole of the immersed surface, which for theupper limb might amount to 1200 square centimetres (186square inches) and fcr the lower limb might amount to 1400square centimetres (217 square inches). For many thera-peutical purposes it is desirable to have electrodes of con-siderable size and the above-mentioned areas of skin aremuch greater than those of the metallic electrodes usuallyemployed. Galvanic, faradic, or sinusoidal currents may beused; an alternating current may be previously changedinto a direct one by means of a transformer. Currents

having a quantity of from two to about 30 milliamperesand an intensity of from 10 to 45 volts may be employed.Cataphoresis, or the introduction of medicinal substancesinto the system by electrical transference through the skin,can be easily accomplished by filling the baths with the

proper solutions. Dr. Schnee states that from the year 1896to the end of 1902 he has treated 2577 patients with thisapparatus.

IMPROVED CONTINENTAL SERVICES.-By a newexpress service passengers travelling by the Harwich-Hookof Holland Royal British mail route now arrive at Berlinmuch earlier than hitherto ; leaving London (Liverpool-street Station) at 8 30 n.m. Berlin is reached at 6 43 next

evening. Corridor carriages and restaurant cars run betweenthe Hook of Holland and Berlin. By this new service com-munications with other north German towns, with Saxony,Austria, Russia, and Sweden have been much improved andaccelerated. Passengers from the northern and midlandcounties of England leaving in the afternoon can traveldirectly to Harwich alongside the steamers, thus saving thetrouble and expense of crossing London. A dining-car andthrough corridor carriages run between York and Harwich,also through carriages to and from Manchester and Liverpoolviti Lincoln, Birmingham, London and North-Western andMidland Railways, vid Peterborough. On the return journeyto England a corresponding saving of time will be effected bythe new service.