178

THE LANCET.

LONDON: SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1876.

PROFESSOR TYNDALL ON PUTREFACTION.

IT was asserted long ago by PASTEUR, and has since beeiasserted and denied alternately by different experimentersthat in putrescible solutions, such as infusion of turnips, n(organic life is developed and no putrefaction takes place ailong as the solution, after boiling, is exposed only to aratmosphere free from organic germs; in short, that life Í!

never, in our experience, developed from lifeless matter

Among the opponents to this theory, the foremost has beenDr. CaABLTON BASTIAN, whose experiments convince himthat organic life is constantly developed in liquids whichhave been hermetically sealed in flasks while boiling. Dr,

BASTIAN goes even further, as the following passage fromone of his letters will show:-" I have heated flasks, sealed.in the ordinary way, and containing the fluid above men-tioned [the turnip-cheese infusion], to a temperature of105° C. for ten minutes in a chloride of calcium bath, andhave found these fluids swarming with bacteria after six

days." *

Professor TYNDALL’S researches on this important sub-

ject, and the well-devised and well-executed experimentswhich he exhibited a few days ago to an audience whichcrowded the theatre of the Royal Institution to the roof,are a continuation of those on the floating particles of theatmosphere, which attracted so much attention some yearsago. He has found that these particles can be completelyremoved from the air by heat, which destroys their organicmatter; by filtration through cotton-wool, or, less completely,through the lungs; or by deposition, which last processrequires several days for its completion. The most delicate

test of the freedom of the air from solid matter was found

to be the passage through it of a beam of light. The pathof the rays from an electric lantern is clearly marked inordinary air by the illumination of the motes that float inthe air; but if a flask of filtered or otherwise purified air isinterposed, no such illumination takes place, and the spaceinside the glass vessel appears dark. For the same reason,

a flask filled with clear liquid transmits the light, acting asa rough lens, while the liquid inside remains dark; but aturbid liquid reflects the light at all possible angles, andappears brilliantly luminous in consequence. The beam of

light is therefore a test, not only for solids floating in theair, but also for solids floating in liquids; and as turbidityis an invariable consequence of the establishment of putre-faction or fermentation in a liquid, the use of the test isobvious.

So far the experiments, though interesting and sug-

gestive, brought out no new truth. That floating particlesexisted in the air, that they were partly organic, and that

they could be removed more or less completely by filtrationthrough cotton-wool, were facts known before; and the cor-

"’ Nature, April 23rd, 1874.

relation of these facts with the current theories of putre-faction, fermentation, and zymotic disease was obvious.

The agency of the air in these processes was doubted byfew; and the idea that the solid particles of the air werethe active agents in them was entertained by many. It

: remained to connect by direct evidence the solid particlesand the zymotic changes, and to prove that when the solid

particles were excluded the zymotic changes did not occur.As far as putrefaction is concerned, this direct evidence has

1 been supplied by the experiments we are about to describe.

’ An air-tight wooden box was made, of which one side was)

glass, while each end had a glass window through whichthe beam of light could pass. Through the bottom passed

1 several test-tubes, sealed in their holes, and with their open

! ends upwards. In the top was an india-rubber stuffing-box,

.

through which passed a long pipette by which liquid couldl

be dropped into each test-tube in turn. The inside of thel

box was moistened with glycerine, so that all particles thatl

settled on it might be retained. Alterations of volume’

were provided for by small tubes, plugged with cotton-woolat the top. So prepared, the apparatus was allowed to re-main at rest for three days, until by the passage of a beam

, of light through the windows the freedom of the enclosedair from dust was proved. Then organic solutions of variouskinds, infusions of turnip, and of many kinds of fish, flesh,and fowls were dropped into the tubes. If our memory serves

us rightly, about one hundred and thirty different infusionswere used in turn. The liquids in the tubes were thenboiled from below for five minutes, and the apparatus placedin a room maintained at a suitable temperature. Similar

experiments were made in atmospheres purified by filtrationand by calcination; but in all the results obtained were

identical. Except in a few cases where the cause of the failurewas certain and obvious, no turbidity occurred, and no organiclife was developed in one single sample, even after the lapse ofweeks or months. Every one of the same solutions, when

exposed to ordinary air, putrefied rapidly.It is difficult to see any flaw in the evidence here pre

sented. The conditions were apparently far less stringentthan in Dr. CHARLTON BASTIAN’s experiments, and the

aptness of the solutions for putrefaction was proved in eachcase. The only obstacles to the spontaneous generation ofbacteria were the five minutes’ boiling and the purificationof the air; and yet these obstacles were in every case suf-ficient. It seems, however, that the advocates of hetero-

genesis are by no means content to accept these results asfinal and conclusive. The last word in regard to this matterhas yet to be spoken, and we are informed that Dr.

BASTIAN is prepared with some fresh experimental evidencewhich he hopes soon to bring before the Royal Society in

support of the position for the truth of which he has sostrenuously contended.Some highly interesting experiments on the lateral and

vertical spread of the infection (for so Professor TYNDALLmetaphorically called it) of putrefaction were also shownat the lecture. Frames, each containing one hundred tubesfilled with organic solutions, were piled on one another,and the progress of putrefaction in each tube marked fromday to day and recorded on charts. The general result

seems to be that the action spreads most rapidly down-

179THE ANNUAL ADDRESSES AT THE OBSTETRICAL SOCIETIES.

wards; but upon this branch of the subject space forbids menia, it is applied to an exceedingly thin mucous mem-us from enlarging. brane, or even to a bare muscular surface; and in this caseThat the floating particles of the atmosphere really carry the acid acts as a stimulant to healthy action, giving tone

the solid germs or seeds of the bacterium, penicilium, &c., to the whole organ, and thus regulating the menstrual tone-can scarcely remain a matter of doubt. That they are in- tion. But Dr. ATTHILL has gone still further. If it be true

visible to the nailed eye; that some of them are invisible that menstruation consists in the degeneration and re-under the highest powers of the microscope, hardly affects moval of a decidua menstrually developed during the inter-the argument; and the illustration with which the lecture menstrual interval, it follows that amenorrhoea may in some

virtually terminated will probably be accepted by all our cases be due to the failure of degeneration of this mem-readers. We do not profess to give the exact words. " Let brane. Starting from this hypothesis, he argued that, if

us imagine that these minute and invisible particles were a stimulant were applied to the uterus in such a mannerincreased in size till we could see and handle them, that we as to cause this degeneration, the catamenia would

planted them in garden-mould, and that in a week’s time follow. It was thought that the application of carbolicthere came up a crop of cress or of grass,-would any sane acid would produce the desired effect; and, in some casesman have a doubt as to their nature ?" in which this treatment was adopted by Dr. ATTHILL, men-

- .. struation was established. These facts are of great im-THE addresses delivered at the commencement of the portance both from their clinical and physiological bear-

session by the Presidents of the Obstetrical Societies of ings. Their physiological bearing is, so far as it goes, in

Dublin and Edinburgh had Menstruation for their subject. favour of the view adopted by Dr. LoMBE ATTHILL-thatThe method of treating the matter adopted by Dr. LoMBE is, that the mucous membrane of the uterus is removed

ATTHILL was, however, very different from that adopted by every month. This view has recently been made the sub-Professor SIMPSON. The latter limited himself to giving ject of some discussion, and considerable difference of

a summary of the views held with regard to menstruation, opinion prevails with regard to it. Its importance cannotthe process itself, the anatomical changes which accompany be questioned, for the physiological and anatomical changesor take part in it, the various agents which affect its first which take place in the uterus and ovaries from month toappearance, the relation of the process to conception, the month must be made the basis of the pathology and treatmentcourse of labour, the menopause, &c. On the other hand, of diseases of the female generative organs. The questionDr. ATTIIILL confined himself to the fact that the mucous is surrounded with difficulties, inasmuch as the material formembrane of the uterus is removed with every catamenial deciding the question is not easily obtained. At the same

flow and renewed during the intermenstrual interval, and time there is much material which bears on this questionthe bearing which this fact has upon uterine pathology and lost at our hospitals and elsewhere owing to the fact thattreatment. Dr. ATTHILL did not rest his belief in this fact the morbid anatomy of the uterus has obtained little

upon anatomical observation alone, but found evidence or no attention from general, medical, or surgical patho-of it in the results of treatment obtained in his own prac- logists ; and obstetricians have, as a rule, carefullytice. The President of the Dublin Society has been and is avoided the post mortem room. Now, however, that gynse-one of the ablest advocates of the application of caustics, cology is obtaining greater importance and commandingand especially of strong nitric acid, to the inner surface of greater attention, we trust that there will be men who willthe uterus in the treatment of certain diseases of that devote themselves to diseases of women alone, leaving mid-

organ. He has employed it frequently in cases of obstinate wifery to pure obstetricians, and that use will be made ofmenorrhagia, and apparently with great success. The em- the material at the command of those pursuing the formerployment of this agent in the treatment of uterine disease branch of medicine and attached to our hospitals, in orderis not new; for Dr. EvoRy KENNEDY and Dr. RINGLAND to settle this important question. The uterus has as yetstate that they had used it twenty-five years ago. Yet there been treated as a wilful creature rather than as an

are no definite rules laid down by which cases in which its organ amenable to physiological law. It has been, and isuse is indicated can be distinguished from those in which it still, the subject of crude pathological views, which haveis contra-indicated. Dr. ATTHILL has, however, found that long ago ceased to find supporters in other departments.in those cases where the acid had been applied a short time This is partly due to our ignorance of uterine physiology;before the expected return of the catamenia, the next flow in part to want of investigations in uterine pathology; inwas hastened and considerably increased; and, on the other part to a devotion on the part of the few workers in thishand, that when the application was made soon after the department to morbid anatomy rather than to morbid phy-cessation of a flow, the succeeding one returned at the siology. Though physiology should be made the basis ofproper time and in proper quantity. The explanation of pathology, and pathology of treatment, yet pathology andthese effects of the acid, when applied at different times, treatment may in many cases confirm or tend to disproveDr. ATTIEEILL finds in the different conditions of the mem- physiological conclusions ; and Dr. ATTHILL has in his

brane at the different periods of application. Shortly before annual address brought forward the evidence of treatmentthe appearance of the catamenia the membrane is of con- in support of the teaching of physiology with regard tosiderable thickness, and the application of the acid simply amenorrhoea and menorrhagia.causes destruction of its upper and superficial layer, this .

being soon removed and followed by haemorrhage. On the IN our leading remarks upon the events of the past year,other hand, when the acid is applied soon after the cata- published a month ago, we referred specially to the supine-

180 PROPHYLACTIC LEGISLATION FOR SHIPOWNERS AND SAILORS.

ness of the Government in neglecting to legislate for sea- "As to the advisability of a medical inspection of merchantworthy sailors as well as seaworthy ships. It is acknow- seamen before signing articles, there is little difference ofledged on all sides, and has been insisted upon over and opinion. It seems to be merely a question of who shouldover again in Parliament and on paper, that the safety of a bear the cost." It appears, too, that even Mr. PLIMSOLL

ship is not properly provided for unless the crew are phy- has at last become alive to the fact that the vital as well as

sically competent tc do their duty. Mr. C. M. NORWOOD, one the inanimate material of which our merchant navy is com-

of the members for Hull, and a large shipowner, pointed posed must be repaired and maintained in good order beforeout this fact very forcibly in the House of Commons, on the we can fairly say that proper legislative means have been8th of April last, during the discussion on the second reading adopted to ensure the safety of our ships at sea.of the defunct Merchant Shipping Bill. He quoted statistics We may, therefore, expect that, when Sir C]AAS. ADDEBLBT’g

gleaned from the port of London, and said "vessels were Bill is introduced in the forthcoming session, this importantleaving port continually, and when they got into blue water section of the subject will be dealt with in a practical manner.one-third of the crew were found incompetent as A Bs, We are told that the application of a medical test to all whoeither from disease or want of proper knowledge, and the present themselves at the shipping-office would be impossible,work was inefficiently performed. The result was loss of life because in many cases (and particularly if men were scarce)at sea." The class of cases admitted into the Seamen’s it would not be submitted to; and so a ship, in all otherHospital at Greenwich on the medical side and in the respects ready to sail, would occasionally be stopped fromvenereal wards shows a vast amount of severe chronic dis- want of hands. It is, however, a mistake to suppose thatease among sailors. No less than ten official inquiries as an examination should in all cases be. compulsory. Theto outbreaks of scurvy have been ordered by the Board of medical officer would at the time of signing articles be pre-Trade during the past year, and we believe that the evidence sent, and would indicate if in any particular case he deemedadduced in these cases, if published, would show that this pre- an inspection ’prudent or necessary; or, as was suggestedventable disease had attacked exclusively men affected with by Mr. NORWOOD, the examination might take place else-some chronic malady, and at the time of signing articles phy- where, and the seaman be supplied with a certificate, which, ifsically incapable of performing active duty afloat. Three, if used by the person only to whom it referred, would be quitenot more, official inquiries of the same kind have been held sufficient to eliminate from the mercantile marine a vast

during the past year at Callao and San Francisco; and at number of cases of chronic disease. But the unfortunate

the beginning of last month twenty-one days were occupied possessors of dilated hearts, ruptures, and ulcerated colons,at Quebec in the trial of a ship captain, who was accused of need not necessarily be deprived of their bread afloat. It

causing the death of one of his crew by undue exposure, the would be competent for the medical examiner to decline aevidence showing that the deceased was the subject of old man with tubercle for coasting service, but to pass him for anheart disease, could not have gone aloft, and would have Australian voyage; to refuse a sailor with chronic dysenterybeen rejected at the most cursory medical examination. for India or China, but accept him for a trip to New York orAbout twelve years have passed since the press showed, and St. Petersburg. These are examples of working details thatthe public saw, the necessity that existed for special pro- can be compassed and mastered by the officials at the Boardphylactic legislation as to sea scurvy, the outcome of which of Trade without difficulty, and the cost of the scheme mightwas the Merchant Shipping Act of 1867. No other sanitary fairly be borne in equal parts by the State and the ship-enactments have in their results been more satisfactory; owner.

but the only "permissive" clause in the Act-viz., that But a better kind of prophylactic legislation for the mer-relating to the medical examination of seamen-has utterly cantile marine will be to give encouragement and assistancecollapsed. Yet the desirability of making it "absolute" is to training-ships, or establishments of a kindred sort. On

acknowledged by the Board of Trade, by shipowners of economical as well as on sanitary grounds, we very muchall political creeds and of all classes, by shipmasters, and by question the wisdom of increasing the number of our school-all real sailors. The Marine Assistant-Secretary of the Board ships. But if, as appears to be the case, the recent disastersof Trade, in a Report on the Supply of British Merchant afloat tend to give an impetus to the training-ship system,Seamen, published in December, 1872, comments thus :- it is plain that some definite plan of internal construction"As the State pays very large sums for the medical and should be adopted, and officially insisted upon, before a shiphospital expenses of distressed British seamen abroad, and is lent by the Admiralty for educational purposes. A vesselfor their maintenance and conveyance home, the State, at fixed moorings is not a specially healthy home for youngmerely in the interests of economic expenditure, might pro- persons, unless all possible sanitary requirements are rigidlyperly insist on a medical examination of seamen." These fulfilled. Perfectly clear spaces below, so as to secure ven-remarks are dii-lomatic enough; but they only show that tilation down to the bottom of the ship, a constant water-the " State," instead of spending, say, a sovereign to pre- supply, and good latrines, are some of many things abso-vent mischief, and perhaps loss of life, spends twenty pounds lutely necessary to secure a fair average of health in thesein bringing home a miserable and diseased being, who has large floating establishments. The entire subject shouldbeen supported for several months by the shipowner, has be looked into and systematised at head-quarters, and thedone no work, has in consequence given additional labour Board of Trade may then very properly give pecuniary en-to the rest of the crew, and may, of course, have imperilled couragement to these schools. If the President, in the

the safety of the ship. The Shipping Gazette, commenting future Merchant Shipping Bill, provides and passes sectionsforcibly on the subject a few days ago, thus concluded to compass the objects indicated above, he will but continue

181THE SPREAD OF WHOOPING.COUGH.

in sanitary matters the preventive policy successfully in- Iaugurated in 1867 by the Duke of Ricn:soxTD, and assist atthe same time to secure for our ships a continuous streamof seaworthy sailors.

THERE is no more difficult problem in practical epidemio-logy than that presented by some of the milder epidemicdiseases. With a malady which, like cholera or typh’’?,strikes down the affected in definite seizure and retain him

in unrelaxing grasp for a considerable part of the periodduring which the disease is communicable to others, thetask of isolation is rendered comparatively easy, and thework necessary to arrest the spread of the disease is distinctand obvious. But with those affections which interfere less

with the ordinary course of life the case is far otherwise.The difficulty of isolation, when the existence of the diseaseis known, is vastly increased; the problem is also rendered

more complex by the frequent obscurity of the symptomswhich mark the invasion and the course of the affection.

Moreover, some of these diseases are in their common andimmediate aspect so trifling that the sanitary reformeris baffled in his efforts by the indifference of those

whose practical co-operation is all-essential to success.

Whooping-cough is a disease to which these remarks applyvery pointedly. A malady to which a large number ofdeaths is indirectly due, which often prepares the way forsome of the gravest affections to which childhood is liable,whooping-cough, nevertheless, rarely kills directly, and doesnot, in its ordinary intensity, interfere much with the

patient’s usual habits. Confinement to bed is rarely ne-cessary, but, without it, effective isolation is most difficult.Confinement to the house is, in a large number of cases,not urgently indicated by any symptoms, and parentsamong the poor are only too glad to avoid, if they can,irksome and tiresome restraint. During even the most con-tagious period of the malady the distinctive symptoms maybe so obscure that its existence may be unsuspected by thebest informed and by the most observant. A medical officer

of health communicates to us a pertinent illustration. He

had been so impressed by the insidious spread and disastrouseffects of whooping-cough that, during a recent outbreak,he issued a circular to the various schoolmasters and school-

mistresses requesting them to have all children suffering,or suspected to suffer, put upon the sick-list and isolated.

At the very time, one of this gentleman’s own children was

suffering from whooping-cough, unsuspected even by hisfather, and was running about at large. He had contracted

it at school, and it was only when his brothers and sisterscontracted it from him that the existence of his affectionwas recognised. Moreover, as our correspondent points out,when whooping-cough is epidemic, hardly any public con-veyance can be entered without the distinctive whoop salut-ing an attentive ear.

It seems a nearly hopeless task to attempt to exterminateor even materially to lessen a disease the form of which

may be so insidious and the extension of which is so easy. It

is obvious that the only means at present available is thelimitation of contact between the sick and the healthy.That the disease is largely spread by school-contact is un.

questionable. It is probable that more might be done tc

i lessen the facilities for the extension of epidemics whichschools afford. Better provision should be made for theisolated instruction of those children who have been ex-

posed to contagion. Those suspected of the disease shouldcertainly be excluded altogether from attendance. In-

formation should be given to the school authorities, under

strict compulsion, of the outbreak cf any contagious diseasein the homes of the children in attendance; and, further,the school teachers should be well trained in the essentials

of practical epidemiology. They should be instructed howto recognise symptoms of suspicious character, when toenforce isolation, and how to manage disinfection.How far other measures for the arrest of these milder epi-

demics are practicable, measures of more effective isolation,is a very difficult question. There is so much about these

diseases of which we are yet ignorant. The 11 whoop" mayprobably persist, for instance, long after the disease is com-municable to others. It would be unreasonable to requirethat a man who whoops should desist from his normal occu-

pation, from earning his bread and cheese it may be, at

any rate until we can say definitely whether he is or is not

likely to spread the disease. The clear indication is for

more systematic and scientific study of the conditions of the

origin and spread of these diseases, which cannot but throwimportant light on the question of their arrest. It is a

matter of congratulation that much modern work is takingso definite a direction towards this end. The scientific

grants of Government and of our Societies cannot be de-voted to a more directly practical object, or to one of greatersocial importance.

Annotations."Ne quid nimis."

MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH AND INFEC-TIOUS DISEASES.

FROM north, south, east, and west comes to us informationrespecting movements of our newly-appointed medicalofficers of health relating to more stringent legislation forthe control of infectious diseases. The sentiment which

prompts these movements must necessarily command thesympathy of most persons, lay or professional, and the con-currence of many medical officers in them affords presump-tive evidence that the evil they are designed to meet is avery real one. It is impossible, however, to give attentiveregard to the movements without the attention being ar-resled by the paucity of information given by the pro-moters respecting the operation of the existing law as toinfectious diseases and the means in the several localities towhich the promoters belong; in other words, we are left inthe dark as to the provision made by the different localauthorities of these districts for dealing with infectiousdiseases and the success which has attended upon these

provisions. Notably we find no reference to that cardinalcondition for dealing with such diseases which existinglaw sets forth-namely, the provision of hospital accom-modation ; or, if there be a reference, it implies that theauthorities have taken no steps to make such provision.Until the information here referred to be forthcoming, itcertainly seems premature to call upon either the professionor the people at large, or local authorities, to move the

Legislature to make it penal for householders and for medi-cal men not to give immediate information to the local