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after a few minutes’ exposure a restless condition super- lvened, the animal jumping with much liveline-s. This

was followed by a period of quiescence, the forepawsbeing used to rub the nose and the eyes being kept closed.Dyspnoea gradually increased. The contractions of the heart

and the respiratory acts were reduced in frequency. Effortsat jumping were then sometimes made, but the nimal

often fell on its back and recovered its natural position )with difficulty. In many cases there was a profuseexudation of mucus, the floor of the vessel in which theanimal was confined being covered with a layer of whitefoamy mucus. If the bell glass were removed at this stagefeeble creeping movements only could be made. If the skin

were pinched a jump could still be made, but there was anobvious want of coordination of the muscles of the tired

limbs. The respiration, if the exposure to the vapour were con-tinued, became convulsive, the head fell forward and the

animal no longer responded to stimuli except by a singleeffort at inspiration, the eyes being rotated strongly outwards.The heart beat very slowly and feebly and finally stopped.The increasing paralysis of the sensory nerves in the courseof the experiment was demonstrated by the gradual loss ofthe sensibility of the cornea. Dr. Beyer instituted an

additional series of experiments to determine how odoroussubstances act on motor nerves and whether the action is

effected through the circulation or otherwise. With this

object in view the common iliac artery of one side was

ligatured and complete narcosis was produced by exposure tothe odorous vapour, so that there was entire loss of sensi-

bility and of motion. After testing the excitability of thewhole animal, that of the two lower extremities was com-

pared, and it was found, as Bernstein’s former experi-ments with chloroform show, that notwithstanding thearrest of the circulation in one limb the nerves and

muscles presented no difference in their reaction to

electric stimuli, whence the conclusions may be drawnthat the absorption of the vapour is effected to a much

larger extent by the skin than by the lungs and that theimpaired excitability and coordinating powers observed

have a central origin. Further experiments were then madeto ascertain the effects of the direct action of the vapourson the nerves. For this purpose nerve-muscle preparationswere made of the lower extremities, preserving their con- !nexion with the spinal cord, and the vapour was allowed toact on a limited part of the nerve, which was tested, as wellas the part above and below, as to its capability of excitinga maximal contraction of the muscles on the application ofa given stimulus. It was found that there was a loss of

excitability in the part of the nerve exposed to the odour,loss extending gradually upwards and more slowly down-wards.

____

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, MEDICINE, AND

OCCULTISM.

THE name " Christian Science" always reminds us of the Icelebrated remark which someone made about the word" blue-bottle." When asked why this insect was so calledhe replied, "Because it is not blue and is not a bottle."So we say that Christian Science is neither Christian norscientific. Dr. Albert Moll of Berlin has written a little

pamphlet, a translation of which now lies before us, inwhich he examines the relations between Christian Science,medicine, and occultism. He admits that Christian Science

may improve the symptoms even when serious anatomical

changes are’present. But so, also, he says, will ordinarypsychotherapy and suggestion. Neither, however, willeffect the removal of anatomical cliinges. He points out

that Christian Science, even according to its disciples, "willnot work in the case of broken bones." Since Dr. Moll’s

paper was written we see it announced that Mrs. Eddy has

forbidden her disciples to undertake in the fu’ure the treat-ment of infectious fevers. Dr. Moll points out that ChritianScience is intimately connected with occultism and this

despite the denials of Mrs. Eddy in her published works.Dr. Moll, however, states that he has never come across a

single occult phenomencn which was not capable of beingexplained by forces known to reputable science. We shouldbe the last to deny that faith has an influence upon certainforms of disease, mainly on functional, but sometimes on

organic, disease. Thus if a person suffering from pneumoniamakes up his mind that he is going to die he is perhapsmore likely to do so than if he makes up his mind that heis going to recover. We also do not deny that there areforces of the action and nature of which we know little or

nothing. But Christian Science is a swindle pure and

simple : it only panders to the craving of the human intel-lect for something new or something which it thinks is new.It is on a par with many forms of heterodoxv, early and late,and perhaps is more closely related to Manichæism, whichheresy took over to itself certain tenets of Gnosticism, thanto anything else. For instance, matter is, according toMrs. Eddy, "another name for mortal mind ...... that whichmortal mind sees, feels, hears, tastes, and smells only inbelief " (’’ Science and Health," p. 582).’ Again, Matteror Evil is the absence of Spirit or Good (" No and Yes, p. 25). Again, " Mortals are not fallen children of God.......They were from the beginning of mortal history conceivedin sin and brought forth in iniquity " (" Science and Health,"p. 472). So Maniohasism held that the body was created bythe Evil One. To such belief the old tag fitly applies :" What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never

mind. "

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LEUCOCYTES.

M. H. Stassano and M. F. Billon publish in the Comptesde l’ A cadémie des Seiences of August llth the results

of their inquiries into the physiology of leucocytes. Professor

Recklinghausen has demonstrated that the diapedesis of

leucocytes takes place with special activity through the

mucous membrane of the intestine, and M. Stassano, pursuingvarious expcrimental method?, has recently shown that thisdiapedesis constitutes one of the chief means by which theorganism frees itself from substances that are either hurtfulor simply useless. Perchloride of mercury, for example,when introduced into the circulation is chiefly elimi-nated from the system by the agency of these cells. The

same cells effect the discharge of iron if that metal beintroduced into the system by intravenous injection of

iron saccharate, as may easily be shown by testing with

potassium ferrocyanide. Many circumstances also seem

to show that leucocytes are the agents by which elimina-tion is effected by certain giands. Thus leucocytes are theexclusive carriers of the iodine contained in normal blood,which again suggests that the iodine normally found in milkcombined with nucleins is conveyed to the mammary glandby leucocytes. Other substance, such as mercury, arsenic,strychnine, and morphine, are all to be met with in varioussecretions as well as in the excreta in the state of true

nucleinic compounds. The decreasing quantity of mercurydischarged into the intestine in passing from the duodenumto the large intestine shows that the activity of the

process of diapedesis of leucocytes takes place with vary-ing rapidity in one region of the digestive tube as

compared with another. But it has been proved byProfessor Pawlow and Dr. Schepowalnikow that an agentfavouring tryptic digestion, which is present in the intes-tinal juice and to which they have given the name of

1 The quotations from "Science and Health" are given as quoted in" Faith Healing and Christian Science," by A. Feilding. LondonDuckworth and Co. 1899.

1410

"entero-kinase," likewise diminishes in quantity or activityfrom the duodenum downwards, failicg altogether in the

large intestine. This parallelism, together with the fact

established by M. Delezenne that macerations of leucocytescontain a principle analogous to entero-kinase, has ledM. Stassano and M. Billon to undertake a series of

researches to determine whether the active power of the

enteric juice does not in part at least proceed from

the leucocytes which continually move in great numbersinto the mucous membrane of the intestine. To determinethis point they have augmented the efflux of leucocytes fromthe vessels into the membrane by the subcutaneous injec-tion of bichloride of mercury or of saccharate of ironand they have compared the activity or kinasic power ofthe nucleo-albuminates extracted from the intestinal mucousmembrane thus rendered the seat of an intense leuco.

cytosis with the extracts obtained from normal membranes.The result of the comparison repeatedly made under favour-able conditions was that the nucleo-kinases of the mercurial-ised dogs and those treated with iron saccharate were

distinctly more active than those of the normal dog. In

accordance with this conclusion they found that intestinalextracts when digestion was at its height and diapedesis ofleucocytes most active possessed much greater power thanthe extract of the membrane when the animal was in the

fasting state. Hence they are of opinion that leucocytesoffer amongst the numerous forms of tissue cells the bestand most characteristic example of primordial intra-cellulardigestion ; their participation in extra-cellular digestiveprocesses as indicated by the observations of M. Delezenne.and of those made by themselves they consider possesses aspecial biological importance.

RABIES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

WITH reference to an annotation in which our present’knowledge of hydrophobia is compared with that of 1824it is instructive to note how much less profound was theignorance displayed by medical men on the subject of the biteof mad dogs in the second year of THE LANCET’S existencethan at first appears. THE LANCET writer of 18242 speaksof hydrophobia as "one of the opprobria of surgery.

" He

would have been less diffident had he known more of whatthe old writers had to say upon the subject. He was onlyin the dark ; they were wildly at sea. Dr. Stephen Bradwellin the earliest-known English book on first aid to the injured,called by him "Helps for Suddain Accidents" (1633)endeavours to shuttle out of the serious discussion of mad

dog-bite by pooh-poohing it. His method is familiar even

now. " Although," says he, " in this our country of England Ihave neither seen nor heard of any such terrible dangers hap-pening to people by a mad dog’s biting as in other regions :yet I have seen dogs mad." Cure, according to him, is easyand frequent. His own method of procedure partly followsCelsus. I I Labour to draw the contagion out of the woundby cupping-glasses." He also advocates the use of the

cautery and of sublimate, but departs from the common-

sense of antiquity when he suggests an "application of

pnllets or pigeons that lay eggs," scarifications, leeches, anddrawing medicines. From the days of Galen to those ofRhazes and onwards powdered crayfish was recommendedas an antidote. The crayfish were to be gathered whenthe sun was in a certain house and were to be cookedalive. There are five general remedies for the bite of a maddog in Thomas Sendall’s " Manuscript " (1659). Two recom-

mend strong ale as a chief ingredient in the medicines to ibe administered. One mixture includes ale, garlic, sage,treacle, and two ounces of scraped pewter and is to be

administered thrice daily " by nine spoonfulls " at a

1 THE LANCET, Oct. 18th, 1902 p. 1068.2 Vide THE LANCET, Oct. 4th, 1902, p. 953.

time. Another consists of powdered claws of cray-fish and a sufficiency of treacle, , milk, pine-roots,dragon-roots, " vile " primrose-roots, and the like, and

is to be given to man or dog-for the dog was

then also treated-" four days before the change." This

change in the case of man seems to be the actualonset of hydrophobia when Bradwell admits that the

sufferer will be in hopeless case unless he can be in-

duced to swallow quantities of water. "The main generalremedy’is by Celsus and others held to be casting of thepatient into the water before he be aware of it, and this

to be done every day for many days : for that which hefeareth is the only medicine to cure him." Should the

patient swim well I hold him under water a little while tillhe have taken in some pretty quantity." Madness’in dogs,the same author opines, "proceedeth from black cholerickjuices wherewith a dogge more than other beasts aboundeth," but of the actual fear of water he can give no better accountthan that drinking may produce convulsions in the bitten andmay so come to be regarded with horror.

THE CARIBS OF DOMINICA.

THE Colonial Office has lately issued a report of consider-able ethnological interest in regard to the Caribs ofDominica. Although the origin of these peculiar people hasbeen the subject of considerable speculation there is a gooddeal of evidence in favour of the hypothesis that they areof the Mongolian race. According to general tradition theoriginal inhabitants of the Antilles were Arrowaks or

Aronagues and the males of this race were practically exter-minated by the Caribs who arrived in fleets of canoes. The

women of the aborigines were spared and it is said that theypreserved their language which became a dialect peculiarto the females. The pure-bred Caribs of to-day have atypical Mongolian appearance, so much so that it would

not be easy to distinguish one of their infants from aTartar or Chinese child. Their hair is coarse, straight,and of blue-black colour, their eyes are obliquely placed,their cheek-bones are prominent, and their noses are flat.It is a curious fact that some years ago a Chinamanwho by chance arrived at the Carib colony at Dominicaclaimed them as his own people, married and settled there,and has now a family identical in appearance with the

pure-bred Caribs. A minority of the colony only-about aquarter--are of pure stock, for many marriages have takenplace with negroes. At the present time the Caribs are

quiet, law-abiding folk, not over-industrious, and with a likingfor ardent spirits which, fortunately, they are not often ableto satisfy. On their first arrival in the Antilles they wereextremely fierce and were much addicted to cannibalism.The date of their advent cannot be accurately fixed, but thereis some reason to suppose that it did not anticipate that of theEuropeans by very many years. The earliest accounts receivedof them describe their settlements as small and scattered,consisting, as a rule, of 20 or 30 huts which were alwaysbuilt near the sea. Their principal food was fish and theypossessed the greatest skill in managing their boats, each ofwhich was formed from a single log of wood. They madeexcursions as far as the Spanish main in quest of men to eat.From the writings of the earlier European travellers a

general idea may be gained of their taste in regard to theflesh of different races. According to Davis, they con-

sidered the French the most delicate and the Spaniardsthe hardest of digestion. Laborde was told by a

Carib whom he met at St. Vincent that he ate onlyArrowaks. " Christians, he said, ’’ gave him the belly-ache." This remark may possibly have been made out ofpoliteness, in order to set Laborde at his ease, for theCarib was eating the remains of a boiled human foot at

he commencement of the conversation. At the earlier