Another Foe to Malaria.

The anacharis alsinastrum, a water plant originally from Canada, but now naturalized in Europe, is said to destroy malarial germs. It is something of a nuisance, as it grows very rapidly, and, like its coadjutor, the eucalyptus, has a distinguished odor.

Why Consumptives Should Not Marry.

Of consumptives who become pregnant it is probable that 25 per cent. will die within a year from their delivery. Across the water 64 per cent. have died within that time. Of the children 13 per cent. will perish during the first year, but 50 per cent. will attain middle life here, while there only 37% per cent. of such children maintained good health, 62 per cent. became scrofulous, and 23 per cent. died of tuberculosis alone before attaining their seventh year.-R. I. Medical Science Monthly.

Psychic Effects of Weather.

J. S. Lemon notices the very great influence of weather on the health and temperament, and through them on the customs and habits of men of all ages. This is reflected in the salutations of all nations, in their religious ideas, particularly in their conceptions of the future life, and a thousand petty details of everyday existence. It affects even crime. Suicide is known to depend largely upon the weather, and it has been calculated that in India 48 per cent. of certain crimes disappear when hot weather gives place to cold. The health of idiots and those afflicted with acute mania is especially dependent upon weather, and its effect on the nervous system is such that many persons can anticipate weather changes from their own feelings. Accidents in factories are said to be much more frequent in bad weather than in good, and physiological phenomena like knee-jerk seem to be dependent on it in some measure. Its effect on the appetite is well known, and teatasters, who have cultivated the sense of taste till it has become almost abnormal, say that in good weather this sense is more delicate than in bad weather. No systematic study of all these facts and relations has yet been made, but such a study would doubtless well repay the investigator.-American Journal of Psychology.

The Greatest Consultation in History.

The veracious daily press states that the mother-in-law of the Mikado of Japan has recently been ill. She was attended by 423 physicians, but in spite of that has pulled through. The 423 medical men hadn't much to say as to the cause of the lady's illness, but a Buddhist priest of ingenious mind declared that it was owing to the introduction of railroads. His logic was simple. Before there were railroads she was well; after there were railroads she was ill. What could be more clear than the conclusion he drew?

An Official Utterance on Cremation.

The Section on State Hygiene (of the Eighth International Congress of Hygiene recently held at Vienna), which was presided over by Professor Kratter, of Graz, formulated the following unanimous resolutions with reference to cremation :

(1) The least dangerous and most rapid, and at the same time cheapest, method of disposal of dead bodies is cremation. (2) Cremation is the best substitute for suitable cemeteries where these are wanting.

(3) Cremation is of the greatest importance for the welfare of peoples in times of epidemics.

(4) The governments of the various countries must be invited to permit of a facultative legal cremation, and thus provide for an excellent means of prevention against epidemics.

Longevity in Russia.

In the province of Kieff, during 1893, there were fourteen deaths of persons over 100 years of age. In the city of Kieff one man died aged 110 years, while within the surburban circle two women died, aged respectively, 102 and 104 years. In Berditcheff two men reached the ages of 101 and 114 years respectively. In Vassilkoff another died in his one hundred and fifteenth year. In the same district there died a woman aged 105; in Svenigorodka, a man of 110 years; in Tarastscha, another 115; in Uman, two men, aged respectively 106 and 102 years; in Radomytzel, two, aged respectively 103 and 107; and, lastly, a man of 105 years died at Tcherkassy. The united ages of the fourteen persons amounted to 1489 years. A man is still living in Saratoff who has already celebrated 126 birthdays.

Tranquillity vs. Indigestion.

Rev. H. W. Beecher once said, "I have known men who prayed for a good temper in vain until their physician prescribed eating so much meat; for they could not endure such stimulation. . . It is quite in vain to pray for a tranquil spirit when the organs of digestion are out of order. . . . The presumption of prayer being answered is measured by the degree in which it leads us to study the conditions that tend to bring about that for which we pray. We are to work for it not without prayer, but not to pray for it without work."

For Digestibility of Certain Foods.

The rule should be to chew each mouthful as long as there are any lumps or portions, even the smallest, not reduced. One can easily digest the toughest potato if he will only take the pains, however much trouble it may be, to thoroughly and completely reduce it before swallowing. Corn and beans enjoy the reputation of being very hard to digest, simply because so many persons will not take the trouble to hunt out each separate grain and grind it up. (So of the great bugbear, newly-baked bread and hot cakes.) A hard-boiled egg is considered indigestible, and it is so only because its toughness gives it resistance to the process of mastication; while a raw or soft-boiled egg, or one boiled a long time until it becomes "mealy," is quite easy of digestion. Medical World.

Consumption at Different Ages.

The common impression based on the statements of many of the older text-books is that phthisis is especially a disease of early adult life. The statistics of death in Great Britain, probably the most complete and extensive anywhere attainable, however, indicate that this is not correct. The largest number of deaths, according to these statistics, occur in the decade from 35 to 45 years of age, and that not until about 60 years of age do the number of deaths from this cause, as compared with the number of persons living, fall below the average for the period, from twenty to twenty-five. It is to be remembered, however, that the disease usually requires several years to run its course, so that infection probably occurs on the average nearly five years earlier than death. Philadelphia Polyclinic.

Infant Feeding.

An infant should double its weight in six months and treble it in a year if its nutrition is in every way satisfactory. The weighing and measuring should be conducted monthly, and the practical point is this: If a child does not increase at the rate of one pound a month during the first year of life, and twelve ounces a month during the second year, its nutrition is not satisfactory. If a child does not grow nearly three-quarters of an inch every month during the first year of life, and half an inch a month during the second year of life, it is not satisfactory. The latter is, of course, not of the same importance as the former. A nurse

should cease nursing if the result does not come near to this proportion with regard to increase of weight. Clearly, premature children would not be so large, though they should increase at the same ratio.

Paper Handkerchiefs for Consumptives.

The amount of phthisical infection conveyed to the laundry in the clothing and linen of consumptive patients must be, in the aggregate, something enormous. Fortunately, no doubt, the greater number of the specific bacilli are destroyed in the process of washing. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that infection is, at times, spread from the laundry. Handkerchiefs are specially liable to be charged with phthisical sputa. There can be no excuse, however, at this time of day, for sending handkerchiefs to the wash charged in this way with dangerous seeds of disease. Long ago the use of soft paper handkerchiefs, sent from Japan, was introduced to the profession. They can be procured at trifling expense, at a less cost, indeed, than that incurred for the washing of an ordinary linen handkerchief. The paper substitute can be burned when done with, and the disease-germs are thus effectually disposed of. Nothing can be more distressing to the zealous sanitarian than the reckless way in which the specific poison of phthisis is scattered broadcast among our communities. Prompt and absolute disinfection or destruction of all excreta should be the rule in all cases of consumption. Before we can hope to reach such a stage of enlightenment, however, the popular mind will have to be educated up to the requisite pitch. A crusade against so terrible a scourge as consumption might well be included within the scheme of any lay newspaper boasting of an advanced social programme.-Medical Press.

Effect of Spices on the Digestion.

This has been investigated by Gottlieb (Wr. Med. Bl.), who found that pungent substances, by irritating the gastric mucous membrane, acted reflexly as powerful stimulants of the pancreatic secretion. He introduced a canula into the pancreas of a rabbit, so as not to interfere with the secretory process, and was thus enabled to observe for hours at a time the continuous and regular separation of pancreatic juice. When small quantities of powdered mustard and of extract of pepper were injected into the stomach, the pancreatic secretion was seen to increase three or four fold in a few minutes. It contained a somewhat larger proportion of water than the normal fluid, but possesses the same digestive properties. Similar results were produced by alkaline carbonates and dilute acids.

Innocuous Transportation of the Dead.

Dr. J. D. Griffith, of Kansas City, Mo., read a paper on this subject before the American Public Health Association. The author said that the age demands a far greater protection to the public health. He was convinced that we owe to the travelling public that greater precautions should be taken in the transportation of the dead body. He cited as evidence of the virulence of a dead body that in a Normandy village, twenty-three years after an epidemic of diphtheria, some of the bodies of those who died of the disease were exhumed, and an epidemic at once broke out, first among those who opened the grave, and then spread from those to many others. Other examples were cited. Until the public are educated to the point of the thorough sanitation of cremation, the transportation of dead bodies by the railways is, and always will be, a source of very great danger. The speaker urged that the attention of the different legislative bodies of the country be directed by the association to a subject of such vital importance. He urged, furthermore, that all railways cut off a small portion of their baggage-cars for the transportation of dead bodies. The dead body should be placed in a box lined with zinc, with a door very much after the fashion of a large ice-chest. This done, the lives of employés would not be endangered; no broken or open box could become infected, and no odor could escape from the car.