SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2988, 22 January 1881, Page 4

SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

The French and German doctors are battling over the " grape cure." Grapes differ in variety as the stars do in splendour ; there are large, small, round and oval; some have the skin hard, as those of Africa and warm climates generally, but whose taste is not the less exquisite ; others have a tender pellicule, as the grapes of the north of France. The grape also presents great variety under the head of juice, always abundant ; it is acid, sugary, and aromatic ; the pulp too is generally soft and delicate ; occasionally it is hard and brittle, as in sour grapes, a few varieties of the muscat, the gherkin of Italy, and several kinds from the south of Spain. France also boasts of 50 varieties of grapes. The latter, when cultivated in vineyards, do not act upon our organs, as do those grown in hot-houses or raised on espaliers. The grapes in the region of the Loire when eaten, provoke diarrhoea, those of tho south of France, constipation, those of other districts, intoxication more painful than wine itself; while again, numerous other kinds produce none of these effects. Good, ripe grapes, are of all fruits the most inoffensive and the most healthy ; and being refreshing and slightly laxative, suit all ages and all temperaments. The German doctors class this delicious fruit in the same category as whey and mineral waters. The first two contain sugar, a strong proportion of saline matters, phosphates and common salt especially—and nitrogenous elements. Chemically, the sugar of whey or skim milk, and of grapes, are not identical, nor does the serum of the milk resemble the juice of the grape, which is at onco acid and sugary. Whey impoverishes the blood, it is incapable in itself to sustain the organism. Not so with the grape, it can form alone the exclusive base of alimentation, and persons can even become fat thereon. Since forty years, it has been the fashion to prescribe the eating of grapes as a cure for certain maladies. The idea can hardly be considered as new, as since the time of Pythagoras people have lived exclusively on fruits, and also in the end to cure disease. Linnaeus maintained, that strawberries cured the gout. Forestus prescribed melons for eruptions ; Van Sweten cured madness and consumption by cherries; and Hoffmann and Richer claim to have cured consumption by a diet of mulberries, cherries, and strawberries. Berger obtained satisfactory results by the use of cucumber juice' against phthisis ; and Barnes claims to have con-

-'•ed the latter malady, in the case of a vnum? aH hj limitin P her regimen to bread and mi-ins. _> anc ' ien J s confidence in the thei_; ieu t JC of dat f • On the borders of the La_J ot G °" e . Ta » the sloping vineyards, at Yevey espeJ. ,£ "v> P 1 ' 0 " duce excellent grapes, and it is here that people assemble during six weoks of autumn to live on ([a grape diet. It is the moment also most favorable for invalids ; the air is fresher, the heat is moderate and promenades are possible. The districts selected are also notable for the purity of the air, and exemption from sudden changes of temperature ; thus the grapes are not alone the health producers, the more so as not a little of the fruit isimported from Italy and France. The base of the grape cure consists in making the invalid consume that fruit most extensively during the period of five or six weeks ; commencing in the morning at sunrise by eating, if possible, tho grapes fresh from the vines when covered with dew--one or two pounds at a time, along with a roll of bread, repeating the practice throughout the day ; exercise on foot, baths, and frictions follow : if other aliments be taken, they are to be of a vegetable nature ; if meat be used it must be exempt from fat; a cup of coffee or chocolate is not viewed as compromising the cure ; milk and eggs are prohibited, or any food approaching these in composition. Fresh air, moderate diet, regular exercise and fixed habits go far in any case towards promoting improved health, and so long as fashion patronises these, all grape—or other —cures will be found good. Following the analysis of Heft, grapes contain 80 per cent of water and 20 of solid matter. Tbe latter consists or sugar, 13 ; albumen, 1.50 ; free

acids, 1 ; salts, 4. The favorite malady for which grapes are prescribed is diarrhoea, but this is nob a disease per se, it is but a symptom of other maladies]; grapes being easily digested and leaving no residue intestinal, irritation gradually is allayed. The Germans assert tho cure to be efficacious against obesity; any measure which compels huge eaters to short commons and exercise—" to live on the shilling a day and to earn it " —must be excellent; it is the best remedy known for gout. As an agent in the treatment of consumption, great caution ought to be observed, as grapes have too frequently produced palpitations of the heart, and bleedings of the nose.

The Photophone Bell i.-j admitted by the scientific world in Paris to be sound in principle, and time will correct imperfections. It will not do away with telegraph wires, since they can penetrate everywhere, while light is stopped by the smallest object. Since light, as well aa our atmosphere, can transmit sound, why not luminous matter convey sonorous vibrations; why cannot the inhabitants of tho planets now converse.