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Miscellaneous.

CARBOLIC ACID IN BLOOD POISONING. The French surgeon, Declat, has recently been making some noise about his discovery of the value of hypodermic injections of carbolic acid in blood poisoning. He extends its value to scarlet fever, smallpox, typhoid fever, etc., and declares that the potent little syringe enables him to “ laugh at ” these diseases. This is the extravagance of enthusiasm. There is some value in the method, but a limited one. Nor was Declat its originator. Four years ago Dr. N. B. Kennedy, of Texas, used and wrote upon the advantages of these injections, and in April, 1881, he read a paper before the Texas Medical Associ-

ation, in which he claimed priority of all others in its employment.— Med. and Surg. Reporter. SEEING AND SIGNALLING. M. Charpentier tells us that the time elapsing between a person seeing a signal and being able to repeat it with his forefinger is about thirteen-hundreths of a second. With some people the interval is twice as long, but the above may be taken as the average. M. Charpentier terms the interval in question the “ duration of luminous perception,” and he measures it in a very ingenious manner. A black disk is set revolving at a given speed, and the observer faces it, having under his finger an electric key. There is a small opening or window in one part of the disk, and when this comes round opposite the observer he sees a light shining through it. Immediately he presses the key and an electric signal passes to the revolving disk. The disk is stopped, and the distance between the window and the record of the signal being measured furnishes the result. The distance between the two points on the disk is, of course easily turned into time, since the disk was revolving at a known speed.— Scientific American. LAY A FAINTING PERSON DOWN. It is surprising how everybody rushes at a fainting person and strives to raise him up, and especially to keep his head erect. There must bo an instinctive apprehension that if a person seized with a fainting or other fit fall into a recumbent position, death is more imminent. I must have driven a mile to-day while a lady fainting was held upright. I found her pulseless, white, and apparently dying, and I believe that if I had delayed ten minutes longer she would really have died. I laid her head down on a lower level than her body, and immediately color returned to her lips and cheeks, and she became conscious. To the excited group of friends I said : Always remember this fact, namely: Fainting is caused by a want of blood in the brain ; the heart ceases to act with sufficient force to send the usual amount of blood to the brain, and hence the person loses consciousness because the function of the brain ceases. Restore the blood to the brain, and instantly the person* recovers. Now, though the blood is propelled to all parts of the body by the action of the heart, yet it is still under the influence of the laws of gravitation. In the erect position the blood ascends to the head against gravitation, and the supply to the brain is diminished, as compared with the recumbent position, the heart’s pulsation being equal. If, then, you place a person sitting, whose heart has nearly ceased to beat, his brain will fail to receive blood, while if you lay him down, with the head lower than the heart, blood will run into the brain by the mere force of gravity; and in faiuting, in sufficient quantity to restore consciousness. Indeed, nature teaches us how to manage the fainting persons, for they always fall, and frequently are at once restored by the recumbent’position into which they are thrown.— —Medical Journal.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE GAIT OF TROTTING HORSES. The improvement in the quality of |gait of the trotting horse within the last few years is one of the marvels in trotting. Only a very few years ago the jumping-jack kind of trotter was common in the very best localities. Indeed, the skip-jack gait was cultivated, and thought to be indispensable to fast speed in harness'. The large majority of trainers argued that the horse must learn to break and catch before he could be relied upon in a race. For, said they, if he is not a good catcher, a break would put him behind the flag. Therefore, the horse must be spoiled before he was good for anything for a harness turf horse. A break rested him, they said. “ Give him his head, let him jump a few rods, then set him down, and he’ can fairly fly.” Such were the erroneous teachings of former years. Today the gait of the trotter is ns smooth and regular as the play of a piston-rod; as rhythmical as the most harmonious symphonies of musical composition. Why is it so ? Because fashion dictated. Mr. Bonner bought only such, and gentlemen of wealth everywhere followed his example. As soon as it became known that pure trotting gait was the salable thing, trotters began to make rapid improvement, not only in the quality of gait but in quantity as well. The modern trotter is, therefore, a model trotter. This was manifestly true of the horses that participated at Chicago this year, and are now engaged in the various circuits over the country. The change is not due to any particular improvement in the trotting families themselves so much as to the new methods in use for their education. There are few horses on the turf nowadays that pull a ton by the bit as was customary at one time. To trot fast, the horse should not be hampered by any more harness than is necessary for his complete safety. Indeed, we look for the horse to trot best with no more harness than bridle, reins, back-strap, saddle, and girth at an early day. —Dunton's Spirit of the Turf. FROM HOME. O waft, ye breezes from the North, And wing me breaths from plumy pines, Down from the leagues of forest wild, O waft me sweets from scented mines, Yes, bring me mem’ries dear and rare, From haze crowned hills, aud bluff, and glen, Of singing waters sweeping wide, That I shall never sec again. O bring me scenes of gleaming waves, That sparkle as tho’ set with gems ; Of lakes that join their flashing chains, Beneath the lilies’ floating stems ; Of rocky steeps that rise and slope In deep red winding fern-filled glades, With tints of leaf, and cliff, and wave, As ling’ringly the sunlight fades. O waft me thoughts, O bring me dreams, Of halcyon hours I’ve known ; Of peaceful days ’mid mighty pines, With voice of flood and winds alone: Of starry nights; of early dawn ; Behind the shadowed eastern heights, When, as the crater fired, the lake Burned with a thousand million lights. When from a world full sad I’ve fled, Lying all pulseless, white, and cold, Those who do gaze will calmly say: “ She dreamed of that she knew of old ; Of silv’ry waters flowing fair, And lakes and hills ’neath Summer’s glow, Of flow’ry paths and rosy skies. That she—forevermore will know.” —Chicago Tribune.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBS18830127.2.19.12

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1260, 27 January 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,211

Miscellaneous. Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1260, 27 January 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

Miscellaneous. Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1260, 27 January 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

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