tional creature when he is in a crowd. I grant that it takes a crowd to stir his emotions. When he comes singly, though, he can stir his tongue with energy enough. Hear him now as he reels home in the small hours, howling the last song of the music halls and awakening everybody in every house that he passes. He meets a dozen kindred souls at a near corner, and, having met, they bawl together. When you first hear this sort of thing in London you think there is a riot afoot. No riot ever made such a preposterous row. None but the musical cockney in his cups could so shake the heavens with a pair of lungs. London, in its long history, has suffered many plagues, but its noises surpass the Black Death in terror. A BRAVE MAN OF SCIENCE. From the New York Times, "Saturday Review of Books and Art." But little attention is ever given to the man of pure science, who, when investigating natural phenomena, risks his life. Take the bacteriologist, who handles the most dangerous of microbes. Is it supposable that he leads a charmed life or is ignorant of the risk he runs? How many narrow escapes did Pasteur have? We often entirely overlook the heroism and self-devotion of the experimentalist. Think of the pluck of a man who, not out of bravado, but to prove that he is right, swallows a supposed poison, or inoculates himself with virus in order to show that the nature of the material or its action had been misunderstood, or that by treatment he had rendered himself impregnable. Sufficient credit has not been given on this side of the water to a brave and cool man, Dr. Foster, who went lately down into a lead mine on the Isle of Man, to find the body of a miner who had been killed during an explosion. Dr. C. Le Neve Foster, as Government Inspector, it may be said, only followed out his duties. The mine was known to be full of that most poisonous of gases, carbon monoxide. Dr. Foster was accompanied by several other persons. It was found that death was certain did the party remain in the mine. Prior tests with candles had shown that there was not enough oxygen to keep the candles burning. In coming up, the box holding Dr. Foster and another person became jammed. Death seemed positive-sure to come sooner or later. Nature thus tells the story: During this time (the jamming of the box) when death seemed to be very near, Dr. Foster made copious notes of his sensations. He commenced writing at 2 P.M., and continued until 3.30, when he was brought to the surface, he being the last to go up. Some of the men were unconscious when brought to the surface, and others arrived in an excited and hysterical condition. The record obtained by Dr. Foster will be a most valuable physiological document, for, judging from the extracts given in the daily press, the gas to which the exploring party was subjected has a peculiar effect upon the mind. As the minutes passed by, Dr. Foster's notes became more and reisited and it is hard to believe that he knew exactly what he was writing vard the end. The following are a few of the noteratfoghite he believed himself to be dying: "I fear we are all dyg does not come. In spite of * No help coming * * The box Good-bye. I feel 2.15 P.M.—We are Capt. Reddicliffe is struggling. No real pain. No pain. No pain. * * * For the benefit of others, no pain. 2.25 P.M.Two of the party are all right. I think they are ringing. When is help coming? The box is gone. Four new men are coming. I don't feel bad. It is strange to write notes while we are dying. What a lot I have written! Capt. Reddicliffe is about the worst. I think he will go first. While there is life there is hope. Good old proverb! Send a note for more brandy. Send for more help. The box has just gone up with Reddicliffe. Williams goes next-he has a capital heart. 2.45-I have written pages. Kewley is a good fellow. There is life in the old horse yet. I feel as if I could sing. God is helping us; he has heard our prayer. My turn to go." Arriving at the surface, and getting out of the box, Dr. Foster, note-book in hand, though weak and staggering, made the entry stating the time at which he got to the top. His last entry was: "Dr. Miller says I must be quiet, but I won't." We should pass around the name of this brave and cool-headed Englishman-Dr. C. Le Neve Foster. He not only came up the last, but with true scientific eagerness did his best to leave for the instruction and information of others what are the effects of asphyxia on man. THE TSETSE FLY DISEASE IN ZULULAND. The tsetse fly disease, called "magana" by the natives, occurs in the horse, donkey, ox, and dog, and varies in duration from a few days or weeks to many months. It is uniformly fatal to the horse, donkey and dog, but of the cattle affected with it few recover. It is characterized by fever, more or less rapid destruction of the red blood corpuscles, extreme emaciation, and infiltration of coagulable lymph into the subcutaneous tissue of the neck, abdomen, or extremities, which consequently become swollen. Post-mortem examination shows the presence of a yellow, gelatinous material in the subcutaneous tissue and under the serous covering of the heart, ecchymoses in various regions, and congestion and fatty degeneration of many organs. The tsetse fly (Glossina Morsitans, Westwood), is about II mm. or seven-sixteenths of an inch in length, and has transparent wings about 10 mm. long. On the upper surface of the abdomen there is a longitudinal yellow line with four yellow lines crossing it at right angles. In 1894 Surgeon-Major David Bruce, A. M. S., discovered that the blood of animals suffering from the tsetse fly disease invariably contained a hematozoon which had not been previously observed in Africa, but which he considers to be either identical with or closely resembling the Trypanosoma Evansi found in surra, a disease occurring in India and Burmah; surra, however, as known in India, does not affect cattle. In fresh blood these hematozoa are seen as actively moving transparent elongated bodies, in thickness about a quarter of the diameter of a red corpuscle, and in length about two or three times the diameter of a corpuscle. One end is bluntly pointed and the other is prolonged into a very fine lash, which is in constant whiplike motion; the body is cylindrical and has a transparent, delicate, longitudinal membrane or fin, which is also in constant motion. Surgeon-Major Bruce believes that the fly acts. only as a carrier of these microbes from infected to susceptible animals, and does not cause the disease by means of any poison elaborated by itself. A limited number of flies may bite a susceptible animal over and over again without producing any ill effect, but, when a horse is taken into the fly country for even a few hours, or when numerous successive relays of flies freshly caught in the fly country and brought into a healthy district are made to settle on an animal there, the disease is almost inevitably set up. Five flies kept in a cage with muslin sides were allowed to bite the shaved abdomen of a small dog every two days from September 25th to November 28th, but the animal remained quite healthy. On the other hand, flies which had fed for a short time on a dog affected with fly disease were allowed to bite another dog on November 21st, 23d, 25th and 29th, the effect being that on December 5th hematozoa were found in its blood. In order to show that neither food nor water is the channel by which the disease is conveyed, two healthy horses, provided with network nosebags, were taken into the fly country from 10 A. M. to 4 P. M. on September 19th, 24th, and 29th, but were not allowed to graze or drink. Many flies settled on them and they both contracted the disease, one on October 4th, and the other about October 28th. Another experiment was made by bringing to Ubombo tsetse flies caught in the low country and allowing them to bite a healthy horse; 129 flies were used in this way in ten days, from Novem22d to December 14th, the horse fell ill on December 15th and the hematozoa were found in its blood. The source from which the fly obtains the hematozoa still remains to be discovered.-Lancet. PROF. SYLVESTER'S ABSENT-MINDEDNESS.-Once Professor Sylvester purchased a new pair of trousers and wore them to the university. His wife, who was well aware of his absent-minded habits, knew nothing of the purchase. An hour or so after the Professor's arrival at the university his wife was seen rushing breathlessly down the street with a package under her arm. Meeting one of the Professors, she inquired hastily and anxiously, "Have you seen Professor Sylvester?" "Yes," answered the astonished Professor. “Well, is he all right—is everything all right?" asked his anxious spouse. "My dear madam," said the Professor, "calm yourself; your husband is perfectly well. I saw him but a moment ago." "But I mean," said the almost frenzied woman, “did you notice anything peculiar about him? Did he look as he ought to look? Oh, did he, did he " Just then Professor Sylvester strolled around the corner with the new trousers on, to the intense relief of both his wife and the other Professor.-Baltimore Sun. MEDICAL EXCERPT. BY T. P. CORBALLY, A. M., M. D. ACUTE ENTERO-COLITIS is the subject of a timely article in a recent number of the "Atlantic Medical Weekly," by Alexander Briggs, M. D., of Ashaway, R. I., in which he estimates that over seventy per cent. of deaths from all causes in children under two years of age are due to some abdominal disease, and of this number over thirty per cent. are due to some disease arising from defective or faulty nutrition. Of the predisposing causes of these diseases, perhaps the one that most often enters into the list is injudicious food. Entero-colitis is a disease wholly distinct from cholera infantum, although it often masquerades under the latter name. The treatment of the disease may best be considered under three heads: Clearing out of the alimentary canal, diet, antiseptis. Among the first symptoms are vomiting and diarrhoea. These are nature's efforts to relieve our little patients, and we can do no better than second her efforts. As soon as we have secured a free catharsis, we should supplement the treatment by antiseptic enemata, with the twofold purpose of flushing out the colon and rectum and for their medicinal action. Nothing has served us better for this part of the treatment than from one to three pints of warm water, to which has been previously added 3 ii to iv of Listerine. In the dysenteric variety of the entero-colitis, where there is much straining, persistent tenesmus, and abdominal pain, some of the liquid preparations of opium may be added to these enemata. In the medicinal treatment of entero-colitis, antisepsis still holds good; benefit will often be obtained from such combination as the following: Birsmuth subnit... Pulv. cret. praep.. Aq. menth. pip. q. s. ad.... 3 iss 3 ss 3 iv Sig. Dose (for a child one year old), one teaspoonful every four hours. Cleanliness is of the utmost importance in the treatment of these cases. The child should be bathed at least once every day; the napkins after a thorough boiling should be rinsed in warm water, into which has been added some antiseptic; the clothing should be |