Chapter XV: Experimental Work in Physiology (3)

[42] According to the Annual Report of New York State Reformatory, for
1896, drunkenness among the inmates can be clearly traced to no less
than 38 per cent of the fathers and mothers only.
Drunkenness among the parents of 38 per cent of the prisoners in a
reformatory of this kind is a high and a serious percentage. It
shows that the demoralizing influence of drink is apt to destroy
the future of the child as well as the character of the parent.
“There is a marked tendency in nature to transmit all diseased
conditions. Thus the children of consumptive parents are apt to be
consumptive. But, of all agents, alcohol is the most potent in
establishing a heredity that exhibits itself in the destruction of
mind and body. There is not only a propensity transmitted, but an
actual disease of the nervous system.”—Dr. Willard Parker.

[43] “It is very certain that many infants annually perish from this single cause.”—Reese’s _Manual of Toxicology_.

[44] If an eye removed from its socket be stripped posteriorly of the sclerotic coat, an inverted image or the field of view will be seen on the retina; but if the lens or other part of the refractive media be removed, the image will become blurred or disappear altogether.

[45] This change in the convexity of the lens is only a slight one, as the difference in the focal point between rays from an object twenty feet distant and one four inches distant is only one-tenth of an inch. While this muscular action is taking place, the pupil contracts and the eyeballs converge by the action of the internal rectus muscles. These three acts are due to the third nerve (the motor oculi). This is necessary in order that each part should he imprinted on the same portion of the retina, otherwise there would be double vision.

[46] The Germans have a quaint proverb that one should never rub his eyes, except with his elbows!

[47] “The deleterious effect of tobacco upon eyesight is an
acknowledged fact. The Belgian government instituted an investigation
into the cause of the prevalence of color-blindness. The unanimous
verdict of the experts making the examination was that the use of
tobacco was one of the principal causes of this defect of vision.
“The dimness of sight caused by alcohol or tobacco has long been
clinically recognized, although not until recently accurately
understood. The main facts can now be stated with much assurance,
since the publication of an article by Uhthoff which leaves little
more to be said. He examined one thousand patients who were
detained in hospital because of alcoholic excess, and out of these
found a total of eye diseases of about thirty per cent.
“Commonly both eyes are affected, and the progress of the disease
is slow, both in culmination and in recovery.... Treatment demands
entire abstinence.”—Henry D. Noyes, Professor of Otology in the
Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York.

[48] “The student who will take a little trouble in noticing the ears of the persons whom he meets from day to day will be greatly interested and surprised to see how much the auricle varies. It may be a thick and clumsy ear or a beautifully delicate one; long and narrow or short and broad, may have a neatly formed and distinct lobule, or one that is heavy, ungainly, and united to the cheek so as hardly to form a separate part of the auricle, may hug the head closely or flare outward so as to form almost two wings to the head. In art, and especially in medallion portraits, in which the ear is a marked (because central) feature, the auricle is of great importance”—William W. Keen, M.D., editor of Gray’s _Anatomy_.

[49] The organ of Corti is a very complicated structure which it is needless to describe in this connection. It consists essentially of modified ephithelial cells floated upon the auditory epithelium, or basilar membrane, of the cochlea. There is a series of fibers, each made of two parts sloped against each other like the rafters of a roof. It is estimated that there are no less than 3000 of these arches in the human ear, placed side by side in a continuous series along the whole length of the basilar membrane. Resting on these arches are numbers of conical epithelial cells, from the free surface of which bundles of stiff hairs (cilia) project. The fact that these hair-cells are connected with the fibers of the cochlear division of the auditory nerve suggests that they must play an important part in auditory sensation.

[50] The voices of boys “break,” or “change,” because of the sudden growth or enlargement of the larynx, and consequent increase in length of the vocal cords, at from fourteen to sixteen years of age. No such enlargement takes place in the larynxes of girls: therefore their voices undergo no such sudden change.

[51] This experiment and several others in this book, are taken from Professor Bowditch’s little book called _Hints for Teachers of Physiology_, a work which should be mastered by every teacher of physiology in higher schools.

[52] The teacher or student who is disposed to study the subject more thoroughly and in more detail than is possible in a class text-book, will find all that is needed in the following excellent books, which are readily obtained by purchase, or may be found in the public libraries of larger towns: Dulles’ _Accidents and Emergencies;_ Pilcher’s _First Aid in Illness and Injury_; Doty’s _Prompt Aid to the Injured;_ and Johnston’s “Surgical Injuries and Surgical Diseases,” a special article in Roosevelt’s _In Sickness and in Health_.

[53] “A tourniquet is a bandage, handkerchief, or strap of webbing,
into the middle of which a stone, a potato, a small block of wood, or
any hard, smooth body is tied. The band is tied loosely about the
limb, the hard body is held over the artery to be constricted, and a
stick is inserted beneath the band on the opposite side of the limb
and used to twist the band in such a way that the limb is tightly
constricted thereby, and the hard body thus made to compress the
artery (Fig. 160).
“The entire circumference of the limb may be constricted by any
sort of elastic band or rubber tube, or any other strong elastic
material passed around the limb several times on a stretch, drawn
tight and tied in a knot. In this way, bleeding may be stopped at
once from the largest arteries. The longer and softer the tube the
better. It requires no skill and but little knowledge of anatomy to
apply it efficiently.” Alexander B. Johnson, Surgeon to Roosevelt
Hospital, New York City.

[54] Corrosive sublimate is probably the most powerful disinfectant known. A solution of one part in 2000 will destroy microscopic organisms. Two teaspoonfuls of this substance will make a solution strong enough to kill all disease germs.

[55] The burning of sulphur produces sulphurous acid, which is an irrespirable gas. The person who lights the sulphur must, therefore, immediately leave the room, and after the lapse of the proper time, must hold his breath as he enters the room to open the windows and let out the gas. After fumigation, plastered walls should be white-washed, the woodwork well scrubbed with carbolic soap, and painted portions repainted.

[56] Put copperas in a pail of water, in such quantity that some may constantly remain undissolved at the bottom. This makes a saturated solution. To every privy or water-closet, allow one pint of the solution for every four persons when cholera is about. To keep privies from being offensive, pour one pint into each seat, night and morning.

[57] “While physiology is one of the biological sciences, it should be clearly recognized that it is not, like botany or zoology, a science of observation and description; but rather, like physics or chemistry, a science of experiment. While the amount of experimental instruction (not involving vivisection or experiment otherwise unsuitable) that may with propriety be given in the high school is neither small nor unimportant, the limitations to such experimental teaching, both as to kind and as to amount, are plainly indicated. “The obvious limitations to experimental work in physiology in the high school, already referred to, make it necessary for the student to acquire much of the desired knowledge from the text-book only. Nevertheless, much may be done by a thoughtful and ingenious teacher to make such knowledge real, by the aid of suitable practical exercises and demonstrations.”—_Report of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies_.

[58] This ingenious and excellent experiment is taken from the _New York School Journal_ for May, 1897, for which paper it was prepared by Charles D. Nason, of Philadelphia.