Chapter XIII: TECHNOLOGY.--Gas Lighting by High Power Burners.--A (4)

Premature calvity (baldness), some eruptions of acne (pustules of the skin), a slight dyspnoea (difficulty in breathing) when mounting stairs, a blush of heat on the cheeks a quarter of an hour after luncheon, a violent craving for smoking after the repast, a feeling of sleepiness, which, however, quickly fades toward ten o'clock in the evening, little inclination to work during the first hours after awakening in the morning, all these symptoms, or any part of them, show that you have before you a candidate of the disease known as bloating of the stomach or the gout. According to the wise enumeration of Moliere, who was evidently prompted by Renaudot, such a person begins with bradypepsia (slow digestion), then suffers from dyspepsia (bad digestion), afterward from apepsia (indigestion), and later lyentery (a lax or diarrhea in which food is discharged only half digested), and at the last the vicious circle is often completed by obesity, uric affections of the liver or bladder, and all the other diseases belonging to that class.

Unfortunately, we are still far from the time when the public will appreciate that "prevention is better than cure." Perhaps this fundamental principle of health will be honored during the 20th century. At present it certainly is not. Meanwhile, those who have ruined their health by modern city life take recourse for their cure to a holiday, hasten to places where they find mineral waters, or try laxatives or milk diet to improve their condition. They wish _to do something for their health_ once or twice a year. How much better, if they had not been _acting against their health all the year round_.

It is extremely difficult to teach our people to eat healthily. You will find no difficulty to persuade them to take medicine. People have always time to swallow a pill, but you will certainly have trouble to teach them to chew with leisure. How many people who find time every year to spend the season at Vichy will tell you it is quite impossible for them to spend five minutes more every day at luncheon time. And nevertheless they would regain these few minutes a day with interest, if they would avoid that host of maladies which will stop them one day in the midst of their occupations. I have seen a good many of my clients getting entirely rid of their rheumatic pains and gout and ceasing to suffer from sleepless nights by observing the following simple rules.

In order to chew meat conveniently--and this is one of the main points--one must accustom one's self never to mix meat and bread in the same mouthful. Take a small mouthful, chew it about thirty times, then swallow that part which has been reduced to pulp, and so on until all has been masticated. In doing this you will soon find out that roasted and broiled beef or mutton requires a longer trituration than boiled meats or stews; you will also perceive that fish is more easily masticated than meat, and you will finally understand why certain dyspeptics are forced to limit their food to fish, eggs, and milk diet. In fact, milk diet serves no other purpose than to furnish a perfectly digestible nourishment.

One of the indirect and unforeseen benefits of a careful mastication is that people gradually become accustomed to be satisfied with a comparatively small quantity of food, for as slow chewing is always more or less tedious, those who observe this rule soon cease to be great eaters, and also learn quickly to accustom themselves to another very important rule, viz., to drink moderately while eating. Two glasses of liquid will then quite suffice for a person who would drink four if he ate his viands swallowing them down without chewing.

Many obese dyspeptics when they once commence to masticate carefully and to take liquid moderately while eating lose weight with an astonishing rapidity and become cured of the bloating of the stomach without being finally obliged to have recourse to the rigorous dry diet of Prof. Bouchard.

Wine and water, the French national drink, is an extremely frequent, and very often misunderstood, cause of dyspepsia. A good many people would enjoy excellent health if they were satisfied with pure water, that favorite drink of the aged. It is quite perplexing sometimes to see at the same table three neighbors, drinking at their dinner, the one wine, the other beer, and the third tea. How much better would it be if people, instead of choosing their habitual drink according to the place that they come from, would select it more with regard to their individual constitution! I know many who, after having, for fifty years, quietly ignored the fact, have come to the recognition that for them, wine, even if diluted with much water, is absolutely hurtful, and who, by giving it up, and by taking pure water, tea, or cider, to which Prof. C. attributes great success in his practice, instead, have got rid of their ailments almost as if by enchantment.

In conclusion, I should like to say a word with regard to salt, this panacea of arthritic persons (persons suffering from arthritis, swelling of the joints, as in gout).

For many years I have been laboring under the wrong impression, that salt is placed on the table merely for the purpose of salting boiled eggs, which the cook cannot salt in advance. Great mistake! The wisdom of nations has discovered that there are people for whom a great quantity of salt is a necessity, and that there are others who would become ill if they were to eat viands that are much salted. The salt cellar is there in order to enable every one to salt his food according to his own requirements. Many people are led by their natural instinct to salt their viands in a proportion to suit them. But there are others, among them, above all, the well bred persons previously mentioned, who treat eating with disdain and for whom the whole attraction of a repast is the charm of conversation, and to them the idea of having recourse to the salt cellar never occurs.

Whether salt is needed in order to add acid to the gastric juice or whether it has an antiseptic action in the digestive channel, I do not know. Certain, however, it is, that it possesses very appreciable laxative qualities, and under its influence those who go to drink the waters at Wiesbaden often see their intestinal functions restored to a surprising degree.

It is just as well, however, and even better, to take one's _Vichy at home_, and nothing is more simple than to use one's _Wiesbaden at home_, by using the salt cellar. The cure may then be completed by distributing over a whole year the thirty warm baths which have to be taken during the season at that watering place. The bath at 40° Celsius is a real boon for arthritic persons. The warmer it is, whether salt or not, the better it acts in producing an exuberant perspiration, and the less is one apt to catch cold when leaving it.

The above by no means exhausts the vast subject of dyspepsia and arthritis. But without ignoring the utility of thermal waters, of morning promenades, of dry frictions and gymnastics, the sufferers should, above all, be advised to minutely masticate their food, to limit the amount of liquids at meal time, to use salt, which will by no means increase their thirst; and in certain cases to abstain entirely from alcoholic drinks. Those who observe these rules may with impunity dine out, although those so-called great dinners, where all rules of health are left aside, are absolutely baneful for a great number of the inhabitants of our cities.

* * * * *

A NEW SURGICAL OPERATION.

Among the matters of interest which were brought before the British Medical Association, at the recent Glasgow meeting, was an account by Mr. Brudenell Carter of a method which he had devised of opening the sheath of the optic nerve behind the eye, for the relief of pressure within this sheath and within the cavity of the skull. The brain is invested by firm membranes, which secrete a certain amount of fluid and are continued down to the eye in the form of a sheath which surrounds the optic nerve; and, whenever the pressure within the cavity of the skull is increased, as by the growth of a brain tumor, or even by excess of secretion from the membranes themselves, a superabundance of fluid is apt to find its way down the nerve sheath to the level of the eye, to subject the optic nerve to injurious pressure, and, in many cases, to destroy the sight. It not infrequently happens that the pressure within the brain cavity may be increased by temporary or curable causes, which, nevertheless, continue in action sufficiently long to produce permanent blindness, even although the patient may, in other respects, recover. In view of these conditions it was suggested by Dr. De Wecker, of Paris, sixteen or seventeen years ago, that it might be possible to open the optic nerve sheath, and thus not only to relieve the nerve from pressure and to preserve it from injury, but also, on account of the position of the eye relatively to the brain cavity, to drain the latter by gravitation, and to relieve the brain as well as the eye. Dr. De Wecker made two endeavors to accomplish this object, but he tried to feel his way to the optic nerve without the aid of sight, and to incise the sheath by means of an instrument carrying a concealed knife, capable of being projected by means of a spring. The risks of failure, and, still more, the risks of inflicting irreparable injury upon the nerve, were such that he only attempted his operation in two well nigh hopeless cases, and only one attempt to follow his example has been recorded. Mr. Carter's attention was called to the matter last year by a case in which the diminution of pressure within the optic nerve sheath was manifestly desirable; and he devised a method of operating by which the sheath could be exposed to view, and the object attained with certainty, under the guidance of sight at every step of the process.

He read before the Medical Society of London, last year, an account of the first case in which he operated, which was successful; and he read an account of three more cases at Glasgow, in one of which the result was negative, as far as sight was concerned, while in the other two the patients were not only quickly restored to useful vision, in one instance from complete, in the other from nearly complete, blindness, but were at the same time relieved or cured of other symptoms, such as headache and sickness, arising from direct pressure on the brain. In his paper at Glasgow, Mr. Carter claimed for the new operation that it could be performed with certainty and without risk either to life or to any important structure, and that it afforded a reasonable prospect of the preservation of sight in many forms of disease in which it is now habitually or frequently lost. As in the case of every new operation, time and further experience of its effects are required in order to determine the precise limits of its usefulness.

In the discussion which followed the paper, Mr. Bickerton, of Liverpool, said that, in consequence of reading the account of Mr. Carter's first case, he had himself performed the operation in two instances, in one of which temporary restoration of sight was followed by relapse, while in the second the ultimate issue was favorable.--_London Times._

* * * * *

PUTZEYS' FLUSHING RESERVOIR.

Every sewer is more or less exposed to intermissions in the flow of the water that it leads, and the result is a diminution in velocity which leads to deposits of solid material. Hence the necessity of regularly flushing the sewer with water, which removes from the sides the substances that have attached themselves thereto, and which, without such precaution, soon decompose. In a word, it is necessary that a _perfect_ washing shall be assured, and this can be done only by heavy rains or by strong currents of water. As regards rain, that could not be relied upon; and to have a force of men specially charged with the service of washing, that would be too costly, and so recourse has been had to automatic apparatus.

The automatic siphons used for flushing sewers are characterized in general by the presence, at the base of the discharge branch, of a fixed or movable receiving vessel full of water. This vessel has the inconvenience of breaking the effect of the charge, and the result is that these apparatus do not render the services that might be expected from them. Some of these apparatus have valves, floats, chains, pulleys, and levers. These are still more defective, since their operation is delicate. The parts of which they are composed easily get out of order, and then the reservoir does no more flushing at all. A good automatic flushing reservoir must therefore be of the greatest simplicity, and its parts must be fixed and strong, and the outflow of the water must be rapid and energetic and directly from the reservoir into the sewer. In a word, its construction should be such that there shall be no need of inspecting it, and that its operation be regular.

The apparatus devised by Mr. E. Putzeys, Director of Works of the city of Verviers, well fulfills the conditions of an excellent flushing reservoir with an automatic siphon. The siphon has a double curve, but may, however, have different forms according to the various uses for which it may be employed, such as for flushing sewers, urinals, closets, etc.

The annexed figure represents the apparatus as arranged for flushing a sewer. The apparatus operates as follows: In the bottom of the branch of the siphon, S, there is always some water, so that, during the filling of the reservoir by means of the cock seen in the figure, the air is compressed in the branch S to a degree that cannot exceed the pressure of an equal height of water to about double the height of the siphon. The reservoir therefore can continue to fill without the water escaping.

The submersion of the small siphon, a, b, c, is less than that of the principal siphon, S, and it follows that when the level of the reservoir reaches a height equal to b, a, a new influx, however small it be, causes the discharge of a few drops of water from the auxiliary siphon, a, b, c, which is always full of water. At this moment the water that it contains can no longer resist the thrust of the compressed air in the branch of the siphon, S, and is therefore forced, along with the compressed air, into the flushing pipe.

By virtue of the principle of communicating vessels, the water of the reservoir tends to resume its level in the interior of the apparatus, and it then enters with such impetuosity that the siphon, whatever be its dimensions, is primed. The entire reservoir empties instantaneously, and the water flows to open the sewer.

From the experiments made at Verviers by the inventor, it results that, with a pipe 10 inches in diameter, the emptying of a 175 cubic foot reservoir can be effected in 30 seconds.

We may remark that with this apparatus we obtain the maximum of useful effect, seeing that the work developed is represented by the total head of the water diminished simply by losses of charge due to friction in the pipes. In other apparatus the loss of charge is much less, since the flushing is broken by a receiver.

Putzeys' apparatus, therefore, with a much less discharge of water, is capable of producing an effect superior to that of similar apparatus. On account of its simplicity and plain character, there is no need of precision in the installation of this apparatus, and horizontality, even, is not a _sine qua non_ for its perfect operation.

The siphon is very easily cleaned, and this is a great advantage, since it permits of utilizing sewage matter for filling the flushing reservoir.--_Chronique Industrielle._

* * * * *

PEPSIN.

By A. PERCY SMITH, F.I.C., F.C.S., Rugby.

The method usually adopted for estimating the peptonizing power of pepsina porci consists in dissolving 1 to 2 grains in 8 to 12 ounces of water, to which 40 to 60 minims of hydrochloric acid has been added. 500 to 1,000 grains of hard-boiled white of egg, granulated by rubbing through a wire sieve, is immersed in the liquid, and the whole kept at 98° to 130° F. for four hours, when the undissolved albumen is filtered off through muslin, and, after partial drying, is weighed to ascertain the amount dissolved. The variable numbers above quoted embrace various formulæ recommended by different experimenters.

This method of analysis is excessively crude and untrustworthy. When hard-boiled white of egg is kept in warm water, it absorbs a considerable quantity of that menstruum, as much as several units per cent.; consequently, on weighing the residual albumen, you may find that the weight is greater instead of less than that with which you started, the gain in weight due to absorbed water more than counterbalancing the loss obtaining through solution, as has happened with indifferent samples of pepsin. Then who shall say when, by simple air drying, the albumen has regained its former condition? The enormous quantity of albumen is foreign to the usual habits of the scientific analyst, and involves an enormous waste of time in manipulation.

One trial of this method was enough for me. The first modification I adopted consisted in substituting for the large quantity of granulated albumen a single half of the white of an egg in one piece. I likewise arranged a check experiment in which the pepsin was omitted, other conditions remaining unaltered. At the end of four hours the residual pieces of albumen were placed on blotting paper to remove superfluous moisture, and weighed. The gain in weight of the albumen in the check experiment, due to absorbed water, was calculated into percentage, and the same deducted from the weights of the other portions which had been subjected to the action of various pepsins. This, although an improvement upon the old method, proved likewise unreliable, because the water absorbed was not equal in each experiment. The albumen which was immersed in acidulated water only quickly dried, superficially, when placed on blotting paper, whereas that which had been acted on by pepsin was rendered glutinous and incapable of being dried in this manner. In fact, one sample weighed considerably more than it did at starting, even after deducting the allowance for water absorbed.

I next tried much smaller pieces of albumen, about 1 c.c., in hope that complete solution might ensue, and a time value be obtained. I soon found, however, that the solubility does not depend upon the mass, but upon the surface exposed.

Finally I discarded altogether the use of fresh white of egg, and had recourse to dry powdered albumen, prepared by drying in a steam oven and levigation in a mortar. With this I succeeded in getting accurate comparisons between the digestive powers of various pepsins. Albumen in this form dissolves with rapidity, owing to its state of fine division. Any remaining undissolved can be filtered off on a counterpoised filter paper, and heated in a water oven until absolutely dry. It is, however, unnecessary to do this when two samples only are compared against each other, nor is it essential to know the actual weight of albumen employed, provided it be the same in each experiment. This is insured by placing some on the naked pan of the balance (there is no objection to so doing, as it is a dry gritty powder, and does not adhere to the metal), and counterpoising by a similar addition to the other pan.

Let the albumen fall on the center of the filtered liquid, avoiding, if possible, contact with the glass of the beaker. It soon sinks, and after the lapse of some time, a simple inspection will show which is dissolving with the greater rapidity. Agitation assists solution. Therefore take the two beakers, one in each hand, and rotate the contents equally. When one sample has dissolved all the albumen, it is manifestly superior to the other which has failed to do so in the given time. If many samples have to be compared, it will be necessary to start with known quantities of albumen, and weigh the undissolved residues in the manner above indicated.

An objection may possibly be raised to this modified method, viz., that albumen as ingested is not in the form of a dry powder, and that we ought to copy as nearly as possible the conditions existing in the stomach. To this I would reply that it does not matter in the least, to us, as analysts, what are the conditions which obtain in the stomach; since there is no absolute test for pepsin, we can only compare one sample against another, and that which dissolves the most albumen in the shortest time is taken to be the best.

Another imperfect method of analysis is that employed in the examination of malt extracts for diastase, in which a certain weight of extract ought to dissolve a certain weight of starch in ten minutes, when if it does so dissolve it, the extract is a good one; if not, it is to be condemned. The more correct way is to ascertain the reducing power on Fehling's solution, before and after digestion with an _excess_ of starch, and I intend to say a few words upon this subject on a future occasion, when I have ascertained the maximum amount of diastase existing in the best samples of malt.--_The Analyst._

* * * * *

SUBTERRANEOUS FLORA AND FAUNA.

By Dr. OTTO ZACHARIAS.

It is generally correct to say that air, light and moisture form the chief conditions necessary for the development of organic plant or animal life. One of these conditions, however, namely light, is not of equal importance with the two others. For modern investigation and the discoveries made during the progress of natural sciences have shown that in the depths of the ocean, where an everlasting darkness reigns, and where the temperature is extremely low, nevertheless a great abundance of animal life is to be found, and that there exist living beings, not only of the lowest organization, but even fishes and crustaceans of very complicated structure, all of which thrive without enjoying the slightest ray of light.

A similar example of animal life in the absence of light is to be found in the fauna of caves and grottoes. This was first made known to the world by Austrian and American naturalists. The well known Adelsberg grotto in Krain, and the gigantic Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, furnished much interesting material for a detailed study of the biological conditions of subterraneous animal life. It was gradually discovered that in those dark places there existed not only insects, spiders, crustaceans, centipedes, worms, and snails, but also a kind of salamander and fishes. But what gave special interest to these discoveries was the fact, ascertained by careful study, that not all of these beings were gifted with normally developed organs of vision, but that in some these organs had undergone a retrograde development, while others were entirely blind.

Among the latter, the blind fish of the Mammoth Cave (_Amblyopsis spelacus_) is especially remarkable, because in this being the retrograde development of the organ of vision is accompanied by the production of certain ridges of skin on the body which are endowed with an extreme sensitiveness of touch, and which, according to a work lately published by Professor Von Leydig, are composed of little warts in which the nerve fibers end. Nature, therefore, has in this case compensated the amblyopsis for his loss of sight by endowing him with a highly developed organ of feeling.

A similar phenomenon is to be observed in the blind crab (_Cambaras pellucidus_), which is also found in the Mammoth Cave, for in this being, according to Professor Von Leydig, the little warts on the interior feelers, which constitute the organ of smell, have also received an abnormal development.

Better known than the blind fish and the blind crab of Kentucky is the _Proteus anguineus_, a kind of salamander, of a pale rose color, endowed with gills and found in the Adelsberg grotto in Austria. (Fig. 1.)

This amphibium has an eye which lies very deep in the body and is almost overgrown by the skin. But this eye is by no means as developed as the organ of vision, for instance, of the water salamander (the triton) or of the so-called axolotl, for it exists only in a kind of embryonic development, and contains neither a vitreous humor nor a lens for the refraction of the rays of light. As, however, the nerve of vision exists, it is possible that this salamander may be able to discern in some manner between light and darkness.

The thinking student, when discovering such imperfect organs of sight, will naturally ask how the eye of this salamander, which is so useless for its real purpose, has come into existence, and he will weigh the comparative value of the two following explanations. It may be assumed that there existed once in the Adelsberg grotto a salamander which was absolutely blind, and in which, in consequence of an innate power of evolution, an organ of vision of the lowest kind was gradually formed. But to this assumption the objection may be raised at once, why nature should have produced an organ of vision in an animal living in a grotto, where such an organ is absolutely useless, and where such a development would be quite as paradoxical and improbable as, for instance, the development of fins instead of legs in an animal living on dry land.

On the other hand, one may suppose, and this is the more probable explanation, that the _Proteus anguineus_ is descended from a kind of salamander, which possessed perfectly developed eyes in the beginning, and that the imperfect organ of vision in the descendants living in the dark caves is the result of gradual degeneration. This is the more likely to be true as in many other cases, also, we find that organs which become useless and cannot be employed have gradually degenerated.

Our common mole furnishes an example. Its eyes also have become small and are deeply hidden in the muscles, although they are by no means as much degenerated as in the _Proteus anguineus_, and are still possessed of a lens and a retina. Their nerve of vision, however, has become very imperfect, and its connection with the brain is interrupted, so that the animal for this reason can have no perception of light. Notwithstanding the above, however, it is doubtful whether the degeneration and gradual disappearance of the visual organ is in all cases the result of their being no longer employed, since there exists in dark caves a kind of beetle, the _Machaerites_, in which species the female only is blind, while the male has a well developed organ of sight. In this case it cannot be maintained that the absence of light has been the cause of the blindness of the female beetle, because it would have acted equally upon the male. Nevertheless, no other explanation can be found for the blindness. The problem, therefore, is hitherto unsolved.

Of late the investigations of naturalists have been extended to the animal life existing not only in grottoes and caves, but also in mines and pits created by the action of man, and this has led to many interesting discoveries and remarkable results. A naturalist who has especially enlarged our knowledge with regard to the subterraneous fauna and flora is Dr. Robert Schneider, of Berlin, who made his studies in the coal mines near Waldenburg and Altwasser, in Silesia, the salt mines of Stassfurt and the metal mines of Klausthal, in the Upper Harz Mountains.

a. Found in the mines of Waldenburg; b. In the brown-coal pits
near Westeregeln; c. In the Dorothea pit at Klausthal.]

a. Rhizomorpha canalicularis of Hoffmann, b. Club fungus
(Clavaria deflexa) of Hoffmann, found in the mines at Klausthal.]

As regards the subterraneous flora, Dr. Schneider's investigations resulted in showing that the plants which thrive in the dark regions under ground are those which possess no chlorophyl and are sensitive to light. Those which vegetate most luxuriantly there are the _fungi_, and among them especially the _pyrenomycetes_, which are frequent in the waters of mines. Their general aspect is shown in a 480 times magnified form in Fig. 2. They resemble fine threads of delicate structure, and where found are always discovered in great abundance. Most conspicuous by their shape and considerable size are the _rhizomorphæ_, Fig. 3a, and they are remarkable, not only for their brilliant phosphorescence, but also for the peculiar fact that they are only found in places where light does not enter. These _rhizomorphæ_, though this is not easily recognizable from their external appearance, also belong to the fungi and are often seen in strings of the length of over a meter and the thickness of a quill, spreading out in peculiar branches and hanging down from moist beams in dark places. Sometimes they grow like seaweed in the water of the mines, and in this case they give much embarrassment to the miners, because they are apt to obstruct the channels constructed for leading off the superfluous water. In the mines of Freiberg these _rhizomorphæ_ exist in great abundance, and Humboldt already mentions specimens of the length of 4½ feet. Miners in Germany call them _zwirn_ (thread). The student of natural sciences, when encountering these peculiar forms of vegetation, will ask in how far they are the product of their surrounding circumstances (i.e., of the absence of light or the presence of moisture), and in order to find a reply to this question experiments have been made to grow these _rhizomorphæ_ under different conditions of existence. These experiments have shown that from several species of _rhizomorphæ_ other ordinary fungi can be developed, and that the subterraneous specimens therefore may be considered a degeneration and variation of the fungi found above the surface of the ground.

a. Agaricus myurus of Hoffmann, a subterranean fungus. b.
Himantia villosa, a species of rhizomorpha found in the Upper
Harz Mountains.]

In Fig. 4b the _Himantia villosa_ is represented, a rhizomorpha found in the mines of the Upper Harz Mountains, thus showing another form of this vegetable growth. Though it is difficult, as above stated, to recognize by their shape the rhizormorphæ as fungi, the origin of the peculiar _Agaricus myurus_ of Hoffmann (Fig. 4a) will be much easier discovered, though a retrograde development and degeneration has taken place also in this fungus. It still shows, however, the elements of a regular toadstool, only that the stem is much elongated and looks like a thread or a tube, while the cap is small, and this explains how, by gradual degeneration, the cap may disappear entirely, leaving nothing but a stem, as, for instance, in the case of the _Clavaria deflexa_, the club fungus, shown in Fig. 3b.

In connection with the above it may be well to speak of the fungi constituting the mould which often covers the roof and the doors in the brown-coal mines of Halle, specimens of which are shown in Fig. 5.

We now come to the animal life in mines and pits. This is mostly represented, of course, by lower organisms, as infusoria and worms. Thus, in the slime on the bottom of the waters in mines, several species of _amoebæ_ are found, which consist of microscopically small animated bodies, continually floating about, nourishing themselves by absorbing organic matter, possessing sensation, propagating, etc., and, in fact, having actually the qualities of real animal nature. Further, we find in those subterraneous waters a species of the sun infusorium (_Actinophrys_), which is especially frequent in the mines of Klausthal. Fig. 6 shows one of these peculiar little beings. Also the _Stylonychia_ (Fig. 7) is a characteristic inhabitant of those places, and always present there.

It moves with great rapidity in the water by means of the numerous hairs covering its body, can turn quickly in any direction, and thus is enabled to catch suddenly the little beings on which it lives and which it hunts; for which reason the stylonychia is called the "rapacious infusorium."

The above are organisms which can be seen only through the microscope, but the fauna of mines contains also larger organisms, though they are not found as regularly and are not as characteristic for those places as the forms mentioned hitherto. Among these organisms there are several species of worms, spiders, gnats, and, above all, crustaceans of the lower class. The most interesting of the latter is perhaps a variety of the sand flea (Fig. 8--_Gammarus pulex_). The crustacean found in the pits of mines, which is related to the sand flea, shows, according to Dr. R. Schneider, a slight degeneration of the organ of sight, which has taken place in consequence of its adaptation to the dark places, in which this variety of the _Gammarus pulex_ is found, which can make no use of eyes, while the sand flea possesses them fully developed. Otherwise, however, the two varieties are almost absolutely alike, differing only in some details.

From the above the reader will see that "breathing in the rosy light," as Schiller calls it, is not an absolutely necessary condition for the existence of organic beings, but that life exists everywhere, where there is air and moisture, and a temperature which is not always below freezing point, though even eternal frost does not exclude life entirely, as is proved by the existence of the glacier flea, showing that even in the icy coverings of the Alps life still is possible. Mephistopheles may therefore well say:

"From water, earth, and air unfolding,
A thousand germs break forth and grow
In dry and wet, and warm and chilly;
And had I not the Flame reserved, why really,
There's nothing special of my own to show!"

--_Leipziger Illustrirte Zeitung._

* * * * *

[NATURE.]

TIMBER, AND SOME OF ITS DISEASES.[1]

[Footnote 1: Continued from Supplement, No. 661, page 10558.]

By H. MARSHALL WARD.

IX.

In the months of April and May, the younger needle-like leaves of the Scotch pine are occasionally seen to have assumed a yellow tinge, and on closer examination this change in color, from green to yellow, is seen to be due to the development of what look like small orange colored vesicles standing off from the surface of the epidermis, and which have in fact burst through from the interior of the leaf (Fig. 31). Between these larger orange yellow vesicles the lens shows certain smaller brownish or almost black specks. Each of the vesicular swellings is a form of fungus fructification known as an _Æcidium_, and each of the smaller specks is a fungus structure called a _Spermogonium_, and both of these bodies are developed from a mycelium in the tissues of the leaf. I must employ these technical terms, but will explain them more in detail shortly: the point to be attended to for the moment is that this fungus in the leaf has long been known under the name of _Peridermium Pini_ (var. _acicola_, i.e., the variety which lives upon the needle-like leaves).

On the younger branches of the Scotch pine, the Weymouth pine, the Austrian pine, and some others, there may also be seen in May and June similar but larger bladder-like orange vesicles (_Æcidia_) bursting through the cortex (Fig. 31); and here, again, careful examination shows the darker smaller _Spermogonia_ in patches between the _Æcidia_. These also arise from a fungus mycelium in the tissues of the cortex, whence the fungus was named _Peridermium Pini_ (var. _corticola_). It is thus seen that the fungus _Peridermium Pini_ was regarded as a parasite of pines, and that it possessed two varieties, one inhabiting the leaves and the other the cortex: the "varieties" were so considered, because certain trivial differences were found in the minute structure of the _Æcidia_ and _Spermogonia_.

If we cut thin vertical sections through a leaf and one of the smallest _Æcidia_, and examine the latter with the microscope, it will be found to consist of a mass of spores arranged in vertical rows, each row springing from a branch of the mycelium: the outermost of these spores--i.e., those which form a compact layer close beneath the epidermis--remain barren, and serve as a kind of membrane covering the rest (Fig. 33, p). It is this membrane which protrudes like a blister from the tissues. The hyphæ of the fungus are seen running in all directions between the cells of the leaf tissue, and as they rise up and form the vertical chains of spores, the pressure gradually forces up the epidermis of the leaf, bursts it, and the mass of orange yellow powdery spores protrude to the exterior enveloped in the aforesaid membrane of contiguous barren spores. If we examine older _Æcidia_, it will be found that this membrane bursts also at length, and the spores escape.

Similar sections across a _Spermogonium_ exhibit a structure which differs slightly from the above. Here also the hyphæ in the leaf turn upward, and send delicate branches in a converging crowd beneath the epidermis; the latter gives way beneath the pressure, and the free tips of the hyphæ constrict off very minute spore-like bodies. These minute bodies are termed _Spermatia_, and I shall say no more about them after remarking that they are quite barren, and that similar sterile bodies are known to occur in very many of the fungi belonging to this and other groups.

Sections through the _Æcidia_ and _Spermogonia_ on the cortex present structures so similar, except in minute details which could only be explained by lengthy descriptions and many illustrations, that I shall not dwell upon them; simply reminding the reader that the resemblances are so striking that systematic mycologists have long referred them to a mere variety of the same fungus.

Now as to the kind and amount of damage caused by the ravages of these two forms of fungus.

In the leaves, the mycelium is found running between the cells (Fig. 33, h), and absorbing or destroying their contents: since the leaves do not fail the first season, and the mycelium remains living in their tissues well into the second year, it is generally accepted that it does very little harm. At the same time, it is evident that, if very many leaves are being thus taxed by the fungus, they cannot be supplying the tree with food materials in such quantities as if the leaves were intact. However, the fungus is remarkable in this respect--that it lives and grows for a year or two in the leaves, and does not (as so many of its allies do) kill them after a few weeks. It is also stated that only young pines are badly attacked by this form: it is rare to find _Æcidia_ on trees more than twenty years or so old.

Much more disastrous results can be traced directly to the action of the mycelium in the cortex. The hyphæ grow and branch between the green cells of the true cortex, as well as in the vast tissues beneath, and even make their way into the medullary rays and resin canals in the wood, though not very deep. Short branches of the hyphæ pierce the cells, and consume their starch and other contents, causing a large outflow of resin, which soaks into the wood or exudes from the bark. It is probable that this effusion of turpentine into the tissues of the wood, cambium, and cortex has much to do with the drying up of the parts above the attacked portion of the stem: the tissues shrivel up and die, the turpentine in the canals slowly sinking down into the injured region. The drying up would of course occur if the conducting portions are steeped in turpentine, preventing the conduction of water from below.

The mycelium lives for years in the cortex, and may be found killing the young tissues just formed from the cambium during the early summer: of course the annual ring of wood, etc., is here impoverished. If the mycelium is confined to one side of the stem, a flat or depressed spreading wound arises; if this extends all round, the parts above must die.

When fairly thick stems or branches have the mycelium on one side only, the cambium is injured locally, and the thickening is of course partial. The annual rings are formed as usual on the opposite side of the stem, where the cambium is still intact, or they are even thicker than usual, because the cambium there diverts to itself more than the usual share of food substances; where the mycelium exists, however, the cambium is destroyed, and no thickening layer is formed. From this cause arise cancerous malformations which are very common in pine woods (Fig. 34).

Putting everything together, it is not difficult to explain the symptoms of the disease. The struggle between the mycelium on the one hand, which tries to extend all round in the cortex, and the tree itself, on the other, as it tries to repair the mischief, will end in the triumph of the fungus as soon as its ravages extend so far as to cut off the water supply to the parts above: this will occur as soon as the mycelium extends all round the cortex, or even sooner if the effusion of turpentine hastens the blocking up of the channels. This may take many years to accomplish.

So far, and taking into account the enormous spread of this disastrous disease, the obvious remedial measures seem to be, to cut down the diseased trees--of course this should be done in the winter, or at least before the spores come--and use the timber as best may be; but we must first see whether such a suggestion needs modifying, after learning more about the fungus and its habits. It appears clear, at any rate, however, that every diseased tree removed means a source of Æcidiospores the less. Probably every one knows the common groundsel, which abounds all over Britain and the Continent, and no doubt many of my readers are acquainted with other species of the same genus (_Senecio_) to which the groundsel belongs, and especially with the ragwort (_Senecio Jacobæa_). It has long been known that the leaves of these plants, and of several allied species, are attacked by a fungus, the mycelium of which spreads in the leaf passages, and gives rise to powdery masses of orange yellow spores, arranged in vertical rows beneath the stomata: these powdery masses of spores burst forth through the epidermis, but are not clothed by any covering, such as the _Æcidia_ of _Peridermium Pini_, for instance. These groups of yellow spores burst forth in irregular powdery patches, scattered over the under sides of the leaves in July and August: toward the end of the summer a slightly different form of spore, but similarly arranged, springs from the same mycelium on the same patches. From the differences in their form, time of appearance, and (as we shall see) functions, these two kinds of spores have received different names. Those first produced have numerous papillæ on them, and were called _Uredospores_, from their analogies with the uredospore of the rust of wheat; the second kind of spore is smooth, and is called the _Teleutospore_, also from analogies with the spores produced in the late summer by the wheat rust. The fungus which produces these uredospores and teleutospores was named and has been long distinguished as _Coleosporium Senecionis_ (Pers.) We are not immediately interested in the damage done by this parasite to the weeds which it infests, and at any rate we might well be tempted to rejoice in its destructive action on these garden pests. It is sufficient to point out that the influence of the mycelium is to shorten the lives of the leaves, and to rob the plant of food material in the way referred to generally in my last article.

What we are here more directly interested in is the following. A few years ago Wolff showed that if the spores from the _Æcidia Peridermium Pini_ (var. _acicola_) are sown on the leaf of _Senecio_, the germinal hyphæ which grow out from the spores _enter the stomata of the Senecio leaf, and there develop into the fungus called Coleosporium Senecionis_. In other words, the fungus growing in the cortex of the pine, and that parasitic on the leaves of the groundsel and its allies, are one and the same: it spends part of its life on the tree and the other part on the herb.

If I left the matter stated only in this bald manner, it is probable that few of my readers would believe the wonder. But, as a matter of fact, this phenomenon, on the one hand, is by no means a solitary instance, for we know many of these fungi which require two host plants in order to complete their life history; and, on the other hand, several observers of the highest rank have repeated Wolff's experiment and found his results correct. Hartig, for instance, to whose indefatigable and ingenious researches we owe most that is known of the disease caused by the _Peridermium_, has confirmed Wolff's results.

It was to the brilliant researches of the late Prof. De Bary that we owe the first recognition of this remarkable phenomenon of _heteroecism_--i.e., the inhabiting more than one host--of the fungi. De Bary proved that the old idea of the farmer, that the rust is very apt to appear on wheat growing in the neighborhood of berberry bushes, was no fable; but on the contrary, that the yellow _Æcidium_ on the berberry is a phase in the life history of the fungus causing the wheat rust. Many other cases are now known, e.g.., the _Æcidium abietinum_, on the spruce firs in the Alps, passes the other part of its life on the rhododendrons of the same region. Another well known example is that of the fungus _Gymnosporangium_, which injures the wood of junipers. Oersted first proved that the other part of its life is spent on the leaves of certain Rosaceæ, and his discovery has been repeatedly confirmed. I have myself observed the following confirmation of this. The stems of the junipers so common in the neighborhood of Silverdale (near Morecambe Bay) used to be distorted with _Gymnosporangium_, and covered with the _teleutospores_ of this fungus every spring: in July all the hawthorn hedges in the neighborhood had their leaves covered with the Æcidium form (formerly called Roestelia), and it was quite easy to show that the fungus on the hawthorn leaves was produced by sowing the _Gymnosporangium_ spores on them. Many other well established cases of similar heteroecism could be quoted.

But we must return to the _Peridermium Pini_. It will be remembered that I expressed myself somewhat cautiously regarding the _Peridermium_ on the leaves (var. _acicola_). It appears that there is need for further investigations into the life history of this form, for it has been thought more than probable that it is not a mere variety of the other, but a totally different species.

Only so lately as 1883, however, Wolff succeeded in infecting the leaves of _Senecio_ with the spores of _Peridermium Pini_ (_acicola_), and developing the _Coleosporium_, thus showing that both the varieties belong to the same fungus.

It will be seen from the foregoing that in the study of the biological relationships between any one plant which we happen to value because it produces timber and any other which grows in the neighborhood there may be (and there usually is) a series of problems fraught with interest so deep scientifically, and so important economically, that one would suppose no efforts would be spared to investigate them: no doubt it will be seen as time progresses that what occasionally looks like apathy with regard to these matters is in reality only apparent indifference due to want of information.

Returning once more to the particular case in question, it is obvious that our new knowledge points to the desirability of keeping the seed beds and nurseries especially clean from groundsel and weeds of that description: on the one hand, such weeds are noxious in themselves, and on the other they harbor the _Coleosporium_ form of the fungus _Peridermium_ under the best conditions for infection. It may be added that it is known that the fungus can go on being reproduced by the _uredospores_ on the groundsel plants which live through the winter.

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