B

B, enlarged view of pilaster inlet shaft, and continuous delivery at cornice opposite eaves.

it.

The inlet in these cases would be from ordinary airbricks fixed in the outer wall, the amount of inflow being controlled by a valve.

A patent system of this kind of influx at the line of ceiling, but combined with an outlet, has long ago been introduced by Mr. Potts. Here the cornice is divided longitudinally-the whole length-into two channels, the fresh air being admitted into the lower channel, and the vitiated air finding its way out through the perforations in the upper channel which is in communication with a withdrawal shaft. The idea is that inasmuch as the admitted air is colder, and not allowed to rush into the room in streams, but, on the contrary, finely divided, it will become sensibly warmed in its descent before reaching the line of human respiration, and yet not practically interfere with the natural ascent of the vitiated air. It is claimed for this system also, after a number of experiments made, that as the cold air enters at first descends for some distance close to the wall line there is no retardation of the escape of the air which it is necessary to remove by

Welch's Air Purifying Cornice Inlet. A, metal louvre tray partly withdrawn; c, horsehair purifi er; E, cornice.

matter.

When the air enters the innermost space between the louvres, it passes through a body of curled hair-or its equivalent in filtering value-which acts as a respirator and prevents the ingress of the finer impurities, such as soot, etc., after which it passes into the room through the plain or ornamental perforations in the cornice whence it is diffused broadcast into the room.

It will not be needful to give more than another instance of how an apartment can be automatically ventilated, disinfected, or deodorised, because I have already shown how this is effected at the foot of the inlet tubes on the Tobin system. There is, however, a method applicable to private houses invented by Mr. W. T. Thompson, of London, which will explain how this can be done in any part of an exterior wall. A box is fitted into the wall or into a panel in the wall, and fastened there by means of a metal flange, and in this box is fixed a fan which revolves by the action of the impinging air, in the same way as the revolving ventilators fixed in windows. Two tubes are attached to the box inside the room, and these are filled with sponges saturated with disinfecting or scenting material, and the exThompson's Wall Disinfect-terior air causes the fan to revolve. At the ing Air Inlet. same time the air enters certain slits in the B, outer wall; tubes, and expels the disinfecting or other A, fan; E E, material in minute sponge tubes. particles which the ordinary currents of ventilation disperse over the room. This apparatus can very well be placed also in a door having a commun ication with the outer air.

(To be continuea).

Potts's Cornice with continuous inlet apertures.

means of the perforations in the upper member of the cornice. This system is best adapted for rather lofty rooms, and care is necessary when it is applied to apartments of average height.

I have already shown how the entering air is purified at the floor level by means of a water-tray to intercept the dust, how it can be washed by means of a spray of water, also how it can be mechanically filtered, and I may here show that the air can be rendered free from foreign materials even when admitted along the line of cornice. The simplest method is that introduced by Messrs. Welch, Hope & Stevenson, of Liverpool, who attain their object by introducing into the external wall at the string course metal boxes which reach through the wall and admit the air into the room through a perforated cornice. The boxes contain drawers which are fitted with louvres, alternately attached to the top and bottom of the drawer, but with a sufficient space left between to allow the external air to pass over and under them on its way to the interior of the room. These baffle the incoming air first of all, and prevent its entrance in sudden gusts, and they also act as

Notes and Queries.

SHODDY.

MOST people are aware that 'shoddy' is the wool of woollen fabrics reduced to the state in which it was before being spun and woven, and thus rendered available for manufacture. But they do not know that shoddy now enters to a greater or less extent into the composition of all but the very finest woollen cloths. It began to be used about 60 years ago; but the prejudice against it is scarcely yet overcome. In spite of this feeling, however, shoddy has now become so necessary that to stop the supply would be to shut one-third of the woollen mills of the kingdom.

Woollen rags, no matter how old and worn, are now a valuable commodity to the manufacturer. They are put into a machine called a willey, in which a cylinder covered with sharp hooks is revolving, spinning and weaving are removed, and the material is again reduced and the rags are so torn by the hooks that in a short time all traces of to wool capable of being re-worked.

We need not detail the various processes to which it is subjected; but there is one which has a grave sanitary importance, to which we must allude. When the cloth is taken from the loom, after being spun and wove, it has a bare look, and requires to be brayed or scoured, to remove the oil added to the wool before spinning, and the size added to the warp. This is done by soaking it in a ley of soda, urine, pigs' dung, and other detergents. The urine is collected from house to house; and in many parts of the woollen districts, and especi

ally in those tenanted by the lower classes, it is a regular practice to have in the yards behind, and at the side of the houses, old barrels in which the stale and decomposing urine accumulates until it is removed by the manufacturers. This practice leads, as may be supposed, to a nuisance of very considerable magnitude. In places such as Dewsbury, for example, which is the great centre of the trade, urine tubs, accumulations of pigs' dung, and at times undrained piggeries, are scattered about in all directions. It does not require a very vivid imagination to picture the nuisance, which, especially in the warm weather, arises from such unsavoury compounds as these. It appears, moreover, that for certain purposes, such as the manufacture of the best goods, no efficient substitute for urine can be found. It is gratifying to know that some manufacturers have abandoned the use of urine for certain chemical compounds-it is believed with no impairment of efficiency in manufacture, and with an actual pecuniary saving. The larger number of manufacturers, however, true to their old traditions, hold that the use of urine cannot be abandoned, and we are afraid that nothing short of a prosecution and conviction under the provisions of the Public Health Act as to nuisances will induce them to make experiments which will in the end put a stop to so disgusting a practice.

year.

CAVE, Mr. Edward Lashford, has been appointed Clerk to the Bromyard Guardians and Rural Sanitary Authority, at 8o, per ann., as Clerk to the Guardians 10l. per ann. for conducting the elections of Guardians, and such remuneration as may from time to time be awarded as Clerk to the Rural Sanitary Authority, Assessment Committee, and School Attendance Committee, vice Knott, resigned.

CASE, George Henry, M.R.C.S. Eng., M. & L.S.A. Lond., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Fareham Rural Sanitary District, at 120/. for one year, vice Barnard, Hoare, and Langford, whose appointments have expired. COMYNS-LEACH, J., B.Sc. Lond., S.Sc.C. Camb., F.C.S., of Sturminster Newton, has been appointed Public Analyst for Weymouth, at a salary of icl. per ann. and a fee of 10s. 6d. for each analysis.

NEWMAN, Ashwin Conway, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S. A. Lond., has been appointed Certifying Factory Surgeon for the district of Winchcombe, vice Thos. Newman, M.R.C.S. Eng., resigned.

NORMAN, John William, M. B. Univ. Edin., L.R.C.P. Edin., has been appointed Certifying Factory Surgeon for the district of Ross, vice Fernandez, resigned.

QUIRK, Martin, M.D., C.M. Qu. Univ. Irel., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Blaenavon Urban Sanitary District, Monmouthshire, at 40. for one year, vice Ball, resigned.

RICHARDSON, Mr. Arthur, has been appointed Surveyor to the Bromborough Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority, Cheshire, at 257. per ann.

WOOD, William James, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the No. 2 sub-district of the Wantage Rural Sanitary District, at 257. per ann.

38'7

SANITARY PATENTS.

559. Ventilating Apparatus. W. C. Woodhead, Leeds. 563.

DR. M. J. GAHAN, of Grand Island, Nebraska, writes to the New York Medical Record: For the past four years we have had in this city, during the fall and winter months, exhibitions of diphtheria to more or less extent, and prevailing during last winter as an epidemic, and reading in your valuable journal during the last year various letters and advices on its treatment, I take the liberty of offering mine. When the case is taken, on the first formation of the membrane I found the following supporting treatment and local applications effective, viz, Tinct. ferri chlo., 3 i.; pot. chlo., 3 ij.; aqua, 3 vij.; this to be used as a gargle four or five times a day, and the use of the tinct. ferri chlo. from ten to twenty drop doses every two hours. I have used this for the last four years in over two hundred cases, and it has yet to fail me for the first time when the disease was taken at its onset.'

PORCELAIN-LINED COOKING VESSELS.

THE introduction of cast-iron cooking vessels, coated on the inside with a white porcelain or enamel, has become very extensive of late, and are generally supposed to be as safe as they are convenient and cleanly. The Engineer says it has been assumed that vegetable acids, which act more or less energetically upon metallic surfaces, do not affect the porcelain lining, and that vessels protected by it may therefore be employed for all purposes, without discrimination. In a paper recently read before the Society of Public Analysts, Glasgow, it is shown that some kinds at least of this porcelain lining are very readily acted upon by certain acids, common salt, and other substances used for food, and that thus large quantities of lead and arsenic are dissolved out during culinary operations. Analyses of three enamels taken from cast-iron pots, made by as many different manufacturers, showed that all contained arsenic, and two of them lead. But it would appear that it is not so much on account of the presence of even these substances that such enamels are objectionable, but because of their highly basic character, which renders them peculiarly susceptible to the action of even feebly acid solutions. Thus, in the various enamels analysed, the percentage of bases was found to be 38 58, 53'73, and 55'28 respectively. A 1 per cent. solution of citric acid boiled in the third-55 28-roughened and destroyed the enamel at once, dissolving out enough lead to give a dense black precipitate with hydrosulphuric acid; and an enamel that will not bear so moderate a test as 1 per cent. solution of citric acid must be considered unsafe.

Self-acting Ventilator, etc. J. Gilmore and W. R. Clark, Lower
Norwood.

5249. Sanitary, etc., compounds. W. Jeyes, Catherine Street, Aston Cross, Birmingham.

ABSTRACT OF SPECIFICATIONS. 2596. Chimney caps or ventilators. J. E. Carter.

A chamber is formed at the upper end of the cap, and at the top and bottom thereof are fixed supports to receive a spindle to which straight blades or vanes are fixed parallel to the spindle, and which are curved on their faces and at their outer edges nearly touch the interior of the chamber. The upper end of the spindle has fixed thereon a rotating hand with openings, and a number of concave vanes projecting therefrom, which cause the head and spindle to rotate always in the same direction, thus creating an upward current in the ventilating shaft, and at the same time the internal vanes keep the upper end of the cap clean.

2324. Trough water-closets.

B. C. Cross.

This consists in the arrangement of a hinged movable syphon as the means of drawing off for troughs, basins, and other receptacles for liquid matter, but more especially as applied to water-closets. 2644. Treatment of sewage, etc. G. V. Alsing.

One part of sulphurous acid is added to eighty parts of sewage, and the heavy parts allowed to deposit in a catchpit. It is then screened and afterwards mixed with one ton of clay to every million gallons of sewage. It then passes to a depositing tank, the liquid portion being filtered off through coke, whilst the sludge deposited is removed and used in the manufacture of bricks, drain pipes, and other purposes for which clay is employed.

2677. Ventilating apparatus. J. McL. Dobson.

This consists in the construction of cowls or ventilators with inner and outer conical cases or tapering contracting nozzles with inlet ducts and discharge inducing tube.

NOTICE.

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Original Papers.

ANTHRAX IN THE PIG.*

BY HENRY G. ARMSTRONG, M.R.C.S., Medical Officer of Health, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Medical Officer to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Fever Hospital.

ON different occasions I have brought before the Society the multiform subject of anthrax as met with in my practice, and more than once have shown pathological specimens from pigs affected with what is considered to be the same disease. As the signs of anthrax in the pig differ considerably from those of the disease in other animals, and present many and complex varieties in different individuals of the same species, it may be of use briefly to put on record some of my experiences on the subject, and to indicate one or two points in connection with the specimens I last exhibited, which may perhaps help to throw a little light on the real nature of the affection, about which there is much difference of opinion.

Before doing this it may be well for the sake of such of the members of the Society as are not required (like myself) to decide on the fitness of flesh for human food, and therefore do not study the diseases of animals killed for the table, to mention some of the diseases with which anthrax is commonly confounded. Erysipelas, scarlatina, enteric (or typhoid) fever, and cholera, are names for distinct and easily recognisable affections in the human being, but are all applied in the pig to what is probably none of these, and is certainly described by many authorities as being anthrax. 'Red soldier' and the 'blue sickness' are among its more common popular names. The dealers almost invariably try to make out that the skin appearances in such cases are due to cold, and are of no moment, and that the pigs have not died (for they do die very soon, if not killed in the hope of saving their bacon), from disease but from mutual suffocation in their attempts to keep themselves warm, etc.

The most common form of anthrax in the pig is that characterised by erysipelatoid eruption, specimens of which have been before the Society. The characteristic deep cherry-red hue of the skin appears generally as a widish blush on different parts of the body, more particularly the back and inner surfaces of the thighs; the parts so coloured are raised above the level of the surrounding skin; the redness at first disappears under pressure, but afterwards becomes persistent, and does not fade after death-which in the natural way supervenes early, sometimes in a few hours from the first appearance of ailment.

One very remarkable pathological feature of these cases is the tarry condition of the blood and the engorgement (perhaps post mortem) of the vessels of all sizes and parts but especially in the neck and head, as seen on decapitation, so as to give a dark appearance to the muscles, and even to change the fat to a disgusting grey mass. This condition of the blood, and the unvarying tendency of all the tissues to rapid decomposition, are characteristic of

Read before the Northumberland and Durham Medical Society.

anthrax. The spleen in the few cases where I have been able to get a look at that organ (for the viscera are generally made away with as early as possible) is not, however, dark and hypertrophied as in the anthrax of cattle. Sometimes the erysipelatoid blush extends to a universal redness of the entire surface, so as to account for the use of the term 'scarlatina,' which disease it at first sight closely resembles. In such cases as the above the fat beneath the skin is usually pink in colour, which appearance continues after death, as certain specimens in my possession show. I believe that this disease is not scarlet fever

first, because the examples I have seen of it have occurred in herds affected with other forms of anthrax; secondly, because in the cases I have observed there has not been any special throat lesions, such as are pathognomonic of ordinary scarlet fever in man; and, thirdly, because in some of the cases where I have been able to examine the intestines, lesions characteristic not of scarlet fever but of anthrax have been found.

With the exception of the cases presently to be referred to, so far as my experience goes, there have been no abscesses, tumours, spots, parotid enlargements, or intestinal ulcers in any of the cases, but the disease is evidently highly contagious. I have neither regarded it as scarlet fever nor ordinary erysipelas.

Mr. Vacher, medical officer of health for Birkenhead, whose opportunities of observation in these respects are exceptional, describes 'pig typhoid' as a disease distinct from anthrax, but considers that although ulcers of the intestine are common in his experience of the disease in pigs, the term 'pig typhoid' is not appropriate, for in some instances where the external appearances have been marked there has been no ulceration of the gut at all, and we know that this last-named lesion is (correctly, or the reverse) usually regarded as the sine quâ non of the disease called enteric or typhoid fever.

My own conclusions, already given, are based on observations made during the past five years, and almost exclusively refer to pigs brought from Ireland. The transportation of stock from America to the English markets, and to that of Newcastle among others, has brought with it a new experience to myself as regards anthrax in the pig, of which I have recently shown to the Society specimens from two animals along with a specimen (probably Irish) of 'red soldier' such as I have hitherto been accustomed to. The lesions of the disease in the pigs of the one country contrast with those of the other.

One of the American pigs (both of which came under notice on Oct. 22) was spotted all over with an eruption of livid—almost black-hard prominent papules, of different sizes, from that of a barleycorn to that of a shilling, and in some parts spots of medium size were disposed at the rate of about one to every square inch. Between the hock and flank of one side were three soft swellings containing a watery, turbid, yellow serum, with some loose shreds of tissue. A fourth swelling on the belly of the size of half a hen's egg contained black blood effused into the areolar tissue and clotted in the middle of the tumour. The contents of each tumour were within a sort of cyst. There was no 'red soldier' whatever.

The second American pig resembled the first in having spots on shoulders and sides-though not so many as in the preceding instance-and one tumour which was in the parotid region. It differed from the other in having patches of 'red soldier' on belly,

neck, and shoulders; in the latter region the hard, raised, livid spots were apparent on the reddened surface. In neither of the pigs was the blood 'tarry,' nor were the cut surfaces on decapitation abnormal.

A third American pig (noted on Oct. 14), had deep red soldier' on the back, and also dark red and livid spots on the sides, the latter being very numerous, and varying from mere points to patches of the size of a threepenny-piece. This pig had a parotid abscess. The intestines had been removed before the inspection.

The pig, supposed to be Irish, had none of the foregoing abnormal appearances, except patches of 'red soldier,' which were disposed on the buttocks, sides, and neck. On decapitation the cut surfaces were found to be rather dark, and the blood was tarry. The subcutaneous fat was of a pinkish tint. The intestinal mucous membrane, with the exception of about the last 6 feet, which were normal, was congested, but nowhere ulcerated.

We have in the cases just described examples of-(1, American.) Spots without red skin. Intestines not examined. The disease corresponds to that described as anthracoid angina by Fleming. (Query so-called 'pig typhoid?'). (2.) Spots with red skin, and parotid tumour or abscess. (3. Irish?) Red skin without spots, tumour, or abscess, but with intestinal lesion. 6 (Query: so-called pig scarlatina?) The first of these (spots without red skin) had several tumours, containing blood and puriform liquid, which are uncommon in enteric fever, at least in the human subject; the second (spots with red skin) had a parotid abscess in one instance, and a tumour (probably a commencing abscess) in the other; and the third was a disease resembling human scarlet fever in one particular only, and differing from it in having a lesion highly characteristic of anthrax.

In the Privy Council Order, dated December 17, 1878, which is termed also the Typhoid Fever of Swine Order, 1878,' it is laid down that typhoid fever of swine (otherwise called soldier disease, or red disease), shall be deemed to be a disease (under the Contagious Diseases Animals Act, 1878), for the purposes of slaughter and compensation, notice of disease, Orders of Council, power of police and power of entry; and also (under the Animals Order, 1878), for the purposes of movement and exposure, movement of dung, burial or destruction of carcases, and general provisions; as also for cleansing and disinfection.

The foregoing is a clear expression of opinion on the part of the veterinary advisers of the Privy Council: first, that red soldier in the pig is enteric or typhoid fever; and, second, that it is highly contagious or infectious. I submit, in opposition to this, that sufficient evidence as to the identity of the two diseases has not been adduced, the presence of ulceration of Peyer's glands of the small intestine not being proof of enteric fever in the human subject, as Dr. John Harley and others have shown ; that the ready communicability of red soldier is evidence against the view of its being enteric fever; that the spots on the skins of animals affected with the so-called 'pig typhoid' are in size, colour, number, and general character altogether different from the lenticular rose-coloured eruption of enteric fever; and that, in fine, the two names represent two separate diseases.

NOTE. Since the foregoing was written, Dr. Klein's extensive and carefully prepared report on this disease has been published, which gives the

decided opinion that the affection is neither erysipelas, splenic fever, nor typhoid (enteric) fever. Dr. Klein proposes to name it 'infectious pneumoenteritis of the pig.' (See SANITARY RECORD, Vol. X., No. 244, page 132.)

[It may also be noted, though this is hardly germane to the subject of the paper, that some very valuable researches by MM. Pasteur and Toussaint have recently been published, which seem to show that anthrax may be communicated to animals by food containing the germs of bacteria, but only when the animals are wounded or become injured in feeding. It is remarkable that both observers have arrived in different ways at precisely the same conclusions.-ED.]

ARSENICAL WALL PAPERS.*

BY FRANCIS H. BROWN, M.D.

SOME two or three years ago, following the reading of a paper on arsenic papers, in the Boston Society of Medical Observation, a committee was appointed to memorialise the Legislature for the passage of a law to prevent or control the use of arsenical pigments in articles of domestic use. The petition was signed by representatives of twelve or fourteen of the medical societies throughout the State, and was presented to the Legislature in due form. At the call of the committee of the senate on the judiciary, well-known physicians appeared before them, and urged sanitary reform. The subject was fully discussed, reference was made to numerous cases of poisoning, of long and tedious illness, of permanent invalidism, and all the other results, and the committee themselves admitted that the evil was a serious one, and should be abated.. Attention was at the same time called to the great danger arising from the use of green tarlatan and other clothing fabrics, of the colouring matter of confectionery, of the glazed green papers employed to cover lozenges, and in the kindergarten schools. It was admitted that the delicate and beautiful tints of the arsenical pigments, their cheapness, and the ease with which they are worked, make them desirable agents, so far as the manufacturers are concerned, but such considerations could hardly be valid where the health of the people is concerned. At the same session of the committee a series of German wall papers with purely vegetable colours were shown, which give equally brilliant, enduring, and satisfactory results.

The committee, however, felt themselves justified in declining to advise legislation at that time. It is to be hoped that at some future time, and with the hearty aid of the profession, another attempt to secure sanitary legislation in this direction will be more successful.

Since that time a typical case of arsenic poisoning from wall papers has occurred which is worth putting on record. A previously healthy young lady had slept for six years in a room having on its walls a beautiful paper in two shades of green. Her home was in a very healthy locality in one of the suburban towns; her manner of life was particularly healthgiving, and she exercised freely in the open air. To these circumstances are probably due her exemption from disease for a considerable period.

Reprinted from the Boston Medical and Surgical Reporter, 20, 1879.

March