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tion between the muddy discharge of the Mis- slssippi. following the right or west bank, and the clear water from the Ohio along the left or east bank, is apparent at times to the eye for twenty or thirty miles, and to the sediment trap for ten times this distance. At Columbus, twenty miles below Cairo, the amount of sedi- ment |ier unit of measure has been observed three or four times greater on the west than on the east side of the river. But ttiese compara- tive surveys show that the caving on the right or west bank, washed by the muddy water, is greater, both in length of bank and in area and bulk, than it is on the opposite shore, where the water is undercharged with sediment. The length of river from which this conclusion is drawn (230 miles) is thought to be great enough to eliminate any local or abnormal in- fiuences on velocity, or material of bank.
B. M. Harhod.
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��AMBRICAif! CLIMATOLOGICAL ASSO- CIATION.
The second annual aession of the American cli- matologies] association was held at the hall of the Academy of meiJiclne In New York, May 27 and 28; the president, Dr. A. L. Loomla, la the chair. Thii aasociation was organized a year ago in Washing- ton, for the stiidf of climatology and dtseoaei of the respiratory organs.
In the opening address, on the afternoon of the 27th, the president expressed the opinion that the scope of the society's worb ought to be enlarged, so as to include the study of affections of the vascular system and other diseases, as well as to investigate more systematically the subjects of sanitaria and of mineral springs. This anggestion was afterwards adopted.
In Europe the study of these subjects had gone much farther than in America, and it was becoming more and more common for European physicians to treat their patients by prescribing residence for grealr er or less time at saultarla especially adapted to their diseases. That such was not the case in America was not due to the lack In this country of the cli- mates which possessed the necessary beneficial quali- ties, but to the lack uf systematic study of the subject by the medical profe^lon, as well as to the Imperfect provision /or the wants of invalids at our health resorU. The attempt to remedy these deflciencles v*3 one of the main objects of the nssoclatiun.
As a model of what was desirable to encourage In the way of sanitaria, the president described one in the Adlrondacks, devised to meet the wants of inva- lids of limited means, where, tor a sraall sum, accom- mo<latlon is provided in cottages for two or four paUents, with a common dinlng-hall; also tents, etc., for those who are able to camp out; the whole under the charge of a medical board and an attending
��NCE. [Vol..
After speaking of the causes of pulmonary pbthisii, Dr. Loomis said that the objects to be accomplished in the treatment of the disease are two, — to improtc the general condition of the patient; and to stop th< local disorder in the lungs, preventing the entrance and multiplication of the bacilli tuberculosia. Good climate is a potent means of accomplishing both these ends. Good climate means pure air, and it must be determined by clinical experience-
The amount of moisture in the atmosphere is not an index; for the only dampness injurious to the phthisical patient Is that exhaled from ihe soil, ladec as it is with organic matter. The nature of the soil Ib therefore of prime importance. It must be light and porous, admitting of good drainage. A clayey soil Is necessarily bad.
Dr. Beverly Hobinson of Kew York read a. paper on antiseptic Inhalations, instancing cases in which V had obtuned decided benefit, especially in the wav of alleviating cough by this method of treatment. The vapor of antiseptics was applied by means of a re»- pirator worn over the nose or mouth, or both, from one to two hours a day In some cases, and nearly all the time in others.
' Catarrhal affections of the nasal cavities as a caose of pulmonary phthisis,' was the title of a paper by Dr. W. C. Jarvis of New Yorfc. The position talceu was, that consumption can be traced. In many in- stances, to a catarrhal condition of the larynx, which In its turn is induced by the irritating effect of the discharges from the pharynx and nasal cAvltiei, the catarrhal condition lu this situation being due to a deflected nasal septum. In the discussion which followed, it became evident that the members pres- ent were not in accordance with Dr. Jarvis's novel
The event of the evening session was the presenta- tion, by Dr. H. F. Williams of Brooklyn, of his pneu- matic cabinet, with histories of coses of consumption treated therewith. The cabinet consists of an air- tight Iron safe, with a plate-glass front, perforated near the middle with an opening about an inch in diameter, through which passes a rubber tut>e. so arranged that the patient can hold the end of it in his mouth as he sits upoli a low stool in the cabinet. Wlien the cabinet is closed, this tul>e forms the only means of communication with the external atmot- phere. The patient having taken his seat, and placed the end of the tube in his mouth, the door of the cabinet is closed, and the air within slightly rarified by means ut a tew strokes of an air-pump. By this process the body Is surrounded by a rarified atmos- phere, while the respiratory passages are in commu- nication with the outer air: the patient is therefore breathing from an atmosphere of greater density than that surrounding his body, with the efFecc of expand- ing the chest, bringing the lower part of the respira- tory organs into play, and affording valuable exercise of muscles of respiration. Dr. Williams also claims tliat with its aid antiseptic sprays and vapors can be carried much deeper into the lungs than byany oth«r raetiiod. The paper and demonstrations excited mudi interest, and a number of gentlemen expressed thai
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