Chapter 7

Telluric waves, according to modern observations, almost invariably in every region follow two directions that cross each other at right angles. When the seismograph has been arranged according to such directions, no matter from what part the first horizontal shock comes, one of the four pendulums will be set in motion. If, after the first undulation in one direction, another occurs in the opposite, the pendulum facing the first will in its turn begin to move; and if other undulations make themselves felt in diametrically opposite directions, the other pendulums will begin to act. These pendulums, in their motion, carry along the appendages, e e e e, which are so arranged as to fall in the center of the marble or iron table, one upon another, and thus show the order according to which the telluric waves manifested themselves. The part of the apparatus that records vertical shocks has a winch, r, which falls at the same place when the lead ball drops.

The apparatus as a whole may be inclosed in a case. When it is desired to employ it, it should be mounted in a cellar, while the clock that is connected with it can be located in one of the upper stories of the house.--_F. Cordenons, in La Nature_.

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NOTES ON THREE NEW CHINESE FIXED OILS.[1]

[Footnote 1: Read at an evening meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Feb, 4, 1885.]

By ROBERT H. DAVIES, F.I.C., F.C.S., General Superintendent of Apothecaries' Hall.

The three oils that form the subject of the examination detailed in this paper were consigned to a London broker, with a view to their being regularly exported from China if a market could be found for them here: it was, therefore, necessary to ascertain what commercial oils they resembled in character, so as to estimate to what uses they might be applied.

TEA OIL (_Camellia oleifera_).

In color, transparency, and mobility, this oil considerably resembles olive oil. The odor and taste, though characteristic, are not easy to describe.

(1.) _Specific Gravity._--The specific gravity at 60 deg. F. is 917.5), water at 60 deg. F. being taken as 1,000.

(2.) _Action of Cold._--On subjecting to the cold produced by a mixture of pounded ice and salt, some solid fatty matter, probably stearine, separates, adhering to the side of the tube. It takes a longer exposure and a lower temperature than is necessary with olive oil. I did not succeed in solidifying it, but only in causing some deposit. Olive oil became solid, while almond and castor oil on the other hand did not deposit at all under similar circumstances. The lowest temperature observed was -13.3 deg. C. (8 deg. F.), the thermometer bulb being immersed in the oil.

A few qualitative tests, viz., the action of sulphuric acid, nitric acid (sp. gr. 1.42), and digestion, with more dilute nitric acid (1.2 sp. gr.) and a globule of mercury, were first tried.

When one drop of sulphuric acid is added to eight or ten drops of tea oil on a white plate, the change of color observed is more like that when almond oil is similarly treated than with any other oil, olive oil coming next in order of similarity.

When a few drops of tea oil are boiled with thirty drops or so of nitric acid in a small tube, the layer of oily matter, when the brisk action has moderated, is of a light yellow color, similar in tint to that produced from almond and olive oil under similar circumstances. When the oil is digested with an equal volume of nitric acid (1.2 sp. gr.), and a globule of mercury added, the whole becomes converted into a mass of elaidin in about two hours, of the same tint as that produced from almond oil when similarly treated.

These tests point to the fact that the oil may be considered as resembling almond or olive oil in composition, a conclusion which is borne out by the subsequent experiments.

(3.) _Free Acidity of Oil._--The oil was found to contain free acid in small quantity, which was estimated by agitating a weighed quantity with alcohol, in which the free acid dissolves while the neutral fat does not, and titrating the alcoholic liquid with decinormal alkali, using solution of phenol-phthalein as an indicator.

It was thus found that 100 grammes of the oil require 0.34 gramme of caustic potash to neutralize the free acid. Mr. W. H. Deering (_Journ. Soc. of Chem. Industry_, Nov., 1884) states that in seven samples of olive oil examined by him, the minimum number for acidity was 0.86 per cent., and the maximum 1.64 per cent., the mean being 1.28 per cent. Tea oil compares favorably with olive oil, therefore, in respect of acidity, a quality of which note has to be taken when considering the employment of oil as a lubricating agent.

(4.) _Saponification of the Oil._--Considerable light is thrown on the composition of a fixed oil by ascertaining how much alkali is required to saponify it. In order to estimate this, a known excess of alcoholic solution of potash is added to a weighed quantity of the oil, contained in a stout, well-closed bottle (an India-rubber stopper is the most convenient), which is then heated in a water oven until the liquid is clear, no oil bubbles being visible. Phenol-phthalein solution being added, the excess of potash is estimated by carefully titrating with standard hydrochloric acid solution.

It was thus found that 1,000 grammes of oil would require 195.5 grammes of caustic potash to convert it entirely into potash soap.

Koettstorfer, to whom this method of analysis is due, gives 191.8, and Messrs. F. W. and A. F. Stoddart the numbers 191 to 196, as the amounts of caustic potash required by 1,000 parts of olive oil. The numbers given by niger seed, cotton seed, and linseed oils are very similar to these. These oils differ from olive and tea oil, however, in having a higher specific gravity, and in the property they possess of drying to a greater or less extent on exposure to air.

(5.) _The Fatty Acids Produced._--A solution of the potash soap was treated with excess of hydrochloric acid, and after being well washed with hot water, the cake of fatty acids was dried thoroughly and weighed. These, insoluble in water, amounted to 93.94 per cent, of the fat taken. The proportion dissolved in the water used for washing was estimated by titration with alkali; the quantity of KOH required was insignificant, equaling 0.71 per cent, of the fat originally used. This portion was not further examined.

The insoluble fatty acids amounted, as last stated, to 93.94 per cent. Pure olein, supposing none of the liberated acid to be dissolved in water, would yield 95.7 per cent. of fatty acid.

The acid was evidently a mixture, and had no definite melting point. It was solid at 9 deg. C., and sufficiently soft to flow at 12 deg. C., but did not entirely liquefy under 22 deg. C. To test its neutralizing power, 0.9575 gramme dissolved in alcohol was titrated with decinormal alkali; it required 34.05 c.c. This amount of pure oleic acid would require 33.95 c.c.; of pure stearic acid, which has almost the same molecular weight as oleic acid, 33.71 c.c.; or of pure palmitic acid, 37.4 c.c. This, taken in conjunction with the way in which the acid melted, makes it extremely probable that it is a mixture of oleic and stearic acids.

Additional evidence of the large proportion of oleic acid was furnished by forming the lead salt, and treating with ether, in which lead oleate is soluble, the stearate and palmitate being insoluble. In this way it was found that the oleic acid obtained from the ethereal solution of the lead salt amounted to 83.15 per cent. of the oil.

This acid was proved to be oleic, by its saturating power and its melting point, which were fairly concordant with those of the pure acid.

CABBAGE OIL (_Brassica, sp._).

_Appearance, etc._--The sample was of a deep brown color, of a fluidity intermediate between olive and castor oil, and possessed a strong, rather disagreeable odor.

_The Specific Gravity at 60 deg. Fahr._, 914.0.--The specific gravity of rape oil and colza oil, both of which are obtained from species of the genius _Brassica_, varies from 913.6 to 916.

_Exposure to Cold._--This oil by exposure to a temperature of -12 deg. C. (10 deg. F.) becomes solidified in course of an hour, a bright orange-yellow mass resulting.

_Qualitative Examination._--The three reagents before indicated were applied to this oil.

_(a.) Sulphuric Acid._--The color produced was very marked and characteristic; it differed considerably from any of the others simultaneously tested, the nearest to it being olive end rape oil.

_(b.) Strong Nitric Acid._--The reaction was more violent than before, the stratum of oil after cooling being darker in color than in the three cases before mentioned. The reaction with rape oil was similar in all respects.

_(c.) Elaidin Test._--The solid mass of elaidin formed was of a darker color than that from olive, almond, and tea oil, but closely resembled that from rape oil.

_Free Acidity._--This was estimated as above described. 100 grammes of oil would require 0.125 gramme caustic potash. The samples of rape oil examined by Deering (loc. cit.) were found to require from 0.21 to 0.78 KOH per 100 grammes oil.

_Saponification of the Oil._--Upon saponifying with alcoholic potash, it was found that 1,000 grammes of oil required 175.2 grammes of potash for complete saponification.

The number obtained by Koettstorfer for colza was 178.7, by Messrs. Stoddart for rape oil, 175-179, and by Deering for rape oil, 170.8-175.5. The only other oil of which I can find figures resembling these is castor oil, which requires 176-178 grammes per kilo (Messrs. Stoddart). The difference in specific gravity between this (cabbage) oil and castor oil and the solubility of the latter in alcohol point to a wide distinction between them. Hence I think the numbers above given conclusively demonstrate the resemblance between this oil and rape oil in composition.

_The Fatty Acids._--The acids produced by adding HCl to the potash soap were almost entirely insoluble in water. The actual amount of potash required to neutralize the acid in the wash water equaled 0.20 per cent. of the oil originally taken.

The insoluble fatty acid amounted to 95.315 per cent. of the oil taken. It was evidently a mixture of two or more fatty acids. On trying to take its melting point, I found that it commenced to soften at 17 deg. C., was distinctly liquid at 19 deg., but not completely melted until 22 deg. C.

According to O. Bach (Year Book Pharm., 1884, p. 250), the fatty acids from rape seed oil melt at 20.7 deg. C., which is fairly concordant with the result obtained for cabbage oil acids.

The neutralizing power of these acids was then tested. 0.698 gramme dissolved in alcohol required 20.52 c.c. decinormal alkali. It is a singular coincidence that brassic acid (C_{22}H_{42}O_{2}), which is a characteristic acid of colza and rape oils, would have required almost exactly this quantity of alkali for neutralization, 0.698 brassic acid theoretically saturating 20.69 c.c. of decinormal alkali. I am disposed to regard this as a coincidence, since a subsequent experiment showed that the lead salts formed were partially soluble in ether, whereas the lead salt of brassic acid is said to be insoluble in this liquid.

WOOD OIL (_Elaeococcus cordata_).

_Appearance, etc._--This oil has a decided brown color and a persistent and disagreeable odor. It is rather more fluid than castor oil. Glass vessels containing it soon show a film of apparently resinous material, which forms whenever a portion of the oil flows from the lip or edge down the outside of the vessel, and is thus exposed to the air in a thin stream. This drying power is one of its most prominent characters. If a few drops be exposed in a flat dish, in the water oven, the oil dries rapidly, so that in two hours the gain in weight will be appreciable, and in four hours the whole will have become solid.

_The Specific Gravity at 60 deg. Fahr._, 940.15.--This is an unusually high gravity for a fixed oil. The only two which exceed it are castor oil, which is 960, about, and croton oil, which is very similar to this, 942 to 943 (A. H. Allen). It is interesting to note that both these oils are yielded by plants of the natural order _Euphorbiaceae_, to which the plant yielding so-called wood oil belongs.

_Exposure to Cold._--This oil is apparently unaffected by exposure to a temperature of -13.3 deg. C. (8 deg. F).

_Qualitative Examination._--The action of sulphuric acid is remarkable. When a drop comes in contact with the oil, the latter apparently solidifies round the drop of acid, forming a black envelope which grows in size and gradually absorbs and acts upon so much of the surrounding oil as to assume the appearance of a large dried currant of somewhat irregular shape.

When a drop of the oil is added to nitric acid, it solidifies, and on heating very readily changes into an orange yellow solid, which appears to soften, though not to liquefy, at the temperature of boiling water. This substance is readily soluble in hot solution of potash or soda, producing a deep brown liquid, from which it is again deposited in flocks on acidifying. I have not yet found any solvent for it. The action of nitric acid with linseed oil is more similar to this than that with any other oil I have tried, but the nitro products of the two, if I may so call them, are quite different from one another. That from linseed oil produced as indicated remains liquid at ordinary temperatures, as does the oil upon its addition to the acid.

_Elaidin Test._--By the action of nitric acid in presence of mercury, a semi-solid mass is produced of a much deeper color than in the preceding cases. A portion of the oil remains in the liquid state, as is usually the case with drying oils.

_Free Acidity._--By the method indicated, it was found that 100 grammes of oil required 0.39 grammes caustic potash to neutralize the acid occurring in a free state.

_Saponification of the Oil._--The oil saponifies readily on being heated with potash in presence of alcohol, and the amount required to convert it entirely into potash soap was 211 grammes of caustic potash per thousand grammes of oil. There are no saponification numbers for oils that can be considered close to this. I can find no record of any having been obtained between 197 and 221, so that the further examination on which I am now engaged may show this unusual number to be due to this oil containing some new fatty acid in combination.

_The Fatty Acid._--The acids produced by adding acid to the potash soap formed in this case a cake on cooling, of a much deeper color than I have before obtained. After washing well they amounted to 94.10 per cent. of the oil. The amount dissolved by the water in washing was in this case also very small, the potash required for neutralizing equaling 1.02 per cent. of the weight of oil.

I found that the cakes of acids were solid at 36 deg. C., and were completely melted at 39 deg.

On solution in alcohol, and digestion for two days with animal charcoal, the color was much diminished, and on the liquid being filtered and cooled to 0 deg. C., an abundance of small white crystalline plates separated out, which, when dried, melted at 67 deg. C.

The crude fatty acids turn black with sulphuric acid, as the oil does, and yield a similar substance with nitric acid. It is similar in appearance, but differs in that it melts at about 50 deg. C., and is soluble in glacial acetic acid, which is not the case with the substance from the oil.

These fatty acids crystallize on cooling, in a most characteristic and beautiful way, forming wavy circular plates totally unlike any that I have seen before.

The above experiments may, I think, be taken as conclusive as to the nature of tea oil and cabbage oil. The former may certainly be considered a useful lubricating agent for the finer kinds of machinery. The work upon wood oil is not yet sufficiently complete to show us the nature of its proximate constituents. I am continuing the examination of this oil. Perhaps I need scarcely add that there is no connection between this "wood oil" and the Gurgun balsam, the product of _Dipterocarpus turbinatus_, which is also known as "wood oil."

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THE OTOSCOPE.

Prof. Leon Le Fort has recently presented to the Academy of Medicine, in the name of Dr. Rattel, a new otoscope, which we illustrate herewith.

The first person to whom the idea occurred to illuminate the ear was Fabricius d'Acquapendentus (1600). To do this he placed the patient in front of a window in such a way as to cause the luminous rays to enter the external auditory canal. It was he likewise who conceived the idea of placing a light behind a bottle filled with water, and of projecting its concentrated rays into the ear.

In 1585 Fabricius de Hilden invented the speculum auris. This instrument was employed by him for the first time under the following circumstances: A girl ten years of age had in playing introduced a small glass ball into her left ear, and four surgeons, called in successively and at different times, had been unable to extract it. Meanwhile the little patient was suffering from an earache that extended over almost the entire head, and that increased at night and especially in cold and damp weather. To these symptoms were added strokes of epilepsy and an atrophy of the left arm. Finally, in November, 1595, De Hilden, being called in, acquainted himself with the cause of the trouble, and decided to remove the foreign body. To do this, he selected, as he tells us, "a well lighted place, caused the solar light to enter the ailing ear, lubricated the sides of the auditory canal with oil of almonds, and introduced his apparatus." Then, passing a scoop with some violence between the side of the auditory canal and the glass ball, he succeeded in extracting the latter.

At the beginning of the 17th century, then, physicians had at their disposal all that was necessary for making an examination of the ear, viz.: (1) a luminous source; (2) a means of concentrating the light; and (3) an instrument which, entering the auditory canal, held its sides apart.

The improvements which succeeded were connected with each of these three points. To solar light, an artificial one has been preferred. D'Acquapendentus' bottle has given way to the convex lens, and to concave, spherical, and parabolic mirrors, etc. De Hilden's speculum has been replaced by cylindrical, conical, bivalve, and other forms of the instrument.

The apparatus that we illustrate herewith offers some arrangements that are all its own as regards the process of concentrating the light. It is lighted, in fact, by a small incandescent lamp of 2 candle-power, placed within the apparatus and supplied by an accumulator. The reflector is represented by a portion of an ellipse so calculated that one of the foci corresponds to the lamp and the other to the extremity of the instrument. A commutator, B, permits of establishing or interrupting the current at will. A rheostat added to the accumulator makes it possible to graduate the light at one's leisure and cause it to pass through all the shades comprised between cherry-red and incandescence. Finally, the orifice through which the observer looks is of such dimensions that it gives passage to all the instruments necessary for treating complaints of the middle and internal ear.

This mode of lighting and reflection may be adapted to a Brunton otoscope, utilized for examining other natural cavities, such as the nose, pharynx, etc. Elliptical reflectors do not appear to have been employed up to the present.

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STATE PROVISION FOR THE INSANE.[1]

[Footnote 1: Remarks following "Definition of Insanity," published in the October number of _The Alienist and Neurologist_, and read before the Association of Charities and Corrections at St. Louis, Oct. 15, 1884.]

By C. H. HUGHES, M.D.

We live in an age when every uttered sentiment of charity toward the insane is applauded to its remotest echo; an age in which the chains and locks and bars and dismal dungeon cells and flagellations and manifold tortures of the less humane and less enlightened past are justly abhorrent; an age which measures its magnificent philanthropy by munificent millions, bestowed without stint upon monumental mansions for the indwelling of the most pitiable and afflicted of the children of men, safe from the pitiless storms of adverse environment without which are so harshly violent to the morbidly sensitive and unstable insane mind; an age in which he who strikes a needless shackle from human form or heart, or removes a cause of human torture, psychical or physical, is regarded as a greater moral hero than he who, by storm or strategy of war taketh a resisting fortress; an age when the Chiarugis and Pinels, the Yorks and Tukes, of not remotely past history, and the Florence Nightingales and Dorothea Dixes of our own time, are enshrined in the hearts of a philanthropic world with greater than monumental memory.

Noble, Christlike sentiment of human charity! Let it be cherished and fostered still, toward the least of the children of affliction and misfortune, as man in his immortal aspirations moves nearer and nearer to the loving, charitable heart of God, imaging in his work the example of the divinely incarnate Master!

But let us always couple this exalted sentimentality with the stern logic of fact, and never misdirect or misapply it in any of our charitable work. Imperfect knowledge perverts the noblest sentiments; widened and perfected knowledge strengthens their power. A truly philanthropic sentiment is most potent for good in the power of knowledge, and may be made most powerful for evil through misconception of or inadequate comprehension of facts. As we grow in aspirations after the highest welfare of the insane, let us _widen our knowledge of the real nature of insanity and the necessities for its amelioration, prevention, and cure_.

It is a long time since Grotius wrote, "The study of the human mind is the noblest branch of medicine;" and we realize to-day that it is the noblest study of man, regardless of vocation. Aye! it is the imperative study of our generation and of those who are to follow us, if we would continue, as we wish to be, the conservators of the good and great, and promoters of advancing capability for great and good deeds in our humanity.

One known and acknowledged insane person to every five hundred sane persons, and among those are unreckoned numbers of unstably endowed and too mildly mannered lunatics to require public restraint, but none the less dangerous to the perpetuation of the mental stability of the race, is an appalling picture of fact for philanthropic conservators of the race to contemplate.

The insane temperament and its pathological twin brother, the neuropathic diathesis, roams at large unrestrained from without or that self-restraint which, bred of adequate self-knowledge, might come from within, and contaminates with neurotic and mental instability the innocent unborn, furnishing histogenic factors which the future will formulate in minds dethroned to become helpless wards of the state or family.

The insane temperament is more enduringly fatal to the welfare of humanity than the deadly _comma bacillus_ which is supposed to convey the scourge of Asia to our shores. The latter comes at stated periods, and disappears after a season or two of devastation, in which the least fit to survive of our population, by reason of feeble organic resisting power, are destroyed; while resisting tolerance is established in the remainder. But _this_ scourge is with us always, transmitting weakness unto coming generations.