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SOLID AIR.

The modern wonders of Liquid Air have been very recently surpassed by a remarkable achievement by Prof. A. L. Metz, of Tulane University, New Orleans. In his investigations upon liquid air he succeeded in reaching a temperature 3000 degrees below zero, and at that point the liquid air became solidified.

In order to further experiment with the product thus secured it was found necessary to break the tube. The little piece of frozen air, which Prof. Metz also describes as resembling a bit of frosted glass, was then subjected to several tests.

Laid upon an anvil, it was struck with a hammer; the sound given out was that which one would hear on hitting a piece of firm ice, but in the present case the hammer rebounded as if it had struck india rubber.

Any object touching the solid air would immediately freeze to it, and much valuable time was lost in disengaging the pincers when efforts were made to manipulate the strange product.

Prof. Metz is making some interesting guesses founded on his discovery. He said recently:

"The discovery of frozen air opens a wide new field for speculation, and not one of the least interesting—that of the possible presence of crystalline air particles in space. The utter cold existing in interstellar space is fully recognized, and the probability is that should any air exist it does so in the form of minute crystals, like the infinitesimal frost particles which fill the air on very cold days.

"In the open space these air particles may well serve to diffuse the solar light, a diffusion which has as yet never been satisfactorily explained.

"In the more practical uses of everyday life the solid air would seem to go far beyond the promises of liquid air, as it certainly furnishes an absence of heat far in advance of the fluid form of the medium, combined with smaller bulk and simpler transportation."

Doubtless this discovery will come, in the near future, to play an important part in external and local anesthesia, just as cocaine and liquid air have.

COMMON SALT TREATMENTS.

So convenient and efficacious has salt become as a remedial agent that not only thousands use it with great success but medical men count it as among their standards.

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Apoplexy.—Salt applied moistened, or as salt water, to the head is an excellent restorative to sensibility.

Bleeding.—In frequent doses of a teaspoonful each, salt is an excellent remedy for hemorrhages of lungs and bowels and stomach.

Cholera-Morbus.—Salt water, in connection with vinegar and an astringent, such as ginger or pepper, gives pretty sure relief in this disease. The dose may be a tablespoonful two or three times in an hour.

Colic.—Half a glass of salt water, taken during first stages of attack, often serves to cure the pain. A heated salt-bag applied externally is a splendid aid to the internal treatment.

Coughs and Hiccoughs.—Salt in small quantities often allays these distressing afflictions. Taken in pinches before retiring will remove tickling in the throat and conduce to sleep.

Catarrh.—The salt remedy for catarrh is very old and much resorted to. It should be made in a mild solution of milk, one pint to a half spoonful of salt, sniffed up the nostrils and held there for a time by pressure of thumb and fingers. This should be repeated several times in succession, and then the operation should be undergone three to five times a day.

Healthy Scalp.—Salt water will effectually remove dandruff and keep the scalp clean and healthy.

Sore Throat.—A gargle of salt water frequently gives relief to a sore and inflamed throat.

Dyspepsia.—There are certain forms of dyspepsia which can be relieved by small doses of salt three or four times a day.

Diarrhoea.—Salt, vinegar and some astringent, as ginger or pepper, result in cures of this disease.

Toothache.—Dip cotton in a solution of salt water and camphor and insert it in the tooth. Relief follows as a rule.

Felon.—A poultice of salt mixed with the white of an egg makes a powerful drawing poultice for a felon.

Neuralgia.—A bag of heated salt applied to the painful part frequently results in relief.

NOBLE HEALTH THOUGHTS OF MASTER MINDS.

James Russell Lowell, M.D.—"Previous to the conceptional period more can be done for the coming child than can afterward be done in years of school or college."

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John Mason Good, M.D.—-"A good motherly old lady is of more value in a family of children than a physician."

B. F. Clayton, M.D.—"If some one would bring out a book of home remedies, regular grandmother remedies, he would have done something which would prove a blessing in every household."

Prof. L. A. Standish.—"If children were always born under perfect conditions and with proper physical and mental inheritance on both sides of the family for generations back; and further, if the environment was always what it should be, they would grow up inclined to do only what is right and proper."

Miss Frances Willard.—"Parents, I pray you, plead with your daughters; husbands beseech your wives; young men, beg your sweethearts, to stay the destruction of the fell destroyers of the human race— the waist belt and chest compressor."

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe.—"The young are impressionable, and easily led into right ways, but are still easier driven into wrong ways. It is natural for a child to deny the truth if thereby it feels it will escape punishment."

ABORTION.

Frequency.—Who dares question the God-given privilege that children have a right to be born? Yet that there are those who are depraved enough to raise this question is abundantly proved by the testimony of physicians, the daily records of newspapers, the fulminations from pulpits, the remonstrances of philanthropists, the forebodings of philosophers.

Who Are Guilty.—If this evil were resorted to for the purpose of cloaking the results of licentiousness, and covering up the disgrace of the victim of dishonored virtue, there might, perhaps, be some faint apology for silence, but unfortunately, and with shame for the wives and mothers of our land, the statement is made that they are the chief offenders. This statement may strike strangely and harshly on the ears of many devoted wives and mothers, but to the physician, who is generally the recipient of family secrets, it is a well-known fact.

Monstrosity of the Crime.—Intentional abortion is in law, morals, and to all intents and purposes, a murder. The monstrous claim that the child has no life before the time of quickening, and that, therefore, there is no sin in its destruction, has long since been exploded. The embryo is alive and quick from the moment of conception. The crime of criminal abortion is, therefore, as heinous when committed in early pregnancy as in the more advanced growth of the foetus.

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The Dire Consequences.—The laws of all civilized countries make abortion a crime highly punishable. In some countries the criminal, and even all accessories, are visited with the death penalty. Aside from this, the maternal instinct, and regard for her own health, should prevent every resort to this character of murder. No one can estimate the amount of physical suffering that may follow it. Inflammation of the womb and kindred disorders of the generative organs are almost sure to result, and very frequently defy the most skillful treatment. Blood-poisoning may follow, productive of immediate death, or, at best, of wrecked health and life-long suffering.

Excessive Child-Bearing.—Some apologize for this crime by saying that many of the diseases of delicate women are due to excessive child-bearing. This is true. The evils of excessive child-bearing are seen not only in delicate mothers, but in the puny, short-lived, idiotic children that are apt to follow. In some women pregnancy is a nine-month torment. There are others to whom it is almost certain to prove fatal. In all such cases an increase of family is undesirable, but the remedy lies not in killing the product of conception but in taking heroic moral means, and intelligent natural precautions, to prevent the condition.

The Great Natural law.—Conception—as a natural law—takes place at or about the time of the menstrual (monthly) flow. It may be said with some degree of certainty that from ten days after the menstrual flow until within three of four days of its return there is very little chance of conception taking place. The converse is equally true. An understanding of this natural law, and a regulation of cohabitation by its observance, will enable many to control the number of their offspring at will. Of course the husband must be willing to cooperate in this by restraining his passions. He must practice continence, self-control and a willingness to deny himself. Then there will be fewer cases of outraged nature, and more of the children will be properly conceived and healthily born.

LIQUID AIR IN MEDICINE.

Production.—The first process is to compress common air about eight hundred times; that is, eight hundred feet of common air must be made by pressure to occupy the space of one cubic foot in a tube or receptacle strong enough to hold it. This tube is then tapped into another larger one which surrounds it, and the process of tapping or exchanging from one tube to another has the effect of cooling the condensed air. The process is continued until the phenomenal temperature of 312 degrees below zero is reached, when it is found that the compressed air turns into a liquid.

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Phenomena.—This temperature is so intensely cold that water introduced into the vessel containing the liquid air instantly freezes; and this even if the liquid air vessel be in close proximity to a hot fire. The baser metals and most substances, when placed in the liquid air, become brittle and break like glass. Such metals as gold, silver and copper, however, resist the powerful freezing effects of the air. Heat has the singular effect on liquid air of producing a phenomenon precisely like that witnessed in boiling water. It bubbles and spurts as water in a boiling tea kettle.

Mechanical Claims.—On the discovery of liquid air, or rather, on the perfection of the first machine (1895) for successfully making it, some scientists claimed that it could be used as a substitute for steam. But it has been found impossible, thus far, to give it this high commercial success. Moreover, expansion of it to produce power, as water produces power when it expands, only resolves it into the previous form of common air. The difference, therefore, between liquid air and common is measured by only the 800 times of space, or power, between them; whereas the difference between water and steam is measured by the 1700 times of space, or power, between them.

As a Medical Agent.—Liquid air is found to be useful in surgery. A spray of it on a diseased part deadens the sensation like cocaine, and enables minor surgical operations to be performed without pain and even without an excessive flow of blood. But the nature of the mechanism employed in its production, preservation and application prevents its employment in surgery outside of laboratories or hospitals.

Other Medical Uses.—In certain cases, where a general ice application for reducing fevers is requisite, liquid air proves effective. It may be applied by wrapping the entire body in a blanket, or other suitable cover, through which the evaporizations of liquid air are allowed to pass slowly. In the evaporation of liquid air the nitrogen and oxygen do not pass off together. The nitrogen precedes the oxygen, thus leaving a highly oxygenized remainder, like ozone. By introducing this into the common air breathed in the sick room, great improvement has been found to come to those afflicted with consumption or chest diseases. Many interesting experiments are being made with it as a curative agent in lung diseases, and some make large claims in its favor. Though in its infancy as a medical agent, it is, like electricity, full of promises and possibilities.

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Last Modified: Monday, 13-May-2013 15:31:47 EDT