Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/440

428 in the great demand for narcotics, the sale of beer and wine by grocers, and the divisions of saloons by general and family entrances, with separate rooms for each. The vice is considered a pronounced form of brain and nerve degeneration coming from well-marked physical conditions, largely controlled by social and psychical states peculiar to the country. The symptomatology of the disease "more nearly resembles that of insanity and general paralysis; its course is in waves and currents; its progress is shorter; and among women the use of narcotics is more prevalent than that of other forms of alcohol." In estimating the value of remedies, Dr. Crothers believes that all efforts by moral means have failed, and are of value almost exclusively as agitations that will call attention to the evil. Legal means, by cocrcion and punishment, are likewise inefficacious, although there may be a value in prohibition, to be determined by the experience of the future. In his own view, inebriety being regarded as a disease, like insanity, should be, like insanity, treated as a disease; and the cure should be sought in the enlightened treatment of the inebriate asylums.

How to expose Thermometers.—Dr. H. A. Hazen discusses, in the "American Journal of Science," the conditions of thermometer exposure best adapted to secure uniform accuracy in the indications of temperature. One of the first conditions to be regarded is that of securing a good height above the ground, on which considerable diversity of opinion prevails. Much depends upon the immediate conditions of the locality. When this point is decided upon, a uniform and satisfactory shelter or screen should be provided for the instrument. The height and the screen should be so adjusted that the thermometer shall be free from the influence of ground-fog and that access of the air to it should be perfect. The shelter should shield from all reflected heat, from all direct radiation, from the sun by day, and from the earth to the sky by night, and from all radiation from surrounding objects, as well as from moisture. Many different forms of shelter have been contrived in different countries. In experimenting upon the merits of these devices, a standard of comparison is found in the swung thermometer, or, as the French call it, the thermométre fronde which is a common thermometer attached to a string or wire, and rapidly swung through a circumference whose radius is the length of the string. The theory of this arrangement is that, as the instrument is rapidly brought in contact with a large mass of air, it must give the temperature of the same unless the results are vitiated by other causes. From a number of experiments described by Mr. Hazen, the following conclusions as to the best dispositions of shelters are advanced: When exposed to direct sun-heat, they should be at least thirty-six inches long; with proper precautions the thermometer "fronde," both dry and wet, will give the most correct air-temperature and relative humidity; a single louvre shelter is sufficient. The interposition of a second louvre prevents the free access of air, and if ventilation is used it must affect the air which is propelled to the thermometer. For obtaining even approximate relative humidity in calm weather, single-louvred shelters are necessary, and for the best result an induced air-current is essential, especially in the winter in northern countries. Where a window shelter is used, there should be a free air-space of from six to twelve inches between the shelter on the north side of the building and the wall. The simplest form of screen would be four pieces of board ten or twelve inches square, nailed together box-fashion, leaving the bottom and the side toward the window open; the thermometers, dry and wet, should be placed five inches apart near the center of this screen, with their bulbs projecting below the plane of the lower edge. Shade may be given, at such times as the sun is shining on the north side of the house, by the adjustment of the window-blinds.

Numismatics in the United States.—From a paper read by Mr. W. Lee before the Philosophical Society of Washington, we learn that an extended interest in numismatics began to show itself in this country in 1858, at which time there were probably not as many as a hundred coin-collectors in the United States. The interest has grown rapidly, until now there must be on