Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/113

 Popular Science Monthly

��97

��Cleaning a Rifle Barrel by Shooting a Cartridge Through It

A MAN in Helena, Montana, has de- vised a cartridge that cleans a rifle barrel. He uses an ordinary lead bullet, connected by a short rod with a lead plug which is set against the powder charge. The space between bullet and plug is filled with compressed cotton, which ex- pands and rubs along the bore, wiping out the loose fouling.

A very serious ob- jection to this plan is that the powder charge is behind the cotton, and deposits a new load of dirt in the bore. Moreover, rifles firing smokeless powder can not be cleaned without nitrocleaners. Neither the plan practical

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��for guns shooting the modern black powder.

��Compressed cotton rubs the bore, wiping out the loose fouling

��goes to see the patient and to consult with the physician in charge.

After iDoth physicians have made a- thorough physical examination if it seems advisable, a puncture is made, to obtain the spinal fluid for examination in the city's research laboratories. H the pa- tient is suffering from purulent menin- gitis, which is meningitis due to the presence of certain germs, the fluid will be cloudy. In cases of tuberculous meningitis, infantile paralysis, pneumonia and infectious diseases, the fluid is clear. If it is cloudy or if the physician suspects that the disease is a case of epidemic meningitis, se- rum is administered. Even if the case is not epidemic meningitis the patient cannot be harmed by the serum, and if it is, a great deal by prompt administra-

��What

��Spinal Fluid Tells About Our Soldiers' Health

IF one of the soldiers stationed in or near New York city is taken sick and his symptoms give rise to the suspicion that he is suffering with meningitis, word is sent at once to the Meningitis Division of the Department of Health of New York city. A physician from this Division

��is to be gained tion of the serum.

The number of injections vary greatly. Generally not less than four must be given and frequently many more are necessary. The serum is never adminis- tered by syringe but by gravity. The spinal fluid is examined thoroughly and there is no room for doubt about a case when all the tests have been com- pleted.

���At left: Making a culture from the spinal fluid of a soldier suspected of having meningitis. At right: Making a microscopic examination at the New York Department of Health

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