Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 182

The quant.i.ty of spirit obtained from various substances, and even from pure sugar, depends upon the skill with which the several operations are conducted. By theory, pure sugar should yield 51% of alcohol; but in practice 11925 galls. of proof spirit is the largest quant.i.ty which has yet been obtained from 112 lbs. of sugar. By the revenue authorities this weight of sugar is estimated to afford 11-1/2 galls. of proof spirit. The average product is, perhaps, about 1 gall. of spirit of this strength for every 10 lbs. of sugar. According to Harmstadt, 100 lbs. of starch yield 35 lbs. of alcohol, or 78 galls. of proof spirit; and 100 lbs. of the following grains produce the accompanying quant.i.ties by weight of spirit of sp. gr. 9427, or containing 45% of pure alcohol:--wheat, 40 to 45%; rye, 36 to 42%; barley, 40%; oats, 36%; buckwheat, 40%; maize, 40%; the mean being 347 galls. of proof spirit. It is found that a bushel of good malt yields 2 galls. of proof spirit, and that the largest quant.i.ty of proof spirit obtained from raw grain, mashed with 1/5 or 1/6 of malt, does not exceed 22 galls. per quarter.

The distiller is allowed to produce worts from any substance, and at any specific gravity, provided such gravity can be correctly ascertained by the saccharometer approved of by the Board of Inland Revenue. He is not, however, allowed to mash and distil at the same time. See ALCOHOL, BRANDY, FERMENTATION, FUSEL OIL, GIN, STILL, &c.

=DISTOMATA.= A genus of fluke-like parasites infesting men and the higher vertebrate animals. The egg is about the 1/280th of an inch long and 1/270th inch wide.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The embryo is frequently met with in sewage water, from which, if it be removed and placed in pure or distilled water, it soon dies. The embryo which does not become a distoma gives rise to a progeny (gradually formed from germ-cells within it) consisting sometimes of one, but much more often of a number of bodies of various forms and structures, each of which possesses powers of movement and locomotion. But the creatures of this second development are not distomata; neither are the offspring to which they in their turn give rise. Like their immediate progenitors, this offspring produce in their interior germ-cells which develop into minute worms having tails, and displaying great vivacity when placed in water.

These latter alone exhibit the characters of true distomata. "These cercaria now either become enclosed, like a chrysalis in a pupa state, or they penetrate into the bodies of soft animals, become encysted and parasitic. It appears probable that the distomata enter the human intestinal ca.n.a.l as cercaria, and then pa.s.s into the biliary pa.s.sages."[260]

[Footnote 260: Blyth.]

A case is on record of two distomata having been extracted from the foot of a woman, into which it has been surmised they gained an entrance as cercaria whilst the woman was bathing.

It is thought that sh.e.l.l-fish, as well as uncooked fish when eaten, may be the means of introducing these parasites into the human system. The embryos of the _Distomata hepatic.u.m_ swim about and live in water, which may probably, when drunk, be the means of conveying them into the bodies of men and sheep. The ailments and symptoms to which these pests give rise depend upon the particular organ or portion of the body in which they establish themselves.

In man they are a frequent cause of haematuria and dysentery. In sheep they occasion fearful mortality, giving rise to the disease known as 'the rot,'

and killing thousands of flocks annually.

"The number of species affecting men are usually enumerated as nine--viz.

_Fasciola hepatica_, _Distoma cra.s.sum_, _D. lanceolatum_, _D.

ophthalmobium_, _D. heterophyes_, _Bilharzia haematopia_, _Tetrastoma renale, Hexathrydium renarum_, and _H. pinguicola_."[261]

[Footnote 261: Blyth.]

=DISTORTIONS.= In treating of this subject we shall confine ourselves to those distortions which are preventable--or rather, we may say, of two out of the three which will be discussed, which are voluntary.

One very common form of bodily distortion is crooked or curved spine. It is mostly met with in young girls of from ten to sixteen years of age; and first shows itself either in the elevation of one shoulder above the other, or in a growing out of one of the shoulder blades, or of one side of the bosom beyond the other. The elevated shoulder is generally the right one. At the same time the right side of the chest is unnaturally high, and rounded; whilst the opposite or left shoulder and chest are on the contrary depressed and concave. Very frequently these conditions are accompanied by a projection of the left hip, and a curving inwards of the loins on the right side. With persons so afflicted the spine presents an appearance that has not inaptly been compared to a long italic _f_.

Spinal curvature arises from a weakened state of the muscles, ligaments, and bones of the backbone. It is most frequently met with in those whose occupation compels them to stand the greater part of the day; as well as in persons who pa.s.s many hours at the desk or at needlework. Spinal curvature is also common in young fragile girls acting as nursemaids, and as such unduly subjected to carrying heavy infants on one side. Amongst the children of the poor, those of tender years are much too frequently put to this objectionable form of drudgery. Any one's recollections of a walk through a poor neighbourhood will enable them to call to mind many instances they must have seen of smaller babes being nursed by larger ones. Those subjected to too long standing, no doubt because the posture affords them relief, unconsciously contract the habit of frequently standing on the right leg--of _standing at ease_ on it, as it is called--and at the same time of bending the left knee a little; and since this position causes the right shoulder to be raised, and the left side of the pelvis to be thrown out of its place, it will be evident from what has been already said that, if persisted in, it will end in distorting the spine in the manner above indicated.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The same results will also follow in those other cases, such for instance as in too long an application at the desk or at the needle, as well as the carrying for an undue length of time a heavy child in the arms; these all being occupations in which one side of the body is subjected to an undue and unequal strain over the other.

"Why one-sided postures should cause distortion must be evident, when it is considered that the intervertebral substance is compressible to such an extent that an adult man of middle stature loses about an inch of his height after having been in the erect posture during the day, and does not regain it till after some hours of rest. Since the united thickness of the intervertebral substance in an adult man is about 3875 inches, we see that they lose nearly one fourth by compression, which they do not recover till after some hours of rest. But if the weight of the body falls unequally on the spine day after day, it must be evident that they will become compressed on one side more than the other; and that if their elasticity be impaired, and the muscles and ligaments be weak, and the bones soft, as they are in young persons who have not a sufficiency of fresh air, wholesome food and active exercise, this lateral distortion will become permanent.[262]

[Footnote 262: Dr Druitt.]

Another cause tending to distortion of the spine is the foolish habit of using corsets, a practice which contributes to weaken the dorsal muscles.

When the shoulders are continually supported by a corset, the dorsal muscles upon which the support ought to fall have their functions usurped by the corset, and hence fail to receive their proper development, and consequently lose their power; the result being an inability on the part of the body to support itself without the corset, and a sinking and bending of the spine when it is removed. In boys, who never wear corsets, spinal curvature is rarely met with. In girls, who do, it is constantly to be found. To guard against spinal distortions, bad and awkward positions of the body should, wherever possible, be prohibited. Amongst the prejudicial postures indulged in by the young, we have already mentioned the habit of standing on one leg and of carrying heavy loads on one side of the body.

To these may be added the habit of lying crooked in bed, and that of young girls spending a long time in a constrained position in dressing their own hair. Every one-sided motion may lead to distortion if it be frequently repeated, and the tendency once existing, the evil grows day by day. The use of corsets should be strenuously discountenanced. The early detection of spinal distortion is a matter of considerable importance. Hence the advisability of mothers, nurses, governesses, and other guardians of children or young girls, frequently examining the bodies of their charges to note if they present any of the peculiarities we have indicated at the commencement of this article. Should any of these develop themselves, aid should immediately be sought of a skilful medical pract.i.tioner.

Dr Lewis Sayre, in his work 'Spinal Disease and Spinal Curvature'

says:--"The great object in the treatment of Pott's disease is to maintain _rest of the affected part_ by such means as will not debar the patient from the benefits of fresh air, sunlight, and change of scene. The patient should not be permitted to a.s.sume the upright position before he has been fitted with some artificial support capable of removing all pressure from the bodies of the diseased vertebrae. This object may be obtained by straightening the spinal column in such a manner that the weight of the body is borne by _the transverse_ processes and not by the bodies of the vertebrae." Acting on these principles, Dr Sayre partially envelopes the patient in a jacket of plaster of Paris, surrounding the body from the pelvis to the axillae.

Although Dr Sayre's work is almost entirely devoted to a much more serious affection of spinal curvature than that treated of here--viz. posterior angular curvature, in which actual disease of the bones of the vertebrae is concerned--his treatment is no less applicable to the milder form of distortion to which our remarks have been directed. Dr Sayre himself states that 300 cases have been treated by his method with very signal success, and very many eminent surgeons bear testimony to the soundness of the principles concerned in it. For the details of its application consult the author's work before alluded to.

Serious as are the effects very frequently arising from spinal curvature, amongst which may be included lameness, lung disease, and inability to perform the functions of maternity; still worse results in addition to the two last of these ensue in the case of a persistence in another form of distortion, which is none the less dangerous because it is voluntary. The distortion to which we refer is that caused by the practice of tightlacing.

Foremost among the conditions absolutely essential for the preservation of health and bodily well-being, is the due performance of the function of the lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, stomach and other important organs. The object of the ribs within which most of these organs are more or less wholly contained is to protect these latter from external pressure, and therefore injury; as well as to allow them unimpeded and unrestricted action. To ensure this freedom of movement for the parts and organs within the ribs, it will be evident that every possible obstacle tending in any degree to compress them, or circ.u.mscribe their limits should be especially avoided.

Instead of the avoidance of such dangers, however, what course do the silly votaries and dupes of that most senseless and remorseless of all tyrants--Fas.h.i.+on--pursue? One the very reverse; and which is opposed, not only to personal comfort and common sense, but, since it mars nature's outlines, to symmetry and our proper canons of the grace of the female figure. By means of corsets, tight stays, and other implements of torture the ribs are pressed _inwards_ to such an extent that all the conditions we have insisted on as essential to health are imperilled, and eventually become overthrown. Now, this mischievous and unnatural pressure exerted on the stomach pushes that organ out of its proper position, and in doing so forces the diaphragm also out of its place; a disturbance which so curtails the s.p.a.ce in which the movements of the lungs and the heart are performed, that if the pernicious custom be persevered in these latter organs become seriously and incurably diseased. The liver also shares in the damage inflicted, and frequently becomes incapable of discharging its office. The very much larger number of young women than of young men who die of consumption is undoubtedly referable to the fact that a large proportion of the majority are the victims of tightlacing. Nor is it difficult to understand why this should be, since we know that if the lungs are prevented exercising their full powers of expansion, unnaturally diminished function will set up disease in them, which, if there be a predisposition, will probably be consumption. This cause also, by preventing the blood becoming properly oxygenated, gives rise to a large cla.s.s of disorders due to impurity of the vital fluid. Organic disease of the heart is by no means an uncommon contingency if tightlacing be persevered in; for that organ is not allowed room to beat, nor the blood to circulate. One effect of this is seen in frequent fainting fits.

Again, tightlacing not infrequently stops the growth and arrests the development of a young girl's _mammae_, thus seriously incapacitating her from suckling her babe when she becomes a mother. It also indirectly has a very prejudicial effect upon health by preventing its votaries from taking sufficient walking exercise; free bodily movement with accompanying expansion of the lungs becomes impossible with those encased in a vice of unyielding armour, such as const.i.tutes pestilent stays and corsets.

Amongst the minor evils wrought by the baleful custom, we may mention indigestion (for the pressure of the stays weakens the stomach, and sets up this troublesome complaint), with its accompaniments of flatulence, heartburn, pain in the chest, &c. Constipation is also another of its attendant ills; so also are bad breath and a red nose.

"I recollect Dr A. Todd Thomson, in his excellent lectures, relating a case he had attended where a young lady appeared to be dying from the evil effects of tightlacing. He cut open her stays and she gradually came to herself. If the worthy doctor had not quickly done what he did, she would soon have been a corpse! Dr Thomson has kindly favoured me with the following interesting particulars of the case for publication:[263]--'Some years since I was requested to hasten to a house not far from my own to see a lady who had fallen from her chair in a fit whilst eating her dinner. On being ushered to the drawing room of the house where the circ.u.mstance had taken place, I saw a lady lying upon a sofa, apparently dead, and several ladies hanging over the couch in great distress. I found little appearance of life except that the temperature of the body was natural; the pulse had ceased to beat, and no respiratory action could be detected. On laying my hand over the region of the heart, I felt that the stays were extremely tightly laced; and conceiving that the suspension of animation arose from that cause, I requested a penknife to be given me, with which I instantly ripped down the stays and gown. In an instant the chest dilated, on the binding matter giving way, which was almost like splitting an overbraced drum; and in a few seconds respiration recommenced and animation returned. In this case the waist was drawn in to a degree that gave a complete hour-gla.s.s appearance to the figure, and prevented the descent of the diaphragm, whilst the blood could not circulate, or be renewed in the lungs from the general obstruction of many of the cells and smaller tubes. The quant.i.ty of residual air also in the lungs was too small; and this was still diminished by the warmth of some soup, which the lady was eating when she fell from the chair, dilating the gas in her stomach, and consequently pressing that enlarged organ upwards on the lungs. Had I not lived close by, the time necessary to get medical aid from a greater distance might have rendered it unavailable.' The above narrative by Dr Thomson is valuable not only as ill.u.s.trating the dangers arising from tightlacing, but also as emphasizing the rationale of its action as stated by ourselves. In the present article we have explained why it is the use of corsets is to be deprecated. We hope we have succeeded in showing how imperatively the abandonment of stays is called for.

[Footnote 263: Dr Chava.s.se, 'Counsels to a Mother.']

Another variety of distortion is that brought about by wearing tight boots and shoes, or boots and shoes constructed upon false principles; for, a boot or shoe may be productive of considerable inconvenience to the wearer, as well as the cause of a certain amount of twisting out of place of the bones of the foot, without necessarily being too small. Amongst the consequences arising from the adoption of tightly fitting or badly constructed boots or shoes may be mentioned the following:--Considerable bodily discomfort, and pain in walking; corns and bunions; growing in of the nails; chronic enlargement of the base of the great toe; caries or ulceration of the bones of the feet; and flat feet. That these are not altogether minor evils may be inferred when it is stated that, in order to obtain relief from the effects of a bunion, partial amputation of the foot has been sometimes found necessary; that the first attacks of gout mostly seize the joint of the ball of the great toe when that joint has become weakened by displacement following the use of faulty boots and shoes; and that a flat foot interferes with the proper performance of walking.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The above figure (No. 1) represents the skeleton of the foot with the bones which form it in their natural position, and in which they are admirably adapted for executing the various movements required of them.

It will be seen to consist of twenty-six bones, fourteen of which const.i.tute the toes; the remaining twelve bones enter into the formation of what are termed the _tarsus_ and _metatarsus_.

The five long bones (_a_) are the _metatarsal_ bones. The toes form joints with the fore part of these _metatarsal_ bones. The remaining seven are the _tarsal_ bones; _b_, which is one of these, is named the _astragalus_, and being gripped on each side by a continuation from the bones of the leg called the _malleolus_, thus forms the ankle-joint.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.]

Fig. 2 gives a representation of the inner aspect and side view of the foot. It will be seen that it is an arch resting in front on the anterior heads of the five metatarsal bones, _a_, but chiefly on that of the great toe, and on the _calcaneum_ or heel (_b_) behind.

The astragalus, _c_, forms the key-stone of the arch. This arch, which supports the superinc.u.mbent weight of the body, retains its curved form by means of strong ligaments or bands, which unite the bones which compose it into a compact but withal flexible ma.s.s. The arch, owing to the pressure thrown upon it from above, becomes flattened when the foot is resting on the ground; but when this pressure is removed and the foot hangs free, the curvature of the arch increases. In front of the metatarsal bones are placed the toes, which are connected with the metatarsal bones by joints.

The great toe has one joint; each of the smaller ones has two.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.]

Fig. 3 depicts the skeleton of a foot with the bones thrown out of their natural position, the contortion being the result of wearing tightly fitting or unscientifically constructed boots or shoes. The following extracts from Dr Hermann Meyer will best ill.u.s.trate how nature's simple mechanical arrangements must be thwarted when coverings for the feet are permitted to be constructed which can give rise to distortions such as those represented in Figure 3. Dr Meyer says "the great toe plays by far the most important part in walking; because when the foot is raised from the ground with the intention of throwing it forwards, we first raise the heel, then rest for a second on the great toe, and in lifting this from the ground the point of it receives a pressure which impels the body forwards. Thus, in raising the foot the whole of the sole is gradually, as it were, 'unrolled' up to the point of the great toe, which again receives an impetus by contact with the ground.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.]

The great toe ought, therefore, to have such a position as will admit of its being unrolled in the manner described; that is to say, it must so lie _that the line of its axis, when, carried backwards, will emerge at the centre of the heel; and this is its position in the healthy foot_. The sole of an almost sound foot is given in Fig. 4, and the true position of the great toe is indicated by the dotted line. This relation is still better brought out in Fig. 5, which represents the well-preserved foot of a child about two years old. The line drawn through both figures is that in which the foot _unrolls_ itself from the ground. The smaller toes, however, are by no means without their uses. In standing they rest on the ground and give lateral support to the foot; while in walking they are bent in a peculiar manner, so that they are firmly pressed against the ground; and here too they support the foot laterally. The first joint is strongly bent upwards, while the second is hollow above. This peculiar curvature enables the toe in a measure to lay hold of the ground as with bird's claws."

Dr Meyer then proceeds to show how the application of these principles is entirely disregarded in the manufacture of our boots and shoes, and to demonstrate that their neglect gives rise to the objectionable consequences we have before alluded to. As boots and shoes are at present constructed, the foot is made to adapt itself to the sole, not the sole to the foot. This pernicious system must be abandoned if we wish to preserve our feet, as well as our personal comfort.

"A sole," says Dr Meyer, "is of the proper construction when a line (see Fig. 6, _c d_) drawn at half the breadth of the great toe distant from, and parallel to, the inner margin of that toe shall, when carried backwards, pa.s.s through the centre of the heel. In the usual form of a sole this line pa.s.ses out of the inner margin of the heel (see Fig. 7).

If, then, the preservation of the primary straight line is, as has been already shown, the princ.i.p.al point in the formation of a proper sole, it follows that, if it be thought desirable to have pointed shoes, the pointing must be effected from the outer side, as indicated in the annexed Fig. 8. In a pair of shoes made on these principles, placed side by side with the heels in contact, the inner margins of the front part of the foot are also brought close together" (Fig. 9).

Dr Meyer's pamphlet contains the following strictures on 'High heels' to boots and shoes: "It is usual, in all shoes of even moderate strength, to make the heel a little higher by means of what is called the _heel-piece_.

These heel-pieces are generally of some little use, especially in dirty weather, and we cannot wholly deny their right to existence. But at the same time they ought to be as low as possible, and heels an inch thick, as is at present very commonly the case, have very serious disadvantages indeed.

"The weight of the body is by this means thrown in a disproportionate ratio on the toes, the joints of which are consequently overstrained.

Moreover, with a high heel the sole is so oblique in its direction that the foot must be constantly gliding forwards and forcibly pressing the toes into the point of the shoe. The toes, therefore, even when the shoe is sufficiently long, are subjected to the same injuries and disfigurations as if it were too short, and the effects are doubly hurtful when the form of the sole is also incorrect. High heels, especially if they are also very small; are peculiarly liable to wear obliquely, and so the shoe gets trodden on one side; they must, therefore, be peculiarly favorable to origin of flat-foot.