ticated, but inasmuch as these physicians don't meddle with the ear they go down to their fate, and alas! there are too many. In former times, when surgery was taught in our best medical colleges in the country by one professor, much time was absorbed in explaining capital operations, which one-half of the physicians going out would never be called upon to perform, but the common defects of the eye and ear which the general practitioner daily encounters, some of which may be classed among the most formidable affections, were neglected; but within the past few years much attention has been devoted to this department of pathology. Professorships for these specialties have been established in most of the leading medical schools, thus the members of the profession can prepare themselves for the common troubles which affect the individual organs of our bodies. It is within the grasp of any physician who will content himself with this knowledge, and acquaint himself with the literature of these specialties and the best means of diagnosis and treat

ment.

Investigation of the statistical tables of deaf and dumb asylums, or the table compiled by Dr. Roosa, of New York, will illustrate in a striking manner the fatal consequence of this class of cases, and this, I think, will justify my earnestness on this point, and if my efforts in pointing out the great danger of this "latent spark of death," and the necessity of paying attention to the ear should startle some mind hitherto inattentive on this subject into a realization of its importance, I shall have accomplished my object.

P. B. BREINIG, Chairman,

G. T. FOX,

ISAAC OTT.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON METEOROLOGY AND EPIDEMICS OF THE PHILADELPHIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

THE METEOROLOGY of the year 1876 was exceptional. The elements appeared to vie with each other in making the Centennial year of American national existence memorable in its natural phenomena as well as in its historic associations. Unseasonable mildness followed by gales of terrific violence, heat unparalleled in duration and degree balanced by cold both protracted and severe, constituted a sequence as remarkable from a scientific point of view as it was prejudicial to health and promotive of a high rate of mortality. The December previous had been normal in temperature, but characterized by dampness and fog. The new year opened with the same peculiarities; but, as it progressed, the atmosphere became dryer, the sky clearer and the temperature higher, so that the month of January showed the very unusual monthly mean of 40.64° Fahr., 11.19 higher than that of January, 1875, and about 4° above the norm. The rainfall was very slight, amounting only to 1.63 inches, there having been but nine days on which rain or snow fell. This unusual continuance of fair and mild weather in mid-winter was noticeable as affording an opportunity, quite uninterrupted, of prosecuting work on the buildings and grounds of the International Exhibition, and it was owing to this that the preparations were in such a state of forwardness when the opening day arrived. Although several considerable falls of temperature and storms of tremendous violence, one at the beginning and one at the middle of the month, took place in February, the monthly mean temperature was still high-37.21°, as compared with 29.57° in the previous year. In reference to the cause of this abnormally high thermometer, the Chief Signal Officer of the U. S. says in his Annual Report for 1876, "In general, it would seem, that during the present winter extensive areas of cold air have pressed outward from the northern and interior portions of the eastern and western continents, but owing to preponderating extent and influence of the former continent, the air over the Atlantic has been pushed westward, so that there has

been a tendency towards higher pressures and moister, warmer air in the Southern and Atlantic States."

March was more nearly normal in its meteorology than the two preceding months; cold and blustering, trying alike to the temper and the health; dust-storms alternating with pelting rains, heavy snows, and northeasterly gales, a temperature a fraction below that of January; nothing, in short, to be said in its favor so far as its immediate effect on health and comfort was concerned. Its rainfall was great, and, added to that of February, amounted to eleven inches.

During all these three months there were but seventeen days on which the mean temperature was below 32°, five in January, eight in February, and four in March, while the year before there were no less than forty-two such days during the corresponding period.

April, May, and June were clear, dry, and delightful; although by the latter part of the last-named month a tendency to a steadily maintained high thermometer began to manifest itself, a foreshadowing of what the Centennial summer was to be. The mean temperature was above 81° in ten days during this month, and its monthly mean was 78.35°. And now followed a period of scorching, withering, wilting, deadly heat, which, as it had no parallel in this portion of the habitable globe in the experience of living man, so will it remain forever branded into the memory of every one who endured its torture. It was memorable alike for its intensity, the wide extent of the earth's surface involved, and its long duration. On this continent, from Maine to Texas, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the dog-star raged. For weeks together the mercury ranged above 90°, not rarely touching 100°, and on the 9th day of July reached 102°, the highest point attained for twenty-five years. The mean temperature of this day was 9310.

In Europe, although the thermometer did not stand as high as here, the unusual character of the summer was not less marked. Numerous cases of sunstroke took place in the streets of London. A senator of France was prostrated by the heat in the legislative halls. Forty laborers died from the effects of heat in Seville. The streets of Madrid were absolutely empty during the heat of the day. Berlin, and many other European capitals, were visited by a similar wave of caloric. One singular evidence of the protracted high temperature of the summer was the intense vitality and rapid increase of insect life, especially of a parasitic character. Domestic animals, particularly dogs, were infested with fleas to a most harassing extent, and no amount of washing sufficed to free them of these torments. Careful housewives were driven to distraction by

the hosts of cimices lectularii, which, appearing out of every crack and crevice, swarmed in frightful numbers over their snowy sheets, driving sleep from the pillow, and defying all efforts at their extermination. Flour and meal "bred worms" to an unprecedented extent. Biscuit and crackers were infested with the weevil. The specimens of grains, plants, and seeds which were sent to the International Exhibition from other countries developed animal life to such a degree that a committee of entomologists were appointed by the Academy of Natural Sciences to inquire into the character and number of the insects so introduced. These facts are mentioned as having a possible bearing on one theory of "causation of epidemics." No attempt has been made to account for this remarkable disturbance of temperature equilibrium, but it is evident that the cause must have been one of very general operation, and, probably, extraneous to our atmosphere. It is at least a significant fact, in this connection that, as reported in "Nature" for June 22, 1876, According to the photographs taken daily at Montmartre by M. Janssen, no spots had been noticed on the sun up to that date since March 25th."

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Not until late in the month of August was there any decided and continuous relief from this fierce outpouring of the solar rays. There were altogether forty-five days whose mean temperature was above 81°, the last one being the first day of September.

The early summer was comparatively dry, but during August heavy falls of rain took place, amounting in the course of the month to 8.09 inches, considerably more than for any other month in the year, and nearly one-fifth of the entire annual rainfall. The autumn months presented no unusual features, but December ushered in a period of severe and protracted cold. The mean temperature of the month was 28.70°, and ranged below the freezing point on twenty-one days. There were several storms of rain and sleet, but little snow, so that the earth in the country and the streets in the city were glazed with ice for weeks together. Notwithstanding this great reduction of temperature at the close of the year the annual means was 1.67° above the average for twenty-five years. The rainfall, force of vapor, and relative humidity, were all somewhat less than usual for the year. To determine what effect these remarkable meteorological conditions had upon the health of the city, we turn now to Mortuary Tables Nos. 1 and 2, in which we have recorded the number of deaths assignable to certain of the more important diseases, such especially as are liable to be affected by atmospheric fluctuations in temperature and moisture, as well as the total number of deaths occuring in each month.

But in order to compare the mortality of this year intelligently with that of former years, we must first determine the population of the city. The census taken under the direction of Mayor Stokely in April gave a population of 817,448. This included, of course, the large number of persons brought to Philadelphia in connection with the preparations for the International Exhibition, but was exclusive of the host of visitors who poured into the city all through the six subsequent months, and who contributed their quota, although a small one in proportion to their numbers, to its mortality. The number of individual visitors your committee estimate at about two and a half million. But it must be remembered that a considerable proportion of these lived within a few hours of the city, and did not even pass the night here, while even those whose homes were distant, if they found themselves threatened with serious illness, would, in the majority of cases, at once start on their homeward journey, and thus would not add to the death list of the city if the attack proved fatal. Your committee cannot but think then that the population of 900,000 assumed by the medical director of the Exhibition (whose circulars will be found in the appendix) as a basis for estimating the comparative mortality of this and the other great cities of the world, is an exaggeration. Our normal rate of growth would have entitled us to an estimate of 825,000 up to the middle of the year, and if we allow 25,000 more on account of temporary residents, we shall be claiming all that we have a right to on this score. We assume then for the year an average population of 850,000. This is nearly

50,000 more than the population estimated for 1875, an increase of