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An Archiepiscopal Interdict Of Spitting In Churches

Source: The British Medical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2056 (May 26, 1900), p. 1304
Published by: BMJ Publishing Group
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20264656 .
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 1304 ARCHIEPISCOPAL INTERDICT OF 26, 190a
to^?SSJ_AN SPITTING._[May
?
THE EFFECT OF EXPERIMENTAL CEREBRAL in the Latin countries the church appears to?
AN/EMIA. be regarded as a suitable place for the shooting of
At the meeting of the Royal Society on May 17th a paper
rubbish from the air passages. The priests spit about the
was on cerebral altar steps and the people spit everywhere, till one
read anaemia and the effects that follow
of the cerebral which described observa might be tempted to think the procedure was re
ligature arteries,
as a symbolical of the evil We are
tions of Dr. Leonard Hill. He found that when hutch garded ejection spirit.
rabbits were pleased to note as a sign of grace that the Archbishop of
fixed in the erect posture convulsions and
from failure of respiration in from Siena, at the instance of Professor Simoneta, has directed
death occurred ten to
minutes. This he attributes to the collection of that in all the churches of his diocese a notice to the follow
"
ing effect shall be put up in a conspicuous place : Out of
twenty
blood in the abdominal veins permitted by the laxity of
for the house of God, and in order to the
the abdominal walls which leads to emptying of the heart respect prevent
and arrest of the blood flow through the brain. That this propagation of contagious diseases, do not spit on the
is the was shown the fact that floor." Affixed to the notice is the official seal of the See*
probable explanation by
pressure on the abdomen applied with a bandage or by which, it is to be hoped, will ensure its being respected by
means a the clergy as well as the laity. We venture also to express
of water bath prevented these symptoms, a hopetbat
and also that in wild rabbits and other animals the example of the Archbishop of Siena will be
with tense abdominal walls these effects were widely followed by other ecclesiastical authorities.
only produced after the lapse of some hours. In
any case when the animals were returned to the THE PERSIAN BATH.
horizontal position they speedily recovered, with the Dr. G. H. of Tauris, on whom, by the way, the?
Paschayan,
exception, perhaps, of a slight degree of paralysis, which Shah of Persia has just conferred the honour of the Order
eventually
self
disappeared. The author has produced in him of Knight of the Schiri-Kourchid, gives in the Archive*
one-sided clonic spasms by compressing the carotid Orientales de M?decine et de Chirurgie for April an account
artery of the opposite side, and he states that the only way of the Persian bath which is hardly calculated to make the
in which consciousness seemed to him to be affected was use of that luxury very fashionable in Europe. The late
indirectly by the stimulation of the sensory nerve endings Mr. David Urquhart, who introduced the Turkish batb
in the muscles by the contractions produced. After the the Turks
among us, was vehement in his declaration that
arterial supply of the brain bad been arrested in dogs by are a cleanly ; and as far as the mere cura cutis goes,
people
ligation of the carotid and vertebral arteries, although the statement is doubtless true. But if Dr. ?Paschayan's
some blood still reached it by way of the superior inter
costal and anterior
description of the bath as indulged in by his countrymen*
spinal arteries, the brain became pallid is to be accepted, we do not think that the most fanatical
and the animals demented, and admirer of persons and things Oriental would apply to the
anaesthetic, paralysed.
Because the umotor cells" still reacted to electrical Persians the character for cleanliness Mr.
given by
stimuli the author argues, but not quite convincingly, that to the Turks. Dr. Paschayan tells us that the
the a
Urquhart
paralysis is due to block in the nerve Persian bath consists of a bathing tank ioo metres
sensory square*
mechanisms in the brain. It is a fact that very profound in which the water come s up to the level of the bather's
blocks in the cerebral conduction The tank is filled from a cistern, and the water
sensory paths may shoulder.
be produced by disease without concurrent is heated a furnace under the the*
any paralysis. by placed water,
results were ' In this bath people
Interesting also described in regard to the fuel of which is continually renewed.
effect of the injection of absinthe after ligation of the of all sorts and conditions disport themselves together.
Decency is indeed so far observed that men and women
cerebral arteries. Extensor was alone
rigidity produced,
but on relieving the obstruction in the
convulsions ensued, show bathe at different times. They bathe, however,
ing that these were almost and the rigid same and is
certainly cortical, water, sanitary decency totally neglected.
ity subcortical and probably cerebellar. The late effects Children bathe with the women, who in addition to the
which followed ligation of the four cerebral arteries were ablutions wash their heads with water taken from
ordinary
shown to be mainly those of asphyxia. take with them for
cal deductions
Two of the practi the bath in copper cups which they
which were drawn from the research the The water thus removed is replaced from the
were, purpose.
first, that the cerebral circulation of man in the erect pos cistern, and it would appear that otherwise it would never
ture depends on the tone and activity of the skeletal and be renewed at all. The condition of the as may
water,
muscles is filthy almost beyond description..
respiratory
the brain
; and, secondly, that the functions of easily be imagined,
may continue after a great diminution in its It is thick with the dirt from the skin and the epi
blood supply. The latter conclusion the author believes to dermic refuse of the vast numbers of the human?
be adverse to the anaemic Dr. Paschayan
also
theory of sleep. Dr. Hill has beings who use it. Morever discreetly?
investigated experimentally the influence of increased hints that the bath is considered a suitable place by many
atmospheric pressure on the circulation of the blood, and of those who use it for the deposit of excretions of various
finds that it is practically nil ;;he therefore contends that kinds. The filth accumulates at the bottom of the tank,
the theory by which caisson disease or diver's
palsy is where it forms a layer of unspeakable composition 30 to
attributed to the raised atmospheric pressure driving 40 centimetres in thickness. This is removed once in six:
the blood from the periphery to the central nervous sys and the opportunity of this ceremony is taken to
tem
months,
is untenable. renew the water in the bath. In these circumstances it i&
to be wondered at that, in the words of Dr.
AN ARCHIEPISCOPAL INTERDICT OF SPITTING IN hardly "the Persian baths, instead of being aids to
Paschayan,
CHURCHES. cleanliness and health, have become foci of infection,,
The reckless spitter is too much with us. He voids his unhealthiness, and contagion." He states as the result of
foul and often infective rheum in omnibuses and in railway his own observation that in Persia the majority of disease?
carriages, fearing not the policeman neither the of the skin?favus, alopecia areata, erysipelas, scabies,,
regarding
gentle appeal of the Association for the Prevention of Con eczema?besides syphilis are disseminated by means
sumption which whispers to him like the still small voice of the public baths. He further solemnly assures us,,
of sanitary conscience. But he does not as a rule as a known that maids and widows become im
pollute fact,
the church with his secretion?perhaps because, as we pregnated in these baths by casual spermatozoa floating
would fain believe of one so deficient in the love of his about in search of their elective affinities. Here, however,,
neighbour, he is parcus et infrequens in his attendance we must decline to follow the learned doctor, for as
there. On the Continent, however ? and particularly Othello says, "that's a fable." Dr. Paschayan appears to*