Sicily. It is used by confectioners in making sirups, grenadines, and other beverages and, in industry, in printing cotton goods. The commission adds:

Within a few years, the Sicilian producers have improved their methods and now transform raw lemon juice into citrate of lime without concentrating it, thus realizing a notable economy in labor and coal. The article at present pays a duty in France of $2 per 220 pounds. As our competitors receive this article duty free, our producers are under great disadvantages compared with them. France annually consumes about 300 tons of citric acid and exports about double that quantity.

LYONS, May 26, 1903.

JOHN C. COVERT,

Consul.

PROPOSED GERMAN TARIFF ON MACHINERY.

The following has been received from Consul J. F. Monaghan, of Chemnitz:

As always happens in a country when the revision of its tariff has been consummated, all parties are not content and strong opposition develops. Chemnitz papers, assuming spokesmanship for the great machine interests of the city, express dissatisfaction with the duty upon machinery. It is contended that not only is the new tariff entirely out of keeping with the high duties imposed upon machinery by other countries, but it also fails to maintain a proper relation between the duty upon the raw materials used by machine builders and that upon the finished machines.

As to the comparative amount of protection offered by the German tariff and that of other nations with which the German Empire enjoys a good export trade in machinery, it is demonstrated that while the new German tariff incorporates a duty of from 3 to 5 per cent, and, in some cases, even as low as 11⁄2 per cent, the American duty averages 45 per cent, while Austria recently raised her duty. about 20 per cent, and with certain classes of machinery more than tripled it. Russia, also, has almost doubled her duty on machinery. The comparative lowness of the German tariff is considered at most serious menace to the machine-building industry of the country. It is urged that the present tariff be amended so as to provide the country with an effective weapon for the conclusion of reciprocity. treaties with other nations. The new Austrian tariff, it is believed, will seriously injure the export trade of Germany to that country, which, in 1901, amounted to the considerable sum of $4,300,000 for machinery and parts of machines. Austria, it is reasoned, has put on her armor in anticipation of commercial wars.

How far these sentiments find support at Berlin is unknown; but since the publication of the new tariff in its final form, criticisms seem to have been strengthening, so that the possibility of more. material influence leading to a revision of the present machine duties is by no means precluded.

NEW TREATMENT FOR TUBERCULOSIS.

At the last meeting of the Medical Society of Berlin, at which were present many of the most eminent medical scientists of Germany, there was presented by Dr. Danelius and Prof. Theodor Sommerfeld an elaborate thesis describing their experiments with a new system of treatment for tubercular disease by inhalation, or rather fumigation, with the combined fumes of eucalyptus, sulphur, and charcoal. These experiments have been a subject of keen and sustained interest among the foremost medical men of Berlin during the past six months. The high authority of the tests which have been made, the encouraging nature of the results reported, and the fact that these results may constitute an important step toward the scientific mastery of a disease which has become one of the most widespread and fatal scourges of the human race, give to the proceedings of last night a popular interest which transcends all the ordinary limits of pathological discussion. Concisely stated, the history and nature of the new method are the following:

During his extensive travels in Australia Mr. Robert Schneider, a German merchant, with a practical knowledge of chemistry, noticed that the natives in the northwestern part of Australia used a decoction made by boiling the leaves and roots of the eucalyptus tree as a remedy for consumption, which is a prevalent disease in many sections of that country. He further observed that the natives living in districts where the eucalyptus tree grew abundantly were generally immune from the disease, and that natives suffering from tuberculosis frequently came from other regions to live in the eucalyptus district, and with generally favorable results. From all that he could observe and learn by inquiry, Herr Schneider concluded that the effective remedial agent was the eucalyptus, which is known in materia medica as a germicide and antiseptic of recognized efficiency.

With the aid of a physiological chemist, he prepared a combination of flowers of sulphur, powdered charcoal, and the pulverized eucalyptus leaves, impregnated with essential oil of eucalyptus. This mixture has been named "sanosin," and is the material which has been used in the recent experiments. Since the time of Galen

the fumes of sulphur have been known to exert a curative effect upon sufferers from phthisis, and it appears that the combination of sulphurous acid with eucalyptus and carbon has a peculiarly effective potency in attacking the bacillus of tuberculosis. On account

of its extreme volatility, sanosin is put up in sealed glass tubes, each containing a dose of about 2 grams (31 grains), in which condition it is to be sold, like other medicines, through authorized druggists. When used, the tube is broken and its contents poured on an earthenware plate heated by a spirit lamp; the volatile eucalyptus quickly evaporates, and, in combination with the small quantity of sulphurous-acid fumes generated, medicates with an aromatic, penetrating odor the air of a closed room, in which the tuberculous patient lives and inhales the curative influence in an easy, natural way.

The new remedy was brought to Berlin in September of last year, where, after due consideration, it was taken in hand for elaborate scientific test and practical experiment. Prof. Theodor Sommerfeld, of the University of Berlin-a leading authority in pulmonary disease—and Dr. Danelius, also a lung specialist, took charge of the experiments and a special clinic or hospital ward was opened for that purpose in the Moabit quarter. Other physicians were assigned to the various details of the work. One made regular and frequent examinations of the sputa of the patients under treatment, keeping careful record of the changes in each case from day to day; another made daily inspections of their general condition, temperature, pulse, appetite, etc., so that the collective record in each individual case is the work of several different expert physicians. The patients were taken from the poorest class of sufferers, many of whom live at Berlin in damp, unsanitary dwellings, and throng the public hospitals at all seasons of the year. So prevalent and fatal is tubercular disease among this class that notwithstanding all that science. has hitherto done to restrain its ravages, the death rate in Berlin alone from that disease averages ten per day. Each patient, before being admitted to the new treatment, was required to present a certificate from the Royal Hospital showing that he or she had been treated there and was suffering from progressive tuberculosis; many when admitted had reached a stage at which hope of relief by ordinary means had been practically abandoned. Thus far 120 patients have been treated, of whom it is stated more than 50 per cent have been discharged as cured. Some have been enabled, while under treatment and sleeping in the hospital at night, to spend portions of the day engaged at their usual occupations. The purpose of the meeting last evening was, first, to listen to formal theses prepared and read by Dr. Danelius and Professor Sommerfeld, describing the

process of treatment and giving the detailed records of a number of typical cases, and, secondly, to present in person, for examination by the assembled physicians, several of the patients who had been previously treated for tubercular disease by one or more of the physicians present; had received certificates from them on entering the eucalyptus clinic; and were now presented for examination as cured.

It is not within the province or purpose of this report to venture any opinion as to the effectiveness or permanent value of this new remedy. So many sensational cures have been announced in recent years for phthisis, cancer, and other widespread human diseases. that the average layman is constrained to receive the announcement of further discoveries in the same field with a certain incredulity. At the same time it must be conceded that, in view of the dominating importance of the subject, the record of what sanosin has thus far accomplished is entitled to a more than mere passing recognition. The period of experiment is of course too brief to form the basis of any definite conclusion. There is a general unwillingness among physicians to accept the arrest of tubercular disease for so short a period as six months as proof of a permanent cure. Others doubt whether any process of inhalation alone can reach the ultimate seat of the disease. It will probably be safe to accept for the present the conservative but positive statement of Dr. Engel, the expert charged during the recent experiments with the examination of the sputum, in which he has had a long experience under other forms of treatment. His statement is that under no other treatment has he seen the character of the sputum change so rapidly and uniformly, through the diminution and disappearance of bacilli and the elastic fibers peculiar to tubercular disease, as under the treatment with sanosin.

To which may be added the deliberate testimony of Dr. Danelius. and Professor Sommerfeld that

The inhalations act with greater certainty in removing the catarrh which accom panies pulmonary phthisis than any other medicinal or physical measures directed to the same end. This is shown especially by the fact that the expectoration on the one hand decreases or disappears entirely, or, on the other hand-in acute caseschanges its character. The fact that the patient generally is quickly relieved from the troublesome and irritating cough is of the greatest importance, especially as the sleep which is absolutely requisite for a recovery from fundamental disease can then be obtained. The appetite in almost every case increases under the influence of the inhaled vapors, and through an increased consumption of food the second preliminary condition for the cure is furnished.

BERLIN, May 14, 1903.

FRANK H. MASON,
Consul-General.

THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN GERMANY.

The object of this report is to show the commercial importance. of this great industry to the German Empire, the source whence the materials are drawn, the extent of the production and consumption at home, as well as the trade in chemicals with other countries. following table is for the year 1898:

The

The statistics* for the year 1901 placed the number of establishments at 10,385, which gave employment to some 150,000 workmen. It will be noticed that the highest rate of wages is paid in Cologne and Mannheim and the lowest rate in Hamburg and Breslau. The gradual increase in the number of establishments, workmen, total wages, and average per capita is shown in the following table:

Among substances necessary to the chemical industry are bromine, iodine, chloroform, phosphorus, and sulphur. Bromine is found in sea water and saline springs. A certain silver ore in Chile also contains large quantities of it. Chile is also the home of iodine. This

*Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich.