Metheglin

“ Wherefore art thou looking at the fir-tree? Art thou rather dreaming of the poplar, Or art thinking of my absent brother?"
To her brother thus the lady answer'd: "Golden-ring of mine! my husband's brother! Not about the fir-tree was I dreaming, Nor the noble stem of lofty poplar; Neither was I dreaming of my brother. I was thinking of my only mother, She with sugar and with honey reared me; She for me the red wine pour'd at even, And at midnight gave the sweet metheglin; In the morning milk, with spirit chasten'd So to give me cheeks of rose and lily ”

“ For your Bread, to be light, and rather stale than new, not to drink much of Malt Liquors, avoiding that which is greatly Hopped, or too much on the ferment, Mead and Metheglin are of excellent Use, and good Wines taken moderately are a strong Preservative, Sack especially being accounted the most Soveraign and the greatest Alexipharmick: Excess is dangerous to the most [Pg 218] healthy Constitution, which may beget Inflammations of fatal Consequence in pestilential Cases. ”

“ This, with a few spices thrown in, made three hogsheads of good beer, meet for a poor man who had only forty pounds a year. This two hundred gallons of beer cost altogether twenty shillings; but although he says his wife brewed it "once in a month," whether it lasted a whole month the parson does not say. He was particular about the water used: the Thames is best, the marsh worst, and clear spring water next worst; "the fattest standing water is always the best." Cider and perry were made in some parts of England, and a delicate sort of drink in Wales, called metheglin ”

“ In primitive forms the medusa-individuals are set free before reaching sexual maturity and do not contribute anything to the colony. In other cases, however, the medusa-individuals become sexually mature while still attached to the parent polyp, and are then not set free at all, but become appanages of the hydroid colony and undergo degenerative changes leading to reduction and even to complete obliteration of their original medusan structure. ”

“ In many genera and species the medusome is set free as a minute jelly-fish or Medusa, which grows and develops as an independent organism until the time when the sexual cells are ripe, and then apparently it dies. In other Gymnoblastea the medusome either in the female or the male or in both sexes does not become detached from the parent hydrosome, but bears the ripe sexual cells, discharges them into the water, and degenerates without leading an independent life at all. ”

“ When the hot weather came, we left Messina for Riva, a delicious summer resort on the shores of the Lake of Garda. There, Metchnikoff wrote his first memoir on the reaction of inflammation and on the digestion of microbes by the mesodermic cells of lower invertebrates. On the way back to Russia through Vienna, he went to see the Professor of Zoology, Claus; he found other colleagues with him and expounded his theory to them. They were much interested, and he asked them for a Greek translation of the words “devouring cells,” and that is how they were given the name of phagocytes. ”

“ In this the medusa comes nearer to man than the radiolarian. Some of the cells see to the reproduction of the medusa. Ova and spermatozoa are detached from the cell-community of the medusa’s body, blend together, and thus form the germ of a new medusa. In most cases the process is curious enough. From the germ-cell we get at first, not a real medusa, but a polyp that attaches itself to the ground, a little creature that may be remotely compared to the pretty water-lilies that meet the eye in an aquarium. Then the polyp produces something like a plant that grows buds, the real medusæ ”

“ To produce a medusa the actinula grows greatly along a plane at right angles to the vertical axis of the body, whereby the aboral surface of the actinula becomes the ex umbrella, and the peristome becomes the sub umbrella. The crown of tentacles thus comes to form a fringe to the margin of the body, and the hypos tome becomes the manubrium. As a result of this change of form the gastric cavity or coelenteron becomes of compressed lenticular form, and the endoderm lining it can be distinguished as an upper or exumbral layer and a lower or subumbral layer. ”

“ For many years Metchnikoff, in Paris, has been studying the bacterial flora of the human intestines. His theory is, that old age is caused by the poisonous products of these intestinal bacteria, and he proposes to counteract the effects of these poisonous organisms, by introducing into the system large quantities of lactic acid bacteria, either in the form of tabloids, or in the form of sour milk cultures.
78 For the demonstration of flagellæ, the material is taken from a culture on solid media—a young agar culture is best. ”

“ Thus, by cultivating the lactic bacillus in the presence of those microbes which produce poisons belonging to the aromatic group, the [207] decrease in quantity and even the disappearance of phenol and indol is observed. All those facts confirmed anterior results which Metchnikoff had obtained, and indicated the route to be followed in his struggle against those toxins which gradually poison the organism and induce premature senility.
Having thus elucidated certain questions concerning the part played by microbes in a normal organism, he studied the pathogenic intestinal flora. ”

“ Metchnikoff suggests that it is a poison formed in the plant (in connec­tion with fructifica­tion?) which kills the annuals, while it is not formed or is less harmful in the perennials. He compares the situa­tion to the death of the lactic acid bacilli if the lactic acid is allowed to accumulate. This hypothesis is certainly worthy of considera­tion, and it is quite possible that in addi­tion to structural shortcomings poisons formed by certain organs of the body as well as poisons formed by bacteria account for the phenomenon of death in metazoa. ”

“ These freely swimming Hood-jellies are mostly of the form of a mushroom, or of an umbrella, from the rim of which many long and delicate tentacles hang. They are among the most beautiful and most interesting inhabitants of the sea. The remarkable history of their lives, and especially the complicated alternation of generation of polyps and medusæ, are among the strongest proofs of the truth of the theory of descent. For just as Medusæ still daily arise out of the Hydroids, did the freely swimming medusa-form originally proceed, phylogenetically, out of the adherent polyp-form. ”

“ Unicellular organisms, such as myxomycetes, amœbæ, and infusoria, sometimes manifest a natural immunity to certain poisons. It is also possible to endow them with artificial immunity by accustoming them gradually to substances which, ingested straight away, would infallibly have killed them. Such phenomena, seen in unicellular beings, could only be ascribed to the reaction of the cell itself. Therefore Metchnikoff supposed a priori that the phagocytes, being similar primitive cells of multicellular beings, would also react against poisons. ”

“ In the fully grown Medusa there are numerous tentacles arranged in clusters opposite the terminations of the four radial canals. There are usually in addition tentacular processes (labial tentacles) on the lips of the manubrium. Bougainvillia is a common British zoophyte of branching habit, found in shallow water all round the coast. The medusome of Bougainvillia ramosa is said to be the common little medusa Margelis ramosa. ”

“ However, the relapsing fever had very probably increased, if not started, the cardiac trouble which eventually caused his death.
During the time when Metchnikoff was forbidden the use of the microscope on account of his eye weakness, he studied Ephemeridæ from the point of view of natural selection. He wished to elucidate the manner in which this selection operates during the very short life of those insects: the rudimentary structure of their buccal organs does not allow them to feed themselves, and they have no time to adapt themselves to external conditions. ”

“ If it has been found that the species in question are not reddened by the action of methylated spirit, they should be allowed to remain in this fluid, with a few grains of dissolved corrosive sublimate, for at least a few hours, and then they will dry rapidly without any signs of putrefaction; and even those species that are reddened by spirit may be treated to a shorter immersion in this fluid with advantage. ”

“ The medusa always reproduces itself sexually, and in some cases non-sexually also. The non-sexual reproduction takes the form of fission, budding or sporogony, the details of which are described below. Buds may be produced from the manubrium, radial canals, ring-canal, or tentacle-bases, or from an aboral stolon (Narcomedusae) . In all cases only medusa-buds are produced, never polyp-buds.
The mesogloea of the medusa is largely developed and of great thickness in the umbrella. The sub-epithelial tissues, i.e. ”

“ Yeasts, again, cannot bear an excess of alcohol, their own product. Thus the vegetable kingdom offers us examples of the absence of natural death as well as examples of a natural death due to an auto-intoxication of the organism.
In the animal kingdom examples of natural death are also to be found, but only very exceptionally. Those examples are provided by Rotifera (inferior worms) and by Ephemeridæ. Their adult life is reduced to the sexual act, almost immediately followed by death without an external cause. Their life is so short that they do not even feed and lack developed buccal organs. ”

“ If any single precaution was neglected, if any pains were spared in the reconnoitring of the position or in securing the proper conduct of the troops towards the place from which their attack was to be delivered, then Lord Methuen was absolutely to blame. But the more that is known about this unfortunate affair the more clearly it will be seen that Lord Methuen neglected no precaution and spared no pains. The rain and pitch darkness were the act of God, and no general in the world can prevail when Nature is so completely in league with the enemy as she was on the night of Magersfontein. ”

“ I found Metchnikoff a delightful companion. He always had something new or of special interest to show to me at the laboratory—some microscopical preparation, the digestive process in Protozoa, the microbian parasite of a water-flea, a new method of [x] dark ground illumination with high powers (Commandant’s method for film production) , the newly discovered Treponema of syphilis, or the experimental inoculation of a disease under study. ”

“ This led him to the germ theory of life and of disease and enabled him to save millions annually to the farmer and stockraiser and unnumbered human lives.
Metchnikoff's experience was similar. He was as a zoölogist less interested in man than in the invertebrates, devoting his time to the study of the minuter forms of life on the barren steppes of Russia and in Mediterranean waters. It was in Italy at Messina in 1882 that he made the discovery which led him to fame as one of the benefactors of the human race. ”

“ There is a chemical action set up between the methylene blue and the formaldehyde which will give to the tissues a greenish color which is quite objectionable. In this case you would inject some fluid which does not contain formaldehyde. A benzoate of soda or borax, or peroxide solution would do.
A good formula to use, when you know methylene blue has been used by the attending physician is:
For transportation, govern yourself according to the transportation rules. ”

“ But if the homœopathic practitioner is always honest, and strictly adheres to the principles of his great master, no one need be alarmed if he uses the thirtieth attenuation of arsenic in every case each day of his life. If he should live to the age of Methuselah, and dispense powders of that kind all his life, the whole amount of arsenic that he would thus use would not in the least harm the smallest insect if given at a single dose. ”

“ It is not inconceivable that definite differences in chemical composition render the protoplasm of one species toxic to the gametes of the other, and if this is so it is not impossible that we may some day be able to express these differences in terms of Mendelian factors. The very nature of the case makes it one of extreme difficulty for experimental investigation. At any rate, we realise more clearly than before that the problem of species is not one that can be resolved by the study of morphology or of systematics. ”

“ I have never known a naked-eyed Medusa survive an exposure of fifteen minutes; but they may survive 250 an exposure of ten, and generally survive an exposure of five. But although they thus continue to live for an indefinite time, their vigour is conspicuously and permanently impaired; while in the fresh water irritability persists for a short time after spontaneity has ceased, and the tentacles and manubrium are strongly retracted. ”

“ In a little transparent crustacean (Daphnia) infected by a small parasitic fungus, (Monospora bicuspidata) , he was easily able to observe the struggle between the animal’s mobile cells and its parasites.
These two simple observations served as foundation and supports to the bridge by which Metchnikoff connected normal biology with pathological biology. Having entered the domain of the latter, he studied various microbian diseases, and asked himself why the organism was sometimes liable and sometimes refractory. ”

“ The comparative study of cells produced from the divers embryonic layers, and observations on the ulterior development of the functions of those cells, gradually led Metchnikoff to his theory of phagocytes [52] and to pathological biology. An uninterrupted thread can be followed right through his life-work, from the beginning until the end.
In spite of his absorbing work he took great interest in his surroundings, and during this first stay in Italy he became acquainted with two interesting personalities, Bakounine the anarchist and the celebrated physiologist Setchénoff. ”