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exertion, intense emotion, etc. That the difference in potential between the nucleus and the cell body is decreased or destroyed in such cases is revealed by the microscope; and apparently by conductivity measurements.

Since the activity of the organism must change to meet the varying demands of the internal and of the external environment, we would expect to find created within the organism a substance or substances to increase activity, and that the production of these secretions would be controlled by the nervous system, so that the control of varying conditions of activation of the organism may be automatic. The adrenals control oxidation; the thyroid by controlling electric conductivity governs the rate of metabolism, and these organs are controlled by the nervous system.

Since the activity of the organism is accompanied by the production of acid by-products, we would expect the presence in the organism of an organ whose prime function would be the neutralization of acids to avoid their accumulation within the cell batteries with a consequent destruction of the acid-alkali balance. This is the prime function of the liver.

We would expect the organism to be depressed by interference with the physical structure of the cell, especially with the semi-permeable membranes. That this is the case is strikingly demonstrated by the effects of ether anesthesia. That ether changes permeability has been demonstrated by many physical-chemists. (McClendon,

Osterhout, Lillie, Loeb, etc.)

The effect of heat and cold upon the organism is apparently in harmony with the electro-chemical theory.

CLINICAL EVIDENCE.

In the surgical clinic every degree of imperfection, injury, and impairment of the organism is under observation. If our conception that man is an electro-chemical mechanism is correct, the organism should respond to methods of protection and of restoration which are based upon the laws of physics and of chemistry.

The electro-chemical theory should explain the action and gauge the safe application of anesthetics; it should indicate the paramount value of sleep as the only final means of recharging the

batteries; it should warn the clinician of the prime necessity of regulating the activity of the thyroid and of guarding the integrity of the liver and of the adrenals as essential to the maintenance of the integrity of the brain cells, and it should suggest the importance of assuring an adequate supply of oxygen for the maintenance of the internal respiration; it should emphasize the need of an unfailing continuous supply of fresh water; it should lead the clinician to protect his patient against the external influences which drive the organism excessively and consequently impair the electric cells.

For the past two years the measures employed in the Lakeside clinic have been based upon this conception, and in accordance therewith, we have adopted five main principles as our guide in the protection and restoration of our patients:

1. The organism needs an abundant supply of fresh water. 2. There must be an abundant supply of oxygen delivered to the cells for the maintenance of the internal respiration.

3. The temperature, both local and general, must be kept at or near the normal.

4. An abundance of mental and physical rest and an abundance of sleep are essential.

5. The physical structure of the cells must not be impaired by the trauma of the operation or by the anesthetic.

By the application of these measures the two essential factors in the maintenance of an electro-chemical system are assured, provided disintegration has not progressed too far for restoration to be possible; that is, the acid-alkali balance of the cells is maintained or restored and their internal respiration is protected.

As our application of these principles has extended with our increasing knowledge of the laws upon which they are based, the mortality rate in our clinic has been diminished correspondingly, and operability has been extended.

The findings of the laboratory and the everyday experience in the crucible of the clinic are in harmony with the theory that the organism of man and animals is an electro-chemical mechanism.

THE COUDERSPORT ICE MINE.

BY EDWIN SWIFT BALCH.

(Read, December 2, 1921.)

About four miles east of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, and some three hundred yards southwest of the little village of Sweden Valley on the state road to Wellsboro, is a "glacière naturelle," or natural refrigerator, known as the "Coudersport Ice Mine." It is situated on a hillside and a rough mountain road enables you to drive a motor to within six feet of the entrance.

The story of the Ice Mine is rather curious. About 1894 some people conceived the idea that silver might exist in the hill near Sweden Valley and proceeded to dig a shaft to search for it. Instead of silver, as they dug down, they found layers of ice in the rocks. In the fall they abandoned their enterprise. The next spring ice formed in the shaft and this now occurs annually. The name "Ice Mine" came of itself from these circumstances and, although some people criticize the name because no ice is ever taken from the shaft, to me it appeals strongly in that it is not only descriptive, but that it is also distinctive from the names of all other glacières. It was pure accident which led to the discovery of ice in the rocks surrounding the Ice Mine, and ice might have continued forming there unnoticed year after year except for the digging of the shaft. And this suggests that there may be, and that there probably are, many other such natural refrigerators still unknown in mountainous regions.

Of course, the wonder of the dwellers of Coudersport and vicinity was aroused and all the old theories about glacières were put forward once more to account for the formation of the ice: that the ice is mysteriously due to the heat of summer; that there are chemicals in the rocks; that the ice is consolidated vapor; that it is caused by pressure; that it is due to evaporation, etc. Some of the statements made about the Ice Mine are identical with statements made about

glacières by the peasants of various European countries for at least two hundred years. Of late, however, these untenable theories are gradually losing currency, although the conversation of the natives and the little booklet sold at the Mine show that the true principles of the formation and disappearance of the ice have not yet been thoroughly grasped.

This is clearly shown in "The Automobile Blue Book" for Pennsylvania, 1921, p. 336, which says:

Coudersport, Pa. (Population 3,100-altitude 1,650 feet). Several years ago an Ice Mine was discovered here, which has been a puzzle to geologists, as the ice which melts in winter congeals in the summer time.

The truth, however, is that the formation of the ice is not a puzzle. And this paper is intended as missionary work to dispel illusion and advance knowledge in accordance with the traditions of the American Philosophical Society.

The Ice Mine is located in the side of a hill, now sometimes spoken of as the Ice Mountain, and its surroundings are true glacière country, damp, shady, and free from draughts or sunlight. The exposure of the Ice Mine is north and the sides of the hill are covered with thick second-growth forest which completely shelters the Mine from sun and wind. If this forest were ever cut down, it is almost certain that the ice would largely stop forming.

The Ice Mine is surrounded by a tall wooden fence with a locked door, which the female guardian of a little restaurant immediately adjacent to the Mine opens for 50 cents a person. After you have put on your overcoat, paid your fee, and passed through the guarded portal, you find yourself on a level space, with the rocks rising some fifteen feet in front of you surmounted by the wooden fence, and with the shaft, a big, nearly square hole, some ten feet in length by eight in breadth and thirty in depth, going straight down into the rock. The top of the shaft is covered with a wooden floor with a large trap door, which is usually kept shut, as people frequently climb over the fence (Fig. 1). The floor of the shaft is reached by a long ladder, and when I visited the Mine, on the 12th of August, 1921, was covered by a layer, perhaps two or three feet thick, of dirty ice. On three of the sides rather thin ice curtains were stream

ing down (Fig. 2). These were melting, as was also the ice floor, the glacière in fact being in a state of thaw, with the thermometer several degrees above freezing point.

[graphic]

FIG. I.

Coudersport Ice Mine. Entrance, with ice above.

The ice, it is said, begins to form about April and to be at its best perhaps in June. After this it slowly diminishes and vanishes by about October. The ice goes quickest in rainy weather and more slowly in warm weather. Both these times of the appearance and disappearance of the ice and these effects of wet or dry weather are normal glacière phenomena.

The only theory about the formation and the disappearance of the Coudersport ice which meets all the facts is the theory which applies universally to all glacières. Two things are necessary for the formation of ice cold and water. In glacières the cold of winter furnishes. the cold and the thaws of spring furnish the water. That the winter's cold furnishes the cold is proved by the fact that every known glacière is in a place where there is snow and ice in the open in winter. The winter air sinks from its weight into the glacière and

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