were able to raise very considerably the heat of the body. Thus, on some occasions, when using the general hot bath, the temperature under the tongue was noted to be between 103° and 104° Fahr.; a fever temperature. The body being heated considerably above the point at which combustion could maintain it, we were enabled to learn with what rapidity heat may be lost, simply by radiation and evaporation. For these results we must refer to our paper. Our experiments prove that hot baths in no way affect the diurnal variation of the temperature.-Scientific Opinion, Am. Jour. Med. Sciences.

Etiological Relationship of Bright's Disease of the Kidneys and Scarlet Fever.

DR. STEINER examines this question in the Jahrb. f. Kinderheilk., 1868. He rejects entirely, as without foundation, the doctrine which teaches that the nephritis scarlatinosa is either an accidental complication or a sequel of scarlet fever; but in like manner as the angina, so common a symptom of the disease, is produced by the same morbific cause to which is due the eruption on the surface; that is, a localization of the same pathological process upon the kidneys-in the one case, as upon the throat and skin in the others. Post-mortem examination and testing of the urine, from an early period in the disease, show that the kidneys suffer from the commencement of the attack, and not merely from the period of desquamation. The nephritic affection is usually of a purely catarrhal character, and occasionally of so mild a grade as not to be detected during the lifetime of the patient. On dissection after death, however, its existence is shown by the swollen condition of the epithelium of the tubuli uriniferi. When, besides the presence of albumen in the urine, we find cylindrical casts and blood, the nephritis has assumed the croupose form. According to Dr. S. this is the result of a purely mechanical cause, the accumulation of epithelial debris, namely, in the tubuli of the kidneys. There results from this a stasis of blood in the parenchyma of the kidneys, and finally effusion. The influence of cold experienced by the scarlatinous patient during the period of desquamation, in the production of nephritis, Dr. S. believes to be much overrated. The croupose form of nephritis often sets in, as such, very suddenly, and may proceed attended by abnormal urination without the slightest indication of dropsical effusion; while, on the other hand, anasarcous swelling may be present

without any disease of the kidneys. Nothnagel has observed many such cases.-Centralblatt f. d. Medicin. Wissenschaften.

Tonics in Dropsy.

MR. E. GAYLOR observes (Brit Med. Journal, Feb. 27, 1869): "The two forms of dropsy inost likely to be benefited by iron are, first that effusion which is produced by a watery state of the blood; and secondly, that form of dropsy due to the impregnation of the blood with some noxious material. In a poisoned condition of the blood there is a stagnation in the capillaries, thereby causing an impediment in the capil lary circulation. Mr. Power believes that the presence of urea in the blood interferes with the development of new blood-corpuscles, as well as spoiling those already formed.

"These two forms of dropsy being marked by decay and deterioration, the proper remedies would be those which would help to form blood, assisted by nutrition, warmth, rest, etc. Dr. Basham, in his Croonian Lectures, 1864, says that iron is not the most efficacious in the form of the sesquichloride (the old tinctura ferri sesquichloridi), but as an ammoniochloride, which he directs to be prepared as follows: 'The ordinary dose of the sesquichloride is to be added to a drachm of the liquor ammoniæ acetatis, this being previously acidulated by a few drops of acetic acid.' The sesquichloride must not be added to the neutral liquor, as an insoluble ammoniochloride falls, which it is very difficult to take up again. If the saline be first acidulated, a very nice looking mixture is formed, which will keep good for any length of time.

"This remedy seems to have the power of promoting the reproduction of cells, while it restores the powers of the organism. It is the nucleated cell which is involved in the disease; and it is also the nucleated cell which is the vital source of secretion and development. If a fair trial be given to this form of preparation, I venture to predict that it will be found one of the most valuable of the preparations of iron, and the best hæmatic in the whole range of therapeutics. Since reading Dr. Basham's Lectures, I have used this form of the remedy with the best results."

Glycogenic Function of the Liver.

DR. AUSTIN FLINT, JR., records (N. Y. Med. Journal, Jan. 1869) some experiments undertaken by him for the purpose

of reconciling the discordant opinions maintained by C. Bernard and Dr. Pavy in regard to the glycogenic functions of the liver.

"Although these experiments," he remarks, "are not entirely new, my interpretation of them serves to harmonize, in my own mind at least, the results obtained by Bernard and by Pavy:

"1. A substance exists in the healthy liver, which is capable of being converted into sugar; and inasmuch as this is formed into sugar during life, the sugar being washed away by the blood passing through the liver, it is perfectly proper to call it glycogenic, or sugar-forming matter.

2. The liver has a glycogenic function, which consists in the constant formation of sugar out of the glycogenic matter, this sugar being carried away by the blood of the hepatic veins, which always contain a certain proportion of sugar, and subserving some purpose in the economy connected. with nutrition, as yet imperfectly understood. This production of sugar takes place in the carnivora as well as in those animals that take sugar and starch as food; and is essentially independent of the kind of food taken.

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3. During life, the liver contains only the glycogenic matter, and no sugar, because the great mass of blood which is constantly passing through this organ washes out the sugar as fast as it is formed; but after death, or when the circulation is interfered with, the transformation of glycogenic matter into sugar goes on; the sugar is not removed under these conditions, and can then be detected in the substance of the liver."

An Old Chair afflicted with Neuralgia-The Sitter affected simultaneously.

PROCHASKA, the eminent physiologist, used to mention, in one of his lectures, how, traveling in Bavaria, he put up at a small inn at Tetoshen Brod, where, being weather-bound, he passed his days in writing. Not liking the meagre accommodations of a little village inn, he begged that at least they would provide him with a comfortable arm-chair. After some delay, a large, high-backed, old leathern throne was placed in his room, with many injunctions to treat it carefully. He welcomed the annexation with delight, and at once proceeded to avail himself of its comforts. Scarcely, however, had he been seated in it half an hour, when he was seized with a violent pain in the back of his neck, which extended

gradually down the spine. These pains left him after he went to bed, and returned when he resumed his place in the chair next morning. Sometimes they came spasmodically, and forced him to cry out; sometimes they began slightly and increased in severity, gradually engaging one nervous centre after another, and causing intense suffering. But all the symptoms would slowly subside on removal from the chair, instantaneously returning when he went back to it. There was scarcely a form of neuralgia he did not experience. The facial nerves were constantly the seat of suffering, and his sciatic agonies were terrible. He examined the chair carefully and thoroughly. He ripped open the leather covering, and he investigated the hair stuffing beneath. He tested the varnish on the wood, and, in fact, left nothing undone that might throw light on the curious influence of evil this antique piece of furniture possessed, but to no purpose. Nothing came of all his inquisition, and he was driven to seek if the history of the chair could afford any explanation of these phenomena. To his amazement he learned that his landlady had borrowed the chair from a doctor in the village. He had used it for years in his study, and in it some hundreds of patients had undergone the various operations of surgery. The well-worn arms, showing where agonized hands had grasped convulsively the patched leather, attested the violence which had attended these struggles. "I bought the vicious old seat, and had it hacked up before my eyes, and the fragments thrown into the Elbe," said the professor, "but the lesson it taught me I have never forgotten."-St. Paul's Magazine.

Women Students in Russia.-

"IT has been stated of late that a university for women is about to be founded in Russia. Such is not exactly the case, but it is true that public classes for female students will probably be organized there before long. During several years the lectures delivered by the professors of the University of St. Petersburg were open to the public; and this privilege was so appreciated, that during the course of 1859 and 1860 between two and three thousand persons regularly attended them, and among these were a great number of women. But the year 1861 brought with it those student disturbances which resulted in the closing of the University; and when it was reopened new regulations had been made, by which women were excluded from its classes.

The only

subject which they could now study in public was that of medicine, for the medical faculty in St. Petersburg forms a separate academy, independent of the University. A number, however, of the female medical students went abroad, especially to Switzerland; as, for instance, Mlle. Suslof, who recently obtained a doctor's diploma from the University of Zurich, and who has subsequently received permission to practice at St. Petersburg with the privileges accorded there to foreign medical practitioners.

During the present year an important agitation has taken place among the women of St. Petersburg, in favor of public instruction. Several German newspapers have stated that a petition bearing four hundred female signatures has been presented to the Minister of Public Instruction, praying that classes might be opened for women in the University, and that the Minister has refused to grant their prayer, considering their tendencies to be nihilistic.' But in reality no such petition has been laid before him, the Russian government not favoring such demonstrations. What really has occurred is this; more than even four hundred women have sent letters first to the council of Professors, and then to the rector of the University of St. Petersburg, begging for permission to attend the lectures on philology and natural science, and offering to pay for the privilege. The council replied that it fully sympathized' with their wish, but that the public classes were closed against them by law. regarded the opening of the new classes, however, the professors would be 'perfectly willing' to give lectures to them if only the intending students could obtain the necessary permission from the Minister of Public Instruction, and fitting accomodation could be provided for them. There the matter rests at present, but it is understood that measures are being taken to obtain the requisite permission, and it is expected that, if the classes are opened, they will be attended by a very large number of female students."-The Pall Mall Gazette.

Brunetti's Anatomical Preparations.

As

The advantages possessed by this method over Segato's petrifactions and Gorini's process of exsiccation are, that while the pathological appearances are equally well retained, the anatomical elements are preserved in such integrity that they may be at any time submitted to microscopic examination.

VOL. IV.-No. 11.

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