the economy, the albuminous principles of which it coagulates and renders plastic, and that its consecutive action on the solids appears to be tonic and astringent.

II. On the Employment of Veratria in Acute Diseases of the Chest. (Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique, Jan. 30th, 1859.)

M. Aran has called the attention of practitioners to the remarkable effects produced by the internal use of veratria in febrile diseases, and especially pneumonia. In the 'Sardinian Medical Gazette' an article has appeared, in which Dr. Ghiglia, without any knowledge of M. Aran's researches, recommends the use of veratria in the same circumstances, except that he never employs this alkaloid alone, but associates it almost always with opium, sometimes in the form of pill, sometimes as a syrup. The dose of veratria is five milligrammes (077 of a Troy grain) in a pill with the same quantity of opium, and the number of pills to be taken in the twenty-four hours varies from six to seven, and even twelve, according to the circumstances. In this dose, according to M. Ghiglia, vomiting rarely occurs, but nausea and the other depressing effects of veratria are present. The results obtained by M. Ghiglia in certain cases of pneumonia, bronchitis, and broncho-pneumonia have been sometimes most remarkable, but have been occasionally unfavourable, and the following are the results arrived at by this author: "1. The inflammations of the respiratory organs, when they have arrived at such a period as to produce disorganization of the parts, are not improved by the use of veratria. 2. The action of this substance is the more favourable in proportion as the disease is more recent. 3. The tolerance is very various, according to individual habits, and perhaps also according to certain peculiarities which are not yet well understood. 4. The more easily the tolerance ceases the more marked is the depression. 5. Veratria is in many respects a preferable medicine to others which are more constant in their action but less easy to take. And 6. It is perhaps prudent, in severe inflammations of the respiratory organs, to order a few bleedings before prescribing the veratria.

III. On the Poisonous Properties of the Ethereal Oil of Elemi. By Dr. EMIL MANNKOPFF. (Virchow's Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für Klinische Medicin, No. 15, 1859.)

The ethereal oil of elemi is obtained from the resin of elemi, brought from Brazil and Yucatan. It is found in the resin in very variable proportions, but on the average it may be considered to exist in the quantity of about six per cent. The oil is transparent, almost colourless, having a smell which is not unpleasant, and a somewhat acrid and bitter taste. It is insoluble in water, but is easily dissolved in alcohol and ether. According to Stenhouse and Deville, the analysis of the oil of elemi gave the formula of 5C 8H.

Dr. Mannkopff made a series of experiments on rabbits and frogs, with a view of ascertaining the operation of this oil upon the animal economy. In the case of the rabbits, the oil was injected into the stomach by means of an elastic catheter; in frogs the same operation was partially resorted to, but in some the oil was injected under the skin of the back. In a few cases the oil was applied locally on particular parts of the frogs.

The conclusions drawn by Dr. Mannkopff as to the operation of the oil of elemi on animals are the following: namely, that when applied to the intestina tract, it produces hæmorrhagic erosions and numerous functional disturbances in the stomach; and in the intestines, increased peristaltic action and sensation of pain, succeeded by paralysis and anesthesia. The oil acts in a similar

manner wherever it is applied directly. After absorption it paralyses the sensitive portion of the nervous system and the nervus vagus. Hence arise, 1. Acceleration and increased strength of the movements of the heart, and consequently increased diuresis, which is connected with an inflammation of the kidneys to a greater or less extent, and perhaps of the bladder, produced by a specific irritation of the poison; and there is afterwards a sensation of thirst. 2. The diminution and gradual suppression of the respiration occasioned by atelectasis and emptying of the lungs, and diminution of temperature, with which deficient nutrition is associated as a cause. In the second place, when paralysis of the heart is at last produced, death ensues, probably due to the abolition of the functions of the brain.

In concluding his paper, Dr. Mannkopff introduces the question as to the use which may be made of the ethereal oil of elemi as an internal remedy. In this point of view three circumstances ought to be taken into consideration. 1. The increase of the heart's contractions. 2. The increase of diuresis. 3. The anesthetic effects on the sensitive nerves. The oil might probably be given in the cases in which oil of turpentine is found useful, for both oils coincide very much in their medicinal properties. Perhaps the oil of elemi might be preferable from its less unpleasant taste. The question may be asked whether the oil of elemi might not cause inflammation of the kidneys when given in a sufficient dose; but this point can only be determined by experiments on the living subject. Still, since oil of turpentine produces a decided effect in neuralgia, as is proved by the operation of this oil on the sensitive nerves, Dr. Mannkopff believes that experiments with oil of elemi in similar cases would be completely justified.

IV. Process for Ascertaining the Proportion of Quinine in Cinchona Bark. (Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique, Oct. 30th, 1858.)

This process, published by M. Guillermond in the Gazette Médicale' of Lyons, is a modification of one already published by the same writer in 1847. The following is the process: Take twenty grammes of yellow bark, powder it without leaving any residue, and pour upon the powder alcohol at 76°, in sufficient quantity to form a soft paste, which is to be heated for a few minutes until the fibre is thoroughly penetrated by the liquid; then introduce into the paste ten grammes of hydrated lime in fine powder: mix thoroughly, so as to form a homogeneous mass, which is to be heated on a plate until all humidity is completely eliminated. This powder is afterwards to be treated with 100 grammes of rectified sulphuric ether, which will dissolve and remove all the quinine. This ether is then to be rapidly evaporated at the heat of boiling water, and the residue will contain only the quinine and a small proportion of a yellow colouring matter, which may be neglected. In order to determine the quantity of quinine obtained, either of the three following methods may be adopted: 1. Dry completely the ethereal residue. Its weight will give that of the quinine, plus the portion of colouring matter, the quantity of which is insignificant. 2. Dissolve the residue in a little alcohol and acidulate it with very dilute sulphuric acid, the saturating power of which for quinine is ascer tained. For this purpose a graduated tube may be employed, so that a given quantity of the dilute acid corresponds to one gramme of quinine. 3. Weigh the sulphate of quinine which is obtained. It may be dried in a few moments by exposing it to the sun or to the heat of a stove.

This process, according to M. Guillermond, is recommended by its simplicity, and the celerity with which the result is obtained, for only about three hours are required in the operation; and the plan possesses the additional advantage of separating completely the whole of the alkaloid.

V. On a Case of Scrofula Cured by Iodized Food. (L'Union Médicale,

Oct. 19th, 1858.)

M. Lebert, surgeon of the Hospital of Nogent-le-Rotrou, records a case of scrofula cured by the use of iodized food, as recommended by M. Boinet. The patient was a youth of sixteen, of a very lymphatic temperament, and belonging to a family some members of which had died of phthisis and several others had presented symptoms of scrofula. He had suffered from his infancy from an enlargement of the cervical glands, almost always terminating in suppuration. When one swelling began to disappear, another developed itself in its vicinity, so that the neck was the seat of a constant discharge and of numerous unsightly scars. The disease had also attacked the mastoid process of the right side, and had produced a fistulous opening, which gave a passage occasionally to some fragments of bone. The general health was very bad, the appetite very irregular, the digestion difficult, the weakness very great, and the complexion extremely pale. The patient had been subjected for five or six years to active treatment, consisting of bitter infusions, iodide of potassium, and codliver oil, purgatives, blisters, and salt-water bathing, but without any good result. At last, M. Lebert had recourse to the use of iodized bread, as recommended by M. Boinet, and omitted all other medical treatment. From the period of the adoption of this plan a favourable change in all respects was observed in the patient, and after he had eaten the medicated bread for eight months, he could scarcely be recognised. Not only were there no more swellings or abscesses in the neck, but all the fistulous openings had remained closed for several months, and even the scars had become white and quite regular in appearance. The general condition of the patient was quite satisfactory, the appetite uniformly good, the digestion excellent, the face well-coloured, and the stature and the strength of the body quite natural; and, in fact, the use of the iodized bread had performed a perfect metamorphosis in the condition of the patient. M. Lebert remarks, that the superiority of this kind of treatment appears to depend upon the circumstance that chronic diseases yield only to the slow and gradual use of remedies, while medicines administered in the ordinary doses most frequently fail. In the latter case the stomach appears to be fatigued by the presence of the medicines, which it can no longer assimilate.

VI. On the Employment of Chlorate of Soda in Mercurial Stomatitis. (Gazette Médicale, Oct., 1858.)

From the experiments which have been made on the use of the chlorates of potash and soda, it appears that the action of these salts depends more upon the acid than upon the base, but that the greater solubility of chlorate of soda and its less marked taste ought to give it the preference. M. Mussat employed the chlorate of soda in six cases of stomatitis with very favourable results, and the patients stated that this salt had a less disagreeable taste than the chlorate of potash.

VII. On the Local Use of Perchloride of Iron in the Treatment of Membranous Angina. (Gazette des Hôpitaux, Oct., 1858.)

Perchloride of iron has been employed with some success in the treatment of membranous angina (Angine Couenneuse). M. Gigot, of Levroux, after having ascertained by experiment the effects of the styptic action of perchloride of iron on fresh pseudo-membranes recently removed from the throats of patients, employed this agent in a certain number of cases of diphtheritic angina, during a severe epidemic of this disease which visited Levroux. He

applied the perchloride on the pharyngeal mucous membrane and the diphtheritic exudations by means of a sponge or a piece of lint. The first effect of this application was the immediate expulsion of mucous matters, which were coagulated by the perchloride, and either expectorated by the patient or left adhering to the sponge. The slender and slightly adherent pseudo-membranes were also immediately detached, but the most adherent were removed only in small frag ments similar to portions of muscular fibre macerated in water. M. Gigot treated ten patients with this agent, of whom one, an infant four years old, died, from the extension of the disease to the larynx. Of the other nine, there were two in whom the perchloride of iron was replaced, at the end of two days, by the bicarbonate of soda. In these patients the pseudo-membranes were reproduced between each application of the perchloride of iron, and were always easily removed. Lastly, in the seven others the angina was arrested in a few days. M. Gigot never applied the perchloride more than twice in the twenty-four hours. One of the cases was a very well-marked instance of membranous angina in a girl of seventeen, living in a locality where two children had recently died of that disease. There was great swelling of the glands of the neck, fetid breath, difficult deglutition, pulse 110, vomiting, and epistaxis. A greyish pseudo-membrane, of a fibrinous appearance, covered the whole of the right tonsil and extended all along the pillar of the velum palati. The perchloride of iron was applied three times, by means of a piece of lint, over the whole of the pharyngeal mucous membrane as far as the epiglottis, and at the second application the false membranes were detached, their volume was diminished, and they were shrivelled and dried by the perchloride. A gargle of bicarbonate of soda was employed on the same day, and after four days of this treatment the patient entirely recovered.

VIII. On the peculiar Efficacy of Sulphate of Copper in Exciting Vomiting in the Treatment of Croup. By Dr. MISSOUX. (Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique, Dec. 30th, 1858.)

The importance of repeated vomiting in the treatment of croup is admitted by many practitioners, but the choice of an emetic is a point which has not hitherto been fully determined. Since vomiting has been considered by some as the mechanical act which induces the detachment of the false membranes, tartar emetic has been employed for the purpose. Others have preferred ipecacuanha, the dynamic action of which is less depressing than that of tartar emetic, but there its superiority ends. The sulphate of copper, in addition to its emetic action, possesses a very remarkable property of acting locally, and this peculiarity makes it superior to tartar emetic and ipecacuanha. With the latter substances, the patients derive benefit only from the mechanical act of vomiting, and when the false membranes are expelled, others are formed. The case is quite different with sulphate of copper, for when a solution of this salt is employed, the secreting surfaces are so modified, that no more false membranes are formed, or if they are formed, they no longer present the plasticity which renders them so adherent to adjoining parts. Dr. Missoux, after a practice of eighteen years, states that the sulphate of copper has been in his hands the most successful emetic agent in the treatment of croup. Its purifying action appears to him the more valuable, because diphtherite (croup) at its commencement is often localized in the throat, and by applying remedies early, the extension of the false membranes to the larynx may be prevented. He wonders that this topical action of the copper salt has not been hitherto observed upon plastic exudations which are visible to the eye, such as cutaneous diphtheria, and that of the vulva, the throat, and the nose, for its effects in these complaints would have induced a speedy conviction of its utility. The

dose in which Dr. Missoux administers the sulphate of copper is rather larger than that prescribed by other physicians. For young children he dissolves a quarter of a gramme of the salt in 125 grammes of distilled water, and orders a teaspoonful to be given every ten minutes, until vomiting is produced. After the age of puberty, and in adults, he increases the dose to one gramme, without his having ever witnessed any poisonous effects. The more the solution is concentrated, the more frequently the doses are given, and the earlier its administration is resorted to, the more prompt and certain are the effects of the treatment. Out of thirty diphtheritic cases, Dr. Missoux lost only two. This result may surprise some readers, but he assures the profession that he has determined the existence of croup only after actually observing the presence of the false membranes in the bronchi, trachea, and larynx.

IX. On the Action of Fatty Bodies in the Absorption and Assimilation of the Metallic Oxides. By Dr. JEANNEL, of Bordeaux. (L'Union Médicale, Feb. 15th, 1859.)

Dr. Jeannel has made a number of experiments, from the results of which he is led to believe that he will be enabled to explain the very obscure question as to the part taken by the acid or neutral fatty bodies of the blood in the absorption and assimilation of the metallic oxides. These experiments will also, he thinks, contribute to support, in a novel point of view, the opinions offered by MM. Arthaud and Dupasquier as to the hygienic operation of the bicarbonate of lime, which is in fact a mineral aliment. They will at least prove this singular fact, that in the experiments of the laboratory, the bicarbonate of lime of the potable waters may become the medium of dissolving the metallic oxides in the fat oils. In fact, he hopes to prove that several important salts, as sulphate of iron, potassio-sulphate of iron, sulphate of copper, bichloride, biniodide, and protochloride of mercury, being decomposed by the bicarbonate of lime of the potable waters, by the alkaline carbonates or bicarbonates in a weak solution, or by the carbonates of the alkaline animal liquids in presence of the fatty oils, are dissolved in considerable proportion by the latter, especially at the temperature of the body. Dr. Jeannel observes that the metallic salts introduced into the stomach, if they resist the solvent action of the acid liquids in the first digestion, and if they are not absorbed with the water taken as drink, must necessarily pass into the intestine, and there undergo the decomposing action of the alkaline liquids in presence of the fatty matters with which the oxides form combinations susceptible of being absorbed under the form of emulsion. He also finds in liquid blood, which is at once alkaline and fatty, the elements which his experiments proved, when artificially united, to be capable of transforming the mineral salts dissolved in water into insoluble but deleterious oleo-stearates or oleo-margarates; and he is led to believe that the fatty salts are the definitive form assumed by the metallic salts, whether they pass directly into the blood in the form of a weak aqueous solution, or undergo decomposition by the alkaline intestinal liquids. It would therefore be under the form of fatty salts that we ought rationally to administer metallic agents, when we propose to moderate irritability of surface and to obtain constitutional effects.

From the results of numerous experiments, Dr. Jeannel draws the following conclusions:

1st. A solution of a metallic salt being decomposed by an alkaline carbonate in presence of a fatty oil in excess at the ordinary temperature, a part of the metallic oxide passes in solution into the fatty body. This reaction is favoured by a temperature of 40° Cent.

2. The bicarbonate of lime of the potable waters decomposing very weak