other ocular symptoms, produced by around an obstruction, but the irregular states that he has noted many cases of Dr. Wood had a dozen typical specimens selected for him for the purpose of demonstrating the extent to which veils of various kinds influenced the eyesight, and made a number of experiments with them, the most important of which he gives an account of, with the following results: 1. Every description of veil affects more or less the ability to see distinctly, both at a distance and near at hand. 2. The most objectionable kind is the dotted veil, although the influence of this variety for evil is more marked in some samples than in others. 3. Other things being equal, in undotted and non-figured veils, vision is interfered with in direct proportion to the number of meshes to the square inch. 4. The texture of the veil plays an important part in the amount and kind of eye strain produced by the veil. When the sides of the mesh are single, compact threads the eye is embarrassed very much less in its effort to distinguish objects than when double threads are employed. 5. The least objectionable veil is that without dots, sprays, or other figures, but with large regular meshes made with single, compact threads. It is not a necessary consequence of the wearing of veils that eye symptoms should result, continues Dr. Wood, for a healthy eye in a healthy body resists the strain of an impediment to vision just as it does other deleterious agents; and it is only when from other causes the eyesight is weakened that the wearing of an objectionable veil proves immediately and obviously hurtful. Dr. Wood It has been urged in defense of veils, But what excuse can be urged, he Puerperal Eclampsia; with Etiology and Treatment. Dr. William Warren Potter, of Buffalo, read a paper at the ninety-first annual meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York, Albany, January 26, 1897. He said, inter alia, that we we seem to have arrived at the renaissance of eclamptic literature; that while the subject is being discussed in magazine articles and societies it would not answer for this society to keep silent. Though the pathogenesis of eclampsia is still unsettled, we are certain that it is a condition sui generis pertaining only to the puerperal state, and that to describe, as formerly, three varietieshysterical, epileptic and apoplectic—is erroneous as to pathology and causation as well as misleading in treatment. The kidney plays an important office in the economy of the eclamptic. If it fails to eliminate toxins, symptoms are promptly presented in the pregnant | to idealism. Only rarely can the deep woman. Renal insufficiency is a usual incision of Duhrssen be required. accompaniment of the eclamptic state. Cæsarean section should be reserved for Over-production of toxins and underelimination by the kidney is a short route to an eclamptic seizure. How ever, many women with albuminuria escape eclampsia and many eclamptics fail to exhibit albuminous urine. extreme complications, as deformed pelvis, or to preserve the fetus when the mother's How the mother's condition is hopeless. Veratrum viride is dangerous, uncertain and deceptive in action. The microbic theory of eclampsia has not yet been demonstrated. The toxemic theory in the present state of our knowledge furnishes the best working hypothesis for prevention or cure. Treatment should be classified into (a) preventive, and (b) curative. The preventive treatment should be subdivided into medicinal and hygienic; and the curative into medicinal and obstetric. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the urine must be made at the onset. If there is defective elimination something must be done speedily to correct a faulty relationship between nutrition and excretion. One of the surest ways to control progressive toxemia is to place the woman upon an exclusive milk diet. This will also serve to flush the kidneys and thus favor elimination. Distilled water is one of the best diuretics; it increases activity and supplies material-two important elements. In the pre-eclamptic state, when there is a full pulse with tendency to cyanosis, one good full bleeding may be permissible, but its repetition should be regarded with suspicion. If there is high arterial tension-vaso-motor spasm -glonoin in full doses is valuable. In eclampsia of pregnancy, i.e., prior to term, the aseptic bougie, introduced to the fundus and coiled within the vagina, may be employed to induce labor. Finally, to promote the elimination of toxic material, diuresis, catharsis, and diaphoresis should not be forgotten; neither should the hot-air bath, nor the hot pack be overlooked. The Anatomy of the Anus. The following is a summary of conclusions drawn by Dr. Bert B. Stroud, embodied in a paper on "The Anatomy of the Anus," published in the Annals of Surgery. The article is most elaborate and carefully prepared. 1. The anus presents a general similarity of structure among mammals, but certain features are most highly developed in man, with approximations in the anthropoid apes and in the domestic cat and dog. The sacculi Horneri are especially large in the dog. 2. The transitional epithelium between skin and rectal mucosa is a narrow zone of thick, stratified epithelium, the pecten containing nerve elements which the writer believes to be the peripheral ends of nerves concerned with a special rectal sense. This zone varies in width from about three to nine millimetres. Its caudal border is about at the junction of the ectal and ental sphincters. The cephalic (upper) border is demarkated by the linea dentata. When eclampsia is fully established the first indication is to control the convulsions. Full chloroform anesthesia may serve a good purpose. If the convulsions are not promptly controlled the uterus must be speedily emptied. 3. From the dentations of the pecten This constitutes the most important in some human individuals there are method of dealing with eclampsia. developed papillæ, composed chiefly of Two lives are at stake, and by address-stratified epithelium, nerve elements, ing ourselves assidiously to speedy delivery of the fetus we contribute in the largest manner to the conservation of both. and a minimum amount of connective tissue. These are believed to be important additions to the "rectal-sense" apparatus, and to make the possessor physiologically superior to those individuals who have no papillæ. Rapid dilatation first with steel dilators, if need be, then with manual stretching of the os and cervix, followed 4. There are also developed in some by the forceps, is the nearest approach | human individuals more or less ex tensive anal pockets just cephalo peri- 13. Irritated papillæ are often injected with serum. 14. No evidence of sclerosis was found in any of the papillæ examined. 5. When the sphincters are closed the pecten forms the central part of the floor of the rectal ampulla. And from Andrews' ('95, p. 303) description of Whitehead's operation for hemorrhoids, I judge that the pecten is excised in this operation. Perhaps this fact accounts for the large percentage of incontinence of feces resulting from this operation. 6. The caudal border of the rectal mucosa is at the linea dentata. The character of the epithelium is seen to change markedly here. And the mucosa is thrown into folds like a ruffle. 7. Clinical observations tend to show that there are few sensory nerve elements in the rectal mucosa, since serious injuries may be inflicted, or the gravest diseases, such as ulceration or cancer, may exist without causing pain. (Kelsey, '90, p. 24.) Alleviation of Pain in Labor. At the Pirogoff Congress in Cracow Hr. Bukoemski read a paper on the alleviation of pain in normal labor. After careful consideration he concluded that alleviating remedies did not retard labor; they never did harm and were sometimes of great service. By the toxodynamometer (ether forty-five cases, and chloroform eight cases), he determined that when ether was used the pulse and respiration were unchanged. The labor was shortened, albumen was never seen in the urine, the uterine contractions were more powerful, and involution was improved. Ether was a reliable and non-dangerous drug that did not require accurate dosage. Chloroform rather retarded labor, but was not injurious to either mother or child. Ether deserved the preference. Both were good and reliable. Hr. Ssawitzki had obtained good re8. Among the nerve elements pressults from antipyrine, of which he gave ent may be mentioned: (a) Small nerve ten grains along with fifteen to twentycells with anastomosing dendrites which five drops of tr. opii in enema, and form the epidermal plexus; (b) large repeated in from two to six hours. ganglion cells in the dermis; (c) amyelinic nerve fibres. In the sections examined all appeared to be normal. 9. The nerve supply of the rectum and anus is derived from both the neuron (central nervous system) and the sympathetic nervous system. 10. The writer suggests that some rectal reflexes may be due to pressure upon the nerve elements, caused by congestion of the blood-vessels in this region. Clinical observations appear to indicate that reflexes may also be caused by pressure upon irritated papillæ from spasm of the sphincter. 11. Pockets may be torn by hard feces, causing a laceration of the pecten. Continued irritation and even ulceration frequently result. 12. Small hardened lumps of feces may lodge in a pocket and cause perforation of its floor, or even a fistula. Hr. Dobronrawow purposed a collective inquiry into the alleviation of pain during labor. An inquiry of that kind was being carried on in Russia, and the report would be submitted to the Twelfth International Congress of Medicine in Moscow. The proposal was accepted by the Congress.-Med. Press. The Function of the Supra-Renals. According to the author, L. Szymonowicz (Arch. f. Phys.), we are now in possession of three facts which throw much light upon the heretofore obscure function of the supra-renal capsules. The facts are as follows: 1. The extirpation of both suprarenals causes a decided diminution of the blood pressure; the pulse becomes smaller. 2. Introduction of supra-renal extracts into the veins produces chief of all a decided increase of blood pressure, slowing and increase of the heart's action. 3. The blood flowing from the suprarenal veins, when introduced into the circulation of another animal, causes the same phenomena as do the supra-renal extracts introduced into the blood, but in lesser degree. As the result of his researches and those of Cybulski, the author believes we must come to the following unquestionable conclusions: 1. The supra-renals are organs of undoubted necessity to life, glands with internal secretion. 2. It is their duty (especially the medullary substance) to produce and transmit to the blood a substance which continually upholds the activity of the vasomotor nerve centres, the vagus and the accelerator nerves as well as the respiratory centres, and, in all probability, the centres controlling muscular tonicity. American Medico-Surgical Bulletin. New Treatment for Sciatica. Dr. Negro, from Turin, has success fully treated sciatic neuralgia by digital pressure over the painful points. The method employed is as follows: The patient is placed in a horizontal position, with the lower limbs extended and in contact with each other, so as to completely relax the gluteal muscles. Determine by palpation the situation of the great sciatic notch, through which the sciatic nerve passes; apply the tip of the right thumb over the nerve, and above the nail of this place the left thumb. With the thumbs in this posi tion, a very energetic pressure is exerted during fifteen or twenty seconds directly, slight lateral movements being executed in every direction, but without displacing the thumbs. After an interval of a few minutes the pressure is applied a second time in the same way, this operation being much less painful than the first. After the second compression, the patient is, as a rule, able to walk without difficulty, and the pain is relieved for a time varying between several hours and a day. The compression is repeated every other day, six sittings being usually sufficient for the complete cure of sciatic neuralgia, a result which Dr. Negro has obtained in the immense majority of cases (100 out of 113) in which he has had occasion to employ this method of treatment.-Med. Times and Hospital Gazette. Treatment of Flatulence. Dr. Stephen McKenzie states that a certain amount of air is swallowed in the process of mastication and deglutition, but this has never produced any of the phenomena associated with flatulence. This condition is also attributed to fermentation occurring in the stomach, but he does not believe the gas of flatulence is the result of food fermentation, for fermentative processes are too slow for the rapid development of the flatulence observed in dyspepsia. Sir William Roberts has shown that a certain amount of flatulence may occur in acid dyspepsia through the action of an acid mucus upon the alkaline saliva swallowed with the food; but this is certainly a rare and minor cause in the production of gas. The regurgitation of carbonic-acid gas from the duodenum may sometimes occur and cause a flatulent distention of the stomach, but this is also a rare phenomenon and occurs only when the gastric juice is hyperacid. The writer, after discussing other theories, concludes that flatulent dyspepsia is due to a lack of gastric tonicity. In other words, the wall of the stomach being weak, flabby, and lacking in tone, suddenly dilates, and a volume of gas which was before somewhat compressed expands and fills out the enlarged viscus. The gas does not increase in quantity in the stomach, but only in volume. Associated with this gastric atony and perhaps dilatation, there is often a slight catarrhal condition of the stomach which lessens the power of normal gastric digestion and helps also to weaken the walls of the stomach. The most important thing in the treatment of flatulent dyspepsia is to use remedies which will increase the nervous vigor; hence tonics, and especially nerve tonics, are of the greatest importance. Nux vomica and strychnine should be placed at the head of the list. When there is gastritis associ symptoms. He admits, however, that uric acid may be, and indeed is, normally produced in the normal organism, in the proportion of 1 part to 33 of urea. He believes the ratio to be unalterable, but this can only be proved by prolonged observation by independent observers. In any event, the fact that uric acid can be elaborated in the human body renders it possible, if not probable, that under particular conditions the output may be so increased as to constitute a pathological condition. ated with flatulent dyspepsia, with a | troduced, the quantities produced in the coated tongue, the author gives bicar- normal healthy human body being inbonate of soda, strychnine, and spirit adequate to the production of morbid of chloroform, dissolved in a bitter infusion of calumba or gentian; two ounces three times a day, between meals. If pain is associated with the flatulence, bismuth is added to the mixture, or a pill containing carbolic acid, valerianate of zinc, and alum is given. The compound asafetida pill and the extract of belladonna are sometimes useful. In cases in which pain is located lower in the bowels, Indian hemp in doses of one-third of a grain often answers better than any other remedy. For the violent spasmodic attacks which these sufferers often have, associated with distention of the stomach and intestines, a mixture is given composed of equal parts of spirit of cajuput, aromatic spirit of ammonia, and spirit of chloroform; a teaspoonful in a wine glass of water every half or quarter of an hour. The writer does not believe in the use of charcoal in flatulence, nor does he place great stress on the value of bismuth. The purpose of his paper is, he says, to urge the importance of tonics and anti-spasmodics as the rational and effective treatment of flatulence by improving the muscular tone of the stomach.-Practitioner. Is There a Uric Acid Diathesis? In spite of multitudinous researches into the nature and causation of gout and allied manifestations so much obscurity remains that inquirers on fresh lines are welcome, even when one is unable altogether to acquiesce in their "statement of claim." To Dr. Haig, we believe, is due the credit of having been the first to call attention to the fact that large quantities of uric acid are directly introduced with and in the ordinary food of man. This may be eliminated in the urine, failing which, over-saturation of the blood is followed by the deposition of the acid in the tissues. This is a distinct advance in our knowledge of the pathology of gout, and what may be termed uric acid manifestations, but Dr. Haig proclaims that virtually all the mischief-making uric acid is thus in We are not concerned to deny the importance of discarding any avoidable addition to the proportion of uric acid already present in a given case, but it has not yet been conclusively proved that it is impossible, even in the absence of alimentary uric acid, for sufficient quantities to be formed to give rise to a deviation from health. All animal tissues contain uric acid or substances of the xanthin group, and the alkaloids of tea, coffee and cocoa are also xanthins and therefore to be avoided. The ideal diet of a person who would still be currently described as suffering from the effects of uric acid diathesis would have to be restricted to milk and cheese, breadstuffs and cereal foods and the pulses, such as peas, beans, lentils and the like. The exclusion of articles of food containing uric acid, in association with the administration of drugs which are recognized to facilitate the solution of this intractable substance, allows of the excretion of arrears of uric acid, and when the surplus has been disposed of the effects disappear. There are, however, a number of facts which do not fit in with Dr. Haig's hypothesis. Stone, for instance, is very common in some parts of India, where the natives nevertheless live exclusively on just such a diet as that recommended by him by reason of its freedom from uric acid constituents. Then, again, certain subjects, especially children, continue to excrete large quantities of uric acid in spite of the most careful dieting, and in certain diseases, such as leucocythemia for instance, the excretion is always |