TUMORS OF THE BRAIN.

DOCTOR BARRETT: I wish to demonstrate four specimens of gross lesions of the brain.

The first is a large gliomatous tumor filling the greater part of the white substance of the posterior part of the right frontal lobe, its posterior limits just touching the region of the internal capsule. The specimen is from a woman about fifty-four years old, who five months before death had a sudden paralysis of the left arm which soon passed away, but a day later there came a complete left-sided hemiplegia of a spastic type. Some of the symptoms present and the circumstances under which they developed, namely, coming on immediately after a visit to a friend who was paralyzed, made the diagnosis of hysterical paralysis probable. The later course of the disease made the diagnosis of a tumor of the brain quite certain. During the last months the patient was stuporous and the left arm and leg were rigid and their muscles were considerably atrophied. Examination of the eyes showed double optic neuritis.

The second specimen is a gumma of the dura mater of the right frontal region, with intimate adhesions to the brain tissue and infiltration of the surrounding region. A second gumma is located in the region of the right amygdaloid nucleus. The case is that of a man. seventy-five years of age, who showed a deep disturbance of consciousness, with unclear perceptions, complete disorientation and episodes of motor excitement. The only symptoms noted which indicated a brain tumor were several attacks of explosive vomiting, occurring during the last weeks before death.

The third specimen is a large endothelioma of the dura mater. The tumor is as large as a hen's egg and evidently sprang from the dura in the region of the sella turcica. It is from a man who at about the age of fifty gradually lost his eyesight from optic atrophy. From this time on there was a gradually progressing dementia, accompanied by peculiar sensory disturbances, such as a feeling of worms crawling over his body. On a number of occasions he had epileptiform convulsions. Shortly before death there was a marked edema of the eyelids. There were no localizing symptoms and the tumor was not diagnosed.

The fourth specimen is from a woman, who at the age of five years, during typhoid fever, had an attack of complete right-sided hemiplegia. In later years she learned to use the right leg a little but otherwise the paralysis was complete. There were athetoid movements of the left hand. She never developed intellectually, and often had epileptiform convulsions. She died at the age of nineteen. The brain showed the region of the central convolutions of the right hemisphere, collapsed inward. Only the upper two centimeters of the two central convolutions were uninvolved. Sections through the hemisphere show no trace of the fibers of the internal capsule, and in the gross preparation it seems as if the entire left pyramid is absent.

AURAL VERTIGO.

DOCTOR JEANNE C. SOLIS: I wish to present briefly this evening a report of two cases of vertigo interesting from several standpoints.

Case I. This is a man, aged sixty-three years. Four years ago he had la grippe, and he has had some rheumatism in the past. His present trouble began four years ago. It consists of dizzy spells in which he is faint and weak. These spells have lately grown more frequent. They occur most often when he is quiet, either when lying in bed, sitting quietly, or driving. He thinks lately his memory is failing, and he feels very nervous and depressed over the occurrence of these attacks. Case II. The patient here was sixty-six years old. He gives a history of having had la grippe every year since it came to the country. The present trouble came on last August. At this time he began to have dizzy spells with ringing in the right ear. These dizzy spells were preceded by paresthesias of numbness and queer feelings in the distribution of the right fifth nerve beginning on the face and running back towards the neck. Patient feels on the verge of dizziness all the time. Both patients feared severe brain disturbance.

The examination of the patients showed nothing in the nervous nor general condition to account for their dizziness or vertigo, but in both cases impacted cerumen was discovered in both ears, the removal of which relieved the distressing symptom of vertigo.

DOCTOR JAMES F. BREAKEY read a paper on "Lupus Vulgaris." (See next issue).

EDITORIAL COMMENT.

WILLIAM JAMES HERDMAN, PH. B., M. D., LL. D. YOUNG's expression that "Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow," is truly exemplified in the demise of Doctor Herdman. This eminent physician died in Baltimore, Maryland, December 14, and was buried in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the 17th. He had just been granted a year's leave of absence from the University of Michigan to pursue special study abroad and with his family was en route to the coast when stricken with intestinal obstruction which necessitated surgical procedure in Baltimore..

Doctor Herdman was born in Concord, Ohio, September 7, 1848, and descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry. His literary education was acquired at Westminster College, Pennsylvania, and at the University of Michigan, the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy being received from the latter institution in 1872 and that of Doctor of Medicine in 1875. In 1897 the University of Nashville conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Since receiving his medical degree he has

DOCTOR WILLIAM JAMES HERDMAN.

been a continuous member of the teaching force of the University of Michigan, serving in various connections:-Demonstrator of Anatomy, 1875-1890; Lecturer on Pathologic Anatomy, 1879-1880; Assistant Professor of Pathologic Anatomy, 1880-1882; Professor of Practical and Pathologic Anatomy, 1882-1888; Professor of Practical Anatomy and Diseases of the Nervous System, 1888-1890; Professor of Nervous Diseases and Electrotherapeutics, 1890-1898; Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System, and of Electrotherapeutics, 1898 to the time of his death. Special lectures in the Department of Law have In addition to services likewise been given by him for many years. rendered in the capacities already cited he held the Professorship of Orthopedic Surgery in the Northwestern (Toledo) Medical College, 1882-1887, during which time he was Consulting Surgeon to Saint Vincent's Hospital; and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Ann Arbor Railroad, 1887-1902, being reappointed to that position in 1905.

The doctor has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine since the date of his graduation, and has been the recipient of many honors in medical organization:-Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Medical Association, 1897-1899; Chairman of the Section on Neurology and Medical Jurisprudence, 1896; Expresident of the American Electrotherapeutic Association; Exmember of the Council of the American Academy of Medicine; Councilor of the First District of the Michigan State Medical Society, 1905-1906. He was indeed a valued member of local, state, and national medical organizations.

Doctor Herdman has contributed much toward demonstrating that insanity is a disease. The Psychopathic Hospital at the University of Michigan is a monument which bespeaks his untiring effort to establish a detention hospital wherein the study of incipient cases might be prosecuted with a view to determining their curability before consignThe doctor has ing them to institutions for the hopelessly insane. conducted considerable scientific research work concerning the bearing of electricity on the growth of man and animal, and was mainly instrumental in establishing at the University of Michigan the first electrotherapeutic laboratory in this country. He was the author of several text-books and papers on educational, medical and electrical subjects.

Doctor Herdman was married to Nancy Bradley Thomas on September 16, 1873, and she, together with three children-Doctor Elliott K., Marie L., and Anna M.-survive him. As a physician, deceased was eminently capable and enjoyed a large clientele. As a teacher, he was thorough and progressive. As a man, he was the embodiment of a Christian character, broad intellect, and dignified bearing. Since 1877 he has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, and testimony harmonizing with his long religious profession was rendered on the occasion of a recent illness when he said to a visiting clergyman -"I believe in prayer and sɔ do you. Let us pray."

ANNOTATIONS.

OBLIGATIVE ANAEROBES CULTIVATED IN THE PRESENCE OF OXYGEN.

THE ordinary convenient classification of microorganisms into aërobes and anaërobes bids fair to receive relegation to obscurity if the recent disclosures of European investigators are verified by subsequent experimentation. Torozzi and Wrzosek have apparently demonstrated the possibility of cultivating obligative anaerobic bacteria in the presence of oxygen. Acting in accordance with the ideas of these two men Harrass devised a culture medium which produced luxurious colonies. of anaerobes in the free presence of the gas which was supposed to absolutely inhibit their development. Torozzi and Wrzosek obtained excellent results by adding to a broth medium a small piece of animal organ, such as liver, kidney, spleen or lymph tissue. Harrass, however, utilized only liver tissue in his experiments. After grinding one pound of fresh calf's liver in a sausage machine, he mixed it with one litre of water in which one per cent of peptone or glucose had been dissolved. The medium was rendered neutral and consigned to Erlenmeyer flasks after which it was subjected to live steam sterilization for a period of from one and one-half to two hours. A solid medium productive of the above result has not yet been evolved, but Harrass is sanguine that his effort to discover one will yet be successful.

MEDICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PESTIFEROUS

MOSQUITO.

WHILE the role of the mosquito in the causation of disease has not been accurately determined, experimentation has disclosed the fact that a definite part is played by the pest in producing malarial and yellow fevers, the Anopheles and Stegomyia respectively being the agents of transmission. Smith, who has long been engaged in the study of mosquitoes, has recently contributed the result of his findings to medical literature. The connection of Stegomyia fasciata with yellow fever is confirmed by the discoveries of the American Commission at Havana, 1900-1902; of Doctor Juan Guiteras, 1901-1902; of Doctors Ribas and Lutz at Sao Paulo, 1903; of the representatives of the United States Marine Hospital Service at Vera Cruz, 1903-1904; and of the French Commission at Rio Janeiro, 1903. Subsequent crusades against the pest at Havana, Vera Cruz, and Rio Janeiro, resulted in the complete eradication of the disease. Most careful observation in excellently equipped laboratories has resulted in failure to determine. the parasite of yellow fever in the body of the insect. However, several animal parasites have apparently been demonstrated by the French Commission, but these are thought by Smith to be merely undigested food particles. While yellow fever has prevailed at Rio Janeiro for

years, Petropolis, only thirty miles distant, is entirely free from the scourge. This is explainable in the fact that the city is situate at a high altitude, a condition unfavorable to mosquito development under ordinary conditions. Stegomyia fasciata thrives best and is most active at a temperature of from 80° to 86° Fahrenheit. At 60° it is sluggish and at 56° is almost entirely inactive. However, the insect has been kept at a temperature as low as 30° for a period of from twelve to twenty-four hours without death. Thermal conditions likewise exert marked influence on the reproductive function, a reasonably warm 'atmosphere and a meal of blood being essential to the female before the deposition of eggs, which usually is accomplished in the water, between twenty-five and one hundred fifty being laid at one time. Stegomyia is not migratory, but readily adjusts itself to circumstances, and for this reason its destruction is rendered more difficult.

CONTEMPORARY.

HYPNOTISM: ITS HISTORY, NATURE, AND USE.

[HAROLD M. HAYS, OF THE College of phYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, NEW YORK CITY, IN THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.] (Continued from page 522)

We have already found the primary cause of the sleep when produced by the tiring of the eyes. The eyelids droop because the muscles become temporarily paralyzed. There is one advantage in placing the hand on top of the head. It is that it rolls the eyeballs upward, thus putting them in a natural position for sleep. The various other processes after the sleep has been produced are all dependent on the workings of the nervous system. Let us first try to explain the cataleptic state-how it is that the arm becomes so rigid that the bones can be broken before the arm will bend. The most plausible explanation to my mind is that impulses are sent from the brain which make one set of muscles counteract the influence of another set. For example, let us say that two men of equal strength are pulling with all their might on a thick stick. As long as the pull is the same on both sides, the stick won't move. How the mind can exert such an influence we do not know. The same idea of the counteraction of various muscles applies to the whole body as well as to one arm. Yet some one may ask how these muscles can have the power to stand more strain than they do in the waking state. It is only that as our normal selves we never use our full muscle power. This is because not enough stimulation is ever given to the muscle to make it work to its full extent. But in cases of great excitement or danger, even the weakest seem to have superhuman strength.

The loss of the sense of pain or anesthesia can also be accounted for by the brain. When we say we have a pain in our finger, we don't