fication 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 ascertained. 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.) The 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. 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 cod-liver 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 fragments 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 deterinined. 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 tarter 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 eroup. 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 ever having 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 This result may surprise some of thirty diphtheritic cases, Dr. Missoux lost only two. 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, biuiodide, 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. Froin 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 metallic solutions, the oil which is shaken in the mixture seizes the metallic oxide, at least in part. 3. The alkaline animal liquids, as serum of the blood, milk, and white of egg, being placed in contact with a metallic salt in weak solution, and oil, the alkaline carbonate contained in the animal liquids is most frequently sufficient for decomposing the salt, the oxide of which is dissolved in notable proportion in the fatty body. 4. If it is supposed that an aqueous solution of a metallic salt having escaped digestion in the stomach, arrives as far as the intestine, it must be admitted that it is there decomposed by the alkaline animal liquids mixed with fatty matters, and that the metallic oxide enters in solution into the latter. 5. The same facts and reasonings lead us to admit that an aqueous solution of a metallic salt arriving at the blood undergoes at first a double decomposition, the final consequence of which is the formation of a fatty salt. 6. Calomel is decomposed by a weak solution of bicarbonate of soda; chloride of sodium, and probably bichloride of mercury, are formed and dissolved together. The presence of chloride of sodium retards this decomposition and solution. 7. Calomel being mixed with water containing bicarbonate of lime or bicarbonate of soda in solution, if oil is shaken with the mixture, it becomes charged with a notable quantity of mercury. All these reactions are favoured by a temperature of 40° Cent. 8. If in the administration of medicines from which a constitutional or dynamic effect is desired, we would endeavour to imitate the compounds formed naturally in the organism, we; ought to prefer the form of fatty salts in the administration of metallic agents. X. On the Diuretic Action of Iodide of Potassium. By C. HANDFIELD JONES, M.D., (Beale's Archives of Medicine, No. 3.) F.R.S. It appears reasonable to expect that the healing influence of a drug in certain morbid states may be shown to be explicable by its general mode of action, yet there are certain remedies which exert a very positive curative power, and yet afford no clue in their general inode of action to explain their special effects. Such a remedy, according to Dr. H. Jones, is iodide of potassium, which has certainly a strong controlling power over periosteal inflammations, whether syphilitic or rheumatic, as well as over rupial ulcers, which generally heal under its use. It is also more or less useful in inflammations affecting fibrous tissues in various parts. Dr. Jones has made a series of experiments upon the effects of iodide of potassium administered to patients, and has examined the urine in each case; and the general results are thus summed up :-1. That the quantity of water was greatly increased in three out of six cases; a little (one-sixth) increased in one; diminished in two. 2. Out of five cases, the acidity was increased in three, diminished in two. 3. Urea was increased in three, diminished in three. 4. Phosphoric acid was increased in four, diminished in two. 5. Sulphuric acid was increased in four, diminished in two 6. Chlorine was increased in three, diminished in two out of five cases; in two the increase was very considerable. 7. Uric acid was diminished in four out of six cases, greatly increased in the remaining two. The most marked effects seem to be the increase of the water, of the phosphoric and sulphuric acids, and of the chlorine. But Dr. Jones adds that as far as these confessedly empirical results go, there seems to be no help or clue afforded to trace out any connexion between the empirical facts just noticed. A varying diuretic effect does not give any explanation of the modus operandi of the drug in curing a node or an ulcer. For the present Dr. Jones concludes that we cannot attain to more than an empirical acquaintance with the operation of iodide of potassium. XI. On the Therapeutical Action of the Acid Nitrate of Silver. By Dr. CROCQ. Under the name of acid nitrate of silver, Dr. Crocq designates a solution of nitrate of silver in nitric acid. He thinks this preparation especially useful when it is desirable to modify certain surfaces more or less deeply without producing a deep destruction of the tissues; in such cases, in fact, as are usually treated by the solid nitrate of silver or by the acid nitrate of mercury. The acid nitrate of silver is preferable to the former, because it penetrates much better into all the sinuosities and anfractuosities of surfaces, and because its action can be rendered either superficial or deep. It is preferable to the second, because it does not act as a poison by absorption, however large may be the surface cauterized, while the acid nitrate of mercury may and does produce symptoms of mercurial poisoning. Moreover the action of the acid nitrate of silver may be immediately arrested, when it is applied to organs where its extension might become prejudicial, as on the eye, the vagina, and in the throat, for in these cases the injection of a solution of chloride of sodium renders it instantly inert. The acid nitrate of silver may be employed advantageously in cases of chancre, in simple and gangrenous ulcers, in some wounds, in lupus, in epithelial tumours, and cancroid ulcers; in ulcerations of the neck of the uterus, and granular affections of the cervix uteri and of the conjunctiva. XII. On the Treatment of Inflammation by Digital Compression, by M. Vanzetti, Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Padua. (From the Giornale Veneto di Scienze Mediche, l'Union Médicale, Dec. 30th, 1858.) We have already (Jan. 1859) recorded the results of two cases in which M. Vanzetti successfully practised digital compression in inflammation; and the following cases appear to establish the advantage derivable from this method of treatment: The first case was one of phlegmonous inflammation of the right leg, occurring in a man, aged thirty-eight. When he was admitted into the hospital the right leg was red and considerably swollen throughout its lower half as far as the metatarsal bones; the redness was most intense over the internal ankle, which appeared to be the most painful part, and the centre from which the inflammation extended to the rest of the limb. The pain was increased on pressure, especially at the internal ankle, and the finger left a well-marked depression on the leg in consequence of the acute cedema of the subcutaneous areolar tissue. Compression was immediately commenced-namely, at seven o'clock in the evening; and the pulsations of the femoral artery, which was compressed at the ilio-pectineal eminence, were so violent that it was necessary to employ some force in order completely to interrupt the circulation. M. Vanzetti saw the patient at eight o'clock, and found that the black thread with which the limb had been surrounded was already relaxed; the redness was much less intense, the pain had almost entirely ceased, and the patient said that he felt remarkably relieved. The compression was continued during the whole of the night, with some short interruptions, and on visiting the patient the next day, at half-past ten in the morning, a surprising change was found to have taken place in the state of the affected limb, which no longer presented any of the symptoms of phlegmon which had been so distinct on the previous evening, and it was therefore considered unnecessary to continue the compression. In order to assure himself that the affected parts had returned to their normal state, M. Vanzetti caused the patient to rise and walk several times along the ward; he did not complain of the slightest pain in walking, and he refused the aid of a stick which was offered to him. The man recovered completely, and on the third day after the commencement of the treatment he returned to his work. The second case was one of traumatic phlegmon of the left hand, occurring in a girl of fourteen, who, having had a fall while holding a bottle, received a wound in the palm of the left hand from a fragment of glass. On the sixth day after the accident fever supervened, and acute pain was felt in the hand; and the next day the girl came to the hospital. The hand then exhibited, especially on its dorsal surface, an intense redness, with considerable swelling and pain on pressure, and the inflammation extended to the whole of the circumference of the fore-arm. The thumb and the index finger were also swollen-red, tense, and shining; the pulse was 108. Compression of the humeral artery was now resorted to, the pulsations of the radial artery at the wrist indicating the exact degree of the compression; but the patient was also able to explain whether the process was well or badly performed by the symptoms which she experienced. After only two hours the compression had produced a sensible amelioration; the thread which had been tied over the most projecting part of the hand already allowed the little finger to pass beneath it, and the heat and redness had diminished. In six hours afterwards the symptoms had diminished still more; the compression was continued without preventing the patient from sleeping, and the subclavian artery was occasionally compressed. On the next day the redness was found to be circumscribed to the back of the hand; the index finger was now easily passed beneath the thread employed to measure the size of the limb; the heat was less, and the pain had entirely ceased. The pulse was 100. Two days afterwards no trace of inflammation remained; but it was now ascertained that a small fragment of glass was imbedded in the tissues of the hand. It was extracted without difficulty, and in a week more the patient was quite well. The third case was.one of diffuse phlegmon of the left leg, occurring in a man, aged fiftysix. There was considerable swelling of the whole of the limb, the circunference of which exceeded that of the sound limb by three inches; the tissues were tense and elastic, but there was no cedema, except at the middle portion of the anterior surface of the tibia, which was also the seat of a very acute pain on pressure. Compression was practised, and during the first few hours which followed the adoption of this measure the patient already experienced considerable relief, and he said that he no longer. felt the sensation of heat by which he was previously so much annoyed. Compression having been commenced at eight o'clock in the morning, there was so much amelioration at four o'clock in the afternoon that the index finger could be passed under the thread employed to measure the size of the leg. At nine in the evening the improvement still continued. During the night the compression was continued, but with short intervals, and the patient, satisfied with the relief afforded by the process, performed it himself, but interrupting it from time to time in order to sleep. The next day at ten o'clock in the morning, all the symptoms of the disease had entirely ceased; there was no longer any swelling or tension of the tissues. The pulse was 56. The patient could walk without difficulty or pain; and after remaining six days in the hospital he went away perfectly cured. XIII. On the Therapeutical Action of Solanine and Dulcamara. (Presse Médicale Belge, September, 1858. Professor Caylus, of Leipzig, has undertaken a series of experiments to ascertain the exact effects of dulcamara, and its active principle, solanine. These substances belong to the class |