the hospital. The bullæ appeared in successive crops and were small at first, gradually increasing in size. At first they were not larger than a large pin's head, but would get the size of a silver dime or quarter dollar in diameter. But little itching was connected with the trouble, although pain on pressure could be perceived. Otherwise the patient felt well. A physical examination showed that all the viscera were normal and properly performing their functions.

A fair idea of the condition present may be gained from a reference to Figure 1, which represents the case when first seen at the hospital.

fifth day after admission, I ordered the Asiatic pill made as

In addition to this the bullæ were opened to permit their contents to escape, and the following ointment applied to the parts denuded, as well as to all the excoriated portions of the skin: R Pulv. campho-phenique............

M.

Ung. aquæ rosæ

3j. 3xvj.

No more crops occurred, and the patient made an uninterrupted recovery. He was kept under observation for some time after his recovery before being finally sent back to the House of Refuge. No relapse occurred.

CASE II. This was a more severe case than the one outlined above. The patient, a woman, married, and the mother of three children, was 48 years old. About three weeks before her admission to the hospital she noticed a redness of the legs, large red, slightly elevated spots, which itched intensely. She scratched, and blisters appeared. In the same manner her arms, trunk and face were attacked, until her entire body was involved. The blebs varied from a quarter inch to four inches in diameter, were closely situated to one another, came out in successive crops, and burst easily.

The appearance presented by the arms and legs upon her admission to the hospital is very well shown in figures 2 and 3.

Physical examination was entirely negative. Appetite was poor, the bowels constipated, the tongue coated, but the temperature normal.

The treatment was also a very simple one in this case. A brisk purge was given and was followed by the administration of arsenic internally, in the form of five drops of Fowler's solution five times a day, the dose being gradually increased.

Locally, the blebs were opened and emptied of their contents,

and the following ointment applied over the whole surface of the

In Case II. the

Such are the histories of two marked cases. patient was discharged in less than a week after the treatment was begun, and she had almost entirely recovered. The result would certainly have been better and more rapid had she been treated at the inception of her disease.

The treatment given is always efficient in herpes zoster, with the exception that it is better to apply the powder in the dry form, covering the lesions with cotton to prevent their bursting.

It will also be found that the Asiatic pill is much more efficient as an arsenical remedy than Fowler's solution, which is often irritating.

In herpes simplex the same treatment is very efficient, but its best results are seen beyond all doubt in impetigo contagiosa, which so often manifests itself as a bullous eruption. Camphophenique powder, whether used dry or in an ointment, is analgesic and antiseptic, besides promoting rapid healing of any excoriation and leading to rapid repair of tissue if any destruction has taken place. It also prevents suppuration and arrests it once it has taken place, and, for these reasons, is a most valuable remedy to use.

Spurious Coca Wines.-The British Medical Journal, in its issue for January 23rd, and again in that for February 6th, speaks of the dangers that attend the popular use of the so-called coca wine—that is, some kind of wine in which a salt of cocaine is dissolved. For the most part, the wine is of poor quality, but sweetened and highly fortified with rectified spirit. The amount of cocaine contained in many of these products is variable, too, and in prescribing them one really does not know what doses of that drug he is ordering. Moreover, the contention seems reasonable that the tonic and stimulant virtues of a real wine of coca-such, for example, as the well-known Vin Mariani -do not depend altogether upon the cocaine contained in it.New York Medical Journal, March 20th, 1897.

Ferratin is to become official in the new fifth edition of the Russian pharmacopeia, on the recommendation of the committee now revising this standard, according to a correspondent of the Chemiker Zeitung, 31, 1897. This early recognition of the therapeutic value of ferratin is a logical result of the scientific work and discovery of Prof. Schmiedeberg, the originator of ferratin, and the complete clinical success with the product. Ferratin is the natural iron component of all food, is readily assimilated, and promptly available for blood formation. The av erage adult dose is 8 grains, three times daily, as iron tonic in all debilitated conditions.

THE TREATMENT OF LEPROSY. * By P. G. UNNA, Hamburg, Germany.

As you know, gentlemen, the war on leprosy is to-day of interest to all intelligent nations, and that even this year, as a result of the efforts of several leprologists at home and abroad, an international congress on leprosy will meet in Berlin, and this congress will adopt an international movement to continue this war which it has inscribed upon its banner. We hope that this congress will consist of official delegates, sent by the governments of the several countries, so that whatever conclusions are adopted they will possess the force of law; for otherwise the most learned conclusions would fail in their object. Admitting that it would come to this or another method to come to an international agreement of the governments-to isolate lepers in every country-the chief country of leprosy, India, will submit with difficulty to this; and England, up to the present, is by no means inclined to sympathize with isolation. Admitting further, that in the course of one or two generations leprosy could be wiped off the face of the earth by this radical method, our generation would still be confronted frequently with the problem of affording help to individual lepers, so far as this is possible. It may be said with certainty that isolation in one or all countries, especially in the tropics, could only be practically carried out, as, for example, in Norway, so far as the poor, those without means, vagabonds, and on that account most dangerous lepers, are concerned. Well-to-do lepers would not be subject to legal enforcement, and would be counseled to seek medical aid as heretofore. On this account, were we ever so optimistic in regard to the need of isolation and the good-will of governments and parliameets, which have to take into consideration the cost of isolation, we have good grounds to continue to occupy ourselves with the therapy of leprosy. At all events, we must be convinced that in this field something can be accomplished. The one-sided isolation-fanatics base their arguments upon the equally hopeless and unproven dictum: It is known, or it is proven, that we possess no remedy against leprosy-an opinion which does not once state that with time a satisfactory method of treating lep

*Remarks made on a partially cured leper, exhibited to the Hamberger ärtzt. Verein, March 16, 1897.