Notes on Current Topics. Dr. Livingstone and the Paris Academy. THE Academy of Sciences proceeded last week to the election of a Corresponding Member, in place of M. Dallas Buche, for the Section of Geography and Navigation. Three candidates were nominated: Dr. Livingstone for London, M. Cialdi for Rome, and Mr. Benjamin Gould for Washington. Out of 52 votes Dr. Livingstone received 48 suffrages, Mr. Gould 3, and M. Cialdi 1; and Dr. Livingstone was accordingly elected by an enormous majority. The Trichina in Switzerland. THE journals have announced recently the invasion of the Canton of Tessin by trichinosis. Six persons having died of it in one family, M. Paganini, a veterinary surgeon, investigated the fact. He submitted portions of human muscle and of pork to microscopic examination, and found both of them crowded with a multitude of the trichinæ. Evolution of Carbonic Acid by Leaves. M. BOUSSINGAULT has laid before the Academy of Sciences of Paris a continuation of his researches on this subject. The learned professor set himself to investigate whether, as Saussure believed, leaves continue to evolve carbonic acid in darkness. If a stick of phosphorus be plunged into an atmosphere of carbonic acid no reaction is produced. M. Boussingault has in his laboratory a flask in which these substances have been in contact for several years, and neither by day nor night is any effect apparent. But if, in another similar flask, a green leaf is introduced under the influence of light, thick vapours of hypophosphoric acid are at once formed. The leaf appropriates the carbon to itself, and the oxygen being evolved combines with the phosphorus. The same experiment repeated at night gives no result, nor is the least light visible on the phosphorus. In diffused light, however feeble, the leaves act. M. Boussingault cites the effects which take place in tropical forests, in which the light penetrates with such difficulty that one cannot read at midday, yet the mosses and grass maintain a luxuriant verdure. Low temperatures are no obstacle to this influence of the leaves, for between zero and two degrees the carbonic acid is still evolved. Professional Journalism on the Continent. Two new journals are announced from the French press. The first is entitled the Annals of Dermatology and Syphilography, edited by Dr. Doyon, and will be the sole special representative of the literature of these diseases. The second is the Photographic Review of the Parisian Hospitals, which is published under the direction of Drs. Montmeja and Rengade. Two numbers have already been issued, and we can pronounce the photographic illustrations to be well executed and apparently truthful in detail. Local Etherization in Strangulated Hernia. Marseille Médicale publishes an interesting memoir on this subject from the pen of M. Chavernac, in which the author recapitulates all the existing means of reduction of strangulated intestine, which, he says, are not comparable in their efficiency to pulverized ether. He publishes many cases in support of his view. Contagion of Consumption. PROFESSOR CASTAN has enriched the pages of the Montpelier Médicale with a paper on this subject. He has collected together a variety of facts, which appear to show that tuberculosis may be communicated from a diseased to a healthy person by transpiration, breathed air, and living together. A New Remedy in Erysipelas. A NEW agent for the treatment of this disease has been brought to light by Professor Lücke, of Berne, who reports in a German periodical a large number of cases which show the salutary action of oil of turpentine in averting infectious and traumatic erysipelas. Prof. Schützenberger, of Strasburg, has investigated the truth of the statements, and he declares that the results obtained by him accord perfectly with those published by Professor Lücke. In four cases the disease had been very rapidly cured by turpentine inunctions, the local disease being checked and the temperature reduced from the third to the fifth day of In the cases thus treated the disease the disease. neither persisted nor extended from the moment of its in vasion. Tobacco Smoke in Intestinal Obstructions. DR. OLIVE, of the Marseilles Dispensary, has had recourse successfully to tobacco smoke injections in the case of a man, thirty-eight years of age, who, despite injections of purgatives, oil, and tobacco, and of cold applications, was given over to certain death. With the help of a bellows M. Olive introduced the tobacco smoke into the intestine; the tympanitis appeared to increase, but after a short time three dark foetid stools were passed, and the patient recovered at once. 4. It is difficult to obviate this accident; but the administration of one or two grammes of ergot after labour, by provoking retraction of the uterus, encourages also the vesical retraction, so as to render retention less frequent. 5. If catheterism be requisite on failure of this resource, the instrument should be left free to follow its own course through the temporary tortuosities of the urethra. 6. Catheterism, when necessary, readjusts the canal so perfectly that it is not required after one or two occasions. If it be found necessary to repeat it frequently it is evi New French Books. dent that we have to deal, not with closure of the urethra, eighteen cases with complete success. Every night, on or contusions, or even vesical inertia, but rather with para-going to bed, the somnambulist applies round his leg a lysis of the organ, which will require other treatment. few turns of thin copper wire, sufficiently long to communicate with the ground, and in the morning this conductor is removed. In one of the cases reported the conductor acted perfectly as a preventive, and in the others it had cured radically the somnambulism. The property possessed by the metal to dissipate promptly the magnetic somnambulism, and the rational hypothesis that this means can also cure spontaneous somnambulism, had induced the author to experiment by this method, which has yielded him very remarkable results. THE following works have just issued from the Parisian press : Medical Climatology: its Basis and Organization. By Dr. Carrière. Price 2 francs. On Cutaneous Pigmentation in Cases of Phthisis. By Dr. Jeannin, of Lyons. With illustrations. Price 2 francs. Medico-Chirurgical Clinique. By Prof. Piorry. 8vo, 536 pages. Price 6 francs. Researches on the Umbilical Region, and on Hepatic The Relative Success of Military Surgery in Umbilical Fistulæ. By Dr. Lignerolles. Price 2 francs. The Responsibility of the Doctor before the Legal Tribunals. By Dr. Lelorrain. Price 1 francs. England, France, and America. M. LEON LEFORT, Secretary of the Surgical Society of Paris, has published a series of papers in the Gazette HebDictionary of Pure and Applied Chemistry. By Dr. domadaire de Médecine, on the relative excellence of army Wurtz. Fourth Fasciculus. medical organizations in Great Britain, France, and Ame On Paralysis of the Common Oculo-Motor Nerve. By rica. M. Lefort reviews the results of surgery in the three Dr. Cassoulet. Price 2 francs. The Theory of Vital Unity. By Dr. Galicier. Price 3 francs. Clinical Researches on the Modifications of Temperature and of the Pulse in Typhoid Fever and Small-pox. By Ernest Labbé. Illustrated with plates, sphygmographic tracings, and thermic curves. Price 3 francs. Researches on Synostosis of the Cranial Bones, considered from the Normal and Pathological Points of View in the various Human Races. By Dr. Pommerol. With two lithographs. Price 2 francs. Remarks on the Theory of Progressive Locomotor Ataxy. By Dr. Uspensky. Price 75 centimes. Female Doctors. armies, from which precise returns have been published. Laying aside the minor operations, he says that the French and British in the Crimea, and the American, so far as reported, have practised 12,291 of the major amputations thus: "Examining these operations in detail," he continues, Disarticulations at the shoulder French Army. Mortal. Mortal. Mortal. 33.3 39.2 61.7 24.5 21.2 55.5 ... 5.0 16.5 45.2 ... 100.0 85.7 100'0 THE Feuille Médicale de St. Pétersbourg, in noticing the invasion of the professional schools in that city by women, says that "since the nomination of Madame Kaschevarova to the doctorate of medicine, a crowd of women are occupied daily in the dead rooms of the Academy on the dissection of bodies. The occupation is certainly not likely to render the women engaged in it very attractive, and can hardly be considered conformable to the mission of the wife, whose whole energy ought to be concentrated in the bosom of their families. They desert their proper function and consecrate themselves to labours which necessarily estrange them from their domestic duties. To this consideration must be added the hindrances which the simul- Royal Zoological and Geological Societies of taneous concourse of pupils of both sexes interpose to serious scientific occupation." The Union Médicale says:-"It is obvious that this promiscuity of the sexes in our schools must produce strange results. But the partizans of free trade in female medical studies may reply, 'Why not have special schools for women?' In fact, there are such in America; but truth obliges us to say that they are not very flourishing even in the country in which professional liberty is pushed to the degree of eccentricity." Treatment of Somnambulism. PROFESSOR PELLIZARI, of Florence, has published in the Gazetta Medico Venetia a new means of preventing and curing somnambulism, which, he says, he has used in "In thigh amputations, then, while the American and British lose 64 in 100, the French lose 91-8. The former lose but 26 per cent. in leg amputations, and we lose 71.9. Such a result is heartrending; it is essential to discuss the cause of such a state of things, for the welfare of French soldiers and the honour of French surgery demand imperiously that they be removed." Ireland. IT has been arranged to hold occasional joint meetings of these two Societies, for the purpose of reading papers of scientific interest. The first meeting will be held today (Wednesday), in the Museum Building of Trinity College, and the chair taken at a quarter past eight o'clock. Zoological Papers.-1. Arthur W. Foot, M.D., "Remarks on the Fertility of some of the larger Carnivora in Confinement." 2. Sir Dominic J. Corrigan, Bart., M.D., "Observations on the Condition known as 'Roaring' in the Horse, and on the Pathology of this Disease.' Geological Papers.-1. Mr. Alexander Dempster, "On the Prince of Wales' Gold Mine, at Ballarat, South Australia." 2. W. Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.L.S., “On the Gold Fields of Scotland." The Trade in Deformity. THE public appetite for monstrosities, which has attracted to London the Siamese Twins and the Nova Scotian Giantess, is, we assume, only another phase of the mania for hairbreadth temptations of Providence which brought the multitude of Blondins and Leotards into existence. It is a sentiment little creditable to the patrons of such exhibitions, and less so those of the press, who minister by the publication of disgusting details to such tastes. All the world recollects the abominable picture of a case devoid of any scientific interest which appeared in the leading medical journal a year or two ago, and we have had in the daily press the offence repeated in a minor degree in the case of the Siamese Twins. its place in the Register, and in it will be found all the medical works which our readers will care to be informed about. The most valuable record, from a medical point of view, is the very useful catalogue of the contents of foreign medical periodicals in the English language, which, as far we know, is not to be found elsewhere. We regret our space will not permit us to furnish our readers with an index to the communications contained in this useful publication. Army Medical Retrenchment. The vote for hospital establishments, &c., shows a decrease of only £14,000. A large reduction has been made in the establishment of medical officers; but, as it is not A few years ago a miserable boy suffering under the last intended to place on half-pay any of the junior officers and most repulsive degree of emaciation from disease was who have recently passed by examination into the serparaded in Dublin as "the living skeleton," and filthy vice, it has been found necessary to provide pay for those traders on their affliction with hypospadias are constant remaining supernumerary until absorbed. This, in a visitors through the provinces. While money is to be measure, accounts for this item not showing a decreased earned by the exhibition of such abominations we pre-charge. The increase arises from the very large number sume it is futile to protest; but we have a right to look of medical officers who during the year will become enfor better things from our literary censors than the public titled to an increase of pay for length of service. The enumeration of all the details of such deformities. charge for subsistence of lunatics is decreasing; all officers are now handed over to their families at once, and the men are as rapidly as possible transferred either to the charge of their friends or of their parish. The Medical Officers' Superannuation Bill (Ireland). THE draft of this Bill has been several times under the consideration of the Councils of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and the Irish Medical Association, and has been finally approved by them. Mr. Pim, M.P. for Dublin City, Mr. Ion Trant Hamilton, the representative of the county, as representing respectively Liberalism and Conservatism, and Dr. Brady, M.P. for Leitrim, on the part of the profession, have notified their readiness to introduce the measure into the House of Commons and give it their best support. The gross votes for the ensuing year relatively to those for 1868-69, are as follows:— Medicines and medical stores.-To be voted for 186970, £79,300; last vote for 1868-69, £78,164; increase, £1,136. Expenditure in 1867-68, £87,736 5s. 2d. Medical establishments at home and abroad.-To be voted for 1869-70, £54,757; last vote for 1868-69, £64,824; decrease, £10,067. Expenditure in 1867-68, £61,337 6s. 8d. Iridectomy in Glaucoma. It will be remembered that the opposition to Sir Colman O'Loghlen's Bill of last year was led by Mr. Gregory, who THE ophthalmic surgeons who have ridden the iridecopposed it as a whole, but has pledged himself to support tomy hobby without being able to tell the world the why the Bill now about to be introduced. There is only one or the wherefore of their treatment, will be, no doubt, clause to which serious objection is apprehended-that interested in learning the latest and most crushing arguwhich provides that in estimating the amount of the super-ment in favour of this inexplicable procedure. Dr. Henry annuation allowance the gross public remuneration, in- Noyes, of New York, has very recently communicated his cluding the average vaccination and registration fees, shall views on glaucoma to the New York State Medical be counted. We certainly fail to comprehend why, if it Society. He enumerates two causes of the disease-1, be considered just to grant retiring pensions for public those referring to a diseased condition of the sclerotic, services, the whole of those services should not be included. similar to arterial atheroma; and, 2, to irritation in some A most vital consideration for the promoters of this portion of the fifth pair of nerves. For the cure of a dismeasure is that the countenance, if not the official support, eased condition of the sclerotic, or irritation in the trifacial of the Irish Government should be, if possible, obtained. The Chief Secretary has already expressed himself favour-out attempting to show his hearers how the cutting out of nerve, the author simply echoes the iridectomy cry withably as regards the measure, and it is obvious that, to a great extent, the support or opposition of the Government is life or death to the Bill. In such a matter political considerations ought to be set aside, and we should earnestly counsel that the profession should, by an influential deputation, lay before the Government the manifold and weighty arguments of which there is no want. American and Oriental Literature. MESSRS. TRUBNER's Monthly Register, which has just appeared, supplies us with a unique record of foreign literature not without its interest to medical men. A complete catalogue of American books issued within the month has a piece of the iris can restore the sclerotic to health, or remove irritation from the trifacial. He says "The operation advised in all the curable stages was iridectomy, performed through the sclerotic, as near as possible to the point of the origin of the iris. The incision was recommended to be large enough to occupy from one-fifth to one-sixth of the circumference of the iris." But Mr Noyes at least merits thanks for plainly stating his own. theory of the curative effect of iridectomy, and we make it a present to the advocates of this procedure. He thus expresses himself:-"The advantages of iridectomy were, in his opinion, due very greatly to the permanent relief to internal pressure by the substitution of an e astic cica trix in the place where it is most needed." Is it not the legitimate deduction from all this that ophthalmic surgeons are advised to excise a portion of the iris in order to make an elastic cicatrix for the cure of disease of the sclerotic or trifacial irritation—or is it not rather the sequitur that neither Dr. Noyes or any other of the iridectomists know anything whatever about the physiological action (if there be any) of this operation, and are simply acting on unsupported theories and ex parte records of results? The Typhoid Fever at Brussels. THE epidemic has at last commenced its decline, the patients being less numerous, and those who are attacked suffering from less severe symptoms. In order to permit the students and professors to devote themselves completely to the care of the sufferers, the course of study at the medical schools has been suspended, and for fear of the contagion the pupils of the military schools and most of the collegians have been sent to their homes. none of them suffered from a greater inconvenience than a slight indisposition. According to the author, the explanation of these facts depends on the property possessed by essence of turpentine of preventing the burning of the phosphorus, which depends on its exposure to oxygen either in the air or the animal economy. Hospital for Seamen. The WE quote the following appeal for an hospital which has been made at Holyhead by the Queen's Harbourmaster: "The want of an hospital is most severely felt at Holyhead, to receive seamen from the shipping. They are frequently landed having infectious diseases, and also disabled from accidents, such as falling from aloft. There is not at present any such asylum in existence. Cases of death have occurred in town from fever brought in by shipping and spreading among the population. Board of Trade have kindly consented to give a Government site for building, if sufficient funds can be raised An extraordinary circumstance is the tardiness of the for the purpose. For months in the winter season we convalescence. The patients recover only very slowly, and have from two to three hundred ships and vessels of all the greatest care has to be exercised in regard to their nations in port, taking refuge from gales of wind, varying nourishment. The least mistake in their dietary pro- in tonnage from the Great Eastern to the smallest coastvokes indigestion of greater or less severity, or re-estab-ing trader; therefore our requirement is not only local, lishes a febrile excitement which is not easily got rid of. Irish Lunatic Asylums. We observe with great satisfaction that the Irish lunatic asylum system is likely to receive the attention and reform which its demerits deserve. The readers of the MEDICAL PRESS AND CIRCULAR have been at the time when they were enacted made familiar with all the details of the Privy Council rules under which the asylums are now administered. By these regulations the entire control of the institutions, and the government of the Boards of Governors and of the visiting physicians, were practically confided to the resident medical superintendents, subject only to the voice of the Lord-Lieutenant, whose utterances, as everyone knows, are never called forth but by a password from the back stairs of Dublin Castle. The system has worked notoriously, and the abuses which always result from irresponsible command have made themselves public. In the case of lunatics, more than in any other public service, is jealous surveillance called for, and we earnestly trust that in any future arrangements that supervision on the part of the governors and the visiting physicians will not be abrogated as it is at present. Turpentine as an Antidote to Phosphorus. M. PERSANNE, Pharmacien to the Hospital of La Pitie, communicated last week to the Paris Academy of Medicine his researches on this subject. He had instituted three series of experiments on dogs. In the first series he administered phosphorus alone to various animals, who all died at the end of a variable period. In the second he administered the phosphorus, and followed it, some hours afterwards, with essence of turpentine, and the animals in this case experienced symptoms of poisoning, but none of them died. To the third series of animals he administered essence of turpentine immediately after the phosphorus, and but a general and national one, and more especially as our anchorage is in the stream of trade to and from both Liverpool and Glasgow." Death through Mistake. THE Governors of Worcester Infirmary lately appointed a committee to enquire into the facts connected with the death of an inmate of the institution from an improper administration of carbolic acid prescribed for another patient. From the investigation, it appeared that the medical attendant dictated the prescription at the bedside of the patient to the house-surgeon, who made it up and applied it himself. Next day the dispenser, who had read the prescription, prepared it from memory, and put the wrong name on the label, which was the cause of the accident. Where the blame lay it is almost impossible to tell from the account as it appears in the Times. mittee attribute it to the gross negligence and misconduct of the dispenser, and consider that he ought to be prosecuted. They probably had reasons which justified their decision, and the resignation and disappearance of the dispenser seem to corroborate it. The com Amenities of Poor-law Medical Officers. AT Ulverston, last week, several serious charges were preferred against the master and matron of the workhouse by Mr. R. Cranke, the medical officer to the parish. The charges were, interference with the duties of the medical officer, particularly in the case of a fever patient, who was dismissed by them from the fever ward and sent down to the body of the house without the concurrence of Mr. Cranke, and while she was in a state both dangerous to her own health and that of the other inmates; and further, that when the master was requested to have her removed back to the ward, he obstinately refused. next charge was that of the master's neglect of duty in not attending to the dietary of the inmates of the house, they not having a sufficient quantity of food, and not according to the published dietary. The at least to awake to their own interest, and see whether such a state of things is inevitable. MR. SOLLY took the chair at the annual meeting of the There were several other charges of insubordination and immoral conduct which were gone into by the Poor-law Inspectors, who will make a report to the Poor-law Board upon the inquiry, which lasted nearly three days. The charges appear prima facie to be established; but, pend- Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. The business reing the publication of the official report, it would be inju-lated to the pecuniary interests of the Society, the manner dicious to pass judgment upon the case. in which the funds had been appropriated showing an excess of income over expenditure. It was proposed to lower the M. WARLOMONT, of Brussels, has been appointed oculist fee. Mr. Solly expressed his desire that the name of the to Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians. Ar the Royal Institution, on Thursday, at three o'clock, Dr. H. Power will lecture on the eye; on Friday, at eight o'clock, Dr. Crum Brown on chemical constitution; and on Saturday, at three o'clock, Dr. Odling on hydrogen. Society should be changed to that of "the Royal Society of Medicine and Surgery," or "the Royal Academy of Medicine;" that the other Societies of London should be united with it, and a building should be obtained worthy of the profession. IT has been affirmed and strongly insisted on, that ironclad vessels must necessarily be prejudicial to the THE number of surgeons doing duty in Chatham Dock-health of their crews; but it has been found that such is yard is to be reduced, and the appointment of assistantsurgeon is to be abolished. It is held at present by Dr. Moore. The stipend is £400 a year, with a residence in the yard. THE magistrates of Cheltenham have granted a new trial in the now famous case, "Hodson v. Harrison," the chief ground being the absence, during the last trial, of the most material witness, Dr. Rumsey, of Cheltenham. Ir is stated that seven cases of illness caused by eating pork affected with trichina spiralis have occurred in New York city, two of them proving fatal. This re-appearance of the dreaded disease has caused some alarm. by no means the case. In the official report on the health of the navy there is a table of the ratio of cases of disease and injury under treatment during twelve months, in various classes of vessels now serving abroad; and Dr. Mackay, in his introductory observations to the statistics, says: "This table shows the ironclad vessels in a very favourable light, the ratio of cases in them being considerably lower than in any of the rated vessels, and lower than in the sloops, gun-vessels, and gun-boats." Correspondence. REPRESSION OF QUACKERY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MEDICAL PRESS AND CIRCULAR. quacks is incalculable. I have had opportunities of a special kind for obtaining some glimpses of it, and might exclaim with Hamlet, "Horrible, most horrible !" THE Committee of the German Hospital have signified their intention of holding a bazaar at the Queen's Concert SIR,-I am exceedingly glad to note the proposal contained in your leading article of yesterday's date. The misery and rooms, Hanover square, on the 2nd June and two follow-ruin produced by the artful system pursued by the advertising ing days, under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen. Their object in so doing is to raise funds for liquidating the debt on the new building, which is still as much as £2,000, and, should their efforts be rewarded with a sufficient amount of success, they intend opening the last unoccupied ward, which contains 25 beds. A MEETING was held at the house of Mr. Mitford, M.P., in Cavendish square, of gentlemen connected with the Association formed for extending the operation of the Contagious Diseases Act to the civil population. Mr. Berkley Hill and Mr. Curgenven read reports, showing that many other noblemen and gentlemen had given their names in support of this Association. Mr. Mitford, Mr. E. Hart, and others, urged the necessity of pressing upon the Government the adoption of stringent preventive measures, but it was agreed to wait until the Government measure should be introduced. THE mean of the Quarterly Returns of the RegistrarGeneral for 1868, shows a remarkable variation in the death-rate of the several towns. Cheltenham and Devonport show the same rate of mortality, viz., 17:35 per 1,000, while the mortality in Manchester amounted to 32:01 per 1,000, so that in the latter place people have died nearly twice as fast as in the two former. Surely this calls for investigation. It behoves the inhabitants of Manchester The suggestion that the repression of this kind of quackery should be taken up as a philanthropic movement is also most useful, and I should be glad to join publicly or privately in such a movement, to establish an association by any aid which tongue or pen can give. My offices are at the disposal of any gentlemen who are willing to co-operate in such a movement, as a centre to which correspondence may be addressed, or for preliminary committee meetings. Action cannot be taken too soon, and half-a-dozen really earnest men would form a nucleus round which the outside public would readily aggregate. I am confident that a great success could be secured if a preliminary committee were formed, and a public appeal issued. This is The mode in which you propose to make the attack upon these cruel scoundrels is by depriving them of their profits and starving them out by protecting their victims. sound policy, and I know that is practicable because I can quote cases. If any sensible, firm, and conscientious man can once get between the quack and his prey-the quack can be made to disgorge. I am, dear Sir, 50, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. J. BAXTER LANGLEY. "A CANARD," OR "A FEELER." TO THE EDITOR OF THE MEDICAL PRESS AND CIRCULAR. SIR,—It is stated in an annotation in the Lancet of Feb. 20, that " a well-known practitioner of cutaneous medicine and |