should be held every second year, but at the meeting in London it was decided to hold the meeting once in three years. The congress met this week for the first time on American soil.

insulted after working as I have for the last twenty years? Go on, sir, or I'll do you serious injury.

-Sir Henry E. Rocoe, in his presidential ad

contain cholesterine, which is never found in cystic fibroid.

-Evidently female medical students do not belong to that class of young ladies, one of whom is reported to have fainted on being told that a man was looking at her with a naked eye.

-"Science" gives an exhaustive and profoundly learned disquisition upon the "Poison Fangs of the Mosquito." We are pleased to read it and hereafter, when the festive mosquito sinks his tusks into us, we will not lightly brush him away with a blow that would jolt a good sized cow, but fastening our scientific eye upon the "fang-like mechanism" we will see whether this, "by pressing on its base, automatically discharges a portion of the poison," or not. If it is done automatically, well and good, we cannot blame the mosquito for his neural condition which drives him on automatically. But, if it is done in a spasmodic ebullition of inherent "cussedness" then let him look out, we will have no mercy, and he will wish that his little supply of formic acid had been already squandered before attacking us.

-Dr. Frank Donaldson, at the close of a paper entitled "Heredity in Tuberculosis," read before the American Climatological Association, says: If the prophylactic treatment is thoroughly carried out, the hereditary and acquired proclivity to phthisis may remain latent and the individual never contract the disease.

-Throw physic to your neighbor's dog-says the Boston Transcript.

-Doctor-(who has taken his little boy to the Zoo to learn something of nature)-Tommy, what is the chief characteristic of the hippopotamus? Tommy-He always bas his mouth wide open for peanuts.

-Excuse me said the doctor, as he halted a citizen on the street. "but I have a sure and speedy cure for that mild form of erysipelas in your face. It is only $1 a bottle."

"Erysipelas!" howled the other.

"I'll warrant a cure in a very few weeks." "You old idiot, don't you know nothing?" shouted the enraged man. Erysipelas! why, I brought this face on with whiskey. Am 1 to be

profess to foresee that the day will arrive when the chemist, by a succession of constructive efforts, may pass beyond albumen, and gather the elements of lifeless matter into a living structure. Whatever may be said regarding this from other standpoints, the chemist can only say that at present no such problem lies within his province."

-R. B. Wild, from an interesting series of experiments, summarizes the effects of quinine up

on the muscular tissues thus.

In small doses it stimulates, as shown in the heart, the increased height of contraction of voluntary muscle, and the initial contraction of the vessels.

In larger doses, it completely paralyzes the contractile power of the tissue; this is seen in the arrest of ameboid movement, the cessation of response to stimuli in voluntary muscle, the stopping of the heart in diastole, and the dilatation of the vessels.

In very large doses, or after very prolonged action' quinine causes contractile tissues to pass into a state of rigor mortis, as shown by the small spherical condition of leucocytes, the rigidity of voluntary muscle, the contracted state of the heaat, the secondary contraction of the vessels after long exposure to the poison, and the contracted state of the esophagus.

Quinine being such a popular remedy, these lethal effects are seldom attributed to it. There

is not much chance, however, of a man taking such quantities as to produce these affects.

--The active principles of snake poison are of a very proteid nature, so it would seem to be useless to hope for an antidote after they have once gained access to the general circulation, and anything which would destroy them would also destroy the normal proteid constituent of the body. Locally, permanganate of potassium appears to be the best antidote for snake-poisons.

-As an instance of the consciousness of duty, probably none could be more striking than that of Dr. Landon, who, when mortally wounded in battle, with the agony of death closing in, in the midst of his own pain and weakness, he heard a wounded soldier shrieking aloud in his sufferings, and creeping, forgetful of self, to where this man lay, gave him an injection of morphine to relieve his distress, and, giving it, died!

A STORY OF SCIENCE.

BY ONE WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT IT.

A philososher sat in his easy chair,
Looking as grave as Milton;
He wore a solemn and mystic air
As he Canada balsam spilt on

A strip of glass, a slide to prepare,
For a mite taken out of his Stilton,
He took his microscope out of its case,
And settled the focus rightly;

The light thrown back from the mirror's face
Came glimmering upward brightly.

He put the slide with the mite in place,

And fixed on the cover tightly.

He turned the instrument up and down,
Till getting a proper sight, he

Exclaimed, as he gazed with a puzzled frown,

"Good gracious!" and "Highty=tighty! The sight is enough to alarm the townA mite is a monster mighty!"

From 'tother end of the tube, the mite

Regarded our scientific

To his naked eye, as you'll guess, the sight Of a man was most terrific,

But reversing the microscope made him quite The opposite of magnific.

"One sees the truth in this tube so tall," Said the mite as he squinted through it; "Man is not so wondrously big after all, If the mite world only knew it.”

MORAL.

Mem.--Whether a thing is large or small Depends on the way you view it.

Nat. Druggist.

-The Secret of Petrifying Animal Bodies.The secret of the method of petrifying human and other bodies, which was discovered by Dr. Massedaglia in the early part of this century, has never been revealed, and the curiosity of those who are anxious to know it seems unlikely to be gratiged at present at least. When the discov

erer died he left a description of the method in a sealed packet to his "lawful heirs," but no lawful heirs have come forward until just recently, through Dr. Massedaglia died more than forty years ago. It is said that immense sums have been offered for the secret, but that the fortunate

possessors are in no hurry to share it with anyone else. Some bodies of animals petrified by Dr. Massedaglia himself are to be seen in the museum of the University of Padua.-Brit. Med. Jour.

hemoptysis twelve times in six days; three milligrammes of sulphate of atropine were injected; there was no recurrence of hemoptysis. The same result was obtained in the second patient, in whose case the administration of turpentine preparations and injections of ergotin had produced no improvement. In the third case a patient suffering from repeated hemoptysis was cured by two subcutaneous injections of three milligrammes of sulphate of atropine.

-As indicative of the position now held by intubation as a substitutive procedure for tracheotomy, we give the closing remarks of Dr. A. Jacobi, president of the New York Academy of Medicine at the time of the reading of seven papers upon this subject. In closing the discussion he said, he was willing and anxious to admit that in his adverse criticism of former years he had been mistaken; that he was now, and had been for some time, convinced of the correctness of everything that had been claimed for intubation, and was looking forward for such improvements as would make intubation more easy and successful.

-The very latest for chronic constipation comes from Dr. J. W. Milam, who says that the inhalation of a few drops of chloroform at each stool is one of the most efficient aids to the cure of this troublesome affection. He says it relaxes the sphincter and muscular fibers in the sulci of the sigmoid flexure, and speaks from experience when he says that in ten minutes he can produce an evacuation from a bowel that gave no sensation indicating such tendency. Quite a happy thought that taking chloroform every time you go to stool.

-A Scotch surgeon reports one hundred and fifty-two operations on the eye, without a single insiance of inflammatory or suppurative complication, and attributes this immunity to his invariable practice of bathing the eye with a solution of corrosive sublimate from one in 5000 to one in 2,000 previous to each operation. These results confirm the observations of many reliable authorities.

-The Russian army has 2,808 surgeons and 3,455 medical men. As the strength of the Rus

sian army on a peace footing is 800,000 men this gives every 300 men a physician.

-By a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Wasningson, self-killing by a lunatic is to be re

a policy of life insurance is not vitiated, as the party does not commit suicide.

A proposition has been recently made by Drs. E. Coues and D. K. Shute, of the National Medical College (their views being set forth in the Med. Rec.), to re-name the muscles of the body with reference to a totally different basis from that upon which the present system was laid out. As is well known, the present system of naming the muscles depends upon several factors, some being named with reference to their function, some from their peculiar shape, while others are named in various ways, with reference to no particular system, but having in view the conveyance to the mind of something peculiar to the muscle itself.

We look upon the scheme proposed by Drs. Coues and Shute as totally unnecessary, as to our mind it offers nothing which would obvi ate the difficulties experienced in gaining an accurate knowledge of the muscles, nor even aid us in remembering their names. To us it merely seems that the proposed scheme is a change, and not progress, two words which to-day are often confounded in their meaning. As stated by the authors, their plan is to classify the muscles of the body with reference to their innervation, and to remodel the nomenclature of the muscles with regard to this

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classification. An example or two will best illustrate their meaning. The proposed new names are given first, the old ones last.

ORAL SUBREGION.

Oscularis-Orbicularis oris.

Buccinator.

Nasi-labialis-Levator labii superioris ala

que nasi.

Supra-labialis-Levator labii superioris

proprius.

Canini-labialis-Levator anguli oris.

Zygo-labialis-Zygomaticus minor.

Malari-labialis-Zygomaticus major. Risi-labialis-Risorius.

Anguli-labialis-Depressor anguli oris.

Infra-labialis-Depressor labii inferioris. Menti-labialis-Levator menti, or labii in

ferioris.

And so on throughout the entire body, the effort seeming to be to name as many muscles of one group as nearly alike as possible. To us this is simply ridiculous, and a fact often observed in the lecture room will serve as one reason for our so viewing it. (When we speak of it so we have reference only to the naming of the muscles, and not to the manner of their classification, which, we feel, has many points to recommend it.) All teachers of anatomy have found (at least so far as we know them, and we are sure it has been our own experience), that one of the most difficult questions he can ask a student is to name the muscles connected with the hyoid bone. The student begins, very bravely generally, with the feeling that out of so many names ending with "hyoid," he can get a good many at any rate, and reels off the sterno hyoid, geniohyoid, thyro-hyoid, omo hyoid, mylo-hyoid, etc., until he gets so befuddled in an intricate maze of resounding "hyoids," that he doesn't

know which ones he has given, or whether he has given them all or not, and couldn't, to save his life, name over the ones he had already named; he is completely at sea, and why? Simply because there were no guiding posts in the shape of peculiar names. Just as a man, wandering through a city, his way marked by striking features in the shape of shop-windows, signs, architectural designs, etc., will remember his route, whereas a man, strolling over a plain, with no relieving features, would find it almost an utter impossibility to retrace his steps-so it is with the student and his "hyoids.".

Take the name which is so glibly quoted by every fresh medical student who thinks it an evidence of intellectuality to say it-the "Levator labii superioris alæque nasi;" the fact of its being long and complicated, and the relation of its function to its name, makes it all the more easy to remember, as the student involuntarily brings into play an easy system of pnemonics unconsciously afforded him by its peculiarities. Although apparently difficult, it requires much less work to remember it than if, in its simplicity, it was so obscure as to necessitate labor for its discovery and remembrance. A man does not care what his expenses are, just so his income exceeds them; and he also does not care how much apparent work there is to be done, provided the way of doing it makes less drain upon his working powers than an apparently simpler thing.

But, in matters of this kind, every man to his judgment, and we do not speak thus with a view of convincing Drs. Coues and Shute that their plan is wrong, but that from our way of looking at it, it is "change" and not "progress."

If it is an improvement on the old way, it will work itself to the front; but we do not think it will.

MECHANISM OF DEGLUTITION.

Many of the theories, until recently held, concerning the functions of various parts of the body, have been greatly changed by a

closer examination into physiological facts. It was said, for example, that the "normal pro cess of swallowing is accomplished by a series of contractions, beginning at the fauces and ending at the stomach. Each portion of the mucous membrane receives in turn a stimulus from the contact of the food, followed by excitement of the corresponding muscle; so that the alimentary mass is carried downward by reflex action.

The movement seemed to begin by the ac tion of the tongue in shoving the substance to be swallowed into the pharynx, assisted, perhaps, by some suction, whereupon the muscles of the pharynx and those of the esophagus, by a succession of movements, would complete the transference of the bolus from the mouth to the stomach. It was also considered by some that the force of gravity was a material aid." A number of researches carried on by Kronecker and his pupils (notably Meltzer), have radically changed this idea of the process, and have shown it to be a most complicated proceeding. Experiments of various kinds have been made, which render it evident that the important force in swallowing must be produced by the quick action of striped muscles.

Various considerations made it clear that the chief muscles acting as factors in this proceeding were not the pharyngeal constrictors, but the mylo hyoids. Muscles of the striped variety, acting as accessories, are shown to be the longitudinal muscular fibers of the tongue, and the hyoglossi.

ERRORS IN ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION.

At the meeting of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain, Professor Macalister read a paper upon some common errors in descriptions of the brachialis anticus muscle. This muscle was chosen, not because the descriptions of it were more incorrect than those of the other muscles, but because it was convenient for the purpose in view; namely, to exemplify the general incorrectness of anatomical descriptions. The paper concluded with a correct account of the muscle, and

sur

Professor Macalister said he proposed to mention others in a like manner. After remarks from Professor Humphry, Mr. Stonham drew attention to the appearance of the tendon of the brachialis anticus and said it was of gical importance to recognise it. Professor Thane said text-books were likely to benefit by this mode of criticism, and asked questions, to which Professor Macalister replied. Dr. Brooks, of Dublin, then read a paper on the short muscles of the pollex and hallux of the anthropoid apes, with special reference to the opponens hallucis. The literature of the subject was exhaustively reviewed, and the various muscles of the thumb and toe were discussed. In the discussion which ensued, Professors Macalister and Thane took part. Mr. Sutton then read a paper entitled a critical study in cranial morphology. It was claimed that, upon anatomical, embryological, and morphological grounds, the dura mater ought to be considered the original skull wall, and that therefore the ganglia of the fifth, facial, and eighth nerves were extra cranial. The relations of various nerves to the subcranial arches were next reviewed. Mr. Lockwood said he had found that the facial nerve and internal carotid artery had the relations to the skull which Mr. Sutton described, and although he had not seen more than two centers in the malar bone, nor those which had been described in the lower jaw, yet he thought there was much to be said for Mr. Sutton's contention. Professor Thane was also unable to find these centers in the malar bone, and Professor Macalister criticised the account of the development of the lower jaw.

NEW THEORY OF Respiration.

Professor V. Fleischl, the well-known physiologist, recently communicated to the Imperial and Royal Society of Physicians of Vienna some very interesting physiological facts, on which, together with others contained in a previous communication which he had presented to the Society, he based a new theory of respiration. In his first communication, the subject of which was "A Hitherto

Unknown Effect of the Heart-Beat," he had shown, by several experiments which he had performed before the Society, that the carbonic acid was set free in the right ventricle of the heart owing to the sudden shock to which the blood was subjected therein by the heart-beat. He had shown that chemical compounds were resolved when suddenly subjected to powerful shocks. As to the left ventricle, he wished now to prove that the oxygen was there set free from its combination with the oxyhemoglobin owing to the same agency. The blood, which, after circulating through the body, had become venous in character that is to say, had assumed a darker tint than the arterial one-was not free from oxygen; it had only become richer in carbonic acid and poorer in oxygen, but two-thirds of its hemoglobin was still combined with oxygen. The oxyhemoglobin was, according to V. Fleischl, so stable a compound that the affinity of the organic tissues for the oxygen was not sufficient to set the latter free. The blood which entered the left ventricle thus charged with oxyhemoglobin was there suddenly subjected to a violent shock, by which the oxygen was liberated from its combination with hemoglobin in the same way as the carbonic acid was set free from the blood in the right ventricle by the sudden strong shock caused by the heart-beat. The blood of the left ventricle, therefore, no longer contained oxyhemoglobin, but only free oxygen.

To prove his position in regard to this theory, he then adduced many facts. He promises to give a detailed account of his investigations in a special work, which will be published this coming autumn.

ANTI-TOXIC FUNCTION OF THE LIVER.

In the course of an editorial on this subject in the Med. Rec., the following remarks are made concerning this function:

Among the minor but yet extremely important duties of the liver is its anti-toxic action. M. Héger, in 1873, Schiff, in 1877, and several later experimenters have shown that certain