ters of true double salts, and possessing brilliant and decidedly crystalline form: sulpho-carbolate of sodium, of potassium, of ammonium, of magnesium, of zinc, of copper, and of iron.

An inquiry instituted with the view of determining the relative efficiency of the various salts in staying fermentative action established the following results-1, the sodium salt; 2, magnesium; 3, potassium; 4, ammonium.

It was shown from experiments upon the lower animals, as well as from the results of administration to the human subject, that the following was an outline of the plan of action of the sulpho-carbolates. They are absorbed with great rapidity, exert no toxic effect (the human subject readily taking drachm-doses every four hours), are decomposed in the system into-a, carbolic acid, which, traversing the system, is exhaled by the breath; b, sulphate of soda, which permeates the tissues, and is excreted by the urine. Though carbolic acid cannot be detected in the tissues after death, it is shown that an influence enabling the body to resist putrefaction has been exerted; the urine passed also resists decomposition.

Prolonged courses of sulpho-carbolate of sodium, given for two months to phthisical patients, show that the drug could be administered not only with impunity, but with considerable advantage. Of 35 cases, 13 greatly improved, 15 considerably improved; 9 cases gained in weight an average of 2 lb.

The author had employed the sulpho-carbolate of sodium in the treatment of zymotic disease for the past twelve months. He had not met with one death, and his conviction was that the plan of treatment thus indicated might be hoped to yield results of great importance. He claimed, however, no more than to have made out an à priori case. Individual experience is powerless to solve the great problem of the treatment of zymotic disease. Systematic and organized observations only can attain this end.

March 23, 1869.

EDWARD MERYON, M.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Present-52 Fellows and 7 visitors.

Books were presented from Dr. Murchison, Sir Henry Thompson, Dr. Septimus Gibbon, Mr. G. Rigden, and the London University.

Dr. Joseph Frank Payne was admitted a Fellow of the Society.

The following communication was read:

A Case illustrating the Physiology and Pathology of the Cervical Portion of the Sympathetic Nerve. By WILLIAM OGLE, M.D., Hon. Secretary, AssistantPhysician to, and Lecturer on Physiology at, St. George's Hospital. (Received January 29th, 1869.)

(Abstract.)

J. R- found, in the commencement of 1866, that a hard lump had formed on the right side of his neck. This enlarged rapidly, and the arm became very much swollen, apparently from pressure upon the brachial vessels. The swelling of the arm soon subsided; but the lump in the neck grew bigger, and at length suppurated, forming a large abscess, which took many months to heal. While it was still open-about the close of 1866-the man's wife noticed that his right eye was smaller than the left, and the right ear redder than its fellow. On looking in a glass he found it was as she had told him. He soon also noticed that his right ear and cheek felt hotter to him than the corresponding parts on the left,

and that this was specially the case when he had washed his face in cold water. Neither in mind nor body was he discomforted by these symptoms, and never thought of speaking about them to a doctor. They were noticed accidentally when he was under treatment for slight rheumatism at the latter end of 1868.

The following were the symptoms found by the author at that period. There was a puckered scar across the root of the neck, on the right side, extending from the median line behind to the clavicle in front. There was no pulse in the radial or brachial artery, though the arm was well nourished and fairly muscular. The superficial veins of the arm and right side of the thorax were swollen and tortuous. The lesion which had thus permanently obstructed the large brachial vessels had not interfered with the carotid. The right palpebral fissure was narrowed to about half its proper width, the upper lid having somewhat fallen, and the lower lid being somewhat raised. The upper lid could be raised perfectly when the man so chose, so that the ptosis was not due to palsy of the levator palpebræ muscle. The motions of the eyeball were quite normal. The right pupil was much smaller than the other. It dilated fully with atropine, and when this was applied to both eyes they dilated to an equal size. With Calabar bean the right pupil was reduced to a pin's point; the left not to quite so small a size. The right eyeball was somewhat retracted. The cornea seemed somewhat flattened. The conjunctiva was rather more congested than that of the left eye, but in no great degree. There was no hyperemia of the right retina, nor could any difference be detected with the ophthalmoscope in the condition of the two eyes. The sight was equally good on either side. The right ear was redder than the left, and sometimes the increased redness extended to the back part of the cheek, and to the skin above the eye. The right temporal artery was larger than the other. The right ear was hotter than the left one, and the difference could be even felt distinctly with the hand, as well as measured by the thermometer. The right nostril, also, and the right side of the mouth, were hotter than the corresponding parts on the left. This at least was the case when the man was at rest and in health. When he took violent exercise the thermometric conditions of the two sides were inverted; the left side became the hotter, and the right the colder. At the same time, the left side of

the face, head, and neck sweated profusely, while the right remained perfectly dry. According to the patient's account, there was a similar contrast on the two sides of the face in the other secretions. The right eye never watered, as did the left, when exposed to a cold wind. The right nostril never discharged mucus, and the right side of the mouth felt drier than the left. There was abundant cerumen in both ears. Febrile excitement seemed to act in the same direction as exercise, and to equalise the temperature on the two sides. There were no nutritive alterations in the hyperæmic parts; no hyperæsthesia; no muscular paralysis; no alteration of form in mouth or nostril. The pulse was always rapid. There was a slight husky cough; but the voice and respiration seemed quite normal.

The author explains these symptoms by supposing that the abscess had eaten through the cervical sympathetic. Such a lesion and no other would account for the phenomena. The chief symptoms are compared in the paper with those observed in the only other cases on record of section of the cervical sympathetic in man, and also with the results of such section in animals. It is shown from the experiments of Schiff, and from similar ones made by the author, that the strange symptom of inversion of the thermometric conditions of the two sides from violent exercise, or other febrile excitement, was not exceptional. The physiological explanations of this and of the other chief symptoms are considered.

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE ROYAL

MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY

OF LONDON.

April 13, 1869.

GEORGE BURROWS, M.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair.

Present-45 Fellows and 11 visitors.

Books were presented from Sir Duncan Gibb, Dr. Thurnam, Mr. T. Holmes, and the Quekett Microscopical Club; and Sanitary Reports from Drs. Barter and Falconer, of Bath.

The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society:

Walter Bourne, M.D.

Alfred Pullar, M.B.

John Wickham Legg, M.D.

Arthur Ernest Sansom, M.D.

Silas Palmer, M.D.

Charles Elam, M.D., and William Reeves, Esq., were proposed for election as Fellows of the Society.

VOL. VI.-NO. IV.

12