a nuisance, and gasmakers had been forced to use iron, which is not so good, and now these sulphur products are received in thousands of dwellings. It was a question whether the changes enforced under sanitary laws might not sometimes act injuriously. He did not think ammonia need be considered, its quantity was so small. The effects said to be produced on books, etc., were not so significant as people made out. There were other causes now. The coal alone used in London gives 6000 tons of sulphur into the atmosphere every year, and this must have a sensible effect. Temperature was also important-so high is it near roofs where there was no good ventilation. Mr. LIDDLE objected to Medical Officers of Health being found fault with because wet lime was not used. Dry lime might be used. Good ventilation might also do much. Mr. FINLAY, a gas engineer, agreed with Mr. Hawkesley with regard to the lime process; it was the best process known, but it must always be a nuisance. One company had been summoned again and again, and made to take to purification by iron. Another company had to paint adjoining houses. The injury to goods was because there was no ventilation. He held it was unfair to blame gas for the want of ventilation. Dr. ALDIS thought a quarter of the light was lost owing to glass surroundings. The College of Physicians had just found out that their books were being destroyed. Mr. RENDLE had learnt one thing-viz., we ought perhaps to go back to the wet lime system; but this, also, that if so, gas companies must leave London. Mr. HAWKESLEY did not mean to imply that companies were to go back to the blue-billy system; this was not necessary. Dry lime only, or, still better, iron first, dry lime after, might be used. Dr. GIBBON thought gas heat the important thing, and asked if the way of burning gas in glass globes did not increase the heat. Dr. DRUITT said Mr. Hawkesley's remarks were not to be taken by officers of health with too thin a skin. For the eye the candle was best, or a small reading lamp, which throws light on the book, and leaves the rest of the room in shade. CLINICAL SOCIETY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11. Sir THOMAS WATSON, President, in the Chair. THE following gentlemen were elected members of the Society-Mr. Berkeley Hill, Mr. L. S. Little, and Dr. Fish. The SECRETARY communicated, for Dr. CROUCH, a case of Primary Amputation for Gunshot Wound. The operation was performed before the patient had recovered from the shock, just below the knee. There was subsequently severe delirium and a protracted convalescence. Mr. CALLENDER considered that in this case the amputation was rightly performed whilst the patient was yet suffering from the shock, and pointed out that in a young subject an operation was usually well borne in such a state of the system. He referred to the site of the amputation as accounting for some troublesome abscesses which formed along the tracks of the extensor tendons. Mr. MAUNDER thought it contrary to recognised principles to amputate during collapse, and he urged that the good results which followed in this case must be regarded as exceptional. He had once amputated when there was extreme prostration of the nervous system, associated with complaints of urgent pain; but such a case he regarded as quite distinct from instances of ordinary so-called collapse. Dr. CROUCH, in reply, said he had followed the rule distinctly laid down by Abernethy for the treatment of cases similar to the one reported. Dr. PAVY related a case of Diabetes in a female patient aged 68, in which the treatment consisted mainly in the exhibition of opium in gradually increased doses, without restriction of diet. Her complaint had been recognised two years back, and at one time she had been passing an exceedingly large quantity of urine, and had been gradually losing flesh and strength. The opium given was in the form of a pill, three times a day, and the dose was gradually increased. Throughout the whole period of treatment the dose of opium, the quantity of urine, and the quantity of sugar excreted in twenty-four hours were recorded daily, so that the effect of the remedy could be accurately judged of. To begin with, the quantity of urine was 100 ounces, the specific gravity 1040, the quantity of sugar per ounce 32 grains, and the quantity of sugar for the twenty-four hours 3275 grains. The first effect of the opium was to diminish in a notable manner the amount of urine passed. The degree of saturation with sugar remained for a time about the same, but, through the fall in the amount of urine, the quantity of sugar for the twentyfour hours was, of course, diminished. Within three weeks the quantity of opium administered was raised to 10 grains per diem. It was then suddenly discontinued, on account of a greater degree of drowsiness than was desirable being produced, but in a few days was recommenced, and this time, being more gradually increased, was borne without producing any sign of disturbance. The quantity of urine, the specific gravity, and the amount of sugar gradually fell until July 28, when the quantity of urine was 25 oz. per diem, the specific gravity 1027, and no sugar was passed. On the three subsequent days there was a little sugar, but it afterwards disappeared, and remained absent as long as she continued in the Hospital— viz., until October 28. At the time the sugar disappeared the patient was taking 9 grains of opium per diem. It was afterwards still further increased to 12 grains, and then gradually diminished until October 17, when all was taken off, the patient, during the remaining time, taking no medicine, and passing no sugar. The last daily record was 40 oz. of urine in the twenty-four hours; specific gravity, 1025; and no sugar. With the improvement in the state of the urine, there was a corresponding improvement in the health and strength of the patient, who ultimately expressed herself as feeling perfectly well in every respect. Each time since her discharge she had come to the Hospital the urine was found to be devoid of sugar. On that day her urine was free from sugar. Dr. Pavy stated that he had given opium and morphia in other cases; and he referred to two in which the results strikingly exemplified the controlling influence of the drug over the disease. Dr. Pavy remarked that M Gregor, as far back as the year 1837, had published in the London Medical Gazette a record of two cases in which opium had been given in large doses, with the effect of producing for a time a marked palliation of the disease. M'Gregor in one of his cases had increased the quantity of opium until it reached 90 grains per diem. By modern Practitioners opium had also been generally looked upon as exerting a favourable influence in the disease; but he was not aware that direct evidence of its controlling influence, such as was supplied by his communication, had been previously placed upon record. There was still, he thought, much to be learned about its extent of power in different cases. His belief was, from the case which formed the basis of his communication, and other experience that he had had, that it would be found sufficient in many instances amongst elderly subjects, where the disease was observed to assume its mildest form, to check by itself the elimination of sugar. In young and middleaged subjects, however, where the disease, as a rule, assumed a much more severe character, his experience was that, to obtain a similar effect, the restricted diet must be conjoined. A discussion followed, in the course of which Dr. WEBER referred to the occasional recurrence of diabetes in patients apparently cured, whether by diet, regimen, or otherwise, and suggested that the case should be further reported on after an interval of six months. The PRESIDENT drew attention to the age of the patient with reference to the question, whether diabetes is not more tractable, and, at the same time, more liable to recur in elderly persons than in the young. Dr. PAVY, in his reply, admitted that in advanced life diabetes might be regarded as a comparatively trivial disorder. Dr. BEIGEL read a paper founded on one hundred and fiftytwo cases of Epilepsy, from which he inferred that although unconsciousness and convulsion are so frequent as phenomena of the epileptic paroxysms that most writers regard them as characteristic, there are many cases undoubtedly of epileptic nature in which those symptoms are absent. He considered that the only invariable pathognomonic signs of epilepsy were those which arose from disturbances of the circulation, and set forth various facts and observations which had led him to localise these disturbances in the vaso-motor nerves. As regards the treatment of epilepsy, Dr. Beigel believed that the most important remedy for continuous administration was the bromide of potassium. He further strongly recommended the subcutaneous injection of morphia, guarded by atropine, in the manner suggested by Dr. John Harley, immediately before an apprehended attack, as a means of warding it off, or at least of modifying its violence. Medical Times and Gazette. MEDICAL NEWS. Dr. GREEN related a case which he described as one of Irritative Hypertrophy of the Heart. The patient, a girl of 15, was admitted into Hospital in the fourth or fifth attack of acute rheumatism. Soon after pericarditis supervened, and she eventually died with great hypertrophy, adherent pericardium, and "finely granular" degeneration of the muscular fibres of the whole heart. In explanation of this and other cases, in which hypertrophy occurs in young rheumatic persons independently of any mechanical cause, the author maintained the theory that its overgrowth is intimately connected with chronic myocarditis. MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Dr. RICHARDSON, F.R.S., in the Chair. Dr. SANSOM proposed the election of a Committee to investigate the subject of gall-stones, the symptoms produced by them, and their treatment. The motion was carried, and the following gentlemen nominated as members :-Dr. Thudichum, Dr. Leared, Dr. Thorowgood, Mr. Peter Marshall, and Mr. John Hainworth. Mr. C. F. MAUNDER exhibited two patients upon whom he had performed primary excision of the elbow-joint; in each there was considerable mobility of the artificially produced joint, one patient being able to lift the hand easily to his mouth. Both were able to lift the weight of at least a halfhundredweight. Mr. HENRY SMITH certified in congratulatory terms to the success of these cases. Some observations were made by Mr. GREGORY SMITH. The PRESIDENT then made some further remarks on the effects of exposing animal substances to extreme heat. He showed specimens of animals and organs which had been first embedded in various substances, such as clay sand, plaster of Paris, etc., and then exposed to great heat. He had found that when animal substances, embedded and enclosed in iron flasks, were subjected to moist heat of 340° Fahr., under pressure, they were, as a rule, completely removed in the course of from one to two hours. A dead frog, placed in sand and plaster of Paris, was found, on opening the iron flask, to have been almost entirely removed, its exact shape being left as a mould from which a cast could be taken. Specimens of fish, prawns, oysters, etc., were exhibited in various stages of change towards complete destruction. The most striking fact was that the bodies of animals subjected to the influences above named would be, with the exception of one structure, destroyed, and to ordinary observation removed. The order of the process of destruction was described. The osseous system persisted after all except the pigmentary matters. The latter were pure exceptions to the rule. They seemed quite indestructible at the temperature employed. As stated on a former occasion, blood resisted the destructive process, becoming a material resembling caoutchouc ; an analogy therefore existed between blood and pigment. After some observations by Dr. ROUTH, Dr. THUDICHUM stated that observations in some respects resembling Dr. Richardson's had been made aforetime by Papin. The solvent action of the menstruum (water) which he employed modified the results. The PRESIDENT pointed out the interest of the subject with respect to fossil remains. Dr. THUDICHUM then read a paper on the spectroscope in relation to physiological and pathological research. NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT CRITIQUES. The Science and Art of Surgery. By John Eric Erichsen, Senior Surgeon to Mr. Erichsen has spared no pains to bring his well-known work thoroughly abreast of the times, and to this end has not only carefully revised the whole work himself, but has secured the aid of able coadjutors in dealing with special subjects. Thus the portion relating to ophthalmic Surgery has been revised by Mr. Streatfeild; Mr. Berkeley Hill has assisted in rearranging the chapter on syphilis; Mr. Alexander Bruce has aided in dealing with the more general subjects of pyæmia, scrofula, and tumours; and to others Mr. Erichsen expresses his obligations in general terms. The separation of the work into two volumes, which in its last edition proved somewhat unwieldy, is advantageous to the student, whilst it has admitted of considerable enlargements being made without' inconvenience. value of Mr. Erichsen's work is too well known to need any meed of approbation from us beyond what has been already said, save that we may add a word as to the many valuable illustrations which have been added, the total number now amounting to 600. The Hooper's Physician's Vade Mecum. Eighth Edition. Edited by W. A. The new edition of this work has been carefully revised by both MEDICAL NEWS. APOTHECARIES' HALL.-The following gentlemen Birt, George, Leamington. Buckley, Samuel, Royton, Lancashire. Giddings, William Kitto, Calverley, near Leeds. Whitcombe, Edmund Bancks, Birmingham. APPOINTMENTS. The Editor will thank gentlemen to forward to the Pub- BOOTH, EDWARD J. H., M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond.-Resident House- CHALMERS, JAMES, M.D., L.R.C.P. Edin., L.F.P.S. Glas.-Police Casualty GALTON, J. C., M.A. Oxon., M.R.C.S. Eng. Clinical Assistant at the KING, Dr. ROBERT, B.A. Cantab.-Resident Medical Officer at the Middle- MILITARY APPOINTMENTS. 2nd FOOT.-Staff Surgeon John Noble Shipton, to be Surgeon, vice SurgeonMajor Francis Cogan, appointed to the Staff. 15th FOOT.-Surgeon Henry Higgins Jones, M.D., having completed twenty years' full-pay service, to be Surgeon-Major, under the provisions of the Royal Warrant of April 1, 1867. 60th FooT.-Staff Surgeon Arthur Edwin Temple Longhurst, M.D., to be Surgeon, vice William Wilson Mills, deceased. 101st Foor.-Staff Surgeon James Jardine, M.D., to be Surgeon, vice Edward Young Kellett, who exchanges. MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.-Surgeon-Major Francis Cogan, from 2nd Foot, to be Staff Surgeon-Major, vice Staff Surgeon John Noble Shipton, appointed to the 2nd Foot; Staff Surgeon William Johnstone Fyffe, M.D., having completed twenty years' full-pay service, to be Staff SurgeonMajor, under the provisions of the Royal Warrant of April 1, 1867; Surgeon Edward Young Kellett, from the 101st Foot, to be Staff Surgeon, vice James Jardine, M.D., who exchanges; Staff AssistantSurgeon James Kelly, to be Staff Surgeon, vice Arthur Edwin Temple Longhurst, M.D., appointed to the 60th Foot. BREVET.-The rank of Assistant-Surgeon conferred on Hospital Steward Joseph A. Cooper, in Medical charge of her Majesty's Punjaub Flotilla, with date of February 19, 1867, to honorary, and not local and temporary only, as then stated. BIRTHS. ADAMS.-On December 29, at Martock, the wife of J. Dixon Adams, M.D., MILLER.-On November 29, at Deyrah Dhoon, India, the wife of Staff SPAULL. On January 5, at No. 2, Vale-place, Hammersmith, the wife of STOCKER.-On December 30, at 2, Montague-square, the wife of Dr. J. WARD.-On January 1, at the Poplars, Twickenham-common, the wife of MARRIAGES. SYMES-MUNN.-On December 31, at Christ Church, Dover, William WALKER-RANSON.-On December 31, at St. Mary's, Mold, Edward Henry Walker, F.R.G.S., H.B.M.'s Consul at Cagliari, Island of Sardinia, to Louisa Mary, only daughter of Thomas Edward Ranson, M.D., of Taranaki, New Zealand. No cards. DEATHS. BYERS, ROBERT, Esq., M.D., M.R.C.S., at Lismore Cottage, Australia- MARTYN, CONSTANCE ELIZABETH, second daughter of William Martyn, M.D., F.R.C.S., at No. 6, Trevor-terrace, Rutland-gate, S.W., after a lingering illness, on January 2, aged 9 years. POCOCK, MARY, the wife of Gavin Elliot Pocock, Surgeon, at 42, Cannonplace, Brighton, on January 5, aged 50. STORROW, JOHN, M.R.C.S., L.S.A., at Newbottle, in the county of Durham, aged 65. VACANCIES. In the following list the nature of the office vacant, the qualifications required in the Candidate, the person to whom application should be made, and the day of election (as far as known) are stated in succession. INFIRMARY FOR CONSUMPTION AND DISEASES OF THE CHEST, 27, MARGARETSTREET, CAVENDISH-SQUARE.-Visiting Physician; must be M.R.C.P.L. Send testimonials to Mr. Baily, Secretary, at the Infirmary, by the 12th inst. KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL.-Assistant House-Surgeon and Dispenser (one office); must be M.R.C.S. or L.S.A. Applications to the Secretary at the Hospital. The election at the Hospital on January 29. KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL.-Physician; must have been practising as a Physician for two years, and be registered as a regular Graduate in Medicine of some University of Great Britain or Ireland or M.R.C.P.L. Application to the Secretary at the Hospital. The election at the Hospital on Friday, January 29. NOTTINGHAM DISPENSARY-Resident Surgeon and Assistant Resident Surgeon; must be M.R.C.S. or L.R.C.P. Send testimonials to Committee at the Dispensary on or before Monday, January 25. Election, February 8. WEST LONDON HOSTITAL.-Junior Physician; must be F. or M.R.C.P. Lond. Attend personally, with diplomas and testimonials, at the Hospital, Hammersmith, W., on Monday, the 18th inst., at 3 o'clock p.m. Horncastle Union.-Edward Cheatle, L.R.C.P. Edin., M.R.C.S.E., to the Reversby District. Martley Union.-Alfred J. G. Waters, L.R.C.P. Edin., M.R.C.S.E., to the Astley District. Stamford Union.-George M. Ashforth, M.D. St. And., M.R.C.S.E., L.S.A., to the Clipsham District; Fortescue J. Morgan, M.R.C.S.E., L.S.A., to the Ryhall District. West Derby Union.-John S. Grattan, M.R.C.S.E., L.C.P. Dub., to the Walton District. ACADÉMIE DE MÉDECINE.-At the last meeting of the Academy, M. Marrotte was elected into the section of Therapeutics and Medical Natural History. LEGITIMATE MEDICINE IN OHIO.-It is stated in the New York Medical Record that no one has been allowed to practise as a Physician in Ohio without a diploma since September last. THE will of Mr. Henry Brown, M.D., of Windsor, Surgeon to the Queen's Royal Household, has just been sworn as under 45,0007. THE Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, United States, have recently appointed Dr. Cobbold, F.R.S., to be one of their honorary correspondents. Mr. POOR-LAW MEDICAL SERVICE.-Islington.-The Poorlaw Board recommend the guardians to appoint one public vaccinator only, instead of four, in order that they may be able to give a better salary and have a more competent man. Donald, who has been acting during the illness of Dr. Ede, Medical Officer of the Workhouse, applied for some remuneration. The guardians referred him to the gentleman for whom he is acting as substitute. St. Pancras.-The guardians find their resolution of July last, requiring double qualifications in assistants acting as substitutes for Medical officers, to be impracticable. Notice of motion for rescinding has been given. Woolwich.-Mr. E. L. Burnett applied for compensation for the loss of the Plumstead registrarship. The guardians, who are in favour of the application, directed their clerk to write again to the Poor-law Board. TREATMENT OF SEA-SICKNESS.-M. le Coniat, a Medical officer of the French Marine attached to the service of the Transatlantic mail packets, states that, after trying the usual remedies, he has since 1865 employed faradisation of the epigastrium in combination with an application of a solution of the sulphate of atropine (two or three centigrammes to 50 grammes), and that this means has proved successful in the great majority of several hundreds of cases of both sexes in which it has been tried. He thinks that during the first day the vomiting should be allowed to have its free course. He says that he has only met with five cases of abortion during his thirty-eight crossings, and that, in this, opium is just as useful as it is useless in seasickness. Women usually, in these voyages, have their menstrual periods hastened forwards by some days, and some even by two or three weeks. Others, again, suffer from genetic excitement, for which the bromide of potassium may be administered. Archives de Méd. Navale, November. VACCINATION ACT.-On Wednesday, at Marylebone, Dr. William Thomas Jones, of 1, Caversham-road, was summoned, at the instance of the Board of Guardians of St. Pancras, for non-compliance with the Vaccination Act. Mr. Rickards appeared for the guardians. Mr. Rickards said Dr. Jones had refused to allow an inspection of his child; he said that if the guardians would give him a written guarantee against skin disease and other ill consequences of vaccination, then they could send their public vaccinator, and he would pay him. The guardians declined to give such a guarantee as to probable results. This was the first case of the kind brought by the guardians of St. Pancras, and they considered it important to make an example in this special case. Mr. Knox said that surely the father, being a Medical man, was the proper person to judge as to what should be done. The defendant said he was not his child's Medical attendant, and he had acted upon the advice of a person whose certificate he held in his hand. He had, under Schedule B of the Act of 1867, determined to oppose the guardians. Mr. Knox, after reading the certificate, dismissed the summons. Addressing the defendant, he told him he could fill up a form from time to time as he thought proper, and so avoid loss of time and expense in attending this court. He should leave the form at his house during his absence for it to be inspected. THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. -The Hunterian oration will be delivered on Monday, Feb. 15, by Mr. Richard Quain, F.R.S., President of the Royal College of Surgeons. Mr. F. Le Gros Clark will deliver another course of lectures on Surgery and Pathology. Mr. Huxley, F.R.S., will also resume his lectures on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology; and the recently appointed "Arris and Gale" lecturer, Mr. J. W. Hulke, will also give a course of lectures. At the Royal College of Physicians the Lumleian lectures will be delivered by Dr. Barker, the Croonian lectures by Dr. J. W. Ogle, and the Gulstonian lectures by Dr. HughlingsJackson. The Harveian oration will be delivered by Dr. Owen Rees. The Royal College of Surgeons offer the following prizes for competition amongst its Members: - The Collegial Triennial Prize, consisting of the John Hunter medal, executed in gold, to the value of fifty guineas, or, at the option of the successful author of the dissertation, of the said medal executed in bronze, with an honorarium of £50. The subject for this prize is :-"The Anatomy and Physiology of the Organs of Taste and Smell in the Mammalia;' essays must be delivered before Christmas-day, 1870. subject for the Jacksonian Prize of the present year is "Aneurism by Anastomosis; the various forms of this disease, and the different methods of treatment, with the author's experience and views thereon." The prize is a sum of twenty guineas, and the essays must be sent in on or before Christmasday next. The first anatomical and physiological examination for the diploma of Membership for the present year commences this day (Saturday), and it is stated that the number is in excess of those at the corresponding period of last year. the The PROFESSOR HALFORD'S EXPERIMENTS ON SNAKEPOISONING.-The following five cases are simply given as an instalment. The results certainly are encouraging, and I should not have the slightest hesitation in applying the same treatment to any unfortunate fellow-creature severely bitten. To carry it out requires only a solution of ammonia of the strength of one part of strongest liquor ammonia and two parts of distilled water, and an ordinary hypodermic syringe. The ammonia is thrown directly, but gradually, into the blood by puncturing any superficial vein, and may be repeated as its beneficial Medical Times and Gazette. NOTES, QUERIES, AND REPLIES. This mode of treatment need not be limited operation ceases. to snake-poisoning, but might, perhaps, be extended to opium poisoning, or to that resulting from infection, as in fever, cholera, etc. Case 1.-October 23-Small dog bitten by tiger snake at two p. m. Began vomiting and purging at four p.m., and continued more or less in the same state all night. October 24-Dog seemingly nearly dead; total paralysis, but quite sensible. Injected at slight intervals into the right external jugular vein thirty-five minims of the ammonia solution. The dog improved directly afterwards, the circulation and breathing being freer. October 25-Continued in the same state. October 26-Repeated the injection, but into the left vein. From this he gradually improved, and on the 31st could run about and eat well. Case 2.-October 28-Inoculated, at twenty minutes to eleven a.m., a small white dog with the contents of one poisongland of a tiger snake. In twenty-five minutes vomiting and purging came on. Injected at once ten drops of the solution into the external jugular vein. Vomiting continued. At a quarter past twelve threw in another fifteen drops. After this the dog appeared quite easy, and began to eat and drink by four. Vomiting and p.m., and is now quite well. Case 3.-November 2-Inoculated a middling-sized dog at half-past ten a.m. purging came on at half-past eleven a.m. Injected ten minims of the solution into one external jugular vein, and presently after twenty more minims into the other. From this time all the symptoms of poisoning ceased, although from the severity Case 4.-November 2of the inoculation the dog only now runs about freely (large sloughing sores having formed). Inoculated a dog with the contents of one poison-gland at a Vomiting and purging commenced at quarter to eleven a. m. At a quarter to twelve injected twenty half-past eleven. minims of the solution. From this time the dog rapidly improved, all symptoms of poisoning disappearing, and is Case 5.-November 4-Inoculated, at now quite well. half-past ten a.m., a small black dog, which had been previously in the snake box, with the contents of one poisongland. At ten minutes to eleven vomiting and purging (bloody) commenced. Injected twenty minims of the solution. The dose seemed rather strong for so small a dog, but in a minute after every symptom of purging and vomiting ceased, and after waiting nearly an hour I with two friends left, satisfied that the dog was saved, but on my returning in another hour the dog was dying. Other engagements prevented my attending further to the animal. On examining the body a few hours after, I could detect no trace of the ammonia; the urine was acid, etc. I therefore concluded that the volatile alkali had too soon passed out of the system, and that another injection might perhaps have saved him. There is one very remarkable and hopeful feature in all these cases, including the fatal one, which is that immediately after the injection of the ammonia the animal seems in perfect ease, the breathing becomes easy, the vomiting, etc., ceases.-Melbourne Argus. THE MARSHALL HALL SCHOLARSHIP FUND.-Great London: Dr. Burrows, F.R.S.; Dr. Gull; Sir Ranald Martin, F.R.S.; support the movement. Honorary Secretaries: London: Dr. Tilbury Fox, TO THE EDITOR OF THE MEDICAL TIMES AND GAZETTE. SIR,-I have noticed several inquiries in your journal as to the best mode of getting rid of these troublesome "guests," and having a few minutes' leisure I write to contribute my quota to the general fund of information. One thing is clear, that ascarides do not plague their "hosts" at all times alike; the annoyance they occasion is closely connected with changes in the health, and is often a marked precursor of indisposition. Nor does it seem to matter much what the indisposition may be; women may have the itching from ascarides before their monthly time; children after eating of heavy food or attendance at Christmas parties; men before an attack of sick headache. As the same people are not troubled equally at all times, so neither are all persons affected with these beasts. If we get the eggs of them in fruit, in salad, or in water, which must be much the same in most houses, and certainly the same for all the denizens of any one house, all would certainly become hosts to the parasites if all were equally liable, which they surely are not. If I were brought into a room with eight or ten people, and were told that two had ascarides, and were bid to point them out, I think I could do so; pasty thickish complexions, cold flabby hands, capricious appetites, and dirty tongues, would indicate the victims. But how to cure? Is a cure possible? I have heard this denied, but I certainly know persons whom I treated five and twenty years ago, and who have continued free up to the present day. The remedies are simple-aloes, iron, and quassia. It does not much matter how iron is given, though Í suspect that the purified iron filings made into pills with soap are the best form; if the ferrum redactum of the British Pharmacopoeia be more genteel, it is not, that I know of, one whit the more efficacious. Both will tickle the rectum and give rise to tenesmus in some subjects, and then a liquid form should be substituted. But the best way of using iron and the other remedies is by injection. After the bowels have been emptied, a tepid injection should be administered, and be retained as long as nature will bear it, having ten minims of tincture of chloride of iron to half a pint of water. Instead of water, an infusion of quassia may be mixed with the steel, or an infusion of ten grains of extract of Barbadoes aloes may be added to the quassia. I look upon the regular use of these injections as the great thing; at the same time, steel, aloes, and a bitter tonic should be administered in constant small doses by mouth till the alimentary canal is brought into good order. Some of my patients have been so tormented as to be obliged to grope with the finger in the passage, or to thrust in a bit of bacon fat, or to use some of the old worm ointments, but the injection is cleaner and more efficacious. I believe that ill-brewed table beer has a great efficacy in helping these worms to breed, and pure French wine or the more generous Hungarian Carlowitz the reverse. The acidum sulphuricum aromaticum is also a good remedy. I am, &c. London, January 1. A PRACTITIONER OF THIRTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE. HUNGRY COUGH. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MEDICAL TIMES AND GAZETTE. SIR,-There is a kind of cough which I am not unfrequently consulted about, and especially by women, though sometimes by men. It comes on during periods of depression, such as fatigue, anxiety, and hunger, and hence in my own mind I call it a "hungry cough." It is relieved by food and stimulants. Considerable irritation, not of the larynx, but of the windpipe about its bifurcation, seems the leading symptom, with obstinate cough, huskiness of voice, and glairy expectoration. It may last for one or two hours, and is liable to come on after journeys in the cold, though cold alone will not produce it. There is no shadow of disease of the lungs in the sufferers, who in the intervals are quite free from any pulmonic symptoms. What I desire to know is the mechanism, nervous or otherwise, by which these phenomena can be accounted for. Is there an ill-fed and hungry bit of nerve-tissue? Does it paralyse the vaso-motor nerves of the bronchial blood-vessels! I am, &c. E. B. C. COMMUNICATIONS have been received fromDr. BARNES; Mr. F. J. GANT; Mr. J. CHATTO; Dr. LIONEL S. BEALE; . B. W. RICHARDSON; Mr. C. LAWRENCE BRADLEY; Dr. W. H. BROADBENT; Mr. A. WRIGHT; Mr. T. L. WALFORD; Mr. HARRY LEACH; Dr. WHITMORE; Dr. COBBOLD; Mr. C. J. Fox; Dr. PHILLIPS; Dr. PAVY; Mr. J. C. GALTON; Mr. T. L. PLANT; Mr. A. T. THOMSON; Dr. JOHN MURRAY; Mr. BoOTH; Dr. J. CHALMERS; Dr. MILROY; Dr. WICKHAM LEGG; Mr. S. J. KNOTT; Dr. ROBERT KING. BOOKS RECEIVED Journal of Mental Science, January.-Pharmaceutical Journal, JanuaryThe Practitioner, January-The Register and Magazine of Biography, January-Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, January-British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, January-British Journal of Dental Science, No. 148-Lancereaux's Treatise on Syphilis, vol. 1Byford on an Intramural Fibrous Tumour-Westminster Review, January-Third Report of Quekett Microscopical Club-Edinburgh Medical Journal, January-Braithwaite's Retrospect, vol. 58-Thurnam's Ancient British Harrows of Wiltshire-Monthly Microscopical Journal, No. 1-Address of Samuel D. Gross, M.D., LL.D., from the Transactions of the American Medical Association. At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height of the barometer in the week was 29 393 in. The barometrical reading increased from 28.76 in. on Sunday, Dec. 27, to 29 98 in. on Friday, Jan. 1. The general direction of the wind was S. W. and W.S.W. Note.-The population of Cities and Boroughs in 1868 is estimated on the assumption that the increase since 1861 has been at the same annual rate as between the censuses 1851 and 1861; at this distant period, however, since the last census it is probable that the estimate may in some instances be erroneous. The deaths in Manchester and Bristol include those of paupers belonging to these cities who died in Workhouses situated outside the municipal boundaries. APPOINTMENTS FOR THE WEEK. January 9. Saturday (this day). Operations at St. Bartholomew's, 1 p.m.; St. Thomas's, 9 a.m.; King's 11. Monday. Operations at the Metropolitan Free Hospital, 2 p.m.; St. Mark's Hospital for Diseases of the Rectum, 13 p.m.; St. Peter's Hospital for Stone, 2 p.m. MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, 8 p.m. Dr. Elliott (of Hull), "On Spontaneous Fracture of the Humerus in a Patient affected with Constitutional Syphilis, with interesting Specimen." Dr. Cordwent (of Taunton), "On a Calculus removed from the Perinæum, with Specimen." Mr. Wm. Adams will deliver the first Lettsomian Lecture, "On Acute Rheumatic Affections of the Joints, their Pathology and Treatment." ODONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 8 p.m. Annual Meeting for Election of Officers and Council. Paper by Mr. R. Hulme, M.R.C.S., "On the Formation of a Dental Museum." 12. Tuesday. Operations at Guy's, 13 p.m.; Westminster, 2 p.m.; National Orthopedic, Great Portland-street, 2 p.m. ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 8 p.m. Mr. H. H. Howorth, "On the Westerly 13. Wednesday. Operations at University College Hospital, 2 p.m.; St. Mary's, 1 p.m.; Middlesex, 1 p.m.; London, 2 p.m.; St. Bartholomew's, 14 p.m.; Great Northern, 2 p.m.; St. Thomas's 1 p.m.; Ophthalmic Hospital, Southwark, 2 p.m.; Samaritan Hospital, 2.30 p.m. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 8 p.m. Council Meeting. HUNTERIAN SOCIETY (Council, 7 p.m.), 8 p.m. Dr. Barnes, "On the Modes of reducing Chronic Inversion of the Uterus." 14. Thursday. Operations at St. George's, 1 p.m.; Central London Ophthalmic, 1 p.m.; Royal Orthopedic Hospital, 2 p.m.; West London Hospital, 2 p.m.; University College Hospital, 2 p.m. ROYAL INSTITUTION, 3 p.m. Mr. Rupert Jones, "Protozoa." 15. Friday. Operations at Westminster Ophthalmic, 14 p.m.; Central London Ophthalmic Hospital, 2 p.m. ROYAL INSTITUTION, 8p.m. Prof. Tyndall, "Chemical Rays and Molecules." |