situated, the curette, stimulant irrigation, etc., may occasionally succeed, but usually fail.

11. A perityphlitic abscess may point through the abdominal wall, and stimulate a pelvic abscess proper. Aspiration will settle the diagnosis; the treatment is the same.

12. The majority of cases of pelvic abscess recover; at least the mortality is small.-Phila. Med. and Surg. Reporter.

STUNNING AND BURN BY AN ELECTRIC LAMP.-George Buchanan thus writes in the Lancet, February 13:

Injuries from electric lamps are becoming not infrequent. In most of the cases related death has been instantaneous. In a case reported on January 22d, as occurring at Liverpool, the man was stunned and remained unconscious for a time, and on recovering was found to be quite blind. The case here related is very curious as to its causation and its effects.

Wm. C., aged 44, a workman in Clydebank building-yard, was engaged at a crane on November 19, 1885. At the extremity of the wooden arm of the crane was an iron pulley, over which hung an endless chain for raising weights. The man had occasion to pull at the chain, and while so doing an electric lamp, which was suspended above, by some mischance was lowered till it touched the pulley. The lamp was one of the arc kind, worked on the Brush system. The instant this occurred the man felt a shock pass through him, became "doubled up," and then lost consciousness; but he did not fall to the ground, being held up by the chain which his hands firmly and involuntarily grasped. Some three or four minutes elapsed before the electric current was cut off at the machine, when the man dropped down on the ground stunned. He was taken to the Western Infirmary about an hour afterward, by which time he had recovered consciousness, and could give a distinct account of what had happened. The injuries received were not very severe. There was a vesication of the palm of his hand where it held the chain, also one on the side of his neck, which rested against the chain during his

pulling it down. On the sole of his right foot in front, where the chief weight of his body rested in the act of pulling, was a spot about two inches square, where the tissues were completely charred by the heat of the current passing into the ground. There were no nails in the boots, and there was no perceptible evidence of heat on them, but the sole of the stocking was charred opposite the charred part of the foot. Sir Wm. Thomson, who questioned the man after his recovery, explained that the moist foot of the stocking must have acted as the medium of conduction between the man's body and the ground, and so determined the seat of the burn.

The symptoms complained of were not very severe; they consisted of a slight amount of general shock, a feeling of heat in the abdomen and chest, and dimness of vision, all of which passed off in twenty-four hours. The wounds were treated in the ordinary way. A large slough separated from the sole of the foot, followed by rapid granulation and cicatrization, and the man was dismissed cured in about six weeks.

Sir Wm. Thomson suggests that if any of the bystanders had taken the man by the clothes and drawn his feet from contact with the ground, or had thrust a bit of dry clothing of any kind under his feet, the contact would have been broken; and the hand relieved from its grasp of the chain. The wonder is that an electric current powerful enough to char the integument of the sole of the foot, passing through the man, did not produce any internal mischief.

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS.-The Thirty-seventh Annual Session will be held in St. Louis, Mo., on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 4, 5, 6 and 7, commenceing on Tuesday at 11 A.M.

The delegates shall receive their appointment from permanently organized State Medical Societies and such County and District Medical Societies as are recognized by representation in their respective State Societies, and from the Medical Department of the Army and Navy, and the Marine Hospital Service of the United States.

Each State, County, and District Medical Society entitled to representation shall have the privilege of sending to the Association one delegate for every ten of its regular resident members, and one for every additional fraction of more than half that number: Provided, however, that the number of delegates for any particular State, territory, county, city or town shall not exceed the ratio of one in ten of the resident physicians who may have signed the Code of Ethics of the Association.

Secretaries of Medical Societies, as above designated, are earnestly requested to forward, at once, lists of their delegates.

Also, that the Permanent Secretary may be enabled to erase from the the names of those who have forfeited their membership, the Secretaries are, by special resolution, requested to send to him, annually, a corrected list of the membership of their respective Societies.

"The Chairman of the several Sections shall prepare and read, in the general sessions of the Association, papers on the advances and discoveries of the past year in the branches of science included in their respective Sections. 11, Sec. 4.

."-By-Laws, Article

Practice of Medicine, Materia, Medica and Physiology.-Dr. J. T. Whittaker, Cincinnati, Ohio, Chairman; Dr. B. L. Coleman, Lexington, Ky., Secretary.

Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children.-Dr. S. C. Gordon, Portland, Me., Chairman; Dr. J. F. Y. Paine, Galveston, Texas, Secretary.

Surgery and Anatomy.-Dr. Nicholas Sen, Milwaukee, Wis., Chairman; Dr. H. H. Mudd, St. Louis, Mo., Secretary.

State Medicine.-Dr. John H. Rauch, Springfield, Ilì., Chairman; Dr. F. E. Daniel, Austin, Texas, Secretary.

Ophthalmology, Otology, Laryngology.-Dr. Eugene Smith, Detroit, Mich., Chairman; Dr. J. F. Fulton, St. Paul, Minn., Secretary.

Diseases of Children.-Dr. W. D. Haggard, Nashville, Tenn., Chairman; Dr. W. B. Lawrence, Batesville, Ark., Secretary. Oral and Dental Surgery.-Dr. John S. Marshall, Chicago, Ill., Chairman; Dr. A. E. Baldwin, Chicago, Ill., Secretary.

A member desiring to read a paper before a Section should forward the paper, or its title and length (not to exceed twenty minutes in reading), to the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, at least one month before the meeting.-By-Laws.

Committee of Arrangements.-Dr. Le Grand Atwood, St. Louis, Mo., Chairman.

AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION.

By Dr. Foster Pratt, Mich.-Each Section shall nominate its Chairman and Secretary-all other nominations to be made, as now, by the nominating Committee.

By Dr. I. N. Quimby, N. J.-Create a new Section, to be known as the Section on Medical Jurisprudence.

WM. B. ATKINSON, M.D.,
Permanent Secretary.

ANÆSTHETICS.-Dr. R. Harvey Reed thus concludes a paper in the Fort Wayne Jour. Med. Science for January:

· From this brief review of the anesthetics most familiar to the profession, from a practical stand-point, we have arrived at the following conclusions:

1. Of all general anesthetics known, pure sulphuric ether stands at the head for safety, efficiency, and every-day practical

use.

2. Hydrochlorate of cocaine stands at the head of all known local anesthetics.

3. Ethidene promises to rival ether, and merits a more general and extended trial.

4. No surgeon should give any anesthetic without being prepared to resuscitate the patient on the shortest possible notice if necessary; among which preparations nitrite of amyl stands preeminent.

5. No person should be entrusted with the administration of any anæsthetic who is not thoroughly familiar with their physiological action and practical administration.

6. The indiscriminate use of anesthetics should be strenuously guarded against, and especially the practice of leaving such dan

gerous compounds in the hands of the laity, to be given at liberty, whenever they may deem it necessary.

7. The judicious use of anesthetics under all necessary circumstances should never be omitted; for when properly used by skilled hands they are are a glorious haven of peace in the midst of a stormy sea.

INJECTIONS OF OIL OF TURPENTINE FOR THE RADICAL CURE OF FISTULA.-Cecchini has employed oil of turpentine with good results in the treatment of several varieties of fistula. He claims that this substance acts as a powerful antiseptic, produces granulation, and can never do harm if a reasonable amount of care is exercised.

1. Fistula in Ano.-Seven cases treated, with five cures. The turpentine was injected by means of a syringe. As it causes considerable pain, it may be diluted with almond or olive oil. Short fistulæ are most easily cured by this remedy.

2. Caries of Petrous Portion of Temporal Bone.-Four cases cured in from two to three months. Boracic acid was used in conjunction with the turpentine. The discharge of fetid pus soon ceased, and complete cure rapidly followed.

3. Dental Fistula.-Eight fistulæ, with caries of alveolar process and maxillaries, were completely cured.

4. Fistula of Steno's Duct.-The fistula treated was caused by an abscess following a gun-shot wound. From the parotid region, fistulæ extended into the cheek, angle of jaw and neck. During mastication saliva flowed through the opening in the cheek. The fistula was healed in thirty days, with six injections.

Cecchini has also employed turpentine in the treatment of carbuncles and in post mortem wounds, in every case with excellent results. Centralblatt fur Chirurgie, No. 1, 1886.

CHRONIC CYSTITIS.-The Bulletin was instrumental in calling my attention to the combination of drugs known as lithlated hy