ficient resistance not to split during the movements of the thorax. If a fissure does occur it must be immediately repaired, and if the pain does not disappear the procedure must be repeated. In most cases almost immediate relief is obtained. While the mechanical action of the collodion is unquestionably of great value, even as the strapping of the chest in pneumonia relieves the "stitch" by giving rest to the part in which it occurs, the benefit is, in our opinion, enhanced by the application of a counter-irritant. As such counter-irritant there is no agent more efficacious, in our experience, than tincture of iodine. There would seem to be no objection to applying this first, and after its physiological action has been secured applying over it a coat of collodion. These means of securing euthanasia will not be deemed unworthy of careful consideration by the conscientious physician. Med. Bulletin.

THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF BURIAL.-Dr. V. Reinhard has recently published a useful series of precise observations on the changes observed in corpses interred after the method still in general use amongst civilized Christian populations in all quarters of the globe at the present date. These observations are founded on the collected researches of parochial medical officers in the kingdom of Saxony. At the request of the local authorities, certain disinterments of bodies that had been buried at different intervals of time were undertaken, and the corpses carefully examined. To make the experiment thorough, no kind of sepulchre was overlooked, and the remains of those who had come in for more than the average share of the most substantial benefits of this world were subjected to criticism, together with the bodies of paupers, on principles comprehensible to all our countrymen who know the different nature of public .opinion, and the profound and unquestioning respect for officialism, which prevails over most parts of continental Europe. These researches show that, in gravel or sandy soil, the destruction of the soft parts of the bodies of children is complete by the end of four years, at the latest; and the corpses of adults are entirely disintegrated, excepting the bones, in seven years. Retardation of the destructive processes is rare, and only occurs in one out of every sixteen bodies buried, in soil consisting of very finegrained sand; even in this case, it is but the brain-substance that remains for long unchanged, the sand acting on all the soft tissues with which it can readily come into contact. In clay, the disintegration of children's corpses is complete in five years; in the case of adults seven years is sufficient. Retardation of the process is more frequent than in the case

of sand. In one out of five bodies, adipocere is formed in greater or less proportions, with or without preservation, for an unusually protracted period, of brain-substance, or else the latter tissue is thus preserved without formation of adipocere. On the most careful scrutiny, it was found that the destructive processes did not proceed more slowly in the vaults of cemeteries than when the bodies were directly exposed to the soil. In churchyards, mummification of even limited portions of the bodies was found to be very rare, hardly occurring in 2 per cent. of the disinterred subjects. All minute examinations of the tissues in corpses containing adipocere lead the observers to the conclusion that adipocere is solely developed from pre-existing fatty tissue, and not from any other histological element. Cadaveric fetor completely disappears from a body, as a rule, in three months, but sometimes not till a year after death. In at least one-third of the corpses, the larvæ of flies, and other invertebrata, adult or larval, and certain fungoid growths, played a distinct part in the process of disintegration. This is a powerful argument in favor of cremation, especially from the sentimental point of view, which is the stronghold of the opponents of that innovation. Many of these opponents, incapable of conviction, will interpret the text, "though after death worms destroy this body," as a commandment that worms must not be prevented from so doing. The clothing of the corpses was found to resist changes longer than the corpses themselves; stuffs composed of vegetable fibres decayed first, next in order came textile fabrics from the animal kingdom, whilst silk and leather were the last to be destroyed. In hardly any of the cemeteries examined were the neighboring streams found to be contaminated with organic material; nor was there any definite proof that the health of those who dwelt near churchyards was in any way injured on that account. These researches can hardly fail to prove of considerable value both from their hygienic and forensic bearings.—Brit. Med. Jour.

PROF. DA COSTA teaches that in the early stages (before contraction) of interstitial hepatitis (cirrhosis), a cure may be effected, but that after contraction nobody ever recovered. He has seen the disease in women who did not drink, and the worst case he ever had was in a boy four years old, in which the diagnosis was confirmed at the autopsy. Inherited syphilis is a cause of it. In the early stages the remedies are leeches, sulphate of magnesium, cream of tartar, iodide of potassium.-Col. and Clin. Record.

APROPOS of guess-work, the London Medical Times remarks: Every great scientific theory has commenced in a guess, or, to speak of it more respectfully, a flash of genius or inspiration. That theories, medical or otherwise, are merely convenient guesses at truth, to be employed as working hypotheses, liable to modification or rejection as further facts are brought to light, essentially forms the distinction between a scientific and an unscientific guess. The original guess may be raised to a high condition of probability by the course of disease, by alterations of temperature, the development of physical signs, the appearance of a rash, etc., but frequently these may be misleading, and absolute certainty can be obtained only by post-mortem examination. A riddle may have numerous answers besides the right one. In disease a consideraticn of the same data may lead to a dozen different conclusions. It would be painfully interesting if the commentaries written by the candidates at such an examination as that for the London M. D., were published collectively. It is notorious that the diagnoses arrived at from the same facts vary consid- · erably, and much ingenuity must be expended in endeavoring forcibly to twist these stubborn articles into a pillar of strength, in which, it may be, every particle is proclaiming its protest againt misuse. In the examination of our daily life, however, guess-work must always play an important part, its value depending largely on the degree of flexibility exhibited by the medical man. He who starts with a wrong diagnosis, and refuses to modify his originally expressed opinion, in view of fresh facts, will more certainly lose the confidence of his patients than he who frankly admits his error. Guess-work, invaluable as an aid when scientifically used, only becomes a direct evil when it leads to an uncompromising dogmatism.-Boston Med. & Surg. Jour.

EXTRACTION FOR REGULATING.-It has always been a matter of dispute which teeth should be taken out where room is required in regulating. At almost every dental meeting this subject comes up, and very rarely is anything more reliable than personal opinion advanced. Dr. Perry has attacked the problem in a sensible way, and gives his results in the British Journal of Dental Science, January 1, 1884. He has tabulated 7,277 extractions for disease, and finds that 2,823 of these were first permanent molars, 737 were first bicuspids, and 944 were second bicuspids. As the statistics show that more first molars are lost than bicuspids we should, as a general rule, take out the first molar where the choice must be, as is usually the case, between this and a bicuspid.—Ibid.

NOTES REGARDING THE PRESCRIPTION OF CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE.-Dr. G. G. Davis, of Trewsbury, N. Y., writes: "Corrosive sublimate, mercuric chloride, perchloride of mercury, the latest and best antiseptic, seems to be but little understood by the profession in general. Chemically, it is represented by HgCl,, one mercury, and two chlorine. One atom of the latter element, not being entirely saturated by the Hg, tends to divorce itself and become free, to which fact the drug owes its potency. Great care should be taken in making it up into solutions, that the water should be filtered and distilled, or rain or snow water used in aqueous mixtures, or pure glycerine. These two articles are best vehicles, and most convenient, and should always contain a little of some chloride, as common salt, hydrochloric acid, or chloride of ammonium, to keep the saturation continuous. I am aware that physicians prescribe this drug in alterative mixtures, tonics or syrups with vegetable extracts and such trash, which render the remedy perfectly inert. In fact, I know of but two very simple tinctures in which it may be prescribed and hold its virtues, viz. gentian and cardamon. With tr. ferri chlor. and liq. acidi arseniosi of the new Pharmacopeia it forms a model remedy for pernicious anemia. This is also a scientific mixture which will not decompose, and is a fair sample of a prescription for its internal administration. I would again call the attention of the profession to the avoidance of all organic materials in a mixture containing corrosive sublimate."-Med. Record.

BEER.-The belief that beer is a healthful drink is constantly urged by manufacturers and lovers of this beverage, and physicians spread this delusion in many ways. It is not often that an unprejudiced person makes a careful study of the subject to see whether beer is really wholesome and life-giving or not, and so it is a pleasure to hear from one who has done SO. Col. Green, President of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, says: "In one of the largest cities, containing a great population of beer drinkers, I had occasion to note the deaths among a large group of persons whose habits in their own eyes and in those of their friends and physicians were temperate; but they were habitual users of beer. When the observation began they were, upon the average, something under middle age, and they were, of course, selected lives. For two or three years there was nothing very remarkable to be noted among this group. Presently death began to strike it; and until it had dwindled to a fraction of its original proportions, the mortality in it was astounding in extent, and still more remarkable in the manifest identity of cause and

mode. There was no mistaking it; the history was almost invariable; robust, apparent health, full muscles, a fair outside, increasing weight, florid faces: then a touch of cold, or a sniff of malaria, and instantly some acute disease with, almost invariably, typhoid symptoms, was in violent action, and ten days or less ended it. It was as if the system had been kept fair outside, while at the first touch of disease there was utter collapse; every fibre was poisoned and weak. And this, in its main features, varying, of course, in degree, has been my observation in beerdrinking everywhere. It is peculiarly deceptive at first; it is thoroughly destructive at the last." That the habitual use of beer, now so general, produces excessive and chronic congestion of the kidneys, leading gradually to the establishment of disease of these organs, there can be but little doubt. The disease produced is usually some form of Bright's disease.

Most physicians of fifty years of age, or more, are familiar with the fact that a generation ago Bright's disease was rare; now it is one of the most familiar causes of death. Every day's paper contains the names of its victims. The reason for this is manifest: it is the pernicious and foolish habit of daily indulging in beer-drinking.—Gaillard's Journal.

BISMUTH IN DYSENTERY.-Dr. Waxham, writing in the Archives of Pediatrics, speaks highly of the use of bismuth in rectal injection in cases of dysentery, claiming that it greatly abridges the ordinary course of that disease. From ten to twenty grains of bismuth are administered with mucilage of acacia and water after every evacuation, and if not sufficient in itself to control the frequent stools a little laudanum is added. Recently a child suffering from a severe attack of dysentery, with prolapse of the rectum with every passage, was almost immediately relieved. Within twenty-four hours the character of the passages was entirely changed, the tenesmus and frequent desire to stool relieved, and the prolapse did not recur after the second or third administration. This is only one of many cases where this remedy has been used with gratifying result.-Boston M. & S. Jour.

CHAPPED HANDS.-At a recent meeting of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, Dr. Carl Seiler called attention to the value of tincture of benzoin in the treatment of chapped hands and frosted feet. He has used it in a number of cases with much success. It is applied by simply painting it on the skin. The stocking may be prevented from sticking to the feet by rubbing some oil over the benzoin.-Polyclinic.