NEW-YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE. NOTICE We are requested by the "Committee of Arrangements," to give notice that the Anniversary meeting of the New-York Academy of Me-dicine will be held at the Broadway Tabernacle, on Wednesday the 10th November instant, at 7 o'clock in the evening; and to extend an invitation to the profession generally to attend, with their friends, upon that occasion, when an Oration will be delivered by Dr. JOHN W. FRANCIS. NEW-YORK SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF MEDICAL MEN. The Anniversary Dinner will take place at the Astor House, on Wednesday, 17th November, at 7 1-2 o'clock P. M. Those members of the Medical profession who feel an interest in the objects of the Society, are invited to participate. Price of Tickets, $3 00. JOHN G. ADAMS, EDW'D L. BEADLE, AB'M DUBOIS, Stewards. [DR. WASHINGTON.-As a substitute for a notice of the late lamented Dr. Washington, we copy the following from the Annalist of Sept. 15th, as better than anything we could prepare, and by no means too eulogistic of the deceased. The deceased was a member of the New-York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Barrowe has been "appointed to prepare his eulogy."—Ed.] On Monday afternoon, October 30th, after a short and severe illness, Jas. A. WASHINGTON, M. D., in the 46th year of his age. The unexpected death of the late J. A. Washington, M. D., has cast a gloom over the profession. One little week before it, and he was in unusually good health. Dr. W. was a native of one of the Southern states, and settled among us some fifteen years ago. He rose rapidly into eminence, and continued to the last to enjoy a very extensive and highly respectable practice. His loss is deeply regretted by his patients, who valued him not less as a physician than as a friend. Dr. W.'s manners were remarkably pleasing and affable. He was a very amiable man: singularly free from detraction, and had, we believe, no enemies. To the sick, whether rich or poor, he was unremittingly attentive, and it is even thought, by those who knew him best, to have injured his health by an excess of devotion to their interests. He was a sincere and practical Christian; in the duties of life, exemplary and irreproachable. Dr. W.'s professional character was unblemished. In consultation, he was candid, liberal, and wholly unassuming. In practice, he abounded in resources. He was a man of much information in his profession, and carefully kept pace with its progress. But a little while ago, Dr. W. made a short visit to Europe, and his health was rather deteriorated than benefitted by the journey. In the death of Dr. Washington, the profession has lost one of its most estimable and respectable members; the public a faithful and devoted servant and friend. A large number of his sincerely sorrowing brethren, in testimony of their esteem, attended his mortal remains to their final abode; and his spirit, it is permitted to hope, was prepared for the awful change which so suddenly overtook him. "Nunc placida compostus pace quiescat;" and his memory will live in the hearts of all who knew him, as that of a good man, and an honorable and benevolent physician. Oblivion should not be allowed to rest upon a career so creditable, alike to humanity and to his profession, of which, if he did not augment the resources, he at least enhanced the respectability. The post-mortem examination was made by Dr. Sabine, 18 hours after death. Present, Drs. Parker, Delafield, and Borrowe. The following is the account of the autopsy, as communicated to the editor of the Annalist, by Dr Sabine: External Appearances.-The body is not emaciated, but slightly jaundiced, and decomposition is commencing about the neck; on the abdomen are marks of leech bites, and a blister. Head.-Not examined. Chest.-Heart, normal. Left lung-upper lobe united by very old adhesions; the lung otherwise normal. Right lung-in the summit of the upper lobe was found a small obsolete tubercle, about the size of a buck-shot, while the posterior part of the lower lobe was congested. Abdomen. The subcutaneous cellular tissue loaded with fat about one inch in thickness. The muscular tissue was red and firm; on dividing the peritoneum, the omentum was found matted together, and lying over to the right iliac region, and adherent to the caput coli, where it formed part of the walls of a fœcal abscess, which was situated in the right iliac and lumber regions; the remaining portion of the walls of this abscess was formed partly by the caput coli, folds of the ileum, and the peritoneal lining of the walls of the abdomen; it was lined by a recently formed grayish false membrane; the cavity was about the size of a hen's egg, containing a small quantity of lightbrownish colored feculent matter; at the lower part of the abscess, the appendix cœci vermiformis was found in a gangrenous condition, and on its careful removal, it was found obstructed by a small body about the size and shape of a bean, lodged about half an inch from its connection to the cœcum. Beyond this, the vermiform process was gangrenous; there was a small perforation at its extremity, from which the feculent matter had escaped. The mucous coat of the caput coli was red, thickened, and covered with small granules of lymph; the remaining portion of the colon was healthy. Several folds of the ileum and jejunum were adherent by recently-formed lymph, but there was very little effusion into the abdominal cavity. Stomach and spleen, normal. Liver about its natural size, of a yellowish granular structure; the gall bladder was filled by dark, greenish, inspissated bile; gall ducts clear. Kidneys. The left enlarged, and in the early stage of granular disease; right, healthy. 2. Foreign Medical Intelligence. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. On the Function of the Red Corpuscles of the Blood, and on the Process of Arterialization. By GEORGE OWEN REES, M. D.-(Proceedings Royal Soc., June 3d., 1847.) The author states that he was first led to the new theory he has formed for the explanation of the chemical phenomena of respiration, and more especially of the change in the color of the blood which occurs in that process, by having observed that a garlic odor, similar to that evolved from phosphorus, was produced by agitating in distilled water, the clot obtained from some specimens of venous blood. His attention was consequently directed to the investigation of the state in which the phosphorus exists in the blood; and the result of this investigation was the theory, of which the following is a succinct outline. The venous corpuscles are known to contain fat in combination with phosphorus. This compound ingredient of the corpuscles, on coming into contact with atmospheric oxygen during the respiratory act, is consumed, and combining with that oxygen, forms the carbonic acid and water which are expired, and also phosphoric acid, which, uniting with the alkali of the liquor sanguinis, forms a tribasic phosphate of soda. This salt, like many others, acts upon hæmatosine in such a manner as to produce the well-known bright arterial tint. The analyses which the author has performed, in order to test the correctness of this theory, were made upon the blood, both of the veins and of the arteries, of the same animal; and also upon separated portions of the same venous blood; one of which portions had been artificially arterialized by having been brought into contact with air, while the other portion had not been so exposed. These comparative experiments showed that arterial blood, both when obtained from the vessels, and when artificially produced, contains in its serum a larger proportion of tribasic phosphate of soda than that obtained from the veins. The venous corpuscles, as they are contained in the clot, yield a fatty matter combined with phosphorus; while those from arterial blood yield a fat, the ashes of which manifest an alkaline reaction. Thus the venous corpuscles are shown to be acted upon both by respiration and by the artificial arterialization of the blood, in such a manner as to lead to the formation of tribasic phosphate of soda, at the expense of the phosphorus they contain. No exact quantitative analyses were attempted by the author, the comparative experiments having been performed on smal. portions only of serum (from 25 to 40 grains); sufficiently large, however, to furnish satisfactory evidence of the actual presence of the phosphate in arterial blood, and also in those portions of venous blood which had been arterialized out of the body; while no such indications were obtained from similar portions of the blood contained in the veins. At the conclusion of the paper, the author notices the experiments of Enderlin, in which no alkaline carbonate could be detected in the ashes of blood; and shows that this is the natural consequence of the phosphates of the clot being oxidized during combustion, and thus supplying a quantity of phos phoric acid sufficient to decompose completely the alkaline carbonate produced by the incineration of the lactate and albuminate of the serum. Most specimens of serum, even as obtained from arterial blood, yield an alkaline carbonate when incinerated; and this is always the case with the serum of venous blood. The author, therefore, thinks himself warranted in regarding the conclusion founded on Enderlin's experiments, that the blood contains no lactate, as being erroneous.-Am. Jour. Med. Sciences. Structure of the Ganglia of the Spinal Nerves. BY RUDOLPH WAGNER. (Comptes Rendus, May 10th, 1847.)-The discovery of the true structure of the ganglia, or at least of the ganglia of the spinal, trifical and pneumogastric nerves is an important one for the physiology of the nervous system. found the same conformation first in the torpedo, and afterwards in the ray and shark. Each elementary fibre which comes from the root of a cerebral or spinal nerve is prolonged into a ganglionary globule, (nervous corpuscle) in which a nucleus and nucleolus may be seen. From each ganglionary globule another nervous fibre arises, which extends into the peripheric branches of the corresponding nerves. Sometimes the medulla of the fibre is seen clearly to penetrate into the ganglionary globule itself; at others, more delicate nervous fibres arise from them and the primitive fibres gradually enlarge and assume the ordinary appearance. I was astonished, continues Dr. W., at this structure of the ganglia, which must certainly be the same in man and the other vertebrata. This discovery will change our views of the physiology of the nervous system, and the course we have pursued. But anatomy will always be the basis of physiology.-Southern Jour. Med. and Phar. Experiments on the Properties and Functions of the Spinal Cord and their relation to those of the muscles. By M. BROWN SEQUARD. [Comptes Rendus, May 10th, 1847.]-From experiments on frogs, M. Sequard shows that after the division of the spinal marrow, the animal retains the power of contracting the muscles of the posterior extremities; that the strength of the contractions diminished for some time after the division, but that it gradually increased, and at two hours after the operation, the contractile power is twice as great as before the operation. Twenty-four hours after, it is three times as great as before; it remains at this from five to twenty days, and then gradually declines to below the natural standard. The force of the contractions was measured by weights attached to the feet by small hooks. The experiments were instituted to test the independent action of the spinal cord as a generator of nervous power, as proclaimed by Marshall Hall, and fully confirm it.-Ib. Are the movements of the Heart dependent on the Spinal Cord and Brain? By DR. JULIUS BUDGE. [Gazette Med. de Paris, June 5th, 1847, from Arch. Fur. Physiol.]-After passing in review the whole subject, historically and experimentally, Dr. Budge arrives at the following conclusions: 1. The Medulla Oblongata is the central organ of the movements of the heart, inasmuch as it maintains the irritability of the voluntary muscles. 2. The Medulla Oblongata is also the central organ of the reflex movements of the heart; but its influence is not marked, because, 3. The movements of tho heart are principally movements of irritation, and partake very little in the reflex movements of the rest of the body. 4. The ganglia of the sympathetic nerve are not the central organs of the movements of the heart; they neither produce nor keep up its rhythm, but appear to destroy the influence of the voluntary and reflex principle. 5. The brain (of the frog) has no direct evident influence on the movements of the heart, but a decided indirect influence." —Ib. SURGERY. Wounds and Injuries of the Abdomen.-General Conclusions. By G. J., GUTHRIE, F. R. S. 1. Severe blows on the abdomen give rise to the absorption of the muscular structures, and the formation in many instances of ventral hernia; this may, in some measure, be prevented during the treatment, by quietude, by the local abstraction of blood, and by the early use of retaining bandages. 2. Abscesses in the muscular wall of the abdomen, from whatever cause they arise, should be opened early; for although the peritoneum is essentially strong by its outer surface, it is but a thin membrane, and should be aided surgically as much as possible. 3. Severe blows, attended by general concussion, frequently give rise to rupture of the solid viscera, such as the liver and the spleen, causing death, by hemorrhage. When the hollow viscera are ruptured, such as the intestines of the bladder, death ensues from inflammation. 4. Incised wounds of the wall of the abdomen of any extent rarely unite so perfectly (except, perhaps, in the linea alba) as not to give rise to ventral protrusions of a greater or less extent. 5. As the muscular parts rarely unite in the first instance after being divided, sutures should never be introduced into these structures. 6. Muscular parts are to be brought into apposition, and so retained principally by position, aided by a continuous suture through the integuments only, together with long strips of adhesive plaster, moderate compression, and sometimes a retaining bandage. 7. Sutures should never be inserted through the whole wall of the abdomen, and their use in muscular parts, under any circumstances, is forbidden; unless the wound, from its very great extent, cannot be otherwise sufficiently approximated to restrain the protrusion of the contents of the cavity—the occurrence of which case may be doubted. 8. Purgatives should be eschewed in the early part of the treatment of penetrating wounds of the abdomen. Enemata are to be preferred. 9. The omentum, when protruded, is to be returned, by enlarging the wound, through its aponeurotic parts if necessary, but not through the peritoneum, in preference to allowing it to remain protruded, or to be cut off. 10. A punctured intestine requires no immediate treatment. An intestine, when incised to an extent exceeding the third part of an inch, should be sown up by the continuous suture recommended in pages 26 and 27. 11. The position of the patient should be inclined towards the wounded side, to allow of the omentum, or intestine, being closely applied to the cut edges of the peritoneum. Absolute rest, without the slightest motion, should be observed. Food and drink should be stricted when not entirely forbidden. 12. If the belly swells, and the propriety of allowing extravasated or effused matters to be evacuated seems to be manifest, the continuous suture or stitches should be cut across to a certain extent, for the purpose of giving this relief. 13. If the punctured or incised wound is small, and the extravasation or effusion within the cavity seems to be great, the wound should be carefully enlarged, and the offending matter evacuated. 14. A wound should not be closed until it has ceased to bleed, or until the bleeding vessel has been secured, if it be possible to do it. When it is not possible so to do, the wound should be closed and the result awaited. 15. A gunshot wound penetrating the cavity can never unite, and must suppurate. If a wounded intestine can be seen or felt, its torn edges may be cut off, and the clean surface united by suture. If the wound can neither be seen nor felt, it will be sufficient for the moment to provide for the free discharge of any extravasated or effused matters which may require removal. 16. A dilatation or enlargement of a wound in the abdomen should never |