observation, at the end of one year; the other two were recent cases. Three of these twelve cases were personal cases. Eight of them were of the round-celled variety; 2 spindle-celled, and in 2 no microscopic examination was made, although amputation was advised by prominent surgeons; five were sarcoma of the tibia; one of the fibula; two of the femur; one of the forearm; one of the humerus; one of the thigh, involving the periosteum; one of the calf of the leg. In all of these cases amputation had been seriously considered, but it seemed justifiable to give the toxins a trial before resorting to operation.

As to the final results of personal cases, of 34 which may be fairly classed as successful, in that the tumor disappeared under the injections with the mixed toxins, the type of the neoplasm is as follows: 12 round-celled, 16 spindle-celled, 2 mixed celled, I epithelioma, 3 no microscopical examination made, but the clinical appearance together with a history of recurrence left practically no room for doubt as to the diagnosis.

The results in these cases thus far have been as follows: 4 were well less than a year; 3 were well for one to two years: 3 were well from two to three years; 3 were well from three to five years: 23 were well from five to thirteen years. In five cases a recurrence took place and finally proved fatal. In one of these recurrent cases the patient had remained well for eight years; in one three and a quarter years; in one two and a half years; in one seven months; in one six months.

These five cases of recurrence, the author argued, are important in that they furnish absolute proof of the correctness of the diagnosis and refute the statements formerly often made in regard to the successful cases, namely, that there must have been an error in the diagnosis.

The writer states that he has been able to collect 56 cases of complete or partial success obtained by other men; of which 17 were round-celled sarcoma; 14 spindle-celled; 2 mixed celled; 3 endothelioma; 2 epithelioma; and in 18 no microscopical examination was made, or it was not recorded; but in all of these cases the clinical diagnosis was confirmed by a number of surgeons, and the patients were considered hopeless from an operat

ive standpoint. The results in these cases were as follows: 13 were observed less than one year; in 6 the tumor disappeared and the patient remained well from one to two years; in 9 the tumor disappeared and the patient remained well from two to three years; in 12 the tumor disappeared and the patient remained well from three to five years; in 9 the tumor disappeared and the patient remained well from five to eleven years; in 5 cases recurrence took place six months to two years later; two died during the treatment, one of pyemia due to staphylococcus infection, the other of septic absorption, the tumor being a large intraabdominal sarcoma which had completely degenerated.

Dr. R. E. Fort, of Nashville, Tenn., followed with a paper on LAMINECTOMY, in which he reported a case that he had successfully operated upon, with recovery of the patient.

The following papers were read by title: "End Results in APPENDICITIS WORK," by Dr. Edward E. Balloch, Washington, D. C.; "Two CASES OF VAGINAL CESAREAN SECTION FOR ECLAMPSIA," by Dr. John F. Moran, Washington, D. C., " CESAREAN SECTION NECESSITATED BY OBSTRUCTION OF PELVIS BY RIGHT HALF OF BICORNUATE UTERUS," by Dr. Geo. S. Brown, Birmingham, Ala.; "PENETRATING WOUNDS OF THE ABDOMEN. WITH REPORT OF CASES, INCLUDING A CASE OF TRAUMATIC RUPTURE OF CONGENITAL CYSTIC KIDNEY," by Dr. C. E. Caldwell, Cincinnati, Ohio; "THE VICIOUS CIRCLE AFTER GASTROENTEROSTOMY," by Dr. John B. Deaver, Philadelphia, Pa.; "SOME OF THE USES OF PELVIC MASSAGE," by Dr. Joseph Taber Johnson, Washington, D. C.; "RECENT PROGRESS IN THE SURGERY OF THE VASCULAR SYSTEM," by Dr. Rudolph Matas, New Orleans, La.

OFFICERS: The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Dr. George H. Noble, Atlanta, Ga.; Vice-Presidents, Dr. Stuart McGuire, Richmond, Va., and Dr. E. Denegre Martin, New Orleans, La.; Secretary, Dr. W. D. Haggard, Nashville, Tenn., re-elected; Treasurer, Dr. Chas. M. Rosser, Dallas, Texas, re-elected.

Baltimore, Maryland, was selected as the place for holding the next annual meeting.

Becords, Begollections and Beminiscences.

COMPOUND COMMINUTED FRACTURE OF THE THIGH — A TRIUMPH OF ENFORCED

CONSERVATISM.

BY A. A. LYON, M. D., SURGEON C. S. A., OF NASHVILLE, TENN.

Ir was on the bright Sunday morning following the historical flanking movement of the wonderful Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, after he had rolled up as a scroll the legions of General Hooker, on the late afternoon of May 2, 1863, that my regiment, the 48th Mississippi, became engaged with the Federal Army immediately in front of the famous Chancellor house. In this conflict the losses in my command were very heavy, and perhaps I may be permitted to say, that in my ambulance corps the per cent. of casualties far exceeded the losses in the fighting line, due to a notion of my ambulance sergeant, an intrepid Jew named Newman, who rigidly construed his duty to take care of the wounded to mean that he and the other litter bearers should keep within a hundred feet, more or less, of the fighting line, and that, too, standing upright and ready for instant action. The result was that he lost that morning about half of his corps. This, however, is parenthetical; and what I especially desire to present is a compound comminuted fracture of the femur in the person of Frank C., a private in the line.

He was a young man of twenty or twenty-one years of age, dark complexion, hair, and eyes, not especially robust but in good health. He was struck by a minie or Enfield ball nearly in front of the left thigh, about the middle of the upper third, and just below the trochanter major. The wound externally was, as usual, insignificant in appearance, but produced a comminuted fracture of the bone extending up to the hip-joint presumably, and, as I thought at the time, possibly into the

articulation. If my memory serves me right, at this late date, the opening was enlarged and some fragments of bone extracted. The injury was so high up as to preclude amputation of the thigh, and the verdict of other surgeons and myself was that if amputation was performed at all it would have to be at the hip joint.

At that time, as you all know, a hip-joint amputation was regarded as a very heroic measure, and scarcely justifiable under any but extraordinary conditions, and especially so did this seem to me in a field infirmary with miles of ambulance and railroad transportation to the nearest hospital. Besides that I was young and relatively inexperienced, and naturally distrusted my ability to tackle anything so formidable as such a serious capital operation, especially under the existing conditions. More than that, I had been trained along casuistic lines by a pious mother of the good old Presbyterian faith, to practice the "Golden Rule," at all times and under all circumstances, in my associations with my fellow-men in this life; supplemented by the injunction of one of my earliest teachers, the illustrious surgeon, Warren Stone, of New Orleans, who was accustomed to say to his classes: "Young gentlemen, when you go forth into the world to practice your profession, and have lying before you a helpless, suffering human being who looks to you and you alone, and depends absolutely upon you for succor in his helpless state of distress, do unto him exactly what you would have him do unto you if your conditions were reversed."

Well, my private opinion at the time, although unexpressed, but nevertheless in full force, was, that if I, A. A. Lyon, a surgeon of the Forty-eighth Mississippi Regiment, had that shattered limb hung to me, no callow army surgeon should try his neophytic hand on my anatomy. And in addition, to be perfectly frank, I was only too glad to hide behind this lofty casuistical bulwark, from a sneaking suspicion that had I attempted this job I probably would have left a dead man on the table, with my star, up to this time in the ascendent, suddenly dimmed and in a sad state of decadence, sinking behind a very black cloud. No, I would not amputate at the hip-joint; rather than

this, I would splint and bandage the, member, send C. to Richmond, to the care of the hospital surgeons there, and more especially to the care of a beneficent Providence, for I did not. believe the doctors would be able to do him much good.

This I did. As carefully and skilfully as possible I placed the sadly wounded limb in splints and bandages made the poor fellow as comfortable as I could, or rather I should possibly say, as little uncomfortable as I could, shoved him into an ambulance, and sent him to the nearest railroad station for transportation to Chimborazo or Winder Hospital, in the Capital City.

Perhaps I breathed a prayer for the well-being and recovery of poor C., but of this I am not certain; but it is certain that I had scarcely a hope for a favorable issue in this case, and felt when the poor boy passed out of my sight that he had gone forever.

Amid the stirring scenes then upon us, soon followed by the great and disastrous invasion of Pennsylvania, C. measurably passed out of my mind, and I heard nothing from him. Some six months later, more or less, I was surprised and greatly delighted to see him return to camp; he was dressed in new homespun clothes, looking well fed and fat, and in a perfect state of restoration, barring at least six or eight inches that originally contributed to the length of his leg. With the aid of one crutch he got around with comparative ease and comfort.

As stated, I lost sight of him after he left the battlefield of Chancellorsville. He reported, however, that he lay several months in the hospital at Richmond, and gradually recovered without any special operation, and then went home on furlough, and later came back to Virginia. I do not remember now whether he remained in the service on detached or post duty, or was retired or discharged; but such as I have here given is a true history of this case.

Now, Mr. President and Gentlemen, you will of course not understand me as exploiting this case as an illustration of my skill in surgery; it was a demonstration clearly of the vis medicatrix nature, the opportunity being afforded by the conjoined