WRIGHT'S "Liquor Carbonis Detergens." 66 The following Prescriptions for ‘Liquor Carbonis Detergens" are included in Standard Works on Dermatology. When writing advertisers, please mention THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. had aborted during the first month of pregnancy, and made slow recoveries from the resulting anemia, a complete cure ensued after four weeks' use of pepto-mangan. In six cases of weakness and impoverished blood, after chronic and acute exhausting diseases, a subsidence of the feeling of weakness and considerable improvement of the general health were observed. Unpleasant by-effects were never noticed. I cannot conclude my review of the chief publications in the literature of this subject without pointing to the gratifying fact that the pepto-mangan of Gude has secured a firm place among the most favored remedies, far beyond the borders of our country. I would refer here only to two articles that appeared in the New York Medical Journal, by Dr. Hugo Summa, Professor of Pathology and Pathological Anatomy, and the other by Dr. C. A. V. Ramdohr, Professor of Gynecology. Judging from these two reports, both these American authors, while resorting in part to other methods of examination, reached the same results in regard to the effect of pepto-mangan in primary and secondary anemia as their European colleagues. Lime Water vs. Milk of Magnesia.- Lime water should contain 0.17 per cent. calcium hydroxide, Ca (OH)2,-about 12 grains to the pint; but of many samples, obtained from reputable pharmacists, the strength varied from 1.92 to 7.40 grains of lime Phillips' Milk of Magnesia contains 24 grains of magnesium hydroxid, Mg HO2, to the ounce, and is always of uniform composition and definite strength. A teaspoonful is equivalent in acid-neutralizing power to four ounces of lime water. A teaspoonful of Phillips' Milk of Magnesia added to a pint of fresh cow's milk gives it the correct alkalinity for invalids and infants, and will not as a rule in this proportion act as a laxative. If a laxative effect is desired one to two teaspoonfuls, or more, may be added to each feeding. Phillips' Milk of Magnesia does not impart any foreign odor or taste to milk as obtains with lime water, and is less bulky. It prevents the rapid precipitation of the casein in the stomach and the formation of dense curds, and overcomes any tendency to constipation. Munn's Cod Liver Oil.-In view of the fact that the cod liver oil industry is on the increase, the buyers of the manufactured product (which is to be put through the freezing process) should use every precaution and care in having the quality kept up to a high standard. There should be no mixing of various qualities, with the intent that the best grades may sell the poor article, and in the purchase of the oil a strict supervision should be made. Newfoundland cod liver oil, thanks to the persistent and careful work of Mr. W. A. Munn, has reached that degree of perfection that it now practically holds the market, and to preserve that reputation no effort is too great or system too rigid to be made. Adulteration or mixing up of different grades of oil can have but one result, and when that has been brought about, it will be too late to have proper supervision exercised. To show to what extent substitution is practised by the sellers of cod liver oil in England, we have the word of a merchant, who lately returned from a visit there, that Newfoundland brown seal oil is offered there for cod liver oil. The color and odor of the palmed-off article were too apparent, and the seller had to be told of his wrong-doing. To keep our cod liver oil pure, wholesome and free from all mixtures is a matter of such importance that a law should be made by which heavy fines would be inflicted for any attempt in that direction."-Harbor Grace Standard, June 5th, 1903. Allenburys Foods. The "Allenburys" Milk is identical in chemical composition with maternal milk and is as easy of assimilation. It can therefore be given alternately with the breast without fear of upsetting the young infant. The "Series" is so arranged that each "Food" affords the maximum amount of nourishment that, at the period for which it is intended, the organs of the child can with perfect ease digest. Evidence of the great value of our system of infant feeding is constantly accumulating through letters received from nearly all parts of the world, not only from parents, but also from prominent members of the medical profession, telling of the very gratifying results attending their use of the 'Allenburys" Foods, often in cases apparently hopeless, and after many other artificial foods and modified milk had been tried. 66 SAMPLES SENT ON REQUEST. The Allen & Hanburys Co. Limited Toronto, Can. London, Eng. Niagara Falls, N.Y. When writing advertisers, please mention THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. THE TREATMENT OF MENSTRUAL DISORDERS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CASES IN WOMEN SUFFERING FROM MENTAL DISEASES.* BY GEORGE S. WALKER, M.D., STAUNTON, VA, First Assistant Physician in charge of Female Department, Western State Hospital, Staunton, Va., etc. THE Connection between disorders of menstruation and disorders of the brain and nervous system has long been an established fact. The dependence of the psychic functions of women upon the menstrual function; the effects of the menopause upon mentality, are all subjects that have received the attention of clinicians for many years. It is a well-known fact, correlated to the peculiar connection between the mind and the sexual apparatus, that amenorrhea is not infrequently met with in the insane. The problem as to how to treat insanity is one of the most difficult in therapeutics; and in the modern conception of this treatment all agents that tend directly or indirectly to further the equilibration of the mental functions have a legitimate place. One of the most difficult phases of this problem is the treatment of the menstrual disorders in insane women, and the importance or correcting any such disorders in this class of patients is realized by all who are aware of the fact noted by numerous clinicians, that the improvement of the menstrual function leads to a marked amelioration in the mentality of these patients in very many instances. In an institution like the hospital with which I am connected, we naturally come face to face frequently enough with the question of treating the amenorrhea that is noted as an accompaniment of mental disease, and for a long time I have been experimenting with various therapeutic agents recommended for the treatment of menstrual disorders without obtaining perfect satisfaction from any, until I tried the method of treatment which I am about to describe. What I was looking for was a safe and efficient emmenagogue, which gave positive results in cases of amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, and suppressed menstruation, without either exciting or depressing the patient, without causing any disturbances on the part of the digestive tract, or the urinary tract, such as are met with in the use of most of the remedies classed as emmenagogues. I knew that Apiol, the active principle of Apium petroselinum, Linne (Parsley), was a substance that had long been known to possess marked emmenagogue properties, but that had not been used extensively in this country on account of certain unpleasant after-effects connected with its administration. On investigation, I found that Apiol was first isolated by Joret and Homolle in 1855, and was at first recommended for malaria, as a substitute for that specific of specifics-quinine. Later its emmenagogue virtues became known, but it found far less favor in this country than in France, the American physicians being especially prone to reject any remedy that has disagreeable after-effects. Apiol seemed to me the ideal emmenagogue, and I was even tempted to try it, administering it in such a way as to neutralize its irritant action, when I came across a statement in an article on the subject, to the effect that the Apiol on the market, no matter where purchased, was full of a series of impurities, and that the bad after-effects of this drug were due to these impure elements. *Thus, Sutton and Giles, in their work on the Diseases of Women, point out that "If in such a case menstrua tion comes on again, the metal condition often improves." |