of the patients varied from five months to nine years with the exception of one who was over twenty. In all the cases the symptoms subsided or became more marked according as antipyrin was given or withheld. Dr. Guaita thinks that the good effect of the drug is due partly to its inhibitory action on the nervous system, and partly to its antiseptic properties; he calls it the "sovereign remedy, for the present at least, in whooping cough." He gives twenty five centigrammes of antipyrin in twenty-five grammes of syrup of orange peel, with an equal quantity of distilled water, in four doses in twenty-four hours, increasing the dose of antipyrin to one or one and a half gramme, according to the indications. If the cough causes vomiting he finds a small quantity of hydro chlorate of cocaine given with the antipyrin most useful.

URINARY INCONTINENCE. Dr. J. T. Richards, of Birkenhead's Children's Hospital, (Brit. Med. Jour.), recommends a combination of belladonna and bromide of potassium. For a boy aged twelve years, he gives ten to fifteen grains of the bromide, with ten to fifteen drops of the tincture of belladonna, every night. He reports excellent results, even in cases in which the same remedies, given separately, had produced no effect.

NO ERGOT IN THE AFTER STAGE OF PARTURITION, According to a correspondent of the Association Journal, Dr. Blanc, of Lyons, has concluded from a study of ninety-two cases, that there is scarcely any appreciable difference in the mensuration of the uterus whether ergot is or is not employed. Dr. Blanc, therefore, feels authorized to say that involution is better accomplished when there is abstention, and he conIcludes his notes as follows: 1. That ergotine employed during the first five days, has no influence whatever on the regression of the uterus. That this medicament, employed after parturition, may oppose, in a certain measure, the retraction of the organ. This medicament, already prescribed by him during pregnancy and during labor, should equally be prescribed during post partum, except, however, in case of secondary hemorrhage, where its action is the more sensible the nearer the confinement,

2.

SURGERY.

THE PREPARATION OF CATGUT. (John C. Schapps, M. D., of Brooklyn, New York, in Med. Record.)- For the last four or five months I have been making use of the following simple, and thus far satisfactory, process in preparing catgut. The gut, in as long pieces as can be procured without knots, is placed, with sufficient ether to cover it, in a widemouthed glass-stoppered bottle. What is known as a six ounce, German XX saltmouth is an economical size, as the internal diameter just permits the ordinary coil to lie flat. The stopper should, of course, be a very perfect fit. The ether soon becomes discolored and gives off a strong animal odor, and should be changed every day or two until it remains colorless and has no impure scent. The catgut in a few days is nearly white, and has a peculiarly clean feel. The fatty and other soluble organic matter being removed, it is probably now perfectly aseptic. Certainly aqueous germicidal solutions can easily penetrate it. It is, however, my custom to wind each piece upon a glass spool, and keep it in a small bottle containing an ethereal solution of mercuric bichloride, one to one thousand. By means of a needle the end of the catgut is passed through a cork, which need not be removed until the spool is empty. The tensile strength of the catgut appears in no way affected by this process, though it rapidly loses its stiffness in water.

IMPROVED Method of AmpUTATION OF The Penis.— The most unpleasant symptom following amputation of the penis is the funnel-like retraction of the urethra, which causes the patient endless discomfort. Dr. Assaky overcomes this by dissecting the pars spongiosa of the urethra from the penis, for about an inch beyond the superficial incision. Then the corpora cavernosa of the penis are cut through from below, leaving about half an inch of the urethra protruding beyond. The tunica albuginea and the skin are then brought over the stump of the pars cavernosa and stitched around the protruding urethra. This will retract to some extent, leaving a very natural looking meatus.- Centralblat fur Chirurgie.

TREATMENT OF CYSTIC TUMORS.-Dr. Barthe, physician to the Broussais Hospital, has published a note on a new method of treatment applicable to synovial cysts, sebaceous wens, and, in general, to all cystic tumors of the skin and of superficial regions. Starting on the principle that arsenical injections determine a moderate inflammation of the tissues

which does not go on to suppuration when certain very simple precautions are taken, and which is often followed by an atrophic process, the author considered this remedy a convenient means of treating certain tumors which are benign in their nature, but are inconvenient, and for which one often hesitates to advise a surgical operation. The first case tried was that of a girl, aged twelve, with a synovial cyst of the wrist, the size of a walnut, of several months' duration. Two minims of Fowler's solu. tion of arsenic were injected into the cavity of the cyst. The operation produced sharp pain; next day there was swelling and tension of the sac. This soon diminished, and in ten days the tumor had entirely disappeared without leaving a trace of its existence. He has treated other cystic tumors with equally good results.-Paris Cor. of N. Y. Medical Record.

TO REMOVE FOREIGN BODIES FROM THE THROAT.- A British naval surgeon, Dr. Beveridge, states that for foreign bodies in the throat, such as pieces of meat, etc., a simple mode of relief is to blow forcibly into the ear. This excites powerful reflex action, during which the foreign body is expelled from the trachea. The plan is so easy of execution that, if there is anything in it, it ought to be generally known and applied.-Am. Med. Jour.

ALCOHOL INJECTIONS IN NEVUS.-Dr. Thomas H. Holgate (Arch. of Ped.) advises the treatment of vascular nevi by hypodermic injections of 95 per cent. alcohol. He confines the alcohol, for a few moments, by encircling the part treated by a metallic ring.

TRANSLATIONS.

BROWN-SEQUARD'S LATEST BREAK.-The Progres Medical, of June 8, 1889, contains the following resume of remarks made by BrownSequard at the meeting of the Biological Society, on June 1, 1889:

Effects of the testicular liquid upon the organism. In his course at the Medical School, in 1869, the author had already examined the reciprocal effects of the nervous system on the glands, and the glands on the nervous system, independent of their secretions, and solely by the modifications which the blood undergoes while traversing the glands. He had discovered that, theoretically, the influence of the testicles was enorIn 1875, he practiced grafts of the entire animals, or that portion containing the testicles, and he had failed except in a single case. An old and feeble dog who received a graft of a piece of the testicle in his thigh, was endowed with relative youth.

mous.

Lastly, Brown-Sequard had tried upon himself an experiment instituted in the following manner:

He inoculated himself with hypodermic injections of a mixture of blood coming from the spermatic veins, and the juice of the bruised testicle of a young animal, with a little water. Three experiments were made with the testicles of the dog, and three with those of a Guinea pig. They were painful, accompanied with redness of the skin, but harmless. Under these circumstances the muscular power was augmented, or rather revived, in considerable proportions. Intestinal atony, which is one of the torments of the old, disappeared, and defecation became normal. The bladder recovered its power, and the urinary jet was increased. At the same time, brain work became easy.

ipated in this return to youth.

The other systems also partic

Brown-Sequard thinks this action is due especially to the venous blood escaping from the glands, for injections of the sperm, or the filtered spermatic fluid, produced nothing but abscesses.

M. Fere had observed phenomena of increased mental activity in the demented, and even in idiots, under the influence of acute febrile affections, such as pneumonia. He asked if the local lymphangites, which Brown Sequard observed upon himself, were not the point of departure of a sub-febrile condition which caused the increased activity following the injection of the testicular liquid.

B. Sequard responded that the dynamic effects were especially marked after injections without local reaction; moreover, every day nod.

ular inflammations are observed, the result of the injection of the alka. loids, especially morphine, without producing the increased activity which follows the injection of testicular liquid.

M. Dumont pallier was of the opinion that imagination enjoyed a certain role in these cases. He had seen a patient with empyema suddenly improve, get well, and live seven years, as the result of transfusion of blood made in extremis, which was a failure from impossibility of finding the vein. Injections of ether in the dying furnish similar examples.

On June 8th, B. Sequard called attention again to the communication above mentioned. He repeated that the good effects upon himself at first were apparent in the augmentation of the muscular force, finally upon the mental activity. He can remain standing three hours in his laboratory, and work after supper. The power of expulsion of feces has been greatly augmented, and he has no longer to resort to mechanical means or purgatives. The new fact to which he would call attention is the persistence of the effects of these injections. They are dynamic and not organic, for we cannot conceive what organic modifications can be imparted to the center of the sphincters, for example, and B. Sequard proposes soon to experiment upon the nature of this dynamic influence.

Furthermore, castrated women are constantly veritable female eunuchs, and lose both in an intellectual and physical point of view. Injections of ovarian liquids should be tried in these women. a new order of experiments which he will shortly begin.

There is

Let us see if doctresses, already aged, will want to try upon themselves injection of ovarian liquid. He would be happy to make these trials, and he has asked the scientific press to spread this proposition abroad.

He had treated two patients, an advocate and a notary, both aged and feeble, who have derived a certain benefit from excitation of the testicular function by an incomplete masturbation.