able to be discharged. Dr. Oldenburg thinks the condition can not be regarded as a post-epileptic mental disturbance, because of the interval that elapsed between the last attack and the onset of mental symptoms. He thinks it was determined by the iodoform poisoning acting upon a nervous system predisposed by epilepsy to grave disturbance.-London Lancet.

A PASTEUR INSTITUTE AND VIVISECTION.-An exceedingly temperate and able article has appeared in the February number of the Indian Medical Gazette, by Surgeon-Colonel Harvey, relating to the founding of a Pasteur Institute in India. The article was called forth by the misguided opposition to the scheme of the Bengal Branch of the Anti-vivisection Society. As has usually been the case, the anti-vivisectionists have taken up the cudgels armed with quite insufficient facts, but nevertheless have succeeded in stirring up public sentiment to a considerable degree. It is Dr. Harvey's purpose in his paper, and he succeeds most admirably, to go. over with care the much-disputed ground, and from the standpoint of a large-minded man, who is not personally a vivisectionist, to weigh the arguments for and against the practice. His conclusions are those to which every one must come who has the best interests of scientific medicine at heart, and who is able to see the inevitable tendency of future investigations. To the moralist it may appear a strange anomaly that progress must be along lines which entail death and a certain amount of suffering to lower animals, but in the light of the brilliant results of experimental medicine during the past few years it is hard to see any other alternative for the future. Aided by Dr. Harvey's article the Pasteur Institute will doubtless be founded, and enter upon a career of constantly increasing usefulness.— Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

CARBOLIC ACID GANGRENE.-Lannay (Annales de Méd.) states that a considerable number of cases have already been recorded in which carbolic dressings have caused gangrene. He relates the following case to show that this may result, as he believes, even when a weak solution of carbolic acid is used. The patient is a man aged fifty, who, during the war in 1871, suffered from a frostbite of the right foot. From this, however, he recovered without losing any of his toes. In 1894, after exposure to cold, the same phenomena as in 1871 showed themselves, but after three months the patient was again cured. In December of the same year, after exposure to cold the toes of the right foot became bluish, and the pain being worse in the following month, a doctor recommended a carbolic foot bath. Three baths of three quarters of an hour were taken each day, a solution of about three per cent being used. In the interval between the baths the patient kept a wet dressing of the same solution wrapped round the fourth toe, the one most affected. After three or four days of this treatment the fourth toe began to show signs of dry gangrene, but the patient persisted for some days in continuing the treatment without consulting his doctor again. He

was then found to have a dry gangrene of the whole of the right fourth toe, which Lannay considers to have been determined by the carbolic acid. He points out that the solution used was made without any alcohol or glycerine, that under these circumstances the carbolic acid may not be completely dissolved, and undissolved crystals may come into direct contact with the skin.-British Medical Journal.

THE DIAPHRAGM PHENOMENON.-Martius (Wien. med. Woch.) calls. attention to the visible movements of the diaphragm, such as have been chiefly described by Litten. This important physical sign has not received the attention which it deserves. During the last three years the author has looked for it nearly in all cases frequenting his policlinic, and his results completely accord with those of Litten. This diaphragm phenomenon is really the result of the function of the complementary space formed by the lower part of the pleural sac. The walls of this space touch each other in ordinary breathing, but in deep breathing the diaphragm becomes flattened, and the diaphragmatic pleura is separated from the costal pleura, while the lung enters the space so formed. The sign is thus constituted by the up and down movement of the lower margin of the lung in this complementary space during forced breathing. The patient must lie in a horizontal position, with the feet toward a good window light; then in deep inspiration a shallow furrow will be seen traveling downward toward the insertion of the diaphragm, and during expiration it moves upward toward the classical mid-diaphragm position. The limit between the liver and lung can thus be traced. This phenomenon reveals (1) whether the medium position of the diaphragm is the normal one, (2) whether the complementary space is free, and (3) whether the breathing is sufficient. The author says that it may always be seen in normal individuals, except in great obesity and a few other cases. It is more marked on the right than on the left side. The wave follows shortly after the commencement of deep inspiration. It is absent in pleuritic adhesions, in exudations into the pleural cavity, in emphysema, etc. The high position of the diaphragm in cases of peritoneal effusions can be made out.—Ibid.

PERSONAL. Dr. L. Miller Woodson, of Gallatin, Tenn., a graduate of the medical department of the University of Louisville, has recently been elected Lecturer on Dermatology in the Medical Department of the Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tenn. The many friends of this genial and accomplished young physician will be happy to hear of his promotion, and will join us in wishing him luck in the onward march to wealth and fame.

A TAX ON PHYSICIANS.-The North Carolina Medical Journal writes editorially, in sharp language, concerning a recent bill in the State legislature levying a tax of ten dollars a year on every practicing physician. Such legislation is unprecedented, and seems to have absolutely no reasonable foundation.

Special Notices.

AMENORRHEA.-J. E. Prichard, M. D., Baltimore, Md., says: "Aletris Cordial I think a most excellent remedy and have used it in ten cases of suppressed menstruation, in all of which with best results. Among my patients were four unmarried women, one aged twenty years, had her menstruation arrested six months, when she came under my care. She was swollen and suffered considerable pain at each monthly period, but she had no show of any catamenial discharge. I placed her on Aletris Cordial, teaspoonful doses, three times a day. She continued it for seven days when she menstruated. I ordered her to commence again five days before her expected time to menstruate, which she has done. She is now regular and suffers no pain. Have also used it in cases of vaginal leucorrhea with a happy result. In cases of hysteria, which we sometimes find complicated with leucorrhea, I have combined it with Celerina.

M. Sig. Teaspoonful every three hours for one day, then the next would give it four to five hours.

I am happy to say that it has not failed to give relief in all cases in which I have prescribed it.

I HAVE for a number of years been subject to periodic attacks of hepatic congestion, and, after going the usual rounds without much benefit, I determined to try Peacock's Chionia. I am free to say that the results obtained from the use of two bottles were eminently satisfactory. Prior to its use my urine was very light colored and it was gratifying to see it return so promptly to its normal condition. The sclerotic change was also very perceptible. Peacock's Chionia is a frequent ingredient of my prescriptions. I have had remarkable results from its use.

J. PIERCE ROBERTS, M. D., Shenandoah, Pa.

REPORT from E. A. Grant, M. D., Louisville, Ky.: "I hesitated to exhibit Stearns' Wine of Cod-Liver Oil as I had little faith in it, but finally gave the bottle to an ill-fed and badly nourished girl, who had for months before I saw her suffered with scrofulous tumors and ulcers. The effect was prompt and most satisfactory, and I shall hereafter prescribe it with the utmost confidence."

LABOR SAVING: The American Medical Publishers' Association is prepared to furnish carefully revised lists, set by the Mergenthaler Linotype Machine, and printed upon either plain or adhesive paper, for use in addressing wrappers, envelopes, postal cards, etc., as follows:

List No. I contains the name and address of all reputable advertisers in the United States who use medical and pharmaceutical publications, including many new customers just entering the field. Price, $1.25 per dozen sheets.

List No. 2 contains the address of all publications devoted to Medicine, Surgery, Pharmacy, Microscopy, and allied sciences, throughout the United States and Canada, revised and corrected to date. Price, $1.25 per dozen sheets.

The above lists are furnished gummed, in strip form, for use on the "Plymouth Rock"* mailer, and will be found a great convenience in sending out advertising matter, sample copies, and your exchanges. If you do not use a mailing machine, these lists can readily be cut apart and applied as quickly as postage stamps, insuring accuracy in delivery and saving your office help valuable time.

Send for copy of By-laws and Monthly Bulletin. These lists will be furnished free of charge to members of the Association. See "Association Notes" in The Medical Herald. CHARLES WOOD FASSETT, Secretary, corner Sixth and Charles streets St. Joseph, Missouri.

Certainly it is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than any thing else.-RUSKIN.

Original Articles.

THE MEDICAL CONFERENCE AT MUNICH: BEHRING'S
DIPHTHERIA SERUM.*

After a graceful opening address by Prof. v. Ziemmsen, in which he said nothing of especial interest on the question in hand, the President introduced Professor Heubner, of Berlin, who said that though perfectly in accord with those who decry the all too large number of conventions as great disturbers of serious individual work, still he felt convinced that with so serious a topic as "Heil Serum," the vast importance of which can not yet be estimated, the present convention was more than called for. Here followed a short sketch of the serum question, in which mention was made that while other clinicians, fully conscious of their helplessness in the face of the deadly disease, wandered restlessly from one remedy to the other in the vain effort to find a true specific, Behring had quietly gone to work on the subject of immunizing animals and the power the serum derived from these immunized animals to confer the same safety on other sound ones.

These experiments proving eminently satisfactory, there arose the question whether or no this same serum could with safety be used in the case of man without causing serious pathological changes. These investigations, made with the greatest care and skepticism, being successful, the remedy was ready for use; in the mean time there set in an epidemic, which, according to the speaker, though not especially mild, was certainly not severe. He further mentioned, apropos of the spreading of epidemics, what was first observed in our country, that they

*Reported for the American Practitioner and News by Florence Brandies, M. D., Louisville, Ky.

always have their starting point in cities and afterward spread to the country.

According to Heubner, the results arrived at in the various hospitals in the last six months pointed to almost double the number of cures secured by the use of serum as compared with other forms of treatment. He concedes that, due to the popular desire for this method of treatment, the average severity was somewhat disturbed, thus making a comparison between the mortality of this epidemic and that of former years a rather precarious undertaking; still, according to him as well as to Widerhofer (Vienna), this circumstance alone would not be sufficient to explain the great reduction in mortality among those cases injected. Further, that among three thousand serum cases collected at random the number of cures had risen rapidly to eighty per cent.

Heubner next broached the question, What is diphtheria? and urged that the diagnosis be based solely upon positive bacteriological results, and that uncertain cases be called diphtheroid, scarlatina, etc. Hereupon followed a report of his cases, of which 207 were treated in Berlin, and 20 in Leipsig; 26 of these were complicated, the rest running a normal course. Of the complicated cases he lost 13 per cent; the uncomplicated only 10 per cent. He dwelt upon the fact that if the case was presented early for treatment the prognosis became favorable, and vice versa, and in the general run of cases the first prognosis became the final one, in contra-distinction to all previous experiences; also that he observed in nearly all cases a favorable influence upon the course of the fever, as well as an earlier disintegration of the membrane. There was no increase in albuminuria nor extension of the process to the lower airpassages, provided these were intact at the time of admission of the little sufferer. Though among 181 uncomplicated cases 9 presented every evidence of laryngo-stenosis upon admission, tracheotomy was no longer necessary after the effects of the first injection became evident; on the other hand, in the case of four or five children injected on the second or third day, the serum partly or entirely failed to produce the desired effect. Of Heubner's cases 16 per cent suffered relapses; paralyses, 7.4 per cent; still he urged that these results could not be accepted as a proof against the efficiency of the serum, and disclaimed all serious injuries resulting therefrom. He reported that of sixty-four immunized children two were attacked with diphtheria within six weeks after the injection, one of which, a sufferer from chronic pneumonia and very much debilitated, succumbed to the disease.