as to passage of urine,-only too often reten | leucine, tyrosine, uric acid, peptone, and sugar tion occurring, and, owing to carelessness, may be overlooked. For the convalescence, a nourishing, light diet and some good tonic will be found of great benefit. ABSTRACTS. THE LIQUID OF ALBUMINOUS PERIOSTITIS. Under the name of "albuminous periostitis" gave negative results. In addition to the extractive matters was some fat, at times abundant and again present in insignificant traces. Incineration of the fixed residue yields ashes in which the chloride of sodium predominated, and which includes, besides potassium, calcium, sulphuric and phosphoric acid, some carbonate of sodium. Of all the pathological fluids whose compo M. Ollier was the first to describe a rare mal-sition is accurately known, that of hydrarthroady characterized by the accumulation beneath the periosteum and in the periosteal layers of a colorless or yellowish fluid, filamentous and albuminous, similar to synovial fluid. At a meeting of the Academy of Sciences a note by M. L. Hugounenq upon the subject was presented by M. Armand Gautier. The etiology and nature of this disease are yet but little understood, notwithstanding the numerous works upon the subject. M. Hougounenq has, therefore, undertaken repeated analysis of the fluid withdrawn by successive aspirations from two patients attacked by albuminous periostitis. The fluid is transparent, yellowish, decidedly alkaline, of a specific gravity generally varying from 1020 to 1035, and frequently holds fat-globules in suspension. It coagulates a little below 80° C. (176° F.) on account of the presence of a large proportion of albuminoid material. Contrary to what one would expect in an albuminous product, the liquid, when in free contact with the air, is not very prone to decomposition, although, according to M. Dor, it contains staphylococci. Immediate analysis demonstrates the presence in the exudate of two proteid matters, a nucleo-albumen which, decomposed by pepsin, furnishes about 13 per cent. of nucleine with 1.75 per cent. of phosphorus, and an albumen which, according to all the reaction, may be identified with the sereine of the serum of the blood. The extractive matters are represented by a small quantity of urea (about 0.02 per cent.), and about four or five times as much succinic acid, which M. Hougounenq was able to sepa rate in the form of definitely crystallized and perfectly white succinate of calcium. Inde pendent of these components, the periosteal exudate incloses a small quantity of nitrogenous matter. Examination for creatine, sis the nearest resembles the periosteal exudate. In the latter liquid are found the same proportions of fixed residue, of nucleo-albumen, serine, extractive matters, and of salts, the principle of which is chloride of sodium. The qualitative and quantitative resemblance between the two fluids is so close that they cannot be distinguished as regards chemical composition. These analytical results may, either now or at a later time, be able to throw some light upon the pathology of a disease so little known as albuminous periostitis.-La Tribune Médicale. TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS BY SUCCINIC ACID. At a meeting of the Academy of Medicine M. Lancereaux recalled the fact that in March of last year he had communicated to the society a work of Dr. S. Caravias relative to the treatment of tuberculosis by substances which produce succinic acid in the organism, and which, for that reason, have been called succinogenic. Among such substances are raw meat, fats, bimalate of calcium, benzoic acid and its salts, non-acidified pepsin, asparagin, carrots, green peas, etc. The recognition of succinic acid in the urine. is very difficult. M. Couturieux, interne of pharmacy under M. Lancereaux, has adopted for this estimation a very delicate process, in which he treats the urine successively with barium, absolute alcohol, and hydrochloric acid. Finally he takes up the precipitate by alcohol at 90°, which, upon evaporation, leaves behind succinic acid. By this means M. Couturieux has been able to detect as much as 3 or 4 grammes (45 grains to I drachm) of succinic acid to the litre (134 pints) of urine of patients subjected to the regimen of Dr. Caravias. Chemical ex aminations no less exact than the preceding | formulæ, in which one hydrogen atom of car have enabled him to prove that succinic acid exists in the urine at least in the form of an acid combination. We may inquire, What is the action of succinic acid? Is it effective by destroying the microbe? Dr. Caravias considers it idle to think that any substance carried by the blood can exert an influence upon the tuberculous matter which incloses the microbes. As this matter is destitute of vessels, it cannot be acted upon by any drug. The succinic acid, therefore, has no effect upon the tuberculous matter, but upon the tissue in its vicinity, where, by virtue of its antiseptic power, it prevents invasion by the bacillus. In other words, the acid modifies the soil, allowing the tuberculous deposit to pass through all its stages, and be eliminated by the expectoration which may be stimulated by the use of expectorant medicines. Since the first communication, Lancereaux has reported to the academy the notable amelioration which this treatment has produced in nearly all the tuberculous patients upon whom it has been tried. He declared, in fact, that, excepting those cases in which all intervention was useless on account of too extensive a destruction of the diseased organs, relief, and at least apparent cure, had been obtained at a period not far removed from the beginning of the malady. He would not venture to claim an absolute cure, because, before we can make such a positive assertion, a certain number of years must elapse. If, at the end of three or four years, no renewed tuberculous manifestations supervene, it may be surely claimed that the treatment proposed by Dr. Caravias is, in fact, efficacious. It is a rational method, and always well supported by the patients.-La Médecine Moderne. bolic acid is replaced by a methyl group, it is evident that there are three possible isomeric modifications of the cresols. These three modifications of the cresols are all known, and are called ortho-cresol, meta-cresol, and paracresol, respectively. The preparation of these bodies in a pure state is an extremely difficult operation, the principal difficulty consisting in their separation from each other when mixed, as their boiling-points are very close. Ortho-cresol boils at 188° C., meta-cresol at 201° C., and para-cresol at 198° C. It is indeed possible to prepare them individually by the action of nitrous acid upon the corresponding toluidines, or from the toluene-sulphonic acids, in the same manner as carbolic acid is prepared from anilin, or for benzene-sulphonic acid. Further, ortho-cresol is obtained alone from camphor, meta-cresol from thymol, and para-cresol from the decomposition products of animal secretions. None of these methods are, however, sufficiently simple to admit of their economical application for the production of a medicinal product. The preparation of the three mixed cresols in a state of chemical purity must, therefore, be regarded as a great advance in chemical technology. The choice of the name trikresol for the mixture of the three pure chemical compounds is extremely fortunate as compared with the hyperphantastic and irrelevant nomenclature usually indulged in. In the crude carbolic acid, erroneously called 100-per-cent. carbolic acid, the cresols are contained together with other bodies. The great disinfectant value of this product is, undoubtedly, due to its percentage of cresols. It has been attempted to bring this so-called 100 per cent. carbolic acid into a condition of TRIKRESOL—' AS A DISINFECTANT FOR HYGIENIC SURGICAL PURPOSES. AND The advantages and disadvantages of car bolic acid are sufficiently well known to warrant the search for substances free from its poisonous properties that still retain its utility. Those compounds in close chemical relationship to carbolic acid were the first investigated. The nearest homologues of carbolic acid are the cresols, which are also obtained from coaltar, together with carbolic acid and numerous other products. As represented by chemical as solvent. This preparation, known as creolin, yields a milky solution when mixed with water, but the lowered percentage of disinfectant ingredients, especially of cresols and the irritant qualities of the solution of resin soap, have placed certain limits on the use of this preparation. Solveol is a solution of the same product in sodium cresotinate. The solvent possesses no great disinfectant properties, and the composition of this preparation is as liable to variation as the former. Solutol has a similar character. Lysol is a solution of 100-per-cent. carbolic acid in soap | rium coli commune was found; in the second solution. All these preparations have found case, the staphylococcus aureus; and in the useful employment in medical practice, but third, the streptococcus pyogenes associated their use must be considerably limited by vari- with the staphylococcus aureus and albus. ation in the percentage of cresols, or by the presence of deleterious bye-products. These facts are apparent in the diverse results obtained with them by different experimenters. The preparation of the cresols in a pure state demonstrates, however, that no special solvent is required to make an aqueous solution. The pure cresols dissolve alone to the extent of 2 to 2.5 per cent. in water at ordinary temperatures, and a 1⁄2-per-cent. solution suffices, as a rule, for external application, although the strength can be increased to 2 per cent. as occasion arises. The cresols are, indeed, only insoluble when contaminated with either liquid or solid hydrocarbons, as is the case in the so-called 100-per-cent. carbolic acid. According to the interesting experiments of Grübner, a 1-per-cent. aqueous solution of the cresols answers to all surgical requirements. This new product is, therefore, an important discovery, because it is now possible for medical men to prescribe trikresol in a series of preparations of constant composition, which were formerly only obtainable as specialties under various names and of uncertain composition.-DR. O. LIEBREICH, in Therapeutische Monatshefte, January, 1894. It seemed to result from these investigations that the bacterium coli commune can take part in the production of false membrane, since it was isolated in two case.-La Tribune Médicale. LACTOPHENIN. M. Landowski has made a brief report to the Biological Society concerning his experiments, in the service of Professor Proust, with a new product called lactophenin. This substance differs chemically from phenacetin in containing lactic instead of acetic acid. While phenacetin is only soluble in 1400 parts of water, lactophenin dissolves in the proportion of 1 part to 330. Lactophenin is a white, absolutely tasteless powder. The ordinary dose is 60 centigrammes (about 9 grains); the maximum quantity to be given at one dose is 1 gramme (15 grains); the maximum daily dose is 3 grammes (45 grains), given in divided portions. The therapeutic action of this drug is, at least, as rapid and energetic as that of antipyrin. It has the advantage of being tolerated by patients who cannot take antipyrin. Furthermore, while medium doses of 60 to 70 centigrammes (9 to 10 grains) produce a BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE FALSE powerful antineuralgic effect, I gramme, MEMBRANES OF DIPHTHEROIDAL SYPHILIDES. At a meeting of the Biological Society, MM. Hudelo and Bourges said that examination of the microbes concerned in producing false membranes upon the surface of syphilitic lesions has been limited to two cases. The first study of this subject was published by M. Bourges, and the second by M. Boulloche. In both cases the streptococcus pyogenes was isolated. It might, then, be asked whether the pseudomembranous formation in diphtheroidal syphilides was subordinated to the constant presence and evident predominance of the same microbe, just as the bacillus of Löffler is characteristic of diphtheria, or the streptococcus of scarlatinal angina. The writers had endeavored to elucidate the question by the examination of four new cases. They have been convinced that, in most cases, different pathogenic microbes are present. For instance, in the first and fourth cases the bacte taken at a single dose, has an hypnotic action. -La Tribune Médicale. ABSORPTION OF GUAIACOL BY THE SKIN. At a meeting of the Biological Society, MM. Linossier and Lannois, of Lyons, gave the result of their researches in regard to the absorption of guaiacol and its elimination by the urine after application to the skin. Their experiments place the cutaneous adsorption of guaiacol beyond doubt. The absorption occurs just as readily when the subject breathes air admitted through a tube from without the chamber in which he is placed. Pulmonary absorption may, therefore, be excluded. As a result of painting 2 grammes (1⁄2 drachm) of guaiacol upon the skin, elimination by the kidneys is already apparent after a quarter of an hour. The amount passed in the urine is at its height from one and a half to four hours after, and has been seen to attain 3 grammes (45 grains) per litre (134 pints). It decreases rapidly after six or seven hours. After twenty-four only a trace can be found. The total proportion eliminated has amounted to as much as 1.11 grammes,—that is, 55.5 per cent of the quantity applied. The results of these studies are thus given: 1. As many physiologists still deny that the skin has any absorbent power, it is of interest to find a substance in regard to which the integument has an absorbent capability comparable to that of the intestine. woman begins to chew, a large quantity of rather suspicious fluid issues from Steno's duct. The canal was catheterized by M. Perier, but no salivary calculi were found. The diagnosis of parotid tumors, salivary calculi, and acute parotiditis could be readily eliminated. The condition could not have been due to the drugs mentioned, or it would have disappeared when they were suspended. The patient exhibited well-marked lesions of nodose rheumatism, and it may be conjectured that the chronic double parotiditis was of rheumatic origin.-La Tribune Médicale. A NEW SOLVENT FOR URATES. 2. From the practical point of view the painting of guaiacol may be utilized in order to take the place of ingestion or the subcuta- A substance with which Peterson has reneous injection of that substance or to supple-cently experimented is the hydroxide of tetrament the effect. The authors insist upon the ethylammonium, a non-toxic substance, soluble necessity of enveloping the painted surface with an impermeable covering for the purpose of assuring absorption and of repeating the applications, as the elimination of the guaiacol absorbed is very rapid.—La Tribune Médicale. CONGENITAL ABSENCE OF LUNG. Professor Tikhomiroff, of Kiev, exhibited a preparation of the right lung and the heart of a woman 24 years of age. There was a congenital absence of the left lung. The case was of interest from the practical as well as theoretical point of view. (a) The normal nutrition and development of the body had not been impaired. (b) The pulmonary apparatus is, in the first periods of embryonic life, single; for in the case described there was no indication of the left bronchus, and the pulmonary artery had but a single trunk.-Russian correspondence of La Médecine Moderne. CHRONIC PAROTIDITIS. At a meeting of the Medical Society of the hospitals, M. Alex. Renault presented a pa tient who was the subject of double chronic parotiditis. The patient was a woman, 41 years of age, without morbid antecedents, and in whom no evidence of syphilis existed. Four years ago she had been treated for a sore throat of syphilitic appearance by M. Hip. Martin, who ordered pills containing corrosive sublimate and iodide of potassium. At the end of fifteen days both parotid glands swelled and the pills were discontinued. The glands have remained swollen ever since, being larger in winter and smaller in summer. When the in water and employed in the form of a 10-percent. watery solution, of a bitter taste and alkaline reaction. The doses are from 1⁄2 to I cubic centimetre (7 to 15 minims) of this solution three or four times a day. It is claimed to give good results; better when administered by the mouth than when given by subcutaneous injection.-La Médecine Moderne. ULCERATIVE ENDOCARDITIS. At a meeting of the Biological Society, M. Etienne reported a case of ulcerative endocarditis, which appeared to be due to the bacterium coli. The blood of the heart and of the spleen, collected six hours after death, inclosed the bacillus.—La Tribune Médicale. PUERPERAL PARAMETRITIS AND ASCITES. Dr. Larsen describes the case of a woman, 25 years of age, who had been confined twentyfive days before entering the hospital with a decided ascites. A short time after her confinement she had suffered from fever. Upon percussing the abdomen the navel suddenly ruptured and discharged an abundance of thin pus. After this time the patient recovered quite rapidly, so that she was discharged as cured at the end of about six weeks. The writer conceives that the disease began as a double sided parametritis, and as an anterior parametritis extended upward toward the navel. The upper limit of dullness describes a concave curve, the outer extremity of which was at the junction of the ninth rib with the axillary line, and the middle was a little below the navel. This outline indicated that a fluid exudate was present in both broad ligaments. The exudate | doughy. Discolorations, similar to those of had pressed the peritoneum upward above the fundus uteri and had, therefore, remained extra-peritoneal. The author calls attention to the rapidity with which the disease vanished when, in the fourth week after confinement, the pus was discharged.-Deutsche medisinal-Zeitung. PECULIAR COURSE OF SEPTICO PYÆMIC AFFECTIONS, WITH REMARKS UPON ACUTE DER MATOMYOSITIS. At a meeting of the Berlin Society for Internal Medicine, Dr. Fränkel laid stress upon the fact that various infectious diseases gave rise to lesions of the peripheral portions of the body, as the skin and joints, and, less commonly, the bones. Erythema occurs in scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, acute articular rheumatism, endocarditis, angina, gonorrhoea, and syphilis. Not infrequently the patients perish with symptoms of intoxication. Affections of the muscular system are less often observed. Waxy degeneration is found in typhoid fever, and diffuse alterations in syphilis. In 1887 Unverricht and Wagner gave to a recently recognized disease of the muscles the name of "multiple progressive myositis." This malady attacks a great portion of the muscular system and occasionally causes death. The muscles are painful, swollen, and feel doughy to the touch. The overlying skin exhibits oedema without inflammation. Fever and swelling of the spleen are also present. When the muscles of deglutition are involved, death takes place from impaired respiration or occurs in consequence of the development of pneumonia. Unverricht regards the disease as acute dermatomyositis, as the skin also is the seat of various forms of eruptions. The speaker gave a description of three cases of muscular disease of infectious origin and denominated them septico-pyæmia. A woman, 32 years of age, who had suffered since September, 1891, with left sided suppurative otitis, was, on March 10, 1892, brought to the Urban Hospital on account of pains in the arms and joints. She died at the end of thirty-six hours. There had been swelling of both the upper and lower extremities, of the joints upon the back of the hands, of the feet in the region of the malleoli, associated with redness and pain extending far up the limbs. The muscles were very tender and erythema nodosum, existed. At the necropsy there was found gelatinous oedema of the muscles, which were pale, but spotted from numerous hæmorrhages. There was no pus in the joints. Many streptococci were present in the cedematous spots and in the muscles. The invasion of the latter was manifestly due to the purulent otitis. The middle ear and adjacent portion of the mastoid process contained an abundance of pus. The second case was that of a woman, 43 years of age, in whom a peculiar swelling of the face had remained after an attack of erysipelas, which she had in the year 1884. In the middle of June, 1892, she was attacked by vertigo and loss of consciousness, and, fourteen days later, was received into the hospital suffering from dyspnoea. The face was bloated, the neck swollen, there was dilatation of both sides of the heart and the veins of the upper abdominal region. There was a weakening of the sounds behind the sternum as if due to an impediment to the circulation by the presence of a tumor in the anterior mediastinum. Fourteen days after the patient had been dismissed as improved, she returned on account of pain in the right ear and in the joints, tumefaction of the overlying skin, rapidly-developing swelling of the left upper extremity, and perforation of the membrana tympani. At the autopsy a lipoma, with destruction of the vena anonyma, was found behind the sternum. There was gelatinous oedema of the muscles of the left arm. Streptococci were present in the oedematous fluid, but few were detected in the muscular tissue. There was suppuration of the right tarso crural and left knee joints. The third patient was also female, aged 25 years. She had suffered from goitre and dyspnoea since she was 18 years old, and for four weeks had been troubled by pains in the arms and sensitiveness to pressure over the articulations. At the base of the right lung, posteriorly, there was a weakened murmur. On one of the hands was a bluish, slightly fluctuating elevation. The arms were swollen and oedematous. In this case there was likewise a diffuse purulent myositis. Numerous abscesses were found in the muscles of both arms. In other situations gelatinous oedema was discovered. The goitre was of the cystic variety and contained pus, in which were recognized the same streptococci which existed |