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fuchsin, which were stoppered in exactly the same manner. In the presence of moisture the penetrating power is practically nil. These experiments can lead to but one conclusion; namely, that formaldehyd must be regarded and employed as a surface disinfectant, and can never be anything else in spite of its power of penetration under favorable conditions.

Hot Boric Acid Baths in Gonorrheal Myositis. -Dr. Braquehaye had under treatment a woman who suffered from gonorrheal vulvovaginitis (Lancet). Injections of potassium permanganate had been used and stopped the secretion almost completely, when she unexpectedly began to complain of severe pain in the right arm, and three centers of induration formed in the muscles of this limb. One of these swellings was situated very high up in the axilla; it presented the shape and size of an almond and was evidently imbedded in the pectoralis major, the slightest contraction of this muscle giving rise to intense pain. The second focus of induration was situated in the central part of the biceps and was about the size of a filbert. The third and last focus, which was imbedded in the mass of the epitrochlear muscles, was extremely painful.

The intense suffering caused by these foci of myositis, which were evidently of gonorrheal origin, rendered the arm quite powerless and prevented the woman from sleeping, in spite of the administration of 5-centigram doses of extract of opium, and of inunctions of mercurial ointment with belladonna. This method of treatment failing to bring any relief, Dr. Braquehaye had the limb wrapped in compresses, soaked in a hot solution of boric acid in water, the whole being covered with mackintosh and a cotton bandage; the arm was then put in a Mayor's sling. These applications gave the patient some relief, but only temporarily, as the pain increased as soon as the compresses cooled.

In addition to the moist wraps, large hot boric acid water baths were now prescribed, in which the whole arm was immersed for an hour at a time, this procedure being repeated several times a day. The patient at once experienced great relief; she was enabled to -sleep, and only suffered from pain on moving the limb. The prolonged immersion in water led to a state of maceration of the epidermis, and the moist wraps were therefore discontinued, their place being taken by inunctions,

in the intervals between the baths, with a mixture of equal parts of guaiacol and oil of sweet almonds, with cotton wool as a covering. The patient was rapidly cured by this treatment.

Cyclical Albuminuria.-In the Archives of Pathology (La Med. Mod.: Am. Med.-Surg. Bull.) Dr. Abelmann reports two typical cases of cyclical albuminuria, wherein he confirms the observations made by other authors and adduces some new facts.

The affection is met principally in children and adolescents, especially if they are anemic and are given to much intellectual work. It often follows the different infectious diseases. In the first patient it came on after an attack of typhoid fever and measles; in the second after the measles, complicated with pneumonia, the whooping-cough and scarlet fever. The patients complained of general weakness, headache, pain over the spinal column, somnolence, and of inability to concentrate their minds on their studies. Albumin was invariably found in the urine during the first half of the day, never in the evening or night-time. Muscular exercise does not increase the albuminuria, but intellectual work does. During the summer vacations the albumin disappeared for months at a time. Microscopical examinations were always negative. There were no cylinders, no epithelial cells, no blood-corpuscles.

The author is inclined to regard cyclical albuminuria as a functional disease, though not denying the possibility of such albuminuria in genuine kidney-diseases. The etiology is obscure, but different theories have been suggested. The most important of those theories are: (1) A faulty renal innervation; (2) a functional disturbance of the liver; (3) a diminution of the blood pressure in the Malpighian glomerules; and (4) a weakness of the vascular walls. The author is skeptical toward all of those theories, but offers none of his own. The prognosis is favorable, as almost all cases reported have terminated in complete recovery.

As to treatment the author is not in favor of rest in bed, nor of a milk diet. Little school work, fresh air, an easily digestible and richly albuminous diet, avoidance of excitement and moderate exercise will effect a cure.

Injuries of Parturition.-A. H. Tuttle, in a paper read before the American Medical Association (Journ. Am. Med. Assoc.), concludes that the obstetrician who to-day boasts that in

his practice he has no lacerations of the cervix and perineum, proclaims to the world his ignorance of this branch of his profession. It is as much the duty of the obstetrician to his patient to see that she is properly repaired as to see her safely delivered. The public should be educated to the fact that injuries to the soft parts of the parturient canal are often inevitable, and that such injuries only cast a reflection on the professional attendant when their aftertreatment is neglected. A physician in whose practice a laceration of the parturient canal has occurred can protect himself in no better way from a legal attack for alleged malpractice than by calling in assistants, who serve as witnesses, within twenty-four hours of the time of the accident, and repairing properly, or offering to repair, the injuries which his patient has sustained. There is no better time to repair the injuries of parturition than within twenty-four hours of the time of the occurrence; such immediate repair of the injury will often hasten convalescence and prevent in many cases severe pelvic complications. The obstetrician should be educated to do this part of his work in a more careful and thorough manner. The injuries already sustained by a multipara in previous labors should be an incentive rather than an objection to the careful treatment of the lacerations of her present delivery, because a repair of her total injuries can be accomplished at the same time.

Turbinotomy.-This operation has been performed for the relief of obstruction to respiration of neurosis and of persistent catarrh. Greville MacDonald (Brit. Med. Journ.; Brooklyn Med. Journ.) defines the operation as the entire removal of the lower turbinated body. The operation is one of the gravest of nasal operations because of the excessive hemorrhage. MacDonald condemns the operation as a mutilating one, and believes that the same results may be gained by removing the soft parts with the cautery, snare or knife, leaving the bone intact. Tissues are thereby saved which are of physiological importance. As a result of turbinotomy the nasal secretions will be materially diminished and this condition will predispose to chronic laryngitis and pharyngitis, just as in anemic and atrophic conditions of the nasal mucosa. T. W. Carmalt Jones reported permanent relief in tinnitus aurium where cauterization of the inferior turbinates gave only temporary relief. In some cases mouth-breathing, sneezing and asthma had

In these cases the

given way to turbinotony. sense of smell was improved. Secondary hemorrhage, otalgia and suppurative otitis media had rarely occurred. Primary hemorrhage was not excessive as a rule. It occurs to the author that in this operation the old surgical axiom will aptly apply, "Save what can be saved." We believe with Dr. Bryson Delevan that turbinotomy is unscientific in that it proposes to remove more tissue of the nasal passages than is necessary, when relief to the patient can be given by more conservative surgery.

Diseases In Pencils and Penholders.-Germs of infection are lurking in the most innocent looking substances (Pediatrics; Atlantic Med. Wkly). An alarmist article has recently been written entitled "Money, the chariot of disease," in which the probable danger of contracting and transmitting infectious complaints by means of money is pointed out. The progress of a coin is traced through part of its career and its disease-spreading course is sketched in a realistic manner. Perhaps the

article in question is rather overdrawn and depicts an improbable state of affairs, but there is one point in it which is worthy of notice. The habit common to some persons of holding coin in the mouth is referred to. This custom is unfortunately not restricted to money, but is followed in the case of various articles.

A daily journal gives the following account of an inquiry lately instituted in Boston: "An investigation of the spread of diphtheria among the pupils of the public schools of this city has led to the conclusion that it is largely caused by the use of pencils and penholders. Health Commissioner McShane sent a communication to the school board recommending a different system than the one in vogue of collecting the pens and pencils at the close of school each day and redistributing them the next day. The commissioner says the children place the pencils in their mouths and disease is thus communicated from child to child by their indiscriminate use. He has recommended that each child use the same pen and pencil every day, and that all the penholders and pencils be sterilized."

New Theory of Cheyne-Stokes Respiration.In a clinical lecture at the Brompton Hospital, Dr. Maguire stated that not even Felehne's views of the pathology of this condition was satisfactory (Clin. Journ., Cincinnati Lanc.Clin.). He showed that in disease great depres

sion of the higher cerebral centers was an invariable accompaniment; that in health the phenomenon occasionally occurred in adults during deep sleep, when the higher cerebral control was relaxed; very frequently during sleep in infants and idiots, in which the cerebral controlling apparatus was imperfectly developed. He said that there was evidence to show that the respiratory center in the medulla was controlled and kept in balance by a higher cerebral mechanism, and asserted that yawning and involuntary sighing were instances of irregular action of the respiratory center when relieved of control by exhaustion or depression of the higher centers. He related experiments which proved that removal of the cerebral hemispheres produced CheyneStokes respiration in the frog. It was shown also that lower centers when relieved from control or when exhausted were prone to show in their action irregularity of rhythm. Dr. Maguire therefore concluded that CheyneStokes respiration is caused by a stormy unbalanced action of the respiratory center, due to a depressed vitality of itself or of its higher controlling mechanism.

Quinine in Malaria.-Dr. J. G. Van Marter of Savannah, Ga., in an interesting article (Va. Med. Semi-Monthly) claims that quinine is not a specific in malaria, excluding the simple intermittents. He summarizes his views as fol lows:

1. As a preventive, quinine will not do for those who are compelled to live indefinitely in a severe malarial climate; in time it will act as a vaso-motor poison.

2. Quinine acts nearly as a specific in all malarial fevers characterized by intermissions or well-marked remissions, but fails in the continued fevers, those with typhoid-like symptoms, those malarias without temperature, and the cachexias and anemias due to malaria. 3. Proving thus that quinine is a poison to - the plasmodium itself, but useless against the toxin manufactured by it.

4. Warburg's tincture in the last condition has an action not yet understood on the toxin (or the eliminative system) by which the system is put in a condition to benefit by quinine.

5. Quinine should never be used in hemoglobinuria, or given subsequently, to one who has suffered from it; being liable to bring about a recurrence of the condition.

6. Only those living in regions of severe malarias can become competent to settle these questions pro or con.

-Chorea in Pregnancy.-From an observation of seven cases, D. Daken finds (Phila. Med. Journ.) that chorea is a much more fatal complaint in pregnant women than in children. Whether this is due to the existence of pregnancy or whether the danger is common to all adults, whether pregnant or not, the present cases are not sufficiently numerous to determine. Especially worthy of note is the fre quency with which mania complicates the disease. In all but one of the reported cases the patient became maniacal. Chorea is more frequent in first pregnancies than in later ones, and a former attack of chorea (in childhood, as a rule) or of acute rheumatism, has a marked influence in producing a liability to a recurrence in the first pregnancy succeeding such an illness. In only four of the cases were the movements very severe; this proves that in a fair proportion of instances this disease is mild in ⚫ form. The choreic movements are not easily affected by emptying the uterus; in only one case did they subside at all rapidly. The induction of labor or abortion gives the woman the best chance of safety in severe cases. Chloroform is of service only as long as the patient is anesthetized. Hyoscin is vastly superior to morphine in controlling the mania. In the fatal cases there was noted a marked hyperpyrexia - 106 degrees and over — just before death.

Acute Osteomyelitis.-The Medical Record contains the following extract from the International Surgical Journal: Rapidly increasing pain in an arm or a leg, accompanied by swelling without redness or swelling and fluctuation, together with high fever and chills, is a typical picture. This is one of the emergencies of surgery. Free incision to the bone, with chiseling into its marrow, should be at once performed. There is no pus, as a rule, in these early cases, but the periosteum is easily peeled from the bone. Timely operation "prevents necrosis. Any bone may be the seat of the osteomyelitis, but it is the most common in the long bones.

Adherent Prepuce and Convulsions.-J. Herbert Darey (Med. News; Medicine), writes of three cases of adherent prepuce which caused stupor and convulsions in male children. Operative interference gave relief in all cases. The author observes that an examination of the glans and prepuce should be made in all cases of convulsions in male children after eliminating all other possible causes.

New Publications.

Cocke's Hypnotism.-Hypnotism:

How It Is Done; Its Uses and Dangers. By James R. Cocke, M.D. Cloth, 375 pages. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1897.

Dr. Cocke has given in this work a very fair presentation of the advancement of hypnotism both in respect to its demonstrated field of usefulness and the methods developed. Dr. Cocke has employed hypnosis in about 1,300 cases, mostly Americans, but some French, Germans, Danes, Russians, negroes and others, and asserts that national characteristics alter the manifestations, particularly between northern and southern races. "Hypnotism in the United States," says the author, "is a very different thing from hypnotism in France." The result of the author's investigations is to make him a firm believer in the importance of hypnotism, both as a healing agent and as a sociological factor. Discussing the use of hypnotism in surgery, Dr. Cocke agrees with Bernheim that hypnotism can never wholly supplant the use of ether, etc., as an anesthetic for surgical purposes, but having employed it in forty-eight cases of minor and major surgery, gives it as his experience that a larger number of persons can be made insensible to pain than Dr. Bernheim and his colleagues think. The book covers the definition, history, theories and special and general employment and efficiency of hypnotism, is presented in popular language, and with commendable clearness of statement.

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The publisher is to be commended for the excellent appearance of the work. The book contains a number of interesting illustrations from photographs of clinical cases of the author and his colleagues. Aside from these illustrations, there is nothing original in the text. Indeed, the book cannot be said to be up to date in many of the subjects of which it treats. No reference is made to general foreign literature, which is apparently an evidence that the author did not search foreign literature in the preparation of the book-a fact alone which would stamp it as an out-of-date treatise. From a literary standpoint the book gives evidence of being hurriedly compiled from American and English text-books. We will venture to suggest that the book will serve its purpose as a guide to the students of the author, but will fail to go beyond his domain, inasmuch as there is no demand from the

profession for such a production. There is, however, need for a general treatise on surgical diagnosis and treatment.

Nettleship on the Eye.-Diseases of the Eye. By Edward Nettleship, F. R. C. S., Ophthalmic Surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, etc. Revised and Edited by W. T. Holmes Spicer, M. A.. M. B,. F. R. C. S., Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Metropolitan Hospital and to the Victoria Hospital for Children. Fifth American from the Sixth English Edition. With a Supplement on Color Blindness by William Thomson, M.D.. Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Cloth, 521 pages with 2 colored plates and 161 engravings. Philadelphia and New York: Lea Brothers & Co. 1897.

Review of so standard a work as Nettleship on the Eye is almost a work of supererogation. The excellence of the treatise has demanded six editions

each in England and America. From the appearance of the first edition eighteen years ago it has been recognized as a classic. The present edition has been thoroughly revised by leading English and American authorities on the eye. The section on color-blindness has also been revised by Dr. Thomson. "Nettleship" is still an epitome of the best ophthalmology of modern times.

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Dr. Cokenower has exercised his usual skill and care in the preparation of the transactions of the society. The volume contains a number of excellent papers, notable among which are those by Dr. R. M. Lapsley on "The Treatment of Trachoma"; by Dr. C. M. Robertson, on "Non-Suppurative Inflammation of the Middle Ear"; by Dr. C. M. Hobby, on "The Medico-Legal Aspects of the Roentgen Ray"; by Dr. A. W. Cantwell, on "Our Water Supply"; by Dr. J. M. Emmert, on "Prevention of Tuberculosis": by Drs. A. J. Hobson and D. C. Brockman, on "Extra-Uterine Pregnancy"; by Dr. C. E. Ruth, on "Water"; by Dr. E. E. Dorr, on "Some Emergencies in Medical Practice"; by Dr. F. J. Will, on "Gastric Catarrh," and by Dr. R. S. Mason, on "Reflex Action of Certain Rectal Diseases upon the Nervous System."

Landolt and Gygax' Ophthalmological Therapeutics.-Vade Mecum of Ophthalmological Therapeutics, by Dr. Landolt and Dr. Gygax. Cloth, 138 pages, $1.00. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. 1898.

A small portable guide,containing in concise form the essential facts of ophthalmological therapeutics. The diseases are arranged in alphabetical order and the appropriate treatment indicated under each head.

Mr. W. B. Saunders' Preliminary Announcement. Mr. Saunders announces that he has in preparation for early publication the following works: "An American Text-Book of Genito Urinary and Skin Discases" (including Syphilis). Edited by L. Bolton Bangs, M. D., late professor of GenitoUrinary and Venereal Diseases in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital; and William A. Hardaway, M.D., professor of diseases of the skin in the Missouri Medical College.

"An American Text-Book of Diseases of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat."' Edited by G. E. De Schweinitz, M. D., professor of ophthalmology in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadephia; and B. Alexander Randal, M.D., professor of diseases of the ear in the University of Pennsylvania and in the Philadelphia Polyclinic.

"An American Text-Book of Pathology." Edited by John Guiteras, professor of general pathology and of morbid anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania; and David R. Riesman, M. D., demonstrator of pathological histology in the University of Pennsylvania.

"An American Text-Book of Legal Medicine and Toxicology." Edited by Frederick Peterson,

M. D., clinical professor of mental diseases in the Woman's Medical College, New York; chief of clinic, nervous department, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; and Walter S. Haines, M.D, professor of chemistry, pharmacy and toxicology in Rush Medical College, Chicago, Ill.

By

"Stengel's Pathology." By Alfred Stengel, M.D., physician to the Philadephia hospital; professor of clinical medicine in the Woman's MedicaCollege; physician to the Children's Hospital; late pathologist to German Hospital, Philadelphia, etc. "Church and Peterson's Nervous and Mental Diseases." Nervous and Mental Diseases. Archibald Church, M.D.. professor of mental diseases and medical jurisprudence in the Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago; and Frederick Peterson, M. D., clinical professor of mental diseases in the Woman's Medical College, New York, etc. "Heisler's Embryology." A Text Book of Embryology. By John C. Heisler, M. D., professor of anatomy in the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia.

"Kyle on the, Nose and Throat." Diseases of the Nose and Throat. By D. Braden Kyle, M. D., chief laryngologist to St. Agnes' Hospital; demonstrator of pathology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, etc.

"Hirst's Obstetrics." A Text-Book of Obstetrics. By Barton Cooke Hirst, M. D, professor of obstetrics in the University of Pennsylvania.

"West's Nursing." An American Text-Book of Nursing. By American Teachers. Edited by Roberta M. West, late superintendent of nurses in the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

"Atlas of Internal Medicine and Clinical Diagnosis." By Dr. Chr. Jakob of Erlanger. Edited by Augustus A. Eshner, M. D., professor of clinical medicine in the Philadelphia Polyclinic, etc. 68 colored plates and 64 illustrations in the text.

"Atlas of Legal Medicine." By Dr. E. R. Von Hofmann of Vienna. Edited by Frederick Peterson, M. D., clinical professor of mental diseases, Woman's Medical College, New York. With 120 colored figures on 56 plates, and 193 beautiful halftone illustrations.

"Atlas of Operative Surgery." By Dr. O.. Zuckerkandl of Vienna. Edited by J. Chalmers DaCosta, M. D., clinical professor of surgery, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. With 24 colored plates and 217 illustrations in the text.

"Atlas of Laryngology." By Dr. I. Grunwald of Munich. With 107 colored figures on 44 plates;. 25 black and white illustrations.

By

"Atlas of External Diseases of the Eye." Dr. O. Haab of Zurich. Edited by G. E. deSchweinitz, M. D., professor of ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical Coilege, Philadelphia. With 100 colored illustrations.

"Atlas of Venereal Diseases." By Dr. Karl Kopp of Munich. Edited by L. Bolton Bangs, M.D., late professor of genito-urinary and venereal diseases, New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital. With 63 colored illustrations.

"Atlas of Skin Diseases." By Dr. Karl Kopp of Munich. With 90 colored and 17 black-andwhite illustrations.

Messrs J. B. Flint & Co.'s Preliminary Announcement.-Messrs. J. B. Flint & Co., 104 Fulton street, New York, announce that the following books are in press and will soon be issued:

'Flint's Encyclopedia of Medicine and Surgery." Second edition, 1555 pages, revised with the assistance of fifty-six contributors and thoroughly in line with recent advances in medical science.

"Hartley-Auvard System of Obstetrics." Third edition, 436 pages, 543 illustrations. Revised by Dr. John D. Hartley. This work is essentially Auvard, and embodies the author's personal experience; the text is clearly pictured by hundreds of original drawings to be found in no other book.

"Pozzi System of Gynecology." Third edition. Revised by Dr. John D. Hartley..

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