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Out of these 12 deaths occurred, viz. 1 of Infantile convulsions, 3 of Dysenteric-diarrhoea, 1 of Diarrhea, 1 of Gastro-enteritis (acute,) 1 Hydrocephalus, 1 of Mania-à-potu (complicated with pleuro-pneumonia,) 1 of Phthisis, 1 of Puerperal entero-peritonitis-the entero-peritonitis produced by premature delivery, and in twelve days afterwards death,-1 of Tabes-mesenterica, 1 of Pneumonia.

Dysentery has been more common than usual during the spring months.

In its treatment in the last few weeks, after bleeding when the condition of the patient and the stage of the disease would admit of it, I have found an equal mixture in bulk of calc. magnesia, lac. sulphur, super tart. potassæ and pulv. rosin, given in doses of one to two teaspoonfuls every two hours until it operated freely on the bowels, then followed by an opiate, to arrest the mucous and bloody discharges, and by its repeti. tion in the same way when necessary, from a return of similar discharges, to cure the disease more promptly and certainly than any other practice. L. S.

JEANERETTE'S, ST. MARY, LA., June 15th, 1847. Messrs. Editors :-As usual at this season of the year, this section of country is healthy, with the exception of the prevalence of the measles at numerous points throughout this and some of the adjacent parishes. The cases that have fallen under my observation have been accompanied by a higher grade of febrile symptoms than I had usually met with, but so far as I have learned, little fatality has attended the epidemic.

I think I have seen more trouble among children this Spring, during the process of dentition than heretofore. Infantile diarrhoeas have been prevalent in this vicinity.

Respectfully your ob'dt. servant,

J. B. D. WOODVILLE, (Miss.,) 16th June, 1847. GENTLEMEN-I regret that I have to apologise for my long silence, but my excuse is a paucity of any thing worthy of notice in this section. At this time I have little to state. The people have been exempt from diseases during the winter, and the spring has, not produced any, with the exception of a few cases of diarrhoea and dysentery. This has been, generally, of so trivial a character, as to be manageable by the ordinary means, lasting from four to eight days. The number of deaths in the county for the last six months have been few.

A case of cerebritis and hydrocephalus in a male negro child, five months old, came under my care in April. I was informed the nurse had let it fall some two weeks before, but no symptom arose therefrom at the time to attract attention. It had some fever; moaned in its sleep; was averse to any motion; held its neck rigid; bowels torpid ; but good appetite. Cathartics brought away green discharges. The most prominent symptoms, however, were given by the respiratory apparatus; wheezing, cough, strangling and discharges from the nose. The case presented more the appearance of laryngismus stridulus, or cerebral croup, until thirty-six hours before death, when it was seized with convulsions, which unmasked the case, though too late.

Post mortem.-The stomach and bowels pale and containing very little of any thing. Other abdominal viscera quite healthy. Thoracic viscera gave no sign of any lesion, more than a small patch of bloody engorgement at the lower tip of the left lung, (which, however, I attri buted to post mortem influences) and a slightly increased quantity of serum in the pericardial sac.

Head. The sutures were all open from one extremity to the other. On opening the cranium and exposing the dura mater, this membrane was found coated nearly all over with a thick coat of cheesy pus, which was so consistent as to be pared off in large flakes. The convolutions of the brain were nearly obliterated. On attempting to separate the hemispheres, they ruptured suddenly from a slight touch, and about three gills of serum flowed out, when the brain collapsed and left the cranium nearly half unoccupied. The entire brain was so much disorganised and softened that no examination of its compartments was attempted; it was nearly of the consistence of mush or soft butter.

This case is worthy of notice from the indefiniteness of its symptoms. The brain was diseased, but the lungs first gave any sign of disease. The child's holding its neck rigid, made me suppose that some of the cervical vertebræ and muscles had been injured or made tender by the fall it had suffered.

In May, I had a case of morbus cæruleus in a well developed primipara male child at full term. I tried the plan suggested by Professor Meigs, of placing it on its right side, inclined at an angle of thirty degrees. This seemed to be of some slight benefit to it and the blueness disappeared for a time, but returned at irregular intervals, accompanied with convulsions and coma. It lived about twenty-eight hours, when it became blue, was seized with a slight convulsion, and died very suddenly. The child never cried out stoutly during the whole time, but merely whined and moaned.

As I have usually given a short report of the seasons and weather heretofore, I will append the following:-The spring has been cool and rather dry. Thermometer ranged, at 10 a. M. from 60° to 79°, and at 3 P. M. from 64° to 83°, during the month of April-wind principally from s. s. w.―rain only on 4 days in the month. May was ushered in by a smart tornado on the night of the 1st, which blew down several houses, both great and small, crippled some negroes and prostrated much timber. It ranged from s. w. to N. E., and was attended with lightning, thunder and rain, and hail in some places, succeeded by some cold days. Thermometer at 10 A. M. ranged from 60° to 82°; at 3 P. M. from 66° to 83°-wind from all points-rain on 6 days. June entered with heavy rain. Thermometer at 10 A. M. from 78° to 84°; at 3 P. M. from 80° to 89°—rain on 5 days-wind mostly s. Yours, &c. A. R. K.

SICKNESS IN THE U. S. ARMY IN MEXICO.

We have made repeated requests of the medical officers of the "Army of Invasion," to keep us informed as to the sickness and surgical operations that come under their observation, but as yet we have not been favored with any detailed accounts for publication. Our cotempo. raries at New York and Saint Louis, it seems, have been more fortu

nate, and have given us very interesting papers from Surgeons Jarvis and Johnson. We have some idea of the arduous duties which devolve upon surgeons engaged with an army in active service, but they owe it to themselves and to their profession to make known the amount of toil, hardship and danger they undergo, that they may come in for a due share of whatever honor and fame may be achieved. Military commanders are in reality the trumpeters of their own fame. Their reports are devoured with eagerness by their admiring countrymen, and their chivalrous deeds are heralded throughout the world. To them belongs the direction of the fierce and bloody conflict! they lead on the armed hosts, fired with the maddening thirst of fame or vengeance, unto the very jaws of death. But when the strife is ended and the battle-field is strown with the mutilated bodies of the wounded and dead; when the strong arm becomes powerless and the manly form is prostrate on the dust; when the vital energies are failing fast and the mind reverts to the beloved scenes of distant kindred and home; to whom in that dark and trying hour does the poor soldier look for succour and relief? It is to the Surgeon. He alone can staunch the bleeding wound and arrest the unfinished work of destruction. By his knowledge and skill much suffering is prevented and many valuable lives are saved. Nor, in the pursuit of his peculiar duties, is the Surgeon secure from the dangers of the battle-field. He may often be seen ministering to the wounded within range of the deadly cannon and amidst showers of musket balls. But the horrors of war are by no means confined to the battle-field: the diseases incident to camplife, exposure to the inclemencies of the weather, the long and exhausting march, the rude diet and rough nursing, go largely to make up the catalogue of miseries. It has been ascertained that the killed in battle constitute but a small portion of all who perish in active military service. Under all the calamities just enumerated, the Surgeon is constantly called upon. Indeed his duties are incessant; and whether the army be at rest, or on the fatiguing march; whether chafed by inglori. ous inactivity, or stirred by the exciting call "to arms," he knows no rest. His deeds are not emblazoned with the pomp of military fame; yet they are not the less important on that account. The General keeps his eye on the enemy in front; but the Surgeon has to combat with the often far more formidable enemy within the camp. We beg pardon for having wandered from our theme, but our sympathies are deeply enlisted in behalf of our brethren, the Medical Staff of the Army, whose important services, we believe, are not properly appreciated by Government, and we have therefore taken the liberty of giving expression to these reflections. It is true, their services generally command an honorable though brief notice in the army reports; but this is not enough; the world should be better informed as to their privations, their toils, their exposures to danger, and their personal sacrifices. We resume our subject, the Health of the Army in Mexico. We learn that but little sickness prevails at present among the troops under General Taylor's command. The ill-fated 2d regiment Mississippi Volunteers, which was so heavily afflicted as it passed through this city in January last, continued to suffer until it got high up on the Rio Grande, when, to cap the climax, small pox made its appearance amongst them

Post mortem.-The stomach and bowels pale and containing very little of any thing. Other abdominal viscera quite healthy. Thoracic viscera gave no sign of any lesion, more than a small patch of bloody engorgement at the lower tip of the left lung, (which, however, I attributed to post mortem influences) and a slightly increased quantity of serum in the pericardial sac.

Head. The sutures were all open from one extremity to the other. On opening the cranium and exposing the dura mater, this membrane was found coated nearly all over with a thick coat of cheesy pus, which was so consistent as to be pared off in large flakes. The convolutions of the brain were nearly obliterated. On attempting to separate the hemispheres, they ruptured suddenly from a slight touch, and about three gills of serum flowed out, when the brain collapsed and left the cranium nearly half unoccupied. The entire brain was so much disorganised and softened that no examination of its compartments was attempted; it was nearly of the consistence of mush or soft butter.

This case is worthy of notice from the indefiniteness of its symptoms. The brain was diseased, but the lungs first gave any sign of disease. The child's holding its neck rigid, made me suppose that some of the cervical vertebræ and muscles had been injured or made tender by the fall it had suffered.

In May, I had a case of morbus cæruleus in a well developed primipara male child at full term. I tried the plan suggested by Professor Meigs, of placing it on its right side, inclined at an angle of thirty degrees. This seemed to be of some slight benefit to it and the blueness disappeared for a time, but returned at irregular intervals, accompanied with convulsions and coma. It lived about twenty-eight hours, when it became blue, was seized with a slight convulsion, and died very suddenly. The child never cried out stoutly during the whole time, but merely whined and moaned.

As I have usually given a short report of the seasons and weather heretofore, I will append the following:-The spring has been cool and rather dry. Thermometer ranged, at 10 A. M. from 60° to 79°, and at 3 P. M. from 64° to 83°, during the month of April-wind principally from s. s. w.-rain only on 4 days in the month. May was ushered in by a smart tornado on the night of the 1st, which blew down several houses, both great and small, crippled some negroes and prostrated much timber. It ranged from s. w. to N. E., and was attended with lightning, thunder and rain, and hail in some places, succeeded by some cold days. Thermometer at 10 A. M. ranged from 60° to 82°; at 3 P. M. from 66° to 83°-wind from all points-rain on 6 days. June entered with heavy rain. Thermometer at 10 A. M. from 78° to 84°; at 3 P. M. from 80° to 89°-rain on 5 days-wind mostly s. Yours, &c.

A. R. K.

SICKNESS IN THE U. S. ARMY IN MEXICO. We have made repeated requests of the medical officers of the "Army of Invasion," to keep us informed as to the sickness and surgical operations that come under their observation, but as yet we have not been favored with any detailed accounts for publication. Our cotemporaries at New York and Saint Louis, it seems, have been more fortu

nate, and have given us very interesting papers from Surgeons Jarvis and Johnson. We have some idea of the arduous duties which devolve upon surgeons engaged with an army in active service, but they owe it to themselves and to their profession to make known the amount of toil, hardship and danger they undergo, that they may come in for a due share of whatever honor and fame may be achieved. Military commanders are in reality the trumpeters of their own fame. Their reports are devoured with eagerness by their admiring countrymen, and their chivalrous deeds are heralded throughout the world. To them belongs the direction of the fierce and bloody conflict! they lead on the armed hosts, fired with the maddening thirst of fame or vengeance, unto the very jaws of death. But when the strife is ended and the battle-field is strown with the mutilated bodies of the wounded and dead; when the strong arm becomes powerless and the manly form is prostrate on the dust; when the vital energies are failing fast and the mind reverts to the beloved scenes of distant kindred and home; to whom in that dark and trying hour does the poor soldier look for succour and relief? It is to the Surgeon. He alone can staunch the bleeding wound and arrest the unfinished work of destruction. By his knowledge and skill much suffering is prevented and many valuable lives are saved. Nor, in the pursuit of his peculiar duties, is the Surgeon secure from the dangers of the battle-field. He may often be seen ministering to the wounded within range of the deadly cannon and amidst showers of musket balls. But the horrors of war are by no means confined to the battle-field: the diseases incident to camplife, exposure to the inclemencies of the weather, the long and exhausting march, the rude diet and rough nursing, go largely to make up the catalogue of miseries. It has been ascertained that the killed in battle constitute but a small portion of all who perish in active military service. Under all the calamities just enumerated, the Surgeon is constantly called upon. Indeed his duties are incessant; and whether the army be at rest, or on the fatiguing march; whether chafed by inglori ous inactivity, or stirred by the exciting call "to arms," he knows no rest. His deeds are not emblazoned with the pomp of military fame ; yet they are not the less important on that account. The General keeps his eye on the enemy in front; but the Surgeon has to combat with the often far more formidable enemy within the camp. We beg pardon for having wandered from our theme, but our sympathies are deeply enlisted in behalf of our brethren, the Medical Staff of the Army, whose important services, we believe, are not properly appreciated by Government, and we have therefore taken the liberty of giving expression to these reflections. It is true, their services generally command an honorable though brief notice in the army reports; but this is not enough; the world should be better informed as to their privations, their toils, their exposures to danger, and their personal sacrifices. We resume our subject, the Health of the Army in Mexico. We learn that but little sickness prevails at present among the troops under General Taylor's command. The ill-fated 2d regiment Mississippi Volunteers, which was so heavily afflicted as it passed through this city in January last, continued to suffer until it got high up on the Rio Grande, when, to cap the climax, small pox made its appearance amongst them

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