CHEMISTRY.

Under charge of CHARLES E. JONES, M. D. Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco.

Rain as a Cleansing Agent.-The London Lancet says: "We have often pointed out that the passage of raindrops through the air not only purifies the air, but imparts a freshening effect to it, due possibly to an oxidizing action, and perhaps to the formation of peroxide of hydrogen. Everyone is familiar with the 'clean' smell of the air after a rainstorm. According to this view the air of the county of London must have sustained a very thorough scouring during the remarkably continuous rainfall which began on Saturday, June 13th. There was very little movement in the air, and an opportunity was thus afforded of collecting the water for analysis, the results of which would represent, some at any rate, the impurities washed out of the air immediately over this area. The following were the results obtained with raindrops caught in the neighborhood of the Strand, on Monday, June 15th:

"The amount of ammonia in the form of sulphate is remarkable, and, of course, its chief origin is the combustion of coal. The nitrites with traces of ammonia are due to electrical discharge in the atmosphere. These results when worked out with the total rainfall give some remarkable figures. Taking the rainfall as 3.8 inches in five days (though a higher figure than that has been returned by some observers) we arrive at the calculation, based on each inch representing 22,622 gallons of water falling upon one acre, and the London County acreage as 75,839, that no less than 6,437,229,860 gallons of water were poured over this area. And according to the above results of the

analysis of the rainwater, this enormous volume represents the washing out of no less than 3,738 tons of solid impurities, of which 330 tons consisted of common salt, 267 tons of sulphate of ammonia, and 2,000 tons of soot and suspended matters. Regarding the combustion of one ton of coal to produce twenty pounds of ammonium sulphate (a very fair average) the quantity of coal represented by the ammonium sulphate washed out by the storm would be 29,904 tons. It need hardly be added that the purification is not only, as is here shown, mechanical, physical and chemical, but bacteriological also."

Boiling Points of Metal.-By the use of vessels of quartz heated by an electric furnace Krafft (Berichte) has determined the boiling point of certain metals, as follows: Zinc sublimes below 300°, and at 640° distils fairly quickly; the corresponding temperatures for cadmium are 322° and 448°. Selenium distils quickly at 380°; tellurium at 550°, boiling being observable at 535°. Lead boils rapidly and distils at 1,160°. Tin proved very refractory, no distillation occurring even at 1,100°. At 605° antimony sublimes slowly, and at 775-780° distils rapidly. Sublimation of bismuth commenced at 540°, the sublimate assumed the form of drops at 930°, and the metal boiled briskly at 1,050°. A slight mirror of silver appeared at 1,090°, and rapid vaporization proceeded at 1,340°. Copper and gold boil at too high temperatures to be examined even in silica. with the former a slight amount of sublimate formed at 1,315°, with the latter extremely little vapor arose even at 1,375°, which is near the point at which the resistance of silica breaks down.

Improved Tincture of Iodine.-According to Claret, an improved tincture of iodine may be made by dissolving one gramme of iodine and two grammes of borax in twelve grammes of 90 per cent alcohol. According to the author the addition of the borax prevents the formation of hydriodic acid which otherwise forms in the solution, and which is the cause of considerable irritation and pain when the tincture, as ordinarily made, is applied to the skin.

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Pyrophosphorous Acid.-V. Auger (Compt. rend) has obtained pyrophosphorous acid, H,P,O,, which has not been previously isolated, in the form of colorless needles melting at 38°. It is very deliquescent, and is imme liately

hydrolized in the presence of water, forming phosphorous acid.

Preservation of Urine for Analytical Purposes. -Cronheim (Chem. Centralblatt) determined, after making two series of experiments, that thymol in alcoholic solution and sodium fluoride in aqueous solution will preserve urine from six to nine weeks; whereas sterilization by heating and addition of mercuric chloride, chloroform or sodium bisulphite were found to be insufficient.

Removal of Rust from Steel Instruments.To remove rust from steel instruments, Sangu recommends placing them over night in a saturated solution of zinc chloride. The rust disappears through reduction. On removing the instruments they are to be rinsed in clear water, placed in hot soda and soap solution and dried. It is also advantageous to polish with absolute alcohol and

chalk.

GENITO-URINARY DISEASES.

Under charge of LOUIS GROSS, M.D.,

Clinical Lecturer on Genito Urinary Diseases, College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco.

The Operative Treatment of Chronic Bright's Disease.-RAMON GUITERAS (N. Y. Med. Jour., Nov. 7 and 14, 1903) comes to the following conclusions: 1. Chronic nephritis should not be operated upon until medical treatment has proved of no avail. 2. The time for operation is when it is noticed that the process is advancing rapidly and we fear that the heart will soon become overtaxed. 3. The operation for chronic Bright's which has proved least dangerous and which has shown the best result is nephropexy performed on a single movable kidney. 4. The most unfavorable cases for operation are those of diffuse nephritis. 5. Cases of general anasarca with bad heart action should not be operated upon; if the heart action is good an operation performed as a dernier ressort may give the patients a few extra months of life provided they survive it. 6. Where there has been a marked destructive process in the kidneys as a result of a nephritis, the operation may relieve them for a number of weeks or months, but they generally fail again and die when the new capsule begins to contract.

Meatotomy Plus Meatorrhaphy.-LORD (Jour. of Amer. Med. Ass'n, Oct. 3, 1903), after meatotomy, sutures the mucous membrane of the urethra to the surface of the glans. The following advantages are claimed for this simple procedure: 1. Much time is saved when the meatotomy is performed as a preliminary to the employment of the urethroscope, cystoscope, or segregator. 2. The wound usually heals by first intention and the tedious process of granulation is thus avoided. 3. No after treatment is needed, the patient being thus saved much discomfort and pain and the surgeon unnecessary responsibility.

Clinical Gonorrhea Without the Gonococcus.A. F. BENEDICT (Amer. Jour. Med. Science, July, 1903) reports four cases in which all the clinical symptoms of gonorrhea were typically present, the patients, however, all denying any history of possible recent exposure. None of these cases presented evidence of the presence of the gonococcus, according to the ordinary Gram and decolorization tests. Also, by the simplest staining methods there was nothing to suggest the gonococcus. Various and numerous cocci singly and in chains, and short and long thread-like bacilli were present in all cases but were not identified. All these cases yielded to treatment, consisting of the ordinary syringing, local applications of hydrogen peroxide, and the use of urinary antiseptics. In this connection is also reported the case of a Pole, who presented a peculiar indurated and, in places, glossy glans, but no urethritis. Although married, he had not had intercourse for six months, and he denied venereal taint. His condition proved to be a mycosis, the fungus consisting of a mass of mycelia, without spore bearers.

Prostatectomy.-FREYER says that of the 51 completed cases, 46 have been perfect successes, the patients continuing to be well. There has been no permanent fistula, contraction at the site of operation, stricture or dangerous hemorrhage during or after operation, and no case of septicemia, which is remarkable, considering that the bladder was septic before operation. He suggests that persons that survive to a condition in which these cases are when operated on, become more or less immune by the gradual absorption of toxins, and thus do not become septic. There were 5 deaths out of the 51 cases; 2 from mania

after the wound had healed and the urine was being passed naturally; 1 from heat stroke during convalescence, 1 from coma from retention of morbid products which had set in before the operation and 1 from pneumonia seven days after operating. In only one of the cases could the fatal results be attributed to the operation. In his last 19 com pleted cases there has been no such accident. He remarks on the frequency of mental disorder among persons suffe ring from prostatic disease and says that more that ordinary risk is attached to an operation of any kind in such cases from its being likely to accentuate the mental symptoms.

Fixation of Prolapsed Kidney.-GOELET (Jour. of Amer. Med. Assn., Nov. 7, '03) claims that when the kidney is properly and permanently fixed in its normal position and the conditions caused by the displacement have been corrected, the result of the operation will be satisfactory. He says that one must not, however, lose sight of the many possible contingencies that may interfere with a final successful issue and lay undue stress on the correction of the displacement alone.

Objection to the operation on the score of its mortality does not hold, for he has done 159 nephropexies on 126 patients, in 33 of these fixing both kidneys at the same time, without a death and without a failure to secure permanent fixation. Cure has resulted in all cases that he has been able to trace in from two to twelve months after operation. In one case only was the operation followed by an unpleasant complication-iodoform poisoning resulting from the use of 10 per cent gauze freshly prepared with ether and alcohol. The patient, however, made a good recovery and was out of bed at the usual time.

It has been objected that the risk of an operation is not warranted in these cases when the symptoms may be relieved by a properly adjusted belt or corset. Estimated from the above report the operation has no mortality, hence there is no risk entailed, and temporary relief of symptoms does not mean a cure. Neither the corset nor the most perfectly adjusted belt will replace the kidney or hold it in its normal position. Nor will it cure the prolapse. But they may and do often provoke serious irritation of the kidney by the pressure they exert which will eventually lead to inflammation in or about the organ.