compression of the aorta. But this point established, it remains for us to consider the place to be chosen for the operation, the manner in which it is to be performed, and its duration.

"All the modifications proposed can be reduced to three procedures. Some, as Budiger, Eichelberg, carry the hand into the uterus; others, as Saxtorph, reach the aorta by acting on the womb through the walls of the abdomen; finally, the third party, whose method is generally followed now, compress the artery above the womb.

"The introduction of the hand into the uterus, and resting on its posterior region, has been rightly blamed. This plan indeed is bad, and of difficult application; it exposes the tissue of the organ to a kind of attrition; it is moreover impracticable when the womb begins to react. However it has many times succeeded. Eichelberg cites the case of a woman in whom compression thus effected lasted an hour; the moment it was stopped the blood flowed.

"The physical condition of the female just delivered is favourable for compressing the aorta independently of the thinness of the walls, which, by the spreading out of the recti abdominis muscles, are reduced to that of the skin and two aponeurotic and serous membranes, which allow the aorta and vena cava to be almost directly touched; the intestines have, so to speak, chosen an abode in the lateral portions of the abdomen.

"The fundus of the womb also can easily be pushed into the region of the loins, or into the pelvis, whilst in the normal state, besides the thickness, sometimes considerable, of the walls, due to the accumulation of fatty cellular tissue, we are obliged to press on the intestines in order to reach the aorta, which makes the operation more difficult and painful.

"Compression through the abdominal parietes can be exerted with the thumb, with two or with four fingers, as preferred by MM. Baudeloque, Tréhan and Ulsamer. We have seen that Siebold had practised it with the closed hand applied a little to the left of the spine; this plan is more difficult in execution than the two preceeding. M. Piedagnel employed the cubital margin of his hand. M. Pinel Grandchamp, advises us to press the artery moderately with the fingers; in bearing forcibly on the vessel the fingers grow numb and the operation cannot be continued long by the same person. This means, it appears to us, ought to be employed in preference to all others. To reach the aorta the precaution must be taken to turn aside the intestines; the arterial pulsation indicates the presence of the vessel. It is then compressed longitudinally without involving the inferior vena cava in the manœuvre.

"The duration of the compression has been a matter of very diverse opinions. Some have limited it to five, six and seven minutes; others have prolonged it an hour or two. Eichelberg and M. Pinel Grandchamp, did not succeed in arresting the blood in less than an hour. M. Paul Dubois thinks we must continue this operation an hour or two, and then suspend it by degrees, assuring ourselves that the bleeding appears no more. The examples cited by us prove that simple compression suffices to check the hemorrhage, but we believe it better to associate with it the spurred rye, (ergot).

"However it may be with the combination of these two means, we are not the less persuaded that compression of the aorta has been and will be of real service; moreover M. Piedagnel appears to us to have done well in adding his observations to those of Blount,* of MM. Brossart,† Latour, Lowenhardt,§ and Martins.-La Lancette Francaise, May 12, 1840.

MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE AND TOXICOLOGY.

45. Symptoms of Rupture of the Bowels.-"The symptoms following ruptured bowel are deathlike from the moment of the injury. They are quite unlike those of inflammation and of gangrene, and are indeed sui generis. The mind is clear but depressed, as if overwhelmed by the irreparable nature of the injury. The countenance is pale, and the features liny and drawn. The pulse is not immediately affected, but soon becomes quick, feeble and irregular in its measure, intermitting, thready, and then no longer to be felt. The surface chills, but remains dry; there is a painful sense of dryness of the mouth and fauces and frequent efforts to vomit. Pain, which commences at variable periods, but is never long delayed, is acute, unremitting, extending over the whole abdominal region, which becomes tense, and will not bear the slightest pressure. This produces great anxiety and restlessness, and frequent appeals for relief, and next for death. The peritoneal surface is reddened, but there is seldom any effusion of membranous or massive lymph agglutinating parts; only small deposits in tags and shreds roughening the surface, although the period of survival varies from twelve to six-and-thirty hours; the state of the canal perhaps determines this variation."-Benjamin Travers, in Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xxiii. T. R. B.

46. Remarkable effect upon the Human Gums, produced by the Absorption of Lead. By HENRY BURTON, M. D., Physician to St. Thomas's Hospital.-The only approach to the observation now to be stated, is a notice by Dr. Christison, and Dr. A. T. Thomson, that in persons who have taken lead in quantity, salivation is apt to occur, and the saliva is of a bluish colour. Dr. Burton, from observations made since 1834, on persons who had been exposed to the action of lead in the course of their usual avocations, and of those also who had swallowed the acetate of lead medicinally, is of opinion, that salivation in the ordinary sense of the term, does not occur in one case out of thirty-six cases of lead colic, the number examined in his wards; nor in one case out of fourteen cases of pulmonary disease, which were treated by him with acetate of lead, but in the total number of fifty patients, who were examined whilst under the influence of lead, a peculiar discoloration was observed on their gums, which he could not discern on the gums of several hundred patients who were not under its influence.

The edges of the gums attached to the necks of two or more teeth of either jaw were distinctly bordered by a narrow leaden-blue line, about the twentieth of an inch in width, whilst the substance apparently retained its ordinary colour and condition. There was no invariable tumefaction, softening or tenderness about them-nor fetor of the breath-while the quantity and colour of the saliva preserved the same appearance after as before the appearance of the blue line. This appearance has no resemblance to the effects caused by mercury. On the contrary, the blue line was obliterated on patients with lead colic, to whom calomel was given in sufficient quantity to affect the system.

While the discoloration of the gums is a very constant and early occurrence from the effects of lead, Dr. Burton is of opinion that salivation and turgidity of the gums are rare events, and not characteristic of its influence. The discoloration is also permanent-requiring a length of time to remove it-and in several instances, it continued and was manifest after death.

As this change takes place either from large doses of lead, taken internally, or its action on workers in it, Dr. Burton suggests that a knowledge of its cause may be usefully employed in leading to an early treatment of the patient.Ibid. T. R. B.

47. Brucine.-Brucine is considered by Dr. Fuss to be merely a mixture

of strychnia with a resin, from which it may be separated by a peculiar method. -London and Edinburgh Philosoph. Magazine, March 1841. T. R. B.

48. Detection of Arsenic.-Dr. FIGUIER recommends that the following plan be adopted: Cut the suspected matters in pieces, and boil them for four or five hours in water, maintaining a slight alkaline reaction in the liquid. When cold, the fatty matters which swim on the surface must be separated, and the liquid filtered. The filtered liquid is then slightly acidulated by hydrochloric acid, evaporated to dryness, and the residuum dried, but not carbonised.

It is then redissolved in warm water, and filtered to separate the deposit caused by desiccation. The brown liquid thus obtained is submitted to a current of washed chlorine gas, until it ceases to be rendered turbid by the gas. The precipitate is again separated by filtration, and the liquid boiled in a porcelain capsule to expel the chlorine. The liquid is then introduced into a modification of Marsh's Apparatus.

This consists of a flask, closed by a cork, which is traversed by two tubes, one of which terminates at its upper extremity in a funnel, and descends to near the bottom of the flask. The other is a bent tube of about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, and drawn out at its extremity. In the horizontal part, are placed some pieces of fused chloride of calcium, and farther on, some fragments of porcelain; to this latter part of the tube the heat is to be applied. Zinc in proper quantity is now placed in the flask, and diluted sulphuric acid is poured in by the funnel tube. When the disengagement of gas has gone on long enough to avoid the danger of explosion, heat to redness is applied to that portion of the tube which contains the porcelain, and then the decoction prepared as above, is poured into the flask. If the mixture in the flask foams so much as to be likely to enter the tube, five or six grammes of alcohol poured in through the funnel will check it instantly.

If the liquid tested, contains any traces of arsenic, it will soon show itself at a short distance from the point heated red hot, in the form of metallic arsenic. The operation should be continued one or two hours. Then cool the tube and separate it from the rest of the apparatus. The metal may now be tested, or the tube may be hermetically sealed by the lamp and preserved for future exhibition. Journal of the Franklin Institute, April 1841, from Journal de Pharmacie. T. R. B.

49. Healthy Appearance of the Internal Surface of the Stomach.-Very various are the accounts given by different authors who have written upon this subject, of the natural and healthy colour of the mucous membrane. It has been described as being white, grayish white, grayish, reddish, grayish approaching to yellow and red, straw coloured, &c. Billard, in whose opinion, Dr. Hodgkin is inclined to place most confidence, states it to be a dead milky white. According to Buisson and Bichat, the colour is of a deep red, and Sabatier and Habicot describe it as of a reddish purple and deep purple. Gavard, Boyer, Soemmering, Chaussier, and Adelon make it of variable shades between red and gray. Rousseau who derived his opinion from the examination of the bodies of criminals dying by the hands of the executioner, (by the guillotine, we presume), states that the colour of the gastro-intestinal canal is white, or white faintly tinged with red. Dr. Yelloly states, that in various opportunities which he had of examining the human stomach soon after death, in such parts of it as were free from vascularity, it had usually a light straw-coloured tinge, but gives it as his opinion, that from the analogy of the mucous covering of the mouth and fauces, and of the urethra, it is probable that when circulation is going on in the stomach, its inner surface is of a pale red hue, arising from vessels so minute as to give an uniform colour, without any appearance of distinct vascularity. We are ourselves rather disposed to agree with M. Hippolyte Cloquet, who describes the usual appearance of the membrane as being of a reddish white and mottled, (comme marbrèe), but we must observe that this diversity

of opinion as to a fact so evident to the senses, could only have arisen from the varying appearances of the membrane presented to the several observers under different circumstances of disease, or from the effects of certain physical agents acting during the last moments of life. The manner of death would appear to exert considerable influence; the presence of aliment recently taken into the stomach causes a decided red tinge throughout the membrane; extremes of cold and heat, according to Beaupré, are also productive of a like effect in the mucous membranes generally, and the stomach has been observed to take a decided tinge from various medicines administered shortly before death.*-British_and Foreign Medical Review, April 1841. T. R. B.

50. Peculiar Action of Sulphuric Acid on the Stomach.-"An important remark, by Dr. HODGKIN, which from its bearing on medico-legal inquiries, we must not pass over, is, that where an intense active agent (boiling water and sulphuric acid are especially referred to) has been swallowed or forced into the stomach, it is, as it were, discharged against that part of the internal surface of the stomach which is immediately opposite the opening; and that upon this spot, an almost instantaneous change is produced, which is deeper and more intense than that which is afterwards produced in other parts of the mucous membrane, when the agent is diffused over them, lowered in its activity by the mucus, which is rapidly secreted, and which does not merely dilute the noxious agent, but in some degree, protects the membrane. This spot is that portion of the great curvature situated immediately opposite the œsophagus, whereas, in other cases, the most intense degree of injection is usually met with at the cardiac extremity. When, therefore, this part of the stomach is affected rather than that which is the more common seat of the appearances of inflammation, it may, as the author observes, lead us to the suspicion, that some fluid, capable of producing an immediate effect, has been swallowed."-Ibid. T. R. B.

51. Laburnum Seeds.-On the 3d of December, 1840, eleven boys of the age of six to nine years ate, immediately after dinner, the seeds of a laburnum tree growing in their play ground, at a school in Brentford, near London. According to the quantity taken, which never exceeded five seeds, it caused vomiting and purging, or purging alone, or nausea, with drowsiness, dilated pupils, and a weak pulse. Some escaped, without any affection of the stomach, but all were more or less affected with the other symptoms. The treatment consisted in a salt and water emetic to those who had not vomited; a warm bed, with a few drops of aromatic spirit of ammonia to the faint, and for the three who had the head affected, a high pillow, a cold lotion to the forehead and temples, and hot bottles to the feet. The next day, after a gentle aperient, all were well. Mr. BONNEY, Lancet, January 9, 1841. T. R. B.

52. Salts of Platina.-According to Dr. HOEFFER, (Gazette Médicale de Paris,) the preparations of platina (chlorides) are poisons; the perchlorides in the dose of a scruple; the double chloride of platina and sodium in the dose of two scruples. They are, however, less dangerous than the salts of gold and corrosive sublimate. The perchloride of platina in concentrated solution, produces acute itching on the skin, followed by a cutaneous eruption in the situation where the solution has been applied. Taken internally, it at first irritates the mucous membrane of the stomach, occasions cephalalgia, reacts on the nervous centres, and that exercises a peculiar alterative action on the fluids of the economy. The double chloride does not produce local irritation on the skin. Dr. Hoeffer recommends the salts of platina as alteratives in syphilis.-British and Foreign Medical Review, April 1841. T. R. B.

*The valuable researches of Prof. Horner relative to this subject ought not to have been overlooked. A full account of them, illustrated by coloured plates, will be found in the No. of this Journal for November, 1827.-Ed. Am. Journ.

53. Appearances on Dissection in persons hung.-The following is an extract from Dr. WATSON'S Lectures on the Practice of Physic, at King's College, London. Dr. KELLIE desired to ascertain whether, under circumstances calculated to gorge the vessels of the head, those of the brain were or were not made really more full than usual. He examined the brains of two men who had been hanged. When the scalp in these cases was divided, a great quantity of blood escaped, marking plainly enough the congestion of vessels exterior to the cranium, but there was no such congestion observable within; "the sinuses contained blood, but in no extraordinary quantity; the larger vessels on the surface, and between the convolutions, were but moderately filled, and the pia mater was, upon the whole, paler and less vascular than we often find it in ordinary cases." I can corroborate the accuracy of Dr. Kellie's observations in these last instances, by what I have noticed myself. I paid particular attention to the condition of the head, when the body of Bishop, who murdered the Italian boy, was examined. When he was brought here after the execution, the eyes were blood-shotten and the lips and countenance turgid and livid. The inner surface of the scalp, when it was turned back, and the exposed surface of the skull, were very red and bloody, and in one part, on the right side of the head, there was some blood extravasated; but when the bone had been sawn through, and the skull cap removed, the large veins of the brain did not appear unnaturally full.

In the year 1826, I was present at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, at the opening of the head of a woman who had been hanged, the day before, for murder. I find the following statement in a note which I made at the time. "The scalp was bloody, but the brain was of a very natural texture and appearance, and not more than usually full of blood."

In France, they execute criminals by means of the guillotine, and some curious speculations have been raised, as to whether the head, after decapitation, remains for a short time sensible of what is going on or not. These speculations have led to a closer observation of the phenomena that immediately succeed this mode of punishment, and it has been noticed that although much blood is effused as soon as the head is severed from the body, it comes from the vessels of the trunk, and that the arteries and veins of the head do not discharge themselves of their contents for some little time. All these facts go to the same conclusion, viz. that so long as the solid contents of the cranium remain entire, the quantity of blood contained in the vessels does not and cannot vary much.— London Medical Gazette, February, 1841.

In the case of Scott, the American Diver, who hung himself accidentally in London, in consequence of using a slip knot to suspend himself, instead of a bowling one, the body was examined twenty-four hours after death. There was a mark on the skin around the neck, but it was quite superficial, and did not extend to the cellular membrane. There was scarcely any mark over the larynx; it passed up anterior to the ears. The brain presented nothing unusual, except that it was somewhat congested at its posterior part; the spine was healthy and sound; the lungs were very much congested, and the heart and large vessels were full of fluid blood; the lining membrane of the air passages was particularly congested.-Lancet, No. 909. T. R. B.

54. Protracted Gestation.—A case involving this question was recently brought before the House of Lords, in England, on appeal from the Scotch courts. It is reported in Shaw and Maclean's Scotch Cases, vol. 2.

Innes v. Innes. Without referring to the other details, it is sufficient to state that Mr. Innes, the supposed father, left Edinburgh, on the 17th of June, 1826, that he departed from London for the continent, on the 26th of that month, that he returned to Edinburgh on the 19th of September, and the appellant was born on the 14th of April, 1827. From the 17th of June to the 14th of April, are nine calendar months and 27 days, or 301 days. From the 19th of September to the 14th of April, there are 207 days, being seven lunar months and thirteen days.