especially the biniodide) have been reckoned the best mercurial for secondary syphilides; and Drs. Yeldham, Clotar Muller, and Meyhoffer on the one side, Drs. Farrington and MacFarland on the other, concur to commend them, the former giving the lower triturations, the latter the highest dilutions.

The other chief sphere of action of the mercurial iodides in homoeopathic practice has been affections of the throat, especially when its glandular apparatus is involved. Dr. S. W. Cook, of New York, introduced the protiodide as a remedy for follicular pharyngitis, giving it in the first trituration,* and since Dr. Black communicated his favorable experience with it in 1857-8,† it has been the favorite remedy for the disorder in this country.‡ Dr. Cooper praises it in chronic enlargement of the tonsils, when an inflammatory tendency is still present and superficial ulcerations are seen. § Dr. Blakely, its chief prover, considers it indicated in affections of the throat (and, indeed, of most other parts) where the tongue is coated bright yellow at the base, but is clean in front. ||

A more questionable use of these compounds is their application to diphtheria. There is nothing in their pathogenesis to lead to their employment here, yet there is no question of their being in extensive use and high esteem. Dr. Ludlam, indeed, produces a formidable array of symptoms as produced by the iodide, on the authority of Dr. Cook; but if the original be consulted, it will be seen that the author is describing the morbid conditions he has cured with it. I myself have used them largely, and closely watched their effects, but I have not been able to satisfy myself of their exerting any action upon the morbid process. However, one cannot ignore the favorable results which Drs. Black, Ludlam, and Helmuth report from the iodide, and Drs. Madden, Joslin, and Dowling from the biniodide. I myself have seen excellent effects from the latter, when the scarlatinal throat has assumed a diphtheritic character, with much swelling of the external glands, and Dr. Russell found it curative in the dangerous parotitis of typhus.**

* See Jahr's Manuel, ed. Snelling sub voce. † Brit. Jour. of Hom., Vols. XV. and XVI See Ibid, XXXI. 287. § Monthly Hom. Review, XII.

|| United States Med. Investigator, IV. 165. ¶ Clinical Lectures on Diphtheria, p. 103.

** Clinical Lectures, p. 343.

Dr. Holcombe praises M. iodatus in chronic catarrh of the posterior nares, when the patient is annoyed by constant dropping of mucus into the pharynx.

Mercurius oxidatus ruber, the old "red precipitate," is also prepared by trituration. Allen gives a short pathogenesis of it, derived from fourteen observers, one of whom was a prover. Hartmann, Jahr, and also the later homœopathists of Germany, esteem it highly in the severer forms of both primary and secondary syphilis, when M. vivus or solubilis seem ineffective. They all give it in the first trituration, and its modus operandi may be inferred from what Hartmann says, that in one case he was compelled to give the sixth of a grain of the pure oxide three times a day before he could check the disease, and that no medicinal symptoms appeared, save soreness of the gums and some loose teeth. It removed a chronic blepharitis in the prover I have mentioned, and is esteemed by some in strumous ophthalmia and the other conjunctival affections for which mercury is suitable.

Mercurius sulphuratus, the compound of Mercury with Sulphur, appears in Allen's "Encyclopædia," under its own name of Cinnabar (it is the vermilion of commerce). His pathogenesis of it is mainly made up of a very thorough proving of it, instituted by Dr. Neidhard, and carried out on more than twenty persons, using various potencies of the drug. The record of these experiments may be read in detail in Metcalf's "Homœopathic Provings."

Cinnabar is prepared, like the other insoluble mercurials, by trituration. Dr. Neidhard was led to prove it by the idea that "substances found in a naturally compound state are probably better calculated to eradicate the many complicated chronic diseases than the simple substances." I hardly think, however, that the results in this instance have supported his supposition. The proving yielded little but the disappearance (under the third trituration) of a chronic sore throat similar to that described by Dietrich as caused by mercury, and the almost invariable production of sleeplessness by night with sleepiness by day. Therapeutically, Cinnabar is in repute in the transition stage between primary and secondary syphilis, when vegetations and mucous patches are the predominating lesions. Jahr and many others praise it more, as you may see from consulting this writer's

treatise on venereal diseases. It is also esteemed in neglected chancres and in those which have already been treated with mercurials, but without the constitutional effects of the drug having been induced.

DIPHTHERIA.

S. M. CATE, M. D., SALEM, MASS.

I HAVE found Tincture of Cubeb of service as a gargle in diphtheria. I have used a gargle of one drachm of the tincture to two thirds of a tumbler of cold water, and directed the patient to gargle the throat every two, three, or four hours, according to the severity of the case. As infants and quite young children cannot use a gargle, I have had such patients swallow a small portion of a mixture of from one fourth to one half the strength of the one just mentioned. In most cases, Rhus, Bryonia, Ipecac., Belladonna, or Mercurius were given, according to the indications for the constitutional symptoms. The membrane has been rapidly dissolved and removed by this gargle. In some cases, in connection with the gargle above named, a teaspoonful of a solution of two or three drops of the Tincture of Cubeb in half a tumbler of water was given every two hours without other medicine, with the best results.

A CASE OF OCCLUSION OF THE PYLORUS.

BY A. H. ALLEN, M. D., NEW LONDON, CONN.

MR. L., aged seventy, died Jan. 10, 1879, of a disease from which he has suffered for twenty-five years, and which has perplexed the medical profession in this vicinity not a little.

A history of his trouble may be interesting, and I will give it as communicated to me by the patient at my first visit.

"I have always been a hard-working man, my occupation being that of a farmer and teamster. Some twenty-five years ago, while loading and teaming logs, I was caught by a log rolling over on my left hand, and held so tightly that I could not extricate myself. Being alone, and five miles from any assistance, there was but one way left, and that was to lift, if possible, the log and let my hand free. With all the force I could apply, in one mighty effort I suc

ceeded in disengaging my hand, but at the moment I was lifting the hardest, I felt something break. Vomiting of blood followed, and it was thought by my physician that I could not survive, but after a few weeks I was at work again. I had a good appetite, and indulged in hearty food in great quantities. With one exception, everything was normal, apparently. From the time I went to work up to the present time I have vomited every two, three, or four days, but without nausea or prostration. When my stomach was too full, I would simply relieve it by vomiting. My bowels have moved every two or three days until the last year, during which they have not moved as often, - perhaps once a week. My appetite is good and always has been, but now I am afraid to eat very much at a time for fear of distress and vomiting, and I have sent for you to see if you can help me."

After hearing the history of the case, I told him I would think of it and give him an answer the next day. I made up my mind that an occlusion of the pylorus by stricture, either partial or complete, was the cause of his difficulty, and on my next visit I told him that I could not cure him, but might, perhaps, relieve him when in distress, and that these attacks would probably grow more and more severe until they wore him out. This prediction was fulfilled, and after a while he passed away, a great sufferer. The friends desired a post-mortem examination, and I was much pleased to have an opportunity of solving a mystery which had perplexed older heads than mine. On the 12th of January, Dr. J. E. Linnell, of Norwich, and myself, performed the autopsy, and, upon careful examination of the abdominal organs, everything was found normal except the pylorus, where we found not only a stricture, but also a foreign substance, resembling a biliary calculus, about three fourths of an inch long, and completely filling the gut. Back of this plug were two smaller ones, of a threecornered shape, and seemingly of the same material; and still back of these smaller ones was a stricture, preventing the whole from passing into the duodenum. I have preserved the speci

mens.

Now, the question arises, How came this foreign substance in the gut, completely filling it, and assuming its shape?

THE NEW ENGLAND MEDICAL GAZETTE.

BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1879.

THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE has received not a little gratuitous advertising of late in the daily papers. To be sure, the best friends of the school were not taken into consultation when the particular methods of advertising were devised; on the contrary, the whole plan was part of a scheme to injure the school as much as possible. The result, however, we feel confident, will not affect the reputation of the institution in the long run. Slanderous statements may for a short time influence the minds of superficial and careless observers, where a good deal of mud is thrown, a little of it is apt to stick to the cleanest record, - but slander, we must remember, is very like a boomerang, which is apt to recoil on the head of him that throws it.

The immediate cause of the publicity above referred to was the expulsion for cause of a certain student from the school. Angered beyond measure on receiving this just punishment, and determined on revenge at any cost, he sought a reporter of the lowest of our daily newspapers, one which is always ready to pander to the cravings of the lovers of the latest sensation, no matter how vile it may be, and poured into his willing ear a mischievous concoction of mingled falsehood and truth (which has already met the eyes of many of our readers), designed to show up the shortcomings of the school, real and pretended, to justify and gain sympathy for himself, and also to spread the ridiculous idea among the public at large that the students were universally dissatisfied and were arrayed en masse against the Faculty, and that the school was about to fall to pieces. Of course such news would naturally be nuts to a reporter, and he made the most of it. A part of this scheme for defamation was somewhat skilfully devised. kind of a lie has truly been said to be that with which some truth is In this case, for instance, the complaint of a majority of the middle class about the lengthened term was, in our opinion, founded upon simple justice. The class entered under the implied compact that they were to graduate in March, 1880; and any alteration of that compact without their consent, even if designed for their good, was ex parte legislation and a direct violation of the terms of agreement. We were glad that the Faculty finally receded from its

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