twelve powders had given the boy temporary relief, but that a relapse had come on, and that he was much worse than at first-knee, hip and shoulder being affected. As before, nothing was given to mask the effect of the acid, 100 grains of which in sixteen doses made a prompt and permanent cure. To prevent another relapse, five-grain doses three times a day were continued for a week.

There will probably be no disagreement about the working theory that it is necessary to charge the system with the remedy as fast as possible in order to destroy the materies morbi in the blood. The only question is, how fast can this be done? One proof that large doses are absorbed faster than smaller ones is found in the fact that the physiological effect of ringing in the ears is sooner produced, especially if the remedy is given in the form of salicylate of soda.

Thornville, Mich.

["One swallow does not make a spring," neither do two, and perhaps neither would a whole flock make a typical vernal season; but here is another noted arrival since the last report: John D., German, aged 43, painter, called at our office, June 17 last, complaining of pains and uneasiness which two previous attacks through which we had conducted him, admonished him were pre monitory of a third attack of rheumatism. Having a distinct recollection of the taste of the salicylic acid mixture he took some eighteen months before, he asked if something a little more pleasant could not be given and we prescribed:

informed us the other day, when, model patient that he is, he called to settle up his bill.-ED.]

Rhus Poisoning.

BY F. GUNDRUM, M. D.

I notice in the July number (July 10, p. 154) a communication from D. M. Johnston, inquiring of his professional brethren in regard to the best method of curing that form of dermatitis caused by the poison oaks-rhus toxicodendron, rhus radicans and rhus venenata, popularly known as poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumach.

The inflammation of the skin resulting from contact with these poisonous plants varies in degrees of severity, from a small patch to extending almost or quite over the entire body, and the suffering is mensurate with the amount of surface involved. The

smallest patch is generally bitterly complained of, and what must the suffering be when the whole surface of the tegument is suffering from an intense degree of inflammation.

A

All manner of local treatment, perhaps it would be better to say maltreatment, have been appliedcaustics, irritants, astringents and soothing applications, besides innumerable internal remedies. great many of the strong local applications have been applied on the same principle that old women, after a child has burnt or scalded a hand or foot, act upon when they hold the injured part over a hot fire to draw the fire out," making the little sufferers dance a perfect "jig" while thus being tor. mented.

It would be folly, were space permitted, to name over all the remedies that have been used in this affection, but I have been guilty of giving most of them a trial.

The treatment I have persued for the last four or five years has given me good satisfaction, and as I have not seen the like or similar prescription recommended, I give it, hoping it may prove as efficacious in other hands as it has in mine. Perhaps as good a way as any will be to give a report of a case. Was called to see Miss G., of F., age 19, of good health and robust constitution. She was always very sus ceptible to the influence of poison vines," and once, at about the age of eight or ten years, was so seriously ill from dermatitis following an exposure that her parents thought she would die. Ten days previous to my visit she had made a visit into the country, and on the third or fourth day her enemy attacked her. A physician was called in who treated her variously until the morning of the day that I saw patient in the evening (9 P. M.), when he applied bromine and sweet oil; but this remedy had done very little, if any, good. All this time the burning pain had been so intense as to make sleep a rare visitor. She had lost strength very much and emaciated quite a considerable. Her face, most all

the scalp, neck, most of body, thighs and some below knees, were the seat of intense phegmonous inflammation. Large vesicles had formed, broken

and left a raw surface. There were numberless vesicles unbroken, while rest of surface was smooth and shiny. Below the knees the inflammation had not run so high. Her pulse was 120, temp. 102°, and her bowels costive.

She was ordered Rochelle salt and cream of tartar, aaij, a teaspoonsful once in two hours, till bowels should move two or three times, then to have 2 grs. quinia and grs. Dover's powder for 24 hours, and as a local application to have, R. Borax 3 ii, acid carbolic 3i, morphia grs. x, powd. g. arabic 3 iv, water to 8 ounces. Agitate till a solution is obtained. To be used as follows: Take a 1 or 14 inch flat camel's hair brush, and having poured solution into a dish, paint inflamed surfaces over once in one, two or three hours, according to the severity of the symptoms; expose the parts as much as possible. After painting four or five times, discontinue for several hours and allow solution to dry, when there will form an impermeable and glistening coating over skin, which protects the skin from atmosphere and retains the moisture. As soon as any part cracks, or burning is not abated in the course of six or eight hours, wash the parts off in warm water and re-apply. Under the above local application our patient soon began to feel better, and in 24 hours inflammation began to subside, and in a few days she was convalescent. The ingredients in this prescription may be changed to suit individual cases. More g. arabic should be added if a good artificial skin does not form from this amount. Where there are no systemic disturbances I only use the solution. Many in this vicinity having learned of the prompt and good effect of this prescription, come to my brother's drug store, where the formula is on file, and have him put it up without consulting me, -a trick that has become epidemic amongst the druggists.

IONIA, Mich., July 19, 1879.

BY D. J. PARSONS, M. D.

In a late number of the MICHIGAN MEDICAL NEWS Dr. D. M. Johnson requests information in regard to the treatment of poisoning by rhus toxicodendron. For his benefit I would state that tincture sanguinaria canadensis is, to my own knowledge, a certain remedy. It should be applied freely, with a camel's hair brush, three or four times in quick succession. Soon as one painting or application is dry apply another, until three or four are made. Once a day is often enough to apply it, and one thorough application as above directed will generally be sufficient. R Aquæ ammoniæ..

ALBUMINOSE OR PEPTONE FOR INTRAVENOUS ALIMENTATION.-At a recent meeting of the Medi cal Society of the County of New York (Medical Record), the question of intravenous nutrition was discussed, the discussion being opened by a paper by Dr. Geo B. Fowler. He stated that the success attendant on the transfusion of blood had not been satisfactory, and he explained it by stating that the blood injected was not assimilated because blood is a tissue, and not a reservoir of food prepared for as

similation. The cases of success in the lower anim. mals were those in which the stimulus of distention was required. What is wanted is a fluid which can be taken up by the blood and at once assimilated. Milk has been more successful than blood, because it more successfully meets this requirement; but even milk does not fully fill the bill, as its globules are enclosed in an albuminous envelope which dissolves only at 115° F.

Dr. Fowler then brought forward albuminose or peptone as the fluid best adapted for intravenous injection. It is digested albumen, the result of the action of gastric juice on albuminous substances. It may be obtained by the continuous boiling for fortyeight hours of finely chopped beef under pressure with a weak solution of hydrochloric acid. A number of experiments with this article on cats and rabbits proved that it was assimilated, as it did not reappear in the urine. The nutritive qualities of the substance had been demonstrated by its sustaining life in a rabbit for five or six days, rectal injec tions being given. There were no feces, and the animal did not lose flesh.

Dr. Fowler then referred to a case which he had seen with Dr. Munde, in which intravenous injections of the substance were given with permanently beneficial results. About 3 iij. of the liquid, corresponding to 3 vj of meat, were thrown into the veins, and the vomiting and all other disagreeable symptoms dependent on perilous hemorrhage from cancer of the uterus, rapidly subsided, and the patient was soon able to take food by the stomach.

Tinct. lobeliæ....

3 i 3 vii.

Mix. Sig.-Apply every three or four hours.

CHLOROFORM IN AFFECTIONS OF THE HEART.M. St. Vergely, of France, (Dr. E. Le Sage in Ameri can Medical Bi-Weekly) after careful trials with chlo

roform in cardiac difficulties, arrives at the following conclusions:

1st. Chloroform can be administered to persons with cardiac lesions without immediately fatal results.

2d. Chloroform employed with caution and discrimination in attacks of angina pectoris or palpitation, be it used by itself or combined with morphine, is a very useful therapeutic resource to prevent these formidable affections.

He reports a case with hyperthrophy of the heart and angina pectoris, for which many remedies had been used with very little relief. A teaspoonful of chloroform from a handkerchief was inhaled at each attack for two months, and was followed by ease, rest and at times, sleep. No accident occurred. During the sixty days about 200 grammes were used.

Other cases are given illustrating the effects of chloroform in various cardiac affections. One patient could not take the inhalations on account of the after sickness, but the others received much benefit.

Considerable difference of opinion prevails in regard to the safety of chloroform as an anæsthetic. Many surgeons fear to use it even where no cardiac lesion can be detected, while others, especially in Great Britain, use it constantly-often for patients with disease of the heart-with results that compare very favorably with those obtained from other anæs thetics. It is claimed by some that 'deaths so frequently reported from chloroform arise from fear and shock in consequence of too little of the anæs thetic having been given. Many of these deaths have occurred in dental rooms, or in other cases where some slight operation was required, and, consequently, profound anæsthesia might not have been deemed requisite. The question is worthy of still further investigation.

NEW OPERATION FOR SAVING A LOST AND PAINFUL EYE.-A boy 14 years of age had his left eye cut open by a stone. Through the wound in the sclerotic the vitreous ran out and the eye-shell collapsed. The physician in whose care the boy was, applied cold dressing with atropia, and was much pleased to find in the course of a week that the wound had healed. The eye regained its fullness, although there was no appreciation of light in it. Soon, however, severe pains set in, and the boy was brought to Dr. Chisholm, of Baltimore, for treatment.

He had a good-looking eye, clear cornea, and iris so retracted that the pupil seemed as large as the cornea. There was no fundus illumination indicating a vitreous chamberful of blood. Removal of the eyeball was the only course to prevent sympathetic inflammation of the well eye, and Dr. Chisholm put into practice a recent and novel expedient, suggested in cases of glaucoma to retain an eye that still looked well although devoid of sight.

He made an incision at the nasal corner through the conjunctiva, dissecting the tendon of the internal rectus from its sclerotic adhesion. Through this opening he introduced a pair of curved scissors and severed the optic nerve with all the ciliary nerves which enter the eye from the posterior axis of the eyeball. The divided muscle was then replaced and stitched in its normal position. When the boy awoke from the chloroform anæsthesia, all pain in the eye had disappeared, nor has he suffered at all since the operation. The promises are most excellent for the retention of a good-looking eye-infinitely better than any artificial eye that could be inserted.Va. Med. Monthly.

66

A NEW ANESTHETIC.-The French journals contain an account of the successful employment of Prof. Bert's new anaesthetic, which consists of nitrous oxide 85 parts and oxygen 15 parts, under tension. Prof. Labbé, the distinguished surgeon of Larboisière, having occasion to remove an ingrowing toe-nail, carried his patient to the Ærotherapic Establishment" of Dr. Daupley, and administered the anaesthetic in a chamber, the atmosphere of which had been compressed to 92 centimetres. After the lapse of a few seconds the patient became perfectly insensible, and the operation was performed and the dressing completed without the slightest manifestation of pain at the time or the development of any unusual symptom afterwards. Under ordinary conditions this mixture produces no effect upon the economy, while its employment under tension results in the speedy development of an anesthesia which is profound enough to render surgical operations painless, and of so innocent a character as to preclude the possibility of a danger ous complication.-Dr. Edward Warren (Bey) in N. Car. Med. Jour.

HYPOSULPHITE OF SODA IN DIPHTHERIA.--Dr. Carpenter, of Petaluma, Cal., (Med. Brief.) has the following:

"Visiting one morning a favorite little girl, laboring under the disease (diphtheria), and finding the tongue as well as the fauces covered with a black exudative membrane, as hard as iron, and the powers of life failing, with labored, stertorous breathing, quick, wiry pulse, and albuminous urine, I stopped my whole course of treatment, even to stimulants. Dissolved soda hyposulphite, two drachms, in aquam, eight ounces, and ordered a teaspoonful every ten minutes; and when I made my evening visit, to my surprise, her tongue and fauces were clean, and she was comfortable. The soda hyposulphite had dissolved the offensive element as water dissolves sugar."

The doctor's success seems almost as remarkable as the hardness of the exudative membrane.

TROUSSEAU'S CATAPLASM.-Take a sufficient quan. tity of bread (more or less, according to size of the joints to be enveloped), cut into thin slices; remove the crust and soak the pieces about a quarter of an hour in water. The swollen pieces are then placed in a piece of linen and the water squeezed out until the mass seems but slightly moist. It is next placed in a water bath and allowed to remain three hours. A portion of the water is again pressed out, and the whole is softened and kneaded for five minutes with camphorated alcohol The dough is then spread out on a piece of linen cloth large enough to cover the joint. At the edges the cataplasm should be at least one centimetre (one third inch) thick. Over the surface of the cataplasm the following mixture is poured: Camphora, 7 parts; ext. opii., 5 parts; ext. belladonna, 5 parts; alcohol, q. s. The dressing is then fastened on by adhesive strips and then covered with oil silk to prevent too rapid evaporation, and over the limb and joint a flannel roller is applied, tight enough to exercise a comfortable compression. This is allowed to remain from eight to ten days, and, if necessary, it is then reapplied. Dieulafoy has tried this remedy with great benefit in a large number of cases, and commends it highly to the profession.-Central Blatt für Chirurg.—Hosp. Gaz.

In

RULES FOR TREATMENT OF ABORTION.-1. the first two months an abortion needs no special treatment. The hæmorrhages of early date are amenable to the same principles of treatment as those from non-pregnant uterus.

2. In the third month no treatment is required when the ovum is expelled with intact membranes. When the membranes rupture previous to expulsion, and hemorrhage takes place immediately, removal should be attempted, provided the cervix be sufficiently dilated to admit the index finger. When the cervix is closed the tampon should be tried for twenty-four hours. If the tampon proves ineffective, the cervix should then be dilated with a sponge tent and the ovum removed with the finger. The finger should pass up along the side of the uterus, across the fundus, and complete the circuit of the uterine cavity.

ette.

3. In cases of neglected abortion, retained portions should be removed with the finger or the curWhen the ovum is decomposed, no dilation of the os is usually necessary. When the ovum is fresh the preliminary use of sponge tents is usually demanded if manual delivery is resorted to.

4. In immature deliveries, hemorrhage can usually be controlled without the tampon, by compression of the uterus, and, in cases of delay, by the manual extraction of the placenta.-Dr. W, T. Lusk in Medical Record.

ETHYLATE OF SODIUM IN NÆVUS.-Dr. Purden has recently been trying the ethylate of sodium in the Belfast Skin Hospital, His first case was that

of a nævus situated in the forehead, communicating through the bone with the cerebral circulation. The patient was a boy, aged three years; the nævus being about the size of a small walnut. Four applications of the ethylate of sodium removed the deformity. The author agrees with Dr. Richardson in believing that the remedy is a specific for nævus. He has also removed a small patch of cutaneous cancer on the lower lip by the ethylate; whilst three cases of lupus and one of warty growth on the back of the hand are progressing favorably under its use. The four results obtained by the action of the ethy late of sodium, viz, removal or absorption of water from the tissue into the ethylate; destructive action of a caustic from the caustic soda that is formed; thirdly, coagulation from the alcohol that is produced; and, fourthly, prevention of decomposition of the dead organic substance that is formed-were observed in the case of nævus.-Lancet― Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic.

VOL. II.

Editorial.

The Medical Schools.

The season of the distribution of medical college announcements is upon us, and from the number thus far received we apprehend no appreciable falling off from those of former years. Thus far we have noticed but two fresh applicants for professional favor in this direction; one of these is the new medical college at Little Rock, Arkansas, and the other a hybrid institution, a homeopathic college which recommends Ringer's therapeutics, at Buffalo, New York.

A careful scrutiny of the announcements reveals the fact that, notwithstanding the unmistakable demand for an advance which has been coming up (or rather down) from the profession for the past few years, the doors of the schools, with a few possible exceptions, are as wide open as ever. We had hoped that the agitation of this question which has more recently been witnessed, would be followed by some disposition on the part of the schools to conform to the wishes of the profession, but these hopes are banished by the announcements. The late memorable convention of the colleges at At lanta was ostensibly in the line of progress, but it terminated in a miserable fiasco, and left the impression that the schools are very loath to do anything which may even temporarily curtail the receipts in the way of students' fees. And although the call for the convention was ostensibly in response to a demand from the profession for higher requirements on the part of graduates, none of the few colleges which met in convention have acceded to this demand. The fact of the matter is that the medical schools of this country are, with a few honorable exceptions, primarily commercial ventures, and are governed by the same laws and rules which obtain among other enterprises in which there is strong competition. The idea that medi

No. 15

cal colleges are conducted "in the interests of the profession," however much truth their may once have been in it, is, in these latter days, but a beautiful fiction. The medical college, not bountifully endowed, which would voluntarily pursue a plan calculated to improve the quality of its graduates at the expense of their quantity would certainly be a unique institution.

The question which suggests itself is, Is this a desirable state of affairs? The profession have for years been answering "No" with all the emphasis of which they are capable, but still the old-time college announcements appear with no material change, and with the beautiful regularity of the seasons.

There are two remedies for the evil, but we fear that the causes which make them impracticable will long continue to exist. One is for the profession to unite in the bestowal of their influence and patronage on such schools as shall institute a proper standard of requirement. But as long as young

men can be found who are content to enter our learned (?) profession lacking even the rudiments of a literary education, and whose only object is to secure some sort of a document which shall entitle them to affix the talismanic .M. D. to their patronymics, so long will colleges be found willing to receive and to graduate them. The other is legislative enactments in each of the States similar to that in operation in the neighboring Province of Ontario and in Texas, fixing the period of study and requiring a practitioner to be a graduate of a regularly chartered college, but not recognizing the diploma of that college as a sufficient guaranty of qualification for practice, such qualification being only attested by the certificate of a board of examiners chosen by the profession and independent of the schools. If the profession of this country were to unite with a view to securing the latter efficient remedy against the crying