made below the ribs, the stomach was drawn out, and opened by a cut seven centimeters long in the centre of its anterior aspect; the set of teeth was removed, and the rent in the stomach sewed up by three sutures, one above the other. The stomach was then replaced in its proper position. There was no inflammation, discharge or pain of any kind. The second day after the operation the patient received liquid nourishment, and after a fortnight took solid food. In three weeks he was dismissed, and was able to resume his work. This is the second case of a set of teeth that had been swallowed being removed by operation, and the seventh in which gastrotomy was resorted to. The greater number of cases are successful. The first three cases were those in which a knife, a spoon, and a fork respectively, had been swallowed.

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE EAR AND THROAT.

Since this subject is always interesting, we are glad to record that before the Brighton and Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society (October 1), Mr. Creswell Barber reported several instances of foreign bodies in the ear. In one, a locust-bean had been introduced four years before, but had only caused pain for eleven days. Syringing failed to remove it; but after sedative treatment to remove inflammation and swelling of the meatus, the bean, after some time fell out. A polypus behind it was removed, and hearing was restored. It was necessary to watch such cases carefully, because more rapid removal might be necessary in view of more serious symptoms. In another case, a boy had put a pea in his right ear eight months before. The meatus was full of discharging granulations, which had to be "snared", and the pea was removed by syringing. Mr. Barber showed also a sharp piece of bone, one inch long, removed from the throat of a lady by a sponge-probang.

Dr. Taaffe remarked on the duration of the sensation of a foreign body in the throat after its real removal; also on the value of soft solid food.

Dr. Uhthoff related the case of a man who had, unknown to himself, put the ivory end of a ball-room pencil in his ear.

IS CANCER HEREDITARY?

I rather incline to the view that all disease can be and that no disease need be hereditary; that is to say that a progenitor trans

mits to his or her offspring more or less of a tendency towards any disease that may exist in him or herself but that there is a hygiene of every disease, by observance of which this tendency may be rendered latent and ultimately eradicated, and vice versa. However, this broad view of heredity is hardly yet universally accepted, and the question of heredity in individual diseases is oftentimes discussed. Dr. Herbert Snow entertained the last meeting of the British Medical Association with a discussion on the heredity of cancer, and thus formulated his views :

I. That the belief in heredity is merely derived from popular tradition, and is wanting in any sound basis of scientific proof.

2. That extremely practical issues are involved and that the views now prevalent lead to disastrous results.

SUPRA-PUBIC ASPIRATION OF THE BLADDER FOR RETENTION.

After reporting six cases in the Lancet, October 17th, Dr. Thistle makes the following remarks: These cases will serve to substantiate the value of aspiration of the bladder in cases of retention of urine. In the above six cases the operation was resorted to ten times. The instrument used was a long fine aspirator trocar and canula. On removing the trocar an India-rubber tube was attached to the canula, through which the urine ran into the vessel. On removing the canula a pad of lint was strapped over the seat of puncture, and left on for twenty-four hours. In no case did the least ill effect follow. The operation is much more simple than puncture through the rectum, much less unpleasant to the patient and equally safe.

GUMMA OF THE CONJUNCTIVA.

While syphilitic eye manifestations are quite common, yet it is rarely that we have gumma in this situation, hence the case which Dr. LeRoy P. Walker reports in the Med. Record, November 7, is worthy of note. In this man, whose general health was excellent, and who had been infected with syphilis one year before, there was a gumma at the sclero-corneal margin. The cornea and aqueous humor were perfectly clear, and there was no sign of iritis. After twenty days the tumor was entirely gone; the treatment being inunctions of mercury, with ten grains of iodide of potash, and instillations of atropia two grains to the ounce thrice daily.

CURE OF CARBUNCLE WITHOUT THE KNIFE.

A deep incision early made, has heretofore been considered the

safest procedure in cases of carbuncle. Bulkley (Deutsch Am. Apoth. Zeit., October 1, 1885,) discards the knife as well as all hot applications. He recommends to cover the carbuncle with a piece of patent lint, which must remain on the skin all the time, and upon whose woolly side the following ergotin ointment should be spread: R. Extract ergotæ, 2 drachms.

Zinci oxid., 1 drachm.

Unguent simpl., ad. 1 ounce. M.

Should this salve, on account of the heat of the inflamed parts, prove too thin, not solid enough, a little white wax or Hebra's ointment may be added to it. Whenever necessary, the lint with the salve has to be removed, care being taken not to expose the carbuncle the least to the action of the air. Attention is to be paid to Stimulants are to be dis

a nourishing diet and to rest of the part. carded, but internally he recommends laxatives and narcotics as needed; sulphur-calcium, one sixth to one fourth of a grain every two hours; and a mixture of magnesia, iron, and diluted sulphuric acid, to be administered three times daily, immediately after meals.

This treatment is said to shorten greatly the course of the disease, to do away with nearly all pain, and to leave behind but a very small cicatrix, besides making all surgical interference and rest in bed superfluous.

For years we have been in the habit of treating carbuncle in a different manner, which, however, has invariably given us the best results, it being applicable only to recent cases, i. e., such as come early under the observation of the physician.

As soon as the initial induration announces the formation of a carbuncle, from two to ten European leeches (their number depending upon the size of the carbuncle, the intensity of the inflammation, and the age and general condition of the patient), are at once applied to the indurated and reddened skin. Should it be impossible to procure leeches in time, then the antiphlogistic touch is thoroughly practiced-by which is meant scarifying the parts with the point of a sharp and thin blade. Immediately after, the tincture of iodine is liberally applied every three or four hours, and the part covered with absorbent cotton. Frequently the formation of pus is thus totally avoided, or should it nevertheless occur, limited to a very small quantity. As soon as the symptoms indicate the threatening presence of pus, one small but deep incision is made, and poultices,

sprinkled over with Goulard's extract, then take the place of the dry cotton. As soon as the pus appears on the surface, a ten per cent. solution of carbolic acid and water is injected every five hours into the opening, and unguent. zinci benzoatis, also containing two grains of carbolic acid to every one hundred grains of salve (or about nine to ten grains to the ounce), applied locally.

Under this treatment the carbuncle either disappears by the fifth or sixth day, or if pus forms, by the ninth or tenth day, without having given rise to any great constitutional disturbance. Internal tonic treatment is resorted to only if the debility of the patient should indicate its employment.

A SINGULAR ACCIDENT.

The following rather curious case is related by Dr. A. A. Hamilton in the Indiana Medical Journal for September, 1885.

"One Sunday in July last, a young man, a farmer, aged eighteen or nineteen, was quietly resting upon a lounge in his father's house, sleeping, perhaps, or dozing. While thus reposing at full length upon his side, another young man approached the sleeper, and in a playful manner gave him a box or blow upon the side of his head over the right ear with his open hand. An uneasy sensation, with slight pain, was experienced for a few moments, but this feeling soon disappeared, and the occurrence was, in a manner, forgotten for some three or four days, when it was noticed that there was a slight discharge from the injured ear, together with some difficulty in hearing of that side. He thereupon presented himself at my office for examination. Suspecting the character of the trouble to be rupture of the membrana tympani, resulting from concussion or sudden compression of the atmosphere, I directed him to gently inflate the middle ear by Valsalva's method, whereupon the exit of air could be both heard and felt. He was then directed to carefully abstain from further efforts at inflation, and to remain as quiet as possible, in hope that the torn membrane would re-unite. This it has failed to do however, thus far."

THE TREATMENT OF LUPUS BY PARASITICIDES.

Before the last meeting of the American Dermatological Association Dr. White read a paper on this subject in which he sketched the recent developments in our knowledge which established the

common and bacillous origin of tuberculosis, scrofulosis, and lupus and the rational attempts which have followed to overcome the latter phase of the disease by the external use of parasiticides. He reported the results of these methods in twelve cases of the disease which had been under his observation during the past eighteen months. From these experiments he concluded that we may probably be able to substitute for the painful and unsatisfactory surgical methods hitherto employed against the disease, such very simple applications as are capable of destroying the bacilli in the lupus tissues. Among the most promising of these, in his experience, were corrosive sublimate and salicylic acid.

THE ANTIPHLOGISTIC TOUCH OF THE THERAPEUTIC KNIFE.

Those who have listened to Dr. Pancoast's clinics have repeatedly heard this procedure described. For those who have not been so favored I reproduce his remarks before the New York State Medical Society.

"If he sees a patient early enough he is able to say with almost absolute certainty that there will be no abscess. Having exhibited the little knives which he is in the habit of using, he states that the special excellence which characterizes them is, that they leave no scar. By means of one of these the part is punctured in numerous places, and the dead blood is let out. The method is applicable to tumors of almost any sort, as it affords the best possible means, for deep-seated blood-letting of the part. The moment a bubo, or other gathering becomes hard and refuses to yield to the action of local applications, he freely punctures it with his little knife, and occasionally he finds that there is a drop of pus on the point. By this method he has even cured some cases of goitre, both cystic and fibroid, or at least rendered the growth so small that it gave no further trouble. He also gave internal remedies, however, such as Donovan's solution and iodide of potassium, with the addition of cinchona or whiskey, if the patient's condition seems to demand it. Many other glandular growths can also be successfully treated in the

same way.

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE TRACHEA.

A child three and one half years of age drew a kernel of corn into the trachea during inspiration where it remained for eight days producing frequent and violent paroxysms of coughing and almost