It is with much regret that, for want of space, we merely mention the titles of the papers that were next presented for the consideration of the session. Dr. H. O. Marcy, of Cambridge, Mass., gave an abstract of his paper on plastic splints, and exhibited a plaster mill, used to facilitate the preparation of plaster of Paris bandages. Dr. Sayre then exhibited a girl, 12 years old. This child can neither talk, walk or feed herself, nor has she direct control of any muscle. She has the appearance of an idiot, says Dr. Sayre, and yet she is not an idiot. The girl has no power to express herself in language at all. The limbs cross in an incoordinate manner. The child has been abandoned as a hopeless case, but in Dr. Sayre's opinion, it is a case of reflex incoordination from genital irritation, and can be cured by the removal of the extremity of the clitoris. (1) Dr. Edmund Andrews, of Chicago, read a paper entitled, "Studies in rendering incisions painless by means of high velocity," and explained the instrument for making such incisions. Dr. C. Fayette Taylor, of New York, exhibited a new osteoclast, illustrating, by a case, its use in ameliorating deformity and restoring the power of locomotion, in anchylosis of the hip-joint, with bad position. Abstracts of papers entitled as follows were then read: "The open air treatment of wounds," by J. E. Link; "The relative value of incisions and aspiration in the treatment of empyema," by Dr. H. T. Bowditch; "Elastic bandage in the treatment of varicose ulcers, sprained ankle, enlargement of joints from increase in quantity of synovial fluid, as a result of rheumatism, etc., etc.," by Dr. Henry D. Martin, Boston. Adjourned sine die. (1) This case came under my care a few days after adjournment of the Association. I operated, and at the end of a week the result is negative.— J. E. Owens. large a part of those cases once supposed to be nervous deafness, and the establishing of the fact that nervous deafness is rare, and usually supervenes suddenly, and that it is attended, in addition to complete deafness, by nausea, vomiting, unsteadiness of gait in walking, etc. The cases before supposed to be nervous deafness are most frequently found to be the results of defects in the conducting apparatus, instead of in the perceptive, and to be caused by chronic non-suppurative inflammation of those parts. Inattention in diagnosis may lead to confounding acute inflammation of the labyrinth-especially in children—with cerebro-spinal meningitis. In the treatment of all affections of the ear, except cases of true nervous deafness, much more can be accomplished than is generally believed by the profession and by the public. Often the integrity of the membrana tympani may be saved, and even the life of the patient spared, by timely puncture of the membrane, in severe acute inflammation of the middle ear. Openings in the membrana tympani, whether spontaneously or artificially made, usually heal readily, unless very great loss of substance occur. Great danger lies in allowing purulent discharge from the ear to continue; never in stopping it, by the removal of the causes which are producing it. Many cases of deafness are supposed to have been inherited. Deafness is not a disease, but a consequence of disease, or defect, of the organ of hearing, and hence it is difficult to conceive of hereditary deafness. The subject of deaf-mutism merits more attention than it receives. These cases are more frequently acquired than congenital. The defect is far more frequently in the conducting apparatus than in the perceptive apparatus, and hence more favorable for treatment. Wise and humane as it is to provide shelter and care and instruction for the irremediably deaf and mute persons, it is yet better to seek to remove the cause where it can be done-which, as its consequence, makes such care and provision needful. It is with much regret that, for want of space, we merely mention the titles of the papers that were next presented for the consideration of the session. Dr. H. O. Marcy, of Cambridge, Mass., gave an abstract of his paper on plastic splints, and exhibited a plaster mill, used to facilitate the preparation of plaster of Paris bandages. Dr. Sayre then exhibited a girl, 12 years old. This child can neither talk, walk or feed herself, nor has she direct control of any muscle. She has the appearance of an idiot, says Dr. Sayre, and yet she is not an idiot. The girl has no power to express herself in language at all. The limbs cross in an incoordinate manner. The child has been abandoned as a hopeless case, but in Dr. Sayre's opinion, it is a case of reflex incoordination from genital irritation, and can be cured by the removal of the extremity of the clitoris. (1) Dr. Edmund Andrews, of Chicago, read a paper entitled, "Studies in rendering incisions painless by means of high velocity," and explained the instrument for making such incisions. Dr. C. Fayette Taylor, of New York, exhibited a new osteoclast, illustrating, by a case, its use in ameliorating deformity and restoring the power of locomotion, in anchylosis of the hip-joint, with bad position. Abstracts of papers entitled as follows were then read: "The open air treatment of wounds," by J. E. Link; "The relative value of incisions and aspiration in the treatment of empyema," by Dr. H. T. Bowditch; "Elastic bandage in the treatment of varicose ulcers, sprained ankle, enlargement of joints from increase in quantity of synovial fluid, as a result of rheumatism, etc., etc.," by Dr. Henry D. Martin, Boston. Adjourned sine die. (1) This case came under my care a few days after adjournment of the Association. I operated, and at the end of a week the result is negative.J. E. Owens. SECTION IV.-MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, CHEMISTRY AND PSYCHOLOGY. Reported by D. R. BROWER, M. D. FIRST DAY-TUESDAY, JUNE 5TH. Dr. Eugene Grissom, of North Carolina, Chairman. The first paper read was entitled RELATIONS OF SPIRITUALISM TO MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, by John P. Gray, M. D., LL. D., Sup't New York Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N. Y. It was a paper exhibiting painstaking in its preparation, excellent judgment in its deductions, and reflecting great credit on its able author. The doctor stated that spiritualism is not a form of religious belief in any sense, ordinary or theological, but embraces persons belonging to all religious denominations, as well as those who do not believe in divine revelations; that it has led many persons into practices at variance with sound morality; has led persons to disregard the principles of common statute law in regard to business matters, to giving away their property; that wills, contracts and speculations have been made under direction of so-called spirits and spirit communications; and that such acts have brought the subject at least indirectly within the scope of medico-legal investigation; moreover, many of the phases of human conduct in these people might represent moral perversion or folly, religious or social, and therefore appear to belong to the moralist or theologian than to the physician or lawyer, and might be classed among erratic or superstitious ideas. Dr. G. then in illustration detailed the case of Capt. E. B. Ward, tried in Detroit, in 1876. In this case it was proposed to set aside a will, on the plea of insanity. It was asserted that there had been an entire change of Capt. B.'s character that was the outgrowth of cerebral disease, and various acts fully sustained this assertion. The court ruled that spiritualism in any of its manifestations, or so-called phenomena, could not be claimed as tending to show the probability of insanity, but did admit it as a plea of undue influence and that a delusion incident thereto was not an insane delusion. Dr. G. maintained that the court had gone too far, when it placed the communications from spirits on a par with those from living persons, and that there was a vast difference in the influence that would be exerted by communications from living persons and the so-called communications from another world, and referred in this connection to the superstitions of the past, socalled moral epidemics and witchcraft, vampirism, etc. That any one could recognize this principle, and that these mediums undoubtedly appreciated the mingled emotions of terror, curiosity, and religious superstition and brought them into active play in their performances. This can be seen even in the vague terror of a child who hears a strange sound, in the dark, and in the more intelligent fear of the same child when he meets a ferocious animal; the difference being that, between seeing and understanding a danger and so in a measure preparing for it, and that of losing, on the other hand, all control in the midst of dread unknown. This distinction must have weight touching the question of undue influence, and the question of the probable development of insanity. He referred to the case of Robert Dale Owen as showing the power of such belief and the consequences of a revulsion. Capt. Ward was a man of large wealth and extensive business interests, residing in Detroit, Mich., a man of great energy and very aggressive in character; he did not indulge in spirituous liquors or tobacco, but was largely given to sexual excesses; he had no religious belief, but for a number of years was a spiritualist of a fanatical type. He was married and had several children. At about fifty years of age, he had slight cerebral hemorrhage, and soon thereafter procured a divorce by his own exertion, from his wife, a paralytic invalid, and to his own disgrace, he then married a young and voluptuous woman, whom he took into the same house to live with his abused wife. By this woman he had two children; about this time his interest in spiritualism became much intensified; he employed female mediums; kept them about him and through them consulted daily the so-called spirits of dead |