Dr. Hans Aronson has attempted to obtain in England a patent for a method for obtaining from the blood of animals immunizing substances against nfective diseases.

The British Medical Journal declares him unworthy the name of physician for this odium, for it amounts, it says, to preventing physicians the use of their working tools to save life.

The physicians suffer less than the people by this sort of thing, for life is not so cheap as to be placed at the mercy of an avaricious creature who is a misfit in his supposed calling.

The after-effects of antitoxine are described as followed by urticaria-like eruption with high fever, pain in the muscles and joints and enlargement of the inguinal glands.

It is not yet sufficiently understood, but it seems likely, from the cases reported, that these after-effects follow only in those severe cases in which the diphtheria poison has well developed in the system and these effects appear of the nature of a fierce reaction between toxine and antitoxine.

Still there are other things to be taken into consideration before this is definite; the purity of the preparation, etc.

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There appears to be some disposition on the part of "old line" life insurance companies (N. Y. Life and Equitable) to reduce the medical examining fee from $5 to $3.

It is certainly short-sighted policy. The bulwark of life insurance is the medical examination, and if it can be bartered in the same manner as probably can the agents' commissions the time will come that all confidence will be lost in these institutions.

A conscientious, painstaking, thorough examination on the part of a competent examiner is worth more to the company and to those insured in it, which is more important, than the whole of the agent's fee, which is said to be the premium in full (minus the medical examination) for the first year.

Arsenic in Chorea.-In his recent work on chorea, Dr. Osler in speaking of arsenic in the treatment of chorea uses these words: "The general condition of the children is often much improved by this drug, but it is extremely difficult to say whether it controls in any way the choreic movements. I do not myself think that it has very much influence upon them."

To many, to whom the specific action of Fowler's solution in chorea has seemed to be established since Martin first recommended it in 1813. this assertion will appear as an attack upon a favorite hypothesis. Yet it must be admitted that the evidence to the contrary is far from being positive.

One thing, however, may now be positively said concerning the treatment of chorea minor, backed up by the opinions of Sachs, Osler, Dana, Gray and others, viz: that rest is a therapeutic measure compared with which arsenic is of much less importance and should be chosen in preference to all other means. --Pittsburgh Medical Review.

Tabes and Paresis. A large number of cases has been reported, exhibiting the symptoms of both locomotor ataxia and paralytic dementia (general paralysis of the insane). The evidence that syphilis is a predominating etiological factor in the production of both these diseases is indubitable. Some German authorities claim that in as many as 90 per cent. of cases of tabes there has been syphilitic infection, while 60 or 70 per cent, of the cases of paralytic dementia occur in syphilitics. These facts considered, would naturally, on a priori grounds lead to the suspicion that the symptoms of tabes and paresis are due to very much the same pathological process. Fournier, who first demonstrated the frequency of syphilis in tabetics, has recently taken this position. He makes three divisions of the disease, viz: That exclusively affecting the spinal cord, or tabes. 2. That exclusively affecting the brain, or dementia paralytica. 3. That affecting the brain and spinal cord, or tabes cerebro-spinalis.— Pittsburgh Medical Review.

I.

Inspection of Meat.-Dr. Legge, in a paper entitled 'Notes on Some Continental Abattoirs," contributes certain valuable information to Public Health upon the inspection of meat. He acknowledges that England is about twenty years behind the continental cities in this matter. It is unnecessary to estimate how much behind some of our own American states would be placed; but the subject has its interest in connection with bills to promote or binder inspection of food products now or lately before state legislatures.

In Paris the seizure of meat is considered justified and is made (1) when deprived of all edible qualities; (2) when the eating of it might be fol

lowed by injurious consequences; (3) when from some reason or other it has derived qualities rendering its taste repugnant.

Under the first head comes the flesh of animals that have been killed too young, and of those that are either dropsical or cachetic; under the second that of animals affected with disease, such as fever, septicemia, anthrax, tuberculosis, etc.

The signs which guide the inspector in condemning the flesh of cachectic animals are chiefly the wasted condition, the absence of fat about the omentum, and the lack of resistence in the muscular tissue. With regard to animals that have died of inflammatory diseases the signs are: (1) a general tarnished coloration, more or less deep red; (2) a capillary injection of the fat, which in extreme cases is penetrated deeply by it; (3) aborescent markings on, and a tendency to a livid coloration of the serous membranes; (4) a violet tint of the kidneys; (5) a brown or blackish coloration of the spongy bone, seen best in the vertebræ; (6) loss of firmness in the muscular tissue. In Brussels the conditions under which the flesh of tuberculous animals is seized, no matter how good its general condition,

are:

I. (a) Tubercle having its seat in both the thorax and abdomen. (b) Tubercle, whether it be thoracic or abdominal, with presence of tubercles in any other part of the body outside these cavities. (c) Tubercle generalized in the following organs: lungs, pluræ, peritoneum, liver or mesenteric glands. (d) Tubercle of the lungs or pericardium involving the pleura extensively. (e) Tubercle of any organ of the abdomen involving the peritoneum extensively.

II. Tubercle observed in no matter what part of the body, or what the number of tubercles, when the animal is markedly wasted.

The inspection is entirely in the hands of veterinary surgeons. They make first a rough inspection of the carcass, and cut into the glands of the neck, especially the retro-pharyngeal. The liver and lungs

of every animal must also be cut into by the veterinary surgeon. If the appearances are suspicious, he further examines the spleen and the various glands of the body.

The flesh of all animals affected with tubercle, but not so extensively as to justify total seizure, and of those in which only a few cysticerci are found, is cooked for two hours in boiling water, and twice a week sold to the poor for a trifle.-Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

Help for Consumptives.-Perhaps the founders of the Invalid Aid Society builded better than they knew when, in the year 1892, an association of kind and thoughtful men and women (separating for the sake of pursuing their specific work from another body, the Health Resorts Association of Chicago, with which they remain in friendly co-operation) organized to assist by advice and, as far as possible, by money, in the removal of invalids, chiefly consumptives, to regions favorable to their recovery. This society, now incorporated, has already established or verified important data, and its practical experience has gone far toward solving the difficult problems of helpful climate and inexpensive care, while the mere existence of a reliable bureau of information mitigates the cruel uncertainty attending an invalid's change of abode.-From "The Service of an Invalid Aid Society," March Review of Reviews.

Proposed Legislation Against Midwives.—A special meeting of the Medical Society of the County of New York was held on Saturday evening, March 16th. The following resolution was unanimously referred to the executive committee for action:

Whereas, Recent unjustifiable arrests of reputable physicians and members in good standing of this society for performing their professional duties in cases of criminal operation induced by midwives, have outraged the feelings of the members of our profession and in the eyes of the public have placed the gentlemen accused in the position of criminals; and

Whereas, In the vast majority of instances these criminal operations are performed by midwives, quacks and professional malpractitioners; and

Whereas, In spite of the occasional spasmodic activity of the police in attempting to suppress these malefactors, the number of cases in which criminal operation is performed is by no means on the decrease; therefore be it

Resolved. That a bill be drafted and presented to the legislature through the proper channels, making it a criminal offence for any one to practice midwifery in the city of New York, excepting those holding the degree of M. D.; thus legislating midwives out of existence and effectually curtailing, if not absolutely suppressing, their shameful and notorious practices.

About forty attended the meeting of the Omaha Medical Society at the Commercial club rooms Tuesday, 16th inst. The following officers were elected: President, S. K. Spalding; vice president, C. C. Allison; secretary, Henry B. Wilson; treasurer, W. R. Lavender; censors, J. B. Lord, B. F. Crummer and Frank S. Owen

Liability of Railroads for Improper Medical or Surgical Treatment The Supreme Court of Kansas has recently decided that a railroad company which procures competent surgeons to attend its injured employes, and follows out their direction regarding the safety and care of the patient, is not liable for any mistake, error in judgment, or want of foresight in such surgeons.

Honest Fame.-Jinks (on the rail): "I was talking to an eminent physician in the smoker." Mrs. Jinks: "What is his name?"

"He didn't mention it, and I didn't like to ask him.

"Then why do you think he is an eminent physician?"

"I asked what was the best cure for consumption, and he said he didn't know."-Puck.

A Convincing Temperance Argument.-An English temperance agitator, Miss Weston, publishes in "Ashore and Afloat." under the caption of "A Drunkard's Brain-No Joke but Awful Truth," a statement that at an inquest recently held upon a noted drunkard, on opening his skull, "the odor of alcohol that filled the room was sickening. One of the surgeons then struck a match and held it close to the head. Immediately a blue flame enveloped the whole of the exposed brain." Miss Weston seems to regard truth as a matter of slight importance compared to the virtue of total abstinence.---Medical Record.

The Treatment of Tetanus by Antitoxin-A successful case of tetanus treated by antitoxin is reported by John Marriott, M. B., in the British Medical Journal for January 19th. The symptoms began six days after the injury-a wound in the jaw caused by a missile from a catapult-with inability to open the mouth and difficulty in swallowing.

On the ninth day, when the patient was first seen by Marriott, the muscles of the neck and back were stiff and prominent, and there was well marked trismus. Disinfection of the primary focus, administration of chloral, as much as could be swallowed, and physostigmine (one-one-hundredth grain) hypodermically during the next two days did not relieve the symptoms, which became gradually more aggravated, until on the fifth and sixth days there was slight opisthotonos. Two and one-half grammes of Tizzoni's antitoxin were now given hypodermically, the necessary punctures causing strong opisthotonic spasms. On the next day, the thirteenth of the disease, the patient was able to swallow a little. One gramme of antitoxin was given. The following day swallowing was easier. Speech was unintelligible, but the patient could now make himself understood by writing in large jerky scrawls; one-half gramme of antitoxin was given. During the following days gradual improvement was noted; one-half to one gramme of antitoxin being given daily until the twenty-first of the disease, when none was administered. The jaws at this time were still clenched. On the twenty-second day of the disease, early in the morning during sound sleep, the jaws opened sufficiently to allow the tongue to protrude and when the patient woke the tongue was caught and firmly held. The irritation caused renewed spasms, embarrassment of respiration, cyanosis. Attempts to administer chloroform only made matters Although the patient appeared to be dying, one-half grain of morphia with one-fiftieth of physostigmine was given with success in causing relaxation of the spasm and release of the tongue. Recovery from the morphia was followed by a return of the spasms, which were successfully combated by antitoxin. The case progressed to recovery, and the patient was able to sit up on the thirty-fourth day.

worse.

In the Quarterly Medical Journal two cases of traumatic tetanus in adults are reported, both successfully treated by antitoxin. The antitoxin treatment was begun on the ninth and third days of the disease, respectively. In both these cases repeated doses of the antitoxin were required, and improvement in the symptoms followed each dose.

It is interesting to note that in the last case, a child of six, a rash resembling measles with fever and swelling of the cervical lymphatic glands appeared on the twelfth day after the discontinuance of the antitoxin.

That a similar rash has often been noticed after the antitoxin treatment of diphtheria is interesting and points to the fact that the rash may be due to the serum itself and not to the particular antitoxin it contains. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

previously healthy child was very much reduced when it was first brought to Stoewer. He discovered, as the source of the bleeding, a small granulated tumor of the lower cul-de-sac and when this was removed, scraped out, and the defect closed with a suture the bleeding ceased. The previous loss of blood, however, had been too great for the child's vitality and it died two days later.

First Report of the Commission on Tuberculosis in Cattle.-The first annual report of the State Commission on Tuberculosis in Cattle has heen presented recently to the State Legislature of New York. Nine hundred and forty-seven animals were examined, and of this number sixty-six were condemned and slaughtered. A large proportion of these animals were common stock, and all breeds of cattle seemed to be affected alike. Tuberculosis in cattle has been found wherever examinations have been made. It has been discovered that the general diffusion of tuberculosis is due to contagion. The disease has been found to spread with certainty when the animals are housed together. The affected animals often show no evidence of the disease by objective signs. Often the diseased animals gave plentiful supplies of milk. The commission, therefore, urges that a scientific inspection be made regularly. It recommends that some central authority be established which will exercise a strict supervision. The commission has conducted experiments with the imported Koch tuberculin and with the tuberculin from the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washington, and has found them equally valuable. As far as possible, the object lessons given by the commission have reached all who might profit by them. Many dairymen in consequence are now engaged in examining their own cattle. The trouble and expense of disseminating this knowledge is certainly justified by the importance of the work-Scientific American.

Improved Method of Lavage.-A very simple improvement in apparatus for washing out the stomach is described by Doctor W. Beattie Nesbitt, in the Archives of Pediatrics. The fluid is obtained, as usual, from a siphon bottle placed above the level of the patient, but the india-rubber tube from this bottle is connected with the stomach catheter, not by a piece of straight glass tubing, but by a glass tube shaped like a widely open tuning fork; the handle of the tuning fork is connected with the stomach catheter, one limb with the tube from the bottle, and the other with a waste tube conducted into a suitable receptacle. It is convenient to have the tube from the bottle and the catheter of red rubber, and the waste tube of black rubber. The tubes from the two limbs are placed over the forefinger of the right hand, and are held loosely in the palm; either can then be easily compressed by the thumb. When it is desired to fill the stomach, the catheter having been introduced, the waste tube is compressed, and the fluid readily flows into the stomach from the bottle; when the stomach is to be emptied, the red or siphon tube is compressed and the black released. If the eye of the catheter becomes blocked, as often occurs, the current is easily reversed by compressing the black and releasing the red tube. Doctor Nesbitt recommends the use of a mouth gag, and, after inserting the tube, places the child on its side, with the face slightly downward Before removing the catheter the stomach is filled quite full. An act of vomiting

Petroleum in Pulmonary Tuberculosis -Dr. Pellisier (Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Tome CXXVI, p. 416) observing that workmen about oil wells are rarely affected with consumption, tried the filtrated crude oil, in treating this disease. It was given in capsules and inhabitions of its vapor used at the same time. The results, he claims, were astonishing; the cough and sweats disappeared, the appetite and sleep became normal and the affected portions of the lung healed. Attempts to give it in clysters failed from its slight absorption. -Medical and Surgical Reporter.

Curious Evidence.-A man who was brought before a jury in Berlin had promised a woman in the latest stage of tuberculosis to cure her within three months. A fortnight afterward the patient died, and her family indicted the quack for fraud.

The defendant's counsel asserted that his client was as persuaded of the curative effect of his remedy as Professor Koch was of tuberculin, and could, therefore, not be made responsible because it was a failure. Dr. Long answered that in his opinion they were, both Dr. Koch and the defendant. guilty of the same crime, and he did not understand the public attorney only prosecuting the little and not the great thieves. This allusion caused the utmost sensation in the court. The judge said he was sorry he must blame Dr. Long for comparing a scientific authority like Professor Koch with a quack. The defendant was condemned to three months' imprisonment.-London Lancet.

Pasteur Anti-Rabic Treatment - Dr. A. Lagorio, director of the Pasteur Institute of Chicago, informs us as follows, of the results of the preventive inoculation against hydrophobia attained at the institute since its inauguration, July 2, 1890, in a total of 366 cases, to December 31. 1894.

Of these persons, 341 were bitten by dogs, 9 by horses, 7 by cats, 5 by skunks, 2 by wolves, 1 by a mule and by a pig.

Of the same number, 123 were bitten by animals ascertained to be rabid by the control experiment made in the laboratory or by the death of other per

sons or animals bitten by the same animal; 160 were bitten by animals recognized to be rabid by the symptoms of the disease shown during life; and 83 were bitten by animals strongly suspected to be rabid.

The mortality of animals bitten by rabid animals, prior to the discovery of the Pasteur anti-rabic treatment, was as follows: 88 per cent. for the bites of head and face, 67 per cent. for the bites of the hands, and 20 to 30 per cent for the bites of the limbs and trunk We feel therefore pleased, says Dr. Lagorio, at the results attained at this institute, as only two deaths have been reported out of the 366 patients treated, thus giving a mortality of 0.54 per

cent.

Besides the above, 372 other persons were treated free of charge, but sent home, from lack of evidence that the animals by which they were bitten were rabid.

is

The Action of Malakin as an Antipyretic and Antirheumatic. To the February number of the Edinburgh Medical Journal Dr. Robert Abernethey contributes an article on the subject, in which he says that he has used malakin in a number of cases of pyrexia of rheumatism and other origin, and has been struck with its good effects. Malakin, he says, in a salicylidene paraphenetidine which the presence of dilute mineral acids, is decomposed into salicylic aldehyde and paraphenetidine. This decomposition taking place in the stomach, the salicylic aldehyde, on being absorbed, is, according to Schmiedeberg, oxidized into salicylic acid in the tissues of the body and can be recognized in the urine. The author gives the following case in detail, as it illustrates, he says, a troublesome condition occasionally met with in protracted cases of rheumatic fever: The patient, a woman, twentynine years old, was admitted into the hospital on May 12th. A few days before she had had a chill with fever and pain in the joints, beginning in the left thumb and soon spreading to nearly every joint in the body. The signs were typical of a attack of acute rheumatism, with copious sour perspiration. The temperature was 101 degrees F., and the pulse was 90. There were severe pain and swelling of various joints, particularly the knees and

wrists.

severe

At first salicin was given in deses of thirty grains every two hours, and this was continued until the 17th, without, however, having a very marked controlling effect on the symptoms. The pulse and the breathing became accelerated, and some consolidation was noticed at the base of the left lung. The temperature varied between 99 degrees and 102 degrees Quinine sulphate was substituted for the salicin, but with no effect on the temperature, although the symptoms, in the left lung entirely disappeared. The patient lost a good deal of flesh and paraldehyde was admistered in order to induce sleep. The joints began to improve, and on June 29th the right knee was the only one affected, but there was still a good deal of effusion in it. On this date, however, the patient had a sudden very severe rigor, and the temperature rose to 104 8 degrees; there was copious sweating, with severe pain in the right knee joint. The ice-pack was applied and brandy given, with the result that the temperature fell to 101.8 degrees in five hours. Fever persisted, however, and the patient continued to lose flesh.

No albumin appeared in the urine, and the articular swelling began to disappear under blistering and

rest. On July 7th the temperature rose again to 105 4 degrees, with a rigor, but fell rapidly after sponging with ice-water and the administration of stimulants. These pyrexial attacks occurred from time to time, and toward the end of July the temperature curve assumed a more zig-zag course instead of its previous continued type. During the first part of August several attacks occurred, and after the 12th they took place almost daily.

On the 28th of August the author began the use of malakin and gave it to the patient in doses of fifteen grains three times a day, and at once there was a cessation of all pyrexia; the temperature became normal and remained so until the patient left the hospital. She was then quite well, fairly strong, and able to walk about the ward, and nothing remained but a faint systolic bruit accompanying, but not replacing, the first cardiac sound.

Dr. Abernethy was so convinced of the good effects of the drug in this case, after other antipyretics had failed, that he has given it since in a good many cases of pyrexia due to various causes; among others, a case of rheumatic fever with advanced mitral disease, in which it controlled the symptoms admirably without apparently causing any considerable depression. In two cases of croupous pneumonia occurring in children he has used the drug, and it seemed to have a beneficial effect, both children making remarkably good and speedy recoveries. Such results, he says, encourage him to make further trials with the drug in cases of prexeria in which either phenacetine or the salicylic group has been found useful, but especially the latter, as its use seems to be attended with a minimum of the bad effects sometimes seen under the administration of those drugs.-New York Medical Journal.

A New Method of Exploring the Rectum and Sigmoid Flexure.-Dr. Kelley, Bulletin Johns Hopkins Hospital, at a meeting of the hospital medical society, said: What I wish to do this evening is not to speak of the principles involved, but to demonstrate my method of examining the lower bowel.

I have for quite a number of years, even while I was in Philadelphia, been in the habit of examining a dilated rectum with the patient in the knee-breast posture, and this is the main feature in a satisfactory examination. So many patients have come to me lately suffering with pelvic inflammatory troubles, pelvic abscesses, etc, associated with stricture of the rectum or with tenesmus and frequent passages containing large quantities of mucus, that I have found it necessary to examine these patients minutely in order to definitely localize the disease of the bowels. For this purpose I have devised instruments which enable me to examine at a glance the whole of the lower part of the rectum, and not only the lower part of the rectum, but also that portion which lies above the ampulia and the sigmoid flexure, beyond the promontory of the sacrum. With the largest speculum I am able to enter the descending colon, and I hope in time to inspect even the transverse colon.

The instruments employed are simple and few in number. Instead of a series of rectal dilators, I find conical dilator best, varying in size from the point, 2 cm. in diameter, to the base, 6 cm., which is equivalent to a large series. This dilator must be well anointed with vaseline, and then by a boring movement one can dilate the rectum equably, without pain, and much better than is possible by simply

pulling with the fingers from tuber ischium to tuber ischium. After using the dilator I take one of these cylindrical specula, made according to the same pattern as my bladder specula. Each speculum is accurately fitted with an obturator which facilitates its introduction and prevents any injury to the bowel With the patient in the knee-breast posture I gently introduce the speculum, letting it take its own course as much as possible. Knowing the general course of the rectum, I am able to guide the instrument safely into its upper third and thence into the sigmoid flexure.

This is one of the shorter specula intended only for proctoscopy. The rectum is now well distended and you can see the minutest macroscopic lesion, if there be one. Having inspected the rectum. I next introduce the long cylinder, and by guiding it over the promontory of the sacrum I at once open up the greater length of the sigmoid flexure for inspection.

A case which recently left Ward B aptly illustrates this statement. The patient had suffered for a number of years with intense pain in the lower bowel and diarrhoea. The stools contained mucus and were often bloody in character.

Upon inspecting the rectum and sigmoid I was surprised to find the disease a true proctitis, and that the sigmoid appeared to be perfectly healthy.

I at once instituted topical treatment of silver nitrate and ordered a rectal douche, and the patient made a most satisfactory recovery. Strictures of the lower bowel can be accurately located by this

method.

In conclusion, I will repeat that the success of this method of examination depends entirely upon the posture.--Western Med. Reporter.

The Treatment of Nephritis. In a lecture in the Medical News, Da Costa speaks on this subject. He thinks that the salts of strontium are valuable as diuretics in renal affections, and they are particularly valuable in the acute forms, but do less good in the chronic forms. They do not, according to the writer's experience, act so much upon the structure or tissues of the kidneys as upon its secreting function; they are admirable diuretics. The claim that has been made by some French clinicians that strontium salts markedly reduce the amount of albumen in the urine, has not been fully confirmed in the author's experience, except that the relative proportion of albumen greatly reduced by the great increase in the quantity of the urine secreted. There is, however, some light diminution in the amount of albumen, as well as increase in the quantity of urine, especially in the acute forms. Whether in the parenchymatous and intestitial renal diseases these salts act beneficially upon the diseased or degenerated structures, or simply act as diuretics, has not been finally settled; but they certainly accomplish more good in the acute than in the chronic forms of nephritis.

To return to our patient. In treating this case we need pay less attention to restricting the diet than in the other cases. This man may have meat and vegetables and a nourishing diet, avoiding indigestible and highly seasoned articles of food. For his treatment now he shall take bichloride of mercury, 7-30 grain, in a wineglassful of water three times a day, as a tonic to improve his tissues. This will be the treatment in this case, except that we will see, with the aid of the lactate of strontium, that the urinary secretion is kept free.- Therapeutic Gazette.