While from birth to full growth the body elongates three to four times, the head only doubles its length. The greatest growth is during the first two years, and by the seventh year its growth is so nearly completed, that Dr. Hammond asserts that the hat which fits a boy seven years old, will fit him when a man. Quetelet's table on the subject does not fully confirm this assertion.-Va. Med. Mo.

DILATATION Of Rigid os UTERI.-Dr. C. P. Wilkinson, of New Orleans, reports in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, the accomplishment of dilatation in a rigid os during an abortion at the sixth month, by means of hydrostatic pressure through a condum. After describing the early history of the case he says:

The con

"No Barnes's dilator that I had ever seen was small enough to enter that cervical canal without employing considerable violence. venience of a neighboring drug store enabled me to procure a rubber condum. Shades of the immortal doctor! Was ever the instrument called after his name put to such good use? I introduced a small female catheter into the condum, and tied tightly the open end of the bag close to the handle end of the tube; this I connected with the tube of a fountain syringe. I carefully and gently introduced the catheter, covered by the thin rubber bag, through the cervical canal into the womb, raising the bag of the fountain syringe, which wss now filled with hot water, above the level of the woman; the condom rapidly filled and I had a bag of waters artificially constructed doing most excellent work. I kept the head of water elevated about two feet above the level of the uterus; this would give a pressure of about a pound to the square inch; a steady pressure ample to effect considerable dilatation. The constant pressure,

however, proved too painful to be bearable. I lowered the bag, and from this incident took a hint. I raised the bag during a pain, and lowered it during the absence of one. In four hours time I had accomplished a dilatation large enough to admit two fingers into the cavity of the womb. After this the bag was not used. Some considerable delay followed, but finally a foot and leg were hooked down, after which delivery was effected. The lesson that the case teaches is, to me, to use an artificial bag of waters in all cases where the natural one prematurely ruptures. We all know the long first stages following this accident, and we know . equally as well the pain and suffering is lengthened thereby. We have just as much right to kick and pinch a woman as we have to allow her to suffer one pain in labor that our skill can prevent."

MEDICINE.

SOME OLD TIME PRESCRIPTIONS.-PROF. HARRISON ALLEN, in Med. and Surg. Reporter.-I propose to call attention to several happy combinations which are known to be especially useful. The first is a formula recommended by Thomas King Chambers in the fourth edition of his "Lectures, chiefly Clinical," London, 1865, page 343.

R Tincturæ ferri sequichloridi..
Strychniæ hydrochloratis.

Tincturæ digitalis..

Misturæ camphor..

..zij;

.gr. 2;

3j;

.3x.

Fiat mistura. Sig. Two tablespoonfuls, twice daily

Dr Chambers states that he administered an ounce of the mixture twice a day in a case of anemia in which the eye balls were prominent (exophthalmic goitre). The remedy acts most happily. There appears to be no need of changing it; the iron is adapted to the anemic condition; the strychnia is a tonic to the small blood vessels and to the central nervous system, the digitalis is a heart tonic and the camphor is an antispasmodic. The remedy does not interfere with digestion. With watchfulness and care, its use can be persisted in indefinitely. It is not necessary that all the symptoms included in the above category should be present in order that this remedy may prove efficacious. The recognition of a retarded state of development of the ovaries and associated organs, absence of the secondary sexual characters, anemia, and a thyroid engorgement, is sufficient.

A second formula, perhaps not as elegant as the foregoing, is the following:

R Hydrarg. bichlor...
Solve in spirit rectif

Decot. Cinchonæ

Mel Rosæ ...

Tinct. Myrrhæ

M. et. ft. gargarisma.

gr. iv

ij

.aazij

This prescription appears in the Institute of Surgery of Sir Charles Bell. He recommends the combination of ulcerated forms for syphilitic sore throat. I think it would be difficult to improve upon this formula for a mercurial wash in such a condition. In prescribing it the patient should be directed to use a small quantity at a time, and to note its effects; if it prove to be too severe he should add an equal quantity of water to each dose, which might be limited to a tablespoonful. If this prove to be irritating, it may be again diluted until at last it can be easily

borne. The patient should be encouraged to use the remedy as far as practicable in the form above given. If he is compelled to begin with the dilutions he can be induced after he is in a measure accustomed to the effects, gradually to return to the original strength of the remedy. This formula was for many years, and probably is yet, a favorite formula in the Philadelphia Hospital. I became familiar with it while serving as resident physician in that institution in 1861. It is surprising how rapidly the symptoms of an ordinary venereal sore-throat subside under its use when the internal administration of anti-syphilitic remedies is at the same time attended to. I have several times substituted other remedies for it (since it is not an elegant preparation), but I have never found anything which can take its place. I also recommend cordially Sir Benjamin Brodie's method of administering bi-chloride of mercury is congenital syphilis, viz: the exhibition of the drug in the presence of Huxham's tincture.

In employing an astringent for a gargle we can receive valuable hints in recalling the way in which our seniors introduced (instead of pure tannic acid) a native substance known to contain the acid. As an example of this form may be named the recipe which is known in Philadelphia as Goddard's gargle. In some formulæ books it appears as Gargarismus Granati Compositus.

The mixture can be used without dilution, or with an equal quantity of water. It appears to present all the features required by an astringent wash to the throat. If increased strength is demanded it is better to direct an agent to be employed topically by the attending physician.

Another preparation, the use of which can be made to subserve a great number of indications, is Fowler's solution of arsenic. Small doses of this preparation, say two or three drops twice a day for a period varying from one to six months, produce most gratifying results in those states of impaired health which appear to be due to an inheritance of a phase of malnutrition, and which is so evasive that it is difficult to give it a distinctive name. Local diseases engrafted on such a condition will often resist remedies until arsenic in the form of liquor potassæ arsenitis is employed. Pharyngitis sicca, atrophic nasal catarrh, anemia accompanying tertiary syphilis, are sometimes greatly improved, indeed to a degree far greater

than it has been in my hands possible with any other agents, by these small doses of Fowler's solution.

ASPIRATION OF THE STOMACH IN ACUTE ALCOHOL POISONING.-A case of poisoning by alcohol in which Mr. George Foy, of Dublin, successfully aspirated the stomach appears to deserve our attentive consideration. At 3 o'clock one morning in November 1884, Mr. Foy was called to see a man who was reported as dying from drink. He found the man dead drunk, from having taken a very large quantity of claret and whisky, lying on a filthy floor, surrounded by a crowd of drunken companions; and was told that for two hours every effort to arouse him from his helpless state had failed. The man was totally devoid of sensibility, his extremities were cold, his face was livid, the pupils were widely dilated, respiration was hardly detectible, there was no pulse, and the cardiac impulse could hardly be felt. Treatment was commenced with opening the median-basilic vein of the left arm. By rubbing the fore-arm briskly, some ink-black blood was got to flow, and the bleeding was not stayed until abut sixteen fluid ounces had been taken. Whilst the arm was bleeding, Mr. Foy pushed the fine trocar of an aspirator through the abdominal wall in an upward, backward, and outward direction from its point of entrance at the sternal end of the eighth rib, and was rewarded with a stream of claret-colored fluid. The heart commenced to beat, the blood-stream from the arm became arched and more full, the pulse was now easily felt, and respiration recommenced. The operator now withdrew the canula, not wishing to empty the viscus by the aspirator, lest it should slip off the tube, which was shorter than was desirable; and washed out the stomach with a stomach-pump. Soon afterwards the man was able to speak. He was put into a warm bed, and the next day was sufficiently recovered to go home. In this instance Mr. Foy saw no other remedy than aspiration. Apomorphine was put aside because sensibility was deadened. The respiration was too feeble to allow the introduction of the stomach-tube. The case appeared suitable for aspiration; and the only risk that caused uneasiness was the posibility of the stomach slipping from the canula-a risk guarded against by withdrawing the instrument sufficiently early. Peritonitis was possible, but hardly probable; and from the position of the gastric blood-vessels the danger of wounding one of them was very slight. The venesection. may fairly be credited with having contributed to the recovery, though he thinks the principal agent in saving the life was the aspirator.-Dublin Med. Journal-Practitioner.

GASTRIC PAIN. -METHOD OF TREATMENT AT THE MEDICAL DISPENSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.-The following cases have been selected as types of a class of cases, numerous as they are annoying to the practitioner. The treatment suggested, however, has been quite universally successful, and, though by no means original, deserves recording:

Wm. G., carpenter, aged 41 years. Habits good; always been accustomed to eat much indigestible food. For one and a half years been suffering from severe epigastric pains; worse after eating; relieved by lying on the back; no vomiting; some flatulence; tongue flabby and coated. On examination there was found much tenderness in

the epigastrium. He was put on a pill of 14 gr. silver nitrate and 1 gr. pulv. opii. His bowels were regulated by cascara sagrada. Almost immediately his pain began to subside, tenderness became less marked, and at the end of two weeks he considered himself cured. He received no

other drugs except for a short time a mixture of tr. gentian and nitro-muriatic acid. At the present writing he remains well, with still some dyspepsia, but the annoying pain entirely relieved.

Robt. P., merchant, aged 71, married. Good habits. Good habits. Had always been in the habit of eating cakes and cheese between meals, while attending to his store. For a number of years has had much flatulence after eating, but considered himself well until a year previous to his appearance at Prof. Osler's clinic. Suddenly, in the night, one year before, he was seized with a severe attack of epigastric pain, relieved by morphia; in two or three weeks had a similar attack; neither of these accompanied by vomiting. These attacks were repeated four or five times, when their character suddenly changed. The pain became less marked, but was still present; but now he was attacked by distressing nausea and vertigo. The vertigo was so violent that he would fall. Some of the attacks were accompanied by purging. In the past year he has lost fifty pounds in weight. On examination by Prof. Osler his abdomen was flat, no evident tumor but an unnatural tenseness. A spot of tenderness was found just below the ensiform cartilage. This case was at first regarded as possible gastric cancer; but subsequent developments showed its true nature to be a gastric catarrh with gastralgic attacks, He was put on a powder of bismuth subnit, 10 gr.; soda bicarb., 5 gr.; morph. Sulph., 1⁄2 gr. In two weeks he had another attack, but the intervals lengthened, and he is now, a year and a-half after the first visit, apparently entirely well.

The treatment of these two cases is that which is followed as a rule