To Avoid Poisoning by Tinned Food.

Some light is thrown by the Lancet upon the mysterious cases of poisoning by tinned food which from time to time are reported. They are believed to be due to neglect of the caution against eating tinned foods that have been exposed to the air for some time after being opened. The exact manner in which poisonous substances, technically known as “ptomaines," are generated so rapidly is not known with certainty, but the fact that they are produced in sufficient quantity to cause very grave symptoms of poisoning have been brought out in a multitude of instances. In one well-known case the first half of the contents of a tin of lobster was consumed with no ill effect, but the rest, a few days afterward, proved extremely poisonous. It is suggested that as a safeguard manufacturers might label the tins with some such notice as: "The contents of this tin are perfectly wholesome when eaten fresh from the tin, and afford good food, but the public is advised not to expose the contents for any length of time to the injurious influences of the atmosphere." The writer goes so far as to suggest that some such warning might be insisted on by the Legislature.-Medical Record.

Foreign Bodies in the Uterus.

Albertin (Provence Med., Nos. 11, 12, 1895,) collects twentyfour cases. Two are original. In one case a laminaria tent remained nearly eleven months in the uterine cavity, and in the second a carbon rheophore was left behind, and did not come away for a week. In neither instance was there any symptom of irritation, and both the tent and the rheophore were expelled spontaneously.-Brit. Med. Jour.

Specialism.

Beyond all question and despite all abuses, the rise of specialism has been the condition of medical progress. How many thousands-nay, millions of people are there today blessed with ocular health and ability to carry on the duties of civilization by reason of the work of Graefe, Helmholtz, Donders, and their followers? Would any of the discoveries in ophthalmology and their applications have been made with

out the specialist? What has revolutionized surgery but specialism? What is now revolutionizing all medicine but the work of the specialist in bacteriology? Has there been a single great discovery in modern medicine that is not the work of the specialist, or of men who, if living, would today be specialists? Is specialism not the absolute sine qua non of promised discovery in the future?-Md. Med. Jour.

The New York City Board of Health's New Regulations.

The New York Board of Health has adopted rules for the prevention of the spread of contagious diseases among public school children. These rules decree that slates and slate pencils shall be abolished, and pens and pencils substituted, the latter to be kept in separate boxes by each pupil. All the school property of a child ill with a contagious disease shall be turned over to the health board. Books that are taken home shall be recovered with brown paper once a month. Each class must have its own covered pitcher for drinking water, and each pupil a separate cup. In cases of contagious disease in a family, the children are at once to be excluded, and teachers are to report weekly to the board the names and conditions of pupils who are ill. All teachers and principals shall be forbidden to send any pupil to the home of another pupil for any reason. Circulars of instruction to the Board of Education on those matters, and also to principals, are in the course of preparation.-Jour. Amer. Med. Assn.

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Toxicity of the Aqueous Part of the Breath.

Livierato (Arch. Ital. de Biol., 1895, Tome xxiii, p. 279,) investigated the toxicity of the aqueous vapor expired by healthy and by sick persons. Expired air was received and the aqueous vapor condensed in suitable apparatus; the fluid obtained was then injected into rabbits with the following results: 1. Aqueous vapor from persons suffering from diseases of the respiratory tract with fever, injected into rabbits produces a fever which lasts three to six days, general torpor and diminution of reflexes. 2. These effects are less accentuated in the case of patients who have no fever. 3. The aqueous vapor of febrile patients having no respiratory trouble

causes no fever or only very slight fever in rabbits. 4. The vapor of healthy individuals has no appreciable effect. 5. Identical results are obtained when the liquid is sterilized. Brit. Med. Jour.

Cost of Cremation in New York.

The charge for cremating the body of an adult in New York city is $35 and for that of a child $25. Urns or vases. vary in price from $6 to $45; the former are of bronze and white metal, the latter of serpentine stone, marble, etc. For $25 a niche may be bought in the crematory where the urn will be cared for, or it may be taken possession of by the family. About one-half are said to be kept at the crematory; some are taken away and placed in safe deposit vaults, and others are kept among the most sacred treasures of the home. A newspaper report has it that one relict carries the ashes of her deceased husband wherever she goes to Europe and back several times and frequently to the seashore and mountains. It is not stated what rate of fare is charged for the "remains."-Jour. Am. Med. Assn.

Eczema.

The following is said to be useful: R Ol. of cocaine, grs. xv; lanoline, 3 iij; olive oil, 3 ss. This to be made into an ointment, and will be found particularly useful in eczema of the anus and genital organs. Two applications a day are to be made, and followed by dusting the parts with dry absorbent powders. If there is much secretion, with the formation. of scabs, warm baths may be used, and the foreign material removed by either mild or strong soap, as required.-Medical Summary.

Medical Temperance.

In Europe the philanthropists and reformers are turning to the medical men for help and aid. In this country physicians stand aloof in an attitude of indifference and criticism. This should not be.. Every medical man should recognize that the so-called temperance problem, which includes a knowledge of the nature and action on the system, and the question of the causes and remedies of inebriety, is a medical question to be

settled by physicians. This alcoholic problem is vital in every community, and physicians are the true teachers, and they should investigate it in the same way that germ diseases are studied. . . . We heartily commend the subject as one of the great outlying fields of medicine that must be occupied by practical medical men before its solution can be reached. Maryland Med. Jour.

The Sanitation of Vera Cruz

Has been begun with some prospect of preventing the annual recurrence of yellow fever at that port. Instead of the outfall of the surface drainage and sewage directly into the harbor at the wharves as hitherto, a combined system of drainage and sewerage by underground pipes, and extending under water far out into the open sea, has been adopted, thus avoiding the pollution of the waters of the harbor and the danger of infecting vessels by filthy soakage. An abundant water supply, available for continually flushing the sewers, is part of the programme, and the engineers and others engaged on the work are sanguine of its salutary result; but the pent up back areas by high brick walls, alike obstructive to surface cleanliness and aeration throughout the city, should not be lost sight of in this effort, and until these are removed, or at least materially modified, so as to admit of surface cleanliness and aeration, Vera Cruz is likely to continue to be a nidus of yellow fever despite the improved drainage and sewerage system. Sanitarian.

Mustard and Sugar as Antiseptics.

Roswell Park (Phila. Med. News) mentions the fact that essential oil of mustard has long been known as a deodorant. He has used it to disinfect the hands after post-mortem examinations, etc., and finds it very effectual. In a case of malignant diphtheria, where hydrogen dioxide and alcohol failed to remove the odor from the finger, he found that ordinary flour of mustard acted perfectly. He recommends it in all cases where foul wounds or discharges may have been touched, and especially in an emergency where other disinfectants cannot be obtained. He also suggests that the preservative

properties of sugar should be applied to surgery, and states that compound fractures may be treated with powdered sugar with good results. He remarks that while dilute solutions. of sugar form culture media for bacteria, pathogenic forms will not grow in concentrated solutions of syrups. Hence he regards sugar as another useful antiseptic, especially when others cannot be obtained.-British Med. Jour.

Sprains.

Dr. A. Ernest Gallant (Med. News) reports 1231 recent cases of sprains treated by massage in the Good Samaritan and Eastern Dispensaries, New York, in the service of Dr. Wm. W. Van Arsdale. He summarizes the effects of treatment in the statement that massage of sprained joints will

1. Prevent pain, or rapidly disperse it if present.

2. Prevent pain, or quickly remove it when due, as it must be, to tension.

3. Prevent stiffness, or overcome it when already present from disuse.

4. Prevent the sense of weakness and restore the part to its original vigor and strength.

5. Reduce the time of treatment from weeks to a corresponding number of days.

6. Permit the immediate use of the injured member.Col. and Clin. Record.

Lumbago.

The treatment of lumbago carried out in the clinic of Dr. S. Solis Cohen is as follows: If the pain is severe the patient receives an injection of atropine sulphate (1 milligram=grain 1-64), or atropine sulphate (1 milligram) and morphine sulphate (1 centigram=grain 1-6), the needle being inserted up to its hilt into the painful muscle. Directions are given as to diet, clothing and personal hygiene, and the following mixture prescribed: R Sodium salicylate, 3 ss; potassium iodid, 3ij; compound syrup of sarsaparilla, f3 iss; aq., sufficient to make f3iij. M. Dose: A teaspoonful in water thrice daily, after meals. Under this treatment recovery was, as a rule, very prompt. A few cases that proved refractory seemed to