she was again seized with the intolerable pain in her right hip and leg that had previonsly caused so much trouble. She at once went to bed, and had been compelled to keep under the influence of opium.

On examination, I found tenderness all along the course of the sciatic nerve, and, as before stated, without redness or swelling of the limb. All movements of the limb had to be performed by the aid of the patient's hand applied to the thigh, and with the left foot under 'the right. I at once diagnosticated sciatica; and having read of some cases successfully treated by hypodermic injections of sulphuric ether, by Dr. C. G. Comegys, of Cincinnati, published in the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic for July, 1878, I determined to give this remedy and method a trial.

On the morning of November 30, my patient received the first injection of twenty drops, the syringe being inserted behind the trochanter major, the point recommended by Dr. Comegys. The injections were given in the ordinary superficial way. Seven injections were used in all, at intervals of twelve hours, using in the last six thirty drops each. The injections were followed by violent pain of a burning character, which, however, soon passed off. The patient declared she could taste the ether distinctly by the time the syringe was withdrawn. The acute neuralgic pain was relieved by the first injection, and never returned as severely as before. Improvement was noted from the beginning, the patient sleeping soundly.without any other anodyne. The progress of the case was favorable, though rather slower than those of Dr. Comegys, though I think this may be accounted for by the former condition of the patient. In less than ten days the patient was able to be out of bed, and has since been attending to her domestic affairs, enjoying perfect health, save a little stiffness in her right leg.

So far as I am aware, Dr. Comegys was the first to call the attention of the profession to the value of this remedy in sciatica. From my experience with ether, in this one case, I am prepared to agree with him when he says "in this I believe we have a safe and efficient remedy for this troublesome and painful disease.” He believes it to be equally efficacious in circumflex neuralgia as

well as tic douloureux. Heretofore ether used hypodermically has not been satisfactory as an anodyne. As a stimulant to the heart's action, it has been used quite extensively by some prac

titioners.

Arnozan, in a recent publication, states that ether when used hypodermically produces an acute neuritis. Its action in sciatica is certainly open to investigation, and cannot be harmonized with the above theories, if our present view of the pathology of sciatica be correct. Local irritation rarely ever results from its use. Four. Am. Med. Ass.

Cocaine in Hay Fever.

Dr. G. H. Simmons, of Lincoln, Neb., writes to the Medical Record that he has used cocaine for the relief of hay fever with marked success in several instances. He relates the following case: “A farmer came into my office about three weeks ago, and, in a discouraged manner, asked me if there was nothing I could give him to relieve him of that terrible suffering and annoyance. His eyes were bloodshot, and his looks showed that he suffered all that he claimed to. Every little while he would have an attack of sneezing, which lasted three or four minutes, after which there would be profuse perspiration. He complained of great shortness of breath, exhaustion, and dimness of sight. There was intense itching of the nares, frontal headache, and severe pain in the eyes. It was the eye trouble that suggested cocaine to my mind, and as I had only a few minutes before been using a two per cent. solution in a case of cystitis (and with success), I without hesitancy concluded to try it in this case. I dropped two or three minims of the solution into each eye, and the effect was almost miraculous. I then with a camel-hair pencil applied a few drops to each nostril and well back into the posterior nares. The relief was immediate and complete. I gave my patient two drachms of the solution and instructed him how to use it. I saw him again in ten days, and his praises in favor of the remedy were very profuse. He had used it about three times a day, and thus kept off all symptoms of his annual trouble. It was the first time he said for years that he had been free from it during the latter part of July and the first two or

three weeks of August. A second case in which the same remedy was used was hardly as severe, but the relief was just as complete and satisfactory. The patient was a married lady, who has never found relief before without going either to the lakes or the mountains. In this case I used a four per cent. solution." Dr. Simmons has also employed cocaine in a five per cent. solution in equal parts of vaseline and castor oil, as recommended by Dr. Gelston, of Limerick. He was successful, but nevertheless prefers the simple aqueous solution. He notes that Mr. John Watson, of London, has obtained relief in his own case by the use of tablets of cocaine inserted into each nostril.— Weekly Medical Review.

The Operative Treatment of Hemorrhoids.

In a paper published in the Nashville Journal of Medicine and Surgery, for May, 1885, Dr. H. S. Duncan recommends the following procedure for the cure of hemorrhoids: He injects pure carbolic acid, slowly, until the whole surface of the tumor changes its color to a pale white or ashen hue. After giving the patient a few moments rest he lays the dead tumor open, dividing it into two equal parts, and then with a pair of scissors cuts off each half, as close to the live tissue as possible without producing pain or hemorrhage. After relating several cases treated in this way, he claims superiority for the method upon the following grounds:

I.

1. It is comparatively painless, there being no pain whatever after the injection of the acid, and then not of sufficient intensity to justify an anesthetic, as it never lasts over one minute.

2. It is a bloodless operation, as there is never a drop of blood seen except in highly inflamed tumors, when two or three drops may make their escape from the needle puncture before the acid is injected.

3. The repair is much more rapid than after any other operation that he has ever seen performed. The patient never has to keep his bed more than one or two days, and can always resume business in from three to ten days, according to the severity of the case and the nature of his occupation.

Dr. Duncan concludes his paper in the following language:

"To those who have been prejudiced by writers condemning the injection of acid, I will say that their failure to cure only arose from their not having completed the operation. When only a few drops are injected, it not only fails to cure, but leaves the parts in a worse condition than before. When a sufficient quantity is used to destroy the tumor, and the latter left to slough off, a very offensive odor and tedious recovery is the consequence. But when the operation is completed as I have described, it is safe, speedy and sure, and you need not hesitate to perform it. After the operation I use a mild laxative for a few days, generally cascara sagrada, which I find very efficient, and direct my patient to bathe frequently with warm water and castile soap, and use a little vaseline, if necessary, to keep the wound softened.-Gaillard's Medical Journal.

Acetic Acid in Alarming Hemorrhage.

Dr. H. C. Ghent, in the Texas Med. Journal, reports a case of vesico-vaginal fistula, on which he operated on May 23rd. He was called four days later, in consequence of an alarming hemorrhage from the bladder, attended by severe vesical tenesmus. The patient was suffering excruciating pain, and clots of blood were being forced from the bladder by muscular contraction. Morphia was given hypodermically, and the bladder irrigated with hot water, with no success. Ergot was injected under the skin, and later given per orem; gallic acid was also given, but this too failed. An examination in Sims' position showed that the stitches were intact, the lips in apposition, and the wound presented the appearance of healing by first intention. No leakage, either of urine or blood, had occurred from the bladder into the vagina through the closed fistula. Other remedies, such as tannin in ice water, alum water, etc., failing, Dr. Ghent thought of resorting to perchloride of iron, but before doing this determined to give acetic acid a trial-a remedy which Prof. Penrose had used successfully in post-partum hemorrhage. He mixed a half pint of apple vinegar with an equal quantity of water, and just after the expulsion of a clot washed the bladder, through a double-barreled catheter, with this solu tion. The contact of the vinegar with the interior surface of

the bladder caused considerable pain, but the hemorrhage ceased instantly and never recurred. The patient made a complete recovery, and the operation proved a complete success.-Miss. Valley Med. Monthly.

Athlophorus.

The composition of this mixture is substantially as follows: Sulphate of morphia, 2 grains; fluid ext. colchicum seed, fluid ext. guaiac resin, of each 1 fl.-dr.; potassium acetate, potassium salicylate, of each 60 grains; diluted alcohol, fluid-oz.; syrup

of squill, sufficient quantity to make 6 fl.-oz. Mix by applying gentle heat. The syrup of squill should be prepared by digesting over night 180 grains of squill root in hot water, sufficient to make an infusion, when strained, of 3 fluid-ounces. In this is dissolved 8 ounces troy of sweet glucose by gentle heat.— Med. World.

Salicylic Acid in Rheumatism.

Dr. P. W. Latham, the Downing Professor of Medicine at Cambridge, in an article entitled, "Why does Salicylic Acid Cure Rheumatism," lays down the following rules for its successful administration:

First, the true salicylic acid obtained from the vegetable kingdom must alone be employed. If you have to give large doses, avoid giving the artificial product obtained from carbolic acid, however much it may have been dialysed and purified. An impure acid will very quickly produce symptoms closely resembling delirium tremens.

Secondly, give the acid without any alkaline base. A very good form is to mix 100 grains with 15 of acacia powder and a little mucilage. Allow the mass to stand and harden, and then divide into 30 pills.

Thirdly, place the patient fully under the influence of the drug-that is, let him have sufficient to produce cerebral disturbance—that is, buzzing in the ears, or headache, or slight deafness; with the development of these symptoms, the temperature and the pain in the joints will begin to decline. To an adult he generally administers three doses of twenty grains (six pills) at