those which are liable to be eliminated from the organisms through the kidneys. 5. In cases where an internal use of water should be avoided (in order to secure physiological rest of the gastro-intestinal tract)—for instance, in cases of perforation of the stomach or bowel, peritonitis, ileus, etc. 6. In cases of acute anæmia from hæmorrhage. The method is contraindicated (1) in cases of incipient or expected pulmonary edema; and (2) in the presence of severe dropsy.-Br. Med. Jour. THE "POTATO CURE" FOR FOREIGN BODIES IN THE STOMACH.-On the morning of December 6, 1890, an urgent call came to me to see a child, aged eleven and one-half months, which had swallowed a one-inch screw. Upon my arrival I found that the screw had passed into the stomach, so I thought it hardly possible to extract it immediately. The child was apparently well and lively, playing with the other children. In spite of the tender age of the patient and the fact that it had hardly been weaned from the mother's breast, I ordered the "potato cure." It was given potatoes in every form, and white bread dipped in milk, but absolutely no liquid food. The same evening there was a passage, and another one the following afternoon, and on the third day the baby passed urine twice but had no passage from the bowels. The general condition was satisfactory. In spite of the abnormal food, the child played the entire day, and slept soundly every night. After the fourth day I prescribed a laxative in the evening, and during the night the screw passed spontaneously and without producing any pains, enveloped in fæces. After the evacuation of the screw, there was no injury to the stomach, no catarrh of the bowels; the child remained in its normal condition, the mishap having apparently affected its health in no way. I mention this case to instance the successful result of the "potato cure," and also because of the interesting fact that, in spite of the unusual regimen, no visible reaction took place in an infant which had just been weaned from the mother's breast. In connection with this case in my private practice I would like to add a few remarks about the "potato cure." Cameron, of Glasgow, relates a method which has been practiced for years by English thieves, who put away all kinds of articles when caught in the act of the thieving, by swallowing the same, and then they eat a great quantity of potatoes, until they rid themselves of the articles swallowed. The potato cure was first experimented upon by Billroth, of Vienna, in whose clinic I had the opportunity of watching the cases of a cook who had swallowed a part of her set of artificial teeth, of a boy who had swallowed a weight of twenty grammes, and of a girl, aged nine, who had swallowed a sewing-needle. In each of these cases the "6 potato cure was applied with very flattering results. In 1886 I saw the following case in Albert's surgical clinic (Vienna): A boy, six years of age, who two years previously had swallowed a nail, which at that time was removed by gastrotomy, was brought there again with a nail (6 ctm long) in his stomach. This time the "potato cure," which had been introduced in the meantime, was used, with the result that on the ninth day the nail made its appearance per vias naturales.- Pisko, Med. Record. NOTES AND COMMENTS. The third Dutch Congress of Physical and Medical Science, will be held at Utrecht on April 3rd and 4th, 1891. Ammonium chloride, thirty grains in a glass of water, is said to overcome the narcotic effects of alcohol.-Med. Sum. Six deaths from the use of soothing syrups, have recently been reported by Dr. A. G. Belleau, to the Quebec Board of Health. Dr. S. Guttmann, editor of the Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, has had the title of “Geheimsanitätsrath," conferred upon him. Aloes applied to an ulcer or denuded spot will as effectually and promptly prove cathartic as when administered in the usual way in pill.-Med. Summary. For tonsillitis, Dr. A. T. Hudson, of Stockton, Cal., uses veratrum viride in doses of three to five drops every three hours until relieved. He has never known it to fail. FOR BURNS. 19. aa 4 3. R. Aristol-Bayer, Vaselin, Ung. zinci ox., M. Sig., use locally. Prince Alexander, of Oldenburg, has contributed a sum of 400,000 roubles, (about £46,000), towards the establishment of a hospital for patients suffering from tuberculosis in St. Petersburg. During the illness of the late Emperor Fredrick, it became so much the fashion to consult Dr. Morell Mackenzie, that his professional income rose to an average of $1,200 a day. MELANCHOLIA.-A melancholia patient should be bathed every morning with a mixture of one part alcohol to four of water. This keeps the skin acting well. If the skin becomes dry, oil it with cocoanut oil every evening. The Indian government is taking steps to have cocaine manufactured at the cinchona factories. Coca leaves grown in India are said to be so superior that they command double the ordinary price in England. THE TREATMENT OF BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE.-Wade recommends the expedient of Hutchinson. The hands and feet of the patient are placed in water as hot as can be borne. This will check the most obstinate epistaxis, without any ill consequences. Prof. Frank Baker, the well-known anatomist, has been appointed Curator of Comparative Anatomy at the Smithsonian Institution, and ex-officio Superintendent of the National Zoological Park. It is gratifying to learn of the appointment of a competent anatomist to a position of this kind. VINEGAR FOR URTICARIA.-Mr. Swain after trying many remedies in a severe case of urticaria, found a vinegar lotion gave almost instant relief, and subsequently other cases have been equally benefitted. One of water to two parts vinegar is the strength most suitable. -British Medical Journal. Dr. Carl H. Von Klein, Dayton, Ohio, avers that morphia, in amount equal to that which would be administered hypodermically, will act more promptly and its effect will persist longer if snuffed into the nostrils than if administered by any other method.-American Practitioner and News. Recent experiments in the use of hydrate of amyl in seven cases of epilepsy show that this drug produced a great desire for sleep. Three out of the seven were improved: on the remaining four no appreciable effect was noticeable. The dose varied from five to eight grammes per day. Wofler repeats his assertions previously made, that strapping the edges of the erysipelatous part with adhesive plaster will arrest the disease. The latter extends to the plaster, but does not pass beyond it; it can be made to completely circumscribe the boundaries of the erysipelas. -Medical Brief. Fifty-five ladies practicing medicine in India have presented a memorial to the Viceroy, urging that the age of consent for marriage in respect of native females, should be raised to fourteen. The memorial is reinforced by notes of a number of observations in zenana and female hospital practice. Dr. James A. Lydston, late Chief of Eye and Ear Department, Pension Bureau, Washington, D. C., and Professor of Chemistry in the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, has removed to Denver, Col., where he will reenter the practice of his specialty. His change of locality has been necessitated by the illness of his wife. TO MASK THE ODOR OF ICHTHYOL.The addition of 10 per cent of oil of citronella is said to be harmless in any case, while in rheumatism it is claimed that it will be positively beneficial. In India the oil is used to a considerable extent as a remedy in rheumatism,and, it is declared, with very good results. Die Pharmaceutische Zeitung. Dr. Murdoch Cameron has recently performed his fifth successful Cæsarean section at the Glasgow Maternity Hospital. He has stated that he is engaged to perform the operation in three other cases, so that, thanks mainly to his exertions, the operation appears to be gaining the confidence of the profession in the west of Scotland. Grey had an opportunity to observe a man who was guillotined, within one minute after the knife had fallen. The heart beat for six minutes, the contractions of the auricles and ventricles being independent of each other. This is the first time in the history of science that such an observation has been made on a human body.-Med. Review. "Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.” Parson and doctor joined in one Most suitably we find; Dr. Charles Gatchell, has lately been distinguishing himself by convincing the city of Chicago, which was all agape over the mind-reading miracles of Alex. Johnstone, that said miracles were merely clever charlatanry. Dr. Gatchell duplicated, with ease and certainty, Johnstone's most wonderful feats, explaining, as he did so, their modus operandi.-The N. Y. Medical Times. DEAD SHOT FOR A TAPE-WORM.Bernard Persch says that he has found nothing to equal the following treatment, which is as certain as anything in medicine generally gets to be: In the morning early he gives a drop of croton oil dissolved in chloroform, and the solution mixed with an ounce of glycerine. On retiring the same night, the patient is given a mild laxative.-N. Y. Med. Tim. A young doctor, wishing to make a good impression upon a German farmer, mentioned the fact that he had received a double education, as it were. He had studied homœopathy, and was also a graduate of a "regular" medical school. "Oh, dot vos noding," said the farmer; "I had vonce a calf dot sucked two cows, and he made noding but a common schteer after all."—Jour. Ark: Med. Soc. INFANTILE SPASMS.-Dr. F. J. Heard, of Galveston, Texas, says: In nineteen cases out of twenty, infantile spasms or convulsions may be arrested in one minute by the application of one or two dry cups on the back, from the seventh to the first dorsal vertebra. This will secure a remission, during which emetics, purgatives, or anything else that the indications may require, may be used. -Daniel's Texas Medical Journal. Dr. Jackson highly recommends the use of iodide of sodium in doses of from five to ten grains every three hours in diphtheria and membranous laryngitis. Under this treatment he claims that the membranous exudation is rapidly thrown off, and speedy recovery follows. The drug is readily absorbed, rapidly diffused through the system, and eliminated without molesting the system at all. -Omaha Clinic. aristol in petrolatum, twenty grains to the ounce. In one week the dressings were removed. The healing had been perfect; not a drop of pus had formed, and the scalded surface was glazed.Times and Register. "SO MUCH A FOOT."-A bran-new graduate, fresh from the parting embrace of his Alma Mater, was called to attend an old lady suffering from tape-worm. Having relieved her of the parasite he sent in an account for 10s. 6d., which the patient thought exorbitant, and asked for particulars. These were given in the following terms: "For delivering you of a tape-worm ten and one half feet long, at a shilling a foot, 10s. 6d. "—Medical Press and Circular. Dr. Nabo says that an excessive palpitation of the heart can always be arrested by bending double, with the head down, and the arms pendant, so as to produce a temporary congestion of the upper part of the body. In almost all cases of nervous and anemic palpitation, the heart resumes its natural functions. If the respiratory movements be suspended during this action, the effect will be only the more rapid.-Dietetic Gazette. These Neunaugen, of Strassburg, says that the ordinary history of a gall-stone is as follows: The cast-off epithelial scales break up into a pultaceous mass; these group themselves into little balls, upon which is deposited bilirubin-lime. grow by accretion from deposits of cholesterin or of bilirubin-lime, or from a mixture of both. The little plastic calculi now harden by the crystallization of the cholesterin and by subsequent infiltration of cholesterin; in like manner, also, may pure cholesterin calculi be Aristol for BurNS.-A severe burn formed by supplementary infiltration occurred from scalding oil. The case -Wiener klin. Wochenschrift. was not seen for several hours, when three different applications had already NEURALGIA. This been made to it. These were removed, patient, an old gentleman, was admitted and an ointment applied, consisting of to the hospital, suffering from supra SUPRA-ORBITAL orbital neuralgia, so intense in character that he could neither eat, talk nor swallow, the least movement of his jaws or of the supra-orbital muscles giving intense pain. Before resecting the nerve, it was determined to try what electricity would do for him, all medical means having been exhausted in vain. Improvement began with the first application of electricity, and within ten days he was entirely relieved of all pain or discomfort. -Times and Register. Overlock reports a case of threatened abortion in a woman who had already aborted five times. There was some show of blood already. She was given drachm doses of viburnum prunifolium (fluid extract?) every hour for four days; then every three hours, and kept in bed for some days after all symptoms had left her. Three times in the same pregnancy the symptoms reappeared, and were controlled in the same manner. The doctor was rewarded for this plucky fight by delivering the woman at term of a healthy child.-Medical World. SULFONAL IN DIABETES.-Dr Casarelli, of Pisa, mentions the favorable action of sulfonal in diabetes. This drug diminishes the quantity of sugar in the urine, also reducing the polyuria and the thirst. These results were obtained by doses of from 5 to 30 grains per diem, but not to so marked a degree as with doses of 45 grains continued for several days. The 30-grain doses could be administered for some time without any ill effects; but although the 40-grain doses at first caused no disturbance, it was found that, when they were continued for any lengthened period, they caused giddiness and excessive sleepiness, which disappeared when the drug was discontinued.-N. Y. Med. Record. THE TREATMENT OF BURNS.-Dr. Bardeleben, of Berlin, treats burns by washing with a 2% solution of carbolic acid or a 3-1000 solution of salycilic acid. The blisters are then opened, and the whole surface covered with bismuth subnitrate, over which cotton wool is placed in a thin layer. This dressing is removed when necessary; if the burns are very extensive, bismuth in ointment is used instead of the powder. It is said that symptoms of bismuth intoxication never follow, and that recovery is more rapid, and suffering less than with any other method of treatment.-Lyon Med. CHANGE OF ADDRESS-Dr. Henry A. Martin & Son would respectfully inform you that they have transferred their office for issuing Animal Vaccine Virus from Roxbury to Brookline. It is now on the same estate as the establishment (the original one in America) in which they have carried on the propagation of Animal Vaccine for over twenty years, and is much nearer the centre of the city (Boston) than formerly. The facilities for receiving orders by mail and telegraph, and for filling them promptly, are, if possible, improved. Hereafter their address will be as above. A LIVING EMETIC.-A servant who did not find her way very promptly to the kitchen one morning was visited by her mistress, who found her in bed, suffering from pain and violent sickness. She explained that she had a cold, and had taken some medicine which had been recommended for the children. "How much did you take ?" asked her mistress. "Well, mum, I went by the directions on the bottle. It said, 'Ten drops for an infant, thirty drops for an adult, and a tablespoonful for an emetic." I knew.I wasn't an infant or an adult, so I thought I must be an emetic, and the pesky stuff has pretty nigh turned me inside out.”—Medical Brief. IMPERFORATE HYMEN AS A CAUSE OF EPILEPSY.-In a recent issue of the Lancet, of London, Dr. Usher Somers reports a case of epilepsy manifestly due to imperforate hymen. A young woman of twenty, who had never menstruated, |