The report of the committee has been transmitted to the Governor by Mayor Hewitt. In trying to correct matters much difficulty is being experienced.

TOXICITY OF PULMONARY EXHALATIONS.-In answer to the question: Does the surface lining of the lungs give off a toxic substance like the general run of glandular surfaces? MM. Brown-Sequard and D'Arsonval reply in the affirmative, and as the result of direct experimentation on rabbits. That something more than gas and water is given off in expired air is clearly attested by the olfactory sense of the traveler who on a cold morning enters a railroad coach of a night express.

. PHYMOSIS AND NERVOUS DISORDERS.-In a report of cases by Dr. Magruder, the following conditions were benefited by the operation of circumcision: Paresis of lower extremities, nine cases; pain and weakness of lower limbs, two cases; convulsions, two cases; spasm of lower limbs, one case; spasm of whole body, one case; incontinence of urine, five cases; difficult urination, one case; retention, one case. All patients operated on were infants. In almost all cases the prepuce was adherent to the glans penis.

VOMITING OF GALL-STONES.-An interesting case is reported in the Lancet by Dr. Pope, of Leicester Infirmary, presenting the exceedingly rare complication of vomiting gall-stones. The case terminated fatally, and the necropsy revealed an abscess in which the gall-bladder was situated. The gall-bladder was in a sloughy condition, and several ragged openings existed at its fundus. There was a circular opening half an inch in diameter, with well defined edges, leading from the gall-bladder into the duodenum, at about three-quarters of an inch below the pylorus.

EFFECTS OF HOT Water Upon THE UTERUS.—On this question, M. Murray reports the results of his experiments upon rabbits. The non-gravid uterus of the rabbit is subject to rythmical contractions, one every two minutes. The introduction of water at 105° to 118° Fahrenheit produces an immediate state of tetany of the uterus, lasting from five to thirty minutes. The muscular contraction is accompanied by simultaneous contractions of the smaller vessels, and the organ becomes exsanguine. The contraction of the vessels disappears gradually before the muscular spasm, and is not followed by dilatation.

Water at 32° to 42° Fahrenheit produces, after thirty to fifty seconds, a less energetic spasm than water at 105° to 110° Fahrenheit. The spasm is easily produced at short intervals by stimulating the uterus with hot water. It is not reproduced at a long interval by hot water. A faradic current of short interruptions acts in the same way as hot water, producing tetany.

THE THERMAL DEATH-POINT OF PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS.The effect of dry heat upon desiccated organisms has been studied by Koch and Wolffhugel. The results of their experimental work they summarize as follows: (1) A temperature of 100° centigrade (212° Fahrenheit) maintained for one hour and a half, will destroy bacteria which do not contain spores; (2) Spores of mold-fungi require for their destruction in hot air a temperature of from 110° to 115° centigrade (230 to 239° Fahrenheit) maintained for one hour and a half; (3) Bacillus spores require for their destruction in hot air a temperature of 140° centigrade (284° Fahrenheit) maintained for three hours.

BALDNESS. The best results in the treatment of premature alopecia following the systematic care of the hair, Dr. Jackson, of New York, has found to be the avoidance of too frequently wetting it, and the use of an ointment of precipitated sulphur in the strength of one drachm to the ounce of vaseline, applied every night for a week or two, and then every other night until the scalp is no longer furfuraceous, and then once a week for months. If care is used in applying the ointment, no excess of sulphur will appear on the hair. He concludes with the remark: "Do not be too easily discouraged, nor allow your patients to despair till a year at least has been given to the faithful care of the scalp."

THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL UPON DIGESTION.-The effect of the presence of alcohol in the human stomach upon the process of digestion, has been studied by Dr. Gluzinski. In the first series of experiments, only albumen and water were given; in the next series equal quantities of twenty-five, or fifty, or seventyfive per cent. of alcohol or of brandy were given in addition. As long as the alcohol was present in the stomach, the digestion was greatly retarded, but when the alcohol had disappeared, which usually required only one-half to one hour, the rate of acidity of the stomach took a sudden increase to two or three times the quantity found when no alcohol had been given. From this point on, the digestion then proceeded much more rapidly, and

was sooner terminated, notwithstanding the early retardation. This would show that a moderate quantity of alcohol taken a short time previous to a meal, exercises a beneficial effect upon the digestion. Large quantities obstruct the mechanical function of the stomach, and certainly retard digestion.

ARE ASSES CAPABLE OF VOMITING?-This elegant (?) and interesting physiological point is now being discussed in Paris. M. Zola, in his last work, "La Terre," depicts an intoxicated ass, and concludes with an account of the animal in the throes of sickness. The Lancet states that Mr. Sarcey has taken offense at this unpleasant piece of realism, and in a review of the work affirms that the ass was incapable of being sick, and brought forward the evidence of a veterinary surgeon to the effect that the structure of the stomach of an ass renders vomiting impossible. M. Zola writes back and turns the tables on his adversary, by stating that he had read up the principles of equine and asinine physiology before venturing to describe the matter in question, and refers the veterinary surgeon to his studies. In point of fact, M. Zola is perfectly correct. It is commonly but incorrectly asserted that the horse and ass cannot vomit. The truth is that they vomit rarely and with great difficulty, which is due in part to the shape and size of the stomach, and in part to the character of the food.

CIRCUMCISION FOR THE CURE OF ENURESIS.-A strong plea for circumcision in all cases of enuresis in which the prepuce extends one-third of an inch or more beyond the glands, is made by Dr. Adams in the Archives of Pediatrics. He formerly regarded that breaking down the adhesions in cases of adherent prepuce, and drawing it back and cleansing the glans, was sufficient. Greater experience has shown him that the radical cure is the only one to be relied on even in these cases. He divides the cases into three classes,-one in which there is constant dribbling day and night, and these he regards as dependent on some serious pathological lesion and beyond the scope of the operation; the second variety is where the enuresis is intermittent, and occurs by day as well as by night, but the desire to pass water so speedily overcomes the power of control that it is voided before a convenient place can be reached; the third class is the familiar one where the incontinence occurs at night only: both these forms yield most promptly to the treatment advocated.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

LITERARY MENTION.

Books.

"The Rectum and Anus: Their Diseases and Treatment." By Charles B. Ball, M. D., University of Dublin; F. R. C. S., I.; Surgeon to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital; University Examiner in Surgery; and Member of Surgical Court of Examiners, Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland. With fifty-four illustrations and four colored plates. 16mo: four hundred and ten pages. Cloth. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Company, 1887.

"Practical Microscopy, a Course of Normal Histology for Students and Practitioners of Medicine." By Maurice N. Miller, M. D., Director of the Department of Normal Histology in the Loomis Laboratory, University of the City of New York. Illustrated with one hundred and twenty-six photographical reproductions of the author's pen drawings. Svo: two hundred and seventeen pages. Cloth. Cloth. New York: William Wood & Company, 1888.

"Health Lessons." A Primary Book. By Jerome Walker, M. D., Lecturer on Hygiene at the Long Island College Hospital, and on Physiology and Hygiene at the Brooklyn Central Grammer-School; Consulting Physician to the Brooklyn SeaSide Home for Children; Late Physician to Saint John's Hospital, the Sheltering Arms Nursery, and the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 12mo: one hundred and ninety-four pages. Cloth. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1887.

"Fever Nursing: Designed for the use of Professional and other Nurses, and Especially as a Text-book for Nurses in Training." By J. C. Wilson, A. M., M. D., Author of "A Treatise on the Continued Fevers"; Visiting Physician to the Philadelphia Hospital and to the Hospital of the Jefferson College; Fellow of the College of Physicians, Philadelphia; Member of the American Association of Physicians, etc. Practical Lessons in Nursing. 12mo. Extra cloth, $1.00 each. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Company, 1888.

"The Practice of Medicine and Surgery applied to the Diseases and Accidents Incident to Women." By W. H. Byford, A. M., M. D., Professor of Gynecology in Rush Medical College, and of Obstetrics in the Woman's Medical College; Sur

geon to the Woman's Hospital of Chicago; Ex-President of the American Gynecological Society; Ex-Vice-President of the American Medical Association, etc.; and Henry T. Byford, M. D., Surgeon to the Woman's Hospital of Chicago; Gynæcologist to Saint Luke's Hospital; President of the Chicago Gynecological Society; Member of American Medical Association, of Illinois State Medical Society, of Chicago Medical Society, etc. Fourth edition. Thoroughly revised, rewritten, and enlarged by over one hundred pages. With three hundred and six illustrations, one hundred of which have been especially drawn and engraved for this edition. From original drawings made from life or based on the observations and investigations of the authors. Eight hundred and thirty-two pages. Cloth, $5.00; leather, $6.00. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Company, 1888.

PAMPHLETS.

"Oxygen Enemata." By J. H. Kellogg, M. D., Battle Creek, Michigan, President of Calhoun County Medical Society. Reprinted from the Therapeutic Gazette, September 15, 1887.

The Medical Waif. A Practical Medical Journal Devoted to Diseases of Children, Women, Rectum and Anus. Volume I, Number I. Price, $1.00 per year. Lafayette, Indiana, 1887.

"Wounds: Their Aseptic and Antiseptic Management." A paper prepared for the meeting of the American Surgical Association, 1887. By David Prince, M. D., Jacksonville, Illinois.

"Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association," at the Twentieth Annual Meeting, held at Port Huron, July 26, 27, and 28, 1887. Port Huron, Michigan: Tribune Printing Company, Printers, 1887.

"Diet in Cancer." I. Full Text of Nine Cases. II. Theoretical Considerations. By Ephraim Cutter, A. M., M. D., LL. D. Reprinted from Albany Medical Annals, July and August, 1887. New York: W. A. Kellogg, 1887.

"Annals of Gynecology." A Monthly Review of Gynæcology, Obstetrics and Abdominal Surgery. Edited by E. W. Cushing, M. D., Boston. Volume I, Number I. Price, $1.00 per year. Published by Rockwell & Churchill, Boston.

"A New Form of Suture Pin for Use in Perineorrhaphy." By J. H. Kellogg, M. D., Superintendent of Medical and Surgical Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Michigan. Reprinted from the