changes in the hair manifest themselves by a loss of color; (5) the same phenomenon also probably depends upon an abnormal storing up of air, and, as this in case shows, may be transitory. that her hair, which was soft and thick, changed its color from time to time from a light yellow to a deep red, and back again. The process, beginning at the end of the hairs, was accomplished pretty rapidly two or three days, and each change remained seven or eight days. It was noticed that the changes of color were, in a general way, synchronous with the periodical changes in the psychical condition attendant upon the epileptic attacks, the dark color being assumed during the time of excitement and the lighter color during the succeeding period of stupor. These changes occurred in the same hairs, not being dependent upon the growth of new hair. There was no disease of the hair, nor of the scalp other than a slight dryness during the periods of stupor. The writer, as the result of a careful consideration of this case from different points of view, supported by a thorough microscopical examination of the hair at various periods, and of the skin after death, advances as the most probable explanation of the phenomena described the occurrence of considerable and rapid changes in the amount of air contained in the hair shaft. The light color resulting from the presence of a larger quantity of air veiling the pigment, the darker color returning with the departure of the air. To these results the greater dryness and roughness of the hair, although slight, at certain times probably contributed in some degree by altering the refraction of the light, the drier the hair the lighter the color. The presence of an abnormal quantity of air in the hair is the explanation offered for those cases in which a permanent and sudden change from dark to gray or white hair is reported, and notwithstanding Hebra's and Kaposi's dissent the occurrence of such is well established by Charcot, Bichat, Lélois, Raymond, and other trustworthy authorities, the last of these recording a case in which, apparently in consequence of severe neuralgia of the head, a patient's hair turned, in five hours, from black to white, passing through an intermediate stage of red. Landois describes one of these cases in Virchow's Archiv, April, 1866, and Wilson credits these sudden changes as authenticated. In these cases of permanent change some other influence than the mere increase of air must come into play, and it is probable that trophic nerve changes contribute to the result in the cases of sudden and permanent change, as also in the singular case of our author, the changes in the first class of cases being carried to an irreparable point. NEW NATIONAL PHARMACOPIA. THE bill providing for the preparation of a new pharmacopoeia, to which we referred in a late issue, attracts no little attention, and the comments are by no means favorable to the introduction of a new standard. The Medical News, of Philadelphia, returns to the charge, however, in a manner which does it little credit. It opens its last editorial on the subject as follows: "The proposition for a national pharmacopoeia appears to meet with general professional commendation, and the only unfavorable criticism which we have seen is based on trivial grounds or on erroneous views of the power of Congress in the premises." As the only favorable comments are found in the News itself and the Journal of the American Medical Association, we fear that the News does not take great pains to learn the views of others. Whether the News acquaints itself with the views of others or is satisfied with its own is a matter of slight importance, but both the manner and the matter of its plea for the bill are noticeable. The editorial mentioned closes as follows: "The authority granted to that body (Congress) does not extend to fixing a standard of drugs and preparations which shall be imperative on the medical and pharmaceutical professions. It can, however, provide a standard for its own departments, and this is all that Mr. Randall's bill proposes to do. If, as is to be expected, that standard should prove free from the imperfections of the existing Pharmacopoeia, the latter would be naturally superseded; but, in any case, it would be for the professions to determine which of the two should be recognized." That is exactly the reason for the strongest opposition: Congress cannot fix a standard which is imperative on the profession, and as to the departments, we showed in a recent editorial that the existing Pharmacopoeia had been already adopted by the Treasury Department, and by several States as a legal standard. Further action of this sort is easy, but in the choice between the professional and the proposed Congressional Pharmacopoeias confusion must inevitably result. The American Druggist makes the following contribution to history: The air may penetrate the hair shaft from the atmosphere or may have its origin from the gases present in the blood, and probably may be drawn from both sources. However acceptable these hypotheses may "It is rather remarkable ... that, when Dr. E. R. prove to account for the facts recorded, and in regard to Squibb proposed, a few years since, to change the which it would seem that there can be no question, the method of organizing the Convention so as to place facts themselves may be fairly used to emphasize the the revision of the work, practically, under the aufollowing conclusions: (1) Trophic disturbances in the spices provided for in the above act (Randall's bill), domain of the nerves supplying the scalp may accom- the leading opponents of the plan were Philadelphians, pany other cerebral phenomena; (2) these trophic and that their principal effort was to show that the disturbances may extend even to the hair; (3) such plan already in operation is the one to be preferred. disturbances may, like many other nervous processes, The Convention of 1880 was called, and the subseassume a periodical character; (4) the attendant quent revision was conducted accordingly; but the Convention adopted measures which reformed the methods of revision and removed the control of the work from Philadelphia. It becomes, therefore, of interest to inquire whether the 'change of base' manifested in the City of Brotherly Love' can have any relation to the acts of the Convention of 1880." MEDICAL NOTES. - M. Perier, at l'Hôpital St. Antoine, has used for some years with good effect (Journal de Médicine, January, 1884) an aqueous solution of chloral, 1-100, for wounds involving the buccal cavity. The sedative action of the drug is added to its antiseptic effect. It should be employed after every ingestion of food, even of milk or bouillon, for the residue of such substances, undergoing fermentation, has an unfavorable action on the raw wound. In cases of fistulous tracts following necrosis the use of this solution by means of the irrigator is found to relieve all fetor, thereby increasing the appetite, and to have a prompt action on the pain and inflammation. Details are given of a gun-shot wound carrying away the whole of one cheek which healed very kindly under the chloral irrigations. - Dr. Samuel Wilks, senior physician to Guy's Hospital, writes to the Medical Times and Gazette (February 9th) commending a recent paper by Dr. Matthews Duncan on Vicarious Menstruation and Amenorrhoea, and protesting against the belief in vicarious menstruation as an "old-wives' fable." He has never seen a case, and considers that the references to the subject in the text-books are a mere repetition of groundless traditions. He also declares against the use of the term amenorrhoea as referring to a substantive complaint. "For my own part," says he, "I know nothing of such a disorder, nor of such remedies as emmenagogues. I believe myself that amenorrhoea, like many other complaints, is the remnant of a popular delusion, and if so it should be eradicated, like the other disorder, from the medical minds. - The London Society of Compositors has called the attention of the trade to the excessive mortality prevailing among the members of their craft. In the quarterly journal of the Union, The Printer, statistics are given concerning funeral allowances, which for the year amounted to seventy-four. Out of this number twenty-two compositors died from phthisis, and thirteen from bronchitis, etc., thus giving a total of thirtyfive deaths out of seventy-four due to diseases of the respiratory organs. The causes to which this mortality is ascribed are the irregularity of the hours of work, and especially the lack of ventilation in the composing rooms. These things, however, do not seem sufficiently peculiar to the printer's trade to account for such a large mortality, nor do we know that as a class these workmen are personally especially careless. The limited figures given are not enough to base a general conclusion upon, and perhaps obser vation among American compositors would not show any worse results than among other in-door workers. NEW YORK. The official report of the annual collection and distribution by the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association for 1883 has just been published. The sum total of the collection was $42,803.69, against $30,681.52 the year previous, showing an increase of over $12,000. Of this, $27,040.50 was contributed by the churches and synagogues, and of this latter sum the Protestant Episcopal Church alone contributed $12,962. The Presbyterians came next, with $6,715.50, an amount just double that contributed The Jewish synagogues gave by them in 1882. $1,693.99, and the only other denominations giving over $1000 were the Reformed (Dutch) and Methodists. Sixty-nine Protestant Episcopal Churches contributed, against forty-nine in 1882; thirty-five Presbyterian, against seven in 1882; and thirty-seven Methodist, against seven in 1882. Ten thousand seven hundred and thirty-five dollars and sixty-eight cents was designated to particular institutions through churches and other sources, and the remaining sum (less about $3000 for expenses) was distributed to nineteen hospitals. Of these, the Mount Sinai Hospital gets the largest amount, $4,580.57, as affording the greatest number of days of hospital care for free patients for the year. The German Hospital receives $3,628.23, St. Luke's $3,323.14, the Presbyterian $2,321.82, and the Hospital for the Relief of Ruptured and Crippled $3,718.47. CHICAGO. -The graduating exercises of the forty-first annual course of lectures of Rush College were held at Central Music Hall on the 19th ult. One hundred and sixty-seven gentlemen received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. On Dr. A. L. Justice the honorary degree was conferred. Dr. Justice lives at El Paso, Texas, and is well and favorably known in the Western States, he having practiced for a considerable time at Denver, Col. Prof. Norman Bridge delivered the doctorate address at the commencement exercises. The alumni of the college, to the number of about four hundred, were entertained in the evening at a banquet given by the Faculty at the Grand Pacific Hotel. At the annual meeting of the Alumni Associa tion of Rush College, held on the same day, Dr. William Fox, of Milwaukee, was elected president for the ensuing year. The Committee on Prize Essays reported that no essay had been received which in their judgment was worthy of either the first prize of $400 or the second of $50. They recommended, however, the essay entitled Inhibitory Forces for honorable mention. The Association voted to offer, instead of the two prizes heretofore offered, one of $500 for the best essay embodying original investigation, by an alumnus of the college; essays to be presented to the committee by or before February 1, 1886. -The medical staff of the Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary have established a school of ophthalmology mer and Ferdinand E. Cleatard, diseases of children. and otology for practitioners. Its courses of instruction will be four weeks in length, thus corresponding to the practitioners' courses at the colleges. The clinical facilities of the infirmary are unexcelled. More than a hundred out-patients come to the dispensary for treatment each day, and there are nearly a hundred resident patients. The fee for the course is twenty dollars. Correspondence. LETTER FROM BALTIMORE. BALTIMORE, February 28, 1884. MR. EDITOR, As some months have elapsed since a letter from Baltimore has appeared in the JOURNAL, perhaps a brief account of the most important medical events which have occurred in that city during the interval will not be uninteresting to your readers. The health of the city has, on the whole, been better than that of last year for the same time, and we have had no epidemics, unless a mild type of measles, which has been very prevalent here during the last three or four months, may be called epidemic. The secretary of our city Board of Health says it may not. Our four medical schools (to which number a fifth has recently been added) began the session of 18831884 with about the usual number of students, and in a few weeks that goodly number of American physicians already dispensing good (or evil) will be increased by some three hundred or more "doctors of medicine." The fifth school, to which reference has been made above, was chartered under the title of The Baltimore Polyclinic and Post-Graduate Medical School. Its raison d'être is the fact that the four medical schools previously in existence require for graduation attendance on but two sessions of lectures (of less than six months each in the University of Maryland and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and less than nine months in the Baltimore Medical College and the College for Women), and none of these schools offer special facilities for post-graduate students. Indeed, the classes of under-graduates at the two schools which are connected with hospitals and large dispensaries are so full, and the time of the students so closely occupied by the didactic lectures, not to mention dissecting and parallel study, that individual clinical observation is well nigh impossible. The incorporators of the Polyclinic do not intend to confer diplomas, but to supplement the instruction given by the other schools in order to attract to Baltimore some of that large number of physicians, notably from the South, who go for post-graduate advantages to New York or Philadelphia when not deterred by distance from going anywhere. The following are the professors and their departments: Alan P. Smith, surgery; J. Edwin Michael, genito-urinary surgery; B. B. Browne and T. A. Ashby, gynecology and obstetrics; Samuel Theobald, diseases of the eye and ear; H. Clinton McSherry, diseases of the throat and chest; Robert B. Morison, dermatology and syphilis; Randolph Winslow and John W. Chambers, operative surgery; T. Barton Brune, practice of medicine; William A. Moale, orthopedic surgery; Thomas S. Lati Diseases of the nervous system and pathology are not yet represented, but are expected to be in a short time. Many of these gentlemen are connected with one or more of the other schools, so that the Polyclinic will not be considered by them "a rival in the field." During November and the early part of December Dr. Billings delivered, in Hopkins Hall, a very interesting series of lectures on Municipal Hygiene. The lectures were given under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins University, and were intended for the students of the university, physicians, and the general public. In forming his statistics regarding the healthfulness of Baltimore and the expectation of life of its inhabitants, Dr. Billings took as a basis for calculation the United States, and not the city police, census. course, therefore, his conclusions are somewhat different from those of the city Board of Health, which latter, as you, Mr. Editor, remember, are based upon the police census, and re-enforced by certain curious and ingenious methods of enumeration. He states that the mean-after-life-time of a white male infant born in Baltimore is but little over thirty-six years, and of a colored male infant only twenty-one years. Of In an amusing way he ridiculed the present ward boundaries, which he thought were entirely worthless (except, perhaps, from a political point of view), and showed that they would much impair the value of the ward sanitary statistics. One of the subjects, to which he devoted nearly the whole of two lectures, and which is particularly interesting to Baltimoreans, was that of sewerage. We have in Baltimore upwards of 60,000 cess-pools, and our soil is pretty well honeycombed and polluted by them. How to abolish these and establish a firstrate system of sewerage, without undue expense, is the most important sanitary question with which we, at present, have to deal. Dr. Billings, after mentioning the objects and principles of sewerage, spoke in a general way about some particular systems, especially those of Waring, Liernur, and Berlier. Of the latter he said it had but recently been introduced into Paris, and it was too soon to speak of its merits. He spoke approvingly of Colonel Waring's system, and mentioned the advantages which a separate has over a combined system. He also said it was the urgency of the occasion and the cheapness of the Waring system which had occasioned its adoption for Memphis. The Liernur plan he considered had some merits, but it "is a very costly one, both for construction and maintenance, . . . and it is condemned by the leading engineers of England, France, Germany, and America." His opinion has the more weight because it is in accordance with the views expressed by Colonel Waring and City Engineer Latrobe, at the State Sanitary Convention, held in this city the 21st and 23d of last November; and because it is directly opposed to the opinion of Dr. Chancellor, the secretary of our State Board of Health. The latter, some eighteen months ago went to Europe, to investigate sanitary matters, and came back very much impressed with the advantages of Captain Lieruur's system of sewerage; so much so, that at the last annual meeting of the State Medical and Chirurgical Faculty he read a paper in which he warmly praised this system, and spoke of it as "destined to supersede all other systems now in vogue." In answer to the views of Dr. Billings and the other above-mentioned gentlemen he has published quite a lengthy article in the Mary land Medical Journal for December 15th last. This question of the best system of sewerage and the necessity for increasing the powers of the State Board of Health and establishing local boards throughout the State, as well as several other topics of less local interest, were considered at the Sanitary Convention mentioned above. This convention was composed of physicians prominent in the State, engineers, and others interested in sanitary matters. Its proceedings have been published in full in the Fifth Biennial Report of the State Board of Health; and, inasmuch as the practical outcome of the meeting has been the drafting of certain laws to be submitted to the Legislature now in session, it would be better to make them the subject of a future communication than to add an abstract of them to what, I am afraid, is an unduly long letter. Before concluding, however, allow me to summarize briefly a striking report of ninety-nine lithotomies performed by Dr. Caleb Winslow of this city. This report has been published in full in the Maryland Medical Journal for the 23d of this month, but it seems to deserve an even more extended notice. Of these operations ninety-eight were successful, one unsuccessful; in the latter case the patient, a negro, aged eighteen years, died from dysentery and peritonitis. Of those operated on ninety-eight were males, one a female; seven were adults, ninety-two children; the oldest was seventy years, the youngest three years; ninety-three were whites, six blacks. The number of stones removed was 109, three being the largest number removed from any one person. Stone recurred in but one case, in the patient aged seventy years, and it was successfully removed. His method of operating was the left lateral. At times a bilateral incision was made to facilitate the re moval of large stones. In the female case a stellar incision was made into the urethra, and this was dilated, a large stone being removed. The instruments used by him were curved staff, with gorget eight times, with scalpel ninety-one. Most of the stones were removed entire, a few had to be crushed. One measuring four and a half inches in its shortest, and five and a half in its longest, diameter was removed entire. The weight and dimensions of other calculi are not given. The larger number of these operations were performed in eastern North Carolina and within a period of eighteen years, and before the development of Bigelow's operation. Very respectfully, A PLEA FOR CONSISTENCY. B. MR. EDITOR, Can you tell me why it is, now that so many of the great nations are adopting the weights and measures of republican France, that the world continues to be disgraced by a division of time so absurd as that which has come down to us from the dark ages of antiquity? Why should civilized humanity reckon twelve months to each year simply because a lot of Chaldees and Egyptians chose to reckon twelve arbitrary signs to their zodiac? Why split the day into twelve hours and each hour into five times twelve minutes and seconds merely because these same primitive star-gazers saw fit to carry out their whimsical subdivision to this extreme length? Why, finally, should a man worship God just one day out of seven because the ancients happened to be acquainted with only just that number of planets? Yet such is the system under which we all live and die to this hour. They managed these things so much better in France, in the early days of the first republic, when the philosophers and emancipators had it all their own way, before the "rois conjurés" of Europe stepped in and delivered them up again to the tyranny of established usage! You remember well, Mr. Editor, the history of the republican calendar, that brilliant effort of the hu man reason to free itself from the trammels of traditional superstition; its decimal Sunday, its scientific nomenclature, its commemoration of the heroes and philosophers of every age. Why did it die? Why do we not revive it and place it side by side with its twin sister the metric system as an example and model for future generations? Certainly they are both of a piece, and one is as philosophical and worthy to be adopted as the other. Miscellany. W. INOCULATION OF TUBERCULOSIS. AT a recent meeting of the Académie de Médecine, M. Verneuil related the following history: In July, 1877, a house surgeon (interue) at the St. Eugénie Hospital, who performed all the post-mortem examinations, one day noticed a papule at the base of the nail of his third finger. The apex presented a white spot, and a few drops of pus escaped from it. It was frequently cauterized, but the phalanges became attacked, and a cold abscess spread over the back of the hand. After three years' treatment, having failed to produce any improvement, M. Verneuil amputated the finger. The house surgeon was believed to be cured, and practiced in the provinces. Quite recently he has been again attacked by cold abscesses in the lumbar region, causing intense pain; during violent attacks of pain the arms exhibit clonic convulsive movements. M. Verneuil has operated a second time. He is convinced that his patient became inoculated with tuberculosis when performing a necropsy. A similar misfortune happened to Laennec. One day, when operating on a tuberculous patient, he slightly cut himself with a saw. A swelling appeared on the wounded part. Laennec cauterized it with antimony-chloride. The swelling disappeared, but twenty years subsequently he died from tuberculosis. · Paris Corr. Brit. Med. Journal. Cities. REPORTED MORTALITY FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 23, 1884. Deaths reported 2652 (no reports from Cincinnati and Buffalo): under five years of age, 1055: principal infectious diseases (small-pox, measles, diphtheria and croup, whooping cough, erysipelas, fevers, and diarrhoeal diseases) 386, lung diseases 384, consumption 374, diphtheria and croup 145, scarlet fever 50, typhoid fever 47, measles 31, diarrhoeal diseases 29, cerebro-spinal meningitis 25, malarial fevers 24, small-pox 20, whooping cough 12, erysipelas 12, puerperal fever 11. From measles, Baltimore 12, New York six, District of Columbia five, New Orleans and Nashville three each, Chicago two. From diarrheal diseases, New York 11, Chicago four, Brooklyn, Baltimore, St. Louis, and New Orleans three each, Lowell and Cambridge one each. From cerebro-spinal meningitis, New York five, Philadelphia, Lowell, and Worcester three each, Chicago and St. Louis two each, Boston, Charleston, Lynn, Holyoke, and Newton one each. From malarial fevers, New York 12, St. Louis four, Baltimore and New Orleans three each, Brooklyn two. From small-pox, New Orleans 17, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Holyoke one each. From whooping-cough, New York three, Boston two, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Pittsburg, and Chelsea one each. From erysipelas, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and District of Columbia two each, Brooklyn, Boston, St. Louis, and New Haven one each. From puerperal fever, New York and Chicago three each, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, St. Louis, and Providence one each. Three cases of small-pox were reported in St. Louis; diphtheria 20, scarlet fever 48, typhoid fever seven, and measles one in Boston; scarlet fever 14 and diphtheria four in Milwaukee. In cities and towns of Massachusetts, with an estimated population of 1,411,763 (estimated population of the State 1,955,104), the total death-rate for the week was 16.72 against 16.28 and 19.26 for the previous two weeks. In the 28 greater towns of England and Wales, with an estimated population of 8,620,975, for the week ending February 2d, the death-rate was 20.5. Deaths reported 3448 acute dis eases of the respiratory organs (London) 367, whooping-cough 126, scarlet fever 101, measles 75, fevers 38, diphtheria 36, diarrhoea 29, small-pox (Birmingham seven, Liverpool three, Sunderland two, London and Wolverhampton one each) 14. The death-rates ranged from 13.1 in Derby to 28.1 in Oldham ; Leicester 14.9; Bradford 18.4; Liverpool 19.2; Blackburn 19.4; Sheffield 20.3; Nottingham 20.6; London 20.7; Manchester 23.9; Newcastle-on-Tyne 24.1; Leeds 24.9. In Edinburgh 22.8; Glasgow 23. 6; Dublin 29.7. In the 28 greater towns of England and Wales, with an estimated population of 8,762,354, for the week ending February 9th, the death-rate was 20.6. Deaths reported 3466 acute diseases of the respiratory organs (London) 347, whooping-cough 124, scarlet fever 94, measles 53, fever 44, diarrhoea 35, diphtheria 28, small-pox (Birmingham nine, London four, Liverpool and Sunderland three each, Wolverhampton and Manchester one each) 21. The death-rates ranged from 15.3 in Wolverhampton to 27.9 in Manchester; Blackburn 19.4; London 19.5; Birmingham 19.6; Nottingham 20.3; Leeds 21.4; Sheffield 22.1; Liverpool 23.3; Newcastle-on-Tyne 23.8; Leicester 24; Birkenhead 24.1. In Edinburgh 22.2; Glasgow 26.7; Dublin 30. For the week ending February 9th, in the Swiss towns, there were 39 deaths from consumption, lung diseases 28, diphtheria and croup 12, diarrhoeal diseases 10, whooping-cough three, measles one, small-pox (Winterthin one) one. The death-rates were at Geneva 18.3; Zurich 15.8; Basle 14.7; Berne 27.8. For the week ending February 2d, in the Swiss towns, there were 32 deaths from lung diseases, consumption 20, diarrhoeal diseases 16, whooping-cough seven, diphtheria and croup six, measles, scarlet fever, puerperal fever, and typhoid fever two each, small-pox one. The death-rates were, at Geneva 22.4; Zurich 13.8; Basle 18.6; Berne 24.4. The meteorological record for the week ending February 23d, in Boston, was as follows, according to observations furnished by Sergeant O. B. Cole, of the U. S. Signal Corps: |