harmonize with the opinions most generally held. He maintains the superiority of mercury. As respects the diagnostic value of the two agentsiodides and mercury-he never decides the question of specific lesion or not, except from the results of a trial of mercury. In three examples of old syphiloma of the testicle-cited for illustration the iodide of potassium in massive doses failed to disperse the tumor, but mercurial treat ment effected a cure in a few weeks, thus demonstrating the nature of the neoplasm.

Professor Verneuil does not advocate the huge doses of iodide of potassium now in vogue-30 to 45 grains per day being his maximum-except in cases of rapidly destructive ulcerations of the nares, veil of the palate, and similar lesions, and even then in quantity not exceeding 75 or 96 grains per diem. He has never favored the conjoint administration of mercury and iodides. He prefers to give mercury by itself, and associated with remedies to improve the general state of the patient. He has occasionally made use of the combination of these remedies in slowly developing secondary or tertiary accidents when mercury does not act well, or has not been given at all. Under such circumstances he prescribes in the simplest way grain of protoiodide of mercury and 15.5 grains of potassium iodide.

Mercurial frictions, although in some cases acting energetically, do not commend themselves to his judgment. When he has employed inunction, he has not dispensed with the internal administration of the protoiodide or some other mercurial, in small doses. Nor has he practised the method of subcutaneous injection of mercurials, which often cures, apparently, in twenty to thirty days. He holds that the most certain curative results are obtained by the slow saturation of the organism as effected by the stomachal administration rather than by sudden impression.

For the local treatment of syphilitic ulcerations, mucous patches, etc., the early manifestations of the constitutional state, he employs nitrate of silver, or chloral solutions, topically, in conjunction with the use of mercury internally. -Am. Jour. Med. Sci.

He

THE TREATMENT OF EXOPHTHALMIC GOITRE.Dr. R. Vigourour (Le Progrés Med.) lays great stress upon the kind and method of application of electricity in the treatment of this affection. employs faradization in the following manner : (1) A large electrode from 7 to 8 ctm, in diameter is is applied to the inferior part of the neck posteriorly, and is held in position by the means of a band. The other electrode is olive-shaped or but ton-shaped, less than 1 ctm. ( in.) in diameter, and is connected with the negative pole of the battery. This electrode is applied behind the angle of the jaw, in front of the sterno-mastoid muscle,

and is made to press upon the carotid artery. The application is made during a minute and a half, and is then transferred to the opposite side, where it is continued for the same length of time. (2) The small electrode is then passed lightly over both orbiclares palpebrarum in turn. (3) The olive elcetrode is now replaced by a plate 4 ctm. (13 in.) in diameter, and is applied to the thyreoid tumor. (4) The small electrode is now rendered positive, and is applied to the precordial reigon, in the third intercostal space, to the left of the sternum, and and the current should be sufficently strong just to excite fibrillar contractions. The application is made for to or three minutes. The seances are repeated every second day. There is no advantage in repeating them daily. The ill success of the of this affection by some, the author thinks, is due to want of attention to the foregoing details. In most cases it was the only treatment he employed, and his results were exceedingly good. Hydrotherapeutics is unnecessary with this form of treatment.-N. Y. Med. Jour.

A three per cent. solution is the one usually prescribed in all departments. In weaker solutions than this its antiseptic effect is said to be not so marked. Its use in the treatment of nasal

catarrh is also worthy of mention. We have prescribed it in this condition in the strength of a teaspoonful of the powdered acid to a pint of warm water. Three or four tablespoonfuls of this are to be poured into each nostril two or three times a day. We often prescribe it in this condition also in the following combination : B-Cocaine hydrochlor,

Acidi boraci, Listerine, Aquæ destill,

gr. ij.

gr. xv.

3j.

3).

M. D. Sig -Use as a spray for the nose morning and night.--Gaillard's Med. Jour.

ON REVACCINATION.-Dr. G. Somma is an enthusiastic partisan of vaccination and recommends energetically the introduction compulsory revaccination in this country. Taking into account the whole foreign and Italian literature on the subject, he formulates his view in the following sentences.

1. The protective effect of vaccina against small-pox is indubitable. 2. This effect is limited

TYPHOID BACILLI AND BOILING WATER.-In order to test the destructive power of boiling water on typhoid bacilli, Dr. Vilchur, of St. Petersburg, made a number of pure cultures in broth, keeping them in a thermostat for two days at a temperature of about 92° F., and then mixed them with known proportions of boiling water, immediately afterward sowing the mixtures in jelly. The results showed that, when the volume of boiling water equalled that of the culture, the bacilli were partially but not wholly destroyed. When double the volume of boiling water was used, the bacilli were all killed. From experiments with typhoid stools, he found that all the bacilli, however numerous, were invariably destroyed by the addition of a volume of boiling water equal to four times that of the stool. In this way he suggests it will be easy to disinfect with certainty all the dejections of typhoid patients. Lancet, January 14, 1888.

THE ETIOLOGY AND PERIOD OF INCUBATION OF CROUPOUS PNEUMONIA.-R. Caspar (Berlin klin. Woch.) has carefully studied two hundred and four cases of croupous pneumonia which have come under his care within the past five years, with the view of determining the etiological factors and the perlod of incubation of this disease. He believes it is infectious, and some cases which he observed favor this belief very much.

One of the most striking instances was where a son from another village came to visit his father, who was lying ill with pneumonia. The son remained only part of the day and then returned to his village, which was entirely free from cases of pneumonia. Four days afterward he was taken ill with an attack of that affection. A number of other cases that the author observed made him draw the inference that the period of incubation was four days. He could not observe any meteorological conditions to explain the outbreak of the epidemics, nor during an epidemic did he notice that different conditions of the barometer had any influence upon the spread of the disease. His cases occurred also mostly during the first four months in the year. He does not consider, as some observers do, that pneumonia is secondary to bronchitis. He concludes his article as follows: 1. Fibrinous pneumonia is an infectious disease. 2. It is contagious. 3. Its period of incubation is four days. 4. Low temperature, slight absolute humidity, and strong winds seem to favor its spread.-N. Y. Med Jour.

A SIMPLE METHOD OF DISLODGING IMPACTED GALL-STONES.-Lawson Tait describes the following simple procedure, which he has used in one case sucessfully. It consists in passing a fine needle through the wall of the intestine from below (that is from the empty part of the intestine) into the gall-stone. The stone is thus easily and immediately split up into fragments and passes readily along the intestine, and the grave com

plication of opening the intestine is rendered unnecessary. The operation is, in fact, little more than an exploratory incision.- Lancet,

RESECTION OF LEFT LOBE OF LIVER. Dr. Langenbuch (Berl. Klin. Woch., 1888, No, 3) records a case in which he successfully resected the greater part of its left lobe, which had been extensively deformed by tight lacing, and had caused great inconvenience and trouble to the patient. The woman, about thirty years of age, was, in November, 1886, under treatment for erysipelas at the Lazarus Hospital, and when about to be discharged convalescent, she begged that she might be relieved of a painful abdominal tumor that rendered life unbearable, and caused pain both on standing and on lying down. On examination a tumor of the size of the fist was detected in the epigastrium-dense, elastic, not fluctuating, moving with respiration, and its dulness continuous with that of the liver. The diagnosis lay between hydatid tumor and deformity from tight-lacing (Schnür-leber), although the latter condition usually involves the right lobe. An exploratory incision proved that the case was of this kind, but involving the left lobe, and probably for that reason producing the painful symptoms. Dr. Langenbuch

decided that it would be advisable to remove the source of so much distress, especially as the portion of the lobe forming the tumor was practically cut off from the rest of the organ by a broad but ligamentous pedicle, and therefore it was functionally of no service. Accordingly, the pedicle was transfixed by ligatures, and the lobe excised. The same evening symptoms of severe internal hemorrhage appeared, and, on re-opening the wound, the abdominal cavity was found to be filled with blood; this was sponged out, the bleeding vessels secured, and no further trouble arose from that source. The wound healed, but recovery was somewhat retarded by the development of ascites, which necessitated tapping on two occasions. It could not be determined how far the ascites were due to the cardiac debility and hydræmia resulting from the previous prolonged attack of erysipelas and the profuse hemorrhage, or how far it might have depended on the diminution of the hepatic circuit. There was oedema elsewhere, so the former hypothesis had some support. At any rate it was not permanent, and the patient left in February quite well. The portion of liver removed weighed three hundred and seventy grammes (about twelve ounces), and Dr. Langenbuch says that the case shows the feasibility of removing the lobe of a tight-laced liver when this gives rise to serious discomfort. Lancet.

MERCURY WITH CHALK IN THE TREATMENT OF TAPE-WORM. The writer has sometimes found mercury with chalk a most effective taniacide,

and cites the following case in illustration: "G. W., aged thirty-one, a blacksmith by trade, had complained of an indescribable feeling in his stomach, bowels, and all through him, as he termed it, for three or four years. There was a wild look in his eyes, and a pecular appearance of the skin which attracted people's attention, so they would ask what ailed him. His appetite was fastidious; at times he would eat voraciously, then again eat nothing. He became greatly emaciated, and vomiting grew so incessant that he was unable to retain any food. The vomiting had continued about six weeks when I first saw him. He had been treated by several physicians, but said he was getting worse instead of better. I gave him three powders of hydrargyrum cum creta, with directions to take one, morning, night, and morning, with a dose of castor oil after the last powder. He came back in three days surprised, smiling, and happy, saying he had passed a tape-worm thirty feet long. He was no longer troubled with vomiting, ate heartily, improved rapidly, and he has felt like a new man ever since the worm was expelled."-Dr. Squires, in N. Y. Med. Rec.

FLUID EXTRACT OF ERGOT FOR INCONTINENCE OF

URINE IN CHILDREN.—I have been using for many incontinence of urine in infants and children; and years the fluid extract of ergot in the treatment of I almost regard it as a specific for the disease. I prefer to give it simply, and to treat separately any condition of the patients that may require therapeutical aid to correct those states of physical debility which either predispose to incontinence of urine or aggravate its presence. I give to an inand to a patient from three to ten years, 10 to 20 fant from one to three yeaas old, 5 to 10 drops; drops every three hours. Few children object to its taste, and it should be continued nninterruptedly for two or three weeks, and resumed if the disease should return, in which case the doses ought to be gradually increased.-Dr. Johnson, in Med. and Surg. Reporter.

The

IT is stated, in the N. Y. Med. Rec., that Nussbaum claims to quickly cure erysipelas by the use of ichthyol. The erysipelatous surface is first disinfected, and then painted with ointment made of equal proportions of ichthyol and vaseline. part thus painted is covered with ten per cent. salicylic lint, and fixed with a gauze bandage. Next day the border is found to have remained stationary, while the inflamed surface is shrunken into yellowish-brown creases, and is painless. After three days the dressing is discontinued. consecutive cases treated on his plan gave equally successful results. Icythyol colodion is recommended for applications to the face, and ichthyol soap for the scalp.

Five

THE CANADA LANCET.

A Monthly Journal of Medical and Surgical Science Criticism and News.

Communications solicited on all Medical and Scientific subjects, and also Reports of Cases occurring in practice. Address, DR. J. L. DAVISON, 12 Charles St., Toronto. Advertisements inserted on the most liberal terms. All Letters and Remittances to be addressed to DR. C. SHEARD, 320 Jarvis St., Toronto.

AGENTS.-DAWSON BROS., Montreal; J. & A. MCMILLAN, St. John, N.B.; GEO. STREET & Co., 30 Cornhill, London, Eng.; M. H. MalLER, 23 Rue Richer, Paris.

TORONTO, APRIL, 1888.

The LANCET has the largest circulation of any Medical Journal in Canada.

TRINITY MEDICAL SCHOOL AMENDMENT ACT.

Most of our readers may have noticed than an act, affecting Trinity Medical School, introduced during the late session of the House of Assembly, became law. Under it this institution so long and favorably known, becomes Trinity Medical College, a standing which it has well earned. The other amendments were merely to enable the "College" to hold a larger amount of property, and refer to investments.

As the Bill was going through the House a short section was added, which would have enabled the "College" to admit to its own examinations candidates who might not have been educated within its walls.

The examinations have been held ever since the first incorporation of the school, and have been always very stringent, with the view of ensuring that a good position should be taken by successful candidates at other examining boards, e. g., those of the several Universities with which this Medical College is affiliated, as well as before the Examiners of the Medical Council, which body alone has very properly the power to grant a "license to practise." Now and then application has been made to the school by registered men in practice, to be allowed to go up for this Medical School Examination the reason given in every case for making such a request being, that the certificate

of Trinity Medical Faculty, although very properly carrying no "license" with it, stands high in general estimation.

These applications have been all refused-and it was felt to be rather an anomalous thing to refuse a request so reasonable, as permission to undergo the same examinations taken by Trinity Medical students, in order if possible, to get a coveted cer tificate. To meet such cases, the fourth short section above referred to was introduced into the act, and passed through the Private Bills Committee. This section simply added the words " or others" to one of the sections of the original Act of Incorporation. This change, which seems to us rather insignificant, was however held by some of the members of the Faculty of the Toronto School to be equivalent to granting to Trinity "full University powers," a position which is, we think, absurd. If the parties who made the statement that such enactment would give Trinity "full University powers" believed it, we are pretty certain that no one else who knows anything about medical education in Ontario would do so. We understand that some of the highest functionaries connected with Toronto University were so much interested in the matter as to do some lobbying against it amongst the members of both sides of the House. The authorities of Trinity Medical School, were somewhat surprised at the amount of interest so trifling a matter excited, and were not over-pleased at the misrepresentation which they believe was made of their case.

The proposed change is really of little importance to Trinity and certainly encroached in no degree upon the privileges of any other institution in the Province, and could not have proved, had it become law, "perilous" to the medical profession in Ontario.

The letters F. T. M. S. are not, we apprehend, the most important that may be appended to a man's name, and yet they are of sufficient importance to be coveted by not a few in this province and out of it, but so far as subversion of our medical liberties is concerned, they are powerless.

It is well known that Trinity Medical College is a steadfast upholder of the Medical Council as the sole licensing body. Alter this, and in Ontario the medical profession would just be where it was many years ago, when every graduating and teaching body was also a licensing body, and when the