HEPATIC INSUFFICIENCY.-Dr. E. Jeanselme states, inGazette des Hôpitaux, that hepatic insufficiency is a symtom, the result of some functional trouble or of a structural alteration of hepatic cells, manifesting itself by a temporary or permanent change, or suppression, of the hepatic functions. The less comprehensive term acholia is frequently employed to express hepatic insufficiency. In the same manner that uremia is the common termination of renal affections, and asystolia that of heart troubles, so is hepatic insufficiency the almost inevitable termination of many diseases, particularly of those of the liver. The fundamental characteristics of this symptom remain always the same, but they may be partially masked by the causative disease. From this their result three principal phases. When it is the result of a chronic trouble it is, so to speak, latent and must be looked for. In infectious diseases it is, to a great degree, masked by the grave symptoms of the disease causing it. In hepatic diseases, on the other hand, this insufficiency forms a prominent symptom which can be studied independently of the condition causing it.-St. Louis Med. and Sur. Journal.

NATURE AND ORIGIN OF TETANUS.-At the séance of Oct. 30, of the Académie de Médecine, M. Verneuil read a report on the two communications to the Académie which had been referred to him. The one was by M. Berger on the transmissibility of the disease from man to man, and the other by M. Richelot on the infectious nature of tetanus. Reserving his remarks on the papers for their discussion at a future time, the reporter said that the inter-human transmissibility of the disease, the principle of which could scarcely be contested, as yet rests upon a few reported cases only, and by but few facts. Transmission would seem from what had thus far been observed, to be by contact, direct or indirect, only, and not through atmospheric infection. Not a single fact or observation could be adduced in support of the latter method of transmission, while the former is supported by a number of clinical observations. is, however, frequently very difficult to specify the exact intermediary or vehicle of transmission between the first tetanic and those infected by or from him. This line of research is one that, in the opinion of the reporter, should be persued with the greatest zeal in order that the mode of extension, rare though it be, might be discovered and suppressed. St. Louis Med. and Sur. Journal.

LEUCORRHOEA IN CHILDREN.-In these cases, according to the College and Clinical Record, Dr. Parvin recommends pencils of iodoform containing three or four grains each, to be introduced into the vagina. Of course, this is in cases where injections can not be used; or the following solution may be dropped between the labia:

GONORRHOEA IN WOMAN.-In a study of this subject by M. Herard (Lyon Medical) the following interesting statistics are given. In 483 women it was found that the disease was localized as follows:

The vagina is the most frequently attacked in little girls, the urethra in woman. While gonorrhoea may limit itself to the mucous membrane of a single organ, it most frequently attacks several at one time.

DOUBLE PLACENTA IN SINGLE PREGNANCY.-M. Guéniot presented to the Academy of Medicine, of Paris, a double placenta obtained from a II-para, delivered at the eighth and a half month of a single healthy child. The placenta consisted of two flattened symmetrical portions, each one receiving one of the arteries of the cord, the vein being formed by the fusion of large vascular trunks on the membranes and coming separately from the placental substance. The umbilical cord was bifurcated, the spiral form disappearing at the point of separation. Without entering into all of the interesting points connected with such a state of affairs, its medico legal aspect is one which should not be overlooked. The presence of the umbilical cord only, could decide with certainty the fact of a single or double pregnancy, in such a case, so that a double placenta accompanied by but one child would be no conclusive evidence of infanticide.

CREOLIN IN GONORRHOEA.- Gonorrhoea, which has resisted other treatment, has frequently yielded in Dr. Margaretti's practice to irrigations, twice daily, with a solution of creolin of the strength of 5 to 8 per cent. administered through a hollow sound. -Lancet.

SALICYLATE OF SODA IN PRURITUS.-After having tried. arsenic, bromide of potassium, atropine, sulphur baths, alkalies, emollients, M. Icard caused the symptoms, which had continued for eight or nine months, to disappear upon the day after the use of the salicylate of soda, three grammes a day. There is still no return of the trouble.—La Gazette Médicale.

COCAINE IN DENTITION.-M. Viguier has proposed the following to relieve the pain which children suffer when cutting their teeth, especially the canine teeth:

R.-Cocaine hydrochlorat,

Syrup simp,

Tinct. saffron,

Sig. Rub the painful parts of the gums many times a day.-La Clinique.

SOLUTION OF SACCHARATE OF LIME FOR BURNS.-This solution gives excellent results in burns produced by fire or acids. It is prepared by grinding together five parts of slacked lime with ten parts of sugar, and then shaking it with one hundred parts of water, and filtering after twentyfour hours. —Pharm Centrahalle.

ACTION OF IODIDE AND BROMIDE OF POTASSIUM UPON MORPHINE (Dr. H. Kunz). After numerous experiments, performed for the purpose of determining the identity of the hydriodate and hydrobromate of morphine, the author arrives at the following conclusions:

1. It is necessary, as well as possible, to avoid using in prescriptions the iodide and bromide of potassium in combination with a salt of morphine; or when they are so used to prevent, by the addition of an alcoholic liquid, the formation of a precipitate.

2. Prescriptions containing these salts ought always be labelled "shake before taking."-Journal de Médicine.

CANCER TREATED BY CREOSOTE.-Neudörfer has just published an interesting little pamphlet on the subject, as stated by a correspondent of the Medical and Surgical Reporter: Carcinosis, the author says, is very probably just as curable as syphilis or phthisis. The excision of a carcinoma, as of a hard chancre, is, as a rule, not far-reaching enough to prevent the infiltration of the surrounding tissues with the specific microbes and cells. He believes that the medicinal treatment of cancer should be tried more extensively than has been the case hitherto. The rind of condurango and Chian turpentine have often given promising results. There are also, as in phthisis, climates favorable for cure. On the plateau of Mexico and at the Cape of Good Hope, for instance, cancer is an exceptional disease. The principal office for the surgeon, in Neudörfer's opinion, is not the extirpation of the neoplasm, but the medicinal treatment of the cancer cachexia, which is the chief factor in bringing about the death. The treatment of cancer is naturally much like that of phthisis. Creosote, which has been found to stimulate the nutrition of the blood-corpuscles, is of equal value in cancer and in phthisis. He has obtained decided results in the treatment of cancer with the following preparation:

M.

R. Creosoti puri,
Sodii bicarb,

Olei morrhuæ.

ǎă f. 3 v.

Put in 100 gelatine capsules. Take three capsules three times daily, after each meal.

A very eligible substitute for creosote is creolin, as it is not only cheaper than the former, but is also a stimulant of digestion. He prescribes:

R. Creolin,

m xv.

Ext. glycyrrhizæ, q. s. ut ft. pil. No. 100.
Sig.: Three pills, three times daily.

Locally, Dr. Neudörfer prescribes with the above pills:

M. F. ung. Sig.: Rub into the part three times daily. Neudörfer boasts of three actual "cures" of cancer obtained with this treatment.

NEPHRECTOMY IN RENAL PHTHISIS.-In the Gazeta Lekarska, Nos. 1 and 3, 1888, Dr. Matlakowski, of Warsaw, details a successful case of extirpation of the right kidney in an extremely emaciated woman of 26, affected with incipient pulmonary tuberculosis, fever and renal disease, the symptoms having appeared shortly after her last (very difficult) labor, about eleven months before the operation. The latter was performed after Ollier's method-that is, by an extraperitoneal lumbar incision with intracapsular extirpation. The pedicle made of the ureter and bloodvessels was stitched into the wound. There was but slight hemorrhage. The kidney proved to be be enlarged and consisted of large spherical cavities and cheesy masses, the still remaining renal tissue being studded with typical tubercles. The patient left one month and a half later, in a greatly improved state-in fact, practically well in all respects.

Book Notices

HAND-BOOK OF THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF THE THROAT, NOSE AND NASO-PHARYNX. By Carl Seiler, M. D., Instructor in Laryngology and Lecturer on Diseases of the Upper Air Passages in the University of Pennsylvania; Chief of the Throat Dispensary at the University Hospital, etc. Third Edition. Thoroughly Revised and Greatly Enlarged. Illustrated with Two Lithographic Plates Containing Ten Figures, and One Hundred and One Wood Engravings. 8vo., pp. 373. Cloth. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co.; Cincinnati: R. Clarke & Co. Price, $2.25. The author says that the favorable reception accorded to the first and second editions of this work has been exceedingly gratifying, and has encouraged him in the endeavor to make the third edition even more worthy of the recommendation of the profession. A medical author must certainly feel very much flattered, when a book which he has written has met with such a favorable reception that not only a second edition is called for, but even a third edition is required to meet the demand. In the medical profession, in every department of medicine, there are many gentlemen of learning and ability ambitious of the honor of being authors, so