temperature. In the other case the nervous centre, which inhibits the production of animal heat, entirely lost its power, and its sudden paralysis was followed by immense rise in the bodily temperature. The stimulant action of the musk had in either case the effect to restore power to the exhausted nerve centres. The great indication for the use of musk is such giving out of the nervous centres which preside over organic life. In the last case mentioned these paroxysms of exhaustion were sometimes marked chiefly by peculiar rigors simulating those of an intense and very adynamic pyæmia. Nothing would control these rigors so well as musk. In the employment of musk in adynamic conditions of the body, it must be remembered that it is one of those remedies that rapidly loses its power by repeated employment; its use, therefore, must be economized, and the injections ought not to be repeated oftener than is necessary, or indeed to be given until demanded by the pressure of urgent necessity. Therapeutic Gazette. Chronic Tea Poisoning. DR. BULLARD (Boston Medical and Surgical Journal) concludes: 1. That the action of tea is cumulative. 2. That its action is more pronounced on the young and on those subject to anæmia, or in a depressed physical condition, although persons otherwise healthy, not infrequently show toxic symptoms. 3. That among the class of people under consideration, who, as a rule, use medium grades of Oolong and English Breakfast tea, the average amount needed to cause toxic symptoms is a little less than five cups per diem. 4. That chronic tea poisoning is a frequent affection, and that its most common symptoms are loss, of appetite, dyspepsia, palpitation, headache, vomiting and nausea, combined with nervousness and various forms of functional nervous affections, hysterical or neuralgic. These symptoms are frequently accompanied by constipation and pain in the left side or cardiac region. The Physiological Action of Urethane. PROF. COZE, of Nancy, sums up the physiological action of urethane, the new hypnotic, as follows: 1. Urethane has a marked hypnotic action, causes muscular relaxation, and, in large doses, anesthesia. It lowers the pulse and respiration, and reduces temperature. 3. It is slightly irritant, but may be administered subcutaneously. 4. It does not disturb nutrition, nor the fluids of the body. 5. It is, physiologically, an antidote for strychnine. 6. It should be tried in all cases of convulsions, particularly tetanus.-Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal. Francisceine. Francisceine, according to the British and Colonial Druggist, is proposed as the name of a new alkaloid which has just been extracted from the Brazilian manaca root, the produce of the Franciscea uniflora and certain other species. The principle in question has a very powerful purgative and diuretic action, and is also possessed of diaphoretic and emmenagogue properties.-Lancet. DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS. Subcutaneous Use of Ergotinine in Diabetes and Albuminuria. DR. DEHENNE (L'Union Médicale), claims to demonstrate: That ergotine or ergotinine subcutaneously will cause the temporary and often the permanent disappearance of the glycosuria, polydypsia, polyuria, emaciation, and weakness of diabetes. 2. That these symptoms disappear in a regular order-the polyuria and polydypsia disappear after 5-8 injections; the glycosuria lessens after the second or third injection, and disappears after the tenth or twelfth. 3. That the glycosuria reappears if the treatment be stopped too suddenly. 4. That the disappearance is permanent after six or eight weeks of treatment. 5. That the injections are entirely harmless. 6. That by this treatment, diabetics can be prepared for any surgical operation, particularly cataract. 7. The freedom of this treatment from digestive disturbances. He injects six to ten drops-sometimes more daily.-Analectic. Arsenite of Bromine in Diabetes Mellitus. ARTICLES OF FOOD FORBIDDEN. Bread, cake, pastry of all kinds, and food prepared with flour, cracked wheat, oatmeal, rice, potatoes, turnips, beets, beans, corn, carrots, prunes, grapes, figs, bananas, pears, apples, preserved fruits, liquors of all kinds, whether distilled or fermented. ARTICLES OF FOOD PERMITTED. Soups, except those rich in vegetables, meat of all kinds, fish, egg, oysters, radishes, cucumbers, cresses, celery, lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, oyster-plant, onions, string-beans, parsley, mushrooms, salads, pickles, olives, oil, lemons, gooseberries, currants, sparingly of raspberries, strawberries, or anges, milk, tea and coffee without sugar, but with glycerine in its place if desired. More or less variation can be allowed from this in mild cases, and in severe cases more rigor may be required, although it is difficult to hold a patient. to a diet more rigid than the above. Following the advice of Dr. Austin Flint, Jr., DR. N. S. DAVIS, JR. (Journal An Experimental Study on the Toxic Power of the American Medical Association) has been testing the value of liq. brom. arsenitis, and reports that all the cases in which he has administered it have uniformly been improved. The treatment consisted in directions as regard diet, and the use of the arsenite of bromine in doses of 3 to 5 drops three times daily. Of course it is very doubtful as to whether the improvement in the cases reported by Dr. Davis was due to the medicine which was given or to the restrictions of the diet, since, as is well known, the latter alone, without any medication, will, in many cases, be sufficient to produce decided improvement. Dr. Davis gives the following summary as to restrictions in diet which are advisable: of Febrile Urine. DISEASES OF CIRCULATORY ORGANS. Right-Sided Endocarditis. DR. BYROM BRAMWELL finds : 1. That right-sided endocarditis is much more frequent than is usually supposed; and that this conclusion is in no way contradicted, but on the contrary, rather confirmed, by clinical evidence and clinical facts. 2. That Sibson's arguments against the tricuspid murmur of early acute rheumatism being indicative of rightsided endocarditis, are not valid. 3. That a tricuspid murmur occurring in the early stages of acute rheumatism in a previously healthy person who is not anæmic, is indicative of a rheumatic affection of the right heart. 4. That whether (a) the tricuspid regurgitation is the direct result of the inflammation of the tricuspid valve, or whether (b) it is due to a rheumatic affection of the wall of the right ventricle, with resulting relative or muscular incompetence, the pathological evidence. seems to show that when the right heart is so affected in acute rheumatism as to produce a tricuspid leakage, inflammation of the endocardium of the right heart is often (usually) present. 5. That although right-sided endocarditis is of frequent occurrence, it is comparatively seldom followed by permanent organic disease of the tricuspid valve; in short, that right-sided endocarditis is an eminently curable affec tion. The importance of this conclusion, if it be correct, can hardly be over estimated. It is not a conclusion of mere scientific and pathological interest, but is of the greatest practical and therapeutical value. It shows the immense importance of rest in the treatment of endocarditis. The only reasonable explanation of the fact that mitral endo carditis is more severe and more frequently terminates in permanent valvular disease than tricuspid endocarditis, seems to be that the closure of the mitral segments is more forcible and that the inflamed mitral segments are subjected to greater strain than the tricuspid segments. In treating cases of mitral endocarditis our main objects should be to imitate nature's method of cure; to place the mitral valve, so far as we are able to do so, in the same condition as the tricuspid valve; in other words, to reduce the force (and also the frequency) of the cardiac contractions and to allow the products of inflammation to be absorbed just as they are usually absorbed on the right side of the heart.—American Journal of Medical Science. Fatty Heart. PROF. BARTHOLOW speaks very favorably of the use of nitro-glycerine per sistently in the treatment of fatty heart. It takes the strain off the weakened organ and allows it to gain strength while its work is lessened. Mycotic Endocarditis. DR. WYSSKOWITSCH details the particulars of an experimental inquiry into the nature of ulcerative endocarditis (Virchow's Archiv. 103, Heft 2), to which is prefixed an account of the histological examination of twelve cases of endocarditis in the human subject. Four of these cases were chronic valvular thickening with calcification and necrotic areas, surmounted by warty deposits of fibrin; in four others the vegetations were more or less vascularized at their union with proliferated endothelial layers (thrombo-endocarditis); the ninth case appeared to be a chronic condition of the preceding; the tenth and eleventh showed post mortem oedema after chronic endocarditis, with, in one case, (undoubtedly saprophytes). Lastly, there was a recent case of ulcerative endocarditis, which yielded abun⚫ dance of micrococci on the valves, in the spleen, and kidneys; on cultivation the micro-organisms had the characters of staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. The experiments which form the second part of his paper consisted in inflicting on rabbits an injury of aortic valve by means of an instrument passed down the carotid artery; then injecting into a vein a few hours later cultures of various micro-organisms. It was shown that the operation of piercing the valve was well borne, and not per se followed by any pathological consequences; but of streptococci yielded negative results; but it was found that the rabbit can only bear inhalation of very small quantities, and it was doubtful if the microorganism entered the blood stream at all. Professor Orth, under whose direction this research was undertaken at Göttengen, comments in another article upon the results obtained; they prove, he thinks, that the term "disposition is no empty one, the mechanical injury of the tissue laying it open to the attacks of the micrococcus which is deposited in the clots. The experiments show also how slight may be the amount of injury required to so lower the vital resistance of the tissue.-Lancet. that the inoculation was often product- DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. ive of a malignant mycotic endocarditis upon the injured valve, with secondary metastasis, as in human ulcerative endocarditis. These positive results occurred when the inoculation was made with either of the following micro-organisms: Streptococcus pyogenes, staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, and coccus sepsis (Nicolaier); but the injection of micrococcus tetragonus and bacillus pneumoniæ had no such sequel. It was also found that the staphylococcus produced much inflammatory reaction and suppuration, whereas the streptococcus, although causing much more valvular deposit and more numerous infarctions, had no such severe action. The changes in the heart and vessels were not limited to the valves pierced by the stylet; the micrococci growing also on the mitral valve and aortic wall, which happened to be eroded by the passage of the instrument. It is, therefore, suggested that mycotic endocarditis may be of various forms, depending upon different varieties of micro-organisms. Other experiments to induce endocarditis after inhalation and subcutaneous injection Stammering and Stuttering. DR. J. D'ORSEY writes to the British Medical Journal, that as much misapprehension exists concerning the above subjects, the following may be of interest: 1. Speech, or articulated voice, depends for its perfect production on vigor of mind, on sound natural organization, and on due training of the vocal or articulating apparatus. 2. Stammering is inability to articulate, marked by slowness, stoppage, hesitation, and indistinctness, but not with repetition; whereas, stuttering consists in a painful repetition of the same consonants, often attended by flushing and facial contortions. 3. Stammering and stuttering may sometimes be caused by organic defects, such as cleft palate, harelip, enlarged uvula, inflamed tonsils, etc.; but these impediments are far more frequently due to functional causes, that is, habit, imitation, heredity, etc. Nervousness is often the consequence, or concomitant of stammering, rather than its cause. Organic defects must, of course, be treated medically or surgically, but the subsequent cure belongs to the elocutionist, while functional derangements (wrong action of the voice apparatus) are peculiarly his province. 4. The sooner the curative process begins, the greater is the prospect of success. What is easily eradicated at an early age becomes hard to remove at a later period; though at any time of life, alleviation, if not cure, can be assured as the result of perseverance. "He will grow out of it," is a fatal saying. A fair time ought to be given, according to the nature of the case; for "a few lessons" cannot reasonably be expected to undo the mischief of many years; and the teacher is often accused of failure, when the blame is solely attributable to the patient or the parent. -Med. Record. A Novel Method of Treating Hysteria. RUAULT (France Médicale) affirms that he has frequently controlled an hysterical fit by making firm pressure with the thumbs on the supraorbital nerves at the supraorbital foramina. The patients are described as first con tracting the facial muscles as if in pain; they then cry out and take several inspirations, followed by a long expiration. They now relax their muscles, and the convulsion is at an end. Press extract of tonga was finally tried, in doses of thirty minims every three hours, three successive doses being administered in the course of twenty-four hours. A radical cure was obtained after the use of nine doses.-Ibid. DIGESTIVE TRACT. Pilocarpine in Ascites. DR. H. C. COATES, of Valparaiso, Ind., sends us the history of a patient. 70 years of age, on whom he had performed paracentesis abdominis for three consecutive times, removing at each operation from one to three gallons of fluid. Despairing of curing his patient, whose disease resulted from an alcoholic liver, he prescribed pilocarpine, 1-6 gr. morning and evening, with two ounces of whiskey. No improvement following, the dose of pilocarpine was increased to 1-3 gr., morning and night, in a like quantity of whiskey. This increase of dose caused the doctor day following the third operation says, excessive perspiration, and every brought with it a decided improvement, and in six weeks from the final puncture, the patient was well. Jaundice. PROF. BARTHOLOW says that when the cause of jaundice has been removed, ure should not be maintained after this, salicylic acid will remove the bile pig lest another attack be excited.-New York Medical Journal. Tonga in the Treatment of Hemicrania. DR. JOHN HENNING, in a letter to the Therapeutic Gazette, reports a case of severe hemicrania in which all of the usual remedies had been administered over a period of two months. The patient was free from pain only when under the influence of morphine. Fluid ment from the blood more promptly than any other drug.-Medical Brief. Carbolic Acid in Indigestion. Carbolic acid internally, two to four drops, is a better antacid in indigestion than any alkali. It arrests fermentation and usually gives quick relief in nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.-Am. Prac. and News. |