prevent, it certainly moderates suppuration, thus fulfilling the second indication and better than (perhaps) any other remedy. GINGEOT believes that the iodine does good by its superlative parasiticide action; "the parasites cannot escape contact with the liquid which is introduced by capillarity into the glands, and by endosmosis into the acuminated vesicle of the top of the furuncle."

The same treatment is applicable in the early stage of carbuncle, and will often arrest its development; if, however, the progress of the carbuncle cannot be stayed, a strong solution of carbolic acid (equal parts of the strong acid and glycerin) must be brought in contact with the diseased tissue, as DR. EADE, of London, recommends.

The central core or stem must be destroyed; this may be done by freely applying the carbolic acid through any openings which may exist in the centre of the swelling, or a sufficient opening may be made with acid nitrate of mercury.

When the furuncle is opened and discharging, the usefulness of tincture of iodine is ended. Then there is nothing better than boric acid applied in the form of fine powder, which is freely dusted over the boils, or of the saturated aqueous or alcoholic solution which is kept constantly in contact with the diseased parts by means of compresses soaked in the liquid.

As for internal medication, GINGEOT has nothing better to suggest than the recommendation to follow out the line of treatment several years ago indicated by DR. SIDNEY RINGER, and endorsed by DR. DUNCAN BULKLEY. This consists "in the administration from the first of sulphide of calcium in small doses (one-sixth or one-fourth grain) every two hours." It is worthy of note that in the excellent paper which DR. BULKLEY read at this meeting, he coincides very nearly with the line of treatment above briefly summarized.-Boston Med. and Surg. Journal.

WHAT AND HOW TO FEED THE RECTUM.-In an article appearing in the Practitioner, Dec., 1885, W. JULIUS NICKLE, M. D., M. R. C. P., London, discusses very practically this important question. We quote some of his comments below:

If, then, one has decided to feed by the rectum, the next questions are: What is the best form of nutriment to employ, and what are the best special modes of manipulation in introducing the food into the bowels?

As to the former, the question of the best form of nutriment to use for injection, the older plan, and the one still most in vogue, is merely to inject fluid food and stimulants, not specially prepared, but in the form in which they are taken by mouth. Beef-tea, milk and brandy have been largely used for this purpose, and I have heard of arrowroot being so used in considerable quantities. Some amount of stimulation can be attained by the use of some of the substances just named, and from them can be absorbed constituents which enable the nutritive powers to better utilize the stores of nutriment already within the system. But for true food-purposes their value is apparently slight. As DR. SANSOM stated (Lancet, Febru

ary 19th, 1881), only a fractional proportion of the albuminous contents of nutritive enemata, as commonly employed, is taken up into the blood current to subserve any useful purpose of nutrition. This fact has led to many attempts to improve upon the ordinary nutritive enemata.

On the whole, I conclude that the rectum and colon digest but little, and that, even when inverse peristalsis is set up, the action of the bowel upon enemata is chiefly absorptive. If so, the food should either be introduced mixed with digestive substances, or else before administration should, in some way or in some measure, be digested and ready for absorption into the venule and lymphatics of the intestinal walls. Several methods have been devised to attain these objects.

Thus DR. LEUBE* gives three parts of meat with one part of pancreas, but finely minced and mixed with water. An addition of fat does not harm the digestion of the meat and pancreas when injected, but more than onesixth of fat is apt to cause stool. BROWNSEQUARD'st plan is to first clear out the bowel by an enema of luke-warm water, and then by a wooden syringe inject into the bowel twothirds of a pound of raw beef and a quarter of a pound of hog's pancreas. Repeat twice a day. The pancreas must be fresh, the animal recently slaughtered, the fat and cellular tissue taken away. The meat and pancreas must be finely divided, and thoroughly mixed. CATILLON'S formula I have already given above, when speaking of his experiments; it represents a peptone of meat. M. HENNINGER gives a complicated formula for a peptone of meat by digestion of meat under HCl. and pepsine. SLINGERS has manufactured a nutrient suppository, consisting of nearly pure peptones, made by digesting lean meat with the mucous membrane of the pig's stomach. Numerous new preparations are brought before the profession each year.

M.

Defibrinated blood and solutions of desiccated blood have been used for enemata, and especially in America. Three years ago, when I was on that side of the water, and met some medical men in consultation in reference to a certain case in which the question of feeding by rectum arose, I found that the medical attendant at once suggested a solution of desiccated blood, which is usually employed there, I believe, in the proportion of one to eight of water for injection. Fresh defibrinated ox or sheep blood appears to be considerably used in America for nutritive enemata, as DR. SANSOM was one of the first to tell us.

In his Lumleian Lectures DR. W. H. ROBERTS states that "pancreatic extract is peculiarlly adapted for administration with nutritive enemata. The enemata may be prepared in the usual way with milk-gruel and beef-tea, and a dessert spoonful of liquor pancreaticus should be added just before administration. In the warm temperature of the bowel the ferments find a favorable medium for their action on the nutritive materials with which they

Ueber die Ernährung," etc., (quoted Lancet, October 12, 1872, p. 539).

+ Lancet, Jan. 26, 1878, p. 144. Paris Médical, 1881, No. 29; Brit. Med Journ., Sept. 24, 1881, p. 544. Brit. Med. Journ., Sept. 19, 1881, p. 271. Lancet, May 29, 1880, p. 828.

are mixed, and there is no acid secretion to interfere with the completion of the digestive process."

In actual practice I have departed considerably from this plan of DR. ROBERTS', preferring to inject food in the already peptonised form, and ready to pass from the bowel by absorption. For enemata, therefore, I have used, in a slightly modified form, his method of preparing the food as if for administrrtion by mouth. A thermometer being employed throughout, and either kept in the liquid or frequently introduced to test the temperature, a pint of milk with one-fifth or one-fourth pint of water is heated in a clean dish to 140° F. At that temperature, two drachms of BENGER'S liquid pancreaticus are added, and twenty grs. of bicarbonate of sodium dissolved in a spoonful of water. The whole is put in a covered jug or dish, and kept near a fire for from an hour to an hour and a-half, and still kept constantly at a temperature of 140° F. At the end of that time it must be thoroughly boiled for two or three minutes. Each step should be carefully carried out to secure success. Thus prepared, the food keeps for half a day or more. convenience, I have given the process as for one pint of milk, but multiples of that measure may be prepared. In feeding by rectum I prefer to keep to this peptonised milk solely. The following, from DR. ROBERTS, chiefly useful for administration by mouth, may be given by rectum also.

For

For peptonized gruel: wheaten flour, oatmeal, arrowroot, sago, pearl barley, pea or lentil flour, gruel well boiled, thick and strong Oj; put in a covered jug, cool to about 100 F., add liq. pancreatici 3 ss. Keep warm under a Cosy for two hours, boil and strain.

For peptonised milk gruel: thick hot gruel, cold milk, equal parts. To each pint add liq. pancreatici 3 ij-iij, and sodii bicarb. grs. xx. Keep warm in covered jug for two hours; boil for a few minutes and strain.

For peptonized beef tea: half pound finely minced lean beef, water a pint, sodii bicarb. grs. xx.; simmer for one hour and a half; cool to 140° F.; add liq. pancreatici, 3 ss. Keep warm under cosy for two hours; occasionally shake. Decant liquid portion and boil for five minutes.

THE COLD BATH IN TYPHOID FEVER.-The question of the utility of the cold bath in typhoid fever is not yet settled, even in Germany, where the brilliant statistics of BRAND and LIEBERMEISTER have resulted in the introduction of hydro-therapy into most of the large hospitals. As a routine measure, the system has not found favor in the eyes of English and American physicians, among whom CAYLEY, at the London Fever Hospital, seems to have been the only one who has tested the plan on a very large scale.

In the Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, Nos. 45 and 46, 1885, SENATOR discusses the coldwater treatment, and brings forward evidence to show that equally good results may be obtained without it. Undoubtedly during the past 20 years, since the introduction of hydrotherapy, the mortality from typhoid fever has been greatly reduced in German hospitals, but statistics comparing this with previous periods are manifestly unfair. Other important condi

tions must be taken into consideration, such as the nursing, the attention to diet, and the general hygienic surroundings, and to the improvement in these SENATOR is inclined to attribute an important share in the reduction of the death rate. GLASER'S statistics from the Hamburg General Hospital, for 1874-77, show the same mortality, 7.2 per cent., in 937 typhoid patients treated by the ordinary methods, and 868 patients subjected to the cold bath.

As a further contribution to the solution of the question, SENATOR has instituted a comparison between the results of the treatment of typhoid cases in the eight large hospitals of Berlin, for the ten years 1875-84. Of these he excludes three, the Charité and the two city hospitalsFriedrichshain and Moabit, as the patients admitted to them are from the very poorest classes; while in the Hedwig's, Elizabeth, Lazarus, Bethanien, and Augusta hospitals the conditions are very similar, and the patients are drawn from the better classes of the poor. In the three large hospitals, the Charité, Friedrichshain, and Moabit, the average mortality of typhoid cases for the ten years was 16.4 per cent., 19.6 per cent., and 15.2 per cent., respectively. In the others, which are smaller institutions, the death-rate was considerably lower, as shown by the following figures: Hedwig's, 14.7 per cent.; Elizabeth, 12.8 per cent.; Lazarus, 14.1 per cent.; Bethanien, 13.5 per cent.; and Augusta, 12-3 per cent. In the last-named institution, SENATOR has charge of the medical wards, and he takes pains to show that the low mortality is not due to any favoring condition of age, sex, or rank of the patients. As regards treatment, he has followed an expectant or symptomatic plan, while in the other four hospitals the cold bath has been used to a greater or less degree; in none, perhaps, to the extent which BRAND directed, though in the Bethanien, the system has been quite thoroughly enforced.

A comparison of the statistics of the five hospitals shows that the percentage of recoveries has not been essentially influenced by the different special treatments in vogue." At the Augusta Hospital, no regular antipyretic treatment when the fever reaches a certain height, but the indication is always drawn from the general condition. The fever has not, as a symptom, the significance that LIEBERMEISTER and others suppose, and the changes in the nutrition of the organs do not depend on the high temperature alone. A study of tetanus teaches us that high temperature and the febrile process are two different things. SENATOR is not opposed to the cold bath; he believes that it has its uses, but as an antipyretic he places it far below quinine or antipyrine, which have also the advantage of being antiparasitic remedies. The bath does good, not so much by reducing the fever as by its action upon the nervous system; under its use the patient's mind becomes clearer and brighter; and another beneficial effect is upon the circulation and respiration, to both of which it is a powerful stimulus. If a rule is to be adopted, it should be that the cold bath is specially indicated in those cases with fever, stupor, and mental dullness-the febris nervosa stupida of the writers Statistics show very clearly that hemorrhage from the bowels is more likely to occur in this cold method of treatment, and that relapses are not more frequent.

In the discussion that followed the reading of SENATOR's paper at the Berlin Medical Society, GOLTDAMMER, of the Bethanien, spoke of the difficulty of forming a clear judgment concerning therapeutic measures in typhoid fever. So many factors have to be considered, of which the treatment is, perhaps, not the most important. The nursing, the relative proportion of light and severe cases, and the time of entrance into the hospital influence the mortality to a very great degree. Thus, of the 3,600 typhoid patients treated in the Bethanien during 17 years, the total mortality was only 15.8 per cent., but of the patients admitted in the third week, or later, the death-rate was 36 per cent. GOLTDAMMER referred to the statistics of the Prussian army as illustrating the value of the cold bath ih typhoid fever. Prior to 1865, the death-rate from this disease ranged from 20 to 25 per cent., but for the past nine years the mortality has been only 10.1 per cent. In the other European armies BRAND'S system is not fully carried out, and the death-rate still remains high, being 25 per cent. in the Austrian army, 28 to 26 per cent. in the Italian, and 36.5 per cent. in the French

In hospital practice, the truth would seem to be that of 100 typhoid patients 75 will do well with careful nursing; of the remaining 35, from 10 to 15 will die under any method of treatment, while the fate of the remaining will depend very much on the skill with which the physician handles the therapeutic means at his disposal, of which, in certain cases, the cold bath is one of the most valuable.-Medical News, Jan. 2, 1886.

STERILITY.-You will frequently have women come to you, complaining, as this woman does, of sterility, expressing a desire to have children, and imploring you to do something for her. She has been married two years, and is anxious to conceive. She is not suffering from dysmenorrhoea. There are many intricate points in connection with this question of sterility. When dysmenorrhoea is present, there is no doubt that you ought to dilate; but when it is not present, will you dilate? Sometimes yes; for you must remember that in the act of conception, while there is an ejaculatory movement on the part of the male organ, there is a suction, an aspiration on the part of the uterus, and while a crooked organ may be able to expel its contents without giving rise to much trouble, it will not be so easy for it to aspire the semen. But this is only one of our numerous perplexities. This woman's health is good. A common cause of sterility is gonorrhoea, the inflammation of which travels up the womb, along the Fallopian tube, and renders the covering of the ovary so thick and tense that the ovum cannot escape, or if it does get out, the fimbriated extremity of the tube is so agglutinated that it cannot grasp it. We have here a small, conical cervix, that of a woman who has never conceived, and who has never had chronic endometritis. The sound can be passed without trouble for three inches; the uterus is freely movable, there is no peritonitis. This uterus is too large for a woman who has had no children, and has not dysmenorrhea. Next Wednesday I will dilate. I am not sure that stenosis is the cause, but will try this proced

ure.

The immunity from conception enjoyed

by prostitutes is due to the fact that usually, very early in their professional career, they contract gonorrhoea, which acts as I have explained. Another cause is that the ova may not be sufficiently healthy to be impregnated, which occurs not infrequently in women who are suffering from nervous prostration. Again, the absence of sexual pleasure is set down as a cause; some women who do not experience pleasure will conceive, but the absence of pleasure is rather damaging to conception. Some women are so fastidious that they will not admit that they experience pleasure; with a shame-faced modesty, they consider such admissions as common and vulgar. But it cannot be common when ordained by divinity, sanctioned by the most sacred usage, and hallowed by love.

As

Some years ago I had a very intelligent patient, who was sterile, and who was very anxious for children. She had dysmenorrhoea, and I dilated her womb; it was no use. I made various applications, all of no avail. She was under my care for two years, but she could not conceive. Finally, I heard that her husband was under the care of some quacks, and a thought occurring to me, I sent for him. He was a fine, hearty man, had perfect sexual passion, and was full of semen. I procured some of this fluid, and upon examination by three competent microscopists, not a single spermatozoon could be found. Here was a solution; the fault was with the husband, he was impotent. It transpired that when a young man he had gonorrhoea and epididymitis, and this had rendered him sterile. Such a condition may exist in the present case. a rule, however, it is the woman who is at fault. Quacks will get a hold of such men and show them their semen without any spermatozoa, tell them they are impotent, promise a cure, and give some drugs. After a while, as came out in a trial in England, they will show them under the microscope some vinegar containing the vinegar eels, which they assure them is their semen, tell them they are well, and demand a large fee. It is repugnant, but it is wise, to examine the semen in these cases. Menorrhagia is a cause of sterility. The impregnated ovum, before it has secured a good hold in the uterus, is washed away by the next menstrual flow, if it is excessive. Another cause is tissue-change in the uterus, brought about by long-continued dysmenorrhoea, whereby a proper dicidua is not formed. The problem of sterility is a very difficult one to solve, unless we have dysmenorrhoea. It may be due to an absence of the ovaries, but in such cases we would have an infantile womb. Remember that a woman is a woman not because she has a uterus, but because she has ovaries.-DR. WM. GOODELL, in Medical and Surgical Reporter.

NOTES ON THE NEW ANTISEPTICS, HYDRONAPHTOL AND POTASSIO-MERCURIC IODIDE. -The following are claims made for the newlydiscovered antiseptic, hydronaphthol:

It is at least 12 times as effective as carbolic acid, and is entitled, as a true antiseptic, to occupy a position in the comparative tables next to the mercuric bichloride.

It is 30 times as potent as salicylic acid, 60 times as effectual as boric acid, and has 600 times the antiseptic power of alcohol.

Hydronaphthol is soluble when placed in cold water, to the extent of one part in 2,000. It is soluble in hot water in the proportion of one to 100; but when the water becomes cooled to ordinary temperatures, a precipitate occurs, leaving a solution of one to 1,000. In this strength of one to 1,000 it permanently prevents the development of the germs of putrefaction in all putrescible fluids.

Whilst the true antiseptic or inhibitory action of hydronaphthol in such cold aqueous saturated solution is perfect, its germicidal and proper disinfectant power is effective. For the destruction of already existing germs-such as have a tenacious vitality, as those of anthrax bacilli and pathogenic micrococci-it, therefore, cannot be relied on. As to its action in this regard, as compared with carbolic acid, it should be remembered that a ten-per-centum carbolic solution is required—a strength practically improper in wound treatment. In ordinary antiseptic practice, carbolic acid is valuable only on account of its inhibitory action.

The first use of hydronaphthol as an antiseptie was by DR. G. R. FOWLER, of Brooklyn, to whom the profession is indebted for its introduction to practical surgery. My own experience with the antiseptic action of hydronaphthol in the wards of the Pennsylvania Hospital and in private surgical practice confirms his observations, as given in his recent articles in the New York Medical Journal.

Hydronaphthol is a grayish substance, in the form of crystalline lamina, having a slightly aromatic taste and odor. It is soluble freely in alcohol, ether, chloroform, glycerin, benzole and the fixed oils.

In the aqueous saturated solution of one to 1,000 it is absolutely unirritating, and has no toxic action either local or systemic, is free from unpleasant odor and has no injurious action on metallic instruments or on clothing fabrics.

Besides its use in aqueous solution, I have used it in the form of a powder diluted, preferably with the oxide of zinc, in the proportion of one to 50.

I believe that hydronaphthol may well displace carbolic acid from practical surgery.

The potassio-mercuric iodide is four or five times as powerful as a true germicide_or disinfectant, as the mercuric bichloride. For such use it is effective in aqueous solutions in the proportion of only one to 12,000.

The potassio-mercuric iodide is made by simply dissolving equal quantities of the biniodide of mercury and the iodide of potassium in distilled water, The solution is evaporated, and there remain yellow, needle-like crystals of the potassio-mercuric iodide.

In the use of such dilutions of this powerful antiseptic, local irritation is entirely avoided, and the risk of producing the constitutional effects of mercury is greatly diminished.

The introduction into surgical treatment of these two remarkable and powerful substances, hydronaphthol and the potassio-mercuaic iodide, will do much to overcome some of the objections and inconveniences of antiseptic practice.-DR. R. J. LEVIS, in the College and Clinical Record.

THE THERAPEUTIC USES OF OXYGEN.-Oxygen composes one-fifth of the earth's atmo

sphere, one-half of the earth's crust, and eightninths of the water of the globe. It is an essential part of the daily food, the adult organism using about two pounds daily; over two-thirds of a quart is constantly circulating in the blood, and it is the most potent factor in the processes of tissue growth and change. It is not very strange, therefore, that oxygen should be thought to have great therapeutic possibilities, and that the imagination of the enthusiastic should at times be a little carried away by apparent evidences of its potency.

Oxygen exists in three forms: the nascent, represented by O, the ordinary form, O2, and the condensed form, ozone O2. It is 0, with which the organism has ordinarily to do. Oxygen enters the system mainly by the lungs, It is absorbed by the serum, and then is quickly taken up by the hæmoglobin of the bloodcorpuscles to the point of almost complete saturation, i. e., within nine-tenths of the point of saturation. The oxygen here is in the form of ozone, as has been sometimes asserted, but is in its neutral form (O2), and in loose combination with the hæmoglobin (HOPPE-SEYLER and PFLUGER). The oxygen exists to the extent of about 17 volumes per cent. in arterial blood. This normal proportion cannot readily be changed by any safe artificial methods. The inhalation of compressed air, or pure oxygen, and the practice of rapid respiration, may perhaps increase the volume per cent. a trifle REGNAULT and REIST have shown that warm-blooded animals in an atmosphere of pure oxygen do not absorb more oxygen or excrete more carbonic acid gas than in ordinary air, and P. BERT admits that even in an atmosphere of compressed air there is only a slight increase in the per cent. of oxygen in the blood.

So far as we can learn, therefore, all careful experiments show that in healthy and warmblooded animals the inhalation of pure oxygen causes almost no increase in the amount of oxygen in the blood. This amount is dependent upon another factor, i. e., the amount of hæmoglobin in the blood. If this is increased, the oxygen amount is increased also, and in the same ratio the per cent. of iron-a fact of some significance.

It is the opinion of ROSSBACH and NOTHNAGEL that oxygen inhaled in any manner whatever has no other effect in kind than the ordinary air supplied in extra abundance.

“Good, pure air, free from injurious, gaseous, or solid impurities, has the same therapeutic effects as the inhalations of pure oxygen.'

Oxygen has been recommended for a large number of diseases, e. g., chronic phthisis, scrofula, epilepsy, diabetes, neuralgias, anæmia, asthma, pneumonia, asphyxiation, poisoning with toxic gases, intermittent fever, etc. The best results appear to have been obtained in the dyspnoea of pneumonia, asthma, in asphyxiation, gas-poisoning, and anæmia. Its value in chronic disorders of nutrition is still sub judéce, and a practical objection to its use is the difficulty and expense of administering it in large amounts for a considerable period.

We cannot quite agree with the somewhat dogmatic views of ROSSBACH and NOTHNAGEL, that the therapeutic use of oxygen is without a physiological basis. It is possible that the systematic, very slight increase in the per cent. of oxygen in the blood, caused by inhaling the

pure gas, may give an impetus to the growth of hæmoglobin, especially when that substance is below the normal amount. In other words, oxygen may stimulate hæmatosis just as iron is believed to do.-Medical Record.

HOW TO ADVANCE MEDICINE.-Advance in medicine must be looked for by a better insight into the causes of disease; by a study of pathology in its very widest signification, which shall include not only morbid anatomy, but all those changes in the blood and nervous system which often constitutes the fons et origo malis. These causes may be found to be of a specfiic nature, or to exist in the ordinary surroundings of our lives. Of whatever kind they may be, a discovery of their detrimental influence will lead to the means of their removal.

Then, again, much success may be hoped for on making a more complete study of diseases when actually running their course before us, by observing which are the favorable and which the unfavorable circumstances which determine the issue of the case; and not only the surroundings should be noted, but the meaning of the symptoms should be investigated, so as to discover which to encourage and which to oppose.

When we have arrived at some knowledge acquired by these means, the action of drugs may be considered, and the conditions which suggest their employment. As I have before said, it is by no means sufficient to know the physiological action of a medicine, but rather how it will exert an influence on various pathological phenomena. To quote again the instance of digitalis, we require to know not only its action on a healthy heart and arteries, but what power it exerts on quickly acting hearts, for whose correction we now see it daily given.

In upholding these views, I am of necesity protesting against the so-called popular theory, that diseases are so many entities, whose symptoms are to be relieved by some drug; or, as have seen it expressed in a book on the most wide-spread heresy of the day, that since it has pleased the Almighty to visit his children with various ailments, so he has provided in the herbs of the field some remedy for their cure. This is both an untruth and an absurdity; or, as a member of Parliament declared in the House of Commons, when denouncing restriction on medical practice, that all collegiate training was useless, the medical art being a gift with which some persons were naturally endowed. It need scarcely be said that he was the patron of the most flourishing quack in the country. If medicine is a branch of science, it must be studied in the same way as other sciences, by observation and experiment. There must first be a study of anatomy and physiology; then a study of disease, as seen in the living subject, and in its results on the dead; then, again, an investigation into the action of remedies of all kinds, and their suitability to the amelioration of morbid states; efficient treatment can only follow by a complete adoption of all these methods. By making it the result of a scientific procedure, we assisting to stay the degeneracy of medicine, which is ever apt to constitute treatment the very foundation of our art, the alpha as well as omega.-DR. WILKES, in Brit. Med, Journal.

MEDICINES WHICH STIMULATE THE LIVER. -Podophyllin in small doses is a stimulant to the liver. During the increased secretion of bile, the percentage amount of special bile solids is not diminished. If the dose be too large, the secretion of bile is not increased. It is a powerful intestinal irritant.

Enonymin is a powerful hepatic stimulant. It is not nearly so powerful an irritant of the intestine as podophyllin.

Sanguinarian is a powerful hepatic stimulant. It also stimulates the intestine, but not nearly so powerful as podophyllin. It

Irisin is a powerful hepatic stimulant. also stimulates the intestine, but not so powerful as podophyllin.

Leptandrin is a hepatic stimulant of moderate power. It is a feeble intestinal stimulant.

Colocynth is a powerful hepatic, as well as intestinal stimulant. It renders the bile more watery, but increases the secretion of biliary matter.

Jalap is a powerful hepatic, as well as intestinal stimulant.

Menispermin does not stimulate the liver. It slightly irritates the intestinal glands. Baptisin is a hepatic, and also an intestinal stimulant of considerable power.

Phytolaccin is a hepatic stimulant of considerable power. It also slightly stimulates the intestinal glands.

Hydrastin is a moderately powerful hepatic stimulant, and a feeble intestinal stimulant.

Juglandin is a moderately powerful hepatic and mild intestinal stimulant.

Chloride of ammonia is credited with cholagogue properties, but it is questionable; nevertheless, it certainly stimulates the inteetinal glands.

Calomel is a powerful purgative, but whether it stimulates the liver is still sub judice.

Corrosive sublimate is a potent hepatic stimulant, but acts feebly on the intestines. Sulphate of potash is a powerful intestinal irritant, but its action on the liver is variable and unreliable.

Taraxacum is a feeble hepatic stimulant. Dilute nitro-muriatic acid has a moderate stimulant action on the liver.

Boldo, bromide of potassium, nitrate of potash, and hard soap, have each some stimulant action on the liver.-American Medical Digest.

TREATMENT OF LACERATIONS OF THE OS AND CERVIX UTERI WITHOUT SURGICAL OPERATION.-At the meeting of the Virginia State Medical Society DR. BEDFORD BROWN, of Alexandria, read a paper on this subject. He said that, while admitting the advantages of EMMET'S operation as a prompt means of relief, though not unattended with danger, there were yet many females who were debarred from these benefits and for whom some other method, or none at all must be used. During the past twelve years the writer had treated successfully upward of twenty cases of laceration and fissure of the os and cervix of varying degrees of severity, and some complicated with cellulitis, displacements, subinvolution, etc., by means of local applications alone. The patients suffered from severe neuralgic pains, and in most of them there was more or less impair