compensatory movement shown by vertebrates is also found in invertebrates, and not only in those with otocysts, as crustaceans, but also in those without otocysts, as insects. He therefore concludes [and rightly, if his observations are correct,] that if these motions have one common organ, it is not the semicircular canals nor the otocysts. MISCELLANEOUS. W. B. Hardy has published a remarkable paper on the structure of cell-protoplasm, in which he shows that in the artificial coagulation or precipitation of colloid substances appearances are produced which are strikingly similar to those seen in animal protoplasm after death or the action of fixing-reagents. He accordingly suggests that the apparent structure of protoplasm is an artefact. J. Loeb has made a contribution of far-reaching importance to our knowledge of the meaning and mechanism of fertilization by the discovery that the unfertilized egg of the sea-urchin can develop in sea-water to which MgCl, has been added in a certain proportion, just as if a spermatozoon had entered the egg. From his experiments he deduces the conclusion that the unfertilized egg of the sea-urchin contains all the elements essential for development, and that "the only reason which prevents it from developing parthenogenetically under normal conditions is the constitution of the sea-water." 3 4 5 Among the many other important investigations which the limits of our space prevent us doing justice to we may mention those of BurdonSanderson on the electric response of muscle to stimulation; of Gotch and Burch on the electric response of nerve to stimulation; of Loeb on the relation of ions to rhythmic muscular contraction; and of Arrhenius and B. Friedländer on the relation of certain cosmic influences to physiologic phenomena. 6 7 1 Jour. of Physiol., vol. xxiv., p. 158. 2 Am. Jour. Physiol., vol. iii., p. 135. Ibid., vol. xxiv., p 356. Skand. Arch. f. Physiol., Band 8, S. 367. 3 Jour. of Physiol., vol. xxiii., p. 325; vol. xxiv., p. 5. 5 Fick's Festschrift, 1899. Verhandl. d. Berlin. physiol. Ges.; Arch. f. Physiol., S. 570, 1899. LEGAL MEDICINE. BY WYATT JOHNSTON, M. D., Epitome. By the death of Maschka on Feb. 5, 1899, we lost one of the most prominent medicolegal authorities. As a result of last year's agitation, we note the passage by the French Chamber of Deputies of the Cruppi law, by which, in every criminal investigation, the State allows the suspected person to choose an expert to investigate the case in his behalf, at the expense of the government. The expert must be selected from a list revised annually by the courts. Steps have also been taken in France and Canada to provide a special diploma to qualify for medicolegal practice. The Christian scientists have come into collision. with the law in manslaughter cases. The subject of rigor mortis has been studied from a purely physical standpoint by A. Lacassagne, with most interesting results. Babes and E. Malvoz have published important new observations on the relations of infection and putrefaction to legal medicine. The announcement by Beskreda of hyperleukocytosis in connection with certain toxic conditions opens a new and interesting field of inquiry. Criminology.-The voluminous literature of the subject has this year contained little that is novel or important. The pleading of Brower,1 that asexualization is the most promising means of reducing crime, has been put on a practical basis by the suggestion of McCassy, that criminals, especially those imprisoned for rape, should be offered their liberty at any time on condition of submitting to castration previous to discharge. MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 3 The Cruppi law, referred to above, has met with a good deal of criticism. Leredu claims that the defence should not be limited in their choice to an official list of experts. Motet considers that the new law will lead to constant differences between experts and prove doubly costly to the State. Ducor insists upon the necessity of a higher standard of technical knowledge for experts. The text of the law is given in Sem. méd. of July 5, 1899. L'exercise de la Medecine et le Charlatinisme is the title of an important monograph by P. Brouardel, already published partly in the Ibid., Dec. 3, 1898. Ibid., Aug., 1899. 1 Jour. Am. Med. Assoc., June, 1899. Ann. d'Hyg. pub., p. 442, 1899. 5 Rev. de méd. lég., Jan., 1899. Ann. d'Hyg. pub.' Though specially relating to practice under Freuch laws, it contains much that is of general interest. It is in the same form as the rest of the series by the same writer. The chapters upon accidents in connection with anesthetics, narcotics, and erroneous prescriptions are specially interesting. The law in its relation to physicians is discussed by A. N. Taylor, L.L.B., in a series of articles treating of legal medicine from the forensic standpoint, which form a valuable addition to the literature of the subject. 4 3 W. A. Purrington has published a work entitled legal decisions affecting physicians, dentists, druggists, and health-boards, the law in relation to dentistry being the part most fully dealt with. Grassl records 2 cases in which a conviction for assault was obtained against surgeons who operated without permission. In 1 case no objection was made until the physician took legal proceedings for collecting the fee for the operation in question. 5 R. M. Lizys discusses the French statutes relating to malpractice. Carl Stoss reviews the legal questions regarding surgical operations and medical treatment in the light of cases which have come before German courts. DEATH AND CONDITIONS AFFECTING DEAD BODIES (THANATOLOGY). On the Cause and Varieties of Rigor Mortis.-A. Lacassagne and E. Martin state that the determining factor in the onset of rigor mortis is the drying of the muscles and tissues. Those which first lose the fluids of the body by hypostasis-e. g., jaw, sternomastoid-become rigid earliest. If the body is inverted and placed on the face, the order is reversed. In artificial desiccation by ligating with an Esmarch immediately after death the depleted limb becomes rigid before the rest of the body. Chemic dehydrating agents produce similar effects. By postmortem injection of fluids Brown-Séquard and Richet were able to retard the onset of rigidity. [The above statements do not explain why the heart is one of the first parts of the body to become rigid.] A New Sign of Death.-The influence of respiration and putrefaction on the radiography of the lungs. S. Ottolenghi finds that (in accordance with Bougardes's statement) dead lungs are more opaque to the x-rays than living ones, and show darker at the borders, but the difference is not sufficient to give us decisive results in the case of persons recently dead (24 hours), and only becomes well marked with the onset of decomposition. Gas-formation in dead lungs gives rise to clear areas not likely to be confused with the appearances during life. 9 Ehrle reports the rapid destruction of a child's body after infanticide. The body was buried in sand, near the surface, in unusually hot weather. The surface of the body was charred slightly and the entire interior converted into a blackened pulpy mass in about a week. 1 Paris, 1899, Baillière. 3 New York, E. B. Treat, 1899. 5 Paris Theses, 1899. Arch. d'Anthrop. crim.. May, 1899. Correspondenz-Bl. d. Württ. 2 N. Y. Med. Jour., 1899. Friedreich's Blätter, July, 1899. 6 Lehmann, Berlin, 1899. 8 Viertelj. ger. Med., 1899. Aerzte., No. 26, 1899. Subpleural Ecchymoses in Death from Primary Heartfailure.-A. Schulz' points out that with a strophanthin preparation, which in its essential action is primarily a cardiac depressant, very numerous and well-marked subpleural and subpericardial ecchymoses are constantly present after fatal doses. Postmortem Contractibility of Muscles to Electricity.—J. Babinski2 states that contraction is lost first in the facial muscles. These pass through a phase in which the faradic response is lost, but the voltaic remains, with the normal formula inverted (PFC > NFC and NOC > POC), thus being analogous to the reaction of degeneration. The irritability persists in the muscles after disappearing from the terminal nerve-filaments. D. Mirte has studied secondary postmortem atelectasis of the lungs of the newborn. After death the atelectasis tends to extend to the deeper parts of the lungs from the surface. In premature fetuses aeration is scattered in minute areas at various points in the lungs. In lungs which have breathed some days the extension of postmortem atelectasis is very slow. In lungs with inflammatory lesions it occurs more easily. In inflated lungs it occurs readily and early, and these do not have the central aerated nucleus of lungs which have breathed. H. Schmidt concludes, in a monographic article upon drowning, that the only reliable appearances are those in the digestive and respiratory organs, the tympanum, and the blood. The signs indicating the duration of immersion are indirectly of importance. It is important to recognize the injuries to which drowned bodies are subject after death. The association of a fatal wound with drowning usually indicates suicide. In doubtful cases giving a negative result it should be stated simply that the examination has not shown indications of violence. Edema of the laryngeal folds in immersed bodies, according to M. Richter," is not a certain sign of drowning, but is not as easily produced postmortem as has been stated. Out of 18 experiments with children's bodies edema was found 8 times. With extirpated larynxes it occurred 34 times out of 77 experiments. In 23 immersed bodies it was found 9 times. Thus, it is not characteristic of drowning, but occurs postmortem when the circumstances are favorable. Once present, it does not disappear with the onset of putrefaction, and does not require long immersion for its production. Focke discusses thoroughly the medicolegal bearings of death from tetanus. The autopsy findings alone are inconclusive unless the specific bacillus is demonstrated by inoculation or culture-method; and even in this case the proof is only absolute if the material is obtained from deep tissues or foreign bodies in them, as the surface of tissues is exposed to external contamination. The connection of the tetanus with a well-defined injury is necessary. Medicolegal Pathology of Brain-injuries.-Adler lays stress upon the following points: Autopsy-results alone are insufficient to establish a diagnosis of fatal concussion of the brain without knowledge of 1 Viertelj. ger. Med., Apr., 1899. 3 Acad. d. Sc. med. di Palermo, 1899. 5 Wien. klin. Woch., 25, 1899. 7 Ibid. 2 Soc. de Biol., No. 15, 1899. the symptoms. Instant loss of consciousness he considers characteristic. The injury must be exceptionally violent. In cases complicated by alcoholism the question is whether the amount taken could have caused death within the time elapsed. Pressure-symptoms from intradural hemorrhage begin some hours after the injury. Traumatic hemorrhages are usually cortical, and spontaneous hemorrhages deep-seated. The traumatic are usually smaller and multiple; deep traumatic hemorrhages are usually associated with meningeal hemorrhage. Lacerations of brainsubstance indicate alterations of pressure in the cranial cavity. Projectiles of small caliber may lodge in the brain without causing unconsciousness. Brain-injuries never in themselves cause suppuration. In another article he pronounces it doubtful whether diabetes ever really results from brain-injury, and discusses at length the medicolegal symptomatology of brain-injury. 2 Corrière describes the alterations of blood in experimental asphyxia. The most notable observation was in animals asphyxiated by CO2 in which a great number of eosinophile cells were presented. Alterations of the Nerve-tissues in Death by Starvation.S. Placzek 3 found that in rabbits dead from starvation the Nissl bodies were greatly diminished, but still present. He found by the Marchi stain degenerative changes in the posterior columns. [His results differ from those of Schaffer and Jacobson, who studied the question separately, with mutually divergent results.] Spinal Changes in Death by Hunger in Man.-Placzek, referring to his previous article, says that the degeneration described there was not recognizable by Weigert's method. He reports the result of examination of a case of death by hunger in an insane woman. [Body showed a decided panniculus adiposis.] There was a distinct wasting of the Nissl bodies. 5 Gaelano Corrado reports the occurrence of striking changes in the nerve-cells of animals killed by electric shock. These consist in a deformed, eroded, ragged appearance of the contour, with granular and vacuole formation and disturbed arrangement of the chromatin. A New Anatomic Sign Concerning Death by Burning.F. Strassmann, in 2 cases in which an extradural blood-extravasation was at first regarded as proof that an existing fracture of the skull had occurred during life, was able to demonstrate the contrary from the circumstance of the blood-clot being surrounded by melted fat. The occurrence of hemorrhages postmortem within closed cavities, through the effects of heat, has already been explained. Strassmann was able experimentally to reproduce the condition. 8 Harvey Littlejohn reports 3 cases of fatal burning, in one of which pseudohemorrhage of the meninges from combustion occurred. In another case, a woman of 82, the left leg was completely destroyed up to the knee, although the fire had lasted only hour. 9 Lacassagne and E. Martin have applied the term hepatic doci |