benefit resulted from its use, most certainly would not have happened. Had carefully covering the cut surfaces with carbolic acid yielded great benefit, we should not have witnessed many large stumps left entirely exposed to the air, without any covering whatever upon them. That the two plans are wide as the poles asunder, is obvious to every one. If freely exposed stumps heal up readily and well, it must be at once apparent that those which do so who most elaborately swathed in carbolised wrappings, do so rather in spite of, than as a consequence of, them.

One word more, and I have done. I have spoken plainly on the antiseptic treatment, because I have felt decidedly. Let me, however, not be misunderstood. I have no other object in view than the advance of our profession. I willingly pay deference to, and acknowledge with thanks as warm and as cordial as those who have believed and adopted the antiseptic treatment, what good has been done, and I trust will still be done, by some of those who have been the most decided advocates of the method. To them I would say, in the words which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Brutus when speaking in the capitol to the Roman people over the dead body of Cæsar, "If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer? Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more.' So would I say, not that I valued their works and labors less, but that I value surgical science more. When I believe doctrines and practice to be true, I venture to acknowledge their value; but when I am convinced that they are wrong and injurious, I presume to say so.

CLINICAL RECORDS.

"Ex Principiis, nascitur probabilitas: ex factis, vero veritas.”

ART. I.-ON THE VALUE OF HYPODERMIC INJECTIONS OF MORPHIA IN OBSTETRIC PRACTICE. By O. HENDRICK, M.D., Macon, Mississippi.

In a recent number of the American Journal of Medical Sciences, January, 1869, there is a notice of an inter

esting paper read before the Obstetrical Society of Leipzig, by Dr. Korman, giving some favorable results obtained from the subcutaneous use of morphine in obstetric practice.

For several years previous to my having seen the notice, I have persued a similar course for alleviating the pains of labor and the accomplishment of other desirable ends. I have contemplated communicating the results of my observations, but have been prevented from doing so iu consequence of unremitting professional labor during the last two unprecedented sickly years, through which we have just passed.

Having frequently observed that morphine, given for the purpose of preventing abortion, fails to arrest the pains of labor when it has been once fully inaugurated, I was induced to use it hypodermically, in excessively painful labors, especially in the dilatory stage, with the view of mitigating the pains. In all cases in which the pains are very acute, and represented by the patient to be intolerable, it has had the effect of rendering them much milder, without materially interrupting the progress of the labor. When once under the influence of it. the patient complains no more of the severity of the pains, takes courage, bears her labor patiently and engages in her task vigorously, with renewed hope and energy. But a few moments before its administration, she may be suffering intense agony, as is often indicated. by the usual expression, "I can endure it no longer, I shall surely die." As the morphia begins to exert its influence, all nervous agitation ceases; she becomes more calm, and after each recurrence of pain, she is profuse in heartfelt expressions of gratitude, for the relief afforded, by its facilitating effects upon the progress of the labor. Appreciable dilatation takes place in a very short time after the remedy is given, in cases which have been, from

rigidity of the mouth of the womb, stationary for several hours.

The class of cases in which I have used it most, and to which it is specially applicable, is that in which there is a rigid state of the os uteri. It is particularly adapted to cases in which there has been an early escape of the amniotic liquid, and the dilatation has to be made by the head of the child, without the aid of the natural dilator, the bag of water. In cases of abortion, where there is a thick and undeveloped os, and the strong retentive fibres of the neck, offer great resistance to the passage of the foetus, it exerts a favorable influence.

After labor has actively commenced, grain of morphia, dissolved in a few drops of water, should be injected into the arm (or any other suitable point that may be selected), which is usually sufficient. Afterpains, with which multiparæ suffer much, rarely occur after its use in this way, during labor, and when they do, it is a speedy and efficient remedy. No derangement of the contractile force of the womb follows labor with alternate contractions and relaxations. It promotes the tonic contraction and condensation of the organ which closes the mouths of the uterine vessels and puts a stop to the oozing of blood in the cavity of the womb. It is a security against hæmorrhage, and also affords protection from puerperal fever, abrasions of the uterine and vaginal mucus membrane and other diseases incident to the puerperal state, resulting from putrefaction of blood coagula and acrid accumulations. The disagreeable fetor of the lying-in chamber, caused by the putrefaction of retained coagula, is rarely observed.

The advantages obtainsd are: First. alleviation of pain. Second, shortens the duration of labor, by expediting the dilatory and expulsive stages. Third, prevents after-pains. Fourth, secnrity from hæmorrhage. Fifth, protection from puerperal diseases.

ART. II. TUMOR OF THE EYEBALL. By J. GARDNER, M.D., Bedford, Indiana.

Wm. Bird, aged 36, farmer, of average stature and spare, sinewy frame, presented himself to me at Bedford, Indiana, for treatment in August, 1867, for tumor of eyeball. The tumor occupied about half of the cornea, on the inner side and a considerable portion of the conjunctiva. It was partly divided into two lobules, the lower being somewhat the larger; the whole mass being somewhat over four lines in its long diameter and two and a half in its transverse. It was of a white pearly lustre, studded with a minute vascular points and projected forward with a convexity about as great as the half of a medium sized bean, which it resembled in form. The entire conjunctiva was much congested from the irritation set up by its mechanical action, and its vessels were in a varicose condition. The axis of vision was divergent in that eye, and sight impaired. Complained of great annoyance from it and from an almost constant lachrymal flow. Stated that it pained him sometimes; generally at night. Placed him under the influence of chloroform, in a recumbent posture and attempted removal with scalpel and toothed forceps. Found that it was so soft and easily broken down that the forceps cut through it when I attempted to grasp it, and it glided from before the knife without being cut. The bleeding was copious upon the slightest touch of an instrument. I finally took the curved scissors, which I found to do the work satisfactorily and completed the operation. After finishing with the scissors I took solid nitrate of silver and touched the mouths of the bleeding vessels and some small portions of the tumor which I was unable to grasp with the scissors. The hemorrhage ceased at once, and after two days, I again touched them with the

nitrate of silver and a cure was completed. Little inflammation followed the operation, which speedily disappeared under salines and water dressings. From the appearance of the structure of the tumor I could form no definite idea of its character, and therefore subjected it to a careful microscopic examination and obtained the following results: The pieces of tumor were mostly spongy areolar tissue much shrunken from the extravasation of the blood they had contained, and through every part of the fragments were a great number of microscopic hairs, which were altogether invisible to the unaided eye. They possessed all of the characteristics of other hairs except size and pigment, they being of an amber tint and perfectly transparent. The sides of them had marks of erosion, and the imbrications in some places. seemed to be eaten away. In no place did the hairs, when in situ, project beyond the surface of the tumor a sufficient distance to make themselves manifest. There was no epithelium in the substance of the tumor, but there were some cells from the conjunctiva mixed with the blood. It had also some oil globules in it. Such growths must, I imagine, be very rare, as I never saw one before. Neither have any of my medical friends whom I have consulted. The eye at the present time is entirely well, a year and a half from time of operation.

ART. III.-BROMIDE OF POTASSIUM IN INFLAMMATORY DISEASES OF THE FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS. By W. DOUGLAS MORTON, M.D., Shelby county, Ky.

About the first of last March I took under treatment Mrs. B., æt. about 36, and mother of five children, the youngest of whom is five years old. Her most prominent symptoms were great feebleness and anæmia, brought on immediately by an exceedingly profuse menorrhagia