to have been complimented in the same manner, though not in the same degree. This was the most precious of all the honours he had received, as spontaneously conferred by his own brethren. He confessed his incompetency to serve the Association as he could desire. He said he loved his profession, and should be ungrateful if he did not: whatever he possessed in this life, had been bestowed by its favours; when he forgot it, or deserted it and its disciples, he remarked with great emphasis, may Almighty God forget and desert me. He desired that the Association should be persuaded of his ardent wishes for the cause, and that his most strenuous efforts would be unceasingly directed to advance the dignity of the profession, and extend its usefulness.

The following was offered by Dr. John B. Johnson, of Missouri: Whereas, numberless and important evils result from the almost universal practice of allowing persons wholly ignorant of drugs and medicines to engage as apothecaries; and still greater from the universal traffic in patent and secret medicines,

Therefore, resolved, that the Committee on Education inquire into the expediency of establishing a school or schools of Pharmacy in the respective States, for the special purpose of preparing persons for the business of apothecaries; and also the expediency of adopting a rule that no physician ought to patronize a druggist or apothecary who deals in patent and secret medicines-and report at the next annual meeting of the Association. Adopted.

The following was offered by Dr. F. Campbell Stewart, of New York:

Resolved, That the Committee on Publication be directed to have published not less than two thousand copies of the proceedings of the late Convention, with the Reports, and of this Association up to the period of its adjournment; and distribute the same to the members of the Association. Passed.

After which, on motion, the Association adjourned to meet in Baltimore on the first Tuesday of May, 1848.

At a meeting of the President and Vice Presidents of the "American Medical Association," held on May 8th, 1947, the following Standing Committees were appointed in pursuance of the order of the Association:

Committee on Practical Medicine.

Dr. Joseph M. Smith, N. Y., Chairman.

Dr. René La Roche, Phila.

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John Harrison, La.

H. M. Bullitt, Mo.

"Isaac Wood,

66 G. S. Camman,

Committee on Surgery.

Dr. George W. Norris, Philada., Chairman.

Dr. Isaac Parrish, Philada,

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Dr. Jacob Randolph, Phila.

"H. H. M'Guire, Petersburg, Va. C. Bell Gibson, Balt.

John Watson, N. Y.

66 A. L. Peirson, Salem, Mass.

Committee on Obstetrics.

Dr. Harvey Lindsley, D. C., Chairman.

Dr. G. C. M. Roberts, Balt. Dr. W. Channing, Boston.

C. R. Gilman, N. Y.
S. Annan, Lexington, Ky.

"R. W. Haxall, Richmond, Va. "

Committee on Medical Literature.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chairman.
Boston. Dr. John Bell, Philada.

Austin Flint, Buffalo.
W. Selden, Norfolk, Va.

Committee on Medical Education.
Dr. Alex. H. Stevens, Chairman.

Dr. Amos Twitchell, Keene,N. H. Dr. R. D. Arnold, Savannah.

"B. R. Wellford, Fredericks

Committee on Indigenous Botany, under the Resolution of Dr. N. S.

Davis.

Dr. N. S. Davis, Binghamton, N. Y., Chairman.

Dr. S. W. Williams, Mass.

History of Typhoid Fever, as it prevailed near Geneva, N. Y., in the Fall and Winter of 1846-47. By GEO. C. HAY, M. D., of Geneva. According to your request, 1 proceed to give you a brief account of the Typhoid fever, which recently prevailed in this region of country, and especially on the opposite shore of the Seneca lake. In that neighbourhood, fevers of a remitting type had prevailed quite extensively during the latter part of the last summer, and during nearly all the fall months, but not a single case, as I can ascertain, died of it at that time. In December, the first cases of the low form of fever showed themselves. All the cases which have occurred seem to be confined to a neighbourhood of from one to two miles square; and beyond the limits of this, as far as I can learn, no cases have appeared. The symptoms in the forming stage differ but little. from an attack of ordinary fever, commencing with loss of appetite, sense of lassitude and disinclination to exercise of any kind,'chilliness, pains in bones, etc. After twenty-four or forty-eight hours, headache came on invariably in all the cases, and in many it was the first symptom, and continued very obstinate through the whole course of the disease. About the third day the patients were generally obliged. to take to their beds, the headache increasing, attended with vertigo, dimness of vision, ringing in the ears, suffusion of the conjunctiva and deafness. The tongue was at first covered with a thick white fur which changed by the fourth or fifth day into a brown, and finally into a black during the latter stages of the disease. In a great majority of the cases diarrhoea was a prominent symptom from the commencement, so much so that even the use of the mildest febrifuge medicine was inadmissible; this was controlled with great difficulty by opiates, and in some cases astringents had to be resorted to. Accompanying this diarrhoea, we found considerable tenderness of the abdomen in nearly all the cases. The discharges from the bowels were generally very watery, of a dark colour, very fetid, the urine scanty, sometimes entirely suppressed, and of a very red color. The skin was generally quite dry, although not very hot at any time, and in no case could I discover any of the "calor mordax" spoken of by writers, and which I have frequently felt in similar cases. the disease progressed, in many cases delirium was a constant attendant through the whole course of the fever, and none were entirely free from it. In many cases the collapse came on very suddenly, and in others a gradual sinking came on, and steadily progressed until the patients died. The collapse seemed to bear no relation whatever to the severity of the first stage, as is generally the case, as sometimes in those who had been attacked but slightly the collapse was sudden and fatal, while in those whose stage of excitement had been very severe the collapse came on very gradually, and progressed slowly, and vice versa. As to the post-mortem appearance I can give you but little information, as owing to the prejudice existing among the people it was next to impossible to procure an examination. After I had left, however, one examination was made of a boy aged fourteen, who died very suddenly, and I understood from

As

a physician who was present, that his bowels were a complete mass of mortification. As to the treatment, it was very various. All the patients, however, had in the commencement mercury, in some of its forms, and in two cases which have since recovered, it was carried to the extent of slight salivation. Some cases were bled generally, and some not, but it seemed to make but little difference in the continuance or violence of the disease. The local treatment consisted in cold applications, leeches, and blisters to the head and nape of the neck; cups and blisters to the chest, when the symptoms seemed to demand; hot fomentations, poultices, leeches, and blisters to the abdomen, etc. In some cases we ordered the patients to be washed over the whole body with a solution of nitro-muriatic acid made as strong as they could bear it; this was done twice in twenty-four hours, and seemed at least to give considerable temporary relief to the patients. The general treatment was at first calomel, hyd. cum. cretà, or pil. hyd., followed by the liquor ammoniæ acetatis, or spiritus ætheris nitrici, with the potassæ nitras or vinum ipecacuanha or antimonii; but in some cases, and indeed in many, their use was impossible, on account of the tendency to diarrhoea, as everything taken into the stomach ran off by the bowels in a short time. In all the cases stimulants and tonics had to be resorted to sooner or later, but generally with little benefit, although at first the patients seemed to rally under their influence, yet they seemed to have no permanent effect in many cases. Those used were the infusum serpentariæ, or columbæ, camphor, ammonia, etc., together with sulphate of quinine, port wine and brandy, with a nourishing diet of beef-tea, chickenjelly, arrowroot, etc. I forgot to mention that the pulse was in most cases very frequent, from the commencement, ranging from 100 to 130 and 140 during the whole time. In some cases the pulse was quite full and hard in the commencement, but generally it was quite small and very easily compressed. I may say in conclusion that it seemned to matter little what course of treatment was pursued, the patients in a large majority of cases died, some during the first week, others running on four, six, eight, and ten weeks. In one family, five persons died, all between the ages of fourteen and thirty; indeed nearly all the cases have been young persons.-New York Jour. of Med.

Prizes offered by the Lexington Medical Society-Prize for the best Thesis.-The Lexington Medical Society resolved to offer a prize of fifty dollars, or a gold medal or piece of plate of that value, at the option of the successful competitor, for the best Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, for the session of 1847-48. Those competing for this prize are at liberty to select the subject of the Thesis.

Annual prize.-The Society also resolved to offer an annual prize of fifty dollars, or a gold medal or piece of plate of that value, for the best original essay, on a subject to be selected by a committee. In accordance with the above resolutions, the committee propose, for

1847, a prize for the best account of Continued Fever, as it prevails in any of the States out of New England.

Remarks.-The Continued Fever of the Eastern States has been very carefully studied and very fully described. It is found to correspond exactly to the typhoid fever of France; and it is by that name that the disease is now generally called. The same disease is known to prevail extensively in some of the Middle, Western, and South-Western States; but throughout these regions it has not yet been very fully or thoroughly studied. This prize is offered as one means of remedying this defect.

Other things being equal, the prize will be awarded to that essay which contains an authentic and complete account and analysis of the largest number of cases of the disease; its leading phenomena during life, with the lesions in fatal cases; its average and extreme duration; the sex and age, and race, of its subjects; the season of its prevalence; and the prominent points of difference between it and periodical fever. It is very desirable that a careful examination should be made of the mucous membrane of the lower portion of the small intestines. Speculations about the remote and proximate causes of the disease will not add anything to the value of the essays that may be offered. The description of the disease must be sufficiently full and minute, to enable the committee to judge of the accurary of the diagnosis.

The committee also propose, for 1848, a prize for the best account of the several forms of Periodical or Malarious Fever in the United -States.

Remarks. This subject has already attracted so large a share of attention amongst physicians of the South and West, that some of them may be surprised at its being thus brought forward. But, extensively as malarious fever has been written about, there are many points of its natural history which need farther elucidation. Amongst these may be mentioned, particularly, the following:-the comparative liability of the sexes, of the black and white races, and of different periods of life, to the several forms of the disease; the influence of race upon its severity and danger; the relative proportions in different years and localities, of the three principal forms-intermittent, remittent and congestive; the most common type of the pure intermittent form; and the variations in the general character of the disease, in different seasons.

The essays must be sent, post-paid, to the Corresponding Secretary, Professor J. M. Bush, on or before the first day of January, 1848, for the first, and 1849 for second prize.

Each essay must be accompanied with a sealed address of the author. That of the successful competitor only will be opened. The essays will be considered as the property of the Society, to be deposited in their archives, or published in their transactions, as they may deem best.

The committee may suggest, that a convenient opportunity for forwarding essays from a distance, will be presented by the annual assembling of the pupils of Transylvania University, in the fall.-Ibid.