that it is still in repute in India, where it has always been prepared. For diseases of the eyes this lykion has been celebrated from the times of Dioscorides, Galen, and others equally well known for their attainments in medicine, and was considered far superior to all other remedies for certain affections of the optic apparatus. Lykion is in reality known as ruswut in Hindostan, and may be purchased at shops in most of the great towns over all India; and we therefore suggest to medical gentlemen living in ports in the United States from whence vessels are frequently sailing to Calcutta, to send an order for a few ounces. At all events, the oculists might find it to their special advantage to prescribe it. The ruswut is an inspissated extract from the wood and roots of several cies of berberis, growing on the mountains principally of Upper India, and especially near Lahore. Dr. Simpson has a faculty of imparting a peculiar interest to any and every subject upon which he finds leisure to

write.

spe

From the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

Poisonous Dropsical Innoculation.

An accident of a singular and dangerous nature recently befel the celebrated surgeon, Prof. Langenbeck, in Berlin. Having been called in to attend a lady of high rank, in a most advanced and perilous stage of dropsy, Dr. L. deemed it necessary to proceed without delay, to puncturation, and this without waiting for other assistance. The operation was, therefore, instantly and successfully performed, and the patient, previously at death's door, relieved and saved. During the operation, however, some of the acrid discharge fell upon his hand, and was of course washed off when the work was completed; but, ere long, the hand, arm, throat and neighbouring regions began to swell, and all the febrile and inflammatory symptoms of animal poison ensued. Vigorous remedies were forthwith employed, and the danger averted, but the Professor is not yet co entirely recovered as to enjoy the full use of the side affected, whilst the venom has shown its lurking agency by causing eruptions on other parts of the body.

Mesmerism. Good news for the Rheumatic !

From the London Lancet.

Archbishop Whately, at a recent meeting of the Dublin Mesmeric Association, over which he presided, stated that he had been cured, by a week's mesmerising, of an inveterate rheumatism that had baffled the doctors. This beats all hollow Pulvermacher and his electric chains, "wherewith we are darkly bound." By the way, the Archbishop should have mentioned that the doctors under whose care he had been were homoeopaths.

EDITORIAL.

The Obstetric Catechism, containing two thousand three hundred and forty-seven questions and answers on Obstetrics proper. By JOSEPH WARRINGTON, M.D. One hundred and fifty illustrations: 12mo., pp. 445. Philadelphia: Barrington & Hoswell. 1853.

The object of the author of this new candidate for public favor is stated, in the introductory address, to be, to furnish a convenient aid to the student during the prosecution of his preparatory labors, to be employed rather as a text book of knowledge already acquired by the diligent study of the more elaborate treatises with which this department of our profession is already enriched, than as a substitute for them. To the busy practitioner, also, who has little leisure for the careful perusal of elaborate monographs, especially in cases of emergency, it may prove a convenient and timely remembrancer. Employed in its appropriate sphere, we doubt whether a more appropriate form could have been assumed, as it enables the author to convey instruction with much of the vivacity and directness of oral communication. The scope of the work is even more comprehensive than most of the text books in this department, comprising beside the usual range of topics, most of the diseases and accidents of the female generative system in the impregnated condition, and not connected with their functional activity. It may, therefore, be regarded as a catechetical manual of the reproductive system of the female in its physiological as well as in its pathological conditions; and, taken as a whole, the design of the author is ably executed. More especially, however, in the practical portion is this commendation merited. In common with some other writers of the metropolitan schools, the author's views respecting the physical relation of the uterus and the ovum can scarcely, we apprehend, be said to be on a level with the high water mark of our science. We do not, however, regard it as a serious defect in a work designed especially as a practical manual of the Obstetric art. As a scientific as well as literary production, one feature of the work particularly impressed us, to wit, its purely American character. In the physiological, no less than in the practical portions of the work, we find American authorities cited, almost to the exclusion of transatlantic writers. This disposition to cultivate an independent nationality in matters of science as well as of civil polity, we hail with pleasure as the dawn of a new era in our scientific culture. When not transformed into mere local or sectional assumption, this feature will always constitute an additional recommendation to American students. Throughout the work the text is amply illustrated with good wood cuts, and the typographical execution of the work is altogether respectable.

Thankful for the present contribution to our medical literature, we hope at no distant day to see the mature experience of the author in a form that shall place it in the rank of standard works on Obstetric science.

A. S.

CHLOROFORM.

The introduction of anesthetic agents to alleviate the sufferings attendant upon surgical operations and child-birth, was hailed as a discovery which not only robbed the knife of its terror, but also so far thwarted the operation of the primitive curse, as to cause certain clerical grandmas to enter their protest against its heaven-defying use. Experience, however, has proved that the rapture of the surgeon, and the pious fear of his clerical brother, are alike premature; that the use of the most popular as well as powerful of the several anaesthetic agents is calculated to awaken no little anxiety on the part of the cautious physician, and fear on the part of his patient; and while our profession must feel that their hopes and expectations are not yet fully realized, our clerical brethren may rest assured that their wives will continue to bring forth in sorrow, for though the pangs attendant may be relieved, the chances of a sudden exit will serve to keep in force the spirit of the original penalty of mother Eve's transgression.

By the use of chloroform, we are occasionally reminded that Death's advent may most emphatically be like a thief in the night, when least anticipated. The officers of one of the London hospitals boasted of having exhibited it in over nine thousand cases, without a single death; and, as if in mockery, the grim messenger claimed its own in almost their next attempt at its exhibition. The mode of death, too, is almost as diverse as the cases are numerous, hardly any two presenting exactly similar symptoms. This observation will be corroborated by consulting the table contained in the May No. of the NewYork Journal of Medicine and Collateral Sciences for the present year. At times death is instantaneous, at others, as in Dr. Warren's case, in the Massachusetts General Hospital, it occurred after a lapse of three hours. Sometimes the respiratory movements continue after the heart has ceased to pulsate, and at others, we observe as one of its earliest manifestations, a paralyzing of the muscles of respiration. We once gave it to a parturient woman who strikingly verified this observation. The use of the agent was suspended, the patient revived, and again upon its renewal the same symptoms appeared. Several unavailing attempts were thus made in this case, and its use finally abandoned. In another case, one of amputation of the thigh, its exhibition was attended with the same result; here we persisted in our efforts for an hour, without avail, till at last, our knife acting as a stimulus to the respiratory motions, the chloroform was freely given and its full and happy effect obtained.

The amount, too, required to produce death varies; sometimes drachms, at others drops only. Twenty-five drops have proved fatal. (See table above alluded to.) One of our colleagues (Professor Denton) was about giving it to a nervous patient previous to laying open a felon on one of her fingers. To accustom her to the odor, a very few drops were put upon a handkerchief and handed her to smell of; he had hardly turned around, when he looked at her again and saw that her face was blanched, her eyes set, her muscles rigid, and respiration ceased. This case would undoubtedly have proved fatal, had not the Dr.'s admirable coolness prompted the application of a powerful stimulus. A scalpel, by no means distinguished for the keenness of its edge, was drawn slowly and firmly over the inflamed finger, cutting its way down to the bone. Just as the incision was completed the patient screamed, respira

tion was thus restored, and the patient and her friends considered it a beautiful exhibition of the agent in question; and should this patient ever have occasion to have a pustule picked, she will probably insist upon taking chloroform.

We do not indulge in this train of thought from any ill effects we have ever experienced; on the contrary, no accident has ever occurred with us.

G.

CODE OF MEDICAL ETHICS.

Adopted by the National Medical Convention, May, 1847.

The State Society, whose proceedings we published in our first number, adopted the Code of Ethics of the National Convention. As this Code is not in every Physician's Library, though it ought to be in every one's heart, we copy it for the benefit of those who have it not. To those who are familiar with it, we say that a reperusal of its lofty principles will do them no harm. -E. A.

CHAPTER I.-OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO THEIR PATIENTS, AND OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF PATIENTS TO THEIR PHYSICIANS.

ART. I.-Duties of Physicians to their Patients.

SEC. 1. A physician should not only be ever ready to obey the calls of the sick, but his mind ought to be imbued with the greatness of his mission, and the responsibility he habitually incurs in its discharge. These obligations are the more deep and enduring, because there is no tribunal other than his own conscience, to ajudge penalties for carelessness or neglect. Physicians should, therefore, minister to the sick with due impressions of the importance of their cffice; reflecting that the ease, the health, and the lives of those committed to their charge, depend on their skill, attention and fidelity. They should study, also, in their deportment, so to unite tenderness with firmness, and condescension with authority, as to inspire the minds of their patients with gratitude, respect and confidence.

SEC. 2. Every case committed to the charge of a physician should be treated with attention, steadiness and humanity. Reasonable indulgence should be granted to the mental imbecility and caprices of the sick. Secrecy and delicacy, when required by peculiar circumstances, should be strictly observed; and the familiar and confidential intercourse to which physicians are admitted in their professional visits, should be used with discretion, and with the most scrupulous regard to fidelity and honor. The obligation of secresy extends beyond the period of professional services-none of the privacies of personal and domestic life, no infirmity of disposition or flaw of character observed during professional attendance, should ever be divulged by him except when he is imperatively required to do so. The force and necessity of this obligation are indeed so great, that professional men have, under certain circumstances, been protected in their observance of secresy, by courts of justice.

SEC. 3. Frequent visits to the sick are in general requisite, since they enable the physician to arrive at a more perfect knowledge of the disease-to meet promptly every change which may occur, and also tend to preserve the confidence of the patient. But unnecessary visits are to be avoided, as they give useless anxiety to the patient, tend to diminish the authority of the physician, and render him liable to be suspected of interested motives.

SEC. 4. A physician should not be forward to make gloomy prognostications, because they savor of empiricism, by magnifying the importance of his services in the treatment or cure of the disease. But he should not fail, on proper occasions, to give to the friends of the patient timely notice of danger, when it really occurs; and even to the patient himself, if absolutely necessary. This office, however, is so peculiarly alarming when executed by him, that it ought to be declined whenever it can be assigned to any person of sufficient judgment and delicacy, For, the physician should be the minister of hope and comfort to the sick; that, by such cordials to the drooping spirit, he may smooth the bed of death, revive expiring life, and counteract the depressing influence of those maladies which often disturb the tranquility of the most resigned, in their last moments. The life of a sick person can be shortened not only by the acts, but also by the words or the manner of a physician. It is, therefore, a sacred duty to guard himself carefully in this respect, and to avoid all things which have a tendency to discourage the patient and to depress his spirits.

SEC. 5. A physician ought not to abandon a patient because the case is deemed incurable; for his attendance may continue to be highly useful to the patient, and comforting to the relatives around him, even in the last period of a fatal malady, by alleviating pain and other symptoms, and by soothing mental anguish. To decline attendance, under such circumstances, would be sacrificing to a fanciful delicacy and mistaken liberality, that moral duty, which is independent of and far superior to, all pecuniary considerations.

SEC. 6. Consultations should be promoted in difficult or protracted cases, as they give rise to confidence, energy, and more enlarged views in practice. SEC. 7. The opportunity which a physician not unfrequently enjoys of promoting and strengthening the good resolutions of his patients, suffering under the consequence of vicious conduct, ought never to be neglected. His counsels, or even remonstrances, will give satisfaction, not offence, if they be proffered with politeness, and evince a genuine love of virtue, accompanied by a sincere interest in the welfare of the person to whom they are addressed.

ART. II.-Obligations of Patients to their Physicians.

SEC. 1. The members of the medical profession, upon whom are enjoined the performance of so many important and arduous duties towards the community, and who are required to make so many sacrifices to comfort, ease and health, for the welfare of those who avail themselves of their services, certainly have a right to expect and require, that their patients should entertain a just sense of the duties which they owe to their medical attendants.

SEC. 2. The first duty of the patient is, to select as his medical adviser, one who has received a regular profesional education. In no trade or occupation do mankind rely on the skill of an untaught artist; and in medicine, confessedly the most difficult and intricate of the sciences, the world ought not to suppose that knowledge is intuitive.