his new dignity and office to further the great cause of truth and freedom of opinion in medicine. Turning now to Bathurst, New South Wales, we find Dr. Fawcett carrying on an extensive practice, and promoting with the utmost zeal the cause of homoeopathy. But what shows this most is the erection of a hospital, called the General Hospital, at Bathurst, costing £2,000. This has actually been built solely at Dr. Fawcett's expense, and with unusual generosity has been handed over by him to the Homœopathic Medical Society, under the care of trustees, two of whom are Members of the Legislature. We have before us a photograph of the hospital, showing it to be a most elegant and enticing-looking building. Such an act of munificent generosity is seldom equalled, and we do Dr. Fawcett honour for his large-minded generosity, and his zeal for the homeopathic cause, in which he is an enthusiast. We wish all success to Bathurst Hospital, and also to the Adelaide Children's Hospital. SALICYLIC ACID. "SALICYLIC ACID both free and as a salt, lowers, in small doses, the temperature, though not to any great extent. In large doses it not only does not depress it, but it actually augments it to a very marked extent.”—Practitioner, Nov., p. 384. LONDON HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL. THE Return of Patients admitted during the three months ending December 18th, 1878, gives the following statistics : Remaining in Hospital September 19th, 1878 ... 40 159 Discharged between Sept. 19th & December 18th 121 The number of New Out-Patients during the above ... ... ... The total number of Out-Patients' attendances for the 38 ... 1,575 The following letter has been addressed to the Members of the Homœopathic Medical Profession practising in the London District: December 19th, 1878. My dear Sir,-The Board of Management have recently had under consideration the question of adopting the principle of admitting "paying patients" to the hospital, by setting apart a portion of the building for that purpose; such patients to be treated by the medical staff of the hospital. 2. The detailed arrangements for putting this measure into practice are now forming the subject of careful enquiry; but the Board being desirous of having the benefit of a collective expression of opinion on the part of the Homœopathic Medical Profession of the London District, I am to ask if you will favour them, at your early convenience, with your views in the matter, and if you will state in what light it strikes you as bearing upon the future well-being of the hospital. 3. The arrangement would, of course, be intended not to interfere with the accommodation now afforded to poor patients treated free; but to be a means of filling empty beds over and beyond all present requirements for free patients, and of profit to the resources of the hospital; while, at the same time, meeting a want largely felt at the present time. 4. It is to be understood that only those persons will be admitted as "paying patients" who may require the close medical treatment, careful nursing, and regular diet which can be so readily furnished by the hospital, but whose circumstances do not admit of those highly important requisites being obtained at their own home. Faithfully yours, ALAN E. CHAMBRE, Official Manager. QUININE ERUPTIONS. DR. WALTER G. SMITH, of the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, relates in the British Medical Journal (Sept. 7) the following interesting illustration of the rash produced by quinine :-"A man, aged 23, was admitted into hospital April 10th, 1876, complaining of sore throat and malaise. His bowels were confined-a condition frequent with him, for his occupation was that of colour-fixing upon porcelain. "After a few days, he was ordered a tonic mixture containing two-grain doses of sulphate of quinine; and shortly after taking Review, Jan. 1, 1879. the second dose, a rash came out over his chest and shoulders; it was itchy, papulo-erythematous in character, and closely resembled the eruption of scarlatina. Within a few hours, it spread over the entire body, with the exception of the forearm and lower extremities. The quinine was stopped, and, next day, the rash had almost disappeared. On the following day the quinine was resumed, and the same evening a red rash appeared on the legs, and the chest was affected as before. Next morning the eruption on the legs was patchy in appearance, dusky red, and not effaced by pressure. Except itchiness, no other annoyance was felt. The quinine was omitted and again the rash faded, but had not entirely disappeared when he left hospital on April 17th. "Considering the frequency with which quinine is applied, results such as above detailed are uncommon. In the Dublin Medical Journal (Reports on Materia Medica), 1870, 1871, and 1877, nine cases of an analogous nature are reported from various sources; and in the Annales d'Hygiene, May, 1876, is a paper by MM. Bergeron and Proust, Des Eruptions Quiniques." VOLCANIC FUMES IN STRUMOUS DISEASE. To the north of Naples, and in the rear of Pozzuoli (or Puteoli of the New Testament), is the crater of an extinct volcano called the Solfatara. The crater is easily accessible by carriage or by foot passengers, and presents the appearance of a mammoth circus ring of somewhat uneven surface, and having at different points-chiefly where the floor joins the circumferential wall-a number of fissures or volcanic vent-holes called stufe. From these holes is emitted steam and vapour in varying quantities, charged with fumes of sulphur and arsenic. Dr. Horatio R. Storer, of Newport, sends to the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal an account of the benefits which have been derived from the inhalation by strumous and consumptive persons of the fumes, and among the number he includes the case of his son. The first attempt of which he has knowledge when these fumes were utilised for medical purposes was by Dr. Abele Franza, in 1871. A Russian affected with advanced tubercular disease was removed from Naples to Pozzuoli, and during six weeks was carried from time to time to the Solfatara, in order that he might inhale the vapours. Improvement was declared to have been immediate and permanent. A second case of acute tuberculosis was similarly relieved without resort to other measures. Prof, de Luca has made numerous observations on the composition of the thermal mineral waters of the Solfatara, and on the temperature and exhalation of the greater throat (fumarola) of the crater; and his papers on the subject are referred to by Dr. Storer. Young Storer is said to have commenced to improve almost immediately after resorting to the crater, but he also drank of the waters found in the crater, containing sulphuric acid. The beneficial effect of the treatment is presumed to depend upon the arsenic contained in the vapour.-Medical Press and Circular. KOUMISS IN DIABETES. DR. THOMPSON, of Luton gives (Lancet, Aug. 17) the following illustration of the value of koumiss in diabetes: "On the 6th January, B. D-, aged twenty-nine years, presented himself at my consulting-room with all the symptoms of diabetes. His pulse was 100; weight 8st. 7lb.; bowels constipated; passed eighteen pints of urine in twenty four hours, and sugar was present in it in considerable quantities. Had a very jaundiced appearance. Could not lie long without having to get up to pass urine. For some considerable time before the above date he was under my care for this disease, and, after other attempts to alleviate his symptoms unsuccessfully, was put upon skim milk treatment. Upon this he improved for a time, so much so, indeed, as to be able to resume work, which he had been obliged to give up. This did not continue, however, and he gave it up and was soon obliged to present himself again. He was rapidly losing flesh and strength. Having not long before this read an account of some cases in The Lancet that were benefited by koumiss, I determined to give it a trial, and ordered an ounce five or six times a day. "Jan 11th.-Says he feels better. Pulse 98. Is not so jaundiced in appearance. Bowels open every day; passed in twelve hours, from 6 o'clock last evening to 5 o'clock this morning, eight pints of urine, carefully measured, of sp. gr. 1036. "I will not trouble you with particulars of every examination, but say that from this date to the 31st of March he continued this treatment, and that the improvement was remarkable. On the 31st March the urine passed in twenty-four hours was five pints (a great diminution compared with eighteen pints on the 6th of January), its sp. gr. being 1024, and of the usual amber colour it presents in health. The pulse was slower and stronger; the tongue clean; appetite good. The jaundiced appearance had almost quite passed off, and he had increased somewhat in weight. The inordinate thirst which was at first a marked feature had 66 Review, Jan. 1, 1879. disappeared, and he had been at work for some weeks, and said he has not felt so well and strong for more than twelve months. During treatment he twice neglected to take his koumiss for some days, and the effect was most noticeable. During these intervals no diminution of urine took place, but within forty-eight hours after resuming it the quantity began to diminish, and the diminution was continuous and gradual. So confident am I that the improvement was due to the action of the koumiss that I shall employ it with confidence should a case of this kind come under my care again. The koumiss was not employed to the exclusion of every other article of diet. He was allowed a nonsugar-forming diet. "I saw the man last in May, and he was then at work, feeling fairly well, and the urine had not increased in quantity. I put the case on record without comment at present.' THE ORIGIN OF MILIARY ANEURISMS. All THE researches of Bouchard and others on the occurrence of miliary aneurisms in a large number of cases of cerebral hæmorrhage have been amply confirmed. The cases in which the condition has not been discovered have been, for the most part, cases in which the hemorrhage was secondary to chronic renal disease. An interesting study of the pathogenesis of the condition, by Dr. Eichler, of Kiel, appears in the last number of the Deutsches Archiv für Klinische Medecin, and is based on an examination of three or four hundred specimens. He has studied especially the early stages of the process. The first alteration is a multiplication and fatty degeneration of the endothelium of the vessel, and a notable thickening of the homogeneous layer of the intima which limits the endothelium on the outer side. portions of the vascular wall take part in the commencing dilatation. The external coat is quite unchanged, and is separated from the muscular coat by a lymph-space which Eichler, following Axel Key and Retzius, believes to exist in that situation. All authors, with the exception of Roth, have described the muscular coat as early disappearing and becoming atrophied, and consider that the atrophy of this coat really conditions the aneurism. Eichler, however, not only found it well preserved in young aneurisms, but even in older ones its traces could be distinctly observed. The muscular tissue is, however, slightly changed, even in the earliest stages. The individual fibres do not, it is well known, form complete rings around the vessel, but extend through only part of the circumference and interdigitate to some extent. This arrangement is disturbed in the commencing aneurism. |