tion of urban population, but arise from distinct causes, and are not dependent the one on the other. Fifthly, that however desirable it may be to have census enumerations taken more frequently than once in ten years, past experience shows that estimates of population do not to any considerable extent interfere with the value of the Registrar-General's figures for the purposes they are intended to serve. Sixthly, that although the rate of mortality in London and other towns between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, especially among females, is lower than in the surrounding districts, it is dangerous to assume that the number of deaths of town residents occurring elsewhere is sufficiently large to interfere with the value of the Registrar-General's figures for general deductions; and, finally, that not one of these disturbing influences, or the combined result of them all, would so affect a death-rate calculated upon the "national system," as to warrant its being disregarded as a test of sanitary condition. HEALTH OF SCOTLAND. THE deaths of 2897 persons were registered in the eight towns of Scotland during November last, of whom 1476 were males and 1421 females. This is the greatest number recorded during any month of November since the commencement of the Registration Act, and, allowing for increase of population, is 235 above the average for the month during the last ten years. A comparison of the deaths recorded in the eight towns shows that during November the annual rate of mortality was 17 deaths per 1000 persons in Aberdeen, 24 in Edinburgh, 27 in Leith, 28 in Greenock, 32 in Paisley, 33 in Dundee, 35 in Glasgow, and 35 in Perth. Of the 2897 deaths, 1332, or 46 per cent., were of children under five years of age; in Aberdeeen 22 per cent. of the persons who died were under five years of age, in Edinburgh 33, in Paisley 36, in Greenock 37, in Perth 38, in Glasgow 51, and in Dundee 53 per cent. The zymotic (epidemic and contagious) class of diseases proved fatal to 860 persons, constituting 29.7 per cent. of the whole mortality. This rate was exceeded in the towns where scarlatina was most prevalent-viz., Glasgow, Perth, Dundee, and Leith, -where the deaths from these diseases constituted 32.3, 33.8, 37.0, and 38.3 of their respective mortalities. Scarlatina still continues the most fatal epidemic, but appears to be on the decrease, 490 deaths, or 16.9 per cent., having been registered from that cause, as compared with 570 deaths, or 22.5 per cent., registered during October. SICKNESS AND MORTALITY IN IRELAND. THE deaths registered in Ireland during the quarter ended September 30 last amounted to 19,636, showing 365 in excess of the number registered during the corresponding period of last year, and affording an annual ratio of 1 in every 67.7, or 14.8 per 1000 of the estimated population, which rate is 1 per 1000 over the average for the third quarter of the preceding five years. The deaths registered in Leinster during the quarter afford an annual rate of 17.6 in every 1000 of the estimated population of the province; the rate in Munster was 13.9, in Ulster 14.9, and in Connaught 11.7 per 1000. From seven of the principal zymotic diseases, the deaths exceeded by 682 those registered in the corresponding quarter of 1873, and by 172 those in the second quarter of the present year. Small-pox proved fatal in 128 instances, showing an increase of 5 as compared with the preceding quarter, and 98 as compared with the third quarter of last year. Scarlet fever, which has raged for more than twelve months, instead of manifesting any symptoms of abatement, continues its fatal progress with increased malignity. The deaths from this disease registered during the quarter numbered 976, showing an increase of 245 as compared with the preceding quarter, and of 568 as compared with the corresponding quarter of last year. Diphtheria METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAY FUND. THE Lord Mayor has given notice that a public meeting will be held on Monday, January 4, 1875, at half-past two o'clock, in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House, for the purpose of settling the preliminary arrangements for Hospital Sunday, 1875, and of electing the Council, etc., for that year. All ministers of religion in the metropolis and its neighbourhood, the authorities of the various hospitals and dispensaries, and others interested in the movement, are invited to be present. FROM ABROAD. A NEW POULTICE. THE time-honoured linseed-meal poultice seems to be about to be superseded by as cleanly and efficacious a substitute as the Rigollot papers which have so recently displaced its old companion-in-arms the mustard-poultice. M. Lefort, reporting to the Académie de Médecine on a new form of cataplasm invented by M. Lelièvre, speaks in the highest terms of its excellence. It is prepared by imbibing two superimposed layers of wadding with a solution of Fucus crispus, and drying them in a stove after they had been submitted to strong pressure. In this way a sheet of the consistence of cardboard is produced, a portion of which is cut off when wanted, and soaked in hot water for fifteen or twenty minutes; this swelling it out and filling its tissue with a mucilaginous fluid. It has been tried in several of the hospitals to the great satisfaction of both patients and attendants. It can be prepared in large quantities beforehand, as when it has once been tried it will keep for a long time without undergoing any alteration. M. Gosselin said that he had tried this cataplasm, and could speak as to its utility. When covered by an impermeable tissue, it does not dry up like other poultices, and especially it does not slide off from the part on which it is put, being sufficiently adherent to prevent its becoming displaced. M. Verneuil said that he had used it for several months in his wards, and has found it a most convenient application, for it can be cut and fashioned into any form or size desired. After being swollen out by soaking in warm water, it may remain in that state for twelve, eighteen, or even twenty hours; and after twelve hours it is as fresh as when first put on; so that it does not require renewal every five or six hours, like linseed meal. It does not give rise to any bad smell, becoming at last only slightly acid. It neither softens nor crumbles; and as it does not soil either the parts or the linen, etc., it comes in contact with, it secures an amount of cleanliness that is of great importance. It is also economical, as it enables us to dispense with compresses and poultice-cloths, which are so often badly washed and badly whitened. This latter point is also of importance as regards preventing the infection of wounds. M. Larrey believes that this emollient fucus is likely to be of valuable service as a cataplasm in military service for hospitals and ambulances, by reason of its ready transport and facility of conservation. M. Demarquay, who has frequently employed these cataplasms, agrees with M. Larrey that they will prove very useful in ambulances, taking up so little room and keeping so well. M. Leroy de Méricourt believes that these cataplasms will be of great service in the navy. On board a ship it is usually impossible to wash poultice-cloths, while, as linseed meal cannot be preserved, poultices have to be made of biscuit-dust, which produces very bad poultices. The inventor is of opinion that when his cataplasms are produced on a large scale they will be cheaper than linseed-meal poultices. CAPILLARY PUNCTURE OF THE BLADDER. M. Fochier, Surgeon to the Charité Hospital, at a recent meeting of the Lyons Society of Medical Sciences, read a paper (since published in the Lyon Médical, December 6) "On Capillary Puncture of the Bladder and the New Indications which it gives rise to and fulfils." He is a very warm advocate for an operation which he has found alike simple, efficacious, and harinless, and which admits of very frequent repetition over a small extent of surface. He passes under review the various circumstances under which it is indicated, viz. :1. Enlarged prostate, with complete retention or complicated with false passages or with inflamed or irritable urethra, as also partial retention, when catheterism is difficult or dangerous. 2. When the urethra is the seat of inflammatory or traumatic lesions. 3. In stricture that is impermeable or accompanied by false passages or ammoniacal catarrh. 4. In women in whom catheterism is impossible during labour, in retroversion of the uterus, and in the compression caused by tumours. M. Fochier's general conclusions are-1. Whether the retention be total or partial, the innocuity of capillary puncture (even in cases in which the peritoneum has been pierced by it) is such that it should interdict catheterism wherever this is impossible, difficult, dangerous, or very painful. 2. Wherever it would be of advantage not to allow of the urine passing along the urethra, and the bladder has risen above the pubes, puncture should be had recourse to, even when urine passes by the canal. M. CHARCOT ON THE PARAPLEGIA OF POTT'S DISEASE. In his first clinical "conference" at the Salpêtrière for this session, M. Charcot delivered a very interesting lecture on the Pathological Anatomy and Treatment of the Paraplegia connected with Pott's Disease. This has not yet been published in full, but abstracts have been given in the Gazette Médicale, December 5, and in the Gazette des Hôpitaux, December 15. The paraplegia which often accompanies this disease has been attributed to the compression of the cord by the curved spine. In the great majority of cases this is an error; in fact, all these curvatures are not accompanied by palsy, and it is not the most decided curvatures that are complicated by it; while, on the other hand, the paraplegia may exist before any curvature has taken place. Lastly, in a good many patients who have both the paraplegia and the gibbosity, the former is cured without the latter undergoing any modification. Pott himself believed in this independence of the two affections, and the recent researches of M. Charcot and his pupil, M. Michaud, have established the correctness of his views, and established the nature of the morbid process which precedes and explains the paraplegia. According to these researches, there takes place in Pott's disease a 66 caseous osteitis," an osteitis which gives rise to true abscesses which distend the vertebral ligament, and in the end rupture it. The caseous matter is then spread along the spinal canal through the medium of the conjunctive tissue which separates the vertebral ligament from the dura mater, to which the Germans have given the name of peri-méninge. Under the influence of the contact of this matter the dura mater becomes inflamed and thickened (pachyméningite caseuse), and gives rise to a kind of growth which compresses and strangles the spinal cord. At this point the cord in its turn becomes inflamed, and a true sclerosis is produced with a more or less complete destruction of the nervous tubes. Thus, Pott's disease (save in exceptional cases of compression by the gibbosity or by a scale of bone) is a myelitis. And what is of interest to note is, that the lesions of the medulla, however considerable these may be, are not irreparable, and that the destroyed nervous elements may be reproduced, if not entirely at least sufficiently to re-establish the communication between the two segments of the cord, and consequently to restore sensibility and motion to the paralysed limbs. Recovery from paraplegia in Pott's disease is not an exceptional occurrence, but almost the general rule. It takes place spontaneously, but may be hastened by appropriate treatment; and this treatment consists in the application of caustics opposite the gibbosity, and on each side of the spinal column, as already recommended by Pott. This is a purely empirical procedure; but its efficacy is too well established to allow of our depriving patients of the benefit it produces on this ground. M. Charcot prefers, however, the application of a small actual cautery, and a remarkable instance of its efficacy was narrated at the lecture. A Polish girl, aged fifteen, was sent from Warsaw to be under M. Charcot's care, and on passing through Berlin was seen by Langenbeck, who was informed of M. Charcot's intention to apply the actual cautery. He strongly dissuaded her parents from allowing this to be done. Nevertheless, she came to Paris, and after a second application of the cautery she was able to walk, and a fortnight afterwards she paid a second visit to Langenbeck, furnishing him with an irresistible proof that empirical treatment when accepted and wielded by men of science has its favourable side also. It must not be supposed that this treatment succeeds as well in ordinary myelitis as in that which accompanies Pott's disease. Far from this, very serious accidents may result here from its employment. It is not very rare to find patients declaring that they have been able to walk a little until this treatment was applied, after which time they entirely ceased to be able to do so. After the lecture M. Charcot exhibited several patients the subjects of Pott's disease, who, after having for some time suffered from paralysis, had recovered the use of their limbs consequently on two or three applications of the cautery. In most of these the paraplegia had existed for eighteen months. In none of them had there been congestive abscess. It sometimes happens that in the subjects of paraplegia the thigh becomes flexed on the pelvis, and the leg upon the thigh, the muscular contractions being so great that the patients are unable to walk even after the paraplegia has been cured. This inconvenience may be remedied by tenotomy. REVIEWS. Experimentelle Studien über die Verbreitung der Fäulnissorganismen in den Geweben, und die durch Impfung der Cornea mit pilzhaltigen Flüssigkeiten hervorgerufenen Entzündungserscheinungen. Von Dr. ANTON FRISCH, in Wien. Erlangen bei Enke. 1874. Experimental Studies on the Propagation of the Organisms of Putrefaction in the Tissues; and on the Inflammatory Processes of the Cornea caused by Inoculation of Fluids containing Fungi. By Dr. ANTON FRISCH, of Vienna. Erlangen: Enke. With plates. 1874. THIS important work is in direct connexion with that of Professor Billroth on Coccobacteria septica. It amplifies the investigations made by others (Eberth and Nassiloff) on the inoculation of fungi into the cornea of living rabbits, and gives an account of numerous experiments on the relation of the spread of organisms to putrefaction and inflammation of the organ. Analogous experiments show the spread of fungi in putrefying muscle and skin. We shall proceed at once to give some account of the most important experiments. The cornea of a rabbit, freshly excised and placed in a socalled moist chamber (water being added and air having free access), presented bacteria on its epithelial surface after two days; and on the fourth day the same were to be seen in the deeper layers. The organ being exposed under similar conditions to a temperature of 40° C., was, in the short interval of twenty-four hours, pervaded with vegetations of bacteria to a degree which, at a temperature of 14" C., was not developed in less than three weeks. The route taken by the organisms in their growth was the spaces between the fibres of the cornea, and the cells with their canals. From The putrefaction of the cornea took a different course when the organ was kept free from air and in contact with water. After some time, which was much shorter at 40' C. than at the ordinary temperature, a large number of small, very bright, round corpuscles were to be seen throughout the tissue. these the true foci of bacteria and micrococci were afterwards developed. These, therefore, the author considers as the germs of bacteria (Dauersporen), and he believes that they exist in the tissue while it is still in the living state. In this experiment the disintegration of the tissues required much more time than in the former. The development of organisms continues under these circumstances till the fifth week; it then ceases entirely, and the tissue remains for a long time in the same state. Small pieces of muscle and of skin excised from the fresh body and subjected to similar conditions underwent analogous changes; but skin was found more resistant than muscle. The author believes that the fungi propagate in the putrefying tissue in the direction of least resistance (Richtung der geringsten Wiederstands); that the germs of bacteria come from air when it has free access; but that the air being excluded, the enduring germs (Dauersporen) are developed from germs already present in the living tissue. The When a number of incisions are made on the surface of the cornea of a living rabbit and carried into the substance of the organ, and a fluid containing bacteria is introduced into the conjunctival sac, vegetations of micrococcus are developed in the wounded spots within the next twenty-four hours. The form which they assume is characteristic and constant, and has been described by Nassiloff, Eberth, and Orth. The spots aro recognised as small points of a grey or brownish colour, and present a stellate outline under the microscope. centre is the wounded point, where the accumulation of bacteria prevails, and from this a large number of rays diverge in every direction and of various length. Careful observation will easily show that the centre as well as the rays consist of nothing but an immense number of single elements of fungi. That they are not products of inflammation is incontestably proved by the fact that the same figures are seen after inoculation of bacteria into the excised cornea. The spaces occupied by these figures are the result of a splitting of the tissue caused by the proliferation of the fungi which follows the course of the corneal fibres. Besides this form of propagation the fungi grow also in the cornea cells and eyen along the nerves. In nearly every case inflammation in the cornea of the rabbit is the result of such vegetation of fungi. But the form and intensity of the inflammation are exceedingly variable. In one case we see only a slight opacity around the stellate figure, which disappears without trace in a few days; in another case a simple ulceration of the cornea is developed; in a third, keratitis with hypopyon, and deposits on the surface of the iris and of the membrane of Descemet. Here the elimination of the fungi is not produced, as in the former case, by simple expulsion of the elements from the healing wound, but by their absorption into the newly formed blood vessels. We also frequently see the most intense form of inflammation produced by the spread of the fungi-viz., a very deep and diffuse infiltration of the cornea, with consequent necrosis, panophthalmia, and prolapse of the iris and vitreous. In those cases the fungi are distributed throughout the whole of the tissues, and not confined to the corneal figures. Thus we learn that bacteria do not produce any specific form of inflammation, but that they act first by pure mechanical irritation. Then the inflammation and its products increase the vital energy of the fungi, so that they grow more rapidly in the inflamed tissue than before. A great variety of fluids containing bacteria were employed for inoculation, such as an infusion of meat in putrefaction, pus, serum, etc., but all were not efficacious-a difference which is perfectly unaccountable. The cause is certainly not a difference of species of bacteria, but perhaps a different quality of the medium in which the organisms live before being inoculated. To produce the effect, it is always necessary to introduce the organisms into the tissue. Without the presence of a wound, no fluid of any kind has any effect whatever. Another series of experiments showed the possibility of reinoculation from one cornea to a second and a third. A fluid containing bacteria does not lose its effect by becoming dry; but after exposure to a temperature of 60° to 100° Cent. it becomes inert. The disease caused by the inoculation in the cornea in every case remained entirely local, the author never being able to detect any general affection of the animals. The work, of which we have thus briefly given the substance, is the result of a careful experimental investigation on a very clear field. The transparency of the cornea, and the accuracy with which its structure is known, rendered possible much greater minuteness of research than any other tissue could possibly have afforded. We must, therefore, attach great value to the conclusions at which the author has arrived. Once more we see a confirmation of Billroth's striking idea that there is a close relation between inflammation and putrefaction and their mutual products. DURING last week several deaths occurred at Darwin, chiefly from exhaustion consequent upon the fever epidemic. DR. DUDGEON says the Chinese suppose that diseasesfor example, syphilis-have a tendency to break out afresh in spring, the time when all nature is opening and budding.Report of the Peking Hospital for 1873. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. ATTRIBUTES OF LEPROSY.-DR. V. CARTER'S REPORT ON LEPROSY IN NORWAY. LETTER FROM DR. G. MILROY. [To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] SIR,-As the following correspondence, recently issued from the Colonial Office, may be interesting to the profession, you will perhaps be so good as to make it known through your journal. Richmond, Dec. 14. I am, &c., G. MILROY. [Circular.] Downing-street, October 27, 1874. Sir, With reference to the Earl of Kimberley's circular dispatch of September 4, 1873, I transmit to you the enclosed copy of a report made to the Secretary of State for India by Surgeon-Major Carter, of the Bombay Army, on leprosy in Norway, together with a copy of a letter from Dr. Milroy. You will be good enough to communicate this report and Dr. Milroy's letter to the chief medical officers of your Government. I have, &c., CARNARVON. The Officer Administering the Government of Richmond, September 8, 1874. Sir,-In reply to your letter of the 29th ult., I have the honour to state that, as it is very desirable that public attention continue to be drawn to the subject of leprosy in the colonies where that disease prevails, it would be advantageous, I think, to have Dr. Carter's report communicated to them; and I take leave to suggest that the following observations accompany its transmission:- 1. Dr. Carter states (a): "That leprosy may be personally communicated and received amongst human beings has not been strictly demonstrated; and the force of negative facts being awarded paramount influence, it has been held that this disease is, in fact, not so communicable; and the opinion has been superadded that there is no need of leper asylums in countries infested with the malady. It was recently affirmed by high British authority-viz., a committee appointed by the London College of Physicians in June, 1862-that, as a measure for checking the progress of leprosy, the compulsory segregation of lepers was not to be recommended; and, inter alia, it was advanced that the decline of leprosy in Europe (during the middle ages) is attributable chiefly to improvement in diet, as well as of general hygiene,-identical results being predicted for India on similar grounds. Apparently, the assumption that leprosy is not contagious led to this discountenance of leper asylums, and the necessity for consistently explaining its extinction in Europe probably led to this result being referred to improved hygiene." I am not aware where or when the opinion "that there is no need of leper asylums' has been expressed. All who have seen the disease must recognise, I should think, the necessity for destitute lepers of such institutions when well placed and well conducted. The declarations by the College of Physicians in 1863, (b) to the effect that the documentary statements then before them "contain no evidence which, in their opinion, justifies any measures for the compulsory segregation of lepers"-in other words, for their forcible detention and seclusion,-were made in answer to communications from the Colonial Office, requesting the opinion of the College on the subject referred to, and intimating that the Secretary of State (then the Duke of Newcastle) "contemplates sending out a circular to the governors of all her Majesty's colonies, expressing an opinion that any laws affecting the personal liberty of lepers ought to be repealed; and that in the meantime, or if they shall not be repealed, any action of the executive authority in enforcement of them, which is merely authorised and not enjoined by the law, ought to cease." The Norwegian Government has, it appears, acted in the same manner, avoiding all compulsory measures. "Of the ascertained number (of lepers throughout the kingdom), nearly two-thirds remain in their homes; the remainder are induced to enter an asylum. To this end, however, no active coercion is employed; it may be made a condition of relief in the instance of pauper lepers, but this is no greater (a) Report, pare 25. (b) Report of College, pages vi., vii. 1867. constraint than our own poor are subjected to. The advantages of thus placing their sick, as regards both themselves and the patients, are at last, I am informed, becoming apparent to the peasant and fisherman. Government has been solicited to interfere more actively with the movements and actions of the leper, and that more than once, but the propositions have not been acceptable. As there is no compulsion either to give information or to enter an asylum, so likewise is there none to remain there." (c) On the important question as to the contagion or communicability of leprosy by personal intercourse from the sick to the healthy, Dr. Carter has not stated what conclusions he came to himself from what he saw and heard in Norway; but he has given a recent instructive paper by Professor Boeck, of Christiania, who has been long one of the leading authorities in Europe on the disease. This paper declares "We both (Dr. Boeck and his colleague Dr. Danielssen) pronounce ourselves decidedly against its being contagious. In our Christiania Hospital we have always got some lepers under treatment, but have never thought of separating them from the other cases of skin disease, and have never observed any infection being caused." 2. With reference to the propriety of strict separation of the sexes in leper asylums, Dr. Carter quotes(d) the following passage from the circular despatch of Lord Kimberley, of September 4, 1873 (which has been inserted in an article in a medical journal, (e) and a copy of which article is hereto annexed), to the Governors of the West India Colonies: "The fact that leprosy is transmitted by parent to child is indisputable; and as leprosy by descent is often, through a natural error, mistaken for leprosy by contagion, the members of one family being naturally in contact, it is important that this fact should be borne in mind. It is a fact which points also to the expediency of placing asylums for females at a distance from asylums for males, when circumstances permit, and when the numbers are such as to justify separate establishments." Dr. Carter adds, "In quoting the above remarks I do not necessarily endorse all that they contain; but I am glad to find the views, which are not above advocated for the first time or the second, seem at length likely to be adopted by her Majesty's Government, and also by the Royal College of Physicians of London." In reply, I would observe that the College distinctly stated(f) that "there is an almost unanimous concurrence of opinion that leprosy is often hereditary." The practical inference is obvious-viz., that, as with insanity, all means short of compulsion should be used to bar the propagation of the malady by heredity. Acting on this belief, I strongly urged (g) the point on the local authorities in the case of the several asylums in the West Indies which I visited in 1871-72. Already in the Trinidad Asylum a distinct ward for female lepers has been erected at a distance from the main building, where the men and boys are accommodated; and the same thing is about to be done in Demerara. In a communication from the College of Physicians to the Colonial Office, August 10, 1873, (h) special reference was made to this subject: : "The College thinks it very desirable that, on all occasions, the hereditary character of the disease should be kept steadily in view. In the majority of cases leprosy is an hereditary transmission. How far, however, it may be possible or right, politically and socially, to prevent the transmission of leprosy from parent to child, is a question that should not be lost sight of." 3. The general evidence contained in Dr. Carter's Report relating to the medical history of leprosy in Norway corroborates the leading conclusions adopted by the College of Physicians from the mass of documents submitted to their consideration, and the soundness of which conclusions was confirmed by the results of my personal experience in the West Indies a few years afterwards. The information he gives respecting the condition and management of the asylums in that country, to the operation (c) Dr. Carter's Report, pages 14, 15. (d) Ibid., page 30. (e) "Recent Official Correspondence relating to Leprosy," in the Brit. and For. Med.-Chir. Rev., 1874. (f) Report of College, page lxvii. (g) "Report on Leprosy and Gaws," pages 12 and 21-30. (h) "Recent Official Correspondence," loc. cit. of which he mainly attributes the gradual decline of the disease there of recent years, is highly valuable and suggestive, and well deserves the attention of all our Colonial Governments. I am, &c., GAVIN MILROY. The Hon. R. II. Meade, Colonial Office. DR. G. BUCHANAN AND DR. LETHEBY'S OPENING ADDRESS. LETTER FROM DR. GEORGE BUCHANAN. [To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] SIR,-In your account of the meeting of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, held on November 22, I am reported to have proposed a vote of thanks to the President of the Society for his opening address, and to have stated that examination of the statistics of the South-Eastern Sanitary Districts and of Lancashire had led me to "conclusions very similar to those of Dr. Letheby." Allow me to inform you that I did not propose a vote of thanks to the President; this had already been done at the October meeting, when his address was delivered: and that in presenting the statistics to which your report refers I made no statement of the conclusions to which they had led me. The omission was made of purpose, in order that each reader of my paper might be induced to study for himself the evidence adduced. As, however, this omission appears to have been misunderstood, I am obliged in this letter to add that my statistics brought me, in respect of the branch of inquiry with which they dealt, to a conclusion opposed to those of Dr. Letheby. I am, &c., GEORGE BUCHANAN. 24, Nottingham-place, W., December 21. [We regret that we cannot insert Dr. Buchanan's paper of statistics, a copy of which he has kindly sent to us; but as it was distributed to the members of the Society, its wider publication is of less importance.-ED. Medical Times and Gazette.] THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPASM AND PALSY OF THE LARYNX. LETTER FROM DR. GEORGE JOHNSON. [To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] SIR,-In your report of the discussion on my paper at the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society I am made to say, in reply to Dr. Broadbent's difficulty as to the explanation of bilateral palsy,-" If the connexion between the nuclei can be found, it must be so." What I did say was, that if the nuclei of the spinal accessory and vagi nerves and their commissural fibres be found to have undergone structural change, the bilateral palsy will be fully explained. It is manifest that irritation of one vagus nerve can affect the laryngeal muscles on the opposite side only through the nervous centre, and at the central origin of the nerves concerned we must look for evidence of structural change when bilateral palsy of the larynx has existed during life. Savile-row, Dec. 19. I am, &c., GEORGE JOHNSON. COLCHICUM POISONING (?). LETTER FROM MR. WILLIAM ELLIOTT PORTER. [To the Editor of the Medical Times and Gazette.] SIR,-This neighbourhood has just been the scene of a very painful occurrence by which two children-a boy aged four, and a girl aged two years-have lost their lives. I send you a sketch of the cases, the notes of the post-mortems, and the result of the analysis, for publication if you please. Lindfield, Sussex, Dec. 21. I am, &c., WILLIAM ELLIOTT PORTER. On the 4th inst. I was summoned by J. K., a farm labourer in this parish, to see two of his children who were suffering from severe diarrhoea. I sent some ordinary diarrhoea mixture, composed of pulv. cret. aromat. c. op. sp. chlorof. et aquæ, for them, and saw them about three o'clock in the afternoon. The boy had just been taken out of a hot-bath; he was in convulsions, and died in less than half an hour. The girl had had convulsions, and was in a state of semi-insensibility; she was quieter than she had been, but she was moribund, and They died in about two hours and a half in a convulsive fit. were seen by my friend Mr. Bull, but there was no scope for treatment beyond the hot-bath, warmth, and, when animation was suspended (in the boy-I was not present when the girl died), artificial respiration, which I persisted in till the heart ceased to beat. On the day previous the children were both well; they went to school, returned, ate their dinner of potatoes, drippingpudding, and jam, and went back to school again. At four o'clock, when they returned, the boy felt ill, with coldness, shivering, sickness, and purging. The symptoms increased in severity; there was intense thirst, vomiting, purging, tormina, and tenesmus; and the evacuations were scanty and bloody. About nine, convulsions supervened: they never left him, neither was he ever again sensible; and in twentyfour hours from his seizure he was dead. The girl failed two hours after her brother in a similar manner, and in twenty-four hours she died also. By order of the coroner I made a post-mortem examination of each of the bodies. The appearances in each were identical except in the points stated. I will, therefore, transcribe my notes of the boy only. External appearances: Fairly nourished; thin rather than fat; post-mortem congestion in dependent positions. Mouth pale and clean; lungs congested throughout, but not consolidated; liver pale but healthy; gall-bladder naturally full. Stomach contained about two tablespoonfuls of brownish fluid (diarrhoea mixture ?); the mucous membrane was somewhat, but not intensely, inflamed. Small intestines: At about half their length there was an intussusception of about three inches; the lining membrane was congested the whole length, but not very much so; and all they contained was a little discoloured mucus of a brownish colour that became darker at their lower part; the congestion also increased in its descent; at their end there were three or four seeds like cress-seeds. The large intestine was intensely inflamed its whole length, but most so at its lower part; it contained a little discoloured mucus and one seed. Kidneys healthy; bladder full of water. In the girl the inflammation in the bowels and stomach was less intense than in the boy, and the bowels contained five or six lumbrici; her bladder was empty. Dr. Tidy analysed some blood from the right side of the heart of each subject, and the contents of their stomachs, etc. Among these contents were some colchicum seeds; he also obtained what appeared to be colchicine from the blood of each; and his opinion was that the children were poisoned by colchicum. The verdict returned by the jury was in accordance with the medical evidence; but how, or by whom, the poison was given to the children, or how they got it, there was no evidence to show. MEDICAL NEWS. UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN.-At the Winter Commencements held in the examination hall of Trinity College on Wednesday, December 16, the following degrees in Medicine and Surgery were conferred by the Right Hon. Hedges Eyre Chatterton, Vice-Chancellor of Ireland and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University : Baccalurei in Medicina.-Blood, Matthæus Smyth; Dorman, Johannes Cotter; Drummond, David; Forsyth, Georgius Crompton; Griffith, Robertus; Hearn, Ricardus Thomas; Hunter, Gulielmus L.; Kellett, L. H.; Mason, Samuel R.; MacLaughlin, Alexander J.; Ormsby, Lam bert Hepenstal; Nickson, Georgius M.; Pollen, Henricus. Magistri in Chirurgia.-Dorman, Johannes Cotter; Drummond, David; Eaton, Jacobus Bird; Murray, Carolus Fredericus; Murphy, Georgius Wyndham. Doctores in Medicina.-Ashe, Isaac; Tweedy, Henricus J.; M'Intire, Ricardus Lytton. UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN.-SCHOOL OF PHYSIC IN IRELAND. At the Michaelmas Term Examination for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine, held on Thursday and Friday, December 3 and 4, the following candidates were successful: Hunter, William L. Kellett, Leonard II. Hearn, Richard Thos. Farrell, Peter J. Drummond, David. Taafe, Robert. Blood, Matthew S. ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON.--The following gentlemen were admitted Licentiates of the College on December 21, viz. :— Benton, Samuel, Wakering, Southend. Andrew, George, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, E.C. Brewer, Reginald Edward Wormald, Newport, Monmouthshire. Crocker, Henry Radcliffe, University Hospital, W.C. The following candidates having passed in Medicine and Midwifery, will receive the College licence on obtaining a qualification in Surgery recognised by this College, viz. : Edwards, Roger, University Hospital, W.C. Murrell, William, 12, York-street, St. James's-square, S.W. The following gentleman was admitted Member:Folkard, Henry, 18, Blenheim-crescent, W. KING AND QUEEN'S COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS IN IRELAND.-At monthly examination meetings of the College held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, December 8, 9, and 10, the following candidates obtained the licence to practise Medicine: WAR OFFICE.-MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.-Surgeon John Adsetts to be Surgeon-Major, vice James Balfour Cockburn, M.D., retired upon temporary half-pay. Surgeon Charles de Montmorency Palmer, M.B., retires upon temporary half-pay. BIRTHS. GRAY.-On December 20, at 45, St. Giles's, Oxford, the wife of Edward B. Gray, M.D., of a son. |