ROTHELN, OR GERMAN MEASLES.

713 cand’e in the direction of the current. But in anotherI able beyond our expectations, as we lost only four patients, sewer, where there was a, strong smell of coal-gas.. there each of whom was very ill before the operation." was scarcely any movement of the air at all; whilst in two PERFECT CLOSURE OF WOUNDS. places near the docks, the emanations of heated vapour Professor probably considered his cotton wool precluded the possibility of examination. Near this place advice quiteTyndall but we find that Dr. Rapp, in original; were the a few of the ventilators emitting vapour; quan- Rottweil for the last five years, treated all has, (Germany) tity, however, was trifling, as compared with that which wounds with cotton wool layers, basing himself upon PasThe practice of turning waste was penned up below. teur’s He moistens the wool with a weak mixture theory. steam into the sewers ought at once to be stopped. It of water and tincture of arnica, and leaves the dressings the and drives brickwork, promotes decomposition, destroys six or seven days, with the best results. This method is the gases into the houses near. It is monstrous that the worth a trial, and should be placed in juxtaposition with men should have been unable to raise the covering of a Lister’s. man-hole in Blacklock-street, because it had been so much REMOVAL OF THE THYROID BODY. heated by steam discharged into the sewer immediately In No. 27, 1870, of the Wieroaer Med. TVoch. we find a underneath. In the absence of aeration or ventilation, properly so description, by Dr. V. Czerny, of numerous experiments called, Liverpool depends for its salubrity on the perfection upon dogs (on Billroth’s suggestion) to ascertain whether of its house or service drains. In doing so it depends upon the thyroid body could be wholly removed without a fatal a broken reed. No system of service drains can be perma- issue. After four dogs had passed through the ordeals of laryngotomy, partial removal of trachea, &c., nently maintained in a condition in which they are imper- tracheotomy, vious to sewer gas. In the first place, contractors and jerry a fifth underwent a careful operation, detailed at great builders rarely make the joints tight, or lay the drains in length by Dr. Czerny, after which it was left without the body, the epiglottis being preserved. The poor proper levels. It is all but impossible to make them do the thyroid animal in a little while contrived to swallow food pretty work properly; and even when they have been made and breathed freely. The author concludes that in well, like drains are or the sink, ground walls-they properly, sinks with them, and the brickwork cracks. In the case cases of cancer of the thyroid body, the operation might, of drains the danger is out of sight; but not less surely with some risks, be undertaken upon the human subject. does the noxious gas wind its way into the very basement HYDRATE OF CHLORAL AND MORPHIA IN TETANUS. of the building, and pervade the house. The house-drain Dr. Gronemann has published the case of a man of fortytrap also is a machine altogether beyond the comprehension four, who suffered from tetanus in consequence of a shot of scullery maids, and of the wives of the labouring classes. in the chest. Chloral alonedid not relieve the spasms, but In 1865 Mr. Evans described to the corporation that which when morphia was given with it, the improvement was still takes place. He found in kitchens of all sorts the bell- manifest. The prescription was as follows: Hydrate of traps frequently taken off, and often lost altogether. This chloral, 150 grains; hydrochlorate of morphia,3 grains; occurred in eight houses in one street. In the cellars and distilled water and simple syrup, of each two ounces : the areas the D-traps had been broken with the poker, or fourth part night and morning. The man recovered. taken out entirely and thrown away, or sold for old iron, TANNIN versus ALUM. leaving open communication with the drain. In five streets of Hamburg, contends (Med. Press of Max Dr. Jaffé, of drains from 14 to number defective service varied the 37 No. 39, 1870) that alum, so frequently used for per cent. He said that the same defects occur in the very Vienna, best houses of Liverpool, where bell-traps are fixed. The gargles, is hurtful to the teeth, and holds that tannin, inspector of nuisances said the staff could not meet the dissolved in water or red wine, is far preferable. difficulty, for the traps were often damaged repeatedly within three months. The only remedy therefore is the ROTHELN, OR GERMAN MEASLES. thorough ventilation of the sewers outside the houses, so To the Editor of THE LANCET. that it may become a matter of comparative indifference whether the traps are tight or not. It is a thousand times SIR,-Dr. Murchison’s lucid exposition of this disease better that the noxious gases shall be diluted in the sewers, cannot fail to be read with especial interest by many, as and discharged in the middle of the street, than that they this complaint is by no means very generally recognised as should be projected in a concentra.ted form into the kitchens a distinct disease by the profession. At Brighton, about the years 1856-57, a great many cases were observed, so of the rich and the dwelling’s of the poor. The sewers of London are at least as foul as those of that it became the subject of a, paper read before the and Sussex Medical Society ; and there being Liverpool, and the formation of gases is as great. The main difference is that in London they are discharged in large number of first-class schools in the town, it became the centre of the roadway, and no one lives over them to a matter of no little consequence that the disease should contract disease. Liverpool cannot be healthy until the be early recognised, and distinguished from scarlatina, in fundamental conditions are attended to. And the recom- order, as Dr. Murchison says, that" the medical attendant mendations of this report must be :might not get into trouble from his inability to determine 1. That the practice of fouling the foundations by ash- its real nature." pit refuse should be abandoned and prohibited. During occasional visits to London at this period also, I 2. That all classes should unite in raising the public was much struck bv finding this disease unknown to those medical friends with whom I conversed, and especially so standard of cleanliness. 3. That the sewers should be provided with ample inlets when, speaking on this matter to a practitioner, who for of fresh air. upwards of forty years had enjoyed a most extensive practice, he assured me he had never met with these cases. My particular object, however, in writing on this subject, is to st,tte a remarkable fact bearing out. the statement of Dr. Murchison, "that rotheln does not protect from either measles or scarlatina.’’ I was attending a young lady at RESECTIONS IN RECENT WOUNDS. a large school with this complaint, rubeola notha, and it WHETHER immediate resection, or treatment by ice and became a matter of importance to state at once, if possible, rest, or Lister’s method is to be employed in injuries of whether this was scarlatina or not. It was decided not to joints (especially injury from gunshot) is not quite settled. be scarlatina; but this opinion did not altogether satisfy No doubt the surgeon must be guided by the minute cir- the lady of the house. The case weut on until about the cumstances of the case. But we may, in the meanwhile, tenth day, when, just as the patient was becoming conquote a passage from Dr. Fischer’s report during the earlier valescent, she was seized with a genuine attack of scarlapart of the present war :-°‘ The number of gunshot injuries tina, which ran its full course. So decided a proof of the diversity of the two diseases is, to joints was very great; we first tried to treat them without operative interference, and succeeded in a pretty large think, worth recording ; and, if my memory serves me number of cases. We were, however, obliged to resort to rightly, this is not the only case I have met with of the one resection in 34 cases-viz., 13 of the shoulder, 15 elbow, disease running into the other.-I am, Sir, yours &c., 3 foot, 1 knee, 1 hip, 1 scapula. The results proved favourDenmark-hill, Nov. 3rd, lai0. HORATIO COARE BRENCHLEY.

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