TESTS OF POISON. RECENT INQUEST AT HERTFORD.

165 and inflammation around the

pustule. These peculiarities gradually diminish, according to the number of individuals through whom the virus pours afterwards ; and hence I

BANDAGE IN PARACENTESIS ABDOMINIS. To the Editor

of THE LANCET.

consider the more recent the matter is taken SIR :—Itake leave, through the medium from the cow, the greater security will there of your widely-circulated pages, to recom-

be the individual vaccinated having adoption of the eighteen-tailed theagainst in its more small-pox form, if of the in bandages, paracentesis peritoneal he should happen to have malignant it all. ovarian of and that old, caustics, instead I was led to perform these experiments clumsy, and unscientific apparatus, " the from having seen the cow-pox go through all as at sheet," affording, once, great support its proper stages in a person, who was vacand comfort to the sufferer, and assistance to two days previous to the small-pox the operator, by a regular and steady pres- cinated making its appearance on him ; and imaginsure, in consequence of its presenting an that two dissimilar eruptive diseases uninterrupted broad and flat surface over ing could not happen in the same person at once, the whole of the parietes, during the operaI considered that the pox as it exists in the tion, and, as it supersedes the usual after was the same disease as the small-pox bandage, much fatigue and probable risk to cow in a milder form.-I am, sir, your obedient the patient are avoided. The bandage is made in five minutes, ofafrvant- HENRY H. RUGG, Surgeon, &c. stout calico, doubled, two yards long, and in width extending from the scrobiculus cordis to the pubes, the ’ tails’ about four inches broad, and divided to the normal size of the TESTS OF POISON. abdomen, so that when the fluid is drawn off, the points of their junction shall em. RECENT INQUEST AT HERTFORD. brace the parietes sufficiently to afford the requisite support, the ’tails’ are then to be To the Editor of THE LANCET. passed round, and secured. SIR :-In to broad is be in N.B. The your last Number but one, under applied part front, and the tails interlaced behind, and the head " FORENSIC MEDICINE," there was approximated by one or two assistants, (abstracted from the Hertford Reformer) during the operation.-I am, sir, your obe- an account of an inquest held in this town upon the body of a woman who was supdient servant, T. W. WANSBROUGH. posed to have been poisoned by oxalic acid, and in whose case Mr. Shillitoe and myself had been engaged in post mortem examination, and in testing the contents of the stomach. You were kind enough to transfer IDENTITY OF COW-POX AND our report of the case at full length into THE SMALL-POX. LANCET. In that report we stated, thatIn respect only did the contents of the sto. one To the Editor of THE LANCET. mach fail to give the same result as a soluSiR :-During the last three years, when- tion of oxalic acid in water. A white, heavy ever an opportunity presented itself, I have precipitate, as before stated, will be caused tried to establish the fact that the pox, by the action of nitrate of silver on solutions which occurs spontaneously on the cow, is of various substances ; but it is characteristic the same disease as that which occurs to the of that produced on a solution of oxalic acid human subject, and which we denominate to detonate, when dried on a filter, and ex.. variola or small-pox. The means which I posed on a spatula to the heat of a spirit have taken to arrive at this conclusion, are lamp. No detonation could be caused by exceedingly simple, and may have been the precipitate from the liquid found in the tried by others before me; but, if so, I do stomach." We accounted for this absence not think they have been published. of detonating property, by the facts that Having a patient, labouring under variola, the quantity of acid in the stomach after I took some virus therefrom, and innoculated death was very small, owing to the constant a cow’s udder. On the sixth day, I took vomiting which had continued for several some lymph from the cow, and vaccinated a hours before death, and that this small quan. child, two years of age, therewith. On the tity was mixed with a large proportion of third day this produced the vaccine vesicle, animal matter, precipitated by the nitrate of and at the fifth day came to maturity. I silver, together with the acid. have frequently tried the experiment since, Now, in a case like this, where any doubt with the like success. The characteristics might exist, it is satisfactory to know that a generally noticed, when a child is vaccinated boy,living in the same house as the deceased, with lymph procured in this manner, are-has, since the inquest, come forward to conthe vesicle is sooner formed, sooner comesfess "that he bought two pennyworth of oxalic to perfection, and there is greater irritation acid for the deceased, a few days before her

mend the

I

166

death, at the shop of a chemist in this town; was charged not to mention the cir- WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY. cnmstance to her husband; and that, if he Saturday, October 19th, 1839. should forget the name of the article, he was to tell the chemist that it was what they MR. HALE THOMSON, President. clean boot-tops with." EXCESSIVE EFFECTS OF 1NTOXICATIOy BY My object in requesting you to insert this1 ALCOHOL. letter is to show that, in processes like that The first meeting of the session was held of testing the contents of the stomach in cases this evening in the Society’s New Rooms, of suspected poisoning, one may occasionally Exeter Hall. The well-founded objections fail to find all the results which he is taught which existed to the Hunterian Museum, as to expect, or all the results furnished by the a of meeting, prevented many of the place same tests on a simple solution of the same old members of the Society from attending poison in water. Your’a obediently, at that place. It was cold and cheerless on a winter’s night, and sufficiently dreary in JOHN DAVIES. that be

appearance to friends of the

prevent any but the staunchest Society from attending. The

meeting-room in Exeter Hall, trary, possesses

To the Editor of TnLANCET. SIR :-As the editor of an influential medical periodical, you appear to be the fittest person to bring before the public the present disgraceful state of the law, by which their worships, of Apothecaries’ Hall, are governed. After having paid the customary premium to a snrgeon.apothecary for my son, I, in due time, entered him at one of the medical schools and hospitals of this

ignorantly supposing,

that,

their by

should he pass the examination of learned worships, they would, at least, their

diploma,

act

only qualify

him to act

as

but protect him from all others not so licensed ; but how was I disappointed to find that any chemist, druggist, or even quack, has the power of taking away the advantages which ought to follow an expensive and scientific education; for such, Mr. Editor, is the course of studies enjoined for a medical student, that a small fortune may, without great care and economy, be expended before all the lectures, &c., are gone through. I would, therefore, take the liberty of suggesting the absotttte necessity of forming a medical students’ association, the plan for which there is no one more capable of concocting than youran

apothecary,

self. I have had opportunities of conversing with many students, and have found a pretty general desire prevailing amongst them, of setting the Court of Examiners, at the Hall, at defiance, and merely passing at the College of Surgeons, unless their worships take steps to enlarge their power by applying to the legislature. PATER.

air of

on

comfort,

the con. and is so snch ob. We trust

well warmed and lighted, that no can be raised against it. the present session will be more profitable than has been usual, and that the discussions will be less desultory than they have been during some former sessions. The West. minster Medical Society numbers about 1,200 members, among whom will be found the names of many distinguished men. With a little industry, its proceedings will bear comparison with those of any similar insti. tution. The evening, as is customary on the the first meeting of a new session, was par. tially occupied by the nomination of members to fill the various oflices.

jections

NULLITY OF THE ACT OF 1815.

metropolis,

an

EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL.

Dn. GuL>amc l3tta> stated the following case :-About five months since a man ap-

plied to patient.

the The

Finsbury Dispensary as a apothecary thinking, from his

symptoms and appearance, that the

man was

gave him an emetic and purgative, and ordered him to attend again. Dr. Bird saw him on the next visiting-day, which was three days after his first appearHe was a fine, healthy-looking man, ance. and, until within the last six weeks, had always enjoyed excellent health. He was employed in a distillery, and was remarkably temperate. He gave the following account of his case. Six weeks before, one day, feeling ery thirsty, he went to drink out of a can, containing, as he supposed, cold water, but which turned out to be strong alcohol 50° above proof ; before he found out his mistake he had drank about eight fluid ounces, and instantly dropped senseless upon the floor. A medical man saw him a few minutes afterwards, and found him deadly cold ; his breathing was calm, his pulse scarcely perceptibte, and his lips blue. He was taken home. His wife refused to allow the medical man to empty the stomach, but gave her husband some purgative pills, which she had great difliculty, however, in getting him to swallow. He continued in this cold insensible state for eleven hours,

intoxicated,