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A FRENCH VIEW OF FRENCH ALCOHOLISM.
1382 to neurine, which has the formula C5H13NO2. it overcome this terrible agent France is drinking more and found that intravenous injection of from one to five more. He quotes encouraging facts as to the success of was -cubic centimetres of a solution containing one part to 1000 such efforts. In Sweden, e.g., the race threatened to be - caused a fall of arterial pressure followed by a marked rise extinguished by a consumption in 1829 of 23 litres per head and a subsequent fall to the normal level. The fall in the per annum ; they set themselves strenuously to resist and first instance is due to slowing and weakening of the heart’s have brought the consumption down to 3’2 litres. So in action with possibly a dilating influence on the peripheral other countries. The patriotic writer says: " Shall we leave vessels. The secondary rise in the blood-pressure is due France to her fate without an attempt to save her ?and to the constriction of the peripheral vessels, as shown answers with a thousand Noes. We have too big a beam in by oncometers applied to the intestine, spleen, and kidney. our own eye to moralise on the state of France, but we The typical effects of neurine are still obvious after rejoice that this gigantic evil is being recognised by removal of the influence of the central nervous system Frenchmen and we heartily hope for the victory of France by section of the spinal cord or of the splanchnics. After, over one of her greatest enemies. however, the action of the peripheral ganglia has been cut off by the use of nicotine neurine produces only a fall ANNUAL ORATION AND CONVERSAZIONE AT THE .Qf blood-pressure. It hence appears that the constriction of MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. the vessels is due to the action of the drug on the ganglia. THE annual oration of the Medical Society of London !Section of the vagi had no influence on the results of was delivered at the society’s home in Chandos.street injecting either choline or neurine and there was no evidence on May 15th and was listened to by a very large that either base acted directly on the cerebral vessels. number of members and guests who were received by the ’Unlike choline, neurine is intensely toxic to nerve-trunks. President, Mr. Edmund Owen. The oration was delivered The writers confirm the statement of Cervello that neurine Mr. Alban Doran on Shakespeare and the Medical by acts like curare on the nerve endings of voluntary muscle and was a very brilliant performance. A vote of Society and that the cessation of respiration is due to this action. thanks was proposed by Dr. Thorowgood, seconded by Sir William Dalby, and carried by acclamation. SubseA FRENCH VIEW OF FRENCH ALCOHOLISM. quently a conversazione was held in the rooms which were NOT the least of the many evils affecting France is her crowded till a late hour. Excellent music was provided by consumption of alcohol. It is known that the honest glass the Bijou Orchestra and a most enjoyable evening was spent, of light wine which used to meet the wants of the ordinary thanks to the careful arrangements made by the honorary Frenchman is now supplemented with spirit in all forms secretaries, Dr. Calvert and Mr. Battle, and the registrar, .and that France is first of all countries in the amount Mr. W. R. Hall.
regard
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-of alcohol which is consumed. The only hopeful thing about the fact is that Frenchmen are beginning to perceive it and its grave significance. The Figaro is devoting a series of papers to the discussion of the question and to a statement of ’the disastrous effects which are already apparent in the French population. The second of these papers is before us :and no teetotal newspaper in England could give more ’convincing figures or testify more faithfully to the -degradation, physical and moral, which overtakes the comcmunities which are distinguished by their excess. The .one set-off in theory is that the substitution of stronger drinks for lighter ones produces temporary satisfaction-a Instead of this a general demerry life if a short one. pression, a melancholic tendency, is the effect, and life is The drinkers are morose and "short and horrible." ’suicidal in the direct ratio of the alcohol taken. In the years from 1861 to 1865 there entered the asylums of France 14,983 insane persons; in the same space of time twenty years after there entered more than 57,000. Dr. Serieux has made researches on this point as to the rôle of alcohol and he has found that of the relapsed cases (récidivistes) 78 per cent. were drinkers, while of violent ’lunatics 88 per cent. were drinkers. Short of insanity the morale of the French workman is rapidly deteriorating ’under the influence of alcohol. He loses his ambition .and goes down from a master worker to a labourer. The degeneration affects whole families, especially in Normandy. An instance is given of a family which had occupied a mill for two generations. At first they were giants (colosses)now the grandchildren are dwarfs and stunted. They are without any desire to be raised again .and prefer to be servants. In some parts the drinking is incredible ; thus the peasants in the neighbourhood of Flers "have the glory of having arrived at the of un litre d’ean-de-vie de cidre par jour," or .consumption .365 litres per year. In Normandy the women are as bad as the men and the infants are getting eau-de-vie in all their food. What strikes the writer in the Figaro is that while other nations are alarmed and are making efforts to and Falaise
PHLEGMASIA DOLENS IN TYPHOID FEVER. PHLEGMASIA dolens is rare in typhoid fever ; Murchison estimated its incidence as 1 per cent. In an interesting lecture published in the Bosioit Medical and Surgical Journal of March 23rd Dr. Da Costa states that among 215 cases of typhoid fever in soldiers admitted into the’Pennsylvania Hospital phlegmasia dolens occurred in no less than 30, or 14 per cent. The general proportion of cases with this complication in the hospital is not more than 1 or 2 per cent. In 18 cases under the care of Dr. Da Costa the left leg was affected in three, the right in two, and both legs in 13. He explains the frequency of the complication in soldiers by predisposition from distension of the veins of the legs in marching. But excepting some from Porto Rico most of the soldiers came from training camps where marching was not excessive though more than men just’come from civil life were accustomed to. The gravity of the infection also was important, for nearly all the cases occurred in those in whom the fever had been severe. This complication occurred mostly at the end of the fever or during convalescence. The earliest symptoms are increased temperature and pain in the limb. Chills sometimes precede it. The pain is usually associated with tenderness which first shows itself in the calf. Swelling is generally obvious, especially below the knee. The limb is tense and hard though there may be some pitting around the ankles and calf. The skin is pale or white, but here and there an erythematous blush small ulcer is seen. The veins may be prominent or not. Those most usually affected are the tender net, internal saphenous and femoral, especially at their junction; sometimes the affection extends to the iliac veins and even to the vena cava. As to the pathology Dr. Da Costa regards the complication as primarily thrombosis which afterwards may or may not be complicated by phlebitis or periphlebitis. As a rule the thrombus gradually disappears without serious symptoms and the phlebitis if present slowly yields, or an adhesive inflammation results and a collateral venous But cases have been recorded circulation is established. or even a
or
regard
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-of alcohol which is consumed. The only hopeful thing about the fact is that Frenchmen are beginning to perceive it and its grave significance. The Figaro is devoting a series of papers to the discussion of the question and to a statement of ’the disastrous effects which are already apparent in the French population. The second of these papers is before us :and no teetotal newspaper in England could give more ’convincing figures or testify more faithfully to the -degradation, physical and moral, which overtakes the comcmunities which are distinguished by their excess. The .one set-off in theory is that the substitution of stronger drinks for lighter ones produces temporary satisfaction-a Instead of this a general demerry life if a short one. pression, a melancholic tendency, is the effect, and life is The drinkers are morose and "short and horrible." ’suicidal in the direct ratio of the alcohol taken. In the years from 1861 to 1865 there entered the asylums of France 14,983 insane persons; in the same space of time twenty years after there entered more than 57,000. Dr. Serieux has made researches on this point as to the rôle of alcohol and he has found that of the relapsed cases (récidivistes) 78 per cent. were drinkers, while of violent ’lunatics 88 per cent. were drinkers. Short of insanity the morale of the French workman is rapidly deteriorating ’under the influence of alcohol. He loses his ambition .and goes down from a master worker to a labourer. The degeneration affects whole families, especially in Normandy. An instance is given of a family which had occupied a mill for two generations. At first they were giants (colosses)now the grandchildren are dwarfs and stunted. They are without any desire to be raised again .and prefer to be servants. In some parts the drinking is incredible ; thus the peasants in the neighbourhood of Flers "have the glory of having arrived at the of un litre d’ean-de-vie de cidre par jour," or .consumption .365 litres per year. In Normandy the women are as bad as the men and the infants are getting eau-de-vie in all their food. What strikes the writer in the Figaro is that while other nations are alarmed and are making efforts to and Falaise
PHLEGMASIA DOLENS IN TYPHOID FEVER. PHLEGMASIA dolens is rare in typhoid fever ; Murchison estimated its incidence as 1 per cent. In an interesting lecture published in the Bosioit Medical and Surgical Journal of March 23rd Dr. Da Costa states that among 215 cases of typhoid fever in soldiers admitted into the’Pennsylvania Hospital phlegmasia dolens occurred in no less than 30, or 14 per cent. The general proportion of cases with this complication in the hospital is not more than 1 or 2 per cent. In 18 cases under the care of Dr. Da Costa the left leg was affected in three, the right in two, and both legs in 13. He explains the frequency of the complication in soldiers by predisposition from distension of the veins of the legs in marching. But excepting some from Porto Rico most of the soldiers came from training camps where marching was not excessive though more than men just’come from civil life were accustomed to. The gravity of the infection also was important, for nearly all the cases occurred in those in whom the fever had been severe. This complication occurred mostly at the end of the fever or during convalescence. The earliest symptoms are increased temperature and pain in the limb. Chills sometimes precede it. The pain is usually associated with tenderness which first shows itself in the calf. Swelling is generally obvious, especially below the knee. The limb is tense and hard though there may be some pitting around the ankles and calf. The skin is pale or white, but here and there an erythematous blush small ulcer is seen. The veins may be prominent or not. Those most usually affected are the tender net, internal saphenous and femoral, especially at their junction; sometimes the affection extends to the iliac veins and even to the vena cava. As to the pathology Dr. Da Costa regards the complication as primarily thrombosis which afterwards may or may not be complicated by phlebitis or periphlebitis. As a rule the thrombus gradually disappears without serious symptoms and the phlebitis if present slowly yields, or an adhesive inflammation results and a collateral venous But cases have been recorded circulation is established. or even a
or