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BERLIN.
BERLIN.—EGYPT.
necropsies in medico-legal cases should be specially conducted bv these officers, and an ample supply of material would be available for systematic pathological teaching. During the rear there were 10,371 patients under treatment in the wards, of whom 9072 left either cured or relieved and 462 died. ExÙsÎrely of the Hospital for Incurables the mortality was 4 61 per cent. as regards cases treated to a termination. The
was lowest in the Westmorland Lock Hospital (£14 3s. 11 3/4d.) and highest inthe Coombe Lying-in Hospital (.E22 5s. 11¼d.), whilst the average annual cost per bed for maintenance and for establishment charges was lowest in the Hospital for Incurables (£31 7s. 9½d.) and highest in the Rotunda Lying-in Hospital ( £ 71 17s. 9¼d). I shall defer any further observations on the report until next week. Compared with the corresponding quarter of 1892 the returns of pauperism for the March quarter show a decrease of 384 in the average number of workhouse inmates on Saturdays during the quarter and a decrease of 3674, or 5’8 per cent., in the average number of persons on out-door relief. Society of Public Analysts. The annual summer meeting of the Society of Public Analysts was held on the 18th inst. at the Royal College of Surgeons, Sir Charles Cameron, President, in the chair. The President said this was the third occasion on which the summer meeting of the Society had been held in Ireland. On behalf of the local members he offered a cordial welcome to the members from the other side of St. George’s Channel. The out-going President, Mr. Hehner, then took the chair to permit Sir Charles Cameron to read a paper entitled "The Results of the Working of the Adulteration Acts in Dublin."" The first year after his appointment as city analyst 50 per cent. of the articles examined were adulterated ; but after the passing of the Acts of 1872 the adulteration of many articles of food died out. Tea, flour, bread, mustard and whisky were now never found to be adulterated, and, with the exception of milk and butter, the food sold in Dublin was, with rare exceptions, pure-a fact which undoubtedly was attributable to the working of the Anti-adulteration Acts. Professor Tichborne read a paper on " Some Recent Improvements in the Babcock Machine," an instrument for estimating the butter-fat in milk analyses. Mr. A. W. Allen read a commurication on"Vinegar, its Nature and Manufacture. " In the evening a banquet, presided over by Sir Charles Cameron, took place in the Shelbourne Hotel. Royal Hospital for hrcnrables. Having regard to the large number of candidates who seek admission, the governors have decided to build another pavilion, to comprise two wards, for the accommodation of fifty additional patients. It is now in course of erection and it is expected to be completed in the spring of next year.
srerage annual cost per bed for maintenance
July 18th.
(FROM
BERLIN. CORRESPONDENT.)
OUR OWN
Heatstroke. IN spite of the high temperature of the last few weeks there have been few or no cases of heatstroke in Berlin. In the Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift of July 13th Dr. Kœfer writes on the subject of Heatstroke in which he speaks highly of the effects of chloroform, a treatment which, he adds, was recommended long ago by Dr. Barclay in the Madras Medical Journal. The Water-supply of Berlin. The new waterworks on the llluggelsee are now in full work. This allows the proper rate of filtration in the old works at the Stralauer Thor to be maintained, and, so far as any danger of infecting the water-supply is concerned, Berlin may be considered to be safe from an epidemic of cholera. The new filter beds are all covered in to protect them from frost and to prevent the occurrence of such an interference with the filtration as that which caused an outbreak of cholera, in Altona in the early part of this year. Scecret Remedies. Dr. Aronson’s refusal to communicate the method of preparing the extract from serum by which he hopes to be able to cure diphtheria was the occasion of some further discussion at the meeting of the Berliner Medicinische Gesellschaft on
227
June 14th. The Society did not enter upon any consideration of the merits of the preparation, and the President, Professor Virohow, repeated his previous declaration that, had he been aware of the object of the paper, he would not have allowed it to be read. Acute Rheumatic Arthritis. Dr.
Salili, in the Deutsches Archiv fiir I7anere Medicin for
He discusses this disease in an interesting paper. considers that it is probably an infectious disease, and in this connexion he remarks upon its acute febrile course and the difficulty of diagnosis between it and septic or pyæmic affections of the joints or even osteo-myelitis, and also comments on the frequent detection of staphylococcus in the vegetations in cases of post-rheumatic endocarditis (BirchHirschfeld, Mantel and others). He then describes a case of rheumatic fever in a girl of sixteen, being the second attack, which ended fatally, and how after death a yellow staphylococcus was found in the endocardial excrescences, synoviat membrane, pericardium, pleura, swollen bronchial glands and in the blood of the left ventricle. Dr. Sahli has in several other cases cultivated a similar staphylococcus from fluid taken during life from inflamed joints and also from the blood of rheumatic patients.
July,
Foot-and-Moutk Disease. So many English medical men are more or less personally interested in agriculture that it may be allowable to notice here that in a publication which has just appeared Dr. Kurth of Bremen states his opinion that in a micro-organism which he calls "streptococcus involutus " he has discovered the This does not appear to be cause of foot-and-mouth disease. identical with the streptococcus described by Dr. Klein in the fifteenth annual report of the Local Government Board, 1885.
July l7th.
______________
(FROM
OUR
EGYPT. OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
Ainhum. Until now ainhum has not been reported from Egypt, but. Mr. Milton has seen one case in Cairo and Dr. Creswell haa found a second at Suez. The latter is that of a negro slave from Suakin aged forty who has the disease well-marked in both little toes, having anaesthesia in one of them. He has been affected for three years and believes himself that it is due to working barefooted in salt. His general health is good, but. his feet are worse in winter than in summer, though a few days’ rest in bed are sufficient to relieve his pain.
Pellagra, This well-known skin disease occurs every spring in Egypt, though it is only lately that it has been looked for and noted. The desquamation on the back of the neck and over a triangular patch on the chest uncovered by the collarless dress worn by the peasants is easily recognised, though the changes on the hands and feet may be somewhat masked by dirt. Pellagra has been seen in both sexes, but chiefly in men, and so far always in those from the villages of Lower Egypt. This is of interest because the peasantry of the Upper Nile live chiefly on the great millet or guinea corn, which is a cane-like corngrass with a dense head of spikes bearing numerous smalb grains. This has no sheath and therefore can be dried easily. The natives of Lower Egypt, in addition to this, live during the early months of the year on the maize or Indian corn (well known in England) which is imported here from Syria, being originally a native of South America. The heads of closely packed grains the size of peas are enclosed in a sheath called the "cob,"" which prevents perfect drying and aids the formation of the fungus, which alone is necessary for the production of pellagra amongst the ill-nourished. It often happens in Egypt that a man is at the same time the prey of pellagra, farus, anchylostomiasis and bilharzia.
Veterinary Departntertt. Onlynine years ago the Egyptian Government was so anxious. to avoid multiplying the number of English officials that it actually paid a veterinary surgeon to return to England! within a few days of his arrival here by special invitation
but matters have now so far improved that a second" vet." has now been imported in addition to the one who has done good work here since 1886. A project has also been submitted to the Council of Ministers for attaching a small veterinary class to the medical school. As many of the subjects to be
necropsies in medico-legal cases should be specially conducted bv these officers, and an ample supply of material would be available for systematic pathological teaching. During the rear there were 10,371 patients under treatment in the wards, of whom 9072 left either cured or relieved and 462 died. ExÙsÎrely of the Hospital for Incurables the mortality was 4 61 per cent. as regards cases treated to a termination. The
was lowest in the Westmorland Lock Hospital (£14 3s. 11 3/4d.) and highest inthe Coombe Lying-in Hospital (.E22 5s. 11¼d.), whilst the average annual cost per bed for maintenance and for establishment charges was lowest in the Hospital for Incurables (£31 7s. 9½d.) and highest in the Rotunda Lying-in Hospital ( £ 71 17s. 9¼d). I shall defer any further observations on the report until next week. Compared with the corresponding quarter of 1892 the returns of pauperism for the March quarter show a decrease of 384 in the average number of workhouse inmates on Saturdays during the quarter and a decrease of 3674, or 5’8 per cent., in the average number of persons on out-door relief. Society of Public Analysts. The annual summer meeting of the Society of Public Analysts was held on the 18th inst. at the Royal College of Surgeons, Sir Charles Cameron, President, in the chair. The President said this was the third occasion on which the summer meeting of the Society had been held in Ireland. On behalf of the local members he offered a cordial welcome to the members from the other side of St. George’s Channel. The out-going President, Mr. Hehner, then took the chair to permit Sir Charles Cameron to read a paper entitled "The Results of the Working of the Adulteration Acts in Dublin."" The first year after his appointment as city analyst 50 per cent. of the articles examined were adulterated ; but after the passing of the Acts of 1872 the adulteration of many articles of food died out. Tea, flour, bread, mustard and whisky were now never found to be adulterated, and, with the exception of milk and butter, the food sold in Dublin was, with rare exceptions, pure-a fact which undoubtedly was attributable to the working of the Anti-adulteration Acts. Professor Tichborne read a paper on " Some Recent Improvements in the Babcock Machine," an instrument for estimating the butter-fat in milk analyses. Mr. A. W. Allen read a commurication on"Vinegar, its Nature and Manufacture. " In the evening a banquet, presided over by Sir Charles Cameron, took place in the Shelbourne Hotel. Royal Hospital for hrcnrables. Having regard to the large number of candidates who seek admission, the governors have decided to build another pavilion, to comprise two wards, for the accommodation of fifty additional patients. It is now in course of erection and it is expected to be completed in the spring of next year.
srerage annual cost per bed for maintenance
July 18th.
(FROM
BERLIN. CORRESPONDENT.)
OUR OWN
Heatstroke. IN spite of the high temperature of the last few weeks there have been few or no cases of heatstroke in Berlin. In the Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift of July 13th Dr. Kœfer writes on the subject of Heatstroke in which he speaks highly of the effects of chloroform, a treatment which, he adds, was recommended long ago by Dr. Barclay in the Madras Medical Journal. The Water-supply of Berlin. The new waterworks on the llluggelsee are now in full work. This allows the proper rate of filtration in the old works at the Stralauer Thor to be maintained, and, so far as any danger of infecting the water-supply is concerned, Berlin may be considered to be safe from an epidemic of cholera. The new filter beds are all covered in to protect them from frost and to prevent the occurrence of such an interference with the filtration as that which caused an outbreak of cholera, in Altona in the early part of this year. Scecret Remedies. Dr. Aronson’s refusal to communicate the method of preparing the extract from serum by which he hopes to be able to cure diphtheria was the occasion of some further discussion at the meeting of the Berliner Medicinische Gesellschaft on
227
June 14th. The Society did not enter upon any consideration of the merits of the preparation, and the President, Professor Virohow, repeated his previous declaration that, had he been aware of the object of the paper, he would not have allowed it to be read. Acute Rheumatic Arthritis. Dr.
Salili, in the Deutsches Archiv fiir I7anere Medicin for
He discusses this disease in an interesting paper. considers that it is probably an infectious disease, and in this connexion he remarks upon its acute febrile course and the difficulty of diagnosis between it and septic or pyæmic affections of the joints or even osteo-myelitis, and also comments on the frequent detection of staphylococcus in the vegetations in cases of post-rheumatic endocarditis (BirchHirschfeld, Mantel and others). He then describes a case of rheumatic fever in a girl of sixteen, being the second attack, which ended fatally, and how after death a yellow staphylococcus was found in the endocardial excrescences, synoviat membrane, pericardium, pleura, swollen bronchial glands and in the blood of the left ventricle. Dr. Sahli has in several other cases cultivated a similar staphylococcus from fluid taken during life from inflamed joints and also from the blood of rheumatic patients.
July,
Foot-and-Moutk Disease. So many English medical men are more or less personally interested in agriculture that it may be allowable to notice here that in a publication which has just appeared Dr. Kurth of Bremen states his opinion that in a micro-organism which he calls "streptococcus involutus " he has discovered the This does not appear to be cause of foot-and-mouth disease. identical with the streptococcus described by Dr. Klein in the fifteenth annual report of the Local Government Board, 1885.
July l7th.
______________
(FROM
OUR
EGYPT. OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
Ainhum. Until now ainhum has not been reported from Egypt, but. Mr. Milton has seen one case in Cairo and Dr. Creswell haa found a second at Suez. The latter is that of a negro slave from Suakin aged forty who has the disease well-marked in both little toes, having anaesthesia in one of them. He has been affected for three years and believes himself that it is due to working barefooted in salt. His general health is good, but. his feet are worse in winter than in summer, though a few days’ rest in bed are sufficient to relieve his pain.
Pellagra, This well-known skin disease occurs every spring in Egypt, though it is only lately that it has been looked for and noted. The desquamation on the back of the neck and over a triangular patch on the chest uncovered by the collarless dress worn by the peasants is easily recognised, though the changes on the hands and feet may be somewhat masked by dirt. Pellagra has been seen in both sexes, but chiefly in men, and so far always in those from the villages of Lower Egypt. This is of interest because the peasantry of the Upper Nile live chiefly on the great millet or guinea corn, which is a cane-like corngrass with a dense head of spikes bearing numerous smalb grains. This has no sheath and therefore can be dried easily. The natives of Lower Egypt, in addition to this, live during the early months of the year on the maize or Indian corn (well known in England) which is imported here from Syria, being originally a native of South America. The heads of closely packed grains the size of peas are enclosed in a sheath called the "cob,"" which prevents perfect drying and aids the formation of the fungus, which alone is necessary for the production of pellagra amongst the ill-nourished. It often happens in Egypt that a man is at the same time the prey of pellagra, farus, anchylostomiasis and bilharzia.
Veterinary Departntertt. Onlynine years ago the Egyptian Government was so anxious. to avoid multiplying the number of English officials that it actually paid a veterinary surgeon to return to England! within a few days of his arrival here by special invitation
but matters have now so far improved that a second" vet." has now been imported in addition to the one who has done good work here since 1886. A project has also been submitted to the Council of Ministers for attaching a small veterinary class to the medical school. As many of the subjects to be