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404 Clinical Lectures own Diseases peculiar to Women. By LOMBE ATTHILL, M.D. Univ. Dublin; Fellow and Examiner in Midwifery, King and Queen’s College of Physicians; Obstetric Physician to the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin; and formerly Assistant-Physician to the Rotundo Lyingin Hospital. Dublin: Fannin and Co., Grafton-street. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 1871.
and that the doses of the former may be greatly reduced, much risk being thus avoided. They also consider that the morphia should be used some time before the chloroform is begun, as the injected solution is not very quickly absorbed. Many will probably side with us when we say that it looks rather hazardous to combine such powerful narcotics. Further experiments and the report of the committee appointed to examine the matter will throw some light on the subject; but too much caution cannot be used.
THis excellent little book should have had an earlier notice at our hands. It has three great merits. It treats A RAPIDLY FATAL CASE OF CHOLERA IN PARIS. of very common diseases which are generally very badly Professor Bouillaud mentioned, at a late meeting of the taught in our schools; secondly, it treats of them in a of Medicine of Paris (March 5th, 1872), that he Academy thoroughly clinical and practical way; and, finally, without observed, ten days before, a rapidly fatal case of Asiatic being too short, it is a compact book calculated to be cholera at the Hotel Dieu. All the worst symptoms were very useful to the practitioner. Dr. Atthill says in his present: haggard countenance, cyanosis, cold extremities, preface that one circumstance which led him to publish his cramps, sickness, rice-water stools, suppression of urine, Clinical Lectures was the frequency with which he found loss of voice, and very low temperature (48° in the axilla, and 50° in the rectum). Death took place the same day even good industrious students unable to give any account of the attack, and on examining the intestinal mucous of the causes of such a state as menorrhagia. Our practical membrane, it was found covered with a vesicular eruption. readers will know what a large share of their practice con- There was here neither epidemic nor contagious cause; M. Bouillaud asks, supported. sists in efforts to relieve the common functional diseases of the man resided in Paris, and is whether there this fact, really any difference between by the uterus, and will be ready to welcome a concise clinical Asiatic and European cholera. volume principally occupied in discussing such ailments. PERFUMED COD-LIVER OIL. Dr. Atthill’s practice, if not original, is thoroughly indeof the essence of eucalyptus fifteen minims, codTake a of pendent, and he illustrates it with copious quotation liver oil three ounces, and put into a well-corked bottle. good cases. The modes of uterine examination, including The fish-oil thus loses its nauseous taste. For brown oils the use of the sound, of the various means for dilating the the quantity of the essence may be increased: os uteri, of pessaries, &c., are well discussed. We commend the whole book to the careful attention of advanced students and general practitioners, and especially the chapters on Menorrhagia and on the treatment of the various forms of Chronic Inflammation of the Uterus. THE ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL MICROSCOPE. WE have had an opportunity of inspecting one of a number of microscopes recently constructed by Mr. Pillischer, of New Bond-street, for useat St. Thomas’s Hospital. Tne instrument is of excellent workmanship, is moderate PECULIAR TREATMENT OF SYPHILITIC IRITIS. in price, and deserves to be generally known. The stand DR. DE MAGRI, of Milan, has treated a series of cases of is constructed on the principle of Mr. Pillischer’s wellthis kind by injecting calomel into the left arm (Giornale known students’ microscopes, but of larger and more massive delle Mal. Veneree, February, 1872). He usually injects six grains of calomel suspended in glycerine; an abscess, dimensions; it is very firm and free from vibration, and mostly connected with sloughing, forms, and the eye in- has coarse and fine adjustments; the former of sufficient stantly improves. Atropine is, however, freely instilled into the latter, and the improvement is attributed to the powerful counter-irritation exerted in the arm. Even cases of pannus and scrofulous keratitis are thus treated, and with equal success. Now when it is recollected that it is maintained by some men of experience that atropine alone is sufficient in such cases, the faith in the revulsive action is a little shaken. Then it may be asked whether an abscess excited by other substances than calomel would not be as efficacious; or whether the author supposes that this salt acts on the whole organism. That calomel does good in iritis, whether syphilitic or not, is still believed by those who do not ignore the experience of the past. How much simpler then to give this mercurial chloride by the mouth, and have recourse to simple counter-irritation on the temple, not to admit of a 3 in. object-glass being used, double neglecting atropine. Hypodermic injections are the fashion length of the day; they are useful, but they should not, without mirrors, and revolving diaphragm. The stage adapted is of two kinds, one with a sliding fork upon which the object good reason, take the place of other methods of treatment. rests, which, with a little practice of fingering, is easily So with chloral, which is now tried for almost everything ; the other is a new and exceedingly ingenious managed; we have, for example, Dr. Accetella (L’Independente, No. 2, contrivance of the maker. A strip of metal of sufficient a who dresses and with both sores, tertiary, 1872), primary concentrated solution of the hydrate. Some benefit was width for the object to lie on is connected with two jointed these are screwed to the bottom plate on which they obtained, but it always remains to be seen whether other arms; move. At each end of the strip is fixed a small handle, by done as well or better. would have and older applications not which the stage can be moved in rectangular directions CHLOROFORM AIDED BY MORPHIA. with perfect ease and accuracy. Considering the simplicity Messrs. L’ Abbé and Guyon, in a paper offered to the of the mechanism, we are surprised how well the object Academy of Sciences of Paris, propose, after experimenting keeps in focus under a high power. We have tested the on animals, to inject a solution of morphia before chloro- 4 in. object glass which is supplied with this microscope, form is inhaled for the purpose of anaesthesia. Claude and found it to be of excellent quality both as regards Bernard has already shown that the narcotic effect of power and definition. We understand that the chloroform is obtained more rapidly than usual when microscope, as supplied to St. Thomas’s Hospital, cost .65, combined with morphia. The authors think that the or, with the addition of a binocular arrangement, polarising, absence of feeling lasts longer with chloroform and morphia, and a quantity of other useful apparatus, £ 10 10s.
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and that the doses of the former may be greatly reduced, much risk being thus avoided. They also consider that the morphia should be used some time before the chloroform is begun, as the injected solution is not very quickly absorbed. Many will probably side with us when we say that it looks rather hazardous to combine such powerful narcotics. Further experiments and the report of the committee appointed to examine the matter will throw some light on the subject; but too much caution cannot be used.
THis excellent little book should have had an earlier notice at our hands. It has three great merits. It treats A RAPIDLY FATAL CASE OF CHOLERA IN PARIS. of very common diseases which are generally very badly Professor Bouillaud mentioned, at a late meeting of the taught in our schools; secondly, it treats of them in a of Medicine of Paris (March 5th, 1872), that he Academy thoroughly clinical and practical way; and, finally, without observed, ten days before, a rapidly fatal case of Asiatic being too short, it is a compact book calculated to be cholera at the Hotel Dieu. All the worst symptoms were very useful to the practitioner. Dr. Atthill says in his present: haggard countenance, cyanosis, cold extremities, preface that one circumstance which led him to publish his cramps, sickness, rice-water stools, suppression of urine, Clinical Lectures was the frequency with which he found loss of voice, and very low temperature (48° in the axilla, and 50° in the rectum). Death took place the same day even good industrious students unable to give any account of the attack, and on examining the intestinal mucous of the causes of such a state as menorrhagia. Our practical membrane, it was found covered with a vesicular eruption. readers will know what a large share of their practice con- There was here neither epidemic nor contagious cause; M. Bouillaud asks, supported. sists in efforts to relieve the common functional diseases of the man resided in Paris, and is whether there this fact, really any difference between by the uterus, and will be ready to welcome a concise clinical Asiatic and European cholera. volume principally occupied in discussing such ailments. PERFUMED COD-LIVER OIL. Dr. Atthill’s practice, if not original, is thoroughly indeof the essence of eucalyptus fifteen minims, codTake a of pendent, and he illustrates it with copious quotation liver oil three ounces, and put into a well-corked bottle. good cases. The modes of uterine examination, including The fish-oil thus loses its nauseous taste. For brown oils the use of the sound, of the various means for dilating the the quantity of the essence may be increased: os uteri, of pessaries, &c., are well discussed. We commend the whole book to the careful attention of advanced students and general practitioners, and especially the chapters on Menorrhagia and on the treatment of the various forms of Chronic Inflammation of the Uterus. THE ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL MICROSCOPE. WE have had an opportunity of inspecting one of a number of microscopes recently constructed by Mr. Pillischer, of New Bond-street, for useat St. Thomas’s Hospital. Tne instrument is of excellent workmanship, is moderate PECULIAR TREATMENT OF SYPHILITIC IRITIS. in price, and deserves to be generally known. The stand DR. DE MAGRI, of Milan, has treated a series of cases of is constructed on the principle of Mr. Pillischer’s wellthis kind by injecting calomel into the left arm (Giornale known students’ microscopes, but of larger and more massive delle Mal. Veneree, February, 1872). He usually injects six grains of calomel suspended in glycerine; an abscess, dimensions; it is very firm and free from vibration, and mostly connected with sloughing, forms, and the eye in- has coarse and fine adjustments; the former of sufficient stantly improves. Atropine is, however, freely instilled into the latter, and the improvement is attributed to the powerful counter-irritation exerted in the arm. Even cases of pannus and scrofulous keratitis are thus treated, and with equal success. Now when it is recollected that it is maintained by some men of experience that atropine alone is sufficient in such cases, the faith in the revulsive action is a little shaken. Then it may be asked whether an abscess excited by other substances than calomel would not be as efficacious; or whether the author supposes that this salt acts on the whole organism. That calomel does good in iritis, whether syphilitic or not, is still believed by those who do not ignore the experience of the past. How much simpler then to give this mercurial chloride by the mouth, and have recourse to simple counter-irritation on the temple, not to admit of a 3 in. object-glass being used, double neglecting atropine. Hypodermic injections are the fashion length of the day; they are useful, but they should not, without mirrors, and revolving diaphragm. The stage adapted is of two kinds, one with a sliding fork upon which the object good reason, take the place of other methods of treatment. rests, which, with a little practice of fingering, is easily So with chloral, which is now tried for almost everything ; the other is a new and exceedingly ingenious managed; we have, for example, Dr. Accetella (L’Independente, No. 2, contrivance of the maker. A strip of metal of sufficient a who dresses and with both sores, tertiary, 1872), primary concentrated solution of the hydrate. Some benefit was width for the object to lie on is connected with two jointed these are screwed to the bottom plate on which they obtained, but it always remains to be seen whether other arms; move. At each end of the strip is fixed a small handle, by done as well or better. would have and older applications not which the stage can be moved in rectangular directions CHLOROFORM AIDED BY MORPHIA. with perfect ease and accuracy. Considering the simplicity Messrs. L’ Abbé and Guyon, in a paper offered to the of the mechanism, we are surprised how well the object Academy of Sciences of Paris, propose, after experimenting keeps in focus under a high power. We have tested the on animals, to inject a solution of morphia before chloro- 4 in. object glass which is supplied with this microscope, form is inhaled for the purpose of anaesthesia. Claude and found it to be of excellent quality both as regards Bernard has already shown that the narcotic effect of power and definition. We understand that the chloroform is obtained more rapidly than usual when microscope, as supplied to St. Thomas’s Hospital, cost .65, combined with morphia. The authors think that the or, with the addition of a binocular arrangement, polarising, absence of feeling lasts longer with chloroform and morphia, and a quantity of other useful apparatus, £ 10 10s.
New Inventions.
Foreign Cleanings.
magnifying