PLYMOUTH AND DEVONPORT MEDICAL SOCIETY.

PLYMOUTH AND DEVONPORT MEDICAL SOCIETY.

21 use, but in later stages he strongly recommended insufflations of iodoform, iodol, and boracic acid, with or without ,one-quarter or one-sixth of a...

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21 use, but in later stages he strongly recommended insufflations of iodoform, iodol, and boracic acid, with or without ,one-quarter or one-sixth of a grain of morphia, according to circumstances. In the distressing dysphagia, which formed so prominent a symptom in later stages, relief to pain could be giveu by insufflation of morphia mixed with starch, shortly before a meal, or a spray of cocaine; the latter, however, should be given with an apparatus reaching nearly to the entrance of the larynx, as otherwise most of the drug was wasted on the .pharynx. He had not found lactic acid of much use, and thought tracheotomy should be deferred as late as possible. The paper was illustrated by lantern views of the principal ’lesions of the disease and by microscopic preparations.Dr. S. C. SMITH had found insufflations of bismuth very useful: it might be used in any quantity without harm.Dr. BARRS spoke of the difficulty of estimating the amount of pulmonary mischief in phithis of the lungs when there was laryngitis, due, he thought, to a kind of spurious ,emphysema induced by the stenosis of the larynx. He mentioned the utility of directing the patient to lie prone when Dr. GRIFFITH food entered the larynx on swallowing. bad seen great improvement in the general symptoms ,in one case after tracheotomy.-Dr. HERMAN BRONNER thought that great relief was afforded by scarification when the oedema was great, and by scraping the perichondritis. He had seen good results from lactic acid, and tubercular ulcers treated in the clinique of Dr. Krause - of Berlin.-Dr. CHADWICK thought the purely catarrhal .condition could be cured, but doubted the healing of the .ulcerative stage. Spontaneous Multiple 2Veuritis.-Dr. BARRS read an account of a case of this condition shown at the meeting on Nov. 4th. -Dr. ALLBUTT thought the "dropped foot" of peripheral ’1leuritis was rather a pointing than a dropping of the toes, and that the case seemed to him to suggest anterior polioanyelitis rather than peripheral lesion; he thought loss of sense was invariably present in the latter.-Dr. MAJOR acknowledged the difficulty in diagnosis. He thought the presence of a faradic reaction very remarkable, and the absence of sensory impairment opposed to the diagnosis of peripheral neuritis.-Dr. GRIFFITHS had seen in two ,cases of alcoholic paralysis a temporary diminution of ,sensation. Relations of Meteorology to Respiratory Death-rates in Huddersfield. -Dr. SPOTTISWOODE CAMERON showed, by some large charts, the Curves of the Mortality from’(1) phthisis and (2) other lung diseases. He compared with these the curves during the same eight years of (3) the mean .temperature; (4) minimum temperature; (5) the number of cold weeks; (6) the percentage moisture; (7) the diathermancy of the air, and (8) the rainfall. He concluded that, so far as his figures went, they tended to show that (1) the phthisis curve and that from other lung diseases closely corresponded; that (2) the moisture curve generally corresponded with the disease curves; and that (3) in the single .year where the movement was contrary, and where a diminution of moisture conincided with an increased - respiratory death-rate, the effect of the former had been overborne by a decrease in the diathermancy of the atmosphere ; that (4) the coldness of the winter, as a rule, directly increased the mortality, though less regularly so than did .an increase in the atmospheric moisture. Pathological Specimens.—Mr. M’GILL: Ileo-cæcal Intussusception removed by operation. Dr. BRAITHWAITE: 1. Two specimens of Cancerous Uterus removed by vaginal ’hysterectony. 2. Cystic Ovary and Tube. Dr. ALLAN : 1. Specimens of Syphilitic Liver from adult and infant. 2. Malignant Disease of Larynx, with papillomatous growth on the cords. 3. Taenia mediocanellata with scolex. 4. Brain in which the left Parietal Hole was largely destroyed by a cyst, causing partial hemiplegia. Dr. CLEW’STON: Softening (? Syphilitic) of Optic Thalamus, causing -

prolonged coma.

and Pharmaceutical Appliances.—Mr. MAYO some wool prepared with "Salufer" (sodium fluosilicate), which he highly recommended for surgical purposes. Mr. BENDBLACE HEwETSON showed some " China grass," a fibre extensively used in the district for mixing with silk in manufactures. When impregnated with salicylic acid it was highly absorbent and made a very useful and cheap antiseptic dry dressing. Dr. HELLIES showed a remarkably large specimen of Belladonna Root, ,grown in Leeds.

Surgical

ROBSON showed

PLYMOUTH AND DEVONPORT MEDICAL SOCIETY. A MEETING of the above Society was held at the Plymouth Public Dispensary, on December 12tb, 1887, under the presidency of Dr. W. H. Pearse. Mr. C. BULTEEL read the report of seven successful cases of Spanton’s Cure for Hernia, performed at the Royal Albert Hospital, and compared the operation favourably, both as to simplicity and result, with that of Wood’s. Dr. E. MEERES read a paper on a case of recent medicolegal interest, which involved the differential diagnosis between Tabes Mesenterica and Starvation from Neglect. The salient and comparative features of each were given. The case in point was, at the necropsy, proved clearly to be tabes mesenterica, the hare-brained suggestion of starvation originating from the idle chatter of the gossips of the

neighbourhood. Mr. W. J. SQUARE referred to a case of Tubercular Peritonitis that ha.d been benefited by abdominal section, performed through error in diagnosis.-Dr. BAMPTON related a similar case with a result equally fortunate and

happy. Alr. W. J. SQUARE read

paper on Herpes, believing the in persons of the gouty diathesis.-The PRESIDENT had noticed in India that herpes and ague frequently alternated, the ague disappearing as the herpetic eruption developed.-Mr. C. B17LTFEL instanced a case of abortive herpes on the forearm, followed by pain, oedema of the wrist, and other symptoms of peripheral neuritis. A paper on Alcoholic and Rheumatic Peripheral Neuritis, by Dr. Bampton, was postponed for lack of time. Mr. J. E. SQUARE showed a case and specimen of Pseudo-

eruption

to occur

glioma.

a

frequently

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GLASGOW OBSTETRICAL AND GYNÆCOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE third meeting of the current session was held in the Faculty Hall on the 28th ult., Dr. Wallace, President, in the chair. Mr. A. R. Gunn, 1LB., C.M., Mr. Campbell Syme, L.R.C.P. (Kilmalcolm), and Mr. Wm. Cullen, M.B., C.M. were duly admitted Fellows. Dr. ROBERT PARK exhibited a Uterine Cast of Dysmenorrhoeal Origin, almost entire. The cast was handed to the pathologist, on the bringing up of whose report an account of the case will be given. Mr. A. STUART NAIRNE then read a paper on two successf ul cases of Cholecystotomy, in one of which obstruction had been due to gall-stones, and in another to catarrhal products.

Reviews

and

Notices of Books

or Medical Treatment in aid of an Easy Death. WILLIAM MUNK, M.D., F.S A., Fellow, and late Senior Censor, of the Royal College of Physicians, &c. Pp. 105. Longmans, Green, and Co. 1887. THIS is a treatise by a thoughtful and experienced physician. In his preface Dr. Munk tells us that, although much has been written on death and on the physiology of the various modes of dying, little has been set before the profession on the medical management of the dying. This is, indeed, the case. The subject is not discussed in systematic or in clinical treatises on medicine; neither, we believe, do our academic or hospital lecturers find place for it in their regular courses. The truth would appear to be that it is almost ignored. Certainly, in recent times there has been too much tendency to develop the study of pathogeny and that of intimate pathology, while the whole subject of therapeutics, the ars medendi, has been too much driven into the background. This is a somewhat sad reflection. The truth must be stated, and it is high time now to recall the practitioners of our art to the fact that their place in

Euthanasia,

By