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PRISON FARE.
1098
Torquay and Dublin,
19 times more ethyl chloride to produce a given degree of
the mean maximum, the mean minimum, and the mean for the whole period being absolutely the same. In almost all places the rainfall was much less than the average. The most striking deficit was at Torquay and
pp. 391-413.
2 Compare THE LANCET, July 14th, 1906,
p. 106.
3
Brit. Med. Jour.,
1903,
vol. i.,
p. 1421.
1699 the hard struggle to find honest employment and the laborious kinds of work likely to be open to him than he would be if feeling fit and well, and the worse his bodily health the more likely he would be to drift back into the easier life of crime which it is desirable that he should abandon. Besides which starvation is a form of torture which savours of the Middle Ages, and torture, even in a mild form, is not supposed to enter into our penal system. That our judges regard imprisonment as distinct from penal servitude as a severe form of punishment is shown in a striking manner by the rarity of sentences of so many as 18 months’ hard labour, and by the fact that two years is a term hardly ever given. Indeed it seems to be generally considered a more severe punishment than three years’ penal servitude. A minor re-arrangement has taken place recently, but it is possible that considerable revision of our punishments for crime may before long be deemed necessary. There are many who are not satisfied with their efficacy from various points of view, and there should be abundant materials available for the consideration of any who might be appointed to deal with the matter thoroughly.
IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE OF THE SEMINAL VESICLE THROUGH THE VAS DEFERENS. IN the St. Louis Medical Review of Feb. 2nd Professor William Belfield of Chicago has described a novel operation -drainage of the seminal vesicle through the vas deferens. The vas deferens can easily be brought against the skin of the scrotum and held there by a curved needle passed under it. Under local anaesthesia a half-inch incision is made
painlessly through the skin and coverings of the vas On exposing the latter its canal is opened by a transverse or longitudinal incision. The blunted needle of a hypodermic syringe may be passed into the canal and a solution injected. The liquid traverses the vas and ampulla deferens.
the seminal vesicle and vas deferens constitute a neglected field. The symptoms of suppuration of the vesicle (spermato-cystitis)-frequent and painful micturition and retention of urine-are generally referred to the bladder and prostate and treated as cystitis and prostatitis. Enlarged prostate sometimes is diagnosed and prostatectomy is recommended. Professor Belfield thinks that the cases which were temporarily benefited by resection of the vas deferens, when that operation was popular, were examples of spermato- cystitis. By his method these affections are rendered amenable to treatment without danger to the patient or to his sexual function. The suppurating seminal vesicle has been exposed and drained through an extensive perineal incision. But this operation is severe and bloody, entails risks, and necessitates weeks of confinement.
ADVERTISING
BY UNQUALIFIED
DENTISTS.
WE publish a letter this week from a correspondent inwhich he refers to the hardships that the qualified dentist has to suffer owing to the activity of the unqualified advertising dentist (see p. 1115). The position is one which has our sympathy, but is also one for which, owing to the chaotic condition of the law, we can see no remedy. In the course of his letter our correspondent states that he knows of men who after having received some portion of their hospital training have not continued to the end of their course because qualification would prevent them from advertising and so leave them at a disadvantage in competing with those who laud in public journals their abilities and He might point out with some force that the public wares. often go to the advertising man believing him to be the better qualified, this act of the public being due to the fact that they are unable to distinguish between These and the qualified and the unqualified man. many other points are often brought to our notice by correspondents, but we believe that the State will do but little to alter what is certainly an unsatisfactory condition of the law so long as such alteration is only clamoured for by the medical man, the natural assumption being that such alteration is in reality required to benefit the profession and not the public. If, however, an alteration of the law is demanded by the public, then that alteration will comespeedily. To this end a combined effort might be made by those in authority in the dental world to educate the public on the importance of the teeth and the way to discriminate between the qualified and the unqualified.
and distends the seminal vesicle. If necessary the vas may be stitched to the skin with fine silkworm gut which passes through its lumen at each cut surface. Thus a fistula may be maintained as long as is desired and through it the seminal vesicle may be injected. Moreover, the vas The drainage serves as a drainage-tube for the ampulla. may be facilitated by passing a fine silkworm or horsehair thread along the vas to the ampulla. By Professor Belfield’s operation direct medication of the vas, ampulla, and seminal vesicle is made possible. Professor Belfield often performs the operation in his consulting room and finds that the patient is able to walk away and resume his vocation. He recommends irrigation and drainage of the seminal A COMPARISON OF THE THERAPEUTIC ACTION OF THE VARIOUS COMMERCIAL SALTS OF duct and vesicle as invaluable in the following conditions : QUININE. the seminal with of chronic infection vesicle, (1) gonorrhceal or without gleet; (2) chronic suppuration of the seminal , QuiNixE and its salts contain different proportions of the canal in the middle-aged and elderly (usually mistaken for alkaloid owing partly to the presence of water of crystallisaand partly to differences in the relative weights of enlarged prostate) ; (3) recurrent epididymitis which results from repeated invasion of the epididymis by an infec- the acids combined with the alkaloid. The percentages of tion persistent in the seminal vesicle and deep urethra ; and in quinine and its more important salts are as (4) acute inflammation of the seminal vesicle from gonorrhoea follows : quinine, 85-7 ; quinine sulphate, 74’ 1 ; quinine and other infections. Sometimes incision of the vesicle from bisulphate (acid sulphate), 58’8 ; quinine hydrochloride, the rectum with the galvano-cautery is desirable for the 81’5 ; quinine bi-hydrochloride (acid hydrochloride), 81’6 ; immediate relief of. symptoms. Liquids injected into the quinine hydrobromide, 76’4; and quinine salicylate, 68 ° 5. vas then escape by the rectum. The first injection into the They differ widely therefore in alkaloidal content, the seminal vesicle should not exceed 30 minims. A larger sulphates being the weakest. But the ordinary sulphate amount may cause painful contractions of the vesicle (sper- was the first salt of quinine to be used widely and it matic colic) and retention of urine. In his earlier work remains to-day the most popular salt owing probably Professor Belfield observed both these results. As the to the fact that the superiority of other salts of inflammation subsides the injections may be carefully quinine is not generally understood. This is shown by increased in quantity. If complete division of the vas Dr. B. Howard, in a note on the prophylaxis of malaria is thought desirable end-to-end anastomosis may sub- in the Chemist and Dru,ggist of March 23rd. The sequently be performed after freshening the cut sur- bisulphate of quinine was introduced on account of its faces in old cases by running fine catgut or silkworm greater solubility as compared with the ordinary sulphate. gut through the lumen of each end. The infections ot But it carries a large quantity of sulphuric acid into the
tion
alkaloid
Torquay and Dublin,
19 times more ethyl chloride to produce a given degree of
the mean maximum, the mean minimum, and the mean for the whole period being absolutely the same. In almost all places the rainfall was much less than the average. The most striking deficit was at Torquay and
pp. 391-413.
2 Compare THE LANCET, July 14th, 1906,
p. 106.
3
Brit. Med. Jour.,
1903,
vol. i.,
p. 1421.
1699 the hard struggle to find honest employment and the laborious kinds of work likely to be open to him than he would be if feeling fit and well, and the worse his bodily health the more likely he would be to drift back into the easier life of crime which it is desirable that he should abandon. Besides which starvation is a form of torture which savours of the Middle Ages, and torture, even in a mild form, is not supposed to enter into our penal system. That our judges regard imprisonment as distinct from penal servitude as a severe form of punishment is shown in a striking manner by the rarity of sentences of so many as 18 months’ hard labour, and by the fact that two years is a term hardly ever given. Indeed it seems to be generally considered a more severe punishment than three years’ penal servitude. A minor re-arrangement has taken place recently, but it is possible that considerable revision of our punishments for crime may before long be deemed necessary. There are many who are not satisfied with their efficacy from various points of view, and there should be abundant materials available for the consideration of any who might be appointed to deal with the matter thoroughly.
IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE OF THE SEMINAL VESICLE THROUGH THE VAS DEFERENS. IN the St. Louis Medical Review of Feb. 2nd Professor William Belfield of Chicago has described a novel operation -drainage of the seminal vesicle through the vas deferens. The vas deferens can easily be brought against the skin of the scrotum and held there by a curved needle passed under it. Under local anaesthesia a half-inch incision is made
painlessly through the skin and coverings of the vas On exposing the latter its canal is opened by a transverse or longitudinal incision. The blunted needle of a hypodermic syringe may be passed into the canal and a solution injected. The liquid traverses the vas and ampulla deferens.
the seminal vesicle and vas deferens constitute a neglected field. The symptoms of suppuration of the vesicle (spermato-cystitis)-frequent and painful micturition and retention of urine-are generally referred to the bladder and prostate and treated as cystitis and prostatitis. Enlarged prostate sometimes is diagnosed and prostatectomy is recommended. Professor Belfield thinks that the cases which were temporarily benefited by resection of the vas deferens, when that operation was popular, were examples of spermato- cystitis. By his method these affections are rendered amenable to treatment without danger to the patient or to his sexual function. The suppurating seminal vesicle has been exposed and drained through an extensive perineal incision. But this operation is severe and bloody, entails risks, and necessitates weeks of confinement.
ADVERTISING
BY UNQUALIFIED
DENTISTS.
WE publish a letter this week from a correspondent inwhich he refers to the hardships that the qualified dentist has to suffer owing to the activity of the unqualified advertising dentist (see p. 1115). The position is one which has our sympathy, but is also one for which, owing to the chaotic condition of the law, we can see no remedy. In the course of his letter our correspondent states that he knows of men who after having received some portion of their hospital training have not continued to the end of their course because qualification would prevent them from advertising and so leave them at a disadvantage in competing with those who laud in public journals their abilities and He might point out with some force that the public wares. often go to the advertising man believing him to be the better qualified, this act of the public being due to the fact that they are unable to distinguish between These and the qualified and the unqualified man. many other points are often brought to our notice by correspondents, but we believe that the State will do but little to alter what is certainly an unsatisfactory condition of the law so long as such alteration is only clamoured for by the medical man, the natural assumption being that such alteration is in reality required to benefit the profession and not the public. If, however, an alteration of the law is demanded by the public, then that alteration will comespeedily. To this end a combined effort might be made by those in authority in the dental world to educate the public on the importance of the teeth and the way to discriminate between the qualified and the unqualified.
and distends the seminal vesicle. If necessary the vas may be stitched to the skin with fine silkworm gut which passes through its lumen at each cut surface. Thus a fistula may be maintained as long as is desired and through it the seminal vesicle may be injected. Moreover, the vas The drainage serves as a drainage-tube for the ampulla. may be facilitated by passing a fine silkworm or horsehair thread along the vas to the ampulla. By Professor Belfield’s operation direct medication of the vas, ampulla, and seminal vesicle is made possible. Professor Belfield often performs the operation in his consulting room and finds that the patient is able to walk away and resume his vocation. He recommends irrigation and drainage of the seminal A COMPARISON OF THE THERAPEUTIC ACTION OF THE VARIOUS COMMERCIAL SALTS OF duct and vesicle as invaluable in the following conditions : QUININE. the seminal with of chronic infection vesicle, (1) gonorrhceal or without gleet; (2) chronic suppuration of the seminal , QuiNixE and its salts contain different proportions of the canal in the middle-aged and elderly (usually mistaken for alkaloid owing partly to the presence of water of crystallisaand partly to differences in the relative weights of enlarged prostate) ; (3) recurrent epididymitis which results from repeated invasion of the epididymis by an infec- the acids combined with the alkaloid. The percentages of tion persistent in the seminal vesicle and deep urethra ; and in quinine and its more important salts are as (4) acute inflammation of the seminal vesicle from gonorrhoea follows : quinine, 85-7 ; quinine sulphate, 74’ 1 ; quinine and other infections. Sometimes incision of the vesicle from bisulphate (acid sulphate), 58’8 ; quinine hydrochloride, the rectum with the galvano-cautery is desirable for the 81’5 ; quinine bi-hydrochloride (acid hydrochloride), 81’6 ; immediate relief of. symptoms. Liquids injected into the quinine hydrobromide, 76’4; and quinine salicylate, 68 ° 5. vas then escape by the rectum. The first injection into the They differ widely therefore in alkaloidal content, the seminal vesicle should not exceed 30 minims. A larger sulphates being the weakest. But the ordinary sulphate amount may cause painful contractions of the vesicle (sper- was the first salt of quinine to be used widely and it matic colic) and retention of urine. In his earlier work remains to-day the most popular salt owing probably Professor Belfield observed both these results. As the to the fact that the superiority of other salts of inflammation subsides the injections may be carefully quinine is not generally understood. This is shown by increased in quantity. If complete division of the vas Dr. B. Howard, in a note on the prophylaxis of malaria is thought desirable end-to-end anastomosis may sub- in the Chemist and Dru,ggist of March 23rd. The sequently be performed after freshening the cut sur- bisulphate of quinine was introduced on account of its faces in old cases by running fine catgut or silkworm greater solubility as compared with the ordinary sulphate. gut through the lumen of each end. The infections ot But it carries a large quantity of sulphuric acid into the
tion
alkaloid