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"ROTHELN: A POINT IN DIAGNOSIS."
998 1000 F., and naught else. As I had at the time severa) from the same house of business suffering from I rubeola, I put the man aside as a possible case of that disease. Next day the supposition of the night before became established as a fact. 1 have since, especially in private practice, on a few occasions been able to confirm this observation. However, without the knowledge that a person so suffering had very recently resided in a house or district in which rubeola was rife, I should be disinclined to attach to this symptom any greater value than that of raising a suspicion of the disease. Another point to which I attached, and still do, importance-viz., symmetry in the glandular enlargement-has, I see, also been observed. I am. Sir. vours faithfullv. W. TONGE-SMITH,
AN IMPROVEMENT IN
PAQUELIN’S CAUTERY. Editor To the of THE LANCET. SIR,—Everyone who has used this instrument must know the extreme value it possesses when it will work properly ; but I think there can be few who have not experienced an aggravation not equalled by anything that I know, by the instrument refusing to work exactly at the time when it is most wanted. I have tried many expedients to remove the difficulty, and have made many experiments to discover the causes of the failures. I have found that they lie chiefly in two directions-the most common being that by some accident the bottle of benzine has been tilted, so that a
patients
’
little of the fluid has run into the imide of the instrument. This renders it for a time perfectly useless, and sometimes permanently so. The second, and most frequent cause of failure is that the passage of the air over the surface of certain kinds of benzine does not enable it to become charged with a sufficient percentage of the inflammatory gas. I have therefore devised two methods of overcoming the difficulties. The first is to use ordinary domestic gas for the purpose of the cautery by the addition of a tube and double nozzle pipe, which is made perfectly clear by the accompanying woodcut. The pipe for the gas is slipped over
MANCHESTER.
(From our own Correspondent.) THE
THE ASSIZES.
I am, Sir, yours &c., LAWSON TAIT
The assizes now being held have had an unusual number of cases of homicide for trial, amongst them being that of a case of poisoning by a surgeon’s assistant, already alluded to in these columns. Two patients, one a baby and the other a woman, both died with all the symptoms of opium poisoning after taking medicine supplied by the accused. In the first case, the magistrate acquitted the prisoner, but in the second, the case was sent to the assizes. Analysis showed morphia to be present to a very large extent, though no satisfactory explanation of how it came to be in the mixture was forthcoming at the trial. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, and a sentence of six months’
"ROTHELN: A POINT IN DIAGNOSIS." THE LANCET.
of
SIR,—The importance of the enlarged cervical gland;?, and the early stiffness of the neck resulting therefrom, as a " point in the diagnosis " of rotheln or rubeola being now raised in your columns, I may be pardoned for quoting two short sentences from an article " Rubeola, &c.,’’ which you did
me
the honour of
inserting
imprisonment was passed.
in THE LANCET
(vol. i., 1883, p. 995). Describing the early symptoms of the disease, I then wrote: " Except the enlarged glands, usually first to appear and last to go, cough persists longest." And again, dealing with the glands: "Tender to the touch, they give rise to the early stiffness of the neck, and sometimes occasion actual pain." It is most satisfactory to me to find three members of the profession independently confirming these observations. My attention was first strongly directed to this point" about 1879-80, when a patient was sent into hospital suffering from a feeling of malaise, stiffness of the neck and enlarged cervical glands, a temperature of
UNIVERSITY.
AT the recent meeting of the Court of the Victoria University several important matters were considered. Dr. Greenwood resigned the Vice-Chancellorship, which office he has held since the establishment of the university, and regret is felt in many quarters that a change has had to be made. Professor Ward was unanimously elected to succeed him for a term of two years; no one took a more active and important part in the founding of the university, and the selection has given universal satisfaction. Dr. Greenwood and Professor Rendall, of University College, Liverpool, were elected pro-Vice-Chancellors. At the same meeting it was resolved to apply to Government for an annual grant from the national exchequer in aid of the expenses of the University, as it is without funds, except such as it derives from the two colleges at present affiliated to it. Another subject discussed was the extension of the work of the University in connexion with teaching bodies and educational institutions where instruction of various kinds is given. It was also resolved to make application to the Government for a separate representative on the Medical Council, in lieu of the proposedjoint representation with Durham University, as provided in the Medical Act Amendment Bill now before Parliament. Our new Professor of Physiology has now got thoroughly to work in his new quarters, and at the inaugural address delivered by him on the llth inst., he produced a very favourable impression upon his hearers; he concluded an interesting " introductory" by expressing a hope that the Victoria University might to some extent follow upon the lines of the Scottish universities, and make its degrees accessible to every student who worked in a fair and steady manner, and that they should not be beyond the reach of the average man to obtain.
the burner of the gas jet, air is admitted by the second pipe, and the mixture takes place in the ball hand-pump, part of which is seen in the woodcut. The second method is, instead of having a bottle such as is usually provided with the cautery, to have one which is identical with the reservoir of Junker’s apparatus for methylene, only of a considerably larger size. In this way the air is saturated with the benzine, and there is less risk from the shape of the bottle that the fluid benzine will run along thetube of the cautery. The improvements are neither complex nor expensive, and I find that they obviate many disappointments. I may say that for heavy work, such as the searing of pedicles of either uterine or ovarian tumours, or the searing of large surfaces of adhesion, I have devised a special form of gas cautery, which is for these purposes superior to Paquelin’s. It is quite simple and never gets out of order, and can be had from Mappin and Co., 121, New-street, Birmingham.
To the Editor
VICTORIA
I
!I
HEALTH AND RECREATION.
The open spaces committee of the Manchester and Salford i, Sanitary Association lately offered the corporation to take ’ charge of the open space in Mount-street, Ardwick, and fit it with gymnastic appliances; and if the experiment of thus converting it into a recreation-ground should prove successful, to transfer all the appliances, &c., free of charge to th& management of the Parks Committee. Steps have been taken to continue during the present summer the muchappreciated children’s holiday movement, whereby children from our courts and alleys are sent out into the country for It is to be hoped that 100m a period of three weeks.
AN IMPROVEMENT IN
PAQUELIN’S CAUTERY. Editor To the of THE LANCET. SIR,—Everyone who has used this instrument must know the extreme value it possesses when it will work properly ; but I think there can be few who have not experienced an aggravation not equalled by anything that I know, by the instrument refusing to work exactly at the time when it is most wanted. I have tried many expedients to remove the difficulty, and have made many experiments to discover the causes of the failures. I have found that they lie chiefly in two directions-the most common being that by some accident the bottle of benzine has been tilted, so that a
patients
’
little of the fluid has run into the imide of the instrument. This renders it for a time perfectly useless, and sometimes permanently so. The second, and most frequent cause of failure is that the passage of the air over the surface of certain kinds of benzine does not enable it to become charged with a sufficient percentage of the inflammatory gas. I have therefore devised two methods of overcoming the difficulties. The first is to use ordinary domestic gas for the purpose of the cautery by the addition of a tube and double nozzle pipe, which is made perfectly clear by the accompanying woodcut. The pipe for the gas is slipped over
MANCHESTER.
(From our own Correspondent.) THE
THE ASSIZES.
I am, Sir, yours &c., LAWSON TAIT
The assizes now being held have had an unusual number of cases of homicide for trial, amongst them being that of a case of poisoning by a surgeon’s assistant, already alluded to in these columns. Two patients, one a baby and the other a woman, both died with all the symptoms of opium poisoning after taking medicine supplied by the accused. In the first case, the magistrate acquitted the prisoner, but in the second, the case was sent to the assizes. Analysis showed morphia to be present to a very large extent, though no satisfactory explanation of how it came to be in the mixture was forthcoming at the trial. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, and a sentence of six months’
"ROTHELN: A POINT IN DIAGNOSIS." THE LANCET.
of
SIR,—The importance of the enlarged cervical gland;?, and the early stiffness of the neck resulting therefrom, as a " point in the diagnosis " of rotheln or rubeola being now raised in your columns, I may be pardoned for quoting two short sentences from an article " Rubeola, &c.,’’ which you did
me
the honour of
inserting
imprisonment was passed.
in THE LANCET
(vol. i., 1883, p. 995). Describing the early symptoms of the disease, I then wrote: " Except the enlarged glands, usually first to appear and last to go, cough persists longest." And again, dealing with the glands: "Tender to the touch, they give rise to the early stiffness of the neck, and sometimes occasion actual pain." It is most satisfactory to me to find three members of the profession independently confirming these observations. My attention was first strongly directed to this point" about 1879-80, when a patient was sent into hospital suffering from a feeling of malaise, stiffness of the neck and enlarged cervical glands, a temperature of
UNIVERSITY.
AT the recent meeting of the Court of the Victoria University several important matters were considered. Dr. Greenwood resigned the Vice-Chancellorship, which office he has held since the establishment of the university, and regret is felt in many quarters that a change has had to be made. Professor Ward was unanimously elected to succeed him for a term of two years; no one took a more active and important part in the founding of the university, and the selection has given universal satisfaction. Dr. Greenwood and Professor Rendall, of University College, Liverpool, were elected pro-Vice-Chancellors. At the same meeting it was resolved to apply to Government for an annual grant from the national exchequer in aid of the expenses of the University, as it is without funds, except such as it derives from the two colleges at present affiliated to it. Another subject discussed was the extension of the work of the University in connexion with teaching bodies and educational institutions where instruction of various kinds is given. It was also resolved to make application to the Government for a separate representative on the Medical Council, in lieu of the proposedjoint representation with Durham University, as provided in the Medical Act Amendment Bill now before Parliament. Our new Professor of Physiology has now got thoroughly to work in his new quarters, and at the inaugural address delivered by him on the llth inst., he produced a very favourable impression upon his hearers; he concluded an interesting " introductory" by expressing a hope that the Victoria University might to some extent follow upon the lines of the Scottish universities, and make its degrees accessible to every student who worked in a fair and steady manner, and that they should not be beyond the reach of the average man to obtain.
the burner of the gas jet, air is admitted by the second pipe, and the mixture takes place in the ball hand-pump, part of which is seen in the woodcut. The second method is, instead of having a bottle such as is usually provided with the cautery, to have one which is identical with the reservoir of Junker’s apparatus for methylene, only of a considerably larger size. In this way the air is saturated with the benzine, and there is less risk from the shape of the bottle that the fluid benzine will run along thetube of the cautery. The improvements are neither complex nor expensive, and I find that they obviate many disappointments. I may say that for heavy work, such as the searing of pedicles of either uterine or ovarian tumours, or the searing of large surfaces of adhesion, I have devised a special form of gas cautery, which is for these purposes superior to Paquelin’s. It is quite simple and never gets out of order, and can be had from Mappin and Co., 121, New-street, Birmingham.
To the Editor
VICTORIA
I
!I
HEALTH AND RECREATION.
The open spaces committee of the Manchester and Salford i, Sanitary Association lately offered the corporation to take ’ charge of the open space in Mount-street, Ardwick, and fit it with gymnastic appliances; and if the experiment of thus converting it into a recreation-ground should prove successful, to transfer all the appliances, &c., free of charge to th& management of the Parks Committee. Steps have been taken to continue during the present summer the muchappreciated children’s holiday movement, whereby children from our courts and alleys are sent out into the country for It is to be hoped that 100m a period of three weeks.