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THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.
638 COCO-NUT AS A REMEDY FOR TAPEWORM. very high degree.’ In the artificial septic fever of rabbits he found the temperature could be’ reduced in an hour from In the Antilles the coco-nut is a popular native remedy for 104° to 101½° by an injection beneath the skin of a grain and tapeworm, and its utility has been proved by Dr. Martiali, a half of iodate of soda dissolved in two cubic centimetres of chief of the medical service at Senegal. A nut of the coco water. Unfortunately the poisonous properties of iodic (Coco crucifera) weighs about five ounces, and the whole of acid are an obstacle to its therapeutic use, and, when com- this is taken, scraped, and three hours afterwards a dose of bined with an alkali, it cannot be given by the mouth, castor oil is administered. The worm comes away five or because free iodic acid is liberated in the stomach. Given six hours after the dose of coco-nut. In nine cases in which hypodermically it is, however, effective, and seems to cause it was given the remedy was successful.
little local disturbance. THE
ANESTHETIC ACTION OF CHLORINE. Ten years ago Cameron published a singular case of a sailor who died comatose after having slept in a cabin containing a quantity of chloride of lime. In the post-mortem it was noticed that a strong odour of chlorine was exhaled from the ventricles of the brain when they were opened, although the autopsy was only made thirty hours after death. Binz has recently observed a similar effect in the case of rabbits, and his researches show that chlorine, bromine, and iodine, when inhaled, paralyse the nerve centres, apparently by a direct action on the protoplasm of the nerve cells, and cause death by cessation ofthe respiration, not of the heart. It used to be taught that chlorine when inhaled is quickly transformed into chloride of sodium by combining with the alkali of the blood. It seems, however, that, as Cameron’s case teaches, the chlorine may remain for a long time in contact with the lymph and blood without undergoing this transformation. POISONING BY TANSY.
A case of fatal poisoning by this common English plant has occurred in America, and has been recorded in the Pittsburg Medical Journal. An infusion of about half an ounce of the dry herb was taken by a woman at bedtime. In a few hours the patient vomited and was purged, and then ceased, to recur in the afternoon with abdominal pain in the epigastric region, which became very severe; the breathing was rapid and shallow, and the pulse became very feeble. The patient died twenty-six hours after taking the tansy. Dr. Gallaher, who describes this case, also records another of poisoning, not from the infusion, but from the oil of tansy. It was taken in order to bring on menstruation, and, small doses having been ineffective, half a teaspoonful was taken at bedtime. Two hours later the patient was awakened by burning pain at the stomach and ringing in the ears; she became coldand pulseless; after an emetic, however, she rapidly recovered. In neither case was there any convulsion,
.
PILOCARPIN IN FETID PERSPIRATION. Armaingaud of Bordeaux, in a communication to the Académie de Médecine, asserts that repeated hypodermic injections of pilocarpin will cure the troublesome fetid perspiration of the ieet without producing any injurious
M.
the system. Prolonged observations on three have convinced him that the effect is permanent, and not temporary. The pilocarpin appears to act by producing a " derivative hypersecretion " in the salivary glands; and the general sudorific action, which can be obtained much more surely with jaborandi than with pilocarpin, cannot be advantageously substituted for the sialologue action of the latter.
effect
on
patients
EUGENOL.
The antiseptic properties of oil of cloves and oil of pepper. mint have long been known, since they have often been employed to prevent starch, &c., from becoming mouldy, They have also been employed as remedies for toothache. Eugenol, which is extracted from these oils, and which is also known as eugenic or caryophyllic acid, is found to have similar powerful antiseptic properties. It has a formula
C1oH1202.
_____________
THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. AT a quarterly meeting of the Council, held on Wednesday last, the report of the Erasmus Wilson Committee, recommending the award of sixty guineas to Mr. Butlin for his two lectures on the Relations of Sarcoma to Carcinoma, and the award of thirty guineas to Mr. Frederick Treves for
his lecture
on the Pathology of Scrofulous Affections of Lymphatic Glands, was adopted. The third report of the Committee on the necessary arrangements for the institution of additional examinations for the diplomas of Member and Fellow, was likewise coma, or paralysis. adopted. (See also THE LANCET January 15th, 1881.) DIALYSED IRON. It was resolved to appoint a " Nomination Committee," According to a writer in "New Remedies" the so-called consisting of seven members to nominate dialysed iron of the United States is not prepared by candidates for the several of the Council, of the College, examinerships dialysis, but is obtained by mixing a small proportion of of acid for the Court and for the with ferric candidates washed Examiners, hydrochloric hydrate precipitated excepting by ammonia, and setting the mixture away for about three Court of Examiners’ section of the Dental Board. weeks, when the clear solution is decanted from a slight The Jacksonian Prize was awarded to W. Watson residue, and is then ready for use. The preparation is thus F.R.C.S., for an essay on the History, Principles, Cheyne, identical with that long in use in this country under the name of ferric oxychloride or chloroxide. The knowledge of Practice, and Results of Antiseptic Surgery. the method by which it is prepared -that the American "dialysed iron" is not dialysed-is said to be kept so sedu. lously secret by the manufacturing fraternity that a practical MEDICAL NOTES IN PARLIAMENT. chemist of some experience was laughed at for his simplicity when he proposed to make dialysed iron by dialysis. It is said that if the factories were. restricted to dialysis for the IN the House of Commons, on Thursday, the7th instant, product they could not possibly supply the demand-without, petitions for inquiry into the Indian Army Medical De. we suppose, increased labour, which would be more troublepartment were presented from W. Morgan, D. M. Jack, and some and expensive. D. N. Martin. A copy was ordered, on the motion of Mr. NITRITE OF SODA. of further correspondence relating to hospitals for According to Binz and Barth the physiological action of Ashley, British seamen in foreign ports. Notice of amendments in of of in nitrite soda the nitrites- in general, and particular, bears considerable resemblance to that of arsenic. Their high Committee on the Metropolitan Open Spaces Bill was given "reductibility" renders them powerful oxidising agents, by Mr. W. H. James, and on the Alkali Works Eegdation and it is asserted that they are first reduced in the tissues Bill a large number of amendments was put down by Earl of the greatest physiological activity, in the gastro-intestinal Percy. mucous membrane, and in the nerve tissues, and next in the Indian Qitinine. blood, where the oxygen seems to be absorbed by the red which assume a chocolate-brown and beOn colour, corpuscles, Friday, Captain Price asked the Secretary of State come functionally powerless in consequence of the formation for India whether it was the fact that the Indian Goverment of methsemoglobin. This elective action of the nitrites ex- were exporting large quantities of cinchona bark for sale in plains, accordingto Binz, their caustic action on the intestine London; and whether, in introducing the cinchona plant when they are applied to the skin, and also their paralytic into India, the Government did so with the object of eneffect on the nerve centres. couraging Z5 private enterprise, or of competing in the market
little local disturbance. THE
ANESTHETIC ACTION OF CHLORINE. Ten years ago Cameron published a singular case of a sailor who died comatose after having slept in a cabin containing a quantity of chloride of lime. In the post-mortem it was noticed that a strong odour of chlorine was exhaled from the ventricles of the brain when they were opened, although the autopsy was only made thirty hours after death. Binz has recently observed a similar effect in the case of rabbits, and his researches show that chlorine, bromine, and iodine, when inhaled, paralyse the nerve centres, apparently by a direct action on the protoplasm of the nerve cells, and cause death by cessation ofthe respiration, not of the heart. It used to be taught that chlorine when inhaled is quickly transformed into chloride of sodium by combining with the alkali of the blood. It seems, however, that, as Cameron’s case teaches, the chlorine may remain for a long time in contact with the lymph and blood without undergoing this transformation. POISONING BY TANSY.
A case of fatal poisoning by this common English plant has occurred in America, and has been recorded in the Pittsburg Medical Journal. An infusion of about half an ounce of the dry herb was taken by a woman at bedtime. In a few hours the patient vomited and was purged, and then ceased, to recur in the afternoon with abdominal pain in the epigastric region, which became very severe; the breathing was rapid and shallow, and the pulse became very feeble. The patient died twenty-six hours after taking the tansy. Dr. Gallaher, who describes this case, also records another of poisoning, not from the infusion, but from the oil of tansy. It was taken in order to bring on menstruation, and, small doses having been ineffective, half a teaspoonful was taken at bedtime. Two hours later the patient was awakened by burning pain at the stomach and ringing in the ears; she became coldand pulseless; after an emetic, however, she rapidly recovered. In neither case was there any convulsion,
.
PILOCARPIN IN FETID PERSPIRATION. Armaingaud of Bordeaux, in a communication to the Académie de Médecine, asserts that repeated hypodermic injections of pilocarpin will cure the troublesome fetid perspiration of the ieet without producing any injurious
M.
the system. Prolonged observations on three have convinced him that the effect is permanent, and not temporary. The pilocarpin appears to act by producing a " derivative hypersecretion " in the salivary glands; and the general sudorific action, which can be obtained much more surely with jaborandi than with pilocarpin, cannot be advantageously substituted for the sialologue action of the latter.
effect
on
patients
EUGENOL.
The antiseptic properties of oil of cloves and oil of pepper. mint have long been known, since they have often been employed to prevent starch, &c., from becoming mouldy, They have also been employed as remedies for toothache. Eugenol, which is extracted from these oils, and which is also known as eugenic or caryophyllic acid, is found to have similar powerful antiseptic properties. It has a formula
C1oH1202.
_____________
THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. AT a quarterly meeting of the Council, held on Wednesday last, the report of the Erasmus Wilson Committee, recommending the award of sixty guineas to Mr. Butlin for his two lectures on the Relations of Sarcoma to Carcinoma, and the award of thirty guineas to Mr. Frederick Treves for
his lecture
on the Pathology of Scrofulous Affections of Lymphatic Glands, was adopted. The third report of the Committee on the necessary arrangements for the institution of additional examinations for the diplomas of Member and Fellow, was likewise coma, or paralysis. adopted. (See also THE LANCET January 15th, 1881.) DIALYSED IRON. It was resolved to appoint a " Nomination Committee," According to a writer in "New Remedies" the so-called consisting of seven members to nominate dialysed iron of the United States is not prepared by candidates for the several of the Council, of the College, examinerships dialysis, but is obtained by mixing a small proportion of of acid for the Court and for the with ferric candidates washed Examiners, hydrochloric hydrate precipitated excepting by ammonia, and setting the mixture away for about three Court of Examiners’ section of the Dental Board. weeks, when the clear solution is decanted from a slight The Jacksonian Prize was awarded to W. Watson residue, and is then ready for use. The preparation is thus F.R.C.S., for an essay on the History, Principles, Cheyne, identical with that long in use in this country under the name of ferric oxychloride or chloroxide. The knowledge of Practice, and Results of Antiseptic Surgery. the method by which it is prepared -that the American "dialysed iron" is not dialysed-is said to be kept so sedu. lously secret by the manufacturing fraternity that a practical MEDICAL NOTES IN PARLIAMENT. chemist of some experience was laughed at for his simplicity when he proposed to make dialysed iron by dialysis. It is said that if the factories were. restricted to dialysis for the IN the House of Commons, on Thursday, the7th instant, product they could not possibly supply the demand-without, petitions for inquiry into the Indian Army Medical De. we suppose, increased labour, which would be more troublepartment were presented from W. Morgan, D. M. Jack, and some and expensive. D. N. Martin. A copy was ordered, on the motion of Mr. NITRITE OF SODA. of further correspondence relating to hospitals for According to Binz and Barth the physiological action of Ashley, British seamen in foreign ports. Notice of amendments in of of in nitrite soda the nitrites- in general, and particular, bears considerable resemblance to that of arsenic. Their high Committee on the Metropolitan Open Spaces Bill was given "reductibility" renders them powerful oxidising agents, by Mr. W. H. James, and on the Alkali Works Eegdation and it is asserted that they are first reduced in the tissues Bill a large number of amendments was put down by Earl of the greatest physiological activity, in the gastro-intestinal Percy. mucous membrane, and in the nerve tissues, and next in the Indian Qitinine. blood, where the oxygen seems to be absorbed by the red which assume a chocolate-brown and beOn colour, corpuscles, Friday, Captain Price asked the Secretary of State come functionally powerless in consequence of the formation for India whether it was the fact that the Indian Goverment of methsemoglobin. This elective action of the nitrites ex- were exporting large quantities of cinchona bark for sale in plains, accordingto Binz, their caustic action on the intestine London; and whether, in introducing the cinchona plant when they are applied to the skin, and also their paralytic into India, the Government did so with the object of eneffect on the nerve centres. couraging Z5 private enterprise, or of competing in the market