THE EGYPTIAN MEDICAL CONGRESS.

35. obstetric medicine were beacon lights on the professional atmosphere. Although these changes are most marked a of thohe on the other side of the and those lives world, during thunderstorm, yet undoubtedly they occur at otherpath were rendered sacred by the memory of their character, of times, though not to the same degree, when there is notheir labours, and of their genius. Their professional trials, apparent electric disturbance. But even when the sky is their doubts and difficulties, their temptations, and their clear the atmosphere may exhibit considerable electrical honours were all separate strands which, woven together, tension. The electroscope constantly shows that a conconstituted the bond which kept them together. Sir James ducting point elevated in the air is taking up a positive Graham in concluding remarked : ’’ Sir, may it be our good charge (as a rule) of electricity, the tension rising with fortune to maintain the high traditions of our calling and, if the height of the point. This effect increases towards daypossible, to add to its history, and to hand down to those who" break until it reaches a maximum some hours after sunrise. follow even a better record than we ourselves have received." It then diminishes until it is weakest a few hours before> Dr. (now Sir) J. Halliday Croom (President of the British sunset when again t rises and attains a second maximum Gynaecological Society), who was one of those who responded value some hours after sunset, the second minimum to the toast proposed by Sir James Graham of " British occurring before daybreak. There are accordingly constant Obstetric Medicine,prophesied that in the course of the changes of electrical tension going on, changes, however, next generation gynascology would have become part of which are more rapid and much more marked during a general surgery and gynaecologists would have become thunderstorm and which are quite powerful enough to exert. absorbed in the ranks of general surgeons. Mr. Alban H. G. an evil influence on certain articles of food or drink susDoran proposed " The Guests"and a speech by Dr. F. H. ceptible to change, notably meat, milk, and beer or cider. " Champneys giving the company the toast of " The Chairman" There is no doubt that the unfavourable effects on the feeling was followed by a reply from Sir John Williams in which of well-being experienced by many individuals, such as headhe earnestly sought to interest the profession beyond the sea ache and oppression and nervous distress, on the advent of in the study of comparative human pathology. He pointed a thunderstorm have a similar foundation and are due to the out that the British Empire contained many different races same electrical differences of potential, the effects passing and the study of comparative human pathology must be away as the disturbed condition of the atmosphere or the carried on at the present time because the tendency of races storm subsides. was to mix and to result in a type representing no definite characteristics. Beyond that there was much work to do THE EGYPTIAN MEDICAL CONGRESS. in the way of coordinating the work of gynaecologists and A YEAR ago it was decided to hold a congress of medicine obstetricians. in the buildings of the Government Medical School in Cairoduring the third week of next December, and we underTHE "TURNING" EFFECT OF A THUNDERstand that the preliminary arrangements for its success are STORM ON FOODS SUSCEPTIBLE TO now fairly advanced. The Khedive and his Ministers haveCHANGE. the scheme and will not be lacking in warmly accepted DuRING serious electrical disturbances in the atmosphere showing hospitality to visitors and in giving Government it is well known that beer may become "hard," milk aid in various ways, of which printing the proceedings is an may go sour, and meat may frequently "turn." Con- important item. Already 300 medical practitioners resident siderable speculation has arisen as to the cause of this in Egypt have joined the congress, and 250 from Europe and change. It has been suggested that an ozonised state of other parts have announced their intention of being present. the air due to electric discharge has something to do with Steamship companies will carry members of the congress it or that the formation of nitrous acid in the air is respon- at a reduced rate to Egypt, and once arrived theresible for the change. It is, however, not probable that the they will find special facilities while staying in the hotels atmosphere undergoes any chemical change sufficient to and while making excursions in the country. The coming account for the extent to which certain foods turn. winter, in addition to the usual attractions of Egypt, will Moreover, any important quantity of ozone or nitrous acid allow foreigners to see for the first time the finished dam at would be calculated to exert a preservative effect, as both Assouan and the new Egyptological Museum with all its In every European country some are powerful antiseptics. It may be urged, again, that assorted treasures. the phenomenon is due to oxidation by means of ozone, honorary presidents have been appointed, those for Great but this can hardly be the case in view of the large quantities Britain including Sir William Chuich, Bart., K.C.B., Sirof beer and milk that are soured in relation to the very small Frederick Treves, Bart., K.C.V.O.. C.B., Sir Christopher quantity of ozone which a thunderstorm produces. In -the Nixon, Sir W. Taylor, K.C.B., Director- General of the Army case of meat, at any rate, the "turning" " can scarcely Medical Service, Dr. Patrick Manson, C.M.G., and Professor be attributed to the action of ozone or of oxygen. The A. E. Wright of Netley. Delegates have already been change is probably due not directly to chemical agencies appointed to represent various bodies, such as the Royal but purely to a disturbance of the electric equilibrium. College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of It is well known that an opposite electrical state is set Surgeons of England, the Royal College of Physicians of up by induction, so that an electrical condition of the Ireland, the Clinical Society of London, the Laryngological atmosphere induces a similar condition, though opposite in Society of London, the Royal Medical and Chirurgical character, in the objects on the earth. Persons near whom Society, the Rontgen Society, and other societies. The a flash of lightning passes frequently experience a severe work of the congress is to be divided among only four shock by induction though no lightning touches them, and in sections : Medicine, with Dr. F. M. Sandwith as one of the the celebrated experiment of Galvani he showed that a vice-presidents ; Surgery, with Mr. H. M. N. Milton as skinned frog in the neighbourhood of an electrical machine president and Mr. F. C. Madden as a vice-president; Ophalthough dead exhibited convulsive movements every time thalmology, with Dr E. C. Fischer as vice-president; and that a spark was drawn from the conductor. In the case Tropical Diseases presided over by Dr. M. A. Ruffer. An of milk "turning"or of beer "hardening"or of meat English committee under the presidency of Sir Frederick becoming tainted it is probably, therefore, an instance Treves has been formed to forward the interests of the conof chemical convulsion or, it may be, of a stimulus givengress, and Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., K.C V.O , Dr. Stephen to bacteriological agencies set up by an opposite electric Sir Lauder Brunton, Dr. Savage, Sir Victor condition induced by the disturbed electrical state of the Horsey, Dr. James Taylor, and Mr. W. Watson Cheyne, C.B., ____

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(I Mackenzie,

36

recently travelled in Egypt, have consented to act upon it. Dr. W. Page May, of 9, Manchestersquare, London, W., has been appointed honorary secretary of this local committee, and to him all questions on the subject should be addressed. In wishing success to the first Egyptian Congress of Medicine we may remind those of our readers who are fortunate enough to be able to take a winter holiday of the saying of an old Jewish physician : " He who hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world. Her soil is go d, her Nile is a marvel, her air is soft with an odour above aloes, refreshing the heart And how should Cairo be otherwise when she is the Mother of the World" moat of whom have

tr treatment in these two cases are attributed

by Dr. Veasey to early administration of mercury and iodides, as it has b{ been proved that in cases of such neuritis occurring more a year after infection recovery was rarely obtained. th than

th the

THE WASTE OF WATER PARIS

IN CITIES.

one of the cities which were held up as London of the beneficial effects of a municipal to examples and M. chef de bureau of water-supply w Prefecture of the Gaston Cadoux, t the was Seine, good enough to come, a1 the request of the London County Council, that he at was

e)

m might instruct Lord Llandaff’s Commission1 on the question. Le Figaro of June 28th, which is usually well THE PREVALENCE OF SMALL-POX. on in informed all matters Parisian, gives an amusing sk, of the effects of the heat on the chief director THE following figures show the number of patients sketch He will not agree admitted to the various hospitals of the Metropolitan of the water-supplies of the city. wi the climatic conditions are with his that the mentioned :-On Board for dates secretary Asylums Saturday, hot weather. He and hates -June 28th, there were 14 fresh cases ; on Sunday, the 29th, su fact, superb-in dry sel from the windows of his office a profusion there were eight fresh cases ; on Monday, the 30th, there sees of vegetables and of flowers. The vegetables are washed ’were 12 fresh cases ; on Tuesday, July lst, there were 14 - fresh cases ; and on Wednesday, the 2nd, there were six in water and they will be cooked in water, the flo will be put into water to keep them fresh. In a fresh cases. For the week ending June 28th 15 fresh cases flowers fe days the water will fail and then they will blame him. - of small-pox were notified in the county of Essex, and owing few to the marked diminution in the number of cases the weekly It had been prophesied that there would be no heat and no list hitherto issued by the medical officer of health will be dr drought before the end of June and he did not therefore - discontinued for the present, its place being taken by a ex expect to have to take any "special measures " before July. Tl The return. secretary inquires as to the nature of the special ,monthly measures which will be adopted. "What naturally would OPTIC NEURITIS PRIMARILY PRODUCED BY limit the be ’1 We shall they consumption of water, we SYPHILIS. shall put the consumers on a fixed allowance, we shall close th, conduits. That is the best way of preventing the OPTIC neuritis primarily resulting from syphilis is decidedly the Pa Parisians from rare and, indeed, its existence has been denied by some being without water." If the I’igaro is not to( too severe on the director of the Paris water-supplies it writers. In the majority of cases of optic neuritis following ml must his views as to the waste of water be admitted that syphilis of some years’ standing the neuritis has been accord ac with those of some of the present observed to follow the formation of a cerebral gumma, but very accurately water directors and of some of their in the class of cases referred to below the antecedent condi- ml metropolitan company en tion was one of recent syphilis directly producing the engineers. symptoms in question. Leber states that the optic neuritis of primary syphilis is different from that secondary to A NEW GASOMETRIC METHOD FOR THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF FREE HYDROcerebral gumma, but the former disease is, as already stated, CHLORIC ACID IN THE GASTRIC JUICE. so rare that Horstmann (1889) was able to collect only eight A KKOWLEDGE of the amount of free hydrochloric acid In the American Journal of cases from medical literature. in the gastric juice is frequently an important the Medl,cal Sc’iencÞs for June Dr. C. A. Veasey of Phila- present pr in diagnosis and many analytical processes have el, element two of with cases the disease, together delphia reports ac The tiri-t was of a the results of treatment. case that accordingly been devised for this purpose. The well-known of Sjoqvist depends on the fact that when gastric method been who had from man, aged 45 years, suffering growing m is for a of and diminution of visual dimness ju juice evaporated with barium carbonate and the residue sight acuity media the The ocular were clear and g ignited the organic acids are destroyed, but the fortnight. pupillary gently be chloride produced by the action of the free hydroreactions were normal. Ophthalmoscopic examination showed barium cl chloric acid remains unaffected and can be estimated as a moderate degree of papillitis, more marked in the left usual. u: This had had a The chancre disc. may obviously be done either by precipitation syphilitic optic patient and weighing or volumetrically, but Professor E. Riegler of three months previously, the infection being followed by the at é in Roumania, has suggested a gasometric process - development of a characterbtic cutaneous rai-h and mucous JJassy, which w he considers to be simpler than the preceding and The field of vision was contracted symmetrically patches. m but there was no central scotoma. The patient had been mord applicable for clinical purposes. His method, which is in the Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift described He was with now treated ’taking mercury irregularly. oi June 19th, is based on the reactions (1) that barium mercurial inunctions and rapidly increasing doses of of ic is precipitated when a solution of barium chloride ,potassium iodide. Improvement began in a week and in iodate two months the optic neuritis had disappeared and vision is treated with iodic acid, and (2) that nitrogen is evolved from a mixture of barium iodate and hydrazin The second case was that of a woman, aged e’ was normal. Sl He mixes 10 cubic centimetres of gastric juice ,43 years, the wife of the above patient. She suffered from sulphate. .gradually increasing inability to see objects. Ophthalmo- wwith half a gramme of barium carbonate in a platinum c: thoroughly with a glass rod, evaporates to dryness in scopic examination showed commencing papillitis in the right capsule t] water bath, and ignites gently till the ash becomes grey. eye and moderate papillitis in the left. The patient had the I residue is extracted with a small quantity of boiling been infected with syphilis by her husband and had been The taking mercury irregularly since then. The field of vision vwater, which must not exceed 40 cubic centimetres, and this solution is treated in a small flask with five cubic centimetres was contracted only in the left eye. She was put through s’ the same treatment as her husband with the result that the oof a 6 per cent. solution of crystallised iodic acid, shaken, papillitis subsided in six weeks and vision was restored to - 1 At the twenty-second sitting of the Royal Commission on the The very favourable results of London the normal soon after. I Water-supply, May 16th, 1898.

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