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THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR RELIEF IN BELGIUM.
809
made in
hospital; (3)
the
proportion of the totalof the time of meeting in New I
York of the four
amount of 90 per cent. alcohol represented by societies of kindred nature-viz., the American the above uses for (a) in-patients and (b) out- .Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, the
patients,
and the average amount of duty-paidAmerican Section of the Medical Museums Associa-
alcohol 90 per cent. represented by the above used ition, the Cancer Society, and the American Associa1 of Immunologists. It was resolved that some (a) per in-patient, (b) per out-patient; and (4) the tion 1916 i of federation should be attempted, so as to and for the 1915, sort 1914, respectyears receipts 7 present subjects of common interest to combined tively from other than charitable contributions.
audiences. A number of papers were read on museum and laboratory technique, museum teaching, the proper presentation of the results of medical research, and kindred matters. The International Association, of which the American Section is but a part, includes in its membership most of the museum curators in this country. Most successful meetings of this Association were held in London during the International Medical Congress of 1913. The Museums Association has done much to improve the technique employed in preserving and mounting of specimens. This matter has a considerable importance at the present time, for it is necessary for the progress of military surgery that a complete record should be made of the wounds and diseases suffered by our soldiers.
AURICULAR FLUTTER DISCOVERED BY RADIOSCOPY. IN the Journal of the American Medical Association of March 17th Dr. G. W. Holmes and Dr. P. D. White have described a case in which auricular flutter was discovered in what appears to be a novel manner-by radioscopy. A painter and paperhanger, aged 62 years, was referred to the Massachusetts General Hospital for diagnosis. He had been well until four months previously, when attacks of pain in the region of the umbilicus began. They were most frequent in the early morning, awaking him about 2 o’clock and compelling him to rise and pace the floor. Gradually the pain had become more persistent and was present much of the time. Hot applications gave some relief. THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR RELIEF IN There was no nausea or vomiting. No relation could BELGIUM. be discovered between the time or kind of the meals and the pain. Yet the patient complained of THE United States Government has assumed indigestion, was afraid to eat much, and had responsibility for the work of the Commission for lost 30 lb. in the four months. He was slightly Relief in Belgium, and it has been decided that There no was constipated. dyspnoea or preacordial the National Committee for Relief in Belgium will pain. On examination he was pale and under suspend its appeals for subscriptions to the British weight. All the teeth were artificial and the tongue public. Donations received after June lst will was coated. Percussion showed slight enlargement be held to provide for emergencies now unforeseen of the heart. The action was regular and rapid in connexion with relief in Belgium. This course of (115 to the minute). The sounds were faint and action is in accordance with the suggestion made by clear. Radioscopy after a bismuth meal did not Mr. H. C. Hoover, chairman of the Relief Commission, show any abnormality of the gastro-intestinal tract. who is now in Washington, and has the approval of The right and left borders of the heart were then His Majesty’s Government and the Belgian Minister. clearly outlined, when the left was seen to be pul- During the existence of the National Committee, sating regularly at the rate of 115 to the minute whose second annual meeting will be held at the and the right at twice that rate. Auricular flutter Mansion House on June 15th, over ;E2,400,000 have was diagnosed, and the diagnosis confirmed by the been subscribed through its medium for the relief electrocardiograph, which showed auricular flutter of Belgium. As will be seen from the letter of Dr. with a 2:1 a.-v. block. Right vagal pressure in- H. A. Des Voeux in another column, the work of creased instantly the grade of the block, bringing the Belgian Doctors’ and Pharmacists’ Relief Fund out clearly the separate auricular deflections. continues without interruption. The case suggests a possibly fruitful form of investigation in an obscure group of cases. TALC IN TABLETS. MEDICAL MUSEUMS.
LARGE and important questions came up for discussion at the recent annual meeting, held in New York, of the American Section of the International Association of Medical Museums. This section represents the leading medical museums and laboratories of the United States and Canada, and is presided over by Dr. 0. Klotz, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Dr. Maude E. Abbott, of McGill University, being secretary-treasurer. The session opened with the despatch of a telegram to Washington placing the services of its workers and resources in its special field of research at the disposal of the National Committee in the present emergency. The establishment of a central - bureau for the permanent preservation of the results of
scientific research, especially histological material, to be used for purposes of study by scientific
workers
throughout the country, was brought forward by Dr. M. C. Winternitz, of Baltimore, and
a
committee
appointed
to
bureau. A discussion took place
organise such a on the clashing
Mr. Albert E. Parkes, F.I.C., has been examining medicinal tablets and finds that many of them contain quantities of talc sufficient, he suggests, to cause gastro-intestinal disturbance. Mr. Parkes states that in the process of manufacture of compressed tablets it is generally necessary to mix with the powdered drug after granulation a so-called lubricant to ensure the mass flowing freely from the hopper to the dies and also to prevent the finished tablets from sticking to the dies and to each other. Various agents have been used for this purpose, one of which is talc, or French chalk, in the use of which it is generally advised to limit the amount to 1 or 2 per cent. Many of the cheaper varieties of tablets on the market were, however, found to contain talc in amounts far exceeding this. Mr. Parkes’s attention was first called to the composition of soda-mint tablets, a sample of which had caused unpleasant symptoms. They were found on analysis to contain 5’5 per cent. of insoluble matter which proved to be talc. Fourteen different samples of these tablets were then purchased from shops in various localities, and on examination
z
made in
hospital; (3)
the
proportion of the totalof the time of meeting in New I
York of the four
amount of 90 per cent. alcohol represented by societies of kindred nature-viz., the American the above uses for (a) in-patients and (b) out- .Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, the
patients,
and the average amount of duty-paidAmerican Section of the Medical Museums Associa-
alcohol 90 per cent. represented by the above used ition, the Cancer Society, and the American Associa1 of Immunologists. It was resolved that some (a) per in-patient, (b) per out-patient; and (4) the tion 1916 i of federation should be attempted, so as to and for the 1915, sort 1914, respectyears receipts 7 present subjects of common interest to combined tively from other than charitable contributions.
audiences. A number of papers were read on museum and laboratory technique, museum teaching, the proper presentation of the results of medical research, and kindred matters. The International Association, of which the American Section is but a part, includes in its membership most of the museum curators in this country. Most successful meetings of this Association were held in London during the International Medical Congress of 1913. The Museums Association has done much to improve the technique employed in preserving and mounting of specimens. This matter has a considerable importance at the present time, for it is necessary for the progress of military surgery that a complete record should be made of the wounds and diseases suffered by our soldiers.
AURICULAR FLUTTER DISCOVERED BY RADIOSCOPY. IN the Journal of the American Medical Association of March 17th Dr. G. W. Holmes and Dr. P. D. White have described a case in which auricular flutter was discovered in what appears to be a novel manner-by radioscopy. A painter and paperhanger, aged 62 years, was referred to the Massachusetts General Hospital for diagnosis. He had been well until four months previously, when attacks of pain in the region of the umbilicus began. They were most frequent in the early morning, awaking him about 2 o’clock and compelling him to rise and pace the floor. Gradually the pain had become more persistent and was present much of the time. Hot applications gave some relief. THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR RELIEF IN There was no nausea or vomiting. No relation could BELGIUM. be discovered between the time or kind of the meals and the pain. Yet the patient complained of THE United States Government has assumed indigestion, was afraid to eat much, and had responsibility for the work of the Commission for lost 30 lb. in the four months. He was slightly Relief in Belgium, and it has been decided that There no was constipated. dyspnoea or preacordial the National Committee for Relief in Belgium will pain. On examination he was pale and under suspend its appeals for subscriptions to the British weight. All the teeth were artificial and the tongue public. Donations received after June lst will was coated. Percussion showed slight enlargement be held to provide for emergencies now unforeseen of the heart. The action was regular and rapid in connexion with relief in Belgium. This course of (115 to the minute). The sounds were faint and action is in accordance with the suggestion made by clear. Radioscopy after a bismuth meal did not Mr. H. C. Hoover, chairman of the Relief Commission, show any abnormality of the gastro-intestinal tract. who is now in Washington, and has the approval of The right and left borders of the heart were then His Majesty’s Government and the Belgian Minister. clearly outlined, when the left was seen to be pul- During the existence of the National Committee, sating regularly at the rate of 115 to the minute whose second annual meeting will be held at the and the right at twice that rate. Auricular flutter Mansion House on June 15th, over ;E2,400,000 have was diagnosed, and the diagnosis confirmed by the been subscribed through its medium for the relief electrocardiograph, which showed auricular flutter of Belgium. As will be seen from the letter of Dr. with a 2:1 a.-v. block. Right vagal pressure in- H. A. Des Voeux in another column, the work of creased instantly the grade of the block, bringing the Belgian Doctors’ and Pharmacists’ Relief Fund out clearly the separate auricular deflections. continues without interruption. The case suggests a possibly fruitful form of investigation in an obscure group of cases. TALC IN TABLETS. MEDICAL MUSEUMS.
LARGE and important questions came up for discussion at the recent annual meeting, held in New York, of the American Section of the International Association of Medical Museums. This section represents the leading medical museums and laboratories of the United States and Canada, and is presided over by Dr. 0. Klotz, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Dr. Maude E. Abbott, of McGill University, being secretary-treasurer. The session opened with the despatch of a telegram to Washington placing the services of its workers and resources in its special field of research at the disposal of the National Committee in the present emergency. The establishment of a central - bureau for the permanent preservation of the results of
scientific research, especially histological material, to be used for purposes of study by scientific
workers
throughout the country, was brought forward by Dr. M. C. Winternitz, of Baltimore, and
a
committee
appointed
to
bureau. A discussion took place
organise such a on the clashing
Mr. Albert E. Parkes, F.I.C., has been examining medicinal tablets and finds that many of them contain quantities of talc sufficient, he suggests, to cause gastro-intestinal disturbance. Mr. Parkes states that in the process of manufacture of compressed tablets it is generally necessary to mix with the powdered drug after granulation a so-called lubricant to ensure the mass flowing freely from the hopper to the dies and also to prevent the finished tablets from sticking to the dies and to each other. Various agents have been used for this purpose, one of which is talc, or French chalk, in the use of which it is generally advised to limit the amount to 1 or 2 per cent. Many of the cheaper varieties of tablets on the market were, however, found to contain talc in amounts far exceeding this. Mr. Parkes’s attention was first called to the composition of soda-mint tablets, a sample of which had caused unpleasant symptoms. They were found on analysis to contain 5’5 per cent. of insoluble matter which proved to be talc. Fourteen different samples of these tablets were then purchased from shops in various localities, and on examination
z