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THE NEW SYDENHAM SOCIETY.
126 The knee is moved by an india-rubber cord passing on a pulley over the axis of the joint, and which throws the leg forward in walking. From the simplicity of its construction, it admits of being the lightest and strongest leg yet invented; whilst, from the absence of friction, it can scarcely ever get out of
repair. THE NEW SYDENHAM SOCIETY. To the Editor of THE LANCET. individual books of the New Sydenham the SiB,—As Society are not in the public market, it might seem that any complaint respecting them should be addressed to the
Committee, and not to a public journal. But as I have failed to get redress for myself and my fellow members through private suggestion, I am compelled to appeal to you. I
say that the books successively less accurate than reprints and translations are apt to be ; but they are not more accurate ; and the Committee has it in its power to give the series an unrivalled accuracy, by communicating to the members, annually or otherwise, the errata which other eyes than the editor’s have seen. I have occasionally furnished such lists of errata as have occurred to my observation; doubtless other readers have seen some which I have not seen; but if any have forwarded the corrections to editor or secretary, they have not got beyond his eyes,-if so far. The first volume of Lancereaux on Syphilis has been in my house not many days. Allow me to state a few of the results of turning over the first sheet. The bibliography (p. 2) is useless, through the carelessness of the translator. Had it been simply transferred by the printer it would have been more intelligible. Where the compiler has translated English or German into French, for the benefit of his Prench readers, the French is left as though it were part of the title; the explanatory notes are sometimes translated, sometimes left untranslated, sometimes "half and half." Le M6meappears as the author of several books, and H Anonyme" of one. I have not time to enumerate the press errors. So also with the bibliographical notes in the succeeding pages. "Judicem" for indicem; "treaty" for treatise. And who is the " Pline" who writes on natural history ? and the " Celse " who writes on medicine ?P Now for the text. Hippocrates called condylomata 11 fies"" (p. I1 ) ; for occalescit read "altuis"" read 11 altius" (p. 13) ; for occallescit(p. 13). The omission of one "1" alters thE meaning of the word. The first line of Martial’s epigram (p. 15) is evidently wrong; the second est" should be "et. It is but just to add that, from the glimpses I have had oj the book in turning over the leaves, the translation is good I am, Sir, your obedient servant, R. H. COOKE COO]KIM. Stoke Newington, Jan. llth, 1869. am
not
issued by the
who may be called upon to treat cases of enteric fever, to give the drug a trial, and report the result in the pages of THE LANCET.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, PODMOBE W. JONES, M.D., PODMORE Late Hon. Physician to the Liverpool Dispensaries. Liverpool, January llth, 1869.
Foreign Cleanings.
prepared to Society are
"
SULPHUROUS ACID IN TYPHOID FEVER. To the Editor of TnE LANCET. SIR,-I have much pleasure in endorsing, as far as my experience of the remedy has gone, the statement made by my friend, Mr. Robert Hamilton, in your impression of the current week, of the value of sulphurous acid in the treatment of
given the remedy in a case of variola, and with a result equally favourable. With regard to the modus operandi of the drug in the treatment of enteric fever, this, I apprehend, if the fungus theory of the disease be accepted, is sufficiently evident, and requires no elucidation from me; for we all know, from daily observation and experience, that the particular form of sulphur at present under consideration is highly destructive to vegetable life, whatever form it may assume. I would, with Mr. Hamilton, urge on those gentlemen. also
typhoid fever. Being called upon in the months of October and November of the past year to treat three cases of enteric fever, in persons aged respectively twenty-one, seventeen, and fifteen years, and believing in the parasitic origin of the disease,
TREATMENT OF CATARACT BY PHOSPHORUS.
TAVIGNOT, a well-known and much esteemed Parisianoculist, has lately published, in the Fmnce Med2cale, a series’ M.
of cases which would go far to prove that frictions on the forehead with phosphorated oil, and instillations of the same into the eye, may contribute to the melting away of the hardened lens or capsule, and the restoration of sight, without the usual operation. These cases are worthy of attention, and should be read by all those who take an interest in ophthalmology. CRIES OF A FOETUS IN UTERO.
The Scalpel states that Dr. Dubreuilh, of Bordeaux, had under his care a girl of sixteen, who, towards the end of gestation, was seized with eclampsia. Chloroform was used,. and a very small male child extracted. The breech of a second child now presented, and, just as the waters broke, the persons present heard the cries of the child, as if they issued out of a box, and they continued until the delivery was effected by the feet. The cries were heard at the moment when the accoucheur pushed up the breech to seize the feet. Air had probably then penetrated into the uterus, which was not quite filled by the second fcetus, and the latter, having inspired it, began to cry. AMPUTATION OF THE LEG ABOVE THE MALLEOLI.
Dr. Guyon brought, on the 12th of August last, a patient before the Surgical Society of Paris with a good stump. The surgeon makes an incision in front, three fingers’ breadth above the malleolus, with the concavity downwards,. and the incision is continued along the inner part of the. leg, in the direction of the malleolar axis. When the knife has reached the upper extremity of the malleolus, the incision is carried in a slightly oblique direction, until it reaches the level of the sole of the foot at the lower extremity of the os calcis. The surgeon then re-ascends with his knife, on the outer side of the leg, to the point where the incision began. An elliptical cut is thus obtained. The tendo Achillis should then be separated from the calcaneum,. the lateral tendons cut, and the flap may be detached up to the line of the first incision. The muscles of the anterior part of the leg are lastly cut through, and the bones sawn as usual. In the flap, which is thick and broad, is the tendo Achillis within its sheath, and the posterior tibial artery. The stump has turnedut, after seven weeks, firm, regular, and well cushioned, the cicatrix being on the front of the leg.
it occurred to me, as it appears to have done to Mr. Hamilton, that I might employ with advantage the sulBLISTERS IN CHILDREN. phurous acid of the British Pharmacoposia. Accordingly, I Dr. Botti states, in L’Imparziale of Florence, December administered the remedy in doses proportionate to the age of the patient and the gravity of the case ; and I am bound 19th, 1868, that he ordered two small blisters for the front to admit, with a success far exceeding my most sanguine of the chest of a child eighteen months old, suffering from expectations. The drug, as pointed out by Mr. Hamilton, severe bronchitis. Unfortunately the two blisters were appears to modify the character of the fever, and most un- placed too close to one another (it is not said how long they doubtedly shortens its duration, convalescence having been were left), and a deep ulceration was the consequence. established in my cases from the seventeenth to the twenty- Soothing poultices did not prevent the formation of sloughs; first day from the commencement of the attack. The effect and these, on being cast off, were replaced by others, which of the acid was most marked on the alvine evacuations, adhered like diphtheritic false membranes. The ulceration., spite of adequate treatment, went on extending, the altering the appearance and altogether removing the sickly,, in child lost its strength, and soon died exhausted. I have from them. off odour usually given disagreeable
repair. THE NEW SYDENHAM SOCIETY. To the Editor of THE LANCET. individual books of the New Sydenham the SiB,—As Society are not in the public market, it might seem that any complaint respecting them should be addressed to the
Committee, and not to a public journal. But as I have failed to get redress for myself and my fellow members through private suggestion, I am compelled to appeal to you. I
say that the books successively less accurate than reprints and translations are apt to be ; but they are not more accurate ; and the Committee has it in its power to give the series an unrivalled accuracy, by communicating to the members, annually or otherwise, the errata which other eyes than the editor’s have seen. I have occasionally furnished such lists of errata as have occurred to my observation; doubtless other readers have seen some which I have not seen; but if any have forwarded the corrections to editor or secretary, they have not got beyond his eyes,-if so far. The first volume of Lancereaux on Syphilis has been in my house not many days. Allow me to state a few of the results of turning over the first sheet. The bibliography (p. 2) is useless, through the carelessness of the translator. Had it been simply transferred by the printer it would have been more intelligible. Where the compiler has translated English or German into French, for the benefit of his Prench readers, the French is left as though it were part of the title; the explanatory notes are sometimes translated, sometimes left untranslated, sometimes "half and half." Le M6meappears as the author of several books, and H Anonyme" of one. I have not time to enumerate the press errors. So also with the bibliographical notes in the succeeding pages. "Judicem" for indicem; "treaty" for treatise. And who is the " Pline" who writes on natural history ? and the " Celse " who writes on medicine ?P Now for the text. Hippocrates called condylomata 11 fies"" (p. I1 ) ; for occalescit read "altuis"" read 11 altius" (p. 13) ; for occallescit(p. 13). The omission of one "1" alters thE meaning of the word. The first line of Martial’s epigram (p. 15) is evidently wrong; the second est" should be "et. It is but just to add that, from the glimpses I have had oj the book in turning over the leaves, the translation is good I am, Sir, your obedient servant, R. H. COOKE COO]KIM. Stoke Newington, Jan. llth, 1869. am
not
issued by the
who may be called upon to treat cases of enteric fever, to give the drug a trial, and report the result in the pages of THE LANCET.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, PODMOBE W. JONES, M.D., PODMORE Late Hon. Physician to the Liverpool Dispensaries. Liverpool, January llth, 1869.
Foreign Cleanings.
prepared to Society are
"
SULPHUROUS ACID IN TYPHOID FEVER. To the Editor of TnE LANCET. SIR,-I have much pleasure in endorsing, as far as my experience of the remedy has gone, the statement made by my friend, Mr. Robert Hamilton, in your impression of the current week, of the value of sulphurous acid in the treatment of
given the remedy in a case of variola, and with a result equally favourable. With regard to the modus operandi of the drug in the treatment of enteric fever, this, I apprehend, if the fungus theory of the disease be accepted, is sufficiently evident, and requires no elucidation from me; for we all know, from daily observation and experience, that the particular form of sulphur at present under consideration is highly destructive to vegetable life, whatever form it may assume. I would, with Mr. Hamilton, urge on those gentlemen. also
typhoid fever. Being called upon in the months of October and November of the past year to treat three cases of enteric fever, in persons aged respectively twenty-one, seventeen, and fifteen years, and believing in the parasitic origin of the disease,
TREATMENT OF CATARACT BY PHOSPHORUS.
TAVIGNOT, a well-known and much esteemed Parisianoculist, has lately published, in the Fmnce Med2cale, a series’ M.
of cases which would go far to prove that frictions on the forehead with phosphorated oil, and instillations of the same into the eye, may contribute to the melting away of the hardened lens or capsule, and the restoration of sight, without the usual operation. These cases are worthy of attention, and should be read by all those who take an interest in ophthalmology. CRIES OF A FOETUS IN UTERO.
The Scalpel states that Dr. Dubreuilh, of Bordeaux, had under his care a girl of sixteen, who, towards the end of gestation, was seized with eclampsia. Chloroform was used,. and a very small male child extracted. The breech of a second child now presented, and, just as the waters broke, the persons present heard the cries of the child, as if they issued out of a box, and they continued until the delivery was effected by the feet. The cries were heard at the moment when the accoucheur pushed up the breech to seize the feet. Air had probably then penetrated into the uterus, which was not quite filled by the second fcetus, and the latter, having inspired it, began to cry. AMPUTATION OF THE LEG ABOVE THE MALLEOLI.
Dr. Guyon brought, on the 12th of August last, a patient before the Surgical Society of Paris with a good stump. The surgeon makes an incision in front, three fingers’ breadth above the malleolus, with the concavity downwards,. and the incision is continued along the inner part of the. leg, in the direction of the malleolar axis. When the knife has reached the upper extremity of the malleolus, the incision is carried in a slightly oblique direction, until it reaches the level of the sole of the foot at the lower extremity of the os calcis. The surgeon then re-ascends with his knife, on the outer side of the leg, to the point where the incision began. An elliptical cut is thus obtained. The tendo Achillis should then be separated from the calcaneum,. the lateral tendons cut, and the flap may be detached up to the line of the first incision. The muscles of the anterior part of the leg are lastly cut through, and the bones sawn as usual. In the flap, which is thick and broad, is the tendo Achillis within its sheath, and the posterior tibial artery. The stump has turnedut, after seven weeks, firm, regular, and well cushioned, the cicatrix being on the front of the leg.
it occurred to me, as it appears to have done to Mr. Hamilton, that I might employ with advantage the sulBLISTERS IN CHILDREN. phurous acid of the British Pharmacoposia. Accordingly, I Dr. Botti states, in L’Imparziale of Florence, December administered the remedy in doses proportionate to the age of the patient and the gravity of the case ; and I am bound 19th, 1868, that he ordered two small blisters for the front to admit, with a success far exceeding my most sanguine of the chest of a child eighteen months old, suffering from expectations. The drug, as pointed out by Mr. Hamilton, severe bronchitis. Unfortunately the two blisters were appears to modify the character of the fever, and most un- placed too close to one another (it is not said how long they doubtedly shortens its duration, convalescence having been were left), and a deep ulceration was the consequence. established in my cases from the seventeenth to the twenty- Soothing poultices did not prevent the formation of sloughs; first day from the commencement of the attack. The effect and these, on being cast off, were replaced by others, which of the acid was most marked on the alvine evacuations, adhered like diphtheritic false membranes. The ulceration., spite of adequate treatment, went on extending, the altering the appearance and altogether removing the sickly,, in child lost its strength, and soon died exhausted. I have from them. off odour usually given disagreeable