USES OF COLLODION.

50 minims of the tincture of opium; with, in some cases, in- readiness, at any time of the night, to attend to any circum. the rectum of solution of nitrate of silver. If stance that might arise, and to render assistance in the event this treatment is as successful in other hands as it has been in of an accident, or any other casualty occurring. The captain, however, has thought fit to alter this ap. mine, I shall have the great gratification of saving many lives, parently excellent arrangement, having first contracted the and, I think, of showing the true nature of cholera. I am, Sir, yours obediently, dimensions of the sick berth, originally too small for the A SPITALFIELDS APOTHECARY. average number of sick out of one thousand men, and has forbidden any medical man to sleep in the berth. An order has been issued for the assistant-surgeons to keep consequently OF USES COLLODION. watch during the night, without reference to the nature of the To the Editor of THE LANCET. illness under which the patients may be labouring, thus rendering the situation of the junior medical officers of that ship other uses of this valuable I have SIR,—Among discovery, caused it to be applied with much advantage to the incisions even more irksome and disagreeable than it formerly was. It has always been usual for the medical men of the navy to after cupping. Having first squeezed the skin between the watch over cases requiring medical attendance at night, but and so the the as to close collodion is thumb, finger apertures, it a novelty to convert a surgeon into an ordinary nightis in transverse a applied layers, until sufficient thickness is procured. It is found to hold the divided edges in perfect appo- nurse. It would appear to us a better arrangement if the Admisition, and at the same time to be transparent. The wounds thus treated healed with greater rapidity than those healed, ralty were to assign some definite scale for the dimensions of for the purpose of comparison, in the ordinary way, by diachy- the sick berth, which should not be departed from, instead of it to the caprice of the captain, to alter and contract lon ; and the resulting cicatrices were incomparably less leaving evident to the sight. I have not had an opportunity of the apartment of the sick, according to his fancy; for there are some who, in order to make a favourite deck look smart, trying this preparation in variola, but I would suggest it as a do not hesitate to sacrifice the comfort of the sick, thus pre. valuable application to the face &c., for the purpose of exferring empty show to the sanitary condition of the crew. thus The same effect is and preventing pitting. cluding air, We consider it but fair that candidates for the situation of produced by tincture of iodine, a solution of nitrate of silver, in the navy should be made acquainted with Vigo’s plaster, mercurial ointment, &c., but it strikes me assistant-surgeon that collodion offers a peculiarly ready mode of obviating the circumstance of having to keep watch, that they may not unprepared when required to do so, as we have known some deformity. I need not refer to the fact that the development be and maturation of the variolous pustule is in some way con- old hands to have been considerably startled on finding themselves ordered to perform the duties so generally intrusted to more as it is nected with the contact of

jections into

air, always decidedly abundantly formed on the face, hand, &c., and is more sparingly developed on the hairy scalp of the adult, while on the scalp of early infancy it makes the same progress as on

and

attendants. # Our correspondent has authenticated his communication.—En. L. ____

the face.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant, W. H. RANKING, M.D. Cantab. Norwich, January, 1849.

ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF IODINE IN STRUMOUS CORNEITIS. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,—In the last number of the Guy’s Hospital Reportsviz., that for October-Mr. J. Bateman Wilson has published a short paper on the successful treatment of a very intractable disease-viz., strumous corneitis. The subject of the affection, in this case, had been " under the care of a celebrated oculist" in London, for ten weeks, without benefit, and subsequently treated in the country with similar results. Mr. Wilson now took her in hand, and with iodine in one hand, and alteratives in the other, restored her very speedily to health. The disease, from first to last, was of twelve months’ duration. My object in calling attention to the foregoing case is this. Some months ago I witnessed, at the Ophthalmic Hospital, Charing-cross, the treatment of an extreme case of blindness, consequent on corneitis, in a strumous girl of about eight years of age. Both eyes were affected. But under the internal use of iodine and grey powder the opalescence gave way, and the organs bade fair to be thoroughly restored. Should these observations chance to reach the eye of Mr. Hancock, (who appeared to me to have the care of the child,) I think he would do good service to the interests of ophthalmic surgery by favouring the profession with the general results of this treatment in his hands, if he should have had no subsequent reason to modify his favourable opinion of iodine in the form of disease under notice; and individually, I should feel obliged to him.-I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, G. B. M. Woolwich, Nov. 18, IB4B. NAVAL-ASSISTANT SURGEONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,—At the time when the position of naval-assistant surgeons has been occupying so much of the public attention, and when it might be expected that a system of conciliation, rather than of annoyance, would be adopted to reconcile those

in some measure, to their condition, already so anomalous and uncomfortable, we are surprised to learn that a new species of vexatious discipline has been commenced on board one of the ships in the Mediterranean fleet. The ship to which allusion is made has been in commission for upwards of eighteen months, during which period it has been customary for an assistant-surgeon to sleep in the sick berth, to be in

gentlemen,

To the Editor

of THE LANCET.

SIR,—Your kindness and liberality in advocating our cause induces me again to trouble you with a few remarks, in the hope that you will give them a place in your valuable journal. A short time since, a paragraph appeared in a paper generally acknowledged to be well-informed in naval and military topics. This paragraph announced that their lordships were about to compound with assistant-surgeons-that is to say, refuse their petition to be admitted to mess with ward-room officers, but grant them the boon of occupying cabins, a boon which, if their lordships had any intention of granting, would be found insufficient, as the dignity of the profession would not be sufficiently maintained by that paltry grant, which, I presume, would, like that of 1846, (viz., a cabin fitted-up as a reading-room, to be set apart for assistant-surgeons, second

to be rendered null and void As the colleges have now taken up the matter, let them not cease until, like their transAtlantic brethren, they have emancipated their junior brethren from the invidious and anomalous position of constantly associating with youths completing their general education, and engaged in the attainment of their nautical profession; let them energetically assert our claims, and hurl back with scorn any attempt at a compromise. Should you advise that some of the assistant-surgeons on the home station should put themselves in correspondence with the colleges on this, I for one will act as you advise, and I think I may answer for several more uniting with me. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, M.R.C.S. R.N.

masters, and clerks,) be allowed at the

option of the captain.

___________

A

BULLET SWALLOWED. To the Editor ofTHE LANCET. SIR,—In THE LANCET, of December 2nd last, to which I have but now had an opportunity of referring, there is a note from Mr. Litchfield, describing the case of a child who had swallowed a bullet, and requesting a statement of any similar case, with the results, that might have occurred in the practice of your readers. In reply to this, I perceive but five cases of such an occurrence described-the one in your last number dating twenty years since. If you think the following additional case is worth insertion, it is at your service. About two months since, a little boy, between two and three years old, swallowed a large pistol bullet. I saw him about half an hour afterwards, and directed about a teaspoonful of sulphate of magnesia, dissolved in water, to be given, and repeated the next morning, (the bullet having been swallowed about eight P.M.) with a view, not only to accelerate the escape of the bullet, but partly, also, to convert any salt of