silk. Under this treatment, tolerance of the bandage is generally induced within twenty-four hours, and the ulcer will soon be able to bear a greater degree of compression, and, perhaps, the tonic influence of cold.

Case xvi., p. 136, is an instance of the extreme intractability above alluded to, and likewise of the speedy and perfect success of this combination; and I have it in my power, at the present time, to show to the reviewer, or to any other party interested in such cases, what remains of a large and irritable ulcer-complicated by a varicose state of the viens-of more than twenty years' standing, which has baffled all the means hitherto had recourse to, although neither pains nor expense have been spared to obtain a cure, and which is in rapid progress toward cicatrization, after five weeks of this tepid water-dressing, aided by one or another of the astringent lotions spoken of in the section on cold water-dressing, the patient using her limb, and following her ordinary avocations throughout the process.

That indolent ulcers of the leg have been treated by water-dressing and the bandage, "for the last dozen years"" may be perfectly true, in the introductory observations, p. viii., I have stated as much; but, judging from my own experience, and, I may add, that of many other surgeons with whom I have conversed on the subject, it is, on the whole, a far less efficient mode of treatment than the old established method of Baynton, and, on that account, doubtless is not very generally followed. To ulcers characterized by extreme morbid sensibility, unless tolerance of the bandage be brought about by the means I have suggested, it is totally inapplicable. It is not, therefore, so much in favor of water-dressing as of the simple expedients described above as adjuncts to it, that I have sought to appeal.

THE MECHANICAL LEECH OF MM. ALEXANDRE & Co., OF PARIS. This apparatus consists essentially of two parts-an instrument for puncturing the skin, and another for promoting the flow of blood by removing atmospheric pressure from the punctured part. The puncture is effected by a lancet, the blade of which has the form of the cutting apparatus of the leech. This lancet is fixed in the mouth of a tube, and projects about the eighth of an inch beyond the edge of the tube. It may be elevated by a small lever, so that its point shall be within the tube, in which position it is secured by a catch. Attached to the opposite end of the tube, by a piece of vulcanized India-rubber, which acts as a spring, is a piston, which is pressed down by a rod, and on removing the pressure, is drawn back by the India-rubber spring. The piston being pressed down, the open end of the tube in which the lancet is fixed, is placed over the part to be punctured; the pressure is

now removed, when the piston is drawn back by the spring, and exhausting the air within the tube, the skin is forced up into the mouth of the tube. On loosening the lever, by which the lancet has been elevated, the latter is drawn drown by a spring, also of vulcanized India-rubber, so as to effect the puncture. The cutting instrument is now removed, and a glass tube with a piston, similar to that already described, is placed over the puncture, the air within being exhausted so that the tube adheres to the part, and the blood flows freely into it. Half a dozen or a dozen tubes, each of which would draw as much blood as a large leech, might be thus attached in two or three minutes. The apparatus, consisting of a cutting instrument and six or twelve suction tubes, together with sundry implements for cleaning the lancet and tubes after use, are contained in a small case. It is very neatly got up, and we understand from those who have used it, is very efficient. The idea, however, is not new; so long ago as the year 1813, the silver medal was awarded at the Society of Arts to Mr. J. Whitford, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, for the invention of a somewhat similar apparatus for the same purpose. In Mr. Whitford's apparatus the exhaustion was effected by a syringe, which was found to be inconvenient. The use of vulcanized India-rubber springs, attached to the pistons, by which efficient suction tubes are economically formed, is a great improvement in MM. Alexandre & Co.'s apparatus.-Lond. Med. Jour., March, from Phar. Jour., Feb. 1849.

NEW METHOD OF TREATING URETHRAL PAINS FOLLOWING GONORRHEA.-M. Vidal (de Cassis) having frequently remarked that these pains were relieved by pressing the penis with the fingers, has been led to try compression for their treatment, and has found it useful, affording a perfect cure in many cases, and a marked alleviation in others. The operative procedure, says M. Vidal, is so simple that it is scarcely necessary to mention it. "The surgeon takes a long strip of diachylon plaster, one centimeter (two-fifths of an inch in breadth,) and rolls it around the penis in the same manner as a common bandage, beginning at the glans; or, still better, he may apply it more accurately by using a number of small strips of plaster, each of which shall only be sufficient to encircle the organ once, and the two extremities of each strip should be made to cross upon the urethra, for the purpose of insuring the firmness of the dressing. The principal point to be attended to, is the degree of compression, which ought to be as firm as possible, without interfering with micturition, which would, of course, necessitate the removal of the dressings. The compression should be continued for a considerable period after the cessation of the pains, to prevent their return." M. Vidal cites two cases, from amongst great numbers which he had treated, in favor of this mode of practice.-Monthly Retrospect, from L'Union Medicale.

IDIOPATHIC TETANUS IN A HORSE, SUCCESSFULLY TREATED BY CHLOROFORM. By T. L. Maddin, Student of Medicine in the University of Louisville.

In August last, I tried the effects of chloroform upon a horse affected with Lock-jaw, and also violent convulsions of the entire muscular system. The circumstances of the case were these: A farmer, residing in North Alabama, at whose house I was living, discovered early in the morning that one of his horses was very singularly affected, and upon examination found that he had tetanus, or lock-jaw; and after a short time tetanic convulsions of the entire body supervened-which continued to grow more violent during the day.

Having been absent from home all day, when I arrived at his house late in the evening, my landlord remarked that he had a horse dying, and also mentioned his symptoms.

The opportunity, I conceived, was an excellent one to test the efficacy of chloroform, and immediately I suggested the trial of the remedy. The owner of the horse remarked that he did not think anything could possibly do him good, for he did not appear as if he could live longer than ten minutes, but that I was at liberty to do as I pleased.

The horse was down, and could not raise his head; his limbs were in an extreme state of rigidity, and his jaws firmly clenched. I first gave him half an ounce of laudanum, with twenty-five grains of camphor dissolved in it. This did not make any impression upon the symptoms whatever. I then caused him to breathe chloroform, and in less than two minutes he was fully under the influence of it. He remained thus for fifteen minutes; during which time his limbs were quite flexible; his muscular system generally relaxed; and his jaws could be opened about two inches. At the expiration of this time, there were symptoms of a return of the convulsions. I brought him rapidly under the influence of chloroform again, and thus warded them off. It was now twenty minutes before the anesthesia passed off, and it was then found that he was able to get up and walk about. In less than three hours from this time he was grazing about the lot, and next morning appeared perfectly well.

I have believed that an account of this case would be acceptable to the profession, notwithstanding that the subject of it was a horse, for it shows very conclusively the perfect control which this potent agent possesses over tetanus, and convulsive diseases generally, which are among the most intractable that the medical man has to combat.-Western Journal of Medicine.

GLYCERINE.-Mr. Burnett, Tremont Row, has this new and elegant article, which is beginning to have a reputation with the profession for the amelioration and cure of various cutaneous eruptions. Without attempting to describe the process of making glycerine, it is proper to observe that in soap-making, in some common method familiar to pharmaceutists, this oily, almost inodorous substance is obtained-vulgarly known in olden times, as oil of lead. Dr. Durkee, of Howard street, a gentleman devoted to the management of diseases of the skin, and whose success is acknowledged by the community, speaks very favorably of it, we understand. This suggestion, we trust, will have the effect of directing the attention of physicians to a preparation that may be serviceable, where others have failed. The article has also been recommended by Mr. Wakley, of London, as has been seen by a recent number of this Journal, in cases of partial deafness.-Bost. Med. and Sur. Jour.

COLLODION IN CHILBLAINS.-In chilblains I have used it with the most decided success. In one case, the patient had her feet for some time exposed to severe cold, which produced an erythematous inflammation of several of the small toes. They were swollen, red, tender, and itching. I completely enveloped them in a thick coating of collodion, and the contraction which took place on its drying, produced so much compression of the vessels, that the toes were as pallid as frozen ones. The pain and itching were immediately relieved, and in twenty-four hours, these members were nearly well. I have cured pernio of the heel, also, with this article, but I do not believe it a panacea for all cases of chilblain, even in its erythematous stage.-Dr. C. Green,—Buffalo Medical Journal.

LUPULIN AS AN ANAPHRODISIAC.-(Am. Jour. Med. Sci.) Dr. Page called the attention of the Philadelphia College of Physicians to the lupulin as a means of controlling the painful erections occurring in venereal cases. He has employed it now for two years, and has found it a better and more effectual remedy than any other he has tried. He gives it in the dose of from five to ten grains, and has never known an instance in which the second dose did not succeed in subduing the painful erections, so troublesome in cases of gonorrhoea. It does not cause the headache, constipation, and other unpleasant effects consequent upon the use of camphor and opium. He has found the remedy useful also in cases of involuntary seminal emissions. It will not cure the disease, but prevents the discharges, so long as the patient remains under its influence.

Dr. Edward Hartshorne has employed it successfully in one case to destroy venereal appetite in a man addicted to onanism.

OPIATES IN CHOLERA.-Dr. J. W. Sterling of the N. Y. Quarantine Hospital, writes as follows in the N. Y. Jour. Med.:

"In general, the narcotic effects of opium and morphine were scrupulously avoided; for such effects were highly pernicious; and even when these anodynes merely removed pain and allayed irritability of the stomach and bowels, the tranquility and calm which supervened boded no good; healthy reaction was thereby suspended or arrested, death was not the less certain, often more speedy, and no favorable crisis could be predicted without a decided restoration of the natural functions.

"Finally, I would observe, that patients lying in the same room with one laboring under the cholera were very susceptible of this disease. It may be excited by panic, contagion, or by atmospheric influence; whichever it be, I presume it is a matter of indifference to the recipient, after he gets it, from what source obtained. I have, however, seen patients seized with it while lying in a state in which they were altogether insusceptible of panic; and if the pernicious condition of the atmosphere be the sole exciting cause, we would not see so much of its peripatetic excursiveness. I cannot, therefore, help believing that something must be attributed to contagion, and be this something ever so little, prudence, if not humanity, demands the separation of cholera patients from those afflicted with other diseases, and especially from the subjects of typhus."

In

COD-LIVER OIL.-A discussion on the properties of this article took place at the Westminster Medical Society, February 3. The majority of the Fellows stated that they had found the oil to possess a very marked effect in almost all cases of scrofula and phthisis. In the first class of cases, it was not only given internally, with the effect of much improving the general health, but it was applied locally to scrofulous sores, with the most marked benefit. phthisis it appeared to exert its influence at once, by its nutritious properties. It checked perspiration, and removed emaciation; and appeared, by keeping up the tone of the system, to arrest the further deposition of tubercular matter. Some thought that any oily substance, as butter or almond oil, would have the same effect; others considered the cod-liver oil to have some specific influence. One gentleman had found it rather injurious than otherwise in some cases of phthisis, from its tendency to disorder the digestive organs. Altogether, however, the opinion generally was decidedly in its favor as a palliative agent in consumption.-Lancet.