might ensue from a tendency to contract and close the opening, but none such was encountered. A syringe and warm water were employed daily during several days after the operation, and the patient was confined to bed for a week or more for precaution's sake. No bad symptoms ensued, and she made a perfect recovery.

the hand has since been kept extended. The wound is nearly healed, and great benefit appears certain to result. Case 4. An operation for vesico-vaginal fistula, by Mr. Brown, in St. Mary's Hospital. Case 5. Division of contracted cicatrix after burn, by Mr. Henry Thompson, in the Marylebone Infirmary. The cicatrix had drawn Operations for Urethral Stricture.—A {the thigh up upon the trunk, and by its tenman, under the care of Mr. Fergusson, insion an ulcer in the lower part of the thigh King's College Hospital, on account of had been long prevented healing. Under stricture of nine months' duration, conse-treatment.-Medical Times and Gazette, quent on a fall. With great difficulty a No. April 7, 1855.

3 catheter was introduced, and on this Mr. Fergusson performed perineal section. The patient has since done very well, the perineal wound is nearly healed, and a full-sized catheter now passes easily.

MEDICAL NEWS. DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

Ohio State Medical Society.-We are happy to learn from our contemporary, The Medical Counsellor (June 9th), that the

Ligature, etc., of Navus.-Cases 1 and 2. In these cases, both under the care of Mr. Fergusson, in King's College Hospital, nitric acid had been freely applied and had failed to cure the disease. Ligature was subsequently practised, and was quite suc-Ohio State Medical Society, at its recent cessful. Case 3. In this case a nævoid growth from the inner part of the thigh was excised by Mr. Erichsen, in University College Hospital. Recovered.

meeting in Zanesville, rescinded the resolution adopted at the previous one in regard to medical men taking out patents for surgical and medical instruments (see No. of News for May, 1855, p. 74), and which was violation of the Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association.

Plastic Operations.-The case of urethral fistula, under the care of Mr. Henry Thomp-in son, in the Marylebone Infirmary, in which M. Nealton's operation had been performed, remains under treatment. Nothing has as yet been gained by the procedure.

We add, from a subsequent No. of the Counsellor (June 16th), the resolutions in reference to this matter, which were offered by Dr. T. W. Gordon, and almost unanimously adopted :

Case 1. A male infant, aged two years, under the care of Mr. Birkett, in Guy's Hospital, with a large congenital fissure of "Resolved, That the resolution offered by the lip on the left side. The left ala nasi Dr. Grant (a member of this Society, and was also deformed, and a groove or furrow not at this, or at that time, a practitioner of (not a fissure) ran along the left side of the medicine), at the last session of this Society, palate, indicating that the infant had but just which says that it is not derogatory to escaped a fissure of the palate also. A sur-medical dignity, or inconsistent with medi geon in the country had twice attempted cal honor, for medical gentlemen to take out union of the harelip without success. Mr. a patent right for surgical or medical instruBirkett operated as usual, adhesion followed, ments,' was offered at a time when many but there was more than ordinary deformity members of the Society had left for their remaining, on account of the ill-formed ala homes, and was not, therefore, the sense of nasi. Case 2. A girl, aged 16, the subject this Society. of single harelip, under the care of Mr. Pollock, in St. George's Hospital. She had been operated on in infancy unsuccessfully. Mr. Pollock's operation procured complete union. Case 3. A girl, aged 17, under the care of Mr. Fergusson, in King's College Hospital, for contracted cicatrix of a burn, by which the hand had been drawn into the forearm. The band was freely divided, and

"Resolved, also, That said resolution is in direct opposition to the Code of Medical Ethics adopted by the Society, and therefore be it further

"Resolved, That said resolution offered by Dr. Grant, and adopted by this Society be, and is hereby rescinded.

"On motion of Dr. Murphy, the Secretary was instructed to forward to the Secretary

of the American Association and to the Executive Committee at Detroit, a statement of the action of this Convention, and a copy of the resolutions rescinding those of last year."

Toast. The following poetical toast, by Dr. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, was prepared in the expectation that there would be a public dinner at the late meeting of the American Medical Association, and with the intention that it should be offered on that occasion:

A triple health to Friendship, Science, Art,
From heads and hands that own a common heart!

Each in its turn the other's willing slave:
Each in its season strong to heal and save.
Friendship's blind service, in the hour of need,
Wipes the pale face-and lets the victim bleed.
Science must stop to reason and explain;
ART claps his fingers on the streaming vein.
But Art's brief memory fails the hand at last;
Then SCIENCE lifts the flambeau of the past.
When both their equal impotence deplore-
When Learning sighs, and Skill can do no more,
The tear of FRIENDSHIP pours its heavenly balm,
And soothes the pang no anodyne may calm!

Injections into the Bronchial Tubes and into Tubercular Cavities of Solution of Nitrate of Silver.-Dr. HORACE GREEN presented to the New York Academy of Medicine, in December last, a communication in which he claimed to have treated bronchial affections and tuberculosis with advantage, by the direct introduction into the lungs of a strong solution of nitrate of silver, injected through an elastic tube. The subject was referred to a committee, to vestigate and report on the subject.

crates; and Ryland, in his work on Diseases of the Larynx, devotes a short chapter to it.

2. The result of their experimentation proved, to the satisfaction of the whole Committee, that the operation is possible. In eleven cases the instrument entered without doubt into the trachea. This was evident to the finger of the operator, by local Moreover the symptoms examination.

manifested by the patient are unequivocal. They are such as always accompany the entrance and presence of a foreign body in the air passages, spasm, suffusion of eyes, redness of face, a sense of suffocation, and a desire to withdraw the instrument.

In most instances the instrument passed into the œsophagus, and the report next gave a tabular statement of unequivocal ra tional signs by which it might be deter mined into which passage the instrument was passed. [This tabular statement is very incomplete.]

When the instrument is passed into the trachea, the face becomes turgid, respiration croupy, there is spasmodic cough, and a sense of immediate impending suffocation. If assured that there be no danger (in one instance seen), the patient can be enabled to bear the instrument for a short period.

When the instrument enters the œsopha gus there is a hoarse, stridulous voice, retching, and cough, generally vomiting; but after a short interval these symptoms pass away; the irritation is allayed, and the in-voice becomes nearly natural. In but one case were these peculiarities absent, and in that sensibility of the parts was deadened by previous syphilitic disease.

At the meeting of the Academy, on Wednesday, June 6th, Dr. WILLARD PARKER, the eminent Professor of Surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, who was chairman of the committee, made a report on behalf of a majority of that committee. We take the following summary of the report from the New York Daily Times of June 11th.

Dr. Parker stated that the Committee had held five meetings-two at the office of Dr. Green, three at Bellevue Hospital, and had experimented upon thirty-eight individuals, and would now present, 1. A His. tory of catheterism of the air-passages; 2. The results of their experiments; and 3. The opinions founded upon these experi

ments.

As a rule the rational signs will distinguish the location of the instrument. The blowing out of a candle by expiration through the tube, and the inflation of a bladder tied over the end, are not sound tests, as this might be done by the emission of gas from the stomach, when the tube was purposely passed into the oesophagus.

The opinion of the operator is unreliable when based upon his own opinion, without reference to these rational signs. Dr. Green being himself repeatedly mistaken, as confessed by him.

The sensations of patients are often relia. ble after many applications have taught the different feelings.

1. Catheterization of the air passages is no new idea: it is recommended by Hippo-pend

The facility of the operation does not deupon the previous preparation of the

patient, as insisted upon by Dr. Green, for, Compliment to Prof. Austin Flint.-The with the exception of Wetmore, patients who professional friends of Prof. FLINT have had frequent applications of the caustic to had executed a very handsome lithograph the fauces for six months were equally in-portrait of him, as a testimonial of their tolerant as the new patients.

appreciation of his long and able discharge Much depends upon the character and of his editorial duties, and of his efficient form of the instruments. With a tube services in elevating the character of medicurved by a stylet to a form corresponding cal literature and science. This is a well to a circle of six inches diameter, in thirteen merited and appropriate compliment, and cases five failed, or 38 per cent. of failure, we are gratified to acknowledge the favour which proves that the trachea may be en-done us by sending us a copy of the portered with a very considerable certainty. trait.

With a tube with a small curve, such as used by Dr. Green, in 38 cases 35 failed, or 92 per cent. of failure.

With the sponge probang, in 18 cases there were 18 failures, or 100 per cent. of

failure.

Dr. STEPHEN SMITH, one of the editors of New Work on Medical Jurisprudence.the New York Journal of Medicine, is preparing for press a work on "Medical Jurisprudence, in its application to the Practice The conclusion is, that the sponge pro- the United States," and is desirous of hav of Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery in bang, or slightly curved tube, cannot be made to enter the trachea, but, if largely ing members of the profession to communicurved, can; that local application within cate to him reports of trials for mal-practice, or any facts relating to cases where suits the trachea is difficult, and rarely success. have been threatened, or instituted, or ful; and whether an instrument may be passed at will into the right or left bronchi, quashed, or in which mal-practice has been the committee leave to the Academy to de-alleged in the practice of Medicine, Surgery, or Midwifery.

cide from these facts.

The committee considered themselves

excused from entering into the therapeutical value of the application, as proposed on the grounds that they do not think it advisable to discuss a mere theoretical question. A post-mortem of a consumptive is given, where death followed in twenty-six hours after the operation.

This report was signed by Drs. Parker, I. Wood, and H. O. Stone. Dr. A.

H. Stevens is absent from the city, and two other members reported to concur in it, but they were absent and their names were not appended.

Prof. Baker, the colleague of Dr. Green in the New York Medical College, made a minority report, stating the reasons why he could not sign the majority report.

At an adjourned meeting of the Academy,

on the following Wednesday, the reports The Practical Value of Theoretical Sciwere again read, and after some debate the {ence: Alcohol from Coal-Gas.-For many, reports and the paper of Dr. Green were ordered to the Committee on Publication, to be printed in the Transactions of the Academy, and distributed to the members previous to the next meeting.

The Society then adjourned to the next regular meeting on the second Wednesday in July.

many years, the gas was the sole, or almost the sole valuable product of the distillation {of coal. With the exception of the tar and coke, the other products were not merely suffered to run to waste, but to get rid of them was a continuous trouble and expense to the manufacturer. All this is now chang'ing-we had almost said changed-for now.

which, on examination, proves to be true ethylic alcohol, or spirit of wine. The olefiant gas was prepared in various ways; but its source mattered not: whatever its origin, it produced alcohol, ether, and all the various salts of ethyl. For complete details of the discovery, we must refer to the memoir itself.

a-days the secondary products of gas-mak-tilling the mixture, alcohol is obtained, ing are almost equal to the gas itself in im portance and value-nay, to such an extent is this the case, that manufactories already exist, not for distilling pit-coal for the procuring of gas, but for the special purpose of obtaining these several secondary products, the most important of which (under the name of paraffine oil) is largely consumed, both as a lubricator and an illuminator. Vast as the practical results of this disThese secondary products, which may covery may prove, its theoretical and moral already be mentioned by dozens, are each value are to our minds immeasurably supeof them of importance in agriculture, in {rior. It adds another leaf to the chaplet of the arts, or in the ordinary purposes of life. inductive science. It is evidently from a Many of them we owe to the chemist, thorough acquaintance with, and from ponworking not for a practical end, but simplydering on the abstract laws of chemical scifor the advancement of his science-seekingence that M. Bertholot has arrived at this knowledge in full faith and assurance that { discovery. It bears its own internal evithe knowledge thus sought and gained will dence that it is no chance-medley invention, in good time bring forth results important in but that it is due immediately and directly their economical relations to his fellow-men. to theoretical considerations alone; and we Such have been the minor triumphs of doubt not that in this discovery we shall the chemist, when working on coal and its find hereafter another instance of the truth products; but to day we have to announce of Playfair's maxim, that "It is abstract, a far greater triumph-one long looked for and not practical science, that is the life and and foreseen-though it was not perceived soul of industry."-Association Med. Jour., from what quarter this grand confirmation March 2, 1855. and crowning proof of the truth of the gene. ral doctrines of organic chemistry was to spring.

Judicial Decision in Antwerp respecting Medical Secrecy.-The Lower Court of Antwerp has just decided that a medical man who registers a child whose mother he has attended in labour, is not bound to divulge the name of the latter, if he have made a promise to keep the secret. The question and the trial had caused much sen

we are happy to state that a large number of them joined in a subscription to support Dr. Bessens, who refused to give the name of the mother in a case of the descrip

True and rational theory has long shown us that radicals existed, formed of carbon and hydrogen, in definite series; and analysis has succeeded very lately in isolating many of these radicals: but hitherto their sources have all been indirect, as from the distillation of wood, fermentation, etc.;sation amongst our Belgian brethren, and and we have waited and hoped till the time should come when synthesis should build up and create what analysis had been only able to dissect, and to show must exist. This great discovery of M. Bertholottion mentioned above. The privilege thus (which we find reported in extenso in the Chemical Gazette for Feb. 15th) forms an epoch in the progress of chemical science, whence we may date another start forwards. {fanticide.-Lancet, May 26, 1855. This is the conversion of bicarburetted bydrogen gas into alcohol; or, in other words, the forcing water to combine with coal-gas, to make spirit of wine. It appears that, when this bicarburetted hydrogen gas (conveniently known as olefiant gas, and to the presence of which in coal-gas its illuminating powers are chiefly due), is violently shaken with sulphuric acid and metallic- Died, on the 10th of April, at his resimercury for a long time, the gas is absorb-dence in Funchal, Island of Madeira, Dr. ed; and, on adding a little water, and dis- ALEXANDER OLIVEIRA, aged 56.

conceded is honourable to our profession, and would have the tendency, were it generally granted, to diminish the cases of in

OBITUARY RECORD.-Died, on the 2d of May, aged 49, of typhus fever, M. MARCHAL, Professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Strasburg.

Died, on the 7th of May, at Gheel, aged 90, M. DE BACKER, the Nestor of Belgian Surgeons.

CLINICS.

however, was not very large. Sloughing attacked the wound, and the patient sank Statistical Report of the Principal Ope- exhausted on the third day. Case 5. A carations performed in the London Hospitalschectic woman, aged 53, under the care of during March, 1855.

Mr. Fergusson, in King's College HosExcision of Malignant Tumours.- Case pital. The left breast had been excised four 1. A woman, aged about 40, under the care years ago, on account of scirrhus, and the of Mr. Lloyd, in St. Bartholomew's Hos- same disease had now returned in the axilpital. She was unmarried and very spare.lary lymphatics. In the operation the mass The tumour, which was a scirrhous mass in the right breast, had been growing ten months. There was no history of cancer in the family. The breast was excised, and also an enlarged axillary lymphatic. Doing well. Case 2. A woman, aged 62, under the care of Mr. Hawkins, in St. George's Hospital, on account of scirrhus of the breast. The entire gland was removed. Doing well. Case 3. A middle aged wo. man, under Mr. Prescott Hewett's care in St. George's Hospital, on account of re turned scirrhus in the cicatrix after ampu tation of the breast. Under treatment. Case 4. A woman, aged 56, under the care of Mr. Fergusson, in King's College Hospital, on account of scirrhus of the breast. The whole gland was removed. The tumour,

was found to be attached to the sheath of the axillary vessels, and it was, therefore, impracticable to remove every part. The wound has since done well, and is healing. Case 6. A man, aged 35, apparently healthy, under the care of Mr. Fergusson, in King's College Hospital, for an epulis growing from the right side of the upper jaw. After removal it was found to have a malignant character. The wound healed well. Case 7. A man, aged 58, under the care of Mr. Shaw, in the Middlesex Hospital, on account of a small epithelial cancer of the lip. It was said to have existed fifteen years, and had increased very slowly. Excision. Recovery. Case 8. A man, aged 70, under. Mr. Shaw's care, in the Middlesex Hospital, on account of epithelial cancer of the

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