tions. When this eruption came out, the paralysis declined. and the bladder acquired power.

Strychnine, from the observations just mentioned, would therefore appear to exert a stimulant effect on the muscular tunic of the bladder; and if so, its utility would be rendered probable in paralytic conditions of the bladder, whether they be idiopathic, or arise from a mechanical cause; and it would act as an adjuvant to other remedies, where a palsied state of the bladder is only symptomatic of other disease.--Ibid.

Spontaneous Amputation in a new-born Child.-M. Paul Dubois presented to the Academy of Medicine a child, two days old, which presented remarkable and rare congenital lesions. Immediately after its birth, it was perceived that the middle and ring fingers of the left hand were reduced to the first phalanges; the free extremities of the latter were rounded, and covered over with skin, except at a small part, which still presented a wound, and showed the removal of the distal phalanges to have been recent. From alongside these small wounds, arose a slender but resisting filiform prolongation, larger than the wanting phalanges would have been, otherwise it might be considered as the remains of them.

A similar lesion existed in the second and third toes of the left, and also of the right foot. The last phalanges were wanting, and stumps replaced them, presenting central wounds and filiform appendages, as in the hand.

The left leg presented, a little above the malleoli, an obvious constriction, circular and straight, as though it had been produced by a ligature, but no vestige of such a thing was to be found. The great toe of the right foot offered, on a level with its first phalanx, a similar constriction. This alteration, and the removal of the tors, seemed to constitute two stages of the malady. Lastly, the right leg also presented a circular depression, having the same characters, and occupying the same position, as the constriction on the left leg, but much less marked. At the time of birth, no trace of inflammation existed around the mutilated parts; but since, and under the influence of the new conditions of external existence, a true inflammatory state had been set up.

The umbilical cord was but half its usual length; the membranes enclosing the child seemed to be constituted only by the chorion: at least, the amnion could not be distinguished. The placenta offered nothing remarkable. Setting aside the mutilations described, the child was well formed and fully developed.

The mother was not taken into the hospital until after the membranes had burst, and it was impossible to discover any trace of the deficient members.—Ibid.

Modification of the Moxa.-M. Guepratt proposes to use, in the place of cotton or amidon, paper which has been dipped into a solu

tion of subacetate of lead, and afterwards dried; or he would prefer cotton so treated, to paper. This he tears in strips, and rolls into small rollers, which he makes to adhere at first, on the part to be treated, by a solution of gum arabic.--Ibid.

-

Land-Scurvy. We understand that land-scurvy is becoming prevalent in various parts of the kingdom. A great many many cases, with the features resembling those of sea-scurvy well marked, have been lately brought into the Edinburgh Infirmary. The patients had been labourers on railways, living on bad diet, and working on moors far from villages, so that they were not able to procure milk or vegetables, or even the common conveniences for cooking their food. It is singular that, owing as it appears to the great dearth of vegetable food, a disease which has been long extinct in the navy, is now making its appearance on land. The deaths from purpura registered last week in the metropolis were 5. against a spring average of 0.4.

Lond. Med. Gaz.

A simple remedy for Cramps in the lower extremities. By DR. S. A. BARDSLEY, Manchester.-Having myself been for many years a martyr almost every night to this torturing malady, and having tried. in vain many of the "thousand and one" remedies usually prescribed for relief, I was at length led to reflect upon a fact which had hitherto escaped my attention, viz., while sleeping in a chair, with my lower limbs, if not touching the floor, yet so depending as to form an inclined plane with the whole of my frame, that I was in this position never disturbed by cramps; and upon inquiry I found other sufferers from habitual cramps were under the same predicament. These facts, in connection with some physiological considerations, induced me to put into practice the following plan, which has proved decidedly successful. My plan is to sleep upon an inclined plane, which is effected by taking care that the bed or mattress should incline twelve inches from the upper to the lower part of the bed; and for this purporpose the lower feet were cut down so as to form this inclination. I will now state two facts, which are sufficient tests that neither the imagination nor intemperate diet were the causes of my habitual cramps. 1st. That after my trial of the inclined plane for seven consecutive nights with complete success, the housemaid, unknown to me, had raised my bed to its usual horizontal level, and, unconscious of the change, I went to sleep, when shortly afterwards the cramps were so severe as to compel me twice to alarm the family by my cries and moans; and it was not until I arose in the morning that I discovered the change in the form of my bed. 2d. The other test is the one which I made six weeks ago. After very spare diet of twentyfour hours, I replaced my bed from the inclined to an horizontal position, when, shortly after, I awoke with dreadful cramps-so violent in the muscles of the thigh and legs as to require two persons to hold the limbs down in order to apply friction, with stimulants, both external

and internal; indeed, the paroxysm was so severe and continued as to be accompanied with sickness and faintness. I deem it necessary to give a caution to sufferers from cramps, that the disorder is almost always connected with a weak or imperfect state of the digestive organs, and therefore, although the method now stated for relief will allow the sufferer several luxuries hitherto forbidden, yet there must be limits placed to such indulgences if he expects to pass the nights. entirely free from his malady.—Ibid.

Fever in Liverpool.-We regret to state that there has been an alarming increase of fever and mortality in Liverpool during the last week, and that the disorder is not by any means confined to the lower classes. Two Roman Catholic clergymen have fallen victims to the pestilence. In addition to the deaths of Mr. Parker and Dr. Kelley, we have to report that Inspector Forsyth, one of the recently-appointed relieving-officers, after an illness of eight days, died on Friday morning. Mr. Gray, one of the overseers, is seriously indisposed. The same may be said of Mr. Staine and Mr. Lamonby, two of the relieving-officers, and also of three of the medical gentlemen connected with the parish, namely, Mr. Steele (only a few days appointed to the office,) Dr. Robert Gee, and Mr. Grimsdale, surgeon to the workhouse. Three of the policemen employed as district relieving-officers have become afflicted with typhus; and an able-bodied pauper from the work-house, who was employed as an assistant in the new parish offices in St. Anne Street, caught the same malignant disease at those offices, and is dead.-Ibid,

Increase of fever in Ireland.-Deaths by famine are happily becoming rare, but fever is creating great ravages. The accounts from Kerry, Galway, Roscommon, and Longford, are of an extremely unfavourable character. In the union work-house of the latter county the number of deaths in the year ending the 1st of April, 1846, was 112, while for the corresponding period this year they amounted to 677.—Ibid.

A new application of Ether Vapour.-It occurred to me lately, that the vapour of sulphuric ether might be used, instead of fumes of sulphur, in taking honeycomb from bee-hives. By experiment, I find that a very small quantity induces the full narcotic effect of the drug on these insects; the insensibility continues for nearly an hour, and is followed by complete recovery.

The humanity as well as the economy of the plan will, I think, recommend it; various simple means may be adopted for the application of the vapour; a proper precaution would be to envelope the hive with an air-tight hood, formed of some such material as oiled silk; the fumigation need not last longer than five minutes.-M. D.

Ibid.

London University College.-The distribution of prizes in the medical department of this University took place on the 1st inst., and on the occasion the hall was filled with the students and their friends. Lord Brougham, as President of the University, ocupied the chair, and the proceedings opened with the reading of the annual report by Mr. Liston, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. From that document it appeared that the number of medical students who attended classes during the past year was 290, the number of the preceding year being 292.-Ibid.

The Diploma of the College of Surgeons obtained under false representations.-The Taunton and Somerset Branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, having discovered that a Mr. James Dore Blake had obtained the diploma of the College of Surgeons by improper means, brought the matter before the Council. It appears that Mr. Blake had been for thirteen years prior to May, 1845, a retail pastrycook, and that after one year of Medical study he presented himself at the College of Surgeons, London, for examination, and obtained their letters testimonial as to his fitness to practise. The council, after considerable delay, sent the following resolution to Dr. Woodforde, the president of the branch association :-" At an extraordinary meeting of the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Tuesday, the 27th of April, resolved, That it appears to the council that Mr. James Dore Blake obtained his examination and letters testimonial by false statements and imposition; and the council does, therefore, recal such letters testimonial, and hereby declares the same to be void; also, that Mr. Blake be requested to return the diploma granted to him, he having ceased to be a member of this college.'-EDMUND BELFOUR, Sec."-London Med. Times.

Sydenham Society.-The Society held its fourth anniversary meeting on Saturday, May 1st, Dr. Latham in the chair. The report was read by the Secretary, Dr. Risdon Bennet, and represented the Society, as in a flourishing condition. A complete edition of Hippocrates was stated to be in progress, as also a work on medical physiology, and another on medical ethics. A work on ancient medical Bibliography was also in progress. The Treasurer read his report from which it appeared that there was a balance in hand of £700.Prov. Med. & Surg. Jour.

Coffee in Poisoning by Acetate of Morphia.-A patient swallowed atone dose ten grains and three quarters of acetate of morphia.Tartar emetic was immediaely given, but without producing vomiting. About three hours after the accident, and while the patient was in a state of deep coma, a highly concentrated solution of coffee with the solid residue was given to him. The paient swallowed about ten ounces in twelve hours. The coma disappeared, and he perfectly recovered.-Gaz. Medicale.

THE

MEDICAL EXAMINER,

AND

RECORD OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

NEW SERIES.-No. XXXII.-AUGUST, 1847.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Ovarian Dropsy, treated by tapping and injection of Solution of Iodine.

In the number of the Medical Examiner for June, 1846, we published an account of a case of Ovarian Dropsy by Dr. B. A. Allison, of Spencer, Indiana, in which, after repeated tapping, he injected a solution of iodine into the sac. The novelty and boldness of the operation and its apparent success, excited much attention at the time, and the paper was extensively copied, with various comments. Under these circumstances, the following extract of a letter received from Dr. Allison, dated June 11, 1847, will be read with interest, and perhaps lead to a further trial of the practice which in his hands seems to have been eminently successful.

"Soon after the date of my letter to you containing an account of the case of Mrs. C (May, 1846,) her menses returned, and have continued regular ever since, and she has enjoyed as good health as any woman in the neighbourhood, excepting that the orifice, where tapping was performed, is not entirely closed yet, and occasionally discharges a few drops of healthy pus. A curious feature occurred in her case soon after she began to take exercise--her lower extremities became affected with numerous large, spreading and obstinate ulcers, which yielded, however, in time, to the bandage, and occasional application of the citrine ointment."