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handkerchief and roller bandage, and an appendix of twenty pages containing full directions and prescriptions for the preparation of the various materials used in antiseptic surgery, as also several hundred receipts concerning the medical treatment of surgical affections.

Anesthetics-Their Uses and Administration.-By Dudley Wilmot Buxton, M.D., B.S., Administrator of Anesthetics and Lecturer in University College Hospital. Third Edition. Twelvemo; 320 pages. Price, $1.50. London: H. K. Lewis. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co. 1900.

The author considers in order the history of anesthesia, preparation of patient and choice of anesthetic, nitrous oxid, ether, chloroform and less commonly used anesthetics, anesthetic mixtures, anesthetics in special surgery and in obstetric practice, the accidents of anesthesia and how to treat them, local anesthesia, and last, but not least, the medico-legal aspects of the administration of anesthetics. His remarks and descriptions are clear, full and simple. In this third edition the whole book has been recast and brought to the latest date. The subject of anesthesia is one of such importance that it should be taught as a special branch in every medical college. No better book than Buxton's, we think, could be put in the hands of medical students.

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SELECTIONS.

J. J. Grant, M. D., Monticello, Fla., says: "I find nothing in the materia medica to equal Aletris Cordial in uterine diseases. I have used it in a very obstinate case, which outstood several important remedies. When I put the patient on Aletris Cordial every disease symptom disappeared in a week's trial. I have used it in several cases, and can, therefore, say that it is an active and powerful agent for diseases of the womb."

Uric Acid and Its Elimination.-Editorially (The Medical Brief, Feb., 1900). This vital subject is ably considered. Investigation strengthens the belief that eating to much meat is responsible for the formation of uric acid in disease-producing quantities. dispose of meat satisfactorily gastric digestion must be active, the constitution well supplied with fluids and the organs more or less actively engaged in growth and development. These conditions cease to exist when adult life is reached and the requirements of the constitution are chiefly for food to supply energy, heat and vital stimulus. At this period in life a small amount of meat or other albuminous food will suffice, especially in torpid systems or persons of sedentary habits. The symptoms caused by an excess of uric acid depend upon the degree of saturation and whether these morbid products are circulating in the blood or are precipitated in the tissues or joints. The susceptibility of the various organs and the constitution of the individual also help to determine the symptoms; one person may have asthma, another an irritable bladder, and another sick headache or rheumatism. In the treatment diet is highly important. Meat once a day is often enough. Fresh fruit, especially apples, should be eaten in abundance. Tomatoes are excellent, so is asparagus. Baked bananas and well-done rice are excellent substitutes for meat. Pure honey is always allowable. In uncomplicated cases lithiated Hydrangea will be the only remedy needed in addition to dietetic reform and plenty of water.

A Case of Sinus.-G. W. Bodey, M.D., Kettlersville, Ohio, September 17, 1899. "I used Ecthol on a case of sinus extending from the inner and middle of the right thigh upward and outward 94 inches in length. It had been operated upon in that locality

twice, also once on the canal from the psoas abscess, its starting point. The sinus was lined with a tough pyogenic membrane, so that by inserting the index finger its full length occasioned no pain. The young man, 22 years old, would submit to no further operation. I inserted perforated rubber tube, one-half inch in diameter, nine inches, burned or destroyed the membrane with chloride of zinc solution, after which I used Ecthol; filled the cavity completely full three times a day, by which the pus ceased to flow from the very . beginning. I continued its use until I could not insert even a catheter. I applied a rubber bandage for five weeks, dismissed him then as cured; the period extended eight months. I used five bottles of Ecthol. I dismissed the case in May last, and will wait to see further results, then I will try to write an article on that case and on two others on whom I used the medicine. My faith in Ecthol is unlimited, andcan only say the case above described, from a city of twentyeight physicians, has increased my practice in that locality."Medical Brief.

Vaginal Douching.-In Gould's Year Book of Medicine and Surgery for 1900, Byron Robinson, M.D., of Chicago, Ill., in advocating the use of vaginal douching says that when properly used it is capable of doing a vast amount of good, but much depends upon the amount of the fluid, the degree of heat, etc. He advises a fountain syringe with a four foot lead and holding at least four gallons and at a temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit and increased until as hot as can be borne. Begin with three quarts, and increase one pint a day, until four gallons are taken. He also advises that some astringent preparation be used to check the waste of secretions. For this purpose Micajah's Medicated Uterine Wafers are especially useful. They are astringent in action, thus contracting the vessels and tissues, and they check the waste of secretions. They prevent reaction after douching and stimulate the mucous membranes. They are antiseptic and should always be used in connection with the vaginal douche for the above reasons.

Sanmetto in Chronic Orchitis.-J. A. Stothart, M.D., Savannah, Ga., reports the following case: "During November, 1896, a Greek fruit vender called at my office, suffering with chronic orchitis. The patient stated that the first attack occurred four years prior to this time. During the four years there had never been more than two and a half months between the attacks. He had been under treatment most of this time, and several times in the hospitals, and had been discharged as cured by several physicians. The testicle

had almost arrived at the condition of ossification, but at no time had there been any pus formation. I prescribed Sanmetto, and directed that the treatment be continued for two or three months. My treatment was carried out to the letter, and there has never been any return of the trouble since beginning the use of Sanmetto. I have used Sanmetto in other urethral troubles with very satisfactory results."

Nature's Needs.-A brief consideration of what may be termed the physiology of disease will throw much light on the subject of the needs of nature in the period following the subsidence of the symptoms. Symptoms may be said to be intensified physiological functions, accentuated to such an extent as to constitute abnormalities. This is true of fever, pain and the whole host of symptoms ascribable to special organs and tissues. Emaciation and nervous exhaustion ensue because the processes of disease, requiring as they do fuel for increased oxidation, deplete the patient of nervous force and tissue structure. Nature's method of repairing wasteby food-is prevented, because the digestive organs share in the general enfeeblement consequent upon disease. The patient has neither the inclination to eat nor the physical powers necessary to digest and assimilate food. It is in just this class of cases that the restorative effects of Gray's Glycerine Tonic Comp. are most pronounced. Because of its alterative, tonic action upon the gastric mucous membrane, it takes hold of the dormant, torpid nutritive functions and stimulates them to normal physiologic activity. Appetite is engendered, atonicity of the digestive functions is abolished, and the patient is able to eat, digest and assimilate a sufficient amount of food to replace waste of tissue, impoverishment of blood and depletion of nervous force. It thus duplicates and reinforces Nature's recuperative powers; hence the value of Gray's Glycerine Tonic Comp. in convalesence from la grippe, typhoid fever, malaria, pneumonia, etc. It can always be relied upon to effect the desired results in all forms of anæmia.

Dr. Edward Francis Brady, in an article entitled Epilepsy (Hospital Bulletin and Clinical Reporter), says: "I do not approve of the Gowers plan of treatment. The dosage is too massive and I think unsafe. The danger from collapse is always to be feared and if that is escaped bromism is almost certain to be produced. I think that the combination of all the bromides, the potassium, sodium, ammonium, calcium and lithium is the best form in which to use them, for that reason I always use Peacock's Bromides. This

preparation contains the five bromides and is a safe, reliable and staple article, and by its use we escape the subtitution of pharmacies."

Infantile Diarrhea.-Dr. D. E. Smith, of Minneapolis, (Northwestern Lancet, Nov. 13, 1899) states that in cases of diarrhea characterized by copious serous discharges, it is necessary to resort to some astringent which should be antiseptic and not absorbed to any extent. Tannic acid was the drug par excellence, but it has been dismissed by the profession on account of its unpalatability, its bulk, its taste, its rapid absorption in the upper intestinal tract, and its rapid decomposition. Recently a chemical combination of 67 per cent. tannic acid and hexamethylen-tetramine has been introduced under the name of Tannopine, which the author considers an ideal remedy in this class of cases. It is given in small doses, from 3 to 10 grains every three hours. It does not break up until it comes in contact with the alkaline medium of the lower intestine, when the tannic acid is freed and the hexamethylen-tetramine liberates the most desirable of antiseptics, formalin. Children take tannopine readily, as it is tasteless and small in bulk. It may be given either on the tongue or in any kind of nourishment. The formalin destroys the germs already attenuated by previous treatment. As soon as the serous discharge is stopped there is an immediate improvement in the patient's condition.

Neurosine vs. Pain.-Neurosine, the reliable pain reliever. The safest substitute for opium, morphine or chloral. Contains no deleterious or "habit-inducing" drugs. No detrimental after-effects. The remedy par-excellence in hysteria, epilepsy, mania, chorea, neurasthenia, migraine, neuralgia, alcoholism, insomnia, all convulsive and reflex neuroses, and restlessness of fevers producing natural sleep. It is unequaled wherever a neurotic, anodyne, hypnotic or antispasmodic is indicated. Neurosine is efficient as a genitourinary tonic; in sexual debility and impotence it has shown marvelous power.

Pseudo-Leukemia; a Report of Two Cases.--By A. H. OhmannDumesnil. Among the affections of the lymphatic system there is perhaps none which is more obscure than pseudo-leukemia. What is known is that pseudo-leukemia is caused by tuberculosis, leprosy, syphilis, elephantiasis Arabum and perhaps some other conditions, each one in turn being dependent upon some specific cause.

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