rupted, the previous condition of the patients will be regained. He adds that in cases where quinine is used with mercury, it is necessary to increase the amount of the latter drug given daily. Finally, he states that the cases in which he found improvement following the administration of quinine were not due to complication with the malarial element.-Ther. Gaz.

An "Infallible Antidote " for Malarial Fevers.

Dr. Charles G. R. Naylor, Civil Surgeon, of Burmah, India, addresses a report to the Deputy Surgeon-General of British Burmah in which he asserts that carbonic acid gas is an infallible antidote to malarial fevers of all types and durations. Dr. Naylor's report is re-published in Edinburgh. It was first made eight years ago, but is now put forth again in an enlarged form and with the emphasis and confidence drawn from a fuller experience.

Dr. Naylor does not claim originality for his treatment. It was devised or discovered by Dr. John Parkin, of London, who tested its value while visiting the malarial districts of Italy, Spain, and West Africa.

The rationale of the gas treatment is expounded by Drs. Parkin and Naylor, but it is far from being satisfactory or scientific, and it need not occupy our space.

The gas is administered in solution and is got in its cheapest form by dissolving bicarbonate of soda, gr. xxx., in three ounces of cold water, and throwing into the solution tartaric acid, gr. xx., in a powdered state, the mixture to be stirred rapidly once, and swallowed as soon as possible in a state of effervescence. The patient must be made to lie down immediately after, to prevent eructation and escape of the gas, so apt to occur in a sitting posture.

The doses of soda and acid must be decreased to suit the different ages of children, as gr. xxx. of bicarbonate of soda are not soluble in a small quantity of water suitable for administration in one dose to very young children.

Sometimes the soda is given first and followed by the acid. The remedy is best administered just before the paroxysm is expected, or in the remission if the case be one of remittent fever. Dr. Naylor cites a long list of cases cured by gas. Kansas Med. Journal.

Picric Acid in the Treatment of Skin Diseases.

M. Cavelli (Gazette Medicale de Paris, November 16, 1889) claims that picric acid is a remedy of great efficacy in the treatment of various skin affections characterized by cutaneous inflammation. Thus, he claims that in the course of an epidemic of erysipelas he has obtained the best results by the external use of picric acid; so, also, in the case of lymphangitis, occurring in a gouty subject, as a complication of caries and necrosis of the phalanges of the toes, the local application of picric acid very rapidly reduced inflammation and pain. Similar effects were also obtained through the use of this remedy in a large number of cases of eczema and erythema. As regards the mode of action of picric acid, the author suggests that in penetrating the cells of the corneal layer, picric acid forms a protective layer in the skin, and that, in virtue of its astringent action, it affords a protection to the malpighian layer, so leading to a reduction of the inflammation. While, finally, he thinks that perhaps through entering into the lymphatic vessels picric acid may exert an anti-parasitic action. He employs a solution in water,-of one and one-half parts of picric acid to 250 parts of distilled water,―applied externally five or ten times daily.-Ther. Gazette.

A New Treatment for Gonorrhoea.

Thallin, one of the group of antipyretics, is also a powerful antiseptic, and it has been largely employed by the Germans as an injection in gonorrhoea. Dr. d'Hercourt, having experimented with the drug, reports very favorably on the effects produced by a 1 or 2 per cent. solution of the tartrate of thallin in a saturated aqueous solution of naphthol. He gives one injection daily. He claims that in acute attacks the scalding may be suppressed by the second day, and the discharge by the fifth or sixth day. It is, nevertheless, necessary to continue the injections for some time, and to observe the usual hygienic precautions. He has been enabled to follow up the treatment in forty cases with the most satisfactory results. The treatment may be employed from the very commencement; indeed it is in the acute stage that it affords the greatest amount of relief.-Med. Press.

Chloride of Sodium in Facial Neuralgia.

In the Edinburgh Medical Journal for January, 1890, Mr. George Leslie claims that nearly every case of facial neuralgia, toothache, and earache, as well as neuralgic headaches, may be cured by the application of powdered chloride of sodium, common table salt, to the nasal mucous membrane. The salt may be used by the patient as a snuff, a pinch being taken into the nostrils of the affected side, or it may be applied by means of the insufflator. If we examine the list of cases which Mr. Leslie reports, three of supra-orbital neuralgia, five of toothache, three of facial neuralgia, three of nervous headache, one of neuralgia following herpes, one of neuralgia accompanying glossitis, cephalalgia accompanying tonsillitis, and one of bronchial asthma, it would appear that chloride of sodium possesses unsuspected properties as a universal panacea. We are naturally inclined to be sceptical as to the properties of a remedy for which so much is claimed, though it is possible that there may be a good deal of truth in Mr. Leslie's claims for common salt.-Therap. Gaz.

Remarkable Experience.

Dr. J. D. Hunter of New Orleans, La., relates to the Va. Med. Monthly:

I have discovered that potassii nitras is an unusually effective agent in the treatment of chill and fever. To speak summarily, I have during the past five years tested it most fully. At least sixty-five per cent. of all the cases treated have been cured by the administration of a single dose; thirty-five per cent. were uninfluenced by repeated doses. The best results were obtained when administered during the premonitory stage which usually ushers in the chill. Twenty-five or thirty grains given at this period will either abort the chill or materially shorten its duration. The febrile stage is correspondingly shortened or reduced to a minimum. A second dose is seldom required; relapse is infrequent. Recent attacks, as well as protracted conditions, were alike cured by the administration of a single dose, while cases apparently similar, corresponding in character and duration, were not relieved. Other forms of intermittent, not associated with chill, were not benefited in a single instance.

Memphis Medical Monthly

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MEMPHIS HYGIENE.-No city in the world has attracted so much attention from hygienic standpoints as has the city of Memphis since 1879. In 1855 the first epidemic of yellow fever occurred within her borders. In 1867 we had another; 1873 gave us the third, and in 1878 and 1879 one of the most appalling plagues of which any record has been preserved prevailed in our midst. Bankrupt and depopulated, those of her citizens that had been spared had but one hope, without which the city was doomed, without which the dispirited people, who had fled for safety, could never consent to return. That hope rested wholly upon hygiene. Its teachings must be observed, its mandates obeyed, if Memphis ever again attained the reputation for salubriousness that its commercial grandeur imperatively demanded.

A National Board of Health was organized by the General Government, and Dr. G. B. Thornton was placed at the head of our local health department. With the aid of the astute sanitarians thus called together, and with the aid and assistance of Dr. R. W. Mitchell, a member of the National Board, but a resident of Memphis, and Dr. D. T. Porter and "Dr." D. P. Hadden, the honorable ex-Presidents of the Taxing District, a most healthful and satisfactory sewer system was begun and pushed to its present extended proportions. Step by step other measures have been instituted, looking toward the maintenance of an "aseptic" condition of the city, until we now find a white mortality far less than ever before-a mortality that will compare favorably with that of any city in America.

VOL. X-9