of cold water, and direct the patient to take of this solution a teaspoonful every ten minutes for the first hour, then at intervals of an hour during the remainder of the day or evening. Perhaps at the expiration of the first hour, the pain will have been materially assuaged, and in the course of a few hours the patient will be as well as ever. These attacks frequently appear just at the beginning of the menstrual molimen, and when the patient is put under the influence of cannabis, the congestion causing the pain subsides, and the flow begins. Within the past three years at least fifty such cases have come under observation, and a failure has been the exception. Chloroform (ten or twelve drops on sugar, repeated in an hour) also answers the purpose quite as well, and may be used when convenient.

"Supra-orbital neuralgia has also been treated with this drug with very flattering results in the majority of instances. Prepare the remedy as in the cases just stated-the same amount, the same dose, and the same period for administration -and the physician need not be surprised if the pain subsides in the course of half an hour. The same method of treatment has been found available in the case of flatulence accompanied by pain; and where the tongue is foul and coated, a plan suggests itself of combining with the cannabis a few drops of nux vomica tincture. Sometimes the first dose is sufficient to make the patient quite comfortable."

Death Under Chloroform.

The following particulars of a case in which death recently occurred during chloroform inhalation at the Dorset House branch of the Samaritan Hospital have been communicated to us. Mrs. E. T., aged 41, a large, rather flabby type of woman, had trachelorrhaphy performed on her on December 2nd. Chloroform was administered by Dr. H. T. Rutherford, with a Junker's inhaler. All went well until the end of the operation, which was somewhat prolonged, when the anesthetist removed the face-piece. At this time the breathing was good, the pulse the same as it had been during the operation, the conjunctivæ insensitive and the pupils did not react to light. The face-piece had been removed about half to three-quarters

of a minute when the patient began to retch; the conjunctivæ were now sensitive, the pupils contracted, but reacting to light. The patient's head was immediately turned to one side, the lower jaw raised, the face-piece readjusted, and about halfa-dozen whiffs of the anesthetic given. The straining ceased, breathing became regular and fairly full. The woman's head was turned into its original position, resting on the occiput, and the face-piece raised at its nasal extremity. Everything seemed to be going on satisfactorily, as the patient was breathing quite normally, and the pulse was good. Suddenly, after a deep sighing inspiration, followed by a similar expiration, she ceased to breathe. The conjunctivæ were quite insensitive, the eyeballs turned upward, and the pupil extremely dilated. The face was deadly pale. Every means of restoring animation was at once tried, including hypodermic injections of brandy and electricity, both the constant and the interrupted current, but to no purpose. After the sudden cessation of breathing, there were several rather shallow inspirations and expirations, but they soon ceased. The total amount of chloroform used was three drams. On examination of the heart before the operation nothing abnormal was detected. No post-mortem examination was made, as the coroner said that he thought it unnecessary.-Brit. Med. Jour.

A New Remedy for Dysentery.

The Boletin de Medicina, of Santiago de Chili, gives notice of a new plant which is said to be a wonderful remedy for dysentery and diarrhea. The sketch was presented to the Chilian Medical Congress by Senors Daniel Carvallo and Emi-. lio Eisene. The plant is named "el bailahuen," and its botanical title is "Haplopappus bailahuen." It is a native of the Cordilleras of the Andes, between 20 and 30 degrees of south latitude.

The shoots of the bailahuen are soft, glutinous, and smooth, and the virtue of the plant lies in all parts. It is prepared as a tincture, a fluid extract, and as an alkaloid. Its therapeutic effects have been shown in a number of cases of dysentery, indigestion,diarrhea, metritis, and sexual impotence. It appears that this Chilian plant possesses valuable properties in dysen

tery, operating somewhat after the manner of ipecac without the nauseating qualities, and with a more durable result. After its use there is no need of a purgative to restore the bowel action. In other diseases referred to, besides dysentery and diarrhea, experiments have shown it to be valueless. Times and Register.

Physiological Action of Exalgine.

In the Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Dr. Gaudineau publishes an elaborate essay on the physiological, chemical and therapeutical properties of methylacetanilide, or exalgine, the new hypnotic. The author formulates his conclusions as to the physiological action of exalgine as follows:

1. As exalgine is an aromatic derivative, it has no marked toxic properties, and is capable of influencing the sensory and motor nervous systems, and of affecting the respiratory and circulatory organs. In poisonous doses, like other poisons of its class, its principal action is on the red blood-corpuscle, diminishing the energy of gaesous interchange into the blood.

2. Exalgine produces death in doses of seven grains for every two pounds of body weight of the animal.

3. In lethal doses, convulsions are produced, and death is rapidly produced by asphyxia.

4. In poisonous but not fatal doses of three grains for every two pounds of body weight, the temperature is reduced rapidly for several successive hours.

5. In a healthy man, doses of from four to six grains produced no effect beyond slight vertigo and ringing in the ears. 6. The primary action of exalgine is on sensibility; its action on thermo-genesis is secondary.

As to the clinical application of exalgine, Dr. Gaudineau formulates his conclusions as follows:

1. Exalgine, given in doses of from three to six grains, if the subject is non-febrile, is ordinarily without effect.

2. Doses of four to six or twelve grains modify considerably the pain experienced by a patient suffering from neuralgia or any painful affection.

3. Exalgine is poisonous when administered in doses equiv

alent to seven grains for every two pounds of body weight, so that in ordinary therapeutic doses it may be stated to be absolutely inoffensive, and that this new remedy is less dangerous than aconitine, digitaline, and all the alkaloids frequently given to patients.

4. The therapeutic dose varies from four to twelve grains administered in the twenty-four hours.

5. In these doses exalgine has never produced any other trouble, other than slight vertigo and ringing in the ears.

6. Exalgine is especially valuable, from the fact that it does not irritate the stomach, and that the doses required are small. The analgesic effects of exalgine are especially evident in the treatment of neuralgia, and to a less reliable degree, in the treatment of pains of a rheumatic character. Finally, while exalgine is but little soluble in cold water, it readily dissolves in solutions containing diluted alcohol, though it is easier to administer in powder, or in some solution flavored with some aromatic.-Therapeutic Gazette.

Espine: Treatment and Prophylaxis of Diphtheria.

The author has controlled and confirmed the experiments of Loffler with reference to the bacillus of diphtheria. He also concludes that diphtheria is, at the beginning, a local infection like cholera, and that the false membrane is not, as has heretofore been considered, the first symptom of an affection which is general from the beginning. The general symptoms are the result of the intoxication of the organism, which has for its point of departure the diphtheritic mucous membrane, not a microbial infection of the blood. Hence the importance of the local treatment which ought to precede and accompany the general treatment, the latter consisting solely in means for sustaining the strength of the patient. The author agrees with Wagner, Fontheim, Hanon, Weise, and others, in recommending salicylic acid in preference to all other drugs, and advises that irrigation with a two to one thousand solution be begun as nearly as possible at the beginning of the disease, and repeated every hour or two. If the false membranes have already become thick and of considerable extent, one should add to this treatment applications of

lemon juice, glycerole of chloral, etc. In the author's opinion, salicylic acid is the best parasiticide for the bacillus of diphtheria. Renou takes a view which is directly opposed to that of the author, in that he believes that diphtheria signifies a general infection from the beginning. From this point of view, general treatment becomes of greater importance than local. The two methods may be combined by placing the patient in a warm and moist atmosphere impregnated with carbolic acid. The effect will first be upon the parts invaded by the false membrane, and then upon the general infection through pulmonary absorption. Prophylactic measures are most important of all, patient being isolated and all surrounding objects disinfected.-Gaz. Med.-A. F. C. in Arch. of Ped.

Influenza.

A writer in the Internationale klinische Rundschau, December 8, 1889, who has studied the recent epidemic of influenza at St. Petersburg, classifies the varieties of the disease as follows:

1. The nervous form, in which neuralgic pain, often simulating pleurisy, etc., is a prominent symptom. The mucous membranes of the gastro-intestinal and respiratory tracts are normal. This form is very common, and in the beginning is frequently mistaken for typhoid fever.

2. The form characterized by catarrh of the respiratory tract. Bronchitis, coryza and conjunctivitis develop with fever, and frequently continue for some days after the fever has disappeared.

3. The gastric form, in which there is a catarrh of the gastro-intestinal tract, often with severe vomiting, which lasts about two days.

Other symptoms occasionally present are herpes of the lips, nose or eyelids, erythema, roseola, and urticaria. More serious complications, fortunately very rare, are meningeal irritation and pneumonia. The latter is the cause of death in the few fatal cases.

Besides these well-marked varieties there are many others which run a slight course or are abortive.

Convalescence is usually rapid, many patients feeling quite