226 153. On Scarification of the Gums in Teething. Dr. A. Jacobi 154. On Acute Fatty Degeneration of Newly-born Children. Dr. Buhl. 155. On the Connexion between Laryngismus Stridulus and Craniotabes. Dr. A. 156. Chronic Induration of the Sterno-Mastoid Muscles in Infints. Dr. Wilks. 234 157. Two Cases of Infantile Syphilis treated by Chlorate of Potass, without Mercury or I.-Report on Practical Medicine. 1. Dr. Graves: Studies in Physiology and Medicine 2. Dr. Gairdner: Clinical Medicine: Observations recorded at the Bedside, with 3. Dr. Chambers: The Renewal of Life: Clinical Lectures illustrative of the Resto- rative System of Medicine, given at St. Mary's Hospital 4. Dr. Polli, on Diseases produced by Morbid Ferments, and on their Treatment 5. Dr. Salisbury, on the Influence of the Fungi of Musty Straw in the Production of" Camp Measles," and perhaps of Measles generally, and on the Possibi- 6. Dr. Gairdner and Mr. Clarke, and Dr. Radcliffe and Mr. Clarke: Cases of Wasting Palsy elucidated by Mr. Lockhart Clarke's Method . 7. Dr. Wilks, on Diseases of the Supra-Renal Capsules, or Morbus Addisonii 8. Dr. Fuller, on Diseases of the Chest, including Diseases of the Heart and Great Vessels, their Pathology, Physical Diagnosis, Symptoms, and Treatment 9. Dr. Silvester: The Physiological Method of Treating Consumption 10. Mr. Carter: Notes on the Possibility of the Embryos of the Guinea-Worm and so-called "Fungus Disease" of India, respectively, entering the Human Body 11. Dr. Thudichum: A Treatise on Gall-Stones; their Chemistry, Pathology, and Treat- 12.. Dr. Harley, on Jaundice: its Pathology and Treatment. With the Application of Fhysiological Chemistry to the Detection and Treatment of Diseases of the 13. Dr. Tweedie: Lectures on the Distinctive Characters, Pathology, and Treatment of Continued Fevers; delivered at the Royal College of Physicians of London 278 Dr. Murchison: A Treatise on the Continued Fevers of Great Britain 14. Dr. Althaus, on the Spas of Europe 15. Mr. Moore: Health in the Tropics; or, Sanitary Art applied to Europeans in India 285 1. Mr. Lawrence: Lectures on Surgery, delivered in St. Bartholomew's Hospital 12. Mr. Le Gros Clarke: Outlines of Surgery; being an Epitome of the Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery, delivered at St. Thomas's Hospital. 292 3. Mr. Callender: Anatomy of the Parts concerned in Femoral Rupture 6. Mr. Syme: Case of Iliac Aneurism Remedied by Opening the Sac, and Tying the Common Iliac, the External Iliac, and the Internal Iliac Arteries 7. Mr. Holmes, on the Mortality after excision of the Knee, as practised hitherto III.-Report on Materia Medica aud Therapeutics. 1. Dr. Anstie, the Alcohol Question. Is it Food, Medicine, or Poison? The same. 216 7. Dr. Rolleston, on the Difference of Behaviour which Certain Varieties of Starch exhibited when Treated with Salivary Diastase in Saliva and in the shape of 9. M. De Lucca, on the Physiological Effects of Hachish 10. Dr. B. W. Richardson, Further Researches on the Therapeutic Properties of 15. Dr. Nussbaum, a New Illustration of the Virtues of Transfusion of Blood as a 16. Dr. Levick, Case in which Hypodermic Injections were used for a long time with 17. Dr. Schneider, on the Excretion of Mercury during and after Mercurial Treatment 336 18. Dr. Richardson, on the Antiseptic Properties of Ammonia IV.-Report on Physiology. 1. Dr. Beaumont, Natural Death a Natural Sleep 2. Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society: Report on Suspended Animation 3. Professor Bernard, a Parallel between the Cerebro-Spinal and Sympathetic HALF-YEARLY ABSTRACT OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES, ETC. PART I. PRACTICAL MEDICINE, PATHOLOGY, & THERAPEUTICS. SECT. I.-GENERAL QUESTIONS IN MEDICINE. (A) CONCERNING HYGIENE. ART. 1.-Air and Water: their Impurities and Purification. By Mr. HENRY BOLLMANN CONDY. (8vo. London, Edinburgh, and Dublin: Davies, Maclachlan & Stewart, and Fannin & Co. pp. 80. 1862.) THE real object of this work is to recommend a solution of permanganate of soda or potass, which has been patented by Mr. Condy under the name of "Condy's Fluid," as a deodorizer and disinfec tant, and this object is carried out in a very satisfactory manner. Indeed, the only exception we have to take is with the title, which is much too vague to answer its purpose fully. In the article on Disinfection in Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, the writer says:-" One of the most thorough methods of oxidization is by the use of the manganates or permanganates. They transfer their oxygen to organic substances with great rapidity, and completely destroy them. They are, therefore, complete disinfectants. They destroy the odour of putrid matter rapidly, and oxidize sulphuretted and phosphoretted hydrogen as well as purely organic substances. As they do this by oxidization at a low temperature, they are the mildest form of the destructive disinfectants, and their application to putrid liquids of every kind gives the most satisfactory results." Liebig also, writing to Mr. Condy, says :- "I have myself made a series of experiments which have convinced me that your statements about the excellent effects of your disinfecting fluid in destroying bad smells, as well as of unwholesome contaminations to which drinking water is subject, are perfectly correct. It has proved itself of very great service for purifying the mouth, and washing the feet and other parts of the person. I consider it an inestimable means for the preservation of the health." And this strong testimony is corroborated by many other testimonials of a similar character from other chemists. It is easy to see that Condy's Fluid is likely to have other great uses besides purifying foul water and air and correcting tainted meat. Already it has been used extensively for surgical purposes, as to destroy the odour of offensive discharges, and in this respect it seems to have no worthy rival. Nor are its uses likely to be confined to surgery. In a word, we regard the use of this fluid as a great fact, and we recommend it to our readers, together with the book in which an account of it is given. As illustrating some of the more interesting properties of the alkaline permanganates (Condy's Fluid), our author gives in an appendix certain simple experiments, of which the following may be taken as a sample: To test water for organic impurities. "Take any number of tumblers; fill up one with distilled water, another with ordinary drinking water from a pump, rain-water butt, or other supply, and the rest with various samples of water more or less contaminated with organic impurities, such as sewage water. Add to each of them, drop by drop, Condy's Fluid (crimson) till the contents begin to assume a decidedly pink hue. This effect will be produced, in the case of the distilled water, if pure, by a single drop; more will be required by the drinking water, which, after standing a little while, will show some signs of muddiness, ard a still larger portion by the other samples, in which a brown precipitate will soon form. The quantity of fluid required, and the amount of muddiness produced in each, will be the measure of the relative impurity of the several waters. This experiment may be repeated with other deodorizing fluids, and the results contrasted with those produced by Condy's. By having a separate set of glasses for each of the deodorizers to be tried against one another, the comparison will of course be more conclusive. To prove the permanent nature of the action of Condy's Fluid. "To the above, or other similar samples of water, after treatment with the various deodorizing agents, add a few drops of sulphuric acid; in those in which chloride of zinc or other such deodorizer has been used, any offensive odour which they previously had will be immediately revived, whereas no such effect will follow on adding the acid to those waters that have been treated with Condy's Fluid. To purify water on a practical scale. "Pour into a hogshead of offensive drinking water one wine-glassful of Condy's Fluid, and mix with a stick or lath. Generally this quantity will render it as sweet as fresh water; should it require more, add half a wine-glassful. So long as organic matter remains 66 which is known by the pink colour of the fluid gradually vanishing add the fluid. If a trace too much has been used, continue stirring, or immerse a stick or lath, and the colour will disappear. Let it stand, and any suspended matter present will subside or filter. The purifying action of Condy's Fluid on water will appear very evident on carefully comparing a sample of common drinking water, after its treatment by the fluid, with another of the same water taken previously to being treated. Filter both through clean blot. ting-paper, and let a person taste them alternately blindfold, or without being aware which of them was the one that had been operated upon. A peculiar purity of taste and smell which characterizes the purified water, and can be compared to nothing so well as to the fresh dew of the country, will cause the two samples to be very soon distinguished from each other. In most instances a marked difference of colour will also be perceptible on placing a glass of each on a sheet of white paper, and looking through them upon it: the purified water will generally appear more colourless and brilliant than the other. To prove the superiority of Condy's Fluid for the purification of water over filtration through charcoal, which is generally considered the best known means of purifying water. "Macerate some hay in a jug of water in a warm place until the contents are charged with vegetable matter: strain and pass through a charcoal filter. Operate on the water so treated with Condy's Fluid, as in the above experiment, when it will be clearly shown that, notwithstanding the use of the charcoal, it still contains a considerable quantity of organic matter. To demonstrate the innoxious nature of Condy's Fluid as compared with Chloride of Lime. "Take two flower-pots, containing each a plant of mignonette, or other common household flower; water them both during several days, one with water to which Condy's Fluid has been added in the proportion of a teaspoonful to a pint of water, and the other with water into which the same quantity of chloride of lime has been thrown. Examine them from day to day, and in no very long lapse of time the latter will be found drooping or dead, while the former will be as flourishing as ever, or even more vigorous in its growth. To show the poisonous properties of Chloride of Zinc as compared with those of Condy's Fluid. "Have two ordinary glass fish-globes, each filled with water, and containing some common kind of fish, which can be easily procured; mark one globe B and the other C. At the time when the daily change of water is made, add to the globe B ten drops of Burnett's Fluid for every gallon of water, and to C Condy's Fluid in the same proportion; continue this treatment daily, taking care always to give Burnett to Band Condy to C, till such time as the fish in the former turns on his back, which will very soon be the case. However often this experiment is repeated, and with whatever proportion of fluid, |