ity to the contrary. E. made a study of twenty-two cases of diphtheria during an epidemic, and found the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus in twenty of the cases. In one of these, however, only upon a second examination, one of the two cases in which the bacilli were not found, was a case of so-called chronic diphtheria, in which the membrane had been present for a long time without causing any general disturbance. The other case was difficult of examination on account of the struggles of the patient; but in this case the bacilli were found after the death of the patient. In all the other cases the inoculation of various media with the small amount of infectious material obtained by touching the diphtheritic membrane with a platinum loop, or even with a straight platinum wire, was sufficient to obtain the characteristic bacilli from. E. found colonies of a streptococcus as a more or less constant contamination, but does not regard these micro-organisms as having any connection with diphtheria, but as harmless inhabitants of the mucous membrane of the throat. PHYSIOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS. BY GEORGE T. KEMP, PH. D., Associate Director of the Department of Physiology and Experimental Therapeutics, A PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGE IN EUROPEANS LIVING IN THE TROPICS. ("Ueber eine physiologische Abweichung bei den unter den Tropen lebenden Europäer." By Dr. M. Glogner, Virchow's Archiv, 1889, vol 115, pp. 345-348.) Dr. Glogner, who is surgeon in the Army of the Netherlands in India, has found, as the result of experiment on twenty-five soldiers, that the urine of soldiers who have been, for over a year, in the tropics, contains only about half as much urea and other nitrogenous excreta as are ordinarily excreted by soldiers living on a similar diet in Europe; and that those who have been in the tropics over four years excrete markedly less than those who have been there only one year. Only two marked exceptions were found out of twenty-five cases, and these were, on the whole, satisfactorily explained. The author suggests two possible explanations, viz., that the albuminous food is not absorbed from the intestine, or that, after getting into the blood, it is not broken up and used by the tissue-cells. The author leans toward the former view, and to the reviewer the PHYSIOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS. 189 latter is impossible, for the nitrogenous part of the food, when once in the blood, must be gotten rid of in some way, or it would accumulate there indefinitely. To understand the import of these experiments, it must be borne in mind that the amount of nitrogen excreted in the urine does not depend upon the work done by the individual, but upon the food. Only a very small part of the nitrogen of the food goes to replace nitrogenous waste in the tissues. The greater part of the nitrogenous food is split up by the liver, the nitrogen being given off as urea and allied products, which pass from the liver into the blood, and thence are removed by the kidneys, while the remainder is stored up as food-supply by the liver, and given out to the tissues when needed. When the nitrogenous waste-products from the liver are not properly removed by the kidneys, they accumulate in the blood and give rise to the well-known disturbances of uræmia. It is possible that the constant passage of even the ordinary quantity of nitrogenous waste from the liver to the kidney, through the blood, would have a deleterious influence on the system in tropical countries, and hence the digestive and absorptive apparatus would acquire the property of excluding an excess of such food. This would be a very interesting fact to prove, and would be of economic value in regulating the rations of soldiers in tropical countries. To draw definite conclusions from such a research, it would be necessary to take cognizance of at least four points which the author has not entered into, viz. : 1. The secretion of sweat and the loss of nitrogen from the body by this channel. 2. The condition of the kidneys, whether they function the same and as actively in the tropics as in Europe. 3. An analysis of the fæces. (The food was analyzed.) 4. A comparison of the urine of soldiers in Europe and in India under nitrogenous equilibrium, and an analysis of the urine of natives. The paper does not assume to be an exhaustive treatise, and the observations are very interesting as far as they go. It is to be hoped that they will be extended along the lines indicated. ACTION OF POTASSIUM IODIDE UPON THE HEART (AND VESSELS). Expériences ("Comment liodure de potassium agit sur le cœur. de laboratoire et de clinique." By G. Sée and Lapicque, Bulletin de l'Académie de Médecine, Oct. 8, 1889. Quoted from Revue, des Sciences médicales, vol. 35, Jan. 15, 1890.) Sée and Lapicque have studied the action of the iodides of potash and of soda on the heart and vessels, both in the laboratory and at the bedside, and believe that potassium iodide is the true "médicament du cœur." It first increases the energy of the heart and raises the blood-pressure; then, as a later effect, it gradually dilates the arterioles and facilitates the flow of blood through them. This action extends to the coronaries, and thus directly aids the nutrition of the heart. They recommend it in cases of dilated or overtaxed heart especially, though they praise it highly in all valvular or myocardiac lesions with low arterial tension. They recommend it in doses of two to three grammes (thirty to forty-five grains), which leads the reviewer to suppose that the doses are not often repeated. [Great caution should be used in substituting such a drug as this for digitalis and other tried remedies, as these undoubtedly have a tonic action on the heart, and are not as likely to produce secondary disturbances.] A NEW LOCAL ANESTHETIC WHOSE USE IS NOT WITHOUT DANGER. Onodi ("Versuche mit Erythrophlaein," Centralblatt f. d. med. Wissenschaften, p. 225, 1888) and Crespi ("L'eritrofleina como anestesico locale," Bull. d. Soc. Lancisiana d. Ospedali de Roma, decembre, 1888), working independently on erythrophlaine, point out the same objections to its use, viz., that it is not as strong as cocaine, its action is less persistent, and it is apt to induce inflammation, which may even be severe. MISCELLANEOUS. METHODIST EPISCOPAL HOSPITAL. The managers of the Methodist Episcopal Hospital announce that twelve free beds are now available in the Children's Ward of that hospital, and that they would be glad to have members of the medical profesion of the city send to the hospital any of their little patients who may be in need of hospital treatment. NEW BOOKS AND BOOK NOTICES. All books received by the JOURNAL are deposited permanently in the Library of the Medical Society of the County of Kings. Hereafter, in describing the size of books in this department, we will avoid confusion by using the abbreviations and size classification of the American Library Association. These abbreviations refer to the size of the page, without any reference to the old fold system, viz. : F, folio, over 30 cm. ; Q, quarto, under 30 cm.; O, octavo, under 25 cm.; D, duodecimo, under 20 cm.; S. sixteenmo, under 17 cm.; T, twenty-fourmo, under 15 cm.; Tt, thirtytwomo, under 123 cm.; Fe, forty-eightmo, under 10 cm. nar., narrow, width less than height; sq., square, width more than height; obl., oblong, width more than height. EMERGENCY NOTES: WHAT TO DO IN ACCIDENTS AND SUDDEN ILLNESS UNTIL THE DOCTOR COMES. By Glentworth R. Butler, M. D. D, c. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1889. This manual is probably the outgrowth of the doctor's labors in this direction as Medical Director of the Red Cross Society of Brooklyn; and Lecturer on Emergencies and Home-nursing at the Pratt Institute and at the Brooklyn Normal School for Physical Education. While the author, with characteristic frankness, claims that there is nothing original between the covers except the eighteen illustrations, he certainly shows skill in authorship in the selection and arrangement of much matter that is valuable and useful, especially to laymen who are making this a study, as every one should. It is rarely that we would commend a medical book for domestic use, knowing that the adage, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," applies especially to this class of works; but this little book is so plainly written and so fully illustrated that we hope it will find a place in every household, for it treats of just such emergencies as any one may meet in every-day life; as will be shown by the headings of a few of the chapters, viz.: Means for stopping Hæmorrhage; Wounds; Burns and Scalds; Frost-Bites; Treatment of Drowning and Suffocation; Transportation of the Sick and Injured, etc. The illustrations are well executed, and among the early fruit of the art department of the Pratt Institute. If the institution had a printing and publishing department, we would no doubt have seen better work in this line. We sympathize with the doctor in regretting that such good literary work should be placed before the public with every page askew, and other marks of careless publishing. ESSAY ON MEDICAL PNEUMATOLOGY: A PHYSIOLOGICAL, CLINICAL, AND THERAPEUTIC INVESTIGATION of the Gases. By J. N. Demarquey, Surgeon to the Municipal Hospital, Paris, etc. Translated, with notes, additions, and omissions, by Samuel S. Wallan, of New York. O, c. Philadelphia and London: F. A. Davis, publisher, 1889, While the use of oxygen as a therapeutic agent has been steadily increasing among us, for the past twenty years, we have devoted to it very little thorough and scientific investigation, most of our experimenters having used it chiefly from an empirical standpoint. For this reason a translation of the more pertinent portion of Demarquey's work, originally reported to the Academy of Medicine of Paris, and published in 1866, will be welcomed by the American profession. Much of Demarquey's bulky volume has been left out by the translator as in his opinion too much given to speculative discourse for profitable reproduction, for which omissions practical Americans will thank him. The work opens with a valuable study of the gases of the blood in their physiological condition; which is followed by chapters on the medical history of these gases, their physiological and therapeutic action, and their preparation and mode of administration, the whole being well illustrated with over twenty cuts, and supplemented by a full and valuable bibliography of the subject, beginning with Priestly's "experiments on different kinds of air, London, 1774,” and ending with the latest editorial in the University Medical Magazine, April, 1889. SYNOPSIS OF HUMAN ANATOMY: BEING A COMPLETE COMPEND OF ANATOMY, INCLUDING THE ANATOMY OF THE VISCERA, AND NUMEROUS TABLES. By James K. Young, M. D., Instructor in Orthopaedic Surgery and Assistant Demonstrator of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania, etc. D, c. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, publisher, 1889. This little book is one of the physician's and student's ready-reference series, and the author has endeavored, by well-selected woodcuts, typographical arrangement, and numerous tables, to facilitate the acquisition of the subject. Though but a small duodecimo volume of less than four hundred pages, it contains within its covers a concise though complete synopsis of human anatomy arranged in a style readily accessible for reference and study. A MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION FOR GIVING SWEDISH MOVEMENT AND MASSAGE TREATMENT. By Prof. Hartvig Nissen, Director of the Swedish Health Institute, Washington, D. C. D, c. Philadelphia: J. A. Davis, publisher, 1889. Great interest is now being taken in the subject of passive exercise, of massage treatment, and the "Swedish movement-cure," and most of the literature on the subject is scattered through the various medical journals, and inaccessible to the majority of those interested. We know of no other manual in the English language which gives detailed information as to how to apply the treatment in different diseases. It supplies a need, and as a practical help in our treatment of the sick we welcome it to our library shelves. ENUCLEATION OF TUBERCULOUS GLANDS. Scranton, Pa. O, pamph., pp. 11. By Thos. W. Kay, M.D., of Besides being in itself a valuable contribution to the subject, special students will find a special value in the numerous bibliographical references which the author has given as foot-notes. CEREBRAL ABSCESS FOLLOWING INJURY OF THE SKULL. By the same author. |