about the heart, and erysipelas. He ordered that the patient's temperature be taken every hour with an ordinary house thermometer, and that a record of her pulse be also kept, so that he could report progress of the case to a dean of some college in Boston. When he discovered the symptoms of erysipelas, one week before she died, he ordered the patient packed in kerosene oil from her neck to her toes, so as to draw out the disease. Cloths were saturated in oil, wrung out, and then laid on. She complained of intense burning pain, and the treatment was discontinued after two and a half hours. Dr. Pierce was sent for. He ordered the kerosene treatment renewed, this time by pouring oil on the cloths without removing them. This treatment was continued for thirty hours or more, when he ordered the cloths removed. It took three hours to remove the cloths, and large patches of skin came off with them. The next day Dr. Pierce presented a bill for $180 for consultation fees in Boston and $45 for surgical examinatious. His services were dispensed with the following day, and other physicians called in, who said the patient was past recovery. The testimony of the nurse showed, in addition, that after the first application of the kerosene the skin hung in strings from the patient's body. When the doctor ordered a second application he forbade the nurse to use sweet oil to allay the pain. Dr. J. Marcus Rice, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, said the woman's epidermis was two thirds burned away; that the true skin was destroyed in several places, and that in some spots the muscles were exposed. He found no sign of pericardial effusion. In his judgment death was caused by the destruction of the epidermis by the use of kerosene. This opinion was confirmed by other medical testimony. One physician who had treated Mrs. Bemis testified that pulmonary troubles and chronic diarrhoea would probably have ended her life soon, and kerosene packing only hastened death. In his opinion she might have recovered from the kerosene treatment but for her vitiated condition. The defense opened, and put on half a dozen witnesses, who, under Dr. Pierce's direction, have used kerosene in a similar manner to that in this case for erysipelas, typhoid fever, congestion, typhoid pneumonia, and other diseases. All agreed that the treatment was highly beneficial to them. The defense also of fered testimony to show that the husband had administered two doses of aconite to his wife, early in her sickness, of eight drops each. The only witness in rebuttal testified that, under the prescription of the defendant, kerosene oil had been used on her son as a remedy for lung fever until it took off the flesh and laid the bone bare. The jury were out ten minutes, and returned a verdict of guilty. Vice-President, Dr. Winthrop F. Stevens, Stoneham; Secretary, Dr. George E. Putney, Reading; Treasurer and Librarian, Dr. John O. Dow, Reading; Councilors, Dr. Arthur H. Cowdrey, Stoneham, Dr. Frederic Winsor, Winchester, Dr. Seth W. Kelley, Woburn; Nominating Councilor, Dr. Winsor; Ceusors, Dr. Charles C. Odlin, Melrose; Dr. William S. Brown, Stoneham; Dr. Daniel March, Winchester; Dr. Julius S. Clark, Melrose; Dr. Fred. W. Graves, Woburn; Commissioner on Trials, Dr. Francis F. Brown, Reading; Reporter, Dr. George E. Putney, Reading. -Two new prescriptions for the treatment of warts are announced in the Wiener Med. Blätter (November 8th). One is the application of a piece of lemon peel which has been immersed for eight days in acetic acid three or four times renewed. The slice of peel is left on the wart until it dries, which it does in about nine hours, and this is repeated four or five times. The wart is then so much loosened that it can be removed by strangulation. The second mode of treatment is to insert a pin beneath the wart, avoiding the healthy skin, and then to heat the pin's head in a spirit-lamp. This causes the wart to become white and shriveled at once, when it is easily removed without any bleeding. M. Pasteur and his collaborateurs have announced to the French Academy that they can render all dogs absolutely proof against the effects of rabies by inoculation however the virus may be adminis tered. -In the British Medical Journal, February, 1884, page 281, it is noticed that in the statistics of the Caen Hospital only four cases of stone were admitted during fifty-nine years. In one the nucleus was a foreign body; in two the patients drank wine, not cider, which is the ordinary beverage in Normandy. Inquiries showed that stone in the bladder is rare in countries where cider is the chief drink. M. DenisDumont is said to have found the diuretic properties of cider most useful in cases of gravel, obesity, and some forms of gastritis. NEW YORK. - At the last meeting of the County Medical Society, held May 26th, Dr. Milton Josiah Roberts read a paper on The Treatment of Ankle-Joint Disease and the Mechanism of its Cure, and presented a patient cured without deformity and without anchylosis. A resolution, offered by Dr. J. A. Irwin, was adopted urging upon Congress the necessity of suitable legis lation to secure a more efficient medical service upon ocean steamships in order to prevent the needless sacrifice of human life and the introduction of foreign infection, as far as possible, into this country. The free public baths were opened on the 1st of June as usual. There will be eleven instead of nine this year, two of the old ones having been sold, and four new ones built at a cost of $50,000. Six of the baths are located on the East River front, one at the Battery, and four on the Hudson River front. Nine graduates received diplomas at the com mencement of the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, which was held on Thursday evening, May 29th. Work has now been commenced on the Vassar Brothers' Hospital at Poughkeepsie. It will consist of three principal parts,· an administrative building and a pavilion on either side, all of which will be two stories in height with high slate roofs. They will be joined by a one-story corridor with a spacious veranda. The buildings are to stand on a bluff, facing the west, and their extreme length, from the north side of the north pavilion to the south side of the south pavilion, will be 180 feet, while the extreme depth, from the front of the administrative building to the rear of the pavilions, will be 120 feet. -The State Board of Health has just received from one of its inspectors a report which reveals a very unsatisfactory sanitary condition among the cattle at Blissville, L. I. In the stables of one firm, which were in a terrible state of filth and offensiveness, between four hundred and five hundred animals were found housed and fed on distillery swill and hay, and one case of pleuro-pneumonia was discovered. In another stable out of forty cows three were just dying of the disease, and there were five acute cases of it beside. All had been milked that morning, and the milk distributed to customers. An almost equally large percentage of cases of pleuro-pneumonia were also found at other dairies, and there is reason to sus pect that diseased cows, no longer able to furnish milk, are slaughtered and the meat smuggled into New York and Brooklyn. Correspondence. great satisfaction and approval. A valedictory address doin Medical Alumni Association met in Memorial Last January there assembled at Waterville between twenty and thirty of the graduates of the Medical School of Maine in response to an invitation of Dr. Frederick C. Thayer, of the class of 1867. Though the institution had been in existence for sixty-three years, and had educated more than thirteen hundred physicians, there had never been an association of its alumni. On this occasion, however, such a society was organized, and Dr. Thayer, the projector of the enterprise, was very properly elected as its president. A constitution was adopted by which it is provided that any person on whom a degree in medicine has been conferred by Bowdoin College may become a member of the Society by signifying his desire to this effect in writing to the secretary, and paying one dollar to the treasury, provided his character and professional standing are satisfactory to the executive committee, which consists of all the officers. The annual meeting is to be held in the week of the graduating exercises at the School. In accordance with this rule the BowHall immediately after the newly-made doctors marched out with their sheepskins. Nearly one hundred were present, and this number would have been greatly augmented but for the severe storm which lasted all day. The President briefly addressed the society, congratulating it upon the auspicious beginning of the new organization, and expressing the opinion that the alumni owed a duty to the institution which gave them professional birth, an obligation which they could discharge in various ways. One, upon which he laid great stress, was the establishment of an alumni fund, contributed by the graduates of the School, and devoted to the advancement of medical education through the medium of this institution. The suggestions of the MR. EDITOR,―The attendance at the Medical De- President were referred to a committee consisting of partment of Bowdoin College varies from year to year Drs. Horr, of Lewiston, Walker, of Thomaston, and but slightly from one hundred, and in the term which Osgood, of North Yarmouth, which reported a general closed on the 28th of May was ninety-nine. A grati- approval of them, but added that the matters were of fying circumstance in this connection is that one third so much importance that they could not be sufficiently of these were graduates of colleges, nine New England discussed in a short time, and recommended the apinstitutions of learning having representatives in the pointment of a committee which should be instructed class. Thirty-three candidates received the doctorate to report on the subject at the next meeting. The rein medicine. In previous years the graduating exer- port was accepted, and a committee was chosen comcises have been conducted with but little ceremony, posed of Drs. Horr, of Lewiston, E. M. Fuller, of though it has been customary to have an address from Bath, and H. H. Hunt, of Portland. A constitutional some man who had attained eminence in medicine, law, amendment was adopted by which past and present or theology, but this year the class arranged a pro- members of the Faculty of the School may be elected gramme of a more pretentious character, and set an to honorary membership. Those who have been inexample which will doubtless be followed by all their structors, who are not graduates of this School, and The address was given by the Rev. Dr. who are still living, are Dr. William Perry, of Exeter, S. G. Brown, professor of mental and moral philosophy N. H., lecturer on theory and practice in 1837; Dr. in the college, formerly the occupant of the same chair Corydon L. Ford, of Aun Arbor, Mich., professor of at Dartmouth, and president of Hamilton. His subject anatomy and physiology from 1864 to 1870; Dr. A. was some of the relations of the medical profession to B. Palmer, of Ann Arbor, professor of pathology and the complicated result which we call civilization, and practice from 1870 to 1879; Dr. Thomas Dwight, of he handled it in a manner which displayed a critical Boston, professor of anatomy from 1872 to 1876; Dr. appreciation of the aims, duties, trials, and achieve- Robert Amory, of Boston, professor of physiology ments of the educated physician. The large audience from 1873 to 1875; Dr. Thomas T. Sabine, of New which filled Memorial Hall listened to the oration with | York, lecturer on anatomy in 1871, and on surgery in GRADUATING EXERCISES AT BOWDOIN MED- successors. 1872; and Dr. E. W. Jenks, of Chicago, professor of that of Tanret (double iodide of mercury and potasobstetrics from 1872 to 1874. These were made hon- sium strongly acidulated with acetic acid) employed acorary members, as also were those present professors cording to the method of Professor Bouchard. These who are not graduates of the institution. The old list means are necessary for recognizing the small amounts of officers was reëlected. They are F. C. Thayer, of of albumen often found, as, for instance, from .005 to.01 Waterville, President; S. Laughton, of Bangor, first gramme of albumen to a litre of urine. The general Vice-President; R. D. Bibber, of Bath, second Vice- results obtained by M. de Chateaubourg show that President; C. D. Smith, of Portland, Secretary; F. albuminuria is frequent in healthy people. For inH. Gerrish, of Portland, Treasurer. The executive stance, in 701 examinations made upon persons in percommittee was authorized to expend at their discretion fect health, albumen was found in 592 cases, giving a such moneys as are in the treasury. Dr. A. J. Fuller, proportion of eighty-four per cent. The cases where of Bath, delivered an address, after which the Associa- there was a considerable quantity, that is, more than tion adjourned to the large dining room, on the ground-.03 per litre, were sixty-four per cent. In 169 cases floor of the building, where a bountiful and toothsome even, the amount of albumen was more than .25 per banquet was spread. The newly-graduated class at- litre. tended as guests of the Faculty. The dinner being disposed of, speeches, in response to toasts, were made by the acting President of Bowdoin College, by Dr. I. T. Dana, the senior medical professor, by Dr. Horr, President of the Maine Medical Association, and others. The aged Professor Packard, who is acting President, gave a most interesting account of the beginnings of the medical department, the early professors in which were his personal friends. Those who knew Nathan Smith, John Doane Wells, and Parker Cleaveland as young men are not often seen nowadays; and it was a genuine treat to listen to this venerable man as he narrated incidents in the lives of the founders of the Medical School, telling the story with a simplicity and unconscious pathos which touched every heart. Dr. Dana spoke of the work the School is accomplish-liminary examination had shown that sixteen of the ing in elevating the standard of education, and of the need of larger clinical opportunities, intimating that the institution should be moved as soon as possible to Portland an opinion which is shared by almost everybody who is familiar with the circumstances of the case. Subscriptions have been raised for the erection of an amphitheatre for the Maine General Hospital, and there is no doubt that the Medical School of Maine will change its location from Brunswick to Portland as soon as a suitable building for its accommodation is put up and deeded to the College of which it is the medical department. The first annual meeting of the Association is unanimously considered a great success, and the next is looked forward to with the pleasantest anticipations. There are many alumni whose addresses are not known, and all who did not receive a circular invitation to this meeting are earnestly requested to furnish the Secretary with information as to their residences at their earliest convenience. Prof. Burt G. Wilder, who has occupied the chair of Physiology for nine years past, has resigned, and Dr. Henry H. Hunt, of Portland, has been chosen lecturer for one year in his place. Miscellany. PHYSIOLOGICAL ALBUMINURIA. THE growing opinion that albumen is more frequently present in the urine than was formerly believed, receives support from a recent thesis of M. de Chateaubourg,1 in which observations are reported conducted chiefly upon healthy soldiers and children. The tests were made by several reagents, but especially with 1 Journal de Médicine, January, 1884. The author concludes that this physiological albuminuria is variable and modified by many casual circumstances. Thus there were individuals who one day had .25 of albumen per litre and the next day had none. It is modified among other things by bodily fatigue, which markedly increases it, as could be seen in a body of soldiers, both in the number affected and the amount per man. Brain work also increases albuminuria, as was observed in a number of young men preparing for an examination. Digestion, if accomplished during repose, has no effect on the albuninuria. But not so menstruation and the generative functions. Cold baths were found to have a marked effect. Fifty-three men having taken a five-minute bath were found to have albuminuria to a man, but in varying degree. A pre men had no albumen when they got out of bed. The amount in the others was increased after the bath. Most of these men had albumen the next day but in much diminished amount. It is pointed out that this influence of cold baths has an important effect. For if it be admitted, as Semmola has long taught, that the repeated transudation of albumen through the renal filter may produce alterations in the renal epithelium, it would seem that bathing should be carried on only with great caution by persons having transient albuminuria, especially if it be easily subject to exacerbations. THE FIRST DISCOVERER OF THE USEFUL- WE trust that the name of a well-known physician of this city will not escape recognition under the disguise in which it appears in the following paragraph, which we clip from the Australasian Medical Gazette: "In the New England Medical Monthly for June, 1883, Dr. Henry O'Marey, of Boston, is credited with the discovery that fibres of kangaroo tendons, antiseptically prepared, make the best ligatures and sutures for surgical purposes. We would call attention to the fact that Mr. T. M. Girdlestone, F. R. C. S., Eng., of Melbourne, is the surgeon who is really entitled to the credit of this discovery, and that, acting on his recommendations, these tendons have been for some seven years frequently used by him and other surgeons in Australia and England. He first exhibited tendons, prepared by himself, at a meeting of the Medical Society of Victoria, held on December 5, 1877, and cailed the attention of the profession to their usefulness, giving his own experience in their use." Deaths reported 2496 (no reports from Cincinnati, Buffalo, District of Columbia, and Providence): under five years of age, 942; principal infectious diseases (small-pox, measles, diphtheria and croup, whooping-cough, erysipelas, fevers, and diarrhoeal diseases) 476, consumption 343, lung diseases 287, diphtheria and croup 116, diarrhoeal diseases 98, scarlet fever 63, measles 62, typhoid fever 32, malarial fevers 29, whoopingcough 20, cerebro-spinal meningitis 18, small-pox 12, erysipelas 12, puerperal fever 12, typhus fever four. From measles, New York 20, New Orleans 18, Chicago 10, Philadelphia five, Baltimore four, Pittsburg and Milwaukee two each, St. Louis one. From typhoid fever, Philadelphia 12, Chicago, Boston, and Pittsburg three each, Nashville two, New York, Brooklyn, Baltimore, St. Louis, Lowell, Lynn, Holyoke, and Waltham one each. From malarial fevers, New Orleans 14, New York and Brooklyn five each, Baltimore and St. Louis two each, Chicago one. From whooping-cough, New York 11, Brooklyn and Chicago three each, Baltimore two, New Orleans one. From cerebro-spinal meningitis, New York and Philadelphia four each, Chicago and New Haven two each, St. Louis, Nashville, Fall River, Newton, Brockton, and Chicopee one each. From small-pox, New Orleans 11, Philadelphia one. From erysipelas, New York three, Chicago and Boston two each, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Charleston one each. From puerperal fever, Boston three, Brooklyn and Baltimore two each, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Charleston, and Lowell one each. From typhus fever, New York four. Three cases of small-pox were reported in St. Louis (these three cases were from East St. Louis, Illinois, and taken to the hospital at St. Louis as pay patients); scarlet fever 61, diphtheria 45, typhoid fever eight, and measles four in Boston; scarlet fever 17, and diphtheria seven in Milwaukee. In 101 cities and towns of Massachusetts, with an estimated population of 1,336,911 (estimated population of the State 1,955,104), the total death-rate for the week was 26.15 against 16.35 and 15.88 for the previous two weeks. In the 28 greater towns of England and Wales, with an estimated population of 8,762,354, for the week ending May Deaths reported 3666: acute 10th, the death-rate was 21.8. diseases of the respiratory organs (London) 326, whoopingcough 194, measles 176, scarlet fever 66, diarrhoea 47, fever 35, diphtheria 13, small-pox (London 19, Liverpool two, SunderThe death-rates ranged from 14.3 in Brighton land one) 22. to 28.8 in Blackburn; Bristol 18.2; Sheffield 20.5; London 20.6; Birmingham 21.4; Bradford 22.4; Birkenhead 23.5; Leeds 25.0; Nottingham 25.9; Manchester 27.0; Liverpool 27.4. In Edinburgh 23.5; Glasgow 28.7; Dublin 31.8. For the week ending May 10th, in the Swiss towns, there were 40 deaths from consumption, typhoid fever 38, lung diseases 26, diarrhoeal diseases eight, diphtheria and croup five whooping-cough four, scarlet fever one, erysipelas one. death-rates were, at Geneva 21.4; Zurich 37.4; Basle 20.9; Berne 25.6. The The meteorological record for the week ending May 24th, in Boston, was as follows, according to observations furnished by Sergeant O. B. Cole, of the United States Signal Corps : 1 O., cloudy; C., clear; F., fair; G., fog; H., hazy; S., smoky; R., rain; T., threatening. OFFICIAL LIST OF CHANGES IN THE STATIONS AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS SERVING IN THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT UNITED STATES ARMY FROM MAY 24, 1884, TO MAY 29, 1884. HALL, WILLIAM R., captain and assistant surgeon. Assigned to duty at Fort Stockton, Texas. Paragraph 1, S. O. (13) Voluntary Papers. The annual dinner will be served Tues63, headquarters Department of Texas, May 19, 1884. (11) Report on Gynecology, Dr. Ezra Mitchell, Jr., Lancaster. (12.) Report on Necrology, Dr. E. E. Graves, Boscawen: (a.) (b.) Obituary notice of the late Dr. N. Wight, Gilmanton; (c) Obituary notice of the late Dr. S. M. Whipple, New London; Obituary notice of the late Dr. E. O. Fowler, Danvers, Mass.; (d.) Obituary notice of the late Dr. J. W. Merrill, Jr., Concord. day, at the Eagle Hotel, at 1.30 P. M. Wednesday, June 18, 1881. The Society will meet at eight o'clock, A. M., and any papers or discussions laid over from the programme of Tuesday will be in order. The discussions will be reported by a stenog. rapher for the Transactions. (1.) Report of Delegates to Dart Societies. (3.) Reports of District Societies, by their Secreta ries. (4.) Election of Officers at nine o'clock. (5.) Treasurer's and Auditor's Reports. (6.) Miscellaneous Business. (7.) Reports of Cases in General Practice. OFFICIAL LIST OF CHANGES IN THE MEDICAL ANDERSON, F., passed assistant surgeon, ordered to Navy Yard, New York. BEYER, H. G., passed assistant surgeon, detached from Coast Survey steamer Blake, ordered to Smithsonian Institute for special duty. RUSH, W. H., passed assistant surgeon, detached from U. S. S. Despatch, and ordered to Coast Survey steamer Blake. HENEBERGER, L. G., passed assistant surgeon, detached from Navy Yard, New York, ordered to U. S. S. Despatch. GRIFFITHS, S. H., passed assistant surgeon, ordered to U. S. S. Lancaster on expiration of leave of absence. JONES, M. D., passed assistant surgeon, detached from Naval Hospital, New York, and resignation accepted, June 15, NEW HAMPSHIRE MEDICAL SOCIETY. - The ninety-fourth annual meeting will convene in Union Hall, Concord, Tuesday, June 17, 1884, at eleven o'clock, A. M. The following order of proceedings is submitted by the Executive Committee: Tuesday, June 17, 1884. (1.) Annual Address by the President, at twelve o'clock. (2.) Essay, An Inquiry into the Causes of Insanity, with especial reference to Prevention and Treatment, Dr. Charles P. Bancroft, Concord. (3.) Oration, Aids in Obstetrics, Dr. I. G. Anthoine, Antrim. (4.) Dissertation, Mothers' Mark Delusion, Dr. M. C. Lathrop, Dover. (5.) Oration, Surgical Cleanliness, Dr. C. R. Walker, Concord. (6.) Report on Surgery, Dr. E. O. Otis, Exeter. (7.) Report on Diseases of the Eye, Dr. S. M. Dinsmoor, Keene. (8.) Essay, Treatment of Phthisis, Dr. S. C. Morrill, Concord. (9.) Respiratory Irrigation in the Treatment of Empyema, Dr. E. S. Berry, Dover. (10.) Report on Obstetrics, Dr. M. D. Danforth, Manchester. RECEPTION BY THE FACULTY OF THE HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL TO THE MEMBERS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MED ICAL SOCIETY. Those members of the Massachusetts Medical Society who desire to attend the reception of the Faculty of the Medical School on Tuesday, June 10th, at five P. M., will be able to obtain tickets of the Treasurer at the Institute of Technology on that day. SUFFOLK DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY, SUMMER PRACTICE. - All members of the Suffolk District Medical Society may send to Dr. Edwin H. Brigham, Medical Library, 19 Boylston Place, the days and hours on which during the months of June, July, August, and September they will be in the city to receive patients, with their addresses. After this information is collected and available a notice to the public will be given through the Advertiser and Transcript.. DR. E. W. WIGGLESWORTH, DR. F. I. KNight, for Executive Committee. BOSTON MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, No. 19 BOYLSTON PLACE. 11.23 P. M. Duration. Hrs. & Min. Amount in inches. |