which continued, at irregular intervals, for a series of years; during which time, his general health and strength were greatly impaired, so that he was incapable of much exertion, being, indeed, confined to the house for more than eight years. At about the age of twenty-eight, his general health began to mend; although still troubled with cough. For the next fifteen or twenty years he was able to perform some labor, though not without considerable inconvenience from the symptoms above mentioned. In January, 1844, for the first time since the third year of his age, the cough suddenly left him, and did not return for several months, when it again began suddenly to harass him, as before. On the 8th of October, 1845, he experienced a remarkably uneasy sensation, of a pricking nature, deep in the right side, which excited violent coughing, and after one or two severe paroxysms, he experienced a sensation, as if something had ruptured, or given way. This was instantly followed by the passage of something into the trachea, producing suffocation, which was forcibly ejected upon the floor, succeeded by the expectoration of purulent matter, streaked with blood. On examination, the foreign body turned out to be a bone, nearly three-fourths of an inch in breadth, and one-twelfth in thickness, oblong, and somewhat triangular in form, smooth and convex upon one surface, the other covered with sulci and protuberances. It appeared that the bone which he had originally swallowed, from the traditionary accounts preserved in the family, was a splinter of a rib from which he was sucking the meat, and it seemed highly probable, on examining the piece ejected, that this, also, was originally a portion of the same bone, as the spongy lamellæ were still visible on one side, while the smooth convex surface of the other was equally manifest. Now, then, are we not authorized in believing that this bone was lodged in one of the rami of the right bronchus for this long period of sixty years, producing the phenomena which I have briefly described; including partial ulceration, whence proceeded the blood, and purulent matter, &c.? Your opinion on this point will be gratifying to one, at least, of your numerous friends and readers. Salisbury, Conn. Nov. 15th, 1845.

[There are numerous cases on record where foreign bodies have been lodged in one of the bronchial tubes for several years, but we know of no instance where a body of the size of that above described, has remained for so long a period in a bronchus, without causing fatal disease; and doubt whether a parallel case can be produced.-ED.]-N. Y. Journal of Medicine.

5.-A case of Small Pox occurring five days after vaccination.-Progress of the vaccine disease arrested for ten days.

DR. ALFRED C. POST related the following case:

Doctor C., who had previously resided in a small village in Connecticut, removed with his family to New York in August, 1845. He had three children, the eldest of whom was eleven years of age, the second seven years, and the third an infant at the breast. The eldest child had been successfully vaccinated in infancy: the others had never been vaccinated. During the month of September, the two younger children were vaccinated: the vaccination of the infant was entirely unsuccessful: that of the next child was followed by the occurrence of a vesicle, which the father thought to be genuine, but which left behind it a small ulcer, which remained unheeded three months.

On Friday, December 5th, the infant was taken sick with fever: on Tuesday, December 9th, a variolous eruption made its appearance, and soon became confluent over almost the whole body. On Tuesday, December 16th, the child

died.

On Tuesday, December 9th, the day on which the eruption appeared upon the infant, the second child, a girl seven years of age, was again vaccinated. The vaccine disease pursued its regular course until Sunday, December 14th,

when the patient was attacked with fever and delirium, which continued until Wednesday, December 17th, when the variolous eruption made its appearance upon the backs of the hands. The eruption subsequently appeared upon the chest, face, and other parts of the body. It was confluent upon the backs of the hands and feet, coherent upon the extremities generally, and discrete upon the face and trunk. The delirium gradually subsided as the eruption came out, but a great degree of constitutional disturbance continued until the decline of the eruption, so much so that I did not regard the patient as being out of danger, until the process of desiccation had made considerable progress. The subsequent convalescence was very slow, several weeks having elapsed before she was able to walk. The variolous eruption was regular in its course, except that the pustules on their maturity were flatter than they usually are. The desiccation of the pustules commenced on Friday, December 26th, and was considerably advanced on the following days: on Sunday, 28th, it was nearly complete, except upon the feet. On Tuesday, December 16th, a week after vaccination, the vaccine vesicle was normal in appearance, with the exception that there was a slight trace of an areola. During the subsequent week, it underwent no change, except that there was a little increase of size and fullness, and it became opaque, as the variolous eruption approached its maturity. It was distinguished from the variolous pustules by its large size, and more regular form: several small variolous pustules coalesced with it at its circumference. On Thursday, December 25th, there was a slight incrustation at the central depression: there was very little increase of this on Friday and Saturday, so that there was less tendency to desiccation in the vaccine pustule than in the surrounding variolous pustules. On Sunday, December 28th, wher the desiccation of the variolous pustules was almost complete, the vaccine pus. tule was found to have broken, and to have left behind it à superficial alcer.

The above case presents several distinct points of interest. The most remarkable is the manner in which the progress of the vaccine disease was retarded by the occurrence of small-pox. The patient had been vaccinated five days at the time of the invasion of the variolous fever, and eight days when the eruption of small-pox made its appearance. The eruptive fever did not appear to affect the condition of the vaccine vesicle, except, perhaps, in preventing the formation of a distinct areola. But from the time that the small-pox eruption made its appearance, the vaccine disease remained nearly stationary, and did not go through its usual changes. It, however, increased a little in size, and the fluid contained in the vesicle became opaque, but it retained the distinct pustular character without desiccation until Saturday, December 27th, eighteen days after the vaccination, and ten days after the commencement of the variolous eruption.

The second point of interest, is the failure of the vaccine disease to exert any material influence on the progress of the small-pox. It is probable that the vaccination which had been performed in September was spurious, and that it had no modifying influence on the subsequent variolous affection. The last vaccination, although it appeared to be genuine, had not reached a sufficiently advanced stage to exert any manifest influence in mitigating the severity of the small-pox. It may perhaps have retarded the occurrence of the eruption, which commenced twenty-four hours later than it usually does. But considering the favorable age of the patient, the attack of small-pox was much more severe than in the average of cases, and for nearly a fortnight, serious apprehensions were entertained as to the result.

Another interesting feature in the case, is the fact that the eruption was later in its appearance upon the face, than upon the upper extremities, and that it remained more discrete upon the head and trunk than upon the upper and lower extremities. After the eruption appeared upon the face, I directed a mask to be worn, composed of linen spread with mercurial ointment, with holes cut for eyes, nose and mouth. This had the effect of arresting the development of the eruption on the parts which it covered, so that it remained throughout in

the papular stage. This fact was verified by Dr. Bulkley, who saw the case about the time the eruption had reached its maturity. I have on other occasions pursued a similar practice, and with satisfactory results.

New York Jour. of Medicine.

6.-The Illinois and Indiana Medical and Surgical Journal.-This is a new title adopted by one of our old neighbours, the Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal, hitherto edited by J. V. Z. BLANEY, M. D. In this change D. BRAINARD, M. D., Wм. B. HERRICK, M. D., and JOHN EVANS, M. D., have become the associates of the former editor; and, notwithstanding the reputable character that the old Journal bore, we predict that the arrangement will prove a most advantageous and satisfactory one. The reason of the change of title is explained in the following extract from the editorial announcement:

As a number of our subscribers, and anticipated contributors are residents of the State of Indiana, in which there has, as yet, no medical journal been issued, and the services of Dr. John Evans having been secured as co-editor, we have altered the title of our journal, to express the better its more extended sphere, and will hereafter issue it simultaneously at Chicago, Illinois, and Indianapolis, Indiana. Our labor, also, will be further divided by the association of four coeditors, as seen by our title page. By this division of labor we hope to improve the Journal in spirit and practical value.-J. V. Z. B.

7.-The Credit System in Medical Schools.

[The following remarks on this subject, from the Western Lancet, (May, 1846), are wholly just, and we rejoice to learn that the Transylvania School has determined to abolish the credit system, and unite in the hope that the schools will follow the example.]

We are fully satisfied that an influence extremely detrimental to the profession has grown out of the custom of granting credit in medical schools. The object in adopting this course is, to secure a large class, perhaps for the purpose of out-numbering a rival school; and the consequence is, that all who present themselves, wholly irrespective of merit or qualifications, are duly enrolled as medical students, and their names go out to the world, swelling the catalogue of some highly flourishing school. The success of such pupils operates as an incentive to others to engage in the study, seeing that it is so cheap; and many a one who either has no occupation, or who may be too indolent to follow a mechanical pursuit, forthwith doffs his humbler business, and unites in swelling the Esculapian throng. In this way the profession becomes thronged with practitioners of every grade, and all parties, even those favored with the gratuity are ultimately injured. It is true some meritorious men will be found unable to pay; but there can be no doubt, that the indiscriminate admission of pupils into medical schools is not only an act of injustice to those who do pay, but also tends directly to degrade the profession. We are gratified, therefore, to state, that Transylvania Medical School has determined, by formal resolution, to abolish, entirely, the credit system: and these resolutions will be strictly adhered to. We hope all other schools will manifest a similar regard for the interests of the profession, and follow an example so worthy of imitation. Med. News and Library. In this hope we fully concur. The course adopted by some schools in this country is not only undignified, but highly injurious to the profes

sion; and must ultimately lead to their own disgrace and downfall. In order to swell their numbers, for of numbers is their only boast, they will take any who offer. The great misfortune, too, is that pecuniary deficiency is often not the most serious one that stands in the way of these aspirants, in their attempts to obtain admission into schools where less importance is attached to numbers. We have known ignorant me. chanics, who could with difficulty write their own names, to turn steam doctors; and, after spending their hard-earned pittance, in endeavoring to carry out the tricks of fraud and ignorance, they determined to obtain a backer in some medical school. This they may do, "without money, and without price," and we may add, without labor, study, or any other qualification: it is enough that they have honored the learned professors with the light of their countenances. They are even offered advantages over the better class of students; for they have only to apply to the Dean, who registers them as Mr. Practitioner ; and, after four months of attendance, he goes forth, without fail, to come out under new colors. In this way our country is now being flooded with men, whose only title to respectability of any kind is in the parchment issued by schools which are certainly jeopardizing their own claims to the respect of the profession generally.-EDS.

of

NEW ORLEANS, JULY 1, 1846.

HEALTH OF THE CITY.

The unusual wetness of the season, up to the present time, has af. forded a wide field for the usual calamitous forebodings in which the old inhabitants annually luxuriate. Each spring has its harvest of predictions: if the preceding winter has been unusually cold, a terrible epidemic of yellow fever invariably follows: if the winter has been warm, another set raises the cry that the cold has not been sufficient to kill the seeds of the preceding year's epidemic, and we shall soon have it again. If the spring is wet, the swamps are filled with water, which forms stagnant fens to evaporate, as soon as the heats of summer commence, spreading miasmata and pestilence around; if dry, a great quantity of mud, and decaying matter is exposed through the summer, from which arise putrid exhalations, and all manner of intolerable things. Whether warm, or cold, thunder, or no thunder, we are sure of the same train of woes; but above all the harbingers of approaching disasters, flies and mosquitoes, are regarded by our sages as the most infallible.

We

Now, we are most anxious to guard against the imputation of credulity; but, at the same time, candor compels us to admit that, as yet, unfortunately, these calamitous predictions sometimes prove true. hope the time will come when these prophecies will no longer meet with even an occasional fulfilment.

The unusual quantity of rain that has fallen here in the last three or four months, has had less influence upon the health of the city than might reasonably be expected, from the prolonged prevalence of humid weather at this season. The only indication of any influence exerted

by this weather, is in the increased number of cases of dysentery, and other derangements of the bowels. Some of the cases of diarrhoea assume a serious character, and are accompanied with a state of conges. tion, and prostration; sometimes with severe cramps. These cases, coupled with the circumstance that the Asiatic cholera is reported to have again reached Russia, in its western progress, create an impression that a state of predisposition exists which is regarded as the forerunner of an epidemic of that dreaded pestilence. We cannot admit the truth of this view. The cholera may, indeed, visit us again; but the present prevalence of complaints of this nature have nothing to do with it; but must be attributed to the long prevalence of a humid state of the air, which by diminishing cutaneous transpiration, augments the activity of the internal exhalent surfaces.

Intermittent and remittent fevers have not prevailed to so great an extent as usual this season, up to date. There have been some cases of a typhoid nature, with catarrhal symptoms, which yield readily to treatment. These cases are probably due to the same cause that predisposed to the bowel affection.

In other respects the health of the city is much the same as it usually is at this season; the same prevalence of measles, with a few cases of scarlet fever, all of a mild type. We have enjoyed an unusual exemption from small-pox, while it has prevailed to so great an extent in some of the other American cities.

HEALTH OF THE COUNTRY.

Over a great portion of the South and South-west there seems to have been an unusual prevalence of rainy and humid weather, which, in the spring is almost sure to be accompanied by a preponderance of bowel affections. This predisposition has been remarked by physicians whom we have met here from many parts of this and the adjoining States. With this exception, the sanatory condition of the country seems to be unusually good. We subjoin the following extracts from our correspondents:

NASHVILLE, June 2d, 1846.

Messrs. Editors:-Since my last letter, there has nothing unusual occurred in the range of my observation, in our profession, except some individual cases. Our community has not suffered from sickness to any extent, until within the last ten days, when diarrhoea made its appearance, and is even now prevailing to considerable extent. The cases present nothing unusual, and are generally mild. This is with us, commonly, a healthy season of the year: a middle ground between the spring and summer diseases.

HUNTSVILLE, April 23d, 1846.

"The country and town have been more healthy than usual. We have had fewer cases of pneumonia during the winter and spring, than for many years. Rheumatism has been more prevalent than I recollect to have seen it. I have treated several cases successfully, with large