Part 4

DR. BAUER, of the Committee on Obituaries, was instructed to prepare a fitting memorial to be read at the next meeting upon the death of Dr. J. C. Ferguson of Mogadore.

DR. PIERSON read a history of a clinical case. The clinical committee, consisting of Drs. Hitchcock, Bauer and Rowe, after examination, reported the case to be one of chronic pleuritis with adhesions and effusion, and recommended alterative treatment.

DR. FISHER read a report of a case of puerperal convulsions, in which venesection had been resorted to with favorable results.

In the discussion which followed, DR. SHIVELY said he did not believe in blood-letting, but would rely upon _drastic cathartics_ and anæsthetics.

DR. WRIGHT, in a practice of fifty years, had employed blood-letting in a few cases with good results.

DR. EVERHARD had seen several cases, and favored the use of anæsthetics, but objected to the use of morphine on the ground of the supposed uræmic pathology of puerperal convulsions.

DR. HOWARD thought Dr. Fisher’s treatment of the case good, and believed emphatically in blood-letting, and also in the use of arterial sedatives, such as verat., vir., etc.

DR. T. C. MILLER believed in thorough narcosis, giving morphine hypodermically until the effects were noticeable on the respiration. Anæsthetics are good, but can not be given continuously. The physician giving the anæsthetic, when the convulsions cease will not crowd the anæsthetic, and almost before he is aware of it the convulsions will return. We have much to learn about the pathology of puerperal convulsions. The speaker does not believe it to be uræmic. All of his cases in which he gave narcotics thoroughly from the first recovered; cases in which he used blood-letting died.

DR. VANCE believed that the treatment advised by Dr. Miller would result disastrously in many cases, and spoke at some length, showing that the latest authorities believed the true pathology of the trouble to be uræmic.

DR. PIXLEY asked, after hearing so many opinions from so many distinguished speakers: “What is Dr. Pixley going to do to-night if he meets a case of puerperal convulsions? One speaker swears, if you bleed, your patient will die; another swears, if you don’t bleed, your patient will die; a third says, you must give opium; another says, you must not; another says, you must give anæsthetics; another veratrum, another cathartics.” Now, after all of this light upon the subject, he would do as he always has done—apply cold to the head, warmth to the extremities, maybe give a little opium, possibly bleed a little, equalize the circulation, and deliver as soon as possible. Some of his patients will live and some will die.

DR. HOWARD submitted to the society, for signatures, a petition to the State Legislature in the interests of what is known as the “Sharpe bill,” for the creation of a State Board of Health and a State Board of Medical Examiners.

Adjourned to 1:30 P. M.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

On motion of DR. VANCE it was decided to hold the next meeting in Cleveland, and on motion of DR. SCOTT the Cuyahoga County Medical Society was invited to meet with this society.

It was also decided that, because of the session of the American Medical Association occurring in May, the meeting of this association be held on the first Tuesday in April.

Drs. A. R. Baker and W. T. Corlett were appointed a committee on arrangements for the meeting in Cleveland.

An election of officers for the ensuing year was held, with the following result: President, Dr. J. W. Shively of Kent; first vice-president, Dr. A. C. Belden of Akron; second vice-president, Dr. T. C. Miller of Massillon; recording secretary, Dr. L. S. Ebright of Akron; corresponding secretary, Dr. A. K. Fouser of Akron; treasurer, Dr. E. W. Howard of Akron.

DR. DOUGHERTY at once relinquished the chair to his successor, and in so doing begged to be excused from the customary valedictory address because of his having lately given up the practice of medicine and being now very busily engaged in the duties of a county office.

DR. SHIVELY, the president-elect, after thanking the members for the honor conferred upon him and commending the society upon its active prosperity and scientific advancement, entered upon the duties of the office.

The recording secretary and treasurer submitted their annual reports, which, on motion, were referred to the finance committee. The committee, after making a thorough examination of the accounts of the secretary and treasurer, reported them as correct, but at the same time recommending a more accurate system of book-keeping in the future, as well as the passage of a resolution providing for an annual due from each member.

DR. MCEBRIGHT gave notice of his intention to introduce such a resolution at the next meeting.

DR. LOUGHEAD, the appointed essayist, read an interesting paper upon the Metric System, reviewing the many advantages which might be gained by its adoption by the medical profession.

DR. D. B. SMITH read a report of a case of hysterical blindness (see page 212 of this number), and followed with a verbal report of a very peculiar case of exfoliation of the epidermis.

Remarks on the cases reported were made by Dr. Corlett and others.

DR. HITCHCOCK reported a case of malpresentation, in which, by manipulation and the slight aid of forceps, delivery was accomplished with safety to both mother and child.

DR. CORLETT spoke on the method of prescribing the bromide of arsenic. He said the most trustworthy way was the alcoholic solution, which he had been in the habit of diluting it in the strength of one grain to eight ounces of simple elixirs without precipitation. Care must be taken that no water be added before the bromide of arsenic is dissolved in alcohol. Spoke favorably of its use in the class of skin diseases known as _nenrose cutanae_.

DR. EBRIGHT reported the case of a man who had swallowed a silver dollar. DR. PIXLEY told of a similar disposition of a five franc piece, and DR. EVERHARD related a recent attempt by a lady to swallow the gauge of a sewing machine. The three cases terminated favorably, though the last mentioned required the aid of a surgeon.

The chair announced the following as the standing committees for the ensuing year:

Admissions—Drs. D. B. Smith, E. Hitchcock, S. Pixley.

Publication—Drs. B. B. Brashear, T. H. Phillips, H. M. Fisher.

Finance—Drs. T. McEbright, M. M. Bauer, L. P. Proehl.

Ethics—Drs. X. C. Scott, A. M. Sherman, E. Conn.

Obituaries—Drs. W. C. Jacobs, N. S. Everhard, E. K. Nash.

The appointments for the next meeting are as follows: Essayist, Dr. A. C. Brant; alternate, Dr. W. T. Corlett. Lecturer, Dr. E. W. Howard; alternate, Dr. B. B. Loughead. Reports of cases, Drs. McEbright, Phillips, Peck, Vance and Starr. Topic for discussion: “Functions of the Cerebellum,” to be opened by Dr. Brashear.

After tendering a vote of thanks to the city council for the use of the council chamber, and voting two dollars to the janitor of the building, the society adjourned to meet in Cleveland on the sixth of April.

A. K. FOUSER, _Recording Secretary_.

NEW BOOKS.

‘AN ESSAY ON THE PATHOLOGY OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS.’ By John F. Knott. Dublin: Fannin & Co.

‘THE OPERATIVE TREATMENT OF INTRA-THORACIC EFFUSION.’ By Norman Porritt, L. R. C. P., Lond., M. R. C. S., Eng. London: J. & A. Churchill.

‘ON THE PATHOLOGY OF BRONCHITIS, CATARRHAL PNEUMONIA, TUBERCLE, AND ALLIED LESIONS OF THE HUMAN LUNG.’ By D. J. Hamilton. London: Macmillan & Co.

We can well imagine the interest with which some practitioner in a comparatively isolated locality—in the sense of being far from some one of the great Atlantic cities where all new medical and surgical works are kept in stock—reads over the titles of forthcoming works in the particular department in which he is most concerned, and the eagerness with which he anticipates their arrival after he has gone so far as to order them. It may be, in this catarrhal land of ours, that it is throat and chest diseases he is studying, and that the above works excited his interest and drew from his pocket his hard earned dollars. If so, who can doubt that emotions of pleasure warmed his heart as he contemplated the instruction to be gained and the information to be acquired from their perusal? For who would dare write on the pathology of the œsophagus, if he had nothing to say? or descant on the operative treatment of intra-thoracic effusion, if he was not qualified by learning and experience to speak on the subject? But, lest the doubter be abroad in the land, look further to the vouchers of the title page or the preface. The first work on our list is “the Essay to which was awarded the Gold Medal of the Pathological Society at the close of the Session, 1876-77.” The second, “the Essay to which the Medical Society of London awarded the Fothergillian Gold Medal, 1883.” Can anything be more satisfactory? It is true that our last work boasts no such authoritative endorsement, but then as the author is a professor of pathological anatomy at Aberdeen, its other imperfections—from this standpoint—we can imagine passed by, and the book, not without misgivings, may be ultimately ordered with the rest.

What is the consequence? Two of the books will prove extremely unsatisfactory, and but one will be found to fulfill in any way the anticipations of the purchaser. The work on the œsophagus is the production of an undergraduate—a creditable performance for a student, but by no means the work any practitioner, not a friend of the writer, would care to purchase. Mr. Porritt’s treatise is good to that degree that one feels aggrieved that his friends permitted him to publish anything until he had produced something first-class—for he is evidently a young man of ability. Practical surgeons who have arrived at years of maturity, not infrequently have occasion to notice that young men of brilliant parts who enter upon the practice of that art, seem to think they are unjustly kept in the background because no notice is taken of their efforts to gain position in their profession by the arts of the rhetorician or the tricks of the essayist. Nevertheless, no man can become a surgeon, save by surgical works, or be entitled to speak as one except he be a man of learning or experience—or both.

After so much that is unpleasant, it is a pleasure to turn to a work of a radically different kind. In ‘Hamilton’s Bronchitis,’ the reader will find a treatise that is a mine of pathological lore; a work every page of which is suggestive and instructive. It possesses the rare quality of being interesting to an unusual degree, and its perusal will be a substantial pleasure to all its readers.

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‘THE PHYSICIAN HIMSELF.’ By D. W. CATHELL, M. D. Fifth edition. Baltimore: Cushings & Bailey.

It is rather humiliating to the physician who is interested in equipping his brain to successfully combat disease to find himself distanced by the individual who rides into a paying practice in a fine carriage. But we must take the world as we find it, and so long as people are judged by what they seem and not by what they are, such books as the ‘Physician Himself’ will be demanded. What shall we eat, and where shall we sleep, and how shall we be clothed withal, are, like the poor, always with the doctor.

Dr. Cathell has succeeded quite well in showing the importance of business tact and sagacity in promoting the welfare of the physician. He gives rules as to the best methods to pursue toward patients both in the office and out, so as to line the doctor’s pocket-book. He tells him how to dress, how to walk, how to sleep and how to eat, what kind of signs to display, gives hints as to the selection of an office, together with suitable furniture, etc., etc.

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‘POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION.’ By Professor Rudolph Virchow. Translated by T. P. SMITH, M. D., from the fourth German edition. Philadelphia: P. Blackson, Son & Co.

In this admirable little work, Prof. Virchow gives a brief account of his early experience as Prosector in the dead-house of the Berlin Charity Hospital, and traces under his auspices the development of a systematic method of conducting post-mortem examinations. He also criticises, explains and illustrates the regulations which have been promulgated throughout Germany for the guidance of medical jurists in performing autopsies and drawing up reports.

He also gives three interesting cases in which the post-mortem examinations were performed by himself, the order of sequence enjoined by the regulations being closely adhered to. They may be taken as examples of the way in which all post-mortem examinations for medico-legal purposes should be conducted. It is much to be wished that a method similar to the one which has received the high sanction of Prof. Virchow were adopted in this country. One hundred and thirty-eight pages, neatly bound in cloth, with a number of plates. Price $1.50.

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THE SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT (1885) OF THE OHIO STATE PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION contains, besides the constitution and by-laws and history of the organization, a number of interesting articles. One of them, by S. J. Nicolay, M. D., of Hamilton, Ohio, is in reply to Query No. 1—“Do the Various Fluid Extracts of Hydrastis Canadensis, Made Without Alcohol, Contain all of the Active Principles of the Drug?” The writer says that, properly, this extract “should not contain alcohol, since the alcoholic extractive essentially contains resin, which, being an irritant to inflamed mucous surfaces, is a detriment in a large majority of cases to which it is otherwise applicable.” As to whether the various fluid extracts of this drug, made without alcohol, contain _all_ the active principles of the crude article, he concludes, after an examination of six specimens from different manufacturers, that “each specimen was found to contain portions of the two known alkaloids—berberine and hydrastine—in their varying proportions.” “As to whether these samples contained the alkaloids in as large quantities as the respective samples of the crude drug from which they were made, was not determined, but probably they did.” If this is true, the fluid extract, without alcohol, will be as effective as that made with alcohol, beside being quite miscible with water for topical application, injections, etc., without becoming turbid and depositing resin.

Query 24—“_What_ is the Most Effective and Pleasant Disinfectant?”—is answered by L. Sollman of Canton in an essay in which he treats: 1. “As to what is that something which disinfectants are intended to counteract.” 2. “What articles are disinfectants, and what is the way in which they effect disinfection.” 3. “Which of them is practically useful, and which is the most practical way of using them under various conditions.”

A copy of the report can be had by forwarding fifty cents to the secretary, Lewis C. Hopp, Cleveland, O.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

_The Graubuch of the General Hospital of Vienna._—From this very interesting report for 1884 we learn the following: At the end of ‘83 there remained in the hospital 1,672 patients; of these 1,037 were males and 635 females. In ‘84, 23,937 patients were admitted, 14,801 males and 9,136 females. Discharged as cured, 12,532; improved, 4,485; uncured, 2,857. At the end of December, 1884, the number of patients remaining in the hospital was 1,742.

The maximum of sickness among males was reached in January (1,179); among females in May (740). The minimum among males in the month of August (842); among females in September (588).

It is somewhat interesting to note among the victims of pulmonary tuberculosis, the proportion furnished by various occupations. Two hundred and four day laborers, 113 shoemakers, 90 blacksmiths, 76 cabinetmakers, 71 turners, 30 coachmen, 19 butlers, 19 waiters, 8 landlords, 6 musicians, 6 servants, 4 conductors, 2 janitors, 1 stenographer, 1 chorister, 1 turnkey, etc. The proportion of deaths from tuberculosis expressed in percentage of the whole number of deaths was as follows: June, 5.6; April, 4.7; March, 4.4; August, 4.3; May, 4.2; February, 4.1; January, 3.9; October, 3.6; July, 3.2; November, 2.9; September and December, 2.8.

The most rheumatism occurred in May (84), most typhus in September (19), most bronchitis in March (210), the most pneumonitis in April (78), the most catarrh of the digestive organs in July (81).

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WINTER PRURIGO, says Dr. Corlett in a clinical lecture, a common and most annoying disease of the skin in this climate, must be regarded as a _local neurosis_. In its treatment internal medication avails but little, excepting in severe cases where the paroxysms of itching occur several times during the four and twenty hours, when hydrobromic acid may be used with marked benefit. It is in local measures, however, that we are effectually able to control it.

At the outset of a paroxysm apply caustic potash in strength varying from x to xxx grains to the ounce of water, to which a drachm of glycerine may be added, after which the following should be added:

℞ Menthol ℨss. Acidi carbolici ℨss. Sodii benzoati ℨij. Ung. aquae rosae ℥iij. Cerae alba q. s. Misce.

In mild cases, by omitting the caustic potash, the following lotions will be sufficient:

℞ Menthol ℨj. Alcoholis ℥ij. Acidi carbolici ℨss. Sodae benzoati ℥j. Aquae rosae ℥vj. Misce.

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Dr. G. E. Paget of Cambridge is to have a K. C. B. bestowed on him, and Dr. William Roberts of Manchester is to be knighted. Dr. Paget is Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge, and a brother of Sir James Paget, the eminent London surgeon. Dr. Wm. Roberts is Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Victoria University. In neither case can the title of “Sir” enhance the distinguished professional reputation already enjoyed by each of these gentlemen.—_London Correspondence N. Y. Medical Record._

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At the end of November the Curatorium of the General Polyclinic of Vienna held its first meeting according to its new constitution. President Bezecny and Vice-Presidents Dompropst, Marshall and Neumann-Spallart were unanimously reëlected. The chairman, Baron Bezecny, next greeted the new curators, and stated that the object of the meeting was to raise a large sum of money to erect a small hospital for emergency cases. Upon request of the chair, Prof. Schnitzler gave a brief report of the work of the Polyclinic from January 1 to November 25, 1885. Over thirty-two thousand patients were treated. The number of hearers, almost entirely doctors, during the semester year of ‘84-5, reached the height of four hundred and fifty-four. Among these were one hundred from Austria and Hungary, and almost as many out of the German empire. Then follow from other European States—Russia, England, Sweden and Norway, Belgium and Holland, Italy and Greece. America was represented by more than one hundred attendants; but also Asia, Africa and Australia furnished hearers to the Polyclinic. Prof. Schnitzler then left the subject of the report and moved that it be made the ambition of the Polyclinic to erect a Polyclinical hospital. This motion, after a very brief debate, was unanimously adopted.

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On account of the death of Prof. Geo. Hunert, A. M., M. D., the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine is vacant in the Medical Department of Wooster University in this city. As yet a successor has not been decided upon.

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_Third Annual Meeting of the Ohio State Sanitary Association._—We regret that the programme of this meeting, which was held in Columbus, O., Feb. 25-26, was not received in time for publication in our last number. A number of practical papers were read, some of which we shall present to our readers.

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Drs. Scott, Ashmun and Herrick, of Cleveland, presented papers at the meeting of the State Sanitary Association.

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Dr. J. H. Gleeson of 87 Bond street met a sudden death on the evening of February 22, at Gerling & Haber’s drug store, No. 283 St. Clair street. It is reported that Mr. Haber handed him by mistake a couple of ounces of a mixture of carbolic acid and glycerine, which the doctor swallowed and expired in a few minutes. The inquest will bring out the facts.

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Dr. Geo. F. Leick is in New York City, where he expects to remain several months.

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Dr. A. B. Carpenter, who has been abroad in the hospitals of London and Berlin during the past year, has returned to Cleveland.

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Dr. H. G. Sherman, owing to ill health, has gone south for the winter.

HOW DOES AMERICAN JOURNALISM AID THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION?