THE

AMERICAN JOURNAL
OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES.

NOVEMBER, 1892.

THE SURGICAL TREATMENT OF EPILEPSY.'
By A. G. GersTErR, M.D.,

PROFESSOR OF SURGERY IN THE NEW YORK POLYCLINIC,
AND
B. Sacus, M.D.,
PROFESSOR OF MENTAL AND NERVOUS DISEASES IN THE NEW YORK POLYCLINIC.

In the following report we record our joint experiences in the surgical
treatment of epilepsy. We have attempted, in an unbiased fashion, to
study the effects of various surgical procedures upon the course of epilepsy,
and in recording all cases that we have operated upon, no matter what
the result, we are more apt to give a correct view of how much or how
little surgery can accomplish in this special field than those can give
who describe their short-lived successes and do not report the many
dismal failures.

The cases operated upon were selected with considerable care. They
were either cases of distinctly traumatic origin or in which a strictly
localized convulsion pointed to a limited focus of disease. Cases of
general epilepsy of non-traumatic origin were not subjected to operation.

The following table’ gives a succinct account of the chief points of
interest in ten cases; seven of these may be designated as cases of
traumatic epilepsy, one was due-to ear disease, one was a case of infantile
cerebral hemiplegia with epilepsy, and one was a case of non-traumatic
localized epilepsy due to early acute brain disease—a case of infantile
cerebral palsy without palsy, but with epilepsy.

1 Read at the American Neurological Association, June, 1892.

2 We are indebted to Dr. E. Sternberger, house surgeon at Mt. Sinai Hospital, for his
assistance in keeping and furnishing the records of most of these cases.
VoL. 104, No. 5.—NOVEMBER, 1892.

504

GERSTER, SACHS,

SURGERY IN EPILEPSY.

Ei &¢
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II. | W.C.H.
|
|
III. | M. K
|
IV. | E.L.M
|
v.| J.D.
vi. | T.C.

Sex

age.

M.
6

M.

Se

om

M
26

No. | Name, |and |

| ing spells became worse. |

Date of | Occurrences
History of case. opera- Coe | after
tion. - * | operation.
|Said to have had brain Dec. 29, Exposure by | Recovery ex-
| fever at age of 10 mos.;| 1890 chiselling . of cellent; no
at age of 5% years first motor area of | convulsions
| right-side convulsion, right arm, de-| up to Feb. 2,

| repeated at interval of

one week ; right hemi-

paresis since first attack;

athetoid and associated |
movements.

|At age of 12 years was | Feb. 13,

| pushed back over pole of
& wagon; supposed to
have struck back of
| head (?); unconscious
| for a few minutes, but
| worked as usual; one |
week later general epi- |
leptic convulsions ; has
petit mal, and above all |
Jacksonian epilepsy in-
| volving muscles around
| right half of mouth.
| Occasionally eyes are
involved. No loss of
consciousness with ma-
jority of attacks. |

| 1891

fell out of window; 1891
since that time epileptic
attacks at varying inter- |

vals; has had tremen-

dous doses of bromides ;
ill-tempered and stupid;
stopped bromides; no |
attacks for three weeks, |

then left-sided convul- |

sions becoming general. |

| Traumatic injury to right | July 24,

| side of head; general, 1892
| epileptic attacks.

Traumatism at7 months; 1st oper.
6 months previous to | Aug.14,
operation began to de- 1891
velop auditory and ol-

factory aure and then

general epileptic spells; | 2d oper,
if ear ceased discharg- —

At age of 11% years was Nov.20,

severely kicked by a| 1891
man over the right side
of occiput; 6 months

later epileptic attacks

| which have continued
| nocturnally about every

6 weeks since. No hemi-
anopsia. Marked de-

| pression in skull; was |
| for 8 weeks without any |

attack ; attacks then re- |
turned.

}

|At age of 18 months | Feb. 23,

termined

by
faradization.

| Dura tense and | charged from |
| adherent; punc-|

ture; no cyst
found.

Exposed centre
for representa-
tion of angle of
mouth accord-
ing to Horsley;
adhesions un-
der the button
of bone ; small

on puncture a
little bloody
fluid. Faradi-

caused contrac-
tion only of r.
angle of mouth.
Large opening ;

placed,

Large trephine
opening over
motor area for
arm and leg,
right side of
skull,

Trephining over
occipital de-
pression ; ad-
hesions over the
depression.

Opening of mas-
toid and remov-
ing two seques-
tra of bone.

|Mastoid opened
again and silver
canula to secure
permanent
drainage,

Trephining and
chiselling over
scar ;
dous exostosis
almost doubling
underlying part
of brain.

cysts on dura; |

zation over dura

button not re-

tremen- |

| 1891, when
| boy was dis-

hospital.

| Attacks re-
turned after
operation and
have not been
diminished,
and eyes are

| more fre-

quently ‘n-
volved.

|

Good recovery,
but no cessa-
tion ofattacks

Did very well
except that he
developed de-
lusions of per-
secution.

Facial palsy of
left side.
Sept.10th first
attack; re-
peated attacks

Nov. 18th, con-
vulsion of

| rightside, but

| none since ;

| last report Au-

gust 15, 1892.

Nov 22, short
spells ; none
while in hos-
pital; dis-
charged Dec,
15; has gone
out West ; has
attacks every
six weeks, but
milder; re-
ports that his
memory is
better.

General
result.

Immediate
diminution
| of attacks ;
after leaving
hospital had
one mild at-
tack ; not
heard from
since.

No improve-
ment.

No improve-
ment,

Attacks re-
turned with-
| in 2 weeks ;
alcoholic
excesses,

Great im-
provement
after second
operation ;
no spells up
to date.

Some im-
provement
in severity
of attacks
eight months
after opera-
tion.

GERSTER, SACHS, SURGERY IN EPILEPSY. 505

| | Sex Date of Occurrences |
No. | Name. |and History of case. opera- | Gamat of | after | Cae
| lage. tion, | - * | operation. | :

VIL. H. L. | M. Six years ago felldown; Jan. 29, |Motorarm centre
| 24 |

thinks he struck on 1892 | on left side ex-

right side of occiput ; | posed; part of

one year later first at- dura but nocor-! |
tack, right hand and | tical tissue re- | |
leg convulsed. At first | moved,

had attacks six times

daily, lately three or 2d oper.|;Removed arm | Repeated at- No improve-

| four times in two weeks. | Mar. 8, | centre as deter-| tacks after | ment worth

| } 1892 | mined by elec-| both opera- | mentioning.

| | | | trical tests,with tions.
| slight resulting!
paresis. H

VIII.| C. D. | F. | Fell out of bed at six | Feb. 15,) Large trephine | Attacks not | Slight im-
| months, striking head 1892 | opening over quite so fre-| provement.
| | against bare floor; at | left side of head quent as be-
| ten months a tedious (motor area), fore.
| | illness, slow in develop- | |
| ment; at age of 5 years |
| | | began to have innumer- |
| able convulsions (at |
| | least 50 per day). }
| Idiocy. Parents insist- |
| ing on operation. |
.| K.A. | M. | At age of 5 years had a April 12,| Excision of hand Did very well | Some imme-
| 9 | ‘congestive chill’’ and 1892 | centre in right in hospitalfor| diate im-
| spasms; no paralysis at | hemisphere ; six weeks, but} provement,

©

| the time; two or three | removed con- | as soon as he | but no last-

| years later developed | siderable tissue; left hospital | ing benefit

| Jacksonian epilepsy be- | hand was pare- and ran about) from opera-

| ginning in left hand | tic for a few! got severe at-| tion ; in
without loss of con- | days. tack with loss! later attacks

| sciousness ; no evidence { of conscious- | right arm

| of palsy ; boy feels left ness and in-| wasa

| hand drawn up in voluntary pas-| involved,
cramp. sage of urine.

X.| E.S. | M. |Two years ago was run May 27, Trephining and | Report not
12 | over; fell backward, 1892 | chiselling over yet made.
| striking curbstone ; un- | occipital region.
conscious for ten days,
| and had _ convulsions
during this time; one
year later convulsions
became regular and
| frequent. Scar in left
occipital region near
| median line.

Remarks, BY Dr. Sacus.

I wish, first, to have a word to say regarding the determination of the
brain areas to be operated upon. Working upon the rules laid down
‘ by Reed, Thane, and others, we have been accustomed to map out upon
the skull with the greatest care, in advance of the operation, the exact
site of the various divisions of the motor areas. Excellent as this prac-
tice is, I am now firmly of the opinion that in most cases it is quite un-
necessary, and that the application of the faradic current to the dura
will help us to localize centres much more carefully than any of the
customary rules will.

At the last meeting of this Association doubt was expressed whether

| a

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|
j
|
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506 GERSTER, SACHS, SURGERY IN EPILEPSY.

faradization of the dura was apt to be successful.' My experiences
during the past year have helped to strengthen the opinion expressed at
that time, and I feel so certain of the absolute reliability of this pro-
cedure, that I would be willing to have the skull opened at any reason-
able point over the motor areas and by means of the faradic tests
determine the exact location of the centres. I have demonstrated
this again and again to the satisfaction of Dr. Gerster and a large
number of medical men present at these operations. The method is
furthermore so accurate that I believe we shall be able to determine the
.exact subdivisions of the motor area in the brain of man as they were
determined by the physiologists upon the brains of the monkey and
other animals. The success of this method was particularly marked in
Case II., a case of Jacksonian epilepsy with convulsive movements of
the muscles about the right angle of the mouth. In Horsley’s article I
found an area which he claims to contain the representation of the
upper face and angle of the mouth. I located this area as closely as
possible upon the skull, and after trephining, on applying the faradic
current to the dura, caused contraction of those muscles and of those
muscles only which were, as a rule,involved in the epileptic convulsion.
I need not add that the same tests applied to the cortex will give equally
satisfactory results; but the chief advantage of determining these areas
before opening the dura is that we may be sure that we are right before
exposing any large part of the brain cortex.

While I am very certain that this method will be found entirely sat-
isfactory in all cases of ordinary brain lesions, I have a suspicion that
in cases of tumor,’ or in cases in which the brain tissue has been
seriously altered by disease, the morbid brain tissue may not respond as
promptly to the current. In such cases the older method of determin-
ing the areas will have to be resorted to.

The first and most notable result of the operations we have recorded
is that we cannot claim a single decided cure. In several of the cases
there has been a marked diminution of the attacks immediately after
the operation ; in some the improvement lasted for a few months; but
in every single case the attacks recurred after a lapse of several months
or even less. The case which promises best is Case V., in which the
epilepsy—characterized, by the way, by interesting auditory and olfac-
tory auree—was due to ear disease, and in this case the improvement
that has set in has now continued nine months; but a second operation
was necessary to bring about this result. The quiet of hospital life after

1 At the meeting of this year the same doubts were still entertained by some Phila-
delphia colleagues. We can do no more than ask them to try and see for themselves.

2 Since writing the above, the “electrical method” proved to be thoroughly satisfac-
tory in a case of cystic tumor of the motor area.

GERSTER, SACHS, SURGERY IN EPILEPSY. 507

an operation, and the unusual care which patients receive during this
time, undoubtedly contribute to the cessation of attacks, and may in
some way account for the successes so frequently reported, as was illus-
trated in Case IX. Not a single attack occurred for six weeks after
operation, but as soon as the boy was dismissed from the hospital and
allowed to roam about at his own free will, the attacks returned and
possibly even with greater force than before.

In the first six cases reported, the operation consisted simply in open-
ing the skull, possibly the dura also, without excision of cortical tissue.
In Cases VII. and IX. cortical tissue was removed; but as far as our ex-
perience goes, excision of cortical tissue or excision of a diseased area is
not superior to the older method of simple trephining. In these very
cases of traumatic epilepsy it is not always an easy matter to excise the
area which is supposed to be the starting-point of the epileptic disease.
If the motor area happens to be the part injured, this can of course be
attempted ; but if, as in two of our cases, the traumatic injury caused a
depression over the occipital areas, excision of the cortex, with its prob-
ably resulting disturbances of vision, would not be advisable or even
fair to the patient.

If we seek for some special reason why operative procedure has ac-
complished so little in these cases, it is to be found in the fact that they
came under our notice after the epilepsy had been established for
many years. - It is now generally conceded, as I pointed out in a former
paper,’ that, though a focus of disease is the actual cause of the epilepsy,
this epilepsy does not manifest itself, as a rule, until widespread changes
have appeared throughout the entire brain.

The time that elapses between the infliction of the initial lesion and
the development of these secondary changes corresponds quite accurately
with the period of time between the traumatic injury or the initial
disease and the development of epilepsy.

If we operate upon cases which have run a course of many years,
removal of the initial focus of disease will have little effect upon the
general sclerosis that has been established. It is this general sclerosis
that keeps up, as it were, the epileptic habit. The inference to be
drawn from this is, that we should remove the focus of disease before
secondary changes have been set up. This is equivalent to asking
prompt surgical interference in all cases of traumatic injury to the skull
in which there is any reason to suppose that serious harm has been done
to the brain, and also in those cases in which the occurrence of a local-
ized hemorrhage of non-traumatic origin is more than likely to give rise
to epilepsy later on. The operations themselves, if skilfully done, are

1 Sachs: “ What Can We Expect from the Surgical Treatment of Epilepsy?” N. Y.
Med. Journ., February, 1892.

508 GERSTER, SACHS, SURGERY IN EPILEPSY.

borne so well by persons above the age of five years that a more ener-
getic surgical treatment in the earlier stages of these troubles will be
productive of great good in the way of preventing the development of
epilepsy. I have not yet got beyond the point of believing that the
only way to cure epilepsy is to prevent its development.

The old method of trephining for traumatic epilepsy has been so
frequently recorded as productive of good that we must endeavor to
find some explanation for the effects of this procedure. It will not do
to classify it simply, as Dr. White does, as one of those cases in which
the operation per se helps; I am inclined rather to believe that the fre-
quent occurrence of cysts in traumatic cases, and also in cases of old
cortical hemorrhages, accounts for the improvement following upon the
release of pressure over a cystic area. The excision of cortical tissue
which has been considered the only rational method in the treatment of
epilepsy since Horsley first recommended it, seems to me, after all, to
be of questionable merit. If the disease involved the motor area, exci-
sion of the part is apt to be followed by paralysis. This most patients
are willing to bear, provided they can be promised a freedom from
future attacks. In all but the most acute cases such promise can
scarcely be given. Moreover, if the injury happened to involve other
than motor areas, particularly if it involved the occipital or even the
frontal portions of the brain, excision of any considerable cortical tissue
would be in the nature of a rather dangerous experiment, inasmuch as
the resulting loss of function could not well be foretold. Taking this
in connection with the fact that the excision of tissue does not seem
rational after the development of a general sclerosis, or gliosis as Chaslin
would have it, it is evident that this “ rational method ”’ is applicable to
only very few cases.

It is our intention to continue this series of operations in the hope of
being able to determine those cases in which the operations promise
good results. For the present I am bound to acknowledge that the
prospects are rather gloomy, and that the successful cases will probably
be those in which there is some very tangible organic lesion which has
been removed at a very early period, or those cases in which, after trau-
matic injury to the skull, trephining has been done before the effect of
depression of the skull upon the brain has resulted in the development
of epilepsy. Considering the seriousness of epileptic disease and the
slight danger attending the opening of the skull, I believe it to be the
surgeon’s duty, in every case in which there is the shadow of a doubt
about the effect of a traumatic injury to the skull or brain, to trephine
the skull and thus remove the cause of an epilepsy that would be apt to
be developed.

DILLER, TUMOR OF THE PONS.

A CASE OF TUMOR OF THE PONS IN WHICH TAPPING OF
THE LATERAL VENTRICLES WAS DONE FOR THE
RELIEF OF INTRA-CRANIAL PRESSURE.

By THEODORE DILLER, M.D.,
FELLOW OF THE PITTSBURG ACADEMY OF MEDICINE; PHYSICIAN TO THE NEUROLOGICAL
DEPARTMENT OF THE PITTSBURG FREE DISPENSARY.?

THE following case was referred to me by my friend, Dr. R. W. Stewart,
for my opinion as to the propriety of a surgical operation. The patient
was in the Mercy Hospital :

A. T., male, thirty-three years old; born in Germany ; two years in
the United States; married seven years. He was a butcher by occupa-
tion. Enjoyed excellent health and worked regularly. No history of
syphilis or intemperance. In October, 1890, while working temporarily
in a rolling mill, he fell from a gondola car upon the “ back of his head.”
The fall must have been one of considerable distance. The man, how-
ever, was not rendered unconscious by it, but, after a short rest, con-
tinued his work the same day; nor did he lay off work for some time
after this accident, but often complained of “giddiness” and muscular
lassitude. He worked up to February, 1891, when, on account of his
feeling of insecurity and of these subjective sensations, he gave up his
occupation. At this time he was frequently troubled with occipital and
occasionally by frontal headaches. His wife first noticed an unsteadiness
in his gait, which was vascillating and uncertain. About the same time
he began to lose some muscular power in his left arm and leg. He often
lapsed into a state of semi-stupor from which he was aroused with some
difficulty and into which he soon relapsed when let alone. His vision
became slightly impaired. For several weeks the headaches were severe
and persistent. June 14, 1891, he was admitted to the Mercy Hospital.
While in the hospital he had some difficulty in micturition, and was
several times catheterized. He remained in the hospital about three
weeks.

In May he experienced a sudden and peculiar loss of sensation on the
affected side, for which he consulted a physician in this city.

In July, 1891, he experienced for the first time some difficulty in
talking and swallowing; had occasional attacks of choking spells. All
his other symptoms, especially headache and difficulty in walking, became
more pronounced. He would not venture out alone, but was always
accompanied by his wife. His eyesight had failed so much that he was
no longer able to read. Shortly after this his headache began to be less
severe and gradually disappeared altogether.

I first saw the man in March, 1892, at the Mercy Hospital, at which
time the following notes were taken :

Status presens. A well-developed, muscular man, about six feet tall.

1 Paper read for the writer by Dr. Charles K. Mills, of Philadelphia, before the Sec-
tion of Neurology of the American Medical Association, at Detroit, June 8, 1892.

2 The case was briefly referred to at a meeting of the Pittsburg Academy of Medicine,
when the brain was exhibited.

510 DILLER, TUMOR OF THE PONS.

A careful search (the scalp was shaved) fails to reveal the presence of
any scars or cicatrices; but just to the left of the median line, over the
leg-centre, a small bony elevation about the size of a pea is noted. This
exostosis does not fade away gradually into the surrounding bone, but is
set sharply upon the bone, as though placed there from the outside.
The face is distinctly drawn to the right side, there being considerable
paresis of the left side. This paresis is still better seen when the patient
attempts to laugh or show his teeth. There is marked paresis of both
the left arm and leg, but not absolute paralysis, as the man is able to
raise the leg readily and to move the arm in all directions. The mus-
cular power in the right arm and leg and face apparently unimpaired.
The power in grasp of left hand is about one-fifth that of right hand.
The — measurements were taken at corresponding points on the
two sides :

Right side. Left side.
Arm r - 28cm. Arm . ° - 28 cm.
Forearm . > - = Forearm ; - 25.5 “
Calf of leg . a Calf of leg . _— =
Thigh . ‘ . Thigh . . - 4 «

A careful test of muscular sense shows no impairment. Patient is
able to discriminate sharply between heat and cold, and also quickly
feels the pain of a pin-prick. There is some impairment of tactile sense
over the entire left side; on left arm can distinguish two points no nearer
than 30 cm.; on the left forearm, no nearer than 15 cm.; on left thigh
can distinguish at 14 cm.; over instep, 3.5cem. Right arm distinguishes
points 9 cm. distant; forearm, 9 cm.; back of hand, 2 cm.; palm, 2 cm.

Slight increase of patellar tendon reflex and ankle clonus on left side
as compared with right.

A slight deafness of the left ear is noted. Can hear tick of watch no
further away than five inches. Right ear normal.

Slight paresis of extra-ocular muscles. Cannot move eyes to left or
upward or downward as far as in normal condition. Pupils dilated
(both equally). Very little contraction to light. Patient is able to
read only very large letters. Can recognize persons he knows.

His speech is very thick and muffled, but he comprehends questions,
and attempts to make intelligent answers, but he cannot always be un-
derstood. Swallows with great difficulty. Food is very apt to get into
larynx and provokes a coughing spell. He frequently points to his head
and asks for an operation. Takes food slowly; even then often has
severe coughing spells. He is unable to control his bladder, but can
control his bowels.

It is difficult to estimate precisely his mental condition. While there
is no very gross defect—no pronounced aberration, there is doubtless a
slowness of comprehension and some loss of memory. Patient lies in
bed constantly. He is unable to walk even a very short distance alone.
This is probably not so much owing to his defective vision and hemi-
paresis as to his difficulty in codrdination.

Dr. W. F. Robeson made an ophthalmoscopic examination of the eyes
and found rather advanced optic atrophy, rather more marked in the
left than in the right eye.

The history was gotten from the man himself and from his wife. On
all the main points their statements were in accord. Both were par-

DILLER, TUMOR OF THE PONS. 511

ticularly questioned as to whether the patient had ever experienced any
convulsions or spasmodic twitchings. Each was sure there had been no
such symptoms.

The main points in the case may be briefly summarized as follows:

A man who was previously strong and robust receives a severe injury
to the head, and dates therefrom a train of grave symptoms, viz.: head-
ache, of diffuse character generally, but at times localized, which for a
period was very severe; drowsiness or tendency to lethargy, even in
spite of headache ; left hemiparesis; cerebellar titubation or ataxia of a
certain sort; some failure of vision; difficulty in walking, which is most
likely more owing to inability to coérdinate than to dimness of vision or
left-sided muscular weakness; marked dysphagia and aphonia ; advanced
optic neuritis.

These symptoms were enough to make the diagnosis of an intra-cranial
lesion certain. The absence of convulsive seizures of any sort at any
time; the early appearance of incodrdination ; the comparatively slow
progress of the hemiparesis ; the tendency to sleep; but more especially
the marked loss of control of power over the muscles concerned in swal-
lowing and in phonation (the bulbar symptoms)—made it seem most
likely that the lesion was somewhere in the base of the brain. It seemed
to me that most likely it was the pons or medulla or else at such a
locality in the cerebellum that the vermiform process of the lesser brain
was involved or pressed upon, as well as the pons and medulla. The
symptoms of the case seemed to make this conclusion inevitable. Yet
there were two features in the case which threw some element of doubt
upon this diagnosis; these were the presence of the small bony exos-
tosis referred to and the stout declaration of the patient that it was in
that locality the injury occurred to his head. True, there was no scar
at this place, nor could local tenderness on percussion or elevation of
temperature be elicited. If the view were adopted that the lesion was
at that point indicated by the exostosis it would have been impossible to
have accounted for the bulbar symptoms save upon the theory of general
intra-cranial pressure ; and this seemed scarcely tenable because of the
paresis being so distinctly one sided.

All the symptoms had progressively increased, and it seemed certain
that the man would die before many weeks had passed unless some relief
were afforded by surgical interference. The patient himself realized his
critical condition, and was anxious to have an operation performed.

It seemed to me, in view of all the circumstances of the case, that it
would be justifiable to tap the lateral ventricles to relieve the intra-
cranial pressure. The plan of procedure determined upon was to tre-
phine just to the right of the median line so as to escape the longitudinal
sinus and bite enough bone away to the left as to include that part
of the skull upon which was situated the bony excrescence. A search

512 DILLER, TUMOR OF THE PONS.

was then to be carefully made for depressed bone, tumor, abscess, soften-
ing, blood-clot, or anything else which would be sufficient to account for
the symptoms. If a morbid product were found in this situation it
would be dealt with as the surgical exigencies of the case might
require, and the project of tapping the ventricles would be abandoned.
If the structures in this locality were found to be healthy, or if but slight
disease were found, then the operation of aspirating the ventricles and
inserting a drainage-tube in them would be performed.

Operation.‘ The operation was performed by Dr. R. W. Stewart.
The patient’s head having been previously shaved and prepared anti-
septically, he was brought into the operating-room. Ether was admin-
istered by Dr. McCloud. Dr. Stewart was assisted by Drs. J. J. Buchanan,
Pool, and the writer. Drs. J. B. Murdoch, M. R. Ward, Stoner, and
others were present.

By previous measurements it was determined that the bony exostosis
was situated over the superior parietal convolution. A horse-shoe flap
was made. A large-sized trephine was used. The operation of trephining,
as it neared completion, was proceeded with with great caution, so that
the dura or the longitudinal sinus, if it happened to run a little further
to the right than normal, might not be injured. The trephining was
done in the place previously determined upon. When the button of
bone was removed there was distinct bulging of the dura mater, which
was very tense to the touch. It seemed to some of the gentlemen present
that an incision through the dura would surely reveal the presence of a
morbid product. The dura was then incised, after which procedure the
— was seized with a coughing spell, when a rather formidable cere-

ral hernia ensued ; but a subsidence of the coughing was followed by a
considerable subsidence of the protruding convolutions. The cortex
under the pia presented a bluish, congested appearance. A careful
exploration of the exposed convolutions by Dr. Stewart with his finger
failed to reveal the presence of any mass of greater or less consistency
than the normal brain-tissue. The opening was now enlarged to the
left, by the use of the rongeur forceps, enough to include the small bony
exostosis. Nothing of unusual character was found either in the con-
formation of that part of the internal table of the skull or of the under-
lying dura. The brain substance was now carefully probed in several
directions by the operator, but no feeling of greater or lesser resistance
was communicated to his hand through the probe. The opening was
next enlarged slightly downward to the right, but nothing unusual was
found. Dr. Stewart now inserted a small trocar and canula into the
lateral ventricle. No difficulty was experienced by him in finding this
cavity. Upon the withdrawal of the trocar a clear straw-colored stream
of considerable force issued from the canula. It was estimated by Dr.
Murdoch that at least two ounces escaped. The canula was then with-
drawn, and a drainage tube was inserted into the ventricle through the
canal made in the brain by the canula. The tube was conducted to the
outside of the scalp through a hole made in the centre of the horse-shoe

1 In the absence of my colleague, Dr. Stewart, who is in Europe, it devolves upon me
to describe the operation. I regret that this is necessary, as this part of the subject
must lose something of interest by this substitution.

DILLER, TUMOR OF THE PONS. 513

flap. The wound was now closed, the button of bone not being replaced.
But little bleeding occurred during the operation, which was conducted
on the strictest antiseptic principles.

The patient came out from the influence of the ether slowly. He
stood the operation badly. His temperature went up to 102° on the
evening of the day of the operation. The next morning it was noted
that the paresis of left side had increased. He was seized with three or
four convulsions which, the nurse states, were general in character. - By
noon of the second day the temperature had risen to 103.5°. Up to this
time, about twenty-four hours after the operation, there had been a con-
stant discharge of clear fluid through the drainage-tube. The dressing
was saturated, and the nurse was compelled to change the pillow several
times. It would be impossible to estimate the amount which escaped,
but it must have been several ounces. As it seemed to Dr. Stewart and
myself that the drainage-tube had accomplished all the good it ever
would, and that it was a likely source of irritation and cause of the rise
of temperature, it was decided to withdraw it at once. This was done
without any difficulty. But the patient was on the downward turn.
Dyspnoea became marked ; cedema of the lungs ensued, and death oc-
curred about thirty-six hours after the operation.

Autopsy was performed about twenty-four hours after death, the head
only being examined. No pus was noted about the wound. A slight
union of the edges of the wound was found to have taken place. The
flap was somewhat swollen and congested. There was nothing unusual
of note either about the bones of the cranium or the brain membranes.
The calvarium was carefully explored for an old fracture, but no trace
of any could be found. The convolutions were full, regular, typical,
and healthy in character. A considerable amount of fluid was found
between the pia and dura. But some wrinkling of the dura was noted,
evidently the result of the escape of the large amount of fluid from the
drainage-tube; for while some of this fluid came from the ventricles,
doubtless much of it—especially of that which leaked out while the
patient was in bed—came from what was doubtless a considerable accu-
mulation between the dura and pia. Upon removal of the brain the
primary seat of the trouble at once became apparent. It was a tumor,
about the size of a walnut, situated on the left side of the pons. The
growth did not extend over the median line to the right, but did press
upon the upper portion of the medulla. The pyramidal tract and oli-
vary body were found pressed downward and somewhat attenuated in
character by the encroachment of the tumor. To the touch the growth
was hard. It presented a rather finely granulated appearance. It was
very firmly incorporated with the pons and appeared to have grown
from its centre. An incision into the substance of the tumor revealed
the presence of a thick, creamy fluid. Nothing else was found of a
morbid character.

A microscopical examination of the neoplasm, made by Dr. Pool,
showed it to be a sarcoma.

The question might be asked: If the location and nature of the tumor
could have been exactly determined during life, would the operation of
trephining have been justifiable? If we may be guided by the high
authority of Victor Horsley it was justifiable, for this brilliant operator

514 DILLER, TUMOR OF THE PONS.

has trephined several times simply for the relief of intra-cranial pressure.
Philip Coombs Knapp’ has recently reported an instructive case where,
in a case of tumor of the cerebellum, trephining was done for the relief
of intra-cranial pressure. In Knapp’s case there were, as in my own, no
Alistinctive focal symptoms. He concluded that the growth was either
in the right temporal lobe or in one of the lateral lobes of the cerebellum.
On account of the uncertainty of his diagnosis, Knapp, acting upon the
suggestion of Weir and the experience of Horsley, trephined over the
right temporal lobe, with a view of relieving intra-cranial pressure. The
autopsy showed that the tumor was in the left lobe of the cerebellum.
But it seemed to me that in my case trephining alone, with puncture,
would not fully accomplish the purpose of relieving intta-cranial pressure,
and, being guided by the experiences of Horsley, Duncan, and Knapp,
I advised, conditionally, the more radical measure of tapping the ven-
tricles. This operation has already been done by Duncan and is advised
by Knapp.

The experience is perhaps yet too limited to warrant us in drawing up
conclusions. But both Knapp’s case and my own were very desperate
ones. In my case the operation doubtless shortened the man’s life; yet
he could not have lived very long at best, and his remaining days would
have been full of misery and distress to himself and his family.

Whether, if trephining alone, without tapping the ventricles, had been
done, the patient would have stood the operation better is, of course, a
question difficult to answer. I cannot persuade myself that this pro-
cedure added much to the gravity of the operation, for the careful intro-
duction of a small trocar into the ventricle could not have caused very
great destruction of brain-matter; byt the introduction of the drainage-
tube added somewhat to the gravity of the operation. Possibly a more
favorable result would have occurred had the drainage-tube been omitted.

In this case I should not have strongly urged the operation upon the
patient ; but in view of the fact that he himself, as well as his wife, was
anxious for an operation, the course adopted seems to me to have been
justifiable.

So far as I am able to learn, Duncan’s’ case and this one are the only
cases on record in which tapping of the lateral ventricles was done in a
case of intra-cranial growth. But Ayers, of this city, tapped the ventri-
cles of a boy aged five, for acquired hydrocephalus, with favorable
results.* Keen has, in five cases of hydrocephalus, tapped the lateral
ventricles. In one of his cases a tumor of the cerebellum was suspected.
All of Keen’s cases were children—the oldest being fourteen years—and

1 Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, Feb., 1892.
2 Philadelphia Hospital Reports, vol. i.
% Pittsburg Medical Review, March, 1889.

OLIVER, LEUKAEMIA. 515

all died, the one which lived longest after the operation surviving but
forty-five days. This operation has been done a number of times.

In estimating the gravity of the operation of tapping the ventricles
for the relief of intracranial pressure it would not be fair to group this
one case with those of Keen, for in this case the intra-cranial pressures
was the result of a local disease; in Keen’s cases it was the result of a
general brain or vascular disease. I cannot see that tapping the ven-
tricles in cases of congenital hydrocephalus is a justifiable operation.
Only with more experience will we be able to determine whether an
operation such as I have here described is justifiable under like circum-
stances.

A CASE OF LEUKZMIA WHICH TERMINATED FATALLY
BY RETRO-PERITONEAL HEMORRHAGE.

By Tuomas OLIver, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P.,
PHYSICIAN TO THE ROYAL INFIRMARY, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY,
UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM.

Deatu from hemorrhage is not an infrequent termination of leukemia.
All through the course of the disease a tendency to bleeding is often met
with. In the case about to be reported the end came, not less gradually
than unexpectedly, from a large retro-peritoneal hemorrhage, and, from
this peculiar fact alone, it deserves to be recorded.

E. W., aged nineteen years, single, was admitted into the Newcastle
Infirmary, under my care, on January 21st, complaining of great de-
bility and of swelling of the abdomen of six months’ duration. Her
family history was good. Eight months previous to this she felt tired
and wearied on the least exertion, and had complained of great thirst.
She noticed, too, that she was losing flesh. Three months after this she
took to bed, and has since then scarcely ever left it. About this time
she was occasionally sick, and she noticed that a lump could be felt in
the left side of the abdomen. It was hard, but not painful; it has not
increased much, patient thinks, since then. When asked if she could
explain the presence of this lump, she said she attributed it to an injury
to her side. There has never been any vomiting of blood, but every
three or four weeks she has had recurrences of epistaxis, which have
lasted for two or three days at a time. She began to menstruate at the
age of twelve, and has continued regular until twelve months ago, when
the intervals lengthened, so that no menses have now been seen for at
least seven months. She thinks little of this, however, as she regards
the epistaxis as having replaced the menstrual flow.

Within the last few days a short troublesome cough has developed.
She is emaciated. Tongue red, papille are prominent. There is no
longer a feeling of thirst. Bowels are regular. Many of the glands in
the right side of the neck are enlarged, but are not painful. Here and
there upon her limbs can be felt subcutaneous nodules, the size of a

516 OLIVER, LEUKAMIA.

small bean; they are painless, are not discolored, and come and go in
crops, each crop remaining out for two or three days. Pupils are
slightly dilated. Since the commencement of the illness patient has
become rather deaf. Chest: Intercostal spaces are wide and deeply
grooved, mamme are ill-developed. Heart: Apex is felt beating about
‘one inch below and just internal to left nipple. The sounds of the
heart are healthy, the second aortic being particularly well marked.
Lungs: The breath sounds are coarse over each apex, but the expiratory
murmur is not prolonged.

The abdomen is somewhat tense and resistant, and the superficial
veins are much distended. There is a very apparent fulness over the
hepatic area, the upper margin of which begins at the level of the fifth
rib, and is carried down to the level of the umbilicus. Over the
epigastric and splenic areas the resistance is great, and there is felt a hard
dense mass, with a well-defined border projecting toward the umbilicus.

Fie. 1.

Case of E. W., showing increased areas of hepatic and splenic dulness.

The lower border is particularly well defined and sharp. The fingers
can be pushed well under this, and it is noticed that on deep inspiration
the dulness on the left side extends from the sixth rib to one and one-
half inches above the crest of the ilium. The mass is not painful on
pressure ; it is perfectly smooth on the surface. There is no albumin in
the urine and no sugar. Its specific gravity is 1020, and it is acid.
Temperature is normal. Pulse, which is very compressible, is always
rapid—116 per minute. Blood: A prick of the finger by a needle is not
quickly followed by the presence of blood, but when it does come it is
seen to be pale and watery. Under the microscope the field seems to be
occupied almost entirely by colorless cells, which vary in size, many
being larger whilst others are smaller than ordinary leucocytes, ex-
tremely granular and showing a large nucleus. Between these cells are
noticed here and there dirty reddish-yellow masses, evidently composed
of fused red blood-cells. No rouleaux are observed. Gowers’ hemo-

OLIVER, LEUKAEMIA. 517

cytometer showed that in 1 c.mm. of blood 1,610,000 cells were present ;
of these the red cells formed 980,000, and the colorless corpuscles
630,000. Patient was put upon arsenic. Under this line of treatment
she improved. All seemed to be going on well with her when she un-
expectedly died.

he day before her death she complained of severe pain running:

down her right thigh, chiefly along the course of the sciatic nerve.
The pain, of which at this stage no explanation could be found, was
evidently very severe. It had been somewhat relieved by an appli-
cation of aconite and menthol before I saw her, and the relief continued
more or less during the whole of the day. Toward evening pain re-
turned in the leg with increasing severity, and remained constant.
Vomiting now occurred, and it was noticed that the swelling in the right
half of the abdomen had gradually increased in size since the morning,
chiefly in a downward direction, and that it was tense and very oe
Death came quietly and without convulsions.

Autopsy. Abdomen: on reflecting the skin there was brought into
view a very Jarge spleen; it extended well toward the middle line, and
was seven or eight times the size of the normal organ. After removing
it there was more completely brought into view a large cyst, with dark
bluish-black walls, which lay in the right half of the abdomen, extend-
ing from beneath the liver to nearly the brim of the pelvis. The intes-
tines were displaced by it, portions of the bowel being driven deeply into
the pelvis. The ileo-ceecum was pushed upward, and there was matting
between it and the omentum. On clearing away the intestines this cyst
was found to be the size of a man’s head, and its walls were formed by
the retro-peritoneum. The cyst was completely filled by thin reddish
semi-coagulated blood of a peculiarly flaky color. It was not connected
with the liver, although it could be traced up under this organ to near
the diaphragm. From this point it extended all the way down to the
brim of the pelvis, but on approaching it the cyst became narrowed and
not nearly so distinct. The right kidney was pushed upward, forward,
and to the left, and was apparently in no way connected with it. The
anterior wall was composed entirely of retro-peritoneum. At the right
side the peritoneum all at once glanced off from its parietal attachment
to encircle the tumor in front, and then passed down more or less behind
it, on the left. It was as impossible to remove this blood-cyst as it was
impossible to make out with which vessel or vessels it was connected. It
is sufficient to say that it was not connected with liver, kidneys, or adrenals,
nor with anything in the pelvis. The uterus, ovaries, and bladder were
healthy and free from any adhesions. The kidneys were normal. Liver
seemed healthy. Gall-bladder contained healthy-looking bile. The
a. as already stated; was enlarged. On its anterior surface was a
thick white patch, the size of the palm of the hand, and about one-eighth
inch in depth. It was firm, and on section its tissue was coarse-looking,
and showed pale trabecule. The heart was extremely firm and hard to
the touch; it was a little larger than the normal. The left ventricle
was hypertrophied, its wall being nearly one inch thick, whilst its cavity
was not dilated. This cavity contained a large quantity of flaky blood.
The other chambers of the heart contained large quantities of the same
kind of blood, and were healthy. Lungs presented nothing remarkabie.
Pericardium and pleurz were healthy.

VOL. 104, NO. 5.—NOVEMBER, 1892. 34

518 OLIVER, LEUKAEMIA.

This patient, whilst possessing a large spleen and suffering from
leukemia, died from the effects of an internal hemorrhage; the blood
forcing its way behind the retro-peritoneum on the right side, throw-
ing it forward, and giving rise to a blood-cyst.

Going back upon this case of leukemia, it is difficult to account
for it. There is mention of an injury to the patient’s side from a fall
against a doorway, a circumstance which should not be forgotten, since
De Chapelle has shown what an important part injury plays in the
causation of this disease. Epistaxis, too, was an early and an important
symptom in her case, and its monthly recurrence may have had some-
thing to do with the abolition of the menstrual function, which up till
that time had been normal.

It is difficult to explain the deafness. Is there any reason to suppose
that an internal or labyrinthine hemorrhage had occurred—an accident
to which has been ascribed the loss of hearing in leukemia? It is well
known that deafness is frequently met with in leukeemia—so frequently,
in fact, that it cannot be a coincidence. Vidal and Izambert found it
present in 10 per cent.—a percentage which Gradenigo, of Padua, who
has given considerable attention to this subject, regards as too high. In
Gradenigo’s case—one of mixed leukeemia—hearing was affected in both
ears, and there was tinnitus aurium, which was relieved by catheteriza-
tion of the right Eustachian tube. Epistaxis, too, was not less an
obstinate than a prominent symptom. Death occurred in six weeks—
preceded by a recurrence of hemorrhagic diarrhea. At the post-mortem
there was found a gelatinous yellowish-red substance in the drum-
cavities, extending backward toward the mastoid cells. The fluid pressed
from this mass showed under the microscope red and white blood-cells.
There was found newly-formed connective tissue, with hemorrhagic
infiltration. Gradenigo, therefore, believes that in the course of a leuk-
semic process there sometimes occurs in the organ of hearing compli-
cations which depend upon exudative processes in the middle and in-
ternal ear, and this quite independently of anything like a hemorrhagic
diathesis. This extract from the Internat. Journ. Med. Sciences, 1887,
conveys the opinion of most writers upon this subject. In some cases
the deafness has been found to have been due to labyrinthine disease.
The tendency has been, however, in nearly all of them, for hemorrhage
to occur into some of the deeper parts of the auditory apparatus. At
the post-mortem of my case we were not allowed to examine the head,
so I cannot express more than a theoretical opinion upon this point.

The condition of the blood is interesting. The total number of cor-
puscles in 1 c.mm. was only 1,610,000—and of these 98,000 were red cells,
and the remaining 63,000 were colorless. Pepper (Syst. Med,, vol. iii.
p. 912) considers it rather the exception for the number of blood-cells
to fall below 2,000,000 per c.mm. I have seen the number even lower
than this. In one case, that of a woman near the middle term of life,

OLIVER, LEUKAMIA. 519

only 540,000 cells, red and white, were present in 1 c.mm. of blood. But
to return; given the normal relationship of 1 white blood-cell to 400
red in 1 c.mm. of blood, we have in the present case the two kinds of cells
almost equal—the relationship being one white to one and one-half red.
It is, therefore, a veritable leucocytosis that we have, and about it I
would incidentally make this remark, viz.: that if we, in these cases,

Fie. 2.

Fre. 3.

Spleen : subcapsular tissue. Showing dilated
bloodvessels with thin walls, and filled mostly
with colorless cells.

Spleen with thickened capsule, show-
ing development of new vessels. -

were to form an opinion as to the condition ot the blood from an ex-
amination of the patient’s face and lips alone, we would completely fail
to realize to what an extent the blood had become morbidly altered.
In other words, there may be not only a marked diminution in the
number of cells as a whole in the blood, but the most pronounced leuco-

520 OLIVER, LEUKAMIA.

cytosis may be present, and yet almost no indication of this will be
revealed in the face or lips of the patient. Occasionally the lips of the
invalid may be well colored—not in any way even suggesting anzmia ;
and when the blood is examined under the microscope there is found -
not only a diminution of red cells, but almost an equal number of
colored and colorless corpuscles.

Without going into the morbid anatomy of leukemia, I would simply
allude to the great thickening of the capsule that is frequently met with
in leukemia—drawings of which are subjoined.

Sims Woodhead, in his Practical Pathology, 1892 ed., p. 431, alludes
to this irregular thickening of the capsule of the spleen, “under which
there are at times purple patches, the result of hemorrhage.” Examina-
tion of the drawings shows not only a thickened capsule, made up of an
excessive development of fibrous tissue, but a rich network of blood-
vessels, the walls of which are extremely thin, and therefore liable to
rupture. Large blood-sinuses, too, are noticed in the splenic pulp im-
mediately under the capsule. The one morbid feature which is charac-
teristic of leukemia is the irregular accumulation of leucocytes in
patches in and around the small bloodvessels in spleen, liver, and sub-
serous spaces ; it is thus easy for embolic hemorrhages to occur. Numer-
ous small hemorrhages may thus at first have taken place underneath
the retro-peritoneum of E. W., and been the precursor of that large
hemorrhage which caused death.

Disseminated capillary hemorrhages in leukemia were observed by
Byrom Bramwell (Brit. Med. Journ., June 12, 1886) in brain-tissue,
associated with hemorrhages of varying size—some as large as a hen’s
egg, others only visible to the naked eye. In his case the bloodvessels
and capillaries throughout the brain were enormously dilated and dis-
tended with white corpuscles, multitudes of which had escaped into the
lymphatic sheaths surrounding the larger vessels. The hemorrhages
were composed for the most part of white corpuscles, and it is to the
presence of these cells in excess that I attribute the peculiar flaky con-
dition of the blood in the retro-peritoneal hemorrhage in my own case.

Of late the infective nature of leukemia has attracted the attention
and received the support of Pawlowsky (Deutsche med. Wochenschr., July
7, 1892, and alluded to in Supplem. Brit. Med. Journ., Aug. 13, 1892), in
whose case—one of considerable leucocytosis (1:4) and enlargement of
the spleen—there were found in the blood short bacilli with spores. In
the blood and organs of five other patients similar bacilli had been
found, as well as in the blood of leeches which had abstracted blood
from leukemic patients. The presence of these microdrganisms in the
blood of six patients led Pawlowsky to regard them as peculiar to leuk-
zemia, and standing in direct relation to it. Whether subsequent ex-
aminations by other bacteriologists will confirm his observations remains
to be seen—for, relying upon these facts, Pawlowsky has come to regard

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 521

leukemia as a disease of the blood. The bacilli are considered to
exercise a certain influence upon the leucocytes in the blood-forming
organs. These cells multiply, many of them entering into the blood in
an imperfectly formed condition. Carried all through the system by
the blood, the microérganisms are retained in the spleen, lymphatic
glands, and medulla of bone. In the spleen is supposed to occur the
fight between leucocytes and microbes (phagocytosis). How far this is
purely hypothetical remains to be seen before there can be general
acceptance of Pawlowsky’s opinion that the hyperplasia of the spleen
and other blood-forming organs is the result of the reaction of the indi-
vidual against the poison circulating in the blood.

THREE CASES OF A HITHERTO UNCLASSIFIED AFFECTION
RESEMBLING IN ITS GROSSER ASPECTS OBESITY, BUT
ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIAL NERVOUS SYMPTOMS—
ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.'

By F. X. DEeRcum, M.D.,
CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM IN THE JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE ;
NEUROLOGIST TO THE PHILADELPHIA HOSPITAL.

Ar the meeting of the American Neurological Association held in
Washington in September, 1888, the writer reported an anomalous case
found in the nervous wards of the Philadelphia Hospital, and as it was
not possible to classify the condition found, the description was prefaced
by the title, “ A Subcutaneous Connective-tissue Dystrophy of the Arms
and Back associated with Symptoms resembling Myxcedema.” Sub-
sequently the case was published in the University Medical Magazine for
December, 1888.

Some two years later, another and apparently similar case was dis-
covered in the medical wards of the Philadelphia Hospital, and was
reported at a meeting of the Philadelphia Neurological Society in
December, 1890, by Dr. Frederick P. Henry. It was described as a
case of myxcedematoid dystrophy and afterward published in the Journal
of Nervous and Mentai Disease for March, 1891. Dr. Henry stated that
he adopted the term dystrophy in order to bring the case “into the same
category with the very similar one” reported by the writer.

In October, 1891, a third case, resembling the others, made its appear-
ance in the nervous wards of Blockley. This will presently be detailed,
but before doing so ‘let us review, as briefly as possible, the previous
cases, in order that all three may be considered together.

1 Read before the meeting of the American Neurological Association, New York,
June, 1892.

522 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

Case I.—Before described by the writer, as stated, in 1888. History
in abstract as follows :

M. G., aged fifty-one, female, widow, native of Ireland, domestic.

Family history. Father died at forty-five, of erysipelas. Mother had
eighteen children; died at forty from some complication incident to the
menopause. Of brothers and sisters, seven died in early childhood, one

Fie 1. (Case I.)

Fie. 2. (Case I.) -

in adult life, of pleurisy ; a sister, in childbirth; a brother and two sisters,
of phthisis ; while the remaining five are living and apparently in aver-
age health. None of the patient’s relatives had ever suffered, as far as
she knew, from symptoms similar to her own. No history of insanity,
epilepsy, or other neurosis.

Personal history. As a child, had measles, whooping cough, and scar-
let fever. Menstruated normally at fifteen. Married at eighteen.
Some years after, had an attack of pneumonia but made a good recovery.

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 523

Had in all seven children and one miscarriage. Five children died in
infancy or childhood, one from cholera infantum, two from measles, one
from “congestion of the brain,” and the fifth from “spasms.” Meno-
pause set in abruptly at thirty-five. From this time up to within two
or three years her health had continued good. She had undergone some
increase in weight, but beyond this nothing worthy of mention could be
recalled. Syphilis and alcoholism denied.

When forty-eight or forty-nine years of age noticed that her arms
were becoming very large. The upper arms and shoulders appeared
swollen. On some days the swelling seemed more decided than on
others. It continued steadily to increase, and for about a year was
unattended by any other symptom.

In November, 1886, she was admitted to the surgical wards of the
Philadelphia Hospital for the rupture of a varicose vein of the leg. In
the following February she was transferred to the medical wards for a
severe attack of bronchitis. Later she had an attack of severe pain and
swelling in the right knee, attended by chill and fever. She was treated
for rheumatism and promptly relieved. Two weeks after this she com-
plained of a sharp darting pain in the right arm. It began on the outer
aspect above the elbow, and gradually increased in severity and extent,
spreading upward to the shoulder and neck and downward to the fore-
arm and hand. It was different, she states, from the pain previously
experienced in the knee. It was shooting and burning. She felt at
times as though hot water were being poured upon the arm, and again
as though the hand and fingers were being torn apart. No rise in
temperature was noted. The pain was often paroxysmal, being very
much worse for hours and days at a time, but even during the intervals
it was never altogether absent. On June 4, 1887, she was removed to
the nervous wards, when she came under the writer’s care.

Her appearance at this time was striking. She was a tall, large-framed
woman who looked as though she had at one time presented a fine phys-
ical development, but she seemed unnaturally broad across the back and
shoulders. On removing the clothing an enormous enlargement of these
parts was disclosed. The enlargement affected both helen, the arms,
the back, and the sides of the chest. It was most marked in the upper
arms and back, forming there huge and somewhat pendulous masses. It
was elastic, and yet comparatively firm to the touch, and it was impossible
to produce pitting. In some situations it felt as though finely lobulated,
and in others, especially on the insides of the arms, as though the flesh
were filled with bundles of worms. The sensation to the fingers was very
much like that experienced in examining a varicocele, except that the
structures appeared more resistant. The skin itself was evidently not
thickened. It did not take any part in the swelling and it was not
adherent to the subjacent tissues. It was slightly roughened over the
forearms, less so on the arms, shoulders, and hands, while over the fin-
gers it was quite smooth and even glistening. Further, over the fore-
arms and hands it was slightly darkened, small brownish patches and
minute epithelial scales being observed ; lastly, it was quite 5.

The right arm was extremely painful on motion. The head, at this
time, was also held in a fixed position for fear that movement of the
neck would give rise to pain in the shoulder. In addition, the arm was
also very sensitive to pressure. Pronounced pressure appeared to be
absolutely unbearable. The nerve trunks also were exquisitely sensi-

524 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

tive, but this painful condition was not by any means limited to them,
but permeated the swollen tissues as a whole.

In marked contrast to the right, the left arm could be handled with im-
punity. Transient pain was, however, at one time noted in the left wrist.

The muscles were evidently not involved in the swelling. On grasp-
ing, for instance, the enlargement over the left biceps and directing the
patient to flex and extend the arm repeatedly, the mass was felt to be
unaffected by the movements of the underlying muscle. The affected
parts were, however, quite weak. The grip of the right hand was almost
nil, while that of the left was greatly diminished. Examined electrically,
the muscles of the shoulders and arms yielded a negative result, partly
because of the great resistance caused by the intervening tissue. Slight
quantitative and qualitative changes were noted in the muscles of the
forearms, while in the hands distinct reaction of degeneration was noted
in the thenar and hypothenar groups, more evident on the right side.

Cutaneous sensibility was much diminished. On the right arm various
areas existed in which no response whatever was given to the esthesi-
ometer. - They were large and irregular in shape and very sharply
defined, and were present on both the inner and outer aspects. In the
finger-tips of the same side the points could not be at all separated. In
the left arm, on the other hand, the response was prompt and accurate,
except on the outer aspect of the forearm, where some delay and uncer-
tainty existed. In the finger-tips, also, sensation was decidedly below
normal, the points being separated at not less than one-half or three-
quarters of an inch. Sensibility to heat and cold was also diminished.

Examining the legs, it was found that cutaneous sensibility was dis-
tinctly lessened on the right, while showing little or no impairment on
the left. No enlargement was, however, noted at this time in any por-
tion of the body, save in the regions already mentioned. No swelling or
anesthesia was found about the face. The latter was pale, as were also
the mucous membranes. There was, however, a little color in the
cheeks, more noticeable at times. Her features were well formed and
intelligent. Her hair was dark and fine, and somewhat thin over the
vertex. Her mind was unimpaired, except that at times she was much
abstracted. Sometimes she gave conflicting answers to questions, so
that the latter had often to be repeated. Her speech was not slowed or
otherwise altered. At times she was irritable and quarrelsome, and
frequently gave much trouble to her nurses.

The above abstract fairly represents her condition at the time of her
admission to the nervous wards.

June 13th, ten days later, she had a chill, followed by fever and a
painful herpetic eruption over the upper portion of the left arm and the
upper and anterior portion of the left side of the chest. June 19th,
another crop of vesicles made its appearance on the back and on the
front of the chest.

For some three months following, among other studies, a careful record
of the axillary temperature was made. It proved to be very nearly
normal. At one time, however, a temperature of only 97° was recorded.

Nothing worthy of note occurred until October 13th, when the patient
had another severe attack of bronchitis, which was accompanied by
much dyspnea.

In the latter part of December it was ‘noticed that during one of her
poe of pain the swelling of the right arm became more decidedly
obulated. The arm became more sensitive than ever, and on examina-

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 525

tion hard, cake-like masses were felt, resembling, as the resident physi-
cian expressed it, the caking of milk in a breast. This caking, or
increased lobulated feel, was subsequently repeatedly noticed during
paroxysms of pain. At this time, also, she suffered from an attack of
pain in the right knee, and in the popliteal space a diffused swelling was
felt which exhibited the same curious nodulated or leech-like feel as did
the swelling elsewhere. It was also very painful, but subsided in a few
days, and no permanent alteration of the tissues could be detected.

At various times subsequently paroxysms recurred, during one of
which swelling was noticed in the posterior triangles of the neck, which
seemed later to be permanently fuller than normal. Bronchitis also
recurred, accompanied by dyspnoea, and at one time with free expectora-
tion of bloody mucous.

In April following she experienced an attack of unusual severity.
The pain, which involved the right arm and shoulder, right side of
trunk and back of neck, now for thé first time spread to the face and
head. The right side of the face and neck became distinctly swollen,
and presented to the touch the same nodulated feel so characteristic of
the swelling in other portions. At the same time, the tongue and prob-
ably the pharyngeal tissues became swollen. Her tongue, she said, felt
much too large for her mouth, and this certainly appeared to be the
case. Her speech was much interfered with. Her voice was very
hoarse, and she spoke with great difficulty. This condition persisted
for upward of a week, when the swelling slowly subsided. For some
time subsequently she spat blood, the source of which was not deter-
mined, though it appeared to come from the throat. The reddish color
in the cheeks also became more pronounced, until it covered the entire
forehead like an intense blush. This blush was afterward observed to
recur with other paroxysms of pain.

During the summer of 1888 the patient’s condition underwent some
change. The paroxysms of pain became less frequent and less severe.
Hand-in-hand with this improvement, sweating became very abundant.
However, paroxysms accompanied with marked dryness of skin occurred
from time to time, and upon one occasion a thick, welt-like swelling,
exquisitely painful, was observed extending from the upper and inner
angle of the scapula perpendicularly down the back to very nearly the
lumbar region. Upon another time, swelling again made its appearance
in the right popliteal space, as well as on the inner aspect of the knee.
In the latter locality the swelling became permanent and the tissue pre-
sented the same peculiarities as noted elsewhere. ;

Pain now occasionally appeared in the left arm. Prolonged attacks
of cardiac dyspnoea recurred every week or two, and apparently inde-
pendently of bronchitis.

Examination of the eyes by Dr. de Schweinitz revealed contraction
of the fields of vision for form and colors, most marked in left eye. The
other special senses, hearing, taste, and smell appeared to be somewhat
obtunded.

An analysis of the urine yielded a negative result. A blood-count
failed to reveal an increase of white corpuscles.

Since the notes from which the above account is condensed were
taken, the patient has at various times during attacks of pain vomited
blood. Upon several occasions this was observed by the writer himself.
The quantity could not be accurately estimated, but while it was never
in large bulk at a single emesis it was constantly brought up in repeated

526 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

vomiting during an entire night or day. The last attack occurred in
August, 1891.

Siessemene were made of this patient at various times, and there
has been a steady increase in the bulk of the arms up to the present time.

As a whole, however, the patient has not suffered as intense pain as
formerly. Cardiac dyspnea, though, is a frequent and very distressing
symptom. Pulse soft and rather rapid, ranging from 95 to 110. Face
still flushed. Of late has had shooting pains in the abdomen, and ex-
amination discloses an extensive deposit of tissue in this region, and to
which the pain is referred. A large longitudinal wheal, especially sensi-
tive, is found in the left lumbar region.

A deposit of tissue (or swelling) has also made its appearance over
the left hip and to some extent over the right. Thighs and buttocks do
not seem to be especially enlarged, but soft masses are now found on the
inner sides of both knees, the right larger than the left, the former more
painful to pressure.

A small nodule to the right of the scorbiculus is especially painful.

At various times, by means of a Duchenne trocar, fragments for
microscopic examination were removed from either arm. They revealed
connective tissue and fat cells present in varying degree. It was observed
that the former was decidedly embryonal in type, the cells being large
and fusiform, and their nuclei correspondingly large and prominent.
The fat-cells for the most part were associated with these connective-
tissue cells, and occasionally individual fat-cells were seen in which the
fatty metamorphosis had not been complete. (In one of the fragments
removed the writer was fortunate enough to find nerve elements which
had probably been included in the grasp of the trocar by the latter graz-
ing a bloodvessel, as the fibres were non-medullated. Their connective
tissue was denser than normal and they presented an unusual number
of nuclei.) For a detailed description, with drawings, the reader is
referred to the original article (doe. cit.).

Case II.—This, as already stated, was reported Dr. F. P. Henry (doc.
cit.). Subsequently in November, 1891, she came under the care of the
writer, having been transferred to the nervous wards, where she finally
died about a month later. The following account is abstracted partly
from the report of Dr. Henry and partly from my own notes.

E. W.., aged sixty-four, married, native of England.

Family history. Father dead of alcoholism at middle life. Mother
dead at twenty-eight of oedema of brain, verified post-mortem. Has
living an elder brother and sister and one younger brother. The younger
brother when a child was “ peculiar ”—he would ‘run to people in sudden
fright and say that he was drowning or the like. He is now in average
health, but drinks heavily. Has a contracture of the ring finger. Has
nine children, all of whom appear to be well. The older brother suffers
periodically from violent headache ; also, since a young man has suffered
from constantly cold feet—this so severe as to disturb sleep and cause
great distress. He had five sons and two daughters. One son died of
tetanus (traumatic) ; the others are well. One daughter has a contracted
middle finger of the right hand; has never suffered pain in the finger.
Patient’s sister is living, sixty-five years old, and healthy; no children.

Previous history. Does not remember having the ordinary diseases of
childhood. At early infancy began to have fits, which at times occurred
daily, at other times weekly. Consciousness was lost during the fits, and
they were followed by great pain in the forehead. After the seizures she

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 527

slept. During this time was relieved of lumbricoid worms—vomiting
them; and some time later recovered from the fits.

Was married at seventeen. Had two sons, the older of whom is now
forty and has seven healthy children; the younger died at two years of

Fig. 3. (Case II.)

Fie. 4. (Case II.)

hemorrhagic diarrhea. Patient had no miscarriages and no stillbirths.
Left her husband because of a venereal disease contracted by the latter.
Was told by a doctor that she had escaped infection. A year later,

528 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

however, she had sore-throat with white patches. Had been an
immoderate drinker for many years. For weeks at a time was intox-
icated every night.

Menstruation began at eleven and ceased abruptly at thirty-five.
Lost habitually an unusual quantity of blood, but never suffered any
discomfort.

History of present disease. Her malady began about fifteen years
ago, when she was forty-nine years old. At that time she was living in
California. The first thing noticed was a constant feeling of coldness
about the knees, followed by swelling, which gradually increased. At
first she thought the swelling was due to her growing fat, but later was
astonished to see that there was a localized mass on the inner aspect of
each knee. At the same time there was dull aching pain in the affected
parts. Later the right arm became involved, a mass making its appear-
ance on the outer aspect. Her body she now noticed also became
larger, as her stays were too small for her. During this time, while still
in California, her inability to perspire, except at the Turkish bath, was
marked and was part of her reason for coming East. Since she has been
in Philadelphia the lack of perspiration has not been as marked as
before. Various plans of treatment were tried, but did not influence
the progress of the disease (that is the growth of the swelling). Five
or six years ago injections of chloroform were made into the swellings
on the inner side of the knees, but no good was done. Painful ulcera-
tions were the result, and scars of considerable size mark their location,

About five years since a slight swelling appeared in the epigastrium.
This gradually increased in size until it resembled the breasts in shape.
and afterward spread so as to involve nearly the whole abdomen.

From the knees the process extended to the thighs, and gave rise to
the large masses on their outer side and about the hips.

To Dr. Henry she stated that pain had never been a well-marked.

feature of the disease, which differed, however, from her statements
made to the writer. To both, however, she stated that at various times
she had suffered with pains apparently situated in the enlarged tissues
or running down the limbs. Sometimes these attacks were fairly well
localized, in one limb, in one side, or about a joint.

Five years ago her attention was called to a peculiar condition of the
right hand. The last phalanx of the second finger began to be fixed in a
flexed position, while the end of the finger appeared to be growing
somewhat smaller. Later the remaining fingers of this hand became
involved and all the phalanges deformed. The deformity as seen now
is flexion of first phalanx, marked over-extension of second, and half-
flexion of the third. The thumb is also stiff, but all of its joints are
flexed. For some time she has noticed the thumb of the left hand
becoming like that of the right.

A year ago the patient had a quasi-rheumatic attack affecting the
deformed hand and the arm. The pains seemed to run up and down in
the arm rather than about the joints.

Some months ago had pneumonia of the right lung, and made a good
recovery.

For several months past had slight uterine hemorrhage at times,
associated with which were dull, aching pains, resembling those formerly
felt before menstruation.

On November 27, 1891, she was transferred, as already stated, to the
nervous wards. Here, on questioning her in detail, I was able to con-

-™

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 529

firm the points of the history, as described by Dr. Henry. In addition,
she said that the enlargement had spread from the knees to the thighs
and buttocks unequally, that the left thigh and buttock had been earlier
and more conspicuously enlarged than the corresponding parts on the
right side. Gradually, however, the latter became enlarged to an
almost equal degree. Later, swelling appeared over the left arm, and
later still on the back and sides of the trunk, and wherever appearing
it gradually became diffused and finally reached very great proportions.
The patient further volunteered the statement that she had formerly
been very slight in build.

To ordinary obervation she merely presented the appearance of an
excessively » person. However, examination soon revealed that
the enlarged tissue was very unevenly distributed. In the region of the
knees, where it had first made its appearance, it was excessively irregu-
lar and lumpy. To the fingers it resembled, in a remarkable degree,
the swollen tissues of Case I. It gave the same nodular and elastic feel,
and could not be made to pit on pressure. At the time of the examina-
tion no tenderness existed in any of the lumps, but shooting pains were
referred to them in various situations. This was particularly the case
in the mass over the right hypochondrium. In addition, she complained
of scalding sensations on the inside of the right cheek and the right
side of tongue. Nothing abnormal could be discovered in the mucous
membrane of these parts. No tenderness existed in any of the nerve-
trunks at the time of the examination. The patient was excessively
weak, and could move about her bed or sit up only with great difficulty.
Her grip was almost ni/. No tendon jerks could be cliclted—gaokelily
due to purely mechanical difficulties. For the same reason, an electrical
examination could not be made.

Examination of the cutaneous sensibility confirmed, in general, the
findings of Dr. Henry, except that some areas had become entirely
anesthetic. Dr. Henry found that there was slight analgesia,
and diminished temperature and tactile sense, and further that the
“changes of sensory acuteness were not more marked over the distribu-
tion of any of the cutaneous nerves, but seemed dependent entirely upon
the amount of the subcutaneous tissue.” Dr. Henry, it appears, found no
area of absolute anzesthesia anywhere. However a year later, such an area
undoubtedly existed on the back of the left arm, and extended thence
over the posterior aspect of the left shoulder. On the opposite side,
anesthesia was not present, although no marked difference, if any,
existed in the amount of the subcutaneous tissue. A marked increase
in this subcutaneous tissue had, however, everywhere taken place during
the past year. Comparing, for instance, the measurements of the arms
made by Dr. Henry and myself, it was found that the left forearm had
increased one and seven-eighths inches, and the right forearm one and
three-eighths inches ; the left arm one and a half, and the right arm two
inches. This increase seemed to be maintained throughout.

Subjectively, the patient complained much of headache. Her face
was very much flushed, and she suffered greatly from cardiac dyspnea.
It was a persistent and distressing symptom.

Examination of the eyes proved negative, as did also that of the
urine. Perspiration, according to the patient’s statement, was scant.
Face not involved in the enlargement. No subnormal temperature.
Hair thin, but not excessively so. No difficulty in speech. No mental
impairment. ‘

530 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

The patient remained very much in the same condition for some two
weeks following her admission to the nervous wards, when her dyspnea
greatly increased. Her pulse, already soft and compressible, became
irregular and intermittent. This condition, although relieved from time
to time, persisted until hands and feet became puffy, the face cyanotic,
and the lungs cedematous and congested. Death occurred on December
22, 1891.

Autopsy, December 23d. Body of a very large woman. Weight esti-
mated at about three hundred pounds. Face dark from venous conges-
tion. Some discoloration on under surface of body and thighs. A
number of large white scars on either side over the knees. Legs and feet
cedematous. Body distorted and flattened, as though by its own weight.

Scalp and calvarium revealed nothing abnormal. Veins of dura
and longitudinal sinus full. Venous congestion of the pia. Cortex a
little darker than normal. Puncta vasculosa prominent. Brain other-
wise normal. Spinal cord appeared normal. Skin of thorax appears
normal. The subcutaneous tissue is fatty and moist.

Thyroid gland small, indurated and infiltrated by calcareous matter
in both lobes.

Right lung cedematous and tightly adherent to chest walls. Left
lung cedematous, with hypostatic congestion posteriorly. Both pleural
cavities contain a large excess of fluid.

Pericardium contained some six to eight ounces of fluid, in which was
suspended some flocculent lymph. Weight of heart twenty-seven ounces ;
the right side dilated, the moderator band much thickened. Walls of

left side also much thickened ; marked hypertrophy of the columnz
‘ carnee and papillary muscles. Some fatty change, especially in walls
of right ventricle.

Over the abdomen the subcutaneous fatty tissue was three inches
thick. About a pint of ascitic fluid in abdomen. Stomach much di-
lated. Intestines normal, Liver showed some fatty infiltration, other-
wise normal. Spleen apparently normal, though somewhat dark.
Kidneys both reveal, except slight adhesion of the capsules, nothing
specially abnormal. :

In the pelvis, an ovarian cyst containing some six ounces and a hydro-
salpinx were found on the left side. Uterus seemed a trifle larger than
normal, Bladder normal.

Brain, cord, some of the nerve trunks, pieces of skin and subcutaneous
tissue, pieces of the liver, kidneys, and spleen, a fragment of muscle, and
the whole of the thyroid gland were removed for microscopic examina-
tion. The specimens were left in the care of Dr. H. W. Cattell, assistant
to the pathologist of the hospital. Unfortunately, Dr. Cattell fell ill
with scarlet fever, and during his absence the specimens, together with
those of the next case (Case III.), were thrown away by an attendant.

Case III.—M. M., aged sixty years, widow, a tailoress by occupation,
and a native of Germany, but a resident of America for twenty-six years.
Admitted to the nervous wards of the Philadelphia Hospital October 7,
1891. Memory very poor. History obtained in part from relatives.

Family history. Father and mother were healthy. Mother died of
heart disease. Had seven brothers and sisters, all apparently well.
Had no children, no pregnancies.

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 531

Previous history. Many years ago a lump appeared at the back of the
neck, for which she consulted Dr. Gross at the Jefferson Medical Col-
lege, but for some reason no operation was performed. At various
times thereafter swellings made their appearance in various situations.

Fig. 5. (Case III.)

Fie.'6. (Case III.)

Lost more blood at menstrual periods than normal. Occasionally suf-
fered from hzematemesis and epistaxis. Climacteric at forty-six. No
history of any intercurrent affections. Mental impairment had been
noticed for about two years.

Present condition. Patient is excessively feeble. For some two weeks
past has been unable to walk. Lies, for the most part, in a quiet
apathetic state, though when aroused answers questions intelligently,
but slowly. Is, in addition, somewhat deaf.

Examination reveals so‘t, fat-like masses or swellings in various
situations. Thus a large soft mass is found over either biceps, and
others, somewhat smaller, over the outer and posterior aspect of either
upper arm. ‘Two large masses are found over the belly, separated
above the umbilicus by a deep transverse crease. Another gives exces-
sive prominence to the mons Veneris. From the back of the neck, at its
lower part, springs a big mass like a hump, while a diffuse swelling
gives a cushion-like coating to either half of the back, and extensive

532 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

deposits give unnatural prominence to either hip. In marked contrast,
the deposit is absent from the forearms and hands, from the face, from
the thighs and legs and from the buttocks. The gluteal regions, in
fact, seem flattened and sloping.

The deposit at the back of the neck and over the abdomen seemed
tolerably firm and resistant ; over other portions it was quite soft, though
elastic, and exhibited the same nodular feel noted in the previous cases.
Further, it was discovered at once that these masses were painful to the
touch, the patient complaining very much when only moderate pressure
was exercised. This was especially true of the deposits over the arms
and back of the neck. In addition, the patient complained of stabbing

ains in the deposits, more marked in the regions just mentioned.
here was no tenderness over the nerve-trunks. She complained also
of headache.

In making the examination, it was also further noted that the left
radius was rough and nodular for about two and a half inches in its
middle third ; also, that there was a large discolored area on the outer
aspect of the left forearm resembling a syphilitic sear. Both tibize were
somewhat nodular, though no scars were discovered on the legs. A few
white scars were seen on the forehead. Quite a number of purpuric
spots were also observed on the forearms, thighs, legs, and back.

The skin of the forearms and hands, and that of the legs and feet to
a less extent, was dark, dry, and much roughened.

Cutaneous sensibility was found generally diminished, while a few
patches of anzsthesia were noted. One of these was an area diffused
over the right side of the trunk and the right shoulder. They appeared
to be constant, and were confirmed at various examinations.

Owing to the extreme weakness of the patient, the study of the eyes
could not be made satisfactorily, but, as far as it went, was negative.

The urine contained albumin. No casts were found.

In answer to questions, the patient said that she had not been sweat-
ing freely for years, but owing to her mental condition no importance
was given to this statement. She at no time presented a subnormal
temperature. Her hair was well preserved.

Patient seemed to fail gradually, although diet and stimulants were
freely used. Her dementia gradually deepened, and for some’ days
before death she voided urine and feces involuntarily. She finally
died in a comatose state on November 5th.

Autopsy, November 6, 1891. Body of a large woman with irregularly
distributed fat-like masses. Some discoloration of the back. Small bed-
sores beginning on the buttocks.

Scalp and calvarium normal. Dura normal. Pia very cedematous.
Brain very soft and cedematous. Cord revealed nothing abnormal.

On incising the skin of the chest and abdomen it was found to be
normal in appearance, but the subcutaneous tissue, which looked like a
very white fat, was excessively thick, reaching below the umbilicus a
depth of seven inches.

he thyroid gland was larger than normal, harder to the feel, and
much calcified, especially the right lobe.

The heart weighed eight and a half ounces. Both aortic and mitral
valves were slightly thickened. Heart substance evidently fatty. The
lungs were emphysematous. The mucous membranes of the stomach
revealed a chronic gastritis. The liver weighed forty-four ounces, and

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 533

beyond some fatty infiltration, was practically normal. Spleen normal.
The kidneys, however, showed decided shrinking and loss of cortical
substance, with somewhat adherent capsules. Nothing noteworthy in
pelvic organs.

As in Case II., brain, cord, nerve-trunks, skin and subcutaneous
tissue, thyroid gland, and portions of other viscera were removed for
microscopic examination, with the subsequent unfortunate loss of the
specimens already mentioned.

It is not without some hesitation that I bring these cases before you.
I am well aware that without a microscopic examination to supplement
the autopsies their study is incomplete, and yet the cases are in them-
selves so interesting, and appear to be so unusual, that their publication
in a group with such data as are at hand is more than warranted. Cer-
tainly these cases differ radically from ordinary cases of lipomatosis, and
certainly the nervous symptoms present are not without a special sig-
nificance. To begin, the enlarged tissue makes its appearance in a very
irregular way. Nodules of soft tissue are, at first, deposited in some one
situation, or perhaps in corresponding places of the upper or lower
extremities. For a time the deposit is limited to these original areas,
but subsequently it makes its appearance elsewhere, and may become
very extensive. Regions, however, may exist which remain permanently
uninvaded. In Case I. the enlargement was first noticed in both upper
arms, and later in the back. Subsequently swelling made its appear-
ance on the inner aspect of the right knee, to be followed months after
by a similar swelling in a corresponding position over the left knee.
Later still, it made its appearance in various other situations. However,
the legs, with the exception of the knees, have remained free from
involvement, while the thighs and buttocks have only receutly shown a
doubtful change. In Case II. the enlargement began onthe inner
aspect of either knee, and then gradually spread unequally over the
thighs and buttocks. Later, the left arm became involved; next the
sides and back, and finally the entire trunk. In Case III. the enlarge-
ment began in the back of the neck, and thence at various times in
other situations. It remained absent from the face, the forearms, the
legs, thighs, and buttocks. It is a peculiarity of this case, further, that
the enlargement tended to produce distinct segregated masses.

Not only is the development of the enlargement irregular and even
capricious in these cases, but there is, in addition, another important
fact to be remembered, and that is: that at some time or other the
enlargement is accompanied by pain or other nervous symptom. Thus,
in Case II., pain and a sensation of cold preceded the appearance of the
nodules on the inside of the knees. In Case I. pain was noticed a year
after the swelling of the upper areas had begun to show itself, and in

Case III. pain was evidently present at the time of the examinations.
VOL. 104, No. 5,—NOVEMBER, 1892. 35

534 DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA.

In Case I., again, which I had the opportunity of studying in great
detail, pain was observed at numerous times. Occasionally it was
observed in old areas of enlargement, and again in regions free from
the latter, but in which it subsequently appeared. This was especially
the case in the swelling on the inner aspect of the right knee and certain
welt-like formations in the back. Finally, pains, shooting or stabbing in
character, were present in all cases, both at yarious times in the history
and at the examinations. Very suggestive, indeed, were some of the
paroxysms of pain observed in Case I. In some of them decided and
sudden increase took place in the swelling of a part attacked, and it
became, for the time being, firmer and more resistant, and occasionally
more nodulated than before. Further, as already pointed out, a per-
manent increase or a new focus of swelling made its appearance. It
should be remembered, too, that some of the nerve-trunks, especially
those of the right arm, were very sensitive to pressure; that some of the
muscles—e. g., the thenar and hypothenar groups—revealed reaction of
degeneration, and, more significant than all, that the patient suffered on
two occasions from herpes zoster.

In Cases IT. and III. tenderness over the nerve-trunks could not be
elicited. However, in Case I. this symptom has at present disappeared.
Indeed its absence has been noted for some time past. This circum-
stance leads to the suspicion that Cases II. and III. were further
advanced than Case I., and that the latter was really observed during a
developmental period and whilst more active changes were going on.

Among the nervous symptoms must also be placed the anesthesia ux
diminished cutaneous sensibility already described, as well as the exces-
sive motor weakness. It is probable that the absence or diminution of
sweating also belongs to this category. It will be remembered that this
symptom was undoubtedly present in Cases I. and II., and doubtfully in
Case III. We are here reminded forcibly of myxedema, in which
diminution or absence of perspiration is so prominent a symptom, and,
at the same time, these cases are still further removed from ordinary
obesity, in which excessive sweating is the rule. Headache was also
noted in all the cases.

Among other symptoms present in these cases should be noted
hzematemesis in Case I., hematemesis and epistaxis in Case III., and a
recurrence of uterine flow many years after the cessation of menstrua-
tion in Case III. In Cases I. and II. the menopause occurred at thirty-
five, and in the latter the flow was said to have been unusually free. In
Case III. the menopause occurred at forty-six, and menstruation was
likewise said to have been excessive Finally, Case III. also presented
a well-marked purpura. What the significance of these symptoms may
be it is impossible to say. It may, however, not be out of place to recall

PR ew eee ow geo

DERCUM, ADIPOSIS DOLOROSA. 535

the not infrequent occurrence of uterine hemorrhages in women who
subsequently suffer from myxcedema.

Bronchitis is a most frequent and persistent symptom in Case I., while
both Case I. and Case II. suffered markedly from cardiac dyspnea.
Both of these symptoms were absent in Case III. By their presence we
are again reminded of myxcedema, in which they are frequently present.

As already stated, fragments of the enlarged tissue were removed from
Case I. by the Duchenne trocar, as also from Case II. It both instances
fat-cells and connective tissue were found in various proportions, though
at times the latter was decidedly embryonal in type; this was especially
so in Case I., in which in certain areas embryonal connective tissue pre-
dominated. It would seem that this is the case in the more recent for-
mations, while in the older areas a fully formed adult fatty tissue
appeared to be present. It is especially to be regretted that the loss of
the specimens from the autopsies of Cases IT. and III. prevented a con-
firmation of these results. The autopsies, however, are not without
interest when it is called to mind that in both cases the thyroid gland
was found indurated and much infiltrated by calcareous deposit. It is
impossible, however, to correctly interpret this condition in the absence
of microscopic studies.’

Now, with the above data before us, what view are we to hold in
regard to these cases? Evidently the disease is not simple obesity. If
so, how are we to dispose of the nervous elements present? Equally
plain is it that we have not myxcedema to deal with. All of these cases
lack the peculiar physiognomy, the spade-like hands, the infiltrated
skin, the peculiar slowing of speech, and the host of other symptoms
found in true myxedema. It would seem, then, that we have here to
deal with a connective-tissue dystrophy, a fatty metamorphosis of various
stages of completeness, occurring in separate regions, or at best unevenly
distributed and associated with symptoms suggestive of an irregular and
fugitive irritation of nerve-trunks—possibly a neuritis. That this, how-
ever, does not embrace the whole truth is evidenced by such symptoms
as the diminished sweating, the headache, and the contraction of the
visual fields noted in Case I. However, the above inference is all that
we are justified in making.

Inasmuch as fatty swelling and pain are the two most prominent
features of the disease, I propose for it the name Adiposis Dolorosa.

1 In the light of these interesting findings, it seems desirable that in all cases of
obesity, whether typical or otherwise, the thyroid gland be studied.

RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA.

THE PRIME ETIOLOGICAL FACTOR OF GLAUCOMA IS
CONSTITUTIONAL.’

By 8. O. Ricuey, M.D.,

OF WASHINGTON, D. C,

Tuis paper will be occupied with the presentation of one idea, for a
résumé of the literature of glaucoma would unprofitably occupy much
space, as so much has been written offering diverse views of its different
features, each with a show of reason.

Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, in the Bowman Lecture, 1884, discusses
the relation between certain diseases of the eye and gout. The tissues
of an individual long subject to the causes of gout may become modified
in such a way that they are liable to suffer in a peculiar manner when
exposed to the ordinary causes of disease; the nervous and vascular sys-
tems are specially so disposed. Rheumatic gout may have such a rela-
tion to true gout, and he names “ hot eyes,” calcareous bands of the
cornea, arthritic iritis, relapsing cyclitis, glaucoma, and retinitis hemor-
rhagica as having such connection ; and asks if it can attack any of the
structures of which the nervous system is composed.

In the London Lancet, January, 1873, he describes an iritis occurring
at an early age, differing from other forms of arthritic iritis, in being
persistent and insidious, rather than paroxysmal. Without any attack
of acute inflammation, adhesions quietly form between the iris and the
capsule of the lens. . . . This affection usually begins in but one
eye, and advances to almost entire loss of vision in it, before attacking
the other. It is insidious, and for the most part painless, but is liable
to exacerbations and periods of improvement. It is remarkably intract-
able, prone to attack both eyes, and to end in blindness.

Such is the position of an -acute observer as to the influence of gout
upon the eye.

The question as to the cause of increased tension is still open, whether
due to too rapid infiltration, or to impeded excretion, with a leaning to
the latter.

Opposed to Mr. Priestley Smith’s theory, that “glaucoma of every
form is essentially a disease of retarded excretion,” are the conclusions
of Schnabel,® supported by clinical and pathological studies, that “ glau-
coma may be present without obliteration of the sinus of the anterior
chamber; that the latter can exist without glaucoma; that glaucoma

1 Read at the meeting of the American Ophthalmological Society, July 20, 1892.
2 Trans. Seventh International Medical Congress, vol. iii. p. 84.
3 Archiv Ophthalmol., vol. vii. p. 14.

RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA. 537

can be cured without obliteration of the sinus of the chamber being
removed.”

“Tt has been proved by Mr. Windsor,’ of Manchester, that acute
glaucoma may occur where there is congenital absence of the iris.”

A doubt, which reaches almost a denial, is general as to whether
excavation of the disc is due to pressure, or not. In Rydell’s’ case,
blind from acute glaucoma of three weeks’ standing, without excavation,
pain was relieved and tension reduced, but vision was not improved.
Mauthner’ claims that “‘ We find in the beginning of an excavation that
pressure frequently is not increased. I have recently examined the left
eye of a patient, in which there is the beginning of a pressure excavation,
of which there was not the slightest sign a year ago, when I saw him for
paresis of one of the muscles. The functional disturbance is extra-
ordinary, and shows itself in transitory ohscurations ; central S. is less
than in R. E., which has S = 6/v1, while with L. E. a few letters of 6
are not seen at 6 m. distance. Without glasses the patient, who is forty-
five years old, reads with R. E., J. 2, with the left eye J. 3: F. undis-
turbed. The well-known appearance of the vessels is very marked at the
upper lateral edges of the papilla. T. is precisely the same in both eyes,
and falls even below the physiological maximum. Would such a press-
ure produce such a picture?”

“Some morbid process has attacked the intra-ocular end of the
optic nerve, causing a diminished resistance (softening) of the lamina
cribrosa, so that it yields to even normal pressure in the eye, but at the
same time there is going on in the optic nerve an alteration, which has
the greatest resemblance to that in the lamina cribrosa, and leads to a
softening, to a giving way of the supporting connective tissue.” *

Reading these comments on glaucoma with a free mind, our previous
ideas are subverted, because we must conclude that increased tension is
not necessary to excavation ; that excavation is not always present, even
when increased tension has existed sufficiently long to produce it ; that
excavation may result from® “some morbid process” in the nerve,
lessening its resistance; that increased tension is not dependent upon
obstruction of the channels of excretion.

1 A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Eye, by Haynes Walton, London edition,
p. 1170. See Ophthalmic Review.

2 Von Graefe’s Archiv, 1872, vol. xviii. pp. 1-51.

3 Archiv Ophthalmol., vol. viii. p. 38. 4 Vide supra, p. 39.

5 Garrod, on “ Rheumatoid Arthritis,’ Reynolds’ System of Medicine, p. 553: “In
the early stage, when swelling is prominent, a considerable increase of synovial fluid
is found, and the joint exhibits the same appearance as in case of ordinary inflamma-
tion. The lining membrane is often red from over-injection of the bloodvessels. If
the bone be sawn through, it is often found spongy, and contains a large amount of
oily matter, from the occurrence of a species of fatty degeneration.” N.B. All italics are
my own.

538 RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA.

If the last proposition be true, that increased tension is not dependent
upon obstruction of the channels of excretion—and Schnabel supports
his conclusion by dissections of the organ which he had observed while
affected with the malady—then increased tension must be caused by too
rapid infiltration, or secretion. Schnabel argues further,’ that glaucoma
is a disease of the bloodvessels of the eye, which develops either gradu-
ally, or at once, in the region supplied by the long anterior and posterior
ciliary arteries, the central bloodvessels, and those of the sclerotic circle;
that the disturbances of nutrition and function are the direct result of
these disturbances of circulation, etc.

Mr. Priestley Smith’s theory was obviously derived from the study of
glaucoma of local origin; and yet, as Mr. Brailey, of London,’ says,
“it fails to account for temporary glaucoma, for glaucoma without the
characteristic application of the iris, for glaucoma in young persons, for
one-sided glaucoma, for glaucoma in aphakic eyes, and especially for
cases where a traumatic dislocation of the lens backward has been
quickly followed by increased tension. It does not, also, explain the
invariable inflammation and atrophy of the ciliary body and optic
nerve.”

To the theory of increased secretion, or more properly too rapid infil-
tration, a vis a tergo, some derangement of the general system, is a sine
qua non. The uric acid diathesis, of which gout is a characteristic
feature in many instances, offers the most satisfactory explanation:
true gout, of acute inflammatory glaucoma; rheumatic gout, of chronic
simple glaucoma.

In nearly all particulars acute gout of the toe and acute inflammatory
glaucoma are alike. Observe the points of resemblance :

Acute INFLAMMATORY GLAUCOMA.

1. An inherited tendency.

2. Most frequent after the period of
presby opia.

3. First attack is usually in cold weather.

4. Premonitory symptoms: Impaired
A.; premature presbyopia, increased H. ;
halo, rising clouds or smoke, heaviness of
brow, shooting pains in the eye, increased
tension. These may be so slight as to
cause no anxiety.

5. Sudden seizure, usually at night.

, Acute Gout or THE Great Tor.

1. An inherited tendency.

2. Most frequent after the beginning of
senile changes.

3. First attack, usually in winter, or
spring.

4. Premonitory symptoms may be so
slight as to pass unnoticed, or may be
very distressing.

5. Attack is sudden, usually between
two and five o’clock in the morning.
(Garrod.)

1 Archiv f. Augenheilkunde, vol. xv. p. 311.

2 Trans. Seventh International Medical Congress, vol. iii.

i
‘4

RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA.

Acute InFLAMMATORY GLAUCOMA.

6. Constitutional disturbances; febrile
excitement, with some nausea and vomit-
ing.

7. Circumorbital pain, peri-corneal and
sub-conjunctival injection, slight protru-
sion of globe, sluggish, dilated iris; cornea
dull and anesthetic, humors greenish,
ischemia.

8. As the attack passes off there is great
chemosis, lachrymation, and photophobia.
The cornea becomes roughened.

9. The inflammatory attack passes off
in a few days or weeks.

10. The disease is not arrested: there
may be a recurrence of acute inflamma-
tory attacks, chronic inflammatory exa-
cerbations, or the disease may progress
insidiously.

11. No pus.

12. Urine. ?

13. No analysis of aqueous humor, so
far as I know.

14. The disease may attack first one eye
and then the other.

15. Occurs most frequently in women.

539

Acutr Gout or THE Great Tor.

6. Chilliness, heat of skin and per-
spiration, thirst, loss of appetite, a white
tongue, constipation, and restlessness.

7. Toe is swollen, red, hot, and ex-
quisitely tender. Veins proceeding from
the toe are turgid with blood, and the
joint is stiff. Great tension of the skin.

8. As the attack passes off there is pit-
ting of the skin (edema), then desquama-
tion.

9. Duration, from four days to three
weeks. ¥

10. Gout recurs, and the frequency of
the paroxysms increases.

11. No pus.

12. Urine scanty, high-colored, and de-
posits a colored sediment on cooling.

13. Synovia contains urate of soda.

14. Gout not uncommonly seizes first
one great toe, then the other.
15. Is rare in women.

Thus, each may be inherited and have the premonitory symptoms;
the attack is sudden and at night; in each it is characterized by great
pain, engorgement, and tension, followed by cedema and exfoliation ;
duration, from a few days to a few weeks; recurrence of the affection,

possibly to attack the other side, or to become chronic.

Such is the clinical picture.

No pus.

That acute inflammatory glaucoma is more frequent in females, and
gout of the great toe more frequent in males, may be due to the greater
emotional tendencies of women ; for, according to Schweigger “ mental
emotion and loss of sleep favor acute glaucoma.”

While women derive a certain immunity from podagra by reason of
menstruation (Hippocrates), yet at the approach of the climacteric, a
period of greater or less tendency to vascular cerebral disturbance, aris-
ing from the intermittence of the derivative action of this function,
acute inflammatory glaucoma is most frequent, and chronic simple
glaucoma develops. ;

“The great toe’ contains a considerable amount of tissues peculiarly
liable to become the seat of the deposition of urate of soda; as, for ex-
ample, the cartilages and ligaments, tissues having either little vascu-
larity, or nourished independently of bloodvessels; the great toe being

1 Garrod, “ Pathology of Gout,” Reynolds’ System of Medicine, vol. i p. 535.

540 RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA.

very remote from the heart, the circulation is weaker there.

The reasons for the great toe on one side of the body being affected
apply equally to the other; and hence, the disease not uncommonly
attacks first one toe and then the other, within the short space of a few
hours or days.”

Anatomically, the eye is an extremity of the body, not quite so far
from the heart as the toe, and is exposed to variations of temperature and
to injury; the sclerotic, the cornea, and the tendons of the extrinsic
muscles are of dense fibrous tissue, with little vascularity; the stroma
of the choroid and iris is of reticular connective tissue, supporting pig-
ment cells, bloodvessels, etc., the zonule of Zinn is a fibrous perforated
membrane, the lens capsule is a structureless membrane, the corpus
vitrei depends upon bloodvessels not its own for nutrition, and con-
tains mucin, and (Picard) 0.55 per cent. of urea, and about 0.75 per cent.
of sodic chloride. The posterior surface of the iris and ciliary body
secrete the aqueous humor (synovia?) which contains a small amount
of albumin, sugar, and sodic chloride, equal to z'; of its volume.

With increase of blood-pressure and intra-ocular pressure, there is in-
crease of albumin and the production of fibrin in the anterior chamber.
(Jessner and Griinhagen.)

Taken with the fact that a local derangement, as a dislocated lens,
does not seem sufficient to cause the whole train of symptoms, general
as well as local, called glaucoma (though it may precipitate an attack
which would probably have taken place at a later date), the clinical
history of a seizure and the anatomical peculiarities of the regions under
consideration present a picture of such mimicry as we find nowhere
else repeated. The crucial test, the presence of urate of soda, I have
had no opportunity to apply since recognizing the resemblance.

To again read Garrod, “The impure state of the blood, due to the
presence of urate of soda, is probably the cause of the disturbance
which often precedes the gouty paroxysm ; that is, of the so-called pre-
monitory symptoms. Urate of soda in abnormal quantity in the blood
is essential to an attack of gout, . . . . but does not constitute
gout; . . . . that the amount of deposited urate of soda is not in
proportion to the intensity of the inflammation, and that in some the
infiltration may ensue and give rise to scarcely any inflammatory action.

The inflammation of the gouty paroxysm tends to the
destruction of the urate of soda in the blood of the inflamed part, and
probably of the salt also which is thrown out.” Soelberg Wells’ ob-
serves that “males who are attacked by glaucoma frequently suffer from
gout, or disorders of the digestive organs :” of primary glaucoma, “ when

! Reynolds’ System of Medicine, vol. i. p. 533.
2 A Treatise on Diseases of the Eye, 3d Amer. ed., 1880, p. 589.

RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA. 541

once the one eye has become affected by glaucoma there is great ten-
dency in the disease to invade the other also.”

Mr. Hutchinson’ asserts that “all forms of rheumatism, and all forms
of gout, are included in the common term, arthritic. But we cannot
limit the term to the joints, as its etymology might seem to require, but
must allow it also to apply to certain affections of the muscles, fasciz,
tendons, and other fibrous structures which have been proved to be
dependent upon the same peculiar state of health, . . . . Under
the term rheumatism we include all arthritic maladies which are not
proved to be gouty. . . . . I must protest, at once, against any
attempt to limit the term gout to cases in which attacks of acute in-
flammation of the great toe occur. . . . . Rheumatism differs
from gout in being of nerve origin, and due to reflex disturbance of
nutrition; . . . . it is, according to my hypothesis, the basic
diathesis to which a small minority of cases of gout is superadded.”

The younger Garrod says that rheumatic gout lacks the distinguish-
ing feature of gout, urate of soda.

Many of the manifestations of rheumatic gout are associated with
chronic glaucoma, viz.: enlarged or distorted joints, a peculiar senile
pallor, or muddiness of the skin ; periods of mental depression, and other
symptoms, attributable only to changes in the nervous system. I have
found nowhere any reference to pathological alteration of nerve tissue
in gout, although the existence, character, and specific cause of such
changes, which are presumed to exist because of the nervous symptoms
present in lithiasis, would have important bearing upon the subject in
hand, in explaining the structural changes in the lamina cribrosa and
the intra-ocular end of the optic nerve, the condition of diminished re-
sistance associated with excavation without increase of tension, in cases
of chronic glaucoma.

Dr. W. W. Johnston,? Washington, D. C., published some thoughts
“On the Nature and Treatment of Forms of Disease characterized by
Indigestion, the Presence of Bile, Urates, and Uric Acid in the Urine,
and by Nervous Symptoms,” which suggest a possible cause and expla-
nation of the nerve changes in chronic glaucoma. In his own words,
“The question of the continuous production of toxic substances in the
intestinal canal in health, and the protection of the organism by physio-
logical elimination, as well as the auto-intoxication of the organism by
the absorption of poisons in alterations of the gastro-intestinal tract,
was developed in detail by Professors Albertoni and Silvia at the meet-
ing of the Fourth Italian Congress of Internal Medicine, held in Rome.
Professor Silvia enumerates the following substances as probable

1 Trans. Seventh International Medical Congress, vol. ii. p. 92.
2 The Medical News, March 12, 1892.

542 RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA.

poisons: peptoxine, organic bases (ptomaines and leucomaines), indol,
phenol, lactic acid, ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, acetone, etc. The
direct proof of the fact that the nervous phenomena in such cases are
due to the absorption of toxic matters from the intestines is not yet
found, but the argument is a forcible one. The existence of indigestion
is known by the symptoms: the presence of toxic matters in the in-
testine in health is proved. . . . . The relationship of acute
indigestion and nervous disturbances, and the association of fermentative
dyspepsia with nervous symptoms, and an excess of these products in
the urine and feces, give sufficient grounds for adopting this theory as
reasonable.” '

Dr. Johnston has given much attention to the subject of digestion,
and if a reference to his able paper will induce those who have the
care of cases of chronic glaucoma to read it, it will probably divert
attention from glaucoma, except as a local manifestation of a general
malady (although he does not refer to glaucoma), broaden the view of
the subject, and enable us to comprehend the changes in nerve tissue
going on elsewhere in the system in rheumatic gout, by that which
takes place in the intra-ocular end of the optic nerve, exposed to obser-
vation, in chronic glaucoma.

Returning to the subject of intra-ocular tension, Mr. Priestley Smith’
claims that “ high tension depends more upon an excess of blood in the
eye than upon an excess of intra-ocular fluid,” while Dr. Spender’ has
observed, as early symptoms of arthritis, increase of pulse rate with
high arterial tension.

Mr. Hutchinson® concludes that “it is probable that there are many
different forms of inflammation of the eye, or of parts of it, which are
in connection with gout. They may be divided into two groups: a,
those which go with acquired, humoral, or renal gout ; 6, those which
depend upon inheritance of structures damaged, or, at any rate special-
ized, by gout in predecessors. The difference between the two classes of
affections is very marked. In the one, attacks of a transitory nature are
the rule, and the attacks are often acute and attended by much pain.
In the second group, although a tendency to temporary recovery and
recurrence is often observed, yet, there is a great proneness to chronicity,
and persistence. The invasion is often insidious, but the disease is
usually in the end destructive.”

If the difference between the forms of acute inflammatory and
chronic simple glaucoma had been in the mind of Mr. Hutchinson the
description could not have been more effective than in the specification
of the two groups named above.

1 Ophth. Rev., vol. vi. p. 196.
2 Garrod: A Treatise on Rheumatism. Am. ed., 1890, p. 245.
% Ophth. Rev., vol. iii. p. 385.

RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA. 5438

His address will bear reading with this thought.

Ordinarily, when both eyes are attacked by the same disease process,
we rationally conclude that the cause is constitutional, and do not treat
an expression of the dyscrasia, but rather its cause.

In chronic glaucoma, a local manifestation is treated (for, sooner or
later, both eyes are attacked), and then we wait to see what “turns up,”
with about the results presented by Dr. Bull,’ of New York, to the
American Ophthalmological Society, in 1889; the detailed history of
ninety cases of chronic simple glaucoma, subjected to the operation of
iridectomy, during a period of seventeen years. The paper is most inter-
esting and instructive, especially the summing up: “One hundred and
fifty-four operations were done on the one hundred and eighty eyes
under consideration. Vision was temporarily improved by iridectomy
in both eyes in two cases, and in one eye in six cases; but in all eight
cases, after a few months, a steadv loss of vision and narrowing of the
field set in, and continued progressively as long as the patients were
under observation.

“ Vision remained unchanged, neither better nor worse, after the oper-
ation, for a period of one year or longer, in both eyes in eight cases, and
in one eye in twenty cases.

“Vision grew slowly and steadily worse after the operation, in both
eyes in forty cases, and in one eye in twenty-nine cases.

“Vision grew rapidly worse after the operation, in both eyes in two
cases, and in one eye in eight cases.”

He concludes that “the health and age of the patient exert a decided
influence upon the operation, and any marked evidence of senility is
distinctly unfavorable to the operation.”

Dr. Gruening,’ of New York : “ In chronic glaucoma with degenerative
changes, neither iridectomy nor anterior sclerotomy will give the patient
the desired relief; posterior sclerotomy may do it at times.”

Mr. Power,’ of London: “ In cases of chronic glaucoma no operation
is of much service.” This terse statement, it seems to me, covers the
whole ground.

The good results of operation in chronic glaucoma are in compara-
tively small ratio, and are therefore accidental, and not scientific; for
it often precipitates disaster by additional irritation. So long as the
two chief clinical characteristics of glaucoma, increase of tension and
excavation of the disc, are not satisfactorily explained, the management
of such cases must beempirical. The author of iridectomy for glaucoma
acknowledged it to be empirical, and only experience has taught us in

1 Trans. Amer. Ophth. Soc., vol. vi., part 2, pp. 246, 291.
2 Ibid., 1889.
5 Trans. Seventh Internat. Med. Congress, vol. iii. p. 106.

544 RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA.

what cases it is of most value, those of acute inflammatory glaucoma ;
for here it saves the eye until another time ; it does not cure the disease.
Dr. Bull’s statistics do not teach us to do iridectomy in chronic glaucoma,
cases of which form of the disease are in excess of any other, unless
upon the plea of dernier ressort—because we know of nothing better.
They indicate that the majority of eyes are worse after an operation ;
in a few the status quo ante is maintained ; in a still smaller percentage
there is some improvement. With this diversity of result, who, save in
the occasional case of immediate gain, or loss, to the eye, can say what
influence is attributable to operation? Might the case not have done
just as well without interference? Is the surgeon justified in a feeling
of certainty that he has done a service? If all such cases followed
approximately a given course he would have a guide; but they vary so
much. If it progresses slowly after an operation, it might have done so
without it. If it remains stationary for a time, can that be attributed
to operation? If the patient goes rapidly blind, has hea right to re-
proach the surgeon? In operation is possibility, not probability. In
simple glaucoma it has a questionable rationale, and experience teaches
that, if done at all, it must be done with caution. It is double-edged,
and may cut either way.

It is a prime necessity that a quiet, healthy, out-door life should be
led, apart from occupations of much nervous excitement, causing loss
of reserve force ; that a condition of self-possession should be maintained ;
that the dietary should be regulated as to time, quantity, and quality ;
for over-feeding and bad feeding is a conspicuous vice of the age. In
adult life the effort should be to preserve the balance between waste and
repair, and to see that both processes are normal. This is a duty which
the family physician may share.

As such cases pursue so chronic a course, it would seem wise to die
cover the constitutional cause, and to begin with that, instead of with
the last expression of the disease, leaving the cause in action.

Rational management of the disease involves a study of the general
condition and a correction of all the habits of the individual. This is
difficult, but our function is advisory, and each sufferer must “ work out
his own salvation ” with our guidance.

By controlling the quantity of food productive of uric acid, and by
reducing the whole quantity to the possibility of easy digestion and
assimilation, thus lessening the amount of toxic substances in the in-
testinal tract; by the regular entire excretion of what is excessive by
way of the kidneys and bowels, harm in this way is obviated. Tonic
aperients (not irritants and excitants), which encourage natural action
of the intestines, serve a good purpose when used with judgment.
Hunyadi water, taken at bedtime, lies in the tract all night, does not
purge, but by its solvent power prevents accretions. Nothing should be

POTN SRN Ame:

RICHEY, ETIOLOGY OF GLAUCOMA. 545

done to lessen the digestive power, and a quantity of food should be
taken, small enough to inswre its digestion and proper disposal. Any-
thing (as coffee) which retards digestion must be rejected for obvious
reasons.

Salicylate of phenol, it is claimed, has been found in the joints of gouty
persons taking it; therefore its purpose is apparent.

Lithia waters secure the excretion of some uric acid; piperazine, a
new synthetical compound, is commended as having twelve times the
solvent power of lithia upon uric acid. Strychnine acts by stimulating
the functional activity of all the organs of the physical economy.

Galvanism, if properly and steadily used, is profitable. After ten
minutes’ use of two milliampéres direct current to the sympathetic, in an
ordinary case, ocular tension is lessened, the pupils seem more active, and
the patient becomes calm, often almost falls to sleep. By the experi-
ments of Onimus and Legros’ it has been shown that if the direct current
(positive pole at the nerve centre) be employed, the circulation is aug-
mented ; within a few moments the arteries have increased in bulk, and
the whole network of capillaries is seen in great commotion. Faradiza-
tion contracted the bloodvessels, but after a time contraction ceased, and
the arteries became larger than before the application. The continuous
current, on the other hand, renders circulation more active, and reéstab-
lishes it when it has been arrested. The induced current causes spas-
modic contraction of the unstriped muscle, while the continuous current
produces a vermicular contraction (Bartholow). The latter thus favors
the natural movement of the vessel, and while directly increasing the
amount of blood passing, by reaction the amount of blood in the part
supplied by the vessel is reduced to the normal. The object to be gained,
stimulation of the cervical ganglia, the trophic centres of the region of
the trigeminus, is accomplished as well with the cathode held in the hand
as in contact with the affected region ; yet, when placed on the temple,
or above the eye, it has some additional mental effect, which is not unde-
sirable.

The writer has endeavored to cover the ground as concisely as possible :
to offer the salient points of a view of the subject he has entertained for
several years, especially in regard to too much food. He thinks that in
the hypothesis discussed we find the true etiological factor of the most
intractable of diseases, chronic glaucoma; that acute inflammatory
glaucoma is a paroxysmal expression of the same affection; that local
irritation, or trauma, excites an attack of glaucoma only in the presence
of the dyscrasia ; that operation saves the eye during a paroxysm ; that
operation serves little purpose in chronic glaucoma, even when it does
not, by irritation, hasten the disease process or precipitate a paroxysm ;

1 Traité d’Electricité Médicale, Paris, 1872.

546 VAN DE WARKER, HYSTERICAL MANIA.

that chronic glaucoma is a neurosis—a progressive atrophy with the
feature of inflammation with deficient power, varied by periods of seem-
ing rest; that correcting and controlling individual habits, especially in
the amount and character of food taken, will do more to preserve vision
than operation ; and that there may be a possibility of aborting chronic
glaucoma, if the tendency to it be recognized at an early stage.

HYSTERICAL MANIA.

By ELty VAN DE WARKER, M.D.,
OF SYRACUSE, N. Y.

GivinG the broadest possible range to the definition of insanity, there
are yet certain mental states fully as incapacitating and equally diffi-
cult to treat that, by common consent, are not included under this term.
Without attempting to define what hysteria really is, I am safe in
asserting that the phenomena are manifested within the intellectual
field. Even if it is manifested as a bodily condition, with no apparent
trace of a mental associated error, yet these bodily conditions are largely
subjective ones, and have their real status in a perversion of a conscious
state—a condition as evidently objective as a phantom tumor that can
be made to depend upon a mental impression. In this relation I use the
term mania, not in the sense that the diseased mind has originated a
delusion, but because the mind has lost the power of diverting itself
from certain fixed ideas, and about which it circles in an endless itera-
tion. So far as an alienist is able to define, the disease which it is his
so-called specialty to treat does not exist without a delusion. But we as
gynecologists must recognize the fact that the mental function may be
entirely unhinged without the trace of a delusion. The mind is as much
in a pathological state, so far as normal logical and associated ideas are
concerned, as though dementia or active mania existed.

Mental hysteria expresses itself along certain well-marked lines that
sharply define it from insanity. This form of hysteria may be classified
in groups just as insanity is classified, and like the latter has a compara-
tively narrow range. Take as an illustration the melancholic form.
Every waking moment is devoted to tears, or is absorbed in the deepest
gloom. But no man who is familiar with the work of the gynecologist
would say that it was melancholia in the sense of the alienist, and what
is still more remarkable, it never will be, so far as there exists any
tendency in the disease itself to degenerate into insanity. Many of
these cases drift into asylums, to their great misfortune, and I am sorry
to be obliged to add the deplorable fact that the actual mental status of

VAN DE WARKER, HYSTERICAL MANIA. 547

the patient is never recognized by the professed insanity doctor. This
is the type of case that belongs to the gynecologist, and has for a quarter
of a century afforded ground for the demand that a competent expert
be assigned to each hospital. We have never been able to bring this
simple fact before asylum managers in a practical form. They have so
completely misunderstood the position we have taken that they have
consented to the appointment of female physicians without in any way
exacting a practical knowledge of gynecology. Basing my conclusion
upon my own personal experience, I believe that ten per cent. of female
inmates of asylums—under thirty-five years of age—can be restored to
society by proper treatment and removal from the society of the insane.
I regard removal from the environment of the asylum as essential to
recovery, on account of the marked initiative tendency in the mental
action of the hysteric. Mental operations in this class partake largely
of automatic action, and the force of example is sufficient to constitute a
morbid impulse. ;

Many of these cases unhappily drift into asylums, and are rarely
ever discharged. It is one of the attending evils of massing large num-
bers of the insane together, that proper classification and discrimination
cannot be made. It would require an insanity doctor to understand
physical diseases, as very few of them at this age of the world do, to
realize that many of the inmates of his asylum are not insane at all, but
are simply imitating what they see around them. This brings to mind
a matter that many years ago I contended for, supported by the powerful
alliance of the late Dr. Wilbur, a distinguished alienist, that asylum
physicians ought to be appointed from the ranks of the general prac-
titioners of not less than five years’ service. The majority of asylum
physicians, aside from the fact that they have passed through a medical
college and have received a diploma, are not medical men at all. It is
ample proof of this, that the usual practice is to call in the local general
practitioner to treat common diseases among the inmates of even large
institutions.

The most common type of mental hysteria is the melancholic form.
Its diagnostic features are that the cause and its mental reflex are
equally apparent, and exist on parallel lines. You observe in the
objective conditions sufficient reasons for the mental wreck. Every
mental operation is attended with logical coherency ; there are no delu-
sions or morbid suspicions. Why, then, should we say that she approaches
the insane type? Simply because her will is absolutely powerless to
divert her mind from a fixed and dominating line of thought. Its
direction is always turned inward upon herself. Her wasted life, her
neglected duties, and the poverty of hope that she will ever get well.
There is an iteration about it that Shakespeare has well called dam-
nable. In hospital work I have known the strongest nurses completely

1

548 VAN DE WARKER, HYSTERICAL MANIA.

broken down from constant association with such a case. She is not a
monomaniac, for that implies a fixed delusion coexisting with a more or
less normal remnant of mental action. The train of thought that pro-
duces this state of morbid mental fixation is based upon actual facts,
the importance of which she may not in any way exaggerate. She
simply comes to a fixed and morbid conclusion that renders her mind
as useless for the purposes of life as though she was beset by the wildest
delusions.

Another phase is the hysterical type of the dement. I measure
it by this well-known form of insanity because outwardly there is not a
trace of a thought or emotion. She will not answer a question or
express a wish. She is not resistant; everything about the outbreak is
passive. She is receptive and tractable, but cannot originate an idea.
Several days will pass in this condition, when the will power suddenly
regains its force, and normal mental action be recovered. This form
frequently marks the menstrual crisis, or follows a prolonged outbreak
of the melancholic form, oftentimes attended with unappeasable tears.
A more rare form of the hysterical dementia follows surgical operations,
in which food is refused, and the patient positively but stubbornly
refuses the personal attentions of her nurse. This form is not without
danger, as I have recently experienced in a very delicate emaciated
blonde approaching middle life, and on whom there was recently per-
formed a simple operation for fistula-in-ano. In the hospital she could be
fed by the care and skill of her nurse, but when removed to her own home
died from exhaustion after a week or so. Her removal was the result of
the very common notion that such patients will quickly recover if they
can only be removed to their own home. While this form of hysterical
dementia always embarrasses the conduct of a surgical case, it rarely
has the unfortunate result just noted. Indeed, what forms a strong
diagnostic line between the hysterical form and insanity as a mental
disease is the self-limited character of the former. Knowing his patient,
the surgeon can rest assured that a comparatively brief time will see
his patient restored to a normal mind, while in the latter it is among
the most hopeless of mental diseases.

The last form of hysterical alienation is that form known as mania
traumatica. To classify this comparatively common condition among
the chronic mental diseases is entirely to misunderstand its nature. It
was well understood about forty years ago, with a fairly abundant liter-
ature, which was entirely lost sight of, so that a few years ago it found
its place in current literature as a new discovery of a surgical compli-
cation, until the profession was better informed by a review of its history
from the pen of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi. It is an interesting fact
that surgical mania began to attract attention about the beginning of
the era of anesthesia in surgery. A case of my own proved in a most

VAN DE WARKER, HYSTERICAL MANIA. 549

pointed way this connection. A middle-aged German was admitted to
the Central New York Hospital for a genito-plastic operation. She
passed out of the ether stage only to pass into most violent mania, with
morbid suspicions and active motor disturbances. In about a week the
mental disturbance had passed, and she made a quick recovery. I
afterward learned that a similar attack had followed anesthesia for a
dental operation. My repair operation was a failure and had to be
repeated—this time without an anesthetic and without any mental dis-
turbance. The literature of the subject shows that occasionally a man
develops surgical mania, but the vast majority are women. Mania of
this character, of a few hours’ duration, is very frequently met with
after an anesthetic, and always gives the surgeon a few bad hours,
especially after a severe operation.

The brief recital of a few cases to more fully illustrate the different
forms of the mental type of hysteria will not be out of place:

Mrs. 8., aged thirty-five years, sterile, retroversion, utero-pelvic adhe-
sions, defective nutrition, obstinate cervical catarrh, constipation, occa-
sional dysuria ; a delicate blonde, and a sufferer for years from sacralgia
and pelvic pain. She would have attacks of spasmodic action of the
abdominal muscles, simulating tremors; always excited by manipula-
tion. Her sole subject of conversation was her peculiar symptoms. She
slept fairly well, and without cause would suddenly refuse to speak or
answer questions. She would do as she was told, but always passively.
Would not dress or undress herself, but offered no resistance to the atten-
tion of her nurse. These attacks would last three or four days, when she
would talk freely. During these attacks there were no delusions. When
asked why she refused to speak, she replied that she was tired of talking,
as it did no good, and she would never get well.

Mrs. B., aged fifty-four years ; four adult children ; a German by birth;
sub-involution and great hypertrophy of vaginal portion ; double lacera-
tion; masses of scar tissue; large retention cysts, giving the cervix a
nodular appearance ; climacteric at fifty years. Was admitted to the
hospital as a case of cancer of the cervix. Operation under ether.
The second day became very restless, and during the night got out of
bed several times and insisted upon going home. Before the third day
she became violent in response to the gentle force necessary to keep her
in bed. Her one delusion was that she was deserted by her husband,
and she must leave in search of him. Bringing her husband and chil-
dren into the room in no way changed her delusion or caused her to
desist from her violent efforts to leave the hospital. The active mania
subsided into a melancholic form, which cleared away in about ten days,
and the mind became normal. The repair operation was a failure, and
was repeated in a few months without an anesthetic and without mental
disturbance, and with good results. A feature of the mental outbreak
greatly resembled the efforts to resist that a patient will make in initial
anesthesia with the form of delusions that follows the narcosis.

Mrs. V., aged thirty-eight years ; three children—eldest twelve years,
youngest four years. Uterus retroverted, enlarged ; double laceration of
neck ; perineum torn to the sphincter. Admitted to the hospital for a

vo. 104, No 5 —NOVEMBER, 1892. 36

550 VAN DE WARKER, HYSTERICAL MANIA.

repair operation. She attended to her domestic duties until about a year
previous to admission, when she became unfitted for social life by her
profound melancholy. She was free from delusions ; her naturally affec-
tionate and demonstrative nature remained unchanged. Nearly every
waking hour was passed in tears. She could not meet a mere acquaint-
ance without bursting into tears. A caress from one of her children or
a pleasant word from her husband was always a signal for an outbreak.
Naturally of a studious habit, she lost all interest in reading, and would
talk or think of nothing but her illness and its hopeless nature. She
was regarded as a melancholic and narrowly escaped an asylum. After
her operation the restoration to a normal mental tone was so gradual
and slow that we were fearful that she never would be restored. In
about a year, however, the mind was acting in nearly a natural manner,
and she sees to take her old place in society and the home.

The practical question is, What shall we do with these cases? If we
class them among the insane they cannot be admitted legally into any
institution, public or private, other than an asylum, unless a man is en-
gaged who has had a certain number of years’ experience in the so-
called medical treatment of the insane. This is the law in the State of
New York. No institution can admit them that is not provided with
this lay figure. Only a few months past I tested the matter, and found
that the law made it illegal to admit a patient known to have any
mental defect. Many of these cases are the outcome of chronic salpin-
gitis and ovaritis, and a laparotomy would safely and quickly cure
them; but even for the purposes of operation you are not entitled to
the legal custody of these patients. These cases are received into gyne-
cological sanitariums and hospitals, but it is done in violation of the
law. It is evident to all right-thinking people that a law ought not to
be upon the statute-books the violation of which is compelled by the
higher law of common humanity. When cases of this class take on
the periodical form of mental disturbance they are, among the laboring
classes and people of indigence, sent to asylums, and, as I have already
stated, rarely restored to sanity. The law ought to be so modified that
cases of this character that require the attention of gynecologists should
first be given all needful attention. Insanity is already becoming such
an important matter in our present social development that any method
that would serve but ever so little to lessen the vast aggregate of the
insane ought to receive prompt attention. Reform, as the past fully
proves, will never come from the ranks of the asylum managers, but
must originate in the indignant protests of the medical profession.

ha
e

DUHRING, MORPH@A WITH MACUL ATROPHICA. 551

MORPHA WITH MACULZ ATROPHICZ:.'

By Lovis A. DuHRING, M.D.,
PROFESSOR OF SKIN DISEASES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

THE patient is an Englishwoman, fifty-five years of age, a brunette,
spare, but in good general health. There is no apparent cause for the
disease. It first manifested itself a year and a half ago, and has been
gradually spreading. The regions invaded are the nape of the neck,
and the adjoining scalp to a slight extent ; the chest just below the left
clavicle; the wrists and forearms. Several stages of the process exist,
and the lesions are so different as to require separate description.
Three distinct kinds are noted :

1st. Whitish patches of skin with manifest structural change in the
true skin, of the nature of a peculiar fatty degeneration of this structure,
constituting the commonest form of the disease. 2d. Distinctly circum-
scribed, depressed, and cicatriform whitish spots, varying in size from a
small to a large pea, which plainly exhibit wasting and thinning of the
true skin, the lesions resembling scars from syphilis, being thin, soft,
and pliable. 3d. Patches of mottled, brownish-red, pigmented, struc-
turally altered, atrophic skin, with a broken border or margin of firm,
variously sized, irregularly shaped, papular elevations. Over these
patches here and there are distinctly marked bluish-purple veins
running in various directions. The skin in the central portion is
thinned, and the border, as stated, is thickened, but nowhere is the skin
bound down to the subcutaneous tissue, the whole patch being freely
movable over the tendons and fascie. 4th. Enlarged, bluish-purple
veins, identical with those on the patches of the wrists, which run up
the forearm and are not associated with the other forms of disease de-
scribed, although they are in the neighborhood of some atrophic macules.
Having thus outlined the chief features which characterize the affection
as a whole, the individual lesions and their distribution upon the several
regions involved may be referred to more definitely.

On the back of the neck at the line of the hair, partly on the scalp
and partly on the non-hairy portion of the neck, there exists an irregu-
larly shaped, sharply defined, whitish patch of skin, the normal struc-
ture being changed into a whitish, lardaceous, non-indurated, soft,
pliable, freely movable patch. The sense of touch with the fingers does
not determine any increased thickness or structural change, so that in

icking up the skin with closed eyes one would hardly detect disease.

his patch is about two inches in diameter and is not surrounded by
any border or hyperemic zone or by injected veins. The hair of the
scalp growing from the patch is of natural color, blackish, and not
whitish as might be expected. This lesion represents one of the varieties
of morpheea, and according to my experience the earliest and mildest
phase of the disease. ;

Near by this patch, on the back of the neck, are several pea-sized,
rounded, sharply defined, slightly depressed, shallow, whitish or pearl
colored atrophic macules with thin skin which at first glance resemble
scars from the large pustular syphiloderm or from burns resulting from

1 Read before the College of Physicians, February 3, 1892.

552 DUHRING, MORPHGA WITH MACULZ ATROPHICE.

the application of a hot iron. They are disseminated upon the neck on
either side of the median line, and show no special distribution or
arrangement. They are in no way different from the typical macule
atrophice which are met with occasionally upon various regions, and
usually without other forms of cutaneous disease.

Upon the flexor surfaces of the wrists are two symmetrical, rounded,
atrophic patches, the size of a silver half-dollar, defined in outline, with
a raised, indurated, irregular, uneven, papular border, and pigmented,
of a mottled, brownish-red hue. The central portions of these patches
are somewhat wasted and depressed, the skin being thinned, but soft
and supple. Some enlarged and purplish veins run irregularly over the
surface. On the flexor surface of one forearm, running up toward the
elbow, there exist several pea-sized, whitish, atrophic macules, identical
in character with those on the back of the neck. They incline some-
what to take on a linear arrangement rather than to be widely dis-
seminated.

The lesions which have been described constitute the whole disease.
The several varieties have no association with one another, but they are
plainly due to the same cause. They are not stages of one process, but
are distinct forms of cutaneous change, beginning and running their
course as such. The patient complains of no pain or serious incunven-
ience from the disease, and seeks medical advice because of the disfigure-
ment and of the tendency of the process to waste and atrophy.

The case represents an unusual phase of the somewhat rare disease
morphea. Many years ago I pointed out that this affection was charac-
terized not only by the so-called “ patch,” but moreover in some cases by
a variety of lesions, which might occur either singly or in combination.
In the third edition of my Treatise on Skin Diseases (published some
years ago) attention was directed to the observation that atrophic
macules sometimes were present with the characteristic lardaceous patch.
The occurrence of these two forms of lesion together, however, as in
the case before us, I regard as rare, one or the other variety of atrophy
alone usually existing.

Morphea must be classified with the atrophies, and not with the
hypertrophies, as it has been by some prominent authors. The process
is distinctly atrophic in all its essential features, especially in its course
and termination, which are characterized by degeneration of the skin
and subcutaneous tissue with usually more or less thinning, shrinking,
and wasting or degenerative atrophy. The present case illustrates the
close relationship pathologically of macule et strize atrophice with the
common plaque of morpheea, as this latter was originally described by
Addison and E. Wilson. At that date the affection seemed to have
been scarcely known in Germany, and moreover even now it appears
to be rarer there than in England or in this country. Many
years ago, during a long sojourn in Vienna with daily attendance
upon the clinics for skin diseases, I do not recall having observed
@ case.

a

ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS. 553

Concerning the diagnosis, no difficulty can exist, it seems to me, if we
are in the habit of studying cutaneous disease from the standpoint of
anatomy and pathology, and more particularly the latter. This classi-
fication of skin diseases, upon the basis of general pathology, is not
only the most scientific, but what is of more importance, is also the
most practical and useful for our daily dealings with these diseases.
The affection before us belongs manifestly to the atrophies, the process
at work being essentially degenerative and atrophic in its phases.
This point established in our minds, there remains merely to find a
place for it in this class, and it plainly must be grouped with atrophies
of the true skin. Such forms of atrophy are comparatively rare, the
true skin not being prone to take on atrophy as a primary process.
The several affections of this kind which may be classed together are
atrophy of the skin proper (atrophia cutis propria); macule et striz
atrophice ; morphea; and some forms of scleroderma, the two latter
affections sometimes coexisting.

The treatment of these cases is generally unsatisfactory, the prognosis,
however, depending a good deal on the variety of the disease present
and on the stage of the process. In some cases arsenic internally is
useful, but in the patient before us local inunctions with stimulating
ointments and oils, with massage, electricity, and frictions will probably
prove more beneficial.

THREE CASES OF DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS ORIGI-
NATING FROM CAUSES CONNECTED WITH
THE UTERINE ORGANS.

By GEorGE T. Ex.iot, M.D.,
DERMATOLOGIST TO THE NEW YORK INFANT ASYLUM, THE DEMILT DISPENSARY, AND ASSISTANT
VISITING PHYSICIAN TO THE NEW YORK SKIN AND CANCER HOSPITAL, ETC.

THE admirable work done by Dr. Duhring and supplemented by
Brocq has so familiarized the symptomatology of dermatitis herpeti-
formis that the diagnosis of the cases of the disease presenting them-
selves has become a matter of comparative ease. The same degree of
progress has not, however, been made in our knowledge of the etiology
and pathology of the dermatosis, nor does there exist unanimity of
opinion in regard to its nature; so that the careful recording of all cases
furnishing details bearing upon these points is of the greatest importance,
in order that, in time, a critical and comparative analysis, and perhaps
the formulation of conclusions satisfactory to all, may be made in regard
to the pathogeny and nature of the process. For this reason I would
report the following cases, which present many features of interest and
importance.

Sa Sao Sa os

$25 33 SF

554 ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS.

Case I. (Demilt Dispensary.)—Female, aged thirty-five years, intelli-
gent and bright; consulted me July 19, 1890, giving the following
details in regard to herself and the cutaneous disease from which she
was suffering. Her general health had always been good, but at the
age of twenty-five she had had an attack of gastric dyspepsia, and off
and on since then there had been occasional returns of the same trouble.
Married at twenty-four, she has had three children—an interval of
five years occurring between the first and second, and of four years
between the second and third. The skin disease had begun in the third
month of this last pregnancy, appearing first upon the feet, and then
rapidly becoming universal, under the form of intensely pruritic “hives,”
as large as a fifty-cent piece, which appeared in successive crops.
When about five months pregnant, her husband died and she experienced
intense worry and anxiety, as she was thus obliged to provide for
both herself and her children. The eruption immediately became
aggravated, fresh crops of lesions of various types appearing, the pruri-
tus and subjective discomfort becoming almost unbearable, and all the
distressing circumstances surrounding her culminated in a miscarriage
at the seventh month. Temporary amelioration of the cutaneous pro-
cess ensued, but only for a short time, for in a few weeks a severe
relapse occurred, and the course of the disease ever since has been one
of alternate outbreaks and periods of comparative ease and quiescence.
These latter, however, would always be shortened by mental or moral
irritation of any kind, by anger, or by increased worry and anxiety
—a fresh outbreak occurring or an aggravation of existing symptons
ensuing. After her miscarriage she became a wet-nurse, and pursued
that occupation until about May 1, 1890. For several months pre-
viously she had been much worried and very despondent, because her
earnings had not been sufficient to support her children, and in April,
1890, the severest attack of the disease began to appear. Prior to this
outbreak, erythematous patches and groups of papules and vesicles
alone had appeared, but in this relapse, and for the first time, bull
also occurred more or less generally over the body. The disease had
now existed nearly two years, but her functional health had been very
good, except that there were occasional attacks of dyspepsia.

When the patient was seen by me, this last outbreak had subsided to
a considerable extent. There were still, however, numerous lesions over
the body, especially on the extremities, and the pruritus was still intense
in character. On the surface, papules and small vesicles arranged in

roups of variable extent were seen, while here and there were irregu-
arly-shayed, tense and flaccid bullz. Numerous crusts and scratch
marks, and diffuse and small circumscribed pigmented areas, the site of
former lesions, were also present.

While the patient was under observation, a marked feature observed
both before and during an outbreak was excessive general hyperidrosis,
but especially of the hands, feet, and axille. A number of relapses
also occurred, and they varied in intensity and extent as well as in the
type of the lesions—papules alone, or papules and vesicles, or both and
bullz. The pruritus and burning sensation was at times only slight,
but then again would attain such a pitch as to bring on a severe hyster-
ical attack, and after this an outbreak would regularly follow, consist-
ing of groups of vesicles and papules or erythematous patches. While
she was under my care, the patient’s material circumstances did not

~

ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS. 555

improve; her worries and anxieties persisted; she was despondent and
melancholic, given to brooding, and she obtained benefit from no form
of treatment used. Undoubtedly these mental and moral disturbances
nullified all attempts at improving her condition, for, as they had
previously done, they continued to call into existence new outbreaks
-* the process. The patient was seen by me continuously until in Sep-
tember, 1890, she ceased her visits. She was practically then in the same
condition as at first, and the disease followed the same course as
during the previous two years. Recently, however (March, 1892), the
woman returned most unexpectedly to tell me how she was. She stated
that from the time I had last seen her she had not followed any treat-
ment, but in December, 1890, considerable amelioration of her material
circumstances had come about; her two children were taken care of by
her husband’s relatives, and she was thereby relieved from her constant
worrying and anxiety on their account. She also obtained a better
situation and earned enough money to support herself well, to obtain
proper food, and to enjoy life. As a result, there was a diminution in
the intensity of the process, relapses became infrequent, and about
April, 1891, entire cessation of all the objective and subjective manifes-
tations of the disease occurred. Since that time she has remained abso-
lutely well, and, in fact, when I saw her she was in perfect health; the
cutaneous surface was without a trace of the former trouble beyond
slightly pigmented areas here and there.

From the clinical history of this case it can be seen that the primary
lesions were erythematous patches of various sizes—in fact, the patient
pointed out similar ones at the time I first sew her—which remained in
association, or were quickly replaced by papules and vesicles appear-
ing in successive crops, all being accompanied from the beginning
by the most intense pruritus and burning pain. When these features,
the clinical course of the process, and the condition—pregnancy—under
which it arose are taken into consideration, the dermatosis agrees so
closely with the herpes gestationis of authors that there can be no
question but that it primarily represented an example of that cutaneous
affection, though in its subsequent history it differed in some particulars
from other recorded instances of the same disease. It is thus the first
and only case which from its very inception ran a chronic course, per-
sisting with undiminished severity for an indefinite period of time after
pregnancy had terminated, while all the other cases in literature under-
went a temporary aggravation after delivery, to gradually disappear at
the end of a few weeks, and a chronic course became instituted only
after a series of suecessive attacks developing during successive preg-
nancies.

It does not, however, appear to me difficult to explain this deviation
in type. The reason for it, I would find in the neuropathic condition
of the patient, induced by the severe mental and moral emotions she
experienced in the fifth month of pregnancy, by the death of her hus-
band, by the worries and anxieties entailed upon her by the inadequate

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556 ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS.

support furnished her children by her own work, and by the miscarriage
in the seventh month, a condition which was not terminated by the emp-
tying of the uterus, but one which persisted not only unchanged, but
even in an increasing degree for very many months after. It is to the
existence of this neuropathic state and the constant repetition of the
mental and moral emotions, the anxieties, etc., that I would, therefore,
ascribe the persistence of the process and the unceasing occurrence of
relapses after the termination of the pregnancy. In other words, the
primary cause—the pregnant uterus—being removed by the miscarriage,
the cutaneous process in all probability would, as in the other recorded
cases, have disappeared, but the mental troubles then coming into
play as secondary exciting causes, the disturbed conditions of which
the skin affection was the expression were kept up, and the persistence
and chronic course of the dermatosis was the result. The importance of
these circumstances in connection with the process was not judged from
the patient’s assertion and observation alone, but I myself noted so
repeatedly and regularly the occurrence of relapses and an aggravation
of the cutaneous symptoms after any increased worry, anxiety, or
mental emotion, that no other conclusion could be reached but that a
most intimate connection existed between the dermatosis and disturb-
ances of the nervous system, brought about through the channels of
the mental and moral faculties. In consequence, it appears to me per-
fectly logical to conclude that if these factors operated at one time in
the manner mentioned, they must have had the same influence at other
times also, and, therefore, it would be perfectly justifiable to ascribe to
their occurrence the persistence of the process after the termination of
the original inducing cause.

The herpes gestationis of authors has been claimed by Dr. Duhring
not to be an independent disease by itself, but to be merely a phase of his
dermatitis herpetiformis—a claim, moreover, recognized and allowed
by Brocgq in his analysis of the whole subject ; and, judging by this case,
I would certainly accept the opinions of both of these dermatologists.
I would do so for the reasons that, when the patient came under my
care and while she remained under my observation, the case in its entire
symptomatology and behavior was absolutely undistinguishable from any
case of dermatitis herpetiformis the outcome of any other cause than
pregnancy, and furthermore, its entire clinical history from the very
first presented those marked features attached to that form of cutaneous
disease, as shown by its chronicity and frequent relapsing, its multi-
formity of lesions—erythematous patches, vesicles, papules, bulle ;
its intense subjective symptoms—pruritus and burning pain, and its
marked rebelliousness to treatment. Under these circumstances, it
would be difficult to include the case in any other category than the
one mentioned, even though its primary inducing cause was pregnancy

ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS. 557

and not some other factor. My own cases of dermatitis herpetiformis
—eighteen in number—have, however, shown me that there is not
needed for the production of the process any one single or specific cause,
but that in a person possessing a certain degree of predisposition almost
any exciting factor may so disturb the equilibrium in the nervous sys-
tem that the dermatosis develops. In fact, such diverse exciting causes
as mental shock and emotion, malarial fever, the menopause, etc., have
been in my cases the determining influence in the production of the
process, and if these could act in that manner, there can be no objection
whatever to regarding pregnancy in the same light. A further corrob-
oration of the view that influences originating in the generative tract—
of which pregnancy would be one—can be productive of the dermatitis
herpetiformis of Duhring is furnished, moreover, by the following two
cases of the disease, which have been under my care, and in both of
which the menopause was the exciting factor.

Case II. (Private practice).—Female, aged fifty-three years; seen
by me in August, 1891. She stated that she had always enjoyed good
health, although of nervous temperament, anemic, and usually a little
below par. Her menstruation had always been regular, but she had
had ulceration of the os uteri for several years after the birth of her
second and last child, twenty-nine years ago, and also ever since a most
profuse leucorrheea and a lacerated cervix. She was accustomed to take

daily cold baths during menstruation, but not at other times. The climac-
teric began in April, 1889, the appearance of the menses becoming
irregular, the flow scanty and finally ceasing, not to return, in July, 1890.

The cutaneous process first appeared in May, 1890, and since that
time she has not been free from its manifestations, with the exception of
two months, when she had an attack of erysipelas of the face and head.
The disease was not so severe while the periods still came, but it became
very much aggravated as soon as they had entirely stopped. The first
lesions developed at the bend of each elbow as erythematous patches,
which became covered with vesicles; then similar phenomena over the
knees, then upon the back, and finally cropping out generally over the
entire surface. Both halves of the body have always been affected,
but the right half invariably more severely than the left. All these
manifestations have been accompanied by the most intense pruritus and
burning sensation, increasing at night and when in any way she became
heated or excited. Since the primary outbreak the patient has expe-
rienced relapse after relapse, separated by longer or shorter intervals
of comparative ease—papules, vesicles, bulle, and more lately erythe-
matous patches appearing in successive crops or more or less mixed to-
gether. Her general health has remained about the same, that is, she
was not robust but could not complain of any particular illness. When
she came to me, constipation was present, and she stated that for some
time she had passed urine very frequently and abundantly, and had
occasionally noticed a “ brick-dust” sediment. The urine on examina-
tion showed the presence of urates, uric acid, and oxalate of lime crystals,
but no albumin, sugar, or renal epithelium or casts.

The cutaneous efflorescences were distributed generally over the entire

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558 ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS.

surface of the body, the mucous membranes of the mouth and vagina
being entirely free, and having always been so. They consisted of
groups of papules or papules and vesicles, while here and there were
single pea-sized bulle, or a group of several of these, and widely dis-
tributed were discrete and grouped small and large areas of pigmenta-
tion, the sites of former lesions and groups of lesions. The vesicles were
for the most part flattened, angular, and irregular in shape, quite
resistant and not rupturing easily, and the bulle presented very much
the same characteristics, though on a larger scale. The pruritus and
burning pain were complained of intensely, as they deprived the patient
of sleep and rest. Since the case has been under observation there have
been periods of improvement and others of aggravation ; crops of lesions
having the characteristics mentioned above have succeeded each other
at irregular intervals, the patient at times covered with the eruption, at
others presenting only a few groups of vesicles or papules and bull;
but ae the agonizing subjective sensations have persisted without change
or abatement, and only temporary relief has been obtained from treat-
ment.

In January, 1892, she experienced a most intense relapse, which de-
veloped — after taking “laughing gas” for the extraction of
some teeth. More lately (March, 1892), another severe outbreak mani-
fested itself, after grief and the natural emotion caused by the death of
her mother. On the whole, it may be said that there has not been any
material change in the patient’s cutaneous disease since its inception.

Case III. (New York Skin and Cancer Hospital; Dr. Bulkley’s
service.)—Female, forty-eight years of age; first seen by me in Janu-
ary, 1889. She had been married twenty years, but had never become
pregnant. She had always been of neurotic temperament, easily
frightened, subject to attacks of melancholia, and a sufferer from severe
neuralgias—facial and occipital—for twenty years. The inception of
the menopause was dated by her in April, 1886, and her last period had
occurred in May, 1887. The earliest cutaneous symptom noticed by
the patient was a most severe burning and itching of the entire skin,
which came on in the first part of June, 1887, and which at the end of
from two to three weeks was followed by the appearance of bullous
elevations as large as a 25-cent piece, first on the legs and then on the
arms. While these were still present, outbreaks of papules and vesicles
began coming out and have kept appearing in rapidly-succeeding crops,
but no bulle have reappeared. hen the case was seen by me the
process had been in existence about eighteen or nineteen months, and
it had become universal. There were groups of papules and of vesicles
of variable size, erythematous patches and pigmented areas distributed
without arrangement over the entire cutaneous surface, which, in addi-
tion, was thickened and infiltrated and scratched in every direction.
The burning pain and pruritus were intense and paroxysmal in charac-
ter, and during the paroxysms the patient suffered from excessive thirst
and consumed large quantities of water.

While the patient remained under observation the dermatosis pursued
the same course as it had hitherto, that is, successive crops of vesicles,
papules, or areas of erythema would appear, preceded or accompanied,
by the same severe subjective symptoms. No abatement or relief’ seemed
to be obtained from treatment, and when she was last seen the process
was in every particular in statu quo ante.

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ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS. 559

We thus find in these two cases the same major clinical characteristics
as were observed in the one which primarily developed under the influ-
ence of pregnancy, and, in fact, in their entirety they agreed accurately
with the latter, though differing from it in their initial moment of
causation. I do not think that there can be any doubt but that Cases
II. and ITI. were examples of dermatitis herpetiformis of Duhring, inas-
much as clinically their mode of behavior, their objective and subjective
symptomatology were precisely such as pertain to that of dermatosis ; and
this being the case, it cannot but be evident that the process can and
does originate under the influence of conditions, other than pregnancy,
existing or arising in the generative organs.

It would appear to me justifiable to ascribe to the climacteric the
role of being the exciting cause of the dermatosis in these two cases, for
the reason that, notwithstanding the existence of a neuropathic condition
in the patients, of a lowered nervous and general systemic tone for a
long period of time, yet they were able to-withstand all the rioxious
influences surrounding them and in operation, and they succumbed
only after they had been subjected to the additional severe strain
produced by the manifold changes occurring in connection with the
menopause. The clinical history given by these cases would lead me,
therefore, to regard all these factors existing for years prior to the cli-
macteric as instituting a predisposed condition of the general system,
while the menopause itself acted similarly to a nervous shock or mental
or moral emotion—that is, as the determining cause which produced
the final changes necessary for the development of the disease. In
what manner the pregnant uterus or the climacteric act in calling the
dermatosis into existence, it is difficult to state, except speculatively. In
view, however, of the manifold neurotic disturbances which arise under
the influence of these conditions, there are strong presumptive reasons
for believing that the action of these exciting causes is through the nerv-
ous system, their effects being manifested in a reflex manner, and
the cutaneous symptoms being simply an objective expression of a
neuropathic condition induced by the disturbances having the uterine
and generative organs for their seat. It would certainly appear as
though the nature of the influences under which the process in Case I.
continued after the miscarriage, demonstrated that the dermatosis was
the outcome ‘of disturbed conditions induced in the nervous system ;
besides this, the clinical history—to judge from the constant aggravation
and relapsing of the dermatosis upon the repetition and recurrence of
the same influences—pointed out that a most intimate connection existed
between the objective and subjective symptoms and any and all dis-
turbances taking place in the nervous system; or, in other words, the
cutaneous manifestations were purely the objective expression of the
neuropathic condition. No better proof of this view can be desired than

560 ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS.

was furnished by this patient’s case, since the disease persisted without
change as long as those influences operating upon the nervous system
lasted, but disappeared after their removal and cessation, the woman
regaining her health and remaining free from the dermatosis. A stronger
proof, I repeat, of the neurotic nature of the process than this could
not, in my opinion, be obtained ; and it is one which I have observed in
a number of my cases, in which similar conditions were in action,
and in which removal of these latter was likewise followed by entire
relief from the process; when they recurred, so did a more or less
extensive relapse become manifested. In Cases II. and III. similar
observations were made as in Case I., though in a minor degree; that is,
independent of the climacteric, influences in the former similar in nature
to those noted in the latter excited likewise the same effects, and were
followed by relapses, etc. In these two cases, the material conditions of
the patients were better than in Case I., so that the repetition of the
neurotic disturbances was not so frequent nor so intense in character,
but, nevertheless, their occurrence would be invariably signalized by
outbreaks and aggravation of the cutaneous symptoms.

When these facts are repeatedly observed, and not alone in these
three cases, but also in many others, and they are taken in conjunction
with the neuropathic etiology furnished by the majority of the patients,
with the intensely marked evidences of disturbed sensory innervation—
pruritus, burning pain, neuralgias—invariably present, it certainly seems
to me that there is every reason and ground enough to conclude that the
process is a dermato-neurosis, the outcome of disturbances produced in
the nervous system by one cause or another. In another article upon
this subject I have already committed myself to that belief, and cer-
tainly the more cases of the disease that I see and the more I study the
dermatosis, the more convincingly do the array of facts presented by
them strengthen and corroborate the opinion expressed.

In regard to the treatment of dermatitis herpetiformis, my experience
has certainly shown me that there are no drugs which exert any influ-
ence upon its manifestations. In view of the conditions under which the
cases originate and their behavior after development, this failure is what
would be expected ; so that, beyond remedying whatever functional or
other disturbances of health which may be present or arise in the course
of the disease, I can see no result to be obtained from the adminis-
tration of medicines. Of course, if the etiological elements of causation
can be reached by drugs, then certainly those indicated should be
exhibited; but, unfortunately, such cases have not come under my
observation. On the contrary, the only good results which have been
obtained by me have been in such cases as permitted the removal and
avoidance of all influences, surroundings, or circumstances which acted
in any way detrimentally upon the nervous system, or caused a disturb-

at ah ae is

561

ELLIOT, DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS.

ance of whatever nature in it. In consequence, the treatment should,
in my opinion, rest upon the basis of the case’s etiology, and be directed
with a view to guarding the patient from every emotion, shock, or
occurrence which might act in the manner mentioned. If this cannot
be done, I would not expect the dermatosis to be helped, but to con-
tinue indefinitely, relapsing and recurring as often as the patient was
exposed to one or another of such influences, though it is perfectly
possible that in some instances the process may terminate of its own
accord, the individual ceasing to react to the causes mentioned as pri-
marily being so actively determinative of the eruption. As evidence
I would advance, besides the two cases previously reported by me,’
Case I. in this paper and Cases I. and IV. in another article already
published.’ In these, the clinical histories show that the patients got
well when the influences surrounding them were removed or guarded
against, but not before, notwithstanding that medication of all kinds
was made use of. On the other hand, Cases II. and III. in this
paper, and two others in the one just referred to, have persisted and
continued irrespective of treatment, and in them it was not possible to
remove or prevent the repetition of the various factors and other cir-
cumstances productive of the relapses. It seems to me, therefore,
that the disease has to be dealt with upon the broad therapeutical basis
mentioned, and its treatment not limited to the exhibition of one drug
after another; rather let entire attention be given to the removal of all
the etiological exciting and determining factors appearing to participate
in the production and persistence of the process.

Locally, a certain amount of benefit can be obtained from treatment,
in so far that relief from the distressing and oftentimes agonizing sub-
jective symptoms can be given. ‘The eruption is also by this means to a
certain extent diminished in severity, by lessening the scratching and
wounding of the skin by the patient—thereby increasing the inflamma-
tory changes. Ichthyol has given me by far the best results of all sub-
stances used or tried, and patients have invariably obtained so much
relief from its application that they have strongly objected to any change
being made. I have not, however, observed that it had any influence
in preventing new outbreaks or had any other action but that of giving
relief to the intense suffering caused by the pruritus and burning.

1 Journal of Cutaneous and Genito-Urinary Diseases, September, 1891.
2 Some Cases of the Dermatitis Herpetiformis of Duhring, etc.,” New York Medical
Journal, May 28, 1892.

562 POWERS, AMPUTATION IN SENILE GANGRENE.

THE QUESTION OF EARLY HIGH AMPUTATION IN
SENILE GANGRENE.

By CHARLEs A. Powers, M.D.,
SURGEON TO THE CANCER HOSPITAL, NEW YORK.

I am able to adduce but a single case in illustration of the topic
which I present for the consideration of my readers, and that case
a fatal one. It serves, however, to emphasize the one point to which
I invite your attention, namely, that in cases of senile gangrene
involving the lower extremity, early recourse should be had to ampu-
tation through the thigh when the process has extended from the toes
to the foot.

Mr. D., a heavily built man, aged sixty-seven years, was referred to
me on Sept. 15,1891. He had suffered with syphilis in early manhood,
but had had no later manifestations. He had used alcoholics to a
moderate degree. Four months before seen he had been troubled with
slight itching on the dorsum of the right foot. Some months previously
this had given place to dull, undefined pains in the foot and leg, slight
at first, but later becoming so severe as to prevent locomotion. Areas of
diminished and lost sensation, had in turn appeared, and when comin
under observation the entire foot was without surface sensibility, livid
cold, its dorsum covered with occasional blebs. The leg, as far up
as its middle, showed scattered areas of insensibility and patches of
a lightish-purple mottling, there being, however, no distinct line of
demarcation. No evidence of recent or old injury to the toes or foot
could be found.

There was no pulsation to be felt in either of the tibials, in the pop-
liteal, or in the femoral at Hunter’s canal. The latter vessel pulsated
beneath Poupart’s ligament. The heart-sounds were weak, but other-
wise normal. The urine was negative upon examination.

The continuous pain had tended to weaken the patient’s general
strength ; he had developed a slight daily fever.

Dr. William T. Bull kindly advised, commending immediate opera-
tion. Accordingly, thirty-six hours after I first saw him, amputation
was made under chloroform through the middle of the thigh by antero-
posterior flaps, care being taken that these should not contain an undue
amount of tissue. The femoral artery was thickened, calcareous, occluded
by a firm clot. It was secured with heavy catgut and did not pulsate
ave removal of the bandage which had been lightly placed about the
thigh at the upper third. Occlusion did not, however, extend to the
other vessels in the stump, all of which seemed competent.

Bleeding was checked in the usual manner and the stump closed,
drained, and dressed in the customary way.

The operation was followed by no shock. Twenty-four hours after-
ward, however, respiration became labored. Physical examination re-
vealed hypostatic pneumonia over both lungs below and behind, and the
patient succumbed to this at the end of the third day.

POWERS, AMPUTATION IN SENILE GANGRENE. 563

An autopsy was not permitted, yet I was allowed to examine the
stump and found it the seat of complete primary union.

The flaps were approximated throughout, there were no areas of mal-
nutrition, and there was no pus.

Proposition to resort to early amputation through the thigh in cases of
senile gangrene due to arterio-sclerosis was first seriously made by
Jonathan Hutchinson,’ who presented, in 1883, an exceedingly clear and
forcible argument before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of London,’
calling attention to the fact that amputation in obstructive gangrene due
to arterio-sclerosis has been largely discountenanced because followed by
sloughing of the stump, and urging that this only takes place when the
part is removed too near to the disease.

When amputation is done at a low point the condition of the vessels
will rarely be found to be such as to admit of repair; gangrene of the
stump usually occurs immediately and places the patient’s life in much
more danger than before operation.

By the “ high amputation” which he urges in these cases, he means
that in the case of gangrene of the foot the amputation should be made
above the knee, and in that of the hand, at or near the shoulder-joint.

In gangrene due to arterial calcification the interference with the
blood-supply is usually greatest in the distal part of the arterial system,
and is of such nature as to be steadily on the increase. Hence the hope-
lessness of improvement and the great danger of advance. Hutchinson
adduces a number of cases in which he successfully amputated through
the lower third of the thigh for gangrene of the foot, and avers that the
procedure is not attended with much danger, even in advanced years
and with most extensive calcareous degeneration of the arteries. -He
has never seen secondary hemorrhage in such cases, nor has he encoun-
tered difficulty in securing the vessels at the time of operation.

In this connection I beg to draw your attention to a recent and most
instructive paper by Heidenhain,* who, in September, 1891, published
the cases of senile gangrene of the lower extremity which he had seen in
the clinic of Kiister at the Augusta Hospital in Berlin.

He makes prefatory reference to a paper by Israel,‘ in which the latter
arranges the conditions under which spontaneous gangrene occurs under
three heads: 1. Imperfect access of normal blood to the affected parts ;
2. Perfect access of abnormal blood; and 3. Imperfect access of ab-
normal blood. In the first category belong the cases of senile gangrene
caused through arterio-sclerosis or obliterating endarteritis; in the
second, those of gangrene of the tip of the nose, lips, toes, etc., after

1 Mr. Hutchinson accredits earlier commendation of the measure to James.
2 Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, 1884, vol. Ixvii. p. 91.

3 Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, 1891, p. 1087.

* Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1882, p. 705.

564 POWERS, AMPUTATION IN SENILE GANGRENE.

acute infectious diseases; while in the third class one must number a
great part of the cases of diabetic gangrene, inasmuch as Israel found
arterio-sclerosis in no less than 13 out of 20 diabetic patients who con-
sulted him.

Heidenhain includes, then, cases of gangrene in diabetics as well as
those in which the urine was free from sugar, citing 25 in all—11 with
diabetes and 14 with simple arterio-sclerosis.

Thirty primary amputations were carried out on these 25 patients,
three of whom demanded double amputation, and one triple. Besides
these 30 primary amputations there were 10 secondary operations, the
latter made necessary by gangrene of the stump following a primary
amputation. Heidenhain says: “ Kijister had at first contented himself
with the simpler form of interference, or low amputation. The con-
stant occurrence of gangrene in the amputation wound, however, in
these cases, regularly compelled further high amputation. So that he
(Kiister) is led, through his practical experience, to amputate at or
above the knee in every case in which the gangrene has extended from
the toes to the dorsum or sole of the foot.”

Analyzing these cases we find that four times, in circumscribed gan-
grene of a toe, Kiister disarticulated, but that in every instance gangrene
of the flaps occurred and extended to the foot. Lisfranc’s amputation
was secondarily carried out on one of these patients; he developed
further gangrene and died of sepsis. A second was further amputated
at the knee and again higher, the latter operation accomplishing cure.
Both of the others were healed only after amputation through the femur.
In three cases of primary amputation through Chopart’s joint, the. gan-
grene progressed in two and required femoral amputation. Primary
amputation through the leg was employed six times: one case died from
gangrene of the flaps and sepsis; three were saved by amputation
through the thigh’; the other two were healed only after gangrene of the
edges of the flaps and necrosis of the sawn surface of the bones. Of
these 13 low primary amputations, only 2 went on to healing, these
in leg amputations; 2 patients died of gangrene of the flaps and sepsis;
the remainder, 9, were saved by secondary amputation at or above
the knee.

Of the 17 primary amputations through or above the knee-joint, 9
were cured, while 8 died of diabetic coma or heart weakness. Of
the 10 secondary amputations, all recovered. Separating, now, the
diabetic from the non-diabetic cases, we fiud that of the 11 diabetic
patients 6 were cured, while 5 died ;' and of the 14 patients with simple

1 It is worthy of note that three of these five fatal cases were in patients whose urine
was both saccharine and albuminous. Of four patients whose urine contained albumin
in addition to sugar, only one recovered, and he was a man in whom the amount of
sugar, as well as of albumin, was small.

SEW

SERN OT sa

COPLIN, BEVAN, UNUSUAL CASE OF TUBERCULOSIS. 565

senile gangrene, 9 were cured, 5 dying. The fatal result was due to
gangrene of the flaps and sepsis in two cases (one Lisfranc’s amputation,
one through the leg, both in the early days of antisepsis) ; in one case a
man, aged eighty years, died at the end of nine days, from heart failure ;
one man, aged seventy-eight years, succumbed to hypostatic pneumonia ;
and another, aged fifty-two years, died at the end of nine days, with
myocarditis, nephritis, and ascites. The list shows that through the
high amputation all patients were saved who were not severely afflieted
with some general disease.

Careful study of the cases of Hutchinson and Kiister, together with
the observation of others in which disaster has followed low amputation,
serves to convince me of the wisdom of the course indicated, and in so far
as we may be guided by present knowledge, I think that we may accept
as authentic this statement of Heidenhain’s :

“So long as the gangrene be confined to one or two toes, one may wait
and abstain from other than general antiseptic treatment, with high
position of the limb, allowing the part to be spontaneously thrown off.
If the process extends, however, to the dorsum or sole of the foot, one
should amputate above the condyles of the femur.

“ Amputation below the knee is almost always followed by gangrene
of the flaps, and brings the patient in danger. High amputation is
indicated, then, when the gangrene progresses, even though the patient
be without fever.”

AN UNUSUAL CASE OF TUBERCULOSIS.
By W. M. L. Copuin, M.D.,

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF HYGIENE AND DEMONSTRATOR OF PATHOLOGY, JEFFERSON MEDICAL
COLLEGE, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR IN THE PHILADELPHIA POLYCLINIC, A. A.
SURGEON MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE,

AND
D. BEvAN, M.D.,

INSTRUCTOR IN HYGIENE AND CLINICAL MICROSCOPY IN JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE.

E. H., Concord Street, Philadelphia, male, aged twenty-nine years. Of
tuberculous family; general health had been good prior to July, 1888,
at which time he had a small ischio-rectal abscess, which was opened by
Dr. Hearn, and completed into a fistula, the second operation for which
was made early in August of the same year. The fistula was slow in
healing; otherwise his general health was good. He returned to his
occupation, that of a clerk, and did not complain of any symptoms
until February, 1890. About the middle of February he was taken
with an acute attack of pleurisy, which presented some unusual charac-
teristics. It affected more particularly the left side, the pain and fric-
tion being well marked at the apex, while the lower and anterior surface
VOL, 104, NO. 5.—NOVEMBER, 1892. 37

566 COPLIN, BEVAN, UNUSUAL CASE OF TUBERCULOSIS.

of the pleura was the seat of well-marked and extensive dulness—so
marked, indeed, that the effusion at one time almost demanded tapping ;
however, under suitable internal remedies and counter-irritation it
disappeared.

There had been marked hyper-resonance over the right lung and
apparently over the left apex ; this now gave way to slight dulness over
the left apex with crepitant riles. The evidences of pleurisy had disap-
peared, and the patient’s general condition was so good that he failed
to consult his professional attendant until the middle of June, when the
following symptoms and physical signs were noticed.

The symptoms were slight pain over the left apex, not increased by
inspiratory efforts nor by coughing; slight hacking cough, which did not
annoy him very much and was attended by a very slight expectoration,
at no time bloody, nor was it thick and muco-purulent in character.
He complained of some shortness of breath on exertion, with decided
hectic fever in the afternoons; had lost considerable flesh, but his appe-
tite and digestion remained good.

The physical signs which presented themselves were as follows:
Marked dulness over the left apex, extending downward as far as the
fourth intercostal space, there were no respiratory murmurs to be heard
over the dull area; the lower portion of the lung seemed to be hyper-
resonant, although emitting some crepitant riles. In the third inter-
costal space, about one inch to the left of the sternum, was a soft
nodule which gave distinct fluctuation and became tense and hard
during any attack of coughing. The right apex might have been
slightly dull, although no note was made of it at the time.

This examination was made on July 3, 1890; he was prescribed

7 of hydriodic acid in teaspoonful doses, three times a day; he bore
this well, and returned July 27, very much improved, as he thought.
At this time the physical signs did not seem to have changed; a heart
note was made—no lesions could be noted. Treatment continued

He was not seen again until August 13, when Dr. Coplin was sum-
moned, and found the abscess had opened and discharged about two
ounces of thick creamy pus containing small flocculi, slightly blood-
stained. The opening through which it discharged was about as large
as a pea, its edge thin and undermined, exposing to view the third
costal cartilage, which was eroded and almost divided through.

This small opening communicated with a cavity about as large as a
teacup, and could readily be made out, although its walls could not be
discerned with any clearness. During the first twenty-four hours after
the opening of the abscess no air passed in or out during the respiratory
movements. However, on the second day after its opening the patient
had a slight hemorrhage from the wound, amounting to one or two
drachms and associated with slight hemoptysis; at the same time air
was noticed to have entered through the opening, and from that time
until his death whenever the opening was exposed respiration could be
carried on entirely through it with the nose and mouth closed. His
general condition seemed good, he was cheerful, had slight night sweats,
appetite and digestion good, bowels regular, and his sleep very good,
although at times annoyed by slight coughing. He had almost no
expectoration.

About the middle of August Dr. O. P. Rex was asked to see the
case. At that time there was a slight dulness over the right apex, with

COPLIN, BEVAN, UNUSUAL CASE OF TUBERCULOSIS. 567

no other evidences of further tubercular infection. The method by
which he would empty this cavity was extremely interesting. He would
seat himself on the side of the bed and take a large basin in his lap;
he would then take a deep inspiration, leaning well back, followed by
suddenly throwing himself forward over the basin, and, closing his
mouth and nose, force the expired air out through the hole in his chest,
bringing with it at least three or four ounces of thick tuberculous
sputum; he would then feel relieved and lie down and énjoy an hour
or so of quiet rest. The opening had now extended in size until it
was as large as a silver half-dollar ; the third costal cartilage, which had
bridged the opening, was entirely destroyed and the two eroded ends
could be seen at the inner and outer margins. With a bull’s-eye lantern
the large cavity could be readily seen, and its walls, posterior, external,
and internal, could be easily made out. Extending across the cavity
at various points, were remnants of bloodvessels or bronchial tubes, or
possibly both, with branches jutting off in different directions, many of
them uniting and some of them hanging as shreds from larger trunks ;
some of these showed saccular enlargements, and many of the saccular
enlargements were open, showing small cavities inside, evidently com-
municating with other bronchial trunks through which air could be
seen passing in and out. The cavity looked sufficiently large for the
admission of two good sized fists.

Upon the floor of the cavity—that is, the inferior boundary—could
be distinctly noticed the filling and emptying of the cardiac auricle;
the filling could be distinctly noticed as synchronous with the pulse.
This seemed to indicate that the auricle filled while the ventricle was
emptying itself. Pulsation could not be observed in any of the branches
which passed through the abscess cavity.

After the initial hemorrhage, which occurred shortly after the abscess
opened, no further hemorrhages were observed. Many of the branches
which traversed the cavity disappeared, and its opening gradually
enlarged to nearly twice the size of a silver dollar. His general con-
dition very gradually became worse, and death occurred on the 27th of
October from exhaustion.

TREATMENT.—The treatment was entirely symptomatic. There were
few symptoms which called for treatment ; his cough rarely demanded
it, and when it did, seemed to be relieved more by inhalation of one or
two drops of chloroform upon a handkerchief held over the opening in
the chest. The opening was kept surrounded and covered by corrosive
sublimate gauze, and as at one time the discharge became fetid he was
ordered a gauze moistened with a solution of eucalyptol, chloroform,
and iodide of ethyl, each a drachm in four ounces of fifty per cent.
alcohol, this controlled the cough and entirely removed the fetid odor.
It was used only when occasion demanded it, and then for brief inter-
vals, 15 or 20 minutes; it rarely produced any symptoms of anzsthesia
and but slightly accelerated the heart’s action.

Laxsoratory Nores.—The pus from the abscess was stained both by
Gram’s method and by the Koch-Ehrlich method ; by Gram’s method
streptococci and staphylococci, also diplococci and bacteria were well

568 COPLIN, BEVAN, UNUSUAL CASE OF TUBERCULOSIS.

stained. These were afterward isolated and proven to consist of the
following microérganisms :

1. Streptococcus pyogenes.

2. Staphylococcus pyogenes, areus and albus.

3. Bacteria termo and lineola.

4, Various forms of mould, not isolated.

A diplococcus was noted as present in the pus, but the culture experi-
ments failed to isolate it.

By both Gram’s and the Koch-Ehrlich methods the bacillus of tubercle
was well stained and found to be present in large numbers. The sputum
expectorated did not show the bacilli of tubercle until after the opening
externally of the abscess, when they were present in large numbers, as
well as in discharges from the abscess cavity. Numerous examinations
were made of the sputum and discharge, the observations extending
over several months, and at no time was there absence of the micro-
organisms above stated.

The accompanying cut shows the organisms present ; also the fact
that moulds were growing in the abscess cavity; these were proven to
be members of the aspergillus group.

Beck’s , objective, homogeneous immersion, Oc. c, composite field ; camera lucida
drawing.

a,a.a. Tubercle bacillus. 4, 4, 4, Tubercle bacillus with spores (?). 5. Micrococci
in zooglea. c. Streptococci. d. Diplococci. e. Tetracocci. f. Leptothrix. g. Mould
fungi. A. Yeast fungi.

RemarkKs.—While this case presents many features of unusual in-
terest, its history, associated with minute study of the accompanying

COPLIN, BEVAN, UNUSUAL CASE OF TUBERCULOSIS. 569

process, shows that it is but an extraordinary combination of complex
infective processes. It is to be assumed that the pleurisy which he had
was plastic in character and firmly united the visceral and parietal
layers of the apiceal pleura together, thus occluding the lower half of
the left cavity from that portion of the pleura which covered the apex.
That this pleurisy was tubercular in origin and assdciated with active
tubercular processes in the apex is hardly to be doubted; these even-
tually becoming infected with microdrganisms of suppuration (secondary
infection), thus leading as an inevitable result to the development of
pus, which extended and burrowed through the anterior chest-wall.
One of the most interesting and at the same time most benevolent features
of this unique pathological process is the fact that its walls so thoroughly
limited and prevented its opening into some of the larger bronchi until
an external opening: had been provided; it is also a very remarkable
occurrence in the fact that this extensive process was unassociated with
any hemorrhagic development. Whether the ischio-rectal abscess was
of tubercular origin or not cannot be definitely stated, as no examinations
were made for the bacilli of tuberculosis. It is, however, to be presumed
that the pulmonary process was probably caused directly from infection
through a primary cheesy nodule or caseous mass somewhere else than
in the lung itself; this, of course, cannot be proven.

It is extremely unfortunate that more minute observations could not
have been made upon the cardiac condition, and if possible graphic re-
presentations of the inter-thoracic viscera have been made. It is also
to be regretted that no post-mortem could be obtained.

REVIEWS.

A TEXT-BOOK OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. By
Henry M. Lyman, A.M., M.D., Professor of the Principles and Practice
of Medicine in Rush Medical College, Chicago. Philadelphia: Lea
Brothers & Co., 1892.

WHILE a review of a text-book of the Practice of Medicine may be of
value to one contemplating the perusal of such a work, it is to be remem-
bered that there are no points of striking original merit to which atten-
tion can be called, in view of the fact that the only good Practice for the
use of student and practitioner is one that presents a complete picture of
the subject, without misleading or false statements, and containing all
that is essential, including recent researches that have been or are being
made at the time of publication. It will be seen, therefore, that not much
can be said in reviewing a book of this character when the statement
has once been made that the book is complete, accurate, and up to date.

The work before us consists of 926 pages, with many illustrations.
Its general make-up is excellent, and the mechanical part of the execu-
tion leaves nothing to be desired.

Part I. is devoted to Preliminary Considerations, including chapters
upon the organization of the body, growth and development, disturbances
of nutrition, tumors, disorders induced by disturbances of the circula-
tion, contagion and infective diseases, inflammation, and fever.

Part II. is devoted to the Parasitic and Infective Diseases. While it at
first sight seems strange to find grouped together diseases so far removed
—for example, as intestinal worms and pulmonary consumption—it is
manifest that, if we agree with the general view as to the etiology of the
eruptive fevers, dysentery, tuberculosis, etc., it is not so extremely out
of the way to arrange many of the diseases caused by living animal or
vegetable parasites together. It would, however, seem to the reviewer
that the placing of diseases caused by intestinal parasites among intes-
tinal disorders would be far more appropriate than inserting them in the
same portion of the book with infectious diseases. There is certainly no
such connection between verminous intestinal diseases and malaria as
there is between dysentery and malaria. The animal parasites of the
intestinal canal are, so to speak, outside of the body proper, and are so
closely connected with local disorders of the parts concerned that the
proper treatment of the parasitic disease does not, as a rule, complete
the cure, the correction of the accompanying catarrhal condition of the
mucous membrane being as important as the removal of the parasite
itself. With dysentery the question is to a certain extent different, in
that the truly infective character of the disease allows of its more prop-
erly being considered with such diseases as malaria. In the present
volume the author connects the diseases due to the invasion of living

LYMAN, PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. 571

plants and animals by considering the intestinal animal parasites first ;
then the protozobn of malaria ; by this leading up to dysentery, and this
in turn being followed by actinomycosis, anthrax, typhoid fever, and so
on through the list of infective diseases.

While he does not so state in positive terms, it is evident that the
author believes in the now well-recognized plasmodium of Laveran as the
cause of the malarial manifestations. In regard to the réle played by
the ameeba coli in the causation of dysentery, the author is very cautious
in giving an opinion, his reference to it being in the following terms:
“Tn the tropics and elsewhere various forms of amceba have been iden-
tified in the colon and in the hepatic or pulmonary abscesses that some-
times complicate the disease, and they have been considered as its cause.”
With the diseases now generally supposed to be caused by bacteria, the
author is much more positive in his statements as to their etiological
importance. Full consideration is given to the facts at present known
regarding acquired and artificial immunity.

Among the infective diseases the author includes the description of
syphilis and tuberculosis in their various forms, so that, instead of
describing cerebral and spinal syphilis and pulmonary and laryngeal
tuberculosis among the diseases of the nervous and respiratory systems
respectively, they are treated under the head of the general disease as
localized in the different parts. This arrangement has many very de-
cided advantages that are apparent after one has become used to this
change from the former classification, whereby the general disease was
treated of in one portion of the work and the specially localized forms
of the same disorder under the various anatomical divisions. This classi-
fication is also much more in accordance with etiological facts, and per-
mits the author to avoid much repetition and to give a connected account
of the infective process as it involves various structures.

The thirteen remaining parts, into which the rest of the book is
divided, deal with the diseases of the various systems of the body, each
division receiving careful consideration.

Under the Diseases of the Stomach the author gives a full description
of the various tests for determining the presence or absence of free hydro-
chloric acid, the peptogenic power of the gastric juice, the rate of absorp-
tion from the stomach, and the amount of the muscular power of the
viscus. The chapters upon Diseases of the Intestines and organs of the
chylopoietic system require no notice, being fully up to the requirements
demanded by the importance of the diseases to which they belong.

Under Diseases of the Organs of Respiration the author considers fibrin-
ous pneumonia, although he describes it as an infective disease. It is
well, however, that the author has considered it in relation to the diseases
that are closely connected with it anatomically, as the importance of the
local lesion in the lungs is at present far greater than that of the general
systemic disturbance, of which the former may be simply the outward
and visible sign. In regard to the treatment of pneumonia, the author
condemns the use of quinine, tartar emetic, veratrum viride, digitalis,
and venesection as measures to be avoided. As the author makes no
mention of the extreme danger arising from over-distention of the right
side of the heart in this disease, it would seem that he has never wit-
nessed the intense relief affurded by the loss of a small quantity of
blood from the congested venous system when this unfortunate condition
threatened life.

ae

ne ee

5

Te

572 REVIEWS.

The portion of the work that deals with Diseases of the Circulation is
divided into chapters upon endocardial diseases, diseases of the muscular
substance of the heart, neuroses of the heart, diseases of the pericar-
dium, and diseases of the aorta. Following a section upon Diseases of
the Blood, Part VIII. is devoted to the Diseases of Nutrition, including
rickets, osteo-malacia, obesity, diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus,
gout, nodular rheumatism, acute rheumatism, alcoholism, morphinism,
cocainism, and chronic nicotinism. The classification of these diseases
together avoids the usual absurdity of considering diabetes mellitus and
insipidus among renal diseases, with which they have no possible con-
nection, save only that the most characteristic changes in both groups
are found in the urine. The portion devoted to renal diseases and to
those of the urinary organs is full and carefully written. The last four
ww are taken up with a consideration of Diseases of the Nervous

ystem, being divided into sections upon diseases of the peripheral
nerves, of the brain and its membranes, of the spinal cord, and functional
diseases of the brain.

Looking upon the book as a whole, it may be said to fully carry out
the purpose for which it was written: the giving of a reliable text-book
of practice of medicine to the student and practitioner. ¥. A.

Diz ENTSTEHUNG DER ENTZUNDUNG UND DIE WIRKUNG DER ENT-
ZUNDUNGERREGENDEN SCHADLICHKEITEN, NACH VORZUGSWEISE AM
AUGE UNGESTELLTEN UNTERSUCHUNGEN. Von Dr. THEODOR LEBER,
Professor der Augenheilkunde an der Universitit Heidelberg. Mit 8
lithographischen Tafeln und 2 Holzschnitten.

THE ORIGIN OF INFLAMMATION AND THE ACTION OF Noxious InN-
FLAMMATION-EXCITING SUBSTANCES, AS SHOWN IN INVESTIGATIONS
INSTITUTED MOSTLY ON THE EYE.

Most German professors seem to think that their thoughts are better
embalmed when presented to the public in weighty quartos, and, conse-
quently, nearly all essays on election to university chairs, and anniver-
sary mementoes of the retirement of noted professors from their posts as
teachers, are spread out in huge volumes with wide margins. Prof. Leber
is no exception to the rule, and soon after his transfer from the chair of
ophthalmology in Géttingen to that in Heidelberg, has published the
results of his eleven years of careful work in the study of inflammation
in a quarto of five hundred and thirty-five pages, printed on heavy paper,
and illustrated by eight lithographic plates and two woodcuts. All his
es writings, from that on the circulation of the blood in the eye-

all to this treatise on inflammation, have shown careful and pains-
taking observation and thoughtful reasoning, and we were therefore led
to expect a great deal from the present treatise; and we have not been
disappointed. :

In conducting his experiments on inflammation, the author has
usually chosen the eyeball as the organ of the body in which to per-
form ~ A because in most instances the reaction produced does not

LTR

LEBER, ON INFLAMMATION. 573

extend beyond the sclerotic coat, and because the progress of the in-
flammation in the cornea and iris can usually be advantageously studied
during the life of the animal used for experiment. The substances
selected to cause inflammation have been most varied in character, e. 7.,
the mould-producing fungi, the bacteria of decomposing fluids, the
staphylococcus aureus, particles of iron, copper, lead, silver, gold, mer-
cury, and arsenic, introduced into the tissues, and a long list of organic
substances such as gamboge, indigo, quinine, croton oil, uric acid, etc.
In experimenting with fungi and bacteria, pure cultures only were em-
ployed, and in the case of other material it was in every instance care-
fully sterilized and introduced into the eye with sterilized instruments,
under the strictest aseptic precautions. Horner had already described a
keratitis mycotica as occurring in man, and these experiments with mould
fungi and the bacteria of putrefaction were therefore of direct practical
interest. It was found that some fungi, such as penicillium glaucum,
produced only slight and transient irritation, owing to their inability to
exist and grow at the —— of the rabbit’s body. The alkaline
reaction of the serum of the tissues is probably also unfavorable to the
growth of many varieties of fungus. On the other hand, aspergillus
fumigatus grew luxuriantly, and produced intense inflammation. If a
portion of a pure culture of this fungus was inoculated in the centre of
the cornea, it proliferated to some extent in the corneal tissue, causing
a local necrosis and ulcer, and ee this was a clear area, where the
intensity of the poison secreted by the fungus caused a more gradual death
of the corneal tissue. This area was absolutely free from either fungus
or from pus corpuscles, while in it also the corneal corpuscles were also
shrinking and dying. Beyond this necrotic area and surrounding it was
a ring densely packed with leucocytes. At this stage there was also
marked inflammation of the iris and ciliary body, the pupil becoming
plugged with lymph, and the iris being covered with fibrinous effusion
both on its anterior and posterior surfaces, while the pectinate ligament
and ciliary processes were crowded with leucocytes. When the fungus
is introduced into the anterior chamber, a violent irido-cyclitis is pro-
duced, but no mycelium is found free in the anterior chamber. On its
non-vascular walls it develops, however, being found in the membrane
of Descemet and in the anterior capsule of the lens. The layers of the
cornea anterior to the membrane of Descemet were full of fibrinous
exudation, but free from all traces of aspergillus. When a small por-
tion of the aspergillus fumigatus was introduced into the vitreous, there
followed a proliferation of mycelium throughout its tissue, with the pro-
duction of pus in the retina and choroid, and eventually, also, in the
anterior chamber, although no mycelium was found in the latter situa-
tion. An injection of a neutral watery extract of aspergillus fumigatus
into the cornea also produced inflammation, but in a lower grade than
that caused by the living fungus. One of the most interesting of the
conclusions arrived at by Leber is that the intense suppurative inflam-
mation caused by the introduction of the staphylococcus aureus into the
eye is due to a poisonous principle produced by these microbes, and that
this chemical agent can be extracted from them, and will then, in turn,
give rise to intense suppurative inflammation. Pasteur has already found
that boiled cultures of the staphylococcus w6uld produce active inflam-
mation. Leber confirmed this result, and found, further, that such de-
coctions when treated with ether yielded a crystalline principle, called

574 REVIEWS.

by him phlogosin, which, when introduced into the tissues, produced
local necrosis, and the most violent surrounding inflammation. The
pus produced either by the use of the decoctions of the staphylococcus
or by the phlogosin was in either case absolutely sterile and non-
microbic, as proved both by repeated careful attempts at culture in
different materials, and also by the most thorough microscopic investi-
gation, after staining with fuchsin. Either sterilized mercury or steril-
ized croton oil injected into the anterior chamber caused a limited puru-
lent irido-cyclitis, with destruction of a part of the deeper corneal layers
and the production of an internal corneal ulcer.

Clinical experience has long since taught us that very minute pieces
of metal, if entirely aseptic, may remain in the anterior chamber
for a long time without exciting any notable reaction. Leber
proved by experiment that small aseptic pieces of glass and metal
would often become coated with an exudation, consisting mainly of
proliferated endothelium and of giant cells, and thus coated remain
harmless. In one instance, a piece of steel needle introduced into the
anterior chamber lay there for over a year with very little irritation, and
finally, in five hundred and twenty-seven days after its introduction, was
spontaneously evacuated through the wound of entrance. On the other
hand, even substances like glass and gold, when in a state of minute sub-
division, appear to undergo slow solution and to exercise an irritative and
deleterious action on tissues. Thus finely powdered aseptic gold injected
into the vitreous produced a slow contraction of the retinal arteries, the
veins being in like manner affected, but to a less degree, while there was
swelling of that part of the retinal fibres which retained their marrow
sheath (rabbit’s eye), and final atrophy of the fibres. These changes
were accompanied by alterations in the distribution of the pigment in
the retinal epithelium, causing the eye-ground when examined by the
ophthalmoscope to appear marbled. Similar but more marked changes
followed more rapidly from the introduction of copper, lead, iron, etc.,
into the vitreous. Arsenic seems to have a marked necrotic influence on
the adjacent tissues. All these changes would appear not to be due to
any mechanical action of the foreign substances thus introduced, but to
a gradual solution of them by the fluids of the economy and the irritant
action of the solution on the tissue. In every case they were more
marked when the metal was introduced in a state of minute subdivision.
The action of jequirity was also noteworthy. A large piece of a bean
of the Abrus precatorius introduced into the anterior chamber of a rab-
bit’s eye caused the death of the animal, with marked congestion of the
lungs and kidneys and with extravasations of blood into the mucous
membrane of the stomach and bowels. A smaller quantity of the drug
produced a diffuse opacity of the cornea, with swelling of the lids and
the well-known characteristic exudation on the surface of the conjunc-
tiva. Leber considers that this action is due to jequiritin and not to
the action of microbes. The slight effect of uric acid introduced into
the anterior chamber of rabbits’ eyes is noteworthy. It was rapidly
absorbed, causing but little inflammation. This was contrary to what
might have been expected, because, in the experiments of Ebstein on
birds, where he caused retention of uric acid by tying the ureters, the
tissues infiltrated with it subsequently underwent necrosis. As already
mentioned in speaking of the action of staphylococcin, so in numerous
experiments with other substances we have abundant and repeated evi-

od

ADAMS, CONTRACTIONS OF FINGERS AND TOES. 575

dence of the possible occurrence of severe non-microbic inflammation
and suppuration, the most careful culture experiments and searching
microscopic examination failing to prove their presence, either in the
tissues or in the pus corpuscles. The main clinical difference between
microbic and non-microbic inflammation and suppuration seems to be
that the former, owing to the continued secretion of irritant substance by
the microbes, is of longer duration, more intense, and extends further into
adjacent tissue. Purulent softening and disintegration in inflamed parts,
or, as Leber terms it, histolysis, is, according to our author, but little due
to any phagocytic action of the leucocytes, but mainly to the formation
of a peptone by them, by which the tissue is gradually digested and dis-
solved. In this view he is substantiated by the experiments of Bitter,
and, after him, of Rietsch, who have shown that in the case of the cholera
bacillus and in the case of the staphylococcus, after the destruction of the
microbes an enzyme may be produced capable of dissolving fibrin in neu-
tral solution by the formation of a peptone. While recognizing fully
the regenerative processes in the tissues in the neighborhood of inflamed
parts, where, by subdivision of their proper cells, new tissue of a similar
sort is produced, nevertheless our author does not sufficiently believe in
the doctrines of natural selection to admit for a moment that any de-
scendant of a tissue-cell can contribute to the formation of pus, and on
the other hand he is very doubtful whether any leucocytes can ever
themselves be converted into fibrin tissue. In short, according to Leber,
inflammation is an effort of Nature to expel some noxious and irritating
substance. It is made up of a series of individual processes, all tending to
thesame end. Such are the exudation of serous and fibrinous fluids, the
emigration of leucocytes, and the proliferation of neighboring tissue in
the effort at repair. The leucocytes, by their phagocytic and peptone-
forming power, tend to carry off and dissolve noxious substances and to
cause softening and disintegration of tissues.

Having thus glanced at a few of its salient points, we take leave of a
most instructive book, which is a perfect storehouse of careful and pains-
taking observation, and which affords ample food for reflection to every
physician and pathologist. W. F. N.

CONTRACTIONS OF THE FINGERS AND “HAMMER-TOE.”’ By WILLIAM
ADAMS, F.R.C.S. Eng., Consulting Surgeon to the Great Northern Hos-
pital, the National Hospital for Paralyzed and Epileptics, and the National
Orthopeedic Hospital ; late President of the Medical Society of London, and
of the Harveian Society ; also Vice-President of the Pathological Society.
With eight plates and thirty-one wood engravings. Second edition. 8vo.,
pp. 154. London: J. & A. Churchill, 1892.

Tuts volume includes five essays, the first and last of which appeared
as a first edition of the present work in 1879, while the remainder are
reprinted from periodicals of more recent date.

The essay upon Dupuytren’s contraction of the fingers and its suc-
cessful treatment by multiple subcutaneous divisions of the palmar fascia
and immediate extension is reprinted substantially as it appeared in the
first edition. This monograph has become one of the several classics of

576 REVIEWS

ee surgery that have emanated from its venerable and renowned
author.

The second essay is devoted to the same subject, and contains Mr.
Adams’s views as revised up to the year 1890. Here much credit is
given to the work of Keen and Abbe, but the theory of neurotic origin
advanced by the latter has not shaken the former enunciation of the
writer, that the principal cause of Dupuytren’s contraction is the gouty
diathesis, and that “the local changes depend essentially upon a gouty
thickening of the palmar fascia and its digital prolongations.” Opera-
tion alone is recommended as local treatment. Every contracted band
of fascia should be divided by subcutaneous puncture with a fascia or
tenotomy knife, and subsequent gradual extension on splints practised
for weeks or months. A small percentage of relapses by this method
are recorded. The open method of dividing the band is unqualifiedly
condemned, but no mention is made of the method of excision of the
fascial bands that has been carried out by certain American surgeons
with success.

The third essay deals with congenital contraction of the fingers and
its association with “hammer-toe.” Here that peculiar congenital con-
traction of the fingers incident to a contracted condition of the skin and
fascia, and partially to atrophy or want of development of the articular
ligaments, but wholly different from Dupuytren’s contraction, is inter-
estingly discussed, and its close similarity to and frequent conjunction
with “hammer-toe” pointed out. Division of all contracted fascial
bands, including those entering the skin, by subcutaneous punctures and
subsequent extension upon a splint is urged as the best treatment.

In the fourth essay it is shown that “ hammer-toe” is probably always
an hereditary affection, and is produced by contraction or lack of de-
velopment of the lateral ligaments of the second, and occasionally of the
third phalanx of one or more of the toes, never by contraction of the
tendons. Operation will alone give relief, and should consist of division
of the contracted ligaments by subcutaneous puncture. This failing, as it
rarely does, the head of the proximal involved phalanx should be excised.

The fifth and final essay relates to the obliteration of depressed cica-
trices by subcutaneous division of their deep attachments with a fascia
knife inserted through one or more punctures, and then raising the
depressed portion upon hare-lip pins passed beneath and allowed to
remain for several days. By this procedure, the author states, he has
been able to obliterate many disfiguring scars.

The plates and woodcuts of this volume, in the main satisfactory,
present many types and varieties of the various deformities described in
the text which are not to be found elsewhere. T.8. K. M.

CHARAKA-SAMHITA. Translated into English. Published by ABINASH
CHANDRA KAVIRATNA, Editor of Susruta-Samhita, and of Chikitsa-Sam-
malani; Practitioner of the Hindu System of Medicine. Parts I., II.
Pp. 88. Calcutta, 1890-92.

Tue translator bas placed those interested in historical medicine
under deep obligation by his making accessible the wealth of ancient

SOLIS-COHEN, ESHNER, DIAGNOSIS. 577

and medieval medical literature of India, of which this work is an ex-
cellent example. Translated and studied by the Arabians in the days
of Harun and Mansur (A.p. 775), Charaka bears internal evidence
that it is of a much more ancient date. Whether a commentary upon
a work of an earlier time, and one that has been entirely lost, or of an
independent origin, it is to-day a most comprehensive treatise upon dis-
ease and the general conditions of health, written in an inimitable style
and containing many aphorisms of striking truth and wonderful beauty.
“The physician conversant with the right application of medicines
occupies a place above that of persons conversant with the mere proper-
ties of drugs.” ‘“ Well applied, a virulent poison even may become an
excellent medicine, while a medicine misapplied becomes a virulent
poison.” “That is the right medicine which can cure, and he is the best
of physicians who brings about recovery.” There are many instances
of words of pregnant wisdom, unsurpassed in brevity and deeply philo-
sophical. It is almost with such a feeling as one experiences who gazes
upon the sculptured ruins of a bygone civilization, that we read the
records of intelligent empiricism and the results of incisive logic. The
ancient people of India, the most philosophic branch of the Aryan race
which has given to the world its literature and science, have made con-
tributions to medicine that to-day are recognized as some of the highest
and latest discoveries of hygiene, and it is not unlikely that this trans-
lation may bring about changes in the modern systems of treating
disease. ithout instruments of precision; physiology and chemistry,
as we apprehend them to-day, unknown, we cannot but be lost in amaze-
ment and admiration when we read the results of their industry, patience,
and learning. We need not consider that all that is of real importance
in therapeutics can have its history limited to the past three centuries,
for nearly every page presents drugs well known in modern materia
medica. As examples: rishabhi, mucuna pruriens; chandana, pterocar-
pus santalinus; and of remedies which the journals designate as new
we find vidanga, embellia ribes ; and jambu, syzygium jambolanum. The
graceful diction, and the excellence of the translation, are indeed
worthy of commendation. R. W. W.

EssENTIALS OF DraGNosis. By SoLtomon Soxis-CoHEN, M.D., Professor
of Clinical Medicine and Applied Therapeutics in the Philadelphia Poly-
clinic; One of the Physicians to the Philadelphia Hospital ; and AUcustTus
A. EsHNER, M.D., Instructor in Clinical Medicine in the Jefferson Medical
College and in the Philadelphia Polyclinic, Registrar in the Neurological
Department of the Philadelphia Hospital. Pp. xvi., 359. Philadelphia:
W. B. Saunders, 1892.

Tuts work, arranged in the form of questions and answers, and in-
tended especially for students of medicine, should have a wider field
of usefulness. Concise in the treatment of the subject, terse in expres-
sion of fact, cleanly-cut in statement, it presents to the student the
essentials of diagnosis in a form which will aid their acquisition as a
part of his medical knowledge. The brevity of each answer will appeal to

578 REVIEWS.

the practitioner who may need to refresh his memory or to formulate in
his mind a modern and accurate definition. While the book is designed
to facilitate true methods of study, and, as the authors modestly state,
is an outline to be filled in from observation and reading, we believe
that the student who has faithfully studied this compend has done more
than to lay the foundation—he has reared a substantial superstructure of
diagnostic knowledge. The work is reliable and represents the accepted
views of the clinicians of to-day. The statement as to the means of
distinguishing membranous croup from diphtheria, that “ until the phy-
sician acquires sufficient experience to warrant a personal opinion, he
had best consider all cases of membranous croup diphtheritic,” is un-
doubtedly true, but it will hardly be accepted as an answer to the
question. With few exceptions, we believe that the student will in every
instance find this work helpful and of very great value.
R. W. W.

RECHERCHES, CLINIQUES ET THERAPEUTIQUES, SUR L’EPILEPSIE, L’Hys-
TERIE ET L’IDIoTIE. Compte-rendu du Service des Enfants, Idiots, Epi-
leptiques et Arriérés de Bicétre pendant Année 1890. Par BoURNEVILLE
Paris: Publication du Progrés Médical, 1891.

CLINICAL AND THERAPEUTIC RESEARCHES UPON EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA AND
Ip1ocy. By BoURNEVILLE.

TuE book before us consists of a detailed report of the institution of
Bicétre for idiots, epileptics, and feeble-minded children, for the year
1890. In it is also embodied a report on the “ Fondation Vallée” (the
Vallée endowment).

The volume is divided into three parts. The first deals with the gen-
eral details of the hospital service and with the instruction of the chil-
dren. The instruction is of two kinds: primary and professional. For
the purposes of primary instruction the children are classified as
follows :

1. Idiot children, incontinent, epileptic or not, but who are physically
feeble (invalides).

2. Idiot children, incontinent or not, epileptic or not, but physically
strong.

3. Children who are well, but imbecile, feeble-minded, epileptic and
hysterical or not.

The first group is divided into two categories: The first comprises
those idiots who are incontinent, who neither talk nor walk, but who
are, for the most part, susceptible of amelioration. They are taught to
stand by the aid of parallel bars, and to walk either by holding them
under the arms, or by the aid of a carriage. Their limbs are strength-

ened by alternately flexing and extending them, and by stimulating
friction. When they are able to walk they are sent to the “ petite

”

école ;” at first, and for some time, during the morning, and later for
the whole day, as their strength permits. The second category comprises
those idiots who are altogether incurable and those epileptic children
who have become incontinent and demented as a result of their attacks.
They are, as a rule, merely the object of hygienic care.

BOURNEVILLE, EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA, AND IDIOCY. 579

The second group of idiot children frequent the “ petite école,” which
is exclusively under the care of women. All of the children are sent to
the “ petite gymnasium,’’ except those who are too infirm to take part.

The instruction, as formerly, consists in the treatment of the inconti-
nence (by placing the child at regular hours on the closet), in toilet
lessons (washing the face and hands, combing the hair, blacking the
shoes, etc.), in exercising the hands (closing and opening them, working
the fingers, stretching, extending and flexing them—together or separ-
ately), in gymnastics, in object lessons, in education of thought and
speech (exercise in pronunciation), ete.

The children of the third group visit the “ grande école.” Both the
children of the “ petite école” and of the “ grande école” make numerous
visits to places of interest in Paris or the neighboring districts—e. 7.,
Luxembourg, Jardin des Plantes, Parc de Montsouris, Place de l’Hétel
de Ville, du Lion de Belfort, Bois de Vincennes, Musée du Louvre,
Jardin d’Acclimatation, and elsewhere.

Professional instruction is given in carpentry, tailoring, blacksmithing,
shoemaking, brush-making, basket-making, wicker-work, chair-caning,
and printing.

The “ Fondation Vallée” owes its existence to a former instructor of
the hospital of Bicétre. In plan of management and instruction it
closely resembles the Bicétre itself. The Bicétre had, in 1890, a popu-
lation of 372; the Fondation Vallée, 69.

Part II. of the report consists of a clinical and pathological study
of seven cases, in the preparation of which Bourneville was assisted by
several of his internes. The cases, while in themselves interesting, would
hardly merit abstracting in a mere review. They include cases of
atrophy, sclerosis, meningo-encephalitis, cerebellar tumor, tubercular
disease, and arrested development.

Part III. consists of four papers, three of which were originally com-
municated to the International Congress of Mental Medicine in 1889,
and one to the National Congress of Alienists in 1890. Their various
subjects are classification, microcephaly, porencephaly, and myxcedema-
tous idiocy. The one on classification alone deserves mention here.
+ ae attempts an anatomo-pathological classification of idiocy as
follows :

1. Idiocy symptomatic of hydrocephalus (hydrocephalic idiocy).

2. Idiocy symptomatic of microcephaly (microcephalic idiocy).

3. Idiocy symptomatic of an arrest of development of the convo-
lutions.

4. Idiocy symptomatic of a congenital malformation of the brain
(porencephaly, absence of corpus callosum, etc.).

5. Idiocy symptomatic of a hypertrophic sclerosis.

6. Idiocy symptomatic of an atrophic sclerosis.

a. Sclerosis of one or both hemispheres.
b. Sclerosis of one lobe of brain.

ce. Sclerosis of isolated convolutions.

d. Scattered sclerosis of brain (?).

7. Idiocy symptomatic of chronic meningitis, or meningo-encephalitis
(meningitic idiocy).

8. Idiocy with “ cachexie pachydermique,” or myxcedematous idiocy,
associated with absence of the thyroid gland.

The book is well illustratéd, and, as a hospital report, is a model,
both from a lay and a scientific standpoint. F. X. D.

580 REVIEWS.

THE Uses OF WATER IN MODERN MEDICINE. By Simon Barucg, M.D.,
Attending Physician to the Manhattan General Hospital and New York
Juvenile Asylum; Consulting Physician to the Montefiore Home for
Chronic Invalids, etc. 12mo., pp. xv., 228. Detroit, Mich.: Geo. 8,
Davis, 1892.

Dr. Barucu has laid the medical profession in Ameria under obliga-
tion, not alone for his persistent and well-directed advocacy of hydri-
atric measures in suitable cases of acute and chronic disease, but for
gathering into a small compass, and presenting in a clear, accurate, and
readable manner, the principal facts necessary for the understanding of
hydrotherapy, and for its proper application in the aii of medicine.

The absence of an index is to be regretted ; as is likewise the presence
of numerous apologetic passages, which, however true and just, are un-
necessary, and interfere with the systematic presentation of the subject.
We trust they will be omitted in future editions.

The object of the work, as stated in the preface, “ to sever hydro-
therapy from any connection with ‘hydropathy’ or ‘ water-cure,’” is
well carried out. It is indeed strange that there should have been any
need for this. No intelligent physician confounds electro-therapy with
“ electropathy,” or the judicious use of oxygen with “ oxygen-cures.”

It is true, however, that accurate knowledge of the technique and
range of usefulness of water as a remedial agent is not common among
American physicians; and sober statements concerning results obtained
by its judicious use are often received with polite incredulity. Dr.
Baruch’s book, which renders accessible in English much practical
information hitherto only to be obtained by wading through the for-
bidding pages of an uncouth translation of Winternitz, should go far to
correct this. Not that the work before us is merely or principally an ab-
stract of Winternitz’ treatise; it adds much that has developed since the
date of the latter publication, and is enriched throughout by the fruits of
the author’s experience; while not only is the method of presentation
of the facts original, but critical judgment has carefully weighed in
its own scales every recommendation made or direction given. Dr.
Baruch properly insists upon precision in the use of water as in the use
of any other remedial agent. To tell a patient to “wrap himself in a
wet sheet and get some one to rub him” is about as wise as to tell him
to take “some opium.” ‘Temperature, time, details of technique, must
be accurately prescribed, and the physician must satisfy himself that
the prescription is faultlessly carried out. The descriptions of the
methods of applying water in the treatment of disease are full, and
no detail has been forgotten. The indications for use of special
procedures are judiciously considered, and the counter-indications fully
set forth. Water is not a panacea in the author’s hands—it is one
among many agents to be employed intelligently in suitable cases; and,
so employed, capable of doing much that cannot be otherwise accom-
plished. Considerable space has been wisely devoted to a critical study
of Brand’s method of treating typhoid fever. We thoroughly agree
with the author in a high estimation of its usefulness.

While we differ from the author on some minor points, we can cor-
dially commend the book to the careful study of every a

PROGRESS

MEDICAL SCIENCE.

THERAPBEUTIOS.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF

REYNOLD W. WILCOX, M.A., M.D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE AT THE NEW YORK POST-GRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL
AND HOSPITAL; ASSISTANT VISITING PHYSICIAN TO BELLEVUE HOSPITAL,

THE TREATMENT OF CHOLERA.

M. G. DAREMBERG believes that the water should be pure. Filtration by
charcoal or sand is ineffectual. While porcelain filters separate the microbes,
they require careful attention and should be thoroughly and frequently
cleansed, using a weak solution of vinegar. Boiling the water—in spite of the
cost, the dissipation of gases rendering it less agreeable for drinking, and the
precipitation of the carbonates—is the best way of rendering water harmless.
Sterilization or complicated apparatus is unnecessary when simple boiling
answers the purpose, but the water should be used at once; chemical purifi-
cation can be accomplished with small quantities of alum (15-20 to 1000),
which elarifies the water and frees it from microbes after standing twenty-four
hours. In time of cholera he advises the use of citric acid (60-80 to 1000),
which is not expensive and does not render the water disagreeable. Tartaric
or even hydrochloric acid can be substituted. The water used for cooking,
cleansing the hands, face, and mouth, should be sterilized, and the food should
not be touched with the hands. Artificial ice should not be used unless made
from purified water. General measures against the contagion are to prevent
the spreading of fecal matter upon the soil or in streams; not to tolerate un-
sanitary dwellings; to drink only spring water; to disinfect by heat, sublimate,
or carbolic acid, the clothing, property, and utensils of those suffering from
cholera; and to treat these patients in special hospitals. Milk should be boiled,
or better, sterilized in Soxhlet’s apparatus, if it is to be preserved for twenty-four
hours. Butter should be avoided. Fruits and vegetables which have touched
the earth should not be eaten raw. Excessive fatigue and chilling should be
avoided; one should be well protected day and night; it is prudent to wear
a band of flannel. A regular diet is important, and indigestion is to be
avoided ; a good supply of normal gastric fluid contains acid which is a pro-
tection against cholera, because the microbe is killed by acids. Cholera is

VOL. 104, No. 5.—NOVEMBER, 1892. 38

582 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

transmitted by contact, therefore all contact with patients, their attendants,
utensils, or clothing may result in infection. Frequent washing of the hands
is of incontestable usefulness. Brushing the teeth several times daily with a
brush moistened in boiled water, followed by washing the mouth with water
containing citric acid, is important. Disinfected water should be snuffed
through the nose. One should keep away from sewers and from streams
polluted by sewage. In a word, cleanliness and temperance will give but
little opportunity for becoming the prey of this disease. If in a house with
cholera, all stools, urine, vomited matter should be treated with one to four
teaspoonfuls of commercial sulphuric acid. All vessels should be washed
with a 2 per cent. solution of this acid. All clothing and linen should be
placed in boiling water for a quarter of an hour, then soap should be thor-
oughly brushed into them. The attendants should wash their hands in a 1 to
10,000 solution of corrosive sublimate, to which one-tenth of 1 per cent. of
hydrochloric acid is added, or with a weak solution of carbolic, salicylic, or
lactic acids. If death takes place, the mattress and coverlets and hangings
should be burned. The room and adjacent rooms should be hermetically
closed and sprayed for two hours with corrosive sublimate, 1 to 1000, and
then kept open for two or three days before occupancy. Diarrhea should
be arrested at once with fifteen grains of subnitrate of bismuth and ten grains
of benzo-naphthol three times daily. If this is insufficient, fifteen grains of
salol before each meal, which should consist only of eggs and meat. If
cholera is established, one drachm of lactic acid should be dissolved in a pint
of sweetened water and a claret-glassful taken every two hours. For the
vomiting, champagne by the dessertspoonful, or brandy by the teaspoonful
every hour. Thirst is relieved by tea, coffee, or citric or hydrochloric acid
lemonade (1 to 200 of sweetened water). Liquids should be given in small
quantities frequently repeated. Opiates must not be prescribed. The patient
must be kept warm by bottles of hot water. The room should be airy but
free from draughts. If improvement does not follow, intra-venous injections
should be made of chloride of sodium, 5; sulphate of sodium, 10; to distilled
water 1000, heated to blood heat, and two quarts used. The transfusion fre-
quently produces a veritable resurrection, and often this improvement is per-
manent.—La Médecine Moderne, 1892, No. 33, p. 517.

Drs. H. NorHNAGEL and O. KoHLER caution against allowing any dys-
pepsia and especially any catarrhal conditions to go without remedy, and
advise, as a prophylactic, eight to ten drops of hydrochloric acid in a quarter
of a glass of boiled water after each meal. For the diarrhcea they recommend
rest in bed, warm abdominal compresses, and tincture of opium with tea or
rum, cognac or arrack. Bismuth subnitrate or salicylate, or alum, may be of
use. For the vomiting, the carbonic acid waters—not alkaline—are useful.
For the well-developed attack, high rectal irrigation with an ounce of tannic
acid to the quart of boiled water. In the stage of asphyxia one or two quarts
of sterilized water containing ninety grains of carbonate of soda and two
drachms of chloride of soda, for subcutaneous injection into the abdominal
wall. For the symptomatic treatment, champagne, strong wines, with the
addition of ten to twenty drops of ether, or subcutaneous injection of one part
of camphor in nine of oil of sweet almonds, warm baths, friction with alco-
holic solutions; and for the cramps of the muscles, morphine hypodermati-

THERAPEUTICS. 583

cally.—Internationale klinische Rundschau, 1892, No. 35, 8. 1426, and Wiener
medicinische Presse, 1892, No. 32, 8. 1273.

Dr. ECKSTEIN recommends the needle of Diirssen for massive hypodermatic
injections of physiological saline solution in cholera. This needie has upon
its proximal extremity an olive upon which a tube can be placed. The distal
end is obliquely cut off, pointed, and has two additional openings on the side.
The rubber tube is furnished with an intermediate glass tube, a bulb, and the
end which is inserted into the receptacle for the injection fluid terminates
_ in a glass tube of sufficient length to reach the bottom.—Prager medicinische
Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 35, S. 407.

———

HAFFKINE’S METHOD OF PROTECTIVE INOCULATION AGAINST CHOLERA.

Mr. E. H. HANKIN, having received in his own person the protective
inoculation at the hands of M. Haffkine, gives an account of his experience.
By cultivating the vibrio of cholera, first in diluted and then in undiluted
rabbit’s serum, it can be acclimatized so that it will be unharmed by the bac-
tericidal action of this medium. Injections of a small quantity of a culture
in rabbit’s serum of these acclimatized vibrios into the veins of a rabbit results
in death with the marked symptoms of cholera, and the post-mortem exami-
nation shows that the intestine is filled with “ rice-water’’ secretion, which,
as well as the mucous membrane of the intestine, contains the vibrios in large
numbers. In some cases they have been found in the bile-duct and ureter,
but never in other parts of the body. By passing the microbe through a
series of guinea-pigs a virus fixe or virus exalté is obtained, generally between
the twentieth and thirtieth passage. This virus exalté appears to be about
twenty times as virulent as the ordinary form of the microbe. The attenu-
ated virus is prepared by growing the microbe in a slow current of air. A
flask of bouillon placed in an incubator is inoculated with microbes, which
produce a culture and then rapidly die. It is therefore necessary to re-inocu-
late them every third day into a fresh flask, when it is found that after each
passage they are more and more attenuated. Rabbits, then, are made im-
mune by successive inoculations of attenuated and of the strengthened virus.
In his personal experience the inoculation with attenuated virus caused the
usual local cedema with some fever and malaise. Five days later the injec-
tion of virus exalté was made without marked symptoms save pain. In order
to test the presence or absence of local immunity, five weeks after inoculation
an injection of strengthened virus was made, which produced the same results
as the attenuated virus did in the first instance. Of the questions that suggest
themselves: whether immunity against one variety of cholera microbe will con-
fer immunity against another, has been answered in the affirmative, so far as
guinea-pigs are concerned; whether this treatment will confer permanent
immunity can receive no definite answer, but it is more probable that
an inoculation with virus exalté should confer lasting immunity than a
slight attack of cholera. It is important to remember that very probably
after the first inoculation, less probably after the second, there may be a tem-
porary diminution in the power of resisting the entry of cholera microbes,
so that inoculations should not be practised at a given place at the time that
an epidemic is raging, without great caution. At present this method is not

584 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

attended by any grave disturbance of health, and it can be practised upon
human beings with perfect safety. The fact that it produces immunity against
cholera in any form in animals of such widely different organization as
guinea-pigs and pigeons, gives reason for hoping that it may produce an
equally good effect in human beings, but it must necessarily be a long time
before we can possess any direct evidence of any value on this point.—British
Medical Journal, 1892, No. 1654, p. 569.

FILTERED OR BOILED WATER?

M. A.-J. MARTIN, under this title, presents a very carefully studied paper.
Recognizing the fact that many filters, so far from separating the bacteria,
may even make the water richer in these organisms, this method cannot be
recommended. Boiled water has lost its carbonic acid gas, and the salts of
lime and magnesia are precipitated; the taste is flat, although on standing
in a cool place it reabsorbs the greater portion of the lost gas. Even boiled
water ought not to be long preserved. The problem apparently was solved
in heating the water without loss of air, cooling it mechanically, and adding
oxygen by means of an air-pump, or it can be boiled in closed bottles. Vari-
ous ingenious apparatus has been devised for boiling water in closed vessels
under pressure, and jcooling it in the same apparatus. Investigations have
shown that the slight differences observed in the chemical composition of the
water before and after sterilization have not altered its potability. With a

filter, one can drink only the water of which he knows the source; with boil-
ing, one can use any water. Boiling, then, should be the procedure of choice
as soon as any suspicion arises; it should be the rule, especially in large
cities, during the progress of any epidemic.— Gazette hebdomadaire de Méde-
cine et de Chirurgie, 1892, No. 37, p. 433.

THE DIGESTIVE FERMENT OF THE CARICA PAPAYA IN
GASTRO-INTESTINAL DISORDERS.

Dr. FRANK Woopsury suggests the name “ caricinum ”’ or “ caricin”’ for
the papain of Finckler. Its physiological actions have been established to
be upon albuminoids, hydrating them and converting them ultimately into
peptones, converting with great promptness starch, the ultimate product
being maltose, emulsifying fats, and possessing a direct tonic action upon the
stomach, stimulating the secretion of gastric juice or pepsinogen, being also
distinctly antiseptic, and given with true antiseptics, like salol, will not leave
the digestive action checked. Even corrosive sublimate in dilute solutions
does not interfere with its digestive powers. It acts at all temperatures, best
in alkaline solution, but also in fluids with an acid or neutral reaction. It
has no action upon living tissues and is positively innocuous when swallowed
in any quantity that is likely to be administered. He summarizes its use as
follows: 1. In actual or relative deficiency of gastric juice or its constitu-
ents. a. Diminished secretion of gastric juice as a whole: apepsia, anemia
and deficient blood-supply, wasting disease. 4. Diminished proportion of
pepsin: atonic dyspepsia, atrophy of gastric tubules. c. Diminution of
hydrochloric acid: achlorhydria, carcinoma. d. Relative deficiency of gas-

THERAPEUTICS. 585

tric juice: overfeeding. 2. In gastric catarrh. a, When there is tenacious
mucus to beremoved. 6. When there is impaired digestion. 3. In excessive
secretion of acid. To prevent duodenal dyspepsia. 4. In gastralgia, irritable
stomach, nausea, or vomiting. 5. In intestinal disorders. a. In constipation
due to indigestion. 5. In diarrhoea, as a sedative. c. In intestinal worms
[not verified by author]. 6. In infectious disorders of the intestinal tract.
a, When there is abnormal fermentation. 6. As a detergent in cleaning out
the débris. 7. In infantile indigestion. The dose is one or two, possibly
five grains, either alone or combined with bicarbonate of soda, extract of
nux vomica, or both.—New York Medical Journal, 1892, No. 718, p. 115.

THE TREATMENT OF SEA-SICKNESS.

Dr. W. W. VAN VALZAH believes in Rochet’s theory, that the symptoms
of sea-sickness are those of cerebral anemia, as a result of deranged and
diminished reflex muscular tonicity of which the loss of equilibrium is a
sign. The treatment is directed to the digestive system, having one im-
portant object in view—to diminish the irritability of the sensory nerve-
endings of the mucous lining of the alimentary canal by keeping the diges-
tive tube functionally active and clean. This is accomplished by laxatives,
limitation of sweets and starches, and the use of lean meats. During the first
forty-eight hours on shipboard the patient is to rest in bed and sleep if pos-
sible, four light meals to be taken each day, and very little fluid drunk, a
single cup of hot water with each meal. At the expiration of this period,
the time, except that regularly given to sleep, should be spent in the open
air, and the sensory vertigo supplanted by purposive movements as walking
and by mental occupation or diversion. An efficient treatment is that of
bromide of sodium, which should be pushed to its physiological effects and
its influence continued during the voyage. During the attack, if hyper-
zemia be present, the vertical position, a hot foot-bath, ice to the head or
spine, possibly caffeine, antipyrine, or bromide of soda. If anemia, atropine
with nitro-glycerin, sometimes strychnine, and natro-benzoate of caffeine, or
ergotin may be useful. The horizontal position, whiskey (and food also) by
the rectum, copious draughts of hot water, are advised. Frequently repeated
and small doses of creasote, with lime-water and an infinitesimal quantity of
ipecac, or oxalate of cerium in hourly five-grain doses, may be effectual in
relieving vomiting, If these preventive precautious and remedies fail, the
patient must content himself until he can again get into his element—the
place where he was created and educated to live—on land.—_New York Medi-
cal Journal, 1892, No. 715, p. 179.

BROMIDE OF STRONTIUM IN THE TREATMENT OF VOMITING.

Dr. GrusTto CoRONEDI, on account os the deliquescence of this salt, pre-
scribes it to be dispensed in glass tubes closed by a cork, each containing
fifteen grains. He ascertained that the usual amount of free hydrochloric
acid in the stomach does not set free bromine, but the remedy acts as a
bromide. The daily dose employed in ten reported cases was sixty grains,
or fifteen grains for a dose. It was more successfully employed in various
gastralgias, nervous vomiting, that of pregnancy, of reflex irritations, when

586 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

it acts as other bromides, diminishing the excitability of the nervous centres,
and of the nerve terminations in the stomach, and preventing reflex action,
although containing a smaller percentage of bromine than either the sodium
or potassium salt. Apparently more active than the other salts, it does not
present the disadvantages of the potash salt ; for example, the diminution of
nervous and muscular energy after long-continued use.—Zo Sperimentale,
1892, fase. 3, p. 222.

THE TREATMENT OF TYPHOID FEVER BY THALLIN.

Dr. FRANZ ScHMID has treated twenty cases, with two deaths. The diet
was milk, animal broths, with eggs and alcohol. At the outset calomel was
administered, and as soon as the diagnosis was established the sulphate of
thallin, in 1 or 2 per cent. aqueous solution, was administered every hour
from six in the morning until nine at night, and in the night at two or three
hour intervals. The initial dose was from one and one-half to three grains.
This dose was increased every second or fourth hour by sixths of a grain
until the temperature approached the normal or a little belowit. This
amount of the remedy was continued for from three to five days, then gradu-
ally diminished so long as the temperature remained about the normal.
When it became subnormal the drug was omitted until it began to rise. The
average duration of the use of this remedy was 16.8 days. Of the two fatal
cases, in one the autopsy showed a fatty heart and very large spleen; in the
other, a perforation near the ileo-czcal valve. He concludes that: 1. Thal-
linization in typhoid fever is of equal value with hydro-therapeutic treatment,
especially in severe cases and at the acme of the disease; 2. In the use of
thallin it should be given in large doses, as above stated, increasing rapidly
to an efficient dose, and avoiding variations in it.—Correspondenz-blatt fiir
Schweizer Aerzte, 1892, No. 17, 8. 529.

THE OCCASIONAL DANGER OF ANTIPYRETICS IN TYPHOID FEVER.

Dr. J. H. Musser would hesitate to use any antipyretic during the first
twenty-four hours after a patient is admitted to the hospital, for the rise of
temperature is due to exhaustion, and this requires stimulants. Certain
patients have idiosyncrasies which forbid the use of these remedies, no matter
how high the temperature may be, if life be not threatened. In the later
stages antipyretics are especially dangerous, and must be administered with
the greatest care. He calls attention to cases of persistently high tempera-
ture, with abatement of all other symptoms, cases in which the morbid process
has terminated, but on account of exhaustion, long continuance in bed on
the limited diet, the use of an antipyretic would have been of no avail. These
cases need stimulants, solid food, and getting the patient out of bed.— 7rans-
actions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 1892.

A New METHOD OF TREATMENT OF FEVER.

Dr. SOLTAU-FENWICK describes his ice-cradle, which he has used in con-
nection with sponging off the patient with warm water, in a hundred cases of
typhoid fever and in one hundred and fifty-three of acute inflammation of the

THERAPEUTICS. ; 587

lungs. The skin is sponged with warm water, at about the temperature of
116° F., for ten minutes. The warm water was found to be pleasanter for
the patient and frequently of greater antipyretic value. The fevers which
do not respond to this treatment are frequently of unfavorable prognosis.
The ice-cradle is an apparatus similar to that of the same name which is used
in surgical wards for protecting the fractured limbs from the pressure of the
bed-clothing, except that it extends the entire length of the body, and is
sufficiently high to allow pails containing ice to be suspended from the hoops.
Linen is placed over the bottom of the pails to prevent the condensed moist-
ure from dripping upon the patient. Hot water containers can be placed
at the feet if necessary. He concludes: 1. Temperatures of 103° F. can be
reduced from one and a half to three degrees, and kept at that point. If the
temperature is 105° F., or higher, cold baths or ice packs should be employed.
2. This remedy is extremely simple in its use, and entirely free from danger.
3. To obtain the highest degree of antipyretic effect, the greatest attention to
details, and that a thorough draught through the apparatus be maintained.—
Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 31, 8. 767.

SYPHILIS OF THE LINGUAL TONSIL.

Dr. JAMES E, NEwcoms reports a case in which the cure of this disease,
which was characterized by nipple-shaped, grayish-red protuberances com-
posed of groups of closed and inflamed follicles, with ulcerated summits and
crowned with typical, clean-cut, mucous plaques, was complete in five weeks.

Applications of the dilute acid nitrate of mercury, a sublimate gargle, and
mixed treatment internally were employed.—TZhe Medical News, 1892, No.
1016, p. 4.

On BLISTERS AND BLOODLETTING IN PLEURISY AND PNEUMONIA.

M. P. DurRoziez presents much clinical evidence in favor of the retention
of these methods in clinical work. In pneumonias, the age determines blood-
letting; after forty-five years of age the results are very unfavorable, and in
women the gravity of this disease is admitted. In pleurisy the fatal cases are
fewer as the bloodletting becomes more frequent, although alcoholic indi-
viduals bear it badly. Blisters are of apparent usefulness in both of these
diseases, —L’ Union Médicale, 1892, No. 76, p. 3.

THE HYPODERMATIC INJECTION OF IODOFORMIZED GUAIACOL IN
PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS,

Drs. R. MAssALOnGo and S. SILVEsTRI believe that with a combination
of these well-tried and approved remedies (1 part iodoform, 5 parts guaiacol,
to 100 of sterilized oil of sweet almonds) injected into the scapulo-vertebral
space, or, better, into the supra-spinous fossa, they obtained satisfactory re-
sults in eight reported cases. They conclude that it is especially indicated
in the first, second, and rarely in the third stages; that the cough, expecto-
ration, number of bacilli, fever, night-sweating, appetite, weight, and general
appearance are improved ; that these results are justified by the physiological
properties, antiseptic, astringent, and modifying, of these drugs; that no

588 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

other pharmaceutical curative method has yielded so satisfactory results.—
Gazetta degli Ospitali, 1892, No. 86, p. 802.

DysPN@A AND ITS TREATMENT BY DRUGS.

Dr. W. TENNANT GAIRDNER classifies his cases as—1. Due to hematic
causes, remedied by iron, arsenic, hygienic conditions, food, exercise, possi-
bly by inhalations of oxygen. 2. Due to pulmonary causes, when expec-
torants are indicated, stimulating the ‘‘ scavenger muscles” of the bronchial
tubes, avoiding the use of opium. 3. Due to extra-pulmonary causes other
than hematic, as cardiac, pleural, or pericardial effusions; dropsical swell-
ings of all kinds; uremic, when this origin must be carefully considered ;
and in general the maxim of Baglivi should be observed, to use diuretics, or
in the failure of these, to employ drastic cathartics, or rarely venesection.—
Medical Press, 1892, No. 2779, p. 131.

Pror. LEEcH finds that the nitrites will relieve certain forms of dyspnea,
and his preference is for the nitrites of ethyl and soda and nitro-glycerin,
as more effective and of more lasting influence than nitrite of amyl. A tea-
spoonful of a 3 per cent. solution of nitrite of ethyl is the most convenient
form for administering a nitrite in dyspnea. In case of failure with the
nitrites he advises the vapor of ammonia.

Dr. HANDFORD believes that the dyspnea of migraine can be speedily re-
lieved by saline aperients.

Dr. OLIVER regards the use of morphine to be beneficial in some cases of
bronchitis and of emphysema, accompanied by orthopnea. In uremic dys-
pneea the nitrites were of very great service, but he would limit venesection
to those cases in which dyspnea was dependent upon, or associated with,
dilatation of the right heart.

Dr. WILBERFORCE SMITH advises in spasmodic paroxysms, belladonna,
preferably a few drops given with little or no water, or administered by a
spray-producer ; in congestive cases, the cautious use of the hot-air bath; in
the dyspnea of anemia (in girls), the prohibition of corsets.

Mr, FREDERICK PEARSE, in acute spasmodic asthma, and in that associ-
ated with tumultuous action of the heart, recommends one or two five-
minim doses of Fleming’s tincture of aconite.— British Medical Journal, 1892,
No. 1649, p. 295.

THE TREATMENT OF MYXCDEMA WITH THYROID JUICE.

Mr. G. R. Murray reports four cases treated by this method. The thy-
roid glands are removed from several sheep just before they are killed; each
lobe is minced, bruised in a mortar, and allowed to stand for twelve hours in
fifteen minims of glycerin and the same quantity of a one-half of 1 per cent,
solution carbolic acid in boiled distilled water. It is then squeezed through
a cloth in a press, which, as well as all other apparatus, has been cleansed by
boiling water and a 5 per cent. carbolic acid solution. In the future it is pro-
posed to use the liquefied carbonic acid apparatus of M. d’Arsonval. Twenty-
five minims of this extract have been injected, with antiseptic precautions,
beneath the skin of the inter-scapular region once a week. It may be advis-
able to give a smaller injection and repeat it more frequently in some cases.

THERAPEUTICS. 589

The injection should be slowly administered, five minutes being required for
the process; stopping the process.if the patient begins to flush, suffers from
nausea, or has stabbing pain in the lumbar region. No pressure should be
made over the seat of the injection. These cases show that thyroid extract
can, to a very considerable extent, supply the place of the natural secretion
which is lost in myxedema. The patient’s condition can be much improved,
and this improvement can be maintained so long as the treatment is con-
tinued. The unpleasant symptoms can be obviated by more slowly injecting
the fluid, and the danger of abscesses avoided by strict asepsis. The cases with
signs of cardiac degeneration should either not be selected for treatment, or
they must be specially warned not to take any unusual exercise when the
improvement takes place.—British Medical Journal, 1892, No. 1652, p. 449.

A CASE OF EPILEPSY CURED BY INJECTION OF PASTEUR’S ANTIRABIC
LIQUID.

Dr. GIOVANNI ACHILLE reports a carefully observed case of a man who
for three years has suffered from grand mal and consequent mental symptoms,
so that it was necessary to place him in the hospital. Thetreatment lasted ten
days, and ended the attacks, which came on several times daily, with intervals
of freedom for a few days. The cessation of the disease was accompanied
by great improvement in his mental condition.—Gazetta degli Ospitali, 1892;
No. 87, p. 811.

THE TREATMENT OF DELIRIUM TREMENS.

Dr. NoRMAN KERR believes that this condition is the effect of alcoholic
poisoning, and due to the cumulative specific action of the poison on the
cerebral tissue through the alcoholization of the blood. Therefore this
poison should be eliminated by liquor ammonii acetatis in drachm doses
every hour, avoiding all narcotics and the administration of alcoholic liquors.
Milk, beef-juice, broth, and coffee should be frequently given. In this way
we give the vis medicatriz “a fair field and no favor.”—Medical Press, 1892,
No. 2779, p. 135.

THE USE OF VEGETABLE ALBUMIN IN THE DIETETIC TREATMENT OF

DIABETES MELLITUS.

Dr. WILHELM EBSTEIN recommends aleuronat, a dry, yellow powder,
almost without any taste or odor, which consists chiefly of vegetable albumin,
made by the secret process of Hundhausen. This powder can be used for
the same purposes as is flour by the non-diabetic person. Bread can be made
containing at least one-half of this substance. The danger of a pure or entire
albumin food, as shown by the appearance of acetone or aceto-acetic acid in
the urine, must be recognized. Light cases of this disease should have this
diet more strictly enforced; but in the more serious forms, especially those
accustomed to a poor food, lacking in albumin, he employs a nutrition
which is richer in albumin, quite gradually. In place of sugar, he uses
levulose, chemically pure and especially free from dextrose, which may, in
the course of time, supplant the often disagreeable saccharine. Taking a

590 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

considerable amount of fat may limit also the necessity for a larger quantity
of carbohydrates.— Medical Chronicle, 1892, No. 6, p. 361.

MERCURY SOZOIODOL.

Dr. K. WITTHAUER has made use of this preparation, which contains 31
per cent. of mercury and 38 per cent. of iodine, in the form of ointment,
dusting-powder, and in emulsion. As an ointment he employs a 1 per cent.
solution in 90 parts of lanolin and 10 of olive oil, spread upon strips of linen,
closely applied to the ulceration, and changed as often as the discharge comes
through the dressing. As a powder, it is diluted with 99 parts of tale. In
tubercular fistulas or other inaccessible ulcerations, he employs a 1 per cent.
emulsion in 8 parts of glycerin, 4 parts of gum arabic, and 88 parts of distilled
water. This is injected every three or four days to the amount of 15 to 30
drops, into the fistulas, and the openings covered with gauze, drainage being
used when necessary. In using the emulsion as an injection into closed fun-
gous joints, it gives rise to less pain than iodoform, and only a slight fever
or none at all. Double the quantity above can be used.—Miinchener medicin-
ische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 34, 8. 602.

DERMATOL.

Dr. ARTHUR K. STONE reports that he has had very satisfactory results.
Subgallate of bismuth is a saffron-yellow powder, insoluble in water, alcohol,
or ether, odorless, non-hydroscopic, astringent, non-poisonous, non-irri-
tating, stable, unaffected by steam or dry heat in the process of sterilization.
His laboratory experiments showed that in addition to its mechanical power
of repelling water, and thus producing a food famine and consequent
death of many of the bacteria, it has active powers in hindering bacterial
growth, although it does not have bactericidal action. The method by
which this hindrance is accomplished is probably due to its chemical com-
bination with the ptomaines produced by the growth of the bateria, forming
compounds hostile to their rapid development. In abscesses, when the cavity
was thoroughly curetted and cleaned out, healing was favorably influenced.
Superficial excoriations and burns, chronic moist eczematous ulcers of the
leg, and irritations of the skin were advantageously treated. It is not appar-
ently useful for the purpose of starting granulation when the wound has
become sluggish ; indeed, it is likely to increase this condition.— 7ransac-
tions of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 1892.

THE DANGER OF ADMINISTERING CHLOROFORM IN THE PRESENCE OF A
NAKED FLAME.

Mr. CHARLES MARTIN has remarked frequently, when chloroform was
administered, a dry, irritating, spasmodic cough, gradually becoming ‘more
severe; smarting of the eyes; a pungent odor, somewhat resembling that of
chloride of lime, and accompanied by a stinging sensation in the nostrils,
and a sense of oppression in the chest amounting to actual distress; not
infrequently changes in the patient’s condition which cause great anxiety ;
sometimes synchronous weakening of the cardiac and respiratory mechanisms ;

THERAPEUTICS. 591

at other times embarrassed and stridulous respiration, cyanosis, and weakened
pulse: these symptoms necessitating the use of ammonia, nitrite of amyl, or
artificial respiration. It is believed that two molecules of chloroform com-
bine in the presence of a flame with one molecule of carbonic anhydride
and one of oxygen to produce three molecules of carbonyl chloride and one
of water. The former, being unstable, is decomposed into hydrochloric acid
and carbonic anhydride. In this hydrochloric acid lies the explanation of
the symptoms and of the fact that ammonia is of great value as a restorative.
The conclusion is that the operating-room should be heated by hot-water
pipes, lighted by electricity, and should be large and well ventilated.—
Birmingham Medical Review, 1892, No. 168, p. 83.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PHYSICIANS IN THE USE OF CHLOROFORM AND
OTHER INHALED ANZSTHETICS.

Dr. PAsseET formulates the rules for administration which should be care-
fully observed: 1. Before each narcosis there should be made a careful ex-
amination of the patient, and especially of the organs of circulation and
respiration. 2. Chloroform should be only administered when well mixed
with air, 38. The anesthetic should be stopped with the advent of tolerance
or at the disturbance of respiration or circulation. 4. The circulation and
respiration should be continually watched, and at any disturbance of these
functions the appropriate remedies should be used with discretion and
energy ; when death is imminent the artificial respiration and other methods
of resuscitation should not be stopped too soon. 5. Both chloroform and
ether narcosis are avoided during stomach-digestion, and tight clothing and
false teeth are removed before it is begun. 6. No anesthetic should be used
which one knows, or which (after examination) one can know, to be impure.
Whatever happens when all these rules have been carefully followed should
not be laid to the physician, for ultra posse nemo tenetur.—Miinchener medicin-
ische Wochenschrift, 1882, No. 32, 8. 567.

TROPA-COCAINE AS A LOCAL ANZSTHETIC.

Dr. ARTHUR P. CHADBOURNE prefers this term instead of tropsin to indi-
cate a new coca-base, and this is suggestive of the relationship which exists
between it and the alkaloids atropine and cocaine. Giesel isolated a new
alkaloid from the leaves of a small-leaved coca plant of Java, which was
proved by Liebermann to be benzoyl-pseudo-tropein, who succeeded in sepa-
rating the pseudo-tropein, and then from it made benzoyl-pseudo-tropein
synthetically. This pseudo-tropein is considered as chemically identical
with that from the Hyoscyamus niger. This benzoyl-pseudo-tropein, which
the author, deserving the gratitude of the profession, has named tropa-cocaine,
is a powerful local anesthetic, resembling, but not identical in local action with
cocaine. In the eye it does not cause the ischemia of the true anesthetics
(cocaine) nor the marked irritation and hyperemia of the group of sub-
stances called by Liebreich anesthetica dolorosa ; but it is physiologically
the connecting-link between them. The synthetical hydrochlorate of the
base, if dissol’ ed in physiological salt solution, seldom causes even a tem-

592 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE,

porary smarting, or hyperemia. As the alkaloid is almost insoluble, the
hydrochlorate is used. His conclusions are that it causes complete local
anesthesia of the skin more quickly than cocaine; that this anesthesia lasts
longer than that of cocaine; that the extent is possibly greater; that a one-
half of 1 per cent. tropa-cocaine solution causes in most cases marked
diminution in cutaneous reflex near the point of injection. In a rabbit’s eye
it acts more quickly, and probably in weaker solution, and less constantly
causes mydriasis than cocaine. He summarizes his results as follows:

1. Tropa-cocaine is less than one-half as toxic as cocaine. 2. The depressing
action, both on the cardiac motor ganglia and the heart muscle, especially
the latter, is much greater with cocaine. 3. Local anesthesia, both of the
eye and skin, is much more quickly complete with tropa-cocaine, and is
possibly of longer duration. 4. Slight hyperemia ia occasionally present,
but quickly disappears, whilst with cocaine only ischemia is seen. 5, My-
driasis is usually absent, but always seems to be less than after cocaine. 6.
Solutions of tropa-cocaine are moderately antiseptic, and retain their strength
for at least two or three months. Cocaine solutions often begin to lose their
activity when only three or four days old.

ProF. SCHWEIGGER found in clinical work that in the human eye the
above conclusions were correct, save that the anesthesia did not last so long
as under cocaine.—British Medical Journal, 1892, No. 1651, p. 402.

ToxIcOLOGY OF MALE FERN WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO VISUAL
DISTURBANCE.

Drs. K. KATAYAMA and I. OKAMOTO have studied the reported cases of
poisoning, more than twenty in number, which have occurred since 1881,
and find that ten of these presented notable visual disturbances, five of these
having occurred in Japan. Coincident with the increasing frequency of
these cases has been the gradual raising of dosage, it being the general opinion
of physicians that it was a harmless as well as an efficacious drug. From
experiments, they conclude that it acts particularly upon the digestive system
and nerve centres; that failure of vision occurs chiefly in persons in poor
health (¢f. alcohol or tobacco amaurosis). Practitioners should note: 1.
That extract of male fern is better to be prescribed in small doses. 2. Being
readily absorbed when mixed with oil, and even without oil, when it remains
long in the alimentary canal, it must be followed by a cathartic other than
castor oil. 8. Such symptoms as headache, amblyopia, should be watched
for, and with their appearance the further use of the medicine stopped.—
Sei-i-Kwai Medical Journal, 1892, No. 6, p. 101; No. 7, p. 121.

The following papers are worthy of notice:

“On the Study of Indigenous Drugs” [of India], by SurcEon B. D.
Basu, Indian Medical Gazette, 1892, No. 8, p. 225. A brief historical sketch
based upon the study of the Rig-Veda, works of Charaka and Sashruta, Raja
Nighantu, Madana Pala Nighantu, Bkava Prakasha, and the writings of the
European period of Indian history.

“The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus,” by Dr. LENNE, Miinchener medi-

MEDICINE. 593

cinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 34,8. 601. Recommends alkaline waters as
far superior to all drugs.

“The Seventh Case of Traumatic Tetanus Cured by the Antitoxin of Tiz-
zoni-Catiani,”” by DR. GIOVANNI CAsALI, Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie und
Parasitenkunde, 1892, Nos. 2, 3, S. 56.

“A Case of Tetanus Successfully Treated with Tizzoni’s Antitoxin,” by
Dr. E. Frnotrti, Wiener klinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 30, 8.431. The
reports of the use of the Tizzoni-Cattani antitoxin are becoming more and
more frequent, and bear out the promise of success offered by the earlier
cases.

“The Effect of the Quinines upon the Malarial Parasites and their Cor-
responding Febrile Attacks,” by Pror. CAMILLO GOLGI, Deutsche medi-
cinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 29, S. 6638, and No. 30, 8. 685. A valuable
paper, exhaustive and practical.

MEDICINE.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF
W. PASTEUR, M.D. Lonp., F.R.C.P.,

ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN TO THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL; PHYSICIAN TO THE NORTHEASTERN
HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN ;

AND
SOLOMON SOLIS-COHEN, A.M., M.D.,

PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE AND APPLIED THERAPEUTICS IN THE PHILADELPHIA
POLYCLINIC; PHYSICIAN TO THE PHILADELPHIA HOSPITAL,

THE CHOLERA IN HAMBURG.

EUGENE FRAENKEL (Deutsche medicin. Wochenschr., No. 36, p. 818) briefly
relates the history of the recent epidemic of cholera in Hamburg. He denies
the statement so generally made that there was any attempt at any time to
suppress the facts or to conceal the true nature of the disease after it was
recognized. Between the 17th and the 20th of August there occurred several
fatal cases that presented symptoms suggestive of cholera. The first of these,
examined on the 17th, proved, post-mortem, not to be a case of true cholera.
On the 21st, five cases resembling this were admitted to the old Krankenhaus.
Four of these terminated fatally. These facts were at once reported by the
house physician to the proper authorities, and on the 22d were supplemented
with the information that microscopic examination of the dejecta of these
patients disclosed the presence of comma bacilli. On the same date a post-
mortem examination was made in the case of a patient who had died in the
new Krankenhaus with symptoms of cholera, in which an examination of the
intestinal contents disclosed the presence of large numbers of comma bacilli.
The case was reported to the health board. On the same date the diagnosis

594 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

of cholera was also made in a case that had died on the 19th, in which the
cultures had just developed. Koch was now called in consultation, and con-
firmed the accuracy of the observations that had been made. Special pro-
vision was at once made to meet the requirements of the emergency. Accom-
modations were made for 2000 patients, and a service of 150 persons and 60
two-horse ambulances was organized for the transportation of patients. Be-
tween August 20th and 29th, 3403 calls were responded to, involving 2335
patients and 1068 dead bodies. The mortality in the hospitals was enormous ;
although the work was kept up night and day, it became impossible to dis-
pose of all the cases on the same day as death took place, so that for a time
the number of bodies in the deadhouse ranged from 100 to 130. It is not
known how the disease was introduced, whether by land or by sea; but em-
phasis is laid upon the fact that there had not been a case that could have
been considered as even suspicious among the large number of Russian emi-
grants that had passed through the city. The first victims lived in the south-
western part of the city, but the whole city soon became infected. The cases
were almost exclusively among the laboring classes. Cases and deaths among
the better class were only exceptional. The rapidity of the spread is not yet
accounted for, although the possibility of transmission by the water-supply
at once suggests itself. [Koch is credited with the statement that the river
Elbe was probably the source of infection.] The extreme heat that at the
time happened to exist increased the liability to acute disorders of the gastro-
intestinal tract.

The foudroyance of the spread of the disease over the whole city, and the
rapidity of increase in the number of cases to enormous figures seemed pecu-
liar to the epidemic. The number of cases terminating fatally within a few
hours of the onset of the attack, without the appearance of pronounced typi-
cal symptoms, was especially large. Persons were attacked at their work,
many while on boats, and although as rapidly as possible sent for, were
brought moribund into the hospital. In all of the 125 cases in which up to
the time of the report post-mortem examinations had been made, all the
statements made by Koch were fully verified. All of the methods of treat-
ment proposed, from salol to subcutaneous injections of water and Cantani’s
enteroclysis, utterly failed.

The following figures (Deutsche medicin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 37, p. 839)
are announced as authentic, being based upon the statement of the medical
inspector as revised by the statistical bureau of the city of Hamburg:

Cases. Deaths, Cases, Deaths.
Up to August 20, 86 36 September 1, 843 394
August 21, 83 22 ” 2 809 478
. 22, 200 70 777 437
23, 272 111 679 293
24, 367 114 582 281
25, 673 192 485 258
26, 991 315 419 224
27, 1101 456 346 160
28, 1036 428 350 150
29, 982 394 213 113
30, 1086 484 —
31, 858 13,238 5805

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MEDICINE. 595

A CASE OF RAPIDLY FATAL LEUKMIA AFTER TRAUMATISM.

GREIWE (Berliner klin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 38, p. 825) has reported the
case of a locksmith, twenty-eight years old, previously in apparently perfect
health, who complained of severe pain in the left hypochondrium after
having lifted an unusually heavy weight. A day later hemorrhage from the
mouth took place, and this was repeated on the following day. There had
been no cough; the appetite had been preserved ; the patient had lived amid
favorable conditions, and had always had a sufficiency of good food. He was
intensely anemic, and presented numerous subcutaneous extravasations of
blood, which he had observed but had ascribed to injuries received in his work.
There was continuous bleeding from the gums. The case was thought to be
‘one of scorbutus. An examination of the blood, however, revealed the exist-
ence of lymphatic leukemia, large lymphocytes predominating. Further
examination now showed that the cervical, brachial, inguinal, and axillary
lymphatic glands were slightly enlarged and sensitive to pressure. The
spleen and liver were also found to be enlarged. Hemorrhage from the nose
and mouth was repeated ; new subcutaneous extravasations occurred, and the
patient died of asthenia on the tenth day after the injury. The findings at
the autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of leukemia, From a careful study of
the case the conclusion is reached that the trauma did not act as the cause of
the disease, but only served to call into activity a previously latent condition.

THE PATHOLOGY OF ARRESTED CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT.

Sacus (Journalof Nervous and Mental Diseases, 1892, No 8, p. 603) has reported
the case of an infant, born at term, of normal physical development; another
child in the same family had presented similar symptoms, dying when twenty-
four months old; although two healthy children were born in the interval.
The infant was said to have thrived until it was eight months old. When
seen at the age of thirteen months, its head drooped and it was unable to sit up
without support ; there was no perception of light; the pupillary light reflex
was wanting; there was slight sense of hearing. The upper and lower ex-
tremities were somewhat spastic, while spontaneous movements were absent.
The knee-jerks and the plantar reflexes were exaggerated; ankle clonus was
not obtainable. The child continued to grow worse. Sight and hearing be-
came completely lost; the mind was entirely blank. The child died at the age
of twenty months, extremely marantic. A week before death there had been
considerable fever and several convulsive seizures. At the autopsy the dura
was found adherent to the calvarium. The brain was firm to touch. The
pia detached readily. Neither brain nor cord presented macroscopic change.
After hardening in Miiller’s fluid sections were stained. Few and unimpor-
tant changes were found in the ganglia, pons, medulla, and cord. In the
cortex of the cerebrum, however, not a single normal pyramidal cell could be
found; in all the layers the bodies of the cells were altered in shape or in
general appearance; the nuclei and nucleoli were distinct but surrounded by
an altered protoplasm that failed to take the stain properly. The bloodvessels
were present in at least usual number, most of them being filled with blood ;
but there was no evidence of an active inflammatory condition. The white

596 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

fibres entering the cortex presented no deviation from the normal. Sachs
considers the condition an arrest of cortical development—a true agenesis
corticalis.

THE MICROORGANISM OF TyPpHUS FEVER—MIcROCcOCCUS
EXANTHEMATICUS.

LEWASCHEW (Deutsche medicin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 18, p. 279; No. 34,
p- 766) records having detected in the blood of a considerable number of
persons suffering with typhus fever and having cultivated from blood removed
from the spleen and from the finger a distinctive microérganism. Cultivation
upon the usual media proved unsuccessful. By the employment of a1 per
cent. or a 1} per cent. serum-agar made with ascites fluid, it was possible to
reproduce the organism. At a temperature of 96.8° to 98.6° F., a charac-
teristic growth developed in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. No
growth took place, however, at ordinary room-temperature, although the
capability of subsequent development under proper conditions was preserved,
even after the lapse of a considerable time. A small quantity of such a cul-
ture, viewed in a drop of bouillon or of physiologic saline solution, is seen
to contain myriads of cocci having diameters varying from 0.2 to0.5u. The
organisms usually appear single, seldom in pairs, and rarely in small chains,
Some are not in motion, while others are in active movement. In con-
formity with this observation, it is possible to detect a long tenuous process
in connection with many of the cocci, even without special preparation, but

more distinctly after staining by the method of Loeffler. Under high powers
of the microscope, corresponding organisms were found in the blood ob-
tained from the spleen and the tip of the finger. The cilia cannot be brought
out by staining with the ordinary aniline colors, but they become apparent
after treatment with 2 or 3 per cent. solutions of osmic acid. Involution-
forms present apparent excrescences. The organisms were found at all stages
of the disease,

ARTIFICIAL IMMUNITY TO CHOLERA.

G. KLEMPERER (Berliner klin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 32, p. 789) has
succeeded in protecting guinea-pigs and rabbits from Asiatic cholera by
previous treatment with modified cultures of the comma bacillus. Thus,
guinea-pigs that had been treated with cultures heated for three days at a
temperature of 104.9° F., and others treated with cultures kept for two hours
at a temperature of 158° F., proved immune to inoculation with cultures that
proved fatal to untreated animals. Rabbits were rendered immune by intra-
venous injections of cultures heated for two hours at a temperature of 158° F.,
while inoculation with the serum of protected rabbits conferred immunity
upon guinea-pigs. It was also possible to confer immunity upon guinea-pigs
by the administration by the mouth of the modified cultures.

PRIMARY ERYSIPELAS OF THE LARYNX.

SaMTER (Deutsche medicin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 34, p. 769) has reported
the case of a painter’s assistant, thirty-seven years old, who had been
suddenly seized in the night with a chill, soon followed by difficulty. in

Cod

MEDICINE. 597

swallowing. Next morning the mucous covering of the epiglottis was
swollen and reddened and the submucous tissues infiltrated. The tempera-
ture rose to 102.2° F. In the course of the day the inflammation extended
to the other structures at the entrance to the larynx. During the night
intense dyspnea suddenly set in, so that tracheotomy was performed. For
the subsequent two weeks the temperature ranged between 100.7° and 101.6° F.
in the morning, and between 102.2° and 103.4° F. in the evening; the inflam-
matory process extending down the larynx and finding its way out of the
opening in the trachea. Cover-glass preparations made from fluid obtained
by means of a hypodermatic syringe from beneath the swollen membrane
covering the epiglottis disclosed the presence of streptococci and staphy-
lococci. The erysipelatous process progressively invaded the neck, the trunk,
and the face. The tracheal canula was removed after six days. In the
second week abscesses formed in the left inguinal fold, in the left supra-
scapular fossa, and over the ensiform cartilage, the pus from which contained
the streptococcus of erysipelas and the staphylococcus pyogenes citreus.

HEPATIC CIRRHOSIS IN CHILDREN.

Dr. Stuart TrpEy (Montreux, Switzerland) records a case of cirrhosis of
the liver, in a tall, thin boy of eleven years. One brother had died with
what was described as leucocythemia; otherwise the family history was good,
and there was no history of alcohol. The illness ran a very rapid course.
About the middle of March he had epistaxis, vomiting, and shivering fits,

On the 23d the urine contained albumin and bile, and on evaporation
deposited concentrically marked spherules and fagot-shaped bundles of
crystals, presumably leucin and tyrosin, though the fagots were not typical.
He had emaciated greatly since three months. There was no fever, nor edema
of extremities, nor ascites, but slight general icterus. On the 30th, enlargement
of the liver was made out.

On April 5th, ascites was first detected and steadily increased until death
(from toxzemia) on April 9th,

The necropsy revealed a typical hobnailed liver, and microscopical exami-
nation a typical polylobular cirrhosis. The mesenteric glands and those in
the portal fissure were enlarged, but not caseous or suppurating. The portal
vein was compressed by enlarged glands in the portal fissure.— British Medical
Journal, 1892, No. 1646.

INSANITY CAUSED BY INHALATION OF SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN.

Dr. J. WIGGLESWORTH ( Rainhill Asylum) records two cases of acute mania
due to the above cause. In one case, however, the nature of the gas inhaled
is not quite certain, but it was, in all probability, sulphuretted hydrogen.

Laborers in chemical works are quite familiar with H,S and its usual effects
on the system. Itis not at all uncommon for persons exposed to its fumes to
become “ gassed,” as the saying is—that is, they pass into a condition of in-
sensibility which lasts a variable time, and when coming round they are often
very sick and dazed, and have a sense of oppression about the chest, and
there is often a good deal of prostration for a day or two afterward. Rarely
the insensibility ends in death. It is, however, very unusual for lasting or

VOL, 104, No, 5.—NoVEMBER, 1892. 39

598 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

permanent effects to be produced on the nervous system, such as come under
the designation of insanity. Cases have been recorded by Savage and others
in which insanity—generally taking the form of mania—has r sulted from
the inhalation of chloroform, ether, nitrous oxide gas, and other similar
agents, and the cases above mentioned seem quite to fall in line with these.
One of Wigglesworth’s patients recovered completely after five months’
treatment in the asylum, but the other, although he grew more tractable at
the end of one year, will probably never fully recover.

“ The effect of all these agents appears to be to paralyze, in the first instance,
the highest controlling and coérdinating plexuses in the brain. If the dose
be large or the administration continued, more and more of the cortical cen-
tres in a descending series are involved, and insensibility ensues. But when
the paralysis is confined to the highest cortical arrangements, the immediate
result is not lethargy, but excitement, owing to the centres next in series being
emancipated from the control. of the higher, and hence acting over-vehe-
mently and incoherently. Such, at least, is the explanation which I have
to offer of the pathology of these toxic cases, which are hence assimilated to
the more ordinary forms of mania which we meet with in practice.” —British
Medical Journal, 1892, No. 1646.

A SuccEessFUL TRANSFORMATION OF SMALLPOX INTO COWPOX.

Under this title Dr. T. WHITESIDE HiME (Bradford) describes a series of
experiments conducted by himself in the presence of independent observers.

Variolous lymph was obtained from a woman suffering from semi-confluent
smallpox, of which she eventually died. With this a bull calf (calf No. 1) was
inoculated next day on the left side along fourteen incisions.

On the eighth day some lymph was collected from the pocks which had
developed.

With this Dr. Hime inoculated his own arm. The insertion produced a
slight local effect, and a scab which fell off on the eleventh day, leaving a
glazed, speckled surface which seemed to be minutely foveated. There were
no general symptoms.

At the same time another calf (calf No. 2) was inoculated with the mate-
rial collected from calf No 1, as was also Dr. W. D., who had not been revac-
cinated since infancy (thirty-two years). The inoculation gave rise to the
symptoms of a primary vaccination, and resulted in \ne formation of two true
vaccine pocks.

Calf No. 1 was now inoculated with fresh fourth-day calf vaccine by thir-
teen insertions. There were no symptoms, and every insertion failed.

“The calf had been rendered refractory to vaccine by variolation.”

With regard to calf No. 2, inoculated direct from calf No.1, every one
of the twenty-nine insertions made took.

Lymph from this calf was sent to several persons, and used with perfect
success.

A child of. four months was vaccinated with it and developed typical vac-
cinal pocks. A revaccination with other lymph made a month after to test
the efficacy of the first inoculation failed entirely.

‘Two points alone remain to be noticed. One of the ablest of those who

MEDICINE. 599

refuse to believe that variolation of the calf produces cowpox (Bouley, Path-
ologie Comparée) alleges among other proofs of his opinion (1) that the erup-
tion produced by variolation of bovines dies out through successive inocula-
tions of animals of that species; (2) that the virus taken from a variolated
bovine and inoculated in the child, and from the child returned to a bovine,
never produces an eruption of cowpox.

“ At present I have in my place calf 4, inoculated in direct succession from
calf 1, and the eruption is to-day perfect and typical and active, and shows no
signs of dying, but the opposite. And as to the second point, I have also a
calf at present which has six fine pocks produced by six insertions of lymph
taken from the child, T. A., referred to above. Both the criteria laid down
by Bouley, therefore, have no existence. But he is referring especially to the
adult ox—which he probably never did variolate—I to the calf, which I and
others have successfully variolated.””—British Medical Journal, 1892, No.
1646.

Mapora Foot or InNp1ma.

In the course of a short article on the above disease, Dr. N. F. SuRVEYOR
(London) sums up the chief differences between Madura foot and actinomy-
cosis as follows: a. Madura foot is invariably a chronic disease. 5. The
internal organs are never affected, as far as our present knowledge goes. c.
The constitutional symptoms are always very slight. d, Actinomycosis

hominis is almost unknown, or very rare, in India. e. The sulphur-colored
bodies of actinomycosis hominis have never been discovered in Madura foot.
f. The peculiar homogeneous reniform bodies with the clubs and filaments
look at least like some ray-fungus.— British Medical Journal, No. 1654. Cf.
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES, 1892, No. 245, p. 344.

SPONTANEOUS RUPTURE OF THE SPLEEN IN AGUE.

JoHN Bowlk, M.B. (Blantyre, East Cefttral Africa), reports the following
case: The patient was a tall, strongly-built cavalry soldier. His personal
history was good. He was first seen by Bowie during a mild attack of ague,
having experienced two slight attacks a fortnight and a month previously.
There were no unusual symptoms, but the patient was exceedingly anxious
about himself. On the following evening he had another rigor, with nausea
and vomiting. Before the hot stage he complained of severe pain at the
heart and passed a very bad night, retching continuously. In addition to
this there was pain in the region of the kidneys, with great desire, but inabil-
ity, to pass urine. When seen next morning the patient had an anxious and
frightened look. The face was a dirty-gray color and slightly pinched. The
eyes were bright, the pupils dilated. There was intense thirst. The surface
was cold. He complained of pain below the ribs on both sides, increased by
movement or attempts to breathe deeply. The heart-sounds were faint and
indistinct, and the radial pulse could not be counted. The abdomen was not
tumid. The walls were tense above, but flaccid below the level of the umbil-
icus. An ounce of turbid albuminous urine was withdrawn by catheter. The
retching and pain were temporarily relieved by champagne and morphine, but

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600 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

in the course of a few hours the lividity of the lips gave place to marked
pallor. The thirst continued intense, and a few hours later intense dyspnea
and a short general tonic convulsion closed the scene.

Necropsy, three hours after death. Rigor mortis was well marked in the neck,
arms, and hands, beginning in the legs. On opening the abdomen there was
a gush of about a pint and a half of dark fluid blood; on gently retracting
the walls without disturbing the relation of parts, a thick black clot of blood
about as large as a cocoanut was seen lying below and to the left of the dis-
tended stomach; from this large thick clot there passed a long clot about an
inch and a half broad by half an inch thick across the abdomen to the right,
ending at the portal fissure of the liver; extending downward from the large
clot was a second thin large clot which passed down the left side into the
pelvis. The limitation of the clots was very distinct, none being found in
any other situation. On removing the large clot it was found to be in con-
nection with a rent about four inches in length on the anterior external sur-
face of the spleen. On removing the spleen very carefully (there were no
adhesions) and examining it, the capsule was found to be clearly separated
from the parenchyma for a distance of about two inches on either side of the
rent. On grasping the edges of the torn capsule and holding up the organ,
it had exactly the appearance of a miniature placenta and membrane, the
separated capsule forming a shallow membranous bag, at the foot of which,
lying flattened out, was the splenic parenchyma. The parenchyma was nei-
ther soft nor diffluent, but rather firmer than normal and of a lighter color
(probably due to compression by the blood effused between the capsule and
the parenchyma). The capsule was tolerably tough and could not be readily
torn. On cleaning away all the blood-clot and blood from the spleen the
organ seemed little, if at all, larger than a normal one. The other viscera
were practically healthy.

The special interest in this case seems to be the really healthy condition of
the patient previously to the fatal rupture. Spontaneous ruptureof the spleen
is by no means a unique accident, but in almost all the cases in which it has
been noted it has occurred either during or following some serious and more
or less prolonged blood disease.—LZancet, 1892, No. 3603.

A RApIpDLy FATAL CASE OF CHOLERA MORBUS.

FURBRINGER (Deutsche medicin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 34, p. 768) has
reported the case of a woman, fifty-two years old, previously healthy and
well nourished, who, while at work and without recognizable cause, was
suddenly seized with cramps in the calves of the legs, griping, nausea, and
diarrhea. The stools were thin and profuse, the later evacuations being
colorless and odorless and containing shreds. Symptoms of collapse soon
set in, with cold sweats, sunken eyes, drawing up of the legs, loss of voice,
feebleness of heart, depression. of temperature, dyspnea, muscular twitching,
and sopor. The bladder contained no urine. The patient failed to respond
to stimulants, although the diarrhea and vomiting ceased. A portion of
the intestinal contents was removed from the rectum by aspiration for bac-
teriologic examination. Despite energetic treatment, the woman died, thirty-
three hours after the onset of the attack, the temperature shortly before eath

MEDICINE. 601

sinking to 95°. At the autopsy, rigor mortis was marked and there was con-
siderable lividity of the surface. The lungs on section presented hemor-
rhagic areas. The epicardium was likewise the seat of small hemorrhages.
The serous covering of the abdominal viscera was greatly injected. The
mucous membrane of the jejunum was covered by a flocculent, yellowish,
pasty material, and contained numerous small ecchymoses. The contents
were liquid, turbid, and yellowish, without special mixture of mucus. The
appearance of the ileum closely resembled that of the jejunum, except that
the solitary follicles were considerably swollen. Peyer’s patches were swollen
in smaller number. The whole of the large intestine contained a large
amount of yellowish liquid. The mucous membrane and the follicles pre-
sented changes corresponding with those in the small bowel. The spleen
was somewhat enlarged, its capsule was wrinkled. The liver was of moderate
size. The kidneys were rather small. The urinary bladder was empty.
The mucous membrane of the vagina was the seat of a few ecchymoses. The
uterus contained a readily detached clot of blood at the orifice of the left
tube. The brain was cedematous, The intestinal contents, examined micro-
scopically, were found to contain, among other matters, curved and S-shaped
bacilli, closely resembling cholera bacilli. It was possible to cultivate from
the intestinal contents a spirillum closely resembling the cholera bacillus
and to obtain a striking cholera-red reaction. The specific bacilli were,
however, not present; nor was the bacillus described by Finkler and Prior
in the stools in cases of cholera morbus present.

TUMOR OF THE PINEAL GLAND.

ZENNER (Alienist and Neurologist, 1892, vol. xiii., No. 3, p. 470) has reported
the case of a boy, thirteen years old, who for eight months had constant
headache, with remissions and exacerbations and not infrequently attended
with vomiting. Soon after the headache was first complained of, the gait
became staggering and the head somewhat retracted and deflected to the
left. Vision became impaired until blindness existed. Hearing likewise
became progressively imperfect. Speech grew indistinct and unintelligible.
For four months there had been repeated several times daily paroxysms
lasting, as a rule, for a few minutes, but occasionally longer, in which the
patient lost consciousness and became rigid. The mental condition deterio-
rated and the sphincters became incontinent. Contractures developed in the
left upper extremity. Transient difficulty of swallowing appeared. The
child became greatly emaciated. There was, however, no evidence of motor
palsy. Sensation appeared to be unimpaired. The pupils were large, but
failed to respond to light. There was bilateral optic neuritis, The reflexes
were tested with difficulty. The cremasteric reflexes were present. The
knee-jerk was on one occasion elicited upon the right, but on another occa-
sion it could not be brought out on either side. On the day of death several
tetanic spasms occurred. At the post-mortem examination the skull-cap was
found to be unusually thin; the dura was tense, the convolutions being flat-
tened and compressed. Free within the cavity of the ventricles, which were
greatly distended by a large accumulation of fluid, was a soft, oval tumor, as
large as a walnut, with slight connective-tissue attachment to the ependyma

602 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE,

of the ventricles. The growth contained considerable brain sand, and on
microscopic examination proved to be a glio-sarcoma,

SYPHILIS AND HYPERTROPHIC OSTEO-ARTHROPATHY.

Scumipt (Miinchener medicin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 36, p. 688) has re-
ported the case of a woman, forty-eight years old, who complained of pains
in the arms and legs, and presented bulbous enlargement of the terminal
phalanges of the fingers of both hands, swelling and induration at the wrist-
joint, and cedema about the elbow-joint ; the extremities of the toes presented
similar changes, but no other portion of the skeleton appeared to be affected.
The woman had borne two illegitimate children, one of which had died with
atresia ani and the other of smallpox. The patient subsequently had two mis-
carriages and bore four children, all dying in early life of various affections.
Upon the administration of potassium iodide the pains ceased, the mobility
of the affected joints was restored, and the deformity of the fingers and toes
gradually disappeared. Some time later ulceration of the tongue took place,
occasioning pain in speaking and swallowing. This failed to respond to the
ordinary methods employed, but soon subsided after the administration of
potassium iodide. The diagnosis of syphilis seems thus to have been estab-
lished. It is explained that the syphilitic virus exerted an influence analo-
gous to that exerted by the toxic matters present in cases of bronchiectasis
and empyema attended with hypertrophic osteo-arthropathy.

THE REFLEXES IN SPINAL INJURIES.

Mr. WM. THORBURN (Manchester) communicates in the Medical Chronicle
(vol. xvi., No. 2) an analytical review of 29 cases of injuries to the cervical
or dorsal regions of the cord which confirm the views enunciated by Dr. H.
Charlton Bastian, two years ago, in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions (vol.
lxxiii.). He concludes that in ¢otal transverse lesions of the cord both the
superficial and the deep reflexes are permanently and entirely abolished, and
that in partial lesions only are retention or exaggeration of these reflexes met
with.

QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF THE RED AND WHITE BLOOD-COR-
PUSCLES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.

DALAND (Fortschritte der Medicin, Bd. ix., Nos. 20 and 21) has recorded the
results of observations made at the clinic of Von Jaksch as to the value of the
hematokrit in the volumetric study of the red and white corpuscles in human
blood in health and disease. He found that the best diluting fluid was a two
and a half per cent. solution of potassium permanganate. In fifty-five healthy
adult males the average volume of red corpuscles, as determined by the
heematokrit, was 51.6 per cent.; while the average number among seventeen
observers, as determined by the hemocytometer, was 5,130,248. One per cent.
of volume is therefore the equivalent of about 100,000 red blood-corpuscles.
It was shown that, in spite of the most scrupulous care, the results obtained
by means of the hemocytometer in the hands of competent observers was
most variable. The two chief sources of error reside in the difficulty of

MEDICINE. 603

securing an equable dilution and an equable distribution of the blood. For
purposes of accuracy, one should prepare not less than two (or, better, four)
slides and count in each the contents of not less than sixty-four squares.
The hematokrit gives results as accurate as, if not more accurate than, those
of the hemocytometer; while its employment requires less skill, demands
less eye-strain, and occupies less time.

PRIMARY SARCOMA OF THE THYMUS GLAND, SIMULATING LYMPHATIC
LEUKZMIA AND FOLLOWED BY SARCOMATOSIS.

PauLMA (Deutsche medicin. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 35, p. 784) has reported
the case of a man, eighteen years old, a shoemaker, who for three months
had slight hoarseness and cough, with scanty expectoration. To these symp-
toms a painless swelling in the left inguinal fossa was added. There was no
history of syphilis or of alcoholism. The urine contained a small quantity
of albumin, but no other abnormal ingredient. The number of red blood-
corpuscles and the percentage of hemoglobin were slightly below the normal ;
the proportion of colorless to red corpuscles, 1 : 254. The eosinophile cells were
not in excess. Repeated examination failed to detect tubercle-bacilli in the
sputum. The lymphatic glands in the right groin, in the neck, and in the
axille were also found to be enlarged. On physical exploration, the pulmo-
nary percussion resonance was found to be impaired at the upper portion of
the left chest, with enfeeblement of the respiratory murmur and some fine
rales and wheezing. On the right side, low down, small moist riles were
heard. The spleen was not enlarged. A series of injections of tuberculin
were attended with elevation of temperature. The impairment of resonance
upon the left side increased in intensity and in extent, until it became in-
separable from the cardiac dulness. Cough persisted, with frothy expectora-
tion, while dyspnea and cyanosis became marked. Cidema about the ankles
set in, although now the presence of albumin in the urine could not be de-
tected. There was increased diminution in the number of red blood-cor-
puscles and in the percentage of hemoglobin, while the colorless corpuscles
were to the red as 1:455. After two months the number of red cells had
become reduced to almost half of the normal, the percentage of hemoglobin
to thirty-three, and the proportion of colorless to red cells 1:7,3. Ophthal-
moscopic examination disclosed the existence of hemorrhages about both
papille. The symptoms grew progressively more marked and the condition
of the man worse, until death took place in dyspnea. At the post-mortem
examination a tumor, as large as two fists, was found in the anterior medi-
astinum, surrounding the superior vena cava and its branches, and the large
vessels given off from the arch of the aorta, extending into the pericardium
and to the visceral pleura of the upper portions of both lungs. On section,
the growth appeared medullary, white in color and firm in consistence, and in
places presented slight hemorrhages. All of the mediastinal lymphatic
glands were enlarged, of medullary consistence, and partially infiltrated with
blood. The lungs were universally adherent, atelectatic in the upper por-
tions and in. places containing lobules of recent hemorrhagic infiltration.
The pericardial cavity contained between six and seven ounces of blood-
stained serum, and a mass of new-growth made up of nodules as large as

604 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

* hazel-nuts, and in places involving also the muscular structure of the heart ;
the serous membrane wasin places ecchymotic. The kidneys were pale and
rather large; they contained numerous small abscesses surrounded by areas
of hemorrhagic infiltration. The extra-peritoneal, as well as the inguinal,
the axillary, and the cervical lymphatic glands were enlarged. The mucous
membrane of the stomach and the testicles was ecchymotic. On the inner
surface of the dura mater, over the convexity of the cerebrum, were delicate
layers of recently extravasated blood. Sections of the new-growth in the
mediastinum, and of the various enlarged glands, disclosed the structure of
a round-celled sarcoma. The liver and the spleen contained cells resem-
bling those found in the new-growth.

SURGERY.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF

J. WILLIAM WHITE, M.D.,
PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ; SURGEON TO THE
UNIVERSITY AND GERMAN HOSPITALS ;

ASSISTED BY

ALFRED C. Woop, M.D., AND C. L. Leonarp, M.D.,
INSTRUCTOR IN CLINICAL SURGERY, UNIVERSITY ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR IN CLINICAL SUR-
OF PENNSYLVANIA; ASSISTANT SURGEON, GERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL. PENNSYLVANIA.

FURTHER REPORT ON ASEPTIC AND SEPTIC SURGICAL CASES, WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INFECTION OF THE SKIN.

LocKwoop, in the British Medical Journal, May 28, 1892, continues the
report which appeared in the issue of the same journal of October 25, 1890.
Inoculations on culture media have been continued. A few wounds have re-
mained sterile; these cases are cited. As a rule, however, microbes could
be demonstrated. Bloch, in a series of forty-six cases, secured aseptic wounds
in but two instances, Halstead has also demonstrated pyogenic organisms
in wounds after operations performed in the most careful manner.

Lockwood says: “ There is no plan which can allow the so-called harmless
microbes to enter a wound and at the same time keep out the harmful. Nor
can we rely upon the vital resistance, phagocytic power, or microbe-destroy-
ing properties of the fluids and tissues of the body. They are factors beyond
control, while asepticism is not.”

The skin also harbors the staphylococcus aureus and albus, as well as
others which are pathogenic for man. Aseptic surgery must therefore look
for advancement to a more thorough means of disinfecting the skin, and to
this object many surgeons are now directing their attention.

In the first place, when proper care is exercised in preparing the materials

SURGERY. 605

used in the performance of the operation, the sources of infection can be
narrowed down to (a) the hands of the operator and of his assistants, and (d)
the skin of the patient. The atmosphere is not adanger. The culture-tubes
have been left open for hours in operating theatres and rooms, and they have
not become infected; and gelatin spread out in dishes has had the same
immunity. But any danger of infection from the atmosphere has been pro-
vided for by filling the wounds with perchloride of mercury lotion, 1 in 2000,
squeezed from a sponge, or, in large and deep wounds, discharged from an
irrigator.

It is quite otherwise as regards the skin of the surgeon’s hands and arms.
A great deal has been written about the sterilization of the hands and of the
skin, but it is evident that the usual precautions are not sufficient.

In a case of removal of a chronic mammary tumor, although the skin
had been washed and scrubbed until the woman complained, had been
washed in 5 per cent. carbolic solution, covered for eighteen hours with an
antiseptic dressing, and finally washed just before the operation with per-
chloride of mercury lotion, 1 in 1000, nevertheless a bit of this skin infected
culture-tubes with cocci, streptococci, diplococci, and bacilli such as are usu-
ally found in the skin. The reason for this failure to disinfect the skin was
shown in the following way :

A cover-glass preparation of the contents of a sebaceous gland stained with
fuchsin shows that sebum is a mass of cocci, diplococci, and bacilli, together
with occasional epithelial cells. After an area which has numerous sebaceous
glands had been washed with soap and water, then with perchloride of mer-
cury lotion, 1 in 1000, and lastly with absolute alcohol, its glands were
squeezed and cultures inoculated from its surface. The result was a plentiful
growth of long and short bacilli, leptothrix, monococci, diplococci, and
staphylococci. In a similar way the properties of the sweat glands were
shown. A perspiring surface was washed with soap and water, then with
perchloride of mercury lotion, 1 in 1000, and afterward with absolute alcohol.
As soon as the sweat reappeared, nutrient material was inoculated with it,
and grew quantities of staphylococci, and in old cultures some bacilli and
leptothrix. Thus there was a slight difference in the first results of these
experiments. Sweat glands gave a growth of cocci with few bacilli, whilst
sebaceous glands gave bacilli with few cocci.

It was found that when a fluid composed of skin scrapings suspended in nor-
mal saline solution was injected into the auricular veins of rabbits, some died
at once—killed, perhaps, by the coarse particles; others died some days or
weeks afterward. A strong, healthy animal wasted and died twelve days
after the injection. It had diarrhoea, and its cage was constantly wet. In
another the symptoms were the same, but there was also suppuration at the
seat of inoculation, and a considerable inflammatory edema of its neck.
After it had been killed, infarcts were found in its kidneys, and there were
areas of pleuro-pneumonia in the lungs. In another animal the kidneys
seemed to have escaped, but the lungs contained many infarcts.

These effects might possibly have been caused by the particles of epidermis,
and therefore the experiments were repeated with gelatin cultures which
had been inoculated with the same kind of fluid—namely, normal saline
solution mixed with skin scrapings. The gelatin was rapidly liquified, and

606 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

contained a great many kinds of microbes—cocci of various sizes, diplococci,
staphylococci, chains of from four to twelve cocci, some consisting of large,
others of small elements, numbers of very small short bacilli aggregated into
small groups, a larger spore-containing bacillus with rounded ends, and
leptothrix. This fluid seemed more virulent than a mere solution of skin
scrapings. An intra-venous inoculation of from five to ten drops soon made
the rabbits ill; they ceased to feed and became emaciated, and their cages
were constantly wet. The lungs were the organs most attacked, and in the
early stages were engorged and inflamed, especially at their periphery.

Thus the skin contains microbes which are pathogenic for mice and rabbits.
But it also constantly harbors staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcus
albus, which are pathogenic for man, and Eisenberg gives a list of others
which, if less known, are equally dangerous.

THE TECHNIQUE OF ANTISEPTIC WOUND-TREATMENT.

NEUBER (Centralblatt fiir Chirurgie, 1892, No. 19) describes the advantages
of treating wounds by modern Listerian methods. By infrequent dressings
and the rest obtained in consequence, wounds heal much more rapidly. The
author objects to the layer of mackintosh which was formerly included in the
superficial layers of gauze. Drainage-tubes are used only in exceptional
cases. Strong antiseptic irrigations add greatly to the subsequent oozing,
and, consequently, are to be avoided when it is possible, as drainage, which
otherwise might have been dispensed with, is thus made necessary. The
object should be to prevent the entrance of pathogenic germs into the
wound—asepsis.

In his hospital practice, Neuber enjoins the most scrupulous cleanliness
and the avoidance of overcrowding. His patients are received in undressing-
rooms, with which bath-rooms are connected ; after proper preparation, they
are taken into the room where the examination of the patient is made. This
room connects with the operation-rooms. These same appointments exist
for different classes of cases. Septic cases are kept quite apart from those
free from infection.

In operating, the fewer hands that come in contact with the wound the
better. Instruments are sterilized by boiling—then placed in a1 per cent.
carbolic solution. As a rule, the assistant should not touch the wound,
except with instruments. Rapidity is advised, as it lessens the length of
the exposure to contaminating influences. With this object in view, free
incisions should be made in order to give easy access to the deeper parts of
the wound and facilitate the necessary manipulations. Large wounds should
be irrigated either. with sterilized water or sterilized 0.6 per cent. salt solu-
tion. Hemorrhage is to be arrested as far as possible by torsion ; if this does
not suffice, the vessel is to be tied with catgut. Sterilized sponges are em-
ployed. When ready for the sutures, the wound is packed with boiled anti-
septic gauze, and the stitches passed closely together, so as entirely to close
the margins. Some of the sterilized sponges are then covered with the boiled
gauze and applied to the outside of the wound, by means of which the assist-
ant keeps up a constant pressure, while the gauze is being withdrawn from
the inside and the sutures tied. All secretions and blood-clots come away

SURGERY. 607

with the gauze, leaving a dry wound. Under these circumstances drainage
becomes unnecessary, except when considerable parenchymatous oozing is
expected, as in operations on bones. The dressing may be completed by fix-
ing the gauze-covered sponges with adhesive strips and a bandage. With
this method wounds heal by first intention, without direct use ef an anti-
septic, and frequently with but a single dressing.

SHOCK AND ITs TREATMENT.

KorrMAnn (Wiener med. Presse, 1892, No, 21, from Correspondenzbiatt fiir
Schweizer Aerzte) states that the most important signs of shock are weakness of
the heart, faint respiration, skin pale and covered with cold sweat; face
drawn out, sunken eyes and livid lips; consciousness remains; sensibility
reduced. Shock appears when certain very sensitive organs, as testicles,
bones, or bowels have been subjected to contusion or other serious injury.
Shock may occur from hemorrhage, and is then associated with functional
changes in the body of which there are no post-mortem evidences. Two
theories are advanced: the first defines shock as a reflex paralysis of the
heart and vessels caused by the trauma. According to the second the injury
causes, reflexly, exhaustion of the medulla oblongata and of the spinal cord,
and, as the nerve centres are affected, there is debility of heart and respira-
tion, The fever which accompanies shock is, according to Kottmann, the
consequence of trauma. The substances causing the fever are here chemical,
and not bacterial, are freed from normal tissue matter by the injury, and
include hemoglobin, fibrin firment, and similar elements. The author
objects to confounding shock with debility due to hemorrhage. In the
latter there is rapid pulse, quick, deep, panting respiration. In shock, the
patient does not present the evidences of cerebral irritation, noises in the ears,
affected vision, palpitation, yawning, and even convulsions. In severe cases
of shock the usual remedies—alcohol, ether, caffeine, and camphor—may be
used without relief. The similarity in the appearances resulting from hemor-
rhage and from shock induced Kottmann to use salt-water transfusion in four
cases, with good results. By the neuro-pathological theory the explanation is
that the effect of the salt solution is to stimulate the centres with which it comes
in contact, and with increased arterial pressure the central nervous system would
receive more blood and recuperate more quickly. If the hemo-pathological
theory is accepted the explanation is even more simple: the salt-water would
fill the empty heart and vessels, and the hydraulic requirements would be
fulfilled while the blood in the distended abdominal vessels was being re-
stored to the circulation. Patients suffering from shock often require severe
operations, especially the amputation of members. Experience shows that
chloroform anzsthesia in these cases is attended with unusual danger;
which is less with ether, which acts as a heart stimulant.

PENETRATING GUNSHOT WOUNDS.

SELIGER (Prager medicinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 12), after an elabo-
rate study of gunshot wounds, arrives at the following conclusions: Gunshot
wounds of the abdomen are received anteriorly four times as frequently

608 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

as in the back; the mortality was 54 per cent., and in those cases complicated
with bone lesions,78 percent. If the ball passed through, the mortality was
42 per cent.; but if the ball or other projectile remained inside, it was 65 per
cent. The complication of opening the chest cavity was nearly always
fatal, even if only the pleural cavity had been opened, without lung injury.
In 236 cases of death, 98 occurred in the first week, 38 in the second, 28 in
the third, 14 in the fourth, and 12 in the fifth week. The causes of death in
the first period were hemorrhage and peritonitis. From tenth to fortieth
day: septicemia, pyzemia, secondary peritonitis. From fortieth day: peri-
tonitis, pyemia, septicemia, marasmus. Recovery took place in some cases
after very long illnesses.

Sometimes a ball penetrates the abdominal cavity without causing a wound
of the intestines. Frequently there exists hernia of intestines without other
lesion; this makes the prognosis worse. Gunshot wounds of the mesentery
become fatal through wounds to vessels, otherwise the prognosis is good.
Gunshot wounds of the stomach generally end fatally. Duodenal gunshot
wounds are always fatal. Complete healing of gunshot wounds of small
intestine is rare. In the large intestine, the lesions of the descending colon
and sigmoid flexure are seldom fatal, but the prognosis as to the cecum and
ascending colon is worse, and worse still are lesions of the transverse colon.
Subsequent fistula is the rule, which may persist as long as four years. These
fistule, as well as adhesions, strictures and abnormal communications which
are found especially in gunshot wounds of the rectum, give rise to extremely
obstinate conditions The intra-peritoneal gunshot wounds of the bladder
are always fatal ; in the extra-peritoneal there is only 15 per cent. mortality.
Gunshot wounds of the kidneys are recognized by hemorrhage, besides
position of the wound and direction of the same, and perhaps kidney colic;
mortality, 44 per cent. Fistuls of the kidney in these cases remain for a long
time. Also, chronic inflammation of the parenchyma, which may be the
cause of calculi. In gunshot wounds of the liver, which can be recognized
by the position and direction of the wound, by discharge of bile and necrotic
pieces of liver, and also at times by jaundice, are frequently complicated with
wounds of other organs; mortality, 26.8 per cent., some authors give it as
39 per cent. As consequences, abscesses are seldom mentioned, but bile
fistule frequently persist for a long time. In one case cirrhosis followed in
consequence of remaining foreign bodies. Lesions of the spleen are also
frequently complicated with lesions of other organs. Diagnosis is very diffi-
cult; mortality, 65 per cent.

Functional troubles of the lumbar part of the spinal cord in lesions of
the substance of the cord, appear according to the extent of the lesion, either
total or partial. Hemorrhages in the canal, without injury to the cord, give
later evidences in proportion to the extent of the hemorrhage. These may
be functional troubles, which may cause simple reflex paralysis lasting a
long time, or paralyses of the legs and sphincters of bladder and rectum,
ansesthesias, and later, bedsores. The result of lesion of the substance is
usually death; the prognosis is better in hemorrhages, and also in lesions
of the lumbar spine if the wound closes soon. The diagnosis of lesions of the
sexual organs is easy, and the prognosis as regards life is good. The conse-

SURGERY. 609

quences may be urethral fistule, persisting for a long time, splitting of
the penis, and scar-formations as long-lasting malformations. After the loss
of both testicles there is impotence; at times deep depression of mind follows.
The cure of gunshot wounds of the larger abdominal vessels without surgical
interference is a rarity. Hemorrhages may be caused by the projectiles or
by bone splinters, direct or secondary, in consequence of diseases of the
wound or erosion of the vessel walls. Lesions of the pelvis give a high
mortality. Death follows after long-standing suppuration, by exhaustion and
amyloid degeneration. The treatment is in many of these cases a very
difficult question to decide. Generally the idea prevails that gunshot wounds
of the intestine in civil practice should be submitted to laparotomy as soon
as possible, to repair the wound in the intestine and control possible
hemorrhages. In lesions of the kidneys, the total extirpation of the organ
is indicated; useless examination with fingers and probes is to be avoided ;
in all manipulations and operations, the most thorough antiseptic measures
must be employed.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF GALL-BLADDER SURGERY.

CzeRNY (Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 23), after a general
consideration of gall-bladder surgery, presents the following conclusions :

1. Gall-stones require operation, if they cause frequently repeated or
lasting trouble.

2. Empyema of the gall-bladder imperatively demands operation, as does
hydrops, if it gives serious trouble.

3. The typical operation for gall-stones consists in incision, removal of the
stones, and suture of the gall-bladder; in this, however, the abdominal
wound should be drained for a short time. i

4. If the cystic duct is closed, if the gall-bladder is the seat of inflamma-
tion, or its contents are greatly altered, then a temporary gall-bladder fistula
must be made.

5. Extirpation of the gall-bladder is indicated only in cases of severe
inflammatory or carcinomatous involvement.

6. When the ductus choledochus is closed, the operation is absolutely indi-
cated if the strength of the patient will permit. If one does not succeed in
removing the stone or obstruction, then it is recommended to produce a
fistula between the gall-bladder and duodenum.

7. The best incision for gall-bladder operations is an J-shaped cut; the
vertical limb lies in the linea alba and the horizontal part runs toward the
right just below the level of the umbilicus.

8. The danger to life in gall-stone operations will be probably less than
in operations for vesical calculus.

METHODS OF OPERATION FOR CARCINOMA OF THE RECTUM, AND THE
FINAL RESULTS OF THE SAME.

ScuMIpT, in the Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 24, reports fifty-
nine cases of operation for carcinoma of the rectum from Czerny’s clinic.

610 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

The methods of operation proposed can be divided into (1) those that
attempt to remove the rectum from the perineum, and (2) the sacral method
by osteo-plastic resection of the sacrum, with the object of removing the
carcinomatous growth only when possible.

Of the 59 cases, 25 have been reported as having died. From 6 cases in-
formation could not be obtained ; 28 are living, of which 10 were subjected
to the perineal operation, and in 18 the sacral method was employed; 12
patients have passed the critical period of two years. The greatest prolonga-
tion of life after operation was five and three-quarters years. Four of these
12 cases have visible recurrences, one of which is operable. The reports of
the patients have been satisfactory. Weight and nutrition have increased,
and most of them follow their occupation as before.

The question of continence is one of great importance to the patient. Ab-
solute continence was secured in the sacral operation only, in cases in which
it was possible to perform a circular suture of the canal. Very nearly perfect
control was obtained in cases in which the split sphincter was united to the
proximal end of the gut. In the perineal operations, relative continence
was obtained. The author looks for a diminished mortality with improve-
ment in the technique of the operation.

GASTRORRHAPHY FOR DIMINISHING THE SIZE OF A DILATED STOMACH.

WEIR reports in the New York Medical Journal, vol. lvi., No. 2, the case of
a man, aged forty-one years, on whom he had performed gastro-enterostomy
for pyloric stenosis of two years’ duration. The stomach was found to be so
dilated that it would contain eight or ten pints of fluid. Rapid recovery fol-
lowed the operation. A year later the patient again presented himself on
account of a return of his former symptoms of vomiting and gastric distress.
Weir first thought that the gastro-enteric opening had contracted unduly,
although made of larger dimensions than is usually recommended. It was
found, however, that air pumped into the stomach could be heard with the
stethoscope in the intestines. Washing out the stomach temporarily relieved
his vomiting. It was finally concluded that the extreme dilatation of the
stomach would explain the symptoms present, and it was decided to perform
gastrorrhaphy in the hope of giving relief. The operation was performed as
follows: Midway between the upper and lower borders of the stomach a
dimpling in of the gastric wall, an inch in depth, was accomplished by the
pressure of asound. A row of interrupted silk sutures was now introduced,
passing through the serous and muscular coats, and the sound withdrawn. A
second, third, and fourth row of sutures were introduced parallel to the first
and inasimilar manner. The patient was nourished by enemata for the
first six days, when gradually liquids were given by the mouth. At the end
of the fourth week he was taking his usual diet. Since the operation, now
four months, the patient has not had a single instance of vomiting and he
has been free from distress, and at the same time he has gained in strength
and weight.

Weir supposed he was about to perform a new operation, but two days

SURGERY. 611

before operating he learned that it had already been performed by Bircher,
of Switzerland, in three cases, all of which were successful.

Pott’s FRACTURE AT THE ANKLE.

Stimson, in the New York Medical Journal, vol. lv., No. 26, calls attention
to certain features connected with Pott’s fracture that have been very gener-
ally overlooked. His observations include a large experience in treating
these fractures, experiments on the cadaver, and post-mortem dissections.
Pott’s fracture is defined as an “injury produced usually by a forcible twist
of the foot outward, and consisting (typically) of (1) a fracture of the fibula
from one to three inches above the tip of the malleolus; (2) a fracture of the
internal malleolus or a rupture of the internal lateral ligament; and (3) a
diastasis of the lower tibio-fibular articulation with rupture of its ligaments,
or possibly with avulsion of the adjoining portion of the tibia.”

Second in clinical prominence to the fracture of the fibula is the fracture
of the internal malleolus, or rupture of its ligament; the latter is the more
frequent. In two cases under the author’s care the internal malleolus was
broken squarely off at its base, and had: undergone a rotation of 90 degrees
on its anterior-posterior axis, so that the fractured surface lay jusi beneath
the skin. In still two other cases there was exceptional prominence and
mobility of the fractured internal malleolus. In all four cases the fragments
were exposed by incision, and replaced. Prompt recovery with full restora-
tion of function took place in all four cases.

Stimson holds that the rupture of the tibio-fibular ligaments is the essential
lesion of this injury—one which vastly outweighs the fracture of the fibula
in importance, and one without which the lesions on the inner side of the
ankle would probably be impossible. Unless especially sought for, this
diastasis of the tibio-fibular articulation may readily be overlooked. The
effect of this lesion is to loosen the mortise into which the astragalus fits,
which permits this bone to become displaced outward, and at times backward
as well. Without correction of these displacements satisfactory recovery
cannot be expected.

This injury may be recognized by pain on pressure with the tip of the
finger at the junction of the two bones in front close above the articular edge
of the tibia, and by abnormal lateral mobility, demonstrated by grasping the
foot with the hand so that the posterior portion of the sole rests in the palm

‘of the hand, and then moving the foot bodily inward and outward while the
other hand steadies the leg above the ankle. Backward displacement may
be recognized by moving the foot bodily forward.

The chief indication for treatment is to restore the external malleolus to its
position in contact with the tibia and to retain it there. For retention, the
author prefers moulded plaster-of-Paris splints. They may be made of the
ordinary four-inch plaster roller, folded back and forth until some twelve or
fifteen thicknesses are applied. A posterior or lateral splint may be used.
If the former is employed, it should begin at the toes, extend along the sole,
around the heel and up the calf nearly to the knee. The lateral splint should
begin just in front of the external malleolus, pass over the dorsum of the

612 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.
foot to the inner side, under the sole, and upward along the outer side of the
leg. They are bound to the leg while wet, with an ordinary roller bandage

which may be removed after the plaster has set, when a few turns are applied
just above the ankle and at the upper extremity of the splint.

OBSTETRICS.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF

EDWARD P. DAVIS, A.M., M.D.,

PROFESSOR OF OBSTETRICS AND DISEASES OF INFANCY IN THE PHILADELPHIA POLYCLINIC ;
CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF DISEASES OF CHILDREN IN THE WOMAN’S MEDICAL COLLEGE;
CLINICAL LECTURER ON OBSTETRICS IN THE JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE;
VISITING OBSTETRICIAN TO THE PHILADELPHIA HOSPITAL, ETC.

THE PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY IN CASES OF OBSTINATE VOMITING
DURING PREGNANCY.

An interesting series of investigations upon this question has been under-
taken by LINDENMANN, Of Moscow, whose results are published in the Cen-
tralblatt fiir Pathologie, 1892, No. 15. He examined microscopically the
tissues of a mother and foetus who perished from obstinate vomiting, having
as a complication polyneuritis. A gross examination revealed enlargement
of the spleen with the usual appearance of inanition. The kidneys and liver
were cirrhotic. Microscopic examination revealed neuritis of the phrenic,
pneumogastric, median, and peroneal nerves, especially well marked in the
case of the phrenic nerve. The liver was in a condition of fatty degeneration
and cloudy swelling. The spleen showed dilated bloodvessels and blood-
corpuscles which refused to take coloring material. The kidneys were free
from evidence of inflammation, but showed fatty degeneration of the epi-
thelium.

The organs of the foetus exhibited marked degeneration in the kidneys and
liver. In the liver the protoplasm of the cells was in a condition of begin-
ning fatty degeneration, while fat-drops were perceptible in some portions.
The kidneys gave examples of atrophy and necrosis of a degenerative but
not inflammatory character. The epithelium was in the condition known as
coagulation necrosis. The neuritis and enlargement of the spleen are phe-
nomena which cannot be accounted for by inanition alone; the entire
pathological picture is that of chronic infection ; the clinical history betrayed
no source of poisoning, and the existence of a toxine is the most rational
explanation of the phenomena.

There is every reason to believe, however, that auto-intoxication is the
basis for pernicious vomiting of pregnancy as it is for eclampsia. The

OBSTETRICS. 613

present case shows clearly the participation of the foetus in the disorders of
the mother. In connection with this research Lindenmann made interesting
observations on the pathology of inanition in animals, and was able to ex-
clude by comparison simple inanition as a cause for the lesions in the case
reported.

CSAREAN SECTION WITH OOPHORECTOMY FOR OSTEOMALACIA.

SoLowlIJ reports in the Centralblatt fiir Gyndkologie, 1892, No. 38, the case
of a multipara, aged twenty-six years, who suffered from osteomalacia. She
had constant pain in the bones, which were sensitive to pressure, and, in
addition, a contracted pelvis which forbade the birth of a fully developed
child. Accordingly, the Cesarean operation was performed at the beginning
of labor; the uterus was raised from the abdominal cavity and the fetus
quickly removed. After suturing the uterus, the ovaries were found and
removed. They were exceedingly atrophic, and were discovered with diffi-
culty. The patient made a good recovery, adhesion between the uterus and
the lower portion of the abdominal incision taking place during the healing.

GENERAL DrRopsy OF THE F@TUus.

This puzzling condition has been made the subject of study by BALLAN-
TYNE, who writes in the Edinburgh Medical Journal, September, 1892,
regarding it. He concludes that while in some cases there exists an ade-
quate cause in the foetus itself, in most the disease is due to a chain of factors
embracing a cachectic state of the mother and diseased blood in the feetus,
and dependent upon a morbid condition of the endometrium and the placenta.

MAMMARY FIsTULA.

CHOLMOGOROFF reports in the Centralblatt fiir Gynakologie, 1892, No. 38, an
interesting case of this uncommon affection. The patient was a multipara,
twenty-four years old; while nursing her fourth child she was taken with
mastitis of the right side, attended by severe pain and moderate fever. She
was treated by a midwife with fomentations and plasters. A week later pus
emerged from the breast through three small openings on the outer side of
the nipple. Her temperature fell, but another abscess formed, and she came
under medical care. Upon examination, two of the openings had closed;
from the third pure pus emerged; on the inner side of the areola the breast
was swollen and fluctuation was evident. Over this point a free incision was
made, pus freely evacuated, and drainage and antiseptic dressing applied.
There was no milk in this breast, and on the other side the secretion also
failed ; the child was weaned.

A month later another abscess’ was opened beneath the nipple. Two
months later the first openings had healed. Where incisions had been made
fistule remained, from which came pus and a small amount of milk. The
patient was about six weeks pregnant. A few days later the secretion of
milk from both fistula considerably increased. A new abscess formed and
was opened and drained; from this wound pure pus was discharged, while

from the old fistula came an abundant flow of milk. The edges of the milk
VoL. 104, No. 5.—NOVEMBER, 1892 40

614 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.
fistule were cauterized to prevent maceration of the surrounding skin. The
last abscess healed, but milk continued to come from the fistule. The milk
fistulse were finally healed by the application, as a stimulant to granulation,
of chloral hydrate in crystals. While this was more painful than nitrate of
silver, healing followed more rapidly. All the fistule finally closed; the
pregnancy assumed a normal course.

THE ETIOLOGY OF INTRA-UTERINE FRACTURES.

A valuable paper upon this subject, accompanied by illustrations, is pub-
lished by SPERLING in the Zeitschrift fiir Geburtshiilfe und Gynikologie, 1892,
Band xxiv., Heft 2. The results attained by this research may be summa-
rized as follows: Many cases of alleged intra-uterine fractures, especially of
the lower extremities, are malformations and not fractures at all. These
defects have, as a rule, nothing to do with a fracture should one be found in
addition. Fracture and malformation are not produced by a common and
contemporaneous cause; malformations undoubtedly occur in the first and
second months of intra-uterine life, and are most rationally referred to amni-
otic adhesions. Bending and malformation of the extremities in these cases
of supposed fracture find their most rational explanation in a precipitate
flexion of undifferentiated layers in the embryo; the presence of an apparent
scar is not an evidence of fracture.

It is exceedingly doubtful if external violence can produce fracture of the
foetal thigh, as the foetus is so well protected by the amniotic liquid. If intra-
uterine force be held to be the cause of such fracture, such can only occur
during contractions of the uterus; there is, however, no case clearly proven
in which, during the stage of dilatation or of expulsion, uterine contractions
alone have caused fracture; the great frequency of births at full term, accom-
panied by so-called intra-uterine fracture, renders the theory that such frac-
tures are caused by the irritation of the uterus in premature birth scarcely
probable. In cases of fracture of the fcetal skull following severe injury to
the mother’s abdomen, rupture of the uterus is usually produced, and this
explains the occurrence of the foetal fracture.

In so-called intra-uterine fracture of the thigh it is indisputable that but
little callus is present, although the conditions are favorable for a very free
development of callus. In fractures of the clavicle, the occurrence of consid-
erable callus is best explained by defect in the development of the clavicle
during embryonic life. The conditions of embryonic life account for the
small amount of callus in malformations of the inferior extremities. Frac-
tures of the lower extremities with free development of callus show no defect
in the fibula or in the toes, such as is observed in cases of lack of develop-
ment, A microscopic examination in a case of flexion of the bones of the
forearm in a newborn child, with thickening of the bones at the point of
deformity, but without defect in the fingers, showed the same pathological
processes, and no characteristic callus of fracture.

The conclusion of Sperling’s research is that most of the cases where frac-
tures of the bones of the extremities are supposed to have occurred in utero
through violence are clearly cases of malformation and defective development.

OBSTETRICS. 615

An ANALYSIS OF TWENTY-FIVE CASES OF HYDATIDIFORM MOLE.

CRAIGIN reports in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1892, No. 10,
the resulis of his observations upon this subject. He finds that primipare
are not rarely affected, patients being younger than generally supposed; any
of the signs of normal pregnancy may be present. Cidema without albu-
minuria may be present, and uremia may be a complication. The discharge
of thin, watery blood, with occasional cysts, which has been described as
typical, is often lacking. The flow frequently resembles pure blood so closely
as to be mistaken for it. Profuse hemorrhage is not rare.

In diagnosis, in the early months it is often impossible. The passage of a
sound will often bring away cysts.

So far as treatment is concerned, the uterus should be emptied as soon as
possible. Where the cervix is long and the os rigid, a firm vaginal tampon
should be employed. When the tampon is removed there is great danger
of hemorrhage unless delivery is accomplished. So soon as the os and
cervix have softened under the use of the tampon, rapid dilatation by the
hand or by an instrument should be performed, and the uterus thoroughly
emptied. Hemorrhage will be usually profuse, but will cease when the
uterus is emptied. Under antiseptic precautions, mortality is low; in the
twenty-five cases, three perished, one of whom was beyond help when first
seen; another died of secondary cancer, and one from septicemia.

THE MODIFICATION OF LABOR IN CASES OF EXTREME MACERATION
OF THE F@TUS.

TOWNSEND, in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1892, No. 10,
describes eight cases of labor, and has examined the records of eighty cases,
in which the foetus was greatly macerated. In these cases expulsive pains
failed and dilatation of the birth-canal was deficient. It was necessary to
deliver the patients by manual interference; in some of the cases, under
anesthesia, in others without. The uterus not infrequently becomes ex-
hausted, and pains cease, not because expulsion is not in progress, but
because the uterine muscle has become tired. The os and cervix in such
cases are usually tense, and the attendant may be led into the error of sup-
posing that labor has entirely ceased and that interference is not demanded.
On the contrary, in cases where contractions have apparently ceased, leaving
the os and cervix partly dilated, but firm, the indication is to anssthetize
the patient and complete the delivery.

OVARIOTOMY DURING PREGNANCY.

In the Archiv fiir Gynékologie, 1892, Band xlii., Heft 3, DstRNE states the
conclusions drawn from the records of 135 cases of ovarian cysts complicating
pregnancy. From this study he believes that the. complication is a very
dangerous one to the pregnant woman, and that the danger increases as
pregnancy advances. Tapping the cyst and terminating pregnancy are alike
unnecessary ; ovariotomy gives the best results for the mother in the second,

616 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

third, and fourth months of pregnancy, and for the foetus during the third
and fourth months. When ovariotomy cannot be performed early in preg-
nancy, it is still possible to obtain good results by a late operation.

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE LOWER UTERINE SEGMENT.

De SEIGNEUX describes, in the Archiv fiir Gyndkologie, 1892, Band xlii.,
Heft 3, his observations upon this subject based upon the post-mortem
examination of three cases. In these cases the lower uterine segment was
clearly a part of the uterus, and not of its cervix. At the fifth month the
posterior wall of the inferior segment is not developed, while the anterior
wall is very small. In the parturient and puerperal uterus there is no line
of division between the uterine segment and the body, but a progressive
thinning of the uterine walls exists, extending to the cervix. No contraction
ring could be demonstrated. The puerperal uterus showed microscopic dif-
ferences in the arrangement of its muscle between the upper and lower
portions. No especial difference of structure was observed on microscopic
examination. In the preparations examined, the circular arrangement of
bands of muscle already described by Hofmeier was also observed.

THE TREATMENT OF ECLAMPSIA.

In an extended review of the literature of this subject, DiiHRssEN advises
dilatation of the uterus, if necessary, accompanied by multiple incisions of
the cervix and prompt delivery, followed by the use of the iodoform-gauze
tampon in cases of hemorrhage. His experience has cven so successful with
this method that he earnestly commends it after the eighth month of preg-
nancy as preferable to the Cesarean section and to less prompt methods of
delivery. Surgical narcosis is necessary, and the entire procedure must be
accompanied by careful antisepsis.— Archiv fiir Gyndkologie, 1892, Band xlii.,
Heft 3.

GYNECOLOGY.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF

HENRY ©. COE, M.D., M.B.CS.,

OF NEW YORE.

VENTRO-FIXATION OF THE UTERUS.

SpaETH (Miinchener med. Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 27) reports twenty-five
cases from Prochownik’s private clinic, the patients being under observation
from six months to six years. In all'but four cases the cure was permanent.
Pregnancy did not occur in any instance.

GYNECOLOGY.

CysTs OF THE HYMEN.

GoRL (Archiv fiir Gynakologie, Band xliv., Heft 3) reports a case of this
rare condition, being the first on record in which it was noted in an adult.
All the others were in newborn infants. Two theories have been advanced
to account for the formation of these cysts; according to some they arise from
the coalescence of the free edges of the converging folds of the hymen, while
Ziegenspeck believes that they develop by ingrowth of the epithelium cover-
ing the hymen into the subjacent tissue, the follicle thus formed becoming
closed so as to form a cyst. The latter seems to be the more probable expla-
nation.

CARCINOMA AND ENDOTHELIOMA OF THE OVARY.

MU.uerR (Jbid.) concludes a lengthy article on this subject with these
deductions: 1. If epithelial cells penetrate the blood or lymphatic vessels
of the ovary and begin to grow, a histological picture is presented which is
often not to be distinguished from endothelioma. 2. True carcinoma de-
velops in the lumina of the vessels, and the formation of papillary projections
in the interstitial spaces has not yet been observed; in doubtful cases this
may serve as an important point in the differential diagnosis.

ASCITES IN ITS RELATION TO GYNECOLOGY.

GussEROW (Ibid.) divides cases of ascites which come under the observa-
tion of the abdominal surgeon into four classes—those due to tuberculosis, to
papilloma of the ovaries, to malignant disease of the ovaries and peritoneum,
and to non-malignant conditions of the genital organs. He proves by
numerous cases that it is impossible to make a positive diagnosis by means
of explorative puncture alone, and pleads for the explorative incision instead,
as being equally harmless. Moreover, it is frequently found when the finger
is introduced that the cause of the ascites is removable, and that the patient
can be cured at once by removal of the neoplasm.

CysTs OF THE PANCREAS.

KRECKE (Miinchener med. Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 26) concludes a careful
review of the literature of these rare cysts, with some observations on the
diagnosis and treatment. They are most apt to be mistaken for ovarian cyst-
omata. It is important to note their origin in the upper half of the abdom-
inal cavity and their relation to the colon and stomach. Renal tumors
develop from either lumbar region, and bear a different relation to the trans-
verse colon. The presence of a cyst of the pancreas is to be suspected when
there is found a fluctuating’ tumor in the region of the umbilicus, which has
appeared after an injury or following an attack of gastro-enteritis. Exami-
nation shows that it lies behind the stomach and colon. The patient usually
has attacks of severe cardialgia and becomes emaciated. Explorative punc-
ture throws little or no light on the diagnosis, and is not devoid of danger.

618 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

Thirty-four cases have been reported in which operative interference was
attempted. In seven the cyst was extirpated, with a mortality of 57 per
cent. Twenty-seven were treated by incision and drainage, all the patients
recovering; most of them were permanently cured. The latter procedure is
accordingly preferable to extirpation.

PARTIAL NON-DEVELOPMENT OF THE UTERUS.

Scuauta (Internationale klin, Rundschau, 1892, No. 32) calls attention to a
little known form of defective uterine development in which the organ as a
whole appears to be perfectly normal, but some portions of its wall are con-
genitally thinner than others. In a case in Prague both Breisky and
himself noted during successive labors that in one spot near the right horn
of the parturient uterus the wall was so attenuated that it bulged out, giving
the impression of an adherent ovarian cyst; the foetal parts could be dis-
tinctly felt, during a labor-pain, inside of this pseudo-cyst. He observed
similar diverticula in two other cases at the Vienna clinic; in one, the
diagnosis was confirmed by Caesarean section. The only explanation of the
phenomenon seemed to be that before mentioned—an abnormal thinness of
the uterine wall at one point, which was exaggerated during labor. The
danger of rupture in such cases is, of course, great.

THE DECIDUA IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF EXTRA-UTERINE PREGNANCY.

AYERS (Amer. Journ. of Obstetrics, 1892, No. 3), from microscopical studies
of the normal and diseased endometrium, reaches these conclusions: In cases
of ectopic gestation the endometrium is usually transformed into decidua.
This decidual tissue is pathognomonic of pregnancy. It may be removed
with the curette for examination under the microscope, which, however,
merely reveals the presence of the characteristic cells. The clinical history
will then determine whether the condition is intra- or extra-uterine pregnancy.

ToTAL DISAPPEARANCE OF A FIBROID TUMOR AFTER APOSTOLI’S
TREATMENT.

SKENE KEITH (British Medical Journal, July 9, 1892) reports the case of a
lady, aged twenty-nine years, who had a uterine fibro-myoma, filling the
pelvis and causing the most profuse menorrhagia with constant pain. She
received thirty applications, the current having an average strength of
eighty-eight milliampéres, and each séance lasting five minutes. The symp-
toms were rapidly relieved and the tumor diminished in size. Six months
later she was free from pain and the flow was nearly normal. She was
examined a year after the suspension of treatment, when the uterus measured
only two and a half inches in depth (instead of four inches, as at first), and
no trace of a tumor could be found. A year later the cure was found to be
permanent and the patient was without symptoms. The writer insists on
the superiority of the electrical treatment to the removal of the adnexa, since

GYNECOLOGY. 619

in both the cure is to be regarded as merely symptomatic, the disappearance
of tumors of large size being a result which is not to be expected in either
case.
RAPID DILATATION OF THE UTERUS IN CASES OF UTERINE
HEMORRHAGE.

Routs (Practitioner, June and July, 1892) concludes a paper on this sub-
ject with this summary: In all cases of profuse menorrhagia the cavity of
the uterus should be explored, rapid dilatation of the cervix under anes-
thesia, by means of graduated bougies, being preferred, since the risk is
practically ni/. Even when tubal disease is present the operation is not
contra-indicated, since the former is often secondary to, or aggravated by,
endometritis. In cases of uterine fibro-myoma the immediate cause of the
hemorrhage may be endometritis or polypus, which should be removed
before proceeding to perform odphorectomy or hysterectomy. Dilatation
alone may relieve pain and hemorrhage. Preliminary dilatation and explo-
ration of the uterine cavity should precede Apostoli’s treatment.

THE TREATMENT OF URETERAL FISTULA.

KAMMERER (N. Y. Medical Journal, July 2, 1898*Teports two cases of
injury of the ureter during difficult abdominal operations, with resulting
uretero-abdominal fistula. In both instances a subsequent nephrectomy was
done with success. He discusses the proper course of immediate procedure
in cases in which the surgeon recognizes the accident during the operation.
If the injury is severe, and the patient’s condition will admit it, he would
perform nephrectomy at once; otherwise it would be better to transplant the
proximal end of the ureter into the abdominal wound. As the latter pro-
cedure is not easy, he thinks that it might even be possible to compress the
end of the ureter temporarily with forceps, shutting it off from the general
cavity with gauze, and then removing the forceps after a day or two, when a
uretero-abdominal fistula would be formed. -Hegar and Miiller are the only
ones who have attempted to close the fistula by re-uniting the ureter with the
bladder, with success in one instance.

THE FORMATION OF PERITONEAL ADHESIONS AFTER C@LIOTOMY.

ODEBRECHT (Centralblatt fiir Gyndkologie, 1892, No. 34) reports the case of
a patient upon whom he operated three times, the first time for retroflexion
with fixation of the uterus and ovaries. Ventro-fixation was performed, but
only the left ovary and tube were removed, as the right ovary was merely
cystic; the cysts were punctured. The patient had a normal convalescence,
but within a month after her discharge she began to complain of severe pain
in the right ovary.

A second section was performed six months after the first. There were
no intestinal adhesions or adhesions to the stump. The cysts in the right
ovary had refilled; it was removed with the tube. Convalescence normal as
before, but the patient soon began to complain of pain again, which was

620 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

localized at the upper end of the cicatrix, and was accompanied by excessive
gastric irritability. A month later the abdomen was opened for the third
time, and it was found that the omentum was slightly adherent to the ante-
rior abdominal wall, so as to cause traction upon the stomach. Nothing else
abnormal could be discovered. A perfect cure followed, the patient was up
at the end of the second week, and was free from pain and gastric symptoms.
The writer believes that omental adhesions may give rise to marked disturb-
ance of the stomach, by limiting its peristaltic movements. On the other
hand, the cause of persistent pain in cases of abdominal section is often
obscure. By suturing the peritoneum separately one often prevents adhesions
to the wound. These are also less likely to occur when antiseptics are
entirely dispensed with.

[We have reported a case in which a third cceliotomy failed to cure the
patient, the adhesions re-forming each time in spite of the greatest precau-
tions. In addition to persistent pain, she had more or less constant metror-
rhagia, although the absence of both ovaries and tubes was verified at the
second and third operations. This patient eventually died of acute intestinal
obstruction, due, doubtless, to the adhesion of a loop of gut to the cicatrix.
A fourth operation was refused.—H. C. C.]

CONSERVATIVE Ca@LIOTOMY.

SLAVIANSKY (Centralblati fiir Gynikologie, 1892, No. 35) would limit cas-
tration to those cases in which the ovaries are so diseased that the restoration
of their functions is impossible ; otherwise they are to be left undisturbed, or
only the diseased portions excised. In cases of cystic degeneration he would
not remove the ovary unless one or more of the cysts was suppurating, which
could be determined by incision of the gland. The larger cysts can be punc-
tured and the remaining portion sutured with catgut. Odphorrhaphy may
be employed in cases of prolapse. If it is patent, the contents of a diseased
tube may be squeezed out and the tube may be catheterized and cleansed.
It is often sufficient to separate adhesions around the adnexa.

RUDIMENTARY DEVELOPMENT OF MULLER’s Ducts.

GLAESER (Centralblatt fiir Gynikologie, 1892, No. 38) reviews the different
methods of operative procedure in cases of retention of menstrual blood due
to absence of the vagina. He agrees with Leopold that each case must be
treated according to the special indications. Ccliotomy should be per-
formed in doubtful cases where there are evidences of ovarian and tubal
trouble. If hematosalpinx is certainly recognized, abdominal section should
be done before an incision is made from below; but if a collection of blood
is present in the rudimentary vagina, it may be at once slowly evacuated.
If enlarged tubes remain after the uterus and vagina have been emptied,
celiotomy should be done at once.

LARYNGOLOGY. 621

DISEASES OF THE LARYNZX AND CONTIGUOUS
STRUOTURSS.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF
J. SOLIS-COHEN, M.D.,

OF PHILADELPHIA.

RHINOLITH.

An interesting example is related by Dk. RICHARD WAGNER (Miinch. med.
Wochenschr., No. 48). The first symptoms were observed in the second year
of the patient’s life, but it was not removed until twelve years later. It was
found completely wedged in the posterior portion of the right upper jaw,
where it had formed an almost cubical cavity without encroaching on the
patency of the nasal passage. The offending body was too large to be re-
moved anteriorly, and was withdrawn through the posterior outlet.

ABSCESS OF THE MAXILLARY SINUS.

Dr. DunpAs GRANT favors (Journ. Lar. and Rhin., No. 12) exploratory
puncture through the inferior meatus with a straight trocar and steel canula
three inches in length and a millimeter and a half in diameter, its proximal

extremity funnel-shaped to receive the nozzle of an ordinary syringe after
withdrawal of the trocar, for the purpose of washing the sinus with a warm,
clear, aseptic solution, usually of borax and boric acid.

MYXOMA OF THE SPHENOIDAL SINUS.

A small myxomatous polyp was found in a large sinus in a sphenoidal
bone of a lad thirteen years of age, who had had fracture of the frontal bone
two or three months before death, and who died during an “epistaxis. The
sphenoidal sinus was full of clotted blood, and communicated directly with
an opening in the left carotid artery, which had probably been caused at the
time of the accident. The case was reported by J. JAcKSON CLARK to the
Pathological Society of London, December 1, 1891, and Dr. Spicer remarked
that he knew of but one other instance of the sphenoidal sinus, a case
recorded by Zuckerkandl (Journ. Lar. and Rhin., 1892, No. 2).

SPECIFIC DISEASE OF TONSILS AND PALATINE FOLpDs.

In a paper (Indernat. klin. Rundschau, No. 44) on clinical and histological
changes in syphilitic tonsils and palatine folds, Pror. NEUMANN, of
Vienna, expresses the opinion that the predilection of tertiary syphilis to be
manifested in the same region in which the earlier lesions were manifested
is due to the fact that the initial cure was only apparent and that residual
portions of the infectious material have remained latent in the mouths of the
ducts of the various glands, and even in the interstices between the epithelial
cells.

622 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

The adhesions of soft palate, palatine folds, and uvula to the pharynx,
usually attributed to contact of granulating surfaces, is attributed by
Neumann rather to specific disease of the muscular apparatus of these
structures, which prevents the movements which would loosen adhering
granulations of the opposing surfaces. The movement of intact muscula-
ture is sometimes sufficient to tear off an adherent uvula from the palate.
Histologically, too, the characteristics of specific myositis are very evident.

HEMORRHAGE AFTER AMYGDALOTOMY.

Dr. BuissERET, of Brussels, contends (Rev. de Lar., d’ Otol., etc., No. 22) that
hemorrhage a few hours after the operation is favored by the previous appli-
cation of cocaine, which he attributes to vascular dilatation succeeding the
immediate constriction produced by the topical use of the drug.

MorsBip GROWTHS OF THE LARYNX.

Pror. CHIARI exhibited to the German Society of Naturalists and Physi-
cians (Internat. klin. Rundschau, No. 41) two cysts of the vocal bands,
one of which, the size of a bean, was attributed to an enlarged lymph space,
and the other, the size of a millet-seed, was attributed to some undetermined
softening process in the connective tissue. Microscopic cysts or such condi-
tions as readily lead to cystic formations had been detected by Chiari in
fifteen extirpated fibromas of the vocal bands. In none of the seventeen
instances were there any glands or remnants of glands. Strong differentia-
tion between actual cysts and cystic formations in morbid growths was not
sustainable with the knowledge that a small cyst in a growth might gradually
become so large as to constitute the main mass of the tumor, and then appear
as a special growth, as in the larger cyst exhibited, which had developed
from a fibroma.

ADENOMA OF THE LARYNX.

True adenoma of the larynx is rare. An example is recorded by SCHMIE-
GELOW, of Copenhagen (Rev. de Lar., dOtol., etc., No. 22) in a woman
forty-six years of age and in apparently good health. She began to grow
hoarse without assignable reason in July, 1887, but the hoarseness had never
been excessive. There were no pain, dysphagia, hemoptysis. December 15,
1887, Dr. M. OLSEN detected a neoplasm on the right side of the larynx, in
fragments of which he found a carcinomatous arrangement of the epithelial
elements with partial colloid degeneration. On February 2, 1888, the patient
was sent to Schmiegelow, who found the entire right ventricular band the
seat of considerable irregular vegetation of a pale-red color and ulcerous-
looking here and there. A small portion, the size of a common pea, near the
anterior commissure was separated by a groove from the other portion of the
neoplasm. On February 4th, after tracheotomy and laryngo-fissure, the
perichondrium and the muscles of the right half of the thyroid cartilage
were separated from it with blunt instruments, and the whole half of the
thyroid cartilage, the arytenoid cartilage, and the greater portion of the in-
ter-arytenoid fold were removed with curved scissors. Microscopic examina-

LARYNGOLOGY. _ 623

tion of the neoplasm showed it to be an adenoma. The patient did well and
was dismissed on March 27th. She continued to do well until the summer
of 1889, when she began to suffer with gastric disease attributed to carcinoma,
and died cachectic on December 12, 1889, without any evidence of local
recurrence in the larynx.

CARCINOMA OF THE LARYNX.

Dr. L. Licurwitz, of Bordeaux, reports (Annales des Mal. de I’ Or., etc.,
No. 11) a case of carcinoma of the left vocal band removed by laryngo-
fissure, with death five days later from hypostatic pneumonia. The inter-
esting points of the record are the difficulties of the operation, which con-
sumed more than three hours, owing to the difficulties in illuminating the
parts and interruptions from suffocative paroxysms, due to penetration of
blood into the bronchi despite the use of a tampon canula; and the reports
of Pror. WALDEYER on the specimens submitted to him from fragments
removed endolaryngeally, in which he regarded the sections as suspiciously
but not positively carcinomatous, and expresses his opinion that benign
papillary tumors may become carcinomatous. Several instructive engravings
embellish the record.

CEREBRAL DISEASE AFTER SIMPLE OPERATION IN THE NOSE.
Dr. WAGNER, of Halle, reports (Miinch. med. Wochenschr., No. 51), a case

of fatal meningitis after electric cauterization of the lower and middle tur-
binates in a male twenty years of age. Severe hemorrhages occurred on the
third day, requiring tamponing anteriorly and posteriorly. It did not appear
to come from the wounded surfaces, the eschars upon which had not yet
become detached. Fever supervened with intense headache in the frontal
region, and more moderate in the occipital region. The tampons were re-
moved at the end of sixty-three hours. The meningitis increased, and pains
and stiffness occurred in the cervical muscles and in the right shoulder and
arm, and steadily increased. Death ensued a week after removal of the
tampon.

Wagner refers to a case of fatal meningitis after extraction of a polyp,
reported by Voltolini, and to two cases reported by Quinlan (Med. Record,
Sept. 13, 1890; Journ. Resp. Organs, June, 1890), and calls attention to the
circumstance that the middle turbinate was involved in all the four instances.
He attributes the hemorrhage in his own case to thrombosis of the longitu-
dinal sinus, with consequent collateral stasis of the venous blood in the nasal
passages, and metastatic transfer of some of its broken constituents in the
upper extremity. The complications of meningitis are dependent upon the
anatomical relations of the venous and lymph currents, The veins of the
upper and middle turbinates empty into the longitudinal sinus through the
foramen cecum and the foramina of the cribriform plate of the ethmoid
bone, and the lymph channels of the nose communicate directly with the
subdural and subarachnoid spaces.

Hence infection is carried directly to the meninges by the latter path and
to the longitudinal sinus by the former.

PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

PADIATRICS.

UNDER THE CHARGE OF
LOUIS STARR, M.D.,

OF PHILADELPHIA ;
ASSISTED BY

THompson S. WEstTcoTT, M.D.,
OF PHILADELPHIA.

THE ETIOLOGY OF PRIMARY LARYNX-CROUP.

A contribution to the study of this subject is made in a recent paper by
E. FRANKEL (Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 24, p. 564), who
firmly combats the view held by certain German writers, Henoch in par-
ticular, that primary croup of the larynx is not a diphtheritic affection,
properly so-called, as it is not characterized by the presence of the Klebs-
Léffler bacillus.

The author has had occasion to observe recently four cases of primary
croup, in which autopsy showed the mucous membrane of the pharynx and
tonsils perfectly intact; but a complete bacteriological examination of the
false mentbrane, by staining, cultures, and experiments on animals, revealed
the specific bacillus of diphtheria among other microérganisms.

CHRONIC HYDROCEPHALUS IN HEREDITARY SYPHILIS.

HELLER (Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 26, p. 608) refers
to the not infrequently noted connection between hereditary syphilis and
hydrocephalus, and reports a case in an infant a few months old treated by
iodide of potassium. Under the influence of this drug the dimensions of the
head diminished, the intellectual development became normal, and, at the
end of a year, with the exception of a somewhat enlarged cranium, the child
differed in no respect from a healthy infant of that age. The author believes
that in all these cases of hydrocephalus it is important to bear in mind the
possibility of hereditary syphilis; and if this etiology is confirmed, active
antisyphilitic treatment may produce most happy results.

ANOTHER TREATMENT FOR DIPHTHERIA.

WILHELMY (Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, 1892, No. 5, p. 99)
describes a method of treatment which he has tried for twelve years with
remarkable success. When adopted at the beginning of the illness, it is
said to so influence the disease that it pursues its course very benignly.

The principle of the treatment consists in a thorough bathing of the throat
with a solution of chloride of zinc of 20 per cent. strength. This solution
has the power of penetrating quite deeply into the infected parts, but sparing
those which are covered with healthy epithelium. For this purpose he uses
an applicator curved at its extremity, around which is rolled absorbent cotton

P ZDIATRICS. 625

to be soaked in the solution. The curve enables the operator to reach the
posterior face of the tonsils, the uvula, and part of the naso-pharynx. A
tongue-depressor is invariably required.

The pain is quite sharp, but does not last more than twenty minutes, and
is quite efficaciously controlled by iced water or fragments of ice held in the
mouth. In spite of this quite intense cauterization, it is said that no edema
has been observed. After the application, and on the following day, the
author prescribes a gargle composed of 300 grammes of lime-water, 30 of
glycerine, with a few drops of essence of peppermint; and a diet of wine
and meat pulp is ordered. At the end of three to six days the eschars become
detached and the underlying mucous membrane appears healthy.

RESULTS AFTER RESECTION OF RIB FOR CURE OF EMPYEMA.

E. B. Hastines and HarFrorpD N. Epwarps (Lancet, August 20, 1892, p.
414) give a report of the present condition of 24 children upon whom this
operation was performed at the East London Hospital for Children. In 2
cases, seven years had elapsed; four to five years in 4 cases; three to four
years in 2 cases; two to three years in 7 cases; one to two years in 6 cases;
and less than one year in 3 cases.

The etiology in most of the cases was doubtful, the patients having been
brought to the hospital only when the disease had reached a more or less
chronic stage; but it was stated to have been the result of pleuro-pneumonia
in some of them, and it was probably a sequel of this disease in most cases.

At the time of examination the authors state that the healthy appearance
of the children in most cases was very striking, especially when one con-
siders the unfavorable hygienic surrounding of the class of population from
which most of the patients were drawn. There was pain in the affected side
in 2 cases, but only occasionally. In 8 there was a history of cough, but in
only 1 was this said to be severe. Four of these 8 cases had slight bronchitis
when examined, and another had granular pharyngitis, to which the cough
was probably due. Two of the 8 were said also to suffer from shortness of
breath. One child was stated to be wasting, but in her case the wound con-
tinued to discharge for nearly two years ; she had had scarlatina during this
time, and the physical signs suggested dilated bronchi.

Careful physical examination revealed a completeness of recovery in the
majority of ‘cases which was surprising. The genera] nutrition was good in
19 cases, and fair in 5. In the majority of cases inspection of the chest gave
no indication of disease beyond the presence of the scar. The spine was
straight in 19 cases, slightly curved in 3, and distinctly curved in the remain-
ing 2. In 15 patients the shoulders were on the same level ; in 7 the shoulder
on the side on which the empyema had been was slightly lower, and in 2
this shoulder was distinctly lower. In no case was there marked flattening
of the chest wall; in 16 there was no flattening, and in 8 only a slight degree
of deformity. The resected portion of rib appeared to be replaced by bone
in all the cases. No difference could be made out between the movements
of the two sides in 14 cases; in 8 the expansion was slightly less on the
diseased side, and in 2 cases this difference was distinct. The results of
percussion were as follows: Complete absence of dulness was found in 8

626 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

cases; in 7 there was some dulness in the immediate neighborhood of the
scar; in 5 there was slight dulness over a more extensive area; and in the
remaining 4 there was distinct dulness. The breath sounds were unaltered
in character and equal on the two sides in 10 cases; in 2 they were rather
weaker in the situation of the scar; in 10 there was weakness of breath sounds
over a considerable area of the diseased side as compared with the healthy
side; and in the remaining 2 the breath sounds were distinctly weak on the
affected side. The position of the heart’s apex was, in the majority of cases,
close to the left nipple line.

These results point to good recovery of the lung in nearly all the cases.
The completeness of recovery is surprising when it is considered how seriously
ill the child generally is before operation; how profuse is the discharge of
pus after operation; and to what an extent the physical signs are altered,
even after the wound has healed. When discharged from the hospital, de-
formity, impaired movement of the chest, dulness, and weakness of breath
sounds are generally quite distinct.

THE GALVANO-CAUSTIC TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA.

BLOEBAUM (Deutsche Medizinal-Zeitung, 1892, No. 1, p. 1) believes that
diphtheria is a bacterial affection, primarily local, and that an antiseptic
treatment, at once efficient and yet harmless to the patient, is the great
desideratum. Imitating the practice of ophthalmologists in the use of the
galvano-cautery as an alterative and disinfectant in grave infectious condi-

tions of the eye, he has experimented with this instrument upon diphtheritic
inflammations since 1885, at first upon pigeons and later upon human
patients. He states that this agent is a concentrated antiseptic whose
destructive action can be strictly limited to the affected parts, killing the
microbes and destroying the focus of infection. It does not excite inflam-
mation, but rather encourages regenerative processes. When the loop of the
cautery is brought in contact with the affected spot, the false membrane is
consumed and removed with the withdrawal of the instrument, while the
astringent action of the heat checks all hemorrhage. After the cauterization
an insufflation of dermatol is given. The temperature begins to fall three
hours after the operation, and at the end of twenty-four hours has become
normal, while the swelling of the infiltrated mucous membrane quickly
diminishes and cure is rapidly established. This treatment, to the exclusion
of all others, has been employed by the author in forty cases of well-marked
diphtheria, without a single death. Cure has resulted in a period of from
one to five days, the average duration being three days.

CHOREA IN THE NEGRO.

Dr. Puiuip 8. Roy, of Washington (Medical Record, 1892, vol. xlii., No.
8, p. 215), calls attention to the fact that not only Hammond, in his work on
Nervous Diseases, but also Mitchell, and, after him, Allan McLane Hamilton,
state that chorea is unknown in the negro. The author recalls that he him-
self was among the first to refute this statement four years ago; and he now
is able to report a very marked case of the disease in a full-blooded negro
child, seven years of age.

P HEDIATRICS.

APPENDICITIS IN CHILDREN.

Four cases are reported in an interesting paper by Perret (Lyon Médical,
1892, tome lxx., No. 26, p. 279). The first two occurred in girls of eleven
and a half and twelve and a half years respectively, and both recovered
under a purely expectant treatment. The third and fourth cases, both fatal,
are particularly valuable because of the autopsies, which, taken in con-
junction with the physical signs observed before death, shed some light on
the question of surgical intervention.

Of these two cases the first concerned a girl aged six years, sick about ten
days before coming under observation, with general malaise, pain in the
abdomen, headache, diarrhwa for the preceding two days, but no vomiting.
The belly was uniformly swollen and painful, with some increased tenderness
in the right hypochondrium. No fluctuation or dulness could be made out.
Stools were frequent, liquid, of a yellowish color, mixed with some clear
glairy mucus, but no blood; tenesmus. Pulse very small, temperature 104°.
The next day sudden vomiting came on, and death supervened in three hours.
On opening the abdomen the peritoneum and intestines were found injected,
with numerous patches of false membrane between the coils ; quite a quantity
of blood-stained effusion and free pus in the true pelvis, and upon its sides.
The appendix, of the size of the little finger, was found extending upward
and behind the cecum, to which, however, it was not adherent. There was
no perforation or ulceration, but its lumen was dilated, and at its terminal
portion contained healthy pus.

The other case occurred in a girl of seven years. The history showed that
a year before she had had a fall upon the right side followed by severe pain
in the right iliac fossa. A second attack of pain in this location, with con-
stipation and several attacks of vomiting, had occurred two months before the
last illness, and had lasted two or three days. Four days before observation,
without appreciable cause, she had been seized with sudden and violent pain
in the same position as before, with repeated vomiting and absolute consti-
pation, attended by extreme general abdominal tenderness, especially marked
in the right iliac fossa, but without any appreciable dulness or fluctuation
under the most careful and repeated examination. In this case the continued
aggravation of the symptoms led to surgical intervention, and several incisions
were made, free pus being obtained from a median incision, The appendix
was removed and proved to be reddened and swollen, and showed a perfora-
tion. The true pelvis also contained pus, which was partly evacuated by a
counter-opening through the vagina. The child died of exhaustion several
days later, and the autopsy showed a small pocket between the omentum and
transverse colon which had escaped the knife.

These four cases of appendicitis permit of division into two distinct classes :
the first two being acute, with a circumscribed peritonitis; the last two, also
acute, with a more or less immediately generalized peritonitis.

These last two cases prove most conclusively that the absence of dulness
to be demonstrated in cases of general peritonitis does not disprove the pres-
ence of liquid or purulent effusion, and is, therefore, not a contra-indication
to operation, for the pus may be more or less diffused in patches, or collected
in small foci imprisoned by recent adherences, or accumulated in the pelvis,

628 PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.

and thus escape detection by the most careful examination. Added to this
is the fact that in the case of children Tripier’s sign can scarcely be evoked
as a help in doubtful cases.

These observations, therefore, show that it is necessary to establish a clear
distinction between appendicitis with circumscribed peritonitis and appen-
dicitis with peritonitis at once or rapidly generalized. In the former cases
the author advises a purely medical treatment, with careful watching, being
ready to operate if any accident occur, or when general or local signs render
very probable the existence of a focus of suppuration. In the other cases he
thinks that it is necessary to operate at once without being deterred by the
apparent absence of effusion. The incision should be large, and, if necessary,
several incisions should be made, so that no concealed focus of suppuration
may escape.

TREATMENT OF TUBERCULAR RETRO-PHARYNGEAL ABSCESS.

KRAMER (Centralblatt f. Chirurgie, 1892, No. 12, p. 233) advances the
proposition that a tubercular retro-pharyngeal abscess (cervical spondylitis)
should not be opened by the mouth, as this prevents any rational treatment
of the diseased bone. Such abscesses he thinks should be opened externally,
either by the method of Chiene (incision along the posterior border of the
sterno-mastoid, beginning at the mastoid apophysis), or by that of Burkhardt,
by an incision along the inner border of the sterno-mastoid, where the verte-
bral column can be reached between the larynx and the inner side of the
thyroid vessels and the primitive carotid, In this way such an abscess can
be treated as any other tubercular abscess: scraping of its wall, and of the
bone itself, if necessary, and tamponing with iodoform gauze.

Burkhardt’s method was chosen by the author in treating a case of abscess
originating in a tubercular spondylitis of the third and fourth cervical ver-
tebre in a little girl of four and a half years, who had previously presented
other manifestations of osseous tuberculosis. The operation was easy, and
the hemorrhage so slight that not a single vessel needed ligation. Cure was
effected in three weeks.

CorricenpuM.—On page 432 (Ist line, 2d paragraph), of the October Journat, in Dr.
D. D. Stewart’s paper, “ Treatment of Aneurism,” for “ 24 inches” read “ 2} feet.”

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