ERGOTISM AND EYE AFFECTIONS

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ton on Cortical Centres for Movements of the Anus and

Vagina, (demonstration). On the third day : Professor Gotch- (Liverpool) on Temperature and Excitability (with demon-.’stration); Dr. Bayliss (London) on the Depressor Nerve ;Professor Burdon Sanderson and Mr. Burch (Oxford) on the’Capillary Electrometer and Observations on Muscular Con-traction ; Dr. Waller (London), Myothermal Observationsupon Man (with demonstration). It was agreed to hold thenext Congress in 1895 at Berne, in the Physiological Instituteof the University, under Professor Hugo Kronecker. The

general secretaries chosen for the next Congress are—for theTrench language, Professor Arloing ; for the German lan-

guage, Professor Exner; for the English language, ProfessorSherrington.

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FEVER IN LONDON.

IT is somewhat disturbing to learn that the scarlet feverprevalence in London shows no sign of abatement, and thatthe admissions have begun to exceed the discliargcs from thehospitals. The result of this is that the hospitals are full,and already we hear of cases being treated at their own

homes. In the meantime the preparation of the new hospitalat Tottenham is being pressed forward. We trust that the

Asylums Board may be enabled to open this as quickly aspossible in order to prevent the home treatment of scarletfever. -

SICKNESS AND MORTALITY OF ROSS ANDCROMARTY.

DR. BRUCE, in his report for 1891, endeavours to give anidea of the diseases of this district. Taking the sickness

from the records of his own private practice for the threeyears 1870,1871 and 1872, and again for the three years 1883,1884 and 1885, he had the following number of cases :

Consumption, 30 ; whooping-cough, 30 ; epidemic pneu-

monia, 30 ; typhoid fever, 23 ; diphtheria, 14 ; and rheu-matic fever, 6. In the first three years he had three casesof cancer, in the latter three years ten cases. In the earlier

period no scarlet fever, in the latter twelve cases. Owing tothe large proportion of uncertified cases the death returns arevery incomplete, as we elsewhere remark, but we may give ethe chief factors in the order of fatality, if only to enhancethe reflections we make in another column. Consumptioncauses a mortality of 1’68 per 1000 living ; the deaths fromdiphtheria or croup, a "terrible record," are 131, or 0 ’543

per 1000 ; measles causes 73 deaths, equal to 0-300 per 1000living ; cancer 67, equal to 0 ’284 per 1000 ; diarrhoea 61, equalto a rate of 0258 ; typhoid fever 19, equal to 0080 per 1000 ;scarlet fever 14, equal to 0059 ; puerperal fever 13, equalto 0055 ; tetanus 11, equal to 0’047. We assume that these"tetanic" cases are mostly infantile, of the nature of trismusneonatorum, and if so they are not the least significant-indi-cation of the insanitary condition of dwellings and of the pre-ventableness of the mortality in these parts. ,

INTERNATIONAL DERMATOLOGICAL CONGRESS.

THE foreign and Austrian members of this Congress met on Ithe 6th inst. at a social gathering at the Kaiserhoff, when itappeared that in spite of the outbreak of the cholera epidemicthe attendance of members of the Congress from foreign Icountries will be a good one, though the arrival of manyFrench, English, American and German members was

delayed by the quarantine measures of the continentalstates. The Congress was opened on Wednesday at theUniversity Hall by Professor Kaposi, who addressed themeeting in the German, French and English languages, in’ presence of the officials delegated by the Austrian Ministers ;,;and the City of Vienna. Professor Hardy of Paris, havinbeen elected president, gave an address which he styled"Coup d’Œil sur l’État Actuel de 1a Dermatologie." He

gave a sketch of the development of modern dermatology from

tho time of the school of the St. Louis Hospital, where

Mayer, Cazonove, Gibert and Dovergic laid the first founda-

tion of scientific dermatology. lie then pointed out

the great merit due to Erasmus Wilson and Hebrn,, who

inaugnrated the anatomioal study of skin diseases and he ex-plained finally the importance of bacteriology and of modernneurology in the development of dermatology. The first

subject of discussion was leprosy, but as Dr. Petersen of

St. Petersburg and Dr. Arning of Hamburg were absent onaccount of the outbreak of the cholera in their respectivecountries, the thesis prepared by Dr. Arning was read by thegeneral secretary.

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THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL.

WE have been informed that the name of ex-ProfessorJohn Struthers has been mentioned in Scotland as a fittingsuccessor to the late Sir George Macleod in the GeneralMedical Council. Dr. Struthers resigned his seat for the

University of Aberdeen, much to the regret of most of hisfellow-councillors, who appreciated the good work he haddone on the Education Committee ; and although he hadnot, and as we are informed has not, any intention of be-coming a candidate, yet we understand that he would acceptthe Crown nomination if offered to him.

TYPHOID FEVER AND ICE CREAM.

DR. GEORGE TURNER is said to have informed the London

County Council that he has traced an outbreak of entericfever to the distribution of infected ice cream by Italianstreet vendors living at Deptford. The Council has properlyurged on the local sanitary authorities attention to this

possible source of danger. -

ERGOTISM AND EYE AFFECTIONS.

DR. RoBTNEFF relates in the Russian Op7tthalniie Rezaervsome results of an epidemic of ergotism which recently ragedin the Viatka Government, affecting 2000 persons. This was

due to diseased rye having been employed in the making ofbread. About two months after the commencement of the

epidemic a good many patients came to the dispensary, com-plaining of trouble with their eyes. Some of them had tem-

porary attacks in which vision was diminished to -f 1 -61 or

even less, the fundi being very pale ; and simultaneouslywith the eye trouble there was trembling of the limbs.Others complained of persistent impairment of vision, andthese were found to have cataract which could not be dis-

tinguished from ordinary senile cataract. Maturation took

place in from three to twelve months and was especially rapidin the case of children, some of whom were only six years ofage.

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THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE TOXICITY OFPHOSPHORUS IS AFFECTED BY TURPENTINE.THE utility of turpentine in cases of phosphorus poisoning

has been submitted to a very thorough investigation byDr. Bush of Dorpat, who employed cats, dogs, a rabbit anda cock for his experiments. The phosphorus was administeredin amounts larger than the minimum lethal doses, either hypo-dermically or in the form of emulsion by the mouth, andan hour or an hour and a half subsequently an emulsionof turpentine was given. The results showed that turpentinehas the power of hindering to a certain extent the toxic actionof the phosphorus. In addition to the use of turpentine incases of acute phosphorus poisoning Dr. Bush advises thatemetics should be given and that the stomach should bewashed out. He estimates that doses exceeding the lethaldose by 0’001 grm. per kilogramme of body weight may berendered non-fatal by means of turpentine. The explanationof its action is that it forms a compound analogous to theterebinthino-phosphoric acid described by Koehler and byhimself, this body being less toxic than the phosphorus con.tained in it.