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vately requested Professor Grant, who wasnearest to it, to place his hands. The girlpnshed the door, and in a few seconds fellasleep. This was performed in the ante-roombefore a crowd of gentlemen who afterwardstestified to the fact.(The remainder of our Report must be

given next week.)

CURE OF TORTICOLLIS BY SECTIONOF THE MUSCLE.

It our last Number we published someremarks by M. J. Guerin on the cure of tor-ticollis by section of the sterno-cleido-mas-toid muscle. In the 11 Archives Generales,"for May, 1838, we find an interesting me-moir on the same subject by M. Fleury,which was published before that of M.

Guerin, and of which the following is ananalysis :—The author commences by a description

of two species of torticollis; one, generallycongenital, depends on a primitive change ofstructure in the bones of the neck ; in thesecond, the soft parts only are affected ;this latter species of torticollis may dependon a variety of causes, of which rheuma-tism is by far the most frequent. In othercases it is produced by neuralgia, tic dou-loureux, &c.Rheumatismal torticollis frequently af.

fects children, and is readily subdued by theusual remedies employed against rheuma-tism. On the contrary, spasmodic torticol-lis, not connected with rheumatism, is some-times a very obstinate disease. In mostcases it is produced by contraction of thesterno cleido-mastoid muscle (Boyer), andespecially by the sternal portion of the mus-c!e: but Stromeyer has seen the deformityproduced by the clavicular portion; andGooch mentions a case of torticollis occa-

sioned by spasm of the platysma myodes.Numerous methods have been proposed

for the cure of torticollis. Mechanicalmeans generally fail. Stromeyer saw a childon whom maclinery had been tried for threeyears without the slightest advantage. In-termi medicaments do not seem to act moreefficaciously, and an operation, generallyspeaking, affords the only chance of a radi-cal cure being obtained. But to what ope-ration is the surgeon to have recourse ?

Buaisky, of St. Petersburg, regarding thedisease as a neuralgy, divided the two ac-cessory nerves of Willis, but without pro-ducing any effect. The division of theaffected muscle was next tried, but variousmodes of operating were employed.Some surgeons divided the skin, cellular

ti;sue, and muscles by successive strokes ofthe knife, and this method has recently been

followed by Dupuytren, Roux, Magendie,and Amussat.The second process consisted in dividing

one of the tendinous attachments of the con-tracted muscle. This was first done byRoanhuysen in 1774, but soon fell into obli-vion. It was taken up, however, by Du-puytren, who repeated it with success in1822, and again by Stromeyer, in 1836, sincewhich time the operation has frequently beenperformed by the German surgeons.

After the preceding historical sketch, M.Fleury proceeds to the detail of a case oflong-standing torticollis cured by divisionof the tendon of the sterno-cleido-mastoidmuscle. A girl, nineteen years of age, afterfrequent attacks of pain and convulsivemovements of the muscles of the neck, be-came affected with torticollis. On the 3rdof February, 1838, she entered the H6tl’Dieu, where local treatment was employed:without any effect; the patient was unwil-ling to summit, to an operation, and went tothe H6pital St. Louis, in hope of derivingbenefit from the baths, but was again dis--appointed. She now consented to an opera-tion being performed, and this was done bythe author on the llth of March. The pa-tient was seized with delirium and verysevere symptoms soon after the operation,but these yielded to antispasmodics, and acomplete cure was obtained on the 20th ofMarch.—Jh’cA. Général., May 1838.

WOUND OF THE ASCENDING ARCHOF THE AORTA.

SPONTANEOUS CURE.

THE following remarkable case shows to °what an extent the curative powers of na ture may occasionally be carried:-

J. H., 32 years of age, a strong robust sot-dier of the Bavarian army, received in 1812,a stab of a knife, which penetrated the chestbetween the fifth and sixth ribs. The manfell to the earth without consciousness, andremained there for more than an hour expos-ed to extreme cold. In this situation he wasdiscovered by Dr. Neil, of Bramberg, who,although the patient seemed on the point ofdeath, thought it right to bring the edges ofthe wound together, and had the man con-veyed to the hospital. At the expiration oftwo or three hours, the hæmorrhage con-tinuing abundantly, the man came to himselfbut could distinguish nothing; he was af-fected with an incurable amaurosis. After-a few weeks the wound healed completely;-the man now left the hospital, and to con-sole himself for his infirmity gave himselfup to drink, which at length in 1813, broughton a fatal pneumonia.On examining the body it was found that

the wound traversed the lungs completelyacross, the entrance and exit of the knife

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being marked by cicatrices ; at the level ofone of the cicatrices a solution of continuitywas discovered in the ascending aorta ; itwas about a quarter of a line in length, andclosed with firm fibrine. The artery wasnow removed with caution, and divided in-ternally, when a small cicatrix correspond-ing with the external lesion, was discoveredin the inner parietes of the vessel, thusshowing that the three coats of the arteryhad been divided by the instrument,—Arch.Général., May 1838.

CASE OF CLAIRVOYANCE.

M. DESPINE, Inspector of the MineralWaters of Aix and Savoie, lately communi-cated the following case of clairvoyance tothe Royal Academy of IYTedecine :-

Sophie Laroche, sixteen years of age, be-came somnambulist at the age of eight, inconsequence of fright, and for the last fouryears has been affected with complete andgeneral paralysis ; she has been confined tobed since the 1st January, 1834.

Since then the nature of the crises variedconsiderably, and, in order to watch themwith greater care M. Despine took the girlinto his house. When the crisis is on (con-tinues M. Despine) the child hew’s, sees,reads, tastes, and touches with the feet andhands. I saw her do so at Virieu ; I seeher do so here every day. My son and M.Mercier (physician to the families of Broglieand Staël), witnessed the phenomena, a salso did the sous-prefect, and hundreds of other witnesses. — Bul. de l’Acad. Roy.,April, 1838.

CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE EATERS

ROBERT H. CRISP.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SiR :-In his 34th Lecture on Medical

Jurisprudence, published in THE LANCET ofthe 27th of May, 1837, Professor Thomsonspeaks of " a Turk at Constantinople whoacquired the habit of eating corrosive subli-mate until he at length took one drachm ofit daily." - He afterwards proceeds to say,that " the case was first mentioned by Dr.Pouqueville; it was then doubted and cri-ticised by Mi. Thornton, but it was after-wards veritied by Lord Byron, and lastlyby Sir John Hobhouse." Now, as theonly allusion to be found in Lord Byron’swritings is to the following effect,-" Dr.Pouqueville tells a long story of a Moslemwho swallowed corrosive sublimate," andfalls far short of a verification of what was,if true, a most extraodinarv fact, perhapsthe learned Professor will make us acquaint-ed with the means by which Sir J. Hob-house verified the matter. Until this is

done I am of opinion that medical juristswill fully concur with Dr. Christison in

having little hesitation in avowing theirdisbelief in corrosive sublimate eaters iugeneral, and in the veracity of the aboBe-mentioned Moslem in particular. I am, Sir,vour obedient servant.

Peterborough, May 8th, 1838.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

i A Constant Reader. Something depencl.;on the state of health of the person ; but if

that be tolerably good, the habit is salutary,Mr. Edmonds’s paper will be inserted atthe earliest opportunity.The printed extract from some newspaper

has been received.The Inhabitant of Erentfoud, who wrote Bregarding the inquest, forgot to say on what

day it would be held. ’

The facts stated by 1lledicus have beenmany times stated and illustrated in thisJournal. They may be repeated with effecton another occasion.

R. Thomas. We are unable to answer thequery addressed to us in a positive manner,

I The mass should have been deprived of

all its moisture, but this would probablyhave injured the materiel alluded to as anarticle of food.We beg to inform our Correspondent in

Finsbury, that we never give medical ad.vice through the medium of THE LANCET.We are sorry to say that Mr. l’on’s accound

of the wounds inflicted on the body of ElizaGrimwood, who was found dead in a housein the Waterloo-road, on the 26th of May,reached us too late for insertion in THE Lav-CET of this week. It shall appear in thenext numberWe have to acknowledge the receipt of a

variety of petitions, remonstrances, state-

merits, and reasons, relative to the Irish, Medical Charities Bill, from the Associatimlof Physicians, Dublin; the Professors of theSchool of Physic, Ireland; the President arbd^ Fellows of the King and Queen’s College ofPhysicians; the Faculty of Physicians andSurgeons of Glasgow, and the Governors and

Guardians of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital,

BOOK RECEIVED.

A Practical Compendium of the MateriaMedica, with numerous Formulm, adaptedfor the Treatment of the Diseases of In.fancy and Childhood. By Alexander Ure,M.D.This and the works noticed in the last

LANCET, have been received from M. Schloss,I Great Russell-street.