tion. When it falls off, there is generally observed a decided modification of the diseased surface. A few applications are sufficient to effect a cure in a great many instances. The Vienna powder and paste are remedies of great power in certain cases of lupous ulceration. They are composed of equal parts of powderd quicklime and potassa cum calce. In using it, we take a portion this mixture, and add a small quantity of spirits of wine to bring the powder to the consistence of a paste. A piece of adhesive plaster, with a hole in it of the size of the intended eschar, should be laid over the diseased surface, and the paste is then applied upon the exposed part. It is to be left on for ten or twenty minutes, according to the depth of the eschar that is wished, and the ability of the patient to endure the pain. The chloruret of zinc paste is much used in the present day. It is made by mixing one part of this substance with one or two parts of flour, moistening the mixture with as little water as possible. The pain produced by this application usually lasts for several hours. A greyish-coloured eschar is formed; and this, in most cases, remains attached for two or three weeks before it is separated. The surface underneath is generally not ulcerated. M. Cazenave very frequently has recourse to this caustic in certain cases of lupus, to destroy the non-ulcerated tubercles. For this purpose, he usually applies only a very thin layer of the paste, so as not to destroy the entire tubercle; and in this manner he often succeeds in effecting a complete resolution of it, without any scar being left behind. In very many cases of long-standing and deeply-corroding lupous ulceration, he gives the preference to the Arsenical paste over the two others which we have mentioned its action is two-fold; local as a caustic; and general by becoming absorbed, and exercising a potent alterative or modifying influence upon the economy. The following is the formula which he invariably uses : Take of White oxyde of arsenic, 2 parts. Animal charcoal in powder, 2 parts. When used, a small quantity of this powder is to be made into a thin paste by the addition of a few drops of water; this is put upon the denuded surfacewhich should seldom or never exceed in extent that of a franc-piece. This application usually produces not only very sharp pain, but also a severe erysipelatous swelling, which lasts for 24 or 36 hours, and is sometimes accompanied with grave constitutional symptoms. Generally these subside very quickly; and then there remains on the cauterized part a hard brown crust, which often adheres for nearly a month, before it is detached. Fluid caustics.-M. Cazenave frequently makes use of a solution of the Sulphate of Copper for the removal of those small warts that often form upon the shoulders and back, and also of certain pediculated horny productions, which occasionally appear upon these parts. A stronger solution must be used for the latter form of cuticular excrescence. In the treatment of Favus and Tinea, he recommends a weak solution either of this salt of Copper, or of the nitrate of Silver, or of Acetic Acid. Of fluid caustics, one of the most potent and useful is the acid nitrate of Mercury. When used to the surface pure and undiluted, it acts as a mere caustic; but when considerably weakened, and especially when applied to a large surface, it is unquestionably absorbed, and then it acts on the system. It usually causes a good deal of pain and inflammatory swelling. The cases most benefited by its application are those of Lupus, in which the ulceration is extensive and not deep-seated. The erysipelatous inflammation, which this as well as other caustics-more especially the arsenical paste-are apt to produce, need not be much dreaded; nay, the effects of the cutaneous Phlegmasia seem sometimes to be decidedly salutary in the end.-Annales des Maladies de la Peau, Oct. 1844. M. Gibert has recorded in a recent No. (Oct. 1844) of the Revue Medicale, a case of severe scrofulous Lupus of the face, in which the progress of the disease was arrested and the extensive ulcerated surface became cicatrized under the employment, external as well as internal, of cod-liver oil. The use of this medicine was steadily persevered in for a full year and a half. During this time not only did the local malady become healed, but the general health-which had formerly been very weak and ailing-was very decidedly improved. The patient was a young woman, and the disease had existed for nearly six years. On one occasion she had derived very considerable benefit from the internal administration of the deuto-ioduret of Mercury, and the external use of the proto-ioduret ointment; but the benefit was temporary only. She had been subjected to a regular and protracted course of iodine treatment; but certainly with no advantage. CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE IN EPILEPSY. In an elaborate article upon the Neuroses of the Ganglionic Nerves by M. Merat, Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine, we find the following remarks:"Since the year 1810, I have been in the habit of administering the Corrosive Sublimate in the treatment of several nervous diseases, and more especially of Epilepsy. I have witnessed decidedly successful results from its use in a good many-but certainly, it must be confessed, not in the majority-of the cases of this malady. The formula, which I use, will be found in the Dispensatory of Bouchardant (ed. 1840, p. 394.) A pill, consisting of a sixteenth part of a grain of the Sublimate, one grain of Camphor, three-fourths of a grain of Opium, and half a grain of Musk, is given daily; this dose is to be increased every eight days by an additional pill of the same ingredients. Some patients have been able to take one or even two grains of the sublimate in the course of the twenty-four hours. As a general rule, I have never wished to exceed half a grain at most; unwilling to run the risk of inducing a black colour of the skin, as has happened to some patients after a protracted use of the drug."—Revue Medicale, Oct. 1844. CASE OF DRACUNCULUS OR GUINEA WORM. Towards the close of the year 1843, a man, who had returned from Senegal, was admitted into the St. Antoine Hospital, at Paris, for a small furuncular swelling on the dorsom of the left foot. It had existed for about a month, and was accompanied with intolerable itching in the part. An incision was made upon it, and next day, M. Maisonneuve observed that a white filament projected from the wound this was drawn out to the extent of about nine inches, and then it broke across. Another boil formed a little way below the head of the fibula; and as there was a tortuous, somewhat indurated, and painful subcutaneous line, extending from this point towards the calf of the leg, the skin was divided in two places, and an entire worm drawn out: it was of the thickness of a crow-quill, and upwards of two feet in length; it much resembled in appearance the vas deferens. The purulent matter from the two abscesses was carefully examined with the microscope; and, in that from the second one, there were observed myriads of minute animalcules, that moved about with great rapidity. On examining the worm itself, a milky fluid was perceived to be contained at one part of its tubular body. In this fluid too, numerous animalcules, similar to those which we have alluded to, were detected by the aid of the microscope. M. Maisonneuve very reasonably concludes that these embryotic Dracunculi may readily insinuate themselves under the skin in persons who are in the habit of walking about with naked feet in such countries as that of Senegal. There is therefore no occasion to have recourse to the very questionable doctrine of Spontaneous Generation to account for the development of these subcutaneous entozoa. It is probable that the worm, when developed under the integuments, remains quiet until the period for discharging its ova has arrived, and then it makes an effort to perforate the skin, and become liberated for that purpose.-Archives Generales de Medicine, Dec. 1844 ON THE PERIODIC DISCHARGE OF OVA, And the FunCTION OF The following propositions embody the most important conclusions that have been formed by the best authorities on this highly curious subject. 1. Menstruation commences at the period of the maturity of the ovules. 2. The final cessation of the catamenial secretion coincides with the abolition of the formative function of the germs. 3. The ovaries of women, who have ceased to menstruate, never contain the appearance of any vesicles that have recently burst, or that are about to do so (Negrier.) 4. At each menstrual period, the highly excited state of the ovaries induces in the female a decided propension to coition. 5. The aptitude for fecundation is greatest on those days that immediately precede the menstrual discharge. 6. In all the lower animals, the ovaria become tumid during the season of rutting. 7. Women, in whom there is a congenital absence of the ovaria, never truly menstruate, however perfect may be the structure of the uterus and other parts of the generative system. 8. The extirpation of these organs puts a complete stop to menstruation, in cases where this function had been already established. 9. Women, in whom there is a congenital absence of the uterus, but in whom the ovaria are normally developed, experience every month all the phenomena of menstruation, the sanguineous discharge alone excepted. 10. The catamenial secretion ceases completely in women, in whom the ovaria have become affected with organic degeneration. 11. It has been asserted by some writers that lascivious girls havein this respect like the common hen-occasionally discharged ova from the vagina, and that a mere voluptuous thought will suffice pour ebranler these minute vesicles. 12. In very many women, the menstrual period is preceded by severe colicky pains, attributable most likely to the turgid and excited state of the ovaries. 13. In those who suffer much at these periods, the cavity of the uterus sometimes becomes lined with a soft flocky membrane-a genuine membrana caducethe formation of which is entirely independent of coition. 14. Lastly, in that singular case of monstrosity-in which the two girls, Helen and Judith, were united to each other by the posterior and lower parts of the back-the catamenial discharge took place in different quantities and at different times from each subject, although there was a complete anastomosis between the abdominal vessels of the two. Memoire pour servir à l'etude des Maladies des Ovaires, par Achille Chereau. Paris, 1844. M. BISCHOFF ON THE SPONTANEOUS PERIODIC EXPULSION OF OVA. This distinguished observer lays down the following law, which, it will be seen, brings the generative process in the mammiferous animals under the same general rule, which obtains in that of all other classes of animals. "Both in mammalia and man also, the self-forming ova in the ovaries of the female experience a periodical ripening, entirely independent of the influence of the male semen. At this period, which, in animals, is called heat, and in women, usually, menstruation, these matured ova separate themselves from the ovary and are pushed out. At this time, alone in animals, and especially in women, are sexual desires also manifested. If coitus takes place, the fructification of the ovum follows, in consequence of the material action of the male semen upon it. If coitus does not take place, the ovum does not the less sepa rate from the ovary, pass into the oviduct, but there perishes. The relations of time, however, as it appears, may vary in different animals within different yet fixed limits. The semen may have sufficient time to reach the ovary before the ovum has separated. The ovum may also have already passed out, and the semen have first encountered it in the oviduct; the action of the semen upon the ovum must still, however, always take place, if the ovum is to be developed, which development is commenced while it is still in the oviduct. But at this period of the periodical ripening of the ova, alone, can coitus be followed by fecundation." Pp. 4, 5. "During the years in which a woman is susceptible of impregnation, an ovum ripens and is separated from the ovary, every four weeks; this phenome→ non being accompanied by simultaneous hæmorrhage from the uterus. This periodical maturation of an ovum is the first and most essential condition of conception and pregnancy. At this time alone will coitus be followed by conception; at all others this last will be impossible."-P. 43. The assertion in the last paragraph is in accordance with the opinion of M. Pouchet-whose work, entitled "Theorie positive de la Fecundation, &c., Paris, 1843," we noticed some time ago.* "As it is more than sufficiently proved that in the mammifera it is at the epoch of sexual excitation that the ovules are expelled, and that at other times fecundation is impossible, it becomes equally evident, that, as the menstrual discharge in women represents this excitation, it is only in the neighbourhood of that period that our species possess the faculty of reproduction." It has been generally believed that women, who do not menstruate, are incapable of conception. This opinion is, in all probability, strictly speaking, quite correct; but then it is to be remembered that the act of menstruation, or the monthly maturation and expulsion of an ovarian vesicle, may take place without being necessarily accompanied with a sanguineous discharge: the ovum may be emitted from the ovary without the slightest appearance of any outward hæmorrhage. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Jan. 1845. HYGIENE OF GIRLS AT THE PERIOD OF PUBERTY. "Under no circumstances should we seek to provoke the menses in girls, who are in the enjoyment of good health, even though they may have passed the mean age at which these usually appear; and for the very best reason, because all our efforts would be fruitless, as nature has not provided for their appear ance. The power of ill health and sickness to retard the occurrence of puberty being satisfactorily established, we should seek to relieve any disease which may exist at the approach of that period, as the means employed for that purpose would probably act as the best emmenagogue. In one case only would it be proper * Vide Medico-Chirurgical Review for January, 1844, p. 223. to seek to favour the menstrual discharge in young girls indisposed at the age of maturity; and that is, when there is every reason to believe, from the present phenomena, that the Graafian vesicles are mature, but where the congestion of the genital organs, which then takes place, cannot relieve itself by the hæmorrhage (p. 218.) To diminish this general or local plethora, which is one of the causes of this condition, and to give a direction of the blood towards the external genital organs, general bleeding and the application of leeches to the inner part of the thighs or vulva, with warm foot-baths, enemata, cooling regimen, &c., are advisable. The same means may be pursued to a great extent, where the retardation is consequent upon extreme excitement of the utero-ovarian nervous system. In these cases, which are attended with dragging pains in the groins and loins, and by engorgement and swelling of the uterus, the author recommends, with many previous writers, the use of ergot."-American Journal. ON CERTAIN DIFFERENCES IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE BLOOD IN THE MALE AND FEMALE. MM. Becquerel and Rodier read a very elaborate memoir "on the Composition of the Blood in Health and in Disease," before the Royal Academy of Sciences, in the course of last November. As it must always be of the first importance to determine the normal condition of any of the fluids of the body, before we attempt to ascertain its morbid alterations, their remarks on the relative constitution of the blood in healthy adults of the two sexes may be deemed acceptable. The proportions given in the following table were determined by taking the average or medium figures obtained in a variety of experiments : By comparing the two columns in this table, we find that certain very noticeable differences exist between the blood of the male and that of the female, in a state of health. The density of the defibrinated fluid is greater in the former, and consequently contains a larger quantity of soluble matters: the proportion of water too is decidedly less. The quantity of the red globules is considerably greater in the blood of the male than in that of the female: this is perhaps the most important, and indeed it is the fundamental, difference in the blood of the two sexes. In the female, the minimum number was 113, the maximum was 137, and the medium 127; (?) whereas in the case of the male, the minimum was 131, |