widely felt is proved by the occasional occurrence in these animals of contusion of the liver. "Commotio thoracica consists in a disturbance of the circulation in the central nervous regions, due in the first place to arrest of the heart's action from intra-thoracic irritation of the vagus; in the second, to more permanent diminution of tonus in the peripheral vessels."-Beilage z. Centralbl. f. Chir., 1882, No. 29.-D. M'P. Warm Water in the Treatment of Epistaxis.-M. Eugène Anguier gives an account in the Lyon Médical for 10th December, of a violent case of epistaxis which resisted all the usual remedies, such as cold, occlusion of nares, sinapisms, and the snuffing up of various astringents. Having exhausted his resources, he tried the effect of very warm water injected up the nostrils, and found that it at once arrested the hæmorrhage. The bleeding, however, recurred at intervals, but the patient's parents immediately had recourse to the warm water with the best results. He believed that the hot water, by reflex action, caused contraction of the bleeding vessels.-J. A. A. Milk Indigestion in Young Infants.-For young infants who are unable to digest the mother's milk, as evidenced by the occurrence of hard curd in the stools and in the vomited matters, by colic, and general wasting, Dr. Curtis Smith strongly recommends the plan of treatment proposed by Eustace Smith. To clear out the undigested curd that may be in the alimentary passages, he first gives a full dose of castor oil. Then he prescribes two ounces of barley water, with half a drachm of liquor pancreaticus, to be given every three hours, just before the child is put to the breast. records several instances of markedly good results. rationale of the treatment is, that the starch granules of the barley water, when mixed with the milk, prevent the milk from forming hard curds. To get a proper mixture, the barley water must be given just before the milk.-Chicago Western Medical Reporter. April, 1882.—G. S. M. He The Experiments Showing how Different Causes, but Chiefly Lesions of the Brain, and in Particular of the Cerebellum, may Determine after Death a General or Local Contracture.-Brown-Séquard has presented to the Académie des Sciences a note on some experiments of the above nature. His conclusions are: 1. That a true contracture may take place a certain time after, as well as some time before death, and that this contracture may last for a long time and pass into the state of cadaveric rigidity, or disappear completely so as to permit the muscular irritability to be recognised. 2. That of the various parts of the brain, that which has the most power to produce the contracture after death, is the cerebellum. 3. That the preservation of the attitude in which they were before death, which has been observed in soldiers killed on the field of battle, depends not on the sudden occurrence of cadaveric rigidity, but on the production of a true contracture. -La France Médicale. 5th January, 1882.-G. S. M. Subsequent History of Nerve-Stretching.-Dr. L. C. Gray forwards the following very candid note for publication: "In my recent article on Stretching of the Facial Nerve, in the September number of The Proceedings, my second case, the young man of 22 years, was reported as cured. Since the publication of my paper, this patient, I regret to say, has relapsed. The relief was only obtained for two months and a half. Whether his present condition is as bad as it was when he first came to me, I have no means of knowing, for I have not seen him since the first days of the relapse. "I hope this addendum will travel co-extensively with my article and correct it. I have always suspected, and have frequently stated my suspicions, that a very material difference would be made in the percentage of nerve-stretching cures, were the gentle hand of correcting time not inhibited by hasty publication."-Proc. of Med. Soc. of County of Kings, 1882. [Dr. Gray's example is to be commended. If the after history of such cases were always, or even frequently obtained, the list of relapses after this operation would be largely increased.] CREDIT TO WHOM CREDIT IS DUE.-Philip Doddridge (17021751), spoke of nerve-stretching, and recommended it as a religious stimulant in his Zeal and Vigor in the Christian Race. "Awake my soul: STRETCH EVERY NERVE, -Ibidem. THE GLASGOW MEDICAL No. III. MARCH, 1883. JOURNAL. ORIGINAL ARTICLES. A DEFENCE OF THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS AND OF GOVERNMENT LOCK HOSPITALS. BY FREDERICK W. LOWNDES, M.R.C.S.ENG. IN the Glasgow Medical Journal for February, Dr. Alexander Patterson, replying to me, describes me as "a distinguished member of the Society for the Propagation of the Contagious Diseases Acts over the whole country." While thanking him for the complimentary expression, which I must disclaim, my position being the humble one of local honorary secretary, I regret to be obliged to correct an error in his first sentence. Ours is the " Association for Promoting the Extension of the Contagious Diseases Acts." We do not seek to propagate these Acts over the whole country, as will be seen from the following extract in the sixth report of the Association, published in 1875: "Under present circumstances, we do not aim at so wide and immediate an extension of the Acts as before, but the case of certain seaport towns not subject to the Acts, which are known to be hotbeds of disease introduced by sailors of the merchant service of our own and of foreign countries, is so glaring, and is attended with such disastrous consequences, that we feel it our duty to call for the special interference of Parliament to repress the evil." Our wish is to carry public opinion with us, and though no extension of the Acts has taken place since 1869, we have been successful in defeating their repeal on six different occasions. In 1870 the Bill for repeal was "talked out," there being a No. 3. N Vol. XIX. large majority in favour of the Acts. The results of the three successive attempts to repeal them were as follows: In 1878 the motion for repeal was again "talked out," and last year it was met and defeated by the "previous question." While equally averse with Dr. Patterson to controversy with a professional brother, especially on such a subject, I feel it to be my duty to defend these Acts from the unjust attacks made upon them and upon those who support them. Of this latter Dr. Patterson gives a very striking illustration in his next sentence. He states that "a leading London Medical Journal which, for many a long year, had this very precept (audi alteram partem) as its motto, now declines to admit a single article in opposition to the Acts, and so declines because it takes a different view of the question. The reciprocity is all on one side." Now, the journal in question is evidently the Lancet, which adopts audi alteram partem as the motto for its correspondence column. If Dr. Patterson will look in the Lancet for 2nd December, 1882, page 962, he will find a letter from Dr. Ewing Whittle of this city, and in the same journal for the 18th November last he will find another letter from a Dr. Truman. Each gentleman is, as may be judged from their letters, as strong an opponent as Dr. Patterson himself, and each letter appears under this very identical motto, "audi alteram partem." Again, if he will refer to the same journal for 28th October last, he will find among the "original articles," one from Dr. Rawdon Macnamara, of Dublin, who, though not quite so strong an opponent as Dr. Patterson, is by no means a supporter of the Acts, showing this in the article alluded to, and in his evidence before the Committee. Dr. Patterson's attack on the Lancet is therefore palpably unjust. It is true that the editorial articles are all in favour of the Acts, but Dr. Patterson will hardly dispute the right of an editor to take such view of a question as commends itself to his own judgment. Is the Lancet singular in this respect? On the contrary, the Medical Times and Gazette, British Medical Journal, Medical Press and Circular, all take the same view of the question. Are all these editors wrong and is Dr. Patterson alone right? With regard to Glasgow, I have not disputed the reduction of brothels and prostitutes, nor the great improvement which has taken place as regards street solicitation. What I contended was, that Dr. Patterson was not justified in assuming a reduction of disease merely because the number of admissions in the Glasgow Lock Hospital had been diminishing of late years. I also asserted that it was not fair to assume that there were not sixty diseased women in the whole of the city and suburbs at any given time, because the sixty beds in the hospital were not filled. Dr. Patterson attempts to prove his case by comparing Glasgow with the places under the Acts, and by a quotation from Mr. James R. Lane's pamphlet showing the diminution of disease in those places. This is manifestly unfair, since it is comparing two totally different arrangements. I showed in my last paper in the Glasgow Medical Journal, for January, that before the passing of the Acts, Portsmouth, Devonport, and Winchester resembled Glasgow in having voluntary hospitals and wards for females, which wards were not filled. But that after the Acts of 1866 and 1869, the number of 162 beds in the Royal Albert Hospital Lock wards at Devonport, and of 120 beds in the Lock wards of the Portsmouth, Portsea, and Gosport Hospital were all filled. Gradually the effects of the Acts in the compulsory periodical examination of all the prostitutes in the districts, with the detention in hospital until cured of all such as were found to be diseased, began to manifest itself in the reduced number of occupied beds. Hence, Mr. Lane's statement, which Dr. Patterson has quoted very imperfectly and incorrectly, and which I will here give in full. "Another mode of showing very conclusively the diminution of disease is afforded by the fact that a large number of the Lock Hospital beds have been for some time unoccupied. At Devonport, where there are 162 beds, the daily average number occupied from 30th September 1868 to 30th September 1869, was 126-08, but from that date to the 30th September 1870, the daily average was only 7603, and on the 22nd November 1870, only 46 beds were occupied. At the London Lock Hospital, with 150 beds, there has for some months past not been an average of more than 50 beds occupied. At Aldershot, with 100 beds, 40 beds were vacant in the middle of the present month. At Portsmouth, with 120 beds, only 84 are occupied. At Chatham, with 88 beds, only 63 are occupied. Now, as the whole number of beds provided was not more than sufficient to enable the provisions of the Act to be properly carried out at the end of 1868, the number of beds now vacant is excellent evidence of the good results. which have been obtained." So that it is not a case of post |