French National Imlitiite. 465 



MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



M. Desessartz has communicated the history of an epi- 

 demic disease, which raged in three adjoining villages at the 

 same time. Although generally depending; on the incle- 

 mency of the weather, and on the bad nuality of the fruits of 

 the season, this epidemy prc^^cnted a sensible variety in the 

 nature and intensity of the ymptoms, which necessarily 

 gave rise to essential modificaiions m the treatment. He 

 shows that the differences depended on the exposure pecu- 

 liar to each of these villages, en the quality of their 

 respective soils^ productions, and way ol life of the inha- 

 itants. 



M. Sage has presented to the class some reflections on 

 the best means of remedying the bite of the viper, and a. 

 description of the effects of the poison of the tarantula, 

 with the means employed in Spain for remedying it. All 

 these remedies consist in the internal and exttrnal use of the 

 volatile alkali. 



M. Tenon continues to enrich the art of surgery. He 

 has communicated to the class three memoirs, one on the 

 exfoliation of the bones, another on the operation of tre- 

 panning the cranium, and a third on some kind" of her- 

 nia. In the first he inquires if the bonos of the great ex- 

 tremities of the body are exfoliated after amputp/ion ; and 

 it results from his numerous experiments on dogs, hares, and 

 sheep, that after all amputations, the denuded extremity of 

 the long bones is exfoliated, as also happens to the flat 

 bones when laid bare, before being covered vv*ih a cicatrix. 

 Tn the second he gives the description of all the phseno; lena 

 which take place in the cure of a wound \i\ tht; head, in 

 consequence of which the trepan was resorted to, and 

 which was cured after 151 days' treatment. 



In ihe third, he describes an ingenious method resorted 

 to by himself, for the reduction of two crural hernioe, and 

 gives some observations on the oprration for an inguinal 

 hernia. In order to succeed in the reduction of these crural 

 herni», *' I directed an assistant to get upon the bed of the 

 patient, and place hiinselt between the knees of the latter, 

 making him raise them as high as possible : tht pillows be- 

 ing withdrawn, I em})ioyed another person to hold the leg 

 and foot on the ruptured side, and to turn strongly inwards 

 the great toe as well as the knee and thigh.'* When mat- 

 ters were thus arranged, M. Tenon succeeded bv dearees in 

 returning the intestines into the abdomen, so that the pa- 

 tient had no occasion for any operation. 



Vol. 35, No. 146. June 1810. G g M. P«l- 



