BIOLOGY. 291 



should become aflfceted, even tliongh their centre remained 

 healtliy. In this case the cause of the apliasia would be no indi- 

 cation of the seat of the faculty of speech. It is presumable, more- 

 over, that there exist varieties in the lesions, to wiiich the clinical 

 varieties correspond. In permanent aphasia the lesion generally 

 consists in softening, especially such as results from obliteratioa 

 of the middle cerebral artery. Such obliteration frequently de- 

 termines a hemiplegia at the same time, on account of the distri- 

 bution of the artery to the corpus striatum. In cases of sudden 

 hemiplegia, M. Fabre considers that the coincidence of aphasia 

 alone permits the diagnosis of obliteration, instead of hemorrhage, 

 as the cause of the accident. 



Transitory aphasia either depends upon neuroses, as hysteria or 

 epilepsy, or is attributed to congestions. But M. Fabre is inclined 

 to rule out this last circumstance, and substitute obliterations of 

 artereoles, which cause a temporary derangement of the nutrition. 

 After a while the development of collateral circulation renews the 

 nutritive activity of the region, and the patients recover. 



No therapeutic indication can at present be based upon this fact 

 of arterial obliteration as the most common cause of aphasia, but 

 it may tend to prevent the trial of useless or untimely measures. 

 — Medical Record. 



DIETETIC SALT. 



Dr. Lankester aims to supply necessary, but frequently over- 

 looked, articles of diet, by means of his dietetic salt. This com- 

 pound is a proposed substitute for ordinary table salt, chloride of 

 sodium being a notable constituent; but, in addition to this, which 

 is far from being the sole or even most important inorganic con- 

 stituent of our food, we have phosphate of lime, chloride of potas- 

 sium, sulphates of potash and soda, with smaller quantities of 

 magnesian and iron salts. The argument for their use is very 

 strong. Leaving out the large proportion of epidemics, almost all 

 the common diseases are directly traceable by physicians to die- 

 tetic errors ; and those that certainly are due in part to deficiency 

 of inorganic food form by no means a contemptible list. Scurvy is 

 known to arise from a deficiency of the salts of potash. Scrofula 

 and consumption, rickets and softening of the bones occur when 

 the phosphates of lime and other bases are deficient. Anaemia, 

 chlorosis, and a variety of nervous disorders are the result of an 

 absence of iron, and are at once cured by the use of this agent as 

 a remedy. In such cases the medical man is in the habit^f pre- 

 scribing medicines containing these agents; and thei-e can, there- 

 fore, be no doubt that the habitual use of these substances in the 

 food, in the same way as common salt is employed, would be a 

 means of preventing the occurrence of a large number of diseases. 

 The quantities of the saline ingredients employed, in addition to 

 common salt, are so calculated that they shall be supplied in the 

 same proportion by its use, as they exist in the human blood, and 

 are got rid of in the body. 



