THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOIvOGY. 273 



lutely no serious lesions of the parenchyma of the kidney or the urinary 

 japsages. The conditions are the same upon the right side. 



Diagnosis as to the urinary organs: Urocystitis without i.crious 

 lesions ; punctiform hemorrhages in the pelvis of the kidney, but n ; 

 other signs of pyelonephritis. 



These post-mortem findings speak for themselves, and require no 

 further elucidation. They show more plainly than any clinical symp- 

 toms that the dangers which threatened the urinary passages from the 

 various sides were entirely warded ofif, practically, until the very end. 

 It is the universal experience that patients suffering from paralysis and 

 anesthesia of the lower half of the body mostly succumb to the severe 

 cystitis and rapidly consecutive pyelitis. The kidneys are usually 

 severely affected. That this was not the case here, that the post- 

 mortem revealed that the urinary apparatus was not to any great degree 

 involved, must necessarily be attributed to the action of the urotropin. 

 It has aff'ected exactly the same thing that it does, almost invariably, in 

 cases of bacterial disease of the urinary passages without the serious 

 complications which were present in our case. The fact that the use 

 of urotropin was begun as early as possible, and was continued until 

 within a few hours of the patient-'s death, seems to us to be important. 



I am indebted to Privy-Councillor Professor Ebstein, my revered 

 chief, for permisaion to publish this observation. 



Abstracts. 



AcETANiLiD Habit. A case is reported by Dr. G. W. Gaines (A^. 

 Orleans Med. and Surg. Jour.). The patient was a negro to whom 

 acetanilid had been given several years previously for the relief of an 

 attack of rheumatism from which he suffered. Finding relief while tak- 

 ing the drug, and the pain returned on its being discontinued, the patient 

 began to use the drug regularly every day. During the last several 

 months he has been consuming the acetanilid at the rate of 2 ozs. per 

 week. Whether any ill effects have been noticed the author fails to state. 



ZiNGiEEREN. H. vou Sodcn and W. Rojhan {Jour. Soc. Chem. Ind.) 

 report having obtained from ginger oil a new sesquiterpene, to which 

 they give the name zingiberen. It is a colorless mobile levorotory 

 oil ; its specific gravity is 0.872 at 15° C.; it is reaily soluble in ether, 

 alcohol, and benzine; and at the ordinary pressure it boils with slight 

 decomposition at 26g°-2yo° C. It differs from other sesquiterpenes by 

 its low specific gravity. 



