KEVIEW — TROPICAL MEDICINE, ETC. 33 



mortality has been halved. They have also found repeated dry cupping over the loins of Cholera- 

 great service in ursemic cases. continued 



Waters^ praises izal. He made stock solutions, of which each fluid drachm contained 

 fifteen minims of izal made up with tragacanth mucilage. Each drachm was diluted with 

 seven of water, and this dose of 1 oz. was given every hour or two hours as long as necessary. 

 He had no less than 41 recoveries out of 56 cases. 



Banerji^ testifies to the value of the eucalyptus treatment introduced by Major Harold 

 Browne. The oil was given in 5 minim doses, together with mucilage and syrup of lemons. 

 Thirty-three cases, most of them in the stage of collapse, were treated and the percentage 

 of recovery was sixty-three. The oil is said to act both as an antiseptic and stimulant. 



Other points of interest are the " latent " cholera carriers found by Gotschlich'^ at Tor, 

 who, though they harboured true cholera vibrios, did not give rise to an epidemic and did not 

 die of cholera, but from dysentery and gangrene of the bowel ; and the quick agglutination 

 method of diagnosis introduced by Duubar** and said to be reliable. It is as follows : — 



Mix a particle of faecal mucus with 1 drop of peptone water and 1 drop of a 1 in 500 

 dilution of cholera serum (mixture a). Mix a similar particle with 1 drop of peptone water 

 and 1 drop of a 1 in 50 dilution of normal rabbit's serum (mixture b). Place each mixture 

 on a cover glass and examine as a hanging drop preparation. Observe agglutination in a, 

 none in b. Maximum result after about 3 hours. In this connection one must cite the work 

 of Ruffer,-' which leads him to state that "it is not advisable to trust to the agglutination 

 test only in bacteriological diagnosis of cholera. The test is useful but not specific." It 

 would seem then that the haemolysis test must always be applied, for Euffer noted no 

 vibrio hsemolyses, when the agglutination test, Pfeiffer's reaction and the fixation test are 

 positive, while he states distinctly that " the agglutination, saturation and Pfeiffer's tests are 

 not in themselves of absolute diagnostic value for cholera vibrios.'' 



Some of Euffer's results have been called in question, and it is very desirable that his 

 conclusions should be definitely confirmed or confuted, as they upset prevailing ideas on the 

 bacteriological diagnosis of cholera. 



Eecent work on anti-cholera serum. Strong's new prophylactic, etc., though important 

 and suggestive, scarcely comes within the scope of this resume. 



Climate. Sandwith*^ has a paper on hill stations and other health resorts in the 

 British Tropics. He deals with Egypt and then goes on to speak of the Sudan, which he says: — 



Is less destitute of mountains, and the Government has now established a sanatorium at Erkowit (3500 feet) , 

 30 miles due west of Suakin and 22 miles due east of Summit Station on the Nile Red Sea Railway, from 

 which there is a motor road. The best season is from May to September, when the headquarters of the Suakin 

 province move there. It is now utilised for change of air by officials from Suakin, Port Sudan and Khartoum, 

 and has the f;reat advantage of being uninhabited by natives. Visitors now live in tents, but temporary rest 

 houses are being built. 



Unlike the neighbouring hills, which consist of bare ironstone and diorite, there is here wonderful 

 vegetation, grass, maiden-hair fern, many shady trees and fine open spaces large enough for playing polo and 

 goU. There are easy walks to neighbouring hill crests, from which magnificent views of the Red Sea coast 

 can be obtained. The climate is relatively cold, very fresh and invigorating for all convalescents. Vegetable 

 gardens have been planted and some Southdown sheep have been imported by the Governor of the province but 

 most food has to be conveyed from Suakin. There is a good supply of water from a spring in the hills, and 

 soundings are now being taken to find other sources. In order to keep the ground as clean as possible native 

 tribes with their camels, cattle and goats, are forbidden to enter the station. 



He has a few notes on Sinkat, also, and concludes thus : " There is no special sanatorium 

 for the Blue and White Nile or for the Bahr-Bl-Ghazal, which is the most tropical 

 part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan." It is found by experience better to allow convalescents 

 to spend a fortnight in Khartoum before they proceed to Cairo and Europe. 



> Waters, E. E. (December 1905), "The Treatment of Cholera with Izal." Iiidian Medical Gazette, p. 451. 



^ Banerji, H. C. (January, 1905), "Oil of Eucalyptus in Cholera." Indian Medical Gazette. 



' Gotschlich, P. (1906), "Uber Cholera uud Choleraiihnliche Vibrionen unter den aus Mekka Zuri'ickkehrcnden 

 Pilgern." Zeil.filr Hyg. u. Inf. Krank., p. 281. 



* Dunbar. Berliner Klin. JFochcn., 1905, No. 39, p. 1237. 



^ Rufler, M. A. (March 30th, 1907), " The Bacteriological Diagnosis of Cholera." British Medical Journal, 

 p. 735. 



" Sandwith, P. M. (November 15th, 1907), " Hill Stations and other Health Resorts in the British Tropics." 

 Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, p. 361, Vol. X. 



• Article not consulted in the original. 



