82 REPORT—1843., 
On the treatment of Gangrene of the Lungs by Chloride of Lime, By Joun 
Poruam, M.B., one of the Physicians to the North Cork Infirmary. 
Dr. Popham made a communication to the Section, directing attention to the chlo- 
ride of lime as a valuable remedy in this usually fatal disease. Gangrene of the lungs, 
the writer observes, though of extremely rare occurrence, yet in his opinion is more 
frequently met with in Ireland than in England ; and he accounts for it by the epi- 
demics of typhus fever, combined with pneumonia, which occasionally visit Ireland. 
In some very debilitated habits this dangerous complication terminates in gangrene 
of the lungs. These cases almost universally defy the power of medicine, and are 
complicated with such aggravated wretchedness, as almost to extinguish in the mind 
the inherent love of life. Of three of these cases that he witnessed, he detailed at 
large to the Section the symptoms during life, and the appearances after death, of one 
that came under his notice in Sir Patrick Dunn’s Hospital, Dublin, in order to lay 
down the distinctive featuves presented by the disease. In a case of the kind lately 
occurring at the North Cork Infirmary, he was afforded an opportunity of giving his 
testimony to the very few instances on record where medicine was of any avail. The 
remedial agent used was the chloride of lime, lately recommended in putrid diseases 
as palliating, where it does not cure the symptoms, and proposed in this affection by 
Dr, Stokes of Dublin, and M., Andral of Paris, but hitherto unsupported by sufficient 
records of cases where it had been used. The patient to whom it was given in the 
Infirmary, was a case of neglected pneumonia. When admitted into the hospital, 
after an illness of six weeks, during which time he tried to continue his occupation, 
he presented the peculiar physiognomy of gangrene, the countenance, as Laennec de- 
scribes it, of a leaden hue, without either physical energy or mental hope, The 
expectoration consisted chiefly of a dark grumous matter, mixed with disorganized 
shreds and clots of such a repulsive foetor, that after a violent fit of coughing it was so 
diffusible that all the patients had to leave the ward. The usual remedies were at first 
tried, such as bark with acids, wine and opium, without altering the aspect of the 
disease, He was then placed on the internal use of the chioride of lime, and the im- 
provement was most sudden and obyious, The appetite returned, the foetor of the 
expectoration gradually ceased, the countenance brightened up again with hope, and 
he was able, after using the remedy for six weeks, to return to his duties, 
The chloride of lime was given in solution; six drachms of the saturated solution 
were mixed with six ounces of mucilage, and a few drops of tincture of opium, of 
which one ounce was taken every third hour. The writer concludes by observing, 
that a remedy which can so greatly control the most intractable and repulsive sym- 
ptoms of this disease, even though it should be ineffectual in the most adyanced stages 
of it, is of value. In medicine, truly it may be said,— 
Est aliquid prodire tenus, si non datur ultra. 
For this object he laid it before the Medical Section of the British Association, 
On Intestinal Obstruction. By J. F. Ovurrs, M.D., President of the 
Parisian Medical Society. 
He commenced by stating, that the principal object was to bring under the notice 
of the British Association the operation for artificial anus, which had been recently per- 
formed by Dr. Amussat of Paris, in cases where obstinate constipation had prevailed, 
and where, but for the timely interposition of surgical aid, fatal consequences must 
have ensued, He expressed it as his opinion, that in consequence of the innovation 
lately introduced in the treatment of intestinal obstruction, many cases before regarded 
as incurable would henceforward he brought to a successful termination, He added, 
that he was influenced in bringing forward the subject of intestinal obstruction solely 
by the desire to give more publicity, through the medium of the Transactions of the 
British Association, to the best means of arresting the progress of the disease under 
notice. ; 
Having given an historical résumé of the operations which had been performed, with 
a view to give issue to the accumulated fecal matter in the intestinal canal, and having ‘ 
passed successively in review those performed according to Lithé’s proceeding; by Pil- 
lore, Dubois, Duret, Dessault, Fine, Freer, Pring, Miriel, Dupuytren, Reny, Velpeau, } 
&c., the author proceeded to instance several cases which had occurred at different 

