SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



749 



not pass out into the intestine, and the patient 

 is in danger of starving to death. The stomach 

 is exposed by an incision through the abdomen 

 directly over it, and its anterior wall is opened 

 midway between the two ends. The index- 

 finger of one hand is then passed down through 

 the stricture, and the other forefinger is in- 

 troduced beside it. The contracted canal is 

 stretched by separating the two fingers, just as 

 one would stretch the mouth of a rubber bag. 

 When the opening has been made large enough 

 the fingers are withdrawn, and the wound of 

 the stomach is closed with fine silk. Two pa- 

 tients have been permanently cured by this. 



Operations on Nerves. Nerve-stretching is al- 

 ready an old operation, but it has been prac- 

 ticed extensively during the past year with 

 great success, especially in cases of intractable 

 neuralgia. Surgeons do not ever despair now 

 of restoring the functions of a nerve that has 

 been completely divided for months. After 

 sensation has been completely lost in the parts 

 supplied by the nerve, it has been perfectly 

 regained within a year when the separated 

 ends were brought together and united by a 

 few horse-hair stitches. 



Fracture of the Patella. Fracture of the knee- 

 pan has long been the bete noir of surgeons, 

 because it is impossible to keep the fragments 

 in close apposition so as to obtain bony union. 

 Lister has brought into notice an old opera- 

 tion, which had fallen into disuse, for avoid- 

 ing the separation of the pieces by cutting 

 down upon and wiring them together. Sur- 

 geons have hitherto shrunk from this as an 

 extreme measure, on account of their dread of 

 setting up inflammation of the knee-joint ; but 

 Lister has proved that, with due antiseptic pre- 

 cautions, it is not only justifiable, but highly 

 successful. His example has been followed by 

 many surgeons, both in Europe- and America. 



Surgery of the Brain. A successful case has 

 recently been reported in England, in which 

 the skull was opened, and a tumor as large as 

 a walnut was actually removed from the brain- 

 substance. It was necessary to penetrate to 

 the distance of a quarter of an inch in order 

 to expose the growth. The exact position and 

 size of the tumor were accurately diagnosti- 

 cated before the brain was incised. 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY, two kingdoms occu- 

 pying the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern 

 Europe, united indissolubly, by the Riksact of 

 1815, in the person of the sovereign. Succes- 

 sion to the throne is hereditary in the house of 

 Ponte Corvo. The throne is to be filled, in 

 case of absolute vacancy, by the joint action 

 of the two Parliaments. The common affairs 

 of the two kingdoms are decided upon by a 

 Council of State. 



The reigning King is Oscar IT, born Jan. 21, 

 1829, grandson of Marshal Bernadotte, and the 

 fourth sovereign of the line. 



SWEDEN. Constitution. The legislative pow- 

 ers are vested in the Diet, subject to the ap- 

 proval of the King, save in matters of politi- 



cal administration and taxation, the former of 

 which is the exclusive province of the sover- 

 eign, and the latter that of the Diet. The Diet 

 consists of two chambers, both elective. The 

 franchise is limited by a property qualification. 



Area and Population. The area of Sweden is 

 170,979 square miles. The population on Deo. 

 31, 1883, was 4,603,595, of which number 2,- 

 230,782 were males and 2,372,813 females. 

 The number of marriages in 1882 was 28,967; 

 of births, 138,064; of deaths, 83,170; surplus of 

 births, 54,894. The number of emigrants in 

 1882 was 50,178, against 45,992 in 1881, 42,- 

 109 in 1880, 17,637 in 1879, 9,032 in 1878, and 

 7,610 in 1877. The population in 1880 was 

 divided as to religion into 4,544,434 Lutherans, 

 14,627 Baptists, 1,591 Methodists, 810 Roman 

 Catholics, 2,9.93 Israelites, and 1,213 Mormons 

 and other dissenters. The number of persons 

 of foreign birth was 18,587. The city of Stock- 

 holm contained in 1883 194,469 inhabitants, 

 Gothenburg 81, 507. 



Commerce. The total value of the imports in 

 1882 was 229,820,000 crowns, against 288,060,- 

 000 in 1881, and 282,788,000 in 1880 ; the total 

 value of the exports 253,887,000, against 223,- 

 196,000 in 1881, and 236,643,000 in 1880. The 

 imports from Germany were 83,966,000 crowns 

 in value, from England 78,201,000, from Den- 

 mark 52,334,000, from Norway 18,812,000, 

 from Russia 16,815,000, those from the United 

 States 6,173,000 crowns; the exports to Great 

 Britain 127,457,000, to France 33.366,000, to 

 Denmark 24,707,000, to Germany 18,373,000, 

 those to the United States 1,611,000 crowns. 



Navigation. The tonnage entered with car- 

 goes at Swedish ports in 1882 was 1,882,042 

 tons, 979,875 Swedish, 174,138 Norwegian, 

 and 728,029 foreign ; the tonnage cleared with 

 cargoes 3,267,361 tons, 1,296,917 Swedish, 

 732,703 Norwegian, and 1,237,741 foreign. 



The mercantile marine in 1882 had a sailing 

 tonnage of 68,796 tons employed exclusively in 

 domestic commerce, and 386,381 tons employed 

 in foreign commerce, and a steam tonnage of 

 31,673 tons employed in the domestic and 60,- 

 826 in the foreign commerce. 



Communications. The railroads had at the end 

 of 1883 a length of 6,400 kilometres, 2,299 be- 

 longing to the state, and 4,101 to companies. 



The post-office forwarded in 1882 39,906,654 

 letters and cards, 4,035,110 printed inclosures, 

 and 28,326,818 journals. The receipts were 

 5,657,969, the expenses 4,797,164 crowns. 



The state telegraph system had 8,551 kilo- 

 metres of lines and 20,712 of wires in 1883. 

 The dispatches numbered 1,209,088, of which 

 437,234 were international. The receipts were 

 1,350,442, the expenses 1,246,900 crowns. 



Finances. The budget for 1885 gives the total 

 receipts from all sources as 80,800,000 crowns 

 (1 crown = 28 cents); 5,317,000 being the bal- 

 ance in the treasury ; 21,970,000 crowns the 

 ordinary receipts from direct taxes, domains 

 and forests, telegraphs, railroads, etc._; 51,910,- 

 000 crowns the extraordinary receipts from 



