Vol.. XXIV. No. 3.] 
POPULAR SCIEN"OE NEWS. 
31 
"Miss A. W , singer, contralto, often losses 
her voice, especially when she has an engagement. 
Chest and vocal cords healthy. Thinks symptons 
partly due to nervousness. Voice uncertain, and 
apt To give in the wrong place. Something wrong 
with an upper C. Uses the chloride of ammonium 
inhaler, and takes phytolacca assiduously for a 
couple of days before singing. Maintains that it 
does her good. Impossible to contradict a lady, so 
treatment continued." 
\Ve trust that Dr. Murrell's politeness had its 
therapeutic reward. The inhalations of ammonium 
should be taken once to thrice daily, for half an hour 
at a time. — .V. }'. Medical Record. 
I Specially Compiled for Popular Science Netes.} 
MONTHLY SUMMARY OF MEDICAL 
PROGRESS. 
BY W. S. WELLS, M. D. 
Every surgeon knows how difficult it is in certain 
cases to get a broken bone to heal by bony union. 
The ends may be pegged and hammered and sutured 
indefinitely without success. In the case of fracture 
of the radius there are oftentimes special difficulties, 
since resection — the last resource of the surgeon — 
leaves a gap between the end of the radius, which 
is shorter than the ulna beside it, and so it is almost 
impossible to bring the bared ends of the fractured 
parts into apposition and to keep them there. Even 
if a piece be cut out of the unfractured ulna, so that 
inequality in the length of the two bones is removed, 
a satisfactory result cannot always be obtained. In 
the London Lancet, Professor McGill reports this 
case : A man, twenty years of age, had fractured 
both bones so that the ends of the radius protruded 
throHgh the wound on the radial side of the fore- 
arm. The ulna healed quickly and well, but the 
radius remained ununited, although the ends had 
been refreshed and wired three months after the 
accident. Some eight months afterward he came 
to the hospital. He had a scar over the wound, 
and the ends of the radius were quite movable, the 
usefulness of forearm and hand being much im- 
pared. An Esmarch's bandage was applied, and an 
incision was made in the line of the old scar. The 
ends of the bones showed no signs of union, but 
were rounded and covered by a thick membrane-like 
periosteum. When this had been filed away, an 
interval of three-quarters of an inch was left between 
the fragments. This interval was filled with thirteen 
pieces of bone, each about one-sixth of an inch in 
length, chiselled from the femur of a freshly-killed 
rabbit. The bones were not wired. The skin 
wound was tighly stitched, without drainage, with 
catgut. Firm pressure was applied by means of 
salicylated wool and bandages, and the forSarm 
was placed on an interior splint. There was no 
suppuration and very little discharge. The patient 
left the hospital in six weeks, with the bone firmly 
united. Three months later, the injured arm was 
as useful as the other. Is it not possible that this 
method used by Professor McGill may be of service 
in the treatment of old ununited fractures in other 
parts .' It is possible that a more vigorous action 
might be set up, by presence of the implanted 
healthy bone, than would naturally occur in the 
fragments of a fractured long-bone in a person of 
feeble constitution. 
M. Perier, chief surgeon, and M. Patien, chief 
pharmacist of the Hospital Lariboisiere {Paris Med.) 
have ertiployed salol as a surgical dressing instead 
of iodoform, and have found that it gives a real im- 
pulse to the work of cicatrization, without causing 
any disagreeable sensation. 
Thus in the case of a man suffering from an ex- 
travasation of urine, with gangrene of the parts, 
iodoform was used as a dressing for about six weeks 
without marked improvement, but as soon as salol 
was substituted healing took place rapidly. 
Excellent results, much superior to those of iodo- 
form, have been accomplished with salol in a great 
varietyof surgicalcases, viz. : Ulcers, epitheliomata, 
mammary fistulx and abscesses, abscess of the 
antrum of Highmore, abscesses at the anus, vege- 
tations at the vulva, caries of the sternum and tha 
fsmur, etc. 
Both agree that even laymen prefer it greatly to 
iodoform for two reasons, viz., its agreeable odor 
and its moderate price. 
One great point dwelt upon by them is its abso- 
lute harmlessness as far as toxic effects are con- 
cerned, which latter ferm a source of danger when 
sublimate, iodoform, phenol, etc., are used, while 
the antiseptic action of salol is deemed by them to 
be equally valuable. 
A NEW diagnostic sign of abscess of the antrum 
was brought forward by Dr. T. Hervng, of Warsaw, 
at the Congress of Otology and Laryngology, held 
at Paris during September. The patient is placed 
in a dark room and his mouth lit up with a small 
electric lamp, placed above the tongue. Two bright- 
red spots will then appear before the lower eyelids. 
If the cavities are filled up with pus, or occupied by 
a tumor, these red spots will not appear, but, as 
soon as the pus escapes or the cavity is washed out, 
the spots again become \\sih\e:.— Medical and Sur- 
gical Reporter. 
BoETHRiCK recommends sulphonal for night 
sweats. In the majority of cases the sweating 
ceases after the administration of half a gramme 
(7 1-2 grains.) He is of the opinion that the in- 
hibitory action of sulphonal on the secretion of 
sweat is not inferior to that of atropine. Its action 
is so lasting that during the second night (without 
sulphonal) perspiration was less profuse than be- 
fore the institution of the treatment. — Jour, de Med. 
de Paris. 
Sahli and Nencki, in a discussion before the 
Medical Society of Berne, recommended the use of 
salol in cases of diabetes, on account of the carbolic 
acid It contained. Dr. Mundel, Milwaukee, has 
used salol in three cases of diabetes during the past 
year, and found at the expiration of that time that 
the sugar in the urine had entirely disappeared. 
Dr. Mundel prescribed 0.5 Gm. (7 1-2 grains) four 
times daily. 
Dr. William Perry Watsox, from observation of 
thirty cases of enuresis, feels justified in saying 
that in sulphate of atropia we have a remedy which, 
when given to its full physiological effects, is un- 
equalled in our materia medica. — Medical Bvlletin. 
A French physician relates a case in which a 
boy of fourteen suffered from persistent bleeding 
after the extraction of a molar tooth. Perchloride 
of iron was without effect, and so much blood was 
lost that syncope was induced. On recovery, the 
hemorrhage again broke out, and perchloride of 
iron was once more tried, but vainly. The cavity 
was then plugged with two or three pledgets of lint 
steeped in solution of antipyrine. The bleeding at 
once permanently ceased. It was noticed that 
while the perchloride caused severe pain, the anti- 
pyrine was not objected to. It is suggested, not 
improbably, that the antipyretic action of this and 
similar drugs may possibly be due to the fact that 
they diminish the blood-supply by their astringent 
effect on the blood-vessels. — Vhio Journal of Peiital 
Science. -• 
Cholewa recommends for the treatment of furun- 
culosis of the external meatus, a twenty-par cent, 
solution of oil of menthol, introduced into the 
meatus by means of firmly twisted rolls of cotton, 
which by their size exert a gentle pressure upon the 
inflamed surface. The action of the remedy is not 
only antiphlopistic and analgesic, but, above all, 
antibacteric. The staphylococcus aureus, which, 
according to the investigations of Garrc and others, 
causes the formation of furunculic, does not develop 
in nutritive substance which has been slighty im- 
pregnated with solution of menthol oil (o.S of men- 
thol : So aqua.) As soon as the coccus comes in 
direct contract with the solution, it dies quickly; 
even the vapor of menthol is sufficient.— t'frt/;-a//- 
hlat f. d. Med. Wissen. 
The following formula is suggested in Im Cliniqiie 
with the view of facilitating the removal of accumu- 
lations of wax in the external auditory meatus : 
R. Acidi borici, gr. Iv. 
Glycerini, f § iss. 
AqusE dest., f| iss. 
This should be warmed and instilled into the ear, 
leaving it there for a quarter of an hour, and repeat- 
ing the process for a day or two. The result is to 
soften the plugs and make their removal compara- 
tively easy by means of the syringe. 
Dr. Geo. H. Powers, San F"rancisco,Cal., writes : 
In reading an article on "Death from Chloro- 
form," I notice the absence of the one antidote on 
which I most rely, namely, nitrite of amyl. I always 
keep it ready for use in my office, and carry it 
with me when I use chloroform elsewhere, and find 
it of great value, in cases where chloroform does 
not act kindly, in restoring the heart's functions. 
In the exceptional cases when cocaine causes faint- 
ness and collapse, a few inhalations of nitrite of 
amyl quickly restore a normal condition. — .,V. J-!. 
Medical Journal. 
Dr. Konigstein, {.Medical Press), while giving 
directions in his class on the uses and prescribing of 
spectacles, said that green glass as a protection 
against strong rays was worse than useless, and did 
more harm to a sensitive eye than good, as it 
allowed the yellow rays to be transmitted, and un- 
necessarily irritated the eye. Against strong rayS 
the blue or smoked glasses were the only real pro- 
tection. The blue should be light, as a deep blue 
color produces a clear violet disk in the center of 
the lens, which apparently corresponds to the fovea 
centralis, and by a protracted use of dark-blue spec- 
tacles the patient may become annoyed by the 
mosiac work of the fundus of the eye appearing 
before him. The phenomenon seems to be connected 
with the pigmenting changes in the macula lutea. 
Hitherto it has been deemed permissible to add 
soda bicarbonate to milk to assist in its preservation, 
but now the Council of Hygiene of the Seine has 
condemned the practice as one of danger. The 
transformation of milk-sugar into lactic acid, in 
milk so adulterated, gives rise to i. lactate of soda 
which is purgative, and frequently a source of 
almost uncontrollable diarrhoea in infants. Conse- 
quently, the Council in its liullelin decides that: 
-'Soda shall no longer be permitted in milk, which 
is an aliment of the first order, and very often pre- 
scribed for invalids and children." 
According to the Pharmaceutical Record, com- 
pa.rtitive examinations of many mouth-washes 
show that those containing thymol as the disinfect- 
ing agent^of the mouth-cavity and teeth, are to be 
