128 
POPULAR SCIEIsrCE NEWS. 
[August, 1S90. 
with perforations in its sides was to be preferred. 
In general, drainage sliould be used in all cases in 
which there were intestinal or pelvic adhesions, in 
cases in which the peritonaum was manifestly 
diseased, and in cases in which for any cause irriga- 
tion had been required; in a word, in all cases in 
which there was doubt as to the aseptic condition 
of the abdominal or pelvic cavity. 
Oleum Ch.«noceti is an oil derived from a 
whale (llalaina rostrata) and refined for medicinal 
purposes. Dr. Gustav Guldberg speaks highly 
of it in the Monatshefte fur Praktische Dermatologie. 
He states that it is an oil whose specific gravity is 
lower than of any other animal oil, that it flows 
easily, and that it possesses marked penetrative 
properties. It follows from this that it is indicated 
in those cases in which it is desirable to rapidly 
render the skin fatty, flexible, and extensible. It is 
also indicated in those cases in which it is desired 
to promote a rapid absorption of medicaments. 
The combination of this oil with chloroform is said 
to surpass every other combination of that an;cs- 
thetic with oils. A mixture of equal parts is said 
to penetrate the skin rapidly and to act upon the 
nerve terminations very efficiently, thus offering a 
good application in all forms of pruritus, neuralgia, 
etc. A good ointment basis may be made by add- 
ing one-fourth as much wax. The oil is forty per 
cent, cheaper than olive oil and is superior to many 
more expensive oils. At present the refined oil is 
only procurable in Christiania. The crude oil 
should not be employed, as its smell is abominable. 
A Comparison of Birth-Rate Between Civ- 
il^izED AND Semi-Barbarous Nations. — This is 
the title of a recent paper by Dr. F. B. Greenley, 
of West Point, Ky. He takes the ground that in 
advanced and civilized people the birth-rate has 
become so low that in the absence of sanitary regu- 
lations which have been instituted, the population 
would become extinct. In the New England States 
the birth-rate exceeds the death-rate very little, and 
were it not for the prolific foreigner it would be 
materially less. The birth-rate among native 
women is 9.4 per 1,000, and among foreign 29 
per 1,000. The causes are found in the evils at- 
tendant on high life and the deteriorations produced 
on the various organs consequent upon the abuses 
in highly civilized countries of tight lacing, late 
hours, exposure, indigestible food, free use of wine, 
etc. 
A Strange Accident. — Death sometimes seizes 
his victims in most queer and unexpected ways, but 
a stranger accident than one that happened not 
long ago in New York has seldom been recorded. 
A lady who had been suffering for several years 
from pulmonary trouble had been advised to try 
inhalations of hot air, and had purchased an appa- 
ratus for that purpose. In this apparatus is a ther- 
mometer, by means of which the patient is enabled 
to tell when the temperature is at the required 
height for the inhalations. One day the lady 
noticed a peculiar dryness of the throat coming on 
during the inhalation, but did not think much about 
it until it began to grow very uncomfortable. Then 
she inspected the apparatus, and found that there 
was a white powder in the inhaling tube. Remov- 
ing this, she resumed the inhalations, but was soon 
obliged to desist on account of a sudden illness. 
This increased, and in spite of treatment the lady 
died the following day. Examination of the appa- 
ratus showed that the thermometer had broken, 
and the mercury falling out had been volatilized by 
the great heat and had caused fatal mercurial 
poisoning. — Med. Record. 
Asphyxia from Round Worms. — Dr. Nikolai 
A. Parfianovitch, of Kaluga, (Proceedings of the 
Kaluga Medical Society for 1SS9), narrates the 
following instructive case : A robust single woman 
of thirty, addicted to alcoholic excesses, was found 
dead in her bed. On the forensic examination by 
the author, no signs of violence nor any chronic 
disease could be detected ; in fact, the only morbid 
lesions consisted in congestion of the cerebral meni- 
branes, dilatation of the cerebral basal vessels and 
of the right cavities of the heart, and venous 
engorgement of the lungs, the blood being every- 
where fluid and very dark. The glottis was found 
to be totally plugged up with four coiled ascarides. 
Another round worm was extracted from the left 
nostril, and again another from the mouth. The 
stomach and small bowels also contained ascarides, 
five in number. Dr. Parfianovitch gave his opinion 
to the effect that death had occurred from asphyxia, 
caused by a complete occlusion of the glottis by 
round worms. 
To Prevent Toxic Effects of Cocaine. — Dr. 
Isidor Gluck states {Med. Record) that he was led 
into a series of experiments with a view to rid 
cocaine of its toxic effects, the result beirfg the 
discovery that cocaine in combination with phenol 
not only removes the objectionable features, but 
increases its usefulness. He adds to ten grains 
of cocaine a drachm of water containing two drops 
of phenol. He has been using this formula for 
over a year, and since using it has never had to deal 
with the toxic efliect of the drug. In fact, he has 
been able to use it in any quantity, and in any part 
of the nose or throat, without the least fear of 
harmful consequences. 
Test for Typhoid Fever. — Says the N. Y. Med. 
Jour. : Recently two observers have reported favor- 
ably on the method by Ehrlich's test, a test that 
cannot well be called new, having been published in 
1SS2, but that does not seem to have attracted much 
attention. Two solutions are prepared : one con- 
taining seventy-two minims hydrochloric acid and 
ten grains of sulphanilic acid in three ounces of dis- 
tilled water ; the other a freshly prepared half per 
cent, solution of sodic nitrite in distilled water. 
Twenty-five parts of the first solution and one part 
of the second are mixed with twenty-six parts 
of patient's urine and the mixture is rendered 
alkaline by the addition of strong ammonia-water. 
In urine from a typhoid fever patient a bright 
orange-red color appears. 
> »♦» 
MEDICAL MISCELLANY. 
For a clinical patient, with beginning cirrhosis 
of the liver. Prof Da Costa prescribed milk diet, 
large doses of ammonium chloride, and — every 
morning before breakfast — sodium phosphate. 
A Report of the Epidemic. — During the late 
influenza epidemic in Edinburgh the lay press pub- 
lished with avidity "Interviews with Leading Med- 
ical Men." Somebody succeeded in "stuffing" the 
Evening Dispatch with the following information, 
which was gravely published: " There are a good 
many complicated cases occurring, such as inter- 
costal neuralgias and severe head pains, but the 
most serious of those are where the throat symp- 
toms are associated with, in the male, salpingitis, 
which necessitates either tracheotomy or hyster- 
ectomy. If hypospadias occurs, it may be well 
to give iron in large doses, but if a rupture of a 
Graafian follicle supervenes, it may be serious, or 
even fatal. This last complication is believed to be 
due to an organism not belonging to the bacteria, 
but like them not containing chlorophyll." 
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Piiblisljers' Colimjij. 
The first steel pens were all made with fine points. In addi- 
tion to these they are now made with blunt, broad, and turncd- 
up points. ESTERBROOK makes them all in great variety. 
Dr. H. R. Walton, Annapolis, Md., saysv "Colden's 
LiQjJiD Beef Tonic" is a most excellent preparation. It is 
par excellence. Superior to cod liver oil or anything I have 
ever used in^ wasted or impaired constitutions. 
As Dixon's "American Graphite " Pencils .^re some- 
what less in price, are American made, and are, to say the 
least, the equal of the finest imported, should they not fmd a 
place in every draughting-room in America in preference to 
imported goods? 
Up to the present time one hundred and Jifty-ste Ice 
Machines have been made and placed in position by David 
HovLE, of Chicago, and every one has given perfect satis- 
faction. Many of these' machines replaced those of othtr 
makers, owing to their greater economy and reliability. 
Special attention is called to the preparations advertised by 
Billings, Clapp & Co. in this number. This house is one 
of the oldest in Boston, and physicians and druggists can be 
sure of obtaining from them pure and reliable articles. Their 
PiiosPHOKOLE is a most excellent preparation of cod liver oil 
and phosphorus; and a single trial of their Extract of 
Malt will show its superiority. 
There are but two qualities of artificial, or chemical, fertil- 
izers — the very good and the very bad. The Jarmer who buys 
of unknown or unreliable parties may save a few dollars in tlic 
tirst cost of his fertilizer, but he will lose a great many more in 
the complete or partial failure of the crops to which it is 
ajiplied. The farmer is really a manufacturer: he buys the raw 
materials, — seeds and fertilizers, — and sells the finished pro- 
ducts, in the shape of fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, etc. A 
mill-owner would soon come to grief whose cotton or wool cost 
him more than the finished cloth would sell for; but manv 
farmers proceed cm this same principle, and them wonder whv 
*' farming don't pay." The proper and profitable way to do is 
to buy only a first-class article of fertilizer from resjionsibic 
I>arties, who have character, reputation, experience, and facili- 
ties; and there is no firm which possesses these qualities in a 
greater degree than that of the Bradley Kertilizer Co., 27 
KiLKY Street, Boston, who have held the leading position in 
the trade for nearly thirty years. By sending a postal caul 
with your address, you can obtain their beautiful illustrated 
almanac, which gives full information regarding the ditlerenl 
fertilizers manufactured by them. 
