Vol. XXV. No. 7.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
109 
influenza was the only assignable cause of insan- 
ity, lie inclines to the belief that if the antece- 
dents of these seventeen cases could be thoioughly 
analyzed, this number seventeen, in whom no pre- 
disposing causes were known, would be dimin- 
ished, and that we might approach nearer to a 
conclusion made by Kraepeliu, namely, that the 
influenza alone is not sufficient to occasion the de- 
velopment of a psychosis. 
Of the total forty-eight cases, sixteen recovered. 
Considering that in hospitals the average number 
of recoveries in new cases is only from fifteen per 
cent, to twenty per cent., the recovery of thirty- 
three per cent, of these cases is worthy of remark. 
Cases of insanity excited by the influenza have 
shown a greater tendency to prompt recovery or 
improvement than is usual in recent cases. In 
most instances the improvement has been coinci- 
dent with the abatement of the acute bodily 
symptoms and the return to physical strength 
and health. 
Finally, out of these forty-eight cases, it is quite 
easy to iy!Cognize three main groups, namely : 
1. Ciises of simple depression and hypochon- 
dria. Many such instances were no doubt seen 
by those in general practice during the epidemic, 
but in which the mental disturbance did not pro- 
ceed far enough to demand hospital treatment. 
2. Cases in which the emotional disturbance 
was carried farther than in the first group, result- 
ing in acute forms of mania and melancholia. 
3. A considerable proportion of cases which 
developed on the basis of bodily exhaustion and 
depression of the nervous forces, namely : the 
cases of delirious mania, febrile delirium, and 
especially those of acute confusional insanity, 
which appears to be the type towards which the 
symptoms in many cases have inclined.— Boston 
' Medical and Surgical Journal. 
Blindness of Many Years Cured by Tri'> 
PniNiNG THE Occiput.— At a late meeting of the 
St. Louis Medical Society, Dr. T. F. Prewitt re- 
ported a case of prompt recovery of sight in one 
eye after nine years of complete blindness as the 
result of trephining the upper part of the occiput. 
When seven to eight years old the patient re- 
ceived a severe blow on the back of the head. 
When fourteen years old the left eye became to- 
tally blind, which was nine years before the oper- 
ation. Severe brain symptoms slowly developed 
and grew constantly worse till a few weeks ago, 
when the young lady was forced to seek relief 
from the intense and constant suffering. 'Hie 
examination revealed a large, tender cicatrix in 
the median line over the upper margin of the 
occipital bone. Pressure upon the spot caused 
intense headache to follow. Depression of the 
bone could not be positively diagnosed. As 
stated, the left eye had been blind for nine years ; 
more recently the vision of the other eye was 
seriously impaired at times. The appearance of 
the optic nerve in each eye was stated to be nor- 
mal — an important fact in making a prognosis. 
Dr. Prewitt concluded that the only thing to do 
was to trephine the skull at the point of injury. 
He removed a large section of bone, which was 
found to be much thickened but not perceptibly 
depressed. The dura mater was also somewhat 
thickened. When a flap of the membrane was 
raised the substance of the brain seemed to be 
healthy. The wound was closed and dressed in 
the usual way. A few hours after the operation 
the patient discovered that she could see perfectly 
with her left (blind) eye, and the vision continued 
good up to the time the report was made. — St. 
Louis Medical Journal. 
Aspiration in Pleurisy. — In the Vratch Dr. 
A. Egorovsky discusses the treatment of acute 
exudative (serous and sero-purulent) pleurisy, 
and warmly advocates the following proposi- 
tions : 
1. ITie best treatment of the disease consists 
in making early repeated tappings with aspira- 
tion. 
2. The tappings should be performed every 
third or fourth day until the eftusion has ceased 
to re-accumulate, or has absorbed. 
3. The earlier the tappings are resorted to, the 
greater are the chances for a rapid, complete, and 
permanent cure. 
4. Tlie treatment is indicated even in cases of 
relatively scanty efi'usions. 
5. The aspirations depress febrile temperature, 
alleviate thoracic pain, improve the appetite and 
the patient's subjective state, and altogether 
shorten the acute stage of the aftection. 
6. ITiey never give rise to a quickened re- 
accumulation of exudation ; on the contrary, they 
invariably accelerate the absorption of eftusions. 
7. They never change the character of the lat- 
ter — that is, they never transform a serous exuda- 
tion into a sero-purulent one, or a sero-purulent 
into a pure purulent. 
8. They are not contra-indicated even in the 
presence of pulmonary tuberculosis. 
9. The best apparatus for the purpose in ques- 
tion is constituted by Potain's powerful aspirator. 
The author's statements are based on twenty- 
four typical cases of pleurisy (mostly referring to 
soldiers) treated by him after the plan recom- 
mended, every one of them speedily ending in a 
complete and permanent recovery. Of twenty- 
one other cases which were treated after various 
usual methods, — the internal administration of 
diuretics, diaphoretics, purgatives, iodide of po- 
tassium, chloride of sodium, iron, etc., — in none 
could anything like a complete absorption of the 
efl'usion be attained. * 
A Remarkable Case of Lightning Stroke. 
— In the Polish Nbwiny Lekarskie Dr. Zaremba 
records the following unusual instance of light- 
ning stroke, ending in complete recovery : 
Being overtaken by a storm on a country road, 
two peasant lads, aged eighteen, A. and B., sought 
refuge under two big poplars, about twelve meters 
one from the other, the lad A. standing in such a 
manner that only his right shoulder-blade was in 
contact with the tree. A lightning stroke sud- 
denly flashed above their heads, both of them fall- 
ing down. The lad B., however, at once got up 
and hurried to his mate, to find him lying appar- 
ently dead. When brought to the spot by B., in 
about twenty or thirty minutes after the accident, 
the author found the patient already on his legs, 
slightly dazzled, but otherwise seemingly quiet 
and composed. He answered rationally all ques- 
tions, complaining only of an intense ear-ringing 
and slight jerking of his right hand, but of no 
pain. There was also noticed a peculiar greenish 
yellow tint of his facial skin. On examination, 
his occipital hairs proved to be bm-nt and singed, 
while somewhat above the right scapula there 
was detected a mark of an intense burning, which 
lower down was transformed into 3. dark brown 
streak, one centimeter wide. The latter descended 
along the shoulder-blade and ribs towards the 
right anterior aspect of the abdomen, to pass 
from here to the corresponding groin, anterior 
and lateral surface of the right thigh, and to ter- 
minate on the calf in the shape of another more 
severe burn of the skin. At the level of the latter 
lesion the lad's trowsers proved to contain a lacer- 
ated hole, freely admitting a fist. An inspection 
of the tree under which the lad had been standing 
showed that its bark was extensively split up 
exactly down to the spot at which his scapula had 
been in contact with it. In other words, the elec- 
tric current, having passed along the poplar, pen- 
etrated at that level into the patient's body and 
then emerged from his calf to sink into the earth. 
The lad \\as able to walk to his village, (^n the 
next morning he was found quite well. It is in- 
teresting to note that he did not recollect any- 
thing of what had occurred during the first ten 
hours after the stroke; he did not see the flash 
and did not hear the thundef; neither could he 
remember how he had come home or what had 
happened on the way thither, etc. 
The Source of Albuminuria.— Dr. W. H. 
Porter, in a paper on the " Source and Signifi- 
cance of Albumen in the Urine,"' (Post-Graduate) , 
sums up as follows : 
1. That the albumen found in the ui'ine, ex- 
cepting that which occurs in the early stages of 
an acute exudative or diftuse nepliritis, is a de- 
rived albumen, and not serum albumen. 
2. In the early stage of an acute exudative or 
difi'use nephritis the albumen comes directly from 
the blood-vessels, due to the inflammatory altera- 
tion in their walls, and is of the serum all)umen 
type. 
3. That later in acute exudative or difi'use ne- 
phritis, when tlie vascular walls have partially 
recovered from the primary inflammatory damage, 
the albumen becomes more abundant in quantity ; 
but now it is of the derived albumen type, and 
has been excreted by the damaged epithelial cells 
lining the uriniferous tubules. 
4. That in all conditions, excepting the acute 
exudative or diffuse nephritis, where albumen is 
found in the urine, it is due to changes in the 
epithelium, by which it is un.able to do the work 
properly, and excretes or allows a derived form 
of albumen to pass through into the urine. 
5. That the quantity of albumen contained in 
the urine is always in direct proportion to the 
amount of retrograde change in the epithelial 
cells. 
6. That this retrograde change in the epithelial 
cells is secondary to an impaired nutritive condi- 
tion at lai-ge, together with an overworked state 
of the renal cells, without a compensatory nutri- 
tion being sustained. 
7. Viewed in this light, if we direct our treat- 
ment to improving the general nutrition of the 
system, and at the same time decrease the amount 
of work to be accomplished by the kidneys, we 
shall see many cases of complete recovery which 
must otherwise remain cases of albuminuria. 
A Deciduous Man.— At a recent meeting of 
the Chicago Medical Society, Dr. J. Frank re- 
ported a case where a man every July shed his 
skin. He was taken with feverish tremors, in- 
creasing almost to paroxysms. He undressed, 
lay down, and within a few minutes the skin of 
the chest began to turn red. The redness lapidly 
extended over tlie entire skin, and the feverish 
tremors continued uninterrupted for about twelve 
hours. Then he arose, dressed, and walked about 
in perfect health. The skin now commenced to 
peel, and ten hours later it began to come oft' in 
great patches. From the arms and legs it could 
be pulled off exactly like gloves or stockings. 
As the old skin came away, a new epidermis, as 
soft and pink as a baby's, was revealed. This 
new skin was very sensitive; the patient had to 
wear softened gloves and moccasins for about a 
