128 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 



[August, 1889. 



scabs wliicli filled the cavities of the nostrils, but 

 the sense of smell was regained, and there was no 

 return of epistaxis. 



Sai'olini, of Milan, has successfully treated sixty- 

 two cases of deafness of old age {International Cong 

 Otology ) He mops the menibrana tympani with a 

 weak oleaginous solution of phosphorus. He claims 

 that this diminishes the opacity of the membrane, 

 increases the circulation, and improves the hearing. 



Dr. Testevin (Monit. Therap.) resuscitated a 

 case of asphyxia by giving repeated hypodermic 

 injections of ether. The patient had previously 

 been taken from a room in which a man had been 

 completely suffocated by carbonic acid gas, and the 

 usual artificial respiration, sinapisms, friction, etc.j 

 had failed, after an hour's use, to give any encour- 

 agement of restoration. Several injections, at inter- 

 vals, finally roused the patient. 



-<♦>- 



A REMARKABLE FISTULA. 



In the Deutsche Monatschrift, Dr. Nicolai, of 

 Stuttgart, gives the history of a case in which a 

 fistula opening at the nipple was found to be con- 

 nected with a diseased molar tooth. According to 

 a sinmnary in the Centralblatt fur Chirurgie, the 

 connection was first inferred from the fact that the 

 discharge from the opening just above the lelt 

 nipple ceased at once after proper treatment of the 

 diseased left lower first molar, and it was afterward 

 proved by an injection of cochineal into the alveolus 

 of the tooth, which caused a red coloration of the 

 pus discharged at the nipple. Further examination 

 showed that the pus had made its way through the 

 maxilla, descended along the border of the sterno- 

 cleido-mastoid muscle, perforated the fascia of the 

 platysma myoides, and coursed over the pectoral 

 muscle into the substance of the mammary gland. 

 The fistula closed in twelve days after the removal 

 of the diseased tooth. — N. V. Medical Journal. 



too weak to withstand the violent symptoms, which 

 are similar to tho.se which follow the sudden with- 

 drawal of the drug in adult opium-eaters. 



Jaundice Following a Stroke of Lightning. 

 — Dr. C. Gerhardt has published an account of the 

 case of a person who had been struck with lightning. 

 The patient came under treatment a few hours after 

 the- accident, having regained conscibusness, but 

 having no remembrance of what had occurred. The 

 course of the current was shown by burning of the 

 hair, and by the characteristic arborescent figures, 

 especially on the back. There was hiematogenous 

 jaundice, apparently due to the action of the electric 

 current on the coloring matter of the blood, and the 

 nerves and muscles were over-sensitive to both the 

 faradic and the galvanic current. 



Variations in Percei>tive Power. — The fact of 

 intermittence in the intensity of some sensations is 

 know^i to physiologists. Thus, the tick of a watch 

 withdrawn gradually from the ear begins to be 

 heard, by turns, distinctly and indistinctly, then 

 times of silence alternate with the sound. M. 

 Couetoux, in the Revue Scientifique, calls attention 

 to an analogous experience he has had in the case of 

 vision. Looking at a distant windmill, with four 

 vanes, he could not make up his mind whether it 

 was in slow motion (like a nearer one) ; for, of the 

 three vanes projected against the sky, he saw now 

 one, now another; but the intermittent degradation 

 of the sensorial impression prevented his observing 

 two successive positions. These sensorial fluctua- 

 tions seem to deserve careful study. 



MEDICAL MEMORANDA. 



Two Hundred and Fifty Cherry Stones, and 

 three plum kernels were found in the lower portion 

 of the intestine of a girl twenty-two years of age, 

 who died recently in the PViedrichsheim City Hos- 

 pital in Berlin. 



Exact Determination ok the Quantity of 

 Water Contained in the Blood. — MM. Grehant 

 and Quinquaud find that in a dog the blood in the 

 femoral vein contains 77.09 per cent, of water, while 

 that of the femoral artery contains 7801 per cent. 

 The plentiful introduction of water into the stomach 

 raises the proportion slightly. 



Delicacy of Taste. — In recent tests on forty 

 persons, one part of salicine was tasted in 12,000 

 parts of water; of morphine, one in 14,000; quinine, 

 one in 76,000; quassine, one in 90,000; picrotoxine, 

 one in 197,000; alvine, one in 210,000, and strych- 

 nine, one in 826,000. Twelve tasters detected one 

 part of strychnine in 1,280,000. 



Trichina in muscle can be detected, according to 

 Dr. Clore, a Spanish practitioner, by placing thin 

 slices of the suspected meat in a test tube with pep- 

 sine, water, and a little hydrochloric acid. After a 

 few hours' digestion in a warm place, the parasite 

 will become so loose and prominent, that it can 

 easily be picked out with a needle, and identified 

 under the microscope. 



The Morphine Habit. — Erlenmeyer says that 

 children born of women addicted to the morphine 

 habit are practically morphine-eaters from birth. 

 During the first few days of life, unless morphine is 

 given to them, they are very apt to suffer collapse ; 

 and this condition may end in death, the child being 



HUMORS. 



Clark: "I understand, doctor, that two dentists 

 in your neighborhood have arranged a match in 

 their art?" 



Doctor: "Yes, I have heard so." 



Clark: "What do you think the result will be.'" 



Doctor: "A draw." 



From Force of Habit. — A Bangor lady was 

 very ill, a few days ago, and a physician was called, 

 who prescribed for her. The prescription was given 

 to the servant girl, who was directed to take it to a 

 drug store and have it filled. She went to a drug 

 store, but, instead of carrying out her instructions, 

 bought a postage stamp, placed it upon the prescrip- 

 tion, and dropped it into the post-office. In a short 

 time it returned to the physician who gave it. It 

 may be well to add that the lady did not die from 

 the delay in receiving the medicine. 



One Cigar Only. — A young man from the coun- 

 try had applied to his physician for advice. After 

 prescribing the regimen he wished his patient to 

 follow, he added : 



"And remember, only one cigar after after each 

 meal." 



Some weeks later the young man returned. 



"Well, my youthful friend," inijuired Esculapius, 

 "have you observed my rules?" 



"Pretty faithfully, doctor. Only that one-cigar- 

 after-each-meal business has bothered me some. 

 You should understand that I had — never smoked." 



A Serious Case. — A Massachusetts doctor says 

 that he can diagnose ailments by examining a single 

 hair of the patient. It is said that two young men, 

 as a joke, took him a hair from a bay horse. The 

 doctor gravely wrote a prescription and said his fee 

 was $25, as the case was precarious. They were 

 staggered, but paid the fee, and, after they got out, 

 laughed all the way to the apothecary's. The latter 

 took the prescription and read in amazement : 

 "One bushel of oats, four quarts of water, stir well 

 and give three times a day — and turn the animal 

 out to grass." Then the jokers stopped laughing. 



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Publisljers' Cioluiijrj; 



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The proprietors of Nestle's Milk Food claim that it resem- 

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Othce of the Maryland Hos])ital for the Insane, \ 

 53 Lexington Street, Baltimore. ) 



I have the pleasure to say that I have used the tonic called 

 "Coluen's Liqjjiij Beef Tonic," in this institution and in 

 private practice for more than a year, and can recommend it as 

 one of the most efficient preparations I have ever met with. It 

 combines the virtue of food and tonic in a remarkable way, and 

 I am satisfied it has been the means of saving life when im 

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 under the judgment of a physician. 



U. S. Steuart, Pres't Maryland Hospital. 



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