20 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY. [January. 
Surgical Lesions of the Brain and its Envelopes. By Nicholas Senn, M. D., from Zhe 
Medical News, Aug. 28, 1886. (pp. 23). 
Erysipelas, and other Septic and Infectious Diseases incident to Injuries and Surgical 
Operations, prevented by a Method of Atmospheric Purification ; with an original 
new wood-cut, and a report of a case of Laparotomy. By David Pierce, M. D.; 
from American Practitioner and News, Apl. 3 and 17, 1886, 2d edition. (pp. 20). 
The scheme proposed by the author of this paper is to surround the patient during 
the operation with air which has been entirely disinfected before the operation is 
begun. The plan is to operate in a room placed over a second room, called the 
basement, in which the air is purified. In the basement room stands a pot of 
burning sulphur, and air is introduced into the room near this through a jet of 
steam, which catches up much of the solid matter. This pot is ina chamber of the 
basement, and the air of the room must all pass first through the first chamber of the 
basement. From this it passes through a spray of water near the floor into a 
second chamber warmed by a stove. This warmed air ascends to the ceiling of the 
second chamber, passes over into a third chamber, and ascends back and forth 
under shelves dripping with water in the third chamber. The air is thus filtered 
through water three times before it passes into the operating room. The operating 
room is free from closets or other places where any unclean thing may be hidden. A 
stove on one side of the room, with a partition open only near the floor shutting it 
off from the room, secures a draft from the room, while fresh air is furnished to the 
room by a pipe which opens over the operating table. Before the operation sulphur 
burned below thoroughly fumigates the room, and then fresh filtered air is supplied and 
continued through the operation. If additional precaution is required, spray of car- 
bolic acid or mercury bichloride, or other antiseptics locally applied, may be resorted 
to. To test the air in the room ten flasks of culture fluid were allowed to stand open 
in it a few minutes and then sealed up, and at the end of four months all but one were 
still perfectly clear. A bottle of culture liquid was opened to the air of the room, left 
open for several minutes, then closed by a cotton seal, and did not go into decompo- 
sition. Other similar experiments showed that the air of the room was sterilized. 
Operations were conducted in the room without any septic or erysipelatous sequel, and 
the peritoneal cavity opened, up to time of writing, six times. 
Some Reflections on Medical Ethics, Medical Legislation, and Jury Trials of the In- 
sane. By D.R. Wallace,M.D., LL.D. Terrill, Texas. Read Apl.,’86. (pp. 21), 
The paper deals first with the question of the issuance of license to practise medicine, 
and advocates that as in law no one is admitted to the profession except he be examined 
by a number of practising lawyers of the district in which he desires to practise, so in 
medicine a man be not allowed to practise except after medical examination satisfac- 
tory to the associated practitioners. 
The statute law of Texas, which ‘requires the jury trial of the insane as precedent 
to admission into the State lunatic hospitals,’ is denounced ‘as contrary to humanity 
and common sense.’ 
The Relation of the State and the Medical Profession -— An Address before the Alumni 
Association, Dept. Medicine and Surgery, Univ. Mich. By Charles J. Lundy, ‘A. 
M., M.D. Ann Arbor, 1886. (pp. 12). 
Exchanges. 
{Exchanges are inserted in this column without charge. They will be strictly limited to mounted objects, and 
material for mounting. ] 
Wanted histological and pathological mounts. Send list for exchange. 
JOHN H. SMITH, M. D., 909 South Charles St., Baltimore, Md. 
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