Septembek 28, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



147 



chairman of the corninittee of arrangements, was warm and cordial 

 He spoke of Washington as a great scientific centre, as it is. It 

 would probably have surprised the members of the congress if he 

 had added, as he might have done, that there are in Washington 

 more than nine hundred men who are engaged in scientific work. 

 It may be remarked here that the work of the committee of ar- 

 rangements from beginning to end — from the banquet on the 

 evening before the congress met, to the magnificent reception with 

 which it closed — is worthy of the warmest commendation. 



At tlie first meeting of the congress, also. Dr. Pepper submitted 

 the following rules of organization, which were adopted : — 



"I. This organization shall be known as 'The Congress of 

 American Physicians and Surgeons.' 



" 2. It shall be composed of national associations for the promo- 

 tion of medical and allied sciences. 



" 3. It shall hold its sessions triennially in the city of Washington, 

 D.C. 



" 4. The officers of the congress shall be a president, vice-presi- 

 dent, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive committee. 



" 5. The president shall be elected by the executive committee, 

 of which he shall be e.v officio a member. 



"6. The presidents of the participating societies shall be ex 

 officio the vice-presidents of the congress. 



" 7. The secretary and the treasurer shall be elected by the ex- 

 ecutive committee. They shall be ex-officio members of the execu- 

 tive committee. 



" 8. The executive committee shall be composed of one member 

 from each participating society, and said members shall be elected 

 by the various societies at the next annual meetings subsequent to 

 the congress. 



" It shall be charged with all duties pertaining to the organization 

 of and preparation for the ensuing congress, including the election 

 of all otficers and of a committee of arrangements. 



" It shall superintend the publication of the transactions of the 

 congress. 



" 9. The expenses of the congress shall be divided between the 

 participating societies in proportion to their membership. 



" 10. The admission of new associations to participation in the 

 congress shall be by unanimous vote of the executive committee." 



Typhoid-Fever. 



The eleven medical and surgical societies from the membership 

 of which the congress is composed held their annual meetings dur- 

 ing the three days of the congress. A great number of papers 

 were read, a few of which, only, it will be possible to mention here. 



At the Tuesday meeting of the Association of American Physi- 

 cians, Dr. W. W. Johnston of Washington presented an important 

 paper on 'The Geographical Distribution of Typhoid-Fever in the 

 United States.' In brief, he said : " Typhoid-fever is admitted to 

 be a very generally distributed disease in the United States, but 

 there is a great difference of opinion as to what constitutes typhoid- 

 fever, — what symptoms are essential to its recognition. The diffi- 

 culties he in the fact that typhoid-fever is frequently a very mild 

 disease, with few of the characteristic symptoms ; and that some- 

 times the illness is so slight that its true nature is not recognized 

 until some sudden accident, as hemorrhage from the bowels or 

 perforation, reveals its true nature. The difficulty is increased still 

 more by the simultaneous occurrence, in malarial districts, of forms 

 of fever which have some of the symptoms of typhoid-fever and 

 some of malarial-fever. The question is to determine to which 

 category such obscure or doubtful cases belong. In the present 

 paper the effort was made, by a study of the prevailing forms of 

 continued fever in different portions of the country, to determine 

 the relative value of their symptoms, and to arrive at more precise 

 rules of diagnosis. Such a study reveals the fact that the principal 

 forms of fever recognized are (i) true typical typhoid-fever: (2) 

 true typical malarial (remittent or bilious) fever ; (3) adynamic 

 malarial-fever; (4) typho-malarial fever; (5) anomalous obscure 

 forms appear as simple, continued fever, gastric-fever, autumnal- 

 fever, etc. An analysis of the symptoms given by physicians in 

 different parts of the country shows that great difference of oi)inion 

 prevails as to the symptoms of these fevers ; but such an analysis 

 and comparison show also that true typical typhoid-fever and true 



remittent-fever are clearly defined ; that ' adynamic remittent-fever' 

 is a term which is used to designate a class of fevers consisting 

 partly of remittent-fevers, and partly of typhoid-fever of a typical 

 character. In regard to typho-malarial fever, no fixed ideas exist 

 as to what symptoms indicate it ; and so great is the confusion, and 

 so hopeless the task of giving this disease an appropriate place, it 

 is clear that much would be gained by abandoning the terms alto- 

 gether. As regards the obscure forms mentioned, there is the ten- 

 dency to class many of them under the head of mild or typical 

 typhoid-fever. But there is a great deal yet to be learned about 

 these forms ; and much progress can be made by a close study of 

 the micro-organisms found in the blood of these cases, and by a 

 closer study and unbiassed appreciation of their symptoms." 

 Heat-Centres in Man. 

 In the Tuesday meeting of the American Neurological Associa- 

 tion, the paper that probably was of most popular interest was that 

 read by Dr. Isaac Ott of Easton, Penn., on ' Heat-Centres in Man.' 

 He showed by cases of disease that in the brain of man are points 

 whose function it is to preside over the temperature of the body, 

 and to keep its heat constant. These centres were partly located 

 upon the surface and partly at the base of the brain. He also re- 

 lated cases on record of a temperature as high as 128° F., and as 

 low as 94° F. He explained how these great changes of tempera- 

 ture could be produced through disease of the nervous system. 

 Cases of children were detailed whose temperature was 1 10^ F. for 

 a short time and recovered. Fever was stated to be mainly a dis- 

 ease of the nervous system, causing increased chemical changes 

 in the tissues of the body, and thus elevating the temperature. 



Searching for the Yellew-Fever Germ. 



At the meeting of the Climatological society on Wednesday, Dr. 

 G. M. Sternberg, surgeon U.S.A., read a very important paper, in 

 which he gave a report of the result of the search for the yellow- 

 fever germ which he has been prosecuting under the direction of 

 the President. The title of his paper was ' Recent Investigations 

 relating to the Etiology of Yellow-Fever.' The subject is one 

 which, on account of the prevalence of this disease in the Southern 

 States, is just now of absorbing interest, not only to the medital 

 profession, but to the public generally. Dr. Sternberg said that 

 there have been several different claimants to the honor of having 

 discovered the yellow-fever germ, but none of these claims are well 

 founded. He exhibited to the association cultivations of the germs 

 of Dr. Domingos Freire of Brazil, of Dr. Carlos Finlay of Havana, 

 and of Dr. Paul Gibier of France. The last-named physician was 

 commissioned by the French Government to study yellow-fever, 

 and had already been in Havana for several months, when, in May 

 last. Dr. Sternberg arrived in that city in compliance with instruc- 

 tions from the President to continue the investigation commenced 

 last year in Brazil and in Mexico. 



Through the courtesy of the Spanish army-surgeons at the mili- 

 tary hospitals in Havana, Dr. Sternberg was able to obtain as many 

 autopsies as he required, and made a careful search of the blood in 

 the various organs of the body with reference to the presence of 

 germs. He did not encounter in a single case the microbe which 

 Dr. Domingos Freire has described, and with which he professes 

 to practise protective inoculations. He has, however, encountered 

 this micrococcus in cultures made from the surface of the body, and 

 believes its presence in Dr. Freire's blood-cultures from the finger 

 to have been quite accidental and without special significance. 



Having proved by his microscopical researches and culture ex- 

 periments that there is no specific germ in the blood of yellow-fever 

 patients. Dr. Sternberg turned his attention to the alimentary canal, 

 thinking it not improbable that the specific germ of the disease 

 might be located there, as it is the case in cholera. As was to 

 have been expected, he encountered a variety of micro-organisms in 

 this situation, some of which were apparently undescribed species, 

 and therefore possible yellow-fever germs. Among these is the 

 bacillus of Dr. Paul Gibier, which was found in three out of ten 

 cases. According to Dr. Sternberg, Dr. Gibier has not as yet 

 given any satisfactory proof that this is the veritable yellow-fever 

 germ, and further researches are required in order to determine the 

 important questions relating to the cause and prevention of this 

 disease. Dr. Sternberg has himself discovered several new micro- 



