SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



a.v&v.eurojjomeiie 0. IV. 157. Smaller than type, 

 disc, spot on f.w. S obsolete, marginal borders 

 dark and broad. £ whiter, marginal borders less 

 denned, and on f.w. with light faint spots of the 

 ground colour, sometimes with light rays. 



I took a $ specimen at the top of the Furka 

 Pass in Switzerland, in 1871, in which the marginal 

 borders are veined with yellow, as in C. pelidne. I 

 have never seen a similarly marked specimen in 

 any collection. Hab. The Alps of Switzerland and 

 Germany. 



b. var. orientalis Stgr. The Amur form of the 

 species. Smaller than the type, paler in colour in 

 both sexes. 



c. var. lapponica Stgr. Cat. 1871, p. 5. As a 

 rule, same size as type, but some specimens are 

 larger. Ground colour paler yellow in $ , that of 



J nearly white. Disc, spot of f.w. very small in $ , 

 generally larger and well defined in J . Marginal 

 borders sharply defined in $ , in f with some in- 

 distinct white spots on f.w. U.S. greener in tint 

 than in type. Hab. Lapland, North Eussia, 

 Norway, near St. Petersburg, VI. m., Charbolova, 

 Lapland. VII. 



(I. ab. J . Werdandi H. S. 41, 42. Ground colour 

 of wings same as in $, marginal borders well 

 defined and dark ; sometimes with a row of in- 

 distinct yellow spots on f.w. U.S. of a brighter 

 yellow tinge than type. Hab. Alps of Switzerland, 

 Engleberg, Albula, Maloya, etc. VII. m. 



(To be continued.') 



PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS OF 

 SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 



IN no branch of applied science has greater pro- 

 gress been made than in the art of surgery. 

 Many of the elder practitioners now living, and 

 especially those who commenced life in country 

 practices, can remember the hideous state of things 

 that obtained when they were medical students. 

 Most of us can recollect, even in later days, the 

 very large proportion of failures in operations ; but 

 under modern conditions the loss of a patient 

 treated for similar afflictions is exceedingly excep- 

 tional. The profession of surgery has the high 

 credit of having readily adapted every new scien- 

 tific discovery to its aid in reducing human and 

 other animal suffering. It has been this enter- 

 prise that accounts so largely for the rapid develop- 

 ment of surgical science. We must not suppose 

 that we have reached the end of the advantages of 

 an alliance between scientific discovery and the 

 art of surgery. This art is necessarily, like all 

 others^ an accumulation of experience in successful 

 operations. At the present time this experience 

 can only be demonstrated to new students during 

 actual operations, or by descriptions given at lec- 

 tures with the aid of diagrams. Thus it may be 



that a student may have few, or indeed no actual, 

 opportunities of witnessing some of the rarer object- 

 lessons so necessary to his education. Lectures 

 with diagrams are admirable in themselves, but 

 are, of course, far less satisfactory than actually 

 viewing the operation conducted by one of the 

 leaders of the profession. 



Certain eminent French and German surgeons 

 have already grasped the importance of correct 

 photographic records of operations to be used 

 for future demonstration. They have, therefore, 

 adapted the cinematograph as the recording in- 

 strument ; consequently it is possible to repeat on 

 a screen before a class in any remote part of the 

 world the actions of the operator in London, 

 Paris, or Berlin. Even for the students who were 

 present during the operation a record is of the 

 highest value, for it often happens that the classes 

 are large in number, and some of them are unable 

 to obtain a perfect view of what is proceeding. 

 By the aid of these moving pictures the demon- 

 stration may be repeated over and over again, 

 until the professor instructing his class feels that 

 every member of his audience has fully grasped 

 the subject. 



Not alone does the advantage of pictorial repro- 

 ductions of this character appeal to the schools of 

 surgery. Practitioners who have long since severed 

 connection with their Alma Mater, and while prac- 

 tising in remote rural or colonial districts, are apt 

 to become rusty or out of date in their professional 

 knowledge through their isolation and want of 

 touch with modern progress. For these gentlemen 

 a system by which new operations or older ones of 

 consequence may be studied in their own homes 

 through written descriptions illustrated by moving 

 pictures should prove invaluable. It is probable 

 that ere long a system of such object-lessons will 

 be organised on the lines of an ordinary literary 

 circulating library. By that means even practi- 

 tioners residing in remote parts of the world can 

 keep themselves posted with regard to everything 

 of importance to their professional work. 



We are pleased to announce that a new instru- 

 ment has been invented for this purpose by which 

 the results can be obtained without any trouble- 

 some films or other unsatisfactory impedimenta, 

 the transparent pictures forming the record being 

 in spiral arrangement on a circular glass plate, 

 and exhibited with a rotatory movement. We 

 understand also that, including a small lantern 

 for projecting the pictures, the whole set of appa- 

 ratus will be supplied at a total cost which will be 

 hardly felt by any person in the position of an 

 ordinary practitioner. 



Thus again we shall have to thank the union of 

 mechanical science and the healer's art. We 

 believe that this invention will be as important 

 and far-reaching in the profession of surgery, as 

 has been the application of Kontgen's rays and 

 other modern appliances. — J. T. C. 



