POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
282 
the use of convex glass, is the same as that of the meridian of greatest 
curvature ; whilst the concave glass shows the direction of least curvature 
of the cornea. The remedy consists in the use of cylindrical glasses, made 
by dividing a glass cylinder parallel to its long axis. A glass prepared in 
this way exerts an influence on light falling on it in a plane perpendicular 
to its axis, whilst on light falling in a plane parallel to its axis it has no 
effect ; so that the faulty diameter of the cornea is compensated for, 
and the correctly curved diameter is not interfered with. 
Transplantation of Teeth . — At the congress of German dentists, held in 
September, 1862, M. Siiersen, of Berlin, stated that he considered Faulk- 
ner’s orange vulcanized india-rubber as preferable to all other kinds : he 
had analysed it, and found it innocuous. When made up for the purpose 
of fitting in artificial teeth, it was necessary, he found, to subject it for 
an hour and a quarter to steam, heated under pressure to between 360° and 
386° Fahrenheit. He also stated that transplantation of teeth had been 
practised by Mitscherlich of Berlin for the last eighteen months. His 
method was to implant into an empty tooth-socket, a human tooth that 
had been extracted some time previously. The tooth itself took no part 
in forming the union ; but material was thrown out by the socket which 
firmly fixed the tooth in its place. The chief conditions of success were, 
that the individual should not be too old, should be in good general health, 
and the socket for the tooth should be sufficiently large. Mitscherlich had 
been successful in eight cases out of ten. M. Suerson himself, owing 
to want of good selection of teeth, not quite so fortunate. 
THERAPEUTICS. 
Nicotine as an Antidote to Tetanus. — In November, 1856, the Rev. 
Professor Haughton, of Trinity College, Dublin, read a paper in the Royal 
Irish Academy, in which he showed that in frogs poisoned by strychnia, 
the effect of the poison is counteracted by nicotine (the active principle of 
tobacco). The causes of tetanus are chiefly three ; that form which arises 
from the irritation of certain kinds of wounds, conjoined probably with 
atmospheric influences ; that form arising from no ascertainable cause 
(of course there is a cause, but it cannot as yet be traced), in which, how- 
ever, there is generally a story of exposure to cold and wet; and, lastly, 
the form which results from the taking of strychnia. The first species is 
called Traumatic ; the second, Idiopathic ; the third, differing slightly in 
its symptoms from the other two, is Tetanus from strychnia. To resume ; 
in 1853, Dr. T. O’Reilly, of St. Louis, Missouri, in a case in which 
six grains of strychnia had been swallowed (a poison so virulent, that 
half a grain is sufficient to destroj' adult human life), brought the patient 
round again, by administering an infusion of dry tobacco leaves. Dr. 
Haughton lias lately published a pamphlet on the subject, in which he 
gives the result of treatment by this method in four cases. The first case 
was traumatic, and the patient was dying when seen ; but the effect of the 
nicotine was well marked, although life was not saved. The nicotine was 
given in one-drop doses : there was an immediate relaxation of the tetanic 
spasm in the muscles of the face, throat, and chest. The second case was 
