400 
POPULAR. SCIENCE REVIEW. 
produced. Thus the coloured material of which a single blood globule was 
composed, gave rise to several distinct tetra-hedral crystals. The crystals 
did not seem to have been precipitated from any fluid contents of the 
corpuscle, nor was there any indication whatever of a cell-wall remaining.” 
The whole of the red material became converted into crystals, thus satis- 
factorily proving the absence of an external envelope. — Yide Quarterly 
Journal of Microscopical Science , January. 
Cause of Yellow Colour of Skin in Yellow Fever . — This has been attributed 
by Dr. S. Fleet Speir to the presence of Haematoidine. Having made a 
post-mortem examination of the body of a man who died of yellow fever, 
he found the following microscopic appearances. The contents of the 
stomach and intestines, which were acid, contained altered blood corpuscles, 
and abundant granules of hsematoidine. The liver exhibited some large 
and fatty cells, but the majority of the latter elements seemed to have 
undergone the waxy degeneration : there was an abundance of lisema- 
toidine, and a few blood crystals were also to be seen. In the heart were 
found granules of hsematoidine, the muscular substance having undergone 
fatty degeneration. The spleen, which was softened, contained abundant 
granules of hsematoidine, so did the pancreas and supra-renal capsules, as 
also the skin and conjunctiva. The blood corpuscles were found altered 
and broken down. — Yide American Medical Times, November, 1863. 
Action of Oil of Male Fern in Tape-worm Affections. — It having been 
deemed desirable by the British Medical Association, that a report on the 
therapeutic action of the oil of male fern should be made, the Society 
appointed a gentleman connected with Birmingham (Dr. Fleming) to 
compile the required information. This he has done. The report was 
published in the British Medical Journal (January 16th), and has, we 
believe, been reprinted in pamphlet form. The number of cases recorded 
is by no means as large as we should have expected, but is nevertheless 
sufficient to enable Dr. Fleming to draw a few conclusions, to one of which 
w^e would direct attention. It is stated, that the “ measle ” (we presume 
the cystic stage is the one alluded to) has “ a higher chance of escaping 
death in a weak stomach , and subsequently making a home for itself in the 
bowels .” This is a fact of much interest, inasmuch as, if correct , it tends 
to show that in what the reporter would doubtless term “ strong stomachs,” 
par excellence , the so-called cysticercus ought to be destroyed ! 
Use of Alcohol in Phthisis. — M. Tripier read a paper at a late meeting 
of the French Academy, in which he expressed his opinion, that the 
employment of alcohol in cases of Phthisis was attended with beneficial 
results. He did not for a moment suppose that it was possible to cure the 
disease by the use of this remedy, but he believed that alcohol operated so 
as to check the paroxysmal cough and vomiting which are so frequent an 
occurrence in this dreadful malady. The rationale of the action is this : — 
there is produced a certain amount of local anasthesia, which prevents the 
reflex action necessary in order to produce secretion of the gastric juice. 
This follows from Bernard’s experiments on dogs, in which digestion was 
always arrested by the introduction of alcohol into the stomach. — Yide 
R6vue de Therapeutique , February, 1864. 
Last Blow to Teetotalism Triumph of triumphs to the common expe- 
