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ceases to beat. 3. The cessation of action is not regularly progressive. 
4. When the ordinary action of the heart has been completely arrested, the 
ventricle stdl exhibits peculiar movements, which appear to be peristaltic. 
5. When the ventricle has completely ceased to act, and is strongly contracted 
and empty, the auricles, though full of blood, continue to contract. 6. Finally. 
The paralysis of the heart has nothing in common with cadaveric rigidity. 
When once paralyzed, this organ does not respond to any stimuli, whether 
mechanical, chemical, or electrical, applied either directly or to the nerves. 
Two new Ancesthetics, which bid fair to rival even chloroform, have lately 
been introduced into practice by an English physician. At the meeting of 
the British Medical Association, Mr. Nunneley exhibited two substances, the 
bromide of ethyl and the chloride of olefiant gas, which for some time past 
he had used as anaesthetics. He stated that he had not lately performed any 
serious operation, either in private practice or at the Leeds General Infirmary, 
without the patient being rendered insensible by one or other of these agents, 
each of which he believed to possess important advantages over chloroform. 
They were among the many analogous bodies experimented on by him, and 
favourably mentioned in the essay on Ansesthesia, which he published in the 
Transactions of the Association for 1849. At that time the diflSculty and 
cost of their preparation were too great to allow of their being commonly 
employed. This difficulty, however, has been overcome ; and, should their 
use become general, they can be made at a cost not exceeding that of chloro- 
form. They both act speedily, pleasantly, and well. The patient might be 
kept insensible for any length of time, while the most serious and painful 
operations were being conducted. No disagreeable symptoms had in any case 
resulted from their use. 
What is the Physiological Action of Absinthe ? — The effects of absinthe- 
drinking upon the French population have always been regarded as injurious. 
Until quite recently, however, the noxious results were attributed to the worm- 
wood, which forms the basis of this liqueur. M. Deschamps, in a paper read 
before the Academy on the 10th, has arrived at a different conclusion ; he 
entirely acquits the wormwood of the charge of injurious action, and states 
that all the bad effects may be attributed to the alcohol. We very much 
doubt the accuracy of M. Deschamps’ opinion, for we think — the therapeutical 
action of wormwood being admitted — that absinthe, apart from its alcohol, 
contains ingredients highly calculated to operate detrimentally upon the 
animal economy. 
The Removal of Neuralgic Rain. — It has lately been stated in some of the 
French journals that Dr. Caminiti, of Messina, has discovered a remedy for 
certain forms of neuralgia. A patient of his had long been suffering from 
trifacial neuralgia ; she could not bear to look at luminous objects, her eyes 
were constantly watering, and she was in constant pain. Blisters, prepara- 
tions of belladonna, and hydrochlorate of morphine, friction with tincture of 
aconite, pills of acetate of morphine and camphor, subcarbonate of iron, &c., 
had been employed with but partial success, or none whatever. At length 
Dr. Caminiti, attributing the obstinacy of the affection to the variations of 
temperature so frequent in Sicily, adopted the expedient of covering aU the 
painful parts with a coating of collodion containing a certain proportion of 
hydrochlorate of morphine. This treatment was perfectly successful ; the 
