SYNOPSIS OF CONTINENTAL VETERINARY JOURNALS. 163 
and expel the liquid by pressing on the piston, being careful 
to keep the apparatus above the pouch, in order to retain in 
the top of the pump some bubbles of air which always gain 
entry. 
IV. Contra-indications .—Pneumatic aspiration must not 
supplant the hot iron in opening superficial purulent collec¬ 
tions. Though Dr. Dieulafoy recommends in cases of dropsy 
of serous cavities frequent removal of the accumulated serum 
before any attempt is made to act upon the system by medi¬ 
caments it would be better for veterinarians to try pneumatic 
aspiration and therapeutic measures simultaneously. 
V. Practical results. —We have tried this means fre¬ 
quently for diagnosis, and in other cases as a therapeutic, 
and again for diagnostic and therapeutic action combined. 
It has been absolutely useless in cases of blood and spongy 
tumours. The result has been very satisfactory in the case 
of cysts on the back and of serous tumours of the limbs, the 
evacuation of the liquid being followed by application of a 
blister. Similar treatment has been very satisfactory in the 
case of hygroma (anasarca); in cases of windgalls, however, 
this treatment does not prevent recurrence. In a single 
case of dropsy of the sheath of a tendon the pneumatic 
aspiration with injection of iodine had a very favorable 
result, as also in a case of acute swelling of both hocks. 
VI. Conclusion.—“ In conclusion, I believe pneumatic 
aspiration destined to render great service to veterinary 
medicine; as a method of treatment or of diagnosis, in the 
latter respect it is a means of investigation intrinsically 
valuable and the more so as being absolutely harmless. As 
a surgical method it must not replace ordinary means in all 
cases, but is worthy of introduction into general practice.” 
We note the following elections to professorships at the 
French schools :—To the Chair of the Pathology of Conta¬ 
gious Diseases, Sanitary Police, and Medical and Commer¬ 
cial Legislation—M. Galtier, for Lyons, and M. Peuch, 
for Toulouse. Also for the three Chairs of Natural History 
and Materia Medica—M. Raillet, for Alfort; M. Barrier, 
for Toulouse; M. Favre, for Lyons. 
We also observe with satisfaction that M. Sanson has 
been elected President of the Society of Anthropology for 
1879, and M. St. Cyr, Vice-president of the Society of 
Agriculture, Natural History, and Useful Arts of Lyons, for 
1879 and 1880. 
From the Annales de Medecine Veter inair ewe extract:— 
At the sitting of the Academy of Medicine of Paris, of 
10th December, 1878, M. Trasbot, candidate for election to 
