GLEANINGS  FROM  AMERICAN  JOURNALS. 
29 
an  interesting  article  commencing  the  September  number  of  the 
Chicago  Medical  Examiner,  gives  an  account  of  the  geographi- 
cal progress  of  cholera  in  times  past  from  Central  India  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.  He  considers  the  city  of  Hurdwar,  situated 
at  the  point  where  the  Ganges  issues  from  the  Himalaya  region, 
famous  as  the  point  where  the  largest  Hindoo  fairs  and  festivals 
arc  held  annually  at  the  vernal  equinox,  as  the  source  of  this 
terrible  epidemic.  The  usual  number  of  pilgrims  and  merchants 
is  from  200,000  to  300,000  annually,  but  every  twelfth  year, 
which  is  particularly  holy,  the  number  is  increased  to  1,500,000 
to  3,000,000  of  devotees  and  traders,  crowded  together.  This 
vast  concourse,  composed  of  persons  from  Arabia,  Persia,  Be- 
loochistan,  Afghanistan,  Cabui  Tartary,  Central  Asia,  and 
Russia,  produce  such  unfavorable  hygienic  conditions,  that  but  a 
few  days  time  is  needed  to  induce  an  epidemic.  In  1783,  20,000 
pilgrims  died  in  eight  days,  and  after  several  similar  catastrophes 
a  very  disastrous  outbreak  of  cholera  occurred  in  Hurd\\tar,  in 
1867,  where  3,000,000  Hindoos  assembled.  From  this  point  the 
track  of  the  cholera  is  traced  in  the  lines  of  the  great  caravans 
going  south-west,  west,  and  north-west.  The  Delta  of  the 
Ganges  is  also  marked  as  a  cholera  centre.  From  these  initial 
points  the  epidemic  extends  to  Bombay,  Mecca,  Alexandria, 
Bokhara,  Astracan,  Constantinople,  etc.  Dr.  Peters  has  de- 
scribed the  courses  and  the  causes,  the  latter  due  to  the  accu- 
mulation of  filth  and  dead  animals,  resulting  from  the  vast  ill- 
provided  crowd  stopping  at  a  place  without  any  precautions 
being  taken  to  prevent  infection.  Graphic  descriptions  are  given 
of  the  pilgrimages  by  caravans  for  religious  and  commercial 
purposes,  and  the  incidents  and  accidents  of  caravan  life. 
Belladonna  as  an  anti-galactic. — -Dr.  D.  W.  Storment,  of 
Topeka,  Kansas,  says  that  a  solution  of  two  drachms  of  extract 
of  belladonna  in  a  fluidounce  of  water  applied  over  the  breast  with 
a  brush  will  stop  the  secretion  of  milk,  and  that  its  application  to 
one  breast  will  suspend  its  secretory  action  without  affecting  the 
other,  and  hence  recommends  it  in  mammary  abcess. — Medical 
Record,  Oct.  1,  N.  York. 
Fluid  extract  of  Frostwort.    Prof.  Hubert  Primm,  Ph.  D.,  of 
