612  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {Am,Dec.1!'i887arm' 
writing  fluids.  Indeed,  the  investigator  remarks  :  u  It  also  makes  a 
beautiful  black  ink,  more  stable  than  that  from  nut-galls." 
Sparteine  in  Cardiac  Affections. — Malowsky  (Rouss.  Med.r 
No.  13,  1887  ;  Bull.  Gen.  de  TMrap.,  Oct.  30),  has  tested  the  medica- 
ment in  three  cardiac  cases  during  the  period  of  non-compensation. 
His  conclusions  are :  That  in  moderate  doses  it  stimulates  cardiac 
activity,  gives  fullness  to  the  pulse,  and  diminishes  (by  a  few  beats 
only)  the  number  of  pulsations ;  that  it  acts  rapidly  ;  that  the  rhythm 
does  not  become  entirely  regular  •  that  an  increased  quantity  of  urine 
is  eliminated,  and  that  the  medicament  neither  accumulates  nor  causes 
adventitious  symptoms.  Doses :  one  to  three  cgm.  per  dose,  or  ten 
cgm.  per  diem,  of  Merck's  preparation. 
Morphine  in  the  Viscera. — At  the  Acad6mie  de  Medecine,  Oct. 
18,  Dr.  Ball  described  a  case  of  death  in  a  morphinomaniac,  from  whom 
his  habitual  dose  of  two  gm.  per  diem  was  gradually  withdrawn  during 
forty-two  days,  and  who  seemed  to  be  doing  well.  It  appears  that 
twelve  days  after  the  suppression  he  was  seized  with  a  dyspnoea  which 
a  resumption  of  the  drug  proved  powerless  to  combat.  The  autopsy 
revealed  no  organic  lesions,  but  the  nervous  centres — spleen,  kidneys 
and  liver — contained  traces  of  the  drug,  and  this  after  twelve  days  of 
total  abstinence,  and  after  it  had  ceased  to  show  in  the  urine.  Prof. 
Ball  thought  that  morphine  thus  stored  up  might  explain  the  troubles 
which  sometimes  appear  in  morphinomaniacs  a  long  time  after  the 
cessation  of  the  habit. 
Bromhydrate  of  Hyoscine. — In  Nouv.  Remedes  of  Nov.  8th, 
1887,  Dr.  Hugenschmidt  gives  the  results  of  trials  of  this  remedy  in 
his  private  practice.  He  used  a  solution  of  bromhyd.  hyoscine,  five 
cgm. ;  distilled  water,  thirty  gm.  Of  this,  six  drops  diluted  with 
water  and  ingested,  produced  at  the  end  of  a  half  hour  :  visual 
troubles ;  a  sensation  of  torsion  in  the  ocular  globes  ;  dryness  of  the 
mouth  and  throat,  and  dilatation  of  the  pupil.  In  one  hour  there  was 
a  sense  of  general  fatigue,  followed  by  a  deep  sleep  with  irregular 
respiration.  During  this  time  the  pulse  fell  from  seventy-two  to 
forty-eight,  and  he  observed  in  all  his  trials  that  the  pulse  constantly 
fell  to  forty-five  or  fifty.  The  sphygmograph  indicated  great  augmen- 
tation of  arterial  tension,  but  a  notable  irregularity  of  heart  beat  was 
present.  Five  or  six  drops  upon  the  tongue  produced  the  same  symp- 
toms, with  nausea  added,  but  no  vomiting.  Two  drops  in  the  eye 
dilated  the  pupil  completely  in  five  minutes,  with  loss  of  accommo- 
