at the moment of cardiac systole, and at the same time the integument will be visibly elevated. M. Ruault observes that this phenomenon is nearly constant in cases of aortic insufficiency when the heart beats regularly and forcibly, but it is usually absent if the heart action is irregular and feeble. Recent researches of Franck have shown that the mean arterial pressure in aortic regurgitation, so far from being diminished, is equal to, or greater than the normal. This indicates that the arterial system is in a state of tension. Now, says the author, if a momentary vaso-motor paralysis be produced by drawing the nail across the forehead, the blood will be forced into the network of dilated capillaries at the moment of systole, and the skin will be redened with each pulsation. This phenomenon is only met with in those pathological conditions in which there is an increased cardiac impulse, and, at the same time, a general arterial contraction. Aortic insufficiency, arterial sclerosis, and certain forms of anæmia are the conditions noted by the author as those in which the frontal capillary pulse is most readily observable.-[Med Record.

THE ENGLISH CHOLERA MISSION TO EGYPT.

Letters received from the medical men sent out from England to Egypt are, says the Brit. Med. Journal, very discouraging. It does not seem likely that sanitary measures for the prevention of future outbreaks of cholera can be adopted for a long time to come. It is claimed that cholera has been in Egypt since 1865, and that cases occurred near Damietta last May. Antecedent to cholera, there had been an epidemic disease among horses, typhus carbunculosis, so called, and next bovine typhus, which killed its thousands. The difficulties of carrying out effi

cient sanitation are found to be enormous. The habits of men, women, and children are such as habitually to defile their habitations and the surrounding ground. As to the Medical Department, it has been found to be in a far worse state than could have been' expected. The registers of

deaths in the villages are made out by the barber; the cases, in a large proportion, are never seen during life, and the barber enters whatever disease comes first to his imagination and his pen. The Egyptian medical officers are, as a body, found to be wretchedly paid, and very incompetent; cowardice and neglect of duty are very rife among them. They have not the confidence of the fellaheen, who seldom seek their advice, and the Arabs never, without exception. The hospitals are wretched, tumble-down hovels, filthy in the extreme, and the beds not less so. The lunatic asylum at Abbassieh is filthy beyond description, and its management indescribably bad.

THE USE OF ATROPINE AND MORPHINE BEFORE ANÆSTHESIA.

Dr. Aubert, of Lyons, lately forwarded a paper to the Biological Society of Paris on the Anvantages of Combining Atropine with Morphia in Hypodermic Injections, in the following circumstances: 1. In all cases where injections of morphia are indicated, the analgesic action of the morphia being then considerably increased by the addition of atropine. 2. As an adjuvant to the anesthesia produced by chloroform or ether. The nauseating effects of the sub_ stances are at the same time suppressed, which by the efforts of expectoration may, in syphilitic subjects, be attended with great danger to the surgeon or his assistants. 3. The tolerance of the morphia is so increased by its association with atropine that it could be administered even a few min

utes after a meal without any fear of the supervention of vomiting. In the discussion that followed, M. Poncet observed that all the means which tend to palliate the inconveniences of chloroformization have the effect of prolonging to a dangerous degree the anesthetic sleep, which he considers undesirable, as it is preferable for the subjects operated on to recover their senses as soon as possible. Dr. Brown-Sequard then remarked that the employment of atropine has precisely for effect the diminution of the soporific action of morphia.-[Louisville Medical News

DR, ABERNETHY AND THE LATE GENERAL DIX.

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In the biography of the late General Dix, written by his son, Morgan Dix, which has just appeared, is an account of an interview with the celebrated Dr. Abernethy. It will interest our readers especially, since it is known that the wisdom of the physician's advice carried General Dix from dyspeptic youth into eighty years of robust life. General Dix gives the account himself: "He received me with great civility, heard a few words of the story, and cut me short, as follows: Sir, you are pretty far goue, and the wonder is you are not gone entirely. If you had consulted common sense instead of the medical faculty you could probably have been well years ago. I can say nothing to you excepting this: You must take regular exercise, as much as you can bear without fatigue, as little medicine as possible, of the simplest kind, and this only when absolutely necessary, and a moderate quantity of plain food, of the quality which you find by experience best to agree with you. No man, not even a physician can prescribe diet for another. A stomach is a stomach;" and it is impossible for any one to reason with safety from his own to that of any other

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person. There are a few general rules which any man of common sense may learn in a week-such as this: That rich food, high seasoning, etc., are injurious. I can say no more to you, sir; you must go and cure yourself.'

A NEW METHOD OF DIAGNOSING CANCER.-In the Journal de Medicine, of Brussels, Dr. W. Rommelaere publishes a series of clinical observations illustrating a new fact in the pathology of cancer. He finds (in thirty-four cases) that in persons subject to cancer, the amount of urea daily eliminated progressively diminishes until it is below twelve grammes. By studying the urea eliminated in cases, for example, where doubt exists between gastric ulcer and cancer, a diagnosis can be made. In twelve cases of gastric ulcer the daily urea elimination was about twenty-five grammes.

RISE OF BODILY TEMPERATURE AFTER SIMPLE FRACTURES.-Dr. Grundler has been making a series of thermometric observations in patients suffering from uncomplicated fractures, and found in every case but one of those examined, a rise of from 2° to 4° F. above the normal. The degree of fever is in proportion to the size of the broken bone, and to the degree of extravasation. The highest temperature observed (102.5°) was in a case of fractured femur, and the lowest (100.5°) in fracture of the forearm. The rise began on the evening of the first day, and reached its highest point on the evening of the second to the fourth day.-[Centr. fur Chir., August 11, 1883.

Editor's Drawer.

THE VALLEY SANITARIUM.-We call the attention of our readers to the organization in St. Louis of The Valley Sanitarium for the treatment of medical and surgical diseases from abroad, where all the comforts of a home, with the best medical and surgical skill will be given to all those who become inmates of this much needed Institution. Drs. Franklin and Valentine, well-known throughout the United States as competent and reliable practitioners, are in attendance; the former as surgeon, the latter as physician. We confidently commend this Valley Sanitarium to the profession, and the people generally throughout all the country tributary to St. Louis. There is no private institution of this kind in our city, and the profession will be glad to know that men of the very best skill are in charge.

THE FIRST NUMBER of "The Texas Homœopathic Pellet" has been laid upon our table as an exchange from the Lone Star State. It comes to us freighted with good things, the greater part of which are contributed by Texas Homœopaths, which speaks well for the profession in that State. It is bright, sparkling, and newsy, and we bespeak for it a prominent position among our journals, and an extensive circulation among the profes sion generally. We hail your first effort, brother Fisher, and to insure success to you have only to keep on as you have so nobly begun. Let every practitioner who wishes success to our cause in the southwest, enclose Two Dollars to its Editor, Dr. C. E. Fisher, of Austin, Texas, and our word for it he will never regret the amount expended.

WE hail with pleasure the new College boom that is being inaugurated in Philadelphia. The Trustees of the Hahnemann College have just purchased a lot of ground on which they intend to erect, as soon as actual possession of the ground is obtained, a new College Dispensary and Hospital Buildings. The buildings will have a frontage of one hundred and six feet on Broad street and one hundred and forty-two feet on Fifteenth street, near the business part of the city. Commodious apartments will be provided for lecture rooms, practical anatomy rooms, and the various laboratories required for instruction in the different departments of chemistry, Physiology, Normal and Pathological Histology. Library, Reading, Study and Recitation Rooms will also be provided for the convenience and comfort of both students and teachers. We congratulate