The substances I have named are, I be- a great number of cases, and in nearly all lieve, the best for continuous, or almost of them it has been attended with conspiccontinuous, inhalation; for occasional in- uous benefit. Even in somewhat advanced halation, you will find a weak iodized va- cases, it allays the cough, lessens the por often very useful; and even a very di- amount of expectoration, and diminishes lute chlorine vapor is well borne by some the fever. patients. But in these matters, as I have already said, you must consult in some measure the tastes of your patients.

There is a young girl twelve years of age in the hospital now, an orphan with no obtainable family history, who was admitted Iodine vapor may be diffused through a three months ago in a wretched general room or small chamber by throwing frag- condition, and apparently sinking from ments of iodine on a heated plate, as I now rapid phthisis. There was dulness all over do; or it may be inhaled from the sur- the left side, with co-extensive moist crepiface of hot water, by pouring a few drops tant and coarse rales; there was diminished of tincture of iodine on the top of hot resonance over the upper half on the right water contained in a suitable vessel, and side, with diffused bronchial rales. The holding the mouth and nose over the vapor, temperature was high and fluctuating ; with some light covering over the mouth constant cough, much dyspnoea, loss of apand nose and vessel. The vapor of tar petite, and great emaciation. She has been may be inhaled in the same manner. A kept inhaling a mixture of equal parts of sleeping apartment may be impregnated eucalyptol and spirits of chloroform, and with tar vapor, by putting some tar on a considering the miserable state in which heated metal plate, or stirring a vessel con she was on her admission, she has mended taining tar with a piece of heated metal of wonderfully. She coughs now very little ; any kind, Other antiseptic substances her appetite is good; she has gained flesh which are not volatile or are vaporized and become quite cheerful. The moist with difficulty may be inhaled in solution sounds have completely disappeared from in the form of spray. A Siegle's spray- the right side, where the resonance is not producer is the instrument usually employed good; and on the left side the catarrhal for this purpose. sounds have, to a great extent, disappeared, and the dulness is now limited to the upper lobe. She continues, however, to manifest a subfebrile fluctuating temperature.

I could enumerate a great many cases which have come under my care during the past five or six years in which remarkable results have followed this method of treatment when it has been honestly and faithfully carried out; but I must not weary you with these details. I cannot, however, forbear to call your attention to the partic

A substance which has been given in Germany, and recommended as an antiseptic in cases of tuberculosis by Dr. Max Schuller of Griefswald and Dr. Rokitansky of Innsbruck, is the benzoate of soda. This they give in the form of spray, i. e., the two to five per cent. solution in distilled water. But the great objection to this mode of treatment was the amount of fluid it was necessary to inhale (twenty ounces of a five per cent. solution daily) in order to take in the minimum dose. The patient ulars of a case I have quite recently had would have, as indeed Dr. Max Schuller says, to devote his life to his cure; for you cannot inhale a spray and do anything else at the same time, whereas the inhalation of ment. I first saw the case on the 6th of an antiseptic vapor by the method I adopt can be continued at the same time with almost any other occupation.

under my care, and in which, I must say, I have never seen better immediate results from this or from any other kind of treat

May. The patient was a married lady twenty-eight years of age, living in a low damp locality, who had lost two brothers

I have adopted this plan of treatment in from consumption, one at nineteen the

region; all the moist sounds had disappeared. Her general condition had completely altered.

other at twenty-three years of age. She there was feeble, and there was a distinct had had a cough for two years, and had pleuritic creak in the left supraspinous been losing flesh. She was confined last fossa, a notable sign of past mischief in that Christmas, since which time she had been worse. Night-sweats were constant; the cough was troublesome, and expectoration abundant. Her voice began to be hoarse I have never seen a more striking ima fortnight ago, and was now nearly lost. provement in so short a time, under any Her appetite was bad. Pulse 112; respi- plan of treatment or in any locality. But rations 20; temperature 101 Fahr. She this patient had been unusually obedient was considerably emaciated. There was to the instructions that had been given her. some dulness over the left apex in front She had devoted herself at once and unand behind, with moist clicks at the end of hesitatingly to all the details of the treatinspiration, and some diffused largish crep- ment. She had removed immediately to itations on coughing. On the right side, an aseptic if not an antiseptic atmosphere; subcrepitant rales were heard over a spot she had passed a great part of her time in just below the angle of the scapula, a hammock, suspended between fir trees, where they was also a patch of dulness. in the situation I have mentioned, and she She was ordered to wear as constantly as had perseveringly worn her inhaler as I had possible one of my inhalation-respirators, directed. charged with from five to twenty drops at But there is another antiseptic method of a time of a mixture of equal parts of crea- treatment which has come into general repsote and spirits of chloroform, so as to utation within the last ten or twelve years breathe an atmosphere only as strongly and of the advantage of which in certain impregnated with the antiseptic as was cases there can be no kind of doubt. I quite comfortable to her. She was also to allude to the removal of ccnsumptive parub into the chest a mixture of turpentine tients to the dry, pure, cold air of elevated and iodine liniment, and to take three regions. The low temperature of these grains of hypophosphite of lime, two grains regions may have much to do with limiting of quinine, twenty drops of the syrup of the vitality and propagation of the tubercle phosphate of iron, and half a drachm of organisms. But I have gone into this glycerine, and to continue the cod-liver oil question fully elsewhere, and I need not go she had been taking. She was ordered to over that ground again here. I will, howleave the place in which she was living and ever, refer to a remarkable passage in a go to some dry, bracing locality. It was letter from a well-known resident in one of agreed that she should go to an isolated the chiei of these resorts, Davos Platz, farm-house built on a hill three hundred which seems to me to have great signififeet above the level of the sea, between cance with regard to the question of the thirty and forty miles from London, on the contagiousuess of consumption. Speaking borders of Hampshire and Surrey, where of the overcrowding that has taken place in there were pine woods and open heather that locality, he says: "The tendency at country. She came to see me again after Davos has been to pack the paabout three weeks, and she had improved tients together in as small a space as posimmensely. The temperature had become sible, and to build new inns at the doors of normal, the night-sweats entirely disap- the old ones. All this is done in a climate peared after a week of treatment; her where winter renders double windows and voice had returned after ten days; the stove-heated buildings indispensable. cough and expectoration were greatly les- this is done for a society where the dying. sened. The dulness over the left apex pass their days and nights in closest conwas much less evident, but respiration tiguity with those who have some chance

All

of living. Within the last few weeks, two absence of DR. ROBERTS, Nashville, DR. cases have come under my notice; one, T. N. REYNOLDS, of Detroit, was chosen that of a native of Davos attached to the Secretary. service of the visitors; another that of an English girl, who have both contracted lung disease in the place itself, owing, as I believe, to the conditions of life as they have

SYSTEMATIC, ANTISEPTIC AND GERMICIDAL
HOME TREATMENT OF PULMONARY CON-

SUMPTION.

DR. J. HILGARD TYNDALE, of New

recently been developed here."-Mr. J. York city, forwarded a paper which was A. Symonds, in the Pall Mall Gazette.

2.

read by the secretary. After an exhaustive Now, if the infective character of tuber- definition of consumption-its causes and culosis were generally recognized, and the effects, and its destructive processes, the tuberculous nature of pulmonary consump- the author gave the following factors which tion generally admitted, mistakes of this go to make up a clerical picture. 1. A kind would hardly be committed. So, destructive process in the lung itself. again, the antiseptic influence of sea-voy- General septicemia or blood poisoning. ages is greatly interfered with by the una- The therapeutic plan deduced was divided voidable occurrence of bad weather neces- into three heads (a) Antiseptic treatment sitating the confinement of the invalids in of the local lung lesion; (b) Antiseptic close overcrowded cabins, in which the at- treatment of general septicemia; (c) Aidmosphere they may have to breath, for ing digestion and assimilation in order to days and days together, is anything but enrich the blood and through it to rebapantiseptic. tize the nervous centers and the muscles

In conclusion, let me again remind you that you will fall into a serious error, if you carry away with you the idea that the treatment of phthisis is to be altogether comprehended in the inhalation of an antiseptic vapor. It is a part, and only a part, of the rational treatment of phthisis.

I know of no disease in which so many

and various indications for treatment arise

during its progress. But, if pulmonary phthisis be pulmonary tuberculosis, and if tuberculosis depend on the presence of an infective organism in the tissues, a rational treatment of phthisis must include the administration of antiseptic agents, or the surrounding our patients with antiseptic con

ditions. Lancet.

(primarily the heart and diaphragm) with normal blood. The author went on to describe his modes of treatment with the instruments used and the prescriptions. In conclusion four counts were given, as follows:

First. To change more or less frequently the antiseptic in the treatment of the local as well as of the general lesion, namely: (a) where the antiseptic first employed no longer seems as efficient as at first; (b) on

the principle that change of remedies of the

same class enhances the benefit desired from them.

which the remedy is administered both in Second. To alternate as to the route by general and local treatment, (a) whenever there is the slightest tendency to irritation. of the mucous membrane where introduced; (b) it gives a rest to the route first employed and enhances the benefit derived from the remedy.

Third. To call into aid two routes at once, either in general or local antisepsis, or both.

Fourth. Employ a different antiseptic for each route.

A motion was carried to return the paper a drachm to a glassful of water, it is of to DR. TYNDALE with permission to pub- service as a gargle in the various varieties lish it in any medical journal, coupled with the statement that it had been read before the Section.

THERAPEUTIC ACTION

OF CHLORATE

POTASSIUM.

OF

with a brush or by atomization, in simple catarrh of the anterior and posterior nares, and in simple and chronic catarrh of the larnyx, it has been constantly used in many positive and curative actions.

of stomatitis, often quickly relieving the dry, red, and follicular congestion of the mucous membrane, and healing the ulceration when it exists. As a local application and gargle in inflammation and ulceration of the tongue, patiently and long continued, DR. JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, of Philadel- more particularly in the latter, it seems to phia, read a paper on this subject. This do more good at times in combination powerful, energetic and active drug was with astringents, than any other remedy. discovered about 1786, by Berthollet, and Used either as a gargle, or applied locally was used for the first time by Fourcroy in 1796, with the idea that it might transmit some of its oxygen to the body. At its introduction, this salt was principally recommended as an antidote to scurvy; Chaussier proposed it as a remedy in croup. He has used a solution of chlorate of It had completely fallen into oblivion, potassium, one or two drachms to a half when Dr. Blanche, repeating the experi- pint of water, as a gargle in diphtheria ments made in 1847, by Hunt and West in and phthisis. In subacute and chronic the treatment of gangrene of the mouth stages of otorrhoea, and injection of chloand pseudo-membranous stomatitis, was rate of potassium in the strength of five led to try it in the treatment of pseudo- to ten grains to the ounce of water is often membranous sore throat and croup. The effective. In ozona, a douche of a soluDoctor added that he had met with marked tion of chlorote of potassium in the proporand decided success from its internal use tion of one drachm to a pint of water will in scrofulous skin diseases; likewise Dr. M. cleanse and thoroughly disinfect the parts. Landesberg, of Philadelphia, had reported As an injection also in leucorrhoea, in very gratifying results from its topical ap- the strength of one or two drachms to a lication in epithelioma of the eyelids. In quart of water, it will often prove very use speaking of its physiological action, he re- ful by lessening the discharge and relieving marked that the use of this salt is said to all congestion of the parts. In gonorrhoea, be largely due to the great amount of used as an injection, two or three times a oxygen which it contains, and therefore it day, in the proportion of five or ten grains is looked upon as the most potent agent to an ounce of water, it will very often in the treatment and cure of all maladies produce an alterative impression upon the dependent on suboxidation or defective parts, and completely arrest the discharge. nutrition, secretion, excretion, æration and molecular metamorphosis Dr. Shoemaker passed to the consideration of its therapeutic uses, showing that it acts in some hitherto unexplained manner in abnormal conditions of the blood, changing beneficial effect in chancroids, applied its character, and overcoming morbid states. either as a solution or dusted over the In speaking of its external application, he parts; also in obstinate and chronic ulcerasaid that the utility of this salt as a gargle tions, gangrenous sores aud ulcers. disin the treatment of mercurial salivation charging fetid secretion, either alone or disand ulcers of the mouth and throat is solved in water. In pustular eczema, the universally attested. In the proportion of use of a solution containing one or two

As an injection in chronic dysentery, in moderately strong solutions, say 3j of potassium chlorate of water, f. 3j, its use has been recommended.

Chlorate of potassium will bring about a

drachms to the pint of water, applied with delphia County Medical Society, September oil muslin, will frequently lessen the dis- 22, 1880. Dr. REED stated that the salt charge and heal the surface. had been used upon Dr. SHOEMAKER's reChlorate of potassium as a remedy in commendation who was in consultation with croup and diphtheria has been used with him. The patient, a young girl who had great advantage by many eminent and ex- two carbuncles, one on the back of her perienced practitioners, from the time that neck, and the other in front of the ear; it was first successfully applied by Chaussier they afterwards extended until the area was in 1819, then by Hunt, Blanche, Isambert about five inches in extent. The patient and Drysdale and others up to the present was very weak. She became feverish and day. It should, in both these maladies, be the pulse was rapid and feeble; very little given in decided doses, in from five to hope of her recovery was entertained unthirty grains, three or four times daily. til chlorate of potassium was used in decided doses. Under good food with iron, she rallied and became quite well.

It has secured marked benefits in phthisis. In marasmus, particularly in children,

the use of small doses of this salt has a He read his first observation upon the very satisfactory and beneficial influence. action of the drug in 1880, before the SecHe has administered from one to three tion of the Practice of Medicine, New grains, three or four times daily, to weak York city, since that time he has not only and puny infants, who would regain their had continued good effect from this salt, nutrition and fatten on its use in conjunc- but has also had from many physicians. tion with good food. In anæmia, it acts letters and short accounts of cases, comupon the relaxed mucous membrane of the mending the action of the drug and cordigestive tract and so restores its functions. roborating the results he reached. The In the eruptive fevers, such as scarla- Doctor further showed the good effect protina, morbili, rotheln and erysipelas, full duced from its use in scurvy, influenza, yeland often repeated doses will very often low fever, rheumatism, cyanosis, hæmorfill the surface with arterial blood, and rhagic diathesis, dropsy, syphilis, etc., and bring out an abundant crop of the erup- then gave the manner of its administration. tion. In erysipelas, it may arrest the poi- If the salt is given in small doses, it will soned state of the blood, diminish the ten- pass quickly and more readily into the dency of suppuration in the parts. It has circulation, taken before meals, diluted with also been said by some observers to be of water. If, on the other hand, very large service in typhus and typhoid fevers. For doses are administered it will probably be diseases of the skin, chlorate of potassium better borne by the stomach after meals. given in various doses according to the The dose will vary according to the affecability with which the patient bears the tion and condition of the patient. He usdrug, is of the greatest value either in mod- ually gives it in from one-half to thirty ifying or curing very many cutaneous affec- grain doses every one, two or three hours, tions. It is especially efficacious in ecthy- freely diluted with water. In the above ma and in boils, carbuncles, styes, pustu- doses, it is well borne by the stomach, even lar acne, pustular eczema and sycosis; it in those who are very weak and enfeebled. lessens the tendency in many to suppura- He generally begins with a small dose and tion, and should this latter condition gradually increases it until the patient be established before administering the shows sign of its effect, or he sees improvesalt, it will be largely instrumental in over-ment in the disease. Those who are large, coming the abnormal state of the system. flabby, and apparently vigorous, will imIts effective action in carbuncles was very prove under small doses, as large amounts recently reported DR. BOARDMAN REED, will sometimes serve to still more increase of Atlantic City, at a meeting of the Phila- the quantity of fat on the body. On the