[ 599 ]

PART III.

MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE.

CHEMISTRY. Liquidhation and Solidification of Carbonic Acid Gas.?It is well known that it has long been an important problem in practical Chemistry, to re- duce to the liquid and solid form those gaseous bodies, which, being hither- to only known in the gaseous shape, have been very generally denominat- ed by chemists permanently elasticJluids. This denomination, there is now reason to presume, from the advanced progress of chemistry, and the in- creased power of its resources, will be no longer justly applicable. It is known, at least, that chemists have lately succeeded in liquefying carbonic acid gas, or causing it to assume the form of a liquid, chiefly by means of very great pressure. Mr Faraday, in this country, made the gas assume a liquid form, by subjecting it, within a strong glass tube, to the pressure of 36 atmospheres at 32? of Fahrenheit's thermometer; and M. Thilorier of Paris produced in 1835 the same result in a similar manner. (Annalesde Chimie et de Physique, Tom. lx. p. 427 and 432. Paris 1835.) In this state, if allowed to escape, it immediately evaporates, and a most intense degree of cold, estimated at?180?, is produced, while part of the carbonic acid is converted into the solid form, in the shape of small whitish woolly flocks or masses, which are intensely cold, and which adhere so strongly to the walls of the glass, that it is impossible to get it out by any other method than breaking the flask. This is the solidified gas ; in other words, a substance supposed to be permanently elastic and gaseous, con- verted into a solid. On Wednesday, the 14th February 1838, this interesting experiment was performed in the chemical class-room of the University, in the pre- sence of the Fellows of the Royal Society, the Fellows of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, and several literary and scientific gentlemen. Mr Kemp, practical assistant to Dr Hope, Professor of Chemistry in the University, had, by the combined effects of high pressure and intense cold, reduced carbonic acid to the liquidized form with a degree of facility, which enables him to present it in considerable quantity, and perform with it se- veral striking and interesting experiments. His method is to confine the gas thus liquidized in a very strong cylindrical vessel of copper, which is provided with a stop-cock, from which the liquefied gas is allowed to escape in the quantities, and at the rate which the experimenter deems pro- per. To one side of this vessel, also, is attached a glass tube, communi- cating with the interior of the copper cylinder, and in which the liquefi- ed carbonic acid gas may be seen. Dr Hope first allowed a quantity of the liquefied gas to escape by turn- ing slightly the stop-cock, when it rushed out with a peculiar hissing sound, and was received in an ordinary glass flask. As it issued, part eva- porated, and at the same time was formed in the glass flask a quantity of white friable solid matter, which fell to the bottom of the vessel, and could be heard striking against the interior as it was shaken or moved. This substance is intensely cold, and the degree of cold produced is so great, that it is impossible to touch the glass with the uncovered hand. The flask was, after a sufficient quantity had been received, broken, and a mass of solidified carbonic acid gas, as large as a filbert, was then presented to view. 600 On the Grains of TeeJ. The theory of the solidification in this case, Dr Hope explained, was, that, while part of the liquidized gas is evaporated, the moment the weighty pressure is withdrawn, the cold produced is so intense, as to reduce from the liquid to the solid form the residual part. Thus incessantly as a jet of li- quidized gas continues to escape, part is evaporated, and the cold thus pro- duced is sufficient to freeze the rest. The next experiment was a very conclusive one. It is well known that mercury requires for its congelation a temperature of?40?, that is 40? be- low zero of Fahrenheit. A quantity of the liquidized gas was allowed to issue from the copper cylinder, and received into a glass flask, in which was introduced a quantity of liquid mercury. In the space of two minutes it was frozen into a solid mass, which could be divided with the knife. A portion of this mercury dropped into a glass of water gradually but rapidly fell down in its usual fluid form, while in its place was left a mass of ice of exactly the same shape and size. This shows that the cold capable of being produced by the solidification of carbonic acid gas must be very great.

MATERIA MEDICA. On the grains of Teel or Till or Ramtilla, Nook in Abyssynia, Verinnua or Kutrello in I/idostan, and the edible oil obtained from it. (Journal de Pharmacie, No. vii. 23d annee, July 1837.)?Of this oleaginous seed, which, on account of the abundant oil so easily obtained, is very well cultivated in all hot countries, eleven hundred bags have been recently imported from Calcutta into France. This very minute grain, akene of botanists, consists of a quadrangular oval bursa opening at the base with four valves, which has caused it to be arranged by some authors with the genus Tetragonotheca. Its colour is tawny or brown ; it is remarkable neither for smell nor taste ; and it fur- nishes little mucilage but an astringent principle. It is sufficient to crush and squeeze forcibly these seeds, with or without the aid of heat, to obtain a limpid oil, which has nothing disagreeable in taste, and which may be used at table, without, however, surpassing that of the poppy seeds or se- same seeds. It was formerly said, (Journal de Pharmacie, Tome xxi. p. 105.) that the Ramtilla of the East Indies and Abyssinia belonged to the family of the Compositw. It approaches the Senecios, and resembles our marigolds, with little yellow flowers. Its grains, placed in the centre of the floral disc, are void of tufts. As it can live only under tropical skies, the plant is not susceptible of cultivation in Europe. Meanwhile, as it is an annual, it might be practicable to propagate it in certain localities, well exposed, and sheltered from the cold, in the southern countries, on account of its great utility. The following is a list of the botanical names by which this plant has been designated in the systems of different botanists. In 1781, the younger Linne called it a Polymnia Abyssinica, after the Polymniafrondosa of Bruce, (Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, 4to. Vol. iii. p. 575.) or Nook of the Abyssinians, by whom it is cultivated. It is the Verbesina saliva of Roxburgh, Catalogue, p. 62, and of Sims, (Botanical Magazine, pi. 1017,) and of Ainslie, (Materia Indiea, Vol. ii. p. 256.) Verinnua of Heyne, Tract on Ind Plants, p. 49. Parfhenium luteum of Sprengel, Nov. Prod. 1818, p. 31. Jaegera Abyssinica of Sprengel, Systema Plant. 1826, p. 590. Heliopsis platyglossa of Cassini, Diet. Botanique, p. 332. Guizotia Abyssinica, Cassini, Diet. Botanique, (1829) p. 248. Tetragonotheca Abyssinica of Ledeboer, Index horti Dorpatensis, supple- ment, 1824, p. 7. Helianthus oleifer of Wallich, Catal. et hcrbas., No. 319, Bidens ? Ham- tilia of Wallich, No. 3191, comp. 301. Anthemis Mysorensis of Wallich in his Herbarium of Madras. Diuretic operation of the Aralia liispida. 601 Ramtilla oleifera, Decandolle, Mem. de la Societe de Geneve, 1833, and in Contributions to Indian Botany by Wight, p. 18. Guizotia oleifera, Decandolle, Prodromus Systematis Regni Vegetabilis, Tom. v. 1836, p. 551. Buphthalmum Ramtilla of Hamilton, Herbarium. Of this plant two varieties are known. The cultivated variety (sativa) has leaves larger, well-grown leaves, elongated, lanceolate, broadly denti- culate, with foot-stalks in corymbiferous branches. Of the wild variety, (angustior,) the leaves are almost linear, and the branches are axillary, floriferous, and very short.

Diuretic operation pfthe Aralia hispida. By Doctor Oliver Peck.?The Aralia hispida grows very abundantly in the country of Massachusetts, and has for several years been employed by physicians as a diuretic. It is there called hycbla, on account of its resemblance to the Samhucus Cana- densis, although it is a much smaller plant. It grows in cultivated lands which have been neglected, and scarcely attains the height of a foot and a half. Its stem is tufted at the base, and covered with hard spines; its leaves are sessile, deeply denticulated, about one inch long; the footstalks terminal and axillary, bearing from two to four umbels ; the flower of a greenish white, with reflected petals ; and the root of a sweetish taste. It is the root that is preferably employed, and in decoction it is taken ad libitum. To the advantages of an energetic diuretic operation, it unites that of being agreeable in taste, and more easily endured by the stomach, than all the other remedies of the same kind. The author relates a case in which the administration of this plant in a woman labouring under diseased heart, produced more relief with much less inconvenience than a great many other diuretics. But no details illustrative of its physiological operation and effects are communicated. Properties of the Ceanothus Americavus. By Dr Hubbard.?This plant, which grows very abundantly on the dry sandy flats of America, ap- pears to possess very powerful astringent properties. It is described in the following manner by Professor Bigelow. Leaves cordiform, thinned, with triple nervation, two or three inches long by one broad, with fine teeth, terminating in one long point. From the axilla of the superior leaves are detached leafless branches, which ter- minate in clusters of small white flowers, followed by berries almost trian- gular. The leaves of this plant were employed as a substitute for tea during the period of the American revolution, when the refusal to admit into Ame- rican ports tea which had come from England, and with the English duty, was followed by the almost total want of that article. The taste of these leaves is slightly bitter and astringent. The first occasion on which they were employed by Dr Hubbard, was in the case of an old lady labouring under an aphthous eruption in consequence of typhous fever, and in whom the ordinary gargles produced no effect. At the end of two or three days the throat was invariably covered with a thick layer of a still deeper colour, beneath which was seen the mucous membrane of a bright red, and acute- ly sensible. After borax, alum, and nitrate of silver had failed, he made a strong infusion of the Ceanothus, which acted like the effect of enchant- ment. The eruption disappeared and did not return. Since that time Dr Hubbard had employed it advantageously in the treatment of the aphthous affections of infants, in the treatment of malignant dysentery, and other disorders distinguished by debility. He allows, however, that his success has been more complete when he has added a small quantity of borax to the infusion of Ceanothus Americanus. The root has been long employed in chronic diarrhoea and in other analogous affections. On the Physiological and Therapeutic Properties of the Leaves of the Peach Tree, (Amygdalus Persica,) employed as a Sedative. By Dr An- vol. xijix. no. 135. a q 602 Kreosote in Gonorrhoea, Sfc. tony.?During the Summer of 1831, while a fever of remittent type, of extraordinary severity, and complicated with intense gastric irritation, pre- vailed, the patients could not keep on the stomach the lightest fluid or drink. The gaseous waters and iced water were even often rejected. Sinapisms and epispastics were employed without success. The author, thinking that the cherry- tree-laurel water was indicated in this class of cases, was desi- rous to substitute in its place the leaves of the peach tree, which he also supposed to contain prussic acid. Of these he made an infusion, which he administered in doses of half an ounce every quarter of an hour, or every hour, according to the urgency of the symptoms. Never was the fourth dose given without the symptoms being completely allayed, and at the same time the burning thirst, of which the patients complained, failed not to be quenched ; and, notwithstanding the bitterness of the drink, not only did the patients feel no disgust at it, but they requested it importu- nately. The author also states, that he derived good effects from the application over the epigastrium of the leaves which had been used to make the in- fusion. The same remedy equally succeeded in his hands in arresting vomiting, in two cases of simple cholera, and in many cases of the cholera of infants. Dr Dougos relates also, that he had obtained favourable results from the employment of the same remedy in the treatment of hooping-cough. It is requisite for this purpose to take daily one pint of the strong infusion, in small doses-; and at the end of four or five days the disease usually disappears.

Analysis of a species of clay found in the Canton of Richmond in America, which is sought by many persons, and especially by children, as food. By Professor Cotting.?This earth, the colour of which varies from deep yellow to white-red, is met in masses and beds presenting undulations. It has a very fine grain, is soft, may be polished with the nail, and adheres to the tongue. When moist, it emits an argillaceous odour, falls to the bottom in water, and does not form a ductile paste. One hundred parts furnished Silica, - - 31 Oxide of iron, - 12 Alumina, - 34 Magnesia, - - 10 Water, - 12 Loss, - - - 1

It contains no relics of animal matters; but it presents vegetable matters in the state of putrefaction and lignite. It is found associated with several other minerals on several elevated points. The purest is found in the county of Richmond. Its taste is sweetish, similar to that of calcined magnesia. Persons worthy of credit, who dwell in the neighbourhood of this canton, state that they have often seen those persons die, who, by a vitiation of taste not easily explained, make frequent use of this article as food.

Kreosote in Gonorrhoea, Gleet, 6$c.?Dr Robert Dick, (Glasgow,) begs, through the medium of this Journal, to call the attention of the profession to the use of kreosote in the chronic stage of gonorrhoea, and in gleet. He has tried it in some cases, ond thinks its beneficial effects are more obvious than those of copaiba. He has administered it in doses of two drops a day, with loaf-sugar beaten into syrup with water. Whether it may be effectual in some species of impotence, and in chro- nic pulmonary catarrh, remains to be seen.?Glasgow, March 1838. An Appeal to Physiologists. (From the German of Froriep's Notizen, Iodine Injection in Hydrocele. 603 Vol. iii. p. 344.)?Man may use animals, but he may not abuse them. The necessity for instituting physiological experiments on living animals, we do not deny ; but, for the sake of humanity, we may perhaps be allow- ed earnestly to entreat that, as soon as the object of the experiment admits, the animal may be put to death. Very often do we see experiments per- formed on living animals in cases where one just previously deprived of life would answer the purpose quite as well; and how frequently does it not happen, that a mutilated creature is carelessly thrown away and left to breathe out life, by slow degrees, in the cruelest of tortures. The writer once saw, in illustration of a lecture, the heart of a frog laid bare and beat- ing. Four-and-twenty hours afterwards, he found the same animal on the same table, where it had been carelessly left lying ; its heart still beating! If the sufferings of the poor animal be not regarded, it may perhaps be worth considering, whether there may not be thus produced a hardening effect upon the minds of the youthful pupils of science, and whether so- ciety at large may not suffer through the consequences. If it be unde- sirable that a butcher should fill the office of a juror in cases affecting life, this presupposes an obtundity of feeling ; and if here the slaughtering and subsequent cutting-up of animals produce such an effect, how much more must not the reckless dissection of living ones, deprave the heart and ren- der it incapable of sympathizing with suffering humanity ? Acupuncture, Compression, and Iodine Injection employed for the cure of Hydrocele. By M. A. Velpeau, (Archives Generales de Medecine,3d series, Tome i. p. 29. January 1837.) In the twenty-fourth volume of this Jour- nal, our correspondent, Dr Cumin, now Professor of Midwifery in the University of Glasgow, in a short paper on the treatment of ganglion, pro- posed, in 1825, to attempt the cure of hydrocele by opening a communi- cation by means of a cataract needle between the cavity of the tunica va- ginalis and the cellular tissue of the scrotum. ?Edin. Med. and Surgical Journal, vol. xxiv. p. 97.]] Several years elapsed, however, before it was applied to practice, which was at length done by two English surgeons, Mr Travers and Mr Keate, (Medical Gazette, Vol. xix. p. 137 and 789, 1837,) and about the same time apparently by Mr Lewis. The method has been tried in the Royal Infirmary of this city by Mr Syme, the Pro- fessor of Clinical Surgery, and Mr Watson, one of the surgeons to the in- stitution, in a considerable number of cases ; and with a very general de- gree of success. By M. Velpeau it has been subjected to clinical experi- ment in comparison with other means, and its merits as a therapeutic agent have been estimated rather below the method of injection, and espe- cially by iodine injection. This surgeon tried first simple acupuncture, but without success, in two cases. He then, instead of leaving the needle in its place, passed a thread cross-wise through the tumour in two other cases, thus reviving the old method seton. On the by third day these setons were withdrawn; sup- puration followed, and the cure took place, but more slowly, and with more inconvenience, than by the vinous injection. The treatment of one case appears to have occupied sixty-four days. The second method attempted by M. Velpeau was compression by means of plaster after puncture. This he employed in three cases, by applying over the scrotum and testis, immediately after puncture, slips of adhesive plaster, so close as to keep the corresponding surfaces of the vaginal coat in contact. The fluid nevertheless was reproduced. The third method used by M. Velpeau consisted in, after emptying the vaginal coat in the usual manner, injecting into its interior a mixture of water and the tincture or alcoholic solution of iodine, in the proportion of from one to two drachms of the tincture to one ounce of water. After injection the part swells for three or four days, but without causing fever or serious pain. Resolution then begins and proceeds rapidly. This method M. in Velpeau employed twenty cases, and in none of the pa- tients did the slightest bad symptom take place. Eighteen of these cases 604 Harveian Society. were cured in less than twenty days. In one of the two others < > u > was only half effected on the 31st day ; and he repeated the injt n b the cure was then rapidly completed. The 20th patient, who ha< hy iru cele with two cells, remained six weeks in hospital on account o v. a of the testicle. Of the other eighteen, in two, vinous injection ai zation had been used without avail; two had encysted hydroi chord; in three the tumour contained about twelve ounces of ten the testicle was hypertrophied, irregular, and long diseased ; es cept two the disease was of more than six months duration. '\ > for fifteen years, and one had it twenty-four years. In this method distension by the injected liquid is nnneces; y .J hence there is less risk of regurgitation, or injecting it into tht . mi. From the dissection of one c< < c the scrotum of patient who died in ?, of amputation, it appears to produce general adhesion between al the vaginal coat, and thus to render relapse impossible.

1 Harveian Society. Notice to Students of Medicine.?The .. tt Society of Edinburgh have fixed on the following subject for t r iJ Essay for the year 1839, viz.:?" An Experimental Inquiry int> and general effects of the Deleterious Gases, distinguishing thost . > and those which do not, enter the Lungs" L-.l C Dissertations on this subject must be transmitted to one of th jre! a- ries, on or before the 1st day of January 1839. Each Disserts i m i be accompanied by a Sealed Letter, containing the Name and \ i b -> the Author, and inscribed on the back with a motto. The si to ; must also be prefixed to the Dissertation to which the Lettt ?gs. None of the Sealed Letters are ever opened, except that bearini sau > Motto wiih the successful Essay. The Prize given by the Society, to the successful Candidate ciiiur a copy of the quarto Edition of Dr Harvey's Works, publish th Royal College of Physicians of London ; or, if the Cand'Yite jv '.a1 Silver Medal of the same value, with a suitable Inscription. The ' Candidate is at liberty to employ his Essay afterwards, i ..y he may think proper: And, accordingly, some Dissertations su d the Harveian Society, have, in consequence of publication, been , ii\ of considerable honour and emolument to the Authors. ? ,ft By order of the Society, S Kichard M. D. ] Huie, 8, George Square, ea P. D. Handyside, M. D. 10, Shandwick Place, J Edinburgh, March 12, 1838.

Dr John Home.? We to that this died on ie rgmiu regret say gentleman ' ning of Sunday the 18th March 1838, being the ninth day of ai *4 k o typhoid fever, caught in the discharge of his duty as physician to !it i Infirmary. Dr Home had acted for six years as pathological cl Royal Infirmary, and h;id distinguished himself in that situat by ittl persevering study of morbid anatomy, and his knowledge of j : and was in every respect a physician of much accomplishment 1 i promise. His first publication in the last number of this Jour proof of his great industry and his accuracy ; and showed, that 1 s !? been continued, the highest expectations might have been justly his services to the improvement of Medical knowledge. Notice. Literary Sir Anthony Carlisle, F. 11. S., President of ii ; 1 College of Surgeons, and Surgeon to the Westminster it " Hospil the Press a Work, entitled Praciical Observations on the Pr ? of Health, and the Prevention of Diseases:" comprising the Au s ex- tended experience on the Disorders of Childhood and Old ?' Scrofula,?the Efficacy of Purgative Medicines,?the Prevaler v > $ and Health of London, &c, &c J. Churchill, Prince's Street.