disinfectant power; and, in consequence of the absence of any cauterant effect, they have the great advantage that they can be employed concentrated, and hence exhibit a more certain disinfectant action when the hands have been in contact, for instance, with highly virulent pus.

Paul and Sarwey also recognize the importance of the absence of irritave action when Sublamine is employed. The cosmetic care of the skin of the hands has been acknowledged by most authorities (as for instance Haegler) to be an important element of the disinfection problem; and this can be much more easily and thoroughly effected with the non-irritant Sublamine than with the caustic sublimate solutions.

Directions for the Use of Sublamine.-The hands are to be thoroughly scrubbed with soft or a sand soap, lukewarm water, and nail brush for from eight to ten minutes, and then well rinsed in water. They are then treated for five minutes with a nail brush and a warm 3:1000 Sublamine solution, made by dissolving three tablets in a liter (1 quart) of water.

Alcohol need not be employed.

The tablets dissolve very quickly, and cause a pleasant softening of the water. A vial of Sublamine tablets in the pocketcase enables the practitioner to sterilize his hands before and after operations and after visits to patients suffering from infectious diseases.

ment.

The Schering Chemical Works have recently sncceeded in preparing Ethylenediamine-Sulphate of Mercury in solid form, which exhibits all the valuable bactericide effects of our most useful disinfectant, without causing the albumen coagulation of the tissue fluids, which hinders its penetration into the depths of the tissue, and without the irritant effects upon the skin of both surgeon and patient that so grately interfere with its employThe Ethylenediamine-Sulphate of Mercury is placed upon the market under the name of Sublamine in the form of 1 gram (15 grains) tablets, colored red, in cartoons of 5 glass tubes each containing 20 tablets, and may be ordered from Schering & Glatz, 58 Maiden Lane, New York. A very elaborate report on Sublamine by Dr. M. Blumberg, of Berlin, was read at the Thirteenth Congress of the German Surgical Society, Berlin, April 11th, 1901, and appeared in the Archiv fur Klinische Chirurgie, No. 3, Vol. 64.

THE CURABILITY OF SYPHILIS.

(AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT).

Speaking of the curability of Syphilis in the symposium upon that disease in the October number of the International Medical Magazine, William S. Gottheil, of New York, takes exception to the opinion of its practical incurability which is prevalent in certain quarters. Every day experience shows that the great majority of cases are cured in every practical sense, the occasional late relapses and accidents to the contrary, notwithstanding. He concludes:

1. Syphilis is a curable disease, and may, even with restric tion, be called a self-limited one.

2. Whilst cure in a given case cannot be affirmed with scientific accuracy, the chances of its being the fact after a certain time under proper treatment are so great that it may be properly claimed to have been effected.

3. Practically, a patient who has been properly treated throughout the active stage of the disease, and who has had no manifestations of its persistance for several years thereafter, may be regarded as cured, and may be told so.

Selections.

A VALUABLE REMEDY IN INTESTINAL IRRITATION.*-While Terraline has been restricted in its use largely to cases of bronchial iuflammation or in allaying troublesome coughs, or for its nutrive value in conditions of emaciation, it seems that one of its most useful actions and broadest fields has been largely overlooked. This is the soothing effect which it has upon the mucous membrane of the gastro-intestinal tract. The oil is perfectly bland and tasteless, and so thoroughly refined that it lacks the irritating fatty acids which are nearly always present in any of the oils used for internal administration. These qualities permit its administration in good sized doses, over prolonged periods

of time without causing digestive disturbances, eructations or surfeiting the patient. This will be found to afford relief to a marked degree in cases of tubercular ulceration of the intestine, and in the pain of gastric ulcer. In pyloric carcinoma, with stenosis, a moderate dose administered before meals seemed to facilitate the digestion and favor the ready passage of the food through the pylorus, and cause some remission in the pain.

In one case of gall stone which recently came under my care, Terraline was substituted for olive oil with the most pleasing results. The patient took the large amount recommended (16 ounces) more readily than would have been the case with olive oil, passed safely through the attack. Since the first attack she has been kept on tablespoonful doses three times a day for two months without any inconvenience, and not expressing any distaste for the remedy. There has so far been no indications of a return of the trouble.

Terraline also has proved in our hands a pleasant adjunct in the administration of cathartics. With these the amount of griping is very much diminished, and larger doses can be given, and a very thorough effect obtained without the unpleasantness which would otherwise be produced.

When used for its sedative effect on the gastro-intestinal mucosa it can be given in larger doses than one usually recommends when its effect upon the resiratory tract is sought. Tablespoonful doses, or even ounce doses three times daily will be found to be well borne. As the oil is of mineral origin and chemically nearly as stable as paraffin, it may be combined with any of the other remedies desired, directly if they are mixable with the oils, separately if not, but with the assurace that each will have its own therapeutic effect without detriment from the other.

The results which we have had in the past with Terraline indicate quite a field of usefulness which can readily suggest itself from the foregoin.-Louis LeRoy, A.M., M.D., Professor of Pathology, Vanderbilt University, State Bacteriologist of Tennessee, etc., in Med. Examiner and Practitioner, Feb. 1902.

THE TREATMENT OF CUTANEOUS EPITHELIOMATA.-Charles W. Allen, M.D., in the New York Medical Journal for November 9, 1901, in regard to this subject comes to the following conclusions:

1. Cutaneous cancer can be traced in almost all instances to preceding local irritation.

2. While ofher causes may be operative, it is not unreasonable to assume that infection may be one source of irritation occasioning cancer.

3. Benign epitheliomatous proliferations of infectious nature transmitted by contagion lend weight to this view.

4. Cancer is curable, but the disease may be allowed to progress until the patient no longer is.

5. No treatment short of the most radical measures should be tolerated.

6. In the applications of caustic paste and subsequent cauterizing dressings we possess a method not alone radical, but one which is in many canditions preferable to the knife.

7. The earlier treatment can be applied the less likelihood is there of recurrence or of subsequent outbreaks in other parts due to cancerous tissue which has been left behind.

8. The X-ray as a means of treatment bids fair to prove quite as effective as caustic applications.-Medical Review of Reviews.

THE NEUROTIC INDICATIONS OF PRE-SENILITY.-Allan McLane Hamilton, M.D. (Medical Record, December 28, 1901), makes an interesting study of the process of premature aging, as indicated in the common changes in the arteries and nervous system.

The causes he attributes to business cares at too early an age, frequent brain fag, dietetic indiscretions, lack of exercise, and especially to over-indulgence in alcohol and tobacco.

The standard tests of senility are hardened and tortuous blood vessels, premature baldness, the arcu senilis. These are danger signals, and, like the occasional presence of albumen and casts, point to harm already done.

Physiological senility means no reproductive power, greatly

lessened power of attention and memory, diminished desire and power to exercise mentally and bodily, lowered imagination and enthusiasm, lessened adaptability to change, fewer blood corpuscles, a tendency to disease of the arteries, a lessening in bulk of the whole body, and especially of the brain, with structural alterations. An old man has an organic craving for rest. When these changes begin before fifty pre-enility may be said to exist.

The condition of cerebral irritation may be one of the first stages. This is a condition where a brain ordinarily anæmic flushes with hyperemia at frequent intervals. A similar alteration in temper in a man of ordinarily placid temperament is noted. Hypochondriasis, mental sluggishness and early impairment of memory is noted.

Headaches may become freqent; abnormal exhaustion usually is attributed to "malaria." Vertigo is rather frequent as a presenile symptom. Insomnia is frequent and especially annoying. Tobacco has a very important part in hurrying along the presenile condition.

The symptoms of the pre-senile state are usually attributed to some form of neurasthenia.-Medical Review of Reviews.

THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN MILD DISCRETE SMALLPOX AND CHICKENPOX.

Smallpox.-Any age.

Incubation, two weeks.

Headache, backache, fever, general malaise; lasting three or four days.

Worst on the exposed parts-extremities; invariably on the palms.

Progressive eruption; papules, vesicles, pustules, crusts. Lesion includes the lower layers of the derma. Hard to rupture; multilocular.

Teperature high (103-105) till eruption appears; then drops and does not rise again for a week, and not then in the milder discrete forms.

Eruption quite uniform in size; has a reddened area at base; frequently umbilicated.

Painful to the touch; may itch.