eral days later I was called to see him because of this headache. I noticed that his face was puffy and requested a sample of his urine. I found it loaded with albumin, and I never saw as many casts in a drop of urine as his contained. The case assumed alarming symptoms during the next week, but he recovered nicely; no doubt this was a subacute case of nephritis. Will he have nephritis again some day? I think so.

Last spring I saw, in consultation, a severe case of pneumonia, in a young man of twenty-one. He did not do well, gradually drifting into so-called chronic pneumonia. The case looked like pneumonic phthisis, but numerous examinations failed to find the tubercle bacilli, though there were plenty of other microorganisms present. His lungs are still in a serious condition and I do not expect him to recover. About eight weeks after his lungs first became affected, his kidneys began to trouble him, apparently the right one as there was a little pain present. His urine became scanty and cherry red; there were small cushions under his eyes; found his urine loaded with albumin, red blood cells, and casts in large numbers. This condition continued for two months without any material change. Then the red cells began to disappear and pus cells became abundant, there were also a large number of microorganisms present. With the first kidney symptoms we suspected tuberculosis, but never found a single bacillus during his kidney troubles. The presence of casts, albumin, leucocytes and germs, continued for about a month without material change, when the urine gradually began to clear up. Two recent examinations failed to find any trouble with his kidneys. Of course we did not expect him to last long in his debilitated condition, and that his urine should have cleared up in that condition was a great surprise to us. His lungs are slowly but surely sapping his strength, and it is only a question of time when the end must come.

I consider this a rare and highly instructive case of infection of the kidneys from the lungs, with recovery of the kidneys under a severe systemic condition. From this case we can all gain inspiration, even the surgeon who might have thought of an operation. Many of you have had such cases as I have cited, that held out but little hope, and yet they surprised you by making at least a partial recovery and living in comparative comfort for years. feel that it is our duty to offer all the hope and encouragement we can to the patients suffering with kidney disease; it will cheer them and thus be a large factor in their mental and bodily comfort. In closing, I desire to say that I do not believe in the rigid diet that is so often prescribed for these patients. I allow a very liberal diet in all my cases of Bright's disease and diabetes, except during threatened coma.

A UNIQUE FRACTURE OF THE RADIUS.

By J. M. PEARSON, M. D.

Vancouver, B. C.

The accompanying skiagraph represents a rare form of fracture of the radius. The patient is a man, about 42 years, a stonecutter by trade. Previous and family history good. At the time of the accident he was occupied with the lowering of a stone, weighing half a ton, on to a wagon, by means of a derrick and chains. When the stone was within a foot of the floor of the wagon, he put his hand underneath to straighten a piece of wood upon which the stone was to rest. At

that time, one of the pieces of the derrick chain, on the side from him, slipped out of the hole in the stone into which it had been driven, allowing that end to fall upon the wagon.

The other pin then drew out, on the side nearest to him, and his arm, together with the piece of wood which he held in his hand, was pushed away by the stone in the act of falling. The arm was not crushed, simply struck.

Half an hour later the swelling was very marked, and this together with some localized tenderness over what proved to be position of the break, drew my attention to the possibility of fracture. The skiagraph was made in the ordinary way, with eleven minutes exposure, at a distance of fifteen inches. It is to be noticed that the inner portion of the radius is completely detached, the line of fracture extending from about the center of the articular surface, two and a half inches up the bone, leaving the hand supported by the unbroken outer part of the radius and by the ulna. There was, therefore, no deformity, but the injury was accompanied by much swelling and localized tenderness. Five weeks after the accident the splints were removed, leaving the arm apparently as good as ever.

OBITUARY.

A. B. MCKINNON, M. D.

Dr. A. B. McKinnon was born near Sydney, Nova Scotia, 58 years ago last August, and died in Bellingham, Wash., October 28, of diabetes, from which he had suffered for ten years.

He received his medical education in New York and practised in Winnipeg and other places in the Canadian Middle West. In 1890 he moved to Fairhaven, now a part of Bellingham, and was one of the few physicians to remain during the vicissitudes of the hard times of the early nineties. Consequently he had many friends and enjoyed a large practice. He is survived by a mother, four brothers and two sisters.

CLARENCE A. SMITH, A. B., M. D.

Editor in Chief.

JAMES B. EAGLESON, M. D.
Managing Editor.

Published Monthly by the Washington Medical Library Association.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES

C. W. SHARPLES, M. D., President. H. M. READ, M. D., Secretary.
E. E. HEG, M. D.;
G. H. RANDELL, M. D.;

W. S. DURAND, M. D. (of Everett).
Editorial and Business Office

Marion Building, Seattle, Wash.

Subscription Price, $2.50 per annum in advance. Single Copies, 25 Cents. Foreign Countries, $3.00 per annum.

Entered March 14, 1903, at Seattle, Wash., as Second Class Matter, under Act of Congress of March 8, 1879.

VOL. III.

NOVEMBER, 1905. .

NO. 11

TO THE PHYSICIANS OF THE NORTHWEST. As a new year is approaching we wish to solicit subscriptions from the physicians of the Northwest who are not already on our list. Since NORTHWEST MEDICINE is the official organ of the Washington State Medical Association and will publish the papers and transactions of its meetings, it is thus especially incumbent on all the practitioners of this state to indicate their support of this journal by apprearing on the subscription list.

It has been our policy in the past, and will be in the future, to confine our regular circulation to those members of the profession who are legitimate subscribers, and thus signify their desire to receive the journal. It is not our purpose to inflict ourselves on unwilling readers. We believe our publication fills a demand in this part of the land. We wish to conduct a journal on approved ethical plans, and to accomplish this end welcome suggestions from our subscribers and supporters who perceive reasons for criticism or improvement.

We take this occasion to remind our friends that it takes money to run a medical journal, and the least they can do for us is to pay their subscriptions when due, and thus save themselves the annoyance of being dunned for the same at a later date. We do not expect wealth will flow into our coffers from our subscription funds, but this money will help us pay our monthly bills, which is essential to existence. As a long time has elapsed since we have broached the subject of finances to our supporters, and we hope to refrain from doing so again for a goodly time in the future, we beg them to accept this as a sufficient suggestion to liquidate the delinquencies of the past, that we may start the coming year with a clean balance sheet.

SCOPOLAMIN-MORPHIN ANESTHESIA.

If the reports of the results of this method of anesthesia are confirmed from many sources, it should prove to be the ideal anesthetic for general use. Since its introduction in Europe in 1900, it has been used chiefly on the continent. Ries, of Chicago, reports his experience with it in over one hundred cases, in Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, for October. His formula is, one-half grain morphin mixed in water with one-fiftieth grain scopolamin hydrobromate, which is divided into three doses, to be injected hypodermically. One dose is given two and one-half, one dose one and one-half, and one dose one-half hour before the time set for operation. After the first the patient becomes drowsy, sleeps soundly after the second and is insensible to pain after the third dose. In about one-half the cases prolonged operations are conducted without consciousness on part of the patient. If he is partly conscious, an extremely small amount of chloroform or ether is necessary. The advantages of this procedure are the absence of the usual worry and excitement preceding general anesthesia and the disagreeable sensations, with nausea and vomiting, following the operation, since the patient sleeps about five hours after the last injection.

Ries has not used it on children under twelve years, but has found it invaluable in old and decrepit patients, in whom as low as one-third of the mentioned dose is sufficient. He states there is no record of a human being having been killed by scopolamin and no case on record of a death after operation that could be charged to scorpolamin-morphin anesthesia.

It has been used extensively in Europe for obstetrical cases. One-third of the given dose is administered every five or six hours and renders the labor practically painless. When necessary, obstetrical operations can be performed under its influence or by addition of a small amount of chloroform.

NEW COUNTY SOCIETIES.

Results have already followed the agitation, at the Tacoma meeting, for a closer and more thorough organization of the medical profession of Washington. A new county society has been organized in Clallam County, while Thurston and Mason have been united into the hyphenated Thurston-Mason Society, in accordance with the recently amended by-laws. In the meantime, the Judicial Committee is communicating with the physicians in counties without societies, for the purpose of getting them together