moistened by a mixture of semen and mucus as to give the idea of a gonorrhoea having existed; whilst the corpus cavernosum and spongiosum are so filled with thick black blood as to form a striking contrast to the paleness of the same parts in cases of natural death. This sign is of as much value as the existence of sperm in the urethra, and is observed with greater facility. -Bulletin de l'Académie. Nov. 20, 1838.

Medical Schools of the West.-We learn from a postscript to Prof. Mitchell's introductory lecture, that there were in that school-at the period of the publication of the address-230 students. A private letter from a professional friend in Cincinnati informs us that the number at Louisville on the 29th was 181, in Cincinnati 120.

Vermont Academy of Medicine.-This institution, which had been suspended for a time, has been reorganised; and we are glad to observe that one of our townsmen-Dr. James Bryan-has been appointed to one of the chairs. The Faculty consist of Horace Green, M. D., Theory and Practice of Medicine; Robert Nelson, M. D., General and Special Anatomy and Physiology; James Hadley, M. D., Chemistry and Pharmacy; James Bryan, M. D., Principles and Practice of Surgery; Joseph Perkins, M. D., Materia Medica and Obstetrics; and Ralph Gowdey, M. D., Medical Jurisprudence.

The annual session for public lectures will commence on the second Tuesday of March, 1840, and continue thirteen weeks.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

From the Publishers, Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb, of Boston.-The first volume of Dr. Gross's Elements of Pathological Anatomy. [We shall notice this useful work in our next.]

From the Author.-Introductory Lecture before the Albany Medical College. Delivered Nov. 12, 1839. By Thomas Han, M. D., Professor of Institutes of Medicine. (Published by request of the Class.) 8vo, pp. 30. Albany, 1839.

From Professor Sewall, of Washington.-An Introductory Lecture, delivered at the opening of the Medical Department of the Columbian College, Nov. 4, 1839. By John Frederick Mayo, M. D., Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. 8vo, pp. 24. Washington, 1839.

From Dr. Wm. H. Rockwell.-Third Annual Report of the Trustees of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane. Presented to the Legislature, Oct., 1839. 12mo, pp. 24. Montpelier, Va., 1839.

From the Committee.-A Report on the Origin and Cause of the late Epidemic in Augusta, Ga. Submitted to a meeting of the Physicians of Augusta, on the 10th of December, 1839. 8vo, pp. 30. Augusta, Ga., 1839.

ART. I.—ENDEMICO-EPIDEMIC FEVER, PRESUMED TO BE INDUCED BY ANIMAL DECOMPOSITION-APPARENT ABSENCE OF VEGETABLE DECOMPOSITION.

BY WILLIAM MAXWELL WOOD, M. D., 'U. S. NAVY.

[This interesting communication is possessed of double value at the present moment, when the origin of the endemico-epidemics of the south are topics of discussion. If it should not establish that animal decomposition was the cause of the disease described, it affords ample reason for the belief that vegetable decomposition could have had no agency in the causation.Ed.]

Fort Kemble, E. Florida, Nov. 8th, 1839.

Dear sir,-During the past summer, while attached to the U. S. steamer, Poinsett, doing duty on the coast of Florida, for the suppression of Indian hostilities, a diseased condition manifested itself among a portion of our crew, the facts and circumstances in connection with which tend, in my opinion, to throw some doubt upon the generally received theory respecting miasmata; and you may perhaps deem them of sufficient interest for insertion in your periodical.

At the southern extremity of Florida, and about twenty miles from the main land, is a small coral neck of twelve acres' extent, called Indian Key. Its surface, with the exception of a few insulated trees, presents a naked, white, clean exposure of carbonate of lime; and there is not on the Key a natural receptacle for water as large as a wash-basin,-rain being collected in cisterns for the use of the inhabitants, who number from fifty to sixty. The houses, which have all been erected upon the plan of a single proprietor, are neat, new, one story cottages, separate from each other, raised two or three feet from the ground, on stone supports, and ranged around the island, facing the ocean, with a large open space back of them; the breezes from the sea, have thus a clear sweep over the Key and through all the buildings. There is nothing to generate vegetable miasmata, and the place enjoys a freedom from disease, such as might be expected from its character, location, and the equable temperature of the climate.

The commander of the expedition thought it necessary to leave a detachment at this place, and thirteen men in charge of an officer were quartered in two of the above described cottages, on the southern side of the island. After an absence of some weeks, on Sept. 23d, the steamer returned to Indian Key, when the officer in charge and one of the men, were found suffering under violent febrile disease. They had been for two days under active unprofessional treatment. In the case of the officer there was high delirious excitement; in that of the man there was less cerebral disturbance,

but oppressive pulmonary congestion, and as this latter condition diminished, the brain becanie more affected. Two other cases presented themselves on the day after our arrival, in both of them there was much prostration of the powers of life; one of them was found about 6 o'clock in the evening, lying on the floor in a condition of insensibility, secretions flowing from the mouth, eyelids widely separated, pupils dilated, great difficulty of utterance; having all the appearance of being deeply intoxicated. This mau died in seven hours after he was first seen; the other, taken on the same day, in fortyeight hours. The officer expired on the fifth day after our arrival, having been during the whole time a raving maniac, and no means being successful in procuring sleep.

On the second day after our arrival, all the men with their luggage were removed on board the steamer; but several other cases appeared, marked by cerebral oppression, nervous agitation, but little disposition to reaction; intense pain in the head, back, and limbs; the skin and conjunctiva assuming from the third to the fifth day a very yellow tinge.

These cases were all among the men who had been stationed ashore; but the disease now showed itself among those who had simply visited the quarters, and in these cases it presented a different type, the tendency to reaction being greater, and the grade of fever much higher. Of these cases one had slept a night in the quarters, and the others had only passed a few minutes there, and that after their abandonment. All the phenomena of this disease were such as I have seen resulting from the influence of marsh miasmata in its various degrees of action, from the condition of overpowering congestion seen in the cold plague" of the Mississippi, to the symptoms marking the yellow fever of our southern states and the West Indies. An examination of the houses which I made myself, although there was displayed a want of cleanliness, showed no accumulation of decoinposed vegetables, either in, under, or around them; but there was an oppressive animal, jail-like smell, which seemed to emanate from the houses themselves.

There had been much and continued intemperance among the men, and part of a barrel of spoiled salt beef, which was very offensive previous to our departure, had been covered with fresh brine, and served out as the men's rations. This beef was stowed in one of the houses, and had just been consumed as we arrived. Such were the facts gathered during our researches after the cause of the disease. As the cases accumulated and became crowded on ship-board, a large room, eighty by forty feet, the rigging-loft of a three story building, was engaged as an hospital. This room had double doors and two large windows at each end, and six smaller windows on the side next the sea. Vigilant attention was paid to the cleanliness of this place, and during the whole of our occupancy of it, the wind blew half a gale from the N. E., and the weather was quite chilly, yet here a third class of cases presented themselves. Upon the convalescing of the original cases, four of the hospital attendants, men fresh from the ship when we moved to the hospital, were taken, and I suffered severely from the disease myself. Upon our convalescence Assistant-Surgeon McCreery had an attack. All of us had visited the infected houses after they had been evacuated, none had passed more than a few minutes there; the longest period, perhaps, being that passed by myself, during the investigation of the cause of the disease, and the case of the assistant-surgeon did not present itself for nearly three weeks after he had been there. The treatment was such as seemed appropriate to the pathological condition supposed to be indicated by the symptoms. The state of congestion, oppression and pain, being met by general local bleeding, measured by the relief given to the symptoms; warm pediluvia, together with sinapisms, and blisters to the extremities.

Where there was much reaction, heat of the head and skin-in addition to bleeding, we used cold affusion and sponging, with the continued admi

nistration of tart. antimon. in small doses. The bowels were, in all the cases, washed out by copious mild enemata; and mercurial purgatives were given until the secretions resumed a healthy character. No effort was made to induce ptyalism or care taken to avoid it; but its occurrence, to the slightest extent, in any case, was the signal of the entire subsidence of every other morbid symptom, and was followed by an immediate return to full health; whereas those, in which the mercurial influence was not perceptible, were slow in their recovery; functional derangement of the abdominal viscera being of much longer continuance.

No relation appeared to exist between the violence of the disease, and the developement of the mercurial action. In the case of the commander, whose attack was very threatening, and who had been copiously bled, it appeared in twenty-four hours, with the above stated consequence.

The result of the treatment was as follows:-There were twenty-two cases in all; four were lost, and they were all unfavourable subjects; two had been for two days under injudicious treatment, previous to our arrival; another was not seen at the commencement of the disease, and bad certainly drunk his allowance, half a pint of whiskey, and probably more, while under its influence; the fourth case was that of a negro, of infirm constitution and remarkably timid character, he was supposed to be convalescing, but became chilled in the night, and died under symptoms of sudden pulmonary congestion.

I have endeavoured to present you with a correct general history of the rise and progress of this disease, and the circumstances to which I would call your attention are,-the entire absence of general or local vegetable miasmata; the concentration of the poison, as seen in the prostration of the powers of life, and the very short exposure to its influence necessary to generate the disease; its insulation-there was no case among the inhabitants of the Key, although the neighbouring cottages were occupied.

The cases which arose in the hospital are interesting, as showing either the strong vitality of the morbid influence, or the power of the disease communicating itself by continued and frequent contact. The difference in the type of the disease may be attributed to the recent habits of the persons it attacked; but to what to trace the disease I am at a loss, unless to the putrid beef, and I should certainly receive this as the cause, were not such a conclusion adverse to all my previous opinions upon the subject of miasmata. Circumstances rarely occur, in which the absence of vegetable influence is so complete, and the testimony concurs in designating a single

cause.

Professor Dunglison.

With much respect, yours truly,

WILLIAM M. WOOD.

For the American Medical Intelligencer.

ART. II.-CASE OF ACUTE LARYNGITIS.

BY S. A. COOK, M. D., OF BUSKIrk's bridge, n. Y.

Buskirk's Bridge, N. Y., Jan. 1810. Dear sir,-I send you the following case, which if you think worthy of a place in your valuable journal is at your disposal. I should be glad of your opinion whether it was acute laryngitis or not.' The description is

The caption which we have given to the interesting article of our correspondent sufficiently shows that we regard the case to have been acute laryngitis.—Ed.

drawn from my notes taken at the time and at the bedside of the patient, and is as faithful as I am capable of presenting it. With great respect, I am yours,

S. A. Cook.

Robley Dunglison, M. D.

David Gordon, aged 51, farmer; in which employment he has been engaged through life; accustomed to exposure, and, though naturally of a robust constitution, has suffered in times past from various severe attacks of disease. In 1832 he had a choleric attack, followed by severe typhoid fever. from which he slowly recovered. During the three or four past years, he has repeatedly suffered from what he has called quinsy, and at the close of one of these attacks the last summer I saw him. His mouth was pale; filled with saliva; the sublingual glands swelled so as to considerably displace the tongue; their folds semitransparent and apparently distended with fluid; the parotids and submaxillary glands, though but slightly tumefied, hard, and tender on pressure. As the disease was declining, I only ordered a mildly stimulating diet, a gentle laxative, and the external application of camph. vol. lin., and saw no more of him till

Oct. 18th, 10 o'clock, P. M.-Was taken yesterday with sore throat, which has since been constantly increasing; had violent cold chills last night; tongue red, thinly coated and swelled; pressure on its back part produces intense pain, attended with a sense of urgent suffocation-any attempt at deglutition, either of liquids or solids, produces the same, with a convulsive cough or rather strangling, which, after driving out through the mouth or nostrils, the offending substance, continues with stridulous respiration from thirty minutes to an hour. The stomach appears unaffected; the bowels costive; the skin is cool, moist, and inelastic, of a darker shade than natural on the face; the pulse 64, soft and feeble; he has headach; eyes are suffused; countenance expressive of suffering. While at rest, the respiration, though hurried, is not very difficult, though any motion or pressure of the upper part of the throat, or the cartilages of the larynx, makes it terrible. The voice is entirely lost, and coughing produces acute pain in the larynx; no expectoration.

Prescription.-Bathed the feet in warm water; placed hot bricks wrapped in flannel to the feet and by the side of the legs in bed; bled thirty ounces, (during the abstraction of twenty ounces of which the pulse increased in strength and hardness.) The bleeding has produced a decided impression on the constitution; the blood is very sizy. Apply a sinapism to the throat. 19th, 9 o'clock, A. M.-Has had a restless night. Secretions of the larynx and bronchia commencing and producing a moist tracheal rhonchus. As yet he is unable to expectorate except by driving the secretion out of the trachea by the breath, and by the aid of the fingers making a shift to draw it out of the fauces. Pain and tenderness about the larynx continues much as last night. Cough convulsive, painful in the extreme, hoarse and less sonorous than last evening; respiration stridulous; groans much; bowels inactive; skin moist, warm; pulse 80, sharp; face red; eyes protube rant; conjunctiva injected. Blood of last night cupped. Has swallowed nothing during the last twelve hours-thinks he might swallow medicine in syrup.

Prescription.-Venesection. Abstracted sixteen ounces of blood.

To be taken every three hours till six powders shall have been taken, then follow with pilulæ cath. comp. ad catharsin.

20th, noon.-Gums swelled from mercury; cathartic has operated freely;