would die. He also says that rabies virus exposed to radium was rendered innocuous, and more than that, it could be converted into a vaccine. Robarts, in the Journal of Physical Therapy, February, 1906, reports two cases of bleeding piles and three cases of fissure in ano cured by radium and dilatation. My own experience has been very limited. I have removed several warts by half-hour exposure, causing no pain and no scar. I have under treatment a beginning swelling of the thyroid in a young girl, which has diminished slightly under three applications, but it is too early to make a report on this case. I have noted the retardation of growth in mustard seeds exposed to the rays, and have confirmed a number of the photographic, phosphorescent and electrical phenomena. METHOD of use. On the external parts the radium is applied directly to the affected part in a small glass tube, the surrounding healthy parts being protected by a thin layer of lead. The tube may be sterilized and inserted into tumors. A large variety of applicators are in use for treating the various mucous cavities. The length of exposure varies from twenty minutes to twenty-four hours inside tumors, the average exposure is half to one hour. These are repeated two or three times a week if necessary. CONCLUSIONS. In radium we have a substance of immense interest to both scientists and the medical profession. Its action resembles closely the X-rays, but it has the advantage of the ease with which it can be carried around and used. It is of especial use in the mucous cavities, such as the nose, mouth, throat, esophagus, vagina, uterus and rectum. It often succeeds where the X-rays have failed. It is of undoubted value in lupus, rodent ulcer, epitheliomata, warts and some cases of sarcoma, and many forms of skin disease. It is a powerful agent and has performed some wonderful cures. It should be given a thorough trial. If larger quantities can be procured and its cost diminished it will surely be of great service to mankind. REFERENCES. Mme. Curie. Researches sur les substances radio-actives; Paris, 1905. Soddy. Lectures on Radio-activity. Electrician, October, 1903; February, 1904. Sir O. Lodge. Archives of the Roentgen Rays. Halkin. Archiv. fur Dermatol. und Syphillog., 1903. Williams. Medical News, Feb. 6, 1903. Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, Feb. 25, 1905. McK. Davidson. British Med. Journal, Jan. 23, 1904. Godspead. Archiv. Radiol and Electrol., March and April, 1904. Danne. Le Radium: sa preparation et ses proprieties. Paris, 1904. Piffard. Medical Record, June 18, 1904, and April 2, 1905. Journal of Cutaneous Diseases, June, 1904. Pusey. Radium and its Therapeutic Possibilities, Jour. Amer. Med. Ass'n, July 16, 1904. Morton. Treatment by Radium Rays. British Med. Journal, April 23, 1904. McIntyre. Recent Electrotherapy. British Med. Journal, April 23, 1904, and Dec. 12, 1903. Turner. British Med. Journal, Dec. 12, 1903. Yale ed. Journal, June, 1904. Medical Record, June 4, 1904. The Subtle Power of Radium. Med. Record, Aug. 27, 1904. Exophthalmic Goitre Reduced by Radium, Archiv. of Roentgen Rays, etc., March, 1905. Heinecke. Deutsch Med. Wochenschrift, Aug. 4, 1904. Schaper. Deutsch Med. Wochenschrift, Sep. 29, 1904. Wohlgemuth. Berliner Klin. Wochenschrift, June 27, 1905. Duncan. The New Knowledge. Barnes & Co., 1905. ENTEROPTOSIS. BY L. AMSTER, M.D., ATLANTA. Enteroptosis, i. e., falling of the visceral contents, is in many cases the cause of nervous dyspepsia and neurasthenia, and the failure to relieve these conditions is often due to the fact that the underlying cause is not recognized. The diagnosis of enteroptosis ought to present no difficulties to the general practitioner, if he takes the trouble to make a thorough physical examination. For an exhaustive treatise on this subject, I refer you to Hemmeter's text-book on Diseases of the Stomach. I will confine myself to a brief sketch and those points which helped me in diagnosing and treating my cases. Glenard was the first who recognized the intimate relationship existing between certain dyspeptic and neurasthenic conditions with the falling or dropping of certain abdominal organs, comprising prolapse of the stomach (gastroptosis), of the intestine (enteroptosis), of the kidney (nephroptosis), of the spleen (splenoptosis), of the liver (hepatoptosis). One or more of these conditions may exist. The cause is looseness of the attachments of the different visceral organs and consequent relaxation of the abdominal wall. It is commonly known as enteroptosis, or Glenard's disease. Stiller, who made further studies on the subject, recognized the fact that there exists a hereditary taint, predisposing some people to enteroptosis, which develops af ter some exciting cause. The hereditary predisposition is called "Habitus Enteroptoticus." These enteroptotic people usually possess a general weak constitution, which he calls "Asthenia Universalis Congenita." Stiller also called attention to the fact that the tenth rib in these people is loose and floating. Normally this is not the case. This floating tenth rib, known as "costa decima of Stiller," is found in phthisis and enteroptosis, and though some authors deny the reliability of this stigma, still, wherever found, phthisis or enteroptosis ought to be suspected. Most text-books, while mentioning this congenital enteroptotic habitus, do not give a clear description of it. As the recognition of it facilitates a correct diagnosis, I will endeavor to explain it in the manner I have seen it demonstrated in Conheim's Polyclinic at Berlin. The main characteristics of the enteroptotic habitus are as follows: A long, narrow, flat thorax. The angle of the ribs pointed so that the xiphoid process forms the apex of an acute angle. umbilicus A B D' umbilicus While this angle in the normal type is 120 degrees or more, it descends in the enteroptotic type often to 60 degrees. There exists a looseness of the cartilages of the ribs, so that the cartilages of the tenth ribs fluctuate. The distance from the xiphoid cartilage to the umbilicus is abnormally long. The diameter of the episgastrium and the right and left hypochondrium is very much longer than it is broad, while in the normal type it is broader than long. People with this enteroptotic build are especially predisposed to functional disturbances of the gastro-intestinal tract. In women with hereditary enteroptosis, the muscular walls become weakened after repeated childbirths, or too tight lacing, the visceral contents lose their support and the stomach descends, the large curvature reaching below the umbilicus, without the organ being dilated. It is well to remember-and this mistake is frequently made that a prolapsed stomach, with the large curvature reaching far below the umbilicus, does not necessarily mean dilatation of the stomach. Often the kidneys, especially the right kidney, and the intestines, especially the transverse colon, the liver and the spleen participate in this ptosis and all the manifold dyspeptic and neurasthenic symptoms develop. Enteroptosis can also be acquired by people of normal habitus: Tight lacing, dresses that constrict the waist, unduly repeated childbirths, and any illness having for its effect a rapid loss of abdominal fat and muscle, may result in enteroptosis. The diagnosis, as mentioned before, can easily be made if we bear in mind the facts enumerated above. The most superficial inspection and palpation will often reveal the condition. The contour of the stomach can be made out after the administration of bicarb. soda and tartaric acid, a tea |