At a public Commencement held in the Hall of the University of Louisville, Monday evening, February 28th, 1859, the following gentlemen were admitted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, to wit: NAMES. SUBJECT OF THESIS. The Abuse of Alcohol. Indiana. Remittent Fever. Bottomley, E. Wilfred. Kentucky. Phthisis Pulmonalis. RESIDENCE. Ashton, William W. Kentucky. Barnes, Horace B. Ohio. Anæsthesia & Anæsthetics. Bice, Cornelius, Browne, Jesse. Brummel, Josiah L. Bussey, John B. Texas. Missouri. Mississippi. Digestion. Tennessee. Typhoid Fever. Intermittent Fever. Malaria. Caldwell, Charles L. Coffinan, Absalom F. Conway, Frank T. Crawford, John W. Hale, Caleb, Herring, Henry C. Hodgen, Robert T. Houston, James J. Jackson, John M. Lawless, Benj. L. McCoy, James A. C. McGowan, William J. Kentucky. Phthisis Pulmonalis. Illinois. Typhoid Fever. Kentucky. Fracture of the Femur. Kentucky. Wounds. Kentucky. The Operation of Medicine. Kentucky. Placenta Prævia. Kentucky. Bright's Disease. Menstruation. Florida. Indiana. Puerperal Peritonitis. Kentucky. Variola. Tennessee. Acute Rheumatism. At the same time, EDWARD W. LANE, M.D., of Scarboro', Georgia, was admitted ad eundem, in this institution; and the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon Dr. SILAS SHEPHERD, of New York, and Dr. WILLIAM M. ELY, of Kentucky. The Hon. Jas. Guthrie, President of the Board of Trustees, addressed the graduates in a most felicitous and impressive manner, dwelling upon their duties and responsibilities with a force and beauty which they will long remember and appreciate. The hall would not accommodate the audience, and the adjoining room was occupied by a great many who were unwilling to lose the opportunity of witnessing the ceremonies. The valedictory address was delivered by Professor Palmer, which announcement is sufficient for those who have heard this gentleman lecture; and therefore it would be needless for us to express our admiration of the manner in which it was delivered, or the matter which it contained. Furthermore, he is our colleague, and hence a eulogistic strain would not accord with our sense of delicacy, however richly it might be merited. Respecting the graduates we may consistently speak with less reserve, and our remarks in reference to them may include others also, for certainly, a more intelligent, gentlemanly, and assiduously attentive class we have never seen assembled. Among the first course students were many of high promise, and we anticipate their return with pleasurable hopes. Their deportment during the past session has secured the friendship of many who will greet them with a hearty welcome. OUR EXCHANGES.-We have received twenty-eight exchanges, which embrace the principal ones of this country. We feel obliged to our cotemporaries for their courtesy, and will notice their journals as soon as we shall have completed our list. There yet remain two or three which we would be glad to receive. Of the Chicago Journal we have only seen the January number. A limited number of copies of the report on Influence of Marriages of Consanguinity upon offspring, by the senior Editor, are for sale at Maxwell & Co.'s in this city. Copies will be mailed, postage paid, to orders enclosing thirty cents in postage stamps, or otherwise, to Maxwell & Co., Main street. The present number of the News has been delayed a few days. Hereafter we shall endeavor to issue regularly on the first and fifteenth of each month. ABSTRACTS FROM THE FOREIGN MEDICAL PRESS. TREATMENT OF FISTULA IN ANO BY CAUSTIC CYLINDERS OF GUTTA PERCHA AND CHLORIDE ZINC.-We abstract the following suggestions from an article on this subject in the Gazette Medicale of January 1, by M. M. Salmon and Maunoury, Surgeons of the Hospital at Chartres: To be attacked with fistula in ano, is, in common opinion, to labor under a serious malady; and, in truth, the vulgar opinion is not unreasonable, for in one hundred and thirteen operations for fistula in ano, performed at the Hotel Dieu at Paris, from 1837 to 1841, there were nine deaths, that is to say, one death for every thirteen operations. The following is the method directed for the application of the caustic: Take a plate of gutta percha and chloride of zinc, cut from this plate a style or cylinder, more or less long, more or less acute, according to the length or depth of the fistula. Upon introducing this cylinder along the fistulous track, the tissues in contact with the caustic will contract to such a degree that it will be found more difficult to remove the style than it was to introduce it. The chloride of zinc then has a peculiar action upon the surrounding tissues. It originates in these structures a powerful plastic influence, which results in rapid adhesion of the walls of the fistula, in consequence of the contraction it produces. Those who have witnessed the action of these caustics, and who have removed tumors with Canquoin's paste, know that after their decadence the cicatrization of the wound occurs with marvellous rapidity. It is this plastic inducing property of the chloride zinc which constitutes it the caustic par excellence. After a cauterization made with the chloride zinc, the tissues appear to acquire in some manner the property of concentric retraction. After detailing the previous history and treatment of four cases, the author gives the following resume: We have had under our care during two years, four cases of fistula in ano, all of which we have treated by the caustic of chloride zinc and gutta percha. The pliability of the cylinder permits its easy introduction along the fistulous canal, however tortuous, to its full extent. We suffer the caustic to remain a variable time, according to the nature of the case and long existence of the fistula. In one patient it remained for six hours; in another, two hours; in the two others, from five minutes to an hour. We were able to visit the last two every day, and observe the condition of the disease. The other two we could see only once a week. The treatment was continued from six weeks to two years and a half. All were cured without losing one moment from their ordinary pursuits. There was no precaution with regard to dressing the sore, and we left to the patient himself the care of removing the caustic style after it had remained the prescribed time. No accident supervened. If we compare the two methods of treatment of fistula in ano-that by cautery and that with the knife-these are our observations: the former is simple and without peril, the latter is painful and complicated. In one, there is simply the dressing of the fistula; in the other, there is a serious operation. In the one, the patient goes about and attends to his usual occupation; in the other, he is obliged to confine himself to his bed for five or six weeks. In the first, there is no fear of accident; in the second, hemorrhage may occur either during or after the operation, and sometimes death. Moreover, if the subsequent dressings are not made with every possible care, new sinuses form and relapse accrues. After having set forth the advantages of one process, and the disadvantages of the other, we recommend the treatment by the caustic of gutta percha and chloride zinc. If by chance the cure should not be effected by this means, it will then be time to have recourse to the knife. For the preparation of this caustic, it is necessary to dissolve the gutta percha in a porcelain cup. When in a state of fusion throw over it the determined amount of chloride of zinc, which should be thoroughly incorporated with the gutta percha by means of a spatula. We thus obtain a plastic paste which may be moulded like nitrate of silver into cylinders or in sheets like Canquoin's paste. There is nothing more simple, but it is necessary to sieze the proper moment to withdraw the mixture from the fire. PEBBLE IN THE TRACHEA, WITH EMPHYSEMA OF THE CELLULAR TISSUE OF THE NECK AND FACE. Translated from Wiener Medicinische Wochenschrift, for the Medical News. By. W. N. HAILMAN.-A girl two and a half years of age, swallowed a pebble on the 20th October, 1858. A spasmodic cough immediately ensued, so violent as to threaten suffocation, and attended with livid countenance. Two hours afterwards, emphysema of the cellular tissue had manifested itself, commencing at the upper margin of the sternum, and extending rapidly upward and over the right side of the face-breathing difficult and convulsive. The pebble evidently moved up and down in the trachea during the acts of respiration, and being carried during expiration against the glottis, excited its spasmodic closure. Prof. Dr. Schuh made an incision through the skin and subjacent cellular tissue, from the upper margin of the thyroid cartilage to the superior border of the sternum, and laid bare the trachea below the thyroid gland. An incision was then made into the trachea, and the pebble removed. The upper part of the wound was closed with adhesive plaster, the lower part was suffered to remain unclosed to allow the air from the surrounding tissues to escape. A piece of sponge was, however, placed over this portion, in order to induce respiration through the mouth. The child was then laid in a horizontal position, no pillow under its head. It was quiet after the operation, with no expectoration from the wound. The extracted pebble was smooth, and an almost regular tetrahedron, about 3-10 of an inch broad, and 5-10 to 6-10 long (Vienna measure). The first night, patient a little restless. Succeeding day, slight fever, emphysema disappeared from the neck. Third day, disappeared altogether from face, fever scarcely perceptible. Sixth day, the child played, sitting up in the bed. On the first of November, wound was closed, and a few days later, cicatrization complete. AMBERGRIS.—We learn from the Boston Ledger that a sale of 750 lbs. of ambergris was made in that city on the 8th inst., for the sum of $10,000, and upon which the purchaser will probably realize $6,000. It was taken from one whale, and brought home in a ship recently arrived at Nantucket. This substance is a morbid secretion of the liver of the spermaceti whale, and is generally used, in its alcoholic solution, as a perfume. It is more often found in whales of a sick and lean appearance, indicating that the ambergris is a product of disease. It is usually found in lumps of from one to thirty pounds in weight, and the largest piece hitherto known weighed 182 pounds, and was bought by the Dutch East India Company of the King of Tidore. Another piece from inside of a whale near the Windward Islands was sold for £500 sterling.-New Bedford Mercury. DIPTHERITIS.-Dr. Campbell (Southern Med. and Sur. Jour.,) recommends for this disease the internal exhibition of from 5 to 15 grains of quinine, in divided doses, during the earlier part of each day for several days, and the local application of powdered alum to the throat. MARRIED-On Wednesday evening, the 9th inst., by Rev. Chas. Campbell, Dr. D. D. THOMSON, of Louisville, to Miss ELLA A. ENDERS, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Mr. Henry Enders, of this city.-Paducah Herald. |
