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tations, opiates, &c. and this with a certaindegree oF benefit ; he also directed a " tightbandage " to be applied tightly to the abdo-men, as he believed that the disease oftenarose in puerperal women from the omissionof a bandage after delivery, and he hadknown certain abdominal symptoms, as wellas external well-marked inflammation, muchalleviated by similar compression. A)thoughvenesection was inadmissible, he directedthe sol. of tart. emetic to be given in divid-ed doses. On the second day after admission(third of disease), as the pulse had risen,he ventured on directing blood to be drawn,and 12z were taken; she bore this well.but it did not, in anywise, affect the pro-gress of the symptoms ; the blood, after

standing a short time, exhibited an appear-ance which, he was convinced, few who sawit could forget, so strongly was it cuppedand buffed ; this circumstance, however, I)r.Graham reminded the students, was not in-vatiably characteristic ofinfiammation. Thesymptoms still persisted, and she died at

four A. M. on the 6th inst. He forgot tomention, he added, one mark of abdominalinflammation winch existed in this case, viz.the respiration being heaving and entirelythoracic.

Dissection.—Flatulent distention of theabdomen and intestines, containing a con-siderable quantity of fluid fæculent matter,28z pure pus deposited m the intestines ofthe abdominal and pelvic viscera ; the con-volutions of the intestines adhered in several

places by the effusion of coagulable )ymph ;great vascularity of the serous membrane ;mucous membrane unaffected ; the os uterioccupied by a gangrenous patch, and thecervix in a state of sphacelus; un adhesion ofthe fundus uteri to the ileum; brain healthy.As to these appearances, Dr. Crabam said

the cause of the patient’s death was evi-dently the violent inflammation of the peri-toneum. The gangrene of the uterus he

considered, in this case, as comparatively oflittle importance; and having again passedin review the symptoms under which shelaboured, and the appearances just describ-ed, he dwelt, at considerable length, on thedifficulty of treating cases of this kind, ac-companied with symptoms of such extremedepression. His remarks we must for the

present postpone.

DETECTION OF ARSENIC SEVEN YEARS

AFTER DEATH.

AT the sitting of the Académie Royale deMedecine, on the ist of December, li.

Orfila, to whom medical jurisprudence is

so much indebted for his toxicological re-

searches, made the following comf.

tion :-

In June last I was asked wheexhumated body, seven years after f ,would exhibit any signs of poisoyarsenic, and what chemical processesin such a case, the best to be resort

Aly answer was, that at such a penbody would very likely be so thoroughly -.

composed as to make any inquiry imposs-ble. In case however the laterai porthe vertebral column, especially at

lumber and versal venebraL;, were found.vered with a blackish substance, this markbe acted upon in the manner described

my work on poisons. After this question L.jbeen addressed to me, and I had answeredin the above manner, M. M. Ozaaam andIve were requested by the ’ Procurtur Roi’ to proceed to the exhumation of thebody of a person who was supposed to havebeen poisoned in 1828. Their inquinesinto the cause by which the individual question had died, have been successful, tend to prove, in the clearest manner, .,

existence of arsenic in the dead body. The

following are the details :-"The grave had been made in a dry and

gravelly soil with a small quantity_:the sulphate of limR, which latter circam.stance unquestionably most coutributed wards the remarkable conservation of :.;

body ; the coffin was not in the least

jured, the bottom only was tinged with abrownish fluid. The identity of the bodywas proved by the ’ cure,’the grave-digger,and the national guards, who had escortedthe funeral ; besides, the itair of the had not undergone the least alteiatitin, theteeth were still in their sockets, except canine tooth, which the individual had before his death ; and, lastly, the under-taker recognised the coffin. The

trunk, and extremities, were in a state cf

perfect integrity ; the chest was collathe heart and lungs moulded into afluid mass of black colour, without any sm.The head and extremities were left in t’se

coffin, as being useless for the investigtion ; the mass on which the inquiry WJ; be made was of nine pounds weight, two ofwhich were however not subjected to the

inquiry, but reserved for the repetition ofthe experiments. The substance was boiredseveral times, and then evaporated to a extract, which was again dissolvee in ficient quantity of distilled water. s.solution was of a dark-brown colour, was but incompletely destroyed by,

it was again evaporated, and the remdetonated with the nitrate of pota", L,residuum having cooled, was dissovesaturated solution of nitric acid, and finally submitted to different tests, 4.1 .:

473

which evidently showed the presence ofmeuic in the fluid. A portion of it beingmixed with charcoal, and heated in a glasstube, M.M. C. and J. succeeded even in re-tscing the arsenic to its metallic form. Ano-ther portion, mixed with the solution of sul-phuretted hydrogen, gave sulphurettedarsenic, which being heated with caustic

potash, gave a bright metallic layer, provedto be soluble in distilled water by a currentof oxygen."—Lancette Française.

INTERMITTENT OPHTHALMIA.

IN Number 290 of THE LANCET, we gavean interesting case of intermittent ophthal-mia, related by Dr. Hueter, of Marburg ;the following case was observed by the sameauthor, and will be read with interest, as itpresents a very rare form of the disease, theinflammatory attack returning every seventhday.C.lVh, setat. 34, a labourer in a mill,

subject to asthma, had, during the winter1826 and 1827, been frequency attackedwith ophthalmia, first of the right, then ofboth eyes. This affection gradually sub-sided, but about three months afterwards,tiie right eye, in which the inflammationhad been most violent, was on every Fridaywected in the following manner. At twoo’clock in the morning, the patient was sud-denly roused from his sleep by a violentpain in the right eye, which at the sametime became filled with tears, injected, andthough it was not in the least swelled,caused a sensation of fulness as if it wouldburst; he could not bear the light, and feltas if there was sand between the conjunctivaand evelids. These symptoms continuedduring the whole day till the evening, whenthey subsided, with a great discharge 01t-ars from both eyes. On the following day,both eyes were perfectly well. Duringrainv weather, all the symptoms were muchlrs, violent than during bright sun-shine.iLe intermittent ophthalmia regularly con-ued till the spring of 1828, with this dif-ference only, that during the winter-timethe attack began on Thursday night, and

only till Friday morning. On the 8thoi April, 1828, the patient was, in conse-uence of a mechanical injury, affected withlent iritis of the left eye ; it lasted for

about seven weeks, during which time theright eye remained free from the attacks oiittent ophthalmia. On Friday, the

of May, however, the latter returned,thought not so violent us before. On the

after of may, the iritis of the left eye having4L a.most entirely subsided, a sensation oir..;ent burning and itching suddenly arose

f in the left eye, with great pain over the eye-; brow ; these symptoms terminated in a great! discharge of tears, after which the eye was

. perfectly well. On the 30th of May, the- intermittent ophthalmia again returned, butwas much less violent than before ; from thisI period the patient remained free from the; affection, and up to the beginning of 1829,I had, with the exception of one very slightt attack of intermittent ophthalmia, been per-

fectly well.— Graefe u. Walther’s Journal.

COMPLETE RECOVERY FROM AMAUROSIS

AFTER THE EXTRACTION OF A CARIOUS

TOOTH.

: F. P., ætat 32, of a vigorous constitution,but subject to rheumatism, was, in October’ 1825, suddenly affected with violent shoot-t ing pain in the left upper jaw and eye,which continued for a few days, and thengradually subsided, but afterwards periodi-

cally returned. The patient did not takeany notice of it until the pain became al-

, most intolerable, and he observed that ther sight of the left eye was completely gone.I He applied to a medical practitioner, butf finding no relief from his remedies, left the

affection to itself. About eight months af-, ter its commencement a small tumour formedt on the left cheek, and terminated in an ab-r scess between the conjunctiva and lower) eyelid of the affected eye ; the quantity ofpurulent matter discharged from it amountedt to several ounces. After this event the pain: became much less ; the blindness howeverI continued as before. The purulent discharge, continued, and periodically increased, during1 about six months ; after which time the paint in the eye became so violent as to induce the1 patient to apply to a practitioner at Wilna,I with the determination of having the eyei removed rather than continue to suffer suchf excruciating pain. On examining the eye,, Dr. Galenzowski, of Wilna, found the pupildilated, and perfectly torpid, and sight soi completely lost, that darkness and the

. brightest light could not be distinguished.There was no organic disease of the eye,the muscles of which appeared to act regu-larly ; the purulent discharge continued;1 the pains in the eye were not so very violenti as a few days before. On examining the- mouth, a molar tooth was found to be cariousi to a great extent, and moreover to containr in one of its roots a small piece of wood, bywhich a constant irritation appeared to havef been kept up, which had eventually termi- nated in a perforation of the autrum, into, which a probe could be made to pass fromthe cavity of the tooth. After the extrac-

tion of the latter, no discharge of matter en-f sued ; but sight was restored in such a rapide manner, that the patient, after nine days’

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adequate treatment, by gargarisms, &c., was

able to return to his native country.- Graefeu. Walther’s Jounal.

ON SQUINTING, AND A NEW METHOD OF

CURING IT.

The Memoirs of the Academy of Sciencesat Turin, contain some interesting remarks,by Professor Rossi, on this subject.

Having observed that congenital strabis-mus is often spontaneously cured at theepoch of puberty, while acquired strabis-mus, if neglected, is in most cases incura-ble, he was led to the concliisioli, that thedeviation of the visual axes might be de-pendent on a deficient formation of the orbitand its neighbouring parts, which mightaccordingly often be corrected at the periodof their complete development. On ex-

amining the eyes of persons who, duringlife, had been affected with congenital stra-bismus, he invariably found that the orbitwas more oblique than usual, so that itscentral axis was not perpendicular to itsbase. In one subject only, in which thereexisted no deviation of this kind, one of themuscles was inserted at an unusual point.From these observations Professor Rossiconcludes, that the process of ossification

may in many cases be sufficient to remove

congenital strabismus, and that it might,perhaps, be possible to direct it in such amanner as to correct the malformation ofthe orbit; and as squinting is in manycases produced by the light falling upon theeye in one and the same oblique direction,and thus maintaining some muscles in con-stant action, and others in a state of inac-tivity, this circumstance might perhaps betaken advantage of in the cure of strabis-mus. The glasses which he accordinglyrecommends are rtat, as large as the base ofthe orbit, and covered with a black varnish,a transparent portion being left at the cen-tre of the glass, of a crucial form, and con-sisting of a horizontal and an oblique line,the latter of which is small on the side to-wards which the eye is morbidly directed,and larger towards the other side, so that theglobe being naturally turned towards theside where the light is greatest, the irregu-lar action of the muscles is gradually cor-rected.

This method certainly appears worthy oftrial, although it must be perceived thatM. Rossi’s treatise does not give any de-tails of its result.

THE LANCET.

London, Saturday, January 2, 1830,

SQUINTING.-STATE OF THE PROFESSION.

THE state of the Medical Profession is

England is, at this time, engaging much cfthe attention of the best informed membes

of the community. The dissensiors be.

tween the corporate bodies, the Colleges of

Physicians and Surgeons, and the Ccmpa-nies of Apothecaries, are almost forgotkain considering the great and general distresswhich pervades every branch of the pn-fession. In such a period of national ad-

versity as that with which the country is

now afflicted, it could not be expected thatthe members of the medical professionwould escape ; but, if the uccounts which

we daily receive be correct, the poverty and

misery which pervade all classes of society,must be nearly unparalleled, or generalpractitioners are sharing now, more than adue proportion of the public distress. Our

country correspondents, from one end of thekingdom to the other, are bitter in their

complaints. The tradesmen, they say,3!ewithout businpss, and the farmers are sub-

sisting on their little remaining capital.Debts, from either class, are not to be col-

lected ; yet the medical practitioner is called

upon, almost hourly, to attend patients wtoreside, in some instances, eight and ten miiMdistant, from whom he has no well.grOUtC-ed, in truth, scarcely any, expectation ofever receiving a farthing for the exercise of

his talents, his attendance, or his medicines.G reatnumbers of country practitioners, urgedto it by the distresses of the times, hM re-cently embarked for America and the settle-ment on the Swan River, in the hope of ob-taining some sort of subsistence for them.

selves and their families. The vayage to

America may, we believe, be undertakenwith some degree of propriety by those ncacan land there with money in their pockers.and that not a large sum; for in America’s