1518 ITALY.-BUDAPEST.

quinine was precipitated in crystals by the heat necessaryfor the sterilisation of the solution. Dr. Fiilleborn read a

paper on Parasitic Insects and showed lantern pictures of(1) lucilla macellaria, a fly in South America, which de-posited its eggs in the human nose and ear, the larvae causingsevere pain and even fatal sepsis ; (2) and (3) larvse ofcestrus and hypoderma bovis, which produced boils in menand domestic animals ; (4) the so-called skin mole, a trouble-some affection of the skin caused by larvæ of flies; and (5)the lesions caused by sand fleas. Dr. Schilling gave anaccount of a journey which he had made to West Africa.He said that the town of Lagos in the British colony of thatname was a model colonial settlement, especially as regardsthe sanitation of the European quarter on which large sumshad been spent. He was of opinion that hygienic measuresfor the benefit of the native population must be limited tosuch as could be appreciated by them, vaccination againstsmall-pox being an instance in point. Other papers readbefore the Congress dealt with bilharzia disease, medicalmissions, and the morphology of filaria.May 18th.

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ITALY.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Alcohol in Enteric Fever.FOLLOWING up the researches of M. Sebroges and M.

Mercandier into the action of alcohol on the bacillus ofenteric fever-researches, it may be remembered, supple-mentary to those of Koch and (unlike his) pointing to anaffirmative result-Dr. Guido Fornasieri of Turin finds thateven when moderately diluted alcohol antagonises thebacillus, destroying its vitality when the alcohol is added tothe culture in the proportion of 20 per cent. White wine,particularly Marsala, he found to be more energetic inbacillicidal action than red, though this, too, is not in-effective when matured. The glucose, in addition to thealcohol and the tartrate of sodium contained in the wine,seems to be the antagonising principle.

Tragic Incident at Stresa.Dr. Giano Cattaneo of Milan, where he was highly esteemed

as a specialist in dermatology, and also as a promoter of the" Providenza Baliatica" (Institution for Providing Wet Nursesfor the Children of the Poor), has been the victim of an acci-dent apparently trivial but unhappily fatal in its issue.When recently on a visit to his country seat near Stresa(Lago Maggiore) he happened to be inspecting his rose-

bushes and, having lost his footing, grasped one of themin the effort to "save himself." The branch, which heheld on by was bristling with thorns, many of whichpierced the palm of his hand. Most of these he seems tohave extracted but in a few hours the symptoms of acutesepticsemia set in on one of the fingers, which he thoughtto relieve by a free incision. Relief, however, was notobtained, and accordingly Professor Cernezzi, senior surgeonof the Cittiglio Hospital, was called in. By this timethe symptoms had become very serious and ProfessorCernezzi had the patient at once removed to the hospitalwhere he proceeded to amputation of the arm. The opera-tion, however, failed to arrest the propagation of the poisonand Dr. Cattaneo, in spite of every care lavished on him byhis colleagues, died in great agony. This tragic extinctionof a valuable and strenuous life evokes much commiserationin Milan and indeed throughout the Lake Country, where hewas well known and frequently consulted by the foreignvisitor as well as by his compatriots.

The "Medicaster" before the Lan Courts.The 11 Tribunale Penale"of Turin has just condemned to

a heavy fine and costs an irregular practitioner who hadbeen victimising the credulous public of the Borgo Vittorio.This was a female, Rosa Arduino by name, who carried outthe method of a Doctor Marchino, on whom the Board ofHygiene had had its eye for some time as the author of a"system for relieving physical pain." Unable to proceedagainst the doctor the Board took action against his

delegate who, as stated, was heavily amerced and foundliable in costs. It seems that the " medicastra (as theTurin journals call her) claimed no fee, but was nonethe less the recipient of a "honorarium" which found itsway into other pockets. This is a form of " practice"

"

injurious at once to the public and to the profession,while common enough throughout Italy to justify the hope-that other tribunals besides that of Turin will take action insuppressing it. Another prosecution, instituted before the-same court by the Uffizio d’lgiene, ended in the infliction ofan exemplary fine and costs on a largely employed milkvendor for retailing watered milk. Considering the efforts.made in all Italian centres towards combating tuberculosisand other products of malnutrition this sentence is hailed bythe press as a call to other Boards of Hygiene to take-criminal proceedings in similar cases of malfeasance-allthe more that the " water employed is often itself impureenough to cause or to propagate disease.May 15th.

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BUDAPEST.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Treatment of Acne Rosacea.ACNE rosacea is a very disfiguring affection of the face

and in ordinary circumstances is very refractory to.treatment. The first step in the treatment must, of course,be to remove the exciting causes, whatever they may be.In this connexion the administration of intestinal antiseptics.and of remedies which improve digestion is, of course,indicated, but even the most patient treatment often failsto bring about the disappearance of the chronically dilatedblood-vessels. In some cases of acne rosacea Dr. Stein hasemployed tonogen (an extract of the suprarenal gland pre-pared by a pharmacist in Budapest) both as a topical andalso as an internal remedy, and in a local medical journalhe has related some highly satisfactory results obtained byhim in this way. The first application of the extract to theaffected area of skin caused slight transient bypersemia, whichwas succeeded by pallor due to the contraction of vessels.The beneficial effects of this local treatment were markedlyenhanced by the simultaneous internal administration of the-extract in doses commencing with ten centigrammes thricedaily, gradually raised to 20 centigrammes, the dose beingreduced on the occurrence of any unpleasant symptoms, suchas giddiness or nausea. In cases of moderate severity the-combined treatment, modified to suit the individual case,proved very satisfactory but it was sometimes foundnecessary to touch greatly enlarged vessels with the electro.cautery.

A Large Vesical Calculus.Dr. Imre Frater, a country surgeon, has described the case

of a labourer, 50 years of age, from whom he removed by theaid of a lithotrite a vesical calculus weighing 300 grammes.The patient was, as might be expected, in a very poorstate of health and he died some days later. The centraof the calculus was composed of uric acid and the outer

layer, which was over half an inch thick, was composed ofearthy phosphates. Calculi of this unusual size are nowseldom met with in Hungary but the collection of the late-Professor Kovács contains numerous examples of calculi ofsimilar and of even greater dimensions.

Age in Relation to the Prospect of Recovery after SurgicalOperations.

According to a statistical publication issued by the surgicalsection of a Budapest hospital the. mortality after operationsis less among the aged poor than among the higher classes ofsociety, a fact which may be due to the former havinggreater powers of endurance or perhaps to their havingfewer opportunities for leading self-indulgent lives. Thisraises the question of the prospect of recovery of agedpersons after surgical operations. The general impressionon this subject may be summed up in the common remark,I I Oh, he is too old to be operated upon," but a carefulexamination of the statistics of operations in elderly patientsjustifies a more hopeful view. The old adage that a man isas old as he feels and a woman as old as she looksis a tolerably safe guide in determining the momentousquestion whether to operate or not. It is a fact thatenergetic old men can withstand surgical procednres,remarkably well, while flabby, dried-up old women succumbvery easily, even at a less advanced period of life. Ingeneral, however, the external appearance of a patient is nota trustworthy index as to the soundness or otherwise of hisconstitution. Examination of the heart and kidneys decidesthe question principally. Fatty or other forms of tissue