156 AN ANCIENT GREEK HEALTH RESORT.-METALLIC CHEESE.

fifth lumbar vertebrse. The muscles were dissected first

from the right and then from the left side of the spinousprocesses. Nothing abnormal was found. On insertingthe finger, however, along the lateral aspect of the

superior articular process of the fourth lumbar vertebrain order to reach the intervertebral foramen, a piece ofrough bone, a portion of the process, broken off and dis-placed forwards, was felt. Enough periosteal attachmentremained to prevent necrosis. The fragment was removedpartly with the gouge and partly with the curette, care beingtaken not to injure the nerve. The patient was relieved atonce by the operation. Next day her bed could be shakenvigorously, although she had formerly experienced agonisingpain on the slightest movement. Complete recovery followed.

AN ANCIENT GREEK HEALTH RESORT.

THE ancient Greeks, at all events after heroic times, werenot always in the aggravatingly robust state of health thatis the popular idea of their condition. Human nature is

very much the same all the world over and at all times.There were many health resorts where sufferers were

treated by Asklepios himself or more frequently by his

qualified assistants-i.e., the priests, and the mzodus operandiat these institutions formed the subject of a very interestinglecture by Miss J. E. Harrison, recently delivered before theUniversity Extension Society. The lecturer gave an accountof what was perhaps the earliest known medical school-namely, that of the centaur Chiron. Here the children ofthe heroes were taught simple surgery, riding, gymnastics,the rudiments of music, and, in common with the ancientPersians, to speak the truth, the last being a branch of educa-tion which has fallen into disuse among both nations. The

chief subject of the lecture was, however, the shrine at

Epidauros which has recently been excavated and is in

fairly perfect condition. The temple and the long corridorswhere the patients slept are all there, but the holy wellalluded to in many inscriptions has not been found.Besides these the patients have left memorials of theircures carved upon stones, a very full one being that ofa Roman gentleman, and we are able, through the

courtesy of Miss Harrison in supplying us with the

original Greek, to append a translation. " I, MarcusJulius Apellas, of Idrias and Mylasa, was summoned bythe god, as I suffered from a variety of complaints, andespecially dyspepsia ; and as I was on my way throughAegina he ordered me not to worry so much about

myself (µ &pgr;o&lgr;&lgr;à óp&Ugr;i&zgr;∈&sgr;&thgr;&agr;i). When I arrived at the

shrine he told me to go about for two days with myhead covered up, and these two days it rained. He also

prescribed for me cheese and bread with celery and

lettuce, to wash myself by myself-i.e., without the helpof the shampooer-to drink lemonade made from citrons,to go to the fountains in the baths and rub myselfagainst the wall, to run and do gymnastics, to walkin the portico, and to exercise on the trapeze, to rub

myself in the sand and go barefoot. Also before I

went into the bath I was to pour some wine into the warm

water ; I was to shampoo myself, but all the same I had togive an attic to the bath man. I was to sacrifice to Asklepios,Epione, and the Eleusinian goddesses, and to drink milk

mixed with honey. And one day when I was drinking milkalone he said, Put honey in your milk and you will get thebowels open.’ And when I implored the god to make mewell quickly so that I could get home I had a vision in whichhe ordered me to rub my body all over with mustard andsalt, and I seemed to go down to the springs by the shrine,and a boy went before me with a smoking censer, and thepriest said to me, Now you are well and you must payyour fees.’ So I did as the vision directed, and when Irubbed in the mustard and salt it hurt, but when I washed

it off it did not hurt any more, and this happened mthe ninth day after I came, and he touched me on

the right hand and on the breast. And the day after,as I was sacrificing the name leaped up and burnt my handso that a blister came up, but my hand soon got well. And

as I stayed on there he told me that anise and oil were,

good for a headache. I had no headache then, but some^time afterwards when I had been studying I had a headache,.and I used the anise and oil and the headache disappeared..He also told me to gargle my uvula with cold water (for Ihad consulted him on this point too), and the same treatment,for the tonsils. And he told me to write all these matters,

down, and so, grateful and restored to health, I went away."The naivete of this narrative is delightful, but the treat-.

,

ment is eminently practical. Apellas is very like the

ordinary patient-the sort, we mean, who, having paid his.fee, says, "Oh, by the bye, there’s one thing more I want tc.ask you. I often have," &c.

MEMBRANOUS CONJUNCTIVITIS IN A CASEOF MEASLES.

IN a case recently published by Dr. H. A. Brennecke, thisunusual complication, which clinically resembled true;

diphtheria of the conjunctiva, was observed.1 The patient was.a boy, aged three years, one of a number of patients attackedby measles. He exhibited the usual symptoms of the disease..On the fifth day the urine contained albumin, and hyalineand epithelial casts. The right conjunctiva was markedlyinjected. Next day this was more intense, and the lower-lid was much swollen and showed a heavy white exudation.On the eighth day the upper lid was affected, and there*was an abundant milky discharge. On the tenth day the:patient was restless and refused nourishment ; the back andshoulders as well as other parts exhibited diffuse, irregular,red patches, which did not disappear entirely on pressure,.The right cornea was hazy. There were numerous sub-

crepitant rates in the lungs, and signs of consolidation inthe right lower lobe. Death took place on the twelfth daywRepeated examinations of the membrane covering the con-junctiva failed to show the diphtheria bacillus, but &

microbe having the characters of the streptococcus pyogene9was cultivated. It was also found after death in the bloodand viscera. Dr. Brennecke concludes that the streptococcuswas the cause of the membranous inflammation of the con-

junctiva. He cannot decide whether the microbe primarilyinfected the conjuctiva or reached it through the blood fromsome other source, such as the throat.

METALLIC CHEESE.

IT has been a common theme of congratulation by not afew writers and philanthropists that the days are over whenpeople were poisoned by the indiscriminate practices of theadulterator, and that now they are only cheated. What willbe said then of the announcement that both the salts of zincand lead are used in the preparation of cheese ? I I Cheese

spice" is the delectable name of crystallised sulphateof zinc, which, according to Mr. Allen, the publicanalyst of Sheffield, is used to prevent the heavingand cracking of cheese. Worse still, Mr. Stoddart, anotherpublic analyst, has described a sample of Canadian cheesein which he found metallic lead, and it is probable that thehighly poisonous acetate of lead was employed for the samepurpose as sulphate of zinc. This is, indeed, a revelation, andvestries and other authorities would do well if theyinstructed their inspectors to secure samples of cheese withthe view of setting this very disturbing question at rest. Inold times, when substitutes were not, most excellent cheeses

1 Medicine, Detroit, June, 1897.