The structural change produced by sulphuric acid upon cellulose is the converse of most of the other acids. Thus in paper converted into pyroxyline by the action of nitric acid the fibres are seen, when examined by the microscope, to be more or less contracted, and the result is a non-contiguous, or friable structure, covered with small holes; but in parchmentized paper the fibres are swelled considerably in bulk, and are converted into a colloid or gelatinous substance, which, although slowly pervious to fluids, is very homogeneous in texture, and hence its strength.

In Bunsen's original paper he speaks of the difficulty of preventing filaments of the paper used from becoming mixed with precipitates. "Thus," he says, "another and an inestimable advantage springs from the peculiar condition of a precipitate filtered by this method,—the surface of the filter becomes injured and torn, so that the precipitates becomes mixed with the filaments of paper. Gelatinous precipitates (when washed under pressure) adhere to the filter in a thin coherent layer, and may be removed piece after piece so completely that the paper remains perfectly clean and white. Now parchment paper is of that nature that it might be scraped with a knife or brush, without invalidating a quantitative analysis.

Parchment paper would be perfection for filtering by pressure; but, alas! it has one drawback. The practical difficulty is in making the filter lie close to the funnel, so as not to permit atmospheric air to pass down by the side, instead of exerting its pressure upon the surface of the liquid in the filter. This difficulty is removed by placing an inner filter of ordinary filtering paper larger than the parchment paper one; therefore, the latter should be thin, and only treated with acid on one side. It is for this reason that parchment paper may be used more advantageously in a Bunsen filtering apparatus made on the principal of a percolator-the bottoms of the upper vessel being covered with good strong paper, strengthened with muslin; such an apparatus as this is applicable to many purposes, such as quick and thorough exhaustion of a powder by any menstruum, or the separation of crystals from a viscid liquid.

VEGETABLE CARBOLIC ACID.-We read (Druggist's Circular) that a plant called the Andromeda Leschenaultil, growing in the Neilgherry hills, in India, has been found to yield carbolic acid. Mr. Broughton, the Government medical officer for the district, reports that it is far superior in purity to the ordinary product of coal tar, being less deliquescent and free from any admixture of noxious concomitants. As its cost is far above that of the mineral product, and as the latter can be chemically purified, the discovery has no economical or commercial value; but it is interesting as a botanical and chemical fact.

ANHYDROUS GLYCERINE.-Mr. Eberhard has called attention to the power possessed by absolutely anhydrous glycerine of withdrawing water by an exosmotic process from tissues to which it is applied. Marion Sims some time ago demonstrated that a ball of lint dipped in glycerine and applied to a freely suppurating surface arrests the secretion. Furst has also applied the glycerine plug in a large number of cases of fluor albus, and M. Eberhard states that he has been very successful in applying the same means in similar cases.-CHEMICAL GAZETTE.

Diseases of Women and Children.

THOMAS NICHOL, M. D. MONTREAL, CANADA, EDITOR.

ON THE ACTION OF LEAD UPON THE UTERUS BY D. DYCE BROWN, M.A., M.D. *

In the last number of this Journal Dr. Dudgeon, in appending some remarks upon a very interesting case cured by Plumbum, says, "Though there is no actual proving of Plumbum there is no substance whose general physiological action is better known to us through the recorded cases of poisoning." If I am not mistaken, however, its action on the uterus, which I shall now show is very decided not is generally known, or, if it were, we should find it having a leading place among uterine medicines. From what I have seen of homoeopathic literature, it is never, or almost never, made use of as a uterine remedy, and I, therefore, have thought it might not be amiss to draw the attention of the homœopathic portion of the profession to this important point.

Before quoting the scanty allusions to its uterine action to be found in homoeopathic works on Materia Medica, I shall make extracts from a very interesting and valuable article in the eighth volume of the ‘Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London,' entitled, "On the Influence of Lead-poisoning in producing Abortion and Menorrhagia, with cases," by Benson Baker, M.R.C.S., District Medical Officer of Christ Church, Marylebone.

Mr. Baker says, "The subject of lead-poisoning in producing abortion and menorrhagia has received but little attention in this country. I am indebted to Dr. Graily Hewitt for having * British Journal of Homœopathy, October, 1871.

35 November.

my attention directed to it. In his recent work On the Diseases of Women, he says, 'Menorrhagia may be present in cases of lead-poisoning. It was first pointed out by Paul, in the Archives Generales de Medecine, that abortions are very frequently observed in women subjected to the influence of lead, and also in the same class of cases menorrhagia is very common. I have observed cases the facts relating to which are quite confirmative of Paul's statements. The subject of the influence of lead-poisoning in thus inducing menorrhagia is both novel and important.' The above is all the information that I have been able to collect on the subject from the medical literature of this country. I have therefore consulted M. Paul's paper, and from it have gathered some important facts, which are more or less substantiated by cases that have come under my own observation. M. Paul says, 'The first time my attention was drawn to the subject was in the month of February, 1859, when a woman that worked at cleaning printer's types applied at the Hospital Necker, suffering from menorrhagia. Coupled with this menorrhagia she also had the ordinary symtoms of chronic lead-poisoning. I learned from her that, previous to her present employment, she had been delivered of three healthy children at full term, still alive; but since her employment as a type-polisher she had suffered much from ill-health. Three months after taking to this employment she became tainted with lead-poison, and suffered from painter's colic. Four years later she had a second attack of colic, and suffered intense pain; shortly after she became pregnant, and was delivered of a dead child. Three years elapsed and she had a miscarriage at the fifth month of her pregnancy. Besides these two cases of pregnancy, she had become eight other times pregnant, and each time, after a short suppression of the menses and the delay of two or three months, she miscarried, characterised by an abundant menorrhagia, and accompanied with colicky pains at the time.'

"This patient also informed M. Paul that all the other females employed in the establishment suffered more or less from menorrhagia. Struck by this remarkable coincidence, M. Paul has collected the histories of 81 cases; and he has come to this

conclusion, that not only has the absorption of the lead-poison by the mother an influence on the offspring, but also, if the father be tainted with lead-poison, we may expect to find it influencing the fœtus in utero, or the child when born. He gives a few cases of abortion and menorrhagia occurring where the women had nothing to do with the lead in any form whatever. He affirms that the effects of lead are not only manifested by the symptoms generally recognised, but also (1) by the occurrence of severe hæmorrhage, which he censiders as abortions in many cases, but which it is difficult to prove, although the signs of pregnancy have existed for some time. (2.) By recognized abortions, occurring between the third and six months of pregnancy. (3.) By premature delivery. (4) By the death of the children within the first three years of their life. M. Paul gives in detail the history of four women who were married after having become tainted with lead-poison. These he calls the first series of cases, and from an analysis of them we obtain the following results. These four women had 15 pregnancies, distributed as follows, viz: 10 abortions, occurring between third and sixth month; 2 premature births, the children dying soon after birth; I child stillborn; I delivery occurring at the full period, but the child died the same day. Out of these 15 cases, only one child was born alive, that did not show any symptoms of a lead-diathesis. Then, in order to prove that these cases were not merely remarkable coincidences, he gives the history of five women who had given birth to nine children before they were subject to the influence of lead poisoning; the children were healthy and alive. Neither did the mothers suffer from any menstrual irregularity; but after going into the type-cleaning works, they had together 36 pregnancies, distributed as follows:-26 abortions, from the second to the sixth month of pregnancy; I premature birth, the child dying soon after ; 2 children stillborn; 7 at full term, of whom 4 died in their first year, I in his second, and only 2 still alive, I of whom is very delicate and anæmic. This he calls his second series of cases. What he gives under the head of the third series is only a single case, viz: that of a woman who, after having 5 abortions, left the type-polishing work, and

having recovered from the effects of lead-poisoning, gave birth to a healthy child, still living. Under the fourth series he relates the case of a woman who left the works for a time and then went back. It appears that during the time she was under the influence of lead-poisoning she frequently aborted, but during the interval she was absent from the works she gave birth to a healthy child "The father," says M. Paul, "has a greater influence upon the offspring than is generally supposed. In support of this hypothesis he mentions the cases of 7 women who had nothing to do with lead whatever, but whose husbands were subjected to its influence. These seven women had together 32 pregnancies, resulting as follows:-11 abortions, I still-born child, 8 full-term children, which died in their first year, 4 that died in their second year, 5 that died in their third year, and 2 "only that are now alive, one of them only being twenty-one months old. M. Paul makes a few

remarks on the cases of some women who gave but slight evidence of lead-poisoning. Out of 29 pregnancies thus observed he has collected the following results, viz: 8 abortions, I prematuïe birth, 12 at full term, which died in the first year of their life, 8 children still living.'

Mr. Baker then proceeds to give the following cases which came under his own notice :—

"Mrs. S., æt. 34, of a dark and rather sallow complexion, and of delicate appearance; rather below the middle height. She was in poor circumstances, and consequently had to help to keep her family by washing. I was called in to see her, September, 1864. About two years previously she had been an out-patient at St. Bartholomew's for some chest affection. She is the mother of four children, She had miscarried once previously, owing to a severe fright. After that she became

pregnant, and was delivered at full term of her youngest child. Her husband was formerly a plasterer and gilder, but not getting employment in that line of business, he has for the last two years been engaged in the painting trade. During the two years he has suffered seven times from painter's colic. His wife has been in the habit of washing his clothes, and she complained that the smell made her s..k, and since her husband