of instruction obtained by "authorized lecturers" in full courses of lectures specially delivered for her behoof. The society have now resolved that they will admit no one to examination who has not attended the lectures" in a recognized school." Dr. Parkes, one of the heads of the English medical profession, with Professors Humphry and Rolleston, were the most earnest advocates among the General Medical Council for the admission of women to the register. Dr. Wood, of Edinburgh, emphatically warned the Council against giving even a negative encouragement to women to enter on a career which required such qualities as strength, endurance, the power to witness scenes of suffering and of blood, and others which are equally foreign to the female character, while it tended to force them into situations destructive to female modesty and delicacy. Mr. McNamara, of Dublin, contended that there is nothing which a lady must witness or take part in as a doctor which she does not witness and take part in as an hospital matron, lady nurse, or Sister of Mercy; that experience had shown that such duties were no more injurious to the finer feelings of women than of men; that there were few operating the atres in which ladies now did not render calm and effectual aid, and those who did so were acknowledged "to be among the noblest specimens of womanhood." The result is that the Council intimate that if any of the nineteen licensing bodies in the United Kingdom choose to admit women to an examination, they, the Council, will be happy to register the license so granted. But if not, then the Council suggest that a special examination be instituted and placed by authority under their supervision, with power to register the certificates granted as licenses to practise medicine. The women, it seems, prefer the standards by which men are tried. The government, accordingly, have now to ascertain, before further legislative action, what are the inten tions of the licensing bodies. The Nation, Auy. 5th.

HEALTH OF THE COUNTRY VS. THE CITY. - In the thirty-first annual report of the births, marriages, and deaths of the several counties of the State, by Dr. George Derby, it is shown from an eight years' record that Suffolk County gives the most favorable report. In this county, embracing the city of Boston, there was one birth to every thirty-three persons, a marriage to every seventy-seven, and a death to every forty-four.

But what are the facts with regard to children's homes in the country and city?

The New Hampshire Home, situated in the country at Franklin, received in four years one hundred and twelve children, and lost seven by death, making one to every sixteen. This home takes no children under three years of age.

The Baldwin Place Home, in the city, received in the same time eight hundred and fifty-nine, of which number two hundred and four were under three years of age, and seventy-six were under two, and twenty-five were infants, and lost of the whole number fifteen, being one to every fifty-seven.

We call Brother Mack's attention to the above facts, and advise

him, in his glowing misrepresentations of the awful death-rate of the city compared with the country, to stop and look at facts, and then "exhibit his elephant."

TEA AS AN ANTIDOTE TO OPIUM. In the autumn of 1869, I received a letter from Professor Sewell, of Quebec, directing my attention to the influence of tea as an antidote to poisoning by opium. He refers to a case of his, published in the Lancet for July, 1865 or 1866, and says: "As I consider the case as most important, showing the wonderful power of green tea, not only in poisoning by opium, but also in that by alcohol in the coma of fever, and probably in puerperal convulsions, and in other cases of absorption of urea, I give you the case from memory.

"Mrs. H., aged 34 (or thereabouts), wife of a medical man, had suffered for years with, as I understood, something like angina, for which she had consulted almost all the physicians in Europe, yourself, I think, among the rest. The only relief she ever got was from chloroform inhalations. On one occasion, when suffering from one of her attacks, I assisted her husband in administering three pounds of this fluid, which was continued uninterruptedly until the whole three pounds were expended. On the occasion of the last attack, which she had in this city, she felt the paroxysm coming on about 4.30 P. M.; and between this hour and 11.30, the same night, she took two drachms of Battley's sedative solution of opium every half-hour, or fourteen drachms of the medicine in seven hours. Between half past eleven and twelve, she had a convulsion-fit. I saw her a few minutes afterwards, and found her in the following condition: coma perfect; pupil contracted to a pin's point; perfectly cold up to the hips and elbows; face drawn and cadaverous; pulse imperceptible; respiration two in three minutes. This state of things is verified by one of my colleagues, who considered the case hopeless, and allowed me to administer what I pleased, saying she had not ten minutes to live. In the mean time, I had prepared the strongest possible infusion of green tea, and shortly after twelve I administered, per rectum, half a pint, my friend and I watching the result. In twenty-five minutes the pulse at the wrist became perceptible; the face was less pale, and she breathed six times in the minute, instead of twice in three minutes. The same quantity of tea was then given, also by injection, and, to make a long story short, at 4 A. M., four hours after the commencement of the attack, she addressed me by name, saying "she could not see me, but that she recognized my voice"; at 8 A. M., she was out of danger. I have since had three cases of poisoning by alcohol in children, aged one year, five years, and six years. In the two latter, the coma was complete, but all were ressored to consciousness in an hour or less. Will you, if you have the opportunity, give this remedy a trial in all cases of coma caused by an empoisoned state of the blood?"

It was in consequence of the above letter, that I directed so much pains to be taken in the investigation of this subject by the committee; and, although far from complete, it will, I trust, be regarded by

the profession as no unimportant contribution to the inquiry. I especially regret that ill-health, and the consequent resignation of my chair, should have prevented my prosecuting, as was my intention, this matter thoroughly in the clinical wards. DR. JOHN HUGHES BENNETT, in the British Medical Journal, December 19, 1874.

A NEW TEST FOR OPIUM. - Another test for opium has been discovered. A color-test, at once so characteristic and intense, of such easy applicability and such extreme delicacy, that it needs only to be more generally known in order to be often employed.

Molybdic acid dissolved in pure sulphuric acid is the best fluid. A saturated, or at all events a strong, solution should be made. The reaction is produced by the morphia in opium, not by the meconic acid the latter undergoes no change with the reagent; the former, in minutest quantities, at once furnishes characteristic reaction. best mode of proceeding is to place a drop of the suspected fluid side by side with a drop of the test-fluid, by means of a glass rod, upon either a porcelain slab or slip of glass laid upon white paper.

The

At once, if morphia or any of its salts be present, a beautiful deep maroon color will be presented when the fluids are brought in contact. This color changes after a while, becoming first deep purple, and then gradually losing its red element, and becoming shortly dark, and later a bright blue. This blue coloration is maintained for several hours, but gradually fades out.

In evidence of the minuteness of this test, I may adduce the following facts: The reaction is distinctly obtained with a single drop of the pharmacopoeial tinct. opii, as also with the compound tincture of camphor. The presence of a good deal of impurity and of alien organic matter does not interfere much with it.

Of this I feel confident, that the busy practitioner will hail this new discovery, which enables him to detect laudanum or morphia in the dregs of bottles brought to him to test, and in fluids vomited, and to swear to its presence with positive security. Further experimentation has convinced me that this test is most sensitive when freshly prepared; still, two months after it was made, I was enabled by its employment to detect the of a grain of morphia, as presented in the morphia lozenge of our pharmacopoeia. - DR. REGINALD SOUTHEY, in St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, vol. x, 1874.

INDUCTION OF PREMATURE LABOR. The operation for inducing premature delivery or abortion in the earlier months is effected either by directly acting upon the womb and its contents, or indirectly by secondary reflex irritation through the medium of the breast, larger bowel, etc. The measure most frequently had recourse to in the present day is that originally taught and practised by Hamilton in the beginning of this century. This operation - namely, of detaching the membranes used to be performed rather roughly in those days, by the forcible introduction of the digit through the cervix uteri, but modern obstetricians have improved upon Hamilton's method, by taking care to avoid puncturing the membranes by the

careful introduction of a flexible instrument between the uterine wall and the membranes, without tearing through the latter.

In a case, which not long ago came under my observation — that of an out-patient of the West London Hospital, who was a little less than eight months advanced in the gravid condition, in which case premature delivery was urgently demanded, after getting the consent and preparing my patient, and placing her in the usual obstetric position, I employed a long, flexible, gum-elastic bougie, passing it in a spiral manner across the fundus, without puncturing the bag of waters. I left it in situ, and labor, as desired, was brought on within nine hours; both mother and infant did remarkably well, without any evil consequences to either. The operation is by no means a difficult one, is perfectly free from danger to maternal structures, and not unfrequently saves many a patient from the perils of forceps, version, etc., and many more infants from death in utero, or by the painful resort to embryotomy, by which the mother has to run the risks of postpartum hemorrhage, metritis, peritonitis, etc. Therefore the timely induction of labor before the full term, in properly selected cases, would tell materially upon the statistics of parturient mortality. JOHN E. LUCAS, Esq., in Medical Times ana Gazette, Nov. 28, 1874.

MILK DIET IN THE DIARRHEA OF TYPHOID FEVER.

One more hint I wish to give you with regard to the diarrhoea of typhoid fever, which is, that in all probability it is often increased by the patient's inability to digest the beef tea and eggs which are sometimes too abundantly given. When you have reason to suspect that this may be the case, I advise you for a few days to keep the patient entirely upon milk, which contains all the elements required for the nutrition of the tissues in a form most easy of digestion. I have had a large experience of the effects of an exclusively milk diet in various forms of disease. In many cases of Bright's disease it is very efficacious, but one of the inconveniences in some of these cases is its tendency to cause troublesome constipation. In many cases of chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, milk diet will effect a cure without the aid of medicines of any kind. There is now in Twining ward (King's College Hospital), a girl, aged fourteen, who for four months had been suffering from dysenteric diarrhoea, the stools containing much blood and mucus. She was put upon a diet of milk alone, without medicine; within a fortnight the diarrhoea entirely ceased, and she is now convalescent. For the reason, then, that milk has this antilaxative and even constipating effect in various morbid states, it is when given alone, one of the best antidotes for the diarrhoea of typhoid fever. DR. GEORGE JOHNSON, F. R. S., in the Practitioner for April, 1875.

* THE WET SHEET IN SCARLATINA. As the present high rate of mortality from epidemic scarlatina may justify practical suggestions prompted by experience, I feel it my duty to endeavor to excite the profession to a reconciliation of the remedial powers of the wet sheet as an auxiliary in promoting cutaneous elimination.

Though all agree as to the importance of promoting and sustaining

cutaneous elimination in the prevention of cerebral, spinal, and other congestions, and, at a later stage, the disintegration of mucous membranes, dropsy, and glandular enlargements, yet this simple, powerful, and ready-at-hand auxiliary is unappreciated. Forty years' experience has assured me that this plain or medicated vapor-giving envelope affords the best external means for eliminating scarlatinal poisoning and preventing destructive sequelæ. It promptly suppresses pyrexial heat and itching; produces sleep, with a soft secretive skin, more or less continuously; and enables the digestive organs to accomplish that great desideratum in the treatment of scarlatina, viz. absorption of highly nutritious food. It may be repeated on the recurrence of the febrile paroxysm, two, three, or four times in twenty-four hours, the patient remaining enveloped from half an hour to an hour. Mothers and nurses who have witnessed its efficacy are most earnest in its repetition. My plan of procedure is to immerse a nightgown, slit up at the front, in hot water (half a pint to a pint), pure, or medicated with a drachm or two drachms of tincture of capsicum, or in the infusion of three or four pods; or in mustard water, the clear supernatant fluid, from a tablespoonful of mustard to a pint of water; extending the gown over the feet by means of a towel immersed in the same fluid, both to be well wrung out and suddenly applied, and the patient quickly packed in blankets, previously placed on the adjoining sofa or bed; another blanket, or two pillows, or an eiderdown quilt covering all.

The medicated packing is preferable in the incipiency, and at any other time to evoke the rash, and in cases of cerebral oppression, with pale skin, low pulse, and delirium. Last month I had a case of this type, in which the mustard packing was applied. It did not elicit the rash, but it cured the delirium, raised an alarmingly depressed pulse, and restored the excretion. This effect was solely dependent on the medicated packing, as the patient, a girl of thirteen, could not swallow medicine or food, and enemata had not then been administered. With the aid of a tonic she made the best recovery of three in the same family, and had no sequelæ.

The auxiliary mode of treatment here defined is by no means intended to exclude the ordinary plan which every practitioner's expe rience has led him to select and rely upon; but I am of opinion that if packing is judiciously incorporated with such reliable treatment, it will be the means of saving many lives that would otherwise be lost, and of diminishing the severity and duration of the sequelæ. - JOHN TAYLOR, ESQ., in the Lancet, Nov. 14, 1874.