Medical Society of the State of Tennessee appoint a committee to memorialize the Legislature to pass an act forbidding the sale of medicines, nostrums, or compounds in the State, whose composition is not known or made public.

Dr. T. L. Maddin read a very interesting paper on the subject of Diphtheria; it is an excellent essay and exhaustive, particularly as regards the treatment. Referring largely to authorities, we were surprised to hear no notice or allusion, whatever, made to the prize essay obtained, by Dr. Gaillard, from the Georgia State Medical Society in 1866, probably the most complete work ever published on this subject.

Dr. Eve reported a case of gunshot wound of the brain, in which a portion of a minnie ball was removed from the tentorium cerebelli, with brief notices of analogous cases.

Dr. J. W. Thompson gave his experience on the use of medicated slippery elm, both as pessaries and bougies.

Dr. J. W. Morton, jr., read a description of a late railroad disaster, in which both engineer and fireman were horribly mangled and killed.

Dr. J. W. Richardson, from the country, presented, through the business committee, resolutions proposing that the American Medical Association recommend immediate action be taken in each State, so as to place the interests of the profession under the control of the State Medical Society, by organizing an examining board, independent of all teachers of medicine and surgery. This has already been done in the State of Georgia by its medical society, just adjourned at Savannah, and has existed for some time in North Carolina.

Dr. Singleton offered a resolution memorializing the American Medical Association, asking its aid in obtaining access to the archives of the medical department of the late Confederate army. This was passed.

The following delegates to the American Medical Association were appointed: Drs. Compton, Eve, Plunkett, Bowling, Nichol, Manlove, Gordon, Grant, German, Hanner, Crawford, Rhea, Brown, Whittaker, Evans, Singleton, and Thompson.

The officers elected for the ensuing year are: J. F. Grant, President; F. A. Ramsey, W. L. Nichol, and S. P. Crawford, Vice-Presidents, and J. D. Plunkett, and D. Dupre, Secretaries.

MENTAL AND MANUAL LABOR.-Professor Houghton, of Trinity College, Dublin, has published some curious chemical computations respecting the relative amounts of physical exhaustion produced by mental and manual labor. According to these chemical estimates, two hours of severe mental study abstract from the human system as much vital strength, as is taken from it by an entire day of mere hand work. This fact, which seems to rest upon strictly scientific laws, shows that the men who do brain work should be careful, first, not to overtask themselves by continuous exertion; and, secondly, that they should not omit to take physical exercise, on a portion of each day, sufficient to restore the equilibrium between the nervous and the muscular systems.-Med. and Surg. Journal.

CONSUMPTION.-An encouraging view of the curability of consumption is taken by Dr. C. T. Williams, of the Brompton Hospital, in some recent papers which he has contributed to the Lancet. He bases his conclusions on 500 cases which had each been one year under observation. Of these, 116 are ascertained to be dead and 384 alive. No less than 72.4 per cent. of the deaths happened five years and upward after treatment, while 26.7 per cent. lived ten years and upward. The condition of the 384 surviving patients is shown in the following table, the first column of which gives the number of years since they came under medical notice:

Dr. Williams justly thinks that this large preponderance of patients who may be considered to have recovered their health over those who still remain feeble is very remarkable:

"It shows what reparative power nature can put forth when the progress of the disease is delayed. The 384 living cases include members of every profession-Parliament, the army, navy, church, medicine, law, business, &c., and are, therefore, liable to dangers consequent on each calling; as exposure to great variations of temper

ature from which military and naval men suffer; or close confinement in hot rooms and occasional pressure of work, the lot of many business men; or, again, the strain on the lungs which public speakers entails on members of Parliament, clergymen, barristers, public lecturers, and the like."-Pall Mall Gazette.

RICORD was recently at a Paris masked ball, disguised as Cupid. A friend exclaimed: "Great heavens, Ricord! you as Cupid. I can not conceive you except as Mercury."

THE New York Medical Gazette is responsible for the following: "Why is the ulnar groove at the elbow commonly called the 'funny bone? Because it's a humerus point."

ACNE.- There seems good reason to doubt the benefit of much internal medicine in such cases. Acne is a purely local disease, and must be met with local remedies. Hebra, whose experience in skin diseases transcends that of any living man, recommends thorough washing and rubbing with any good soap every night, or every other night, and then the application of the following salve: R. Lac. sulph. potass. carbonat., glycerrh., aq. laurocer., spir. vin. gal. à a 3 ij. This should be left on all night, and washed off in the morning, without the use of soap. This salve causes a slight pityriasis rubra, which quickly disappears on intermitting its use.—Hautkrankheaiten, s. 518.

ANTISEPTIC PROPERTIES OF THE SULPHITES-Recent experiments have shown that the sulphites of lime, hyposulphite of magnesia, and the sulphites of magnesia and soda, posses all the antiseptic properties of sulphurous acid, with the advantage that their action is more uniform and certain. In experimenting on animals and on himself, Dr. Polli (Med. Times and Gazette) found that large doses could be taken without risk. On killing animals treated with sulphites, and others not so treated, he found that the former were more slow to decompose, and, indeed, remained quite fresh when the others had become putrescent and offensive. Another series of experiments showed that the administration of the sulphites was sufficient to effect a more or less rapid cure

where blood-poisoning was present, as in fevers.—[Humboldt Medical Archives.

FALLING OF THE HAIR.-The most satisfactory treatment of alopecia pityrodes is the use of tannin, Div., adipis, 3j. The hair does not fall so much, and the increase is more obvious. Oleum sabinæ, gtt. v.-xxx. to 3j. adipis, has this effect still more decidedly, bnt causes the hair to become harsh, stiff, and of a dirty color, and has an unpleasant odor. Besides this, it sometimes causes severe headache.

SECOND ATTACKS OF SMALL-Pox.-It is no new thing for variola to attack persons a second time. Jenner refers to seventeen such cases among the nobility of England, more than half a century ago. Upwards of two hundred such cases were reported in London in 1851. In Wirtemburg 143 cases were recorded, of which 28 died. The proportion after inoculation is still greater. One instance is on record of five children having been inoculated with small-pox, successfully, four of whom subsequently contracted the disease, which was fatal to one of the number. An English surgeon is mentioned as having always an attack of small-pox after attending a patient with the disease. [Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal.

TO MAKE QUININE PILLS.-Dr. Louis E. Atkinson, (Phil. Med. and Surg. Reporter,) recommends the following formula: R. quiniæ sulphatis, grs. xx, acidi tartarici, grs. iv, aquæ, m. i. Triturate the quinine with the acid until thoroughly incorporated, then add the water, and divide into pills. By this process a mass may be made, which will not speedily harden as in Parrish's process with aromatic sulphuric acid; besides, it permits a larger mass to be mixed at a time, and does not require any special pharmaceutical skill.

TREATMENT OF TYPHOID FEVER. BY E. SHEDD, Esq., Surgeon to the Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary, Manchester. Great success having this year attended my treatment of typhoid fever, I have thought that possibly a few remarks on my mode of treatment may not be without interest.

My treatment is the following: As soon as there is any tenderness in the abdomen upon pressure, I prescribed

drachm dose of glycerine (in the case of an adult), to be repeated three times a day. Under this treatment, the temperature gradually subsides, becoming normal towards morning, and rising to 99° Fahr. towards evening. The secretions soon improve; a profuse perspiration frequently prevails; diarrhoea is quickly checked, and the patient becomes convalescent.

Of the numerous cases which have come before me in my practice, I have treated twenty-seven in the manner described, and with complete success, as not a single death from typhoid fever has occurred-a fact which, as it seems to be, is the more remarkable, as I have much reason to believe that the disease has been of a more virulent type than usual, because I find, from my own observations and the information of others, that fevers of the typhoid class have been this year more than usually prevalent, at least in Liverpool, Manchester and Salford.-[British Medical Journal.

TREATMENT OF HÆMORRHOIDS.-In reference to this common but painful and troublesome affection, the Medical Press and Circular publishes an article from S. Mulvaney, M. D., in which he strongly urges the use of belladona for hæmorrhoids. The first case which he reports was one where the piles were internal, and of two years' standing. The tumors were large, protruded, and bled during defection. The patient was much emaciated, and suffered from general debility, consequent upon constant suffering and repeated hemorrhages. The treatment consisted in clearing out the bowels with oil, and then in the administration of the fluid ext. of belladonna in two and a half drop doses every four hours, with injections of cold water twice a day. In two days the bleeding had quite ceased, and in ten days the hæmorrhoids had entirely gone and did not return.-St. Louis Med. Reporter.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF BELLADONNA.-Mr. Christopher Heath states (The Practitioner) that belladonna, whether applied locally or given internally, by its action on the vaso-motor system of nerves diminishes the calibre of the capillaries and thus reduces the vascularity of an inflamed part. Its action is thus peripheral, while that of aconite is central or upon the heart. The action of the one is to assist the tissue to get rid of the super