64

tremens." " He then took a written advertisement wafered inthe window, which he seized as by a happy thought, andplaced in our traveller’s hands, with an expression of facecapable of being translated into " the very thing for an in-telligent new chum; it will suit you exactly," watching himnarrowly while he read as follows :-

" To BE DISPOSED OF, ON MODERATE TERMS, the first-classdouble Diploma of the late Dr. T-r. Apply to his discon-solate widow, at the old surgery in the tent next the EuropeanNational Restaurant, Clarendon-street, Emerald-hill."

Glancing at the druggist, as he thought enquiringly, he

quickly asked, " Would you like to find out the tent, sir?"He was somewhat taken aback at being asked in return, "Forwhat purpose?" He however eventually admitted that, "inhis opinion, a tolerably smart man, of good address and generalknowledge, with a smattering of Latin, would make a fairaverage colonial doctor, as, the country being new, it was nottroubled with any dangerous variety of diseases, beyond dysen-tery, ophthalmia, rheumatism, and a few of a secret type.Now and then," he added, " a bad lying-in case occurred; butas the midwife was held responsible, the doctor need not beuneasy about the consequences." The amusing facility withwhich the whole plan is exposed, and the simplicity of thearrangements, are alike remarkable. Assuredly the registraIis as greatly needed in our colonial possessions, as he was athome.

A PESTILENT FOLLY.

THE plot thickens at Bengazi: the plague progresses, andthe people become more infatuated. The passive enduranceof its ravages is substituted by a fanatic opposition to sanitaryimprovements. Recent letters afford a sad insight into theconfusion wrought by their pestilent folly. The local authori-ties continue to refuse all co-operation with the Medical Com-mission, and the people are desirous of assassinating the phy-sicians. The one who was at Ogela only saved his life byflight : the inhabitants wished to kill him, because, as theysaid, the infidel sullied the holy town by his presence. In the

evening of the 12th of December, a detachment of soldiers,placed to protect the sanitary guardians, and to assist themwhen necessary, were attacked by the Arabs, who woundedtwo of them, and killed two horses. The garrison of Bengazi,in this serious state of affairs, only amounts to 120 men. The

governor, Mahmoud Bey, one of the worst of the class, has

requested the Medical Commission to suspend its functions.During the fifty-six days that the Commission has been atBengazi, it has not received a single letter from the SanitaryBoard at Constantinople; and it is really most unfortunatethat, before sending a Commission to the country, some suremeans of communication had not been established.

MEDICAL CACOGRAPHY.

WHILE we are employed in setting our houses in order, thereare a few minor points of practice which may very well be dis-cussed. Reform should begin at home, and there a few motesare floating about which we may very easily and advan-tageously remove. There is a small matter standing againstus, with which we are occasionally reproached, not withoutgood ground. Physicians affect, or lapse habitually into, acabalistic style of caligraphy, which can serve no good end thatwe can see, while it has led to more than one serious error in

dispensing, and preserves in the popular mind a notion of mys-tery connected with all forms of prescription, that is unde-sirable for many reasons. If the art of writing were to concealthe purpose of the writer, as the art of speaking has been de-fined to conceal the thoughts of the speaker, that object couldnot be more effectually served than by the cacography whichtoo many prescribers still affect. "I have longs suspected."

says a learned professor, "that they write in Coptic, andthat they thus conceal the magic incantations which DiodorusSiculus attributes to their predecessors." But the secret ofHermes is no longer concealed beneath the symbols of the phy-sician, and it is sufficiently obvious that it is not in accordancewith the dignity of professors of a great science to assume asuperficial air of mystery in small things. One practical reasonfor adopting a clear and legible hand is, that it obviates thepossibility of those frequent errors which inexperienced dis-

pensers commit, while it saves much unnecessary trouble to abody of men, who are, in the main, industrious, intelligent,and ill-remunerated. It should be remembered, moreover, thatby investing every form of prescription with a mysterious dig-nity, which rests upon the well-known principle of Tacitus,"Omne ignotum pro magnifico," an additional facility for im.posture is afforded to the multitude of quacks, who find it totheir interest to purchase importance for their formulæ on thesame easy terms, and who always find their profit in an ob-scurity for which they can quote so many illustrious examples.,

COLLEGE OF DENTISTS OF ENGLAND.

LECTURES ON THE MEDICAL HISTORY AND TREAT-MENT OF DISEASES OF THE TEETH.

DR. RICHARDSON resumed his lectures on Tuesday evening,his subject on the occasion being " Purulent Diseases of theDental Structures." The lecture was opened by a descriptionof the pathology of purulent disease, and the nature and causeof purulent exudation. The general symptoms attending for-mation of purulent matter were next given; and the varioussequelae of symptoms, as the exhaustive, typhoid, and pyæmic,were described. Thence, the lecturer proceeded to the consi-deration of those purulent disorders which specially concernthe surgeon-dentist,-namely, abscess of the antrum; abscessof the dental pulp; abscess of dentine; abscess of alveolus;purulent ulceration of the gums. and mucous surface of themouth; and abscess of adjoining structures from dental irrita-tion. The most interesting parts of the lecture, perhaps, werethose which related to the purulent affections of the gums ofchildren, and to abscess of the alveolus. Regarding the firstof these diseases, the lecturer pointed out the folly of retaining,in respect to it, the term " can.crum oris." He agreed withMr. Tomes in ascribing this ulcerative disease to a defectivehygiene, but could not accept with that author a classificationof the disorder into two divisions, -one as involving the gums,the other as involving the mucous surface of the cheek. Theconditions for the ulcerative process being supplied, the positionof the ulcerated spot became a mere matter of accident; with-this exception, that the points most favourable to the ulce-rative process were those where the saliva was most easily re-tained-such as the angle of junction between the gum andinner surface of the cheek. Dr. Richardson also dwelt at somelength on the character of the salival secretion in these cases,and showed that while the generally enfeebled state of bodyfavoured the ulcerative process in mucous membrane, the pro-bable exciting cause was the irritating and acrid salival se-cretion.

In passing, towards the close of the lecture, to the treatmentin its bearings on the diseases noted above, the lecturer dis-cussed the principles of treatment, mainly entering, however,freely into detail by way of illustrating the principles enforced.In this section he warmly advocated the modern view of judi-ciously supporting the system whenever purulent matter hasformed. He compared purulent exudation to a modified hæmor.rhage, and showed that in proportion as the system was re-duced by loss of purulent fluid, so was the tendency to furtherexudation sustained. The local, medicinal, and the hygienictreatment of the purulent ulceration of the mouth in children,formed the last topic. The hygienic treatment was one moststrongly enforced, specially with reference to diet, the point ofpractice suggested being that of lessening the amount of starchyfoods, and the selection of milk as the most efficacious dieteticremedy.