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from drowning any individuals who, voluntarily or in-

voluntarily, have been immersed in the river. Last yearthere were some brilliant deeds of heroism on the partof at least three Roman citizens in wresting unfortunatesfrom a watery grave, affording fresh proof of the physio-logical fact embodied in the beautiful motto of your HumaneSociety, "Lateatscintillula forsan." Though not, perhaps,brought to the same perfection as in the stations on theThames, the Serpentine, or on the Seine, the means of"salvataggio" available on the Tiber are much in advanceof what they once were, and the interval between therescue of the drowning man and the practice of arti-ficial respiration, friction &c. is reduced to a minimum.In these precious moments so much depends on the

promptitude and effect with which the operation and thespecial matériel of resuscitation are brought to bear on

the semi-asphyxiated subject that no effort should be sparedto perfect the discipline and enrich the apparatus of the

" corps de sauvetage." Professor Toscani, with such asses-sors as Dr. Tullio Spaziani, Signor Ferdinando Gerardi, theengineer, and others interested in the humane work, profes-sional and lay, may be trusted to place the Tiber service ona footing worthy of the Roman school, and with that con-viction the public, to whose generosity they make appeal,will, I hope, unite in a response equally prompt and liberal.

Political Mania.

Excitement ran so high duiing the election that cases ofmental disturbance amounting to mania have already beenannounced. One of these was at Rovigo, where, after atremendous contest, the socialist candidate was defeated.and one of his most fervid committee-men who hadwrought himself to an extreme state of tension felt thedisappointment so keenly that inhibitory paresis declareditself in a number of violent excesses. He had, infact, to be removed to the Manicomio at Rovigo, wherehis shrieks and struggles became so alarming that hewas put into a camicia di forza (strait-waistcoat). Othervictims to mania from the same cause-some of themhomicidal in their outbreak-are reported from the Southernprovinces. Hitherto Italians have taken their politicalelections with a sober self-possession which outsiders are aptto call indifference, but the agitation, directed against Crispiand availing itself of the most violent weapons of partywarfare, has acted on them like a pernicious stimulant anddriven them to words and deeds so extravagant as in manyinstances to pass the bounds of sanity. The same causæ

nexus between political excitement and mania has beenobserved and commented on in France, where the eminentaliéniste, M. Regnard, precisely nine years ago published amonograph on its various forms. One of these he classifiedas "monomanie grandiose," a not unfrequent result in theamateur saviour of society ; and he described a typicalexample of it in a young ecclesiastic who, after makinghimself a public nuisance by posing as a self-styled"complementary supplement to Leo XIII.," bad to be placedin the Maison de Sante. Last year in the House of Commonsthe increase of lunacy in Ireland was, in a discussion on theCommissioners’ report, attributed by more than one memberto the high-pressure excitement of the last political decade ;and certainly the "Italian Ireland," as Sicily has been notinaptly called, has within the twelvemonth been prolific ofagitation and moral tension which the Southern brain islittle able to bear up against. "Mania cotitionabanda "has already found its way into alienist classification south ofthe Alps, where the "Morbus Comitiolis" has also becomeall too common, though in a sense somewhat different fromthat of Celsus. The whole phenomenon of political maniahas, indeed, been so pronounced in Italy ever since SignorCrispi’s Cromwellian closure of the Camera dei Deputatithat we may expect it to form the subject of one of thoseinteresting studies in which no one has more distinguishedhimself than Professor Lombroso.

Comi-ng Congresses.Besides the Congress on International Medicine, at which

the question of sere-therapeutics will have a "full-dressdebate" all to itself, there will be held in Rome, also inSeptember next, a great Geographical Congress, the secondof the series which was initiated three years ago in Genoaon occasion of the quatercentenary of ChristopherColumbus. Elaborate arrangements are already in progressfor the reception and entertainment of foreign dele-gates, who will receive all information on applying to

the secretary of the Congress, at the rooms of theSocietà Geografica Italiano, Via del Plebiscito, Rome..Climatology will form an interesting feature of the agenda,and the experience of more than one medical explorer asto the resources of the dark Continent in health-resorts-notably, the Asmara uplands of Abyssinia-will be avail--able in its discussion. I may add, as an item of news, thatthe place of Padre Denza at the Specola Vaticana has justbeen filled by the appointment of the Padre Bertelli, thedistinguished physicist and seismologist. The Padre Denza 1could have no abler successor than the Padre Bertelli, whose,-investigations of air-currents and telluric storms will occupya prominent place in the history of climatology.June 2nd.

VIENNA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Ménière’s Disease.

AT the last meeting of the Vienna Medical Club Dr. Franklread a paper on Ménière’s Disease. That observer was thefirst to show that persons might be seized with suddendeafness, vertigo, tinnitus aurium, and vomiting. This deaf-ness may be complicated with facial paralysis. Cases notuncommonly occur where hearing is lost in consequence ofinjury, and post-mortem examination shows that a fissure ofthe occipital bone passes through the labyrinth and extends.to the inner surface of the tympanic cavity. Meniere’s’symptoms, however, may result from syphilitic diseases ofthe labyrinth, and some poisons-such as quinine, nicotine,and nitrate of silver-may produce similar effects. Vertigo andtinnitus are the most important symptoms. Some patients.suffer from continual vertigo, which ceases only in a constantposition of the body (lateral or the head downwards) ; this isthe so-called status Ménièricus. Such patients show plunging;movements as if they would fall sideways, and this condition!characterises Ménière’s disease, for neurasthenia presents no-plunging movements. Moreover, the oscillatory, rotatory, ordeviating movements of the eyes are of great importance.These paroxysms are accompanied by ataxy and increased’’reflexes. Dr. Frankl exhibited a patient twenty-nine yearsold who was admitted to hospital some eight months ago. Hisrillness began with congestion in the head and weakness.After having recovered his senses he experienced vertigo andtinnitus and vomited a slimy substance. Since that time hehas suffered from imperfect hearing in the right ear and is harassed by a noise which he compares to that of boilingwater. Dr. Frankl explained that this condition may beregarded as a consequence of a disease of the semicircular’canals caused by haemorrhage into the labyrinth.

Treatment of Spasmodic Torticollis.Dr. Heinrich Weiss has published2 a case of Spasmodic;

Torticollis treated by Curare. Following Professor Benedikt,he describes five forms of torticollis: (1) those which occurcontinually or in paroxysms ; (2) clonic and tonic forms ;(3) unilateral or bi-lateral spastic forms ; (4) cases whereseveral muscles are affected ; and (5) torticollis with muscularhypertrophy. All these cases apparently occur on both sides.The muscles of the side which seems to be sound become

atrophic, whereas those of the affected side show hypertrophy.The symptoms being misinterpreted, it has been proposed to"treat the apparently sound side by faradaisation, and the-success obtained was trifling. Inveterate cases are to betreated by nerve stretching. At a meeting of the ViennaMedical Society Dr. Weiss exhibited a patient who suffered ashort time ago from torticollis with spasms of the rightssterno-mastoid muscle, the rotators of the head and vertebralcolumn. The head was turned round the vertical axis withthe chin to the left and round the sagittal axis to the right,the occiput almost touching the right shoulder ; the rightsterno-mastoid was hypertrophied. As arsenic, bromine,and faradaisation of the left side had been used withoutany success, nerve stretching was performed. The rightaccessory nerve, which was stretched, was found to pre-sent a peculiar condition-that of hyperlympbosis nodosa.A too forcible operation being hazardous, only the bundleof fibres at the place of entrance into the muscle was

1 Vide THE LANCET, Dec. 22nd, 1894.2 Therapeutische Wochenschrift.

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stretched. Three weeks after this operation the previoussymptoms returned, and Dr. Weiss injected a solution of- curare (half a Pravaz’s syringeful) into the neck. Thesolution contained 0’15 gramme (==25 grains) curare and10 grammes water (=167 grains). The injection was made- every two days ; the patient’s condition improved from dayto day, and at present he is entirely free from torticollis.As for the strength of the preparation, the solution is to bestraw-coloured. At first half a syringeful is to be injected,and the amount is to be increased until tremulousness isinduced.

The Use of Trional for the Sleeplessness of Children.Dr. Klaus 3 has used trional in some diseases of children,

such as chorea, epilepsy with persistent sleeplessness, andsleeplessness due to indigestion. He has obtained gratifyingresults, but in one case symptoms of irritation were observed.According to the age he recommends the following doses :one month to one year, 02 to 0-4 gramme (3 to 6 grains) ;one to two years, 0’4 to 0’8 gramme (6 to 13 grains) ; twoto six years, 0’8 to 1-2 gramme (13 to 18 grains) ; six toten years, 1’2 to 1-5 gramme (18½ to 23 grains). Theremedy is to be taken in hot milk or honey half an hourafter the evening meal.

Inebriates in Lunatic Asylums.A paper on this subject was recently read by Dr. Tilkowsky,

Director of the Lower Austrian Lunatic Asylum at Ybbs. Hesaid that inebriates could not be reclaimed in lunatic asylums,alcohol being prescribed there for dietetic or therapeuticreasons. Experience, however, has proved that recoveryfrom drunkenness was possible only by complete abstinencefrom alcohol. Temperance does not help, for the taking of asmall quantity of liquor causes an inordinate thirst for more.Dr. Tilkowsky therefore advocates the absolute exclusion ofdrunkards from lunatic asylums and the institution of com-pulsory measures, such as already exist in the Englishcolonies and the United States. If it is requisite in theinterests of public health to isolate patients affected withtyphus fever or trachoma, it is also a duty of society to protectlunatics from association with inveterate drunkards and tofound inebriate asylums, for drunkards in their lucid intervalsare disturbing elements in lunatic asylums by reason of theirmental superiority.

A Peculiar Case of Suicide.

Dr. Aczel has published in the Hungarian medical journalGy&oacute;gyr&aacute;szat the following case of suicide. Being recently<sent for he found a woman bathed in blood and beside hersplinters of glass and a bloody knife. In her throat there iwas an incised wound six inches long and her larynx wasremoved, but the carotid arteries were unhurt and pulsatedon both sides. She was still alive, but her breathing wasdeep and irregular. The larynx was found in the blood.The woman was admitted to hospital and died in sixhours. It is singular that such terrible injuries had notcaused instantaneous death.

Dr. Heitzmann.The eminent abilities of the well-known author of the

"’ Anatomical Atlas " not being at first recognised at Vienna,he left his native town some twenty years ago and foundeda microscopical institution at New York. Last Friday hewas the guest of the Vienna Medical Society, and read apaper on his microscopical researches. He was the first toprove that the red blood-corpuscles possess a reticnlar struc-ture. When treated with chromate of potash they showamoeboid movements, and half an hour later filaments reticu-larly interwoven pass through the inside of the corpuscles,the haemoglobin being enclosed in this network. Thisreticulum may also be found when blood is mingled withstale urine. The red blood-corpuscles, therefore, possess lifeas protoplasm, the reticulum exactly representing the livingmatter. Where much living matter is found the constitutionof the individual is good. Dr. Heitzmann infers the natureof the constitution from the quality of the reticulum, and hasbeen able to predict the end of an illness three weeks inadvance by means of microscopical examination. The

organism is a living continuous structure and not an aggre-gation of individual cells.June 2nd.

3

Klinische Rundschau.

NEW YORK.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Opposed to Vivisection.. A SURGEON of Philadelphia recently proposed to splice aB divided nerve with a section of a dog’s nerve, and applied to, the keeper of the public pound for the animal. The vagrants dogs were in the keeping of the Society for the Prevention

of Cruelty to Animals, and the request was promptly refusedby a lady member. " In reply to your note, " she said, "I will say that, although I should always approve of sacrificing

, a dog’s life to save that of a man unless the latter was acurse to the world and the former a boon and blessing

; (which is sometimes the case), I think that I am justified in, refusing to give you one of the dogs at our pound for theegperiment, which may prove of benefit to one of your; patients or may not, the latter being the most likelyalternative." The surgeon replied: "Aside from myself,there are three parties who are to be considered in thismatter : first, the dog; second, the man ; and third, man-kind. First, the dog. I stated to you that the dog would

not suffer, that he would be treated with the same care asthe man, and that after the operation I should continue theanaesthetic till the dog was dead. Secondly, the man. Thisman knows what I am going to do and is anxious to have it

done. His leg is paralysed. If by an ordinary surgicalprocedure I can re-establish the continuity of the nerveI may be able to cure his paralysis. In that case I shouldnot have recourse to the dog. If, on the contrary, the gapbetween the two ends of the nerve is so great that I cannotbring them together, either the man must be condemned toparalysis for life or some other means must be tried tore-establish the nerve and so restore to him the use of theleg. This might be done by the process of nerve grafting.Yet you refuse me a dog on the ground that it is an experiment.Granting that it is, it is at the most a perfectly harmlessexperiment, for it would not be more painful than anyordinary operation ; and even if it absolutely fails, it leavesthe patient not a whit the worse off. If it succeeds, it will beof the greatest possible service to him. Thirdly, mankind.The only way in which surgery can make any progress is bytesting new methods of treatment which have at least areasonable prospect of success. In your misguided zeal fordogs you are guilty, in my opinion, of cruelty to this man,and cruelty to all mankind, because you thwart scientificprogress under the guise of love for animals. You wouldcondemn to the torture and disabilities of accident anddisease people who have happily been rescued by the morehumane scientists of my profession."

Practical Test of the Qualifications of Trained Nurses.The hospitals of New York have each a training-school for

nurses. It has been customary to have public graduatingexercises when the diplomas have been conferred. The

Presbyterian Hospital made an interesting departure a fewdays ago by giving a demonstration of the methods of workby nurses, and of their ability to perform their tasks.Patients were brought from the wards and laid on

cots and operating-tables. Then the more difficult anddelicate work required of the nurses was practically shown.First came an object-lesson on the making of beds andthe changing of sheets and mattresses without removingthe patient from the cot, and then the lifting of the

patient from one cot to another, all being done quicklyand with no disturbance of the subject. After this followedthe application of the different kinds of bandages to thehead, chest, abdomen, arm, leg, hand, and foot, one of thebandages, forming a kind of jacket, encasing the subjectfrom the neck to the hips. Hot and cold water applica-tions were made, and the method of dry-cupping as

practised was practically shown. The method of artificialrespiration, used when the patient’s breathing is deficientor has stopped, consisting of raising and lowering the arms,was likewise exhibited. One of the most interesting treat-ments given by the nurses was the cold bath to reduce thetemperature in cases of typhoid fever. The subject waslowered into a bath of cold water, accurately regulated, andkept there for several minutes, being vigorously rubbed bythe nurses all the time. The making and filling of icebags andthe preparation of poultices were performed rapidly. Onesubject supposed to be suffering from a disease of the throat