In Germany, where there appears to have been the most frequent resort to this means, they use by preference a solution of the nitrate of strychnine, in the dose of from 4 to 5 milligrs. to each injection, in variable quantities of excipient. The observations which follow and of which we give a short resume, are not without interest.. A young girl of 26 years, afflicted with spasmotic contractions of the right side of the face, had already been affected five years before with an inflammatory cerebral affection. The spasms, the tics not painful, succeeded one another at intervals more or less regular; they occupied more particularly the upper lip, and the alar of the nose. Injections of morphine and atropine had been tried without any advantage; the convulsive movements extended to the sterno-chcido-mortudeus of the right side, thence to the arms: deglutition and articulation were almost impossible during the access. The application of ice and leeches did not modify the disease. The injections of the nitrate of strychnine in a dose of 4 milligrs., each repeated at intervals of two days, led to a perfect cure. Sonder, who reports this fact, borrowed in his practiece-excuses himself of having tried the employment of strychnine in a case where it seemed so little justified; he invoked the theory of Kolliker, in virtue of which the excess even of excitation had for effect the rendering of the muscle less excitable. So significant had been the result, so much more conclusive had been the theory, he trusted more of the same kind to encourage the experi mentors. A young girl of 20 is taken, in consequence of a probable cooling, with hoarseness and very soon with asthma. After one year useless attempts, Dr. Waldenburg deagnosed a paralysis of the muscles, crico-tyroideus and a catarrhal affection of the mucus membrane. The catarrh is cured by inhalations, but the asthma persisted. The patient obtained her cure at the end of a month, and in consequence of the eleven injections of strychnine practiced on the sides of the thyroid cartilage. A third fact has treated equally to an asthma caused by a paralysis of the vocal cords. The articulation was lost for two months and a half, Ten injections, representing a total dose of three centigrs., ameliorated the movements of the tongue, without curing the asthma. Local cauterizations with the solution of nitrate of silver completed the cure. Before conclusion as to the efficacy of the means, it is good to place certain reservations. At first strychnine has produced no appreciable physiological action. This proved that it had been used in proportions relatively too feeble. In the second place the patients, young girls subject to all defined nervous accidents, more or less hysterics, presented themselves unwillingly to a resort of this kind if those upon it had failed to follow. Finally the subcutaneous injections of strychnine are added to the other modifications or have been ulteriorly seconded by topical applications. We are actually in such a state of indecision ralative to the administration of strychnine in paroplegies, to a hoarseness at a certain period, a defiance so legitimate, has succeeded as to preconceive a mode of administration, it would become necessary to understand the advantage of the remedy in itself, some passages that are open to absorption. In this point of view all is to be done or not to be done, and the failures sufficiently balance the benefits as to cause strychnine to be banished almost entirely from the catalogue of Ati-paralytic remedies. The only fact that remains to be inquired after, and it is necessary to consider it, that is whether we can with impugnity inject under the skin from 4 to 5 milligrs. of the nitrate of strychnine. American Medical Association. OFFICE OF PERMANENT SECRETARY, WM. B. ATKINSON, M.D, 215 Spruce St., Philada. The Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association will be held in Cincinnati, on Tuesday, May 7th, 1867, at 11 o'clock, a.m. The following Committees are expected to report : On Quarantine, Dr. WILSON JEWELL, Pa., Chairman. On Ligature of Subclavian Artery, Dr. WILLARD PARKER, N.Y., Chairman. On Drainage and Sewerage of Cities, &c., Dr. WILSON JEWELL, Pa., Chair man. On the Use of Plaster of Paris in Surgery, Dr. JAS. L. LITTLE, N.Y., Chair man. On Prize Essays, Dr. F. Donalson, M.D., Chairman. On Medical Education, Dr. S. D. GROSS, Pa., Chairman. On Medical Literature, Dr. A. C. PosT, N.Y., Chairman. On Instruction in Medical Colleges, Dr. NATHAN S. DAVIS, Ill., Chairman. On Rank of Medical Men in the Army, Dr. D. H. STORER, Mass., Chairman. On Rank of Medical Men in the Navy, Dr. W. M. WOOD, U.S.N., Chairman. On Insanity, Dr. ISAAC RAY, R.I., Chairman. On American Medical Necrology, Dr. C. C. Cox, Md., Chairman. On the Causes of Epidemics, Dr. THOMAS ANTISELL, D.C., Chairman. On Compulsory Vaccination, Dr. A. N. BELL, N.Y., Chairman. On Leakage of Gas-Pipes, Dr. J. C. DRAPER. N.Y., Chairman, On Alcohol and its Relations to Man, Dr. J. R. W. DUNBAR, Md., Chairman. On the Various Surgical Operations for the Relief of Defective Vision, Dr. M. A. PALLEN, Mo., Chairman. On Local Anesthesia, Dr. E. KRACKOWITZER, N.Y., Chairman. On the Influence upon Vision of the Abnormal Conditions of the Muscular Apparatus of the Eye, Dr. H. D. NOYES, N.Y., Chairman. On the Comparative Merits of the Different Operations for the Extraction of On the Therapeutics of Inhalation, Dr. J. SOLIS COHEN, Pa., Chairman. On Medical Ethics, Dr. WORTHINGTON HOOKER, Conn., Chairman. Massachusetts, Dr. ALFRED C. GARRATT. Maryland, Dr. O. S. MAHON. Missouri, Dr. GEO. ENGLEMAN. Alabama, Dr. R. MILLER. Texas, Dr. GREENSVILLE DOWELL. Illinois, Dr. R. C. HAMIL. Indiana, Dr. J. F. HIBBARD. District of Columbia, Dr. T. ANTISELL. Iowa, Dr. J. W. H. BAKER. Michigan, Dr. ABM. SAGER. Ohio, Dr. J. W. RUSSELL. Secretaries of all medical organizations are requested to forward lists of their Delegates as soon as elected, to to the Permanent Secretary, W. B. ATKINSON. EOROLOGICAL TABLE FOR MAY, 1863, AT HOUSTON. 72 ccstr8. .cc6 cncc6. 72 ncc10. ..dci10. 75 cis5. cncc7. cistr3... cccn4. .dcistr8. 76 cc810. cidci8. cil. cil. .dcici2 66 0. .0. .0. 0 65 0. .0. 0. 3d-Heavy ths. at Bastrop at night; shr, to N.W., distant. 6th-A regular norther of 3 arket. 12th-Obe. under rains, fogs, and should have been entered on the 13th, and vice versa. 13th-6 to 9 a.m. strong opposing curand W. 14th-Shrs. from E. to N.W. passed to S. 17th-Tomatoes first time in market. 19th-Green corn in market, 20th-Okra aviest rain for some weeks. 23d-First obs. noticed of the bar. falling with a northerly wind. On Alcohol and its Relations to Man, Dr. J. R. W. DUNBAR, Md., Chairman. On the Various Surgical Operations for the Relief of Defective Vision, Dr. M. A. PALLEN, Mo., Chairman. On Local Anesthesia, Dr. E. KRACKOWITZER, N.Y., Chairman. On the Influence upon Vision of the Abnormal Conditions of the Muscular Apparatus of the Eye, Dr. H. D. NOYES, N. Y., Chairman. On the Comparative Merits of the Different Operations for the Extraction of On the Therapeutics of Inhalation, Dr. J. SOLIS COHEN, Pa., Chairman. On Medical Ethics, Dr. WORTHINGTON HOOKER, Conn., Chairman. Massachusetts, Dr. ALFRED C. GARRATT. Missouri, Dr. GEO. ENGLEMAN. Alabama, Dr. R. MILLER. Texas, Dr. GREENSVILLE DOWËLL. Illinois, Dr. R. C. HAMIL. Indiana, Dr. J. F. HIBBARD. District of Columbia, Dr. T. ANTISELL. Iowa, Dr. J. W. H. BAKER. Michigan, Dr. ABM. SAGER. Ohio, Dr. J. W. RUSSELL. Secretaries of all medical organizations are requested to forward lists of their Delegates as soon as elected, to to the Permanent Secretary, W. B. ATKINSON. |