PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON

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cord, treating it as though it were a varicocele. It consistedof dilated and hypertrophied lymphatic vessels with thickenedwalls. These vessels were held together by loose connectivetissue. On dividing them a milky fluid escaped whichcontained the embryos in active movement. For a few daysafter the operation the scrotum was distended with an

effusion of lymph and at one time it was as large as a

FIG. 1.

A parent worm.

foetal head. The removal of a few stitches, however, allowedthis fluid with some clot to escape and the swelling rapidlysubsided, the wound healing without suppuration. The clotsof fluid which escaped on removal of the stitches containeddead embryos. When the patient left the hospital a monthlater his anaemia and general condition had much improvedon a thorough course of treatment with iron and arsenic.

FIG. 2.

Uteri of worm. Highly niagnitied.

Hypodermic injections of perchloride of mercury were

also tried but without any perceptible change in the numberaf embryos present in the blood. In this case, as in thefirst, no ill effects followed the operation. Z, Remarks by Mr. EvE and Mr. BARNARD.--By one of thosestrange coincidences which occur with such astonishing

frequency in hospital practice the above cases of filariasiswere admitted consecutively into the same bed in theLondon Hospital. A point of extreme interest about Case 1was that on removal the tumour was found to contain a largenumber of the parent worms of filaria Bancrofti, two speci-mens of which were secured. Judging from this case itwould seem that the name varicose groin glands " isunfortunate, if the word varicose" is intended to implythat they result from lymph congestion or are a dilatedcollateral circulation, the result of obstruction to the mainlymph channels of the abdomen. We are indebted to thelate house surgeon, Dr. Spillane, for his careful observationsand notes of these cases.

Medical Societies.PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

Infections from l-Inso2cnd Meat.--Chemical Composition inRelation to Germicidal Action.-Baehibition of Speci-mens.-Aanual Meeting .--Election of Officers.-Report ofthe Committee on Pseudo-t1Iberculosis.A MEETING of this society was held on May 16th, the

President, Dr. PAYNE, being in the chair.Dr. H. E. DURHAM made a communication on Infections

from Unsound Meat. He had investigated two outbreaks atSurbiton and Salford and had studied the action of the serumfrom these patients on cultures of various bacteria. As a

general result he found that they gave a definite agglutinatingreaction in high dilutions with culture of the bacteriumenteritidis. This reaction was given with all varieties of thisbacillus although there were individual peculiarities in theirbehaviour. He also added the serum to cultures of typhoidand other bacilli, but found no reaction unless be used lowdilutions of serum. With low dilutions, however, he obtainedthe agglutinating action. Dr. Durham pointed out that thestrength employed (1 in 10) would give agglutinatingreaction with serum from many cases besides those of entericfever and that it could not be regarded as a specific reaction.For purposes of diagnosis of enteric fever the clinicalmethods of sero-diagnosis ordinarily followed were

quite unreliable, a much higher dilution being neces-

sary. In’ the cases of meat poisoning to which hereferred there was no reaction with high dilutions exceptto cultures of the bacillus enteritidis. Dr. Durham thoughtthat there was no doubt that cases of meat poisoningwere due to infection by organisms and the reactionshe had obtained showed that in his cases the infection wasdue to the bacillus enteritidis. In most of the epidemicswhere the source of the meat could be traced it had beenshown by different observers that animals from which themeat came were themselves diseased before death. Lanternslides were shown exhibiting photographs of the clumpingreaction in tubes of cultures, and also micro-photographsshowing the polymorphism of the bacillus enteritidis.-Dr.WASHBOURN was sorry that Dr. Durham had not gone morefully into the proofs that these cases were always due to aninfection and not to absorption. He agreed that in themajority of cases this was so. The old methods of removalof alkaloidal ptomaines from the organs many hours afterdeath were open to many objections, and it was probablethat they did not produce the symptoms met with during life.He was interested to hear what Dr. Durham had said as tothe unreliability of the serum reaction in enteric fever asusually applied, but he thought that in the wards it

gave very accurate and useful information.-Mr. A. G. R.]’OUJ,ERTON could not agree that all the evidence was infavour of cases of meat-poisoning being infective. The merepresence of the agglutinating reaction did not prove thispoint, as if a horse were immunised by the inoculation ofdiphtheria toxins, bacilli being excluded, the blood after-wards gave a good agglutinating reaction with cultures ofthe diphtheria bacillus. He also quoted Gaertner’s andother cases in which after the ingestion of large quantitiesof unsound meat symptoms appeared within three hours

: which would not be likely with a bacterial infection. In one. outbreak which he had investigated the symptoms came on

: very soon after taking some ham and the severity of thesymptoms were proportionate to the amount of meat which

: the individuals had taken, which was consistent with poison-. ing by toxins rather than organisms. Further, there was no

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direct evidence that the bacillus enteritidis had ever beeifound in the blood of patients during life.

Dr. JAMES RITCHIE (Oxford) read a paper on ChemicaComposition in Relation to Germicidal Action. In his in

vestigations Dr. Ritchie employed normal solutions of thvarious chemical substances investigated and an emulsion othe typhoid bacillus in water, uniform diffusion beinobtained by filtering off all clumps by a plug of sterilisecglass wool. He investigated groups of metallic salts groupecaccording to Mendelèeff’s law and he found that wit!metallic salts the toxicity varied with the atomic weight ojthe base, the acid radical not affecting the result. With th(halogens, chlorine, bromine, and iodine the same relation tcthe atomic weight was observed. With groups of organicbodies in each group the members with the higher molecularweight had the greater germicidal action. There were a fewexceptions. Lithium did not take the place which it shouldamong the monatomic group, but it presented also notablechemical differences such as the insolubility of thecarbonates. Neither the mineral nor the fatty acids con-formed to this rule, but in both cases their germicidal actionwas proportional to their chemical" avidity."The following card specimens were exhibited :—

Dr. A. E. GARROD : Fibrosis of the Lung.Dr. W. S. LAZARUS-BARLOW : Syphilitic Stiicture of the

Bile-Duct.Dr. H. D. ROLLESTON : Columnar-celled Carcinoma of the

Tail of the Pancreas.Mr. T. LISTER: (1) Tuberculous Gastric Ulcer; (2)

Ulcerative Colitis; and (3) Ulcer of the Duodenum inMelaena Neonatorum.

Dr. J. H. DBYSDALE: Tuberculosis of the Inferior VenaCava.Dr. H. A. LEDIARD: (1) Pin in the Appendix; and (2)

Congenital Fibrous Tumour on the Neck of a Child.Subsequently the annual general meeting of the society

was held, Dr. PAYNE being in the chair. The report of theCouncil was read and adopted. It announced that an indexof the last 13 volumes was being prepared and that the taskhad been entrusted to Mr. Shattock.A very cordial vote of thanks was given to Dr. Payne, who

has occupied the chair with great success for the last twoyears, to the retiring honorary secretary (Mr. D’Arcy Power),and to the other retiring officers. The ballot for the electionof officers for the season 1899-1900 resulted in the electionof the following list: - President : Mr. William Watson

Cheyne. Vice-Presidents : Dr. F. W. Mott, Dr. G. NewtonPitt, Dr. F. Charlewood Turner, Dr. German SimsWoodhead, Mr. Anthony A. Bowlby, Mr. G. H. Makins,Mr. Alfred Pearce Gould, and Mr. Charters J. Symonds.Treasurer: Dr. Sidney Coupland. Honorary Secretaries :Dr. Humphry D. Rolleston and Mr. Charles Alfred Ballance.Council: Dr. John Abercrombie, Dr. J. Rose Bradford, Dr.Sheridan Delepine, Dr. James Galloway, Dr. Archibald E.Garrod, Dr. Herbert P. Hawkins, Dr. R. G. Hebb, Dr.William Hunter, Dr. Cyril Ogle, Dr. J. W. Washbourn, Mr.William H. Battle, Mr. Cecil F. Beadles, Dr. F. G. Hopkins,Dr. H. A. Lediard, Mr. John R. Lunn, Professor JohnMcFadyean, Mr. D’Arcy Power, Mr. J. H. Targett, Mr.Frederick C. Wallis, and Mr. Edgar Willett.The committee appointed to consider the nomenclature of

the condition sometimes described as "Pseudo-tuberculosis" "

brought up its report. The committee reported that :-1. The term "pseudo-tuberculosis" had been applied to anumber of distinct morbid processes which agreed only inthe presence of small nodular tubercles. Amongst themwere: (a) a number of bacterial infections caused by bacilliand cocci of various species, (b) blastomycosis, (e) strepto-thricosis, (d) aspergillosis, (e) protozoal infection, and(f) pathological conditions arising from the presence of

higher animal parasites in the lungs. 2. Confusion hadarisen from the employment of the word tubercle " in twosenses : (1) as a general anatomical term for a small noduleand (2) in a specific sense for the nodular lesions of thedisease produced by the tubercle bacillus of Koch. 3. Theword "tubercle" should no longer be used as a generalanatomical term, but if used at all it should be only as adesignation of the nodular lesions produced by the tuberclebacillus. To prevent ambiguity, however, they suggestedthat all lesions having the form of "tubercles" should becalled generally "nodules," those produced by Koch’s bacillusbeing distinguished as "tuberculous nodules," and thatthe nodules produced by other causes should in like mannerbe distinguished by a prefix indicative of their cause if known;

as, for example, "glanders nodule," "aspergillar nodule,"or, if their cause was not known, by some distinctive desig-nation not involving any reference to the word 11 tubercle."They further suggested that the diseases themselves (asdistinguished from the lesions produced) should when pos-sible be designated in accordance with the plan indicated inheadings (b), (c), and (d), .. blastomycosis," &c. The term

"pseudo-tuberculosis" would then become superfluous andought to be discarded altogether.-The report was signed byDr. J. F. Payne (chairman), Professor John McFadyean, Mr.S. G. Sbattock, Dr. J. W. Washbourn, Professor G. SimsWoodhead, and Mr. A. G. R. Foulerton.

CLINICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

Right Colotonty for Chronic Culitis. -- Empyema of theMaxillary Sin1ts. - Patlanlngy and Treatment of ChronicEmpyema of the Maxillary Sinus.A MEETING of this society was held on May 12th, the

President, Mr. LANGTON, being in the chair.Dr. HALE WHITE and Mr. GOLDING-BIRD contributed a

paper on Three Additional Cases of Right Colotomy for ChronicColitis. The object in all three cases was to give the colonabsolute rest. Case l.-The patient was a woman, aged 36years, seen with Dr. A. E. Taylor. She had had membranouscolitis for 20 years and latterly great pain, with almost com-plete inability to take food. She was wasted, anaemic, and acomplete invalid, and was unable to take any exercise. Thewhole colon was tender to pressure. On May 13th, 1896,the first stage off right lumbar colotomy was performed,the bowel being opened six days later. The patient wasrelieved from pain and gained steadily in strength. In May,1897, the artificial anus was closed. In November, 1898,she said that she was perfectly well; she ate ordinaryfood and took active outdoor exercise. Case 2. - The

patient was a woman, aged 31 years. In September, 1896,she began to have abdominal pain and soon, because ofthe pain, gave up taking solid food. Her illness con-

tinued until her admission into Guy’s Hospital, underthe care of Dr. Pye-Smith, in December, 1897, when shewas found to be passing membrane. She was then veryanaemic and weak and was suffering severely. As shebecame worse in spite of all medical treatment the first

stage of right lumbar colotomy was performed on March 3rd,1898, the bowel being opened on March 8th. She remainedfour months in the hospital and when she left she was inperfect health and had remained so up to the last time shewas seen. It was proposed to close the artificial anus thisspring. The patient was averse from hurrying as she was smwell in the present condition. Case 3.-The patient, a man,aged 35 years, had been in the tropics and Egypt.Eight years ago he had had diarrhoea with bleeding.This had continued on and off till his admission to Guy’sHospital. He had suffered much from abdominal pain.He had been treated in hospital medically without any suc-cess. He was admitted into Guy’s Hospital in November,1888. He had continuous diarrhoea, had lost control over thebowels, was very wasted, anaemic, and had the appearanceof a man who had not much longer to live. As he wasbecoming worse, on Dec. 31st, 1898, the first stage of a.

csecotomy was performed and the bowel was opened five dayslater. He gained much flesh and colour, quite lost his abdo-minal pain, and left the hospital at the end of Februaryfeeling well enough to work and in May reported himself asvery well. He was shown to the society and appeared to bewell, but complained of being prevented from working owingto escape of liquid fasces from the wound when he stooped.Dr. Hale White and Mr. Golding-Bird pointed out that alla priori argument was in favour of a right colotomy forchronic disease of the colon, for it secured absolute restfor that structure, and the cases now brought forwardshowed clearly that the colon was not necessary for themaintenance of perfect health. They recommended pallia-tive or curative right-sided colotomy for severe andotherwise hopeless examples of the following diseases:(1) intractable membranous colitis ; i (2) all forms ofshronic ulceration of the colon which had resisted medicaltreatment and which were obviously otherwise incurable ;most cases of very chronic dysentery were probably to-be cured without colotomy ; and (3) cases of idiopathiclilatation of the colon. The colotomy must be right-sidemd colotomy was preferable to cascotomy, for when the