1797

VIENNA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Death from Catheterisation.

AT a recent meeting of the Vienna Medical Club, Dr.Otto Zuckerkandl described a curious case of stricture ofthe urethra in which death occurred two hours aftercatheterisation. The patient, aged thirty-four years, hadfor two years been suffering from urinary troubles due toan annular stricture of the membranous part of the urethra.Dilatation was performed by Charriere’s instrument, No. 15,and was within two weeks continued to No. 20 without anyaccident. The urinary troubles then disappeared and thepatient remained well for a year. When Dr. Zuckerkandlsaw him again he was well-nourished, but his skin andmucous membranes were pale, and the state of his urineshowed the existence of purulent catarrh. A sound on

being passed up to the stricture made its way out ofthe urethra and traversed the corpora cavernosa in variousdirections. After some ineffectual trials the stricture wasat last passed by a No. 12 metallic sound, whereupon thepatient was seized with nausea and rigors and died in

collapse after four hours. Post-mortem examination showedin the bulbous part of the urethra an annular stricture

permeable only by a slender sound; above and below thisplace the mucous membrane was marked with reticularscars, between which there were numerous apertures of falsepassages leading into the corpora cavernosa. There wasalso fatty degeneration of the heart-muscle. Death fromcatheterisation, said the speaker, is an extremely rare

accident and may be preceded by urethral fever. Frenchwriters such as Clado, Halle and Albarran have proved thaturethral fever is an infective process originating in the

urinary organs and, according to them, is due tobacterium coli. Dr. Zuckerkandl also made some

reference to death after catheterisation without fever.There are cases where anuria due to reflex action follows.catheterisation and proves fatal, and in hypertrophiedprostate death may be the result of an attempt to introducea sound. This is most likely to happen with patients whoare suffering from incomplete retention of urine and whosedistended bladder rises above the umbilicus. In these casesa trifling irritation of the genito-urinary tract-even theevacuation of the bladder-may aggravate latent disease ofthe kidney and rapidly bring about a fatal result.

Erythronaelalgia.Dr. Schenk has described a case of erythromelalgia in an

article published in the Medicinische Presse, on the subjectof his clinical investigations of the nervous system. Thisdisease was first described by Graves and afterwards byWeir-Mitchell, according to whom it is a disturbance of thecirculatory system, whereas Vulpian named it "paralysievasomotrice des membres." At present it is supposed to bethe result of a disturbance of the nervous system. The

symptoms include sleeplessness, urinary and rectal troubles,spinal ataxy, atrophy of the skin and the muscles of theupper arms, increase of the knee-jerks, analgesia alternatingwith hyperalgesia, and decrease of the sexual impulse.The urinary and sexual disturbances are due to a lesionof the vesico-spinal and genito-spinal centres which are

to be found in the region of the fourth lumbar vertebra; theataxy points to a disease of the posterior column, theincrease of the knee-jerks to an irritation which may becaused by an inflammation. The disease is no doubt due tovaso-motor disturbance consequent on an ascending degenera-tion in the posterior column of the cord. Woodnut has alsodescribed a case of erythromelalgia due to myelitis.

Salaries of University Professors.During the last fortnight animated discussions have been

taking place in Parliament and in the columns of the press,both lay and medical, in connexion with a Bill brought inby the Government on the subject of the f-alaries of theAustrian university professors. This Bill will introducevery considerable changes and those whose incomesmay suffer will not accept the new order of thingswithout vehement protests. The fixed salary of an

ordinary professor has hitherto been .&266 per annum,in addition to which the fees for five hours’ lecturing

in each week amount to 9s. half-yearly for each student.Under this system the professors who lecture on subjectswhich are not required for examinations are placed at a greatdisadvantage. For instance the Rector of Vienna Univer-sity lectures on Egyptian archaeology and has precisely theaudience enumerated in the maxim Tres facizcnt callegizcm,whilst on the other hand the class-rooms of the professors ofsurgery are thronged by at least 500 students. In the pro-vincial universities the professors, even of surgery, medicine,and pathology, have so few students that many distingui-shed privat-docents would rather remain in Viennathan accept promotion to an ordinary professorship ina provincial town. According to the new Bill thefees for attendance on the lectures of the ordinary professorswill become the property of the State and all university pro-fessors will receive fixed salaries on a higher scale than atpresent and amounting to about E330 per annum. The

opponents of the Bill argue that the professor will no longerhave any interest in attracting students or any incentive toexertion and that no foreign celebrity will accept a pro-fessorship in Vienna. This, however, is a mis-statement ofthe facts, for the Government is authorised to pay excep-tional salaries to eminent foreigners who may receive

appointments and there is at present a professor of medi-cine who has .8850 per annum. It is a serious aspersion onthe professors to insinuate that they will now show lessinterest in their lectures.

Congenital Dislocation of the Hip-joint.Professor Lorenz has published an account of eighty-three

cases of congenital dislocation of the hip.-joint which he hastreated successfully by his bloodless method of reduction,utilising the unoccupied acetabulum and without producingany scar or contraction. He recommends the operation withincisions only for children above the age of twelve years andfor cases where the anatomical conditions are unfavourableto bloodless operation.

Dec. 13th.

BUDAPEST.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Academic Troubles.

HUNGARIANS are known to be in general an excitable raceand ready to be stirred up by questions which wouldleave their cooler German neighbours unaffected. I ventureto think that it is chiefly this natural disposition which hasto account for the troubles which have taken place quiterecently at the Budapest Medical School. The movementwas directed against Professor J. Kovács, one of the mostdistinguished members of our university, who used toact as examiner in Surgery and has always been notedfor his severity, so that he was never a favourite with thatclass of students which prefers the billiard-room tothe lecture-room. On Dec. 3rd some of the older studentswho had failed to pass the examination in surgery induced anumber of junior students to create a disturbance in theprofessor’s operating theatre. Professor Kovacs, however,declared that he would not therefore hesitate to do his dutyand that he would never allow any incompetent student tosucceed in an examination. The turbulent section of thestudents then resolved to lay their grievances before theMinister for Public Instruction and to ask him to pension offthe unpopular professor. Comment upon the case must bedeferred until the decision of the Minister is made known,but the retirement of Professor Kovács would be a veryserious loss to medical science in Hungary.

Sroine Fever.

The question of the etiology, diffusion and prevention ofswine-fever has been made the subject of an elaborate andadmirably illustrated paper by Dr. St. Ratz, Professor ofPathological Anatomy at the Budapest Veterinary College.The origin of the disease is not exactly known. It appearsthat it was first observed in Ohio in the year 1833 ; it wascarried from America to Europe and made its first appearancein England in 1862, in Hollard in 1880, in Germany in 1882,and m France and Hungary in 1887. Swine-plague, hog-cholera, and pneumo-enteiitis of swine have often beendescribed by various writers as different diseases. Dr. Rátz

1798

by means of bacteriological and clinical research considersthat he has been able to confirm the opinion of Dr. Silber-schmidt of the Pans Institnt Pasteur that swine-plague, hog-cholera, and infectious pneumo-enteritis ure various formsof the same disease and that all of them are causedby the same micro-organism. He dissents from theopinion of Schiitz that the disease is caught through theorgans of respiration,for although infection through thelungs is possible, there seems to be ample evidence to theeffect that animals are generally infected through thealimentary tract. There is no instance known of the diseasehaving been caught by man. The treatment of the diseaseis by no means satisfactory and especial care must thereforebe given to prevention, which can readily be effected bychecking the importation of sick animals and by isolatingsick animals from healthy ones.

Troplaoneurosis of the Ege.A case of this rare disorder was exhibited lately by Pro- I

fessor W. Goldzieher at a meeting of the Budapest MedicalSociety. The patient was a man aged thirty-six years whosuffered from herpes zoster and anaesthesia of the trigeminusnerve of the right side of the face. The conjunctiva of the righteye showed slight injection, and the cornea was found to beinsensible when touched. The herpes soon passed off, butthe state of the eye grew steadily worse. The conjunctivawas highly reddentd, the cornea and lens lost much of theirtransparency, the iris was extremely hyperasmic, and thepupil greatly contracted. The tension ot the eyeball waslessened and the acuity of vision was much impaired. Pro-fessor Goldzieher thought this to be a case of grave tropho-neurosis of the eye which developed in connexion with theherpes zoster and the trigeminal anaesthesia.Dec. 8th.

Obituary.WILLIAM FRANCIS AINSWORTH, M.A.,

PJH.D.PHILADEL., L.R.C.S EDIN., &C.

ON Nov. 26th died one of the oldest, most respected,and best-known inhabitants of Hammersmith, William

Francis Ainsworth, treasurer and vice-president of the

West London Hospital, a distinguished Oriental scholarand traveller. A son (twin) of Captain Ainsworth, ofthe 15th and 128th regiments, and a member of an

ancient Lancashire family, he was first cousin to HarrisonAinsworth and to Dr. Ralph Ainsworth, the well-knownManchester physician. He was born at Exeter on Nov. 5th,1807, and bad therefore reached his ninetieth year. Hestudied in London, Paris, Brussels, and Edinburgh, andwas a past president of the Physical and of the PlinianSocieties of the last city. In the short period during whichhe practised as a medical man the cholera epidemic of 1833occurred, during which he was engaged at the cholera hospitalof St. George’s, Hanover- square, and afterwards at Ballin-asloe and Westport in Ireland. He then published a paperon "Pestilential Cholera." He was one of the first Fellowsof the Royal Geographical Society, and lived to be the lastsurvivor of the original Fellows.In 1835 his connexion with the East began by his joining

as surgeon, geologist, and mineralogist the Euphrates expe-dition under Colonel Chesney. With this he visited Persia,Kurdistan, the Taurus, and Asia Minor. In 1838 he published" Researches in Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldea." He wassoon afterwards sent by the Royal Geographical Society andby the Society for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge,with Rassam and Russell, to Asia Minor, Kurdistan, andPersia. He travelled, mostly on foot, across France, Switzer-land, Lombardy, Austria, and viâ the Danube to Constanti-

nople, taking magnetic observations on the way. Returningin 1841, he published I I Travels in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia,and Armenia to the Oriental Christians," "Lares andPenates, or Cilicia and its Governors," "The EuphratesValley Route to India," and a proposal for "An Indo-European Telegraph by the Valley of the Indus." Thisroute was afterwards adopted by the Government. In 1854he contributed a geographical commentary to Bohn’s edition(translation) of Xenophon’s Anabasis and Memorabilia.In 1861 he edited an 11 illustrated Universal Gazetteer." In

1888 he published "A Personal Narrative of the EuphratesExpedition," and in 1890 11 The River Karim."

lIe was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries andassociated with many other learned bodies, both British andforeign. Ile was a corresponding member of the Geo-

graphical Society of Paris and a vice-president of theI I Institut d’Afrique." He was one of the founders of theWest London Hospital and its first honorary secretary. Hewas for forty years a regular attendant at its committee.meetings and for many of them its honorary treasurer and avice-president. His familiar face, ripe experience, andamiable character will be greatly missed by his colleagues.He was a leading Conservative in the locality, and for a longtime took an active part in local politics. Persons from allparts of the world continually applied to him for informationon points of scientific, geographical, and antiquarian interest,and his correspondence was very heavy. His wife pre-deceased him several years ago. He leaves one son (CaptainAinsworth) and two daughters, one married to Major Gritton,R M., and the other to Mr. R. J. Gilbert, the secretary to theWest London Hospital. He was an enthusiast in his favouritestudies and a man of distinguished ability. Always amiable,always courteous and kind, his generosity exceeded hismeans. His conversation was extremely interesting, as canbe well imagined when it is recalled how many placeshe had seen and how many interesting persons he hadmet. For example, the war between the Turks and MahometAli was in progress during one of Ainsworth’s visits toSyria, and he was for some time in the Turkish campwith two other Christian companions, one of whom was ayoung Prussian officer, afterwards Field-Marshall Count vonMoltke. But the circumstance which will most interestmiddle-aged readers of this memoir is that the subject of itedited -Bentley’s Miscellany" in some of its palmiestdays, when, among others, his cousin Ha.rrison Ainsworth,Cruiksbank, and Alfred Crow quill contributed to its pages.Do they ever read anything now which interests them as didI ’Rookwood " then’? Do all the illustrations which the

library of magazines of to-day turns out in a year producean impression like that drawing of Jack Sheppard carvinghis name on the beam of the workshop ceiling’’? ? Why, therewas scarcely a middle- or upper-class house in England witha boy m it in which that picture did not set its mark oneither the fixtures or the furniture. In those days Hammer-smith was a pleasant village. William Francis Ainsworthwas a relic of those times, like the fine old riverside housesand wayside inns which remain, and, like him, have beensomewhat thrust into the background by a crowd of moreprominent but less interesting neighbours.

JAMES COOPER, M.D. ST. AND., L.R C.S. EDIN.THE Aberdeenshire papers are eloquent in their notice of

the life of Dr. James Cooper of Old Deer, who lately died at-his residence at South College, Elgin, in his eighty-fifthyear. His history was such as to excite the interest of the.

public and the pride of the profession. He was the son ofthe Rev. James Cooper, M.A., Urquhart, Elgin, and was.born there on June 15th, 1812. At home and at the ElginAcademy he received that good sound education which has.hitherto given the youth of Scotland a fundamental advan-tage in the race of life. He began his medical studies as.pupil of Dr. Stephen of Elgin who dispensed his own

medicines, and Dr. Cooper attached importance to the,lessons of his pupilage. He afterwards went to the Uni-versity of Aberdeen. In 1832 he took the Licence of theRoyal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and in 1839graduated at St. Andrews University. At the age of twenty-two he became assistant to Dr. Christie of Old Deer, whomhe afterwards succeeded. His talent was soon recognisedand the area of country covered by his practice was.

immense and difficult to overtake especially in the winter,but by method and early rising he got through it. Heretired about the year 1875, when, in expression of the genera.!respect of the community he had served so well for forty-two years as medical man and friend, he received a handsomepresent of plate. His wife was Miss Sarah Smith. He issurvived by an only daughter.

JOHN KERR DAVIDSON, L.R.C.P. & S.EDIN.

WE have to record the death of Mr. Kerr Davidson, whichoccurred at his residence, Brooklyn, Blackburn, Lancashire,