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327 extensive wounds and ulcerations of various nature, as an injection into sinuses and cavities, such as the bladder, the nasal cavities, and also in the form of spray as a substitute for the carbolic acid spray in major operations, such as ovariotomy. It was applied by means of compresses covered with an impermeable material, to prevent evaporation. During the dressings a spray of it was employed. The preparation used was absolutely neutral in reaction, and contained four or six times its volume of oxygen ; but for the injection of sinuses or closed cavities a weaker solu- tion was employed, containing only one or two times its volume of oxygen. The results obtained from more than a hundred cases have been most satisfactory, in grave as well as in trifling cases. Under the treatment recent wounds made with the bistoury or thermo-cautery, old wounds even when covered with gangrenous tissue, complicated with lymphangitis, or erysipelas, rapidly assumed a healthy aspect, granulating freely with perfectly sweet creamy pus. Chronic ulcerations rapidly cicatrised, and amputation wounds presented a strong tendency to heal by first intention. The general condition of the patients presented at the same time a marked improvement. The results are stated to have been quite as satisfactory as those obtained with carbolic acid. It has the additional advantage of being free from any toxic property, from any unpleasant odour, and of causing no pain. The results were especially satisfactory in some cases of varicose ulceration of the legs, intra-articular abscesses, ozæna, and purulent cystitis. In some remarks on the occa- sion of M. Pean’s communication to the Académie des Sciences, M. Paul Bert, to whose investigations the French are indebted for most of their knowledge of the subject, pointed out that in the surgical use of this substance its in- fluence was exerted in two ways, first by killing the organisms, and secondly by continually liberating oxygen on the surface of the wound. He insisted on the care which must be taken to secure its purity, since most commercial specimens contain a considerable quantity of sulphuric acid. SALICYLATED STARCH. Kersch has recommended salicylated starch in the treat- ment of eczsms.. It is prepared by mixing starch gradually with salicylated alcohol of a strength of 2 per cent., allowing the starch to sink to the bottom, pouring off the supernatant liquid, squeezing the starch in muslin, and drying it at a temperature of 80° C. In treating eczema it is recommended that after the scales have been removed the patches should be dried with antiseptic cotton-wool, then moistened with a 2 per cent. solution of salicylic acid in alcohol, and after- wards covered with a thick layer of salicylated starch. CONVALLARIA MAJALIS. An old remedy in Russia for dropsy, the convallaria majalis, has been recently tried in France in the form of (1) an aqueous extract of the leaves, which appears to be a feeble preparation ; (2) an extract of the flowers which has a more powerful action on animals than on man; and (3) an extract of the whole plant. M. Hardy, however, has ob- tained an alkaloid, convallarine, in an amorphous form, which seems to possess a potency comparable to that of digitaline. The dose of the extracts which has been em- ployed is from one to two grammes of the extract of the flowers or the entire plant. In the tortoise a remarkable retardation of the heart is produced ; its frequency falls in the course of a minute from 36 to 4. A very marked retarda- tion of the pulse and respiration was caused in the dog by a subcutaneous injection of five centigrammes of the extract. M. Germain See has tried it in twenty cases of disease. In three it had no effect, but in the others its influence was remarkable. It has a powerful diuretic action, increasing the amount of urine to about three times its previous volume. The cases treated were three of mitral regurgitation, two of dilatation of the heart, simple hypertrophy, aortic regurgi- tation, simple anæmia, chronic pericarditis, and diabetes. Russian physicans believed that the agent was chiefly use- ful in nervous affections of the heart ; but this is, in the opinion of M. See, an error. It has no action on the dige3- tive organs, and is perfectly well boi-iie. It rather increases than lessens the appetite, and facili’ates the action of the knnls, The diminution in the heart’s frequency, under normal coudi;i:m,s, amounts to 10 or 15 beats per minute. Irregularity, especially of nervous origin, is lessened. Sen- sations of pulsation in distal vessels—e.g., in the he ad—are remove 1 hy it. At the same time the force of the cardiac action is increased. Public Health and Poor Law. LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT. REPORTS OF INSPECTORS TO THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD. Hull.—Dr. Airy has prepared for the Local Government Board a very exhaustive report on the sanitary condition of the borough of Hull, the more immediate object of his inspection having been the serious mortality which has prevailed there from scarlet fever. A very complete general description of the borough is given, special prominence being accorded to its topographical features. The town lie on an alluvial flat, waterlogged to within a few feet of the surface; it is in many parts densely packed and overcrowded, and the sewage is dammed back in the outfall sewer for over seventeen out of every twenty-four hours. Considerable efforts are made to mitigate these local disadvantages. A dry system of excrement removal is in vogue, which appears, however, to require more careful scavenging, general refuse is regularly collected and then destroyed in one of Messrs. Bailey and Fryer’s destructors, and the flushing of the sewers is effectually performed. The administration is, however, in several respects seriously lax. Notwithstanding the risk of the importation of infectious disease by water into this important seaport town, which has received in one year as many as 70,000 emigrants, there is no check upon vessels entering the town and no security whatever against the introduction of infection. With a population of 154,250, the medical officer of health is paid a sum which can only com- mand a very small amount of his time, and which is wholly inadequate to the services required; and the fact that he is not independent of private practice is evidently a great hindrance to his receiving that co-operation from his colleagues which such an officer for a district like Hull must constantly stand in need of. The general death- rate for the borough is about 240 per 1000 of the in- habitants, and it is satisfactory to note that improvement in this respect has for some years been in progress, a fact which should encourage the authority to persevere in their efforts to remove the many sanitary defects still to be dealt with. But in 1831 the mortality was swelled to an alarming extent by deaths from scarlet fever. This disease, never wholly absent from the borough, slowly increased during the first half of the year. In July, however, a rapid extension took place. The infectious hospital, which then only contained twenty-one beds, was put in requisition, and, as it filled, two new wards were hurnedly erected. But, as Dr. Airy says, the disease was then beyond control, and it had to burn itself out. From the begiuning of September up to the end of the year the fatal cases varied from 19 to 40 a week, and as many as 680 deaths from this one cause alone were registered for 1881, a total of 417 being recorded in the last quarter of the year. During the first three months of the present year some signs of abatement were observed, the fatal cases, however, numbered as many as 140. According to the Registrar-General’s return for the second quarter a reduction to 63 scarlet fever deaths had taken place. But the disease, unfortunately, also spread to adjoin- ing districts, and some report as to these is also given by Dr. Airy. Nothing short of a very perfect system of notifica- tion of infectious diseases, together with ample provision for the isolation of first attacks, can be expected to prevent epidemics of scarlet fever in our large towns. It is true that much may be done to stay their progress and to limit their extent by an energetic sanitary administration, yet so long as the disease is regarded with such apathy by a large pro- portion of the poor and ignorant who are often crowded together, and who do not deem it necessary to seek medical advica even when this can be gratuitously procured, any thought of its eradication must for the time be given up. Education must go hand in hand with an intelligent sanitary administration before any such result can be attained. REPORTS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH. Hudders field (Urban).—Dr. Cameron’s quarterly return for Hudders field, relating to the three months endiug J une last, aiforderl fairly satisfactory evidence of the sanitary con- dition of that borough during the pedriod under review. The
