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Two Cases of Alleged H1Mband-po’isoning.Ireland has had the rare experience within the past few

days of witnessing two trials on the criminal charge ofhusband-poisoning. One of these was heard at the Donegalassizes and the other at the Mayo assizes. In the formercase the poison employed was strychnine which was

administered in tea. The victim, David Buchanan, was anelderly farmer, and the prisoner, who was aged 45 years, hadbeen living for some years on unfriendly terms with herhusband. The latter had recently taken action against aneighbouring farmer for damages on account of the

alleged existence of improperly intimate relations betweenhim and Mrs. Buchanan. The attempt to poisonwas made just a month previously to the date of the

hearing of the civil action at the assizes and the prosecutingcounsel suggested that the accused woman had made themurderous attempt for the definite purpose of ending theproceedings in the most effective manner possible. OnJune 16th Mr. Buchanan made his own breakfast, using somesugar and cream which had been left out by his wife. After

taking some of the tea he immediately became ill and a dogwhich drank some cream that had been emptied from thebowl died within ten minutes. The husband had takensome of this cream in his tea and on observing the bitternessof taste he threw away the contents of his cup. The prisonerthen threw away the cream, loudly exclaiming that he wasalways suspecting her of attempting to poison him. Evidenceproved that before the occurrence of the incident the prisonerhad " cleaned down the house," bought in a stock of candles,and made other usual preparations for a coming wake."

"

Also that she had remarked to her husband that she was surethat he would not live long. Professor Barklie of Belfast,who had analysed the contents of the dog’s stomach, statedthat he had found therein three grains of strychnine, andnearly the same amount was found on post-mortem examina-tion of Buchanan. Mrs. Buchanan was found guilty and wassentenced to 20 years penal servitude. In the Mayo case theaccused was alleged to have used phosphorus, but the proofswere practically absent and acquittal followed.July 21st.

_________________

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Selective Action of Radizcm upon Angiomatous Tissue.AT a meeting of the French Society of Dermatology and

Syphilography on July 2nd M. Wickham and M. Degrais re-capitulated their former communications upon the selectiveaction of radium in the treatment of certain affections of theskin. This is in no case more striking than in the case ofangiomatous tissues. The tumours can be blanched andreduced without the establishment of any inflammatoryreaction. These results can be obtained by different methods,either by very short but frequently repeated exposures or bythe interposition of a screen of varying thickness for ex-posures of longer duration, a method in which a very smalltotal dose of the emanations is employed. This treatmentwithout reaction has distinct advantages but it is little usedon account of its slowness ; in the majority of cases it isbetter to allow a reaction, although it may be only a slightone.

A Dry Regimen in the Gastro-enteritis of Infants.At the Medical Society of Paris on June 27th M. Galois

maintained that the part played by infection in the gastro-enteritis of infancy has been exaggerated, He considers that

dyspepsia is the prime cause and that if infection supervenesit is secondary to this condition and to overfeeding. He

accordingly does not direct his treatment to disinfecting thealimentary canal but reduces the amount of food and

employs a dry regimen. He says that in children it willoften cure the disease in 24 hours, his rule being to giveevery two hours a spoonful of a cream composed of the

following mixture : a dessert-spoonful of a kind of Swisscheese and a table-spoonful of sweetened milk.

Ionic Treatment in Epilepsy and Tabes.At the same meeting M. Schmidt narrated his experiences

of treating an epileptic with bromine and magnesium ad-ministered by the ionic method. He stated that the treatmentmodified the fits and lengthened the interval between them,

calmed the man’s mental condition, and improved his sleep ;he had nearly entirely lost a bromide eruption that he hadhad before the treatment was commenced. M. Schmidt foundthat phosphorus and magnesium ionisation were ineffective inone case of tabes but gave very satisfactory results in two and a,quite remarkable improvement in a fourth. The unsuccessfulcase was probably due to the extreme sensitiveness and greatnervousness of the patient who would not allow a sufficientdose to be administered. In the other three cases the-

lightning pains and gastric crises have disappeared, the sightand the gait have improved, and one of them, a tabetic inthe stage of cachexia, with sloughs, a Charcot’s joint, aperforating plantar ulcer, and a spontaneous fracture, has.suffered no more complications since the ionic treatment was:adopted more than a year ago.

Morphinomania and Divorce.An interesting case has been occupying the attention of-

the Divorce Court. The plaintiff was a respectable businessman whose married life, once quite happy, had been com-pletely ruined from the day on which his wife accidentallytasted morphine. By dint of assiduous care her husbandhad cured her in spite of herself but it was only to see hergive up this habit to take to indulgence in alcohol. Counsel’for the husband argued that he had suffered grave injury byhis wife having lost control of herself and of her reason byexposing herself voluntarily to a habit which degraded herbelow the level of a human being. By sinking to such

depths she had shattered the tranquillity of the householdand endangered the peace of mind and the lives of herhusband and her children. Her counsel replied that hercondition was a disease rather than a fault and that she

ought to be looked after and not to be punished. He askedfor expert medical evidence to assess the degree of hisclient’s responsibility. The court, however, found for thehusband and granted him the divorce with custody of thechildren.

The Progressive Decrease in Pulmonary T1lberculos’is.M. Armaingaud made an interesting communication oni

this subject to the Academy of Medicine on July 7th. Hefirst stated that notwithstanding public opinion the decreasein the mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis during the last25 years had amounted in Paris to more than 21 per cent. In,Berlin it had been 35 per cent., in Vienna 45 per cent., inNew York 41 per cent., and in London 25 per cent. during-the same period. The decrease of 21 per cent. in Paristestifies to the general improvement in sanitary conditions-and to the commencing success of the struggle againsttuberculosis. In spite of this many medical men haveconsidered that the mortality from this disease was on the-increase. On account of the changes which have been made-lately in the nomenclature of diseases in the mortalityreturns from 800 to 850 deaths are now put under the-

heading of pulmonary tuberculosis which formerly would have-been returned under other diseases. Another source of erroris the increasing number of persons suffering from thisdisease who do not live in Paris but come into the city’shospitals for treatment. If the number of deaths amongstsuch patients be subtracted from the total mortality fromtuberculosis in the Parisian hospitals a real diminution in theirdeath-rate from this cause becomes apparent.

Insufficient Mastication and Gastric Disorders.At a meeting of the Academy of Medicine on July 7th

M. Jacquet and M. Debas insisted upon the importance ofslow and sufficient mastication to the perfect performance ofgastric digestion. This fact has, it is true, been recognisedfor a long time, but they have brought positive proof to bearupon it in the form of radiographs which show clearly thatpeople who eat quickly have their stomachs distendedabnormally and for too long a time after meals, much morethan those persons who masticate their food carefully. Thishabitual tiring of the stomach at length produces a permanent distension of the organ, atony of its muscular wall,stagnation of its contents, and all the evil train of conse-quences to the chemistry of digestion. Further, re&extroubles are caused in other systems, such as arterial hypertension, neuralgia, and neurasthenia. M. Jacquet remarkedthat amongst the Americans, who have long suffered fromthe ill-effects of hurried eating, certain societies have beenformed to promote mastication.

273

Tick h’cver in A byssinia.At a meeting of the Society of Tropical Diseases on

July 8th M. Brumpt summarised the experiments which hemade personally in 1901 with ornithodorus moubata. The

negative results then obtained induced him to write that thenative belief in the virulence of this tick was erroneous.

But lately he has received a batch of 110 Abyssinian tickswith which he has succeeded in infecting a monkey, and henow acknowledges the existence in Abyssinia of tick feverwhich has been known since 1903 but hitherto only in theCongo and German East Africa. This spirochætal diseasemust be spread over a wide area in Abyssinia, for ornithodorusis found in all the hot sandy valleys and, unlike the otherticks, has its exclusive habitat in the soil.July 20th.

BERLIN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The Practitioners’ Association.THE Practitioners’ Association (Deutscher Aerzte-Tag)

held its annual meeting on June 28th and 29th at Dantzic,Professor Lobker of Bochum being in the chair. In his

inaugural address the President alluded to the questionwhich for the majority of medical practitioners is of the

greatest importance-namely, the forthcoming reform of theworkmen’s insurance laws. He said that these laws had

formerly been made without regard to the interests of themedical men and that the Government had heard the opinionof experts of all classes but not that of the representativesof the medical profession, although no other profession orclass had been so seriously affected by the operation ofthese laws as the medical profession had been. This stateof affairs had lately been improved, for the Government inconnexion with the forthcoming reform of the workmen’sinsurance laws had convoked a conference to which, apartfrom representatives of the sick-clubs, the employers’ asso-ciations, and other bodies, representatives of the medical

profession had been invited. He said that he was urable to

give fuller particulars concerning the result of the con-

ference but he could say that there was no chanceof all the wishes of the profession being granted, espe-cially as regards the compulsory enforcement of the"free choice" " system. He saw grounds for hoping,however, that the unpleasant conflict between clubs andmedical men which caused so much friction would in futurebe restrained by legislation. The whole matter was to bediscussed in Parliament when the Government introducedthe Bill, and he hoped that the medical members of the

Reichstag would induce their respective parties to rememberthe interests of the medical profession more than had beenthe case hitherto. After the inaugural address the congressdiscussed the question of the instruction of school childrenin hygiene. Dr. Stephani of Mannheim proposed a motionthat such instruction is very desirable in the interests of the

public health. The training for the profession of teachingshould include lectures on hygiene so that the teachers maybe able to instruct their pupils on these matters. In largeschools and colleges the elder pupils should be instructed bymedical men. The hygienic instruction should teach the evil effects of alcoholism and also of quackery. Sexual hygieneshould not be included in the school instruction but shouldbe left to the parents. In the discussion attention was drawnto the fact that, especially in the country, the teachers them-selves sometimes were quacks and that it was undesirable toallow them to propagate their peculiar views on hygiene andmedical matters amongst their pupils. When there were

medical officers to schools throughout Germany, as at presentis the case in certain towns and districts only, it will be theirduty to give the instruction in hygiene. A discussion followedupon the question as to whether whole-time medical officersfor schools were desirable or whether these appointmentsshould be held by general practitioners. The advantages ofboth systems were discussed. A medical officer who devotedhis time exclusively to the schools would be less liable tocome into conflict with the medical attendants of the childrenthan if he were at the same time a medical practitionerhimself. It has been observed that the parents often desireto consult the medical officers of the school privately about

their children to the prejudice of their regular medicalattendants, and that this is avoided by the appointment ofa whole-time medical officer. On the other hand, it wassaid that the medical practitioners were more fitted for theseappointments because they were more closely in touchwith the people than were medical officials. Another

subject dealt with was that of the fees payable for insurancecertificates. The committee of the insurance companieshas proposed to alter the existing agreement and to sub-stitute a new contract based on the sliding scale, accord-

ing to the sum for which the insurance is taken out.The association agreed to the proposal of the insur-ance companies, with the proviso that it should beat first effective for a period of three years only. The meet-

ing then discussed the question of membership of sick clubs.Although membership is compulsory only for workmen earn-ing less than M.2000 ( £100 a year) a good many men continueto be voluntary members after their wages have risenabove this sum. Workmen who have become mastersare among the members of the clubs, and by payingsmall contributions enjoy the benefits of an institutionintended for the working class only. A motion was

carried that the clubs should be obliged to pay a higher feeto their medical officers for their voluntary members. Thelast subject discussed by the meeting was the forthcominglegislation on unqualified practice. The meeting decidedto accept the principles of the Bill proposed by the Govern-ment (see THE LANCET, March 14th, 1908, p. 818), providedthat certain amendments were admitted. As the Bill willnot be introduced in Parliament before the next meeting ofthe association the discussion was adjourned till next year.

July 20th.

COPENHAGEN.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Intravenous Injections of Strophanthine.AT a recent meeting of the Swedish Medical Society Professor

C. G. Santesson read a paper on intravenous injections ofstrophanthine. He laid stress on the fact that the increasein the effect of the work of the heart was due far more to a

lowering of the diastolic pressure than to an augmentationof the systolic pressure. The effect meant therefore reallya relief for the heart, particularly when the blood pres-sure was abnormally high. He reported cases in which aquick effect was observed in grave cases of cardiac insuffi-ciency. Dr. M. Bruhn-Faaraeus said that he had used the

injections for more than a year. The effect was similar tothat of digitalen and digitalis. It would, however, appear tobe inferior to digitalen in bringing about diuresis. When

properly made with a sterile solution the injections werewithout any danger. The results of the treatment justifiedfurther trial. Dr. E. 0. Hultgren had observed in his owncases a rapid improvement of the subjective symptoms. Afew hours after the injections an objective improvementcould also be demonstrated, the pulse becoming fuller andregular, with the supervening,increase of the blood pressure.Sometimes this good effect maintained itself for weeks.Dr. Israel Holmgren had from his experience received theimpression that the intravenous injections of strophanthineproved active in exactly the same cases in which one wasaccustomed to expect an effect of the digitalis preparations,particularly in valvular disease. In cases of toxic degenera-tion of the heart muscle he had seen no effect whatever.In contradistinction to other speakers he had constantlyobserved a decrease of the pulse-rate. If, e.g., the pulsewas about 150 before the injection it might be about 90 someten minutes after the injection and remain unaltered fordays. He thought that the injections were indicated in allcases where a rapid and strong digitalis effect " was to bedesired.

Status Lymphaticus and " Thymus Death. "At the same meeting a paper by Professor John Berg on a

case of Graves’s Disease complicated by Enlargement of theThymus and death occurring shortly after operation gaverise to an interesting discussion on the nature of the so-calledstatus lymphaticus and thymus death. Professor T. AugustHammar said that the question was whether these cases ofsudden death were due, directly or indirectly, to the thymus.