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veloped very soon; consequently many have died of consumption.Pneumonia and bronchitis are frequently contracted, and theexpectoration is generally melanosed and very bad, from the par-ticles of coke dust they constantly inhale. 1 used to recommendstrongly the use of flanuel clothing next the skin, and in manyinstances the men have thanked me for my suggestion. Fromthe alternations of heat and cold to which they are subject, Iconsider them much more liable than any other class of men tocontract the diseases before mentioned. If they drink muchbeer and spirits they cannot last long. They are generally toomany hours on their engines at one time ; and, altogether, Ithink their lives are in most cases very much shortened.With respect to guards on the line, they are, as a body,

well. conducted, healthy men, and are not so exposed to theweather as engine drivers and firemen; but of course there areexceptions in both cases. There are a fw old drivers I knowwho have always been steady men, and who, having got usedto the changes, seem never to have anything the matter witbthem T am Cir yours trnlv

Winslow, Bucks, Jan. 1862. WILLIAM A. ROGERS, M.R.C.S.

ABORTION RESULTING FROM RAILWAYTRAVELLING.

GUSTAVUS MURRAY, M.D.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-The following case is, I think, interesting as showingthe susceptibility of some constitutions more than others tothe injurious influences of railway travelling :-A lady of rank, twenty-three years of age, of a highly nervous

and excitable temperament travelled to London by rail, adistance of some two hundred miles. She felt labour painscoming on about an hour after she had started; they increasedin severity from the moment of their commencement, andwithin one hour after her arrival in town, an ovum of betweenthree and four months was expelled. She made a good reco-very, and as this accident lost her a son and heir, she naturallyenough resolved not to attempt long railway journeys for thefuture when enceinte.

In the course of two years after this mishap, she again be-came pregnant, and studiously avoided all railway travellingoccupying more than one hour; but when within a month orsix weeks of her full time, she was obliged to leave London forthe country, a distance a little over one hundred miles, by rail.She had not travelled half an hour before labour began, andwith such power and rapidity that the liquor amnii escaped;and it seemed inevitable that she must be delivered in thecarriage, which event, however, fortunately did not occur, buttook place immediately on her reaching her destination.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,GUSTAVUS MURRAY, M.D.

Green-street, Grosvenor-square, Feb. 1882.

THE PRODUCTION OF NAUSEA AND SICKNESS.

FRANCIS GODRICH, M.R.C.S.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-My experience as to the influence of railway travellingon health does not afford many decisive examples. I have,however, known ladies frequently to complain of the motionproducing precisely the same nausea and eventual sicknesswhich so many experience on a sea voyage. I have now a ladyunder my care who suffers dreadfully whenever she travels byrail to Brighton. I read the commissioners’ report weekly, andthat with much satisfaction.

I remain, Sir, yours respectfully,West Brompton, Feb. 1862. FRANCIS GODRICH, M. R. C. S.

EFFECTS OF RAILWAY TRAVELLING UPON THEURINARY ORGANS.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,-I beg to forward you the following two cases which

came under my notice, showing the injurious effects of railwaytravelling upon the urinary organs:-An elderly gentleman, who resides in the Isle of Wight, and

who has been the subject of stricture of the urethra for severalyears, and has latterly been suffering in addition from subacuteinflammation of the bladder and prostate gland, carne to meabout nine months since, and placed himself under treatment.He came to town at short intervals, and after each journeycomplained of great annoyance from an aggravation of hismore urgent symptoms. Upon close investigation it could be

clearly traced to the modes of conveyance : he was obliged to

have three-namely, a carriage to the pier, the steam-vesselto cross, and the rail to towu. His several miles’ drive to the

pier and crossing produced no inconvenience; but he had notperformed half his journey to town before he was overtakenwith an almost insurmountable desire to pass urine, with allthe accompanying pains and penalties, which increasecl as he

progressed. He continued to suffer more or less each visit,and only lost the annoyance with the cure of his disease.The other case was that of a gentleman fanner from the fur-

t.her end of Berkshire. He has been suffering from stricture forthe last ten years, and has, to use his own words, "travelledalmost all over the world." He very seldom rides on horse-back, but walks many miles daily, being fond of field sports,and frequently uses carriage exercise, from neither of whichdoes he experience any sort of annoyance; but his journey totown, made by express rain, very soon painfully reminds himof his mode of transit by producing very great irritation in theurinary organs; indeed, he occasionally suffers so much, that *he is obliged to have recourse to the warm bath before he cansubmit to the necessary treatment.

I am. Sir. vour obedient servant.St. Thomas’s-street, Feb. 1862. SAM. J. BAYFIELD, M.R.C.S.

SYMPTOMS OF SPINAL MENINGITIS.

EDMUND ROBINSON, M.R.C.S.,Resident-Surgeon.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,--I think the following wiU be deemed of sufficient in-terest to the profession for insertion in your journal, showing,as it. does, the serious results which sometimes follow a mosttrivial injury, and the difficulty of giving a proper prognosisimmediately after an accident :-

George B-, aged four years, a fine, stout, healthy boy,was returning from the chapel attached to the workhouse, onWednesday, the l2th instant, when a play mate, aged six years,kicked him (as was stated) in the loins. He cried at the time,but afterwards walked into the school-room. For the next few

days he appeared rather feverish, but nothing occurred to inducethe nurse to call my attention to the child until the Sunday fol-lowing. I then found him hot, feverish, and restless, but sen-sible, moaning slightly, with an indisposition to move his ex-tremities. I ordered him to the infirmary, and prescribed asaline and diaphoretic mixture, together with a purgative ofcalomel and-jalap, with a hot bath. In the evening of thesame day he was reporterl a little better, but afterwards passeda restless night; and, on the following morning, I found thatthe mischief was extending upwards, for the breathing becamelaboured, with great tenderness over the dorsal region. Leecheswere then applied to the spine, the powder and bath repeated,his diet consisting of beef tea, milk, &c. ; but the extension ofthe paralysis was hourly perceptible. In the afternoon, thearms became powerless, the breathing shorter, and twitchingof the lips had commenced. The powder had operated andurine had passed. At seven P. M. convulsions commenced,which continued until tive A.M., when death ensued.On the Friday following an inquest was held. Withouthaving made a post-mortem examination, I gave it as myopinion that death had resulted from injury to the spine. Thejury returned a verdict-Homicide by misadventure. Feelingthe seriousness of such a charge, I have since made a post.mortem examination. and found no external marks of violence.All the internal organs were healthy; the brain firm. hut con-gested-the congestion greater towards the pons Varolii; andstrong evidence of spinal meningitis, continuing downwards tothe tirst lumber vertebra, below which there was apparentlyfreedom from disease.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

EDMUND ROBINSON, M.R.C.S.,Birmingham Workhouse, Feb. 1862. Resident-Surgeon.

PARISIAN MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE.(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

THE Central Society of the General Medical Association has,through its working Committee, recently made a statement ofaccounts; the Compte Hendu" comprises an announcement ofthe receipts and expenditure for 1861, as well as of the actual

financial position. This Society, still in its infancy, will onlyin the ensuing month of April complete its third year of exist-ence, and not until the expiration of the triennial period dothe functions of the relieving Committee come into operation.The capital is a very small one to begin with, only 14,264 f.,

238

(not £600,) and as the applications for relief, already numerous, tion and reahsorption of the turnout. This operation has beencannot fail to multiply, it is much to be desired that the re- attempted and has failed, for it is more than probable that,sources of this benevolent fund may increase pa?-i passu with although the pedicle is mainly concerned in the nutritionthe demands upon its good offices. It is difficult to imagine of the swelling, the atmosphere of cellular tissue in whichhow, with such names as those of MM. Rayer, Andral, Michel the tumour is imbedded also contributes to its support. In ope-Lévy, Blache, and Barthez, upon the Council, and an annual rating, you must not forget, added M. Nelaton, that the tumoursubscription of ten shillings only, any member of the profession lies ’Upon the peritoneum in one part, and that this membraneshould withhold his support from a Society, the very nature of has to be detached from the diseased mass by means of the bis-which renders a hearty and universal co-operation an indispen- toury. This practitioner, during the course of one of his opera-sable element of success. tions. actually wounded the serous lining of the abdomen; butM. N61al on devoted the whole of an interesting clinical con- happily a fold of omenrum adapted itself almost immediately

ference last week, at the Hôpital de la Clinique, to the con- to the wounded surfaces, and averted the consequences whichsideration of m variety of tumour hitherto undescribud in surgical might have rendered the accident fatal.treatises, for which he claims a distinct place in the pathological M. Personne, chief apothecary of the Pitié, has just written avocabulary. " The tibrous tumour of the iliac fossa," which is little work detailing the results of experiments undertakenthe name gh-en to this particular growth by M. Nelaton, has with the view of testing the relative value of iodized oil andbeen met with by this surgeon on fifreen or twenty occasions cod-liver oil in the treatment of scrofulous and other cachecticduring the course of his practice, and on each occasion possessed maladies. The facts are striking, and well supported by properof the same peculiar Indications of identity which entitle it to a names of most respectable authority. The cod henceforwardspecial recognition. (That the diagnosis of such tumours is Wlll have little else to do than hide his diminished liver.not, however, very easy, I happen to know; for one of the cases Last Tuesday’s séance at the Academy did not present anyreferred to by M. Nelaton, and in which he ultimately operated features of great interest. M. Larrey read the second part ofwith success, had already been seen hy a friend of mine here, his speech on the question of Army Medical Organization,an excellent and talented surgeon, who declined to meddle with d welling chiefly upon the details of service in the fielfl as carrieda growth presenting, he said, undeniable evidence of cancerous out in the recent campaigns in the Crimea and in Lombardy,structure.) The particular case which furnished the text of and deducing therefrom certain general hygienic conclusions ofM. Nelaton’s It cture was that of a female, aged twenty-six, who considerable practical value, but of no very extreme novelty.-was admitted into the Cliuiqne in the list week of January. M. Gibert presented an instrument devised by M. Baur:scheidtShe stated that four years age she was delivered of a child, and of Bonn, destined to produce derivation to the skin in neuralgicshortly after the accouchement noticed in the right iliac fossa a and rheumatic affections. This contrivance, termed the "re-small firm tumour as big as a nut. This increased slowly, and vulsor"-not unlike a very minute cupping scarificator, withgave pain, mostly in the immediate site of the swelling, but needles in place of lancets,-is capable of inflicting at eachoccasionally darting down the thigh and leg of the same side. stroke no less than forty minute wounds or pricks upon theAt present the tumour, situate just above the fold of the groin, cutaneous surface. The part thus punctured is then dressed,is oblong and oval in form, with its long diameter parallel to cured, or pickled, with an irritating fluid, of which black

PouparL’s ligament. The skin. is not adherent to the swelling, pepper and mustard are the active agents ; and a full crop ofand presents no discoloration, and on pressure the growth is vesicular erythema is rapidly produced. The alleged advan-found to be firm and resistant, like a uterine polypus. The tages of this method are-instantaneity of action, absence ofpatient, when questioned as to the amount of pain present, pain and subsequent cicatrices, and facility of application. Icompared her sensations to the pricking of a pin, and stated confess that I shoulrl feel more comfortable regarding the pain-that she suffered more at night than in the day, and more after lessuess of the process, had Dr. Baunsoheidt and M. Gibertexertion than when herday’s work had been easy. The summer guaranteed this special immunity by personal experiment.season, as well as the monthly period, seemed likewise to have M. Gustave Heuze has lately published, under the ti’le ofconsiderable influence in the aggravation of her pain. These " Le Vin, la Vigne, et 1’Alcool," some remarks illustrative oftumours, of which M. Nelaton has extirpated two, are made up the effects of the eidium upon the yield of the vineyard, andof a fibrous tissue, bearing great resemblance to that met with has at the same time given a description of an improved methodin the fibrous polypi of the uterus, and are almost constantly of vine-culture which is gradually being adopted throughout.attached by firm adhesions to the crest of the ilium, whence France. Both subjects are of particular interest at the presentpossibly they spring. An interesting point in the history of moment, in consfouence of the impulse communicated to thethese formations is their exclusive appearance in the female; in wine-trade by the late treaty of commerce between France andnone of the instances witnessed by M. Nelaton was the patient England. The grape-dise.’se has, ever since its first appearancea male, and this f-ict he explains by the occurrence of the in France in the year 184.5, annually recurred ; and, exceptingperiodical congestion in these regions in the woman, and its in those localities in which the growers have anticipated theoperation as a predisposing cause. As these tnmours increase return of the blight by a timely and copious application ofin size, they encroach upon the neighbourhood of the inguinal sulphur, the ravages of the disease have persisted. The vine-canal, and passing into the sub peritoneal cellular tissue, be- proprietor, although a great loser at the early period of thetween the peritoneum and the fascia iliaca, push forward the oidium epidemic, is now indemnified for the scarcity of the fineringuinal canal. Their progress is slow, and though in some qualities of wine by the increased value of the inferior produce,cases they may attain a size equal to that of the foecal head in certain descriptions having within the last ten years quintupledthe space of ten years, this is not the rule. It is not easy, ac- in value. Another effect of the disease has been a completecording to M. Nêlaton, to confound the fibrous tumour of the revision of the old system of viticulture, the plant being nowiliac fossa with any other surgical malady in the same region. pruned late, so as to be less liable to injury from the frosts ofBetween it and aneurism, abscess, heruia, and stercoral tumour, April and May; and each year the two-year-old shoot whichthere cannot possibly be confusion for a moment. In the case of has just borne fruit is lopped off, and replaced by a one-year-enchondroma, however, the differential diagnosis may be, in a old shoot, trained, as in the Medoc district, horizontally. An-

slight degree, more pnzzling; but the difficulty is dissipated by other effect of the increase of value in the inferior classes ofbearing in mind that the surface of the latter is knobbed and wine is that they are no longer manufactured into brandy, butuneven, as well as hard and cartilaginous, whereas in the former are mixed and fabricated for foreign exportation ; while theirit is firm, but not hard, and perfectly smooth. In the distinc- pLice is taken by the beet root, to the conversion of whichtion between them and syphilitic tumours, the best diagnostic vegetable into alcohol an enormous impulse has thus been givensign is the condition of the skin, which in the last is invariably by the new treaty.found to be altered in colour, less movable than in the normal paris February ssth, 1862.state, and slightly adherent. With regard to the indication or _ _ _ ___contra-indication of the operation, when once the nature of the

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tumour has been made out, M. Nelaton observed, that if the HOSPITAL FOR StCn CHILDREN. -The tenth annualtumour were not very voluminous nor very troublesome, surgical meeting of this charity was held in the board room of the in-interference was uncalled for; bu if its growth were rapid, and stlrtttiun. The Hon. Secretary read the general report, andits presence very irksome to the patient, then extirpation might expressed the thanks of the Committee for successful progress.be considered advisable. Another method for treating these The number of out-patients for the past year had been 11,068,tumonrs hus been proposed and act.ually resorted to, but hitherto and in-patients 576. The report eulogized the medical staff,without much success. The attachment to the crest of the and lamented the removal of Mr. Athol Johnson and the deathilium being a species of perlicle and containing the chief source of D M. Babington. The proceedings terminated by the re-of vascrllar supply to the morbid growth, this it has been deemed election of the officers for the ensuing year, votes of thanks tc)expedient to divide suboutancorsly, with a view to the starva.- the medical staff, and also to the cliairuian of the meeting.