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Testimonials to Medical MenAuthor(s): Charles HawkinsSource: Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal (1844-1852), Vol. 14, No. 22 (Oct. 30, 1850), pp.615-616Published by: BMJStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25501484 .

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TESTIMONIALS TO MEDICAL MEN. 615

plant has been also tested by Dr. Tyler Smith, with

leaves gathered in the botanical gardens of Chelsea,

and several cases are reported from which we make the

following selection:

Mrs. C., aged 24, had weaned her child about six

weeks, but had still a little milk of a thin serous cha

racter. She commenced the use of the plant by bathing the left breast only, with a strong decoction of the

leaves, which were likewise applied as above mentioned.

After a few applications, the milk had become much

mole thick.

Mrs. H. had weaned her child more than six months.

On careful examination little or no milk could be

discovered in either breast. The plant was used night and morning for four days. After the second appli

cation, thick milk like colostrum could be squeezed out from both breasts, which had become tinged. A

leucorrhoeal discharge was also produced. , When it is required to induce the catamenial discharge

the patient is directed to sit over the steam from a

decoction of the plant, and to bathe the vulva and

thighs, as well as the breasts.-London Journal of

Medicine, October, 1850.

TOXICOLOGY.

On the Post-mortem Appearances in Death by Drowning.

By Dr. RIEDELL.

The following are the results of a series of experi ments by Dr. Riedell:

1. The cadaveric rigidity does not occur more slowly than in other modes of death. This phenomenon is

accelerated by high temperature of the water.

2. The accumulation of blood within the cranium

was inconsiderable, and effusion of blood had not

occurred in any case.

3. The epiglottis was constantly found erect.

4. The diaphragm was always found relaxed, its con

vexity being towards the thorax. The intestines were

not pressed against the abdominal walls. The lungs were usually found in the condition of an imperfect ex

piration,-owing, doubtless, to the distension of these

organs by fluid, the presence of which presented an

obstacle to the collapse of the thoracic parietes. 5. In half the number of instances the two sides of

the heart contained equal quantities of blood; in the

other half the right side contained the larger proportion. In one case only the emptiness of the left side con

trasted strongly with the fulness of the right. The

quantity of blood in the liver varied greatly. 6. The bladder was sometimes empty, and sometimes

full. It was almost always distended with fluid in

animals drowned in a state of stupor. 7. The blood in the heart and large vessels contained

coagula, in autopsies made from two hours to five days after death. Coagula were found three-quarters of an

hour after death, in the heart of a cat drowned in boil

ing water (! !), while in animals drowned in ice-cold

water the blood was still fluid and cadaveric: rigidity

was absent.

8. In the majority of cases the fluid had passed into

the stomach. In animals previously killed, and placed for twenty-four hours in water with the mouth wide

open, no fluid penetrated to the stomach.

9. In every case the trachea, bronchi, and lungs, contained a frothy fluid. This was a constant sign of

death by submersion. After death, this frothy fluid

gradually disappeared from the air-tubes by exosmosis, but not from the lungs. The fluidity of this froth is

diagnostic of death by drowning, and is not met with in

any other mode of death. Another equally important character was observed in the constantly flabby condition

of the lungs, which are dilated and preserve the im

pression of the finger on their surfaces. The lungs are

also three or four times as heavy as natural. This

diagnosis, however, is open to the objection that the

same phenomena may be produced by the forcible in

jection of fluid into the lungs.-L'Union Mddicale, and

Medical Gazette, Sep. 13.

i nrtrpnnltnrr. TESTIMONIALS TO MEDICAL MEN.

To the Editor of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal.

Sir,-As I find that a letter signed " M.D," from

Bath, " On Testimonials to Medical Men," has appeared in your Journal, may I beg that you will insert also one

that I sent to the London Medical Gazette, which I

enclose.

I am Sir, your obedient Servant, CHARLES HAWKINS.

Savile Row, October 11, 1850.

" Testimonials to Medical Men.

"Sir,-In your last number an anonymous corres

pondent, dating from Bath, writing on the subject of

testimonials, makes the following observations:-' It

has appeared to me that on several occasions, the Com

mittees authorised to decide upon the form or kind of

testimonial have erred, and instead of conferring an

honour and benefit upon the individual or his family, have rather taken advantage of a good name to promote some local improvement, or to serve some body of men.

" ' In the instance of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the sub

scriptions of his friends and admirers were diverted to

the founding of a medal for the stu ents of St. George's

Hospital; the effect being to benefit the medical staff

of the hospital, rather than to gratify and honour Sir

Benjamin, by presenting to him a testimonial to be

handed with his title as an heirloom to his family.' "As the statement with regard to ' the Brodie Medal'

is entirely untrue, I feel called upon, in justice to ' the

Brodie Testimonial Committee,' to which I had the

honour to be Secretary, to inform you that the sub

scriptions have not in any way been diverted from the

original intentions of the subscribers. A gold medal, and the dye from which it was struck, were presented to Sir Benjamin Brodie, and it was left to him to do

with them what he might think right; and they still

remain his property; neither have the medical staff, or

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616 MISCELLANEOUS.

the students of St. George's Hospital, been benefitted

in any way by 'the Brodie Testimonial,' as your cor

respondent has asserted.-I am, Sir, "'Your obedient Servant,

" CHARLES HAWKINS.

" Savile Row, Oct. 1, 1850."

ON THE LATE BATH BRANCH MEETING.

To the Editors of the Provincial Mledical and Surgical Journal.

GENTLEMEN,-The number of the Provincial Journal

just received contains a report of the last Bath and Bristol

Meeting, in which I find the following:-" Mr. Barrett

then adverted to the doubtful propriety of introducing the

subject he was about to bring forward, viz., the matter

of evidence to be given by medical men when placed in

the witness box." The facts of the case are these:

I prepared a paper " on the duties of medical witnesses and the value of medical evidence," to be read before

the meeting; but there had been so much time occupied

by the first discussion, that I deemed it best to use my paper as a text, giving an abstract of it, which I did; and I beg your readers to believe that your reporter

much misunderstood me, if he supposed that I did then or do now doubt the propriety of introducing such a

subject to the consideration of our profession. I am, gentlemen,

Your obedient servant, JOHN BARRETT, F.R.C.S.

Bath, 13, Pierrepont Street, Oct. 17th, 1850.

3M iriul tinltigenrc. CYSTICERCUS OCULI.

The newspapers state that Dr. Mackenzie has lately removed a cysticercus from the left eye of a man, who

went to Glasgow purposely from England to undergo the operation, which was perfectly successful. This is the second case of the kind that has been operated on by Dr. Mackenzie within the last two years. The

patient, in the first case, was a female. It would be more in accordance with etiquette, if the profession were made acquainted with these facts through the medium of the medical journals; the newspapers are not the proper vehicle for the transmission of medical

phenomena.--Medical Times.

UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS.

List of gentlemen who had the degree of Doctor of Medicine conferred upon them, October 18th, 1850: James Ainsworth, M.R.C.S., Ireland co. Antrim, Ireland; Alfred Thomas Brett, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.A.C.,

Surrey; Edward Bishopp Dorman, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.A.C., Kinsale, Ireland; Aug. Eves, F.R.C.S., Eng., L.A.C., Cheltenham; John Furse, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.A.C., John Furse, M.R.C.S. Eng., Devonshire; Henry Crowhurst Rood, M.R.C.M. Eng., London; William Henry Woods, A.B., Trinity College, Dublin.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. Gentlemen admitted Members on Friday, October

11th, 1850 --Henry Allen Aldred, Blackfriars Road; John Wright Baker, Derby; William Browne, South

ampton Street, Bloomsbury; George Harley, Had

dington, Scotland; Sidney Henson, Hull; William Heron, Belfast; Thomas Seward Holland, Cork: John West Walker, Spilsby, Lincolnshire.

Gentlemen admitted Members on Friday, October 18th, 1850:-Chas. Booth, Stoney Middleton, Derby; Charles Brentlingham, Finchley Road, St. John's

Wood; Motteraln William Flewitt, Birmingham; Charles Gordon, Maccio, Brazils; Thomas Allen

Haigh, Honley, Huddersfield, Yorkshire; Richard

George Horton, Leeds; Thomas Lowe, Edgbaston, Warwickshire; Thos. BuchananWashbourn, Gloucester.

SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES. Gentlemen admitted Members on Thursday, October

17, 1850:-George Peal Dunn, Ledbury, Hereford shire; Henry Vincent Garman, Bow Road; Joshua

Hartley, Malton, Yorkshire; William Hewett, Reading, Berks; Chas. Caulfield Moore, Brimpsfield, Gloucester shire.

APPOINTMENTS. MILITARY.-71st Foot: Staff Assistant-Surgeon

Wm. Simpson, M.B., to be assistant-surgeon, vice Jane, who exchanges. Hospital Staff: Assistant-Sur geon Michael Allen Jane, from the 71st Foot, to be staff assistant-surgeon, vice Simpson, who exchanges.

NAVAL.-Assistant-Surgeon Wm. M. K. Saundees

(1841), from the Victory flag-ship at Portsmouth, to the Birkenhead steam-frigate at Portsmouth.

OBITUARY.

August 14th, in Monterey, California, Dr. Wm. L. Booth, Assistant-Surgeon, United States Army.

October 11th, Dr. Edward Wm. Burton, staff

surgeon, Senior Resident Medical Officer, General

Military Hospital, Dublin. October 14th, aged 58, Mr. Wm. Bates, surgeon,

of George Street, Blackfriars Road.

BOOKS RECEIVED FOR REVIEW.

Corpulence or Excess of Fat in the Human Body; its relations to Chemistry and Physiology. By Thomas

K. Chambers, M.D., &c. Longman. pp. 166. Practical Treatise on the use of Terebinthinal Medi

cines. By Thomas Smith, M.D. Longman. pp. 95. Cholera and its Cures. By Dr. Bushnan. London:

Orr and Co., pp. 169.

Hydrocephalus reconsidered and its Relations to Inflammation and Irritation of the Brain. By Thomas

Weedon Cooke, M.R.C.S. London: Highley, pp. 111. Zeitschrift fur die Gessammte Medecin. Dec., 1849,

Jan., Feb., Mars, April, 1850.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. Communications have been received from Dr. Barham,

Dr. Cowan, Mr. Humphry, and Mr. Dyer. It is requested that all letters and communications

connected with the Editorial department be sent to J. H. Walsh, Esq., Foregate Street, Worcester. Parcels and books for review may be addressed to the care of Mr. Churchill, Princes Street, Soho.

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