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conversation and behaviour were quite natural, and none ofthose about me noticed anything wrong even when I ex-plained what my symptoms were. At one time I triedlying down quietly, but I gave it up, as I found thatthought succeeded thought only to be immediately blottedout, producing a most unpleasant effect and no inclinationfor sleep. Walking about the streets and among the peopleon the seashore was the pleasantest way of getting throughthe symptoms. I tried no remedy, as when the symptomswere established I knew that the drug had been absorbed,and that in small quantity.

I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,July 12th, 1S91.

______________

S. L. D.

RECOVERY FROM APPARENT DEATH FROMCHLOROFORM.

To the Editors of THE LANCET.SIRS,—At a time when there have been so many deaths

from anaesthetics, it may be worth while to record the par-ticulars of a recovery from what appeared to be death fromchloroform. On the 21st inst. my colleague, Mr. AlgernonMoir, proceeded to chloroform a little girl five years old.On three previous occasions (twice by him and once bymyself) she had been similarly anaesthetised without any-thing unusual occurring. This time she had been carefullyprepared by abstinence from food as far as we knew, andthe clothes were perfectly loose and everything in order.She took the drug in the usual fashion and wentoff quietly and quickly, and as oon as she appearedto be under its influence Mr. Moir sent me word thatshe was ready. In a few seconds, probably about thirty,after he sent the message I was in the room, and foundMr. Moir performing artificial respiration with one

hand whilst he drew out the tongue with the other.The child appeared to me to be quite dead. I relieved himat once of the artificial respiration and compressed the ribsfrom side to side myself, the air passing in and out freely.As the natural colour continued to leave the face and to bereplaced by a livid pallor, I signed to him to use the amylnitrite, which, according to our invariable custom, wasclose at hand. He at once held the open bottle to hermouth, through which the air was going freely, as he con-tinued to draw out the tongue. My arms were beginningto give out, and my head to be affected with the amyl, when there was a sound as of the vocal cords moving, but Ikept on until forced to rest for a moment, when I foundthat the breathing went on of itself, and that the child wasalive. How long all this took I cannot bell. At suchsupreme moments time can only be measured by fatigue.The matron and nurses who were present assure me that itwas more than five minutes before signs of life appeared.I have had several cases of resuscitation since a similarrecovery from death of a dog, an account of whichyou were good enough to publish on March 7th,1885, but none of such gravity as this. I firmly be-lieve that without the amyl the child’s life would nothave been saved, and as I do not remember that itwas tried in any of the cases of death which I have readlately I send this account in the hope that it may be usedin cases like the above, and used promptly-of course, withthe aid of artificial respiration. Mr. Moir is quite clear asto the mode of the very near approach to death in this in-stance. He says that pulse and respiration ceased at thesame moment. The cause was not far to seek. Althoughthe nurse had been most careful to keep her from eatinganything, the child had managed to devour an apple, ofwhich, on becoming conscious, she vomited the core, thestalk, and part of the skin. It appears, therefore, that thisindigestible matter had caused reflex paralysis of the cardiacand pulmonary centres, as at no time was there anyobstruction to the passage of air.

I am, Sirs, your obedient servant, - - --

GEO. G. WALKER, F.R.C.S.

EASY METHOD OF ENUCLEATING ARUPTURED EYEBALL.

To the Editors of THE LANCET.SIRS,-It has twice lately fallen to my lot to have to

enucleate eyeballs that have been badly ruptured-oneby the horn of a bullock, the other by an oyster. shell.The operation of enucleation is described as being more

difficult when the eyeball is ruptured than when it is not;ruptured—e.g., Nettleshipon "Diseases of the Eye," p. 324,second edition ; also Brudenell Carter on "Diseases of theEye," p. 483, first edition. I have, however, not read OFheard of a simple device which renders the operation asperfectly easy as when the globe is intact. The procedureis as follows. First stuff the globe with wool through thelaceration in its coats. Secondly (and this must not beneglected or the wool will slip out), unite the edges of thegap with a suture, leaving the ends long enough for anynecessary traction. I can scarcely imagine this proceedingto be original ; but its utility, and my ignorance of itshaving been previously practised, must be my apology fortrespassing on your valuable space.

I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,JAMES RYLEY, M.D. Lond., M.R.C.S.Eng.

THE CURE OF CONSUMPTION.To the Editors of THE LANCET.

SIRS,-I was much surprised to find THE LANCET notingwith approval the letter of "Army Medical Reserve," ’’ inwhich he implies that I have been guilty of a grave breachof the unwritten laws of the profession in not bringing myinvestigations on this subject before the profession, and Ifeel sure that as an act of simple justice you will at onceenable me to state that I am not responsible for its non-appearance in your columns. To m it has been and is asource of great regret and much disappointment that thearguments and practical evidence that show that consump-tion can be with certainty prevented and cured have notbeen prominently broughc before the profession. I amsatisfied that if that course were adopted it would lead to athorough practical investigation and the universal accept-ance of the principles for which I have been so long con-tending. Will THE LANCET afford me that opportunity ?It is evident that physical development, as I use the term,and the system that certainly has and is curing consump-tion, are totally misunderstood by the writer of the com-ments above referred to.

I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,GODFREY W. HAMBLETON.

*** We have certainly afforded Mr. Hambleton an opportunity for expressing his views (vide THE LANCET, 1887-8) qbut what is really required is an impartial investigation ofthem by a committee of medical experts, and he shouldendeavour to gain the cooperation of one of our medicalsocieties to this end. He might surely have taken advantageof last week’s Congress to ventilate his subject.-ED. L.

THE TUBERCULOSIS CONGRESS.(FROM OUR PARIS CORRESPONDENT. )

THIS biennial Congress, inaugurated by Professor Verneui5and Dr. L. H. Petit, one of the librarians of the ParisFaculty, has just brought its second session to a close, andEnglish members of our profession will be glad to be madeacquainted with the results of its deliberations on the all-absorbing subject of the disease science is making such,strenuous efforts to master. It may at once be said that.no startling novelty in the shape of remedial measures.dates its birth from this réunion, the most fruitful points ofdiscussion having had reference to the relations existingbetween tubercle bacilli as met with in different animals.It is manifestly of the most vital importance to arrive atsome decision as to the identity or non-identity of themicro-organismsdetermining the evolution of the tuberculousprocess in man, cows, birds, and rodents. With regard toavian tuberculosis, M. Vignal comes to the conclusion thatthe bacillus characterising it differs in toto from the humanbacillus. M. Vignal, in effect, inoculated with the sputa oftuberculous patients a series of guinea-pigs, which all died ;whereas a pheasant, which had undergone successive andsimultaneous inoculations, survived. MM. Strauss and

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Gamaleia arrive at the same conclusion, relying upon the factthat, albeit there is apparent identity as regards form and re-actiontowards aniline dyes, the gallinaceous bacillus developsat 45° C., a temperature which does not favour the growthof the human variety. The aspect of the respective culturesserves also to distinguish them. Further, the dog is (not-withstanding some assertions to the contrary) susceptible tothe onslaughts of the human bacillus, while remainingalmost totally refractory to those of the bird. The fowl,on the other hand, is absolutely refractory to the action of ’,the human bacillus, while offering no resistance to thebacillus of the pheasant. Rabbits and gtiinea-pigs are

receptive of the two kinds of bacillus, but in them thehuman micro-organism is productive of tubercle, thegallinaceous variety only provoking a special kind of septi-caemia. Notwithstanding the opposition of such well-known observers as Gilbert, Cadiot, and Roger, besidesCourmont and Dor, this view of the case appeared tomeet with general acceptance. The members of theCongress had on the morning of the 28th ult. an oppor-tunity of verifying in the laboratory of Professor Strauss,the totally different aspects presented by the two cul-tures. We can now well understand how the antidotalproperties of dog’s (and goat’s, this animal having beensuccessfully inoculated with human tuberculous virus)serum may be a subject of serious doubt, and we can onlyascribe the partially beneficial effects observed bv MM.Richet and Héricourt, in the words of Professor Verneuilat the Hotel Dieu, to impressions of a psychical order.Professor Semmola of Naples informed the Congress that,although he was unable to record a single case of cure bymeans of Richet’s method, he had noted good effectsfrom the simultaneous employment of this treatmentand iodoform administered internally in doses ofone-third of a grain every two hours. On the otherhand, Professor Pinard says that so excellent havebeen the results of the dog’s serum (hæmocyne) treat-ment at the Clinique Baudelocque, that he pursues it asa routine prophylactic practice for all children of tuber-culous mothers whenever the weight of such children isbelow two kilogrammes. He lauds the method as a

powerful auxiliary to the incubator and the system offeeding by gavage,The hereditary nature of tuberculosis is another question

that engaged the attention of the Congress, the discussionyielding valuable information on this much-mooted point.It is generally believed that tuberculosis is a here-

ditary disease par excellence, whereas it results, fromthe investigations of several authorities who spokethereon at the Congress, that it is only the soil that isinherited, actual congenital tuberculosis being a greatrarity. Thus, Vignal tells us that during the past eightyears the bodies of all infants dying at the Paris Cliniqued’Accouchement have been systematically subjected to asearching post-mortem examination, and that, moreover,fragments of the liver, spleen, and placenta of childrenborn of obviously phthisical mothers have been inocu-lated into guinea-pigs ; while the sputa (or, in case

of death, the debris of the organs) of the motherswere injected into "witness" " guinea-pigs. Theselatter invariably died tuberculous, whereas all therest, kept under observation for a period of fourmonths, survived. These interesting experiments wererendered still more conclusive by the following : The liverand spleen substance of eleven baby guinea-pigs (born ofmothers into whose peritoneal cavities there had beenintroduced cultures of Koch’s bacillus) was injected intonineteen healthy guinea-pigs. Some of these animals werekilled after the lapse of five months, and the necropsyfailed to bring to light any lesion. All the rest are stillalive and healthy. M. Hutinel has also inoculatedguinea-pigs with fragments of the placenta and othei

organs of stillborn infants of phthisical patients,with a negative result. Out of 118 necropsies oichildren under one year he found tuberculous lesionsonly in four instances. After one year the number oituberculous patients increases rapidly, one-third of infantsbetween one and two years old being thus affected. Tuber.culous mediastinal glands, however isolated they mayappear, are, in the infant, invariably due to a primarilypulmonary lesion. Dr. Jacoby recalled the fact that som(years ago he had reported in the columns of a Philadelphiajournal the necropsy of a human fcetus whose organs weresimply one mass of tubercle. As regards the identity o:

bovine and human tuberculous, M. Chauveau pronouncesin favour of it, basing his belief on the positive results ofinoculations of human tuberculous virus into the cow throughthe medium of the stomach, the veins, and the subcutaneousareolar tissue.

In my next letter I propose to enlighten your readers onthe further proceedings of the Congress, which brought itslabours to a close by a banquet at Marguery’s. The noveltoast, "Good Health to the Tuberculous," proposed byM. Poirier, the successor of Professor Farabeuf as chef destravaux pratiqucs, was duly honoured. Professor Verneuilhas been elected President of the next Congress, to be heldin this city in 1893.

Phthisis in the Ranks of the Garde Républicaine.The ordinary French linesman, or petit paon.pion, as he

is affectionately denominated, does not, as he marches, orrather slouches, along the boulevards, impress the intelli-gent English tourist with a favourable idea of hismartial qualities. But the most rampant Gallophobemust allow that the men comprising the Garde Repub-licaine are well set-up -fellows, and apparently troopsof whom any country might be proud. Sinister reportsin several Paris journals have, however, tended tomodify this favourable opinion of the physique of theseregiments, the flower of the French army. It appears thatpulmonary tuberculosis is exceedingly rife in this corps.The reasons assigned for the prevalence of the disease in sucha picked body of seasoned soldiers are the arduous dutiesof these military policemen, more especially the night dutydevolving upon them at all places of public entertainment,their unnecessarily heavy uniform, and, above all, thedefective hygienic condition of their barracks, which aremostly antiquated and unsuited for modern civilian require.ments. Forewarned is forearmed, and the active Ministerof War is hardly the man to allow such a sad state ofthings to persist.

MANCHESTER.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Deaths under Anaesthetics.As already described in your columns, the report of the

special committee appointed to investigate into the deathsthis year at the Infirmary has been given in to the Boardof Management, and they conclude that there was no sue.picion to be attached to the quality of the chloroformused. Death under the administration of methylene isnot often recorded. A case has recently occurred in whichthis anaesthetic was being used prior to an operation forremoval of a cancerous growth. The operation was partlycompleted, the patient having been under the influence ofthe anaesthetic for twenty minutes.

Crielveters at a Hospital.At the Ancoats Hospital two cots, named respectively the

" Harrow and the " Eton" cot, have been endowed by oldEton and Harrow boys. Last week a team of the HarrowWanderers were playing cricket here, and paid a visit earlyin the morning to the hospital, and took much interestin the cot that bears the name of their old school. Sucha visit cannot but be productive of good to both hospitaland visitors.

Diver Pollution and the Ship Canal.The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal is now

within measurable distance, and much nearer than thatis the nuisance that will arise from the acres of docksand impounded water, unless more vigorous steps betaken to purify and stop the pollution of the streamsand rivers which form the feeders to the canal. Already

; complaints are made about the condition of the waterr now in the Salford docks, and the company reply it: is no fault of theirs, but of those who send the water. down to them. By both the Salford and the Manchester

Corporations the subject will have to be taken seriouslyand vigorously in hand, and Dr. Simpson has given

! notice for the next meeting of the City Council that, he will move a resolution having an important bealing

thereon’Manchester, August 18th