Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : January to December 1849 / edited by George E. Day, Alexander Fleming, W.T. Gairdner.

Date:
MDCCCXLIX [1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : January to December 1849 / edited by George E. Day, Alexander Fleming, W.T. Gairdner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/262 page 21
    The formula of papaverine is, C40 NO«. This new substance differs from the bases hitherto discovered in opium, and it is chiefly the salts and their unequal oleaginous and crystalline nature wliich characterise it, and distinguish it from narcotine, to which the pure base has otherwise some resemblance.—Anmlen der Chemie undPharm., April; andPAarm. Journ. 32.— Gutta Percha Membrane, for pro¬ tecting the Skin against the Contagion of Animal Poisons. By William Acton, Esq.—The author states that he has been engaged in performing various experi¬ ments with solutions of gun cotton, gutta percha, and caoutchouc, with a view of testing their property of protecting the surface from the influence, by contact of contagious poisons, and the following are the conclusions at which he arrived :—1. That a solution of gun cotton, when dry, corrugates the skin too much to be avail¬ able for the purposes required. 2. That gutta percha alone is devoid of elasticity and sufficient adhesive quality, whilst the solution of caoutchouc wants body and is too sticky; but that, 3. The compound solution of caoutchouc and gutta percha possesses the requisite qualities to fulfil the purpose required. It is prepared by adding a drachm of gutta percha to an ounce of benzole (the volatile principle of coal naphtha), and ten grains of India rubber to the same quantity of benzole, each being dissolved at a gentle heat, and then mixed in equal proportions. The author has employed this compound in painting the surface surrounding a chancre with the solution, and found that the acrid secretion had no effect upon it when dried, and warm or cold water may be applied with impunity. He considers that it may be employed advantageously in many and various ways, as in protecting the hands during post-mortem examinations, in pre¬ serving the cheek from excoriation in gonorrhoeal ophthalmia, and in covering the parts contiguous to a sore where water-dressing is the application, &c. A letter from Mr Quekett to the author, states the results of that gentleman’s ex¬ amination of these several solutions under the microscope. A dried film of the com¬ pound is described by him to be perfectly elastic and free from perforations, though in many parts less than the of an inch in thickness. 33.—Oil of Turpentine in Neuralgia. By Dr Leriche, of Lyons.—The author relates cases of neuralgia successfully treated by the exhibition of small doses of essence of turpentine. The quantity daily administered to the patients did not exceed twenty minims.—Journ. de Med. de Lyons. VI.—DIETETICS, HYGIENE, AND MEDICAL POLICE. 34.—Deleterious Effects of Mercurial Vapours in an Hospital Ward. By M. Lefevre, physician of the Naval Hospital of Rochefort.— One of the fever wards of the hospital under M, Lefevre’s care, which is about 48 yards long, 13 broad, vaulted roofed, and of a capacity of about 7800 cubic feet (English measure), be¬ came in the summer of 1846 so infested with bugs that the patients could not en¬ joy the least sleep. It was not till the end of the year that it was resolved to empty the ward, and adopt measures for remov¬ ing this nuisance. It was resolved to de¬ stroy tlie bugs by mercurial fumigation. For this purpose, on 12th November, the beds having been collected in groups at various parts of the ward, the stoves of the room were heated so as to raise its temperature to that of from 68° to 77° Fahr. All the openings into the ward having been closely shut; two kilo¬ grammes [nearly imperial pounds] of metallic mercury were divided into five portions, which were placed in as many crucibles, heated by chauffers at nearly equal distances, and near the beds. The heat was continued till all the mercury was volatilized, and to favour its diffusion through the ward, its internal tempera¬ ture was maintained at an equable high temperature day and night. When it was supposed that the mercury had acted long enough to destroy all the bugs, with their ova and larvse, the ward was again heated several times, and freely ventilated. Af¬ ter twenty or twenty-five days of alter¬ nate heating and ventilation, the ward was cleaned anew, and was then thought fit for the reception of patients. On 13th December, at three p.m., forty- three convicts affected with various dis¬ orders were placed in the ward. The weather at the time was rather cold, and the heat of the ward moderate. On the morning of the 16th, i. e., thirty-nine hours after the location of the patients there, M. Lefevre was informed that seve-
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3