GENEVA.
We are all indebted to Dr. Burford for his picture of the great doings at Geneva, that great centre of many sorts of light and leading in the past, if they did not all lead in right directions. It is very pleasant to learn that the work of Hahnemann is bearing fruit in the lands of his early activities. Dr. Burfords brilliant report of the Congress proceedings under the lead of president Dr. Schmidt and his brilliant wife will be read with keen interest throughout Hahnemanns world.
A FLY IN THE OINTMENT.
It seldom happens on great occasions in this mundane sphere that some little rub does not occur. This time our good friend Dr. Le- Hunte Cooper was the sufferer. At a great deal of trouble he has answered the call of duty and, after various episodes which need not be detailed, arrived in time to hear all that the other speakers had been set down for which left practically no time for his own paper. So the poisonous “properties of Aluminium” returned in Dr. Coopers pocket to the land of the papers birth. But our good friend Dr. Cooper is an excellent sportsman as we all know, and enjoyed the works of his colleagues.
So if the world is to be saved from being poisoned and crippled with aluminium, it is not the Continent but this country, which must do it.
AVERTIN, OR TRIBROMETHYALCOHOL.
THE Daily Mail is responsible for this bit of medical instruction:.
FEAR-DEFYING DRUG.
A dose given while the patient is still in the ward causes him to pass into a dreamy sleep, from which he wakes, some hours later, to find the operation over.
AVERTIN AS A REMEDY FOR TETANUS.
Avertin has been used in the United States as a remedy for tetanus, but no case of this kind has yet been published in this country. Even where a fatal result is not avoided the drug would probably relieve symptoms. Daily Mail.
CHENOPODIUM WITH CARBON TETRACHLORIDE IN HELMINTHIASIS.
THE following article appeared in the British Medical Journal of February 23rd, 1924, and as it contains valuable practical observations on a department of medicine which is not too easy to master we reproduce it here.
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE AND OIL OF CHENOPODIUM IN HELMINTHIASIS.
An article under this heading appeared in the British Medical Journal of June 23rd, 1923 (p. 1048), and I write to express my agreement with the opinion of its author, Dr. J.G. Reed of Borneo, that carbon tetrachloride is even more effective as an anthelmintic when combined with oil of chenopodium. The following procedure has given good results in the Georgetown Public Hospital, British Guiana. The faeces are examined for ova of Ankylostoma duodenale and other parasites before treatment, and also three days after it.
Three ounces of saturated solution of sodium sulphate are given in the evening and next morning a dose of carbon tetrachloride, from 40 minims to 1 drachm, according to the age and strength of the patient, is administered. On the third night after this another dose of 3 ounces of the sodium sulphate solution is given. About 60 per cent. of the patients so treated experienced nausea and headache. Of 135 patients, 104 were positive as regards Ankylostoma duodenale ova; a few of them were positive also for Strongyloides intestinalis, Ascaris lumbricoides, or Trichuris trichura.
The majority of those faeces which did not contain ankylostoma ova contained those of one or other of the parasites mentioned. About 40 per cent. were found to have become a negative after a single dose of carbon tetrachloride. Some patients require several doses, and these heavily infected cases are very weak, anaemic, and oedematous. East Indians form the majority of patients requiring treatment: their faeces invariably contain ankylostoma ova, and a characteristic symptom of the condition is a purplish tongue. The following are details of three heavily infected cases;.
Case 1. An anaemic black man, aged 56, admitted with pyrexia and delirium, was found to have an enlarged liver, and the faeces contained large numbers of ankylostoma ova and embryos of strongyloides. The blood count was as follows; total red cells 760,000 per c.mm., normoblasts, megalocytes, and microcytes. present, but no malarial parasites; haemoglobin 10 per cent., colour index 0.6; total white cells 10,000 per c.mm.; differential count polymorphonuclears 70 per cent. large lymphocytes 25.5 per cent., large mononuclears 4.5 per cent.,
After two months treatment with carbon tetrachloride, amounting in all to 6 drachms, and with iron and quinine, ankylostoma ova were still present, but the anaemia was much less. The blood count was now: total red cells 4,200,000 per c.mm., haemoglobin 50 percent., colour index 0.6; total white cells 3,200 per c.mm.; differential count polymorphonuclears 53.5 per cent., large lymphocytes 29 per cent., large mononuclears 3.5 per cent., eosinophils 14 per cent. After further administration of 40 minims of Carbon tetrachloride, combined with 15 minims of oil of Chenopodium, ankylostoma ova were absent from the stools.
