Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

sore like arsenic; but it must be used cautiously. I once dressed an irritable sore with Belladonna, and next day my patient told me how tranquil the sore had been, and I was going to dress it again; but he said, "yesterday a curious thing happened, about an hour af ter you dressed it, I was blind for a time;" so I thought it best not to apply that again. I mention this, that you may be cautious in the selection of what you apply to sores.

When varicose veins are in the neighborhood of ulcers, I should prefer a bandage or laced stocking to dividing them. I think it a bad practice so to divide them.

branches of these veins, but the practice is now pretty well exploded; in fact, it has had its day, and may hereafter be revived again. I take it, there is no very efficient good to be done by this practice generally.

Mr. Baynton did not seem to un-
derstand his own practice in its
full extent. He supposed the
ulcer got well by approximating
its edges, similar to what is adopt-
ed in simple wounds. It acts by
compressing gently the sore, and
keeping down the afflux of fluids
to it when the skin is tender.
The plaster often irritates it, and
then it will be requisite to use
some fine linen over the sore. It
is morbid peculiarities which
keep up the actions of these irri-
table sores. A poor wretch
showed me a leg with two or
three sinuous, bad, foul sores.
He thought the bone was diseas-
ed; but I found, on examination,
that the bone was not diseased. Mr. Brodie used to divide the
Sometime after, an abscess form-
ed in the tibia. The sores were
in the course of the fibula. The
abscess broke and reduced him;
he being much reduced before.
They were unhealthy abscesses,
degenerating into sinuses. I wish-
ed to get him out of the bad air of
London. I resolved to put on
Baynton's bandage, and a calico
roller over it, directing him to
wet it with tepid water. I call-
ed on him the next day, and he
said his leg had given him no pain
from the time I had dressed it till
six o'clock in the morning. I dis-
covered the cause. Matter had
collected in one of the sinuses. I
cut a little hole opposite and let
out the matter. I sent him out
of town, and in a fortnight he re-
turned, and was serving in his own
shop. Sores are the most active-
ly absorbing surfaces we know,
and you should be careful how
you dress them, that the dressing
contains nothing which, if imbibed,
will prove injurious. There is
no application which so complete-
ly revolutionizes the actions of a the Academy, on this new me-

Now, sores are divided, in surgical books, into sloughing sores, sinuous sores, bleeding sores, &c. Mr. Hunter was led to adopt a practice, in sores attended with hemorrhage, which seemed to the profession an absurdity. He applied stimulants, and the practice was very proper; for a stimulant will prevent hemorrhage, where hemorrhage is occasioned by laxity of vessels. There is a partial sloughing occurs in some sores, called hospital gangrene; but this is a sore I shall have occasion to speak of hereafter. The breaking out of hospital gangrene is of rare occurrence.

NEW METHOD OF PERCUSSION OF

THE THORAX.

Mr. PIORRY read a memoir to

thod. It consists in striking on a small circular plate, one line in thickness, made of the pine used by musical instrument makers, and supported by a bent handle. By this means, a stronger sound is obtained, the differences of which may be perceived even through the clothes. We may also strike harder, and with a more sonorous substance than the fingers, &c.Arch. Gen.

THE FRENCH SCHOOLS.

The Influence of the Jesuits on
Medical Education.
THE influence of "The Con-
gregation" on the political institu-
tions of France has been long since
discovered and perseveringly pro-
tested against by the liberal press
of that country, unfortunately,
hitherto with little effect; but it
must not be supposed that the ef-
forts of the Jesuits have been
confined to the cabinet and the
church, or that they prop up ab-
solute monarchy and ecclesiasti-
cal infallibility from mere love of
gain. It is done rather from an
inherent love of power, a propen-
sity which has distinguished their
operations in all ages. They are
perfectly aware that, in order to
retain the influence they now
hold, the education of the rising
generation must be brought with-
in their grasp, and of no branch
of instruction are they more jeal-
ous than of medicine. Within
the last two years more especial-
ly, great efforts have been made
to bring the medical students of
Paris under something like spirit-
ual subordination: the Ecole de
Medecine is closed, on an average,
two days in the week, on account
of its being the fete of this or that
Saint; and lest the impious stu-
dents should forget the cause of

this public suspension of their labors, the noble portico of this fair temple of Hygeia is disfigured with crucifixes, wax candles, painted images, and such disgraceful trumpery.

The medical students of Paris have long been distinguished as a body for their liberal opinions in politics and religion; they form a little republic in the very heart of the capital, which has long been looked on with the greatest malevolence by Erassinous and his colleagues. Supposing that their opinions derived strength from their frequent opportunities of assembling together, and from their communications with the students of the Ecole de Droit, a proposi tion was introduced into the Chambre des Deputés, during the past year, for the establishment of a certain number of secondary schools in the Provinces, for the purpose not only of preventing the great annual accumulation of students in Paris, but that by being scattered over the country they might be brought more within the observance and dominion of the priests. How the priests influence the local authorities from the highest to the lowest, has been very ably exposed in the Constitutionnel, and other daily journals, but which it would be too great a digression to recapitulate here. This scheme was rendered abortive by some of the Deputies reminding the Minister for Education, that the Museums at the Jardin des Plantes, and the Libraries of the Metropolis, collected at an immense expense, would exist to no purpose if the youths destined to practise medicine were educated in the country; that such students must be kept in a state of comparative ig

norance, and that for that ignorance the public would ultimately suffer.

Finding that they could not cram their superstitions down the throats of the students, under the name of religion, by sticking crucifixes and images in the very entrances to the class rooms, and that the plan for keeping the students away from the capital had been frustrated, they set to work afresh, and endeavored to admit no men to the professorships who were not rigid apostolicals, no matter what were their professional merits or experience. Men of talent were shut out, and the men of the faith were let in, under the plea of their being "pacifically minded," "well disposed to church and state," and so forth, and these are become the recommendations to the chairs of scientific institutions. That these are not mere speculations, but correct delineations of the existing influence of the priestcraft over science, may be proved by a reference to the late expulsion of the three members of the Institute from certain small sinecures, which they held under the government, for daring to express, in a public meeting of their body, their disapprobation of the proposed law for gagging the press; a proceeding which even Cuvier, who has long been a thick and thin friend of the court, has denounced in the strongest language to his acquaintance; and indeed it is easy to see that he is disgusted with such jesuitical principles.

The Faculty of Medicine held its annual meeting for the distribution of the prizes of the Ecole Pratique on the 18th of December last, but, strange to say, without any sort of ceremony or so

lemnity; it was a sort of "hole and corner" affair, or, as the French say, "a huisclos." This happened, as the on dit goes, because the authorities were afraid of some tumultuous conduct among the students; but this was not the real cause, if it were they might have had a party of gens d'arms at hand to drive them out of the theatre into the street, and having got them into the street, might have chased them away like wild beasts, with the cavalry, as they did on the day of the rejection of the celebrated Droits d'Ainèsse. The plain truth is, that the authorities take every opportunity imaginable of preventing the students from assembling and talking together; and rather than attach any importance to the distribution of annual prizes, by ushering in that distribution with any civic pomp, they would sacrifice all the eclat which the Faculté formerly derived from this anniversary, and stifle all that spirit of emulation which once operated so beneficially on the industry of the pupils. This is not all; the Minister of the Interior has recently written to the Academy of Medicine to announce that it is about to undergo some important modifications. It is rumored, that one of these changes will be to diminish the number of its members, and moreover, that it will be well if this diminution be allowed to take place gradually by the hand of death; thus holding out a sort of threat, or suspending a sword by a hair over the members of that society, giving them warning to take a lesson from the fate of the three members of the Institute. It is said also, that the three sections of the Academy will be suppressed, and one of the

reasons assigned is, that there are continual squabbles at the Section of Surgery. The main reason, however, is this: M. Pariset, who is the perpetual Secretary, and who spends more time in the bureau of the Minister than in the business of the Academy, wishes to get more power into his own hands, and thinks that by effecting this he could do wonders. The Academy has now been established six years, but not one volume of transactions has made its appearance, and probably never will so long as M. Pariset is at its head. What, indeed, can be expected from the Academy under the influence of a man who spends his time in getting up long moral disputations, and laying plots for curtailing all liberty of discussion, instead of studying to advance the interests of science? but if he were replaced by such a person as Adelon, or Dumeril, or Orfila, it would soon be seen whether the fault lay in the organization of the Academy or in its officers.

By the death of Laennec a vacancy has been created in the Faculty, which must be filled up from the Agrégés, and three persons, Chomel, Guersant, and Rullier have presented themselves as candidates. From what we have observed at the Charité and the Hopital des Enfans, we think that Chomel is the man most fitted to take the place of Laennec. He has been engaged actively in professional pursuits for twenty years; his tact in the investigation of disease, and his accurate habits of observation, must be acknowledged by all who have had an opportunity of attending his clinical prelections; but these qualifications are not sufficient to se

cure the vacant chair, if the Jesuit influence should be exerted for another, for example, for old Kergaradee, who goes croaking about the wards, spouting indifferent Latin, and sticking closely to the "medicine expectante." Chomel is the man who ought to be chosen.

Then, again, there are Majendie, Recamier, and Pariset, contending for the vacant professorship in the College de France. Pariset has already given out that he is to be the Professor, through the sole interest of M. de Corbière, for he has not a single vote at the College. Majendie has the votes of the College and of the Institute in his favor; but Recamier will be presented by the Minister of Public Instruction and by the Minister of the Interior, and no doubt will have the Professorship.

Thus it is that the elections are conducted at present; and from beginning to end the influence of the church party may be recognized. The thing is becoming so glaring, that the medical journals venture now and then to mumble out an indistinct complaint, but they dare not say much. We may select the following passage as being one in which the opinion of the writer is as clearly given on this subject as could be hazarded:" Espérons que nous ne verrons plus le zèle refroidi par les succès immérités d'hommes tout a fait etrangers a la science, et qui doivent leur élévation qu'a la faveur du pouvoir."

At the distribution of the prizes at the Faculté, Cruveilhier, who is the Secretary, delivered a very animated address, and though introduced to the professorship of anatomy through the jesuitical

party, he could not help express

From the London Med. and Phys. Journal.

OF THE BRAIN.

BY R. WADE.

ing his hope, and more is seldom CASE OF SCIRRHOUS AFFECTION done, "that the moment was not far distant when the periods allotted for the distribution of the prizes would reassume all their interest; when these rewards of so much labor would reacquire that fame, which, through the publicity of their adjudications, they once possessed in the estimation of the students."

Cases might be multiplied, almost to infinity, to show the influence of court and party intrigue to keep down and misrepresent men of acknowledged talent. For the present we must conclude by mentioning the case of Blainville. Who that has heard Blainville lecture on his favorite subject, comparative anatomy, at the Sorbonne--who that has seen his zeal for the science, and witnessed the abundant proofs which he affords of his intimate knowledge of the laws governing the developement of the various gradations of organization-who, we would ask, that has had an opportunity of knowing him in private as well as in public, does not feel his blood boil with resentment against those who would consign such a man to the receipt of a few hundred francs per annum, or, in other words, turn him adrift to shift for himself, to gratify the revengeful feelings of a few men in power who have felt their pride wounded by his exposure of their ignorance? yet such is the fact. In short, an independent medical press is wanted to expose the tricks and the tyranny of men in office, and to protect those who have no other misfortune than that of being unconnected with hereditary or courtly patronage. There is no LANCET in Paris.

Lancet.

The patient, aged 58, was attacked with paralysis of the right side, which in three or four weeks yielded to active depletion. On resuming his former habits of intemperance a second attack followed in a few days. After in vain having recourse to depletion and mercury, he died. On examination an exostosis was discothe os frontis, pressing on the duvered on the internal surface of

ra mater so as to destroy its continuity and occasion a corresponding depression in the brain. No traces of inflammation were observed here. In the upper part of the left lobus cerebri, a hard mass was discovered, of a light brown color, which was readily separated, and when divided closely resembled the medullary sarcoma consisted of striae, of a yellowish of Abernethy; the tumor chiefly white color, and nearly of the density of cartilage, whilst the remainder had a dark gray aspect

and was of a softer texture.

Mr. G. Bell presents, in a late number of the Edinburgh Journal, an excellent practical paper on Wounded Nerves and their Treatment. After some preliminary observations, he proceeds to narrate the history of a young woman who had been bled ten days before in the median cephalic vein of the right arm. When he saw her, the forearm was bent to an acute angle with the arm, and the fingers firmly contracted. Every attempt at extension caused the most excruciating pain. The incision in the vein had united, but a gentle pressure occasioned great uneasiness. The

« ZurückWeiter »