GEORGIA Medical and Surgical Encyclopedia. This Journal will be issued on the first of every month, and will contain forty-eight octavo pages of original and well-selected matter. It will be our aim and object, to the extent of our ability, to elevate the standing and dignity of the Medical Profession. Questions connected with Medicine, or its sister Sciences, will be at all times welcome. Original essays and communications from members of the profession are respectfully solicited. Trusting that our pages may, however, occasionally be perused by other than medical men, we shall, as far as practicable, avoid introducing such topics as might offend the modesty of our readers, although they might otherwise be a legitimate subject of medical communication. We can only further say, that, so far as we are individually concerned, we shall endeavor to fulfill the promises thus made; and shall hope for a candid reception of an attempt to be useful. The aid and influence of the Press, together with the cordial support of Southern brethren, is respectfully asked; and should the plan on which we propose to conduct our Journal be approved, we cannot doubt an encouragement proportionate to its utility, and to the merit with which it may be sustained. TERMS:-$2,00 if paid in advance; $3,00 if deferred till the expiration of the year. Address Doctors HOLLIFIELD & NEWSOME, TERMS OF ADVERTISING. Advertisements for responsible firms inserted at the following rates: One Page, Half Page, Quarter Page, Eighth Page, the above rates. Transient Advertisements will be published at a slight advance on What is Mind-A Fragment. Selected by J. Ought a Physician to tell a Patient that he is going to die, Laceration of the Cervix Uteri. From Preternatural Rigidity, Prevention of the Unpleasant Taste of Balsam Copaiva, BY HORATIO N. HOLLIFIELD, M. D., SANDERSVILLE, GA. Intersusception is as greatly to be feared as to be deplored. Difficult of diagnosis and always attended with danger to the patient, a majority of cases, in defiance of the skill of the ablest and most experienced physicians and surgeons, terminate fatally. This affection (invagination of the intestine,) occurs when one portion of the intestine is forced into another, or when a knot or loop is formed in the intestines, or by their twisting upon themselves; which may be caused by violent spasmodic action, or an increased amount of peristaltic action of the intestines. Intersusception generally takes place in the ileum near to the colon-although it may occur in any portion of the intestine-by an upper portion being forced into a lower, or a lower into an upper, as is often to be seen in post mortem examinations. Sometimes the adhesion of one portion of intestine with another is found to be so great as to demand a large amount of force in order to break up its attachments; and, at times, they are so strong that it is impossible to separate the parts without materially injuring them. Whenever this affection occurs, it is always characterized by such symptoms as are present in cases of strangulated hernia; but owing to the great difficulty of diagnosis, as to whether the train of symptoms are caused by intersusception or some other intestinal obstruction, it is hard to judge the case and put it under an appropriate form of treatment. Gastric irritation, nausea, acute pains, often complained of as colic, fever, abdomen often tympanetic, desire to go to stool, attended with violent tenesmus. These are the principal symptoms of this affection. Sometimes the point of strangulation can be felt, by pressing the abdomen, in the form of a tumor, and the vomiting of stercoraceous matter are the principal symptoms characterizing cases of intersusception. The treatment of this affection is generally by means of warm baths, blood-letting, and the free use of opium or morphine, until the system is completely relaxed. If the obstruction of the bowels be dependent upon a spasmodic stricture, it will be overcome and the patient recover. The introduction of air into the intestines by means of a common bellows is often used, and, I am happy to say, with some success. The forcing of large glysters into the colon is also recommended; and the introduction of long tubes, and the forcing of fluids through them, has also been successfully tried. Quicksilver has been administered, and melted lard given in very large doses. The operation of Laparotomy has been advised and performed for the purpose of removing the causes of obstruction from the intestines. This operation, however, has met with but little favor, and is, in fact, condemned by many therapeutists. It is now entirely discountenanced by a great majority of the medical profession. Having had several cases of intersusception under my care during the past year, and thinking that they will interest some, I annex a brief account of two of them. CASE 1. A negro woman aged about thirty years, of a full habit, plethoric, in good health; attacked with general febrile symptoms, and complaining of costiveness, had a dose of oil administered, which failing to operate, she took a dose of salts with no better success. At night she was |