The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-01
Medical Notes

tCAI DOOhSs
l. Persons long addicted to it's use
should not be deprived of it in fevers On
this point there seems to be no disagree
ment
2. 1t may be the only form Of food
which the patient can and will take.
3. Sudden collapse or great prostration
from any cause is generally agreed to call
for stimulation.
a. Any serious complication, such as
hemorrhage or perforation In typhoid.
severe nervous symptoms like delirium-in
fact, anything that shows an especially
severe case-should be considered an in
dication for stimulation.
o. Persons over forty years of age and
persons of feeble cons :itution are believed
by most writer's to need stimulation in
case they catch any severe infectious dis
ease like typhoid or pneumonia.
On the other hand. Ringers view con-
f1cts with the belief that a severe or
complicated case, or one occurring in
feeble person should always be treated
with stimulants Ringer says in sub
stance, IF, after the use of alcohol, we
see the pulse become slower, the skin and
tongue moister, sleep better, nervous
symptoms less marked, breathing less
hurried food better taken, the alcohol is
doing good. Not otherwise"
The idea that appendicitis is caused by
the presence of foreign objects in the
vermiform appendix is fast losing ground,
even among the laity. DR.. Mitchell has
collected the records of number of cases
and finds that in 1,40O cases only per
cent were due to foreign bodies Among
these bodies were shot, pins, worms gall
stones a tooth, piece of bone, and
few grape seeds and cherry stones The
appendix seems to act especially as
trap for pointed bodies and small but
weighty objects Light foreign bodies,
sucE as grape seeds and cherry stones,
are seldom found, and their action in
causing appendicitis IS greatly overesd
mated; in fact the presence of any seed
in the appendix is rare and people can
go on swallowing such seeds with COM
parative impu:lity No doubt many have
done so in spite of the appendicitis scare,
but many timid people have foresworn
stewed tomatoes unless they were
strained from the seeds and have even
deEied themselves the luscious strawber-
ry the succuleut blackberry and the
juicy grape.
Illoway believes that he has discovered
a symptom which foreruns whooping
cough. In several cases, in children,
where there was no sore throat, he no
ticed a slight hacking cough occurring
for fifteen days during the day time
only, but after that occurring also at
night. AT the end of three weeks the
children complained of being easily tired
Dl9V Towards tho end Of he fourth
week the cough suddenly changed in char
acter and whooping cough declared itself.
In other cases where these preliminary
symptoms were of shorter duration
the whooping cough was less severe than
in cases where they continued for a long
er period. = Illoway believes that this
cough is a true symptom of infection by
Whooping cough, and thinks that the vio-
Ience OF the disease, It's gravity and its
duration are proportionate to the duration
of the period of incubation If this is
true, physicians will be able to cut short
Whooping cough, or at least to lessen its
seN Gritty.
a German surgeon, DR.. Pagenstecher,
OF E-berfeld, has recently successfully
taken. stitches in a young mans heart
a Youth of seventeen years of age had
been stabbed with a poniard by a COM
rade. The wounded man took several
steps and then fell to the ground insensi-
bic, not recovering consciousness until
two hours later at the hospital whittier
he had been carried. A stream of black
blood escaped from the small wound, and
the condition of the man seemed critical
beyond hope. Under these conditions a
piece of a rib was cut out and the heart
exposed tosyfeW. The wound in the heart
was then -sewed together with four
Stitches Bleeding was arrested and the
youth rallied The wound healed rapidly
without fever and the heart resumed its
normal capacity. The patient left the
hospital. completely cured, nine weeks
after the operation.
In an article upon the personal infection
of tuberculosis Aron thinks that the tu-
bercle bacillus can never be completely
destroyed, and the chief reliance for its
prevention in the community must be the
intensification of the resistance of the
human race. He thinks that the best
means Of accomplishing this is the amel-
ioration of the social conditions of the
working man by Improvement in his food
and in the hygiene Of his home, as well
as by lessening the dangers attending
work in factories and other places of
labor. In Berlin. where special atten-
ton has been given to tuberculosis, there
has been decided decrease in the death
rate from consumption, due to improve
ment in general sanitation and the pas
sage of laws protecting the health of
working men.
In speaking of the cure of tuberculosis
Fraenkel says: 1t is possible to speak
only of relative cure. This may be
known by cessation of all general symp-
toms. especially cough and expecto a
ton, for several years; the restoration
of good nutrition and the ability to
pursue the accustomed vocation without
special precaution Incidents of rela-
tive cure in pure infection are not rare
In cases of mixed infection expectora-
ton seldom ceases entirely. yet a rela-
tive arrest of the disease is possible even
in such cases.
According to DR.. Stickler, the most in
fectious stage of scarlet fever is the
earliest eruptive stage, since he has
proven that the mucus of the throat con-
tains the contagion of the disease 1t
is exceedingly important that this mucuS
should not be conveyed in any way Fl ON
the patient. All rags or paper used in
wiping the nose and mouth should be
burned and the bed clothing ard any
other objects which might be SINE red
with this secretion should be carefully
disinfected.
Night-terrors in children, according to
Little are due. in the majority OF
cases, to disorders causing moderate or
prolonged difficulty of breathing Many
cases are due to obstruction of the nose
and throat, while digestive disturbances
are less important in causation, than is
usually believed. This should suggest
to parents the necessity of taking chill
dren, who are subject to night-terrors,
to physicians who may be able to relieve
them by simple methods of treatment
The corrective tribunal of the Seine re-
Gently imnOsed a fine of $40 and q Ten