Waterbury Democrat., 1902-03-10
WHATDOCTORS FIND
GIeanings from Medical Fields Items of Information-Some
 Singular Gases.
By Geo. Thos. PaImer, M. D.

By Geo. Thos. PaImex, M. ID.
 Really pure water does not exist. AS near as we can get to it is rain wa ter; but the rain gathered in the air even on the tops of mountains and far from civilization contains some ina purities.
 A sanitarium for consumptives has been established in which the patients live in tents so constructed that they cannot be entirely closed up.
 It has been found that mud in drink ing water has its advantages. The mud overcomes foul odors in the water and helps destroy many impurities.
 London has been suffering from an epidemic of smallpox almost as severe as that of 1893.
 An outbreak of the plague at Naples has brought forth series of orders from the health authorities. It is in teresting to note that there is hard 1y an order which is not the same as was issued during the plague of 1856, the edicts of Alexander VII.
 A number of deaths have recently occurred in Rochester, N. r., from ptomaine poisoning from canned oys- ters. "Ptomaines" are the poisons generated by germs of bacteria. It must be borne in mind that disease and death are not caused so much by the bacteria themselves as by the tox- Swo so1, xI,
 There are 491 mineral springs in the United States selling water for medici- nal purposes. One hundred and sew enty-three of these springs reported the sale of 13,344,7os gallons of water, valued at $2,001, ,6o6.
 A case is reported by French sur geon of the complete removal of the 1arynx for cancer. An artificial larynx was devised, so perfect that the voice was entirely regained.
 Ipecac given in fairly large doses will cause nausea and vomiting, while in small doses will stop nausea.
 Chickenpox is very frequently mis- taken for smallpox. A mild attack of the latter is often very hard to differ entiate from severe attack of the former, even by the most skilaa di- agnostician.
 G. F. Conn reports severe fracture of the skull followed by practical blindness. On operation some small pieces of bone were removed from the optic nerve. The patient had some difficulty in focusing his eyes for two weeks, but later recovered fully.
 Skin grating has always been re- garded as most interesting part of surgery. There are various methods. The one now most popular is the re- moyal of healthy skin by means of the very sharpest razor, making an effort to get the thinnest layer that can be obtained. It is taken in very small pieces and scattered over the surface on which the new skin is wanted. The cells begin to proliferate from these little islands of skin and growing in all directions finally come together and form a perfect skin. This proc ess Is often used after severe burns in which the skin is destroyed over a large area. The skin is taken from a healthy part of the patients own body or from the body of some friend or some one hired for the purpose.
 It has been found that iodoform is dangerous drug to use on large open surfaces and wounds. Several cases of amputations were dressed with large amounts of iodoform, and later the patients developed delirium and died. The deaths were attributed to shock, although they did not occur for from five 10 six days after the opera tions. It has recently been discovered that the iodoform dressings were the cause of death.
 Edebohls has advocated quite rad ical change in medicaIprocedure, in ad- vising operation upon the kidney in case of Bright's disease. Bright's dis ease is an inflammation of the kid ney and has been a common cause of death in men over 40.
 An attempthas been made to prevent typhoid fever by a typhoid serum sim liar in principle to the antitoxine of diphtheria. So far the results have mot been satisfactory.
 The principle on which vaccinati tion acts in the prevention of smallpox does not seem to be fully understood by the public at large. It is known that after an attack of smallpox Gas in the case of many other diseases) the pa !tient is not susceptible to second att tack, on account of a certain power or property of immunity which they have attained. Whether the first at tack uses up that element within the body which is susceptible to the dis rease, or whether the first attack leaves within the system some ething antag- onistic to the disease, is not fully un- derstood; but the latter is probably true, for the immunity acquired by the first attack of given disease, does mot protect from other diseases. Vac -cina, or cowpox, seems to be bovine form of smallpox, and when the hu- man is inoculated he actually goes through an attack of smallpox, but one spustule developing, and that at the site aof vaccination. The immunity, how ever, of a regular attack of smallpox ds given to him who is vaccinated.