205

PARIS.(FROM OUR OWX CORRESPONDENTS.)

Diabetes Refractory to Treatment with li?.,3111iii.

T is often said that ill certain cases of diabetesmsulin proves useless. In a communication recentlymilde to the Academie de Médecine Prof. MarcelLabbè analyses the types of case in which it hasn.1 etiect, and finds that they include glycosuria dueto abnormal function of the kidneys, liver, pituitary,and thyroid, diabetes of very rmild type which need!wt be treated by insulin, and true diabetes aggravatedby infection, general anesthesia, or some otherconstitutional disturbance. In most cases of apparentresistance to treatment it is questionable, he says,whether the dietetic r6gir-tie is properly carried outby the patient ; in many others the dose of insulingiven is insulticient, especially where the condition ismade worse by infection. Insulin is a powerful drughaving a physiological action which is certain,although not yet been shown to be curative.according to Prof. Labbe, insulin is always effectiven hen properly used and there is no such thing as aform of true diabetes refractory to its action.

Splenectomy for purpura Hœmorrhagica.Two years ago a girl fo 9 developed serious purpura

with repeated hæmorrhages. Her condition grewworse in spite of all treatment and there were onlytwo remissions, one of them after injection of maternalwhole blood and the other after radiotherapy. Neither proved more than transitory and death appeared imminent when Lafourcade, of Hayonne,performed splenectomy. The result exceeded all

hopes and was evidently due to the operation alone,for the child has had no other treatment since itwas done. This case may be added to the few

already published—one in France and a score abroad-in which splenectomy has cured recurrent

hæmorrhagic purpura.

lTcztccrizr in Two French Districts.In the Department of the Ain there is a district

called Les Dombes which until the end of last centurywas always very marshy. The cotistruiction of a

railway made it necessary to drain a large part ofit, and little by little the country has been renderedprosperous. Prof. Marchoux, of the Pasteur Institute,was sent to study malaria in this district, and statesthat although there are always many ponds andmillions of anopheles, malaria has disappeared.The sporadic cases which are iyiet with do not leadto infection around them. lie lias made a similarstudy at La Camargue, which is ill the Rhone deltaand is an island of very fertile soil. -ftere the

proprietors have become wealthy and recruit theirlabour amongst foreigners-Italians, Spanish, Serbs-who work under contract, are badly lodged andpoorly fed, and labour without rest. Malaria persistseverywhere. from which it may be concluded thatthe malarial incidence does not vary as the numberof anopheles. These are mainly parasitic to animalsand abound when animals are found within easyreach. When, on the other hand, man is their onlyprey, they multiply with difficulty but infect them-selves with certainty and are a sure source ofinfection to people living in the district.

Asthma and Ultra-violet Light.Before the Société de Thérapeutique, Saidman

has given particulars of the technique useful in

treating asthma by irradiation. The polymetallicarc, he says, is satisfactory in 80 per cent. of cases ;with the same doses the mercury-vapour lamp givesouly 46 per cent. of successes. An intense sourceof light should be used and it should cause erythema.The curative properties seem to be due to theassociated effects of the ultra-violet and infra-red rays,of the gas released by the arc, and of the ionised air.Cure is much more rapid in children, and sometimes,when there is no enlargement of tracheobronchiallymph glands, the attacks disappear after a single

sitting. In adults the effects are less consistentand the treatment longer, but relapse may be-prevented by periodical treatment.

Inftoeuza ill Paris.Influenza was exceedingly prevalent at Paris during

December, when it caused 180 deaths per day.Between Dec. llth and 20th, when the epidemicreached its peak, the daily average mortality was198, but since then it has rapidly subsided. Admis-sions to hospital have fallen from 698 on Dec. 17thto 493 on Jan. 8th. Favourable weather has causeda siinilar decrease in influenza at Montpellier.Among the more important meetings of the present

year will be an exhibition of medical appliancesand therapeutic products, at Lyons, in March; theSixth National Tuberculosis Congress, at Lyons,from April llth to 14th; the Annual InternationalNeurological Assembly, from May 30th to June Ist;the French Congress of Alienists and Neurologists,from August lst to 6th ; the Fifth French PaediatricCongress, at Lausanne, during September andOctober; the Thirty-sixth Surgical Congress, fromOctober 3rd to 8th ; the French Medical Congress,from October 10th to 14th; and the Congress of’Hygiene, at the Pasteur Institute, in October.The Association for the Development of Medical

Relations is gaining an increasing influence abroad.It is now assisting in the organisation of a medicallibrary at Warsaw, and receives large groupsof visitors from Poland, the United States andelsewhere; a special reception was recently given inhonour of Prof. Clemens von Pirquet, of Vienna.The Association has sent physicians and surgeons toSerbia, Egypt, the Near East, and Colombia, and isready to provide information about French post-graduate courses in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics.

The total number of medical diplomas awarded byFrench universities during 1925-26 was 1242, of which6.51 were given at Paris. Of these diplomas 1132conferred the right to practise medicine in France andthe French colonies, whilst the rest provided only theuniversity grade without State rights. After Paris,the largest numbers of degrees were awarded by theuniversities of Lyons (166), Bordeaux (127), andMontpellier (113).

The Services.ROYAL NAVAL MEDICAL SERVICE.

Surg. Lt.-Comdrs. R. K. Shaw and G. L. Ritchie to beSurg. Comdrs.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.

Capts. to be Majs.: N. Cameron and W. S. Evans.

A,13,NIY RKSERVE OF OFFICERS.

Lt.-CoL J. Matthews, having attained the age limit ofliability to recall, ceases to belong to the Res. of Off.

TERRITORIAL ARMY RESERVE OF OFFICERS.

(’apt. K. Copland, from the Active List, to be Capt.TERRITORIAL ARMY.

Capt. R, AN’. Swayne to be Maj.

INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICE.

Maj. W. C. Gray to be Lt.-Cot.Temp. Lts. : Subbier Annaswami, Sarveshwar Nath

Kaul, Hari Narain Shivapuri, Amar Nath Duggal, IIomiMeherjibhoy Setna, Bankim Kumar Pal, Chandranan Joshi,and Kongattil Madhava Menon to be Temp. Capts.

Benegal Mukunda Rao to be Temp. Lt.The King has approved the retirement of Maj. Sir Thomas

.1. Carey-Evans.

FORMER PATIENTS ENDOW A BED.-Some months-ago an Old Patients’ Association was formed for the upkeepof one or more beds in the Salford Royal Flospital. Memberspromise to give a minimum subscription of half-a-crown ayear and the first bed has now been endowed.