7° ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS.

BLACK-QUARTER IN THE HORSE.

IT is generaJly held that black-quarter occurs spontaneously only in the ox, sheep, and goat; but in 1886 Hess reported a case which made this opinion doubtful. In 1887 Semmer published another case of black-quarter in the horse, and in that instance the nature of the disease was proved by inocula­tion practised on sheep and guinea-pigs, as well as by a microscopic examina· tion. Further observations of the same kind were published in the annual report regarding the spread of animal plagues in Germany for 188j and 1888, according to which 12 horses in one year were attacked by black-quarter and died in one district. In the same report, however, for 1889, doubt was thrown on these cases, since it appeared that there was a possibility of error in diagnosis.

Quite recently Ganter has reported a case of black-quarter in a horse that was pastured on a common on which the disease prevailed as an enzootic among the cattle. The animal, which was a four year-old gelding in good condition and strongly built, was seized with sudden illness on the night of the zlst-22nd November last, the symptoms exhibited being: complete loss of appetite, difficult and rapid breathing (40 per minute), supporting of the head on the manger, imperceptible pulse, increase of temperature (40'8° C. rectal), and vomition. On the following day (z3rd November) the temperature fell to 39'7" c., and death took place at ten P.M. The autopsy revealed the following :-

Nostrils smeared with blood, neck uniformly swollen, abdomen distended. After removal of the skin there was found an abundant h~morrhagic exuda­tion into the cellular and muscular tissue, chiefly in the region of the larynx, and extending from there along the trachea to the left side of the chest. N ear the left elbow-joint the swelling was emphysematous, and the muscles of the shoulder were beset with numerous ecchymoses. The abdomen contained about half a litre of bloody serum. Stomach and bowels normal; liver clay­coloured; spleen enlarged, pulp black and soft; kidneys dark brownish-red and soft. The left lung was brownish-black, and a frothy dark reddish-brown fluid flowed from its cut surface. The right lung was in the same condition, and its bronchi were plugged with portions of food. The pericardial sac contained an eighth of a litre of bloody serum, and the heart muscle showed numerous ecchymoses. The left ventricle contained a small quantity of clotted blood, the right was occupied by a large clot. The mucous mem­brane of the trachea was blackish-brown, and the lumen of the tube contained a frothy bloody fluid mixed with portions of food; gullet normal; sub­maxillary glands swollen, and beset with specks of blood.

Microscopic examination revealed the characteristic black-quarter bacilli in the exudate into the tissues of the neck.-Thierdrztliche Jl1itthezltmgell.

PROFESSOR LIEBREICH'S REMEDY FOR TUBERCULOSIS.

PROFESSOR LIEBREICH has introduced a new remedy for tubercular disease, and its good effects have been vouched for by Professor B. Fraenkel in a speech at the Berlin Medical Society. The remedy consists of cantharidate of potash, a combination of 0'2 grm. pure cantharidin and 0'4 grm. of potassic hydrate, in 20 cubic centimetres of water. In his remarks hefore the Berlin

ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS. 71

Medical Society Professor Liebreich regretted that the older methods of treating disease had been so much lost sight of; and he said that he had been led to think of cantnaridin in the present connexion, by the good effects observed from the prescription of cantharides in skin diseases. The specific property of cantharidin is to excite serous exudation from capillary vessels, and he argued that this effect would more readily occur if I hose vessels were already irritated. In applying the drug to cases of tuberculosis he proceeded very cautiously, commencing with injections of I-50th of a decimilligramme of the solution of the cantharidate of potash, and gradually increasing the dose. It was found that the expectoration was thereby increased, and that the ordinary dose required to produce substantial effect was one to two decimilligrammes. It is likely that six decimilligrammes would be the maximum amount that could be safely used. No cures have yet been effected, but Professor B. Fraenkel and Dr. Heymann have been struck with the remarkable amelioration of cases so treated, and with the absence of any untoward symptoms. The drug probably only affects the diseased tissues, and it may be applicable to other affections than tubercle.- The Lancet.

THE SERUM OF GOATS' BLOOD IN PHTHISIS.

DR LEPINE of Lyons, who, starting from the fact that goats are refrac.tory to phthisis, (?) has been experimenting on patients by injecting goats' blood or its serum subcutaneously for some little time past, has just described in La Semaille Medicale the method which his experience has taught him is the best to employ. He finds that subcutaneous injections of serum cause so large a surface to become painful that it is impossible to repeat such injections frequently. When, however, they are intravenous, they may be repeated every two or three days, 80 or 100 cubic centimetres being introduced each time. There is, too, practically no danger, and scarcely any pain, if the serum and all the apparatus are properly sterilised, and if the operatIOn is conducted slowly. A goat in good condition will give 400 grammes of blood. This is drawn through a canula inserted into the jugular vein, and is caught in a vessel half immersed in cold water. It is defibrinated, filtered through sterilised muslin, and then put into tubes attached to the circumference of a revolving disc, which is made to revolve by steam power 2000 times per minute for about forty minutes; after which, the separation of the corpuscles from the serum being complete, the latter is transferred to a sterilised vessel provided with an indiarubber tube issuing from the bottom,and closed above with cotton-wool. The patient's arm having been disinfected and tied as for phlebotomy, a prominent vein is selected, and a very fine silver trocar inserted without dissection, which is by no means a difficult (peration. This is cautiously connected with the indiarubber tube and the serum allowed to flow into the ;'ein very slowly. If the patient should feel malaise, the flow must be stopped by lowering the reservoir. The highest amount that Dr. Lepine has transfused at one sitting has been 100 cubic centimetres. When the blood itself was transfused not more than 40 grammes could be borne, the patients complaining-for some not very evident reason-of extreme pain in the loins. Dr. Lepine does not as yet profess to be able to say how far this method of treating diseases by injecting blood or serum from an animal refractory to such diseases is likely to be successful; but it is, he considers, a promising idea, and he thinks it has the best chance of succeeding if the serum only is used, as the corpuscles appear to him, if anything, to hinder the good effect.­The Lancet.