40

cine unless furnished with a registered di-ploma.

This is not the place to discuss fully thedoctrines of medical reform or legislation;otherwise we should show that this se-hemeis at variance with the first principles ofsound legislation.

REFORM IN THE LONDON COLLEGEOF SURGEONS.

AMONGST other topics which the con-

tinued discussion of medical reform is elicit-ing amongst members of the London Collegeof Surgeons, the regulations of the museumand library are again much canvassed.The humiliating distinctions that are madebetween the members in and out of power,are worse brooked than ever. " With othervexatious acts of your council, say thethe members to the president," is that of ex-cluding us from the possession, each, of acopy of the library catalogue, without thepayment of twelve shillings, while eachmember of your council is presented with itgratuitously. As members we ought eachto receive a copy on application. Yourcopies are, severally, neatly enveloped, andforwarded. As a member, no surgeon canintroduce a friend to look around the col-lege building without first obtaining leavefrom, or notifying his wish to, the secretary. iThe porter who is appointed to look after Ithe library and museum member’s entry-book, and to open and shut the doors, insteadof being respectful in his duties, is taintedwith the same vice as his superiors, andtreats the general member as a cypher."This contumelious behaviour is observed inthe servants of no other scientific body inLondon. The degradations to which themembers are subjected are not seen or feltby the great majority of the members, fromtheir not being within visiting distance ofthe college, but, knowing them, they willregard them as evidences of disposition andcharacter, which are not particularly honour-able to the corporate body.

TREATMENT OF CHLOROSIS WITH

THE LACTATE OF IRON.

THE lactate of iron has recently beenintroduced into practice by MM. Gelis andConté, internes at La Charité. Reflecting onthe difficulty of administering the prepara.tions of iron, these gentlemen recommendthe use of the lactate in lozenges. Thispreparation is very soluble, and may beadministered in much smaller doses thanother preparations of iron-the subcarbonate,for example. M. Bouillaud never givesmore than 20 grains in the 24 hours ; MM.Andral and l’ouquier seldom exceed 12grains.

The following cases show the effects oflactate of iron in cases of chlorosis

CASE I.-M. ANDRAL.Josephine Leiter, 17 years of age, ad.

mitted on the 23rd November last. Sevenmonths ago she was much frightened, andsince then her health has rapidly declined.The menstrual discharge became irregular,and of small quantity ; appetite lost; theleast exercise produced palpitation of theheart and blowing respiration ; Guuit de diublein the carotids.Twenty days after admission she com-

menced taking the lactate of iron in doses ofsix grains a day. On the 10th day herappetite was much improved; the dose wasincreased gradually to 12 grains. On the6th of January the catamenia appeared ;they were abundant, and the blood was of agood colour. Since then she rapidly im.proved.

CASE II.-AMENORRHtOEA.-CHLOROSIS.M. FOUQUIER.

Caroline Blessodser, 21 years of age, en-joying good health, had always menstruatedregularly up to the age of 19, when thecatamenia were suddenly arrested by herimprudence in plunging the hands in coldwater during the flux. The suppressionpersisted for 18 months, and was accom.panied by all the symptoms of chlorosis.On the 19th month the menses reappearedunder the use of iron and other emmena-gogues, but were soon suppressed again,and remained so for four months.

Present State.-Face puffed ; appetitelost ; bowels constipated ; palpitation of theheart on the least exercise; headach; ver.tigo ; pain and oedema of the lower extre.mities ; bruit de sou in the heart; slightfever. Nov. 22 (the day after admission). Six

grains of lactate of iron.24. Appetite improved.26. Headach and fever have disappeared.

Eight grains.29. Appearance of the menses. Ten

grains.30. Neuralgia of the supra-orbital nerve.

Twelve grains.Dec. 4. Appetite good; no palpitation;

no vertigo, &c.6. Discharged quite well.

CASE III: 1—CHLOROSIS AND AMENORRŒAAFTER DELIVERY.

IA lady, 22 years of age, was delivered inNovember,1839. The labour was followed- buy phlebitis of the lower extremities andI well-marked chlorotic symptoms; paleness) and tumefaction of the face; palpitationsand blowing on the least exercise; gastral-gia ; suppression of the menses, which had,, hitherto, been regular. During the summerthe patient went to the country, and becamemuch better ; but, on her return to Paris, the! symptoms of chlorosis recurred with in

creased force.

741

Dec. 1. Lactate of iron, in the dose ofeight grains every day. Three days after-wards increased appetite ; in eight daysloss of the habitual paleness ; in a fortnightthe patient was able to take a long walk;and about the beginning of January, 1840,the chlorotic symptoms had completely dis.appeared. On the 10th, 14 months after

delivery, the catamenia reappeared for thefirst time.-French Lancet, Jan. 23,1840.

THE LATE BARON RICHERAND.

BARON RICHERAND, Professor of the Fa-culty of Medicine, Paris, died on the 23rdof Jannary last. M. Richerand was born onthe 5th of February, 1779, at Belley, a smalltown in the department of Aix, which hasalready furnished the capital of France withsome of its most celebrated physicians,Recamier, Bichat, &c. At the age of 17Richerand left his native town for Paris,where he commenced the study of medicine,and such was the ardour of the young aspi-rant to distinction, that, after having studiedonly two years, he commenced lecturing asa private teacher. At the age of 22 he pub-lished the first edition of his " New Elementsof Physiology." This work has continued,since the time of its publication, to enjoy ahigh degree of popularity ; it has beentranslated into most of the European lan-guages, even into Chinese, and is wellknown in our own country through Dr.

Copeland’s excellent translation. Richeranddedicated his work to Fourcroy, and throughhim became acquainted with the most cele-brated characters of the time. He was soonappointed assistant-surgeon to the Hospitalof St. Louis, and at the age of 29 becameone of the Professors of the School of Medi-cine. During nearly half a century he con-tinued his labours at the hospital withoutintermission, and sunk at length full ofyears and honour, loved and respected byall who knew him. M. Richerand wasProfessor of the Faculty of Medicine, SeniorSurgeon of the Hospital of St. Louis, Pre-sident of the Medical Jury for Paris, andKnight of the Orders of the Legion ofHonour, St. Michel, St. Anne, St. Wlad-mir, &c.

PROFESSOR BLUMENBACH

Died at Gottingen, on the 22nd ofJanuary, aged 88. Fourteen years ago (in1826) he celebrated the fiftieth anniversaryof his professorship. "For some years,how-ever," says a correspondent at Hanover," he has been dead to science, so that theUniversity now loses only his illustriousname,"

John Frederic Blumenbach was born atGotha, in the year 1752, and took his de-gree of Doctor of Medicine at the Universityof Gottingen in 1775. On the followingyear he was appointed Conservator of theMuseum of Natural History; in 1778, Pro-fessor of the Practice of Medicine ; and in1812, Secretary of the Royal Society ofSciences. Blumenbach wrote his inauguralthesis in 1775, on "The Varieties of theHuman Race," and thence continued tolabour with unwearied zeal in this interest-ing field of observation. His collection ofhuman skulls was the richest in the world.In the year 1787 Blumenbach publishedthe first edition of his "Elements of Phy-siology." This work once existed in an

English form; now a travestied copy is soldunder the title of " Elliotson’s Physiology :’

DISCOLOURATION OF THE GUMS

IN LEAD COLIC.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SiR:—The discussions that have arisen

at the Medico-Chirurgical, and WestminsterMedical Societies, on the peculiar colourthat is observable in the gums in cases oflead colic, lead to the conclusion that thesubject is new, not only to those societies,but, by inference, to the profession gene-rally. The following facts prove that suchis not the case; nevertheless, great creditis due to Dr. Burton for placing the subjectso prominently before the profession.Two years and a half since I was attend-

ing a case of well-marked painters’ colic(the patient, James Parslow, having hadprevious attacks of the same disease), withMr. John Thompson, surgeon, of Tedding-ton, who directed my attention to the pecu-liarly blue colour of the gums (particularlyof the gums near to the lower incisors), as

diagnostic of the presence of lead in thesystem. I was struck with the symptom,though I then believed it to arise fromanother cause; but cases that have sinceoccurred in my practice have entirely con-vinced me that the observation was wellfounded.Mr. Thompson became acquainted with

the fact while with Mr. Leighton, of New-castle, in 1832 and 1833 (between two andthree years anterior to the date at whichDr. Burton states that he commenced his

observations), while attending the white-lead and shot-factories of Messrs. Parkerand Walker, and Messrs. Locke, Blackett,and Co., and he states that the workmenthemselves were cognisant of the discoloura-

tion, and its cause. I am, Sir, yours truly,, GEORGE TAYLOR, M.D.Kingston, Jan. 29 1840.

GEORGE TAYLOR, M.D.