Prof. Lorrain Smith, with the assistance of Professor Drennan, of the University of Otago, N. Z., Dr. Rettie, a chemical expert, and Lieutenant W. Campbell, of the British army medical corps, was undertaken in the University of Edinburgh. Their results were reported in the British Medical Journal. The substance which they prepared was made by rubbing up chlorinated lime to a fine powder and mixing it with an equal weight of powdered boric acid. The ideal antiseptic for the field, they concluded, was a dry powder to be applied direct, which, it was believed, has advantage over a solution because it is more portable, and water is often not procurable.

Chlorinated lime, the basis of the so-called new antiseptic preparation, is well known as a powerful disinfectant. It is destructive to living tissues except in dilute solution. The same may be said of solution of chlorinated potash (Javelle water), which has been largely used by French surgeons in the present war, and of solution of chlorinated soda (Labarraque's solution). The advantage claimed for the new mixture is that the preparation, being practically neutral and unirritating to the tissues, may be applied in greater strength than that in which it is possible to use chlorinated lime, Javelle water or Labarraque's solution. Experiments indicate also that the germicidal activity of chlorinated lime is increasing by such treatment of the calcium hypochlorite as has been described. Such increase

in germicidal activity is generally attributed to the liberation of hypochlorous acid. It has been found that the activity of ordinary bleaching powder is greatly increased by passing through it carbonic acid gas. Any other acid, as boric acid, will do as well. From the chemical point of view, therefore, says The Journal of the American Medical Association, there is nothing new in this method. That the practical application of such a mixture is not wholly new is proved by an earlier article published by Vincent in 1914. He suggested the application to ulcerating and

gangrenous wounds of a mixture of chlorinated lime and boric acid.-Cal. State Journal of Medicine.

AN INTERESTING OBSTETRICAL CASE:-Mrs. M. M., aged 24 years, engaged me to attend her in her first confinement almost three and one-half years ago. After the usual antepartum examination, I informed her that everything was normal and that, barring any unforeseen complication, she should have a normal delivery at full term. She was later influenced to change her plans and entered one of our large hospitals to be confined there by one of its attending obstetricians. After she had been in labor but a few hours, the obstetrician told her that she was suffering from a deformed pelvis and could never deliver her baby and that a cesarean section would have to be performed. The operation was successfully performed and a 62-pound living boy was born, the mother making an uneventful recovery.

Patient again became pregnant and on consulting her former attending obstetrician was told that a cesarean section would again have to be done. During the course of her pregnancy, she also consulted me and, in her conversation, recalled to my mind what I had told her during her first pregnancy and said if I could assure her of a normal delivery at the termination of this pregnancy, she desired me to attend her in her second confinement. After the usual antepartum examination, I again informed her that, barring any unforeseen complication, she should have a normal delivery. On Friday, Aug. 13, 1915, after an actual labor lasting about twelve hours, she gave birth to a living boy, weighing 714 pounds. In this connection, it is also interesting to mention the fact that 1 c.c. pituitrin was given intramuscularly to hasten delivery during a tedious perineal

stage.

This case is reported to show, firstly, how as a result of a grossly inaccurate diagnosis a patient was subjected to the risks of a major surgical operation; secondly, the possibility

of a normal delivery following a cesarean section, and thirdly, the comparative safety in the use of pituitrin in properly indicated conditions even in a previously wounded uterus.-Isidor Eckert, M.D., in N. Y. Med. Record.

INTESTINAL TROUBLES IN INFANTS:-Copper arsenite is probably the best intestinal antiseptic for the bowel troubles of children, associated with nausea and vomiting, preventing the use of ordinary medicaments. The copper arsenite can be given in minute doses (1-100 grain or less), in solution, and at short intervals.

Buttermilk has proven of greatest service in those infants suffering from infantile atrophy; in chronic indigestion, either with or without diarrhea; in exhaustive diarrheas; and in cases which fail to gain in weight in a normal manner. It is not best to employ it in the early stage of an acute diarrhea, nor in those cases where there is intractable vomiting. After the chief indications of treatment have been met, the buttermilk comes in good play, however, in nearly all cases.-Med. Herald.

IODINE AND CINCHONA POWDER A SUBSTITUTE FOR IODOFORM:-Mouchet and Malbec (Paris Medical, January 30, 1915), recommended a combination of iodine and powdered cinchona as an odorless substitute for iodoform. The iodine and cinchona powder possess an agreeable odor, while it is antiseptic and exercises a beneficial effect on wounds, overcoming infection and odor and promoting granulation.

SERVIA DECORATES AMERICAN DOCTORS:-Crown Prince Alexander has decorated forty-three American physicians and sanitary engineers in recognition of their services in stopping the epidemics which broke out in Servia after the war began. The Americans decorated are representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Red Cross.