ounce at a time; he took three spoonsful in succession, and was much relieved on the instant. I remained by him an hour, during which time he had taken about four ounces; his hiccough was suspended for a longer time than it had been since its commencement; he continued its use till he had taken nearly one pound, at the same time drinking cold wine or spirit whey, and having warm fomentations applied to his extremities and lower part of his abdoAfter two hours, I had the satisfaction to observe that his hiccough had entirely ceased; the use of the ice was accordingly suspended, and his final recovery confided to the due administration of moderate stimuli and light food, which completely restored him in a few days. His amendment was rapid, and his cure perfect.

men.

SIR,

A Case of Intestinal Intrafœtation, communicated by
Professor Post, of this city.

Washington, D. C. March 24, 1919

I send you, by my friend, the hon. David A. Ogden, a tumour, with hair, and two incisor teeth, taken from the rectum of a puny female child. The tumour is much lessened in size in consequence of being for some time accidentally exposed to the atmosphere. On examination, it was found to contain a small portion of bony matter.

The following statement is given from facts furnished me by Dr. M'Williams, a highly respectable physician of this place, who has attended the child from infancy, and who took from her the tumour:

Miss H. aged 12 years, residing near the navy-yard, experienced ill health from infancy, attended with a sallow complexion and enlarged abdomen. These symptoms were attributed to worms, for which she was treated with a va

riety of anthelmintic medicines, at different times, without relief. In May, 1818, she was afflicted during several days with pain and uneasiness in the bowels; at length, having occasion to visit the privy, while there, something, as she said, appeared to give way suddenly on the left side, in the direction of the descending colon, and was immediately followed by a profuse discharge of bloody water, which exhausted her, and produced syncope. She was found in this state, and conveyed into the house. During several weeks afterwards she suffered severe paroxysms of pain, similar to those of a woman in labour, accompanied by a discharge of bloody matter, occasionally mixed with pieces of matted hair. At the expiration of four weeks after the rupture, hair several inches long presented at the anus, and was removed with a pair of scissors by the child herself; shortly afterwards, a tumour, about the size of a common orange, protruded through the anus, partly covered with hair, and containing two complete teeth. This tumour was attached by means of a neck to a larger body. The Doctor used great efforts to relieve the child of the remaining substance, without success. Dr. Cutbush, of the United States' navy, accidentally saw her in this state, and supposed, from the great resistance, that the body was attached to the rectum. Dr. Hamilton, of the navy, attended the child in company with Dr. M Williams, and after exhausting their best efforts without relieving her, and finding that the anus and surrounding parts were becoming much irritated and excoriated by the tumour, they passed a ligature around the neck, and separated it with a scalpel: the divided surface exhibited numerous blood vessels. The case was now left to nature, and the child being extremely emaciated, was treated with tonic medicines and a cordial diet.

The remaining body was at length destroyed by the process of putrefaction, and gradually passed off in a dissolved state; since which the health of the child is greatly im

proved. She has at this time a bright complexion, and the abdomen is free from tumefaction.

I have the honour to be,

with high respect and consideration,

Your obedient servant,

Dr. POST, New-York.

HENRY HUNTT.

This extraordinary production is now in the possession of Dr. Post, and there can be no doubt of its nature.-ED.

Account of a successful Operation for a Congenital Division of the Velum of the Palate and the Uvula-by M. Roux, Chirurgien-en-chef adjoint de l'Hopital de la Charité.

THE patient was a young man, in whom the velum of the palate and the uvula were completely divided, as a congenital malformation: the voice was altered, as it commonly is in similar cases. The two edges of the division could be easily approached to each other; the mouth was large; the pharynx not very sensible; and the patient earnestly desired to have something done for his relief. Every thing concurred to favour the attempt of the operation.

M. Roux first passed three ligatures of waxed thread through the parts to be united, by means of a curved needle mounted on a handle: this prevented the too great retraction of the parts, from the irritation produced by the instrument in removing the edges of the velum and uvula, which was done to the extent of about half a line on each side the ligatures were then tied, and the threads cut close to the knots.

Immediately after the operation, the voice became like what it is in the ordinary state. The patient was ordered to abstain wholly from food for three days, and to preserve perfect silence. In a few days the union was complete; Vol. 6.

11

but the two margins of the uvula are not perfectly correspondent: one of them descends a little lower than the other; and M. Roux intends to remove the projecting part by excision.

London Med. and Phys. Jour.

SCUTELLARIA LATERIFLORA.

We have never been backward in expressing our want of confidence in this new remedy for Rabies Canina: we have always ranked it with Anagalis, Stellaria, Alisma Plantago, and a multitude of other boasted specifics, which have occupied the public for a day, and then given place to some other trifle, equally inefficacious. Our opinion of its merits were not in the least altered by the perusal of Dr. Spalding's tract, recording, upon vague authority, its numerous cures. Indeed, we never suspected that gentleman to have given much credence to the loose and often repeated tales of its sanative powers. All that he attempted to do, and which we think he has fully accomplished, was to lay before the public the testimony on which its efficacy rested, in order that they might know how to appreciate the extravagant encomiums that unprofessional men had bestowed on it. Accordingly, when an article appeared in the Journal Universel des Sciences Medicales of Paris, noticing his pamphlet, as containing several hundred cases of hydrophobia cured by the use of that plant, he immediately, with a candour and frankness that will always distinguish the modest and scientific practitioner from the bold pretender, sent for insertion in this paper, a letter addressed to the Editors of that Journal, in which he declares, that they have misconceived his meaning: that it was his intention merely to relate what had been said of the remedy, and its use, without expressing any opinion of its value.

For our part, we never mistook the scope of the pamphlet, believing the author to be too conversant with the history of this terrible malady to credit for a moment so absurd an assertion, as that any thing like the number of cases given, could have occurred in this country during the period spoken of. Independently of this want of testimony, we admit there were other powerful reasons which induced us to believe that it did not possess active medicinal properties; such especially as we should expect to find in an antidote for such a disease. We refer to its being wholly devoid of any sensible active properties: its taste being merely herbaceous; the fact of cattle feeding on it, as on ordinary grass, whenever it occurs in their pasture grounds; and, finally, its belonging to one of the most natural and best defined orders of plants, most of whose medicinal properties are well known, and not one of which possess any active venenose power.

Entertaining such ideas of Scutellaria, we confess we did not expect ever again to have occasion to take any further notice of it; but some accounts we have lately received from a most respectable quarter, attest to its power in two cases of spasmodic disease, which had resisted all the ordinary remedies; and we have thought proper to present our readers with the details of these cases, in the hope that others may be induced to employ the plant, and bring its merits to the test of experience. If it should be found in future trials to exert such influence over morbid muscular action in any disease, as the following cases warrant us to expect, then, indeed, may we cherish some hope that it may exert a special one, over that most terrible malady, which has heretofore proved so rebellious under every mode of treatment which our art has been able to devise.