and still inclined to sleep. Ordered broth. In the evening continued favourable, but still complained of tenderness in the epigastrium, which appeared to be in the abdominal muscles, near their attachment to the ribs and sternum, no doubt, produced by the excessive vomiting.

I applied the needle over the ensiform cartilage, and injected one fourth of a grain of morphia.

I saw her

The next day, Jany 30th, she experienced marked relief, and expressed herself comfortable. The bowels being constipated I ordered her to take a teaspoonful of magnes: sulph: and repeat every three or four hours until the desired effect should be produced. Jan 31st. Bowels moved and doing well, ordered beefsteak and roasted potato. again several days after when she appeared quite relieved but weak; and continued to improve until March 1st, when she again sent for me. She was then threatened with the same symptoms, which had been produced by overloading her stomach with a variety of indigestible articles. Her full term of gestation being now nearly completed, I induced labour as a palliative measure, and delivered her in about eight hours of a healthy, living child. The next morning, the after pains being very severe and her stomach rejecting everything, I injected half a grain of morphia into her arm which was followed by marked relief. I repeated the dose in the evening of the third, and again on the morning of the fourth, same strength, each application being followed by additional relief. March 5th much better, and did not require the needle. In the evening she complained of a slight cough, for which I prescribed a mild cough mixture and cautioned her against sitting up, as she was disposed to do, the weather being extremely cold. The next morning she had a severe chill; pleuro-pneumonia of both sides set in, and she died two days after.

Case 7.-August, 1861. A man aged twenty-five, whom I saw in the early part of the day afflicted with rheumatism, and for whom I prescribed a mixture containing three drops of tinct. verat. veridi: and eight grains of potassia: acetat, in every teaspoonful, but instead of giving one teaspoonful, the dose prescribed, his wife gave him a dessertspoonful, which contained nearly three times as much, and before bedtime, he having taken three doses, vomiting severely after each dose, and being excessively prostrated, I was sent for in great haste, and not without good reason, for when I arrived I found him very much prostrated, retching violently, and a tough ropy mucous was issuing from his mouth, which indicated poisoning from the verat. verid. He could not speak audibly, his pulse could scarcely be felt, his countenance appeared ghastly, his skin cold, and bathed in perspiration, and his pupils were widely dilated; in fact he appeared upon the very verge of dissolution. I im

mediately applied the hypodermic needle, and injected half a grain of morphia into his arm. Five minutes after the injection the retching ceased, and in half an hour, his pupils contracted, and he fell asleep. I saw him next day. He had slept six or eight hours, almost without intermission, and now felt comfortable, and expressed himself much pleased because of the sudden disappearance of his rheumatism. He made a rapid recovery without further treatment, and in a few days was able to walk about.

In this case I do not attribute the sudden cure of the rheumatism to the morphia, but to the verat. verid. The morphia however saved his life, and could not have been administered in any other way with timely effect to arrest the poisonous action of the veratrum.

I come now, to the treatment hypodermically, of Cholera Canadensis, to which I wish more particularly to draw the attention of the Medical profession, because it is a disease that has proved very troublesome, and unmanageable to every practitioner acquainted with it; not because medicine could not be found to control the horrid symptoms which so rapidly prostrate the vital powers of its victim, but simply because it could not be introduced through the usual channels, in sufficient quantity, and with timely speed to arrest the devastating power of the choleraic poison.

The stomach, and bowels, the great thoroughfare through which the system is fed and nourished having become so deranged, that nothing can be digested, or absorbed; but on the contrary, that which is within, -the fluids, and in the fluids, the solids of the body, are constantly pouring out, and with them vitality also.

And having noticed in the case of gastritis and also that of poisoning by verat. virid. before mentioned, that the vomiting and retching was so quickly relieved after the administration of the morphia, I felt satisfied that cholera might be relieved in the same way, and the opportunity for trying it was soon afforded me.

Case 8.-August, 1861. A lady aged thirty was seized with cholera ; her symptoms were excessive vomiting and purging, rice-water evacuations, cramps in the muscles of the extremities, pulse feeble, countenance pallid, lips livid, and her skin bathed in clammy perspiration. She had been a woman of full plethoric habit, but was now pale and prostrated.

I administered all the usual remedies in such cases, such as rinsing the stomach thoroughly with warm water, applying sinapisms to the epigastrium and extremities, and giving calomel, opium, morphia, chalk, and hydrocyanic acid by the stomach, but without any permanent relief to my patient. After the lapse of several hours, finding the symptoms growing worse, I determined to try morphia hypodermically, and inserted nearly half a

grain into her arm, and in half an hour I was pleased to find a most favourable change. Next day she was much better, had not vomited during the night, and only twice up to 10 a.m. which was caused by the patient rising up to take a drink. Her bowels had not moved, she had slept occasionally and still seemed inclined to sleep. I saw her again in the evening of the same day, when she appeared more restless, and complained of slight pains and rumbling in the bowels. I repeated the injection of half a grain, and saw her the next day. She had slept well, and was much improved, and could bear nourishment upon the stomach, the bowels remained undisturbed, she convalesced rapidly, and is now enjoying good health.

Case 9.-August, 1862. Mrs. J. C. was suddenly seized with cholera, six or eight hours previous to my arrival, and was supposed to be in a dying condition. I found her much prostrated, skin pale, cold, and bathed in clammy perspiration, lividity of the lips, pulse almost imperceptible at the wrists, incessant vomiting, and purging; the evacuation being of the rice-water character, and her limbs contorted by agonizing spasms which caused her to shriek aloud, her voice husky, hoarse, and almost unintelligible.

The coldness of the tongue and fauces was very marked, which appears to be characteristic of the advanced stages of cholera. I immediately inserted half a grain of morphia beneath the skin of the arm, and then watched its effects.

The purging ceased in ten minutes; she never vomited after the application of the needle, and within half an hour she lay calm and quiet in sleep.

I directed the nurse to give her some rice water or gruel, if awake, and left her for two hours. On my return she was still sleeping, neither stomach nor bowels having been disturbed; she breathed naturally; her pulse was more perceptible, and her countenance began to resume its usual expression. She slept for eight or ten hours, almost without intermission, after which she began to take nourishment, in the form of gruel and milk, and continued to improve. About the third day the bowels not having moved, I gave her a mild purgative, and directed that she should be kept quiet in bed for a few days until she regained her strength, which she did rapidly, and now, in 1866, she is still living.

Case 10.-July, 1863. An old dissipated man, of over eighty winters, had been seized with cholera twelve hours previous to my arrival. I found him very much prostrated, skin cold, lips livid, pulse could scarcely be felt, the stomach and bowels constantly moving, the voice husky, the tongue and fauces cold, and the legs cramped.

I injected half a grain of morphia into his arm, and within forty minutes the symptoms were relieved, and he fell asleep. I visited him occasionally throughout that day, and he appeared comfortable; the purging and vomiting having entirely ceased. I saw him again the next day. He was much better, the stomach and bowels were still quiet; but being a very old man whose constitution had been shattered by dissipation, and having been allowed to suffer for twelve hours before any relief had been sought for, he gradually sank from exhaustion.

I might enumerate several other cases, but let the above suffice to draw the the attention of the profession to this very important subject. In all these cases I used the "sulphate of morphia" in solution, prepared as follows

R morph. sulph. grs. xxx ij.

Acid sulph. gtts. ij.
Aquæ 3 ij. M.

Consequently every 3 contains grs. ij. and xv m. half a grain, the usual dose employed.

The instrument used, was made by Teiman of New York, after the plan suggested by Dr. Alexander Wood, and consisted of gutta-percha, with capacity to hold half a drachm, having four graduations upon the piston; the nozzle a hollow, sharp-pointed needle being made of plati

num.

The power, of morphia, as an anodyne, anti-phlogistic, and anti-spasmodic, is undoubted, when a certain quantity is directly introduced into the circulation, its effect is prompt and decisive; and as an antidote to cholera, I belive, will be found perfectly reliable.

In neuralagia, some objections may be raised to the exhibition of morphia, because of the nausea, and vomiting which sometimes follow its use; but in gastritis, or cholera, when these symptoms are always present, and distress the patient so much, it certainly cannot aggravate, but, according to my experience, invariably arrested them when administered hypodermically, and when proper precautions were taken to keep the patient in the recumbent posture, with the head upon a level with the long axis of the body until its effects had passed off.

I hope that the facts, as above related, will prove interesting to my professional brethren, and beneficial to suffering humanity.

I have omitted to state that, in over forty cases where I have used the hypodermic needle, there has been no local irritation, requiring treatment at the seat of puncture; and therefore no fears need be entertained in that direction. J. R, M.D.

74 Caroline Street, Toronto, March 5th, 1866.

The Optical Defects of the Eye, and their Treatment, by the Scientific use of Spectacles. BY A. M. ROSEBRUGH, M.D.

CONCAVE LENSES.

(Continued from page 411.)

CHAPTER III.-MYOPIA.

Before proceeding to the consideration of Myopia, it will be well for us to glance at some of the properties of concave lenses; and, in order to simplify the subject, we will confine ourselves to equi-concave lenses. An equi-concave lens is bounded by two surfaces, which are portions of the concave side of two circles which have equal radii.

Fig. 9. A, B, one of the concave surfaces of the lens. C is the centre of curvature, and C, R the radius of curvature. When parallel rays, P, P, strike one surface of the lens, they have divergence upon leaving the second surface of the lens, as if they proceeded from the centre of curvature, C, which, in an equi-concave lens, is also the prin cipal focus of the lens. C, R is the focal length of the lens. In a convex lens, the focus is measured behind the lens; in a concave lens, it is measured in front of it. If we call the focus of the convex lens posi tive, we must call the focus of the concave lens negative. When parallel rays of light fall upon a convex lens, they are converged to a focus. When they fall upon a concave lens, they are made to diverge. A convex lens enlarges, and a concave diminishes the apparent size of objects. The focal length of a convex lens is measured behind; and that of a concave lens, in front of the lens. They are, therefore, entirely opposite in all their properties; and, for this reason, a convex lens is called a positive lens; and a concave one, a negative lens. Or, shorter still, they are indicated by the plus (+) and minus (-), algebraic symbols; thus, +5, and -5; or, +, and -. To ascertain the focal length of a concave lens, we ascertain what convex lens it will neutralize.

1. In a myopic eye, parallel rays, as well as those that have a certain degree of divergence, are focussed in front of the retina; and, the inverted image of distant objects being formed in the same position, the picture upon the retina will be ill-defined, and vision for distant objects consequently indistinct.