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The present work, therefore, is the result of such an intention, and is

presented with the hope that it may accomplish the object for which it

has been prepared.

* * * * *

_Practical and Analytical Chemistry._--Being a Complete Course in

Chemical Analysis. By Henry Trimble, Ph. G., Professor of Analytical

Chemistry in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Illustrated.

Publishers: P. Blackiston, Son & Co., Philadelphia. 1885. Price,

$1.50.

The object of this excellent work is to place before the student of

pharmacy and medicine a compact course of analytical chemistry.

The distinguished author believing that the study of Qualitative

Analysis should be preceded by some practical experience such as

relates to the preparation of the important gases and a few of the

salts, devotes Part First to the consideration of Hydrogen, Chlorine,

Hydrochloric Acid, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Ammonia, Nitric Acid, Carbon

Dioxide and the preparation of such salts as Potassium Chloride,

Potassium and Sodium Tartrate, Ammonium Nitrate and Oxalate, Calcium

Phosphate, Magnesium Sulphate, Carbonate and Oxide, Aluminium

Hydrate, Ferrous Sulphate, Ferric Sulphate and Hydrate, Copper

Sulphate and Lead Acetate. Part Second is devoted to Qualitative

Analysis, and Part Third to Quantitative Analysis, together with a

description of apparatus, and the processes of filtration, evaporation,

crystallization, ignition, etc. The work extends over nearly one

hundred pages, and is a valuable text-book for the student.

* * * * *

_Chemical Problems._--By Dr. Karl Stammer. Translated from the second

German edition, with explanations and answers, by W. S. Hoskinson, A.

M., of Wittenberg College, Ohio. Publishers: P. Blackiston, Son & Co.,

Philadelphia. 1885. Price, 75 cents.

The text is in the form of questions to which answers are given at

the end of the volume, which comprises one hundred and nine pages.

Part First relates to the recognized elements, and Part Second to

approximate ratios, temperature, atmospheric pressure and mixed

problems, making a compact and useful text-book for the study of

chemical problems.

* * * * *

_Quiz Questions._--Course on Dental Pathological and Therapeutics,

Philadelphia Dental College. Prof. J. Foster Flagg, D. D. S.

Answered by William C. Foulks, D. D. S. Third edition, Revised and

Enlarged. Publishers: The S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company,

Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Chicago.

This excellent series of questions and answers on Dental Pathology

and Therapeutics is again offered to the dental profession as a work

of reference in daily office practice, and is the only book that

contains in a condensed and practical form the facts and principles

of these subjects, as enunciated by Professor Flagg. Commencing with

General Principles, these questions and answers relate to Deciduous

Teeth, Pathological Dentition, Lancing, Permanent Teeth, Dental

Caries, Sensitive Dentine, Galvanic Action, Pulp Protectors, Obtunding

Applications, Pulp Capping, Pathological Conditions of Pulp, Dental

Exostosis, Malformed Teeth, Periodontitis and Alveolar Abscess, the

whole constituting a work of great value to all engaged in the practice

of dentistry. The work is interleaved with blank pages for notes, etc.,

and gotten up in a neat and excellent style. We take great pleasure

in commending this treatise as a valuable adjunct to the regular

text-books of the profession.

Monthly Summary.

PEROXIDE OF HYDROGEN.--_Dr. W. W. Allport, Chicago._--The peroxide of

hydrogen (H2 O2), though not a new remedy, has only within the last few

years gained much prominence in the treatment of surgical diseases.

One of its uses in dental and oral surgery is in blind or deep-seated

abscesses, such as arise from roots of diseased teeth. As the tendency

of pus is always downward, when these cases occur in the lower jaw it

is not infrequent that the abscess, if left to itself, and sometimes

even after the tooth is extracted, will point through the external

tissues at the lower margin of the jaw, and occasionally downward

between the muscles of the neck, and open at various points, even as

low down as the clavicle. The usual treatment is to extract the tooth

and evacuate the pus through the alveolus, but it often happens that

the formation of pus and the continuance of suppuration is not checked,

and the abscess points, or is opened through the external tissue of the

face or neck, leaving, when healed, a disfiguring scar.

By injecting peroxide of hydrogen into such abscesses before they point

through the external tissues, this serious disfigurement can usually

be averted, and the suppurative process is materially shortened. It

is also a valuable aid for the evacuation of the purulent contents of

the antrum of Highmore, in catarrhal and suppurative inflammations,

and especially where the sinuses are divided into two or more pockets

by bony septi. These cases are often protracted by the inability of

the surgeon to perfectly evacuate them. But with this preparation it

becomes a simple matter after access has been gained to the cavity

by the extraction of a tooth or the perforation of its external wall

in the proper place at the juncture of the cheek with the alveolar

border. A free opening must always be made for the escape of the

contents, in order to avoid pressure from the rapid evolution of

gas. Two or three applications of a dram each is usually sufficient to

completely empty the sac.

It is used with the most gratifying results in the treatment of

pyorrhea alveolaris, and is an invaluable agent in treating pulpless

teeth, as by its action all decomposed matter from the pulp chamber and

dentinal tubuli is readily ejected, thereby removing the most frequent

cause of discoloring of this class of teeth, of inflammation of the

peridontal membrane, as well as alveolar abscesses.

The efficacy of peroxide of hydrogen depends on the case with which

it is decomposed into oxygen and water. Pus is one of the many

substances which causes this decomposition. Hydrogen peroxide acts

first chemically and then mechanically. When the decomposition takes

place the oxygen is set free and escapes from a liquid to a gaseous

form; this expansion of the gas distends the pus cavity, and as it

escapes from the orifice, it carries much of the pus with it, and

its application should be repeated till all purulent accumulations

are evacuated. The liberated oxygen, being in a nascent or active

condition, rapidly oxidizes the products of suppuration, and destroys

many of the micro organisms of suppuration.[A] Hence it is a

disinfectant and anti-septic.

Finally, peroxide of hydrogen, after its decomposition, leaves no

material in the system which is foreign to the system, and it is,

therefore, one of the most efficient and harmless disinfectants

and anti-septics that can be used, in all forms of purulent

inflammation.--_Address at American Medical Association._

* * * * *

ALCOHOLIC PARALYSIS.--The immediate and transient effects of an

excessive quantity of alcohol upon the human nervous system, whether

they are manifested in the form of drunkenness, or of delirium tremens,

or of an acute attack of insanity, are well-known. Scarcely less

evident are the effects produced upon the nervous system by a less

excessive, but a more prolonged, abuse of alcoholic drinks. These

effects may be manifested either in a general failure of physical and

mental power, or in a form of disease closely resembling progressive

paralytic dementia, or in various forms of chronic insanity, or in

epilepsy, or in neuralgia, or in paralysis. In the acute form of

alcoholic poisoning, no change in the structure of the nervous system

has been found, except that the meninges in common with the internal

organs and the mucous membranes are the seat of a very decided

injection and slight exudation. In the chronic form of alcoholism, a

number of pathological changes have been discovered in the nervous

system, which, however, vary greatly in different cases.

Of late years the paralysis which results from the abuse of alcohol

has been accurately described by numerous observers, and the attempt

has been made to discover the lesion of the nervous system which is

associated with this form of paralysis. Two cases which are reported by

Dr. Henry Hun, of Albany, in the _American Journal of Medical Sciences_

for April, 1885, are typical examples of this disease, and contribute

to a better understanding of it.

Dr. Hun has collected the recorded cases of alcoholic paralysis, and

from their study he holds that we are justified in regarding it as a

special form of disease with the following symptoms: After a number

of cerebral and gastric disturbances due to the alcoholic poisoning,

the symptoms of the disease proper commence with neuralgic pains

and par?sthesi? in the legs, which gradually extend to the upper

extremities, and which are accompanied at first by hyper?sthesia, later

by an?sthesia, and in very severe cases by retardation of conduction

of pain. Along with these symptoms appears a muscular weakness,

which steadily increases to an extreme degree of paralysis, and is

accompanied by rapid atrophy and by great sensitiveness of the muscles

to pressure and passive motion. Both the sensory and motor disturbances

are symmetrically distributed, and the paralysis attacks especially

the extensor muscles. In addition to these motor and sensory symptoms,

there is also a decided degree of ataxia. The tendon reflexes are

abolished and vaso-motor symptoms, such as ?dema, congestion, etc., are

usually present. Symptoms of mental disturbance are always present in

the form of loss of memory and in transient delirium.

The lesion is in all probability a degeneration of the peripheral nerve

fibres and of the nerve cells in the cerebral cortex, together with

a chronic congestion or inflammation of the pia mater. This lesion

explains well the symptoms, although it is curious that alcohol should

not attack the spinal cord, but only the highest and lowest part of

the nervous system, if one may so call the cortex of the brain and the

terminal branches of the peripheral nerves.--_Detroit Lancet._

* * * * *

NOURISHING THE TISSUES OF THE TEETH.--Dr. Frank Abbott says: For a

number of years past I have entertained the views that there was

some difficulty existing not due to an insufficiency of lime-salts,

which occasions so many faulty and imperfectly formed teeth. With

that idea in view I have advised exercise in the open air and other

kinds of treatment for some patients which would favorably affect

their digestion. That the food ordinarily taken contains sufficient

lime-salts to form and to sustain the teeth I have no doubt (except in

cases of extreme anemia, during gestation and lactation). I believe

the fault is beyond that. There is a lack of proper nourishment of the

tissues, due to imperfect digestion, which depends again on the proper

"nerve tone." I believe this to be the real cause of the difficulty. It

is reasonable to suppose that any _tonic_, whether taken in the form of

exercise in the open air, or in any other form, which affects favorably

other portions of the body, will affect the teeth favorably as well.

When we have _ascertained the functions of the great nerve-centers_,

and those functions are assured, then we will probably have more

perfectly formed teeth.--_Items of Interest._

[Footnote A: See Gradle on "Bacteria and the Germ Theory of Disease,"

pp. 39 and 151.]

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Journal of Dental

Science, Vol. XIX. No. 6. Oct., by Various

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