MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10133, 16 May 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

SCARE AMONGST PARROT OWNERS

IN PARIS. Visitors to Paris cannob have failed to notice (he long rows of psittaceous birds displayed for sale on the quays that border the Seine, for if by chance the variegated spectacle escaped their eyes their ears must have informed them of the neighbourhood of the loud-voiced creatures, lb seems, however, that this flourishing industry is at present in danger, if not absolutely doomed to extinction, greatly to the horror and alarm of the Syndics t des Oiseliers. Professor Gilbert, physician to the BiOussais Hospital and chief of the therapeutical laboratory of the faculty, having traced several cases of infectious disease amongst his patients to parrots, felt constrained to reopen the old controversy, and so effectual has been his demonstration of this channel for contagion that the love of the Parisians for their gaily plumraaged pets has undergone complete revulsion. The sale of pemichei ha? consequently dwindled down to next to nothing, and to make matters worse the desire to get rid of the discredited birds has led to immense numbers being: thrown upon the market, causing an unprecedented glut.—Lancet.

MUSIC AS A HYPNOTIC.

We cite Dr. Beschinsky, a Russian physician, not as the strongest but simply as the most recent witness. Having to treat a little girl, aged three, who was made sleepless by night terrors, and having tried various recognised methods of treatment, he at last bethought himself of music. He ordered Chopin's waltz, No. 2 {dose nob stated), to be played on the piano by the child's mother; the effect was immediate and satisfactory. After four nights of this medication, it was suddenly interrupted, and the last state of the little sufferer was worse than the first. Then Chopin was again administered, at first nightly, then every second, and lastly every third night. The cure was complete and permanent. Dr. Berberoff used the same treatment in a similar case with equal success; it is not, however, stated that he used Chopin, and indeed we are almost disposed to think that a simple hushaby sung by the mother would::bring, sleep to her child's eyes as effectually as* Apollo's lute. TRAUMATIC HYSTERIA FROM USE

OF THE TELEPHONE. All the last meeting of the Berlin Medical Society, Herr Lehfeldt showed a servant girl, who, four weeks previously, had receiyed'a shock while employed at the telephone, and who had since suffered from hysteria. The shock sustained was similar to those known to telephone workers from electrical discharge during storms. In the house in which the maid was serving was a switch from the instrument to the kitchen, and while using this switchapparatus she received a sudden shock and fell to the ground unconscious. It was to be noted that the girl grasped the handle, the isolated part of which was only small, with a hand still wet from scouring, and in the ringing off the eurrentpassad through the hand. On recovery, complete right hemiplegia was found to be present in this case, but in a short time most of the symptoms improved considerably as regards power of movement, but otherwise the condition was much the same as after the injury. Hearing power on the right greatly diminished, sense of smell quite gone, and that of taste also on the right side. Cutaneous sensibility also gone on the right with the exception of a few spots. The sensation as regarded heat, on the othor hand, was decidedly exaggerated. She had also lost the sense of the position of the limbs, and also the perception of objects held in the hand when the eyes were closed.—Medical Press.

THE PATE OF THE MICROBE. Dr. St. Clair Thomson and Dr. Hewlett, of the Bacteriological Department of the British institute of Preventive Medicine, say that on an average about 1500 microorganisms are inhaled into the nose every hour j while in London it must be a common event for 14,000 of them to enter during one hour's tranquil respiration. Expired air, however, is practically sterile, and it would seem that this purification is not, as some have imagined, performed in the air tubes of the lungs, for it has been found by repeated observation that they have vanished before reaching the trachea, the mucus from which is sterile. Evidently they are caught in the nose, for on testing air from the naso-pharynx they were found to be practically all gone. Nevertheless, the mucus in the nose does not appear to be itself a germicide. It does not kill the microbes, but it prevents their developing, and as microbes are only harmful by their monstrous power of multiplication this is sufficient. Meanwhile they are rapidly swept on by the cilia towards the digestive tract, where doubtless they share the common fate. The moral of all this is— breathe through your nose and keep your digestive organs in good working order, then the microbes, pathogenic, saprophytic, or whatever they may be, will meet their doom,—Hospital.

;SPQNGING OUT A HEADACHE, In the case of an ordinary nervous headache, from' which women suffer so much, says an authority, remove the dress waist, knob the hair high upon the head, out of the way, and, while leaning over the basin, place a sponge soaked in hob water, as hot as can be.borne, on the back of the neck Repeat/thismany times, alio applying the sponge: behind the ears, and if the assertion of the writer is not a mistaken one, in many cases the strained muscles and nerves that have caused so much misery will be felt to relax and soothe themselves out deliciously, and very frequently the pain promptly vanishes in consequence. Every woman knows the aching face and neck generally brought home from a hard day's shopping, and from & long round of calls and afternoon teas. She regards with intense dissatisfaction the heavy lines drawn around her eyes and mouth by the long strain on the facial muscles, and when she must carry thab worni countenance to some dinner party or evening's amusement it robs her of all the pleasure to be had in it. Cosmetics are not the cure; or bromides, or the many nerve sedatives to be had at the drug shop. Here, again; the sponge and hob water ire advised/by the writer quoted, bathing the face in'water as hot as it can possibly be borne. Apply the sponge over and over again 'to the temples, throat, and .behind the ears, where-most of the nerves and muscles. Of the head centre, and then bathe the; face in water running cold 'froth the faucet), ColpuV:and smoothness of Outline return" to the face, ah astonishing freshness and, ; comT forb:Maaltßj and, if followed by a nap. of ton minutes, all trace of fatigue vßniihw,