Volume 2

An introduction to the history of medicine : from the time of the pharaohs to the end of the XVIIIth century / by Charles Greene Cumston ; with an essay on the relation of history and philosophy to medicine, by F.G. Crookshank.

  • Cumston, Charles Greene, 1868-1927.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the history of medicine : from the time of the pharaohs to the end of the XVIIIth century / by Charles Greene Cumston ; with an essay on the relation of history and philosophy to medicine, by F.G. Crookshank. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/494
    therapeutic use ^ '^uitary extracts are discusser^^ Many of th> probie* • > which arise in cor*^' '■ ’^'tuitary function must be considered as still undecided, and where tins is so Prof. Sharpey- Schafer gives a full critical rcwiew of the reliable evidence. Moreover, his criticism is always con¬ structive. A good example of his method of dealing^ with controversial questions occurs in his presentation of the problem of polyuria and the pituitary body. He points out that while some clinicians and experimental workers regard the polyuria which accompanies tumours of the pituitary region as due to an effect upon the pituitary itself, others consider that it is the result of pressure on the base of the brain, the tuber cinereum. The evidence for these views is completely discussed ; the author considers that insufficient account has been taken of the pars tuberalis of the pituitary, which is intimately con¬ nected with the tuber cinereum, over which it spreads for some little distance, and his personal bias appears to be in favour of an effect on the gland itself. The remaining third of the volume deals with the pineal body, pancreas, and sex glands; a very full account is given of each. The method of incorporating in the Hxt full references to recent experimental work adds much to its value. In the section devoted to the ovary there is no mention of the work of Allen and Doisy in the preparation of ovarian extracts. Clinicians as well as research workers will appreciate this ^ ^ Indian Joui^^al of Medicad Research. Yol. XIY. No. 2.—Of thq 21 contributions to this number it is possible to select some papers of more than ordinary interest. L. E. Napier is now able to present an analy¬ sis of the first 104 cases of kala-azar treated with stibosan (von Heyden, 471). The mean dose of this drug required for a cure is 4'0 g. ; individual injections of 0-3 g. appear to be well tolerated.—Prof. F. M.. Marras, of Port Said, describes a rapid method for the diagnosis of plague. By adding a small quantity of agglutinating anti-plague serum to a solution of sugars, such as Isevulose, glucose, and mannite, he obtained a marked acceleration of the fermentation and could ascertain at the same time the specificity of the bacillus by microscopic agglutination.—Major- General T. H. Symons, I.M.S., describes an epidemic of Tick fever due to Piroplasma gibsoni amongst a kennel of foxhounds belonging to the Madras hunt. The actual tick-vector has not been incriminated. Whilst intravenous salvarsan is a fairly efficient remedy, the recently introduced tryparsamide seem& to be superior.—H. E. Shortt, P. T. Barraud, and A. C. Craighead contribute a detailed article on a massive infection of the buccal cavity of Phlehotomns argen- tipes with Herpetomo72as donovani artificially fed. In a separate contribution the same authors record the capture in a heavily infected kala-azar house of a naturally infected specimen of this sandfly. The significance of the findings is obvious and points tO' the assumption that the monsoon period is one during^ which infection with the parasite of kala-azar may be acquired and that the sandfly is the transmitting agent.—R. McCarrison writes upon Lathyrism in the Gilgit Agency, in which he describes an outbreak of this curious disease due to the ingestion of millet grown on soil which had received no manurial treat¬ ment for many years.—Asa C. Chandler and Y. T. Korke contribute papers of helminthological interest.. A Hospital on Wheels.—Dr. H. Bailey, medical