On Dyspepsia.
At a late meeting of the Harveian Society, of London, Dr. Farquharson read a paper on this subject. Attention was directed to the state of the tongue in dyspepsia. A deeply fissured tongue often meant little; whereas a thin white fur, composed of minute dots, was generally found along with pain immediately after food. Pain after a longer interval was accompanied by a pale, flabby tongue, with reddish tip and center. The treatment of dyspepsia consisted of two parts, that of food and that of drugs. The latter was the principal part with patients applying for gratuitous relief. The pain occurring immediately after food was usually relieved by alkalies; whereas acids were indicated where suffering was not experienced until an hour or two after the commencement of the digestive act. For the relief of the nausea and sickness remaining after the bowels were thoroughly cleansed, nothing was so effectual as hourly drop doses of ipecacuanha wine. Nux vomica was also a valuable remedy. Pain might be but the protest of the stomach against an overload, or be the result of deficient tone from general nervous exhaustion. In some cases each meal was followed by diarrhœa; and for these cases attention was directed to Ringer's plan of minute doses of the liquor hydrargyri perchloridi In speaking of diet, Dr. Farquharson pointed out that there are three forms of dyspepsia: 1. The dyspepsia of fluids, as it is called, where the stomach seems intolerant of all forms of fluid; 2. The digestive derangement following intemperance in the matter of animal food; and, 3. The dyspepsia connected with indulgence in tea, or other warm and weak infusions of tannin.
The Destructive Effects of Lightning.
The amount of destruction of life and property by lightning, or rather electrical discharges, has been very great throughout the world.
It is estimated that at least 45 persons are killed annually by lightning in this country. The average number of deaths by lightning has been 22 in England, 9 in Switzerland, 3 in Belgium, and 75 in France. In France alone, during a period of thirty years, over 10,000 persons were smitten, of which 2,252 were instantly killed. Eighty were wounded and 9 killed during one thunderstorm at Châteauneuf les Montiers in 1861, and within one week, when the air was highly charged with electricity, thirty-three fearful flashes of lightning were observed, each bringing death to some victims.
During the sixteen years between 1799 and 1816, 156 vessels of the British navy were struck by lightning; 73 men were killed and 138 injured, and the loss of materials amounted to over a million dollars; but since the system of metallic conductors, adapted for vessels, devised by Sir W. Snow Harris, has been applied to the vessels in that navy, the losses and damages by lightning have almost entirely ceased, although the number of vessels has been greatly increased.