Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

REVIEW OF SOUTHERN -MEDICAL LITERATURE.
Presbyterian Hospital, Charlotte, X. C,
and the groom is a recent orraduate of the
North Carolina Medical College.
Dr. and Mrs. Brown will make their
home in I'lorida.
Dr. A. R. Fikc, of Spartanburg, S. C, and
Miss Rose Wingo, of Asheville. X. C,
were married June the 30th, at the home of
the bride's sister, Mrs. Bivings.
Deaths.
Dr. J. B. Cowcn, of TuUahoma, Tenn..
dropped dead in a drug store there on July
24th. Ur. Cowen entered the Confederate
Army March 27. 1S61, as surge.on of Chalmers'
Regiment of Mississipians. He was
transferred to Forrest's command Dec. 12,
1S()1, and served continuously as surgeon
upon Gen. Forrest's staff until the close of
the war. He was the last surviving member
of Gen. X. B. Forrest's staff.
Dr. Cowen was one of the most noted
surgeons of the South. He graduated in
1S.S.5 from N'ew Vork University, X'ew
York City.
Dr. James Evans, of Florence, S. C,
died at Clifton Springs, X. Y., on July
1.5th. He was in his seventy-eighth year.
He was a surgeon in the Confederate Army
throughout the Civil War, and was subsequently
a physician of great prominence in
both his own Slate and elsewhere.
He graduated from the Department of
Xedicine of the University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pa. in 1S61.
Dr. A. J. Swaney. an aged physician of
UTallatiii, Tenn., died at his home on July
2t)th, after a long illness.
Review of Southern .Wedical Literature
Neiv Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal,
June, 1909.
House-flies and Disease.— Dr. Henry
Shinner says that a source of danger that
has i)robal)ly been overlooked is that arising
from the fact that feces often containing
tlie bacillus typhosus is distributed
along the tracks from railway trains. I louseflies
could very readily contaminate food
from this source in the homes of persons
living along the railroad. About ten years
ago there was an interesting lawsuit in
Philadelphia, probably the first of its kind
in the world. Mr. Gabriel Upton sued the
city for damages on account of having contracted
typhoid fever. A verdict of fifteen
hundred dollars was awarded the plaintiff.
The case was won largely on account of the
great probability that the fever was carried
to the individual by Musca domestica. The
city diverted a sewer into a natural stream
that ran by Upton's house and alongside
his dining-room. Cases of typhoid lever
were proven to exist on the Hue of the sewer.
A large amount of fecal matter came down
the stream, and at times it was necessary
to start it going when the water was low.
The case was appealed by the city to the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, but the
city settled for the full award of thejury.
it is hardly necessar>- to dwell longer on
this subject of typlioid fever, as the possibilities
of the case are so self-evident.
Wherever flies can gain access to material
containing the Bacillus typhosus they are almost
certain to carry it to food.
House-flies have long been suspected of
being agents in the dissemination of cholera,
and a number of articles have appeared on
the subject since 1853. That they contaminate
the food of the well from the vomit
or dejecta of those ill from the disease, in
times of epidemics, is undeniable. The
worst cholera months are said to be those
in which these insects are most abundant.
A Brief Review ol a Years' Progress
in Typical Medicine.— Dr. J. M. Anders
points out that the subject of hemoglobinuric
fever is one that has a peculiar interest
for American internists and the general
practitioners of warm countries everywhere.
Plehn has recently discussed its causes,
prevention and treatment in extanso, and
his main conclusions are worthy of notice.
After showing the malarial nature of blackwater
fever, Plehn affirms distinctly that,
with few exceptions, the tendency of the
F:;uropean to sicken with blackwater depends
on the length of his sojourn in the
fever district, the condition being more
prevalent when the colonists are of longer
settlement than when there is a fresh arrival
of newcomers. There are two weighty objections
against the malarial origin of blackwater,
namely, the freeiuent absence of ma-
larial parasites from the blood and the failure
of quinin therapy; but Plehn has shown
by elaborate statistics that the plasmodia
are always found when the blood is taken
before the commencement of the hemolysis,
while they are regularly absent during the
height of the illness. The parasites may
be seen to disappear spontaneously on the
second or third days of the illness without
medication.
It is owing to the dissolution of the blood
that quick spontaneous disappearance of
the malarial parasites from the circulation
occurs, and this fact answers the principal
objections to the theory that malaria is the
origin of hemoglobinuric fever. F'rom the
facts adduced by Plehn, it would appear
that blackwater fever develops ouly after a