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

PHE CHARLOTTE MHDICAI. JOURNAL.
eczema 1)ul other iiheiioiiiena of "exudative
diathesis.' 'JMiey stand the withdrawal
of salt very well if it is not continued too
Ions after the curative effect upon the ecezenia
has been noted.
The Treatment ot Eczema ol Infants
and Young Children by Thyroid.— liason
(Scottish Medical and Surgical Journal)
reports a series of consecutive cases of eczema
in voung children successfully treated
bv thyroid. In the first case, fourteen
months old, the baby had suffered from eczema
of the face for nearly a year. This
had been entirely resistant to the usual ap-
plications and internal treatment, nor was
hospital treatment more efhcacious. Two
and a half grains of a thyroid tablet was
given daily. In a little more than one
month the child was entirely well. His
cure persisted for nearly a month, when the
disease showed a tendency to recur. The
second course of thyroid was followed by a
permanent cure.
similar results.
The other cases gave
Researches into the Haemoglobin Content
ol Tubercular Children.— Lorenzi
('La Tediat. ) says that (1) the number of
red corpuscles diminishes in proportion to
the gravity of the illness and rises when an
improvement in the general condition occurs.
Alteration in form is shown by more
or less marked frequency of microcytes with
or without poikilocytosis. (.2) The haemoglobin
content is relatively below the number
of red corpuscles. OligochroniEemia
becomes more marked with the advance of
the disease, and is usually more marked in
the marasmus of chronic forms. It improves
with the general condition. (3)
The relative amount of iron remains always
below the correfponding amount of lieemoglobin.
This inferiority is more marked
when the disease is progressing, and tends
to disappear, on the other hand, when the
acuteness of the disease diminishes. (4)
The globular value, calculated with respect
to iron, is always inferior to that of
the haemoglobin, but their variability is not
always proportionate, although they are
both in relation with the course of the disease
and the general state of the patient.
(.5) His researches in a general way lend
support to the theory of Bard with regard
to variations in the quality of the haemoglobin,
and he is of opinion that in infan-
tile tuberculosis the alterations in the rela-
tion of iron and haemoglobin are chiefly referable
to a condition of hypohfematopoie-
The Sequelae of Scairlet Fever.—Schick
(Jahrb. f. 'Kinderheilk.') discusses the
following sequelae. (1) Post-scarlatiual fe
ver: In the period comprised between the
twelfth day and the seventh week, most
frequently in the third and fourth weeks, a
rise of temperature, usually without constitional
disturbance, occurs, for which neither
at the onset nor later is any abnormal
condition of the organs to be found: il)
Rheumatism: As a rule this occurs towards
the end of the first week or in the
course of the second, and may be associated
with endocarditis, the onset of which
is often insidious. The fever accompanying
endocarditis is usually remittent, and
ends by lysis. In all his cases of endocarditis
the initial attack had been mild.
Rliematism occurring later than the second
week is rare. He had seen only four such
cases— three in the third and one in the
fourth week. (3) Secondary adenitis:
This may occur as an herald or as an accompaniment
of nephritis and also as an
indeijendent sequela. It subsides long before
and is more frequent than nephritis.
Nephritis and secondary adenitis do not
occur before the twelfth day or laler than
the sivth week, most cases being found in
the third or fourth week, (4) Relapses:
Schick has collected 72 cases, including l.i
personal ones. Like the other sequelae of
scarlet fever they occur most frequently in
the third or fourth week. It is doubtful
whether the initial attach find the relapse
are to be attributed to the same infection,
or whether the relapse owes its origin to a
fresh infection from without. He, like
Hekoch, thinks that the scarlatinal virus
has not been completely eliminated by the
primary attack. In discussing the cause
of the interval between the primary symptoms
of scarlet fever and the appearance of
the above sequelae, he suggests that at the
usual time for the onset of sequelae the organism
has a diminished power of resistance
or else is super-sensitive. This period
of diminished resistance or of super-.sensitation
lasts from the end of the second
week till the seventh week, and is most
marked during the third and fourth weeks,
after which the tendency rapidly diminishes.
The hypothesis of a specific sensitiveness
of the organism after scarlet fever has
an analogy in other morbid processes, c. g
in typhoid fever and in the serum disease.
Prolonged Prlapism.-Terrier and Dujaries
( Revue de Chirurgie) describe this
rare affection, and collect in the medical
literature of the world 4S cases. This form
of priapism is an erection which is not accompanied
by sexual desire or by voluptuous
sensation; on the contrary, it is frequently
painful. It is never followed by
ejaculation. In the greater number of cases
the erection involves only the corpora cav-
.