Miscellany. [Volume: 2, Issue: 9, April, 1861, pp. 523-528]

PERISCOPE OF MEDICAL AND GENERAL SCIENCE.

525

interior. As soon as the caustic penetrates into the carious tooth, the
pain ceases, and the patient is cured. After the application of the caustic,
the cavity should be filled with cotton steeped in the sedative solution of
opium, and afterward permanently plugged."
In a letter to the Am. Jour. of Sci. and Arts, MR. JEROME NICKLES
makes the following instructive remarks on the subject of Chemical
Synthesis. "The most remarkable scientific event of modern times is the
publication of a treatise on chemistry, proceeding on the same plan in
organic chemistry, as has been adopted for a century past, in mineral
chemistry, that is, forming organic substances synthetically by combining
their elements by the aid of chemical forces only. The author who has
performed his demonstrations by this method is Berthelot, who has been
occupied with organic synthesis since he first devoted himself to chemistry.
Berthelot is not a vitalist, (see our last contribution;) he is convinced
that 'we may undertake to form, de novo, all the substances which have
been developed from the origin of things, and to form them under the
same conditions, by virtue of the same laws and by means of the same
forces which nature employs for their formation.' Let us hasten to add a
distinction upon which Berthelot properly insists and which it is necessary
to recognize, between organs and the matter of which they are composed.
'No chemist pretends to form in his laboratory a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or
a muscle; these questions relate to physiology:' and it was by not observing
this distinction that it was possible to form that school of medicine of
which mention was made in my last communication, and which referred
everything to vital force. (See Journal de Chimie et de Pharmacie,
September, 1860.) This distinction being admitted and calling to mind
the syntheses recently effected, such as the direct preparation of C4J4P from
carbon and hydrogen, and alcohol from the union of C'HI and water, we
may understand the possibility of performing for organic chemistry what
has been done for mineral chemistry, and to give to it a basis independent
of the phenomena of life."
A correspondent of the Am. Druggist's Cire. gives the following as a
good formula for the production of local anaesthesia to mitigate the pain
in extracting teeth. He says that he has used it often and finds it answers
the purpose well. It is obvious, however, that it should be employed with
great caution, as the active ingredients are potent sedatives, and may produce dangerous constitutional effects if applied freely to the mucous surfaces
of the mouth: "13 Chloroform, ~iss; Tr. Aconite, Spts. Vini, aa ~i;
Morphia Sulph, grs. viij; lint moistened with the above mixture, and
applied to the gums about the teeth to be extracted, will destroy the sensibility sufficiently to allow the tooth or teeth to be drawn without pain."
In relation to a compound for welding cast steel, which was sent to the
editor of the Circ., MR. F. F. MAYER says it "is simply coarsely powdered borax, which has been stirred up with a thin paste of Prussian blue,
and left to dry. The combination is a very good and rational one."
In the course of an article on the laryngoscope, (Amnt. Med. Times,
March 16,) DR. W. H. CHURCH gives a drawing, and the following description of a new instrument for depressing the tongue: "It occurred to
me that a spatula might be so arranged as to fasten upon the lower jaw
and retain itself in situ, at the same time depressing the tongue. I described my wishes to Mr. Stuhlman of the firm of Tieman & Co., who
furnished me with this instrument. A piece of hard rubber or metal is
shaped like the lower jaw, from which an arm with a hinge joint runs up