some of the constituents of the blood, and prepares them for assimilation, and probably, also, renders some of the effete products more fit for excretion.

In his second inquiry, viz: with which of the constituents of the blood did the oxygen combine, Dr. Harley found that fibrin exercised a considerable influence; air shaken up with fibrin was found to present the following composition, at the end of twenty-four hours: in one hundred parts, oxygen 6.81, carbonic acid 11.17, nitrogen 82.02-showing that fibrin itself takes up a certain quantity of oxygen, and gives off a stated amount of carbon combined with oxygen in the form of carbonic acid; albumen, also, has a powerful absorptive action on oxygen. On allowing albumen to remain in contact with air for fourteen hours, it was found that one hundred volumes of the resulting air contained oxygen 17.05, carbonic acid 2.19, nitrogen 80.86.

Certain comparative experiments were also tried in order to see which of the two, the coagulum or the serum of the blood, exercised the higher combining power. Air agitated for six hours, with the coagulum (which, it will be recollected contains the fibrin and blood corpuscles), contained, in one hundred volumes, oxygen 8.57, carbonic acid 7.29, nitrogen 84.14; 12.390 parts of oxygen had disappeared, and 7.283 parts of carbonic acid had been produced.

With a similar experiment on serum, the air analyzed contained 16.74 oxygen, 2.30 carbonic acid, 80.96 nitrogen. The difference between these two experiments is very striking. The coagulum containing the fibrin and blood corpuscles excited a more powerful chemical action upon the oxygen of the air than the colorless serum, which contains only albumen.

To a certain extent, this may be due to the hæmatin, for it is found that certain coloring principles have a strong affinity for oxygen, and give out carbonic acid. This property was first made known by Chevreuil. It is found, that even in plants a close connexion exists between the distribution of the coloring matters and respiration; those parts of a plant, destitute of coloring matter, entirely lack the property of absorbing oxygen and disengaging carbonic acid. Dr. Harley found, that by agitating even so small a quantity as one volume of hæmatin with two of air, that a great loss of oxygen occurred; in one hundred volumes the air contained oxygen 16.01, carbonic acid 3.80, nitrogen 80.19. The coloring matters of the blood are therefore true respiratory agents, and the blood corpuscles may owe their property of transporting the respired gases, as much to their coloring matters as the iron they contain.

(To be continued.)

A NEW INDIGENOUS REMEDY.

By T. MORTON LYLE, M. D., Texas.

Messrs. Editors :-Conceiving that I have found a valuable therapeutic agent in one of our indigenous plants, I offer the following remarks, which, if you think them worthy a place in the New Orleans Medical News and Hospital Gazette, are at your disposal:

During the summer of 1851, while examining some among the thousands of brilliant petals that bedeck our prairies, I discovered a species of the Malva-the Malvaviscus Drummondii of Ter. and Gray. H. N. A., p. 230, Nat. Ord. Mal

vaceæ.

In 1839, it was noticed by Prof. J. L. Riddell, M. D., of New Orleans, during his sojourn in this country, having been previously discovered by Drummond. Leaves alternate, stipuled; calyx 5, parted; corolla 5, petalled; petals erect, convolute; stygmas 4; carpels 5 but united into a berry, which is 5 celled, each cell containing a seed. The berries, or apples, as they are called, ripen in the latter part of the summer, and are then of a scarlet color. Herb, 2 or 3 feet high, grows abundantly in moist places throughout the tertiary region of Texas. It also grows sparsely both in the diluvial and cretaceous regions.

All parts of the plant abound, more or less, in mucilage, but the root yields the greatest amount, and is the only part prescribed by myself. It is known commonly as the Spanish apple, or Spanish mulberry-the former appellative from the fruit; the latter from the similarity of the leaves to those of the Nat. Ord. Urtices. It yields its mucilage readily by decoction and by putting portions of the root into cold water, a thick, ropy exudation of bland and agreeable mucilage, superior to that of the Cactus Opuntia, or the Ulmus Fulva, is found suspended. I consider it a valuable therapeutic agent and addition to our catalogue of demulcents and emollients. The root, when dry, very much resembles that of the Althea Officinalis; it should be dug in the early part of the fall, well washed and scraped, to remove the cuticular bark, and then divide and remove the woody part, and place in some cool, dry and shady place for future use. Boiling water removes starch from it sparingly, and, when cold, is affected by iodine. I have made a partial analysis of the root and flowers; in the former there is a little starch, a minute quantity of uncrystallizable sugar, about 20 per cent. of free mucilage, a trace

of acid (probably malic), and some other unimportant constituents. I use the mucilage as a vehicle for the administration of other remedies, and use it freely in the form of syrup*, or by maceration †, or decoction, simp. or comp. § in diseases of the mucous membranes, hoarseness, catarrh, pneumonia, inflammatory and congestive fevers, acute dysentery and diarrhoea, renal irritation, vesical catarrh, acute gonorrhoea, as a cataplasm, for ulcers and other suppurating surfaces. This agent acts directly by lubricating the diseased surfaces and blunting the acrimony of its secretions, and indirectly by its soothing influence on the alimentary canal, and the sympathetic transmission of that influence to remote organs which are affected. These thoughts are offered as a tribute to that noble science, for whose advancement I offer my mite.

Other preparations, such as ointments, infusion, etc., may be made.

GONZALES, Texas, January 8th, 1859.

*Syrup of Spanish Apple-Rp. Rasped root viii; white sugar lbs. iiss; water oct. iv. Boil the root and water down to one-half, and press out the cooled liquor. Set by for dregs to subside, then decant; add the sugar, and boil to proper consistence.

+Maceration Sp. Apple.-Rp. root i; cistern water oct. ij; macerate, and use ad lib.

Simp. Decoc. Sp. Apple.-Rp. dried root 3 iv; preserved peaches ij: water oct. vii. boil to Oct. vj; strain and set aside until the dregs have subsided,

then decant.

The Decoct. Comp. is made in a similar manner, with the addition of liquorice root 3 iij; seneka 3 ij.

Cataplasm Sp. Apple.-Rp. Rasped root q. s; corn meal mush q. s; boiling water q. s.

Sp. Apple Lozenges.-Powdered root 1 part; white sugar 7 parts: mucilage of gum tragecanth q. s.; form lozenges of gr. xx.

Pulv. Sp. Apple Root.-Rp. pulv. root and pulv. extract liquorice aa 3 iij; Nitrat. Potass. 3 ss; camph. pulv. 3 i. M. divide into pulv. No. xxx. Take one three times a day.

VESICO-VAGINAL FISTULA-CASE No. 3-CURE.

By D. WARREN BRICKELL, M. D., Prof. of Obstetrics in the N. O. School of Medicine.

In the November, 1858, number of this Journal I reported two successful operations for vesico-vaginal fistula. I have now the pleasure of reporting a third case, and trust at an early date to report a fourth.

On the 20th January, 1859, Dr. Sunderland of this city, sent me Mary Ann Niebel, a native of France, aged 41 years, in this country 14 years, resident of Gretna (opposite the city of New Orleans), mother of eight children. Patient had given birth readily to seven living children; but three years ago she fell in labor with her eighth, breech presenting. She was in labor but a short time, when the membranes broke, and, notwithstanding she went into hard labor, as usual, the child was not expelled. A midwife only was in attendance, and she insisted that the services of a physician were not required. Suffice it to say, that at the end of fourteen hours, by dint of the hardest pulling on the part of the midwife (the husband being made to press on the abdomen with all his strength, so that the poor patient actually fainted under the operation), the child was pulled into the world with its legs and thighs fractured in sundry places. In due time, inflammatory symptoms, in the vaginal region, manifested themselves, and when Dr. Sunderland was called to her he found the parts in a sloughing condition. Under proper treatment she recovered, but with extensive loss of tissue between the bladder and vagina, with, of course, constant flow of urine through the vulva. From that time to the time of her coming to me she had been, of course, a miserable sufferer; she had applied to medical men for relief, but nothing had ever been attempted; indeed, as late as eighteen months ago, she