in the course of his paper said it was absurd to enclose the bodies of the dead in hermetical enclosures, which only hindered nature's process. Properly buried the body rose from the grave in the form of elements necessary for the renewal and growth of plants. In the case of a body buried a foot deep this process was accomplished in a year, and in the case of a greater depth at about the rate of another year for every foot of depth. BIRMINGHAM AND THE DIPHTHERIA EPIDEMIC. WE congratulate the

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... tlemen who attended the meeting held at the Birmingham Medical Institute, under the circumstances described by our Birmingham correspondent in our present issue, upon the eminently satisfactory result of their deliberations. A disease so generally fatal and so insidious as diphtheria should be met and fought in every possible way, and the sooner it is attacked the sooner it will be overcome. Prompt isolation, which connotes prompt diagnosis, is the first line of defence, and the use of a genuine antitoxic serum at the earliest possible moment is the chief weapon of attack. If Birmingham, as she is apparently going to do, provides herself with these munitions of war .against disease, she may possibly reduce diphtheria to a vanishing point. _ HEMIANOPSIA IN ABSCESS OF THE BRAIN. AN interesting case is related by Lannois and Jaboulay in a recent number of the Gazette Médicale de Paris, in which the prominent symptoms were alexia, agraphia, word-blindness, right-sided hemianopsia, and facial paralysis. Ear disease was present, and the symptoms pointed to the presence of abscess. No pus was found at first on operating, but three weeks later puncture was again tried and a collection evacuated. Eleven days later the patient died, and a large abscess was found in the centre of the left occipital lobe and diffuse encephalitis affecting the central and frontal convolutions of the left hemisphere. There was also a small purulent collection in the third frontal convolution. The points in the case which are of special interest are that pus was not found on the first occasion, a mishap which the writers ascribe to a blocking of the hollow needle with which the puncture was made. The second point is the presence of hemianopsia, and they rightly insist upon the importance of looking for this symptom in all cases of suspected abscess. It is not unfrequently present. RAPIDLY OCCURRING HEMIPLEGIA IN ACUTE LEAD POISONING. DA COSTA' relates the following case. The patient was a woman, aged thirty-five years, in good health. Some rooms in the house, but not her bedroom, were painted, and the house became filled with the odour. From the first she complained o headache, which became so severe in three days that her medical attendant was summoned. He found that her speech was thick, the tongue slowly protruded and deviated to the right, and that there had been vomiting. Movement 1 American Journal of Medical Sciences, February, 1897. of the right arm and leg was much impaired, especially of the latter. This had been preceded by numbness. The loss of power increased and she was forced to remain in bed. Shortly, after the right side was affected, numbness and a sense of coldness on the left side were noticed, but never motor weakness. Four weeks after the attack, when he saw her, the right arm could be feebly moved, but the grasp was very weak and the leg powerless. There was no wrist-drop, foot-drop, tremor, or muscular atrophy. No facial paralysis existed, and the tongue was protruded straight. The knee-jerks were exaggerated, especially the right. There was an increased reflex in the forearm both on tapping the flexors and extensors. There was no anaesthesia or tender spots in the course of the nerves. Tactile sensations were well preserved in the hands. With a strong light a bluish line was found on the gums, especially round the lower left incisors. Iodide of potassium and sulphate of magnesium were prescribed, and she gradually recovered. The case is remarkable in many respects. The onset of paralysis three days after exposure is unprecedented. Tanquerel des Planches 2 mentions three cases in which it occurred in eight days. The form of paralysis-viz., hemiplegia-is the rarest of all.