The use of morphine is mentioned in nine caseB by various reporters, two of these cases proving fatal. Eight cases were bled, three proving fatal. One of these latter was a case of my own, whore the patient was promptly delivered, but where the convulsions continued for two days poBt-partum until her death, notwithstanding every means that could be employed. Here venesection gave temporary relief. Copious bleodiug, followed by intravenous salt-solution injections, would seem to promise good

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... lts. The use of veratrum viride, as recommended by many practitioners in the South and West, is not mentioned in this collection of cases. -• -Clinical Department. C. IL, fifty-five years of age, entered the Massachusetts Gênerai Hospital on October 25, 1892. Twenty hours before entrance he had shot himself in the left side of the head with a revolver, the bullet, of 32calibre, entering just above the left temporal bone. He was a Swede, and talked but little Fluglish, but would answer " Yes " or " No " to simple questions. An examination showed the characteristic wound of eutrance of a bullet of the described size. This opening was situated one and a half inches above a line drawn from tho external orbital process to the junction of the helix of the ear to the scalp, and was nearly over the centre of this line, being slightly nearer to the ear than to the orbital process. His eyes were moderately contracted, but reacted equally to light. At the time of entrance his temperature was 101.4°; his pulse was 90, his respiration 36. He was seen soon after by Dr. J. J. Putnam, who made the following notes: " The patient shows complete paralysis of the lower branches of the facial nerve, and difficulty in the movements of the tongue, also complete paralyaia of the right hand and arm. Neither leg is wholly paralyzed, but both are equally weak. The kuee-jerk is slight, but present at both sides. He is sensible to a prick everywhere. He seems to understand simple questions, and is apparently intelligent, but is evidently aphasie. His pulse is 84, respirations 27. He can swallow." Dr. Putnam's opinion was that the lower Rolandic region, which lay close to the wound, waa evidently seriously injured. How much further tho damage extended could not be determined on account of the condition of general concussion. It was decided to operate with the object, primarily, of establishing drainage. Alter thoroughly shaving and cleansing the head, the scalp was reflected and a trephine opening was made over the point of entrance of the bullet. A probe was then introduced through tho opening iu tho dura mater, and, with the head turned on the side, was allowed to run by its own weight along the track of the ball. It slipped along easily until it encountered the falx, where it Btopped abruptly, but a little gentle manipulation carried it through the opening and it then ran, by its own weight, directly across to the skull on the other side. By takiug a probe long enough to project considerably from the skull, while it lay in the bullet track, it was possible to sight pretty accurately the course of the ball. It was thus found that it had traversed the brain from side to side with an inclination backward ; so that it must have struck the inside of the skull, on the other side, under the posterior part of the parietal eminence. The probable point being determined by careful observation of the probe, a needle was thrust through the scalp, and, reflecting a flap, a trephine was put on; and when the button of the boue was removed, it was found that the probe from the other side touched the dura at the centre of the opening. An incision was made in the dura, which had not been lacerated by the bullet. At once clots of blood and brain matter began to issue, and a probe, feeling about with great gentleness, demonstrated a cavity in tho brain substauce posterior to the opening. The finger was carefully introduced into this ; the bullet waa felt aud, with a little dilliculty, was seized and removed. A drainage-tube was introduced into the cavity where the bullet had lain, and another small oue was slipped just within the wound of entrance. The patient gradually failed, and died tweuty-four hours after the operation. The interesting point in this case ia that the method adopted succeeded in so accurately locating the point of the probe on the opposite side of the head. The probe was sighted while looking at the head first from the top and then from the side, aud in each position a line waa drawn passing around the head in the same plane witli the probe and the eye. The point of intersection of these lilies on the opposite side gave the position of the distal end of the probe. Fortunately, the bullet had not ricocheted after striking the inner surface of the skull, and was found close to the point of impact. Patients often recover with an injury of the brain as extensive as seemed to exist iu this case ; aud it would seem possible that had this patient come to operation earlier, the result might have beeu more favorable. On December 30, 1896, a little child, twenty-one months old, was accidentally shot with a bullet from a .22-inch calibre revolver. The missile entered the head on the posterior left side about midway between the upper part of the left ear aud the occipital protuberance. The direction of the line of entrance was diagonal. There was no wound of exit. Matted hair, looped, two and one-half inches in length, was taken from the wound ; so that it must have been of at least that depth, and how much more is unknown. The wound was not probed. Immediately after the shot the child fell to the floor, apparently dead ; but after a few moments begau to breathe irregularly. An hour later she was seen by the writer. The condition was one of severe shock and concussion ; both pupils were contracted to a small point and were inclined to roll upward. Two'hours later she was seen by Dr. Twitchell, of Portland, who concurred that the wound should not be probed to find the bullet. The condition of conçus-The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal as published by The New England Journal of Medicine. 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