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such are—camphor, musk, castoreum, &c.; cantharides is ab-sorbed because of its essential oil—cantharidine, which maybe volatilized. (5) The solid bodies, non-volatile, require tobe mixed with fatty or oily substances, and to be applied withfriction. They thus unite with the natural fatty matter ofthe sebaceous glands, and become absorbed.

WHAT IS HELIOPROTHESIS ?

This strange term has been applied by ill. Blanchet to anoperation which he has devised for the restoration of sight tothe blind where the sensitiveness of the retina has not beencompletely destroyed. So far as we can gather from M.Blanchet’s account in the Reports of the French Academy(tome lxii., No. 25), the operation consists in puncturing theeye in the direction of the antero-posterior axis with a narrowbistoury, and introducing a piece of apparatus to which M.Blanchet gives the name of " phospJaore. " The operation inmost instances produces little pain, and when the globe of theeye has undergone degeneration there is no pain at all, andthe "phosphore" apparatus is introduced without difficulty.The description of this contrivance is this : " It consists of ashell of enamel, and of a tube closed at both its ends byglasses, whose form varies according to circumstances." M.Blanchet thus describes the operation : "The patient’s headbeing supported by an assistant, the upper eyelid is raised byan elevator, and the lower one is depressed. The operatorthen punctures the eye with a narrow bistoury, adapting thewidth of his incision to the diameter of the phosphore’ tubewhich he intends to insert. The translucent humour havingescaped, the ’phosphore’ apparatus is applied, and almostimmediately, or after a short time, the patient is partially re-stored to sight!" Before introducing the apparatus it is neces-sary to calculate the antero-posterior diameter of the eye, andif the lens has cataract it must be removed. Inasmuch asthe range of vision depends on the quantity of the humourleft behind, M. Blanchet recommends the employment of

spectacles of various kinds. This singular operation of M.Blanchet’s consists briefly in the introduction of an artificialeye, which subserves the functions of the various refrangenthumours, and throws a perfect optical picture upon the retina.

THE CELLS OF THE SYMPATHETIC NERVE.

The structure and relations of the cells in the sympathetic cordhave been carefully and elaborately described in a memoir byM. Courvoisier in Herr Max Schultze’s " Archiv fur Micro-scopische Anatomie." These cells, according to this observer,are of two kinds-(a) those in which the nerve-fibres proceedfrom one pole of the cell (the frog), and (b) those in which thefilaments proceed from both poles (birds, mammals, &c.) Insome cases there are two attached fibres, in others there is akind of network of filaments; when the former arrangementprevails the fibres are two in number, and have the conforma-tion described by Dr. Lionel Beale,-one being straight, andthe other spiral and forming a coil round the straight one.The straight fibre penetrates the cell-substance, and is con-nected with the nucleus, whilst the spiral one is connectedwith the nucleolus.

A NEW GRADUATING DIAPHRAGM FOR MICROSCOPES.

The importance of having an apparatus for regulating withprecision the quantity of light thrown upon an object underview in the microscope is familiar to all working histologists.The "shutters’’ or diaphragms hitherto employed, though ofthe " adjustable" kind, have the disadvantage of forming adiamond or lozenge shaped aperture. This objection has beengot rid of in the new diaphragm of Mr. Sidney B. Kincaid.This instrument consists of two brass cylinders, one withinthe other, and having a piece of indiarubber stretched betweenthem. By means of a screw one may be made to revolvewithin the other, and thus to twist the indiarubber tube, bywhich means the aperture, while preserving its circular out-line, becomes gradually diminished to a mere pin’s point.A NOVEL METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ANATOMICAL

PLATES.

At a late meeting of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, HenMach suggested a curious application of photography to th(purposes of anatomical education. " If," he said, "you photo.graph any solid body, such as a sphere, and if before the imag(has been fully received you substitute for the sphere anothersolid body, such as a cone, the resulting photograph will be asort of transparent picture of a sphere enclosing a cone, whichwhen arranged stereoscopically, will seem perfectly solid anc

transparent." His application of this principle was thus ex-pressed : " Place a temporal bone before the camera, and be-fore its image has been fully formed substitute for it a cast ofthe auditory apparatus, and you will have a picture in whichthe internal ear can be seen through a transparent picture ofthe temporal bone. When this is arranged for the stereoscope,the two parts will be seen in perfect relief."

RAW FLESH AND BRANDY IN THE TREATMENT OF PHTHISIS.

The method of treating consumptive diseases by raw meatand alcohol appears, according to M. Fuster’s statements, tohave been attended with wonderful results. It has now beentried in no less than 2000 cases, and in nearly all successfully.The patients increase in weight to the extent of two, three,four, or six kilogrammes in the course of two or three weeks.M. Fuster recommends the adoption of his treatment forthe following maladies :-Advanced anaemia, the last stages.of ague, typhus and typhoid, leucocythagmia, albuminuria,and diabetes, and also in cases where there has been great lossof blood or seminal fluid.

THE ZOOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY.

The place recently vacant by the death of M. Dufour was.given to M. Van Beneden, the Belgian savant, to whom weowe so much of our knowledge of the development of tape-worm. The post was well contested; the names in alpha-betical order in the second line being the following :-Filippi,Turin; Huxley, London ; Leuckart, Giessen; Pictet, Geneva.;.Sars, Christiania; Siebold, Munich; Steenstrup, Copenhagen;.and Vogt, Geneva.

New InventionsIN AID OF THE

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

ACTUAL-CAUTERY PARALLEL CLAMP.

THE accompanying woodcut depicts a new clamp, designedby Mr. Thomas Chambers, senior assistant-surgeon to the-London Surgical Home for Diseases of Women, &c. Thisinstrument has several advantages over those now in use.

1st. Its great simplicity, and theperfect ease with which it can be ap-plied and removed.

2nd. The instruments now in use,acting like a pair of scissors, press un-equally on the pediele while the bladesare being brought together; whereas,with this instrument, the blades beingperfectly parallel, the pressure is ap-plied along the whole length of theblades at the same moment of time,and with the greatest accuracy andnicety.

3rd. Being a right-lined quadrilateralfigure whose opposite sides are paralleland equal, this clamp can receive and-completely compress a larger pediclethan any other instrument of the kind.It has been used by Mr. Holmes Coote,as well as by Mr. Chambers, and wasfound to act admirably. In additionto its value in the treatment of ovarianpedicles, this clamp may be advantage-ously used in cases of omental herniawhere it is found necessary to remove.a portion of the omentum; also in cas-tration, hæmorrhoids, vascular polypus,&c. &c.The clamp consists of two parallel

blades, held together by two racks (A’and B’). In these racks a pinion workswhich is moved by the handle (D).Every half-revolution of this handle

moves the upper blade one-sixteenth of an inch. When thetrigger (c) is pulled back by the index-finger of the left hand,the blades of the instrument are immediately connected ordisconnected at the will of the operator or his assistants.The clamp is made by Messrs. Mayer and Co., of Great

Portland-street.