insinuating my hand sufficiently to get a firm grasp upon the vertebral column, which I drew down with all the strength at my command. Then I took another hold by digging my fingers into the soft, pulpy tissues of the neck, and drew it still further down. At last I hooked my finger in the axilla, and while Dr. Lightfoot made firm pressure on the walls of the uterus, by most painful effort drew the headless trunk into the world. The stench was indescribable; the body was a mass of putrefaction. The woman made a good and rapid recovery, and is now in excellent health.

The interest of this case, to my mind, consists in the remarkable absence of uterine pains, and the utter failure of ergot to induce uterine contractions. She had one pain, and one only, and that a slight one. The ergot may have brought about that spastic rigidity of the os, which, subsequently, was the greatest obstacle we had to encounter.

ART. II.-REPORT OF AN ANOMALOUS AND INTERESTING CASE OF CEREBRAL TROUBLE By C. KEARNS, M. D., Covington, Ky.

Mrs. Sophia Sutton was born in Kentucky in 1838; married in 1857; has since given birth to four children. At the age of fourteen years recollects having a severe headache, which lasted several days; these pains in the head occurring at long intervals; not being confined to any part of the head until 1860, when it was located over the left eye, and continued three weeks; one or two slight attacks located as before until 1863, when another attack occurred, if possible, more violent, lasting again three weeks; in 1865, another lasting ten days; continuing after this at short intervals, with less severity, until the spring of 1869. During these last attacks, feeling great tenderness over the left eye upon pressure. In June, 1869, a

small lump, the size of a shot, could be distinctly felt. After the appearance of which, the pains in the head and over the left eye ceased entirely. This lump or enlargement continued to increase to the size of a walnut. Her physician thinking it an encysted tumor, such as are frequently found about the head and face, attempted its removal. After making an incision the patient became frightened, and the wound was closed, nothing being removed but clotted blood. Four months afterwards, the wound from the incision not healing kindly, a druggest was consulted, who applied vigorously, for two or three months, acids, caustics, etc., without any apparent benefit. In June, 1870, one year after the appearance of the small lump, I was consulted by Mrs. Sutton. Over the left eye, upon the site of tumor, I found a thick crust or scab, from beneath which, upon pressure, a thin watery fluid escaped. After chloroform, assisted by Dr. Jessup, I removed the crust, and found the frontal bone about one inch above the orbital arch perforated about one inch and a quarter in diameter. cheesey mass protruding, which I removed to the extent of a saucerful; hæmorrhage being profuse, I plugged the opening with a sponge, afterwards removing it and the clot that had formed. I could introduce my index finger full length directly backwards, having its extremity touch the lesser wing of sphenoid bone. Two months after the operation the depth of the cavity was two and a quarter inches; diameter, two inches. She has never had a pain or any difficulty of any kind since the operation, attending to her duties as mother and housekeeper as usual, never having a function of any kind disturbed. Upon examination of the cavity to-day, I find it filled about half. Dr. Dawson saw the patient an hour after the operation. Drs. Dawson and Carson two months afterwards.

A

NOTE. The valuable clinical lectures of Jaccoud are for this month interrupted to give room for reports of the annual meetings of State Medical Societies.---ED.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

"Etsi non prosunt singula, juncta juvant."

ART. I.-ADDRESS BEFORE THE STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF MISSISSIPPI BY S. V. D. HILL, M. D., President.

Gentlemen of the Association,—I am happy to greet you on this interesting occasion, and welcome you in an organized capacity as the representatives of the medical profession in the State of Mississippi. Another year has passed since we last met, a year long to be remembered and lamented in the annals of medicine for the rich harvest of noble spirits in our ranks that it yielded to the sickle of the Great Destroyer. Simpson, Syme, De Graef, Nelaton, Meigs, Dudley, Bedford, Jackson, Pope, and Elliott, have been stricken down with their armor on, and are now sleeping in the cold embraces of the turf; but their deeds and memories still live, and will continue for long years to shed lustre and honor on the profession of their lives and the age in which they lived.

In meeting here to-day, gentlemen, I sincerely trust that we have come together with increased zeal and renewed energies in the cause of medicine, determined to use every exertion to make our organization a perfect success. In a political and social point of view, it is true, we have but little to encourage us. The bitter animosities, general demoralization, and sensuality engendered by the late war between the States are not giving way to kindlier feelings, higher moral tone, and individual reforms as we would like to see them. But our people are gradually becoming accustomed to the new relation between the races, notwithstanding the occasional collisions; our financial resources are at least adequate to our support; confidence in the general government is slowly increasing, and the indications are favorable to our early dethronement of the dominant party

in our own State, when, better councils prevailing, I hope that we will again be comparatively happy, contented, prosperous, and free.

Certainly, with even one bright tinge to the dark clouds of our political horizon, and in this our third annual reunion of an infant Association, struggling for existence, it is a proper time to renew our vows to the cause of medicine, to wake up from our Rip-Van-Winkle sleep, and take a livelier interest in the onward march of science. We of Mississippi have too long been inactive and indifferent to the cause of medical organization and progress. In fact, during an existence of over fifty years we have done hardly anything in a collective capacity to give character to our State and honor and benefit to the profession. It is not because we have not the talent and learning in our ranks of which other States can boast; for quite a number of the medical men of Mississippi have, as individual physicians, become distinguished for their research and writings. But we have not availed ourselves of those organized efforts which bring us together in social and scientific converse, and develop the hidden talent of the land, arouse zeal and enthusiasm, and excite that spirit of emulation and investigation which we find in other communities, and which is so necessary to great results.

It is needless, before an intelligent audience like this, to enter into minute details respecting the precise aims, objects, and benefits of an Association like ours; for we are all familiar with them. But there are some influences connected with it, paramount in importance, which should be mentioned and impressed. I allude more especially to the elevating and purifying effect it has, or should have, upon the profession, separating us from the common herd of irregulars and quacks, and establishing a standard of medical honor and respectability. None should be members of this Association except those of acknowledged character, good professional standing, and who adhere strictly to the code of ethics under all circumstances and at all times; never failing to maintain the dignity and real nobility

of our beneficent calling. We wish membership here to carry with it weight and influence into any country and community. I hope, too, that we will have some success in correcting that spirit of indifference, carelessness, and want of professional zeal that exists to a deplorable extent among many of us in this State, and in many parts of the South. How often do we hear physicians remark that they are tired of their professions, take no pleasure in it, and would not practice another day could they subsist at anything else; others are absorbed by some connecting pursuit; but the most of them complain of deficient remuneration, unrequited labor, etc.; and thus we have a small army of growling, grumbling, croaking doctors, who take no journals, read few books, attend no medical society, and who are really almost prostituting their profession to a level with the common trades of life. These things ought not so to be. Medicine, it is true, like every other avocation of men, has its shades and shadows, its difficulties and sacrifices; but they were known to us when we commenced its study, and we should not give way to repinings now. I freely confess that the late disastrous war and its results have seriously affected our profits, and practice is not so inviting in this country as it was; but what interests have not been injured by the same causes, and who has not suffered? Doctors not more than others, I am

sure.

But I wish to impress upon you the importance of our cultivating a deeper interest in our profession, and to estimate it above the common employment of life. We should soar beyond mere financial considerations and temporal emoluments. Life is too short and sacred to be tampered with by those who, losing sight of the higher attributes of the medical profession, estimate it alone from the standpoints of financial and selfish considerations. Thus, as an important element in securing the benefits and advantages of our annual reunions, it behooves us to inculcate a livelier and deeper devotion to the cause we plead, and endeavor to inspire the same spirit into our associates at home.