40. _Digitalis._--We find in the Propagateur des Sciences Medicales for Feb. 1826, an account of the directions of Dr. NEUMANN of Berlin, for the employment of digitalis in pulmonic diseases: they are said to be the result of long experience. Digitalis is useless, says the writer, in all cases of suppuration of the lung, consequent to tubercles of that organ. It is of no avail in those suppurations, which succeed inflammatory haemoptysis. It is employed without success in _local_ phlegmorrhagies of the lungs; but it almost invariably cures those chronic catarrhs, which depend on a state of erethism of the mucous lining of the bronchiae. This disease is sometimes called chronic bronchitis, sometimes mucous consumption, pulmonic catarrh, and galloping consumption. If the diagnosis in this case be well made out, hopes may be entertained of a cure, one of the two following conditions being present: A. The patient must be susceptible of the stimulant action of the remedy: this is often not the case. We may be sure the digitalis will not produce its effect, where the pulse of the patient remains _uniform and frequent after he has taken it for several days_. It does not suit such persons. B. The medicine ought to be administered in a proper manner. To be good, the leaves, even in the dried state, should be perfectly green and free from any brown spots. Two ounces of the leaves, should be infused in six ounces of boiling water; and the patient may take a table spoonful every hour, until he feels nausea, or a sense of constriction in his throat, or flashing of the eyes, or irregular pulse. The use of the foxglove should then be interrupted for seven or eight days, in which interval, the full action of the medicine is developed, the pulse remaining irregular, and the mucous secretion diminishing gradually. If the first trial does not remove it entirely, a second course may be commenced after a few days. FOOTNOTES: [29] Series of Engravings to the morbid anatomy; fasc. 1. pl. 6. fig. 1, 2. [30] Lond. Med. Review; vol. 4. [31] Pathological Researches; Essay 1. [32] Medical Researches on the Effects of Iodine in Bronchocele, Paralysis, Chorea Scrofula, Fistula Lachrymalis, Deafness, Dysphagia, White Swelling, and Distortions of the Spine. By Alexander Manson, M. D., &c. London, 1825. [33] Carthamus Tinctorius. V. SURGERY. 41. _Dr. Physick's operation for artificial anus, denied to have been performed!_--We have often had occasion to remark the claiming, and, we fully hope, the actual re-invention of American operations and practices among physicians on the other side of the Atlantic. As we are not a publishing people, it is, perhaps, not very strange that the French and English should be generally unacquainted with the discoveries and inventions which have been made among us; but here comes an actual denial of the invention having ever taken place!