KINESITHERAPY IN HEART DISEASE.—Colombo (_Gazz. Med. di Torino_, 48, N. 39, 40, 1897,) pleads for a more general use of kinetic treatment in heart disease. Even in advanced cases he seems to think such treatment is very advantageous. Milder forms of treatment, for example, the Swedish method of gymnastic exercise, should be started at first, and afterwards more active methods, for example Oertel’s, can be tried. The action of the Swedish method is most marked upon the peripheral vessels, while Oertel’s system acts more directly upon the heart itself, so that dividing heart disease into disease of central or cardiac, and that of peripheral or vascular origin, the different methods could be applied accordingly. The Swedish method, moreover, has this advantage, that it can be applied in severe cases which can not leave their beds. Barie (_Sem. Med._, November 12, 1897,) advocates the treatment of heart disease by Swedish gymnastics. The aim of the exercises is to facilitate the work of the heart by increasing its contractile power and by lessening the peripheral resistance. The exercises are a series of regulated, combined, or alternating movements of resistance or opposition. The movements employed fall under the main groups: (1) Kneading, rubbing, or stroking of the muscular masses in the limbs and abdomen; (2) movements of circumduction which facilitate the circulation in the main venous trunks; (3) movements which favor respiration. The exercises are very varied, and accomplished by means of passive and active movements, numerous different manipulations, and by special apparatus. The average duration of the treatment ought not to be less than an hour a day during three months of each year. The treatment is suitable for cases of dilatation, hypertrophy, fatty degeneration, chronic myocarditis, and various neuroses and functional affections of the heart. Such symptoms as shortness of breath, palpitation, insomnia, cephalalgia, giddiness, gastric phenomena, edema, ecchymosis, cyanosis, improve or disappear under treatment. The pulse-rate is lowered, but rises again as soon as treatment is interrupted. Rational application of the treatment does not exclude internal treatment by ordinary medical means, and the two methods may often be employed simultaneously with the best results.—_Ibid._