Dr. R. W. Philip has made an experimental study to determine the cause of death in phthisis. The results of his study are published in the _Brit. Med. Jour._ of Jan. 28th, 1888. His experiments were conducted with an extract prepared from fresh sputum from phthisical patients, as follows: The sputum was treated with alcohol, put in a sterilizer, and heated to 37 to 40° C. for some time, filtered clear, and evaporated at a low temperature until the alcohol was expelled. This extract was used for subcutaneous injections in frogs, mice, and rabbits. This extract was found to possess very marked toxic properties upon these animals, which manifested themselves by a depression of the higher nerve centres and of the heart. The depressant action upon the heart seemed to be exerted through the cardio-inhibitory mechanism, and is more or less completely antagonized by atropine. The toxic principle he believes to be the result of the growth of the tubercular bacilli, and allied to the ptomaines. He found the quantity of the substance to be extracted from the sputum to be proportional to the abundance of the bacilli present in it. These observations are in accordance with the observations of various experimenters with other pathogenic organisms, and with the theory that seems to be gaining ground that immunity is the result of such by-products of the growth of these organisms. SURGERY. BY GEORGE R. FOWLER, M. D., Surgeon to St. Mary’s Hospital and to the Methodist Episcopal Hospital, Brooklyn. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF MYXŒDEMA FOLLOWING TOTAL OR PARTIAL EXTIRPATION OF THE THYROID BODY.