Should we take Prophylactic Measures for the Prevention of Pneumonia from a Point of View of Contagion?
—By Dr. Cronigneau (Société de Méd. Pratique, Paris). About a year ago I was called to a lady whom I found suffering from pneumonia affecting the lower third of the right lung. In spite of classical treatment rigorously carried out (antimonials, alcohol, tonics, revulsives), nearly the entire lung became hepatized, and although the fever did not run very high, there was soon paralysis of the bladder with retention of urine necessitating catheterization, and paralysis of the bronchi, phenomena which, in the light of existing theories, one would ascribe to an intoxication of the entire organism by the leucomaines of Fränkel's diplococci. The patient died. Eight days afterward, her brother-in-law took to bed with pneumonia of the apex of the right lung. There was no suspicion of tuberculosis, although the patient, aged 54 years,