Harper Hospital Research Articles

PITUITARY TUMOR ASSOCIATED WITH GYNECOMASTIA

The following case of pituitary tumor illustrates what is already so well known, namely, that the pituitary gland influences the sex development of the individual. This case illustrates how certain types of pituitary tumor may produce an inversion of the sex characteristics. The patient, a man of 52 years of age, referred by Dr. L. Adler, was admitted to Harper Hospital on May 21st, 1929, with a history that for about a year he had had vertigo and headache in the frontal region and impotency for the last two years. He had noticed that during the past two years his breasts were increasing in size and were taking on so-called female characteristics. Vertigo had increased over the period of the last year and in the last month previous to admission it had become very much worse. The headaches likewise increased. There was no complaint about vision. Four weeks prior to admission he began to notice a gradual loss of the use of the right arm and drooping of the right corner of the mouth. His speech became so muc...

The Introduction of the Eight-Hour Shift

T HE Twentieth Century has been marked with achievements, inventions and progress, in every degree, to the satisfaction and benefit of the entire universe at large. When such advantages have been rendered to each branch of undertaking in the mechanical and commercial worlds, it is not probable that the nursing profession should linger in the background. No, it, too, is progressing in its methods and regulations with the wheel of time, and its latest achievement embraces the introduction of the eight-hour shift for its pupil nurses. This shift, which is now used in our own hospital, is the outcome of efforts to introduce an eight-hour day, common in industrial work but not used in training schools until 1891, when it had its beginning in the Farrand School for Nurses (Harper Hospital) Detroit. Timidly, but assuredly, it is becoming the standard schedule of duty hours for first-class hospitals. Its entrance marks a new era in this age-old profession. The benefits which it entails are too numerous to be recalled here, yet a few words may induce other hospitals to adopt this much needed new arrangement of duty hours for the nurse. By it the student body is divided into three shifts: 7 a. m. to 3 p. m.; 3 p. m to 10.30 p. m.; thence, from 10.30 p. m. to 7 a. m. All class schedules are

Fetal mortalities: An analytical study based on two years' records (1925–1926) at Harper Hospital

Causes of Fetal Deaths in Entire Series. 2478 Births, 163 Deaths, 6.65 Per CentNonviablePrematureFull TermTotalPer CentUnknown24583722.7Nephritic toxemia22653320.2Placental bleeding7561811.0Malformations32131811.0Delivery deaths181811.0Labor deaths11116.7Prolapse of cord553.0Neonatal deaths663.6Postmaturity442.4Adrenal hemorrhage110.6Eclampsia2131.8Toxic vomiting110.6Accidental rupture of membranes110.6Toxemia, unclassified221.2Cardiac decompensation110.6Overexertion110.6Amputation of cervix110.6Pneumonia110.6Syphilis110.6Total163

Hypodermoclysis Technic at Harper Hospital, Detroit

Hypodermoclysis Technic at Harper Hospital, Detroit

ABSCESS OF THE SPINAL CORD

Abscess of the spinal cord is so rare a condition, presents so irregular a clinical picture, and involves such interesting and difficult problems in diagnosis that this case has seemed to be deserving of full report: A. J., man, teamster, was admitted to Harper Hospital, Sept. 28, 1916, complaining of a motor impairment of the left leg of twelve days' duration. The personal and family history were negative. Though five children had died at birth, only one living two hours, venereal disease was denied and the patient's Wassermann test was negative. He had been a pretty steady user of alcohol, ordinarily drinking four or five bottles of beer daily, and on the Saturday night, twelve days prior to his admission, he had drunk more heavily than usual. About 10 p. in. of this day, he experienced a numbness in his left leg, and he could walk only with difficulty. The

Should Friends of Patients be Admitted to the Operating-Room?

To the Editor: —A rather sad but unique accident occurred in my service at Harper Hospital, Detroit, October 30, which answers this question most convincingly in the negative. A friend of a patient insisted on being admitted to the operating-room. He was told that the privilege was not allowed by the rules of the hospital, but could not understand why it should be denied him. He maintained that as long as his own daughter was the nurse in charge of the case, and that the patient to be operated on was a dear friend, he surely would be able to withstand the strain of the operation without any evil effect, and after some discussion he was finally admitted. During the course of the operation this friend of the patient fainted and fell, striking his head on the mosaic floor. He bled from the nose and ears, and roentgenoscopy revealed a

Book Review Nephrocoloptosis . A Description of the Nephrocolic Ligament and its Action in the Causation of Nephroptosis, with the Technic of the Operation of Nephrocolopexy, in which the Nephrocolic Ligament is Utilized to Immobilize both Kidney and Bowel. By H. W. Long-year, M.D., Professor of Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery, Detroit Post-Graduate Medical School; Clinical Professor of Gynecology, Detroit College

Book Review Nephrocoloptosis . A Description of the Nephrocolic Ligament and its Action in the Causation of Nephroptosis, with the Technic of the Operation of Nephrocolopexy, in which the Nephrocolic Ligament is Utilized to Immobilize both Kidney and Bowel. By H. W. Long-year, M.D., Professor of Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery, Detroit Post-Graduate Medical School; Clinical Professor of Gynecology, Detroit College

A treatise on diseases of the nose and throat By Ernest L. Shurly, M.D., Vice‐President and Professor of Laryngology and Clinical Medicine, Detroit College of Medicine; Laryngologist and late Chief of Staff, Harper Hospital; Consulting Laryngologist and Chief of Laryngological Clinic of St. Mary's Hospital; Consulting Laryngologist to the Woman's Hospital and Foundlings' Home, Member of the American Laryngological Association,

A treatise on diseases of the nose and throat By Ernest L. Shurly, M.D., Vice‐President and Professor of Laryngology and Clinical Medicine, Detroit College of Medicine; Laryngologist and late Chief of Staff, Harper Hospital; Consulting Laryngologist and Chief of Laryngological Clinic of St. Mary's Hospital; Consulting Laryngologist to the Woman's Hospital and Foundlings' Home, Member of the American Laryngological Association,

A treatise on diseases of the nose and throat.By Ernest L. Shurley, M.D., Vice‐President and Professor of Laryngology and Clinical Medicine, Detroit College of Medicine; Laryngologist and late Chief of Staff, Harper Hospital; Consulting Laryngologist, St. Mary's Hospital, etc. Octavo, pp. xvii—744. Cloth, $5.00; sheep, $6.00. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1900

A treatise on diseases of the nose and throat.By Ernest L. Shurley, M.D., Vice‐President and Professor of Laryngology and Clinical Medicine, Detroit College of Medicine; Laryngologist and late Chief of Staff, Harper Hospital; Consulting Laryngologist, St. Mary's Hospital, etc. Octavo, pp. xvii—744. Cloth, $5.00; sheep, $6.00. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1900

THE SERUM TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA.

There can be no reasonable doubt that the larger part of the ill-effects of diphtheria, are due to the soluble poisons (toxins) formed by, or during the growth of the germs of the disease. The paralysis, the albuminuria, the necrosis in the various organs can all be produced at will with these poisons. Here is a diphtheria toxin. This was made by inoculating a flask of alkalin beef tea with a virulent culture of the diphtheria germ. This germ was obtained in December last from a child in Harper Hospital, Detroit. After the flask had been in the incubator, at the body temperature, for several weeks, the germs were killed by the addition of carbolic acid. The beef tea, or as we now call it, toxin, was filtered, first through paper, and then through porcelain. The latter removes all the germs. On testing this, we find that one-tenth c.c., or

To the Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association:

To answer the many inquiries of the gentlemen who were present at the operations at Harper Hospital, during the late meeting of the Association, I wish to state that all cases of laparotomy recovered. In the first difficult case of Dr. Joseph Price, of Philadelphia, where he predicted that a fecal fistula might develop, this actually took place, but by keeping in the glass drainage tube for three days and then substituting the rubber tube and also by keeping the tract perfectly aseptic with hydrogen peroxide and covering the wound with bi-chloride gauze, the fistula gradually closed up, in the course of three weeks, and the patient is now about, walking, riding, etc. The second case where a hole was made in the intestines, which had to be sewed, made a rapid and uneventful recovery. The case operated upon by Dr. Ross, of Toronto, with the most firm and extensive