TUBERCULOSIS
Treatment of Paraplegia in Pott's Disease by Puncture of Spinal Abscess.—Calvé 1 believes that paraplegias are less likely to recover under nonoperative treatment in adults than in children. He reminds us that they occur almost exclusively in those cases in which the lesion is located in the dorsal vertebrae, and he thinks the common cause is a pressure on the spinal cord by an abscess situated between the cord and the posterior surface of the vertebral bodies. He considers that laminectomy is too serious an operation to be ordinarily advised, and yet he believes that relief of pressure from the abscess is the important factor in recovery.After careful dissections, he discovered that a properly curved sound could be introduced through the upper part of the intervertebral foramen just above the intercostal nerve, and placed in contact with the posterior surface of the vertebral body. He determines by