To such human minds, to poison, to kill, to rob a corpse, is not crime. Every doctor could recall incidents like these-yea, paint even worse pictures of human depravity. If there be one of my profession who, after years spent in its exercise, can still feel enthusiastic over his knowledge of human nature, I shall be glad to know it, for I have none; it has all departed. Humbug is the way nature presents herself to me. My view is well known. We should all, in our optimistic way, go slow, for the gods are gleeful, and grin behind the backs of men. My heart is today of human existence, heavy-every day, heavy. The deliberate deceit of the law of things is at last to me revealed. I live in the past and with the dead.

I am well acquainted with Balzac's writings. He seems to have been ever a keen observer of human nature, with a very considerable wealth of expressive power, leading others to see what they had not theretofore observed. Whether he drew deductions and advanced accurately to conclusions I hardly know. But we can do that for ourselves, from the material that is furnished to us by those who write books. Blessed be the printing press-the ark on the tossing wave of life. Thereto our weary spirits may return to rest from their wanderings, with none to molest or make them afraid.

All the writers, of whatever shade of thought, admit, in some way, the presence of evil in the very warp and woof of life. It is in the Lord's Prayer, where He asks the Father to "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Human nature is very low. I despair of its eventual freedom of dross. The net of the fowler is spread for every winged spirit.

50 Cathedral Parkway.

WHY VARIABLE RESULTS ARE OBTAINED.

BY HAROLD T. HOUG, Milwaukee, Wis.

Medical Department Marquette University, Milwaukee Medical College.

[Written for the MEDICAL BRIEF.]

Progress occasionally causes temporary confusion by disturbing old and firm beliefs, and furnishing vast legions of sometimes unconfirmed facts, but this little article is by no means written with intention of confusion, but to cause you to investigate and enlighten yourself on this important part of prescribing.

Physicians, in writing prescriptions for liquid medicines, are inconsiderate at the amount of variation in doses that can be brought through negligence and carelessness on part of both physician and pharmacist.

Following the usual custom, a pharmacist puts in ingredients in bottle and adds solvent sufficient to fill same, taking for granted that all bottles are uniform. But this is an erroneous idea, and measuring the various

sizes of bottles will give you a clear idea of how they vary. I have found two-ounce bottles holding from fourteen to nineteen drachms, four-ounce from thirty-two to thirty-five drachms, six-ounce from forty-eight to fiftythree drachms, eight-ounce from sixty to sixty-eight drachms. Now this shows clearly how variable the capacity may be. Every pharmacist should mix his ingredients in a graduated measure, and then pour into bottle, and not this q. s. business. This would do away with this variation.

But a greater inconsistency of dosage is brought about by the use of tablespoons, teaspoons, and all domestic measures which are most absurdly variable in size, using these means of getting or attempting to get the same dose as the physician intended the patient to take. The great majority of practitioners figure their doses from the standard that eight drachms are equivalent to eight teaspoonfuls. I have, after measuring various teaspoons, found them to vary from five to seven to the ounce, about an average of six. It would be better to prescribe all active principles, if possible, in powder, pill or tablet form, or insist on patients carefully regulating their doses by means of graduated glasses, which are within the reach of all but the very poorest.

SOME EARLY SURGICAL EXPERIENCES IN THE COUNTRY.

BY J. J. CONNER, M. D. Pana, Ill.,

President of the Christian County Medical Society; Secretary of the Board of United States Examining Surgeons.

[Written for the MEDICAL BRIEF.]

In the early part of June, 1878, I was summoned to proceed as quickly as I could to the residence of Mr. W. S. R., a prominent farmer, about sixty-three years old, living some two miles from my office, to attend him for injuries received in a runaway accident a few minutes before being called. On my way to the patient, I learned that Mr. R. had been driving a pair of fractious horses along the public highway, hitched to the running-gears of a wagon, and while crossing the track of the Wabash Railroad, the team became frightened and ran away. The wagon had no bed on it, and Mr. R. was sitting on the reach or coupling pole and the hind hounds of the wagon, and in endeavoring to manage his team he was thrown off the seat and dragged for some distance along the dusty road by the lines, which he still tenaciously held. At last he was dragged into the rut, where the wheel ran over him, lacerating the head, face and upper portion of the body. Blood flowed freely from the wounds in the head and face, and becoming mixed with the dust of the road, he soon was as black as a negro and unrecognizable. The worst injuries were found on the head and face, more particularly upon the left side of the head. The scalp and underlying tissues were in a pulp; the left ear had been severed from its place,

supposedly by the edge of the wagon tire, as the wagon was a new one and the tire edges were unworn and sharp. The mangled ear was hanging by the side of the neck, simply by a small portion of the lower lobe; the auricle was split around its upper edge for nearly one-half its circumference, and there were two slits in it extending toward the external meatus for about three-fourths of an inch. The ear was not recognizable as such by its appearance; only by its attachment could one believe that it was the ear, for it was ground up so badly and also very dirty. I subjoin a rude diagram, which may help to explain the condition I found.

Fig. 1. The points a to b show extent of the split in the auricle, c is the point to
where the ear was torn. 1 and 2 are the slits in the auricle.

It was thought impossible to save the ear, but the wife pleaded so hard that a trial be made to see if it could not be made to unite again with the scalp, that I concluded to do the best I could to save it, and, if it would not unite, it could later be entirely severed. All parts were thoroughly cleaned with hot water and castile soap (antiseptics were at that time hardly ever used, or barely known, in the country districts). The pieces of the ear were patched together as best we could and sewed in place to the scalp, the ear being well anchored to the scalp by means of surgeon's adhesive plaster. The patient was delirious and unconscious during the whole time that we were at work, and tried continually to remove the dressings and to interfere with our work. This condition kept up for seventeen days, during his infirmity, erysipelas in the meantime setting up. His head and face swelled to enormous size, nearly as big as a two-gallon milk bucket, the eyes, of course, being closed, as well as the nostrils, the mouth almost closing. The swelling was so great that we feared that the external meatus would be closed permanently

when he recovered, if he did recover, and to prevent this we needed some sort of a tube to place in the meatus to keep it patulous. We had nothing of the sort, but we bethought ourselves of the barnyard, where we had noticed some geese, and went there and obtained a large-sized quill, which we thoroughly cleaned by means of hot water and scraping it inside and out. This we fitted into the meatus and secured it there by means of the dressings.

By the close and almost constant care of the wife, with what little aid some of the good neighbors gave her, Mr. R. got entirely well, and is alive now, a hale and vigorous old man. The suppuration, of which there was much, left the scalp adhering closely to the skull and allowed the ear to set about half an inch lower than its fellow. All of which goes to show that nature will do wonders in a healthy man's body, if properly aided in her efforts and given half a chance.

THE TREATMENT OF ERYSIPELAS.

BY JOHN ALBERT BURNETT, Auburn, Ark,
[Written for the MEDICAL BRIEF.]

There are many internal and external remedies used in the treatment of erysipelas. The most common internal remedy used is tincture of iron, and the most common local remedy is tincture of iodine. It is a well-known fact that tincture of iron is of value in the treatment of asthenic cases of erysipelas, but it must be used in liberal doses and frequently repeated in order to get the very best results. Jaborandi or pilocarpine is, no doubt. of more value than iron in sthenic cases, but must be pushed to the physiological effect; free diaphoresis once each day as long as the disease lasts.

The late Dr. Ben H. Brodnax, who is well known to all old BRIEF readers, used calomel and potassium nitrate for erysipelas, and claimed it would abort all his cases in twenty-four hours. He gave three ten-grain doses of calomel one hour apart, alternating with three twenty-grain doses of potassium nitrate, beginning with the calomel. The niter is given in water, each dose in about one ounce.

Dr. Brodnax's treatment has given good results for me, and I believe it is of real value, especially in sthenic cases. The local application of tincture of iodine is of value, and will, in my opinion, stop the disease from spreading in most cases, but I believe carbolic acid is superior to iodine. as a local application. Take the liquid crystals of carbolic acid, and apply to the diseased parts until it turns white, then apply alcohol to neutralize. Strong solutions of silver nitrate will stop the disease, but is likely to cause sloughing, and do more harm than good.

In my opinion, the very best treatment we have for erysipelas is that recommended by Dr. Brodnax, or tincture of iron or pilocarpine, as indicated, internally, and tincture of iodine or carbolic acid locally.

TIME OF DEATH-THE TIME WITHIN THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN WHICH PATIENTS ARE LIKELY TO DIE.

BY LINTON D. LANDRUM, M. D., Columbus, Miss.

[Written for the MEDICAL BRIEF.]

The law of heredity is very strong, and sometimes controls things that are ordinarily considered as beyond its sphere of action, so that physical agencies, in their effect on the life and health of individuals, are much controlled by this far-reaching law of heredity.

A man, apparently in the enjoyment of fine health, begins, about the age of forty, to manifest symptoms of heart disease. As the years pass by these indications of heart disease gradually grow more severe, until at the age of sixty he dies of valvular heart disease. This gentleman and his wife raised to manhood and womanhood a large family of sons and daughters, several of whom had heart disease of the same character as the father. The father of these children died in the morning whilst the family were at breakfast. The youngest son, who most resembled his father, died first of the children, with valvular heart disease, and died at about seven o'clock in the morning.

The next to die-she died with heart disease-was a daughter, who died about eight o'clock in the morning. The child who next died was the oldest son, who died of valvular heart disease about, or a very few minutes after, eleven o'clock in the morning.

The mother of these children, who outlived her husband many years, had no trace of heart disease, and the children who most resemble her in their physical organism are still living-and none of these have any heart disease that can be detected.

The next case I will cite is one where, in a family of several children, the father of these children died at the age of thirty-five with consumption. and died in the evening about first dark. His oldest child, a son, died at the age of twenty-seven of consumption, and died about one hour before the setting of the sun.

I observed another case where the father died of malarial fever. This man died about nine o'clock at night. His oldest child, a daughter, likewise died of malarial fever about nine o'clock at night, as did her father.

The hour of midnight is a crucial period in cases of severe sickness. At this hour the powers of life swing forward, and the pulse begins to manifest an increase in volume, so that at sunrise a man, whether sick or in health, is at his best, and stronger and more vigorous than at any other period during the twenty-four hours. The result of this is that if a patient has sufficient bodily vigor for the pulse to make this normal rise at midnight, he will not die for some hours later. But if between twelve and one at night there is no perceptible increase in the tone of the pulse, the patient will die before the rising of the morrow's sun.