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The next Sunday an office boy came running into the building and whispered to my opponent, who immediately left. The pastor, who was about to begin his sermon, hesitated, and then said: 'Brethren, let us pray for a sick man who is in great danger; Dr. Grosgrain has been called to see him.' This settled Dr. Grosgrain and left the field to me.' Sir Walter Scott in "Red Gauntlet," speaks of Peter Peebles falling down in a "perplexity fit." Six decades after, the joke reappears in the "Medical Bulletin" as as follows: "Georgia.-'Do you know, Ethel, old Stokes had a perplexity fit the other day? › Ethel. A perplexity fit? You mean a parallel

stroke.'

The MEDICAL STANDARD has on a number of occasions referred to the necessity of legislation which shall preserve the profession and the public from the perilous iniquities of those "medical colleges" which exist simply for the enrichment and advertisement of their "faculty," and n pursuing this end are wholly oblivious to the first instincts of honesty or humanity. The flood of licensed ignorance which, under existing laws. annually sweeps from these reservoirs of avarice, imposture and professional perfidy, is a universal pollution which every honest and intelligent physician contemplates with disgust and the indignation born of a personal insult. We have demanded legislation calculated to abate this curse; we have commended laws passed for the purpose and the rulings adopted in the same direction by Boards of Health; our words have, we are gratified to state, borne some fruit, but very much remains to be done and to this task the STANDARD has set itself with a determination to exert every influence for its ultimate accomplishment.

In this work it anticipates the continued hatred and defamation of carrion colleges at home and elsewhere with their hordes of "professors" and the unsavory company who hover about them for a share in the division of stock-professorships and such other "honorary" recognition as may be in their power to bestow. To these aggregations of college quackery the mere suggestion of a legal test of diploma qualification is torture; it strikes at the very foundation of their existence, and malicious effusions like those in the last issue of the "Western Medical Reporter," the self-constituted champion of these concerns, are not at all surprising. We decline to enter into personalities with our zealous critic; editor Harper's record may be of the best or the worst with this we have nothing to do. Whether the editor of the STANDARD Sounds his name from the hilltops or prefers the retirement of his study, is of absolutely no importance in this connection; We have presented our indictment and argument,

let these be answered. Are they true or false? If true, let our critics have the candor so to confess and govern themselves accordingly. If false let them so answer and substantiate their reply by proper argument. Scurrility is a form of argument which proves nothing save the weakness of its author.

THE views of the STANDARD on the subject of legislation are by no means "new" or "original." They are those of reputable members of the profession everywhere. Dr. E. J. Doering, in his address as president of the Chicago Medico-Legal Society, spoke these scathing words:

"I question which is the greatest public calamity, an occasional epidemic of cholera, or the regular recurring annual epidemic of some 4,000 doctors let loose on an innocent and unsuspecting public?.. The action of our diploma-mills, in adding each year thousands of young men to the ranks of a profession already filled and overflowing, is rapidly producing an army of genteel paupers, too proud to beg, too honest to steal, but too poor to exist. No reform can be expected from the colleges, for obvious reasons; for, managed as they are, as private enterprises for business purposes solely, they naturally resist anything calculated to impair the very object for which they exist. As in a free country like ours, it is unfortunately impossible to cause the "professors to be imprisoned at hard labor and the colleges to be burned down, we have to seek elsewhere for relief."

The "Buffalo Med. and Surg. Jour." says "the vast numbers of ignorant quacks who have been licensed under the government are no credit to the profession or the nation. The professors [in most colleges] are entirely dependent upon the fees of the students and are naturally therefore more interested in the quantity than the quality of their graduates." The "Medical Record," of New York, "Medical News," of Philadelphia, the Northwestern Lancet," of St. Paul, the "New Orleans Med. Journal," "Pacific Med. and Surg. Jour.," of San Francisco, the "Medical Review," of St. Louis, and most other journals without college axes to grind, are all practically in accord upon this question, and as professional sentiment is aroused to the enormity of the crime against true education and the public welfare, the medical press will with greater unanimity and emphasis than ever, demand thorough reform. The organs of the diploma-mills will continue to villify all attempts at reform; their true character as "whited sepulchers" is, however, becoming so well understood, that their very villification serves simply to intensify the argument against them and the rickety institutions which give them life.

There is very little doubt that the Aryan surgeons used some form of local and general anæsthesia. From them came the tendency to use both, which is recorded in early Chinese medical literature. Some traditions of these anæsthetics seem to have been handed down till the time of the Crusades and to have been revived with the advent of the renaissance. Boccaccio, for example, says in Decameron, Fourth Day, Novel Ten: "The physician had a patient who had a bad leg which was due to a decayed bone. Now, the doctor supposing that the patient would never be able to bear the pain, ordered a certain water to be distilled that threw a person asleep so long as he judged to be necessary." This practice seems to have died out and become a mere tradition, for Thomas Middleton ("Woman Beware Woman," Act IV, Scene 1, printed in 1657) makes a character say:

"I'll imitate the pities of old surgeons.

"To this lost limb; who, ere they show their

art,

"Cast one asleep; then cut the diseased part." The great revival of anesthesia which took place late in the first half of the present century, owes its origin to Americans, and there appears no doubt from the results of researches, set on foot by the Chicago Medical Society, that the honor of the discovery of the agent chloroform, rightly belongs to Dr. Guthrie, of Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., and not to either Leibig or Soubeiran who dispute it with him. Chloroform seems to have been used as an anesthetic in Yale before 1840. Its use was, however soon discontinued whether because of the influence of the medical dogmatists who held that pain was salutary, or because of an untoward accident, cannot now be determined.

THE Wisconsin legislature sometime ago passed a law intended to secure proper treatment for inebriates. Unfortunately, the law, instead of placing the inebriate on the status of the lunatic, made him a criminal. It provided that "any person who shall be charged upon complaint of another with being an inebriate, habitual and common drunkard, shall be arrested and brought before a judge for trial, in the same manner that offenders may be arrested and brought to trial, and if such inebriate be convicted he shall be sentenced to imprisonment in any inebriate or insane asylum for a period not longer than two years."

It is hardly surprising to find that the Supreme Court recently held that "though intended to be paternal, the act is penal in effect; that as the offence, drunkenness, is not criminal, a law making it such must be invalid. The paternal pro

visions sought to be incorporated therein are now provided by statutes in force." The principle underlying the law is a good one and it should be amended in the directions indicated by the decision of the Supreme Court.

MANY of the Illinois postoffice officials have been making up for their lack of attention to official duties by profuse recommendations of patent medicines. The "Daily News" very fittingly says in this connection:

"In an esteemed exchange we find the following eloquent tribute from the distinguished Col. William T. Dowdall, postmaster at Peoria: 'Over two months ago I fell on the ice, causing great suffering until I got St. Jacob's Oil. The first application to my surprise gave great relief; one-half bottle cured.' What ails these postoffices in Illinois, we wonder, that they are so addicted to the use of patent nostrums? Not long ago Maj. Harry Donovan testified to the nerve-restoring effects of Mrs. Ayer's Vita Nuova, and here we find Col. Dowdall crying the praises of St. Jacobs Oil! Is civil-service reform so feeble that it stands in constant need of tonics? Otherwise, this miscellaneous doling out of patent medicine certificates will bring a good cause into derision and scorn. In the Peoria postmaster's case we take a particular interest. We should like to know the correct and authorized interpretation of that remarkable clause: The first application to my surprise.'

THAT historical mourner Niobe would have found relief in these days of progress, and Lady Macbeth might have had her rooted sorrow plucked out by consulting a disciple of Hahnemann, since the "California Homœopath" says that "ignatia is the remedy for grief when it is not of long duration: the chronic or lasting effects of grief call for phosphoric acid." There is as usual an infinitesimal germ of truth lying at the bottom of the homeopathic well. Strychnine is of value in many conditions of mental and physical depression, and the same is true of phosphoric acid. Grief is not rarely kept up by physical depression, hence these remedies might sometimes prove of value.

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THERAPEUTICS AND PHARMACOLOGY.

BLISTERS IN PERITONITIS.-Dr. C. H. Wilkinson, Galveston, Texas (“Texas Cour. Rec.") claims good results from blisters, in peritonitis.

ANESTHETIC MIXTURE.-W. J. Stephens ("Brit. Med. Jour.") claims that a mixture of equal parts of cologne and chloroform makes a pleasant and safe anæsthetic.

NAPHTHALIN has failed to abort typhoid fever after careful trial ("Med. News") in the hands of Drs. Peabody and Beverly Robinson of New York, and Drs. F. C. Shattuck and R. Felch of Boston.

ANTIPYRIN AND THE KIDNEY.-Dr. DeCasimir ("L'Union Med.") claims that large doses of antipyrin increase arterial tension, reduce the size of the kidney and diminish the amount of urine secretion for some hours after which it becomes normal.

DIGITALIS SUBSTITUTES.—The double soluble salts of caffeine and sodium nitrite, nitrobenzoate, nitro-salicyate, and nitro-cinnamylate are recommended by Dr. Rugel as substitutes for digitalis. They are better tolerated by the patient.

CALOMEL TO PREVENT SMALL-POX PITTING..-Dr. Drzewiecki, Warsaw, Russia, ("Med. Rec.") states that if calomel be dusted over small-pox vesicles it causes them to dry up without pitting. He uses it alone or mixed with one-third starch.

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DR. GIRAL'S FEBRIFUGE POWDER is composed of quinine sulphate, 15 centigrams; sodium arseniate, 5 milligrams; pulverized gum Arabic, 2 grams, and carmine lake, 5 decigrams. M. The quantities given are for three powders; one is taken every morning in a cup of tea.

COPAIBA JELLY is prepared as follows(“MagazPharm."): Take of thick copaiba, 8 ounces; powdered sugar and honey (each), 4 ounces; distilled water, 5 drachms; oil pepperment, I drachm; roseine,th of a grain (dissolved in 20 m. water). When well made should resemble raspberry jelly.

JABORANDI IN ERYSIPELAS.-Dr. Waugh ("Phila. Med. Times") thinks erysipelas a disease

of little importance since he learned the value of jaborandi in its treatment. He gives twenty drops of the fluid extract every two hours, until perspiration sets in. The treatment is resumed if the erysipelas shows a tendency to recur.

BORIC ACID IN STYE.-Dr. Geo. Reuling ("Va. Med. Month.") has found a simple, effective remedy for stye to be a solution of fifteen grains of boric acid to one ounce of water. By applying this solution thrice a day to the inflamed part of the eyelid, by means of a camel's hair brush, this painful affection will be conquered very rapidly.

MENTHOL IN ÖZENA.-Dr. Beehag (“Edinb. Med. Jour.") advises the use of the following in chronic nasal catarrh, ozona, chronic laryngitis, etc.:

B Menthol (in fine powder)..
Ammon. chlor...

P. acid, boracic..

3 ss 3 iss

3j

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Confection rose.... sufficient quantity. Mix the spirit of glonoin intimately with the powdered althæa, expose the mixture for a short time to the air, so that the alcohol may evaporate, then make a pill-mass by means of confection of rose, and divide it into two hundred (200) pills.

COCAINIZED LANOLIN IN BURNS.-The "Buffalo Medical Press" says that cocain mur. 2 parts, aq. distil. lanolin, each, 17 parts, cetacei. 4 parts, forms a grateful and cooling application, the water being absorbed by the lanolin. Pruritus ani when due to eczema, erythema and herpes, will not only be relieved but usually removed, by the following:

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orandi every four hours, resulted in a condition of nervous agitation accompanied by the imperative conception that the patient must brain her family with a hatchet. The remedy was given for agalactia, which disappeared during the use of the jaborandi. The mental symptoms disappeared and the agalactia returned when the jaborandi was stopped. The patient's condition evidently predisposed to these mental phenomena which occur in exhausted states from any cause.

CIMICIFUGA IN RHEUMATISM.-Dr. A. E.. Bradley, Philadelphia ("Coll. and Clin. Rec.") reports two cases of acute articular rheumatism of the following type as described by Ringer: "A patient is first troubled with pains, apparently rheumatic, in most of the joints, but with scarcely any fever or swelling. The disease soon seats itself in one part, as the wrist and hand; the tissues here become much thickened, the bones of the wrist enlarged until, after a time, all movement is lost, and the member becomes useless. The attack presents many of the characters of gonorrhoeal rheumatism, but there is no history of gonorrhoea." Both cases yield to drachm doses, thrice daily, of cimicifuga fluid extract, after salol, salicylic acid, etc., had been tried in vain. The remedy is an old one.

MERCURIAL FUMIGATIONS IN DIPHTHERIA. Dr. J. Corbin, Brooklyn ("N. Y. Med. Jour.") claims good results from mercurial fumigations. He gives the following details of his procedure: He insists, when possible, that the patient be in a room where the sunlight has free entrance, that the temperature of the room shall not be lower than 75°, and that the air shall be kept moist by the evaporation of water. During the time of the fumigations the patient receives no medicine whatever. At the beginning and end of a fumigation, milk punch or wine is given. This is insisted upon. A child's crib with barrel hoops across the top, secured, and over these spread a flannel blanket, makes a suitable canopy or tent. In the case of an eight to ten year old child, he volatilizes from 40 to 60 grs. of the mild chloride. The child is kept under the canopy twenty minutes, when the blanket is removed. This is repeated every two or three hours during the first day. After this period he expects to find the cough loosened, giving directions to prolong the intervals of the fumigations, and at once to resort to them if the cough tightens. He has had cases where they had to be continued for over a week, but not more than two or three each day. The aphonia may not disappear for a week or two, but this need excite no alarm. Let the patient receive the most thorough alimentation. The fumes are not offensive, and, as a rule, the child makes no

resistance after the first fumigation. Generally the patient falls into a refreshing sleep, and sometimes he will point to the lamp, indicating that a fumigation is desired. The lamp had better be powerful enough to volatilize a drachm of calomel in one minute. The lamp he has constructed does this. By this means the air of the tent is not raised to too high a temperature for respiration.

TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA.-Legendre ("Med. News") advises use of the following formula: Carbolic acid by inhalation, may be given by the use of a teaspoonful of the following mixture, added to sufficient water Acid carbolic Acid salicylic Acid benzoic Alcohol..

370

3 14 328

3 117

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To irrigate the fauces of a child suffering from diphtheria it should be wrapped in a shawl or blanket, its arms by its sides to prevent struggling. It should be held upon the knees and against the breast of one person, whose hands are folded over the child's trunk in front. A napkin may be placed under the chin, and the nostrils closed, when the child will open its mouth. The jet should be impelled with sufficient force to excite reflex contraction of the pharynx, when there will be little annoyance from the passage of fluid into the trachea, and choking.

ORIGIN OF NEURALGIAS.

The appended diagram, taken from Dr. C. L. Dana's discussion of neuralgia ("N. Y. Med. Jour.") indicates the location of transferred pains and neuralgia, and the location and character of the probable exciting cause:

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Area IV..
Area

Area

Lower 4 cervical and
ist dorsal.

Upper 6 dorsal.

V....Lower 6 dorsal except
last.

VI.... 12th dorsal, 4 lumbar.

Distribution.

Face and its orifices, anterior
scalp.

Occipital region, neck.
Upper extremities.

Thoracic wall.

Associated ganglia of
sympathetic.

4 cerebral.

Ist cervical.

Main distribution.

Head.

Head (slightly to heart).

2d and 3d cervical, 1st Heart.

dorsal

1st to 6th dorsal

Abdominal wall, upper lumbar, 5th to 12th dorsal.
upper lateral thigh surface.

Lumbar region, upper gluteal, 1st to 4th lumbar.
anterior and inner thigh and
knee.

Area VII.... 5th lumbar and 5 sacral Lower gluteal, posterior thigh, 1st to 5th sacral.
leg.

PUS-COCCI AND INFLAMMATION.-Dr. P. Growitz and W. DeBary ("Virchow's Archiv.") have recently made experiments which demonstrated that in dogs and rabbits the subcutaneous injection of pus-cocci into normal subcutaneous

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tissue will not evoke inflammation. Chemical substances of various kinds, free of bacteria, under certain conditions, will produce suppuration. When the solution is of a certain strength, it is certain to produce suppuration in the right animal.

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