THE CINCINNATI ments, H. O. Walker, M.D., President, next made their report. Dr. H. O. LANCET-CLINIC. Marcy, President of the Association, then read his address on "Evolution in Medicine." It was a superb paper, evidencing much care and painstaking in its preparation. The next very interesting matter was the report of Dr. C. G. Comegys, Chairman of the Committee on the Secretary of Public Health. The About this stage of the proceedings a squall struck the meeting. The Judicial Council reported that, according to the organic law of the Association, Dr. W. W. Potter, of Buffalo, N. Y., was not entitled to membership in the American Medical Association. A word of explanation is here necessary: Dr. Potter, while a permanent member of the Association, is also a member of the New York Medical Society, a so As our readers are doubtless aware, the meeting this year was held in Detroit. The meeting really began Monday evening, June 6, when Mr. Geo. S. | Davis gave a banquet to the medical editors. This meeting resolved itself into an unanimous effort on the part of the editors to paralyze their stomachs by over-distention; when solid refresh ment was indulged in to the full extent, a liquid and gaseous mixture was sub-ciety which has adopted a new code stituted and a few empty corners were filled with this mixture. Gastronomically the meeting was a grand success, but there was but little business, other than the business of eating, transacted. Tuesday morning, at 10 o'clock, the general session convened. After the meeting was opened by prayer, the Hon. R. A. Alger delivered an address of welcome which was a model of its kind. The Committee of Arrange which permits of consultations with Irregulars. Dr. Potter was also one of the trustees of the Journal. Immediately after the report of this committee, the squall broke in the shape of a motion by Dr. Gihon to table the report. It was found, however, that the constitution gives the Judicial Council absolute power in the premises, and their finding is final and irrevocable. This discovery created a panic, which was, however, finally averted by the coolness of Dr. Willis P. King. The outcome of the matter was that a committee of five was appointed by the Association to confer with committees of five each from the New York Medical Society and the New York Medical Association to discuss and arrange all difficulties between them. We are confident this is a wise move and will redound to the benefit of all parties concerned. This apparently trivial circumstance is fraught with much importance, because it led to the appointing of a committee to revise the "Code of Ethics." Personally, we believe a careful revision of the code is a necessity, and if done in a proper manner will lead to the abolition of many of the embarassing predicaments which so frequently arise. The revision should be made so as to meet the requirements of the progress that has been made since they were framed. between the members of our profession, and they also act as a clearing-house for the exchange of information and ideas. We feel that we are doing a service to the cause of medicine when we urge upon our readers the wisdom of attending and participating in the representative council of our profession. That the physicians were well received and cared for by our brethren of Detroit goes without saying. They put forth every endeavor to accommodate the physicians, and we desire to return to them our hearty thanks for the elegant manner in which we were cared for. They did nobly. The reception given by the physicians of Michigan was an elegant affair. It was held in the Armory, a building very well designed for such purposes. On Thursday afternoon the physicians and their wives were invited to an excursion upon the Detroit River. This was a lovely trip, and enjoyed hugely by everyone. Lunch was served on board the steamers. The only doubt that ever arose in our mind arose when we found that the caterer's name was the salad we stilled our anxious minds and concluded that it was not such a close shave after all. The Address on General Medicine was delivered by Albert S. Gihon, M.D., U. S. N. It was a scholarly production, having for its subject, "Intellectual Progress in Medicine."" Hair," but as we failed to find him in Dr. J. B. Hamilton delivered the annual address on Surgery. He took for his subject, "The General Principles of the Surgery of the Brain and its Envelopes." "The People and the Public Health Movement" was the subject chosen by J. Berrien Lindsley, M.D., who delivered the annual address on State Medicine. Of course we cannot give a full and detailed account of all that took place at the meeting, but we do wish to call special attention to the fact that these meetings are of the greatest importance and benefit to the physicians of our land because they give opportunity for the establishment of social relations Receptions were tendered the visiting physicians by Hon. H. S. Pingree, Mayor of Detroit; Gen. R. A. Alger; Mr. Geo. S. Davis and Mr. Frederick K. Stearns. A continuous reception was given by the well-known firm of Parke, Davis & Co. EDITORIAL NOTES. THE Academy of Medicine and the Cincinnati Medical Society have both adjourned for the summer. WE are glad to be able to announce that Dr. J. C. Mackenzie is improving nicely. The prospect is for his speedy recovery and restoration to usefulness. Dr. Dawson continues in much the same condition. THE medical profession owe a debt of gratitude to the Detroit Free Press for the very full and accurate reports it gave of the meeting of the American Medical Association. The reports were by far the best we have ever seen in a secular paper. THROUGH a misunderstanding with the Secretary of the Academy we credited Dr. James M. French with the article on the cure of sciatica which appeared last week. The author was Dr. Thos. French, and we apologize for the mistake. Just here is an excellent opportunity to call attention to some points commonly overlooked by writers. Always write out the title of your papers, and immediately beneath the title give the author. If read before any medical society, make a statement to that effect and give the date when read. Atten tion to these few points will insure against such mistakes as the one ferred to above. re THE officers elected by the American Medical Association for the ensuing year are: Dr. Hunter McGuire, of Richmond, Va., President; Dr. H. O. Walker, of Detroit, First Vice-President; Dr. H. Brown, of Kentucky, Second Vice-President; Dr.Jesse Hawes, of Colorado, Fourth Vice-President; Dr. R. J. Dunglison, of Philadelphia, Treasurer; Dr. W. B. Atkinson, of Philadelphia, Secretary; Dr. Montgomery, Assistant Secretary; Dr. Geo. W. Webster, of Chicago, Librarian. Milwaukee was chosen for the next meeting place, although Chicago and Indianapolis were anxious for the honor. The following were elected to fill vacancies on the board of trustees of the association; Dr. Alonzo Garcelon, Lewiston, Me.; Dr. Leartus Connor, Detroit; Dr. Perry H. Millard, of Minnesota, and Dr. Patterson, of Washington. Members of the judicial council were selected as follows: Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago; Dr. John Morris, of Baltimore, Dr. H. D. Didima, of New York; Dr. John B. Roberts, of Philadelphia; Dr. A. M. Emmert, of Iowa; Dr. W. T. Briggs, of Nashville, Tenn.; Dr. C. W. E. B. Davis, of Rome, Ga.; Dr. A. Vorhes, of Coldwater, Mich.; Dr. W. Morgan Cartledge, of Louisville. THE following resolution was unanimously adopted by the Pennsylvania State Medical Society during the ses sion held at Harrisburg, May 17, 18. 19 and 20, 1892: Resolved, That in view of the great national and even universal importance of the subject of hygiene and public health, the State of Pennsylvania, through its Medical Society, may express its appreciation of, and join in, the petition of the American Medical Association, as presented by its com mittee of thirty, appointed at its meeting in Washington, D. C., in May, 1891, to memorialize Congress to create a cabinet officer, to be known as a Medical Secretary of Public Health"; therefore the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania warmly commends the movement, and hereby petitions the Congress of the United States to create a Department of of Public Health, the head of which shall be a member of the cabinet of the President. Believing that the creating of such an officer, of equal rank with the secretaries of other departments of the Government, would greatly stimulate and strengthen the efforts of State Boards of Health in their endeavors to promote and disseminate correct knowledge of sanitation and sanitary subjects, so vital to the well-being of the whole people, all members of the State Medical Society are hereby earnestly urged to use their personal and united influence with their several Congressmen to secure favorable action and the enactment of the law contemplated. PUBLISHER'S NOTICES. WE desire to call particular attention to the advertisement of SARGENT'S ANTISEPTIC THYMOLINE SOAP, a fragrant and refreshing disinfectant for the toilet, bath and nursery, and adapted for the use of surgeons and physicians as a cleanser, disinfectant and deodorizer. The antiseptic properties of thymol are sufficiently known to the medical and surgical world. But these, hitherto, have not been concentrated in an available form. Consequently, thymol has been relegated to one side and other cleansers, disinfectants and deodorizers used instead. Prominent among these has been carbolic acid, which is absolutely abominable to nostrils not indurated by the odors of sickwards and operating-rooms. Thymol is analogous to camphor, is homologous with phenol or carbolic acid, but a much more agreeable and pleasant disinfectant. It resists and corrects putrefaction, and can be relied upon as a remedy to counteract a putrescent tendency. Sargent's Antiseptic Thymoline Soap has for its active principle chemically pure thymol, and is a most efficient substitute for the malodorous preparation hitherto used for the washing of putrescent sores, the removal of cutaneous eruptions and exfoliations, and the ablutions of the hands after the use of the dissecting knife, or the manipulation of the sick. Selections. FROM CURRENT MEDICAL LIT ERATURE. EFFECT OF ICE-BAGS IN AMPU*TATION. The two following cases, which were exhibited at the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society recently, illustrate the advantages of ice in amputation cases: Case I was operated on nearly thirty years ago. Left forearm and hand were crushed under the wheel of a loaded wagon some two miles from his home. I lost no time, and decided on removing all that was irrecoverable, but was able to preserve about two inches of forearm in front of the elbow-joint. Chloroform was given, and ice bags were applied. On the fourth day the wound was healed by first intention, and for several years he has used the preserved two inches for holding his reins while driving as a country postman seven to eight miles out and in of the county town. Case II-On May 31, 1862, thirty years ago, amputation of the right thigh at the top of lowest third, was performed for a constitutional affection of the knee-joint engaging the cartilages. I was asked to perform the operation at her mother's house, two miles off, and did so, using pounded ice in two bags, which were bladders. Both were applied for a few minutes before, and continuously for seventy-two hours after, the operation, and the lower one during On the third day I the operation also. found the wound healed by first intenPhysicians can not too strongly recommend tion, and the new granulations were so it to their patients as a means of restoring health strong that the only ligature (the femto a diseased cuticle, nor will they fail to perceive when they give it a trial what an efficient oral) was left till it came away with a means it is of removing from the hands, or any drop of pus a week after. This drop part of the person, objectionable odors. Putre- was the only matter that ever appeared. faction and gangrene it most effectually counIn a very short time she was able to teracts, its antiseptic properties being of the highest order. Among the most efficient means maintain herself, walking with a wooden recognized by physicians for mitigating or leg over two miles, morning and evenchecking disease, absolute cleanliness is recog-ing, to the county town, and now she nized as one of the chief, and Thymoline Soap, which is so eminently promotive of this, deserves the emphatic indorsement of the medical faculty (see advertisement on page ii). can jump off an ordinary chair on to the hard pavement and alight on the wooden leg without the least uneasiness. I may add that I have used cold water dressings to operations for shat tered hand (all caused by gunpowder explosions during the shooting season) with very satisfactory results. In four of these cases, which I distinctly recall, all were left with the thumb and from two down to one finger. In all these the metacarpal bones corresponding had to be removed, and the remaining finger, or fingers, and thumb approxi mated. In the case of the one finger and thumb left the patient has for years been able to write and shoot as well as ever, and in two of the other cases the young men are both sailors. Remarks.-1. It was chiefly as a hæmostatic that I first thought of ice, as I had been scared with the venous bleeding in a case of amputation of the leg at the tubercle of the tibia, but on turning out the clots and applying compresses the result was most satisfactory. I prepared myself against a repetition of the scare, and was confirmed in the ice idea by its successful application in a case of passive hemorrhage from an apoplectic right lung. The patient, a young lady of nineteen, was emitting about a small teaspoonful from the mouth every minute or so, and had for ten days. The impacting of the ice bags over the right thorax stopped all bleeding in a few minutes, and it never returned. She is long a married lady, with a few olive branches at her side. I have made all available inquiries in Scotland, and am unable to hear of any so rapid healing of amputations, and therefore consider it proper to report the two cases referred to, in one of our leading journals. Nothing could surpass both the hemostatic and antiseptic effects of the ice (no venous blood and only one artery to tie). 2. A good hint as to the safety of the ice dressing is afforded in the postman's case, as, by a mistake, the first dressing was changed on the fourth and not on the third day as intended, as it was in the thigh case. When seen the arm was livid up to the shoulder, but a little washing from cold to tepid water proved all to be well. He was in the garden walking about on the tenth day. 3. The thigh case was kept wet with an improvised siphon continually dropping on the superimposed ice bag during the three days' interval.-JOHN SHAND, of Edinburgh, in British Med. Jour. BRAIN TUMORS. At the April meeting of the Manchester Pathological Society, Dr. G. H. Cooke exhibited two specimens of multiple tumors of the brain. The first specimen presented numerous caseous nodules in Broca's convolution and the lower third of the ascending frontal and parietal convolutions, and was obtained from a child of five and three-quarter years. There was also tubercular meningitis. With the exception of slight retraction of the head, irregular respiration, and occasional shrill cry, all symptoms of tubercular meningitis were absent. There was no sign of motor irritation except a peculiar masticatory movement, which persisted till death, neither was there any aphasia. The illness began three days before admission to the hospital, with constant vomiting, and unconsciousness supervened the same day. Two months previously there had been severe headache with vomiting. The boy remained in the same condition for four days, when the temperature rose, the pulse became uncountable, and death occurred seven days after the onset. The second specimen showed multiple tumors affecting the basal ganglia, and was from a boy of two, who was admitted to the hospital with distinct spastic condition of the right leg and both arms, and tremor of a disseminated sclerosis type being also present in the arms; face normal, nystagmus doubtful, no ocular paralysis, and no sensory symptoms; power over rectum and bladder. Up to three weeks ago he had been perfectly well, the first symptoms noticed being staggering, and irregular movements of the right hand at times, both of which had gradually become worse. There was no phthisis, but doubtful history of syphilis. A few days after admission slight palsy of left side of face came on. This was followed by slight internal squint, and shortly before death by an intermittent |