for the time, without, at the same time, taking sweeping measures for the betterment of the underlying state, this, I say, is simply to mark time and not to make progress. It is patchwork, not cure.-Burford, Treatment of Chronic Neurasthenia, Journal of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, January, 1907. PERSONAL AND GENERAL ITEMS. Dr. Walter B. Whiting, having regained his health after a winter in the South, has resumed his practice at 24 Florence street, Malden. We are informed that an excellent opening for an homeopathic physician exists at Bridgewater, Vermont. Rev. J. C. Carnahan of Sherburne, Vermont, will be glad to furnish particulars. Anna T. Lovering, M.D., the librarian of the Medical School of Boston University, sailed for Italy on May 18th. Dr. Lovering expects to be abroad for part of the summer and return in time to resume her school duties in the fall. Dr. H. B. Mason, B. U. S. M., '77, of Calais, Me., has been spending a few days in renewing acquaintances in and around Boston. Dr. James W. Ward has resigned his position as president of the San Francisco Health Board. Dr. Austin Peters has been reappointed chief of the Massachusetts Cattle Bureau. Dr. Sayer Hasbrouck, of Providence, R. I., is taking a prolonged vacation after an illness. Upon his journey he will visit Porto Rico, Panama and various points in South America. RECENT DEATHS. Dr. George E. Allen, class of '77, B. U. S. M., Youngstown, Ohio. Died November 5, 1906. Dr. Helen C. Byington, class of '96, B. U. S. M., Montrose, Col. Died April 12, 1907. Dr. Charles R. Brown, Lynn, Mass. Died March 21, 1907. Dr. Halsey S. Boardman, Montpelier, Vt. Dr. Joseph N. Knight, Cliftondale, Mass. Died March, 1907. Died March 30, 1907. Mr. A. Shuman was recently elected for the sixteenth consecutive year as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the THE following is both a dramatic and at the pathetic incident that is reported by the Boston curred in a London railway station recently: Boston City Hospital. same time a most Herald to have oc A physician, hastening to board a moving train, was killed, and the railway officials sent post haste for the doctor who was usually summoned to railway accidents. The answer was that the doctor had just left home, and at the other end of the telephone, the doctor's wife, who had been a nurse, said she would come and do what she could. She went to the station and lifted up the head of the dying man and saw the face of her own husband. FOOD TESTING LABORATORY FOR BOSTON.-The executive committee of the Carnegie Institution has decided to establish in Boston a laboratory for the purpose of studying the various phases of nutrition. For this purpose one hundred thousand dollars has been appropriated for the erection of a building and expenses connected therewith. Professor Benedict of Wesleyan University is to be the director. Dr. Henry I. Twiss, B. U. S. M., 1904, who has for three years occupied the position of resident physician in the Homeopathic Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, has returned to Boston for a limited stay. Dr. Twiss has received such a favorable impression of the Australian commonwealth, and particularly of the city of Melbourne, that he will return there after pursuing some post-graduate work in Boston University. He reports the outlook for homeopathy in Melbourne as most satisfactory. The degrees of only two of the entire number of American medical colleges are recognized there, these being Boston University and New York Homeopathic. All following the law of "Similia" are prosperous and engaged in lucrative practice. Dr. Bouton, in particular, seems to be most popular, and to his efforts is largely due the success of the hospital. THE following paragraph abstracted from the address of Dr. J. H. Clarke before the British Homeopathic Medical Society, describes in condensed language the impression made by the recent International Congress upon one of its distinguished visitors: In those historic six days at Atlantic City, including the 10th to the 15th of September, the gathering under President James H. McClelland achieved a very triumph of the Enthusiasm of Homeopathy. We who witnessed it, who shared in it, who wondered at the victory it has gained at the unassailable position it has won in the new world, bring back the story for your emulation. A profound confidence in the immutable Law of Similars, a burning zeal to make the right prevail, to advance the welfare of mankind, a single eye to the interests of our science, and a lofty scorn for all base truckling to the allopathic faction-these are the forces with which our Transatlantic cousins have won their victories; these are the forces which will carry them and us on to complete triumph. Gentlemen of the British Homeopathic Society, I bring you the New World's greetings. As true as two and two make four we can win if we will. America has shown us how it can be done-shali we-can we-hesitate to follow? TUBERCULOSIS SANITARIUM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.-The sum of fifty thousand dollars has been appropriated for the purpose of starting a tuberculosis sanitarium in New Hampshire. It is expected that a site will shortly be selected and a suitable building erected. OPPOSITION TO DECREASE OF INSURANCE FEE.-According to the daily press, the Worcester District Medical Society has passed a resolution decrying the tendency of insurance companies to reduce the fee for medical examination from $5 to $3. PRESIDENT OF THE ILLINOIS HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.-The president of the above association having resigned his position, the executive committee requested Dr. Mary E. Hanks, B. U. S. M.. '97, to assume the duties for the remainder of the year. Dr. Hanks has already entered upon her work and from the reports that we hear will prepare for a very interesting session. ANOTHER CANCER FROM X-RAY.-Only about two or three months ago a fatal case of cancer contracted by an X-ray worker in Rochester, N. Y., was reported in these columns. Now we hear that Professor W. F. Fuchs, of Chicago, has become a victim to this disease, also apparently on account of exposure to the X-ray. CANADIAN MEDICAL REGISTRATION.-It may be of interest to some prospective practitioners to learn that Canada recognizes no one standard of qualification for eligibility to the medical profession, each province having its own licensing authority. Physicians registered in one province are not allowed to practise in any of the others without registration therein. THE PRESENT FETISH, By Grumbler. To whatever ills the flesh is heir, We take them to the doctor and, He feels your pulse, he scans your tongue, With look both sharp and wise, he says, Your eyes are tried, your ears pulled up, And then, as if All-wise himself, Your arteries get berated. Your nervous system next he works For this or that spasticity; And then, to cap it all, he pants, "In arteries no 'lasticity." Howe'er you're sick, where'er your pain, Lay everything that happens to HONOR TO DR. MCCLELLAND.-Upon March 2, 1907, the East End Medical Club of Pittsburg officially recognized the 40th anniversary of the graduation of Dr. J. H. McClelland. Dr. McClelland has during these two score of years made for himself, for the Pittsburg Homeopathic Hospital and for Homeopathy in western Pennsylvania a name that might well be envied. The result of his labors will remain as long as the Hahnemannian monument in Washington endures, as this largely owes its being to his enterprise. The Gazette, with all of the Doctor's many friends in New England, extends to him its heartiest congratulations and trusts that many more anniversaries may still be his lot. MEETING OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS.-A representative gathering of the medical examiners in the vicinity of Boston was held early in April in order to found an organization for mutual benefit and profit. This new society will be known as the "Boston Society of Examining Physicians and Surgeons," and its membership will be open to all physicians who regularly examine for various associations or corporations and who may be professionally eligible. The officers are: President, Dr. F. D. Donahue; first vice-president, Dr. F. E. Allard; second vice-president, Dr. E. M. Greene; secretary, Dr. C. T. Cutting; treasurer, Dr. C. O. Kepler. LONDON HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.-At the 57th annual meeting of this institution, held in February, with the Earl of Cawdor presiding, a most satisfactory report of the work for the past year was submitted: 1183 in-patients and 25,626 out-patients were treated, an excess in both departments over any previous record. The deficit for the year was two thousand dollars, somewhat less than that of the one preceding. Strenuous efforts are being made to raise a fund for the hospital extension upon ground already in its possession. It is planned to provide wards for the middle class pay patients and a children's observation ward. Conditional promises of fifty thousand dollars from Sir Henry Tyler and ten thousand dollars from Lord Dysart have been received. NURSES FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.-Governor Guild has signed a bill appropriating ten thousand dollars to defray the expenses of nurses in the public schools. About twenty such will be employed, giving particular attention to the crowded and poorer sections of the city. PARIS MORGUE CLOSED.-It has been decided by the authorities that the famous morgue of Paris shall no longer be open to the public to satisfy the morbid curiosity of visitors. In future, only those will be admitted who can demonstrate that they come with the purpose of identifying a body. JOURNAL OF OPTHALMOLOGY AND OTO-LARYNGOLOGY.-This is a new-comer in the field of medical publications. It is edited by Drs. W. O. Nance and A. H. Andrews of Chicago. The first number appeared in April, and contained some valuable papers upon the various departments of its specialty. DRUG PROVING IN MICHIGAN.-The April Medical Century gives in detail the report of the Department of Drug Pathogenesy of the Homeopathic Department of the University of Michigan. Dr. C. A. Burrett, the director, has made further proving of Copaiba Officinalis and gives in detail the various symptoms and reactions that were obtained. THE TEACHING OF SEX SUBJECTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.-A meeting of representative educators was recently held in the New York Academy of Medicine in the interests of the scientific teaching of sex subjects in the public schools. Dean Balliet of the School of Pedagogy of New York University, Prof. Burt C. Wilder of Cornell University, Supt. W. H. Maxwell, Dr. Mary Putnam and Mr. John R. Elliott of the New York Ethical Culture Schools, were among the speakers. There was a practical unanimity of opinion that the time has come when this exceedingly important subject should be reclaimed from the oblivion of false modesty and prudery and be given careful and intelligent consideration by those who are responsible for the training of the future fathers and mothers of the nation. A great mass of evidence was presented to show that not one home in a thousand was meeting or could be expected to meet the responsibility of giving proper instruction on this subject. The boys and girls are left to pick up chance information of the vilest and most dangerous kind from the filth of the streets. The result is an amount of moral and physical corruption that is almost unbelievable. It was agreed that the schools must face the problem and solve it. Many valuable suggestions were given, among which one of the most forceful and practical was that made by Mr. Elliot, who said that use should be made of "youthful leadership" in purifying the school atmosphere. "Study the school classes and discover the leaders, the boys or girls whom the others copy. The group leader's words go further than ours. Imprss them with the glory of clean thoughts and of the will to do right."-Education for February. PHYSICIANS Who are interested in the study and legitimate practice of the physical (drugless) therapeutic methods, notably electro-therapy, photo-therapy, mechano-therapy, hydro-therapy, suggestion and dietetics, are invited to join the American Physio-therapeutic Association. Address the Secretary: Dr. Otto Juettner, No. 8 W. Ninth street, Cincinnati, Ohio. The officers for the ensuing year are: President: Dr. H. H. Roberts, Lexington, Kv. Executive Council: Drs. W. F. Klein, Lebanon, Pa.; Jas. Hanks, Brashear, Mo.: J. W. Unger. West Point, Miss.; Chas. S. Northern, Talladega, Ala.; R. W. Gibbes, Columbia, S. C.; S. J. Crumbine, Topeka, Kan., and A. L. Blesh, Guthrie, Okla. THE NEW ENGLAND Vol. XLII JULY, 1907 No. 7 ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. MEDICINAL AND DIETETIC TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF THE STOMACH.* BY WILLIAM H. VAN DEN BURG, M.D., NEW YORK. Therapeutically speaking, there are two broad divisions of diseases of the stomach which have to be considered, viz.: so-called functional diseases and diseases which produce organic changes in the tissues. The first class includes all of the various motor, secretory, and sensory neuroses, which go to make up such a large proportion of the stomach diseases which the specialists, as well as the general practitioners, are called upon to treat; in fact, the stomach neuroses, which are one phase of a general neuresthenia, have come to be regarded as almost distinctive American diseases, although they are by no means limited to this continent. It is in this class of stomach troubles, in my observation, that the greatest errors are made, both in medication and diet. Nor is this strange when we consider the multitude of forms which nervous dyspepsia presents. We have hypermotility, peristaltic unrest, eructations, nervous vomiting, cardiac spasm, pyloric spasm, stomach atony, insufficiency of the pylorus, hyperacidity, sub-acidity or anacidity, hyperasthesia, the various anomalies of hunger and repletion, and gastralgia. These are all either symptoms of some organic change in the stomach, or manifestations only of a general neurotic condition. In practically all of these conditions when not symptoms of organic changes the frequent error is made of reducing the nutrition of the patient by cutting out first one and then another article of food, as each in turn is thought to disagree, until frequently a patient is living on less than one-third of the food, which by experiment, has been found necessary to maintain body weight. Here we must apply the rule that if necessary one organ must suffer some for the general good of all the others, i. e., the stomach must be forced to take care of enough food to maintain nutrition. In order to accomplish this a few general rules that will apply to all cases may be given, for example: (a) Food should be thoroughly masticated for the purpose, *Read before the Boston Homeopathic Medical Society. |