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improvised, and the drugs may be found anywhere. The author is so sanguin that the reader resolves to test the method on the next available case, and the directions are such that there is no possibility of failure to proceed rightly.-A. L. R.

Progressiv Medicin, Vol. III, September, 1905. A Quarterly Digest of Advances, Discoveries, and Improvements in the Medical and Surgical Sciences. Edited by Hobart Amory Hare, M.D., Professor of Therapeutics and Materia Medica in the Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia. Octavo, 298 pages, with 22 engravings. Per annum, in four cloth-bound volumes, $9.00; in paper binding, $6.00, carriage paid to any address. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia and New York.

Materia Medica and Pharmacy. By Reynold Webb Wilcox, M A., M.D. LL. D., Professor of Medicin at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School, and Attending Physician to the Hospital; Consulting Physician to the Nassau Hospital; Visiting Physician to the St. Mark's Hospital; ex-President of the American Therapeutic Society; Fellow of the American Academy of Medicin; Vice-Chairman of the Revision Committee of the United States Pharmacopeia, etc. Sixth edition, based on the fifth edition of White and Wilcox's "Materia Medica and Therapeutics." Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co, 112 Walnut street, Philadelphia, Pa. Price, $2.50.

soon.

This book, Materia Medica and Pharmacy, is the first of two volumes intended as companions. The next, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, is promist The author has striven to produce a complete and concise guide along the best modern line of teaching, which would appeal to both teachers and students of medicin and pharmacy. His position on the revision board has permitted the work to harmonize exactly with the new authority. It contains 598 pages and an index. We are not able to discover any omissions, and it gives the material which the busy practician finds indispensable, and gives it without "padding" and without fruitless discussion of mooted points or mere theories. It will serve as a supplement to older materia medicas, and will satisfy the need of all want essentials devoid of "frills."-A. L. R.

Manual of Operativ surgery. By John Fairbairn Binnie, A.M., C.M. (Aberdeen), Professor of Surgery, Kansas State University Fellow of the American Surgical Association; Membre de la Societe Internationale de Chirurgie. Second edition, revised and enlarged. With 567 illustrations, a number of which are printed in colors. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co, 1012 Walnut street, Philadelphia, Pa. Price, $3.00.

This issue contains 622 pages and an index. It is handsomely bound in full flexible morocco, with gold edges, and is a tastefully executed example of mechanical skill. The first edition was exhausted in six months; this edition has been revised, pruned, and elaborated, until in its present form it is the peer of any small work on surgery. Short articles on the duodenum and on tuberculous peritonitis have been inserted, and the author describes his individual method of operation on the mastoid. It is well suited to the student; likewise to the practician who wishes a convenient small book of reference or for the purpose of keeping his library up to date; and for such purposes it has our highest approval.-A. L. R.

Taylor on Sexual Disorders. A Practical Treatise on Sexual Disorders in the Male and Female. By Robert W. Taylor, A.M., M.D., Clinical Professor of Genito-Urinary and Venereal Diseases in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University), New York. New (third) edition, enlarged and thoroly revised. In one octavo volume of 575 pages, with 130 engravings and 16 colored plates. Cloth, $3.00, net. Lea Brothers & Co., Philadelphia and New York, 1905.

Three editions have been demanded in five years, and this issue is amplified and improved by valuable illustrations. Considerable detail is devoted to each variety of these affections, and numerous case reports are included. Both the medical and the surgical aspect of each affection is thoroly discust. The parts referring to the affections of the female along these lines are enlarged and improved, and four new chapters are added on this alone. Both specialist and general practician will find matter here which intimately concerns his daily work, but which he cannot obtain elsewhere in English. It is trustworthy and practical

along currents where inexperienced practicians often feel themselves wide out at sea.-A. L. R.

The Microtomist's Vade Mecum. A hand-book of the methods of microscopic anatomy. By Arthur Bolles Lee. Sixth edition. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut street, Philadelphia, Pa., 1905. Price, $4 net.

Contains 503 pages and an index. It has much new matter, over 300 new entries being noted in the index. Some chapters have been eliminated and their substance incorporated in other chapters in a manner that affords a more connected view of the subject. The recent methods of handling neuroglia are given in detail. Chapter 32 is practically a new section, so great has been the revision. The book in its present form is true to its title, and will be much appreciated by all microscopists.-A. L. R.

Manual of Diseases of the Eye, for students and general practicians. By Charles H. May, M.D., Chief of Clinic and Instructor in Ophthalmology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Medical Department, Columbia University, New York, 1890-1993; Ophthalmic Surgeon to the City Hospitals, Randall's Island, New York; Consulting Ophthalmologist to the French Hospital and to the Red Cross Hospitals, New York; Adjunct Ophthalmic Surgeon to Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, etc. Fourth edition, revised. With 360 original ilustrations, including 21 plates, with 60 colored figures. Publisht by William Wood & Co.. New York, N. Y. Price, $2.00, net.

Contains 376 pages and an index. This book has had flattering success, four editions being demanded since late in 1900, while of the third edition two reprints were made. Many of the old illustrations have been replaced by better ones, and the text is considerably amplified. Eight colored plates have been added, yet the manual has been kept at its original size and price. The plates are the best we have ever seen, and we do not except the more pretentious works. It is an ideal little book for the purpose, and will fill all the wants of most general practicians.A. L. R.

Text-Book of Materia Medica for Nurses. Compiled by Lavinia L. Dock, graduate of Bellevue Training School for Nurses. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1905. Sold by John Wanamaker, Philadelphia, Penna. Price $1.50.

The author knows the difficulties encountered by the nurse who seeks to know something of drugs, and yet has only books intended for the medical profession from which to study. She has given nurses a book of great practical value, and one which can be depended upon implicitly to not only teach things every nurse should know, but also to omit things which the nurse has no occasion to worry over. This edition is brought into conformity with the new pharmacopeia, and contains symptoms of poisons and their antidotes, articles on organo and serum therapy, hypodermic administration of drugs, emetics, and a list of the better known mineral waters. We commend the book to every nurse desiring to increase her efficiency by proper knowledge. No attempt is made to teach therapeutics.-A. L. R.

Gray's Anatomy. Descriptiv and Surgical. New American from the 15th English edition. Revised, eniarged and rewritten by J. Chalmers DaCosta, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, in collaboration with a corps of specially selected assistants. In one very handsome imperial octavo volume of 1600 pages, with 1132 illustrations, 500 of which are new in this edition. Price, with illustrations in black: Cloth, $5.50 net; leather, $6.50 net. Price, with illustrations in black and many colors: Cloth, $6.00 net; leather, $7.00 net. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia and New York, 1905.

Gray's Anatomy has been for 50 years the best known medical work. As the knowledge of anatomy is perpetually advancing, and as the sales of this work are so large, frequent opportunity has been accorded for revision, but this issue, by DaCosta, is the superior of any that has yet appeared. Anatomist, surgeon, and teacher, he knows the requirements of both student and practician, and he meets them fully. Every page has been revised, and whole sections have been entirely rewritten, notably the sections on the brain, spinal cord, nervous system, abdomen, and

lymphatics. The cuts are large and clear, and the names of the parts are engraved directly upon them; colors have been more freely used, and the present work is thus an unsurpast dissecting companion. In the present form, this book represents all that can be demanded of an anatomy.-A. L. R.

terton.

The Strange Story of the Quillmores. By A. L. CathOctavo volume of 272 pages; illustrated. Publisht by Stitt Publishing Company, New York. Price $1.50.

An interesting story of Indiana life in the early 80's. The plot is ingenious and logically developt, holding the interest of the reader until the end. The characters, particularly those of "Doc Gus," the village physician, and Uncle I," the village storekeeper, are well drawn, without being exaggerated and caricatured, as is so often the case in books of this class.

"

OUR MONTHLY TALK.

The insurance presidents thought they were conducting a "private business;" hence they conducted it in their own way, and doubtless they thought it was nobody's business but their own. The past few months have brought about a great change concerning such conceptions. The past few months have been very hard on the presidents of insurance companies. Most of the prominent ones have resigned under a cloud, with suits for claims against them, and one has died, evidently as a result, either directly or indirectly, of exposure. "High financiers" and high salaried officers of insurance companies are now convinced that the insurance business is not as "private" as they thought it was. The officers thought they had a "right" to contribute to campaign funds, buy legislation, indulge in speculation, etc., all with the policyholder's money, and that these things were all private matters with said officers. Recent events have convinced them of their error. They gave Senator Chauncey Depew a "retainer" salary of $20,000 per year for being “a jolly good fellow." The genial Chauncey is not so jolly now. Not because of the loss of the twenty thousand, but he feels the exposure keenly. As long as the arrangement was not known, and treated as a "private matter," his clever wit flowed to the delight of everybody; but he is now sadly convinced that it was not a "private matter."

The famous Vanderbilt expression, "the public be damned," don't "go" as well as it did when that sentiment was first exprest. The public has been awakening to its rights; and as it continues to do so, there will be many other changes of conception as to what things are really "private." In the palmy days of Tammany, with John Kelly or Richard Croker at its head, the government of New York City was a "private snap." Things are different now. Even here in Philadelphia, our "Peerless Leader" of "The Gang" learned a few months ago that he no longer carries the spoils of office in Philadelphia in his pocket as a private sinecure. Even his own office (he was State Insurance Commissioner) has been taken away from him. It was a fat office, with no duties, as all the work was done by the deputy, and the Commissioner was away from the office months at a time-in fact, nearly all the time. But it is not his "private snap" any longer. When the "Pennsylvania

Dutch" and the Quakers wake up, it is time for the whole country to wake up.

Congress is concluding, tho late about it, that railroading is not entirely a private business; and that railroads are not entirely private property. Sometime the people will learn that the express business is not a private business. Then a president of an express company will not sit in the United States Senate; and Congress will not be made up largely of attorneys for express companies, railroads and other corporations. All the rest of the civilized world has concluded that the transmission of intelligence by wire is a public function rather than a private one. When we wake up to this fact we will have a government telegraph as a part of our postal system.

*

I will make the "Talk" short this month, leaving only this one thought with you: that public interests and public rights are rapidly expanding, while private "rights" are becoming progressivly narrower; not that public rights are really becoming larger, but we are coming to a larger recognition of public rights.

If the Pure Food Bill now before Congress becomes a law, many manufacturers of adulterated and otherwise sophisticated foods, drinks and drugs will discover that such business is not a private business, to be conducted as each private manufacturer may wish, but that the public has a right of supervision and control. That right is inherent, for the health of the people is a most vital public concern. When the law is passed, this inherent right will have formal recognition, with machinery to inforce it.

This right should be extended to restriction of harmful nostrums, which now go to the general public without restriction; and it will be so extended sometime. The makers and vendors of these nostrums now consider their business a "private matter," for their own profit. A larger and more just view for the general good will prevail sometime. Indeed, the supposed private right of individuals to take stuff that will injure health or morals will sometime be seriously called in question, on the theory of what is an injury to an individual is an injury to the community. Even now there is a law against suicide in some States, and unsuccessful self-destroyers are punisht under this law. Let us live for our community, our State and Nation, rather than for ourselves.

.

Graft: Diverting the master's interest by the agent to himself. Abuse of trust-a fiduciary relation-for private gain. Rape of confidence. Chicane. W. D. GUTTERY, M. D.

Pilgea, Neb.

There are still some delinquents, some of which will receive bills this month. Can you not better enjoy literature when it is paid for than when you have to be reminded every few months that you owe the paltry sum of its price? How do you feel when you have to send bills time after time to your patrons? And let me ask you this: Aren't your little bills more trouble than the big ones? Our bills against subscribers are all little ones, and we appreciate what a bother little bills are. You can prevent all this by remitting. Kindly do so. Please keep the matter before your mind until you do it.

Circulation: March, 1906, 35,557.

THE MEDICAL WORLD

The knowledge that a man can use is the only real knowledge; the only knowledge that has
life and growth in it and converts itself into practical power. The rest hangs like
dust about the brain, or dries like raindrops off the stones.-FROUde.

The Medical World

C. F. TAYLOR, M.D., Editor

A. L. RUSSELL, M.D., Assistant Editor PUBLISHT BY THE MEDICAL WORLD Co. Entered at the Philadelphia Post-Office as Second-Class Matter, SUBSCRIPTION RATES: To any part of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, ONE DOLLAR per year, or FOUR YEARS for THREE DOLLARS; to England and the British Colonies, FIVE SHILLINGS SIX PENCE per year; to other foreign countries in the Postal Union, the equivalent of 5s. 6d. Postage free. Single copies, TEN CENTS. These rates are due in advance.

HOW TO REMIT: For their own protection we advise that our patrons remit in a safe way, such as by postal money order, express order, check, draft, or registered mail. Currency sent by ordinary mail usually reaches its destination safely, but money so sent must be at the risk of the sender.

We cannot always supply back numbers. Should a number fail to reach a subscriber, we will supply another, if notified before the end of the month.

Notify us promptly of any change of address, mentioning both old and new addresses.

If you want your subscription stopt at expiration of the time paid for, kindly notify us, as in the absence of such notice we will understand that it is the subscriber's pleasure that the subscription be continued, and we will act accordingly.

Pay no money to agents unless publisher's receipt is given,

ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO

"THE MEDICAL WORLD"

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Language is a growth rather than a creation. The growth of our vocabulary is seen in the vast increase in the size of our dictionaries during the past century. This growth is not only in amount, but among other elements of growth the written forms of words are becoming simpler and more uniform. For example, compare Eng lish spelling of a centnry or two centuries ago with that of to-day! It is our duty to encourage and advance the movement toward simple, uniform and rational spelling. See the recommendations of the Philological Society of London, and of the American Philological Association, and list of amended spellings, publisht in the Century Dictionary (following the letter z) and alse in the Standard Dictionary, Webster's Dictionary, and other authoritativ works on language. The tendency is to drop silent letters in some of the most flagrant instances, as ugh from though, etc., change ed to t in most places where so pronounced (where it does not affect the preceding sound), etc.

The National Educational Association, consisting of ten thousand teachers, recommends the following:

"At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association held in Washington, D. C., July 7, 1898, the action of the Department of Superintendence was approved, and the list of words with simplified spelling adopted for use in all pub Ucations of the National Educational Association as follows:

the (though);

altho (although);

thoro (thorough):

thorofare (thoroughfare);

thru (through);

thruout (throughout);

program (programme); catalog (catalogue); prolog (prologue); decalog (decalogue); demagog (demagogue); pedagog (pedagogue).

"You are invited to extend notice of this action and to join in securing the general adoption of the suggested amendment IRVING SHEPARD, Secretary."

We feel it a duty to recognize the above tendency, and to adops it in a reasonable degree. We are also disposed to add enu (enough) to the above list, and to conservativly adopt the follow ing rule recommended by the American Philological Association: Drop final "e" in such words as "definite," "infinite," 'favorite," etc., when the preceding vowel is short. Thus,

'finite,"

spell" opposit,' preterit, "hypocrit," requisit," etc. When the preceding vowel is long, as in "polite,' "unite," etc., retain present forms unchanged. We simply wish to do our duty in aiding to simplify and ration alize our universal instrument-language.

APRIL, 1906.

Progress of Pure Food Legislation. Please see the Heyburn bill on pages 45 to 48, February "World." On February 21st this bill passed the U. S. Senate by an overwhelming majority (63 to 4). The bill is now before the House of Representativs. In the Senate this bill was presented and pusht by Senator Heyburn; hence it was known as the Heyburn bill. A similar bill in the House is fathered by Representativ Hepburn; hence is known there as the Hepburn bill. The two bills were practically identical before the Senate amended the Heyburn bill.

No. 4

They are both good bills, but the Hepburn bill is preferable because the Senate amendments to the Heyburn bill were not altogether desirable.

We want some legislation on this subject during this session of Congress, without fail. After fifteen years of effort on the part of those interested in the welfare of the people, and of hesitation on the part of our legislators, one house has passed a fairly good bill. Now we want the other house to act (the differences, if any, being harmonized in the usual way by a conference committee from each house), so as

to get this much needed law on our statute books.

When it comes to legislation the medical profession is notoriously indifferent and inactiv. Will doctors all over the country communicate their wishes concerning this matter to their representativ in Congress? Ask your Congressman to vote for the Hepburn bill. Knowledge of what the opposition is doing will doubtless stimulate doctors to act. The Proprietary Association is activ, as indicated by the following:

The Proprietary Association of America.
Committee on Legislation.

Chicago, March 1, 1906. Gentlemen :-The situation at Washington has taken a decided turn and Mr. Douglass, who is there, wires that the situation is serious, and that there is a possibility that a provision for the publication of the formula on proprietary medicins for interstate commerce will be added to the Pure Food Bill by the House committee.

Mr. Douglass wires also that the "Ladies' Home Journal" Bill may be introduced in the House, for the District of Columbia, and that it is indorsed by by the district officials on recommendation of the health officer.

Every influence you can bring to bear on your Congressman should be brought at once. There should be no let-up to your endeavor until the Pure Food and the District of Columbia bills are disposed of satisfactorily. You will readily realize the importance of prompt action.

Take these matters up with your Congressman by wire, and have every druggist possible wire his Congressman to oppose the passage of formula legislation, either for the District of Columbia, or as an amendment to the Pure Food Bill.

We will endeavor to keep you posted regarding

developments and suggest that you keep in touch, from your end, with this office. It is important that telegrams be sent to members of Congress by druggists and others interested.

Yours very truly,

JOHN W. KENNEDY, Chairman. Address-Room 1107, No. 184 La Salle Street. This letter is sent to the members of the Association, and wherever it may "do good." What will the medical profession do? Will doctors make their influence felt by their Congressmen? Will they use both direct and indirect means to do this? That is, will they induce others. as well as themselves to express their wishes to members of Congress, and urge the great importance of the legislation in

hand?

Thuja is indicated in the nocturnal incontinence of children, and in the enuresis of the aged. It is also an important adjunct to other remedies in handling obstinate cases of spermatorrhea due to exhaustion from over indulgence in masturbation.

66

Blood Purifiers: Spring Medicin. Among the laity, even of the more intelligent class, there is a deeply rooted belief, handed down from our ancestors of the "sassafras tea" drinking age, that every person, no matter how good the general health may be, needs a 'course of bloodpurifier in the spring." The profession, too, have not altogether had this notion "edicated" out of them. However, many of the old-time superstitions in the medical line are not to be ridiculed by the modern physician, however erudite or experienced. Who of us, to be honest among ourselves, can produce the same therapeutical results with modern drugs that our grandmothers were accustomed to get with an ounce of castor oil and a pint of steaming hot "boneset tea?" The Editor is free to say that he can not dispense with castor oil, and that he would employ the infusion of Eupatorium perfoliatum if he could induce patients to take it. It is only the ignorant medical man who sneers at therapeutical methods of which he knows nothing.

It is customary for most people to use a different variety of food during the winter months from that to which they are accustomed in the summer. This is partly from necessity, and partly from choice. This is true in all classes of society, but more especially so, we believe, the nearer one approaches to the actual laboring class. Potatoes and strong meats are the articles most commonly used, or, rather, abused. There are few Americans, indeed, who are not guilty of consuming, habitually, during the cooler weather a much larger amount of these foods than is required by the human economy. This excessiv eating is kept up until the approach of warm weather, if, indeed, some slight intercurrent derangement does not call a halt meanwhile. Then, as the thermometer rises, there is a natural aversion to the use of such strong foods in excess. If there are those who have not, in themselves, experienced this sensation, let them turn to their physiologies and works on practise, and there learn what the ultimate results are of a long continued ingestion of unsuitable foods in excessiv quantities. Whatever "bad blood" or "blood too thick" may convey to the laity, we of the profession know that there is a condition of the body markt by depressed feelings, impairment of the appetite, headache, languor, and outbreaks of latent eczema or

other eruption of the skin. To such a condition we learnedly apply the term "biliousness;" but if we were pinned down strictly to a demonstration of the actual condition presumed to obtain in the liver when such symptoms maintain, we are certain that we would make a ludicrous show of ourselves and our vaunted knowledge of physiology and pathology.

Then, too, most people, wearing heavier clothing than is really necessary, spending most of our time in overheated and illyventilated rooms, taking insufficient outdoor exercise, and eating injudiciously, are further guilty of sinning against hygienic laws by bathing less often than in summer. Consequently, we do, as a matter of fact, reach the months of spring in poorer physical condition than when we were overtaken by autumn. Honestly, then, we believe the man who sneers at the “antiquated notion" of taking a "spring blood purifier" is wrong. What is the popular notion of a "blood purifier?" Is it not the blatantly heralded "sarsaparilla" nostrums, composed, as they are, of a solution of epsom salt, colored with caramel, and to which alcohol has been added? What does such a mixture accomplish? Nothing more, therapeutically, than elimination. And this is the key-note of the whole matter. The system has been surfeited by overfeeding; the stomach and bowels are fermenting instead of digesting their food; the skin and kidneys are not fulfilling their functions; hence, products of catabolism accumulate and metabolism is imperfectly performed, and autotoxemia results with all its concomitant symptoms.

We may employ more elegant pharmaceuticals than epsom salt; we may fortify them with potassium iodid; but in the end, the treatment of the condition known variously as "bad blood," "spring fever," etc., is elimination of the effete products which have been allowed to accumulate in the economy thru deficient functional activity brought about by violation of hygienic law.

Working on the theory of the angioparetic origin of asthma, certain observers have employed adrenalin chlorid by hypodermic injection in doses of 3 to 6 minims of the 1: 1,000 solution. The results have been generally excellent.

When the heart needs toning up and digitalis produces nausea, vomiting, or undesirable blood pressure: when the heart needs strengthening even if the blood pressure is already high; when speed of action is demanded; when the weakening of the heart is more nervous than actually debilitated; then you have a plain indication for strophanthus.

Intestinal Toxemia, or Auto-intoxication, as Related to Disease.

The study of auto-intoxication is pregnant with interest for every thoro-going physician, for he must combat and overcome its effects in his every day routine of work; no matter is more vital as influencing results and none is worthy of more profound consideration and study. Might it not be, indeed, that all disease is the direct result of poisons generated within the body, or of the poisons introduced into the body from without? It is not alcnc in the mediocre, every day, common-place derangements that toxemia. is important; many emergencies are directly traceable to it. An individual dies suddenly, having seemed in the best of health, or, at least, without having manifested symptoms of any disorder grave enuf to cause concern on the part of himself or of his friends, and the post mortem fails to reveal any structural change sufficient to cause death. Members of a banqueting party are suddenly stricken with symptoms which are alarming, and frequently fatal. It is these sensational evidences of the unsuspected presence of toxins which startle a lethargic profession into thought, rather than the continuously acting and unobserved instances where thousands are slain. It would be well for mankind if the profession were less impulSIV and excitable, and more studious and persevering in prosaic details.

We know that certain substances, rightly or wrongly present in the organism of man, can combine chemically to form salts within the body just as they can in the chemist's beaker or test tube; as, witness the formation of uric acid crystals in the joints. Ptomains, too, possessing basic properties, are somewhat understood. We are far enuf advanced in their study to differentiate between the ptomain resembling the vegetable alkaloids and the leucomain resulting from tissue metabolism within the body. Not all ptomains are poisonous, however, and it is better to follow the nomenclature of Bouchard, who styles the poisonous ptomains "toxins," and the non-poisonous merely "ptomains." As we study the subject deeper, we ascertain that bacterial activity is an indispensable factor in the production of ptomains, and in consequence the character of the

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