in the great advances which are being constantly made in the surgical field, do not niggardly spend money in procuring all of those necessary appliances and apparatus so important to the successful management and proper performance of many of the more difficult. operations; keep fully up to the standard so admirably set in this country, by the great American surgeons, who are unexcelled in the world today. So in every other department of medicine and surgery. Let those who follow any particular branch be up and doing; if necessary, burn the midnight oil.

We wish each and every one of our readers greater success for the year 1907 than crowned their efforts in 1906.

Notes and Miscellany.

WASHINGTON POST.-A preacher who went to a Kentucky parish, where the parishioners bred horses, was asked to invite the prayers of the congregation on Lucy Gray. He did so. They prayed three Sundays for Lucy Grey. On the fourth he was told he need not do it any more. "Why," said the preacher, "is she dead?" "No," answered the man, "she won the Derby."

THE ANTIKAMNIA CHEMICAL COMPANY of St. Louis, Mo., has recently issued its annual calendar, the subject this year being entitled "The Convalescent," reproduced from an original painting by Miss Magnus, exhibited in the Manchester Academy. Copies of this calendar may be obtained gratis on application to the above company.

DR. W. E. FITCH, editor of Gaillard's Southern Medicine, has removed from Savannah, Ga., to New York, his address being at 21 West 97th street, where he will continue his editorial and professional work.

GENERAL RULES FOR DYSPEPTICS.-The following general rules are applicable to all cases of dyspepsia and indigestion:

1. Eat slowly and masticate thoroughly.

2. Drink fluid an hour before or two or three hours after meals, rather than with food.

3. Eat at regular hours.

4. If greatly fatigued, lie down and rest quietly before and after luncheon and dinner or supper.—Ex.

THE CHICAGO HEALTH DEPARTMENT has sixteen men inspecting public schools, and has asked for an appropriation to employ a hundred inspectors.

FOR SALE. A nice, clean, up-to-date stock of drugs-a good business established. The store for rent or sale. Address, Frank Ashby Drug Co., Rockett, Texas.

RESOLUTION PASSED BY TULANE UNIVERSITY.-The following resolution was passed at a recent meeting of the Board of Tulane University:

"Resolved, That in accordance with the unanimous recommendation of the University Council, the age limit of all professors and teachers, assistants and officers, paid a salary, and all persons eligible to pensions under the Carnegie Endowment in this University, is hereby fixed at 65 years, and the tenure of office of all perSong as have reached the age of 65 years, shall expire as soon as such age is reached, unless by special order of the Board any such person shall be continued in his position.

"Resolved further, That this resolution shall go into effect on July 1, 1907."

SUCCESS.-A Kansas woman, Mrs. A. J. Stanley of Lincoln, has been awarded a prize of $250 by a Boston firm for the best answer to the question, "What constitutes success?" She wrote: "He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to exprses it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction." --Medical Standard.

Winks "Good morning, Thinks. How is your opsonic index today?"

Thinks-"Poorly, sir, poorly. sir. My early morning inoculation of Anti-indigestion Serum has caused an agglutination of the Gastriccocci and they refuse to act. My doctor says I must have an injection of Bacteriolysin to liberate the polymorphonuclear

leukocytes which he assures me, sir, will have a prompt phagocytic action."

Winks—“What a narrow escape."-The Clinical Reporter.

A CHANGE IN EDITORS.-Dr. J. R. Phelan will have associated with him in the Oklahoma Medical News-Journal, Y. E. Colville, B. S., M. D., formerly of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dr. Colville will devote his entire time to the editorial department of the Journal, while Dr. Phelan will act as business manager, also giving part of his time to the editorial department.

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat of Sunday morning, December 23, contained the following very interesting account of some of our prominent Austin people, accompanied with a large half-tone picture of Mrs. Smith and her two boys.

Austin, Texas, December 21.-Master Matthew Mann Smith and Master Stephen Girard Smith of this city are musical prodigies. Matthew is 11 years old and Stephen is 9 years old. They are the sons of Dr. and Mrs. M. M. Smith. Their mother is a daughter of Judge and Mrs. A. W. Terrell of Austin. Mrs. Smith before

her marriage resided with her parents in Constantinople during the time that Judge Terrell was minister of the United States to Turkey. She is a noted musician, and was decorated with the order of Shefokat by the sultan of Turkey, and was awarded a medal of music.

These two young sons of Dr. and Mrs. Smith began to show their musical talents when only 3 years old. At that early age they rapidly picked up tunes and whistled them with a clearness and accuracy that was most remarkable.

In 1903, when Matthew was only 8 years old and Stephen was only 6 years old, they were one of the attractions at a musical program which was rendered at the Texas building at the World's Fair at St. Louis. On that occasion they gave a whistling performance.

It is as violinists that these two remarkable boys promise to win great fame. The violin training of Matthew dates back two years, while Stephen did not begin to take lessons on that instrument until less than a year ago. Their progress has been almost magical. The most difficult musical problems are solved with a quickness and aptness that is almost startling to the professional musical instructors and critics of this city. One Sunday recently Matthew

played a violin obligato for his mother to sing "Ave Maria" at the First Congregational church of Austin. In honor of his playing, Rev. R. J. Briggs, pastor of the church, preached a sermon entitled "Music."

Matthew plays sonatas and concertos, and Stephen plays music almost as difficult. The two boys play together in many difficult compositions. Their renditions are pronounced perfect by the most expert musical critics who have heard them. Efforts have been made to have them appear in public performances, but if they ever do this it will not be until their musical education is finished.

The two boys have been given every advantage in the matter of developing and training their natural talents for music. Their mother has been a great aid to them, although their musical instruction has been at the hands of the best teachers that are to be found in the State. Mrs. Smith's help comes in seeing that the boys devote the proper time to practice and in other things which have a bearing upon their musical education.

Matthew and Stephen are no different from other boys when it comes to a love for youthful sports of various kinds. They take great delight in all kinds of outdoor sport, and are the pictures of boyish health. They are well advanced in their regular public school studies, and are in all respects splendid examples of wellbalanced, typical young Texas boys.

Abstracts and Selections.

The Clinical Atmosphere.

The sick room is at once the hope and the despair of the invalid and his friends. For the layman it has always the color of misfortune or disaster. Those interested or the curious present themselves with anxious countenances on which is written doubt, and the advent of the physician or surgeon is awaited with hushed voice and bated breath. Audible questions are propounded which unsettle the composure of the patient, especially if answers are returned of a doubtful character. There is usually an odor which permeates the surroundings entirely foreign to those to which the patient is accustomed, one which he identifies as of the hospital— a street accident or the sick room from which he has seen the body of a near one, family or friend, carried to its final resting place, far beyond his further sight or association. The patient,

unusually acute and alive to his surroundings, sees, hears and takes mental note of all these things, and the effect for good or bad is dependent upon whether the atmosphere and attendants are cheerful or otherwise.

What can the physician or surgeon do to lessen these evil effects, prevent shock and give a wholesome psychical influence to his patient, an assurance that, with the patient's help, all will end. satisfactorily? Everything depends upon this reassuring influence. A look, a steady hand, actions which will indicate to the close observing patient that the physician has the case or emergency well in hand. These factors carry great weight. Then officious friends or spectators should be excluded from operations and from the sick room. Caution should be exercised by the operator not to remark upon the merits of the case to assistants while administering an anesthetic, for in that borderland between consciousness and complete anesthesia remarks are comprehended, and if they happen to be of an unfavorable character, doubtful as to the outcome, carry such weight, so influence the patient's mind that no amount of after assurance will totally eradicate them, and consequently harm is sure to ensue. The writer calls to mind one case in particular where an unfortunate remark by the surgeon while the anesthetic was being administered operated to produce so profound a shock that the patient died an hour after regaining consciousness, repeating the surgeon's words, "What's the use, he'll die anyway." The operation disclosed a condition which was most hopeful for speedy and lasting recovery. It was clearly a death from psychical influences.

Another case was one of difficult childbirth, when it became necessary to administer an anesthetic in order to change the presentation of the child. The attendant introduced his hand while the patient was in that borderland or in a semi-conscious state, and audibly declared that, in his opinion, the child's head would have to be crushed before delivery could be effected.

The results were disastrous to the mother. How much of this was due to the uncalled for and untimely words we will never know, but the writer, who was administering the anesthetic, will always believe that this mother's death was not necessary. There was nothing to justify it other than the profound shock produced by the remark. To a sensitive woman who has gone through the trying nine months of pregnancy, who has for all this time looked forward to and prayed for a happy issue out of her travails, to be told that it was for naught, that her first born must be mutilated while still in her body, was alone enough to take the very life