keynote that needed to be sounded at this time. He did well in calling the Institute's attention to the splendid organizing that was going on in the old school ranks; unless we take the lesson and put our house in order by a more thorough organization of our local, state and national societies, the time is coming in the not far distant future when we may find ourselves in some tight places. President Cobb was not afraid to come out boldly and not only say that the time was not yet ripe for an amalgamation of the schools, but to turn his fire upon the enemy and charge them with sectarianism in that they will not investigate facts and a law founded on facts. At the same time he wisely spoke of homoeopathy as a system of therapeutics, not the whole of medicine. A suggestion that seemed to meet with much favor from his audience was that for a present day text-book, the Organon needs revising; while the essential truths it teaches will always be the same, they need to be expressed in the light of the science of the opening years of the twentieth century, not in the language of a hundred years ago. It was well, too, that the president should sound a warning as to the future of our medical colleges; while our average may still be above the average of our competitors, individual colleges in the old school ranks are ahead of anything that we can present. Our institutions of learning have got to be endowed; and that will probably mean their incorporation in some way into universities, for the moneyed men of to-day are slow in putting large sums into the hands of more or less irresponsible boards of trustees.

To those who recognized the reception given to the happy and eloquent speeches of Dr. Sutherland it came as no surprise that he should be elected to the presidency of the Institute for the ensuing year without a contest. There never was a clearer case of the office seeking the man. President Sutherland is one who inspires confidence by his lack of self-seeking and his anxiety that all associated with him in any enterprise receive their due meed of praise. Such an attitude compels loyalty; and we predict that the year just entered upon will be a red-lettered one in the Institute's history because of the spirit of disinterested devotion to its welfare and success that he will inspire into his fellow-workers in office and into the rank and file of the members.

The plan of letting the sectional societies take entire charge of the bureaus relating to their respective specialties seems to have worked well on the whole. We cannot see that the societies themselves lost anything of importance; and on the whole they gained by the wider interest taken in their work. If their part of the program can be balanced by strong contributions from the bureaus of Materia Medica, Homœopathics and General Medicine, the whole will be a combination hard to beat.

The item of business that called forth the most discussion was the proposal, finally laid on the table, of constituting the expresidents of the Institute a Nominating Committee. This committee was to nominate at least two members for each elective office, two hours being given after the publication of their nominations for the filing of additional nominations by members generally, if they so desired. The avowed object of this proposal was to drive politics out of the Institute. A full report of the meeting will be found in another column.

And now for Niagara in 1904. Knowing the thoroughness characteristic of all President Sutherland's work, we look forward with confidence to an exceptionally good meeting.

DR.

TRANSMISSIBILITY OF PLAGUE.

R. CALVERT, lecturer on Tropical Diseases in Washington University at St. Louis, has a valuable contribution on the "Transmissibility of Plague" in a recent number of the St. Louis Medical Review.

The importance of an accurate knowledge of this subject is selfevident. It is known that plague can exist in any climate. At the present moment the disease is more widely distributed than at any previous time in the world's history. For the first time cases have appeared at various places in the Western hemisphere. No great epidemics have recently appeared outside of the far East. But the persistency with which cases have kept cropping up in San Francisco for the last three years, and the many widely separated points at which the disease has shown itself, all point to the absolute need of constant vigilance on the part of the medical profession.

Dr. Calvert made a personal study of plague at Manila. The result of his study and observations are therefore worthy of note. He found that the bacillus pestis (the plague bacillus) had great viability. Strips of paper inoculated with the germ and kept at a temperature of 32° to 34° C. (just below the body temperature) all gave positive results after twelve days, and one strip gave positive results after forty-four days. That is, rats inoculated with cultures from the paper after that length of time died of plague, and the bacillus pestis was obtainable from their dead bodies.

Similarly prepared strips of paper, exposed to direct sunlight lost their virulence in two hours and forty-five minutes. The bacilli were killed in that time. Antiseptic solutions killed them in a very few minutes.

Cultures of the bacilli retain their virulence for many months. Full virulence has been noted after fifteen months. Calvert also found the virulence of the germ unimpaired in dried organs after forty-eight days.

The lymphatic glands harbor the first organisms entering the body. The blood may be infected from the second day until death. Calvert found bacilli in the blood of one patient for forty-five days. After septicemia develops bacilli may be found in the saliva, urine, feces, in short in all the secretions and excretions of the body. One patient developed plague two days after sexual intercourse. He died, and at autopsy the bacilli were found in the seminal fluid.

Calvert states that, although direct infection from patient to patient has occurred, yet this is so infrequent that nurses and attendants are in practically no danger provided proper precautions are used.

He believes that infection is secondary, that is, from fomites, and that it enters the system through slight abrasions. Experiments made by him where virulent cultures were introduced into the stomach of monkeys in capsules, failed to inoculate them, although they are very susceptible. Calvert therefore believes that when food causes infection it is mostly through abrasions in the buccal mucus membrane. The bacilli are not often transmitted through the air.

People who go barefooted show a preponderance of inguinal buboes. Calvert therefore argues that infection is probably through the feet and legs. Children show a preponderance of cervical or axillary buboes, probably due to infection through the mouth or the hands and arms. Their habit of putting everything in the mouth, and of playing on the ground is responsible for this.

Various insects, flies particularly, have been found to die of plague, and their bites undoubtedly inoculate many cases.

Some Important Suggestions.-In his very interesting paper read before the Western New York Homœopathic Society, and published in this number of the NORTH AMERICAN, Dr. George F. Adams makes some very pertinent and important suggestions regarding the care of the acutely insane. There should be special wards or pavilions attached to all general city hospitals for the reception and treatment of those in the early stages of mental disorders. At present, one unfortunate enough to betray symptoms of incipient insanity is, in the majority of cases, arrested by the police and lodged in jail to await medical examination and the commitment papers. Not only is the stigma of "jail bird" incurred, but most valuable time in treatment is lost. For about the only time troubles of this kind can be treated with any great hope of success is at the very beginning. For a long time Bellevue had the only pavilion for the acute insane, but now, both at Albany and Rochester provision has been made for the treatment of these cases. The homœopathic hospitals in the State should take this matter up at once, and make adequate provision for this most helpless class of patients. We commend the suggestions of Dr. Adams to the favorable consideration of the managers of the new Syracuse Homœopathic Hospital. They should not be left behind in this matter.

Sanitaria for Consumptives.-It is impossible to resist the conclusion that in the approval of the Goodsell-Bedell Bill, Governor Odell has seriously checked the efforts to lessen the ravages of consumption. Under the existing law it was necessary, in order to establish tuberculosis hospitals, to obtain the consent of the local Board of Health and the State Commissioner of Health. But now,

in addition, the consent of the Board of Supervisors and the local town board must be added. It is quite unlikely that the concurrent approval of the town authorities and the county supervisors could be had for the establishment of a hospital for the treatment of consumption. There would be an exaggerated and mistaken idea of danger and local interests would be in arms against such a proposal. The whole matter should be either in the hands of the State Board of Health or there should be a commission of experts.

Substitution and the Druggist.-The failure of the Bostwick bill is to be regretted. It has been repeatedly shown that there is enough substitution in the drug business to make it an evil of sufficient magnitude to warrant legislative interference. The druggist must be taught that it is imperatively necessary for him to put up just what the physician's prescription calls for, and not substitute something cheaper for the sake of dishonest gain. The customer, as a rule, knows nothing about drugs; what he wants is the filling of the prescription accurately and quickly. To deceive him is not only merely a sneaking thievery, but a possible tampering with life. The character of the defense offered by the representatives of the druggists at Albany shows there is little hope that they

will ever offer to reform abuses so profitable as those found in the substitution of cheap and inferior preparations. That there are many honest druggists is undoubted, but there ought to be some way of drawing the line between responsible and irresponsible ones. But the failure to correct the evil this time should incite to greater effort next winter.

The Minnesota College.-Under the head of "Correspondence' may be found an interesting letter from Dr. W. B. Hinsdale, dealing with the critical situation at present existing in the Homœopathic College of the Minnesota State University. It has been an open secret for some time that the college was losing ground and unless some remedy was found ultimate extinction would be the result. A survey of the situation would seem to indicate that the college ever since its organization has labored under serious embarrassments and restrictions incident to its establishment as a part of the State University, and equally as important it had never received the active and hearty support, to which it was entitled, of the homœopathic profession of the State itself.

In placing the teaching of the elementary branches of medicine. common to both schools in the college of science and arts and out of allopathic control and influence, and in providing for a special committee of the Regents of the University to represent and absolutely control in conjunction with the Faculty, the homoeopathic college, very decided steps in advance have been taken. Why these measures were not taken some years ago is perhaps explained by the fact that it sometimes takes a crisis to bring about reforms. But reorganization is not all that is needed. It must be recognized by the homoeopathic profession that the failure of any one of our State schools means a loss of prestige to all and perhaps the final abandonment of all. The profession of Minnesota and the neighboring States are in great part responsible for the weakness of the Minnesota college. Get them now to make amends, create and sustain one of the strongest homoeopathic colleges in the United States; with them the college succeeds, without them it fails.

Appropriations for Medical Institutions.-The chief bills signed by Governor Odell carrying appropriations for hospitals and asylums are as follows: For the erection of new administration buildings, isolation hospitals and buildings to provide for fifteen hundred additional patients $1,303,713.77-all this, an extra appropriation, to provide practically for the deficiency last year. The million that was "saved" last year by putting the control of the insane hospitals in the hands of the able financiers of the Lunacy Commission, appears now as a "deficiency" of nearly a million and a half. The Syracuse Institution for Feeble Minded Children received $3,700; for the purchase of a site in the northern part of the State for a new insane hospital, $50,000 was appropriated; for the improvement of the State consumptive hospital at Ray Brook, Essex County, $115,000 was given; $50,000 was given to the Home for Crippled and Ruptured Children, and $40,000 for new dormitories at the Craig Colony.