ature, slight swelling of the joints and profuse sweating, have yielded quite readily to macrotys, rhus tox., colchicum or quinia. In all of these mild cases, the secretions are quite acid in character, and requires sulphite of soda, sulphate of potassa or similar agents, and, when these antacids are administered freely during the first few days of the rheumatic seizure, convalescence is established much sooner than where the antacids are not used. In many of these seemingly mild cases of rheumatism, there is much danger to be apprehended from the great liability of the serous membranes becoming involved, especially the pericardium and pleura. Should these not be involved during the first three or five days of the disease, we should rely upon the antacid treatment for prophylactic measures. Prof. Austin Flint pointed out (some twenty years ago) that but little or no danger need be apprehended in rheumatic pericardial complications, if the blood and excretions could be rendered neutral or slightly alkaline. Since reading Flint's article, my own experience has fully demonstrated that his conclusions were right. A good rule is to use soda freely where we find a tendency to metastasis from one limb to another, with more or less pain in the serous membranes. Bryonia alba in small frequent doses may be alternated with sodae to prevent capillary stasis and hyperemia of serous membranes.

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GASTRALGIA. This disease, in a severe form, has prevailed in some localities during the past winter, and physicians who have treated it extensively, attribute the cause to the long-continued cold weather, followed by cold, damp winds, "low barometer,' etc., preventing proper elimination and radiation from the surface of the body, causing hyperemia and capillary plethora of the organs of the trunk. "Stomach neuralgia" in the great majority of cases appears so suddenly, that but little or no time can be used to prevent the seizures. The treatment which has been attended by the best results consists in hypodermic injections of morphia. The amount of the agent must correspond with the severity of the pain; thus an eighth of a grain applied over the gastric region will be quite sufficient with mild cases, while others which present aggravated symp

toms and severe pain will require a half or perhaps a grain to insure complete relief. These hypodermic applications should be made every six to twelve hours, so long as the painful symptoms are present. Opium is one of our most reliable agents to correct hyperæmia, and prevent stasis in the capillary vessels, and suspend the migration of the white globules of the blood into and around a nucleus of inflammatory action. Pilocarpin applied hypodermically in the incipient stages will often act quite as well as the opium salt.

Food should not be taken into the stomach for several hours after the severe pain subsides, or else the slow and imperfect digestion may excite another attack.

It was my good fortune to attend the meeting of the Kansas Association at Topeka the 8th, 9th and 10th of February last. Abstracts of the transactions of this society at previous meetings had often been forwarded to this editorial desk, from which I had learned that "eclectic medicine" had fully eclipsed every rival "pathy" in the great State of Kansas; but one needs to attend these annual sessions and witness the earnestness of these two to three hundred M. D.'s in order to form a proper idea of their great achievements. Kansas, without doubt, has the best-organized and most successful medical society of any of the States; and the membership comprises some of the most indefatigable workers to be found anywhere. Such men as Drs. Eidson, Mulvane, Simmons, Phillips, Welch, Ferber, Roberts, Raymond, Lewis, McMuller, Axelson, Hamilton, Kernoddle, Bishoff, Owens, Sage, Bixby, Armstrong, etc., are among the list of names of those who have enough energy to insure success in any cause they undertake. I will not attempt here to give a synopsis of the work of the association, as the full printed proceedings will doubtless soon be sent to all members of the society. I have long considered it a professional duty to attend the sessions of "The National Association," and bask in the interminable strifes and hairsplittings which are there so carefully fostered by the antiqua

rians with their conflicting schemes and interests. In fact, it is loudly hinted by members inclined to reflection, that the amount of "war paint" exhibited equals the sensation produced. Our Kansas brethren are a plain, "matter of fact' sort of people, who come up to those annual meetings desiring mutual improvement in all departments of medical science, and to shape their legislation solely for the promotion of the best interests of the profession, and they succeed admirably; and when the presiding officer's gavel sounds the close of the session, the members return to their respective fields of labor, feeling rejoiced and refreshed at what they have accomplished. I hope to see the day when every other State can possess a society equal in membership and influence to the of Kansas.

young State One of the pleasing features of the meeting at Topeka was the fine display of "pharmaceuticals," by Parke, Davis & Company, of Detroit, Mich. Nearly every new preparation manufactured by them, as well as many of the standard remedies which are so highly prized by eclectics everywhere, were put up in elegant sample packets, and one or more presented to each doctor in attendance. "P., D. & Company" received a unanimous vote of thanks, not only for their magnificent exhibit, but for their efforts to place within the reach of every practitioner pure and reliable medicines.

I trust that it will be difficult to keep me away from the Kansas society when they meet in February, 1882.

THE ACCURACY OF CLINICAL THERMOMETERS. Leonard Waldo, astronomer in charge of the Winchester Observatory of Yale College, has issued the following card to the medical profession :

"The competition of business, coupled with the entire absence up to this time of any large observatory in this country paying any special attention to thermometry, to which authoritative appeal could be made, has so affected the manufacture of thermometers for medical purposes, that it seems nécessary to issue a card briefly indicating the errors commonly

found to exist, and to explain why, in this case, the representations of dealers may be at fault through the want of a proper understanding of the subtle errors to which medical thermometers are liable.

"Too great a desire to economize time, good material and skilled labor has led, in the making of thermometers, to the following faults: (1) The graduation is sometimes started from one point of the scale, near the normal, and the size of the capillary tube is guessed at. No upper point being fixed by the maker, the higher graduations may be erroneous to the extent of several degrees. (2) Too much air separating the index from the column of mercury causes the index to rise with a jerky motion; air above the index forces the index down when the thermometer is taken away from the body. In some thermometers errors from this cause amount to two degrees at high temperatures. (3) New thermometers increase their readings rapidly during the first months after their manufacture, so that instruments which were right when made may change their indications as much as two degrees within a year.

"It will be seen that these errors are not such as the dealer can readily detect. Even in those cases where a dealer is provided with a standard thermometer with which comparisons could be made, it is a difficult matter to determine the errors of the standard itself, and the unsupported representations of dealers and druggists, therefore, though made in perfectly good faith, cannot, from the nature of the case, afford the physician satisfactory evidence that any thermometer he may buy is not affected with errors which, in many instances under our observation, have amounted to several degrees.

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Following the example of the Royal Society's Observatory at Kew, at which during the past year upward of five thousand thermometers were examined, this observatory has established a department to which any physician or other person may send thermometers by mail or express, and, upon the payment of a small fee, receive certificates of their exact errors. The facilities are such that there is no good reason why physicians should not buy their new thermometers furnished with the

Yale certificate by the dealers; in those cases where no certificate is furnished the uncertainty may amount to two degrees. It should be remembered that thermometers which the physician has had in his possession for many months are certain to have had the requisite seasoning, and, therefore, an old thermometer with a recent certificate is more valuable than a new one, or one about whose age there is doubt.

"The observatory has been called upon within three months to certify about seven hundred thermometers from various parts of our country; the results of this work have demonstrated the gross inaccuracy of the cheaper clinical thermometers as commonly sold, and seem to render expedient the publication of this card, calling the attention of physicians to these errors and the great difficulty of detecting them except with the appliances of an observatory devoted to this work. "NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 1, 1881."

SOCIETY MEETINGS.

ALUMNI MEETING.

The second annual meeting of the Alumni Association of Bennett Medical College, occurred Tuesday, March 22, at the College Building. Recent heavy snows had so seriously obstructed railway travel that members from a distance were unable to be in attendance. The meeting was consequently small in numbers. About twenty old members were present, and the same number of new ones were received from the last graduating class. The morning session was devoted to the transaction of business, and the afternoon to class and college reminiscences, which were of an exceedingly interesting nature. The following is the list of officers for the ensuing year: President-Finley Ellingwood, Manteno, Illinois.

Vice Presidents-E. F. Rush, Chicago, Illinois; F. W. Rhor, Kenosha, Wisconsin; C. J. Cook, New Providence, Iowa; E. M. Conklin, Tecumseh, Michigan; C. S. Stoddard, Redwood Falls, Minnesota.

Secretary and Treasurer-W. K. Harrison, Chicago, Ill.