ANOTHER QUARTER OF A MILLION OF DOLLARS efforts, and read a paper giving in full his objections. This appeared in Gaillard's Medical Journal, and from it we condense the following. Hamilton says: 1. The danger to health and life from the present mode of burial when the inhumation has been properly made, has, by the advocates of cremation, been greatly over-estimated, if, indeed, it can be said to exist at all. 2. It will be remembered that Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt gave this college half a million of dollars with which to buy the ground and erect thereon a suitable building for the college. The lots were purchased close by the Roosevelt Hospital, and the building is now in process of erection. It was remarked at the time that a large amount of land was purchased. Since his death one of his daughters had given the money for the erection and endowment of a free maternity hospital of twenty-five beds. Now the sons have united and given the college to impose cremation by legal enactments. a quarter of a million of dollars for the erection and endowment on the college lots, of a building for a complete polyclinic. The building is to cost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the endowment is to be one hundred thousand. Thus the college has at its disposal the general hospital of Roosevelt across the street, a free endowed maternity hospital on its own grounds, and lastly a free endowed clinic. The college building is to contain adequate laboratories. It would seem from this that the equipment of this college was as near complete as could be desired. Cremation removes effectually one of the most important means of detecting certain crimes. 3. The general sentiment of the community in which we live is opposed to cremation. Hence, it would be unnecessary, unwise, and unjust Still, we shall hope that this family will do one more thing, viz., endow each professorial chair, so that no professor shall engage in private practice, but rather devote all his time to his work of teaching and investigation. As it is, the college should lead the United States, but with the additional endowments of the professorships, it could lead the world in all that relates to medical education and medical research. The new arrangements of the clinics, their variety and extent, must place this college far in advance of any institution in this country. There is no reason why the best of post-graduate instruction should not be furnished on these grounds. Not only may the alumni of the old college rejoice, but also every lover of medical advancement and of humanity. One of the latest novelties is cremation. Perhaps it may be more correct to call it the latest antiquity that clamors for the recognition and support of the medical profession. History tells us that prior to the Christian era, cremation was the rule in most countries. Only those people who believed that the bodies were reinhabited at an indefinite period after death, refused to cremate their dead. Not long since, it was proposed in the N. Y. Society of Medical Jurisprudence, to seek legislation making compulsory the cremation of persons who died of certain infectious diseases, and of those who were buried at public expense. Dr. Frank Hamilton objected to such His discussion was mainly confined to the first of these reasons, as the last two must be admitted by all. Numerous facts were adduced in support of his views. When burial is properly done, he is unable to find any evidence in modern times to show that the decomposition of dead bodies is a source of danger to the health or lives of the living. His entire paper is worthy the study of both believers and unbelievers. INFORMATION WANTED REGARDING SYPHILIS. In his lectures upon syphilis, lately published in the English weeklies, Mr. Johnathan Hutchinson calls for observations respecting the following points: I. Cases in which twins, one or both suffer from inherited syphilis; they should be followed up through as long a period as possible. 2. Cases in which women acquire syphilis during pregnancy, especial attention to the question of the freedom of both parents from any former taint; in these cases it is desirable to ascertain the effect upon the previously healthy foetus of syphilis acquired by the mother at different periods of pregnancy. 3. All exceptions to, or apparent exceptions to Colles' law (that a sucking child cannot infect the nipple of its mother). 4. All instances of children born alive with indications of syphilis upon them. All cases of pemphigus infantum, or of other syphilitic eruptions making their appearance during the first week of life. Hutchinson is perhaps the most learned individual in the medical profession concerning syphilis. That he should consider these moot queries, indicates that they are really so and merit the thoughtful observation of all general practitioners in every portion of the world. Doubtless many of our readers can furnish evidence on one or more of these points. It will give us great pleasure to publish this evidence as it may be given to us. Let every general practitioner at once think over his past experience, consult his note-books, and bring forth. therefrom evidence throwing light on these points. Above all, let every one observe future cases more carefully with these in mind. MEMORANDA. Ohio has just passed a law establishing a State Board of Health. Dr. Austin Flint left his library to the New York Academy of Medicine. Chicago has one physician for every 365 of the population. How do they live? The three Russians bitten by a rabid wolf have died, in spite of Pasteur's inoculations. Fifty cerebral tumors were exhibited at a late meeting of the London Pathological Society. On April 18th. Pasteur stated that he had treated over 600 persons bitten by rabid animals. With his first year's Congressional salary, Mr. Joseph Pulitzer has endowed a free bed in the New York Hospital. The Medical Record reports a case of pulmonary consumption cured by nursing a healthy nursing woman. The Newberry bequest will ensure to Chicago three millions of dollars for a library building and endowment. The best available statistics show that of 100 persons bitten by really rabid dogs, only 20 will develop hydrophobia. Iowa has passed a bill regulating the practice of medicine. In many features it resembles that existing in Illinois. Intubation of the larynx was practiced by Desault, so says Gibson's Surgery, published in 1825. History repeats itself. Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas, of New York, has removed to 600 Madison ave., between Fifty-seventh and Fiftyeighth streets. Dr. Janeway succeeds Dr. Flint as professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine in Bellevue Hospital Medical College. It is said that in Cook Co., Illinois, four suits for malpractice were brought against well known physicians during last March. The Michigan State Board of Health will hold one of its Sanitary Conventions in Kalamazoo, Mich., during the first two days of June. The St. Louis Medical Society has decided to permit medical journals to publish such portions of their proceedings as they may desire. Dr. B. H. Warner, of Baltimore, has died of hydrophobia. He was bitten by an unknown dog whom he befriended on last Christmas day. The Weekly Medical Review says that the biography or autobiogrophy of the average living man will make a dead man out of him, or ought to. Buffalo has four medical journals, two medical colleges, and six medical societies and medical clubs, to say nothing of the irregular organizations. Sayre's Orthopedic Surgery has lately been translated into German. To recognize a good thing when seen is the characteristic of a wise mind. Dr. Courty, Professor of the Surgical Clinic in the Montpelier Faculty, is dead. He was one of the founders of the Annales de Gynecolog. et Obstet. French cooks measure and weigh the ingredients with the accuracy of a prescription clerk. That is just what American cooks cannot be taught to do. The address on Medicine before the British Medical Association which was to have been given by Dr. Austin Flint will be given by Dr. J. S. Billings, of the U. S. Army. Brown-Séquard relates the case of a lady who suffered from pruritus vulvæ every time she drank a cup of coffee. The trouble disappeared on discontinuing the beverage. The editor of the Canada Lancet says he has again and again seen surgical operations undertaken for the glory of the operator and the instruction of himself or his confréres. To test the food and drink of Paris the Academy of Sciences has a laboratory. Twenty-five chemists are employed. The annual expense af the institution is about $40,000. According to Dr. Matchette, who last year asked of the American medical and pharmaceutical professions a vote upon the metric system, 48 desired it and 6,405 did not want it. The Gazetta degli Ospitali reports the case of a woman who was delivered of five children at the seventh month of pregnancy. Three children died, two lived with the mother. Dr. R. V. Weltstein has found a fungus in the gastric juice of patients suffering from pyrosis, which he describes as a new species and genus under the name Rhomdomyces Kochi. It is said that many physicians in Pennsylvania regard the use of natural gas as fuel a cause of disease. Lack of perfect combustion, and imperfect ventilation are the ways by which it does harm. The St. Louis Medical Journal reports a case in which the writer utilized the amalgamating power of metallic mercury to remove a ring that had become immovably fixed on a swollen penis. The editor of the Medical and Surgical Reporter has been made laureate of the Sociétie Americaine de France, and awarded the society's medal for his works. on the aboriginal tongues of America. The Medical Press tells the story from Toulouse of a child which was suckled by a bitch. The peasant mother approved of this substitute for herself and the child continued to grow rapidly on the food of its adopt ed canine mother. Dr. Jacob (British Med. Jour., March 13, 1886) gives a list of twelve deaths from chloroform occurring in England during 1885, and three deaths from ether. Of course this is far from purporting to be a complete list, even for that country. In some excellent articles in the Fortnightly Review, Dr. Roose develops for the people the idea that the need of our age is not rest and stagnation, but healthful conditions for work, freedom from worry, suitable variety and a wise distribution of our time. Dr. W. M. Trow, of Northampton, Mass., reports a case of conception which took place while the uterus contained a placenta. A three-months foetus, placenta, and membranes were expelled, and four days later a placenta as large as at the fourth or fifth month of gestation. The celebrated ophthalmologist, Mr. Streatfeild, of London, died in March. As a worker in ophthalmology in the best sense, it will be hard to replace him. The literature of this branch for more than a quarter of a century contains frequent contributions from his pen and brain. The name of the president of the coming International Medical Congress has not yet been announced. Dr. DaCosta, of Philadelphia, and Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago, have been proposed. In no other enterprise will Dr. Austin Flint be missed more than in relation to this congress. Who may properly be called a doctor? A layman in the Atlanta Medical Journal answers this query thus: "Men of such sense, science, skill and fidelity that a father, whose child may die under their care, may at least have the consolation that his children had something like the best that medicine could do." The Minnesota supreme court has decided that such licensed practitioners as fo'low the ways of quacks as to advertisements, may have their license revoked by the State Board of Examiners. Unprofessional and dis honest conduct may and should now cause quacks to be spewed out of the Minnesota profession. In the International Congress of Hygiene and Dermography, held at Hague, in 1884, Dr. Bertillon said that: "Of illegitimate children, there were in one thousand births in Ireland, thirty; in Holland, thirtyeight; in Belgium, fifty-three; in England, sixty-one; in Prussia, sixty-six; in Italy, seventy-three; in France, seventy-five; in Denmark, seventy-six; and in Bavaria, ninety-six." A writer in the Medical Age says that a judge in Big Rapids recently decided that a physician's knowledge is his stock in trade, his capital, and the courts have no more right to take it without extra compensation than we have to take provisions from a grocery without pay to feed a jury. He did not compel the expert to testify. Possibly in this manner the question may be decided by the supreme court. A St. Louis secular journal has undertaken to write up the biography of such prominent medical men as will furnish it the material. It seems to be the same sort of journalism as passed through Detroit several years ago. The sooner this is stopped the better for all concerned. Let quacks have undisputed sway in this field. We were surprised that some gentlemen here and in St. Louis. yielded to the tempter. Concerning spaying the Medical Record remarks: "The laparotomist is plainly society's best friend. all benefactors of the race, he must endure opposition and calumny for a time, but his noble work of radically removing the sources of over-population will go on, and we calculate that at the present rate of increase, in fifty years some thirty per cent. of women will be permanently relieved of all the worry of maternal anticipation." The editor of the Kansas City Medical Index says: "It has been my 'fortune' to see a young and lovely virgin brought to one of these speculomaniacs, seized and placed upon the gynecological 'altar,' her clothes pulled up, hymen ruptured, speculum introduced, and probe pointed at the cervix, before the astonished maiden could explain that she sought the services of his 'majesty' the gynecologist for an epilepsy caused by an injury to the head." The Paris correspondent of the American Practitioner and News says that the water cress destroys the poison of nicotine. It is simply necessary to wet the tobacco with the juice of the water cress when its deleterious principles will disappear. Fluid extracts of the water cress are in order if indeed its active principle cannot be isolated. A fortune is ready for those who confirm this announcement and make it available to the use of smokers. The New York Ophthalmologists claim that their investigations show that in the public institutions for children in that city one in four of the inmates has contagious ophthalmia. The causes are the common use of towels and pillow-cases, bad hygiene and the indiscriminate admission and association of these cases in the insti tutions. The subject is of general interest as it is probable that similar institutions throughout the entire country are similarly affected. Zeiss, of Jena, Germany, announces the discovery of a new compound for the manufacture of high power objectives. The first experiments with its use showed a large increase of amplification over the highest possibilities of the old material. It is hoped that glasses made from this material will enable us to distinguish by its structure alone bacteria of all forms. The constituents of this new optical material and mode of its manufacture we have not yet seen announced. The label of a new proprietary preparation makes the. following lucid statement: "Those familiar with the action of drugs know the homogenous relation they bear to one another, how their pathogenetic and curative spheres are enlarged and dynamitized (!) by a judicious combination, extending their spheres of usefulness and governing numerous indications." Such a preparation ought to be worth two dollars an ounce (the price actually charged), if it is a "non-secret" remedy. A Chicago paper tells the following of Dr. J. Adams Allen: When he was commencing practice on a winter's day all muffled, he was riding in a street car, when he overheard two persons talking about him. One asked the other what sort of a doctor was this Allen? All I know of him is that he snatched my aunt from the grave last summer." "Did he, indeed?" said the other; "well then he must be a pretty good doctor. What was the matter with your aunt?" "Oh, she was dead and buried, you know." The British Medical Journal gives the following: A peeress sent her butler to one of the busiest medical men in London with the request that the patient might be examined and prescribed for gratuitously. The phycian told the man that he was not a fit subject for his hospital clinic; that his time was too valuable for him to see him in his consulting room. Then he gave him a guinea and told him to visit a young doctor named. The peeress repaid the guinea the next morning. Such occurrences are not confined to London. Dr. Carl Seiler, of Philadelphia, has been sued for damages because in a public lecture he advised against the use of a certain proprietary remedy for hay fever. Those proprietary medicine folks think they own the world, and that disparaging mention of their wares is an infringement of their legal rights. We trust that com mon sense will bring a speedy and complete victory to Dr. Seiler. Every doctor who talks in medical society meetings, and every professor in a medical college has a positive interest in this case. During 1885, on the railways of Great Britain there were killed 950 persons. Three thousand four hundred and sixty-seven persons were injured. Of these 457 deaths and 2,474 injuries occurred among the employes of the railways. Fifty-five deaths were from suicide. Ninety-six accidents resulted from carelessness of the victims. Two hundred and fifty deaths were due to trespassing. The statistics of deaths and injuries on the railways of the United States we have not seen collected for the above time, but the figures must be large. A Cincinnati preacher lately accused doctors of prescribing fornication to some of their patients. The Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic indignantly denied that American doctors give such advice. The Medical Recora believes the great majority of doctors do not give such advice, but fears the very small minority do. Further, it thinks that this results from the introduction of European morals with European science and psudo-science. Certainly a true doctor will not forget his duties to society while he performs those due to his patient. advertises in the Medical Record to teach doctors how to For fifty dollars a lesson Dr. Morris, of New York, prevent suppuration and wound infection in their surgisal cases. Where are the hundreds of professed teachers of surgery in our medical colleges that they have not taught their students this lesson? If it be possible to prevent all suppuration after surgical operations, certainly every professor of surgery should know it, and as certainly is he bound to have his pupils know it before sending them into the community to practice upon the people. At the banquet of the graduates of Jefferson Medical College a portion of a temporary floor gave way and precipitated about 25 persons a distance of 20 feet, in company with a piano, etc. There was no fatal injury, although several were severely hurt. We trust that this is the last time the doctors will find the foundation upon which they are resting give way. It is the lot of most doctors to find that upon which they have depended fail them when subjected to actual tests. Where is the foundation of the doctor which does not at some time give way beneath his feet? List of graduates of American medical colleges for 1887, continued from page 154: Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, Indiana, 12; Southern Medical College, 34; Columbus Medical College, 19; Starling Medical College, 28; Medical Department of Western Reserve Medical College, 38; Jefferson Medical College, 223; Atlanta Medical College, 38; Medical Department University of Louisville, 81; Louisville Medical College, 87; St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, 17; Missouri Medical College, 86; St. Louis Medical College, 18; Medical College of South Carolina, 22; Medical Department of Tulane University, 63; Omaha Medical College, 5 During the past year the New York Academy of Medicine has radically changed its constitution. It has cut loose absolutely from all codes. Its sole object is stated to be the "promo ion of the art and science of medicine." It says that a member may be expelled for the violation of the regulations of the academy. But as these regulations have no reference to the conduct of members, fellows can only be expelled for breaking routine rules. It is not even required that a member be gentlemen. Any person, educated or uneduated, regular, irregular, or defective, is elegible, in so far as we can see, to membership in this body. The committee on medical education in common, with that on ethics, is abolished. Thus, it appears that this body has advanced in liberality far beyond the society of the State of New York. The New York correspondent for the St. Louis Courier says that in conversation with gentlemen holding positions at the dispensaries, he learned the following: One said that he averaged twenty dollars a month during the past year from dispensary cases for their private. treatment. Another, not connected with anything, but located near the Polyclinic, dubs this institution P. C. (patient catcher). A third says that the post graduate has taken nearly all his patients in moderate circumstances who formerly were willing to pay for attendance, and who would still be, did not the postgraduate sign tell them that they could get the same service free. Some institutions pay patients to be present at the clinics, and it is a poor one that does not furnish medicine and car fare, as well as free advice to those living at a distance. The Southern Clinic thinks that the State should prohibit from practice such physicians as show, after a fair trial, that they are thus unable to make a decent support for their families. What shall be done with the great mass of people in all callings who fail to make a decent support for their families? Unfortunately, the State can be neither father nor mother to such. In the land of the free it were better to let each individual look after himself, except when he breaks the common legal bond which holds society in unison. To kill babes not well born, and to shoot lunatics, do not constite elements of a land of freedom. The great army of the unsuccessful is ever marching all about us. Possibly it were better to shoot them, but it does not so strike us. If each successful person did what he could to aid his unsuccessful brother, perhaps many could be lifted up to even success in the worldly point of view. Editor's Book Table. WOOD'S REference hAND-BOOK OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES, VOLUME II.* In our notice of volume one we gave the general features of the entire work. These are fully maintained by the fresh volume now before us. eye. The first article treats of catarrh and the last of the Between these two are many articles as will be inferred from the fact that these are alphabetically arranged. The contributors to this volume number 104. Speaking of the articles as a whole, it is fair to say that the subjects are treated in such a manner as to meet the approval of the large classes of general practitioners, for whom they were prepared. He must be hard to please who cannot find much to instruct and interest him. But, like the dictionary, the greatest value of these volumes will consist in the fact that information on a vast number of subjects can be obtained at a moment's notice. In his article on nasal catarrh, Delavan gives a fair summary of the best modes of treatment. He thinks gratifying advances have been made in the treatment of this disorder, but that no one mode of treatment can be said to be established above another. The article on Cephalometry, by Rooe, fully presents the conclusions reached in this study. But the subject in its relations is still nebulous and awaits farther and more elaborate investigation. Scott's article on the cerebral cortex presents an excellent statement of the facts and questions now before the profession. appears that the results of physiological research are in dispute, both as regards facts and their interpretation. Pathological observations are discordant, but more satisfactory than the physiological work. It However, both lines of research are fairly stated, and will interest every thoughtful man. The writer regards Exner's views respecting the localization of cerebral functions as adapted to best harmonize apparently conflicting facts. This view supposes the existence of absolute and relative areas. He believes that the idea of small circumscribed areas must be rejected and that of overlapping areas must be accepted. He says: "There is every reason to believe that to affect the consciousness, any nervous impulse must reach the cerebral cortex by nerve fibres. The removal of the cortical cells with which these fibres are connected will necessarily affect the organ from which they come, as surely as the severance of the fibres themselves, no matter what the function of the cells may be. The *A REFERENCE HAND BOOK OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES, embracing the entire range of scientific and practical medicine and allied sciences; by various writers; illustrated. Edited by Albert H. Buck, M. D. Vol. II. New York: William Wood & Co 1886. Sold only by subscription to the entire set of eight volumes. |