joyable, yet there is an important duty incumbent on each and every one of us that should not be overlooked or neglected. One of the objects of our Association as stated in its Constitution is "to collect through its members all material matter pertaining to the Medical Services of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy." The members of the Medical Staff of both the Army and Navy of the Confederacy made a most remarkable record during those trying days, a very small portion of which has been placed upon the printed page of history. Many of our comrades who were engaged in the same important and arduous duties as ourselves have "passed over the river." our ranks are being steadily depleted day by day, and there will soon be none left to add to the facts of the meager history of the unparallelled accomplishments and successes in hospital and field service. large amount of the reports, papers, documents, orders, etc., of the other departments of our Army and Navy fell into the hands of the Federal authorities at the evacuation of Richmond, which has been preserved, and much of it embodied in the publications of the National Government; but the destruction of the offices of our Surgeon General by fire at that time has left but little indeed to show what was done by the medical staff. A The preceding meetings of our association have been entertained by a limited number of valuable papers, the direct observations and experiences of some of our comrades, and it is respectfully requested and earnestly urged that each member of the association who possibly can, will prepare a paper, essay, or report of some special observation or experience connected with his medical and surgical work, giving the simple facts. The publication of the papers that have heretofore been submitted to the annual meetings of our association in the pages of its official organ, THE SOUTHERN PRACTITIONER, which are kept on file in a number of the permanent Public Libraries, places them in reach of the future historian. Can you not then, and will you not add something from your own field of experience and personal observation and submit it at the coming meeting? If you cannot be present, send a typewritten copy to my address and it will be either read in extenso - at the meeting, or by title, and will be published subsequently with the "proceedings" in the official organ of the association. Kindly act on this request promptly — at once, and as soon as your paper, essay, or report is ready, send it, or at least by or before April 10 prox., inform me by postal card or letter of its title, so that it may be placed on the programme of the meeting. Hoping to have the pleasure of seeing you at the next Re-Union, I desire to remain, with best wishes, and kind regards, Very truly and sincerely yours, DEERING J. ROBERTS, M. D., Secretary. 208 Sixth Ave., N., Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 1, 1906. Editorial. THE GREAT WHITE PLAGUE. We have devoted a large amount of our space in this number to the consideration of this very vital and most important subject, reproducing from two of our most valued exchanges articles of especial interest. Those of our many readers who have seen the article of Dr. Foster in the Johns Hopkins Bullettin, or that of Dr. Macfie in the London Lancet we know will bear with us in placing before others who have not been so fortunate the most excellent views and considerations of these gentlemen. With about one fourth of all the deaths, in round numbers, occurring from this most terrible disease, the major portion of its victims having just reached the threshold of active life and about to enter on its field of usefulness, many of them being unusually bright intellectually, and highly endowed with many important physical attributes of varied degree, rendering them of such inestimable value to relatives, friends, and the world at large, has at last began to attract that attention of the medical profession throughout all civilized countries, in a far more forcible and practical way than ever before, out of which we can sincerely and earnestly hope great good may come. About this time last year, as Secretary of the Tennessee State Medical Association, we arranged for a "Symposium" on Tuberculosis for the regular annual meeting of the Association, to be participated in by able and locally prominent gentlemen selected from the different professional and secular lines, and while a number of very able and valuable papers and addresses were presented, and it was a marked feature of the meeting, yet being disappointed by some who had promised to take a part being unable to do so, we sincerely hope that this subject of such vast importance to every medical man in the state and his entire clientele will again have consideration, and a full and free discussion at the coming meeting in April. The old ideas of hereditary transmission having passed away, we know now that tuberculosis is acquired or contracted just as are other infectious diseases, the only part played by inheritance being local environment and certain physical developments or want thereof that render one more liable, and less resistant to infection. From the leading editorial in the Lancet, from which was taken Dr. Macfie's article we quote: "We have learnt that a disease formerly regarded as inevitable and hopeless, is, to some extent at least, both preventable and curable. We say to some extent' advisedly, since we do not know that the extermination of the whole race of tubercle bacilli can be effected by any available means, and it is unfortunately true that with our present methods we cannot hope to cure all cases of the actual disease; hence it is well that the undue optimism aroused by premature assertions in either direction should be dissipated. But we have ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt that much can be done for both prevention and cure of the disease, and we know at least the elementary principles which should guide our efforts. As the great source of infection exists in the subjects of advanced pulmonary tuberculosis who constantly expel into the air particles teeming with virulent bacilli, we must aim at either isolation of such cases or at least such supervision as shall render them less dangerous to others. And the supervision must be coupled with instructions to the patient, for only with the patient's co-operation can real good be done. On the other hand, early cases of the malady can be arrested and some actually cured by being placed in healthy conditions amid a constant supply of fresh air and with plenty of nourishing food, and we must endeavor by all the means in our power to secure for our poorer classes, whose home conditions are defective in these respects, the provision of suitable institutions where they can be properly fed and treated. ... Dr. Macfie well points out, it is not only the treatment received in sanatoriums which is of importance; the education obtained by patients who undergo even a short period of such supervision is of incalculable value both in guiding them as to the course of life which they should in future lead and also in spreading through them to ever-widening circles of the population a knowledge of the principles of health.” "Every sufferer from tuberculosis," says the editorial, which we regret that want of space precludes full reproduction, "is a loss to the earning power of the nation, and the actual financial gain which may be reasonably anticipated from the adoption of measures calculated to enable a large number of such sufferers to return to productive employment warrants a great expenditure in the erection and management of the necessary institutions." While every practitioner of reasonable experience has seen cases of pulmonary tuberculosis recover under appropriate treatment, others obtain an arrest of the disease for variable lengths of time, yet such gratifying results are far more the outcome of hygiene, diet, rest, and education, than medication with drugs. Such results we can enlarge and materially increase; thereby are we doing much in the way of prevention. And although we may never succeed in sealing and closing all the sources of infection, yet the fewer they become, the greater the protection of all. A LONG HAIRED MAN AND TWO SHORT HAIRED WOMEN. In the early part of the month and year the Associated Press gave the information through the daily papers that one Charles Eliot Norton, of Cambridge, Mass., had joined forces with Miss Anne S. Hall, of Cincinnati and Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth, of almost anywhere, in their campaign for killing the hopelessly insane, incurably diseased, and victims of accidents, his views being expressed in a letter to the she Hall. Norton was at one time a professor of literature at Harvard. He was a friend of Lowell and Longfellow, and was associated with them in their noted translation of the "Divine Comedy." He headed his letter “An Appeal to Reason as Well as Compassion," and says:— "The principle that it is a duty to prolong every human life as long as possible, at whatever cost, has hitherto been generally accepted. Its main support has been the doctrine of the sacredness of human life. "The doctrine and the practice have both been pressed too far. There is no ground to hold every human life as inviolably sacred and to be preserved, no matter with what results to the individual or others. On the contrary, there are cases to which every reasonable consideration urges that the end should be put. Setting aside all doubtful cases, no right-thinking man would hesitate to give a dose of laudanum sufficient to end suffering and life together to the victims of an accident, from the torturing effects of which recovery is impossible, however many hours of misery might be added to conscious life by stimulants or surgical operations. "Nor should a reasonable man hesitate to hasten death in case of a mortal disease such, for example, as a cancer when it has reached the stage of incessant, severe pain, and when the patient desires to die. The prolongation of life in such cases by whatever means is mere criminal cruelty. "Or take another instance, that of an old person whose mind has become a chaos of wild imagination productive of constant distress not only to the sufferer but to all who live and attend him. The plain duty in such cases is not to prolong, but to shorten life. "It is not to be hoped that a superstition so deeply rooted in tradition as that of prolonging life at any cost will readily yield to arguments of reason or the pleadings of compassion, but the discussion of the subject in all its aspects may lead gradually to a more public opinion and the consequent relief of much misery." We have quoted in full the views advocated so far as we have been able to obtain them. After careful observation, from day to day, for any criticism or comment on such BRUTAL teaching, so far, we are gratified to state that we have only seen condemnation, either from professional or lay sources. Some few have treated it with a degree of levity; but it is far too serious, emanating from one who at one time at least occupied a high position in one of the highest institutions of learning in the land; and from one who by even a very brief association with such true lovers of mankind and humanity as Lowell and Longfellow, should have developed far more Christian-like feelings toward his fellowmen. While a few writers mostly of the class of pert reporters or "penny-a-liners" - have criticized the fearful suggestions in a somewhat flippant and jocular manner, the majority of the criticisms-and all we have seen from publications of any material standing and having the weight of editorial pronunciamento - have calmly but most positively condemned the suggestions. It is inhumane, barbarous, only in keeping with the actions of the very lowest types that have any pretensions to the "human form divine." It is not in accord with any of the teachings of the Old Testament that have ever been regarded as orthodox; and has never had the slightest place or even suggestion in the New. It has no place in the teachings of the Divine One who became very human indeed. Even the aboriginal savages of this great continent had a feeling of both pity and high respect for those so unfortunate as to be bereft of reason, and while they might have been savage indeed to their enemies, they in all cases of either tradition or record, were kind to their friends and relatives. Away with such a damnable idea! It could only have been born of selfishness and that of the most sordid character,— notwithstanding he tries to veil it under the divine name of "Compassion." Ah no! there is no compassion in such suggestions. that any disease is incurable, In nearly a half century of ablest, the most experienced, Medicine is not yet an exact Who has the authority or wisdom to say that any accidental traumatism is hopeless? daily experience, I have seen some of the time and again fail in their prognostications. science, and it is to be hoped that it will never so become, if it is ever to be prostituted to such base purposes. This poor, drivelling worm, a mere atom made of the dust of the earth, would set aside the divine command of an omnipotent and infinite |