grave. Then the absence of the yellow scourge will glorify him, and the multiplication of commerce will be the portion of others that will flow from the work of this patient, earnest, heroic man.

Though he died before the product of his penetrating mind could be fully appreciated he left a strong staff in the hand of science, elevated higher knowledge to a new sphere, and wiped a blot from the earth.

As above stated, $20,000 of the proposed $25,000 fund has been secured in the North and West. It would be an appropriate tribute to the memory of a noble son of the South for generous-hearted Southern people to contribute not only the $5,000 yet .needed, but by a liberal expression of their respect and appreciation, to extend the fund beyond the amount originally named. Contributions may be sent to Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., or to Dr. Daniel C. Gilman, 614 Park Avenue, Baltimore, Md.

ANTITOXIN TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA.

IN the opinion of almost all those who have studied the question apart from preconceived bias the treatment of diphtheria by antitoxin has passed beyond the stage of doubt as to its efficacy to the position of an established and approved therapeutic method. Voices from among the medical profession in this country or abroad raised against it are few and far between and attract little attention. That this attitude of confidence is justifiable can scarcely be doubted but it is possible to arrive at true conclusions on false premises and the opponents of all treatment by serums or preparations derived from living animals endeavor from time to tim to cast doubt upon the value of antitoxin by challenging the arguments which are sometimes brought forward to support it, just as they endeavored to combat the use of vaccination against small-pox by enlarging upon the error formerly committed by some of its supporters in maintaining that the protection conferred by one inoculation lasted unimpaired throughout life. It may be well, therefore, to consider the grounds of our confident belief in the efficacy of diphtheritic antitoxin. We may at once admit that it is practically impossible to judge of the efficacy of any remedy in individual cases, since surprising improvement may at any time occur in any sick person quite apart from the treatment adopted, and the tendency to ascribe such improvement to the last remedy employed, on the princple of post hoc ergo propter hoc, is universally recognized to be erroneous. It is only by comparing large numbers of cases treated according to one method with an equal number treated without the remedy under consideration that any weighty deduction can be made.

A word of warning is perhaps necessary in advocating the use of antitoxic serum in cases of diphtheria. There is undoubtedly a tendency at the present time to administer doses of this remedy very much larger

than was customary a few years ago. In many cases this proceeding is necessary to save the life of a patient already deeply intoxicated with the diphtherial poison. Here it is essential to act quickly and vigorously. But we must bear in mind that antitoxic serum, or indeed any serum derived from one of the lower animals, is not an inert substance. It is capable of giving rise in susceptible persons to constitutional disturbances which are sometimes severe and may possibly at times be even fatal. Just as in employing a poisonous drug as the physiological antidote to a poison we are careful not to produce another form of intoxication, so in treating diphtheria we must graduate the dose of antitoxin employed to the needs of the individual case. It is unfortunate that the requisite dose cannot be accurately measured but it should be recognized that in cases of moderate severity only moderate doses of serum should be at first employed. To repeat the injection in a few hours' time is easy; to withdraw what is once administered is impossible. Only in the presence of grave toxæmia should massive doses be at once employed. Then haste is imperative and some risk may be run to combat the greater danger already present.

ANOTHER PHASE OF THE PROPRIETARY QUESTION.-In Clinical Medicine we find the following, which is so much in accord with our own views that we deem comment unnecessary.

"There is at least one phase of the proprietary question which we believe has not been seriously considered, and that is, that while every effort is being made by some of our earnest and really conscientious, though misguided workers to destroy the faith of the profession in practically all remedies of this class, and to bring them into ridicule, practically nothing has been done to provide satisfactory substitutes for them, except to make the suggestion - an excellent one, too - that physicians should familiarize themselves with the official and semiofficial preparations contained in the Pharmacopoeia and National Formulary.

In making this suggestion they forget to add that a very large share of these "official" preparations are old proprietaries under other names. In other words, the great "reform" consists in the denunciation of such remedies as Antiphlogistine, Arsenauro, Bromidia, Lactopeptine, Fellows' Hypophosphites, Antikamnia, and Hayden's Viburnum Compound, while the use of practically the same things under other names is suggested or advised. In some instances the very formulas are used that proprietors have published or that analytical chemistry has elucidated.

There is a reason for the popularity of the proprietaries. Whether many of these were "wonderful discoveries" or not, they have enabled the average physician to secure results more satisfactory to himself and his patients than he was able to secure without them. Very, very few medical men are able to extemporize prescriptions which at the same time

are effective, palatable, and not uselessly polypharmacal. All doctors ought to be able to do this, but they are not - and whose fault is it? And even if they were, who but the sheerest crank would claim that he could properly write for, or the average druggist dispense, substitutes as elegant, as cheap, and withal so satisfactory as many of the best type of the proprietaries? It is best to look all these facts squarely in the face and be sensible in our conclusions."

THE SUMMER NUMBER OF The Quarterly Journal of Inebriety is a particularly notable issue of this always interesting and valuable publication. It has been greatly enlarged and its typographical appearance is exceptionally attractive. Among the leading articles in this number are:--"The Relation of Alcohol to Tuberculosis" by J. W. Grosvenor, M. D., "Physiological Action of Tea as a Beverage" by Sir Lander Brunton, M. D., “Morbid Predisposing Causes in Dipsomania" by W. L. Howard, M. D., “Reflexes from the Eye in Narcosomania" by T. H. Evans, M. D., "The Alcohol Cult" by John Madden, M. D., “Comparison of the Effects of Alcohol and Opium" by W. H. Park, M. D., and two articles by the editor Dr. T. D. Crothers, on "Unrecognized Toxic Insanities" and "Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women." Many pages of sound editorials, entertaining abstracts, book reviews and comments complete an issue that will prove of interest and value to every physician. -$2.00 a year.)

(Boston,

THE ATTENTION OF OUR readers is called to the advertisement of Robinson-Pettet Co., which will be found on advertising page 17 of this number. This house is one of long standing, and enjoys a reputation of the highest order.

The preparations referred to, we commend specially to the notice of practitioners.

ALWAYS A LEADER.-Vin Mariani has never been a follower, and has never been driven into set lines. It is unique, and stands alone. From its first inception it was planned upon purely ethical principles. It is a remedy prepared for the medical profession from substances not readily obtainable until presented in the agreeable form offered in this unique tonic. Without legislation to compel the truth it has always stood for precisely what it is represented, a blending of true Coca in a nutritious French wine, each half-litre bottle presenting the desirable medicinal constituents of two ounces of fresh Coca leaves. Imitators following upon the success of Vin Mariani have attempted to foist upon the profession so-called Coca-wines extemporaneously prepared from cocaine and cheap grades of wine. It has not required much investigation to prove their falsity and perniciousness, while every effort to malign this standard Coca preparation has invariably resulted in strengthening the vast testimony,

from every part of the world where medicine is practiced, which has voluntarily endorsed the integrity and usefulness of Vin Mariani.-The Coca Leaf, May, 1905.

ECTHOL is an agent that is gaining great popularity by reason of its wide range of usefulness. It contains the active principle of echinacea which is an old remedy. A recent number of the Chicago Year Book states that the prompt results gained from it have caused all writers to express themselves with such apparent extravagance as to really retard the introduction of this agent to the profession at large. In summing up, the statement is made that "it will yet establish for itself, by its inherent valuable therapeutic properties, with the entire profession a fixed and permanent place." Ecthol is anti-purulent and a corrector of all dyscrasia of the fluids. It is used locally and internally. The dose is a teaspoonful four to eight times daily. It is useful in septicemia and all case of blood poisoning from whatsoever cause. It is excellent for erysipelas, carbuncles, abscesses, boils, sores, ulcers, gangrene and as a gargle in diphtheria and putrid sore throat.-W. T. Marrs, M. D., in the Medical Summary.

TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR COUNTRY PRACTICE FOR SALE.- Eightyfive to ninety per cent. collectable. Competition limited. Location in "Fruit Belt" of West Tennessee. Nice home. Ten to one hundred acre farm. Good people, and but few transients. For full particulars, terms, etc., address, “J. C.," care of the SOUTHERN PRACTITIONER, 208 Sixth Ave., North, Nashville, Tenn.

SAUNDERS' NEW BOOKS.-Messrs. W. B. Saunders Company announce for publication in the early fall the following excellent and practical works:

Keen's "Surgery: Its Principles and Practice" (Volume I.), Sobotta and McMurrich's Human Anatomy" (Volume III.), Webster's "Text-book of Gynecology." Hill's "Histology and Organography," McConnell's Pathology," Morrow's "Immediate Care of the Injured," Stevenson's Photoscopy (Retinoscopy and Skiascopy)," Preiswerk and Warren's "Atlas of Dentistry," Goepp's "State Board Questions and Answers," Lusk's "Elements of Nutrition."

The most notable announcement is the new work on surgery, edited by Dr. W. W. Keen, complete in five octavo volumes, and containing over 1,500 original illustrations. The entire work is written by the leaders of modern surgery - men whose names are inseparably associated with the subjects upon which they have written. Without question, Keen's "Surgery" will represent the best surgical practice of to-day.

NEW ORLEANS POLYCLINIC.-The twentieth annual session opens November 5, 1906 and closes May 18, 1907. This school is intended for practitioners only. All instruction aims to be clinical and practical, and to this end, use will be made of the vast facilities offered at the great Charity Hospital, at the Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital and at the Special Clinics to be held at the Polyclinic.

Physicians in the interior, who, by reason of their isolation, have been deprived of all hospital facilities, will find the Polyclinic an excellent means for posting themselves upon the status of the science of medicine and surgery of the day.

Those desirous of perfecting themselves in any special department or of becoming familiar with the use of any of the allied branches, such as Electricity or Microscopy, will be afforded every facility.

For information address NEW ORLEANS POLYCLINIC, P. O. Box, 797, New Orleans, La.

MOSQUITO BITES.-The extraordinary plague of mosquitoes in New York last season, says Dr. J. E. Traub, Attending Physician at St. Luke's Hospital, led me to take up a series of investigations with a view to their alleviation. I found that a combination of the fixed aromatics, viz.: Menthol, thymol, etc., with alkalies gave quick relief. While looking for a combination of this nature, my attention was called to Tyree's Antiseptic Powder, a combination of Sodium Borate, Alum, Glycerin, Carbolic Acid, and the crystalline principles of Thyme, Eucalyptus, Gaultheria and Menthæ, which has the advantage over the extemporaneous mixtures of being always uniform, easily soluble and readily miscible with talcum without grittiness. When indicated as a dusting powder, a ten per cent. mixture of Tyree's Antiseptic Powder in talcum dusted on the exposed parts of the body will keep the mosquitoes at a safe distance, or a solution of one or two teaspoonfuls to a pint of water, forms an unsurpassed lotion for the same purpose. This liquid also sprayed about rooms will materially aid in keeping them away. The manufacturer of Tyree's Antiseptic Powder is to be congratulated in having in this preparation a specific for relief from these pests.

THE RUTHERFORD COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY met at the offices of Drs. Murfree, Murfreesboro, Wednesday afternoon at one o'clock, August 1, 1906.

Dr. J. B. Murfree Sr., conducted a quiz on the subject of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Liver.

An interesting case of liver disease was reported by Dr. Vernon K. Earthman and discussed by the members present.

The following members were in attendance at this meeting, viz. :Drs. D. C. Huff, V. K. Earthman, E. H. Jones, J. J. Rucker, H. C. Rees, W. C. Bilbro, J. B. Murfree Sr., President, and Rufus Pitts, Secretary.