Ovarian Cyst Complicating Pregnancy. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Dr. John Russell Smith's case in the July WORLD was managed O. K. All I write for now is to draw the attention of the profession to a remark of Dr. Lussier in the June number of the Brief; that the left ovary furnishes male ova, and the right female. This case of Dr. Smith's would seem to refute Dr. Lussier's theory; for the left ovary was so diseased that it could furnish no ova, consequently the right ovary furnisht the ovum, and the product was a male, when, according to Dr. Lussier's theory, it should have been a female. I would urge that all physicians in similar cases would note the sex of the offspring that they might prove or disprove the truth of the aforesaid theory. East Aurora, N. Y. SILAS HUBBARD, M.D. Exterminate Vile Nostrums. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I note with satisfaction the interest taken, and excellent work you are doing in an effort to suppress fraudulent advertisement and sale of bad whiskey and dangerous narcotic poisons as patent and proprietary medicins. When the infamous business can secure the aid of leading newspapers and religious (?) journals, when preachers will allow their pictures and signatures to go out to the general public recommending "rot gut " "rot gut" whiskey and other vile and dangerous poisons, it is time the medical profession were doing something to protect the afflicted. It is well known by these vampires that the sick will pay any price and take any thing that the newspapers and preachers recommend. To counteract this godless infamy is the work of the common school, the medical press and medical profession, and we can do it. Now as to plan; here it is: Let the medical men in every congressional district in each State take the matter up with their congressman and United States senators. Five to ten thousand physicians in each State, resolutely demanding a thing so confessedly right and so unmistakably in the interest of the common people, will not be turned down. Let us get right at it. At the next meeting of your county, dis trict or State society (whichever comes first) have a petition ready for each member, asking candidates for Congress and senators to give their voice and vote in support of Congressman Webb's bill. Let the doctor head the list. Take the petition to your office and secure the names of every man that comes in for one month. Go out and see some leading men and get their signatures, and then when this work is completed, have a meeting, appoint a good strong committee to take the petition to your candidate for Congress, and talk some business to him. He will not ignore you. Muncie, Ind. W. A. SPURGEON. Test for Formaldehyde in Milk. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-If "Arizona,' page 218, will take a little sulfate of soda ard place in the bottom of a test tube and cover this over with a suspected milk, and then pour a little sulfuric acid on it, if there is any formaldehyde in the milk he will see a purple line. H. B. BLYSTONE, M.D. Columbus, Ohio. Examination Questions. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I am a reader of your excellent journal and have read carefully the examination questions of the different states publisht by you, and the Vermont examination is by far the most rational that I have ever read. Most examinations gotten up by the different boards I will bet ten to one they could not pass themselves. Plain practical questions are the only sensible ones for any board to present to aspirants. We want plain practical men in the field of medicin, not theorists with technicalities sticking out of their ears, who could not diagnose a case to save their lives. There is no harm in knowing all that is possible to know, but there is just so much that you can utilize, and the rest, if you try to retain it, will impede your progress in becoming useful in your profession. Then why not get down to such questions that will help the young brother on his very dangerous and difficult road? I have been on that road 32 years and often I had to say to theory, "stand aside;" "common sense, walk in and help me out or I am a goner." And often he could not get in; no room; my brain pan was full of such as I see poked at the man that is up for examination nowadays, and I had to live those ideas down before I could think scientifically. Some older brother would come along and straighten me out. I would say, "the book and the professor said so and so ;' he would reply, "that is correct, but Doctor do not confine yourself too close to theory; you have plain practical common sense; use The Curability of Goiter, or Derbyshire Neck, with Mild Medicins. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-With the etiology, morbid anatomy, pathology and diagnosis of goiter and exopthalmic goiter I take it for granted that every reader of the MEDICAL WORLD is familiar. The disease is certainly very common. "Indiana," on page 262 of the June WORLD, confesses to having prescribed iodid of potassium internally, oxid of mercury and ichthyol externally, and also thyroid extract with but little if any benefit to his patients. He is only one of the many. Here in Jersey City I see and treat successfully many cases of goiter and exophthalmic goiter. I do it slowly but surely. My patients are pleased and pay me and I am satisfied. What I am doing here any physician can do anywhere on the face of the globe. I find, on referring to my books, that the remedies I use principally in the treatment and cure of goiter are: Iodium, 30. 2. Spongia tosta, 3x. 3. Fluoric acid, 6x. 4. Calcarea carb., 3x. That's all. Seldom do I have to have recourse to the use of digitalis and belladonna, 6. I. Iodium.-Many of my cases of simple goiter respond nicely to iodium 30, a 4 gr. powder night and morning when the moon filled and was waning. How simple! Laugh if you will-doubt if you have a mind to-but if you are an earnest investigator and seeker after truth try it for yourself and be convinced. Now then, note that the goiter sufferer is of a scrofulous diathesis and iodium may be called the king of anti-scrofulous remedies. It acts like a charm in the cure of simple, recent, and soft goiter which depends on unabsorbed secretions. Only occasionally I am called upon to treat a case of cystic goiter, when I use as an adjuvant a salve composed of 2 drams of iodin to 2 oz. of some good base applied locally at the same time. But on the whole I agree with Nash and others that the local application for glandular enlargement is foolish, dangerous, and unnecessary. Calcarea Carbonica 3x.-Not the chalk or marble of the corner drug store, but the soft white substance found between the outer and inner hard layers of the oyster-shell. It is a wonder-worker. If iodium is the king of the anti-scrofulous remedies, then surely Calc. carb. is the queen. To me it is an invaluable medicin. Dr. Hughes says the swelling of the thyroid is so intimately connected with scrofula that its former name, struma, has been applied to the diathesis. He gives three cases of the disease, all simple hypertrophies, cured by this wonder-working drug. Spongia Tosta. 3x.-Roasted sponge. I do not know why, but I find that when iodium is seemingly tardy in its action I can, as it were, whip it into line by the alternation of this remedy; in fact, Vogt, a modern therapeutist, declares it (spongia) will often cure when Iodium fails. Dr. P. Jousset of France recommends the giving of Iodium and Spongia tosta in alternation-one month of each. If amelioration follows the use of one of these drugs, use it singly. Fluoric Acid 6x.-In the Lancet for 1881 (1,497) Dr. Woakes relates twenty cases of goitre treated by him with this acid of which 17 were cured. He explains his use of it by pointing to the analogy of fluorin with iodin and bromin, both of which have proved antigoitrous remedies; so that he was induced to try this near relativ and with the above success. As the Editor of THE WORLD says in his advice to "Indiana," you must learn to treat the case symptomatically, and I would add, you must learn the science of the powers and effects of these wonder-working medicins that you would call to your aid in the treatment of goiter or any other disease. BAILIE BROWN, A.B., M.D., For benefit of "Indiana," June WORLD, page 262, and others, will say I have treated a number of cases of goiter, always successfully, with drugs, mostly internally; one, a very pronounced case of exophthalmos, I will report: Mrs. E. B., aged 20, called March, 1901. Gave her capsules of pot. iodid, digitalin, and ergotin, which she used awhile. Then she went to a doctor ten miles away. He gave electrical treatments once a week and medicin. The exacerbations or attacks of fever, diarrhea and extreme weakness I was called to treat at bedside. These occurred about once in three weeks, then more often till in course of a year, weekly. I usually gave her soda salicylate, veratrum viride and digitalis, using Merrill's normal tinctures. She grew worse, was too weak to mount steps unaided, weight seventy-one pounds, very nervous and excitable, eyes protruding, hair faded, monthlies ceast. This was in May, 1902. I told her she must either go and let her other physician treat her or let me do so; that the exertion and excitement of going ten miles hurt her more than treatment benefited. I told her husband if they would allow me full charge of the case I could do as much good as any sanitarium, as she would be better satisfied at home. They agreed to do as I said, she to take the "worst medicin I could make. I put her on following: M. Sig.-Teaspoonful in one-half teacup of water four times a day. When the spells of fever, vomiting, purging, etc., came on, I discontinued this and gave her soda salicylate, veratrum viride and digitalis. Then, as soon as fever left and she could eat, back on No. 1. I left out the digitalis some weeks and added Fowler's solution 3j instead; then I used both or all. The fever spells came less often and less severe, and she gained in weight till by October, 1902, she weighed one hundred and five pounds. She took medicin another month and has been well ever since, strong and plump, eyes bright, and hair color all as before; no symptoms of goiter or exophthalmos. I used no electricity or external applications, tho I had a good table plate and treatment outfit; galvanic and faradic. Always Read the Contract. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Do you know any thing of the "International Credit Union," McCague Building, Omaha, Neb. ? A representativ of theirs called on me soliciting old accounts for collection-and the contract he wanted me to sign was suspiciously like that of the Comstock outfit which I had read in THE WORLD. I refused to do business with him. He would not permit me to retain a blank contract for future reference, saying he had none to spare. The wording is very similar, even to the $36. to be paid in default of sending 30 accounts. I may have been saved $36. by reading THE WORLD; but of course, this company may be all right. Sutton, Nebr. H. H. Schultz, M.D. [Always read the contract, as this doctor did, and if the terms don't suit you, don't sign it. Is this the Comstock concern in a new place, or under a new name? or is it a branch of the Comstock, but under another name? or has another company been organized to work the doctors along the same line? Perhaps they get many of them-those who do not read THE WORLD. Suppose we save you $36., as we saved to Dr. Schultz, in the above instance; how long would that pay for THE WORLD? It is $3. for 4 years, and there are 12 threes in 36; so $36. would pay for THE WORLD 12 times 4 years 48 years. Few doctors live to practice that long. You can thus see what a good investment THE WORLD is along just this line alone. Those who haven't done so, please send in $3. for the first installment of 4 years. -ED.] Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Your exposé of Comstock Collection Agency was worth $20. to me. They got me for that amount for breaking their contract and collecting. I wrote to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, and in a week there was $20. for me at the express office. E. H. BRANDT. Cappeln, Mo. A Sore Victim Consoled. DR. TAYLOR :-I am one of the victims of a collection agency (the C. C. A.). Today a friend of mine, THE MEDICAL WORLD, arrived at my office and as we were engaged in a friendly chat, a man entered the room and announced himself as Agent for the International Collection Agency of etc., etc. I said: "Here is a medical journal, THE MEDICAL WORLD, printed in Philadelphia. Ever read it? 'Tis a favorit with thousands of M. D's. The next doctor you visit, ask him if he takes THE WORLD; and if he does, work him with a clear conscience (if you have one), for he knows better than to negotiate any business with you. And now, my friend, you may understand why the space you occupy in this office is more welcome to me than your presence." And he went, and THE WORLD seemed to nod approval. O. C. HAMMOND. Heuvelton, N. Y. [The doctor writes, "If you see fit to print this, I hope it may console some other sore brother as the incident consoled me." Yes, it is a consolation to get our eyes open, and be able to prove it by actually resisting temptation. It is not a pleasant job to spoil the pretty games of others, but it is a pleasant job to serve the interests of the medical profession. The calling of the true medical man is so far removed from the "slick" commercialism o the age that the doctor becomes an easy victim to those who get at him with their schemes; hence it seems to pay to send agents-"slick ones-around to see doctors personally. We hope that this does not pay now as well as it formerly did. We have been doing all we could to put the doctor on his guard; and if he does not subscribe for and read THE MEDICAL WORLD it is not our fault.- ED.] My Dear DR. TAYLOR:-Inclosed find $1.00 for your worthy journal, which I gladly pay. The June number lies before me, and I notice it is getting rather warm for the Medical Brief and "Christian Hospital." I was a subscriber for the Brief only one year; quit it on account of its almanac feature. As to the "Christian Hospital," I received their literature while I lived in Nebraska-a couple of years ago, offering me membership and diploma for $25. I took it as an insult and threw the offensiv mass into the wastebasket. It will probably be interesting to you to hear that one of the "faculty" of the "Christian Hospital" has been operating in this part of the country. Not in the form of a hospital, however, but a bank. Seven miles from here is a little town by the name of Dayton, which is represented by every business except a bank. One day last winter a man by the name of Arthur Probert came to that town and offered to start a bank, claiming to have $25,000 capital. He got a number of wealthy merchants and farmers interested in it and appointed them as directors, and the bank was organized. However, he failed to produce his $25,000 and the people became suspicious. Finally the directors received warning letters from the East stating that Mr. Probert was a fraud; that he had been connected with a St. Lukes Hospital in Michigan, and also with the "Christian Hospital" in Chicago; and that he had served two years in the Waupun penitentiary. All these charges, when brought before him, he admitted, but he said he came out here to live his record down. Soon after these charges Mr. Probert disappeared, taking with him all the monies that were deposited in said bank. That this was the same man I concluded by reading a letter from Dr. Murphy to you which was publisht in the July World, 1903. I thought perhaps it might help you to show the profession of what kind of men their "staff" consists. Trusting your good work will go on, I am yours truly. McMinnville, Ore. J. H. JESSEN, M. D. [One of the reduced sample certificates of the "Christian Hospital" is now before me. Probert's name, with M. D., D. D. S., Ph. D., LL.D. following it, is given among the "faculty," and he is also announced as vice-president.-ED.] Later I wrote to the postmaster at Dayton, Ore., asking him to refer me to parties who knew the particulars of this matter, and I received the following: DAYTON, OREGON, July 7, 1904. C. F. TAYLOR, Philadelphia, Pa. Dear Sir:-Yours of June 30th to our postmaster has been handed me for answer, and in reply will say: A man by the name of Arthur C. Probert came to our town last winter and started a bank, and made statements to the effect that he had $25,000 in cash. He surely left suddenly and mysteriously, and a few dollars of our money went along. If I can be of any further service to you let me know. Drug Store and Colorado Talk. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I find the laity have been educated unconsciously by the physicians to regard the man who compounds the medicin with as much or greater respect than the physician himself. The patient who receives a bottle of proprietary stuff, covered with labels and other reading matter for a prescription thinks he ought to have got it without a prescription, which he finds he can do at any subsequent time he or his friends call for it, and Othello, or in this case the doctor, finds his occupation gone and wonders thereat. A few evenings ago a young man came into a drug store and askt for Q. X. & Co.'s antiseptic tablets. They are "ethpharmacal and only to be dispenst on a prescription, but he got them just the same, and his case should have required a $10. interview with a doctor. He simply bought 25 cents worth on the recommendation of the remedy by a friend, to begin treatment upon himself. Opium and camphor are good for afterpains. I have a work written 130 years ago which advocates those remedies, but I find equal parts of black haw, cramp bark and helonias diocia, if the pains are crampy, "just as good." If the pain is steady and severe I use 3 grain acetanilid tablets upon which I have put 4 drops each of one x nux vomica to hold up the heart. My patients are not bothered much with after-pains, and I have never used ergot and never carry it. I use A. C. E. mixture as an anesthetic and don't worry over the heart. Nine-tenths of the surgical shock cases are simply chloroform narcosis. If Dr. T. M. Lippitt will write to B. Keith & Co., chemists, New York City and send $1.25 for a copy of Grover Coe's concentrated medicins, he will learn about myrica cerifera and many other remedies which certain old time hide-bound regulars are just beginning to know about. The first edition was in 1842, and it is not a long time ago when many of the remedies mentioned therein were strangers to all but eclectics. The doctor in Salt Lake who likes to build up a practise, I should suppose was in the right place to keep at it. Cities in the mountains have a constantly shifting population. Twenty of my best customers went to the beet fields last spring (1903) and others to the mountains. This year there is another exodus, and as I am near a parochial church, the places of Americans are filled by Italians and their patronage is very light. The doctor on the next corner gives them a squirt of morphin once in a while, and no one knows who takes care of the obstetric cases. A. D. Ayer, M.D., Conn.: In Eclectic Medical Journal, 1876, August or September issue, Professor John M. Scudder said "charcoal and water injected into the rectum will stop hemorrhage of the bowels. Why it stops it I don't know, but that it does stop it I do know." While the remedy will not help in the case he mentioned, it may help him or some one else in the future. Dr. Sprague complains of Colorado and the mountain region generally for consumptivs. The fact must be recognized that their chances of recovery are almost nil in the East, while here the altitude compels them to breathe deeply of the dry air; consequently, a large percent get well. The one who comes here to make a business of getting well, who feels that he is an "exile," mixes with other lungers, takes his own temperature several times per day, eats nonnutritious food, "can't eat this, don't like that," takes cold plunges and cold packs to absorb what little vitality he has, must expect to die. There is no specific for the disease, but ordinary donkey sense regarding food and surroundings and medicin to suit each individual case, to act as tonics and ameliorate the cough will do wonders. I have watcht the disease in all its phases in Colorado: 1878-1884, 1888-1890, 1898 to present time, and find the one who works, stops worrying, and does not feel exiled, will get well if there is a ghost of a show. Denver stands between the calks of an immense mountain horseshoe, formed by Long's Peak north seventy-five miles, Pike's Peak south seventy-five miles, the continental range-the toe of the shoe-west ninety miles. This large mountain ellipse breaks up the well-defined storm centers coming from the northwest, and we seldom have long periods of bad or cold weather. The foot-hills are fourteen miles west of Denver, so we do not get as much cold, snow, or fog as west of the Hogback, which extends from Long's Peak south .to Pike's Peak almost straight line. The proximity of Pike's Peak to Colorado Springs cuts off some of the sunshine, while the altitude causes deeper inspirations, which are beneficial. Pueblo, which is forty-five miles from foot of Pike's Peak and one thousand feet lower than Denver, also one hundred and nineteen miles south, is subject to sudden changes of temperature; a fall of twenty degrees in forty minutes sometimes occurs during May and June. The water is alkalin, and this, coupled with the great heat when it is warm, makes it undesirsirable for lungers. Denver, Col. SHERMAN D. LUM, M.D. Methylene blue is a nerve sedativ, especially valuable in insanity. It begins to act three or four hours after ingestion and continues its effects for fifteen or twenty hours. It does not produce depression afterwards. The Hygienic Management of Phthisical Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-The phthisical patient going west for climatic treatment should be definitly advised as to where to go. Unless in an advanced stage, the plateau region of the middle Rockies, in Colorado, Utah or Wyoming, is the best place for him. The individual must be considered in deciding upon the particular town or locality. Most people will be more comfortable and will do better in the larger towns or possibly even in the cities, tho cities with factories and smelters should be avoided because of the smoke and dust. The larger towns are preferable because here can be found the best boarding-houses and hotels. Some people from farms, and others heretofore living in cities but of a mental make-up that will not become discontented and fretful at the want of a few accustomed comforts, may be sent to small towns or even to country life on a ranch. Wherever they go, they should have good food, well cookt. good food, well cookt. Before leaving home they should be carefully instructed as to what constitutes good food; and no patient should stay in a boarding-house where he cannot get proper diet. This point should be emphasized. No one with tuberculosis should stay where the table is not good. And this is the objection to most ranches. The diet that is suitable for the ranch hands is not suitable for one in a tuberculous condition. Along with the diet, the water should be considered, and the condition of the atmosphere. Good food, good water and good air are the trio that make for good health. The patient with diseased lungs should not stay in a dust-laden atmosphere, nor where good water cannot be obtained. Having emphasized the need of finding these three in a pure, abundant supply, the physician should carefully instruct the patient as to how to use them. Α Even the medical profession will take up fads and be swayed by popular breezes. stuffing diet has been one of the recent popular fads, and tubercular patients without number have tried to take each day "a dozen raw eggs, one-half gallon of milk, besides plenty of well-cookt vegetables, some bread, lots of fruit and a good piece of steak or roast with each meal." The plan is to take three good meals each day and to use the dozen eggs and two or three quarts of milk in addition. Few people can endure such a stuffing process. the tuberculous subject undertakes it at all, it should be only under the daily careful supervision of a physician who will administer digestivs, correctivs and laxativs, or stop the whole stuffing process, as indicated. It is not a simple harmless process, that of cramming If |