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Cleveland

Medical and Surgical Reporter

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE CLEVELAND HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE,
53 BOLIVAR Street, ClevELAND, OHIO.

JAMES RICHEY HORNER, A. M., M. D., 275 Prospect St., Editor.
HUDSON D. BISHOP, M. D., 143 Euclid Ave., Managing Editor.

The subscription price of the REPORTER is $1.00 per annum in advance. Single copies 10 cents. The REPORTER is mailed on the 10th of each month, and all matter for publication must be in the hands of the editor by the 25th of the preceding month.

Reprints of original articles published in the REPORTER will be furnished authors at actual price of paper and press work.

If authors will furnish names, copies of the REPORTER containing their articles will be mailed free of charge (except to addresses in Cleveland) to the number of one hundred.

The REPORTER solicits original articles, news items of interest to the profession, short clinical reports and Society transactions. Books for review, manuscripts for publication, and all communications to the Editor should be addressed to J. Richey Horner, M. D., 275 Prospect St., Cleveland, O. Business communications regarding advertising rates, subscriptions, etc., should be addressed to Hudson D. Bishop, M. D., 143 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, O.

Vol. 10

JANUARY, 1902

No. 1

Editorial

Our New Dress and Name

Modestly we make our bow. The new year brings us to you in a new dress, and with a name which will bring recollections to many. Years ago-before the time of the writer-the Ohio Medical and Surgical Reporter lived for a number of years. It was bright and prosperous and did much towards stimulating the growth of the College. Why it was discontinued we do not know. For two years the Cleveland Homeopathic Reporter has been making bi-monthly visits and we are told has been a welcome visitor. The management decided to make a number of changes which might add to its attractiveness, and among others was the change of name. The union of the two names has resulted in the new one-The Cleveland

Medical and Surgical Reporter. We publish no "declaration of principles." Our allegiance is first and foremost to the great principles of Homeopathy, then to the College under whose auspices the journal is published. The advancement of the honor and glory of both shall be our aim.

We shall make our visits monthly, and the twelve issues will contain more than a dollar's worth of help for you. We have in our "stock box" enough papers to furnish you with thought for six months. We have gleaned from the Pennsylvania State Society, the Homeopathic Medical Societies of Cleveland, and of Eastern Ohio and of Northwestern Ohio. Our friends are legion, and assurances are given of their firm and

loyal support. We sound no appeal for your help that will come if we but make ourselves worthy, and our constant aim will be to reach this happy goal. We want to be necessary to you.. We want you to feel that you cannot "keep house" without us. Tell us what you want and see how nearly we approach your ideal as a medical magazine.

To all our readers we wish a happy, successful and prosperous New Year.

Ohio Entertains The
Institute

The American Institute of Homeopathy is a great body. The state of Ohio is a great state and Cleveland is its metropolis. The Homeopathic physicians of Cleveland number more than two hundred, and they will be directly the hosts of the coming meeting. This is the time if ever there was one-when all should get together. All factional differences should be forgotten. The hatchet which in the past has done such murderous work should be buried so deep that it can never be brought to the surface. The eyes of the entire world will be upon Cleveland, and what it may or may not do during the next six months will be indelibly written in history-written to the glory or the disgrace of Homeopathy.

* * *

Beyond the mere question of entertainment lies the question of new members. New York at Richfield Springs

set a mark which Ohio should have no difficulty in reaching. An absurdly small proportion of Ohio's Homeopathic physicians hold membership in the Institute. We are not going to give the exact figures-we don't want them known. Why should we not have three hundred applications for membership from our state? There is no reason. We are not going to give in extenso reasons why everyone should join-they are patent to every Homeopathic physician. A systematic canvass of the state should be made, and every eligible woman and man should be made to understand that it is not only a duty but a privilege to belong to this representative organization. Let every one of our readers seriously consider whether or not he or she can afford to remain an outsider. Write now to us for an application blank. We'll send it to you—then see your neighbor and bring him in.

And that makes us think of another point. Cleveland is simply 'ideal in June; not hot, not crowded, not tucked away on a mountain or on an island inaccessible and dead, not in need of advertising. If you never have been here we would advise you to come. It is the easiest city to reach you have ever visited, and there are numberless attractions here. The officers of the Institute will be prepared to care for two thousand people comfortably, inexpensively and well. Make up your mind to be one of them, and bring your wife and your daughters. The ladies will take care of them while you are burnishing up your

knowledge and giving it to your fellows. Make this meeting the best one ever held.

A City Bacteriological.

Laboratory

While it is better never late, still it is better late than never. The following explains itself:

CITY OF CLEVELAND DEPARTMENT OF POLICE DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH BACTERIOLOGICAL LABORATORY

Notice is hereby given that this laboratory will undertake the diagnosis by laboratory methods of suspected diphtheria, tubercu losis and typhoid fever when specimens from cases of the same are submitted by registered physicians of the City of Cleveland.

Specimens submitted for diagnosis must be sent in accordance with the methods prescribed by the department and accompanied by the data requested on the blanks furnished with each outfit. Separate outfits are furnished for the diphtheria culture test, the sputum in suspected tuberculosis, and the blood in suspected typhoid fever.

Full directions accompany each outfit. Specimens will be received through and reports sent to physicians only. This portion of the work of the laboratory is intended especially for the early and prompt diagnosis of certain cases of infectious diseases, in the interest of the public, the physicians and the Health Office, and will be extended as opportunity and necessity arise.

In addition to the diseases above mentioned, exudates of various kinds, including cerebro-spinal fluid from cases of meningitis, will be examined bacteriologically when sent in sterilized vessels.

This laboratory is in the hands of men who are most competent. First is Dr. Martin Friedrich, the Health Officer, who has proved himself to be thoroughly practical. Then comes Prof. W. T. Howard, jr., the City Bacteriologist, who is making for the laboratories of Western Reserve Medical College a reputation which is more than local.

His assistant is Mr. Clarence Selby, of whom the scientific world will hear more. Those who are interested have always thought with regret of the lack of enterprise displayed by the city officials in getting to the front in matters scientific this referring particularly to the Health Board and its operation. It would seem as though a new era has dawned and the Reporter hastens to extend its welcome, and its congratulations to the powers that be.

The Prevention of Tuberculosis

Progressive physicians of Ohio have found another field for usefulness. We call particular attention to the report in another column of the formation of the Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. While there is a question as to the degree to which tuberculosis is infectious, there is no question as to its being infectious. Hence all proper precautions should be taken. Nothing in the world has been accomplished by hap-hazard, unsystematic efforts. The best results come from work which is well directed and under the control of competent persons. The object of this society is, we take it, the education of the people up to the point where they will appreciate the danger of carelessness in their relation to this disease, and the procuring of the enactment of such laws as will be most helpful in establishing the proper public precautions. In the hands of the men who are its officers this organization should be capable of much good.

Public Cleanliness, Public Health and Public

Morals

The report made to the Chamber of Commerce by its Committee on Public Bath Houses is both interesting and instructive. The committee made a thorough study of the social conditions of the city. We append an excerpt from their report:

"In the Sixteenth ward, where a personal canvass was made, 1,394 families were found in 724 houses. For the total population of 7,728 persons there were eighty-three bath tubs in various states of use. The canvass also showed that throughout the ward the houses are crowded, in some cases as many as five on a lot. It was also found that many of the bath tubs coull not be used because the connections were bad or because the tub itself leaked. People in different parts of the ward expressed themselves as very anxious for the opening of a public bathing establishment-especially strong was this sentiment among the men. The clearest proof of the need is the fact that at the Jewish Alliance house, where a few public baths have been established, 1,400 a month were given at a charge of 5 cents for adults and 2 cents for children in a single month. The Hiram House Social settlement, which stands just outside this ward, finds its bathrooms used to their utmost capacity. The experience in Goodrich house and the Alta house, located among the Italians of the East End, substantiates the statement that public baths will be used to their limit when located conveniently for the people who need them most, and the assertion that the poor would rather go dirty than clean is utterly false.

"The most significant fact in connection with the canvass made by the Social Service club is the statement that 2,327 children are inhabitants of this district, subject to all the unhealthful environments of filth.

"We find that in other cities where public bathing conveniences have been provided the people in the vicinity have responded in several interesting ways-clean bodies demand clean clothing-and the appearance of the people has been improved. Clean

clothing leads naturally to a desire for neater, cleaner homes, hence the physical appearance of the neighborhood has been changed for the better. Cleaner homes improve the health of 'the community, hence mortality has been decreased. Naturally enough cleaner bodies, cleaner clothing, cleaner homes, better health has led to better morals and an improved citizenship."

There is a direct relationship between cleanliness and health. Modern surgery depends on absolute cleanliness rather than antisepsis. Hospitals are built with a view to their being readily cleaned. All the surroundings are of the simplest and plainest character in order that they may be easily accessible to the cleaner. The establishment of public bath houses means a long step in the right direction. An improvement in public morals would necessarily follow. The conclusions of the committee are justified by the results attained in other cities.

The City is Free From
Smallpox

The divorcing of the health department from politics had a most natural result. One year ago the danger of the outbreak of an extensive epidemic of smallpox was imminent. There was a large number of cases scattered throughout the city. The disease was constantly developing in new places, and our city was being rated as "dangerous" by other cities far and near. Then by a happy chance the Mayor appointed as Health Officer a man who had made a careful study of this dread disease and who was entirely outside of the political band wagon. He went to work in a reasonable, rational way. He organized

his army, armed them with fumigators, and sent them out to destroy the germs which had been bringing distress and death to the people. He divided the city into sections, making a careful study of those sections in which smallpox had been most prevalent. His men fumigated every house, whether or not smallpox had occurred in it, and what has been the result? Today the city is free from smallpox.

Much discussion has recently been made of the effect, evil or otherwise, of vaccination, of the tetanus which has resulted and the specific diseases which have been transmitted. To our mind the results which have followed the work of the Health Officer have relegated the question of vaccination to the background and in its stead we must consider cleanliness and fumigation. Dirt is the food upon which disease feeds. Germs cannot thrive where cleanliness prevails. It follows then, does it not, that diseases which owe their existence to the presence of germs should be fought first by making thoroughly clean their habitation, then by destroying them with the fumigator?

John A. Gann

"His whole life stood for those things that are good, and elevating, and noble."

Such is the eulogy bestowed by the editor of Wooster's daily paper upon John A. Gann. And this sentiment will be lovingly echoed by those who knew him intimately. He was a man of

equable poise, whose temperament and innate sense of justice were such as to permit him to consider both sides of any question with strict fairness.

Dr. Gann was born in 1848 at Waterford, N. Y., a son of James A. and Elizabeth A. Gann. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1871 and four years after this was superintendent of schools at Shelby, O., when he turned his attention to the study of medicine, graduating from the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College in 1877. He practiced for a few months in Berea, but went to Wooster the same year. He met with immediate success and in a very few years built up a large practice. He very soon became recognized not only by his fellow citizens of Wooster, but by his professional brethren throughout the state as a man of great executive ability, whose word was to be taken as authority. He became a very prominent member, and for one year president, of the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical Society, where his many papers evinced a scholarly mind whose training had been such as to fit him for considering problems more than usually complex. Through all the years of his membership of the State Society, and he attended nearly all its meetings, he was most prominent as one of the advisers as to its general policy. He was always in favor of peace, and this trait was very strongly shown in the efforts he made to prevent a dissolution of the College faculty in 1890. He wrote to those on both sides of the controversy in a vain endeavor to find some middle

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