When a man tells a friend the same story every time he meets him, and the meetings are often, he is voted a bore. But what shall we say when medical journals, in their original and abstract department as well, insert things that have been rehashed so many times for the instruction of undergraduate students, that they form chapters of standard text books. Every great medical journal and, of course, only the weeklies, can be considered in this category-should have enough men connected with the staff to prevent the endless repetition of subjects in their columns, very well known to everybody but the first or second year undergraduate. A strict oversight should be kept as to each article that appears. Those who do read our journals carefully I will find the sins of commission in this espect of elementary articles very great. There certainly will be no fewer journals; some will die as time goes on, but their places are quickly filled, and many times quantity takes the place of quality. The Post Graduate.-May.

Mrs. Jane L. Stanford has transferred to the Leland Stanford, Jr. University, deeds and bonds, stock and realty valued at thirty million dollars. This is the largest single gift every bestowed on any one institution of learning by anybody, so far as we are aware. This munificent gift places Stanford University in the first rank financially among the great universities of the world. Leland Stanford, Jr.

University, will undoubtedly, in the near future, be one of the greatest educational institutions in the United States, and will rank with Harvard, Johns Hopkins Pennsylvania, Chicago and Cornell Universities. The University has some 1,500 students, of whom about 500 are women. Many of the students come from other cities and foreign countries. Tuition is free to all students who can pass the entrance examination. It costs more than $1,000 a

day to run the great University, and President David Starr Jordan, one of the ablest Presidents in the United States, receives $10,000 a year.

According to Dr. Roger S. Tracy, in the Century Magazine, the expectation of life for males at birth has increased nearly four years during the last fifty years, owing to advances in medical and hygienic science; or, as we should say, to better nursing, less drugging, and more sanitation public and domestic.

Gibbes has succeeded in photographing the eruption of typhoid fever before it could either be seen or felt. He used autochromatic plates and made a number of exposures as quickly as possible. -Brit. Med. Jour.

W. C. Doane says that in typhoid fever, when the deafness is only on one side, the prognosis ought to be guarded; when the deafness occurs on both sides, the progno sis is favorable.

MEDICAL SENSE FROM BOSTON,

In the Boston Medical and Physical Journal, Dr. Brace W. Loomis mentions the following as essentials of sound therapeutics:

(1) Keeping in mind the tendency to self-limitations of pathological processes and the possibility of cure as a result of natural forces, never prescribe a remedy that will interfere with, or upset the conservative efforts of the organism. (2) Keep the problem of treatment as simple as possible by the exhibition of few remedies, well selected. (3) Pear in mind the

possibility of aggravating existing pathological conditions or introducing new ones, by injudicious or too heroic methods of treatment. (4) Remember that the benefit to be expected from remedies is generally offset or neutralized when a large number of remedies is exhibited at the same time. (5) Try to remove the cause -this presupposes a careful study of the case, rather than a hasty prescription for this, that or the other symptom. (6) Do not forget that most medicines are twoedged swords-if the medicine does no good it is likely to do harm. (7) Prescribe for conditions, not diseases. (8) When necessary, hit hard, but not too often. (9) Watch constantly for symptoms that may be the result of remedies prescribed for the relief of other symptoms. In order to become a therapeutist in the broad meaning of the term, years of experiment and observation at the bedside, in the consulting room, dispensary and hospital wards, are necessary.

May this brace or more become a million!

SOME HEALTH HINTS.

See that sleeping rooms are well sunned in the day time, and well ventilated in the night. Do not be afraid of night air. Fresh night air is better than stale day air. Avoid poorly ventilated rooms. The air in a crowded room is so much poison. -Health, like freedom, can only be preserved by exercise.-Eat nothing between meals. An old proverb says, "when you let the sunshine in, you drive the doctor out."-Use no drugs of any sort or description. Do not be afraid of water. Use it in quantity, inside and outside the body. To wash and be clean is as laudable to-day, as when uttered by Elisha centuries ago.-Walking is probably the best all around exercise known.- Look well to what you eat. Therein lie many of the ills of human life.-Real foods such as build brawn and brain, are too little used.-Eschew white bread as you would a pestilence. -Fresh, ripe fruits should be used wherever possible.

It is doubtful if any of nature's laws are

so disregarded as those concerning the foods we eat.

Live right, and no contagions can catch you.-Vaccination.

FRACTURE SUGGESTIONS.

Never apply a plaster splint to a compound fracture.

Treat the lacerations and contusions antiseptically.

The bandage is so applied that, while holding the bones, it does not cover the laceration.

It is a good rule to unbandage a fractured limb every two to five days, particularly a compound fracture; then wash and rub the limb thoroughly.

Ununited fracture comes more frequently from circulatory stasis than from movements of the fractured ends; then do not be so dreadfully afraid of possibly breaking adhesions when the splint is carefully removed.

A little massage will quickly compensate for a trifle of the disturbance of the fractured ends.

Every traumatism has its medical as well as surgical aspect; that's what's the matter with the man of one idea--the surgeon.

Above all, call frequently upon your fracture cases; and if they want the dressing or splints altered, try to oblige them, for that is what they pay you for.—Dr. Boynton, in Medical Journal.

HELPFUL IN DYSENTERY.

I wish to direct attention to the fact that the hot hip-bath greatly relieves the tormina and tenesmus so troublesome in dysenteric cases. It also undoubtedly contributes to the recovery of the patient. A small tub or large pan should be partly filled with water as hot as can be borne by the patient, and he should be directed to sit in the hot water each time that the bowels move. Let the discharges pass into the hot water. In most cases the relief will be pronounced. I have practised this method for years.-Dr. L. J. Woolen, in Southern Clinic.

People who have weak hearts should always have their principal meal in the middle of the day, and with as little water as possible.-Canada Med. Record.

SUNLIGHT.

Sunlight is a powerful stimulant to metabolism. It vitalizes the tissues and the process of waste and repair is much better performed under its influence.

Sunlight is a great preventive and check to disease. Houses should contain more windows, especially bay windows, on the sides whch catch the sun.

A small glass room, on the order of a conservatory for plants, would be of the greatest use. It should be properly heated, provided with a couch and other necessary articles of furniture, so that members of the family might enjoy the luxury of a sun-bath.

Nothing can compare in efficacy with he sun-bath for neurasthenics, rheumatic, neuralgic and anemic patients, catarrhal and tuberculous subjects, those who suffer from paralysis or a sclerosis of the nerve centers, the lymphatic or strumous, arthritic or scorbutic diatheses.

If the sun's rays are very powerful, as in midsummer, they may be softened by the interposition of stained glass or a pale green or yellow shade; but in the spring, from April to June-those who most need the action of sunlight will be able to take it direct.

The effects of the sun-bath will have to be watched and the exposure graduated to suit the individual patient's needs. A sun-bath should never exceed an hour's duration. If the patient is very nervous afterward, shorten the time of exposure; if that is not sufficient, soften the rays by interposing some medium of poor absorbing power.

It is well to shield the head with many patients, especially if the sun has reached or is nearing its zenith. Also, a cool compress may be applied to the forehead and back of head. As a rule, it is better to take a sun-bath before the sun gets so high-say between nine and eleven, or even earlier in midsummer.

The oblique rays seem to give the best results. The brain seems to exercise a sort of focusing power on sunlight which results in severe headaches, unless due precaution is taken. -The Medical Brief.

LITTLE BOY BLUE.

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and staunch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket molds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair,
And that was the time when our Little
Boy Blue

Kissed them and put them there. "Now, don't you go till I come,

66

" he said,

‘And don't you make any noise.”
So toddling off to his trundle bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys.
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue-
Oh, the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true.

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place;
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,

The smile of a little face.

And they wonder, as waiting these long years through

In the dust of that little chair, What has become of our Little Boy Blue Since he kissed them and put them there. -Engene Field.

F. A. Packard (Phila. Med. Jour.) says that before vaccinating a person the hands of the operator should be thoroughly scrubbed with soap and water and wet with alcohol or bichloride solution. The skin of the patient should likewise be made as nearly sterile as possible. Alcohol is the only antiseptic he knows which will not destroy the vaccinia. This should be used to scrub the skin, after which it should be dried with a clean towel or the alcohol allowed to evaporate. The author prefers a special scarifier, which may be kept in alcohol. The site preferred is the insertion of the deltoid on the arm. The leg may be selected, preference being giv

en to a joint just below the head of the fibula. Dr. Packard thinks many failures due to too free exudation of blood. In the ideal scarification there is simply a pinkish, rosy moisture. To protect the surface a shield is used, but it should not be such as to prevent free radiation of heat from the skin. It should not be kept on too long. After the specific lesion has formed it may be dressed with a boric acid or aristol ointment. If there is extensive cellulitis or edema a wet bichloride gauze dressing (1:3000) is applied.

PERCEPTION.

The doctor must cultivate the faculty of perception. All the learning in the world will be of small use to him without quick and true perceptions. Perception makes us realize the condition and need of each patient. It vitalizes our knowledge. Learning, alone, is a dead and useless thing, but perception introduces the living factor, which selects from its stores what is required to meet the demands of a given situation or case, and applies this knowledge advantageously.

The men in whom perception is best developed can not explain how they know a thing. They trust their intuitions and act upon them with results which justify their confidence. Such men are sometimes laughed at as quacks, claiming powers of clairvoyance which they do not possess. They are accused of snap-shot diagnosis, guessing instead of reasoning, by men of slower mental processes and duller understanding, who naturally resent anything which looks like superiority, and find it hard to believe in something foreign to their own experience. Nevertheless, a lightning-like perception and understanding of conditions is as much characteristic of some people as their features.

Most of us have seen doctors who would enter a sick room, run their eyes over the patient, sniff a little, and without further ado pronounce the trouble typhoid fever. If you question such a doctor, as the Editor

has done, he can not explain why he is so sure of his diagnosis. If you push him, he will get irritable and say: "Damn it, I know it is typhoid fever," and the sequel will prove him right.

The Indian and the trapper had perception so wonderfully developed, through an unconsciously acquired knowledge of woodcraft, that you could not lose them in the most impenetrable jungle, nor could they be ambushed. They could always tell what time it was, what the distance and direction from camp, how far from water, how near the haunts of animals, whether anyone was on their track, when weather changes were coming, and what would be their character.

A per

The dog can smell his way to his master, his home, game, food and water. Observation and perception go hand in hand the one feeding the other. son may be trained to observe carefully and to reason logically concerning his observations. When, in time, through carefully cultivated habit, his mind comes to perform these two processes skillfully, automatically, the result is perceptionan instantaneous realization.

The doctor can cultivate this power by perseverance and taking pains. Let him note the state of the patient's tongue, skin, pulse, expression, the quality of his flesh, etc.; ask himself what is the state of the system which they characterize, and what remedies will counteract or modify the pathological condition. In other words, what these symptoms indicate and what they call for.

Many years of doing this conscientiously will so develop perception and so organize the doctor's knowledge, that in time he will be able to read a patient at a glance, see just what is wrong and know out of his experience just what to do for him.

This most important of all powers in treating the sick, that into which all crude knowledge is finally resolved, defies the methods of State board examinations to test.-The Medical Brief.

THE AMERICAN ELECTRO-THERA

PEUTIC ASSOCIATION

Will hold their Annual Meeting at the Hotel Kaaterskill, Catskill Mountains, New York, on the 2d, 3d and 4th of September, 1902. Scientific papers, discussion, Local Excursions, Concerts, Balls, Banquet, Special Parlor Entertainments. Reduced rates to members, their families, and friends. Preliminary Program:

September 1st.-Excursion: Leave per Albany Day Line Boat, foot of West 22nd Street, at 9 a. m. 9 o'clock p. m, Kaaterskill Hotel, Executive Council meeting.

September 2d. Tuesday, 1st day :

8 o'clock a, m-Breakfast.

Westcott's Express checks trunks from house to Kaaterskill, on presentation of tickets without extra charge.

Members of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association can avail themselves of the special rate given by the hotel during this time.

For particulars write to Dr. Robert Newman, 101 West Soth Street, Chairman of Executive Council, or Dr. William Stevens, 70 West 52nd Street, New York, Secretary Committee of Arrangements.

The fifteenth annual meeting of the American Association of Orificial Surgeons will be held in Chicago, September 10th and 11th, 1902. A program is being made up of lectures and papers by the leading specialists and practitioners in rectal, genito-urinary and gynecological work, and in the treatment of all chronic diseases. The orificial surgeons are the workers in the great field of the reflexes and the profession generally is every day being brought closer to a realization of the fact that the reflexes play a most important part in the chronic manifestations of disease. Papers and discussions will cover the entire scope of the work, preparatory, operative and therapeutic, and the sessions will be of great benefit to all who attend.

H. C. ALDRICH, M. D., President,
Minneapolis, Minn.

RALPH ST. J. PERRY, M. D., Secretary,
Farmington, Minn.

The West Virginia Medical Society at its last meeting, in Wheeling, elected Dr. J. R McCleary, of Wellsburg, president. The society will meet the second Tuesday in October at Marietta, Ohio, in conjunction with the Ohio Valley Homeopathic Society.