Bishop had a clinic on genito-urinary and rectal surgery; at 2 o'clock Prof. G. J. Jones one on general medicine and diagnosis; at 3 o'clock Prof. B. B. Viets one on eye and ear, with two operations; at 3:30 Prof. George H. Quay one on nose and throat, with two operations, and at 4 o'clock Prof. J. Richey Horner one on neurology, with the presentation of a very interesting case. To these clinics were invited all the visiting members of the fraternity, together with all the students of the College, and the faculty. It certainly is a good thing for the College in more ways than one that these facilities should be utilized in the work outside of routine lectures and classes.

Materia Medica Notes

CLINICAL MEDICINE.

Digitalis is homeopathic to the later stages of weak heart. It lowers peripheral resistance. The pulse is weak and fluttering, there is anxiety and oppression; the "heart seems to stand still."

Spigelia covers neuralgic and painful inflammatory affections of the heart; is the best remedy (after aconite) for acute inflammation. of the heart; it has the most violent and painful palpitation, tumultuous action and dyspnea. The pains are often synchronous with the heart beat, may radiate to the back, through the chest or into the arm. There is a sense of trembling and purring in the heart.

Naja usually covers more advanced stages than spigelia; there is pain, more or less fluttering, and a tremulous feeling. Its characteristic symptom is a dry teazing cough. (Lach.) Angina with great loss of breath. Palpitation and pain reflex from the ovaries. (Lil. tig.) There may be damage by acute inflammation or even hypertrophy. Its effects are more permanent than those of digitalis, but it is not so immediate a tonic.

Spongia wakes at night with sudden suffocation, cough, orthopnea; violent palpitation, livid lips, fear of death.

Alcohol, if in doses large enough to affect the heart, depresses it. For a direct action on the tissues there must be %% of alcohol in the blood. Small dilute doses, 20-60 drops, of alcohol have no stimulating action upon the heart or blood vessels. One authority asserts that alcohol stimulates the nervous system by lowering the sense of pain. A moderate dose diminishes the frequency and increases the force of the pulse, makes more complete the contraction of ventricles and arterioles, increases blood pressure. Alcohol is a rapid diffuse stimulant and a bactericide.

Glonoine is a quicker cardiac stimulant than strychnin; is good in collapse, faint or cardiac-spasm. It lowers the blood pressure.

Strychnia stimulates the cardiac muscle directly, and arterial pressure rises. Its use is not followed by depression; in this it differs from the others.

Cactus is best for nervous irritability, in the earlier stages before failure of compensation; the pulse is rarely thready. Functional troubles, may be from indigestion. There is palpitation, dyspnea, and the characteristic sense of constriction. -N. A. J. of Hom.

ANTIMONIUM CRUDUM.

Dr. W. E. Wright writes as follows in the Recorder: This is one of our old drugs that, while well known to good homoeopaths, should receive more general use in practice, especially this time of year. Like Bryonia, it is a "hot weather" remedy, and, in fact, aggravation from any kind of heat, but especially of the sun. Second, note aggravation from water and hence bathers who have been injudicious and whose complaints date from time of bathing. Also, remember children who do not wish to be bathed. Third, remember, of all the remedies, this one has "the whitest tongue" as key-note in materia medica. If you are called to see baby and find it will not allow you to come near without crying, is peevish, fretful, irritable, and white tongue, and white curds in stool, try this drug. Though you may be skeptical about high potencies, try this drug high (B. & T.) for corns and callosities. Note in conclusion that this drug should be borne in mind for the extremes of life, with children and old persons.

RELATION OF DIPHTHERIA ANTITOXIN TO HOMEOPATHY.

It is self-evident that for an antitoxin to be homœopathic to a condition produced by a toxin, it is necessary for the antitoxin shall have the power to produce in the healthy organism a condition similar to that which has been produced by the toxin. It has not been demonstrated that anti-bodies are capable of doing this. Furthermore, it is improbable-not to say impossible-that such power could equally belong to both toxin and antitoxin; for, if this were true, then it would be immaterial which should be used for therapeutic purposes, for each could be trusted to produce the same effect. In other words, a toxin. and its antitoxin would be pathogenetically identical, and this we know is not the case. While the foregoing proves nothing, it is suggestive of the fact that we may regard the claim that antitoxin is homœopathic to diphtheria, as unsustained.

-Eldridge C. Price, M. D., in N. A. Journal of Hom.

Among the Journals.

NEW SCIENtific facts SUPPORTING a nonFLESH REGIME.

One of the arguments which has been constantly urged in favor of a flesh dietary, is that vegetable foods are imperfectly assimilated, leaving behind a larger residue than flesh foods. It may well be questioned whether this statement, if true, would involve any objection to a nonflesh dietary; for it is essential that the alimentary mass should have a certain bulk in order to stimulate proper peristaltic activity. However, so much has been made of this point, it is of interest to note that recent observations show that the statement is untrue, and that its seeming basis was the result of inaccurate observation.

Max Rubner, who is recognized as one of the very highest living authorities on questions of diet, has recently published the results of a series of carefully conducted observations (Zeitschrift für Biologie) for the purpose of determining the comparative amount of waste in different food substances. The subject of the experiment was placed upon an exclusive diet consisting of the following substances: meat, bread, milk, potatoes, graham bread. The experiments show that the potato was the most perfectly assimilated of all. Flesh was found near the end of the list, the only substance containing a larger amount of waste material being graham bread, or bran bread, as it was called. by the investigator. The relative proportion of nutrient material absorbed from these several foods is shown in the accompanying table:

From the foregoing, it appears that more than nine-tenths of the potato is digested and absorbed, while little more than three-fourths of the flesh food is utilized. It should be explained, however, that in these experiments the investigator took into account a factor which has heretofore been overlooked; namely, the waste which occurs through the kidneys. Meat contains a large amount of watery matter, which, although it is absorbed, cannot be utilized. This manifests itself in the urine in the form of urea, uric acid, and other excretory substances. When these are taken into account, meat is found to be one of the most wasteful of foods, far inferior to ordinary bread. Besides, it imposes upon the body the task of absorbing, circulating,

and removing through the kidneys, a large amount of unusable and more or less poisonous execretory substances.

These observations of Rubner thoroughly explode another one of the few quasi scientific objections which have been brought against the nonflesh regimen. The practice of flesh-eating is so strongly intrenched in long-established custom, it is by no means easy to secure recognition of the claims of the natural regimen which was the diet of primitive man, and which has been shown by the experience of hundreds, and even thousands, to be capable of sustaining life and health in their highest development, in modern as well as in ancient times. It is interesting to note that throughout the civilized world there is an increasing number of intelligent men and women who are giving careful thought to this question, and who are being led to change their dietetic habits and to bring them into harmony with the natural and with the divine order.-Good Health.

WHY MEN DIE.

It has been said that few men die of old age, and that almost all persons die of disappointment, personal, mental, or bodily toil, or accident. The passions kill men sometimes even suddenly. The common expression, "choked with rage," has little exaggeration in it, for even though not suddenly fatal, strong passions shorten life. Strongbodied men often die young, weak men live longer than the strong, for the strong use their strength, and the weak have none to usethe latter take care of themselves, the former do not. As it is with the body so it is with the mind and the temper; the strong are apt to break, or, like the candle, run; the weak burn out. The inferior animals, which live temperate lives, have generally their prescribed term of years. Thus the horse lives twenty-five years, the ox fifteen to twenty, the lion about twenty, the hog ten or twelve, the rabbit eight, the guinea pig six or seven. The numbers all bear proportion to the time the animal takes to grow to its full size. But man, of all animals, is one that seldom comes up to the average. He ought to live a hundred years, according to the physiological law, for five times twenty are one hundred; but instead of that, he scarcely reaches an average of four times the growing period. The reason is obviousman is not only the most irregular and most intemperate, but the most laborious and hard-working of all animals. He is always the most irritable, and there is reason to believe, though we cannot tell what an animal secretly feels, that, more than any other animal, man cherishes wrath to keep it warm, and consumes himself with the fire of his own reflections.-Health Culture.

SAUNDERS QUESTION COMPENDS.

ESSENTIALS OF ANATOMY; including the Anatomy of the Viscera By Charles B. Nancrede, M. D., Professor of Surgery and Clinical Surgery in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Seventh Edition, Thoroughly Revised. 12mo volume of 419 pages, fully illustrated. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1904. Cloth, $1.00 net.

The seventh edition of this very popular book shows the careful work of the author. New ideas in relation to the various symptoms have been incorporated and the chapter on the nervous system has been entirely rewritten. It is a book which will be of great help to the student in laying the foundation for his future medical course. ESSENTIALS OF MATERIA MEDICA AND PRESCRIPTION WRITING. By Henry Morris, M. D., College of Physicians, Philadelphia. Sixth Edition, Thoroughly Revised. By W. A. Bastedo, Ph. G., M. D., Tutor of Materia Medica and Pharmacology at the Columbia University (College of Physicians and Surgeons), New York City. 12mo volume of 295 pages. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1904. Cloth, $1.00 net.

It has been three years since the fifth edition of Dr. Morris' book has been issued, and while there is not the necessity in this branch of the work as in many others for a frequent revision, at the same time the editor has taken occasion to bring the book thoroughly up-to-date, and included all the new remedies, with their methods of preparation and use.

ESSENTIALS OF NERVOUS DISEASES AND INSANITY: their Symptoms and Treatment. By John C. Shaw, M. D., late Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System, Long Island College Hospital Medical School. Fourth Edition, Thoroughly Revised. By Smith Ely Jelliffe, Ph. G., M. D., Clinical Assistant, Columbia University, Department of Neurology; Visiting Neurologist, City Hospital, New York. 12m0 volume of 196 pages, fully illustrated. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1904. Cloth, $1.00 net.

It is worthy of note that Dr. Jelliffe has revised this very excellent little Essential two years after the third edition was issued, while before that time five years had elapsed between editions. This means several things. One is that the progress of the study of diseases of the nervous system and of the mind has been rapid, and another that the editor wants to keep his work fully up-to-date. A great deal of the book is