EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

J. F. BALDWIN, M. D., Columbus,

EDITOR.

Communications, reports, etc., are solicited from all quarters.

Authors desiring reprints, will receive fifty, free of charge, provided the request for the same accompanies the article.

Subscribers changing their location, are requested to notify the Publishers promptly, that there may be no delay in receipt of the journal, stating both the new and the former post-office address.

We have no authorized Collectors, except such as carry properly made out bills, countersigned by the Publishers. HANN & ADAIR, Publishers, Columbus, C.

THE ELIXIR OF LIFE.

"A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow."

It is sometimes unsafe and imprudent to criticize adversely what are called "discoveries;" at least, the critic will occasionally find himself sadly in the lurch, and the laugh turned against him. But in the history of medicine we can hardly recall an instance of a widely heralded and much vaunted discovery, in which the discoverer has not been compelled to eat much humble pie. The latest illustration is, perhaps, to be found in the rise and fall of the Burgeon treatment of consumption; though many would refer for illustration to Pasteur's antirabic inoculations.

We publish a translation of a reported discovery made by Dr. Brown-Sequard, though many of our readers are doubtless already familiar with it, through the daily papers. Briefly stated, Sequard claims to have discovered that when the juice of the testicles of lower animals is injected hypodermically into an old man, the latter is at once rejuvenated; his sphincters act normally, his bladder troubles cease, his mind becomes clear, his limbs are strong, and his sexual functions again become vigorHe claims to have demonstrated all this in his own person. Sequard seems to have used dog testicles chiefly, and according to his directions the testicular bodies are reduced to a paste, to which is added from two to five cubic centimeters of distilled water; this is lightly laid on a filter, and the liquid obtained is immediately injected.

ous.

If dog sperm, thus used, can produce the effects he claims, that from animals more noted for their lechery should prove still more potent, and

thus a demand be created for the jack, the monkey, and even the "harmless, necessary cat."

At one

Brown-Sequard is now three-quarters of a century old. time he was an acknowledged leader in medical science; but for twenty years he has been lagging superfluous on the stage, and it seems a pity that his friends have not long since placed him where his senility would not render him ridiculous.

That he is honest in his convictions, is doubtless true; but so was Burgeon with his gas, Perkins with his "tractors," and Thompson with his lobelia.

Of course, he will find followers for a time; there are scores of men in the profession, as everywhere out of it, who are always seeking for some new thing; a number of glowing reports will be published, a good many abscesses will result, a few deaths from blood poisoning will occur, and then the "discovery" will pass into history as another example of professional credulity.

The quacks are already, at least in some places, taking advantage of the discovery, and the demand in the restaurants for "lambs' fries" will doubtless increase. But the whole thing is very humiliating to those who had believed that medicine was becoming more of a science and less of a medley of ignorance, superstition, and credulity. But Sequard himself is not the first man who has tarnished the glory of his prime by the folly of his decrepitude.

It would be an excellent idea, says the Manchester Union, if physicians of the present day would invent some other reason for about all of the deaths which occur nowadays than the cheap fraud, "heart failure." This might not be of serious moment were it not for the fact that hundreds of people are being nearly frightened to death by the constant use of the cause for sudden deaths, and many people who are sick and necessarily have some heart symptoms are kept in constant terror by read ing or hearing in other ways of death by heart failure. There are probably no more deaths from heart failure in these times than heretofore, but a new cause for death has been coined, and the nervous and timid are being severely injured by it.

DR. HOWARD A. KELLY, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children in the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore.

ENCOURAGING SCIENCE. -The Vermont Microscopical Association has just announced that a prize of $250, given by the Wells & Richardson Co., the well-known chemists, will be paid to the first discoverer of a new disease germ. The wonderful discovery by Prof. Koch of the cholera germ, as the cause of cholera, stimulated great research throughout the world, and it is believed this liberal prize, offered by a house of such standing, will greatly assist in the detection of micro-organisms that are the direct cause of disease and death. All who are interested in the subject and the conditions of this prize, should write to C. Smith Boynton, M. D., Secretary of the Association, Burlington, Vermont.

THE Medical College of Ohio announces that "after the session of 1890-91 four years of professional study, including any time spent with a preceptor, and attendance upon three regular courses of lectures, will be required as conditions of graduation."

THE West Philadelphia Medical Society, at a recent meeting, adopted the following:

"Realizing that the time has arrived when, in order to keep pace with the increasing business sentiments of the world, it is necessary to insist more strongly on the strictly business aspect of our professional services; and, believing that this will be insured by the rendering of our accounts more frequently than has been the general custom;

"It is resolved, That the West Philadelphia Medical Society deems it to the best interests of its members, and of the profession generally in West Philadelphia, that they shall render their accounts for services quarterly or more frequently, and hereby urges upon them concerted action in this matter, reserving to them discretion to make exceptions in cases in which they may deem it to their best interests or those of their fellowpractitioners."

EXPERT TESTIMONY AS TO DEATH BY POISON.-The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has formulated a rule of testimony according to which, when a trial for murder by poisoning is on, any physician whose only knowledge of poisons is that which has come to him from books and college training, is not competent to give an opinion relative to the symptoms of the final illness of the deceased with regard to their probable causation by poisoning. This is probably the first time that any court has prescribed such a regulation, but it has so much in its favor that we count upon its gradual extension from court to court as questions arise in regard to poisoning cases. No person may justly be put in

jeopardy of his life on the quasi-expert testimony of a witness who has gleaned all that he knows of the subject from the printed page or halfremembered lecture.-New York Med. Journal.

DR. E. E. MONTGOMERY, of the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, has recently contributed to surgical literature an article giving a resume of his year's work in abdominal surgery. His work consisted of twenty-seven operations, with a mortality of three. The report is interesting, and contains a number of valuable suggestions.

THE question of removing the medical department of the University of Michigan from Ann Arbor to Detroit, is again agitating the profession of the peninsula State. To an outsider there would seem to be no doubt as to the advisability of such a step. Detroit is a large city, with extensive clinical advantages, while Ann Arbor is only a rather large village.

WE want an agent in every community for this Journal, and will pay good agents liberally. Address Hann & Adair, Columbus, Ohio.

WE are under obligations to Dr. D. N. Kinsman for the translation of Brown-Sequard's report.

REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES.

Warner's Therapeutic Reference Book. William R. Warner & Co., Philadelphia. 119 pages. Price $1.00.

This enterprising manufacturing house has just issued a handy and useful work of reference for the practitioner. It contains numerous items of utility and a medical formulary, alphabetically arranged, giving the modern treatment of disease as suggested by American and foreign authorities.

American Resorts, with Notes upon their Climate. By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D. Cloth; pp. 285. F. A. Davis: Philadelphia and London. 1889.

This book gives all necessary information concerning climate, temperature, humidity, sunshine, etc., for the physician or invalid seeking health resort in the United States. It seems to have been carefully compiled, and we presume is thoroughly trustworthy. The author is a true American, and we can fully indorse all he says when he recommends our people to look for climatic advantages at home, where they may be found

in every variety and abundance, equal to any on the known globe, and possessing the advantages of our own customs, institutions and laws. Atlas of Venereal and Skin Diseases. Comprising original illustrations and selections from the plates of Prof, M. Kaposi, of Vienna; Mr. J. Hutchinson, of London; Prof. J. Neuman, of Vienna; Profs. A. Fournier and Hardy, and Drs. Ricord, Cullebrier, and Vidal, of Paris; Prof. Leloir, of Lisle; Dr. Unna, of Hamburg; Dr. Silva Aranjo, of Rio Janeiro; Dr. P. A. Morrow, of New York; Dr. E. L. Keyes, of New York; Dr. A. R. Robinson, of New York; Dr. J. Nevins Hyde, of Chicago; Dr. Henry G. Piffard, of New York, and others. With original text by Prince A. Morrow, A. M., M. D., Clinical Professor of Venereal Diseases; formerly Clinical Lecturer on Dermatology in the University of the City of New York; Surgeon to Charity Hospital, etc. New York. William Wood & Co. 1889. Fasciculi XIII, XIV and XV.

We have, in previous numbers of the JOURNAL, favorably noticed this work. The parts as they appear, maintain the high character aimed at in their preparation and publication. The text in each number, from the pen of Dr. Morrow, gives a clear description of the diseases illustrated in the plates. The work is a most valuable aid to the practitioner in the study of a class of diseases otherwise very obscure. We congratulate the publishers on the success of their efforts to furnish the profession with the best aid possible in this important department of medicine. The Radical Cure of Hernia. By Henry O. Marcy, A. M., M, D., LL. D., Boston, Massachusetts. Published by George S. Davis, Detroit, Michigan. Price in cloth, 50 cents; in paper, 25 cents, being one of the Physicians' Leisure Library Series of 1888.

This is a most important contribution to surgery, and after careful investigation, we unhesitatingly recommend it as a safe and intelligible guide in the treatment of hernia. It gives a full description of a number of methods of operating, including the author's-which is by means of buried antiseptic animal sutures.

Bright's Disease. A Series of Post-Graduate Lectures.

By Robert Saunby, M. D., Edinburgh, F. R. C. P., London; Emeritus Senior President of the Royal Medical Society, etc. 290 pages. Octavo, cloth, illustrated, $2.75. New York: E. B. Treat, publisher. The author of this volume, by study, long experience and special attention to renal diseases, is amply qualified to state clearly the present state of contemporary knowledge on this disease. Suggestions resulting from thirteen years' clinical and pathological study of Bright's disease, under the most favorable environments, are added. Fifty illustrations