tion. When we think of this one can see that very superficial ideas on medicine are ever offered by even clear-headed novelists, and they all follow a common manual. So Zola, who had most remarkable gifts at painting in words, was a romancer, too. who spoke of medical science with superstitious respect, willingly believing in things he never saw, having less scientific culture than that of an ordinary teacher. In the one romance to which he attached most importance, Dr. Pascal, as well as in his critical writings, Zola sets forth his ideas on science in general and medicine in particular. Behold this Dr. Pascal, whom Zola presents to us as a fictional man of genius. This Dr. Pascal suppresses disease and suffering by a panacea of his own invention. In what does this inven tion consist? The excellent doctor, by the aid of pestle and mortar, pounds sheep's brain in distilled water and gives his patients hypodermics of forty-five grains of this elixir, after the fluid has been decanted and filtered, and he kills only one patient. Wonderful Dr. Pascal! Zola, who ever willingly took the public for a confidant of his works, tells in his experimental romance how he was led to construct the plan of his series of fictions, placing them on a basis of what he declared to be scientific. Ah! the rot of scientific (?) medicine! Zola had read two entire works on medical science, i.e., the "Introduction to Experimental Medicine" of Claude Bernard and the "National Heredity" of Dr. Lucas. After reading these two works he probably never experienced the need of perusing any others. Then his theory of experimental romance is fully exposed in the" Introduction," and with all the more severity, too, inasmuch as Claude Bernard was dead. So Zola had no fear that the glorious master would laugh at the odd conceptions of his fictional disciple. "In the 'Introduction,' says Zola, "I find all questions treated. Most often it is sufficient for me to replace the word ' physician' by the word romancing'. This renders my ideas more clear and brings them down to the rigor of scientific truth. This determined my choice, and I stopped at the Introduction,' for medicine to the greater number of eyes is still an art, like romance. Claude Bernard sought for his entire lifetime and made vigorous struggles to put medicine on a scientific basis. I shall go on and prove, in my turn, that if the experimental method leads to a knowledge of physical life, it must also lead to a knowledge of passional and intellectual life.” This sounded very strong, coming from Zola. It is very possible, too, and even true sometimes, that men only arrive at a knowledge of life by the aid of experience, that is ordinarily acquired at its expense. Only this experience is personal and intransmissible. Alas! the science of life cannot be put in bottles and sold. It takes the genius of a Detroit horse serum laboratory to accomplish such a feat, with the aid of commercial medical journalism. To sell life in bottles is too easy, and might suppress the justice of the saying, "If the young only knew, if the old would." But we may demand in a stupor, what experimental methods have to do with the art of more or less agreeable story-telling -the mere relation of the fictional adventures of a certain number of imaginary personages. When one takes oxygen and hydrogen to make water, one applies experimental methods to really existent bodies, things that really exist independently of us. But when one imagines the existence of a married lady and a single gentleman in order to describe adultery, the usual formula followed in modern society novels, where in the devil does the experimental method come in? What experiment can a fictional writer make upon two human creatures who only exist in his imagination at first and are afterwards put down on paper? This is a problem we do not care to attempt to solve, and upon which all of Zola's explanations fail to shed any light. So the fecund novelist tortured the bad prose of Claude Bernard upon a procrustean bed, to the end of giving reason to so many wild medical theories, that in the end demolished all the laborious system of the novelist. "Literary and artistic productions," said the great philosopher, in his "Introduction,' ""never grow old in the sense that they are the expression of sentiments immutable as human nature. In letters and art personality dominates all. arises from the spontaneous creation of the mind, and that has nothing in common with the determination of natural phe nomena, in which our mind creates nothing." It is difficult to be more clear, and one might say that Claude Bernard foresaw the stupid system of Zola and was amused some years in advance of the romancer. Zola, too, grew weary of his work, but never acknowledged he was beaten. His very genius led him to observe: "I have remarked, not without a certain vexation, that many savants, even the greatest, are very proud of the scientific certainty they hold, wishing thus to enclose their literature in the ideal." This is as much as to say that great savants are usually men of good sense. One must feel sorry for a school, like the medical one, already so aged, that pretends to this sort of folly. So why will they not admit this saraband of method and this carnival of conflicting doctrines, that bring to the grand orchestra such literary gents and such pseudo-savants, who thrust themselves constantly in the high private boxes above the ordinary medical stage? The real savant, Claude Bernard, emits what he regards as a scientific theory. The man of letters, Zola, translates all this into a literary dogma, even like the dogs of yellow journalism exploit every little laboratory liar. proclaiming, for commercial reasons, i.e., the advertising, that a new panacea to cure every human ailment has been discovered by the celebrated Professor Zweibockbier, of Swillingsaufenstein. New converts are ever zealous. Scientific experimental methods, from the days of Francis Bacon to the time of the noble and austere Claude Bernard, even conquered such a man of genius as Taine. But Taine, unlike Zola, was not content with reading only two medical works. He studied biology and all the sciences that came across his path, to the end of turning his mind on the horizontal bars of scientific gymnastics. Taine never accepted anything without verification, so Taine ended in concluding directly opposite to the conclusion held by Zola. True it is, it was from Goncourt that Taine derived his method, and the former had adopted his own from men really scientific. Taine applied his tests with scrupulous conscientiousness. This did not prevent him from determining that it is necessary to leave to the labora tory all laboratory methods, and not introduce them in the discussion of general ideas nor in the study of social phenomena. We all remember the famous problem, "Being given the length of a ship and the height of the topgallant sail, give the age of the captain.' It was the solution of this problem that intensely offended literateurs plunging in these experimental methods, even those best endowed and with the greatest minds. They turned and whirled around and around in the cage of their system, like frightened squirrels. All Taine's procedures had this ending. Taine found a large stone in a cabbage field. He studied the stone, he studied the earth, he studied each cabbage, and proved that the cabbage field must have necessarily produced this stone. But the inhabitants of the country where these cabbages were found said the stone was an aerolite, for they had seen it fall. for As for Zola, he was completely devoid of any scientific spirit, so much so that among all the personages in his enormous work we seek in vain for a single savant worthy of the name. When he introduces a character in one of his scenes, as, instance, Dr. Deberle in "Une Page d'Amour," we seek in vain in this man any different personage from the other characters belonging to the liberal professions. As for his Dr. Pascal, Rougon, who, according to the novelist, conducts the final romance of the series of Rougon Macquart. Macquart." scientific conclusion of all the noise," he had to clear up his analysis of this savant, to complete him by precise teachings, so we note that the character is a brave and honest man, but one weak in mind and character, one, in fact, who had only the most remote relations with any kind of science. Despite his pretensions, Zola knew nothing of medical science; he was a complete stranger to that side of the question. So we must content ourselves with remembering him as having the most wonderful genius for romance, great, immense as a painter of crowds of characters, a sublime fictional colorist, vibrant as a word coiner. It was only these latter sublime gifts of genius that permitted his writing such hot and solid romances as "L'Assomoir," "Terre" and "Germinal," works that will perpetuate his name as one of the grandest fictional writers of the nineteenth century. The Journal de Médecine de Paris furnishes another to its already innumerable lists of victims to Pasteur institutes, and makes the following remarks: "We shall not give our readers another long exposé on the methods of Pasteur institutes, but only submit some additional facts in support of the opinions recently submitted by veterinary surgeons, that may be briefly recapitulated as follows: "When in the presence of an individual bitten by a dog suspected to be mad, always practice cauterization; it is the only efficacious method. If they are determined afterwards to go to Pasteur institutes, let them go. There they inject the spinal serum into all patients sent them and send them home cured (?) They always die afterwards from hydrophobia when the animal that bit them was really mad and they have been inoculated with virus. Here are some alleged cases of cure : "I. Villeneuve sur Lot. In January, 1901, a young man named Dortius, aged eighteen years, living with his parents at Marques, was bitten by a mad dog; he went to Bordeaux and was treated by antirabic serum. The young man, who believed he was safe now, was suddenly attacked by violent hydrophobia and died after atrocious suffering. "2. Marseilles. A boy, aged eight years, Louis Garnier, died of hydrophobia on February 19 last. This child was bitten on the 2d of last December, was treated at the Pasteur institute of Marseilles, and in twenty days was discharged cured. On February 11, 1902, he was suddenly seized with hydrophobia and died. "3. At Torreilles, near Perpignon, a child, five years of age, was bitten by a dog and sent to the Pasteur Institute at Montpellier; three months later he was sent home cured, and then died from hydrophobia in October, after horrible suffering. "4. Grenoble. In September, 1902, Alfred Grillard, a workingman in Nervan, was bitten by a dog; he died. 5. Rosny sous Bois. Mandon, a railroad employee, died at the age of twentyeight years of hydrophobia, after having been cured at the Paris Pasteur Institute. . 6. Paris. September, 1902, a lady Mrs. Bossaud, a resident of Paris, bitten by a dog, died of hydrophobia, after being cured in twenty-four days' treatment at the Paris Pasteur Institute. 7. Sand Don. Madam Gruyon, wife of a lawyer, daughter of Jules Nismes, a banker, was bitten in November by a pet cat. She went to the Pasteur Institute and was cured. On her return home she was attacked by hydrophobia and died in terrible agony on November 28, 1902." But why continue the Journal de Medecine de Paris' long additional list; for a number of years past this journal has given the names of those who have been cured at Pasteur institutes, and then went home to die afterwards of hydrophobia. Before Pasteur institutes were established in France the annual death rate from hydrophobia was about 14 per annum, now people are treated by the hundreds and die by the dozens. So much for the magnificent panaceas of Pasteurian medicine and serum therapy in cases of dog bite. Drs. Dupre and Dufloy have published curious statistics tending to demonstrate the frequency of mental alienation among bearded women. According to these authors mustaches are very common among deranged women. Two series of 1,000 each of women were compared in asylums for insane and general hospitals. In 1,000 women in hospitals 290 were found bearded, 230 with a light downy beard, 40 with a medium beard, and 10 perfectly bearded. Among 1,000 insane women 497 were bearded, 441 with a medium light beard, and 56 with a heavy beard. Relative to different forms of insanity, 114 cases of senile dementia had 73 bearded women, or an average of 64 per 100. 113 cases of general paralysis 64 bearded women, or 56 per 100. Of 664 diverse cases 318 had beards, or 47 per 100. In 19 cases of precocious dementia, 8 bearded women, or 42 per 100. In 36 idiots and imbeciles, 14, or 38 per 100. In 53 epileptics, 20, or 37 per 100. In Of the 1,000 insane 637 had not passed their fiftieth year, and 247, or 38 per 100, had beards; 363 had passed their fiftieth year, of whom 48 were bearded. Of 1,000 non-insane cases in general hospitals 820 had not passed their fiftieth year, and of these 313, or 38 per 100, were bearded; and of 18o aged over fifty years, 87, or 38 per 100, were bearded. Among these non-insane women in general hospitals found to be bearded, the great majority were neuropathic and de generates, belonging to families that were neuropathic and degenerates. The richness of hair and the frequency of beards among the insane is attributed by our authors to troubles in internal secretions, especially disorders of the ovary and thyroid gland. Alas! for medical notions, one must always explain a hypothesis by something no sensible mind can comprehend. * * While on the subject of psychology, we might mention a new book entitled "God and the Devil," that has lately created a sensation among the psychological physicians of Paris. This book gives the absolute proof, denied to the present time, of the existence of the Supreme Being. It gives to the Divinity his true name. It shows him in his incomparable majesty and in his real position. The creation, ex nihilo, is unrolled before human eyes. The infinite and absolute become perfectly understood. We learn the true nature and exact genesis of beings and things. The explanation of ex nihilo is furnished in an irrefutable manner. The eternal truths upon which religion and science are founded come out of the vague mists of the fabulous and appear distinct and clear. Beliefs, enveloped in veils and mysteries, up to the present day, and viewed with anxiety by all humanity, become certainties full of lucidity and magnificence. They learn the why and the how, the purpose and the final cause of universal evolution. Theories upon the possible, contraries, absolute, universal, continuity, discontinuity, infinite and finite, etc., laid down practitioner of medicine. Theologians of the Presbyterian faith may enjoy it however-perhaps. Peppermint From Sewage Farms. Peppermint is reviving the drooping spirits of the depressed agriculturist. So profitable has the Sutton Urban District Council found its cultivation that it has determined to add two more acres to the area at present devoted to that fragrant plant. The body mentioned has paid great attention-more than most local authorities-to the utilization of sewage, and peppermint is one of the products of the land where this is turned to profitable account. Last year there were four acres under cultivation. When the plant is cut and dried the leaves are distilled, and the oil thus obtained finds a ready market. The yield of this odorous liquid was 119 pounds, the value of which amounted to £145 15s. 6d., or £36 8s. 1od. per acre. Considering all circumstances, this result is highly gratifying.-Health. Catarrhal Appendicitis. The word catarrhal, as applied to appendicitis, may pathologically be correct enough, but it is a bad one to use in speaking with patients. It leads them to underestimate the possible gravity of even the mildest appearing case. It must be remembered that there is always danger until the attack is entirely over, and that a diagnosis of "simple catarrhal appendicitis," followed a few days later by need for an undertaker's services, is a poor advertisement for the doctor.-International in this work are destined to profoundly Journal of Surgery. Theories related to life, death, eternity, time, causation, space movement, origin of species, sensibility of the soul, etc., will revolutionize modern science and reach the star of human knowledge. Readers of this note may be incredulous, but this work will dissipate their doubt if it meets an English translation, that will come sooner or later. Medical psychologists who read French will do well to read this work. With all the adulatory notes on the work, however, we should not recommend it to the general Appendicitis. Brunton recommends the administration of fifteen to twenty grains of sodium salicylate every two hours, and ten to fifteen minims of tincture of belladonna, in appendicitis. They may be given together or alternately, but should not be mixed, as each drug is to be diminished or stopped when its physiological effects appear.Clinical Review. CRUDE petroleum, poured upon a burned surface, and covered loosely with cotton, will snbdue pain almost at once.-Med. Summary. A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery. NEW SERIES VOL. L. FEBRUARY 28, 1903. WHOLE VOLUME LXXXIX. APROSEXIA IN RELATION TO THE EYE, EAR, NOSE AND THROAT, BY DERRICK T. VAIL, M. D., 66 Since the time his article was published and abstracted in many journals all the world over, the term 'aprosexia" has taken such a hold in medical parlance that it is now to be seen in almost every book on diseases of the ear, nose and throat, and in many of the essays on special subjects. The word can be found in the later medical dictionaries. Gould's Students' Medical Dictionary (1898) has the following: "Aprosexia (pro. ap-ro-seks-e-ah) (pooεx, to give heed). A mental disturbance consisting in inability to fix the attention upon any subject; an inability to think clearly and to comprehend readily what is read or heard; a condition sometimes observed in the course of chronic catarrh of the nose and pharynx." One explanation given for aprosexia by various authors, especially Guye, of Amsterdam (see Deutsche med. Wochen., 1887, No. 43, and 1888, No. 40), Shaw, of London (London Practitioner, 1890, p. 8), from the anatomical observations of Axel-Key and Retzius, is that since. the intracranial veins, sinuses and lymph spaces have intimate communication with the vessels of the sphenoid, ethmoid, frontal sinus and naso-pharynx, the frontal brain, which is the principal seat of voluntary cerebration, becomes impaired in circulation and function by the passive hyperemia and defective lymph drainage undoubtedly present in naso-pharyngeal swellings and inflammations, becoming, as it were, clogged by its own metabolism débris. Cerebral malnutrition, brain exhaustion, heedlessness, hebetude and dull headache result; in a word, "aprosexia." Guye explains the headache (see British Medical Journal, 1899, Vol. ii, p. 711) in the following way: "The air contained in the accessory nasal cavities will be resorbed and so its pressure diminished as soon as the free communication with the nose is impaired by swelling of the mucous membrane. Such a cavity will then act as a dry cup, producing collateral hyperemia in vacuо. He calls attention to the fact that the headache resulting is quickly relieved by politzerization of the nose, which restores the air pressure within the pneumatic accessory sinuses of the nose to the normal. I do not know that any one has used the term aprosexia in connection with ocular defects. The essayist will take that liberty, since it seems to be as appropriate to the eye as to the ear, nose and throat, although it must be confessed that in the case of ocular anomalies the aprosexia is not due to impaired lymph or venous circulation, as may be the case in nasopharyngeal disease, but to reflex causes; eyestrain, causing sheer mental exhaustion. Mental development in children presents striking variations from the normal. Some children are exceedingly precocious, having quick comprehension, eager minds, clear intellects, concise reasoning powers, retentive memories, natural ability to concentrate their minds on anything which presents itself, and ready zeal to undertake and accomplish to the end amazing tasks, requiring toil and brains to work out, while other children of the same age, perhaps * Read before the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati, December 8, 1902. |