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Queries and Comments.

TREATMENT OF PHOSPHATURIA.

H. R. D. inquires "What remedy do you advise in the treatment of phosphaturia?" Dr. Casper, of Berlin, advises urotropin in 1 or 2 gram doses daily. The results are usually lasting, the phosphaturia not returning long after the use of the drug has been discontinued.

IRRITATING SOAPS.

"How is it possible to avoid using a soap which is irritating to the skin of the child?" -T. F.

(A very reliable test, according to the Annals of Hygiene, is to place the soap to the tongue and if it smarts do not use it on the skin of the child.-Ed.)

ULCERS OF THE CERVIX.

A. R. asks to be advised as to the treatment for painful ulcers of the cervix. Lutand recommends the insufflation on the cervix, through a speculum of the following powder, and tampon: Tannin, 2 grams; lycopodium, 5 grams; europhen, 10 grams; compound opium powder, 5 grams.

DRESSING AFTER CIRCUMCISION.

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of undue mental or muscular exertion and to be under the watchful care of her physician. Conditions which unfavorably influence a disabled heart in pregnancy are anaemia, general nervousness, and advanced yearsunder these conditions marriage should be contradicted. Marriage is absolutely forbidden in all cases where there is a failure of compensation of the heart, whether the cause be valvular disease, muscular degeneration or vascular degeneration.-Ed.

WHAT MEDICINE SHOULD NOT BE PRESCRIBED IN POWDERS.

These can be classified into (Journ. de M. de P.; Journ. Am. Med. Ass'n): 1, those that absorb moisture readily from the air; 2, those which form a fluid in combination with other substances; and 3, those that are decomposed by the oxygen of the air and change color. In the first class belong the acid phosphates and their derivatives, the phosphoglycerates. These salts put up in powders liquefy in twenty-four hours; also sodium bromid, which is extremely deliquescent; crystallized calcium chlorid; strontium chlorid; ammoniac citrate of iron and ferrico-potassic tartrate; piperazin and lysidin; chloral, dry vegetable extracts and, in general, all products prepared by evaporation in a vacuum, especially, dessicated peptones and extracts of animal organs. The second group includes the substances that alone are not affected by the air, but combined, absorb moisture rapidly; such are antipyrin and sodium salicylate. The third group comprises the alkaline and ferro-alkaline iodids and the aristols. A little trick that sometimes prevents trouble is to add a certain amount of licorice powder or cinchona; also to keep the powders in an air-tight glass jar.

VALUE OF WIDAL'S TEST.

H. W. asks, "What is the clinical value of Widal's test in typhoid fever." Dr. W. Gilman Thompson (British Medical Journal, December 18, 1897, N. Y. Med. Rec.) draws the following conclusions from a brief study of five hundred and three cases of all kinds in which the Widal test was applied: 1. While the test is positive in the large majority of cases of enteric fever, and negative in the greater number of other diseases, there is a margin of error of eleven or twelve per cent on each side of what might be called the normal line, between cases in which the test fails when it ought to succeed, and succeeds when it ought to fail, in order to make it of real clinical value. 2. This total of twenty-three per cent of possi

ble error unfortunately includes just those cases in which there is the greater doubt upon the purely clinical side. 3. As a genuine diagnostic aid, the test has about the value of the diazo reaction in typhoid urine or the study of leucocytosis in pneumonia-that is, it is confirmatory in connection with appropriate symptoms, but misleading if positive reliance be placed upon it. 4. The fact that an expert bacteriologist is required to make the test is offset by the ease of transportation of specimens of dried blood which long retain the power of reaction, and it is greatly to be hoped that further possible improvements in technique may place this most ingenious test upon a firmer practical basis than can at present be claimed for it.

The Mississippi State Board of Health will examine applicants for licenses at Jackson, May 10. The law fixing the date for examinations has been changed by the legislature and now allows the board full control of the time.

NECROLOGY.-Alabama.--Dr. William H. Johnston, of Birmingham.-California. Drs. Arthur B. Stout, San Francisco; Jacob Newton Brown, San Jose; S. M. Sargent, Santa Cruz.-Colorado.-Dr. A. J. Loustano, of Denver.-Illinois.-Drs. Erasmus Garrott and Francis R. Brooks, of Chicago; S. M. Anderson, Mattoon; John J. Moreland, Pekin. Indiana.-Drs. Charles Van Cleave, Crawfordsville; J. Z. O'Connor, Elwood, and R. E. Charles, of West Point.-Iowa.-Dr. W. W. Wood, of Des Moines.- -Kansas.Dr. P. Diederick, of Kansas City.-Kentucky.-Drs. Robert Vaughan, of Louisville; R. D. Wilson, Harlan, and John Sloan, of New Albany. Massachusetts.-Dr. John Parker Maynard, of Dedham.-Minnesota. -Dr. Henry N. Avery, commissioner of health of Minneapolis.- -Missouri.-Dr. S. H. Jones, of Warrenton.-Nebraska.—Major Henry McElderry, chief surpeon Department of Missouri, Omaha.-Ohio.-Drs. Andrew Wall, Cambridge; D. V. Rannells, McArthur; Willis W. Hall, Springfield; George C. Garretson, Cincinnati; J. H. Rouse, Columbus; Andrew J. Martin, Wilmington, and Dudley Allen, of Oberlin.- -Texas.-Drs. E. M. Camp, of Dallas; H. J. Jarrell, San Antonio; George A. Ferris, Richmond, and Thomas C. Thompson, of Galveston.Washington.-Drs. J. A. McCoy, of Tacoma, and W. W. Beach, of Tekoa.- -Wisconsin.Drs. George Bushnell, Beloit; John L. Ingersoll, Prospect, and Emil Prochazka, of Manitowoc, at Silver City, N. M.

Societies and Colleges.

The California State Medical Society convened at Fresno in annual session April 19.

The Texas State Medical Association was in annual convention at Houston, April 26 to 29. The program was long and well handled.

The Ophthalmological, Otological, Laryngological and Rhinological Association convened April 9 in Chicago. A number of interesting papers were contributed.

The annual meeting of the Illinois State Medical Association at Galesburg, May 17 to 19, promises, from the program and speakers announced, to be one of unusual interest and practical value to those who attend.

The American Surgical Association convened April 19 at New Orleans. Reports and papers were presented by Dr. W. W. Keen, of Philadelphia; Dr. H. W. Cushing, of Boston; Dr. Nicholas Senn, of Chicago, and Dr. C. A. Powers, of Denver.

The Tri-State Medical Association met at Dubuque, Iowa, April 6. Dr. Franklin H. Martin, of Chicago, delivered an address. The new officers are: President, Dr. C. E. Ruth, Keokuk; first vice president, Dr. Murphy, St. Louis; second vice president, Dr. F. H. Martin, Chicago; secretary, Dr. J. W. Fowler, Dubuque; treasurer, Dr. D. S. Fairchild, Clinton, Iowa. Quincy, Ill., was selected as the next place of meeting.

Tennessee State Medical Society was in annual session, April 12 to 14, at Jackson. The program covered the whole field of medicine and the papers and discussions were of exceptional interest to the large number in attendance. The officers chosen for the next year are: Dr. T. H. Marable, Clarksville, president; Dr. W. C. Bilbo, Murfreesboro, first vice president; Dr. B. A. Biggs, Martin, second vice president; Dr. T. W. Gallian, Dandrige, third vice president; Dr. W. D. Haggard, Jr., Nashville, secretary; Dr. D. E. Nelson, Chattanooga, treasurer.

COLLEGES.

Gross Medical College, Denver, has a graduating class this year of twenty-seven. The Memphis Hospital Medical College has conferred degrees on ninety-three students. The Louisville National Medical College, for negro students, graduated five, April 5. The Sioux City College of Medicine graduated twelve students, April 6.

The Toledo (Ohio) Medical College has graduated a class of twenty-seven.

Birmingham (Alabama) Medical College has conferred degrees on nine students.

The Medical Department of the University of Louisville, has given its diploma to eightysix students.

The Medical College of the Arkansas University at Little Rock has graduated a class of twenty.

The Medical Department of the Iowa State University graduated a class of fifty at Iowa City.

The Iowa College of Physicians and Surgeons at Des Moines gave degrees to a class of twenty-one, April 6.

Barnes Medical College of St. Louis has conferred its degree on one hundred and seventy-seven graduates.

Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, conferred degrees on one hundred young men, April 9, the largest class of the college.

The Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons at Milwaukee has given diplomas to twenty-two students. The Alumni Association gave a banquet.

The Medical Department of the University of Alabama at Mobile held its graduating exercises April 8 and gave degrees to a class of twenty-five.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago, Medical Department of the Illinois State University, gave diplomas to one hundred and ten students April 20.

Marion-Sims College of Medicine at St. Louis, held its graduating exercises April 9. The Alumni Association gave a banquet to the graduates.

BOARDS.

The Oklahoma examining board admitted to practice a list of applicants April 1.

The Minnesota Board of Medical Examiners licensed, April 12, a large number of applicants to practice medicine.

The North Dakota State Examiners gave licenses to eleven physicians at Grand Forks, April 6.

At the meeting of the California State Board of Health in Sacramento, April 9, Dr. C. A. Ruggles, of Stockton, was re-elected president.

Thirty-six applicants took the examination to practice medicine in Illinois before the State Board of Health, in Chicago, April 9. Twenty-five midwives also were examined.

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SECTION ON STATE MEDICINE. The following is a list of papers already promised:

Maritime and Interstate Quarantine, by G. B. Thornton, President of Board of Health of Memphis, Tenn.; Isolation in a Great City, How Best Accomplished, by Samuel P. Duffield, Health Officer of Detroit, Mich.; The Relation of the Courts to Administration of Sanitary Laws, by William P. Munn, Health Commissioner, Denver; Maritime Quarantine, by A. H. Doty, Quarantine Officer, Port of New York; The Difference in Sanitary Quality Between Water and Ice from the Same Source, by Adolph Gehrmann, Superintendent City Laboratory, Chicago; The Control of Diphtheria, by William K. Jaques, Chicago; Concerning the Importance of Bacteriology in Preventive Medicine, by Franklin Staples, Winona, Minn.; Recent Investigation of the Action of Alcohol on all Growth, by I. D. Crothers, Hartford, Conn.; The Necessity for Mountain Sanitariums for the Treatment of Poor Consumptives, by J. H. Kellogg, Battle Creek, Mich.; Cold and Respiratory Diseases, by Charles H. Shepard, Brooklyn, N. Y.; The Treatment of Syphilis by the General Practitioner, by Harvey P. Jack, Canisteo, N. Y.; The Great Need of Central Resting and Recreation Places in the Large American Cities, by Thomas H. Manley, New York City; Brain Surgery from Railway Injuries, by Clinton P. Herrick, Troy, N. Y.; Thalassic Submersion a Means of Disposal of the Dead, by Daniel Lichty, Rockford, Ill.; The Supervision and Licensing of Certain Industries Necessitated by Their Bearing Upon Public Health, by Ernest Wende, Buffalo, N. Y.

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STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. The thirteenth annual meeting of the Conference of State and Provincial Boards of Health of North America will be held in Detroit, Michigan, August 9th, 10th and 11th, 1898.

The "Quarter Centennial Celebration of the Establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health" will be in progress at the above named time. This will, undoubtedly, add greatly in every way to the success and profit of the Conference. The first day will be given to meeting with the Michigan Quarter Centennial Celebration in effecting organization and hearing reports of committees. The second day will be given to the subject proposed by Dr. Baker, of Michigan,

as follows: "Each State and Provincial Board of Health has some principal line of work which reaches nearer perfection than does the work of any other Board along that particular line. I therefore suggest that the topic to be presented by all the Boards represented at the conference be as follows: "What are the Principal Lines of Work of Your Board? How is Each Accomplished? What Modification, if any, does the Experience in Your State Suggest?" Every Board represented in the Conference is expected to present, through its delegate, written replies to the above questions so far as it These reports and discussions and reports of committees will consume the time of the morning, afternoon and evening sessions of August 10th.

can.

The third day will be given to discussion of the various phases relating to the Restriction and Prevention of Tuberculosis. The phases proposed are:

I. Etiology.-(a) Direct cause-tubercle bacilli. (b) Indirect causes. (1) Inherited predisposition. (2) Depressed physical condition from bad hygiene, lack of physical culture, other diseases making favorable soil, etc.

II. Morbid Anatomy.-(a) Showing its multifarious lesions affecting almost every organ of the body.

III. Statistics.-Showing the proportion of: (a) Pulmonary diseases in man due to tuberculosis; intestinal diseases in man due to tuberculosis; diseases of bone and joints due to tuberculosis; diseases of kidneys due to tuberculosis; diseases of skin due to tuberculosis; diseases of nervous system due to tuberculosis; diseases of lymphatic system lue

to tuberculosis.

IV. Identity of Tuberculosis in Man and Animals and its Wide Distribution among the Latter; also its Communication to Man Through Food.

V. Economic Phases.-(a) What is the annual pecuniary loss in the United States due to tuberculosis in man and animals? (b) Does it, in any way, interfere with commerce and the public defense?

VI. How May Tuberculosis be Prevented. (a) Care of expectoration. (b) Disinfection of houses, public buildings, cars and steamboats. (c) Prevention of sale of tuberculous milk and meats. (d) Ventilation and outdoor life. (e) Reporting cases. (f) How may the objections of physicians and people to reporting tuberculosis be overcome? (g) State and municipal care.

Drs. W. A. Spurgeon and W. F. Curryer have been reappointed on the Indiana State Board of Medical Registration for a term of four years, from April 23.

New Publications.

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HERMAN'S DISEASES OF WOMEN.-Diseases of Women. A Clinical Guide to their Diagnosis and Treatment. By George Ernest Herman, M. B. Lond., F. R. C. P., Obstetric Physician to and Lecturer Midwifery at the London Hospital, etc., etc., 886 pages, with 252 illustrations. Cloth, $5.00; leather, $5.75 net. New York: Wiiliam Wood and Company. 1898.

We are pleased to review such an excellent work as is presented to us in the above production. As we note the excellent work of the publisher we observe with satisfaction that American workmanship has done much to embellish this most attractive work of the distinguished English author. Seldom does a book present itself in so readable form. The paper is of the best quality, the type is large and clear, the illustrations are not numerous, but instructive and add to the attractiveness of the book; and the entire subject is presented in a logical manner, easy to comprehend, thoroughly scientific and up to date. Considerable space is allotted to the discussion of neurasthenia, hysteria, headaches, pain in the neck, chronic abdominal pain, pain in the back, and chronic ovarian and uterine pain. The remarks on these subjects are practical and helpful; they sug gest much that is too often overlooked in modern treatises on gynecology. The entire book is written as a clinical guide from a clinical standpoint by an author who has had superior clinical experience. Such a production will be welcomed by the practicing physician rather than the student and will supply the demand for a modern treatise on clinical gynecology in a most acceptable manner. We congratulate the publisher on his splendid production and the author may be assured of the hearty appreciation of the profession.

WEBSTER'S

DISEASES OF WOMEN.Diseases of Women. A Text Book for the Use of Students and Practitioners. By J. G. Webster, B. A. M. D. (Edin.), F. R. C. P. Ed., Demonstrator of Gynecology, McGill University, etc. pages. Illustrated with 241 Figures. Cloth, $3.50. Edinburgh and London: Young J. Pentland. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1898.

The preface of the author is as follows: "In preparing this volume I have endeavored to keep constantly before me the following aims, namely:

1. To give prominence to the scientific basis of each subject under consideration. For this purpose I have given the most careful attention to modern researches in sectional and dissectional anatomy, histology.

embryology, comparative anatómy, pathology, and bacteriology, in so far as they bear on diseases of women, and have included the chief facts gathered by myself in original investigations carried on during the past nine

years.

2. To study clinical features in their widest relationships, endeavoring to give to them their proper proportional values, and avoiding the faults of the school whose motto is Michelet's dogma, Le Bassin C'est la Femme, and whose work has led to the opprobrious denunciation, prevalent in so many quarters, of gynecological practices as a narrow and debased specialism.

3. To insist upon caution in the adoption of therapeutic measures not yet thoroughly tested, especially of so many of those which, in these latter days, have been hurriedly and recklessly forced into publicity.

The illustrations have been chosen with special reference to their teaching value, and have, for the most part, been made from original drawings by myself.

We congratulate the author in fully accomplishing the purpose of the production. The work shows careful research and is presented in a concise way yet without sacrifice of scientific principles and essential details. It will be a helpful guide to the student and practitioner and a valuable addition to modern gynecological literature. We commend the publishers for this superb production.

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A third edition of this most excellent treatise will be welcomed by practitioners and students of medicine in America. Since the introduction of the first edition the work has been most popular in America. It has kept abreast of its subject in its rapid advancement and has always maintained conservative grounds, presenting the subject in a clear and practical manner. The first edition appeared in 1882, the second in 1892, and now the third appears. We quote the following from the author's preface to the third edition.

"In no department of medicine have more rapid or greater strides been made during the present decade than in gynecology. During this period many things new and useful have been added to the science and the art,

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