thing like such uniformly good results, and none can claim to be considered so rational a procedure. Unfortunately, there are sometimes unpleasant after-effects, and this together with the high price of the serum and the large doses that are still necessary, will, until a more perfect serum can be produced, confine its use to the most severe cases. Possibly the discovery of Moser's serum will eventually help to determine the etiologic agent of scarlet fever. Catheterization of the Ureters.-KEEFE (The Providence Med. Jour., September, 1903).-After discussing the method and instruments for this operation, and reporting his cases, the author says that there were seventy-five cases in which the ureters were catheterized. In forty-two of these cases 191 examinations of the urine were made subsequent to the passage of the catheters. In three cases the examinations showed no change in the urinary constituents following the passage of the ureteral catheter. The other cases showed blood and a trace of albumen, which was transitory, found in some cases but in a single examination, and in others over a period of ten days, in every instance finally being absent. Some of the blood was due to blood coming from an overstretched urethra, and the albumen present in these cases may have been due to the presence of the blood. In thirteen cases hyaline casts were found, and in one of these cases the hyaline casts were present before the ureteral catheterization. In six cases there were found hyaline and granular casts subsequent to the passage of the ureteral catheter, and in one of these cases the casts were present before the ureteral catheters were passed. The patient showed no other evidence of disturbance of the kidney than that shown by the examinations of the smelling discharges and granulating mucous membranes were treated with the result that thirty-four were permanently cured. Usually there was a marked diminution in the odor after the first application, and in only a few cases was there much pain caused by the applications. WORK has commenced on the Johnson St. Mary's Help Hospital, on Guerrero Street, between 13th and 14th. GENITO-URINARY DISEASES. Under charge of LOUIS GROSS, M.D., Clinical Lecturer on Genito Urinary Diseases, College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco. Chorda Venerea (Medical News, December 26, 1903). -Peterkin claims, that through regulation of the diet, sleeping on a hard mattress, avoidance of sexual intercourse, oleum santali internally, bowels free, bathing of penis in hot water, and irrigations, are the general means to prevent chordee, but what he considers very valuable is massage of the vesicles and prostate in acute gonorrhea, and by massaging he claims an immense advantage of early diagnosing the involvent of the prostate. He bases his conclusions on the basis that the sufferer from gonorrhea is accustomed to sexual intercourse, a physiological law that an acute gonorrhea does not interfere with. On the contrary, there is an increase in the frequency of erection and in the amount of semen produced, and if it were not for the cessation of sexual intercourse (a physiological habit), there would be an increase in the frequency of emissions. In other words, as a concomitant of gonorrhea, there is the following abnormal stimulus to the nerves of the sexual organs and centers: (1) The congestion of inflammation; (2) presence and multiplication of gonococci; (3) production of toxins; (4) an increase in all proliferation; (5) an exposure of the nerve endings to irritation through destruction of tissue. Massage is practiced usually once or twice a week, an injection being given before the massage, flushing the anterior, then washing the bladder. After massage the bladder is again irrigated with either normal salt solution or a 4 per cent boracic acid solution. Functional Diagnosis of Kidney Without Ureteral Catheterization (Muenchener Medizinische Wochenschrift, No. 48).-Voelcker and Joseph inject a stain non-toxicant in character, which is eliminated exclusively by the urine passing through unchanged. This elimination begins in thirty minutes and subsides in two hours. The solution is made with 0.4 grains of indigo carmin in 10 cc. of normal salt solution. 4 cc. of the warmed solution is injected into the gluteal muscles, and the cystoscope is introduced 20 to 30 minutes afterwards, when a decided blue urine can be seen escaping from the mouths of the ureters. They report a number of cases showing the importance of this method. In one case, with suspected bladder tuberculosis, where the lesions were so extensive that catheterization of the ureters would be impossible, they found that no urine was being passed by the left kidney, which has caused no symptoms and was apparently normal. There was pain in the right kidney, and on palpation was found much enlarged. There was also fever and cerebral symptoms. Consequently operation was abandoned and a diagnosis of meningitis was made. The autopsy showed that the left kidney, which had given no clinical evidence of any trouble, was in a state of complete caseous degeneration, while the right one was perfectly normal. Treatment of Nocturnal Pollutions (Gazetta degli Ospedali, No. 141).-Campani applies a "T" bandage to be worn at night. Two or three elastic bands arch over the relaxed member, acting as a restraint during erection, which thus awakens the subject by the pain induced. In his experience, this simple device has cured every case. The Application of the Lowering of the Freezing Point of Urine in the Estimation of Renal Function (Berliner Klin. Wochen., Decembe 7, 1903).Zangemeister says that the value of direct observations of the lowering of the freezing point of the urine in determining the efficiency of the kidney is open to several sources of error. The recently discovered fact that in parenchymatous nephrites the kidney may be unable to excrete an excess of water introduced into the body may cause a urine to be passed the molecular concentration of which is greater than that of a normal urine. The degree of molecular dilution which can be produced by the administration of large amounts of water forms a useful guide in judging of the state of the kidney. The variations in the dissociation index of different specimens of the same urine is another source of error, for on diluting urine the molecular concentration calculated from the freezing point does not sink proportionately, owing to the facts that dilution causes the saline molecules to break up into ions which functionate as separate molecules and so simulate a greater degree of concentration than exists. This objection applies even to twenty-four-hour specimens. Urates may also be precipi tated from the urine in cooling, so as to cause the freezing point to rise, and in concentrated urines the water tends in part to freeze first and to cause the freezing point obtained to be that of the unduly concentrated residue. These objections may be met by greatly diluting the urine till the "ideal" freezing point is reached which is not affected by any of these factors. In practice the author finds that according to the concentration of the urine examined a dilution of five to fifteen times permits the "ideal" freezing point to be obtained without any loss of accuracy through excessive attenuation of molecular composition. POISONOUS ACTION OF BORIC ACID AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE. From the Russian. By GEORGE I. BLUHM, M. D., The reports of Liebreich about the harmlessness of boric acid as a food preservative are contradicted by the reports of Prof. F. Hoffman (Deutsch Medicinische Wochenschrift, 1902). In dogs who were fed for many days with meat mixed with 2 per cent of boric acid, marked pathologic changes were found in the stomach and intestines. In rabbits, after the introduction into the intestines of 1 per cent solution of boric acid [amount not mentioned, Trans.] in the course of 13 hours was noticed a peeling off of the epithelium. Fishes died in per cent solution of boric acid in 1 to 2 days. For Sale. For $550, a practice in a town, about 50 miles from San Francisco, situated in a dairy and poultry raising country. Receipts almost all cash. Good chance for a physician who also practices dentistry. Address C. R., PACIFIC MEDICAL JOURNAL, San Francisco. THE regular monthly meeting of the Los Angeles Academy of Medicine was held at the residence of Dr. B. T. Church, 845 S. Alvarado street. The following officers for the ensuing year were installed: President, Dr. F. C. Shurtleff, Vice-President, Dr. Charles B. Nichols; Secretary and Treasurer, Dr. George H. Kress. PACIFIC MEDICAL JOURNAL WINSLOW ANDERSON, A. M., M. D., M. R. C. P. LOND., etc. W. F. SOUTHARD, A. M., M. D., Managing Editor. COLLABORATORS. O. F. BUCKLEY, B.A., M.D., L.R.C.P.Edin., etc. H. D'ARCY POWER, L.S.A.Eng., L.R.C.P., Ire. P. O. REMONDINO, M.D. GEO. O. MACDONALD, M.D., F.R C.S.Ed. W. E. TAYLOR, M.D. W L. ADAMS, M.D. CARL C. HANSEN, M.D. GEORGE H. POWERS, A.M., M.D. 0. A. RUGGLES, M.D. FRANK HOWARD PAYNE, M.D. A. W. MORTON, A.B., M.D. OHAS. E. JONES, A.B., M.D. F. F. KNORP, M.D. WM. J. JACKSON, Ph.G., M.D. WM. A. BRYANT, M.D., D.D.S, WALTER F. LEWIS, D.D.S. H. N. ROWELL, M.D. CLARK L. ABBOTT, M.D. LOLITA B DAY, M.D. ROBERT E. O'CONNELL, D.D.S. CHAS. W. MILLS, A.B, M.D., D.D.8. B. F. WILLIAMS M.D. WILLIAM BURFIEND, D.D.S. JOHN M. STOWELL, M.D. BERTHA WAGNER-STARK, M.D. J. H. SEYMOUR, M.D. CALVIN W. KNOWLES, D.D.S., M.D. CORYDON B. ROOT, M.D., D.D.8. J. LORAN PEASE, D.D.S. J. C. HENNESSEY, D.D.S. S. L. STRICKLAND, D.D.S. The Editors are not responsible for the views of contributors. All matters relating to the editorial and business departments should be addressed to the PACIFIC MEDICAL JOURNAL, 1025 Sutter St., San Francisco. SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY, 1904. Editorial. PNEUMONIA. "The Captain of the Man of Death." Arthur R. Reynolds, M. D., Commissioner of Health, under date of October 24, 1903, writes in the Bulletin of the Health Department of Chicago the following very pointed remarks about pneumonia: "The community is again facing the beginning of the murderous pneumonia season. Between the last of this month and the close of next May upward of 2100 persons will die of pneumonia in Chicago, while from consumption-the "Great White Plague," which is practically monopolizing the attention and the efforts of the laborers in the field of preventive medi. cine-there will bardly be more than 1300 deaths during the same period. "Since the beginning of the last great pandemic of influenza, in 1889, there have been 33,861 deaths from pneumonia in this city and 29,980 from consumption-an excess of 11.4 per cent of pneumonia mortality. During this period, that is, the last thirteen years, 1890-1902, the deaths from pneumonia have increased from an average of 117 in the 100,000 of population during the previous thirteen years, 1877-1889-to 179-an increase of nearly 53 per cent. Corresponding figures for consumption are 171 per |