nothing more important or more in its favor than the freedom from nausea and vomiting. This freedom from nausea and vomiting will depend to a great extent on the evenness of narcosis produced, prepartion of the patient for the anaesthetic, and purity of the gases. With a patient properly prepared and anaesthesia evenly maintained with pure nitrous oxide and oxygen, nausea and vomiting will be a rare occurrence. In all his work he has had only five cases in which persistent vomiting was encountered, and in none of these did it last over six hours. As a rule patients who have been operated upon under nitrous oxide and oxygen anaesthesia get along better than when other general anaesthetics are used. They are less sick, can take nourishment quickly, have fewer complications, and in every way have a better chance for a speedy and complete recovery.

Rat and Squirrel Fleas.

The well-known fact that plague may be conveyed from rodent to rodent by means of fleas, and the probability that the same agent serves to convey the disease from rodent to man, make the study of the prevalence of these insects and of their host affiliations of great importance. The large majority of fleas are found associated with their proper hosts, but there is, as other observers have previously noted, some accidental distribution to adventitious hosts. For example, the rat fleas have been found several times upon squirrels and the squirrel fleas upon rats. As both rats and squirrels showing plague infection have been found in California, the significance of this fact is at once apparent if we assume, as we are probably justified in doing, that plague may be carried from one of these rodents to the other by means of fleas. All of the common rat fleas and squirrel fleas readily feed upon man's blood, and there is no reason why any flea from a rodent may not be the means of conveying plague infection, as has been demonstrated by the Indian Plague Commission. Fleas have been combed from rats (some alive and some dead) by the employees of the sanitary service and sent to the laboratory for identification.-Public Health Reports.

Calcium Lactate in Cases of Defective Blood Coagulability.

Urticaria, chilblains, lymphatic headache, and the like are associated with a condition of defective blood coagulability, and it is generally recognized, according to The Hospital for June 5, 1909, that any lesion that can be included under the general term of serious haemorrhage can often be greatly benefited by

the oral administration of calcium salts. The preparations best adapted for this purpose are the chloride and the lactate, and of these the latter has the advantage that its organic radicle is readily oxidized in the system, with the result that the base remains more fully at the disposal of the organism than is the case with the chloride. It is important, however, that the lactate should be freshly prepared, since it decomposes when kept any length of time. For adults the dose is fifteen grains, flavored with one-half to one minim of tincture of capsicum, and made up to the ounce with chloroform water. The treatment should be continued for six weeks at a time, three doses being given daily about an hour before food. More than half the cases of chilblains so treated are rapidly cured, though a repetition of the course may be required the next winter. Other affections in which similar treatment has proved very beneficial are boils, headache of the lymphatic type, urticaria, face flushings, acne rosacea, and perspiring hands and feet with offensive perspiration. If constipation should result from the use of the calcium, it may be corrected by giving a small dose of infusion of senna pods at bedtime.

An automobile is the greatest thing in existence to keep the doctor's money in circulation. If your surplus worries you, and you possess no car, invest at once.

Three doctors were operating on a man for appendicitis; after the operation was completed one of the doctors missed a small sponge; the patient was reopened, thes ponge found within, and the man sewede up again. Immediately the second doctor missed a needle. Again the patient was opened and closed. Then the third doctor missed a pair of scissors. "Gentlemen," said the victim as they were about to open him up again, "for heaven's sake, if you are going to keep this up, I would suggest you put on some hooks and eyes; or, if you have none of them handy, put on some buttons."

A little chap had just felt the hard side of a slipper. When the tears had dried somewhat, he turned to his mother and asked, "Mother, did grandpa spank father when he was a little boy?"

"Yes," answered the mother impressively.

"And did his father whip him when he was little?"

"Yes."

"And did his father spank him?"

."Yes."

A pause.

"Well, who started this durned thing anyway?"-Everybody's.

Teacher "Tommy, you should comb your hair before you come to school." Tommy-"Ain't got no comb."

Teacher-"Then borrow your father's."

Tommy-"Father ain't got no comb, either."

Teacher "Absurd! Doesn't he comb his hair?"

Tommy-"He hain't got no hair!"

tion.

Perspective View of the Medical Department of the University of Nebraska, to be located at Dewey Avenue and Forty-Second Street.
As one may grasp from a survey of the accompanying outline of the plans, beauty as well as practical use has been a guiding principle in the selec-
The view given in this picture is that of the Dewey avenue front. The imposing building in the center of the group is destined to become a general
hospital. Two of the large corner buildings are outlined as hospitals, one for a maternity and woman's hospital and the other for crippled and deformed
children. The other two are meant for the Child Saving Institute and a laboratory.
The two smaller buildings in the foreground will be used, one for class rooms and administration offices and the other for a nurses' home.
The proposed group designed for the college of medicine of the University of Nebraska will give Omaha one of the finest institutions of its kind in
the country, even a more artistic and beautiful group than that of Harvard, one of the finest in the country.

The plans make plenty of provisions for the expansion of the institution. It is in the mind of those who have been laboring for years for the success of the institution-many of them local physicians who lecture and give clinical demonstrations without compensation-to make this institution one of the leading medical schools of the continent.

A JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY

Published Monthly by WESTERN MEDICAL REVIEW COMPANY, Omaha, Nebr. Per Annum, $2.00. The WESTERN MEDICAL REVIEW is the journal of the Nebraska State Medical Association and is sent by order of the Association to each of its members.

The medical profession of Nebraska is confronted by an epidemic unique in the history of the state. The statements made in this editorial are based upon information of physicians received in this state, and from a study of current literature of the disease of the New York epidemic of 1907. In a very instructive letter received by the editor from Dr. W. H. Wilson, and from other sources, the history of the epidemic in this state is as follows: It first appeared near Stromsburg, in the latter part of May, and the number of cases rapidly increased. The storm center of the disease in this state is in the counties of Polk, Merrick, Hamilton and York. It is possible that more than 200 cases have occurred in these localities. There are re