great majority of medical journals is not always carried into the business department, and the circulation claims made openly and unblushingly make one think mania de grandeur must be quite prevalent among advertising managers. Το their own credit be it said that many advertisers pay less attention to a claimed circulation than to the inherent worth of the publication, its standing in the field to which it ministers. Only recently the NORTH AMERICAN received unsolicited contracts from advertisers taking space in twenty-six and thirteen journals respectively, and in each case it was the only publi cation of the new school on the list. Another interesting evidence of the value of the NORTH AMERICAN as an advertising medium is the fact that a New York merchant who had taken space in several old school journals, including some of the big weeklies, but had failed to get practical returns, tried the NORTH AMERICAN, and within a fortnight of the first appearance of the advertisement in its columns, found a customer who paid him a hundred dollars. Still another indication of the worth of the NORTH AMERICAN to the advertisers is the statement of the proprietor of a sanatarium whose advertisement appears in a large number of medical journals. He volunteered the information that the NORTH AMERICAN was the only one on his list to which he could actually trace a patient.

Integrity of business methods in medical journalism is really of vital interest to the profession, and should be one of the factors to be considered in placing a subscription.

T

1905.

HE coming of a new year brings to each of us new duties and new responsibilities The old is past, the record is made. The new is before us, and the page is yet to be inscribed. It is well, therefore, that, so far as possible, definite and timely preparation be made for the tasks that confront us.

And this is true, perhaps, of no profession more emphatically than that of journalism. It is not merely the function of a journal to satisfy the wants of its readers-it must anticipate

them; it must not only summarize and weigh that which is old, but it must present that which is new; it must not be content to follow, but it must continually strive to lead. In short, it must, with the advent of each new year, forecast the future, determine the trend of the times, and decide on those policies and undertakings that may increase its reputation as a journal of achievement and of leadership.

The NORTH AMERICAN has always recognized that its readers are particularly those who, possessed by high ideals of professional life, demand the best there is in medicine and science. It is not, therefore, unprepared for the future, and takes great pleasure in presenting a partial list of its arrangements for 1905.

Of special interest just now is the status of homeopathy abroad.

In England, particularly, there are impending changes in the homeopathic school that deserve critical attention. The conditions that exist, the policies that may obtain, the differences to be reconciled, the obstacles to be surmounted and the final result to be hoped for, will be most interestingly and entertainingly described each month during the year by two of our most distinguished and accomplished British colleagues, Dr. George Henry Burford and Dr. Dudley d'Auvergne Wright. These eminent authors need no introduction to an American audience, and it will be recognized at once that their contributions will form a notable series.

Besides these papers, Dr. James Searson, of London, and Dr. Francois Cartier, of Paris, as well as others on the Continent, will contribute timely papers on topics of current interest.

But while informing ourselves as to matters abroad, we must not overlook important affairs at home. Very little is definitely known about our great hospitals, asylums and colleges. During 1905 a series of papers, fully illustrated, will appear in the North American, giving interesting and accurate accounts of some of homeopathy's greatest institutions. It may be added that this will include the London Homeopathic Hospital also.

A series of articles on "Crime and Criminals," by the wellknown writer and lecturer, Dr. George W. Grover, will be one of the special features of the NORTH AMERICAN for 1905. This study of criminality is extremely valuable, and the summing up by the author at the close of the last article will be found worthy of the most serious consideration.

Our Materia Medica will be considered in a short series. of papers on "The Best Way to Use the Materia Medica." It is not enough to say that the best way to use it is to study it. These articles will be born of experience and may therefore give practical help-which seems to be greatly needed.

Special papers on topics of general interest have been provided for and will appear from time to time.

Perhaps no more important announcement may be made than the establishment of three new departments in the journal. "Medical Jurisprudence," to be conducted by John A. Dutton, Esq., a distinguished member of the New York Bar and President of the Patria Club. It is most fortunate that Mr. Dutton has consented to take charge of this very important department and our readers are assured that under his skilled editorship the department will be of great value.

"Eye, Nose, Ear and Throat." This will be conducted by the well-known specialists, Dr. John L. Moffat and Dr. John B. Garrison. It is needless to say that it will be up to date.

"Surgery and Gynaecology," the third new department, will be in charge of Dr. Ralph A. Stewart and Dr. Walter Gray Crump, two prominent young surgeons. All that is new and worthy will be presented.

The other departments have been reorganized and will add very much to the value of the journal.

"Materia Medica" will be conducted by J. B. Gregg Custis, M.D., and Professor Edwin D. Simpson, and will be along helpful and practical lines.

"Pediatrics" will be in charge of William L. Love, A.M., M.D., and will present whatever is latest and best in children's diseases.

"Medical Progress" has for its editors John E. Wilson,

M.D., Professor of Nervous Diseases in N. Y. Hom. Med. College, and Dr. C. T. Webster.

"Electrotherapeutics" will remain under the able editorship of Dr. Wm.. H. Dieffenbach.

"Current Events," that most eagerly read section where we find the wit and the wisdom, as well as "all that's doing," remains under the charge of its genial and able editor, Dr. Alfred Drury. With the help of our large staff of special correspondents, he will get "all the news that's fit to print,'

The editorials and comments will be in the future as in the past, marked features of the journal. And so the NORTH AMERICAN, although soon to enter upon its 53d year, is never old, Each succeeding year renews its youth, and it looks forward gladly and hopefully to the future. It thanks most heartily its numerous friends for their many kindnesses, and wishes them a very Merry Christmas and a most Happy and Prosperous. New Year.

Notes and Comments

Killing the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg.-An influential New York newspaper has discussed recently the plea often made by members of the medical profession that their work is largely altruistic, that what they do for the prevention of disease is really against their financial interests. The editor can see no evidence that the progress of preventive medicine is appreciably decreasing the doctor's opportunities to collect his wellearned fees, and that the ideal world whence all illness has been banished is obviously of an attainment so close to infinitely remote that no measurable self-sacrifice is directly involved in the most energetic struggles toward it." The NORTH AMERICAN heartily agrees with the editor. Preventive medicine is giving a good many men ample leisure to collect their well-earned fees. The trouble is that at the same time it diminishes the opportunity to earn fees, well or ill. This is a subject that cannot be argued from the outside; the doctor's case book and cash book must settle the question, and certainly the records in these will show diminution as far as cases of infectious diseases are concerned. In so far the medical profession is killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

The Question of Commissions. The question of the propriety of consultants paying commissions to physicians who refer cases to them has once more been brought to the fore by the

contemptible action of a physician in Chicago who sent a decoy letter to one hundred leading members of the profession in his city, purporting to come from a young doctor in a country town and asking for 25 per cent commission on the fee to be paid by a hypothetical patient. Twenty-six refused to entertain the proposition, 56 ignored the letter entirely, and 18 agreed to divide the fee on the basis suggested, and for their pains had their names published in one of the Chicago papers. While nothing but blame attaches to a man who sacrifices a patient's interests to his own pocketbook, something can be said in defence of an arrangement that provides that the family physician shall receive a fair proportion of the total sum paid by a patient for medical or surgical services. The physician who would willingly be the means of pillorying his professional brethren in the lay press deserves to be drummed out of the fraternity.

The Practice of Medicine Defined.-Among the many who have taken in hand the framing of a legal definition of the practice of medicine is Dr. S. D. Van Meter, of Denver, who offers the following: "Any persons shall be regarded as practising medicine, within the meaning of this act, who shall in any manner hold himself out to the public as being engaged within this State in the diagnosis and treatment of disease or injuries of human beings; or who shall suggest, recommend, or prescribe any form of treatment for the intended palliation, relief, or cure of any physical or mental ailment of any person, with the intention of receiving therefor, either directly or indirectly, any fee, gift, or compensation whatsoever; or who shall maintain an office for the reception, examination, and treatment of any person suffering from disease or injury of body or mind; or who shall attach the title of M. D., Surgeon, Doctor, or any other word or abbreviation to his name, indicative that such person is engaged in the practice of medicine as hereinbefore defined." This is a very comprehensive definition, and has many merits. It seems to leave very little loophole for the numerous quacks and charlatans who are now practising medicine to their own great advantage and to the detriment of a gullible public. It does not interfere in any way with the household use of domestic remedies. It will not do, however, to penalize everyone who uses the title of Doctor. To do so would be to jeopardize the liberty of our friends in the dental profession, not to mention. some eminent divines.

Massage of the Eye.-A Mr. Stephen Smith, of London, possessing proper medical qualifications, has been heralded in the press as the discoverer of a system of manipulations of the eyeball which can enable the victims of myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism to cast aside their eyeglasses or spectacles. An optician, who possibly sees prophetically the extinction of his means of livelihood, has challenged the doctor to practice his methods on half a dozen test myopic cases that call for lenses of from -4 D to -10 D. The challenge has been accepted. The