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Bleeding Cured Poison.-Dr. A. D. Blackburn, of the Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia, recently saved the life of a would-be suicide by the laudanum route, when his "respiration was but five in five minutes." Everything else had been tried without effect, and the end was near, when bleeding was determined upon, accompanied by saline injections. A quart of blood as black as ink was drawn, an equal quantity of a saline solution injected in its stead, and in a few minutes the respiratory organs resumed their functions, the danger was over, and the patient recovered.

The New Salt of Cinchona, Blennostasine.-The experience of the past two months has proved the value of this new drug. We have not had an opportunity of testing it upon any chronic hay fever cases, and must wait for word from some of our readers as to its value in this connection. There is nothing so far produced that anywhere near equals its action in acute coryzas-colas. A few doses decreases the secretion, relieves the weight and heaviness of the head and the cold can generally be made to disappear in 24 to 36 hours. It is a vaso-motor constrictor that is non-toxic and certain in its action. It is very gratifying indeed to witness the celerity of its action. Any of our readers who have not tried this remedy should do so. It is a permanent improvement in our materia medica.Editorial Kansas City Medical Index.

When Shall We Use the Forceps?-1. The indication for the use of forceps rarely or never arises during the first stage of labor, before the membranes have been ruptured. 2. It may be necessary to employ the forceps during the first stage, when the waters have escaped on account of the increasing exhaustion of mother or child. 3. It is proper during the first stage of labor to apply the forceps for accidents, whenever they may arise, notably in certain cases of convulsions, placenta prævia, and prolapse of the cord. 4. In the second stage it is proper to apply the forceps one-half hour after the head ceases to advance, when there is no disproportion between the passage and passenger. 5. When, however, there is a tight fit between the child and the birth canal, the use of the forceps may be delayed. This delay should rarely exceed two hours after the head ceases to advance. 6. If the head is engaged, and neither advances with the pain nor recedes after the pain, the forceps should be applied promptly.-DR. PARK, American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal.,

Schering's Formalin Lamp and Disinfector.-This apparatus affords means of disinfecting and deodorizing households and hospitals. The lamp is abslutely safe and inexpensive and operates by vaporizing one hundred per cent. of pure formaldehyde in the solid form-in pastils weighing fifteen grains each-every pastil developing one gramme of pure formaldehyde gas, the equivalent of two and one-half grammes of the forty per cent. fluid formalin, this polymerized form of formaldehyde being identical with paraform, which was introduced as an intestinal antiseptic about three years ago. The formalin is not employed, as was heretofore the case, in fluid form, but as pastils (paraform). It is a perfectly indifferent and insoluble body, and can therefore be freely used by any one. These formalin pastils are vaporized in the apparatus by a new process, and the formalin is given off in its gaseous and most active form. The chief properties of formalin may be summarize as follows: (1) It is admittedly the most energetic disinfectant that we know of. (It destroys all pathogenic organisms, even the most resistant, as the anthrax

Formalin Lamp. spores). (2) In gaseous form it is entirely in- Formalin Disinfector.

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nocuous, in spite of its penetrating odor. One of its most remarkable properties is its virulent action upon bacteria; but in the gaseous form it has no deleterious action at all upon the higher organisms. Even the continuous inhalation of large amounts of formalin is not in any way injurious to health. This lamp and disinfector, however, are so arranged that no formalin odor can penetrate the rooms adjacent to the one that is being disinfected. (3) It is the best deodorizer that we possess. Even small quantities remove foul odors, uniting with the bodies that causes them to form odorless compounds. The odors, therefore, are not merely covered up, but are completly destroyed. (4) It is our best preservative medium, being efficacious in that respect, even when present only in very small amount. The Schering method of disinfection has many advantages, among which may be mentioned (1) The gaseous formalin penetrates everywhere, into all the corners and crannies, and kills all the disease germs that may be present in the room. (2) The apparatus are so constructed that a spontaneous and even distribution of the gaseous formalin necessarily takes place; this being an essential condition for a really efficacious disinfection. It is obtained by a peculiar admixture of the formalin vapor with the gases of combustion derived from the alcohol that heats the apparatus. They have the further advantage that the formalin is used in them in concentrated form, as pastils containing one hundred per cent. of pure formaldehyde. One gramme of pure formaldehyde gas as obtained by heating one pastil occupies a space of 745 cubic centimeters (45 cubic inches). (3) The apparatus are not cumbrous, can be taken anywhere, even when travelling, and can be used by any one. (4) This method of disinfection is incomparably more efficacious, simple, and cheap than all previous ones. No troublesome preparations are required, and the process may be started at any moment. It compares very favorably with the complexity of other methods, and the length and troublesome preparations that they require. (5) It possesses one important and, indeed, inestimable advantage over all other: it does not injure fabrics or material of any kind. Furniture, carpets, hangings, metallic articles, colors, et cetera, are in no way attacked. Rooms to be disinfected need not to be cleared of their furniture and ornaments. The older methods of disinfection are feared by the public because, in addition to their other disagreeable features, they often entirely ruin valuable objects. Even at the expense of health, such processes are usually avoided. This is entirely obviated by the new method. Not only are the diphtheria, typhoid, and tubercle bacilli, staphylococci, et cetera, killed, but the most resistant forms, as the anthrax spores, are entirely destroyed. These latter, as is well known, are among the most resistant of all the microorganisms, and their destruction has been selected by Professor Koch as the criterion of the efficacy of a disinfectant. In every trial that was made with the above-mentioned bacteria and spores, which were exposed in the room to be disinfected, either smeared upon pieces of wall-paper or impregnated upon linen rags, they were entirely destroyed by the process. Even thick layers of pure cultures of the tubercle bacilli were sterilized through and through. The lamp may be used with advantage under the following circumstances: In close living-rooms with damp walls; in sleeping-rooms; sick-rooms; rooms where dead bodies have lain; in ships' cabins; in railway sleepers; in railway-carriages and waiting-rooms; in hotels and lodgings (important when travelling or in the country); in schools; in libraries; in business places; in restaurants; in privies (especially where there is no flow of water, or an insufficient one, as in small towns and in the country); in urinals, et cetera. Also in meat markets, meat cellers; fish, game, and poultry stores; slaughter-houses, pantries (especially in the country, where considerable quantities of meat, et cetera, must be kept for a varying time), milk cellars, et cetera.

Royal Testimony.-1 have given your Bromidia with success as a remedy for insomnia, especially where produced by excessive study or mental_work. DR. LUIGI SALUCCI, Physician to the Holy Apostolic Palaces, The Natican, Rome. September 1, 1897.

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AMONG THE MAGAZINES

The Alkaloidal Clinic.-in this number will be found a handsome fullpage announcement of this enterprising monthly, which, under the able management of Dr. Abbott, who brings to it the high character, quick wit, and energy of his Green Mountain ancestry, has become a notable feature in the practical therapeutics of the day. Alkaloidal medication (that is, the use of the active principles in lieu of the crude drugs) is rapidly coming to the front, and is destined to occupy a permanent place in modern medicine. Many physicians are not informed as to the place Alkaloidal medication seeks to occupy in the practice of medicine. It simply aims to teach an improved method of using the old, well-known remedies. The Alkaloidal Clinic is its sponsor, and is filled with interesting reports of cases and therapeutic suggestions, from some of the best writers in the profession. The editorial department is under the management of Dr. William F. Waugh, who is well known in the literary world. It is said that of all knowledge, the general practitioner most desires to know, is how to cure his patients cito, tuto, et jucunde, and this he may learn by investing a dollar in our bright and pushing contemporary, the Alkaloidal Clinic. See page 97.

The Century Magazine for the Coming Year.-- The Century Magazine, with its November number, enters upon its twenty-seventh year. During its long existence, by reason of its many notable successes, it has won an assured and commanding position. During the coming year The Century will maintain its exceptional position as a magazine of entertainment and as a leader in art and thought. Its pictorial features will be notable, and it will command the services of the foremost artists, illustrators and engravers of this country and of Europe. Nothing like a complete announcement of its literary features can be attempted now. Dr. Weir Mitchell, whose novel of the American Revolution, "Hugh Wynne," is the great success of the year, has written a new story for the present volume, "The Adventures of Francois; Foundling, Adventurer, Juggler, and Fencing-Master during the French Revolution." The tale is full of romance and adventure. Mrs. Burton Harrison contributes a new novel of New York life, called "Good Americans," in which contemporaneous social types and tendencies are brightly mirrored and described. For the benefit of the readers of The Century an unusual combination offer is made for this year. There has been issued "The Century Gallery of One Hundred Portraits," made up of the finest engravings that have appeared in the magazine, and representing a total expenditure of nearly $30,000. These are printed on heavy plate-paper, with wide margins, like proofs. The retail price of the gallery is $7.50, but this year it will be sold only in connec tion with a subscription to The Century, the price of the two together being $6.50.

The New Volume of St. Nicholas.-St. Nicholas, conducted by Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, enters upon the twenty-fifth year of its successful career as the leading magazine for boys and girls with its November issue. Rudyard Kipling's first "Jungle Stories" were written for St. Nicholas, and this year he will contribute a new series of stories to the magazine, called "The Just-So Stories," written in a new vein-fantastic stories. Mr. Frank R. Stockton will contribute "The Bucaneers of Our Coast." This is a series of narrative sketches, exploits of that wild body of sea-rovers, calling themselves "The Brethren of the Coast," who during the greater part of the seventeenth century ravaged and almost ruled the waters and shores of the West Indies. Mr. J. T. Trowbridge has written a serial, “Two Biddicut Boys, and Their Adventures with a Wonderful Trick Dog." Mr. W. O. Stoddard writes a stirring romance of chivalry, "With the Black Prince," telling of the fortunes and adventures of an English lad who fights at the battle of Crecy. There will be the usual number of articles of instruction and entertainment, short stories, poems and jingles, as well as hundreds of pictures by leading artists. The price of St. Nicholas is 25 cents a copy, or $3.00 a year.

From Original Painting expressly for Christmas Herald. Half-tone by the Williamson-Haffner Eng. Co., Denver, Col.