president of the society and a number of representative citizens spoke in favor of the plan. Among the speakers was Miss Lillian Brandt, statistician of the United Charities of New York City, who spoke of the work in that city. Miss Brandt said that the Health Department requires reports on all cases of tuberculosis from the institutions and physicians under whose care the cases may come. These reports contain the names and addresses of the patients and the particulars of the cases. Inspectors make rigid investigations, and the Health Department, in a few extreme cases, has exercised the right to remove patients and place them in quarantine. Dr. John H. Simon, health commissioner of St. Louis, read some statistics on tuberculosis and said that over 10 per cent. of the deaths in St. Louis last year were due to tuberculosis, while the records of 1860 showed the percentage was only 8. Dr. C. A. Snodgrass, city bacteriologist, spoke of the dangers of the spread of the disease from street cars and other public places, and said the best way to prevent the spread is to educate the people in the nature of the disease. The society will use every effort to secure legislation similar to that in force in New York. A number of committees were appointed, the members of the medical committee being Drs. Wm. Porter, chairman; H. Wheeler Bond, J. W. Harris, Geo. Homan, C. H. Hughes, H. W. Lyman, W. A. McCandless, W. G. Moore, Jesse S. Myer, E. W. Saunders, J. H. Simon, Jos. Spiegelhalter, Justin Steer, J. H. Tanquery, Geo. M. Tuttle. ization has been linked with the Civic Improvement League, and all of the leading charity organizations are represented

The organ

The "Colorado Medical Journal " recently issued a special number on tuberculosis, and made the announcement that, with that number, it would inaugurate a new policy of devoting much more attention to the subjects of climatology and tuberculosis. In this way, without becoming exclusively a journal of climatology and tuberculosis, it would, in a great measure, fill the vacancy caused by the suspension, not long since, of the Journal of Tuberculosis.

Public Instruction in Tuberculosis.-The Illinois State Board of Health recently issued a pamphlet written especially for the laity, and intended for distribution broadcast, in which consumption is described, its ravages clearly pointed out, and rules for its prevention and limitation of its spread detailed. The State Board of Health announces that it will make free examination of sputa in needy

cases.

Appointments at St. Mary's Hospital, Chicago.Dr. Alfred C. Croftan has been appointed physicianin-chief, and Dr. A. J. Ochsner surgeon-in-chief, to St. Mary's Hospital, Chicago.

The Beth Israel Training School for Nurses.-The graduation exercises of this school were held on Tuesday evening, July 12. Addresses were made by Dr. L. J. Ladinski and Mr. Edward Lauterbach. The diplomas were given by Mr. Joseph H. Cohen, President of the Beth Israel Hospital. A class of eleven was graduated, the valedictory address being delivered by Miss Lena Rabinowitz.

The Product of Cod-liver Oil in Norway up to May 28 of the present year has been more than five times what it was for the same period of 1903, according to a recent report of United States Consul Cunningham, at Bergen, made to the Department of Commerce and Labor. As a result of this increase, the price of the commodity has been gradually declining, and the sales have not been very great. There are over 3,500 boats engaged in the fisheries in Fin

marken, where the season has been exceedingly favorable. The output last year was almost nil.

Increased Death Rate for Philadelphia.-There were reported to the Philadelphia Bureau of Health 483 deaths for the week ended July 16, an increase of 39 over the preceding week. The heat is responsible for a large number of deaths among children, 84 deaths being due to diarrhoea and enteritis in children under the age of two years. Sixty-four deaths were due to pulmonary tuberculosis. The number of cases of typhoid fever was 58, with 10 deaths, as compared with 56 cases and 7 deaths for the preceding week. There was but one case of smallpox, while there were 36 of scarlet fever and 35 of diphtheria.

Women and Medicine.-Prof. T. Clifford Albut: presented the prizes, on June 23, at the London School of Medicine for Women, Hunter Street. In the course of his address he remarked that the lady doctor had come to stay, and there was now no reason for defending a school of that kind. Women had been wise in having a school to themselves, but the time had now come when they must take a step forward and be members of the great colleges and guilds of their profession. He would be glad to see women belonging to the College of Physicians and the College of Surgeons, and it was an undoubted fact that at the Congress of Physicians men had derived great interest and instruction from papers read by women.-The Medical Press and Circular.

Obstructing Medical Union in New York State.— The proposed consolidation of the New York State Medical Association and the Medical Society of the State of New York is opposed by the Onondaga County Medical Association. Willard A. Glenn of Syracuse appeared before Justice Fitzgerald on Wednesday in opposition to a motion for an order compelling the association to consent to union. The lawyer of the association said that there was no actual opposition to consolidation, but that his clients believed that the merger should be carried out in accordance with the terms of the General Corporations law, by which each association would be wound up prior to the establishment of the new organization. The result of this would, of course, be that the Medical Society of the State of New York would cease to exist, a catastrophe which its members would never permit to happen. Any opposition to the present plan of consolidation amounts practically therefore to opposition to medi cal union in the State.

New Home for Nurses.-The Jewish Hospit Cincinnati, has applied for a permit to erect a new nurses' home in Burnet Avenue. The structure is to be a three-story brick building and will cost $10,000.

WL.

American Electro-therapeutic Association.-The fourteenth annual meeting of this association will be held at the Inside Inn, St. Louis, Mo., September 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1904. The scientific sessions be held only in the mornings, leaving the afternouts free in which to visit the attractions of the fair. I is believed that a large proportion of the members of the association will be present this year, as the World's Fair offers many attractions in itself; and in addition to the convention of the association there will also be held in St. Louis, from the 8th C the 15th of September, the annual convention of the American Röntgen Ray Society and the Inter national Electrical Congress.

Cholera in Persia.-A despatch from Baku states that refugees are arriving there from Teheran anu tell terrible stories of the ravages of cholera. They

say that on some days the mortality has reached nine hundred. The Europeans are abandoning their property and are fleeing to a camp in the mountains. The quarantine stations are almost without food. The Russian Government has ordered the closing of the frontier for the purpose of preventing the introduction of the disease into the southern provinces. Obituary Notes. - Dr. DAVID J. FITZGERALD, one f the leading physicians of Northern New York, died at Glens Falls, N. Y., on July 17, of apoplexy. He was born in Ireland forty-six years ago, came to this country when young, was graduated from the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute in 1876, and the Albany Medical College in 1884. After a course in the New York Post-Graduate School he located at Glens Falls in 1886. A widow and two daughters survive. One of his brothers is Dr. John F. Fitzgerald of the Public Charities Department in Brooklyn and Queens.

Dr. FRANK ANTHONY WALKE died July 12 at his home in Norfolk, Va., aged seventy-three years. He was a graduate of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1852, and served in the medical corps of the U. S. Navy. During the Civil War he was active in the naval medical service of the Confederacy.

Dr. A. J. ATKINSON died at Lewistown, Pa., on July 12, at the age of eighty-three. He was a surgeon in the U. S. Army during the Civil War.

Dr. Eli J. Zook died at Newville, Pa., on July 9, at the age of sixty years. He was graduated from Jefferson Medical College in the class of 1878.

Dr. WILLARD P. DERICKSON died at Wilmington, Del., on July 10, as a result of spinal meningitis. He was graduated from Jefferson Medical College in the class of 1891.

Obituary.

EDWARD! W. LAMBERT, M.D.,

NEW YORK.

DR. DWARD W. LAMBERT died at his home in this city on Sunday, July 17, of disease of the heart. He had been seriously ill only about a week.

He was born in Boston, Mass., on February 15, 1831, and was graduated in arts from Yale College in the class of 1854, just missing the celebrated '53, with most of the members of which, however, he was intimately acquainted. The same year he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of this city and received his degree from that institution in 1857For two years after that he served

on the house staff of Bellevue Hospital, and in 1859 entered upon the practice of his profession.

Dr. Lambert was one of the pioneers in medical Insurance work. He early became associated with Henry B. Hyde who, in 1859, founded the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and he was made the society's first medical director. During the period of forty-five years since then he has remained chief of the Equitable's medical staff, although of Late his duties have been rather those of consulting medical director.

Dr. Lambert was one of the last of the 'old guard," at one time an assistant of Willard Parker and a contemporary of Draper, Sands, and Markoe. He was a member of the New York Academy of Medicine, the Pathological Society, the Medical Society of the County of New York, the Medical and Surgical Society, the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men, the Century, University, and Yale Clubs, and the New England Society. Of his four sons, three, Adrian V. S., Alexander A., and Samuel W., are physicians praccising in New York.

LONDON, July 1, 1904.

THE Royal Institute of Public Health last night gave a banquet in recognition of Mr. Chamberlain's services to Tropical and Preventive Medicine. About two hundred members of the institute and a number of distinguished guests were present. The Honorary Fellowship of the institute was presented amid much enthusiasm to Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Iveagh, and Mr. Balfour. The president (Prof. W. R. Smith), in proposing "our guest," said the ex-Colonial Secretary had done more than any one who had held that office to promote the health of our countrymen in Greater Britain. Fortunately in this country we could put aside political armor and meet to do honor to a great Englishman.

Mr. Chamberlain, in acknowledging the toast, said that as secretary for the colonies he had had brought home to him how important was care for the health of those doing our work beyond the seas, and taking advantage of the opportunities of office he was able to secure some expression of the interest universally felt in such an institution as the one he was addressing. He had often heard it said that while surgery had made gigantic progress in this generation, medicine had not advanced in due proportion. Well, to borrow an expression from the Prime Minister, he could say, "I am a child in these matters." He only knew that in the last few years medical research, aided by surgery, had thrown a flood of light on the origin of the disease, and that was a step toward its cure. While all looked with confidence on curative medicine, all agreed that preventive medicine was better still. Without sanitary reform social reform was an empty phrase. The housing of the poor, the attempt to prevent the deterioration of the race, and other things to which legislators devoted such of their time and attention as they could spare from party conflicts-all such things were founded on sanitary reform. Preventible disease was the great agent filling our workhouses, raising our taxes, weakening the fiber of the people, preventing us from competing successfully in that eternal struggle for existence which must go on as long as the world lasts. It was to the efforts of such men as Sir Patrick Manson, Major Ronald Ross, and Professor Haffkine that his attention had been chiefly directed. With all the investigations going on, he believed-sanguine optimist as he always was-they would in time make those tropical countries, each of which in turn had been called the white man's grave," places where white men could live in comfort.

A new convalescent Home for Consumptives in connection with the Brompton Hospital was opened on the 25th ult. by the Prince and Princess of Wales. It is, situated at Camberley, about thirty miles from London, 400 feet above the sea level, in grounds of about twenty acres in extent. The soil is gravel and sand. Pine woods give some shelter from the winds, except on the south side. The total cost is said to be £70,000, and it will require an expenditure of £10,000 a year to keep it going. The Prince expressed the pleasure of himself and the Princess in assisting in the inauguration of the sanatorium, and hoped their presence might be considered as evidence of a desire to preserve the connection of their family with the Brompton Hospital ever since the foundation stone of the original building was laid by his grandfather, the Prince Consort, sixty years ago. He also referred to the King's Sanatorium for Consumptives now in course of erection.

There

This question of preventing consumption-as well as of treating it-seems to meet us at every turn. are some who say the whole subject has been too much boomed in one direction, though others are disposed to push it still further with the public. The Charity Organization Society, which likes to get a finger in every pie, had a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, at which both Sir D. Powell and Sir W. Broadbent blessed the work it had done in this matter. Sir Douglas insisted on the importance of the disease being recognized at the earliest stage and said there was no need to be hopeless. The disease had been steadily declining for the last fifty years and more rapidly during the last decade. The scheme of the C. O. S. was described at the meeting as concerned only with the very poor, and as directed to ensure such a stay in a sanatorium, and to free them from anxiety as to their dependents and afterward secure

suitable light employment for those who recover sufficiently to undertake it. An endeavor is being made to enable the society to pay for ten beds in a sanatorium. The first annual meeting of supporters of a sanatorium at Davos named after the Queen was held here yesterday. The old Home for British Invalids at Davos, taken over by the "Queen Alexandria" Association, is inadequate and compares badly with the institutions of other countries; so a year ago it was determined to build-something not extravagant but worthy of the Queen's name. A recent entertainment at His Majesty's Theater produced £5,000 toward this object. The main object of the association is to cater for people unable to incur the whole cost of their treatment and who are only in the early stage of consumption.

Hydatid disease in the pelvis and abdomen was discussed at a late meeting of the Obstetrical Society when two rare cases were brought forward. The first, by Dr. Eden, was primary hydatid of the fallopian tube in a woman of forty, married thirteen years, never pregnant. A pelvic tumor was found and thought to be a dermoid cyst of the right ovary. Operated on in September. 1903, it turned out to be the distended, densely adherent fallopian tube filled with detached hydatid vesicles. No trace of hydatids elsewhere. The case is almost unique. Dr. Eden had met with but one other recorded case-that of Doléris in 1896-and he only knew of one recorded case of primary hydatid disease of the ovary, that of Pean, 1895. Pelvic hydatids usually begin in the peritoneum or connective tissue. The other case is very remarkable and was the subject of a paper by Dr. Cullingworth and Mr. Clutton, the patient having been under their joint care for about eight years. She was first examined by them in 1896 when twentyfour years old, when a rounded, fixed, fluctuating swelling in the suprapubic region was supposed to be a cyst of ovary or broad ligament. On operation hydatid cysts of both ovaries and right broad ligament, as well as of the omentum, mesentery, and abdominal wall were found. Moreover, a larger cyst was also present in the right loin and another below the sternum. The cysts of the ovary and broad ligament and as many as possible of the omentum were removed, the operation lasting two and a half hours. The patient's condition toward the end was extremely alarming. Three months later an incision was made above the umbilicus in order to deal with the other cysts. This revealed three large and several small ones attached to the liver. All but two were removed entire; the ectocystic walls of the two largest were reduced in size and attached to the incision. The shock was extreme. Another large cyst fell toward the spleen and was left for future operation. In November of the same year a large cyst in the left iliac fossa was evacuated, and a week later a suppurating cyst discharged its contents per rectum. Between this time and December, 1903, the patient submitted to eight operations, the longest interval between being two years.

Dr. Malins (president) hardly knew which to admire most, the persistence of the surgeons or the fortitude and endurance of the patient. Mr. Clutton remarked that the present satisfactory state of the patient was due to the fact, contrary to the usual experience, that the cysts had been limited to the abdomen. Had they invaded the thorax or brain, as so often happened, the result would have been different. Mr. Bland-Sutton suggested reexamination of the specimens to determine whether the colony really arose in the ovary or in the connective tissue of the broad ligament. In the majority of cases the parasite began in the subserous tissue. The number of cysts depended on the number of ova swallowed. The cysts and colonies gave rise to symptoms according to their rate of growth. Broad-cysts may be sown in the connective tissue of operative wounds, and so cysts often appear in the cicatrices.

A colonial list of birthday honors was issued after the home list. Dr. M. St. John Franks Kendal, M.B., C.B., of the Transvaal receives knighthood.

The Queen has promised to visit the East London Horticultural Show on the 14th, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to the London Hospital.

Princess Christian attended a meeting of the National Health Society on Tuesday at the Mansion House. Lord Derby said the society is doing good work in various parts of the country by instructing poor people on the means of preserving health. A modest training is given and certificates awarded to health visitors and sanitary inspectors. Lectures are also given under the auspices of the County Councils. The society is much indebted to the Princess for the interest Her Royal Highness has always displayed in this work.

The Duchess of Albany opened the three days' bazaar which closed last evening on behalf of the Royal Hospital for Incurables which was founded by Dr. Reed

fifty years ago and has been under royal patronage all the time. At present it shelters 208 patients and gives pensions of £20 a year each to 700 others. Patients who can work contribute various articles, as do their friends, to this annual sale.

Lord Iveagh has sent the first instalment of an additional annual subscription of £500 to King Edward's Hospital Fund. When the fund was started in 1897 his Lordship gave £12,500 as a capitalized subscription. Donations of above $11,000 have been made toward the £9.332 per annum required to take advantage of a conditional offer.

A deputation of gentlemen interested in the provision of street ambulances waited on the city police authorities on Wednesday. Sir Wm. Church, Sir D. Duckworth, Sir Cooper Perry, Mr. Golding Bird, Mr. A. Bowlby, Dr. Arthur James, Secretary of Street Ambulance Associa tion; Surgeon-General Sir Joseph Fayrer, and SurgeonGeneral Sir W. Hooper took part with others. The need for horsed ambulances and skilled attendants, in order that injured persons might be quickly taken to hospital with as little pain as possible, was urged by the speakers, who pointed out also how far we lag behind the United States in this matter. Sir Joseph Fayrer said he was ashamed that the chief city of the Empire should occupy its present position in this respect. The chair man (Alderman Alliston) promised careful consideration of the information submitted by the deputation and expressed a wish for a written report on the subject.

Lord Alverstone distributed the prizes at St. Mary's Hospital on Wednesday and gave the students some timely advice. He was delighted that the school kept in the front rank in athletics, but begged them to re member that these exercises are not the object of but only a means of fitting them to do their serious work In no other profession were gentlemanly feeling, high bearing, and honorable principles more essential. More over, no other calling offered greater opportunities f helping others. He would not have doctors turn preach ers, but he felt that they must meet with many oppor tunities in their work of speaking words which wer good for those in trouble.

A novelty in anatomical teaching: Messrs. Jack a nounce the forthcoming issue of "The Edinburg Stereoscopic Atlas of Anatomy," to consist of 250 stere scopic photos, in parts of fifty each, edited by Dr. David Waterston. The first section will be ready in the coming autumn, and it is hoped to complete the work early 1905. The advantage of the stereoscope is obvious, and the position and relations of the various structure must be in this way accurately defined.

OUR PARIS LETTER. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

N-RAYS-PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF RADIUM RAYS-INTRVESICAL SEPARATION OF URINE CANCER OF THE STOM ACH TREATED BY RÖNTGEN RAYS-EARLY DIAGNOSIS D GLAND AND PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS-SURGICAL TREAT MENT IN ULCER OF THE STOMACH-PROSTATECTOMYLACERATION OF THE COMMON CAROTID-GENERAL TUBES

CULOSIS AN ECONOMIC PERIL-HEPATIC ORIGIN C HEMORRHOIDS-EFFECT OF RADIUM ON THE BLOOD 2 LEUKÆMIA-DEATH OF GILLES DE LA TOURETTE. PARIS, June 15, 1004

Ar the Académie des Sciences nearly all the meeting of late have been occupied with discussions on the #-ray recently discovered by Professor Blondlot and Profess Charpentier of the faculty of Nancy. It is claimed th Charpentier has discovered that living beings, especially th muscles and nervous centers, give out special rays, call n-rays. These n-rays, as yet but little known, entire distinct from x-rays, have been studied in a series of expe

ments.

Professor Bouchard, collaborating with Curie, has als studied the physiological action of the emanations radium. By a special arrangement these authors ba had mice and guinea-pigs kept in an enclosed place forced to breathe air charged with radium rays. animals first suffered from dyspnoea, then went into com became cold, and died. The investigators further ascet tained that the tissues of the animals succumbing to th action of the radium are themselves radioactive. T have observed, on the other hand, that the injection of ga charged with the emanations of radium into the peritones cavity of guinea-pigs or rabbits, has no toxic effect.

At the meeting of the Académie de Médecine on June 14 an important communication was made by Tuffier an Mauté concerning the value of the intravesical separation of the urine of the two kidneys, with a view to the diagnosis of their functional and anatomical condition. The method used was that of Luys. They showed that this method makes it possible for one to know the ex

functional condition of one kidney in comparison with that of the other. They added, however, that the examination of the separated urines should be preceded by the examination, during several successive days, of the renal function as a whole, that is, of the 24-hour urine, and that it is only in view of such knowledge that one can learn from examination of the separated urines what part is taken by each kidney. The separation of the urines should be continued with the separator of Luys for about half an hour, or until 10 c.c. at least has been obtained from each kidney. In each of the separated products it is primarily important to know the relation between the freezing point and the volume excreted; that is, A V, which gives the number of molecules of solids excreted by each kidney in a unit of time. But the fact that the functional activity is notably diminished on one side is not necessarily diagnostic of a renal lesion on this side, for a simple obstruction in the renal circulation, as that produced, for instance, by a pararenal tumor, is sufficient to produce important modifications in the renal secretion.

Doumer and Lemoine of Lille have treated twenty cases of cancer of the stomach with Röntgen rays. They have obtained three definite cures, and in two other cases there was marked improvement. In all these cases the diagnosis rested on clinical symptoms, namely, tumor in the region of the stomach, gastrorrhagia, gastric pain, dyspepsia, and emaciation. In the favorable cases, not only did the functional symptoms disappear, but the tumor itself diminished or disappeared.

Professor Grancher has emphasized the value of making early diagnosis in gland or pulmonary tuberculosis, among the children of primary schools, for if this disease can be treated early, there will be a chance of saving a large proportion of the children. It is indeed well proved that the earlier treatment is begun, the more amenable to it is tuberculosis. To illustrate the need of treatment-in a boys' school 14 per cent. were found to have tuberculous lesions, and in a girls' school, 17 per cent. Professor Grancher thinks that schools for these children should be built in the country, where life in the open air, judiciously combined with studies, would cure the greater part.

In the Société de Chirurgie, Ricard, who has had more than one hundred cases of operative treatment of ulcer of the stomach, stated that it is not best to operate on ulcers of the stomach during the period of active hemorrhage, because such interference is useless and dangerous, and, moreover, that it is not best to operate on ulcers of the stomach unless they are complicated by hemorrhage or stenosis. In the latter case, the operation of choice is gastroenterostomy.

Pousson of Bordeaux discussed and defined the indications for prostatectomy. In twenty-three prostatectomies, he operated twenty-one times by the perineal route and twice by the transvesical. The first method gave a mortality of 19 per cent. and the second of 50 per cent. Pousson, in view of these figures, considers prostatectomy a serious operation. In his opinion, the indications for it are difficulty in catheterization, vesical infection, at least when this is accompanied by pyleonephritis, and the coexistence of a vesical calculus. He much prefers the perineal route to the transvesical, because of the better drainage.

Lejars reported an interesting observation of Launay, who, in the course of extirpating a cancerous tumor of the thyroid, in a woman sixty-five years old, lacerated the common carotid for a distance of one and a half centimeters. Stopping the hemorrhage temporarily with artery clamps, Launay first removed the tumor, then proceeded immediately to suture the wound of the artery. This was done with a fine needle, by continuous suture. The operation succeeded perfectly, convalescence proceeded without incident, and the patient was presented three weeks afterward, completely cured, at the Société de Chirurgie. Seven months later, the patient continued to enjoy excelent health, and no cerebral trouble had appeared.

At the Société des Internes des Hôpitaux de Paris, Professor Grancher gave an address on general tuberculosis, considered as an eccnomic peril. He described it as a terrible enemy, more difficult to vanquish than the great contagious diseases, as, for example, cholera. Against these, indeed, the government appoints an official armed with dictatorial power, who, supported by public opinion, completely sacrifices individual liberty to public health. He burns all objects which are sources of infection, and rigorously isolates all contaminated persons. A war undertaken in this way against tuberculosis is impossible, since this disease has penetrated almost every family, and it would be necessary to arm one-half of France against the other half, instituting thus a veritable civil war. Since this method is impossible, it is necessary to find another less stringent, and to avoid difficulty by going to the source of the evil. For, as tuberculosis in the beginning is easy to cure, that is, when it exists as scattered tubercles which can be absorbed, so, on the other hand, when the

lesions are advanced, when cavities are formed, therapy is in vain. Professor Grancher considered it above all important that the physicians who heard him should understand their duty of taking part in the grand struggle undertaken against tuberculosis. The chief duty of the physician, according to his idea, is to search out tuberculosis in its beginning, and thus to make early diagnosis, for at the time when the disease takes root, it is curable by rest, air, and forced feeding, in the enormous proportion of 80 per cent. To diagnose tuberculosis before the first stage is passed, in such a way as to save many human lives, and to aid in diminishing this terrible disease, is the primary duty of the physician. This early diagnosis can be made chiefly by auscultation, for the trained ear can easily detect at the beginning slight changes in breath sounds, and so make possible a correct diagnosis. It is thus by means of prophylaxis that the physician will be able to play his part, surely a great economic rôle, in the battle against tuberculosis.

In the Société de Biologie, Gilbert and Lereboulet gave an interesting report on the hepatic origin of hemorrhoids. Passive congestion of the portal system, due to hepatic alteration, is the chief cause, local causes being always secondary. It is true that most of the affections of the liver are accompanied by hemorrhoids, but this is because they induce portal hyperdistension, which, in turn, leads to dilatation of the hemorrhoidal veins. Hemorrhoids have often a considerable diagnostic value, since they may be the first sign of a latent affection of the liver, and treatment directed against that and against the resulting portal congestion, furnishes, by its success, a new proof of their hepatic origin. Direct massage of the liver, by modifying the hepatic circulation. may have an indisputably curative action on hemorrhoids.

Aubertin and Baujeard have recently studied the modifications of leukæmic blood under the influence of radiotherapy. In myelogenous leukæmia, radiography of the splenic region causes a diminution in the number of leucocytes, but this diminution is not regularly progressive. Each treatment, indeed, is followed by a sudden and considerable increase in the total number of white cells.

Among the deaths which have occurred recently in the scientific world we would mention that of Gilles de la Tourette, who was one of the brilliant pupils of Charcot. He was physician in chief of the Paris Exposition. He leaves works of real value, such as his books on the neurasthenic states, hypnotism, hysteria, and on nutrition and medication in nerve diseases.

EXECUTION BY ELECTRICITY.

TO THE EDITor of the MEDICAL RECORD:

SIR: In the MEDICAL RECORD of June 25, 1904, is chronicled another instance of failure in electrocution. It occurred in the Ohio Penitentiary, where Michael Shiller received a shock of 1750 volts, and recovered. Later the condemned man was given 1900 volts without fatal effect. Still later another shock proved inadequate. Last month (May 25, 1904) Antonio Triala, an Italian, who killed a vaudeville singer, was sent to the chair. A shock of 1700 volts was given and continued for thirty seconds. Four more were required at intervals before Triala was pronounced dead. At the time it was explained that five shocks were necessary because the criminal was very thin and his body was a bad conductor, and also because his hair was thick and oily. A number of cases like those of Schiller and Triala might be recited. These suggest, at least to the mind of the writer, the question, are we ever entirely sure that the person in the chair is killed by the electric fluid? There are those who think that the so-called post-mortem is in most cases ante-mortem, and that the knife, not the electric current, does the work. Now if death is in reality occasioned by the so-called autopsy, it is hard to see how we have improved upon the medieval methods of depriving men of life judicially. Is vivisection any advance upon the old-time evisceration, empalement, crucifixion, and burning at the stake? I cannot resist the belief that in a large number of cases the criminal is killed, not by electricity, but by the surgeons who are the real executioners. That opinion is not mine alone, I share it with others in the medical profession and in other professions. There rests upon the table before me at this writing a letter which I received a few days ago from a prominent physician in New York City who has given much time to the study of electrical therapeutics. He frankly writes that he has long been of the opinion that a considerable number of those who have been sent to the chair could have been resuscitated after they had been pronounced dead, and up to the time of the so-called autopsy.

Will you allow me sufficient space in the MEDICAL RECORD to suggest the propriety of returning to a classic method of inflicting the death-penalty which seems to

he writer much better than that now legal and practised in the State of New York. It is both humane and effective, as well as inexpensive. Centuries ago Socrates drank the fatal cup. Plato has preserved for us, in his Dialogues, a wonderful picture of the last hours of that great and good man.

We would not, as in the olden time, administer hemlock, but there are many substances now known to physicians and chemists that give no pain, are inexpensive, and work much more rapidly than did the potion given by the executioner to the unfortunate philosopher. Chloroform might not be a bad substitute for electricity. Prussic acid is one of a number of chemical agents worth considering in this connection. There are narcotics that might be used. The criminal could be made to sink through a quiet sleep into that deeper sleep from whihhe will not revive as did the prisoner in the Ohio Peni tentiary. Should he refuse the draught, a hypodermic injection would certainly cover the case.

It is contended by the advocates of electrocution that death by the current is painless. There is abundant reason for believing the contrary to be the case. Α number of persons who have received shocks of high voltage from which they have recovered testify to the great distress they endured. The pain is described as having been intense. The following paragraph is taken from a communication addressed to the American Inventor by Mr. A. B. Brooks, an electrician of some celebrity. He accidentally got hold of a telephone wire grounded. He says: "The duration of the shock could not have been more than a couple of seconds. A man riding by on a wheel going at a good speed had only time to pass about thirty yards beyond me when the operator got through talking and opened the switch, yet I could see every spoke in the bicycle, and it barely seemed to me to be turning. I could feel every reversal of the current, and these reversals occur at the rate of sixty complete cycles per second It is this intense activity of the brain to electrical impressions that makes an instant of electrical shock seem hours to the sufferer Of course it is impossible to know what a man dying of strangulation suffers, but I will positively, affirm that any man who has ever had a severe shock will prefer anything to another. The fact that my own case was not fatal does not alter my opinion that death by the electric chair is most painful. The sensations of pain and the elongation of the sense of consciousness of time seem to increase in direct proportion to the violence of the shock. If I suffered what seemed to me hours with a current which did not kill, what may not a man suffer with a stronger shock between the time of its first application and his final loss of consciousness."

May I also add that we want a court of pardons to relieve the executive from the responsibility of last resort, and we also want an official executioner who is educated for his work, and who will not be guilty of any of the miserable failures that so often occur. The execution itself should have, as has been pointed out by another, these four prerequisites: "Certainty in Result, Celerity in Action, Painlessness in the Endurance, and the Maintenance of a Decorous Solemnity.". There should be no public display, no pompa Mortis, no exchange of civilities between prisoner and sheriff. The narcotic cup, it seems to the writer, would do away with all the objectionable features alluded to in this communication. FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN.

ALBANY, N. Y.

The Hereditary Transmission of Syphilis.-Neumann believes that the maternal syphilis has a more intense effect on the progeny than that derived from the father. Infection of the mother after conception has taken place may be transmitted to the foetus even during the later months of pregnancy. His observations are based

on a series of fifteen families in private practice, and he finds that in many marriages, where the offspring are afflicted with hereditary syphilis, the mothers remain free from the disease, while the fathers present evidences of old or recent disease. Without distinct evidences of a former infection it is not wise to make a diagnosis of latent syphilis in the mother. The manner in which the paternal transmission takes place has been proved and the spermatic fluid carries the virus which infects the embryo. But the idea of an exclusive maternal transmission cannot be recognized, nor can that of an infection through the placenta alone.—Wiener klinische Wochenschrift.

Progress of Medical Science.

The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, July 14, 1904 Functional Albuminuria, with a Report of a Case.J. Bergen Ogden reports this case: The patient was a boy of nineteen years, and apparently in every way healthy Aside from a neurotic temperament, the albumin in his urine was the only thing to attract attention. The urine was generally free from albumin on rising in the morning. The amount then rose to a maximum of o.05 per cent.in one instance. The quantity of albumin was usually small, its fluctuation being largely due to the amount of exercise taken, and also, to a less extent, to the intake of food, irrespective of its quality or quantity. Generally, the largest amount of albumin was found in the evening or after he had reached home and had had his dinner. On one occasion no lunch was taken, but he remained active, the amount of albumin was apparently not affected. On another day he lay down for four hours. This resulted in a complete disappearance of the albumin at that time. In the majority of instances the specific gravity was in the neighborhood of 1.021. The percentage of urea varied between 1.01 and 3.68. Since October, 1903, a number of thorough microscopical examinations of the urine have revealed no casts. The writer believes that the possibility of an incipient chronic disease of the kidneys can be eliminated. The treatment is simple and the reverse of what is ordinarily considered suitable in renal disease. Good, simple food, fresh air, vigorous exercise, and tonics are suggested..

Experimental Decapsulation of the Kidneys.-N. H Gifford gives the following summary: Following the decapsulation of kidneys in rabbits, in normal dogs, in dogs with induced nephritis, in dogs with infarcted kidneys, but with additional work thrown upon them, the writer finds the following conditions: In all of his cases of two days and under and in the controls, the entire thickness of the capsule had been removed over two-thirds of the surface by the operation of decapsulation. There is a certain amount of intracapsular tension in undecapsulated kidneys, normal or with nephritis, as shown on removal of capsule. There is an immediate increase in size of de capsulated kidneys persisting up to one month at least. afterward, a decrease to approximately normal size conplete at the end of six months. There is congestion, moderate in degree, most marked in the intertubular bloodvessels in the cortex, lasting three to five days after the operation. No histological change in the renal epithelium follows the operation of decapsulation of kidneys. A new capsule, very vascular, at first two to four times the thickness of old, is well marked at the end of eight days. At the end of six months it returns to approximately the normai thickness and vascularity. The new capsule arises chiefly from the connective-tissue cells of the intertubular connective-tissue, but in part from the retroperitoneal conective-tissue which is present in the new bed of the kidney. No new vessels are formed which anastomose with those of the kidney. The increase in size is due primarily to the increase in blood-supply, possibly resulting from the removal of the capsule.

Journal of the American Medical Association, July 16, 1904

Pin in the Appendix.-Evan O'Neill Kane reports this case. The appendix was found imbedded in adhesions greatly thickened and friable, its hue dark crimson, almost purple, with two points of complete mortification. The organ measured but two inches in length. In the apperdix was found a pin slightly bent in the middle and covered heavily with concretions, except toward the _point. It must have entered the appendix head first. The patient had never complained of any symptoms which pointed t its possible presence except an attack of appendicitis four years prior to operation.

Will the Long-continued Administration of Digitalis Induce Cardiac Hypertrophy?-Frank W. Wynn says that various authors make the statement that digitalis will cause cardiac hypertrophy, but he was not aware that experiments had been made which prove it. He took healthy Belgian hares, giving both experimental and con trol animals, and after work covering a period of 120 days, concluded that the difference in heart weight, when taken in conjunction with the general loss of weight of the experimental group and the gain of the control animals, showed that digitalis did produce a slight degree of cardi hypertrophy. But that the remedy is responsible hypertrophy to any great degree in valvular heart disease seems doubtful.

Falling of the Hair..-R. A. McDonnell says the most common cause of premature loss of hair is seborrhoea and the resulting eczema. Barber shops were greatly at fault in the spread of seborrhoea, as also were head-rests of operating chairs, hat-pegs at clubs, backs of railroad seats. etc. Hair dyes and bleaches are certainly responsible