this operation has been largely abandoned by gynecologists it is still regarded with favor by a few gynecologists and surgeons. There are so many objections to the operation from the obstetric point of view that it is scarcely conceivable that anyone should recommend the operation for backward and downward displacements of the uterus in women of the child bearing period. There are so many devices which are far removed from the serious objections of ventrofixation that it becomes unnecessary and ill advised to adopt ventro-suspension and ventro-fixation of the uterus. Fergusson enumerates the various difficulties which are met with during pregnancy and labor. The following outline is an epitomy of this discussion: 1. During pregnancy: (a) Excessive pain during the second half of pregnancy owing to the growing uterus tugging at its moorings. (b) Hyperemesis gravidarum seems to be met with fairly often and is probably caused by the traction on the dense adhesion setting up a reflex emesis as in a case recorded by Dr. Camerson of Montreal. (c) Tendency to premature labor. (d) Placenta praevia, or at least a very low attachment of the placenta predisposing to hemorrhages in the later months; in my own case there was a big hemorrhage at the eighth month, and at the subsequent Caesarean section the placenta was found with a very low attachment. 2. During labor: (a) Tedious labor; the posterior wall gets so much thinned out that it is unable to contract properly. (b) The anterior wall takes no part in the growth of the uterus and may interfere with labor in two ways, viz: 1. It has been observed to act like a tumor obstructing labor. 2. More commonly, the foetus lies on this thickened wall as if on a shelf and so fails to enter the lower segment. (c) Delay may also arise in the proper opening of the cervix. The probable reason of this is that the natural axis of the uterus is altered, the fundus being attached just above the pubes and the cervix lying in apposition to the sacrum, so that practically the whole of the uterine cavity lies above the axis proper. (d) Abnormal positions of the foetus owing to the peculiar shape of the uterus necessitating adaptation to that shape, transverse positions and breech presentations being met with more frequently than is usually the case. In my own case the presentation was a transverse one, but it is an interesting fact that in the previous labor after ventrosuspension the presentation was a breech, this being due in all probability to the fact that the child was a very small one and was slightly pre mature. (e) Extreme difficulty in version of the transverse presentation cases. This is due, no doubt, to the uterus being so immobile. (f) The risk of rupture of the uterus during manipulative procedure is greatly increased owing to the thinness of the posterior wall. PALMER FINDLEY (Omaha). Oatmeal Oedema In his first communication on the oatmeal cure for diabetes, von Noorden referred to the occurrence of oedema as a not infrequent result, and various others have made the same observation without any further explanation than that it was only observed when bicarbonate of sodium was also being taken. Mirowsky has claimed that the oatmeal was the sole cause of the oedema, but Borchardt (Deutsche Med. Woch., 37, 1761) has found that the bicarbonate is the real cause of the oedema, but that the latter only occurs when the urine becomes alkaline, and that the role played by the oatmeal is in helping the bicarbonate to produce the alkalinity. He found that when the bicarbonate made the urine alkaline without causing oedema, the addition of the oatmeal did not alter the case; but where the bicarbonate failed to change the reaction of the urine, the oatmeal in addition caused oedema to appear in some cases together with an alkaline reaction in the urine. Oatmeal alone sometimes makes the urine alkaline and this power resides in the fact that during the cure large quantities of diabetic sugar are burned, together with much acetone which, without the oatmeal, would be using up the alkali in the blood. It thus reduces the acidosis and leaves part of the administered bicarbonate to be excreted in the urine. Why the excess of bicarbonate causes oedema is as little understood as the similar sequence of sodium chloride retention. The contradiction of these results to the teachings of Fischer in this country may be noted by the way. GIFFORD. E. G. BARNHARDT, M. D., Department Editor A. B. Anderson, M. D. Pawnee City, Pawnee Co. E. D. Banghart, M. D. Hebron, Thayer Co. Stockville, Frontier Co. Neligh, Antelope Co. Minden, Kearney Co. Sidney Eastman. M. D., C. L. Hooper, M. D., S. R. Hopkins, M. D., Albion, Boone Co. Superior, Nuckolls Co. A. P. Overgaard, M. D., Syl. Person, M. D., Stanton, Stanton Co. Ashland, Saunders Co. D. J. Reid, M. D., McCook, Red Willow Co. Neb. NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. R. L. Bosworth of McCook, Neb., has removed to Corvallis, Ore. Dr. H. J. Arnold of Columbus, Neb., has gone to California for a vacation. Dr. Bevington of Schuyler, Neb., died October 24, 1912, after an illness of several years. Dr. F. L. Wharton of Columbus, Ohio, is a new physician recently located in Lincoln, Neb. Dr. J. M. Heumann, a recent graduate of the Rush Medical college, has located in Benson, Neb. Dr. R. A. Grigsby of Fowler, Colo., is a recent addition to the medical profession of Scottsbluff, Neb. Dr. J. A. Hasemeier, a former Cass county physician, died at his home in Los Angeles, Cal., October 20. Dr. J. H. Sayer of Cozad, Neb., intends to spend the coming winter in post graduate work in New York. Dr. Sadie Doran of Davenport, Iowa, will locate shortly in Falls City, Neb., for the practice of medicine. Dr. Ross of Papillion, Neb., has rented a home in Omaha and will locate there for the practice of medicine. Dr. Rice has located at Humphrey, Neb., assuming the practice of Dr. P. H. Metz, who will remove to Florida. Dr. R. P. Hoxsey of Valentine, Neb., has removed to Longmont, Colo., where he will make his home in the future. Dr. W. A. Franklin of Blue Hill, Neb., has removed to Magnolia, Ill., where he will in the future make his home. Dr. L. S. Gilman of Havelock, Neb., has removed to Union, N. H., where he will in the future make his home. Dr. J. J. Humpal of South Omaha, Neb., has removed to Ravenna, Neb., where he will make his home in the future. Dr. E. M. Bray of Ponca, Neb., has located at Martinsburg, Neb., instead of going to South Dakota, as was reported. Dr. Edward R. Hays of Omaha has removed to Falls City, Neb., where he will engage in medical and surgical practice. Dr. F. J. Farwell of Unadilla, Neb., has located in Friend, Neb., and has formed a partnership with Dr. Henton of that city. The new hospital which has recently been erected in Pender, Neb., has been opened and is now ready for the reception of patients. Dr. A. A. Bald has purchased the practice of Dr. G. F. Pugh of Platte Center, Neb., and is now engaged in medical practice there. Dr. E. A. Benton, for thirty years a practicing physician in Central City, Neb., died at his home November 2, from heart disease. Dr. C. K. Williams of St. Louis, Mo., has located in Grand Island, Neb.; where he will be associated in practice with Dr. D. C. Sneller. Dr. E. X. Crowley of Lincoln, Neb., and Miss Pearl Murphy of Homer, Neb., were married at the home of the bride, Wednesday, November 6. Dr. B. Tiesing of Columbus, Neb., who recently underwent an operation on his kidney, at St. Joseph's hospital in Omaha, is convalescing nicely. Dr. J. S. Lancaster and Miss Mildred Post, both of York, Neb., were married at the home of the bride, October 9. They will make their home in York. Dr. Raymond Douglas, for a short time located at Marquette, Neb., has removed to Clarks, Neb., his former home, and will engage in the practice of medicine. Dr. A. D. Dunn of Omaha suffered a comminuted fracture of the right forearm while cranking his automobile, October 17. The doctor is convalescing nicely. Dr. J. W. Parsons of Benson, Neb., and Miss Eva Wistlund of Omaha were married October 16th in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They will make their home in Benson. Dr. F. W. Plehn of Scottsbluff, Neb., has sold his sanitarium in that city to private parties and it will in the future be conducted as a general independent hospital. Dr. G. A. Bevington, a prominent physician of Schuyler, Neb., died October 24, 1912, of tuberculosis. Dr. Bevington was a graduate of Starling Medical College, 1898. Doctors Sumney and Hellwig announce the removal of their offices to Suite 1011, New Woodmen of the World building, corner Fourteenth and Farnam streets, Omaha, Neb. Dr. C. E. Lewellen and Miss Jeanette M. Hugg, both of Lincoln, Neb., were married at the home of the groom's mother, October 24. They will make their home at Western, Neb. Dr. H. P. Sheldon of Scottsbluff, Neb., died November 6 at the age of 57 years. Dr. Sheldon was a brother of Charles Sheldon, the well known writer and author of "In His Steps." The Platte County Medical Society will hold its regular quarterly meeting Monday evening, December 2, 1912, at which meeting election of officers for the year 1913 will take place. The family-wife, son and daughter-of Dr. Butler of Harvard are spending the year at San Diego, Cal., son and daughter attending school there. The doctor is practicing at Harvard, just the same as he has during the past twenty-seven years, and looking after the large estate he has accumulated there. Dr. William M. Millen, for many years a practicing physician in Omaha, Neb., died at his home October 22, at the age of 65, after a somewhat protracted illness, a result of kidney and heart trouble. Dr. Millen had not been engaged in active practice for a number of years, owing to his various ailments, but conducted a drug store on the corner of Thirteenth and Jackson streets. His wife, also a physician, survives him. GENERAL NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. J. E. Lee, a Minnesota eye specialist, was recently arrested and fined $25, for illegal practice at Lemmon, S. D. A clinic in defects of speech and voice has been added to the nose, throat and ear department of Rush Medical College. Dr. Fenton B. Turck has moved from Chicago to New York City, where he has purchased a home at 14 East Fifty-third street. Dr. Udo Wile has been appointed professor of dermatology and syphilology in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, vice Dr. William Breakey, resigned. Boston, Mass., has added to its achievements the possession of four children born at one birth, all alive and well. Quadruplets are rare, even in Boston, but these ehildren have showed every intention of living. Reports received by the United States Public Health Service during the week ending October 18 show that during the month of September only 30 cases of smallpox were reported in the United States, with no death. Dr. George William Beach, formerly assistant superintendent of the Iowa State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis, has been appointed superintendent of the Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives, succeeding Dr. L. B. Ohlinger, resigned. Dr. C. Dana Carter, Basin, Wyo., has sold his practice and hospital to Drs. Herbert T. and George A. Harris, Basin, and Dr. Chester E. Harris, Chicago, and the new purchasers have incorporated the hospital with a capital stock of $18,000. Dr. George Dock has resigned as dean of the Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, in order to devote more time to his duties as professor of medicine in that institution, and Dr. Eugene Opie has been appointed to succeed him. It is announced in the daily press that Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research has been awarded the Nobel prize, valued at $39,000, in recognition of his achievement in the suture of bloodvessels and the transplantation of organs. Miss Helen Keller, whose achievements in spite of her disadvantages have been many, exhibited to the Otological Congress in Boston, on August 16, her recently acquired ability to sing. She also addressed the congress in three languages-English, French, and German. The proprietor of a Brooklyn saloon and three other men were arrested recently for selling cocain, opium and heroin to school children in the Bedford and Bushwick sections. More than 500 packages of the drugs were seized. It is said that the drugs were sold on the street corners for as little as five cents. The offenders were held in $5,000 bail. The dean of Johns Hopkins Medical School announces that it has become necessary to limit the number of students owing to the limited space and facilities in the various laboratories. The present enrollment is 355, |