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MEDICAL NEWS

Dr. E. L. Dial has superseded Dr. Lohrer at 1847 Lorain street. Dr. S. E. Lauder has removed from the Permanent Building to the Osborn Building.

Dr. A. A. LaVigne, formerly house physician at Maternity Home, is located at 23 Hawthorne.

Dr. E. L. St. John, who has been practicing at Elba, Ohio, is now located at 1980 Lorain street, Cleveland.

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Dr. J. H. Lueke, on June 29, while seeing a case in the country, had the misfortune to receive a very bad fall, bruising his left leg and side severely.

Dr. Alex. A. Jackson, a late graduate of the Cleveland College of Physicians, has opened an office at his residence, 349 Marcy avenue, near Hough

avenue.

Dr. John G. Spenzer and Miss Minnie Elizabeth Kittelberger were married at Cuyahoga Falls at the home of the bride's Mother, Mrs. R. L. Kittelberger, and are at home at the Douglas on Prospect street.

Dr. Royce D. Fry, of this city, on July 8 was appointed a brigade surgeon in the volunteers with rank of major. The command to which he will be assigned is yet unknown.

Dr. D. A. Carmichael, Surgeon M. H. S., in charge at the Cleveland Hospital, is away on leave of absence for vacation. In his absence Surgeon W. A. Wheeler is in temporary command.

The Arcade Optical Company succeeded H. C. Thomas & Company as opticians at No. 133 The Arcade. The business is continued by O. B. Kleine as proprietor under the above firm name.

Dr. Samuel W. Kelley, of this city, received an appointment from Surgeon-General Sternberg as Acting Assistant Surgeon, and on July 5 was ordered to Tampa, for which point he left July 9.

Two convictions of so-called "doctors" for criminal abortion have recently occurred in this city, and the fact is most refreshing. The first one drew a sentence of seven years in the penitentiary.

Dr. Cozad, a graduate of Western Reserve Medical College and recently resident physician at the City Hospital, was, on June 15, appointed resident physician to the Ohio State Penitentiary at Columbus.

Dr. D. S. Perkins. whose departure on a trip for his health to Arizona some time since was noted in these columns, has, we regret to say, met with a somewhat severe accident, having broken several ribs by a fall.

Dr. G. R. Feil, Dr. Nathan Rosewater and Dr. Samuel L. Bernstein announce the removal of their offices from 864 Woodland to 846 Woodland avenue, corner Wallingford court. Office hours 2-4 and 7-9. Telephone E. 565.

The American Medical Association refused to adopt the suggestion of the Ohio State Medical Society to the effect that there should be a permanent

national committee on medical legislation, on the ground that it might cost some money to carry it out.

The American Medical Association will meet in Columbus, Ohio, on the first Tuesday of June, 1899. The chairman of the Committee of Arrangements is Dr. Starling Loving, and the Assistant Secretary Dr. E. W. Woodruff, both of Columbus.

The Maltine Company is issuing a series of brochures entitled "Surgeons-General of the United States Navy." The first series, just issued, contains fine engravings of eight former Surgeons-General of the Navy, covering the period from 1842 to 1877.

Dr. William E. Wirt, now Lieutenant U. S. N., left Portsmouth, N. H., on board the converted yacht Piscataqua, to which he has been assigned for duty. He proceeds to Cuba, but makes a stop at Key West. His address will be Key West while on duty in Cuban waters.

Dr. J. J. Erwin has received a commission as Captain and Assistant Surgeon in the new Tenth Regiment, O. V. I., which includes the Naval Reserves and so-called Cleveland Grays of this city. Dr. Westervelt of Columbus is Chief Surgeon, and Dr. Newton of Toledo the other Assistant Surgeon.

The Canadian Journal of Medicine and Surgery issues this month a special greeting in honor of the International Association of Railroad Surgeons. The meeting of this society takes place this summer in Toronto, and the excellent journal above mentioned has issued a three-color supplement and a poem of welcome written by Dr. E. H. Stafford, one of the editors.

The editor of the Philadelphia Medical Journal is proud of the recent completion of its first volume, and justly so. What its subscription list and income from other sources may be of course we don't know. But of its success in the best sense there can be no doubt. The amount of information in its weekly pages from all important sources is remarkable; its editorial utterances are always timely and of sound judgment, while Dr. Gould's hatred of quackery and medical commercialism is consistent even to the matter of advertisements!

The plague is dying out rapidly in both Bombay and Calcutta. In the latter place Monsieur Haffkine is carrying on his inoculations quite extensively. The authorities are doing everything in their power to help him and promise the natives who submit to the operation that they may remain at home even if members of their household are attacked by the disease. Surgeon-Major Harvey regards Haffkine's experiments as very instructive so far and is so much encouraged in this direction that he believes that later we may deal with plague as we do with the small-pox.

Owing to other engagements Dr. Murphy was unable to address the Cleveland Medical Society at its Quarterly Meeting, Friday, June 24, for which reason no meeting was held at that date. The Society will look

forward with pleasure to Dr. Murphy's visit in October, when an interesting and profitable evening is assured. In place of this meeting thus dedeferred arrangements are being made for a special one next September, of which the announcement will be made shortly. The next meeting of the Society will be in the Medical Library Rooms, on Prospect street.

Among the papers "read by title" at a recent Pedriatic Congress in one of our western states was one entitled "Some Observations on the Injurious Effects of Indiscriminate Bicycling upon Young Children." The growing frequency of accidents from reckless bicycling makes this article a timely one and we heartily endorse the writer's evident protest. But why stop here? It cannot be denied that the practice of bicycling upon young children, even in the hands of the most expert and discriminating rider is always fraught with the possibility of injurious effects. For this reason we want to urge the necessity of the total abolition rather than the restriction of this dangerous

custom.

Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Senn, M. D., has been detached from the Sixth Army Corps at Chickamauga and ordered to report to the commander (Major-General Shafter) of the Fifth Army Corps at Santiago de Cuba. Dr. Senn has been designated "Chief of the Operating Staff," and his duties will be onerous. His orders say: "You will confer with the Chief Surgeon of the Corps engaged as to the means by which you may consult with and advise the medical officers serving with that army, regarding the clinical features of their professional work; that you will recommend such methods either by lectures or operative demonstration, as may in your judgment be best suited to accomplishing the purpose in hand; that you will take the necessary steps for collecting data upon which the clinical and pathologic records. of the field and hospital service may be classified, and from which the future medical and surgical history of this war may be prepared." His orders are from the Major-General Commanding the Army by the Chief Surgeon of the Army in the Field, Col. Chas. R. Greenleaf, Assistant Surgeon-General, and they include a statement that when operations at Santiago are concluded he will be transferred to other points where active military operations may be proceeding.

Dr. William E. Wirt of this city, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery in the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons and a former president of the Cleveland Medical Society, on June 16 received orders restoring him to his rank in the navy and directing him to report at once to the Commandant of the Portsmouth (N. H.) Navy Yard for duty. Dr. Wirt graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1884 and served two years in the Navy as Ensign. In 1886, owing to lack of vessels to furnish opportunities for a naval career, Dr. Wirt resigned from the service, receiving a year's pay in advance. He then studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He served in Bellevue Hospital and especially in the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled in New York. Since leaving the

latter institution he has spent his time in the practice of his specialty in this city. Dr. Wirt is a native of Medina County, this State, and a graduate of the University of Wooster, from which institution he received the degree of Ph. D. The profession of this city loses one of its most sincere, honest and hard-working members, and the Navy gains an officer of rare courage and of unusual breadth of intellect. Dr. Wirt leaves a host of friends in this city, both in and out of the profession, who wish that his career in his new field will be as successful as in the one he has left.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

"What's the matter, Johnnie; you seem to be feeling good?" asked one of his father's neighbors.

"Great! We's got Christian Science over t' our house," said the boy, as he munched one doughnut and waved a second in the air.

bor.

"Christian Science? What do you mean?" inquired the puzzled neigh

"It's just immense!" cried the boy. "Best thing that ever happened. It's just the boss, I tell you!"

"I have heard that it sometimes did wonders," observed the neighbor; "but I didn't suppose boys knew much about it. Has it benefited you, Johnnie?"

"Benefited me!" echoed Johnnie. "You just bet it has! It's great! When you've Christian Science, you know, you ain't never sick. Benefited me? I should say it had. I kin slosh around in the snow all day now and eat fourteen doughnuts and ma never says a word, fer I can't be sick-see? I just can't be sick!"-Harper's Bazar.

DOCTORS:

Will you kindly drop a card to our Medical Department stating in what line of Medical books you are specially interested? Your name will then be placed upon our list and when any books relating to your specialty appear, you will receive notice. We are always glad to have you call and examine our stock. Sincerely yours,

The Burrows Brothers Co.

VOL. III

of Medicine

AUGUST, 1898

No. 8

REMARKS ON THE TECHNIC OF PERCUSSION AND THE VALUE OF DIRECT PERCUSSION

T

BY DR. C. F. HOOVER, CLEVELAND

O elicit reliable evidence by percussion is the most difficult problem a medical student has to learn in the art of physical diagnosis. The manner in which an examiner exercises percussion always displays skill or betrays his faulty art; the suggestions received from percussion and the means employed to avoid the obstacles to clear percussion in any given case will pretty clearly measure the clinical resources of the examining physician.

The brief manner in which details of percussion technic are discussed in text-books leads students to adopt a faulty method or no method at all, and as a result the average medical man has little confidence in his percussion, and relies upon auscultation alone to supply the evidences which should be elicited by both percussion and auscultation.

Percussion means more than demonstrating the degree and character of resonance over an organ. The resistance offered by any part is of equal importance with the resonance. In defining the outline of a resonant or nonresonant body the transitions in the degrees of resistance are far more reliable than the gradations of sound. The anterior border of the spleen (when not palpable) must be determined rather by change of resistance than by change in resonance. The outline of the heart, the lower borders of the lungs and the lower border of the liver are located in the same manner; the various methods employed will be reserved for later discussion.

Mediate percussion is the method generally in vogue, and has a certain value, though in many instances is much inferior to the direct method as employed by Auenburgger, the inventor of percussion.

The question arises whether in using mediate percussion we should use the fingers as hammer and pleximeter, or use any one of the many devices which supply the place of the fingers.

In answer to this I can say that if the examiner cannot use his fingers

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