Therapeutic Notes.

Dr. Chas. H. Sterns, assistant surgeon 2nd Mo. Reg. U. S. A. Vol., of Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Ga., writes the Phenique Chemical Co. as follows: "It is a pleasure for us to write you of the results obtained from the use of powdered and liquid Campho-Phenique. The liquid we use exclusively as a local application in the treatment of oak and ivy poisons, and find it excellent in relieving the intense burning and itching peculiar to that form of skin eruption. The powder is very useful as a dry dressing in all wounds where that form of dressing is desired. Campho-Phenique, both powder and liquid, has healing properties peculiar to itself. It is an antiseptic prepartion of great value and usefulness."

In general practice scarcely a day passes in which the physician is not consulted by nervous, hysterical or anemic females, seeking relief for conditions superinduced by pelvic disorders. As a usual thing the direct cause is remote, and hence cannot readily be determined by the physician, who is, however, desirous of aiding the patient as promptly as possible. How to do this without surgical interference, and in the case of young girls without submitting them to digital examination, is the problem presented. We make no exaggerated claims when we state that the concurrent testimony of hundreds of physicians, many of wide experience in this class of ailments, goes to

After reading it carefully you will know all about the therapeutic value of dry hot air at 450 degrees F., as administered with the Betz Apparatus, in acute and chronic cases of rheumatism and gout, all inflammatory diseases of the joints, tendons and synovial membrane, varicose veins, chronic indolent ulcers and nephritis (parenchymatous inflammation of the kidneys, not waxy).

FRANK S. BETZ & COMPANY,
78 State St., Chicago, IH.

Makers of all kinds of Baths.

FOR SALE.

ANNUAL OF THE UNIVERSAL MEDICAL SCIENCES; never used; years of 1890 to 1894; $8.00 per set gets them. Address MEDICUS," care MEDICAL SUMMARY, P. O. Box 1217, Philadelphia.

(presented only in tablet form) the practitioner has a definite remedy of the most potent and beneficial character, which will produce satisfactory results in all cases amenable to internal treatment.

At the June meeting of the N. E. Eclectic Med. Association, the following resolution was offered, passed and spread upon the minutes: Resolved, that this Association tender to Sharp & Dohme, for the elegantly prepared samples of their skill and enterprise, its sincere thanks; and, if further acquaintance confirms our first impressions, we shall be pleased to add our testimony to the high enconiums we have read of the firm and its specialties."

Dr. S. C. Martin, of St. Louis, Mo., writes: "After having tested Hagee's Cordial Cod-Liver Oil Comp. in my practice for a number of years, the results have been so uniformly gratifying that I now rarely prescribe any other cod-liver oil preparation. The points in its favor are the desired ingredients; their combination in a palatable and assimilable form, which insures substantial results."

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No. 8

for them over all other antiseptics in the diarrhea of typhoid fever.

It seems to effectually inhibit or destroy the typhoid bacillus at the point of propagation and dissemination, putting the bowels in a more healthy condition, lowering fever and cutting short duration of the malady. We have witnessed this take place to our surprise and the satisfaction of friends.

There seems to be absolutely no danger attending their continued use in full doses, and possibly this cannot be said of any other reputed intestinal antiseptic.

In many cases salol will surely prove toxic; the naphthols will prove irritating and inefficient. No doubt the reader may have seen serious results following salol in cholera infantum or summer complaint.

Any one who has sought relief for his patient from salol, bismuth and the naphthols, will do well to try the sulphocarbolates. His first experience will doubtless both surprise and please him. Much has been written concerning the comparative merits of three of the desig

nated salts, namely, the sodium, zinc and lime sulpho-carbolates. One is directed to employ sodium salt where gastric irritability is great, the zinc salt where diarrhea is profuse, and the lime salt where the ravages of the disease are manifestly great.

Whatever value may attach to these suggestions, we are persuaded that the sodium salt will fulfill every requirement better than either of the others, and alone will achieve the desired result.

The salt must be pure, and may best be given rubbed up with a little saccharated pepsin, or with pepsin and bismuth. If tablets are employed they should be crushed and dissolved before administering.

A dose of two or three grains every two hours, till proper degree of asepsis has been attained, is not too much, though less might answer and more be required.

The sulpho-carbolates are no less valuable in the intestinal disorders of childhood.

No doubt the present per cent. of mortality from intestinal maladies of children, as cholera infantum, dysentery, etc., would be greatly reduced by a more general recognition of their value.

In the dysentery of adults, and of children likewise, it would be found helpful to employ repeated rectal injections as well as to give medicine by the mouth.

THE AMERICAN PATENT ON GERMAN DIPHTHERIA ANTITOXIN.

A discovery for which so much is claimed and from which so much is anticipated, and which is undeniably giving a new trend to medicine and medical thought, necessarily commands the attention of the medical profession, and nearly all the journals, both medical and pharmaceu tical, contain comments on the granting

of an American patent on diphtheria antitoxin to Prof. Behring, of Germany.

They unanimously censure and condemn both the action of our government in granting and Prof. Behring in seeking a patent on that which they regard as a possession, and that which should be a heritage of the medical profession.

It is not so much the objectionable spirit of commercialism, for this is somewhat characteristic of Germany in her dealings with our country, as is illustrated by the high price of sulphonal and other valuable remedies of this class, but the principles involved are so radically opposed the sense of the humanity that always prompts the actions of a generous profession, that all the members of it reprehend and condemn as unworthy, the spirit that prompts any one to control by a patent that which should be freely and unreservedly given to the profession for unrestricted use.

All feel that it should be added to the common store of medical knowledge that has lately been so greatly increased, and to which so much has been added by the labors of investigators, who have asked no reward beyond the good they may do to a profession for which they have. worked and for which they are still working generously, ceaselessly and tirelessly, seeking neither remuneration nor selfish reward.

The theory of the antitoxins is one of the most alluring and plausible, and, if correct, will eventually raise medicine to the same high plane now attained by antiseptic surgery. Such being the case, the restrictions of a patent must be condemned by every friend of progress.

We wish it understood that the SUMMARY columns are always open to all members of the profession for the discussion of any practical question of interest to the general practitioner in his daily work.

Brief and practical articles, short and pithy reports of interesting cases in practice, new methods and new remedies as applicable in the treatment of diseases, are solicited from the profession for this department.

Articles intended for the SUMMARY must be contributed to it exclusively. The Editor is not responsible for the views of any contributors.

Write only on one side of the paper.

UNAUTHORIZED UTERINE INJECTIONS.

BY DRS. PENNEBAKER AND TRIPP.

RS. B. V., age 32 years, multipara. The woman aborted during the present year in February. August 26th she was taken sick with cramping pains and was prescribed for from our office. She was first visited on the 28th, when was found the cause of her previous abdominal pains; the body of a fœtus of between two and three months gestation was produced. As no evidence of the secundines were discovered and no hemorrhage or pain present, we prescribed a mixture of Aletris Cordial and ergot, ordered confinement to bed and vaginal injections, bis in die. On the evening of August 31st we, at our office, were hurriedly sent for, the report stating that she had been having hemorrhages and "sinking spells." Her statement upon interrogation developed that the injections aggravated the hemorrhages and that the ergot mixture produced a clotting of the lochial discharge. Close questioning disclosed the fact that the nozzle of the syringe had been inserted within the os uteri, and that all the force an accomplished old woman could command had been used to inject the cavity of the womb. The last operation, a few hours after its use, had induced a condition of collapse that gave some support to the belief that death was imminent.

The upright position, by insuring uterine drainage, had greatly relieved the woman. A number of large uterine clots had been passed, but nothing found that would account for the delivery of the chorion and deciduous membrane.

On September 3rd we were hurriedly sent for again. The hemorrhage had not been deemed sufficient previously to tampon the uterus.

There was saved a membranous structure half as large as the

with the uterine clots. Symptoms of internal hemorrhage were urgent, viz: gaping, palor, cold beaded perspiration, pulse rapid and hardly perceptible, and further evidences as shown by a number of large clots. Upon raising her syncope quickly supervened.

Operation was delayed until the arrival of consultation, restoratives and warmth being exhibited during the interim. Shreds of chorion membrane were removed with forceps, and, after using the curette, the cavity of the uterus was washed with an injection of a weak solution of perchloride of iron. Careful nourishment and stimulants were relied upon, with the exception of small doses of Papine and tincture of digitalis after the operation. The attacks of syncope occurred several times subsequently as she progressed toward convalescence.

This is the only occasion upon which directions for a vaginal injection have been interpreted to mean uterine injection, the use of the same very nearly costing the woman her life.

Pleasant Hill, Ky.

MORPHINE HABIT AND ITS TREATMENT.

I

BY HARVEY M. MATTHEWS, M. D.

HAVE read with great interest and no little degree of surprise the comments by Dr. Patterson on my article under the above-named title in June issue of your valuable journal.

I am sure the Doctor has misconstrued the import of my article, and I take this means to set myself in the right before him as well as any others who may think me, as he terms me, "a monumental prevaricator."

I repeat, that I do not approve of the term "drug habit," and that morphinism is a disease of the nervous system, and to treat this or any other disease with any degree of intelligence we must be systematic.

Dr. Patterson would have the readers believe that I use some supernatural power or "hoodooism" on my patients when I tell them they have taken their last dose of morphine, but such is mis

leading, for it cuts no figure in the results of my treatment, but a patient who desires to be cured is glad, indeed, to know when he is done taking the drug that is the curse of his life.

The Doctor would have your readers believe that because of his great and extensive experience in the treatment of morphinism he has not been able to find a remedy that would relieve this terrible condition in so short a time, and that no such a thing is possible, and, furthermore, questions the genuineness of my article and cases reported.

He advises me "to come up out of that little corner of Texas" into civilization, as he would have it, and demonstrate my remedy. I will say, for the Doctor's benefit, that we have long since shedded our horns, as he possibly believes are similar to those of the proverbial Texas steer.

I am glad, indeed, that I am not alone in pronouncing his method of treatment a failure, at least faulty in a measure, one of long drawn-out suffering, and in the end only possibly a cure. But, on the other hand, my method of treatment, in my hands, has proved successful in every case and, too, without a particle of pain.

If Dr. Patterson will address me personally I will not only refer him to one or two, but to many patients whom I have cured, as was claimed in my article.

Indeed, I would be worse than a "monumental prevaricator" should I make such assertions unless I was fully able to substantiate every word I have said.

If Dr. Patterson will take the time to come or send a representative down to this "little corner of Texas," I will put up a forfeit of $500 for any case he will bring me that I cannot cure, mental and physical wrecks excepted.

Judging from the Doctor's comments leads me to believe he must be lacking in experience in treating this condition, and I feel that he should not be so rash in his judgment, but take a little time and investigate new methods of treatment and not, at the first dash out of the box, accuse a man who is honest in purpose of being a fraud and a falsifier.

He would also have you believe that all my patients "dope" on the sly, but ad

mits, in one of his previous articles, that his patients do, or at least a part of them. We all know full well that patients doing this could not be cured. My patients do not have such an opportunity, and neither do they have the desire to do so.

It seems that this wise deciple of Esculapius does not believe in miracles, but, be that as it may, if he will pay Texas a visit he will have a good chance to make a few dollars, or else get a few ideas injected into his cranium on the treatment of the morphine habit, which would doubtless be an addition to his already large amount of knowledge.

For the benefit of any and all readers of your valuable journal, I wish to say that I am fully able and only too glad to substantiate everything I have said as to the treatment of the morphine habit, which habit is certainly on the increase and is sending too many of our great and good people to a life of shame as well as to a premature grave. Frost, Texas.

A

EUREKA.

BY W. R. HOWLE, M. D.

FTER more or less effort in special lines, we hear men of every avocation crying eureka! This is especially true in our profession, and it does not matter in which line, as some one will cry out eureka! Every malady has a specific, if we believe what certain men proclaim. Each teacher has his hobby, and everything else in medicine is secondary to said hobby. One man tells us that certain germs are the cause of all maladies and that certain germicides are all that is needed for the cure. Maladies heretofore considered incurable are now easily managed, if we are to believe what we see set forth in the medical journals. It was at one time thought that in quinine we had a specific for malaria, but, if we are to believe what Bro. Brodnax, the great "Samson," quinine, must go to the wall, and in its stead we have acid iron tonic. Then we have tuberculine for consumption, antitoxin for diphtheria, Peacock's Bromides for epilepsy, Aletris Cordial for uterine troubles, Iodia for