people who came to be treated included all classes, from the peer to the peasant, and hundreds were ready to testify to the cures wrought upon their own person by the Great Magnetizer.

So great was Mesmer's success that the government offered him a large annual income if he would communicate his secret. Mesmer, however, did not accede to the government's proposal, and to his sorrow, for after that time he had divers vicissitudes.

Mesmer taught that there was a fluid or gas universally diffused which influenced

ablest scientific minds and it has been given a place in our profession. It has been used with splendid results in some diseases.

Ampere says that "magnetism or mesmerism is merely electricity thrown into curves." I am inclined to think that they are closely related, but just how I cannot say. Mesmer claimed that vital magnetism was a very fine fluid or gas, manufactured by the brain and given off by the will. I accept this statement as being correct. Now the question will naturally arise in your minds: can any one do this, and what kind of diseases are to be treated successfully with this invisible fluid or gas? In answer to this question I will say that I do not think every one can successfully apply this science, and the diseases treated by this method are many; all mental and nervous troubles have been treated successfully by it.

There are many proofs that these ethereal emanations can flow from and

This hysterical patient laughs under self-suggested hypnotic impressions of pleasure.

the earth. planets and all animated bodies, and this fluid he called animal magnetism. He concluded that it was capable of healing diseases of the nerves immediately, and other diseases mediately; he said that it perfected the action of medicines and tended to promote favorable crises in diseases, and also in preserving the health of mankind.

I have already stated that this science was used by the magicians and astrologers of Egypt, and the Chinese claim to have used it several thousand years ago. At that time it was believed to be the works of the Devil, and, not being scientifically investigated, fell into disuse, and was not revived again until about 100 years ago. Since that time it has gone the rounds, and has been condemned and skepticized by the press and a great many in our profession, and by nearly all outside of it. In the last five or ten years it has been thoroughly investigated by some of our

This is the same woman raging under hypnotic suggestions of anger.

around human bodies, and can and do affect persons in proximity. All sensitive persons can feel these emanations if a highly magnetized person comes near them. We all know that if positive electrodes and negative electrodes are brought together they unite and the current flows rapidly through them. Vital magnetism acts very similar. You take a person that is highly positive in his make-up and another who is highly negative, they will harmonize perfectly and they will naturally be drawn together. But, on the other hand, you take both of a kind and

they will naturally be dispelled from each other. We have all been in the company of persons where we did not feel right, and we could not tell why, while on the other hand we have been in the company of stangers and felt delighted in their presence. We all know that the nerves are the telegraph lines of the brain, and a great many impressions are taken up and given off through them. There is but little or no danger in mesmerism where it is confined to the profession, but in the hands of criminals it is dangerous, because they would use it to accomplish criminal acts. In France, where it is used a great deal, they have laws governing it, and none but physicians of good moral standing are allowed to practice it at all.

"In the Congress of Naturalists, in 1894, a heated dispute occured between Dr.

Horror and affection expressed on the same face under hypnotic suggestion.

Grossman, of Berlin, Dr. Forel, of Zurich, and Dr. Jolly, of Berlin, on the subject of the treatment of diseases by hypnotic suggestion. Dr. Grossman claimed that even organic paralysis had been successfully treated by hypnotic suggestion; he said destroyed nerves could be restored by this treatment. Dr. Forel supported these arguments, but Dr. Jolly did not believe in mixing up the medical science with hypnotism."-(Copied from article by L. M. Phillips, New York.)

I suppose you all know something about sleep-walking. Well, mesmerism and sleep-walking are identical, they are one and the same state; no one is naturally in the sleep-walking state, so no one is naturally in a mesmeric state; one is caused naturally and the other mechanically. The front part of the brain contains the positive electro-nervous forces, under

the control of the voluntary powers of the mind, and the back part contains the negative electro-nervous forces, under the control of the involuntary powers of the mind. I also wish to state that most men are constituted of the positive side of force and women are constituted of the negative side of force.

Persons of a strong will power, together with good nerves, are the ones that make the best operators. Some people think that weak minded individuals are the easiest to mesmerize, but this is not so, as persons of delicate and sensitive nerves are the ones most easily effected, and they are the ones mostly benefited by it.

To induce the mesmeric sleep all that is required is patience and proper disposition in both parties. Have your subject sit down in front of you, in the easiest and most comfortable position, then tell him that he must resign himself to your efforts, take your seat about two feet from him (your seat should be a little higher than your subject's, the room should not be too light and everything kept quiet), then take your subject by the hand, with his palm upward, place the ball of your thumb in the center of his hand, on the median nerve, and give a moderate but firm pressure, then place the ball of your other thumb on the organ of individuality and request him to place. his eyes upon yours, and to keep them fixed so that he may see every emotion of your mind expressed in your countenance; continue this position a minute or more, then tell him to close his eyes, and with your fingers gently brush downward several times over the face as though fastening his eyes firmly together. Throughout the whole process feel within yourself a fixed determination to close them, so as to express that determination fully in your countenance and manner. Now again place your hand on his head and your thumb on the organ of individuality, bearing partly downward, and, with the other thumb still pressing the median nerve, tell him he cannot open his eyes. If you are successful in closing your subject's eyes he is entirely in the mesmeric state, and you can then make him do anything you have a mind to do.

You can pull his hair, cut off his finger, and without the least degree of pain to him. To bring your subject out of this state make upward passes before his face and slap your hands together, or make some other sudden noise, and tell him to wake up, and in a few moments he will be all right.

Gentlemen and brother practitioners, this is a wonderful science, and while we contemplate the usefulness of it we don't seem to realize that we have within our very grasp an agent by which we can heal the sick, and it free, without cost.

The realm of nature lies open in and around us, and as inhabitants of the globe we occupy but a small spot, the center, as it were, of the immense universe that swarms with a countless variety of animated beings, and contains endless sources of mental and moral delights. Order, harmony and beauty are so perfectly Woven together and blended throughout nature SO as to form the magnificent robe she wears, and with which she not only charms and dazzels the eyes of the beholder, but conceals the overwhelming power and majesty of her person. As she moves the most grand and awful impressions mark her footsteps. on the globe's surface or centers in the gentleness of the calm, and frowns in the fury of the storm. But whether silence reigns, earthquakes rumble, or thunder rolls, she keeps her mighty course, unaffected by the revolutions of ages. At the same time that there is confessedly something most grand in the operation of nature, and even while the most gifted minds are revealing with delight her magnificence and feasting upon splendor. there is still something humiliating in the thought that incomprehensibility continues to hold its dark and sullen empire over the causes of many of her most sublime manifestations. For the period of 6,000 years she has concealed beneath the shadow of her hand not only the cause of worlds rolling in their ceaseless course through the boundless fields of space, but also the rise and fall of vegetation and the phenomena of life and death.

her

Man is intellectually a progressive being, though confined to a narrow circumference of space and chained to this

earth, which is but a small part of the universe. Yet, as his mind wears the stamp of original greatness, he is nevertheless capable of extending his researches far beyond the boundaries of this globe. His mind is capable of ceaseless development of power; from infantile reason he passes on to that intellectual strength and grandure when he can survey the planets, measure the distance of the sun, trace the comet in its erratic course, analyze the works of God and comprehend the vast and complicated operation of His infinite mind. How sublime is the contemplation of the mind of man; he can evade the territory of other worlds and bring them within field view of his telescope, and see them play their aerial gambol under the power of attraction and repulsion.

Nor is this all; he can go to the very throne of God himself with this thing we call mind, and contemplate the stupendous grandure of the divine abode. No wonder then that God, when he had made man and put him in the Garden of Eden, was pleased with him and rejoiced in the possibility of his future. Clay City, Ky.

MICROBES.-HEMIPLEGIA,WITH REPORT OF CASES.

B

BY W. P. HOWLE, M. D.

ACTERIOLOGY has never given me any serious bother whatever. I was never a believer in the germ theory of disease, but I have been, to some extent, forced to study the subject because it is so intimately connected with the medical literature of the day. I cannot tell how firm a hold the theory has on the profession as a whole, but it is clear to me that germs are not primarily the cause of any malady, because, in contact with healthy tissue, they do no harm. I would as soon undertake to pass judgment upon the character of a man by looking at his clothing as to undertake to diagnose disease by the quality of microbe I might find. Scientific research teaches me that the microbe, like man, is subject to environment; that time, place, opportunity, food, climate, air, social conditions, law,

heredity, and even clothing, have as much to do with the disposition, character, social qualities and general behavior of the microbe as of man. This being true, why shall we wander off after this infinitesimal littleness and neglect to study the "proper study of man"-mankind. This is what ought to interest us. Let the microbean race look after itself. Our health has no more to do with the microbe than the relation that exists between the elephant and the fly that plays about upon his ears, and we could learn as much about the elephant by studying the characteristics of the fly as we can learn of mankind by a close study of bacteriology.

I was called on March 24, 1898, to see Esqr. B., aged 69 years. Family history Family history good; had a severe attack of la grippe four years ago and several slight attacks since, but had not been bedridden with latter. He and one of his sons were shell

ing corn, the old man turning the machine; some few moments before he realized that anything serious ailed him, he noticed a tendency to fall to the left and had some difficulty in keeping his position on the sack of corn he was using for a seat, and on attempting to regain a standing position he found that he could not do so and called for help, but soon realized that he had lost the power of locomotion. His sons assisted him to the house and sent for me.

On my arrival I found the following conditions: Motion and sensation absent in one-half of the entire man, his tongue being involved in the paralysis; his articulation was like that of a man in his cups, and he had considerable difficulty in making himself understood, also difficulty in swallowing; he persisted in sitting up and trying to chew tobacco, to the use of which he was a great slave; he was very moderate in the use of alcohol. He gradually grew worse and died within 48 hours of his attack. My treatment was expectant. The pulse was rather full, slow and tense, the breathing not much altered at first, but soon became very labored, expiration seeming very difficult. These cases find me in rather a helpless condition as well as the patient. Any light thrown on the subject will be thankfully received.

On April 3d I was called to see Miss F., a delicate blonde aged 23, and whose general health and family history was not good. She had been teaching school in the country and had exposed herself at or near her menstrual flow. She had been suffering several hours with severe pain in the top of her head, cramping and and vomiting, and with what she termed heartache. She said she could not breathe good and had gone to a window for fresh air, and while there she fell to the floor and became unconscious. This occurred some eight hours before I saw her. She had been put to bed and dosed pretty freely with Dale's Headache Tablets and Lady Pinkham's Female Tonic. Her family (substitute for) doctor had been sent for several hours before, but as he had not arrived and as she was growing rapidly worse under domestic treatment, I was sent for. I found her sitting up in bed gasping for breath, speechless, extremities cold, her lips and ears indicated approaching dissolution, pulsation 40, respiration so shallow and frequent that I did not attempt to count it. I ordered the room cleared of troublesome and meddlesome bystanders and found that there had been no severe hemorrhage to account for the collapse. I gave her belladonna and nux vomica in rather heroic quantities, had her rubbed briskly with hot water and mustard, applied a bottle of hot water over region of heart and a large mustard plaster over stomach and bowels. Reaction was prompt, and, under the quieting influence of a mixture of chloral bromide and morphine, she slept all night. She was much better the next day and was soon up. What was the lesion ? Oran, Mo.

questioned. Hundreds of progressive men have reaped great financial returns from its use, and also satisfied their patients. The cures easily average from 85 to 95 per cent. of all cases, and the only ones which are not adapted to the treatment are such in which it is impossible to retain the hernia long enough to close the canal. Its strong points are certainty, safety, convenience, it meets with favor in the eyes of the people and it pays.

If doctors would keep posted on new methods of treating old affections, and put them to practical use, instead of bewailing the hard times, they would have more business and more money at the end of the year. It has been my experience that, although people claim to be bankrupt, paying nobody, "sticking" everybody and saying "I would rather owe it to you than beat you out of it," they will rake up from $25 to $75 for the doctor that will cure them of a hernia.

In my experience, during which I have cured over 40 cases, and have now about a dozen under treatment, I find that any direct or indirect hernia that can be retained is adapted to the treatment. bilical hernia and those which no truss will retain being alone barred.

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First a truss must be obtained, if one is not already had, that will retain the hernia under all conditions and circumstances. It must be adjusted before rising and worn until again in bed. If it comes out during the night the truss must be worn at night. The injections are made into the canal as near to the break as possible so as to heal the canal together just outside of the opening. In injecting I use the ordinary hypodermic syringe, but use a needle slightly stronger and longer than the ordinary. This is used when the injection is made through the pubic tissues. Another method is to go through the scrotum, and with a protected needle follow up the canal. These needles are made on the trocar and canula plan, and are used to best advantage when the pubic tissues are very thick or when the canal cannot well be invaginated. When using the first method the following is the technique:

Invaginate the inguinal canal with the forefinger of the left hand, and up as far

as the middle ring; use the point of your finger in the canal as a guide for your needle, and plunge it through the tissues just in front of it until you know that there is nothing between the needle and your finger but the scrotal wall; turn the needle slightly upward toward the opening and inject-this is for indirect hernia, but in the direct variety deposit the fluid lower, about inside the outer ring-remove the needle and return truss. seat of the injection may be slightly kneaded before the truss is applied.

The

The injection will cause a slight irritation, which is necessary to produce the exudation which heals up the canal. The irritation lasts from three to four or five days, and after it has subsided it may again receive another injection. In injecting avoid the cord, as to injure or pierce it means inflammation and a sore testicle with all its unpleasantries. In females use the round ligament as a guide for depth and inject external to the inner ring as in males.

After six to eight injections, made from five to eight days apart, according to the time required for the subsiding of the irritation caused, remove the truss and test the patient. If there is a tendency on the part of the hernia to bulge out, continue for awhile longer; if there is none of this, which will likely be the case, the patient is cured, and with a little care will be all right in a short time. Instruct the patient to wear the truss for a few weeks more, after which time he can go about the house, or when not working, without the truss. During hard work it should be worn for a month longer and gradually removed.

In very large herniæ the treatment may have to be continued for 10 or 12 injections before a test should be made. The size of hernia and the length of time it has existed are not the most important factors to be considered as to whether a case is curable or not. If it can be retained it will be all right in time. If the bowel comes down at any time the healed parts will be opened again and the treatment must be begun anew.

Some operators claim cures in a few weeks, but I think this is exceptional. I cured one case in four weeks, but the rule