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and that is a cure for lying. If some of the " practitioners "would busy themselves finding a cure for this serious malady instead of rushing into the daily press with lies, it would surely be a commendable discovery and one that might pay them better in the near future than to practice some of the wonderful cures now so prevalent.

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PENOLOGY.

The prevention and punishment of crime is one of the most important questions of the day. Every little while somewhere in the world criminals escape from prison and many lives are lost in their recapture. Such escapes should be made impossible. Our present system of caring for convicts is not all that could be desired. From a scientific as well as sociologic point of view prison superintendents and assistants should be trained in prison work instead of in ward politics. Every politician who is ambitious is not competent to become the superintendent of a prison any more than he would be to become commander of a battleship, unless he were specially trained for that special duty. The laws are at fault which permit a minor criminal to associate daily with the worst sort of moral degenerates. There should be strict division of criminals, whereby intercommunication would be impossible between the man who is serving for his first offence and the man who is an habitual criminal. Penologists make a sharp distinction between the occasional criminal class and the habitual criminal class. So long as our laws permit the abnormal degenerate to have comfortable prison quarters, free intercourse with his pals and outside friends, so long will some form of opium be smuggled in. This should be absolutely prohibited. The occasional criminal constitutes about 60 per cent of the total criminals in prisons, whereas the habitual criminal constitutes the remaining 40 per cent. The occasional, by which we mean a man who, in a passion, has committed manslaughter, or one who has gotten into extravagant modes of living by associating with boon companions and club life, has used some of his employer's money hoping to replace it, and others who in a moment of temptation have obtained money under false pretenses.

All these are amenable to reformation.

They should be

by themselves, and should not under any circumstances be allowed to associate with the habitual criminal. The occasional criminal should have work such as best suits his adaptability and training; he should be better cared for, and should have privileges that should be denied the habitual criminal. In prisons for occasional criminals, educational and reformatory measures should be taught. The prisoner should be made self-supporting; indeed, he should do more than support himself by the work that can be furnished him. This class of prisoners in the course of ten years can be reformed and returned to respectable vocations. It is safe to say that 90 per cent of this class properly treated will never again commit a crime. Forty per cent of our prisoners is composed of the habitual, the degenerate, or the born criminal. He is, as Boies calls him, the imperfect, knotty, knurly, worm-eaten, halfrotten fruit of his race." He is, as a rule, serving a second, a third, or more terms. He is an habitual or a chronic criminal, out of which not ten per cent could be reformed under any system of management. To place such a criminal-a murderer, a robber, a counterfeiter, or what not-in close communion with the lesser criminals, and to allow him to have daily or weekly intercourse with his pals in crime, with his relatives and friends, are entirely wrong. This hardened criminal is physically and morally depraved. He should be isolated, put at hard work to earn sufficient to support himself. A second or third-term man should be sentenced for life. He is a leper as a member of the body politic, and term sentences benefit society but little. He is just as certain to commit future crimes and possibly greater ones as soon as he is liberated. Why, therefore, not keep him for life? As the Argonaut pertinently remarks, he is gangrenous, and amputation is the only remedy. By amputation we mean strict isolation. These habitual or chronic criminals should be in a prison by themselves. They should not be in a position to communicate with the outside world. Their incarceration is the only safety society has, and surely if we quarantine people suffering from leprosy or small-pox, how much more necessary it is for us to quarantine against these murderous villains. Many go so far as to assert that it is essen

tial not only to isolate this class, but also to render them immune from procreation.

MEMORIAL TO DR. REED.

On the 15th of August a meeting was held in Bar Harbor, of friends of the late Major Reed, M.D., U. S. A., to whom in a large degree is due the discovery of the mode by which yellow fever has been spread and the consequent suppression of that dire disease. Representative men were present from distant parts of the country, and letters were received from various members of committees already appointed to promote the collection of a memorial fund in grateful commemoration of Dr. Reed's services. Important suggestions were presented from President Eliot, Dr. W. W. Keen, Professor J. W. Mallet and others. Dr. Daniel C. Gilman, Chairman of a committee appointed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, presided, and Dr. Stuart Paton acted as Secretary. Among those who took part in the conference were Dr. W. H. Welch, of Baltimore; Dr. Janeway, of New York, Dr. Abbott, of Philadelphia; Dr. Herter, of New York; Dr. Barker, of Chicago; Dr. Sajous, of Philadelphia; Dr. Putnam, of Buffalo, and Dr. Fremont Smith, of Bar Harbor; and besides these medical gentlemen: Bishop Lawrence, of Massachusetts, and Messrs. Morris K. Jesup, President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, John S. Kennedy, President of the Presbyterian Hospital of New York, and William J. Schieffelin, of New York. The following conclusions were reached: That an effort should be made to raise a memorial fund of $25,000 or more, the income to be given to the widow and daughter of Dr. Reed, and after their decease the principal to be appropriated either to the promotion of researches in Dr. Reed's special field, or to the erection of a memorial in his honor at Washington. Arrangements were made for the publication of circulars explaining this movement, and asking co-operation not only from the medical profession, but from all liberally disposed individuals who appreciate the value of Dr. Reed's services to mankind.

RADIO-ACTIVITY-MR. THOMAS EDISON'S

THEORY.

Mr. Edison has observed the phenomena regarding radium. He finds similar properties possessed by thorium and uranium. He does not believe that luminosity and radio-active rays, accompanied by heat, can be given off by radium without their being supplied from some other source. After a great deal of study, Mr. Edison has come to the conclusion that radium, thorium and uranium are not energetic in themselves, but are rendered radio-active or fluorescent, just as tungstate of calcium and similar substances are when subjected to the Roentgen rays. He believes there are rays or vibrations in ether which are not as yet discovered, and of which scientists have no conception. These ether vibrations are everywhere present, and are set in motion by some, as yet, undiscovered force. Mr. Edison thinks it possible that ether rays or vibrations may be set in motion by some other planet or sun, and make their presence known by their action in causing radium, thorium and uranium to emit heat and light. Mr. Edison has experimented with the X-rays for nearly ten years, and he has found several substances which give off light by the action of the rays. These substances are platinum, baryum, tungstate of calcium and pro-cyanide of potassium-all becoming fluorescent under the influence of the X-rays. Tungstate of calcium when found in a natural state is usually intimately associated in nature with pitchblende, from which all the radium the world possesses has been produced. When these substances are subjected to the X-rays they assume a state of fluorescence, emitting an energy in the form of light and heat. The burns produced by the Xray and by radium are not caused by heat, but by the properties of the chemical rays. Mr. Edison claims that his ether-vibration theory answers every question that has been raised without destroying any of the results of modern scientific research.

THE nurses at the French Hospital presented the former Chief Surgeon, DR. CARNAC-MARQUIS, with a beautiful solid silver loving cup, to show their appreciation of the splendid scientific surgery the doctor has done during the past years at the institution.

Dr. Coffey Elected President.

The Railroad Surgeons of the Pacific Coast met August 24, 1903, in San Francisco and effected a permanent organization. The following officers were elected to serve for one year. President, Dr. W. B. Coffey, San Francisco; First Vice-President, Dr. N. H. Morrison, Los Angeles; Second Vice-President, Dr. C. N. Ellinwood, San Francisco; Third Vice-President, Dr. K. A. J. MacKenzie, Portland, Oregon; Treasurer, Dr. F. K. Ainsworth, Los Angeles, Cal.; Secretary, Dr. James T. Dunn, Oakland, Cal. The following executive board was elected: Dr. Ross, Sacramento; Dr. Kellogg, Bakersfield; Dr. Payne, Eugene, Oregon; Dr. Morton, San Francisco.

PERSONALS.

DR. PENDERGRASS has located at Ceres, Cal.
FULLERTON, California, has a new Hospital.

DR. O. H. SIMONS, of Santa Cruz, died August 23d.
DR. MCNAUGHTON contemplates locating in Petaluma.
DR. WHITE has located at Jefferson, Fresno County, Cal.
DR. A. F. MAIN, of New York, has located at Redwood
City.

DR. DOGGE, of San Jose, has recovered from his recent illness.

DR. ALEXANDER CORPRON has located at Cottage Grove, Oregon.

DR. E. H. BRYAN, of Eureka, has been appointed Health Officer.

DR. H. L. Ross, of San Francisco, has located in North San Juan.

DR. W. C. SARLE, formerly of Fairfield, has located at Gridley, Cal.

DR. STUCKEY, of Mokelumne Hill, has recovered from his recent illness.

DR. C. H. LEHNERS, of San Francisco, has located in Grass Valley.

DR. CHARLES E. TURNER, of Vallejo, has been elected Health Officer.

DR. C. H. CASTLE, of San Francisco, has located at Dinuba, Tulare Co.

DR. K. URBAN has been elected President of the Petaluma Board of Health.

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