of granular effervescing salts, and of hard and soft-filled gelatin capsules was therefore found particularly interesting. The same interest was displayed in the manufacture of gelatin-coated pills and tablets, and in the latest improvement, namely, the coating of the same with chocolate, thus making otherwise nauseous medicines look and smell like candy.

The class was also impressed with the method employed for making pills and tablets, containing drugs sparingly soluble in water, disintegrate quickly when moistened. It has long been known that certain sparingly soluble drugs like quinine, when administered in the form of compressed tablets, pass through the alimentary canal without being dissolved. This is overcome by the National Pharmacy Company by adding a certain proportion of starch to the powdered drug before compressing it. The moment a tablet made in this manner comes into contact with moisture, the starch granules swell and cause it to immediately disintegrate into powder. A tablet made in this manner is one of the most eligible forms for administering quinine, salol, phenacetine, and some other drugs sparingly soluble in water. It is equivalent to administering the drug in powder form.

"LOCAL JEALOUSIES."

There are few things that injure the profession in the eyes of the people and lessen its own power in itself, so much as local jealousies. If the matter never comes to the knowledge of the lay public, it is much more generally known among the local profession than the victims of envy guess. In one way or another-a shrug, a hint, a hasty word, or an ill-considered silence-it is soon passed about that Dr. So-and so and Dr. Blank are not on good terms. The second mistake of the participants in the quarrel is to suppose the good-natured acquiescence of friends means their own taking up of partisanship. Five times in ten these do not take the side of the complainer. The third mistake is to suppose the public knows nothing, or takes sides with myself who am right.' The public soon knows all, or misknows it, and only scorns the profession still more. But the first and fundamental error was the

unwarranted conviction that there was any real cause or ground for ill-will and slighting remark. Usually it was and is entirely unnecessary, and a true desire for good feeling would have found the means of reaching a basis of friendliness, or at least of 'getting on well with one another.' One thing is very certain, the one who complains most, even to his most intimate friends, of a professional brother, or of his conduct, is almost always more in the wrong, is most surely the more to be blamed, and the one who is the more courteous, and at least more silent as to his ill-will, will in the long run have the best of it.' The nobler 'rule of love' is of course preferable to the councils of policy, but when love cannot govern, wisdom and astuteness may well rule. None of us is so bad as his enemy thinks, perhaps none so good as he himself supposes. Let us have professional peace."

The above quotation from American Medicine would seem to indicate that our brethren in Philadelphia have been having a little disturbance among themselves. Everything does not run smoothly even in the great medical centers of the East. There are jealousies and meanness, there are fault-finders and back-biters in every community, and in every profession and calling. San Francisco knows this only too well.

The sermon American Medicine has preached is a good one, but there will have to be a great many funerals before its teachings will be observed.

It has been one continual strife in this State since California was a State. There is always one faction trying to annihilate another. One faction which takes to its credit all that is good, and charges to the other side all that is bad; which attempts to use medical organizations for selfish purposes, and is willing to sacrifice the profession for individual gain. When these same great and good men in the profession, in their own estimation, are crowded into a corner they tremble and cry "peace! peace!" and when they are kindly dealt with they get bolder and bolder, and cry, "down with the other fellow!"

It will take a visitation of bubonic plague, cholera, yellow fever and small-pox in their most virulent forms, followed by the millenium, before local jealousies will disappear from San Francisco.

A New Cure for Consumption.

Professor Sommeffield, of the University of Berlin, is using a new remedy for the cure of consumption. This remedy consists in a combination of flour of sulphur, powdered charcoal and pulverized eucalyptus leaves impregnated with the essential oil of eucalyptus, a preparation which has been christened "sanosin." It is put up in hermetically sealed tubes. When used the tube is broken and the contents are placed on an earthenware plate heated by a spirit lamp. The volatile eucalyptus speedily evaporates, and in combination with the sulphurous anhydrous fumes, medicates with an aromatic odor the air of the closed room in which the tuberculosis patient is placed, so that this new cure is applied in an easy manner.

Another Fast Cure.

Richard J. Richards, of Pomona, fasted 48 days in order that he might cure a troublesome affection of his nose. The Coroner's inquest determined the cause of death was starvation.

Shasta County Medical Society.

September 20, 1903, Shasta County Medical men organized a County Society. The officers elected were: Dr. O. J. Lawry, President; Dr. Wallace, Secretary. A committee of Drs. Wallace, Read and Rohn was appointed to complete the organization and draft constitution and by-laws.

Died at the Age of 108 Years.

Mrs. Marie Lena Garcia, of Los Angeles, California, an Indian woman who was born at the San Luis Rey Mission in 1795, is dead at Wilmington, where she was visiting friends. For 108 years Mrs. Garcia had lived in California, surviving two husbands and her nine children, all of the latter having been killed in the great earthquake early in the nineteenth century.

DR. NABOTH ALLEN, of Vancouver, and Miss ETHEL MAY ASHWELL, were married October 29, 1903. Dr. Allen is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco, and we shall expect him to make his mark in British Columbia.

VOL. XLVI-43.

Proceedings of Societies.

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

The Society met on the evening of September 8th, with DR. KENGLA presiding, and listened to the following programme:

"DEMONSTRATION OF CASE OF TRANSPOSITION OF THE

FIBULA,"

by DR. T. W. HUNTINGTON.

Summary of case history: I have here a case of interest because the leg seemed hopeless, the shaft of the tibia having been destroyed by osteomyelitis of an infective type. The lad, aged 7 years, was seen May 10th, 1902, previous to which time he had hurt the left leg below the knee, causing a swelling which the physician had incised. The incision. was followed by discharge which had subsided at time of entrance. A diagnosis of acute infective osteomyelitis was made. Operation consisted of incision of periosteum, removal of bone, swabbing periosteum with pure carbolic, closure of periosteum, and insertion of drainage tube. This was done in the hope that the bone would reproduce, because the posterior portion of the periosteum remained. In such a case at the present time I would fill the space with calcined bone powder. Nature made an effort to reproduce the bone from each epiphysis but it was ineffectual. In November Dr. Terry injected bone ash in gelatin, the first attempt in this country; though it is sometimes successful, in this instance it failed. Another operation was determined on, the fibula was slipped into a cup-shaped cavity on the lower end of the upper fragment. Union became apparent in July of this year. There is a tendency of the foot to evert when weight is placed on that limb. Photographs showed the flaccid state of the limb previous to operation, now the lad is able to place weight on the limb and walk with considerable confidence. Dr. Huntington considered this a preliminary presentation of the case, as he intends to establish a callus between the lower end of tibia and fibula.

DR. TERRY: The union of the fibula with the tibia is against the experience of some who even after wiring were unable to secure union because of the strong muscular action.

DR. HUNKIN: We had a case in the Children's Hospital two years ago, in which we transplanted almost the entire fibula, the lower end being united to the astragalus. Union resulted, but every year and a half the child comes back with a deformed foot which must be corrected by a brace.

"OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROSTATE GLAND IN ITS RELATION TO GONORRHEA,

by DR. M. KROTOZYNER.

Ten years ago but two prostatic conditions were recognized, prostatic abscess and prostatorrhea. Fenger, by his observations on cadavers, added much to our knowledge of prostatic conditions associated with gonorrhea. Palpation of the gland and examination of the expressed secretions reveal the presence of disease in many cases not suspected. Considering the relation of gonorrhea to prostatitis, it is impossible in my cases to state the per cent, but it is at least 50 per cent, and in but few of these did typical symptoms exist. The diagnosis was made by palpation and microscopic tests. Often the secretion remains between the layers of the triangular ligament or is found in the bladder. My method is to allow the patient to pass urine in three parts, two before expression and one after. The gonococci are hard to demonstrate after the early period. Lumps and nests of round cells are found. In treatment we must individualize in every case, treat the patient rather than the prostatitis. Promiscuous massage has done much harm in the early stage. In treating posterior urethritis I have found silver nitrate preferable to the new silver compounds. Mild electric cauterization for two to five minutes is of benefit.

DR. GROSSE: I would ask the doctor whether he gets a cure in these cases. I was with Fenger awhile and understood him to permit marriage if pus cells were present, but repeated cultures show no bacteria present. I have recently been using vibratory massage but can not yet speak of results.

DR. RIGDON: With many of our patients this is usually a burning question. I wish to emphasize the frequency with which the disease extends beyond the prostate so that it is hard to define its borders. This is probably due to extension of the follicles beyond the limits of the gland.