ment. Nature sometimes steps in at the critical period, and the patient recovers. No humane or respectable surgeon would allow his patient to suffer pain needlessly, without administering some form of anesthetic to relieve him and smooth his pathway to the grave. This is done, we know, every day—but when it comes to administering a fatal dose "to put a patient out of the world"-that is quite another question. What moral right has any physician, or any other person, to take the life of a suffering person? It strikes us very forcibly that this mode of procedure is nothing more or less than murder. We know that the moral law says: "Thou shalt not kill!" Are we prepared to abrogate this law of God and substitute in its place a law which, if enacted and carried out, would entail upon humanity one of the greatest moral evils that the world has ever witnessed, a form of wholesale murder? We know that some of the grandest types of character known in history have been developed when called upon to undergo the most excruciating mental as well as physical torture. How about the Christian martyrs-saying nothing of those poor unfortunates that are bearing heroically from day to day the untold miseries of that most loathsome disease known to science, namely, leprosy?

We should not, as we said, in the first part of this article, allow any sickly sentimentality to have any weight with us in considering this great moral question. We should remember that there is a great moral principle here involved that we have no right to ignore. Would it not be far better for all concerned that those who are suffering from any form of incurable malady, that nature should be allowed to take her course, and that these persons should be allowed to die a natural death, soothed from time to time with some form of anodyne to relieve their temporal sufferings, rather than take God's law in our own hands and do what he has declared we "shall not do"-namely, "Thou shalt not kill?"

We feel that there is a gross misapprehension among the laity with regard to the attitude of the medical profession on this great moral question. While it can not be denied that there are some distinguished members of the profession who advocate this mode of procedure purely from a humanitarian point of view, the great bulk of the profession are heartily opposed to any such procedure. Having used every means known to science in his attempts to save poor suffering humanity, the physician should then leave the matter indirectly in the hands of that Supreme Being who alone has the power to rob the grave of its terrors and clothe this mortal body with a blessed immortality. The mission of the really true physician is to "save life," not to destroy it.

Society and Association Proceedings.

COLUMBUS ACADEMY OF MEDICINE.

Regular Meeting, February 5, 1906.

J. U. BARNHILL, President. CHAS. A. SHEPARD, Secretary. Members present, thirty-eight. Dr. Earl M. Gilliam presented the following specimens with a brief history of each

case:

Case I. Enormous Sarcoma of Breast. Mrs. Elva H-, age 36, Shepard, O. Has had four children, the last ten days old at the time of the operation. Received an injury to the left breast when she was two months pregnant. Several weeks later a small growth was noticed which gradually increased in size, and during the four months prior to her confinement developed rapidly. At the time of the operation, August 25th, 1903, it measured, from side to side, over three feet. Patient convalesced rapidly and is now, February 1st, 1906, performing her household duties. No signs of recur

rence.

Case II. Osteosarcoma of the Eleventh Rib. Jacob S―, age 49, married, Galloway, O. Sustained an injury to his right side about one year ago. Growth has been developing at site of injury for about nine months. I saw him January 22nd, 1906, at which time the growth was quite dense in consistency and ovoid in contour, involving the eleventh and possibly the twelfth ribs. Operated January 24th, resecting the eleventh rib with growth together with portion of pleura and peritoneum. Patient's recovery so far uninterrupted.

Case III. Sarcoma of Testicles. Robert E-, age 39, single, Lancaster, O. No history of trauma. Left testicle commenced to enlarge last August and increased rapidly during October and early part of November, attended by enlargement of the right testicle. Consulted a surgeon, who thought it might be a hydrocele, but upon introducing a trocar nothing was obtained but a little bloody serum. Double castration and removal of glands performed November 16th. Patient is now pursuing his regular vocation.

Case IV. Enormous Sarcoma of Kidney. Daniel C—, age 62, married, Mortimer, O. Growth noticed a few months prior to the operation, situated just above the sigmoid. It developed rapidly, attended by paroxysmal pains, very intense. These paroxysms became more and more frequent and the mass rapidly increased in size. Rapid emaciation, anorexia, obstinate constipation and weakness. When first examined the mass occupied the greater portion of the abdomen with distinct bulging on the right side. Abdominal veins not much distended. Exploratory incision July 2nd, 1905, revealed the descending colon stretched over the face of the tumor from one side to the other. Hand could be passed around and under the tumor on the right side to within three or four inches of the free margin on the left side. On the left side the hand could not be passed far under the tumor. Tumor was retroperitoneal and seemingly developed between the blades of the meso of descending colon. From the rapidity of development, rapid emaciation and loss of strength, think it must be malignant. The growth seemed to be in two seg ments; an upper one near the site of the left kidney, and a lower, larger one. Did not succeed in locating kidney or spleen, but owing to the condition of the patient, could not spend much time in searching. It is probably the left kidney. Patient died July 6th. Autopsy revealed the tumor to be sarcoma of the left kidney weighing nearly 23 pounds, or rather more than one-fourth the weight of the patient.

Case V. Vesical Calculi. David E-, age 64, married, New Albany, O. Has been afflicted for several years with vesical irritation and retention of urine. No hematuria. Examination divulged some prostatic enlargement and the presence of calculi. Suprapubic cystotomy performed November 9th, and two very large stones removed. Bladder greatly contracted. Convalescence uninterrupted.

Case VI. Uterine Fibroid (interstitial and submucous). S. C, age 50, single, Hartwell, O. Patient suffered from profuse menstrual and intermenstrual hemorrhage for some months. General health greatly impaired. Very anæmic and weak from loss of blood. Examination revealed interstitial, and submucous growths. Hystero-salpingo-oophorectomy per

formed. Patient convalesced rapidly and is now taking on flesh and gaining strength.

Case VII. Bilateral Pyosalpinx. Fannie C, age 18, single, Nelsonville, O. History of specific infection. Prior to entrance to hospital was bed fast for some weeks, with severe pelvic inflammation. General condition bad. Double salpingo-oophorectomy performed January 10th, 1906, adhesions quite dense and extensive. Convalescence uninterrupted. These tubes are enormously elongated.

Dr. Fletcher reported a case of uterine cancer in a woman who had never given birth to children.

Dr. Bleile read a paper on "Immunity." Discussion by Dr. Warner.

Drs. C. C. Crosby, Rush Robinson and Charles P. King were elected to membership in the Academy.

Regular Meeting, February 19, 1906.

Members present, fifty. Dr. Kinsman reported a case of syringomyelia.

Dr. Starling Loving read a paper on "Some Old Medicines." Discussion by Drs. Kinsman, Woodruff, Fullerton and Upham.

Dr. Warren Smith was elected to membership in the Academy.

DAYTON ACADEMY OF MEDICINE.

The Academy of Medicine of Dayton, Ohio, held its regular meeting January 12, 1906, and elected the following officers: President, Dr. E. M. Huston; Vice President, Dr. A. L. Light; Treasurer, Dr. H. F. Patten; Secretary, Dr. A. W. Bartel, No. 1730 East Fifth street; Board of Censors, Dr. C. L. Patterson, Dr. W. A. Ewing, Dr. W. C. Marshall (reelected); Program Committee, Dr. A. H. Dunham, Dr. R. S. Gaugler, Dr. H. B. Harris.

THE CRAWFORD COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

The Crawford County Medical Society met at Bucyrus February 27th, 1906; Dr. E. D. Helfrick, President; Dr. W. L. Yeomans, Secretary. In the absence of the President, Dr. James S. Fitzsimmons was chosen chairman.

Dr. C. A. Birk presented a pathologic specimen of a gastric ulcer near the pylorus and related history and symptoms of case. Discussion by Drs. J. U. Barnhill and J. S. Fitzsimmons.

Dr. J. U. Barnhill, of Columbus, read a paper on "Caesarean Section Versus Craniotomy," with report of cases. The subject was discussed by Drs. Birk, Caldwell, Virtue, Kemp, Kehrer and Fitzsimmons.

After the meeting a luncheon was served at the Elberson. The society is in a flourishing condition, enrolling in its membership all the physicians in the county except two.

CLINICAL TREATISES ON THE PATHOLOGY AND THERAPY OF DISORDERS OF METABOLISM AND NUTRITION. By Professor Dr. Carl von Noorden, Physician-in-Chief to the City Hospital, Frankfort, A. M. Authorized American Translation. Edited by Board, A. M. Reed, M. D. Translated by Florence Buchanon, D. Sc., and I. Walker Hall, M. D. Part VII. Diabetes Mellitus, Its Pathological Chemistry and Treatment. Lectures delivered in the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York Herter Lectureship Foundation. E. B. Treat & Co., New York. 1905. $1.50.

The reader will find on every page abundant evidence that he is being instructed by a master. Progressive practitioners of the English-speaking world will welcome and study this new work of original investigation?