lacerated perineums, holding that slight lacerations should not be operated on, saying that "they will often heal if dressed with simple ointments or anodyne washes." Admitting that they will "often heal," or even heal nine times out of ten, will it justify us in putting our patients to the risk of septic absorption from an abrasion, besides the risk of a non-union of the parts? I am satisfied that the doctor would stitch up an incised wound of the face or scalp, even if it were not more than half an inch long, without hesitancy, and yet "they will often heal if dressed with simple ointments or anodyne washes." I am confident that Dr. Doane would shudder to make a digital examination with a sore finger, three to five days after parturition, although his finger would be in contact with the discharges one minute, and yet in these enlightened times would advise us to expose our patients, who have been so unfortunate as to have a slight laceration, two or three weeks to that septic matter flowing over the abrasion. "Consistency thou art a jewel." J. ELLOTT CHAMBERS, M. D. 113 N. 8th St., St. Louis.

Chronic Cough.

In the May BRIEF, Dr. A. J. Harrison makes an inquiry as to the cause of a chronic cough, with which his daughter is troubled, and which exist without any perceptible affection of the lungs. I would advise him to make, or cause to be made, a thorough examination of the throat and upper air-passage. There may be present adenoid vegetations in the vault of the pharynx, or mucous or fibrous polypi in the nasal cavities and in the naso-pharyngeal cavity. Or, perhaps, there may exist an hypertrophy of the posterior end of either the middle or inferior turbinated bone, or of both, accompanied with an increased secretion that is flowing down behind the posterior pillar of the fauces, constantly acting as an irritant to the larynx.

Frequently, I have found that a troublesome cough is caused by a chronic follicular pharyngitis, where the hypertrophied follicles stand out upon the posterior wall of the pharynx, in size from that of a grain of rice to that of a half bean, seldom single, more often to

the number of ten or a dozen. In looking for them the throat must be well illuminated and the tongue depressed low as possible, for the most troublesome ones exist well down in the pharynx.

Enlarged and over-hanging papillæ at the root of the tongue should also be looked for, and, if found to exist, removed by appropriate treatment.

To undertake to suggest the mode of treatment I adopt for the different affections above mentioned would be impracticable here. I would simply say that my main reliance in treating morbid growths, in the nasal cavities, naso-pharynx and pharynx are the use of the galvano-cautery, knife, and cold wire snare. Chromic and glacial acetic acids are useful, and in some cases preferable to the cautery.

I would suggest to Dr. Harrison that he have his daughter examined by some competent nose and throat specialist, who will, no doubt, be able to throw light upon what is to him an obscure affection. S. MITCHELL, JR., M. D. Hornellsville, N. Y.

Germ Theory.

Since zymotic diseases have puzzled the minds of medical scientists from time immemorial, it becomes our duty, as a profession, to encourage all investigations which have for their object the unraveling of the germ theory of disease, and in our attempt to discuss the subject before the readers of the BRIEF, it may not be amiss to give a brief but short history of the theory as has been demonstrated by scientific research.

The theory can be traced as far back as the beginning of scientific medicine, but it was not until about the middle of the 17th century that Lawrence Hester, in his systematic arrangement of surgery, took prominent notice of it, nor was anything known of the pathology of such diseases until about half a century back when Rezin Thompson of Nashville, Tenn., wrote a small book on fevers and called special attention to it as a specific dis

ease.

But to Mr. Pasteur, our eminent French surgeon, is due the more recent discoveries from investigations which has greatly advanced the theory, and to him humanity is indebted for experiments

which has proven the germ theory to be an absolute certainty in certain departments, and a sure inference in others, by his researches into the nature of fermentation, and his microscopic studies, he has given to the world facts which prove the theory to be a certainty, which was before lacking in confirmation.

Vaccination, as practiced by Jenner, was inexplicable, notwithstanding it was known to be a safeguard against one of the most loathsome diseases known to

man.

The Pasteur theory not only promises to explain reasons, but promises to develop facts, which will doubtless lead to the successful treatment of other diseases. He has also demonstrated facts which prove that splenic fever, which was thought to be incurable, is dependent upon two things, one is that these minute alvine organisms cause the disease, and another is it can be prevented.

But in this we come in conflict with our friend Samuel Swan, of New York, who, in the February BRIEF, discourses of microzoa, and in his article he endeavors to insinuate into the minds of the readers that Pasteur recognizes his theory, which is that microzoa, which he terms an unknown living organism, feeds and fattens upon some other unknown substance until it becomes visible under the microscope; in other words his homœopathic laws potentiates his microzoa until it becomes fat enough to eat up all other microbes which may be found in the system, from cholera or yellow fever, and then retire as it were to winter quarters, where like Bruin it must suck its paw until it is again favored with a feast of yellow fever or cholera germs. But in matters like this which we yet find veiled in darkness, let us keep our minds upon the great lights such as Koch or Pasteur, and loose sight of such phosphorescent hallucinations as those who attempt to discourse of what they know but little about.

As before said, the subject is yet veiled in darkness, and we should avail ourselves of every avenue of light to develop and ventilate what we know now to be behind the curtain, and if we would attempt to stamp out an epidemic, we should not only keep the lights before us but the impart truth that hygienic and

prophylactic measures should in all cases be looked to with scrupulous care and consideration.

Prof. Koch, of Germany, who has been appointed by his government to look into and report upon cholera germs, has not only corroborated the Pasteur theory but has added much valuable information to the late investigations.

While Lister, the father of antiseptics, has caused a complete revolution in the practice of surgery and management of wounds with his antiseptic treatment, the late investigations have thrown much light upon the modus operandi of how diseases may originate from cemeteries, and there can be no question but that cemeteries should be regulated by State and municipal authorities under the supervision of boards of health, since the removal of established cemeteries incurs dangers of sudden and fatal epidemics being thrust upon an unsuspecting community.

Science thus teaching us, as it does, that we are surrounded with living organisms which swarm in air, earth and water, would it not be wise for the profession to lend its aid in every conceivable way to our health authorities, if we would avert a calamity such as must necessarily follow the decomposing masses of animal and human flesh in and around the ruins of Johnstown.

T. P. CRUTCHER, M. D.

Nashville, Tenn.

Prevention of Conception.

In regard to Dr. Wellman's request for a sure prevention of conception: That if his patient can not give birth to a child, the simplest and most honorable course would be to abstain from the act which produces conception. If she is so depraved and her passions are uncontrollable, so much that she must copulate and run the risks of getting rid of the resulting foetus, I should pay no more attention to devising means for her to safely gratify her morbid passion.

Your two women would both have good health by total abstinence awhile, especially the one who aborts twice in eight months; and, very likely, if she would let her uterus rest a year or two, and not have it punched and pounded by inordinate coition, she would then, by

a temperate gratification of that very proper and seductive family duty, be enabled to become pregnant and carry her child to the full term.

Out upon a plan to surely "prevent conception." Dame Nature has wisely provided that there is no healthful means of prevention, save one. If there were such means, and it well known, it could give rise to the most unbridled licentiousness. The wholesome fear of producing conception, is a grand means of preventing the vicious and unrestrained indulgence of one of the greatest and most pleasurable duties of man and wo

man.

The chief object of matrimony is not copulation, although many seem to marry for no other purpose.

Bedford, Ia. M. C. CONNETT, M. D.

Tinnitus Aurium-Typhoid Fever-
Erysipelas.

In my tinnitus aurium case, reported in May BRIEF, and commented on by Drs. Black, of Washington Territory, and Pike, of Terre Haute, Ind. I am sorry to report to these good brothers that those infernal tea-kettle singing noises are doing business at the old stand, much to the discomfiture of the writer, for it is myself who is affiicted. It does seem that of the forty or fifty thousand doctors who read the good old BRIEF, some one of them had blundered onto a cure for so simple a trouble as singing noises in the ear.

I have ransacked creation for a cure, have myself "cut and tried," and all to no good.

Now, brothers, come to the front and I can only exclaim: "Is there no help for the widow's son?"

The BRIEF, "that feast of reason, etc.," is eagerly scanned each month and I can assure its able contributors that their suggestions have many times been a Godsend to me, situated as I am out in this "wild and woolly West," when the luxuries and conveniences found in the East are sadly wanting.

Wonder what our city M.D.'s would think of being called to a "dug out" and find five cases of typhoid fever, total family consisting of eleven, and the size of said "dug out" 11x20!! No ventila

tion, no conveniences. No use talking about the largest room in the house, they having the head of the bed toward the North to take advantage of favorable magnetic influences. No, no, none of these. Not even suitable food. Yet, strange as it may seem, every one made a good recovery, and my modus operandi is not patented!

Had them put their trust in God, and I in quinia, podophyllin, leptandrin, turpentine, Colden's Liquid Beef Tonic, plenty of milk-warm from the cow-together with a bath morning and night. To control the fever, I use:

To a half pint hot (not boiling) water add a heaping teaspoonful of the above, let it steep twenty or thirty minutes, then strain and sweeten to taste, and give (to an adult) a tablespoonful every half hour, as needed.

This discounts all the much advertised antipyretics, as it will reduce the fever in every instance, and is perfectly harmless.

I wish to repay the many good brothers of the BRIEF family, for their timely and valuable suggestions, and will do so by giving them "my dead sure shot" for erysipelas and all surface poisons. It is a bonanza for diphtheria; in fact, if used in time will cure ninetyeight out of every hundred cases, and is also excellent for scald head, ring worm and scrofulous sores.

Idiosyncrasy for Arsenic and
Strychnia.

I am a brand new "subscriber to the BRIEF, but see already, that it is a fountain from whence so much knowledge and sound advice flows, and have concluded to "break the ice" by submitting a case to your many intelligent readers for diagnosis and treatment.

Some three or four years ago, a physician, of considerable reputation, treated Miss D., and used a good deal of arsenic (so the family say). After she had been under treatment for some time, she said: "I began to have belching spells, and it seemed as if it would kill me, until the drug was discontinued." When in a short while she would get relief, until it was continued again, when the same train of symptoms would signally follow each continuance of it.

She is about nineteen years old, of strumous diathesis, has not been stout since a child, has always had more or less trouble with her menses; the trouble principally being dysmenorrhea; has a periodical cough.

Ths case first came to my knowledge about two months ago, when my advice was sought in regard to her general health, dysmenorrhea and cough. Not knowing what the physician I have mentioned had prescribed, I put her on iron, quinine and strychnine, with a good uterine tonic.

She got along very well for a few days, menses came all right, but after the menstrual period passed off, she began complaining as she did when taking arsenic-of the lump in the stomach with the "belching," of which she formerly complained. She also complained of lassitude, drowsiness, stupidity, absentmindedness, and said she did not feel like her former self at all. On discontinuing the preparation, all those disagreeable symptoms disappeared.

My diagnosis is, she has a diseased stomach or has an idiosyncrasy for arsenic or strychnia. The dose I gave was one-twentieth grain, in pill form.

I want to hear from any or all of the subscribers, on the subject, and if there are any points I have not made clear, I would like to hear from any brother M. D.

I forgot to state that she was to take the iron, quinine and strychnine as a tonic, three times a day, in pill form, until sixty pills had been taken.

I wish the BRIEF all manner of success. JNO. S. TURNER, M. D.

Stephenville, Tex.

Typho-Malarial Fever - Dysmenorrhea.

Since asking for treatment for typhomalarial fever, I have received several private letters, for which I am very thankful. Yet I have no treatment that will shorten the disease.

Would be pleased to hear from some of the fraternity in regard to the use of apiol in dysmenorrhea. From my limited experience with it, I am very highly pleased with its action. Would be pleased to have Dr. Goss's method of giving viburnum in dysmenorrhea. Can't get patient to retain it. I have never been able to get any beneficial results from binoxide manganese, while others of our local M.D.'s say it acts admirably. Long live the BRIEF.

S. C. BROADSTREET, M. D.

Mt. Pleasant, Tex.

Epidemic Dysentery.

I will kindly ask the numerous readers of the BRIEF the best treatment for epidemic dysentery. We have an epidemic of it in my country, and the treatment recommended by our standard authors is of no avail.

B. D. WOODSON, M. D.

Monroe, Ind. Ter.

Ozonized Remedies.

Will the subscribers of the BRIEF who have used the lately-lauded remedies in this line let the readers of the BRIEF know their experience?

The more I see of the BRIEF, the more indispensable it becomes.

J. C. SCHLARBAUM, M. D.

San Francisco, Cal.

Sponge Graft.

If Drs. Hodge & Tate of Gayoso, Mo., will try the sponge graft and carbolic dressing for ulcerated sore legs they will be pleased. J. M. EVANS, M. D. Chillicothe, O.

Tribute to the Memory of Dr. Beam. Will you kindly permit me to occupy a brief space in your widely circulating and valuable journal to pay a small tribute to the memory of the late Dr. Lemon T. Beam, who lost his life in the recent Johnstown horror.

a

Dr. Beam was man of excellent moral and social qualities, and a true and steadfast friend. His was a mind broad and well cultured. He had lofty aspirations and his instincts were always pure and noble.

Dr. Beam was an excellent practitioner, his mind was well balanced, he was a good observer and almost always correct in his deductions.

It is undoubtedly true, Dr. Beam was a brilliant man, the brightest star in the eclectic firmament of Pennsylvania, and this is no disrespect to the many eminent in that state, for the saying. His devotion to principle and loyalty to truth, as he understood it, was one of his noblest traits.

I sincerely believe the liberal medical profession everywhere has sustained as great a loss in the tragic death of Dr. Beam as it has ever been called upon to endure. Jos. ADOLPHUS, M. D. Atlanta, Ga.

Typhoid Fever.

In the successful administration of remedies in the treatment of any disease, it should not be forgotten that nosography is the eye of therapeutics; in proportion as the first is lucid, methodic and complete, the second is sure and rational.

The possession of the most efficient curative agents is of no avail to us if we are unable to designate the cases in which their use is advantageous from those in which they would be injurious; therefore, let us remember that the scientific administration of remedies can only be attained by a comparison of the morbid phenomena before us, with those that we have before observed with the most faithful nosological description of others. But there appears to be a luring fascination among physicians for notoriety, and who expect to become famous by imposing their ignorance upon the remaining portion of the medical profession.

But, after reading ancient history, we

find that this peculiarity is not confined to the present age, but antedates prior to Asclepiadean Schools, of Rome, at a time when conjugation of the integral parts of medical science was unknown, and when pathology of diseases were supposed to have one common origin. But I need not go back to the primitive age of Greece, nor quote from the ancient history of Rome, to establish the similarity of the different ages, but will confine myself to an article written by Dr. J. J. Rone, of North Carolina, June BRIEF, page 263, on the treatment of "Typhoid fever, diphtheria and pneumonia."

According to the doctor's statement, his success in the treatment of these diseases has been phenomenal, and, in order to attract the attention of the reader, he calls himself "a little country doctor."

It does appear to me, from the reading of his article, that medical science is sacrificing a jewel and suffering humanity a benefactor, if that "little country doctor" will stay in North Carolina. I would like to induce him to come or locate in the city of Lincoln, Neb., the capital of the State, that has a population of about fifty thousand. Here he can have a better chance to become noted in the profession.

His treatment has been phenomenal. Think of it has cured ninety-eight out of ninety-nine patients with typhoid fever, and he says his average in diphtheria and pneumonia is the same, but afterward modified his average in pneumonia to one in nineteen.

The doctor has been very kind in letting us poor ignorant "devils" know his treatment, viz.: 1st. Orders the nurse to bathe the patient's feet, morning and evening, in warm water. 2d. Orders nitrous ether, one drachm, morning, noon and night, when fever gets up to 104° or 105° F. He orders prudent use of air, plenty of cold water, and eight or tengrain doses of a good antipyretic, given at 4 P. M.

I would like for the doctor to tell us: 1st. Why he only bathes the feet? 2d. What effect the s. s. of nit. has upon the pathological condition of Peyer's glands? And 3d. Why give some antipyretic at 4 P. M.? Why not give it at any time, when the temperature is up to 104° or 105° F.? And allow me to inquire how he keeps up the potential energy of both