violence are 41.5 per cent over the yearly average of violent deaths. Even with this total mortality, the death rate is 6 per cent lower than the yearly average since 1892, although it is 8.2 per cent higher than that of 1901 and 5.3 per cent higher than that of 1902. A small portion of a grain of radium has reached Chicago and has been put under experiment by W. C. Fuchs, of the X-Ray Laboratory. It is found that by introducing it into the stomach or throat with the aid of a little sulphate of zinc it becomes luminous, and reflected images of the mucous membrane and surrounding parts may be obtained by suitable mirrors. It is much better than the electric bulb, as it gives off no heat and is very much less bulky. Dr. M. P. Kossakowski, of 576 Milwaukee avenue, was robbed of $500, a gold watch and two insurance policies, as well as his overcoat, on the street one day last month. We congratulate the unfortunate doctor on being the possessor of so much property, particularly as most of it has been recovered. We believe, however, that the precedent is a bad one, as physicians have for a long time enjoyed the reputation of being more or less impoverished and not suitable pabulum for footpads. Dr. Finsen, to whom the Nobel Medical Prize was awarded by the Norwegian Parliament on December 10, is dangerously ill. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec is reported to have recently decided to lengthen the medical course to five years, and furthermore voted that British licenses should no longer be recognized in that province. A more complete preliminary education as represented by the B. A. degree was also advocated for students of medicine. Dr. J. C. Culbertson has resigned editorial control of the LancetClinic, of Cincinnati, and Dr. M. A. Brown and a staff of collaborators have succeeded to the management, in which, however, Dr. Culbertson retains an advisory relation. During Dr. Culbertson's residence in Chicago as editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association he made many warm friends, who regretted the manner in which he was juggled out of that position. He has a long and admirable record as a medical editor, and the Lancet-Clinic has had under his guidance a brave and honorable career. The Illinois State Board of Health has just concluded a sanitary investigation of seventy-five cities of Illinois, the public water supply of which has been subjected to a careful chemical and bacteri ologic analysis. In the greater number of cities the water has been pronounced good. In those in which there was evidence contamination in the water supply, the board has consulted with the local authorities in the endeavor to discover the cause of the pollution and suggest a remedy. Sanitary officers of the board have been sent to the majority of cities for the purpose of investigating unsanitary conditions and to advise the local authorities as to the steps necessary to prevent an outbreak of disease. Now that his experiments with diseased fowls in California have demonstrated the fact that tuberculosis is one of the most widely prevalent diseases in the poultry ranches of the State, Dr. Archibald R. Ward, veterinarian of the University of California Agricultural Department, is pursuing investigations to discover whether there is any relationship between this and bovine or human tuberculosis. Furthermore, the consideration of the possible significance of fowl tuberculosis has awakened the desire to know whether or not the deadly organisms are present in the egg. Both these points are vitally important, and the animal industries department, in conjunction with the recently established poultry experiment station, will make a careful study of the cases that are brought to their attention. Chicago is to have a new hospital on the South Side, plans now being under consideration for the erection of extensive buildings where the work of the Memorial Institute for Infectious Diseases, founded two years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Harold F. McCormick, will be carried on, and its scope greatly increased. Friends of the founders have become interested in the activities of the institute, and with their co-operation it is intended to erect suitable buildings where scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles and kindred diseases may be afforded the most skilled and scientific treatment. Thus far the work of the institute has been confined to the treatment of scarlet fever cases, the patients being housed through the leasing of beds at the Presbyterian Hospital, and to original laboratory investigations of scarlet fever. Special provision in the shape of an elaborately equipped laboratory will be made at the new hospital for a continuation of such investigation, which will probably be extended to embrace research as to the nature of other infectious diseases. In a report on "Radium Industry," Richard Gunther, United States Consul-General at Frankfort, says: "Notwithstanding the difficulty in its production (many tons of ore being required to produce 1 gram) a radium industry has already developed in Germany and France, and although 1 gram is sold for a little less than $2,000, the manufacturers are said to have orders for several hundred grams. The demands for medical purposes exceed the supply. Radium possesses all the important qualities of the Roentgen rays in addition to the invaluable property of being ready for use at any time, and furnishing its rays without the employment of apparatus. It has been demonstrated that a small glass tube, not larger than a goose quill, containing a little more than a thousandth part of a gram, is as effective as an expensive and complicated electrical apparatus for the treatment of cancer-surpassing the best effects of the Roentgen rays. The ease with which radium can be utilized locally, as for instance in the nose or throat, is an invaluable advantage. The fact that radium exerts a very peculiar influence upon light-emitting bodies has given rise to the hope that it may eventually play an important role in the industry of light. A minute quantity of radium is sufficient to produce a strong light from a layer of zinc pyrites, and this light produces no heat, so that loss of energy is avoided." Facetiae Medicorum. REMEDY FOR MAL DE MER. "I have sailed the seas for half a century, gentlemen," said Captain Cochrane to a group upon the deck of his ship; "when any of you begin to feel qualmish, come to me. I will give you the best remedy I know of." "What is it?" asked two or three, hesitatingly. "A mint julep." "Why?" asked the others, restlessly. "Because it tastes just as good coming up as it does going down." The party, without excusing themselves, struck for the steward's room. Gentleman's Magazine. Patient-Tell me the truth, Doctor. Doctor-Well, I think I can keep you alive a week longer. Patient-Don't do it, my life insurance premium comes due the day after tomorrow.-Tid Bits. Few men have weak eyes from looking upon the bright side of life. THE DIFFERENCE. "Papa, what's the difference between an oculist and an optician?" "About $8.75 a visit, my son." "Sir," screamed the indignant patient at the fashionable doctor, "I think, sir-I think-I say I think, sir, I have told you four times that your bill is outrageous and extortio-” "There, there, my good man," soothingly put in the physician. "You really must stop thinking so much, and, above all, you must not get excited." And having given this profound advice, he added $5 for another attendance. A famous lawyer once had a singular case to settle. A physician came to him in great distress. Two sisters living in the same house had children of equal age, who so resembled each other that their own mothers were unable to distinguish them when they were together. Now, it happened that, by the carelessness of the nurses, the children had become mixed; and how were the mothers to make sure they received back their own infants? "But, perhaps," said the lawyer, "the children weren't changed at all." cian. "Oh, there's no doubt that they were changed," said the physi "Are you sure of it?" "Perfectly." "Well, if that's the case, why don't you change them back? I don't see any difficulty in the case.-Tit-Bits. A New Method of Sex Control.-An ingenious Russian official, in command of a Cossack station near the Caspian sea, has invented a method of sex control, which threatens to rival that of the late Professor Schenck. Being anxious that his district should make a good showing in the matter of boy babies, this consistent underling of the most paternal of governments has decreed that henceforth none but male children shall be generated in the country under his command. In order to make this law effective, he has ordered that the father of every girl baby born in the district shall be punished with fifty lashes with the knout. The veracious correspondent who sends this story to a London paper adds that already several men have received their fifty strokes for failure to comply with the law.— Med. Record. TWINKLE, TWINKLE, GARROD SPA. (By the Poet Laureate of the Windy City.) All the world knows what you are. Twinkle, twinkle, Garrod Spa, Twinkle, twinkle, Garrod Spa, Twinkle, twinkle, Garrod Spa, He may have sand, but never gravel. The Doctor-You have had a bad cold, Mr. Jiggs. I'll give you some pills for it. Jiggs-Oh, never mind, Doctor. You can have it for nothing. |