with Dr. Coe that almost any case of acute insanity could be treated as well and as successfully outside of insane hospitals."

THE ASSIGNMENT OF SUBJECTS.

We do not believe that it is usually a wise plan to select the subject for a paper and then to ask some individual to write on it. A paper to order is generally not the best production of a writer's brain and pen, for there has been too much forced effect in its construction. A smile to order is strained and to eat to order is labor, although either in place affords relaxation, rest and refreshment. We should write upon a subject which has such interest that there is no strain in its elaboration or special labor to get one's thoughts properly upon it. This paragraph is written by one who just now speaks from the writer's standpoint in preparing a-paper-to-order. If an assignment of a subject is to be made, months of notice ought to be given, so as to allow the mind to easily gather data and collate personal experience with which to round out easily the subject to be discussed.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Many new medical periodicals have come into existence during the past two years, a number of which have subsequently slumbered,

Journals Coming and Journals Going.

while others have shown upon their pages evidences of prosperity. None had a better look than the Magazine of Medicine, of Atlanta. It must have given its older rivals in that city some anxiety, for the public does not see behind the edi

torial table, and only has the appearances of the journal to form an opinion of subscription books, ledgers, etc. We had not seen the Magazine of Medicine for a couple of months, and now comes a neighbor, who chants the following requiem over it:

“We are just informed that the Magazine of Medicine, formerly the Moody, after its brilliant but brief career, has yielded up its gentle spirit, and thus another is added to the long list of journals that have passed in the night. The 'Innovation in Current Medical Literature,' which was proclaimed as the drawing card of this particular 'magazine,' did not draw. The most striking feature of the 'innovation' appeared to be the infinite variety of matter which was offered, no doubt to satisfy the widely different tastes of its many readers. Its 'departments' included a vast field of human activity; medicine (regular, homeopathic, eclectic and quack,) literature, science, insurance, railroads, household, and others which we have forgotten. Two other important 'innovations' were the monthly praises of Ingersollism and the home made poetry by the editor. We do not know which contributed more to the fatal ending.

"The Moody Magazine of Medicine began, as others have begun, with an I-came-I-saw-I-conquered flourish, its especially appointed mission being to give light to the 'rank and file of the profession.', A part of this ambition was nobly attained. It was certainly rank. However, it is dead. After life's fitful fever, may it sleep well. We may never look upon its like again., Hinc illae lacrimae."-[Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal.

This new periodical starts out with ample capital and a superior board of management. It is a Philadelphia affair, and as that city still claims to be the medical center of the country, it The Philadelphia is quite natural that its physicians should feel the Medical Journal. necessity for a weekly medical journal. The price of this publication will be $3.00 a year. The editorial department will be under the control of Dr. George M. Gould, which guarantees that it will be vigorously conducted, and that the status of the journal will be maintained with dignity and the highest degree of ethical propriety. The editorials which Dr. Gould wrote for the Medical News made that journal much sought.

It might be appropriate to say that we have in mind just now an issue of the Medical News containing a lengthy editorial and a very pointed one. This number was given circulation to all the doctors of the Pacific Northwest region, and presumably to the entire profession of America, just at the time that the first number of the Medical Sentinel went out timidly to the doctors of this region. The fact that Dr. Gould was an able writer was en very manifest to us, for this editorial made us much trouble, and some of the warmest friends of to-day had to meet the arguments of numerous solicitors from the Medical Sentinel before they could agree with us at that time, and with Dr. Gould now. The editorial mentioned was an argument against the publication of any more medical journals and vigorously advocated the plea that support should be withheld from new medical publications on the

ground that the field was already well filled, Dr. Gould saying that under such treatment new publications would meet an early death.

NOTES.

Pond's Extract vs. Hamamelis.-At a recent meeting of the Portland Medical Society, in a paper read by Dr. J. F. Dickson, the term hamamelis and Pond's Extract were used interchangeably, and in the discussion of the subject the same interchange was also noticed. The implication is that the extract of hamamelis put up by the Pond's Extract Co. was the product ordinarily employed in the treatment of the disease then under discussion, conjunctivitis, and yet the casual reader and listener might be lead to believe that such is not the fact, but that any of the so-called hamamelis preparations might be prescribed, expecting similar results in all cases; such, however, is not the case. Pond's extract and hamamelis, fluid extract of hamamelis, tincture of hamamelis, and the so-called witch hazel, sold largely in bulk, the latter being dispensed by druggists unless specifically ordered otherwise, are separate and distinct products. That which is called witch hazel, which is the imitation of Pond's extract, is invariably weak, often sour, and almost always untrustworthy, and, what is worse, often contains a portion of wood alcohol.

While Pond's extract is a trade marked product, it has the advantage of being one whose method of preparation is known to the profession, and no manufacturer, wholesale or retail druggist, or any other person in the world, makes a preparation from the hamamelis shrub in its specially prepared form, in a way that the Pond's Extract Co. does. Its quality is also uniform in strength, and it can be relied upon to give like results under like conditions, in similar doses. The fact that the manner of manufacture is known to the profession, and that it is a single product of a single drug, necessitates absolute accuracy in its manufacture, that the highest degree of excellency be maintained, in order that Pond's extract may hold its own against all other products of hamamelis. From the fact of the character of its production, not the slightest ethical opposition can be urged against its use.

Antiphthisic Serum, T. R.-Our attention has been caught by a reprint of an article by Dr. C. Fisch, of St. Louis, "On the antitoxic and bactericidal properties of the serum of horses treated with Koch's new tuberculin, T. R." This paper was read before the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of October 30th, 1897. The paper sets forth the

considerations which led to the investigations of Dr. Fisch, resulting in the elaboration of a serum, (termed by him "Antiphthisic Serum, T. R.",) which it is claimed, and this claim, both experimental and clinical evidence seem to support, is both antitoxic and bactericidal. The paper clearly enunciates the principles upon which Dr. Fisch pursued his researches, and records in minute detail his experiments in the laboratory, proving that animals first treated with the serum for thirty days failed to become infected on innoculation with a fatal dose of tubercle bacilli; that the admixture of a certain amount of the serum with a fatal dose of the bacilli failed to infect the animals into which it was injected; that the simultaneous injection at different points of serum and virus respectively also failed to infect; and finally that animals rendered experimentaliy tuberculous were cured by the serum, if treatment was begun within a reasonable time. Most complete and careful control experiments made in every instance seem entirly to have elimited the post hoc fallacy.

The paper is especially remarkable for its scientific accuracy of detail, and the entire avoidane of platitudes and vague generalities. It reads like what it is, viz: the exact account of a series of careful laboratory experiments, and the deductions there from of a scientifically trained mind, acute, penetrating, logical, and apparently singularly free from any preconceived determination. We feel assured that it will repay careful perusal, and we should not be surprised to see the test of time set its seal upon Dr. Fisch's work, as having solved the problem of the successful application of serum therapy to the treatment of tuberculosis.

Western Medical and Surgical Gazette.-Vol. 1, No. 1, of this new aspirant for medical support reaches our table. It is neat and full of merit, and starts out better than most journals have done. It ought not to deface its otherwise clean appearance by a colored advertising insert sheet right against its editorial head. The Gazette has our best wishes. It is published at Denver, Colorado.

Hemaboloids and Hemorrhoids.-A patient went into Woodard, Clarke & Co.'s drug store the other day and called for a bottle of "hemorrhoids." He said he doctor had ordered the medicine in tablespoonful doses three times a day, and the first bottle having been used up he had been directed to go and get another, because the medicine was working wonders. Mr. Woodard told the applicant that he thought a tablespoonful of well matured hemorrhoids, three times a day, would work wonders, but while they made a specialty of keeping in stock rare and uncommon drugs, they were just out of hemorrhoids. Upon further inquiry it developed that the preparation which had pro duced such pleasant and desirable results was hemaboloids, the bem

atic, lecithemic and neuclogenic fluid food, of the Palisades Company which is just now very popular in this part of the country.

Dr. John B. Hamilton, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Professor of Clinical Surgery in Rush Medical College, etc., has been appointed superintendent of the asylum for the Insane at Elgin, Illinois. The state of Illinois has been fortunate in seuring such service from Dr. Hamilton.

Important Notice to Physicians.-Messrs. E. B. Treat & Company, New York, announce a reduction in the price of the books in their medical classics series from $2.75 to $2.00 per volume. Six or more volumes ordered at one time may be had on the installment plan. By this reduction in price these publishers have placed in the reach of all many valuable books on the different branches of medicine, and every physician is enabled to replenish his library with works of practical importance with an expenditure of only a nominal sum. Full particulars will be furnished on application.

The Medical Sentinel and Dr. Coe.-Occasionally a letter intended for the editor of the Medical Sentinel is addressed to "Dr. Henry C. Coe." Although the medical gentleman of this name resides in New York, no hesitation has been experienced in appropriating mail so addressed when coming to this side of the continent. Recently a gentleman has located in Portland,-not a doctor, however,-whose name is "Henry C. Coe," and the complication referred to consequently deepens. We would therefore thank our correspondents to remember that the middle initial letter of the editor is "W." In order to simplify matters, the full name will hereafter largely be employed, namely, Henry Waldo Coe.

There is in Portland another paper with the word "Sentinel" as a part of its name, the Catholic Sentinel, which fact also needs to be remembered. Letters intended for Dr. Coe or this journal eddressed to the Medical Sentinel or to Dr. Henry Waldo Coe will not fail to reach the proper destination.

The New Battery Catalogue.-The Chloride of Silver Dry Cell Battery Co., of Baltimore, Md., are to be congratulated upon their catalogue No. 8, which has just been issed. It is one of the prettiest representations of the claim of a manufacturer that we have ever seen in medical batteries. No other manufacturer of dry cell batteries can be