the conventionalities one notes in medical books for both English and American markets. Those deah traditions, don't you know!

"THE Removal of Superfluous Hair by the X-Ray," by Bardwell (Journal of Advanced Therapeutics, August), is an article which attempts to prove that the undesirable hirsute appendage on the chin. and upper lip of women can be successfully removed by that panacea, the X-ray. A series of cases is presented. In one, twenty-seven treatments were given; in another, forty. The author states that before beginning treatments, "it would be well to inform the patient, in the presence of a third party friendly to the operator, of the possible dangers incident to the use of the X-rays, in order that the risks involved may be fully understood."

RUNDSCHAU.

The twenty-seventh annual session of the New Mexico Medical Association was held at Albuquerque, September 2 and 3, and was followed by a banquet at the Alvarado Hotel.

Dr. Frederick T. Rustin, a surgeon of Omaha, September 2 was shot and killed as he was on the point of entering his home. There is not a single clue to the murderer.

An Ohio National Guard hospital was erected at Toledo, on the occasion of the G. A. R. encampment the past week. It was in charge of Major Hall, of Cincinnati, and Major Stewart, of Toledo.

In Chicago diphtheria shows a tendency to persist. The mild sore throat, treated as one of no significance, called tonsillitis, with the affected child allowed to mingle with playmates, is held responsible for the persistence of this disease.

The committee which was appointed by the Elkhart, Ind., Academy of Medicine to devise and suggest means for providing funds for building a new hospital met last week, but is not yet ready to report. However, it seems certain that a new hospital will be erected.

Bedford, O., near Cleveland, is planning the erection of a new hospital. At present persons becoming ill suddenly and shop employees who sustain injuries must be taken to Clevelandten miles. The delay is great before city ambulances can make the long run with one horse and return to Cleveland.

Because of the frequent violations of the postal laws regarding the shipment through the mails of sputum and diseased tissue for analysis by the medical authorities, government officials have determined to take the matter up and

to prosecute those who do not strictly observe the regulations in this respect.

Consul Harris, of Smyrna, says that coffee is the national drink of Turkey. That used in the city of Smyrna comes principally from Brazil. The best quality of imported coffee is the Arabian, but is too expensive for people with limited means.

An interesting session of the Bessemer, Ala., Medical Society was held August 21 and resulted in some warm discussions. The special meeting was called for the purpose of recommending a health officer to the county board for the city of Bessemer, the city physician acting in that capacity heretofore. When a vote was reached it showed that nine of the members favored leaving the question to the city council, while eight were in favor of recommending the appointment to the county board, which in turn would recommend to city council. It was also intimated that there was a movement to be made looking into the credentials of some of the candidates.

Mailing Disease Germs in Unsafe Containers.

The danger of mailing sputum and other moist specimens of diseased tissues, through breakage of the container is so great that the postal officials have expressed their intention of prosecuting all who employ containers not in compliance with the law.

The regulations now governing the transmission of such matter through the mails are found in Section No. 494 of the Postal Laws and Regulations, as follows:

1. Specimens of diseased tissues may be admitted to the mail for transmission to United States, State or municipal laboratories, only when inclosed in mailing packages constructed in accordance with this regulation.

2. Liquid cultures, or cultures of micro-organisms in media that are fluid at the ordinary temperature (below 45° C. or 113° F.) are unmailable. Such specimens may be sent in media that remain solid at ordinary temperatures.

3. Upon the outside of every package of diseased tissues admitted to the mails shall be written or printed the words, "Specimen for bacteriological examination. This package to be treated as letter mail." No package containing diseased tissues shall be delivered to any representative of any of said laboratories until a permit shall have first been issued by the Postmaster-General, certifying that said institution has been found to be entitled, in accordance with the requirements of this regulation, to receive such specimens.

4. Packages used for conveying through the mails pathological specimens for bacteriological examination for diagnosis in cases of suspected diphtheria, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases, shall be constructed and prepared as follows:

(a) The receptacle for moist specimens of diseased tissues shall be strong glass vial or test tube, having a capacity not greater than two drachms. The vial shall be covered and made water-tight by the use of a metal screw cap and a rubber or felt washer which has been immersed in melted paraffin, or, if a test tube

be used, it shall be covered with a tightly fitting rubber cap.

(b) The vial or test tube shall be placed inverted in a circular tin box, which shall be made of I. C. bright tinplate, and have flush or counter-sunk bottom and soldered joints, and not be smaller than one and one-eighth inches in diameter and three inches long, nor larger than two and one-quarter inches in diameter and five and one-half inches long. This box shall be closed by a metal screw cover and a rubber or felt washer, or tightly fitting metalsliding cover, and shall be so packed with absorbent cotton, closely laid, that the glass or test-tube contained therein shall be evenly surrounded on all sides by cotton.

(c) The tin box shall be placed inverted inside of a larger tin box similar to the one already described, which should snugly receive the specimen box. Upon the inside of the sides and bottom of this outer box there shall be a lining of compressed paper not less than threesixteenths of an inch in thickness. This outer tin box shall be closed by a metal screw cap and a rubber or felt washer. This outside box may also consist of hardwood, in the form of a block with a cylindrical hole bored in one end and extending to within not less than one inch of the opposite end; the open end to be closed with a wooden or metal screw cap with a rubber or felt washer. Or the outside box may be a cylindrical wooden box, having a screw cap and washer. The thickness of the sustaining part of the wooden tube must not be less than one-quarter of an inch and be lined same as the tin-box.

(d) The receptacle for dry specimens of diseased tissues shall be a glass test tube, three inches in length and one-half inch in diameter. This test tube shall be enclosed in a circular tin box similar to those already described, but measuring two and one-quarter inches in diameter and five and one-half inches in length, and be lined upon its sides and bottom with compressed paper not less than one-quarter of an inch in thickness. The test tube shall be closely packaged in cotton, and the box shall be closed by a metal screw cap and a rubber or felt washer.

Special Lectures by Great Scientists.

On the occasion of the International Congress on Tuberculosis, in session at Washington, September 21 to October 12, 1908, a series of special lectures will be delivered in Washington and elsewhere by eminent foreigners. The names of the speakers, and the cities in which they will lecture, follow:

Bernard Bang, of Copenhagen. Washington, October 3. "Studies in Tuberculosis in Domestic Animals and What we May Learn Regarding Human Tuberculosis."

A. Calmette, of Lille, France. Philadelphia, September 26. "Les nouveaux procedes de diagnostic precoce de la Tuberculosis."

Emil Coni, of Buenos Ayres. Washington, October 2. "La Lucha contra Tuberculosis en la Republica Argentina."

Arthur Newsholme, of Brighton. Washington, September 29. "The Causes which have Led to the Past Decline in the Death-rate from Tuberculosis and the Light Thrown by this History on Preventive Action for the Future."

Gotthold Pannwitz, of Berlin. Philadelphia, September 24. "Social Life and Tuberculosis." R. W. Philip, Edinburg. Boston, October 6. "The Anti-Tuberculosis Programme Co-ordination of Preventive Measures."

tober 7.

C. H. Spronck, of Utrecht. Boston, OcAndres Martinaz Vargas, of Barcelona. New York, October 9. "Tuberculosis of the Heart, Blood and Lymph Vessels."

Theodore Williams, of London. Philadelphia. September 25. "The Evolution of the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis."

Dr. Maurice Letulle and M. Augustin Rey. (Joint lecture.) Washington, September 30. "La Lutta Contra la tuberculose dans les grandes villes par l'Habitation; methodes scientifiques modernes pour sa Construction."

Dr. A. A. Wladimiroff, of St. Petersburg. Washington, September 28. "Biology of the Bacillus."

Prof. N. Ph. Tendeloo, of Leiden. "Collateral Tuberculosis Inflammation."

LOCAL ITEMS.

Typhoid fever is slightly on the increase. Dr. E. W. Walker has spent the past week at Joplin, Mo.

Dr. Charles Iliff has recovered. Septicemia was the cause of the illness.

The janitors in the various medical college buildings are getting ready.

The Academy of Medicine resumes its meetings on September 28. An interesting session may be expected.

Most of the physicians who have been away rusticating have returned to the city. Their friends among the laity now breathe easier.

The Price Hill Medical Society will meet September 10, at Price Hill House. In addition to the address by the President, papers on the medical and surgical treatment of gallstones will be read by Drs. Manss and Savage respectively.

Good for Dr. Brown! He protests in his last weekly report against the superannuated and wholly misleading term, "typho-malarial fever." Two death returns have been made during the past week, and the above hyphenated anomaly given as the cause.

A PERSISTENT sinus after an operation for appendicitis in the majority of cases means that a portion of the appendix has been left behind. It may also mean that an exudate has not broken down or that some foreign body has been left in hte wound. One should give the sinus an opportunity to close by itself, but if it does not do so, a prolonged operation is necessary. The walls of the sinus must be carefully excised, all rents in the serosa of the intestine sewed over and drainage instituted, as there is often considerable oozing from raw surfaces. First and foremost, the primary cause of the sinus must be found and corrected.American Journal of Surgery.

M. ft. in pil. No. i. Sig.-One such pill t. i. d. Local treatment, instillations of iodoform, 5 per cent.; guaiacol, 1-20; corrosive sublimate, 1-5000. Nitrate of silver should not be used during the first stage, as it might provoke congestion of the mucous membrane, or even hematuria. But in the second stage it gives excellent results. Irrigation of the bladder is always contraindicated on account of the sensitiveness of the mucous membrane. When general and local treatment fail, the bladder is to be opened suprapubically and the granulations removed by the curette and the superficial ulcerations cauterized with the thermocautery.

In cases where the tubercular ulcerations of the bladder are secondary to a tubercular kidney, removal of the latter may completely cure the vesical disease.

Orchidopexia by Hahn's Method.

In the American Journal of Urology, for August, 1908, Budde reports a case of testicle retained in the inguinal canal and operated on at the age of eighteen years. The operation is known as Hahn's, and was performed as follows: Directly above Poupart's ligament and parallel to it, an incision 6 cm. long was made and then deepened as far as the tunica vaginalis. This was split open obliquely to the extent of some 3 cm. and about one ounce of serous fluid escaped. The testicle was somewhat small, but not atrophied. With the index finger a canal was bored down to the lowest point of the right scrotal sac and then an incision 11⁄2 cm. long was made through the skin and connective tissue of the scrotum. After the spermatic cord had been freed and mobilized, it was not difficult to pull the testicle down into the canal and bring it out through

the scrotal skin incision like a button through a buttonhole. The incision over the inguinal canal was closed with buried catgut sutures and a loose dressing applied over the testicle, after the scrotal incision had been reduced in size by a few sutures.

A week later the dressings were removed and the testicle was found normal, moist, glistening, and but slightly hyperemic. The sutures were removed from the scrotal incision, the latter was enlarged by dilating with forceps so that the testicle could be pushed back into the scro tum, and the scrotal incision was closed with sutures. The case progressed perfectly normal and the testicle remained in its proper place, the patient being free from all symptoms.

The advantages of this operation are the small incisions, which heal readily with but very little cicatricial tissue and less danger of infection. Then the two stages of the operation are calculated to prevent retraction of the testicle before the canal closes down..

Chronic Inflammation of the Seminal Vesicles.

Seminal vesiculitis is not frequently discovered, but it does not necessarily follow that it is not a more or less common condition. As is stated in an article by McLeod in the August number of the Buffalo Medical Journal, the seminal vesicles may suffer both acute and chronic inflammation, which is usually secondary to inflammatory conditions of either the epididymus or posterior urethra. The most frequent causes are gonorrhea, septic infection and tuberculosis. Acute inflammations are treated by rest, catharsis and rectal enemata and suppositories; chronic inflammation by tonics, massage, etc.

The same author reports a very interesting case that had been treated for many months without the real cause having been discovered. This patient complained of suffering from urethral hemorrhage, which did not occur during or after sexual intercourse, but during or after intense sexual excitement in which coitus did not take place. A distended bladder was always associated with these conditions. Examination of the patient's general condition was negative, as was also that of the urethra, bladder and urine. The patient denied ever having had a simple or specific urethritis. Rectal examination revealed a tight sphincter ani muscle and enlarged, tortuous, tender and hard seminal vesicles. Gentle massage expressed a mucous discharge, which contained pus-cells, a few dead or nearly dead spermatozoa, a few blood-cells, but no micro-organisms could be found. This patient's condition improved somewhat under the usual treatment, but some months later a

copious hemorrhage occurred during sexual excitement and with a full bladder. Operation was now thought of, but before it was advised a culture was made of the expressed mucus. On the cultures were good growths of streptococci, a few staphylococci and a bacillus. Separate vaccines of the streptococci and staphylococci were used, as it is necessary to give larger doses of the staphylococci, and more frequent doses of the streptococci. Injections of 20 million streptococci and 100 million staphylococci were given, following which there was a hemorrhage without warning. Subsequent injections were 10 million streptococci every other day, and 100 million staphylococci twice a week, no other treatment being employed. The patient's condition gradually improved, the vesicles became soft, decreased in size, and were easily stripped of their contents, which was normal in character. The hemorrhage at a time of intense sexual excitement, with the bladder distended, was in all probability due to the engorgement of the blood-vessels in the region of the base of the bladder, thus causing a rupture of some small vessels.

This case emphasizes the importance of careful and thorough examination of the patient; also the value of the auto-bacterial vaccine treatment.

Clean Milk.

Recently we were on a dairy farm during the milking. Evidently the proprietors were not bad people. They had spent much money in obeying the command to provide good milk. The barn was large, well built; in fact, handsome. The cow stable had a high ceiling and many windows. It was newly whitewashed and clean. There were no cobwebs. A cement floor was being put in. The barnyard was clean. The milkhouse was clean and the milk cans were kept in a spring of cold running water. But-the milkers were very dirty. Their clothes were dirty. The backs of their hands were caked with dirt, but the palms were immaculate-the dirt had been washed off with the milk. The milk stools were so dirty that four ounces of dirt were scraped from the legs of one of them. The milker said that he had been milking for eighteen years and that he had never cleaned up to milk or washed his hands during milking or washed the cow's udder. When we asked him if he had washed the palms of his hands in a pan of water would he care to drink the water, he said "No." This man had swallowed many camels in paying for several thousand dollars worth of improvements, but he strained at the gnat of personal cleanliness. Dirt on the wall or floor may get into the milk. Dirt on the udder teats and palms of the hands will get into the milk.

Do we not look for clean walls and cement floors and forget dirt-dirt, the real "nuts" of the case? Do we not look for microscopic bugs and forget flies?-Bulletin Chicago Department of Health.

¶ Doctor: