CONTEMPORARY.

PROGRESS IN SPELLING REFORM.

[AMERICAN MEDICINE.]

We have no sympathy for the fonetik folks, nor for the devisers of Volapuk or other expressions of philologic nausea, but we have every desire to rid the language of barbaric illogicalities and follies that have grown with the unconscious development of the past. It is therefore an exceptional pleasure to note the evidence of effected reform shown in the adoption of sensible spelling by the United States Census Office. This fact puts the reform beyond the stage of doubt and discussion, and renders absurd the efforts of the reactionaries to retain outgrown spellings. Publishing houses which control medical periodicals and publish dictionaries devoted to antique orthographies will henceforth find that their "conservatism" and profound interest in "etymology" and "pure English" will no longer avail. In the "Classification of Causes of Death" and in other circulars issued by the Census Office we notice the modern instead of the medieval forms of words. We are gratified that even oedema and oesophagus are forever done away with, and are replaced by edema and esophagus. Hæmorrhage, leukæmia, and the more ridiculous leucæmia, anæmia, gangræne, diarrhoea, septicemia, æstivo-, anæsthetic, sapræmia, pyæmia, hæmoptysis, gonorrhea, ozæna, goitre, perinæum, and a hundred other solecisms are deleted and replaced by the simpler and better forms. Aneurism is wrongly preferred to aneurysm, and diphtheric should have been given instead of diphtheritic. We are grateful that lach- has not been retained in this tearful part of a word, but are sorry that lacrymal is preferred to lacrimal. And at last we are rid of chorioid and chorioditis, and also of the pepper-and-hyphen box in cooperation. With such great progressive steps it seems strange that the incongruities of some old-time forms of compound words should have been retained. We find retro-uterine, and in the next line periuterine without the absurd hyphen; gastroenteritis, and close by entero-colitis; cardiovascular, and then cerebro-spinal; gastroenteric, and soon broncho-pneumonia. There are no such words as sarco-, broncho-, pseudo-, cerebro-, retro-, entero-, et cetera, and in thousands of such compounds we do not hyphenate. We do not even see the need of any hyphen in beriberi. Noncancerous and nonpuerperal are correctly spelled.

MEDICAL NEWS.

RECIPROCAL MEDICAL REGISTRATION.

THE American Confederation of Reciprocating Examining and Licensing Medical Boards, the membership of which comprises the Medical Examining and Licensing Boards of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,

Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, has adopted the following basis of reciprocal registration:

(1) That as a prerequisite to reciprocal registration, the applicant therefor shall file in the office of the board of the state of which he is a licentiate such evidence as will enable the said board to certify that he is of good moral and professional character. Such certificate shall be filed with his application for reciprocal registration in another state.

(2) That a certificate of registration showing that an examination has been made by the proper board of any state, on which an average grade of not less than seventy-five per cent was awarded, the holder thereof having been at the time of said examination, the legal possessor of a diploma from a medical college in good standing in the state where reciprocal registration is sought, may be accepted, in lieu of examination, as evidence of qualification. Provided, that in case the scope of the said examination was less than that prescribed by the state in which registration is sought, the applicant may be required to submit to a supplemental examination by the board thereof in such subjects as have not been covered.

(3) That a certificate of registration, or license issued by the proper board of any state, may be accepted as evidence of qualification for reciprocal registration in any other state. Provided, that the holder thereof was, at the time of such registration, the legal possessor of a diploma issued by a medical college in good standing in the state in which reciprocal registration is sought, and that the date thereof was prior to the legal requirement of the examination test in such state.

A PHYSICIAN'S SUDDEN DEATH.

DOCTOR ISAAC NEWTON LOVE, of New York City, formerly of Saint Louis, died suddenly aboard the steamer Aurania as it was approaching New York harbor on the 17th instant. The doctor was returning from a trip abroad, and while presiding at a meeting, which had been called at the breakfast table to persent congratulatory resolutions to the captain on the safe arrival of the vessel, he instantly expired from apoplexy on arising to speak. Deceased was one of the most widely known members of the American medical profession, and was invested with a personality so unique as to have inspired the expression-"There is but one Love." He was born in Barry, Pike county, Illinois, September 13, 1848, and at the age of thirteen years went to reside with the family of a Saint Louis relative, Doctor John T. Hodgen. After receiving his prelimirary education he began the study of medicine and in 1872 graduated from the Saint Louis Medical College of the old Washington University. He achieved success as a general practician in Saint Louis, and eventually drifted into the specialty of pediatrics. For a time he filled the office of city physician, and afterward held a professorship in one of the medical colleges of Saint Louis, subsequently enjoying a connection with. the New York Postgraduate Medical School and Hospital, having moved

to the metropolis about three years ago. He was identified with a number of medical societies, and served as president of the American Medical Editors' Association, of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, and as chairman of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Medical Association. He was also elevated to the board of trustees of the journal of the latter association and once served a term as vicepresident of the same. In 1890 he founded the Medical Mirror, the editorial tripod of which he occupied until his demise. He is survived by a family consisting of a widow, a son and a daughter. Anyone who knew Doctor Love will cherish the acquaintance in fond remembrance.

RECENT MEDICAL ELECTIONS.

THE American Medical Association elected the following officers at its fifty-fourth annual meeting, which was held in New Orleans, May 5-8, 1903: President, John H. Musser, Philadelphia; first vicepresident, G. Chris. Savage, Nashville; second vicepresident, Isadore Dyer, New Orleans; third vicepresident, C. Lester Hall, Kansas City; fourth vicepresident, George F. Jenkins, Keokuk; treasurer, Henry P. Newman, Chicago; secretary and editor, George H. Simmons, Chicago. Trustees: William H. Welch, Baltimore; Miles F. Porter, Fort Wayne; Malcolm L. Harris, Chicago. Judicial Council: Frederick H. Wiggin, New York; G. B. Gillespie, Tennessee; D. C. Peyton, Indiana. Orator on Surgery, William J. Mayo, Rochester, Minnesota; Orator on Medicine, George Dock, Ann Arbor; Orator on State Medicine, Herman M. Biggs, New York. The next meeting will be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 7-10, 1904.

At the annual meeting of the Michigan State Medical Society, which was held in Detroit, June 11 and 12, 1903, the following officers were elected: President, William F. Breakey, Ann Arbor; first vicepresident, George C. Hafford, Albion; second vicepresident, Wyllis S. Walkley, Grand Haven; third vicepresident, Charles S. Cope, Ionia; fourth vicepresident, Willis E. Chapman, Cheboygan. Councilors: Leartus Connor, Detroit, term to expire 1909; William H. Haughey. Battle Creek, 1909; Colonel B. Burr, Flint, 1909; William T. Dodge, Big Rapids, 1909; Albert E. Bulson, Jackson, 1907; Sidney I. Small, Saginaw, 1907; Bartlett H. McMullen, Cadillac, 1907; Theodore A. Felch, Ishpeming, 1907; George D. Carnes, South Haven, 1905; D. Emmett Welsh, Grand Rapids, 1905; Mortimer Willson, Port Huron, 1905; Henry B. Landon, Bay City, 1905. Representatives in the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association: Henry O. Walker, Detroit, 1905; Victor C. Vaughan, Ann Arbor, 1905; William K. West, Calumet, 1904; Charles B. Stockwell, Port Huron, 1904. Names to be presented to the Secretary of State for selection, by the Governor, of five as members of the Michigan State Board of Registration in Medicine: Joseph B. Griswold, Grand Rapids; George E. Ran

ney, Lansing; Harris B. Osborne, Kalamazoo; Hugh McColl, Lapeer; Walter H. Sawyer, Hillsdale; Duncan K. Black, Greenville; William L. Wilson, Saint Joseph; Charles S. Cope, Ionia; Philander S. Root, Monroe; Lawrence D. Knowles, Three Rivers; George W. Moran, Detroit; Leavitt S. Griswold, Big Rapids; James B. Martin, Traverse City; Frank A. Towsley, Midland; Arthur D. Holmes, Detroit. The next meeting will be held at Grand Rapids in 1904.

MINOR INTELLIGENCE.

BUBONIC plague, which has prevailed in Peru for some time, has finally been eradicated. According to an official dispatch received from Pisco, dated May 20, the board of health has announced the country free from the scourge.

STATISTICS show that New Zealand, which has a death rate of eleven in one thousand, is the most healthful country in the world, while Guateriala, with the high mortality of forty-one in one thousand, is considered the least healthful.

SIR FREDERICK TREVES intends to retire from the practice of medicine in order to devote his remaining years to such occupation as he may elect. This information is credited to report, which, by the way, does not enter into detail.

As a result of the recent elections in Spain seven physicians were chosen for the upper house and four for the lower house of the Spanish parliament, while Doctor Cortez, editor of Sligo Medico, was selected. for vicepresident of the upper house.

THE East Side Janitors' Society of New York City offers prizes to its members for keeping tenement houses clean. The last award was made to thirty-seven of a total of one hundred thirty contestants. The prizes consisted of money, medals, or diplomas.

Two cases of glanders in human beings, which resulted in the death of both subjects, have been reported at Newark, New Jersey. The second of the patients was taken to the German Hospital, New York, in which institution he died on June 3, after great suffering.

CHICAGO has a new hospital for tuberculous subjects. It was erected at a cost of one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars and affords accommedation for three hundred beds. The institution, which is located at the corner of Forty-eighth and Division, has been christened Saint Ann's Sanitarium.

Ar the annual meeting of the Washtenaw County Medical Society, which was held at the residence of Doctor James M. Heuston in Ypsilanti last month, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Doctor Cyrenus G. Darling; vicepresident, Doctor John A. Wessinger; secretary-treasurer, Doctor John William Keating. Board of trustees: Doctors James F. Breakey, James M. Heuston, and James A. Wallace.

DOCTOR ADOLPH LORENZ performed two operations for unilateral congenital hip dislocation at the Hospital of Jefferson Medical College on June 29.

CHOLERA is increasing in Manila to an alarming extent. The health authorities of the city recently distributed thirty thousand leaflets containing instructions for the prevenion of the disease. A placard is displayed in every household and in all carft plying the bay and river.

BUILDINGS for the treatment of contagious diseases and for the care of children will be erected in connection with the county hospital at Chicago. Accommodations for the reception of one hundred fifty contagious cases and one hundred thirty children will be afforded by the new structures, the estimated cost of which is one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars.

THE Denver Academy of Medicine recently installed the following officers: President, Doctor Henry Sewall; vicepresident, Doctor G. B. Packard; secretary, Doctor C. K. Fleming; secretary of the board of trustees, Doctor H. W. McLauthlin; board of trustees, Doctor L. E. Lemen, Doctor Jayne, Doctor McLauthlin, Doctor W. W. Grant, Doctor I. B. Perkins and Doctor Thomas H. Hawkins.

RECENT LITERATURE.

REVIEWS.

DISEASES OF THE EYE, NOSE, THROAT AND EAR.*

BEYOND question the first impression that a new book makes upon a reviewer affects more or less the lasting opinion which he shall hold. In this instance the first effect is unusually agreeable, and fortunately a closer acquaintance even enhances it. This volume is inclusive of departments ordinarily kept separate. The eye, ear, nose and throat are treated of individually, as they would be in separate texts, and also in their relation with each other and with the whole body. We shall not attempt to give any particular contributor a special mark of credit, as the work is so uniformly well done. The text is splendidly illustrated by colored plates and engravings, all of which reflects most credibly upon the painstaking of the publishers.

*By Eminent American and English Authors. Edited by William Campbell Posey, Surgeon to Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, and Jonathan Wright, M. D., Laryngologist to the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital, et cetera. In one octavo volume of 1234 pages, with 650 engravings and 35 plates in colors and monochrome. Cloth, $7.00 net; leather, $8.00 net. Lea Brothers & Company, Publishers, Philadelphia and New York.