He first used potassium nitrate and nitrite, and then sodium nitrite, but with unsatisfactory results, so far as relief to the headache was concerned. He next administered potassium iodid in doses of from five to ten grains three times a day, and found that under the influence of this salt the headache rapidly diminished, both in intensity and frequency, and at the end of two or three weeks disappeared completely.

Since first noting the good effects of potassium iodid in migraine, Doctor Clemens has used the drug in a large number of cases, and says he has not found a single case in which this remedy has failed to produce the effect desired.

EDITORIAL COMMENT.

ROENTGEN RAYS AND ULTRAVIOLET RAYS.

PROBABLY no subject in recent years has more completely enlisted the attention of the medical profession and the general public, or caused a greater degree of enthusiasm among a certain element than the treatment of disease by light rays. The interest manifested in this potent agency has indeed become widespread, and in many quarters extends to the domain of faddism, the tidal wave in some instances even proceeding to an extent calculated to make the whole system of light therapy seem extremely ridiculous.

Much valuable information is being published on the efficiency of light in the treatment of disease, but a great deal of balderdash is likewise appearing, principally in the periodical prints, about the gratifying results obtained by subjecting lupus, cancer, and various skin affections to x-ray influence. Unfortunately, subsequent investigation has not infrequently demonstrated that the operator, with commendable impartiality or blissful ignorance, had directed the current through the tube now in one direction and now in another, so that during part of the time the patient was subjected to the virtues of r-rays and part of the time to the healing power of a susceptible imagination. The responsibility for this lamentable uncertainty of effect should not invariably be charged to the physician, however, as frequently the blame may be traced to the unscrupulous or unscientific manufacturer. Still, the latter has not been as successful in imposing upon the credulous practician as some of the venders of ultraviolet outfits. The test for the production of the Roentgen rays is comparatively simple and positive, but the means for determining the presence of ultraviolet rays are not usually at the command of the ordinary physician. Instances have been reported of physicians employing glass lenses to focus the rays of sunlight upon a diseased patch of skin by filtering them through a glass chamber containing a solution of copper, or by simply utilizing blue glass. Although these methods have foundation in truth, and are doubtless based upon the original experiments of Finsen, little credence has been accorded the

certainty that glass permits the filtering of ultraviolet rays from the sun only in slight degree, a fact which has been verified by experiments with various thicknesses of this medium. Instances are also on record wherein light emanating from the glass-covered filament of an electric lamp has been employed for the same purpose.

Finsen's pioneer work embraced a series of experiments to determine the effect of light on earthworms, which he enclosed in a box covered half with red glass and half with blue. The light coming through the blue glass irritated the worms so that they always sought shelter under the red glass. He then experimented with a chameleon, placing it so that half of its body lay beneath the red glass and half beneath the blue. That portion covered by the red glass remained nearly white, while that covered by the blue glass altered its pigment to the extent of being turned jet black, thus preventing the irritation. Finsen's first apparatus for treating patients was made of a thin glass flask in the shape of a plano-convex lens, which was filled with light blue ammoniacal sulphate of copper and mounted on a frame. The sun's rays were filtered through this device and focused on the affected part, but notwithstanding favorable results were obtained by this method the time required for its application was too great. Having found that the blue solution cut off most of the ultraviolet rays the flask was filled with plain water, and finally this apparatus was abandoned for the arc lamp and the quartz lens, a combination affording sixty per cent of ultraviolet rays.

As already stated, misleading articles on light rays by persons not thoroughly familiar with the subject often gain admission to medical journals. Frequently, with the desirable effect of rendering the hints doubly helpful, the shallow intellect of the author is somehow or other influenced, possibly through a species of telepathy, by inspiration from the purveyor, a stimulus which aids materially in producing an effusion laudatory of certain wares, although often destined to provoke laughter when considered from a scientific viewpoint. The physician who could thereby be hoodwinked into purchasing worthless apparatus must surely be unfamiliar with the physics of light.

Willey, of the University of Michigan, at the request of the editor, has prepared a paper on the subject under consideration especially for the present number of this journal, a perusal of which in another department will acquaint the reader with many facts of interest and instruction regarding the constitution of light and the applicability of this important acquisition to the equipment of the modern therapist.

A FAREWELL GATHERING.

AN enjoyable midsummer function of the Ann Arbor Medical Club was the special meeting to take leave of Doctors James R. Arneill and Willard H. Hutchings, who severed their connection with the University of Michigan at the close of the summer session of the medical department. These gentlemen had been identified with the teaching force of

the college for several years, the former on the medical staff and the latter on the surgical staff. Doctor Arneill has located in Denver, where he will practice medicine and occupy a professorial chair in the University of Colorado. Doctor Hutchings will devote a year to study in Germany, specializing in surgical pathology. The festive occasion contemplated a dainty repast, with a feast of reason and a flow of soul as flanking supports. Everyone contributed his mite, in reminiscence or speech, to render the meeting delightfully entertaining, and the sentiments expressed bore testimony of heartfelt interest in the future welfare of the departing members. Doctor Arneill, who has been connected with this journal as associate editor in the department of Medicine for over a year, is succeeded by Doctor George Dock, the well-known professor of Medicine in the University of Michigan.

CONTEMPORARY.

MEDICOHISTORICAL CRITIQUES.

[SAINT LOUIS MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL.]

It is certainly true that the majority of physicians who are not totally absorbed in their professional engagements and that those who occasionally go beyond the portals of their offices, colleges, or who do not spend all their time in their medical libraries take an occasional dip into literature and are certainly benefited by these little excursions into the world of poetry, fiction, or such other literature as is not wholly medical in its nature. It is this change in literary pabulum which broadens ideas and, in fine, adds much of human to the physician's nature and makes him not only a congenial companion but sought after by intelligent people who read something more than the daily newspapers. This constitutes the class which furnishes not only good but appreciative listeners, provided that he who speaks has something to which it is worth listening. And, unless such an one reads and absorbs what he reads he becomes a very poor conversationalist instead of the brilliant one, which every professional man is expected to be whenever he dares enter within the charmed circle of intelligent society. It is not such a hard task to fit one's self for such a position and yet it requires some small degree of assiduity and perseverance as well as continuity of purpose to assume such a position, and to sustain it subsequently.

We have many physicians in this country who are not only well read, but are literateurs of no mean capacity. They are good writers, and have written volumes of fiction which are destined to live. There is but one style which has been neglected and which has been taken up with much success abroad, but more particularly in France. This is the medicohistorical critique. It is literary work which has added a large amount of interest to the dry details of history, and thus not only makes the record of events more interesting, but adds much of interest to

facts which otherwise would be passed over as not worthy of any serious consideration. As these critiques are written they are positively fascinating and withal quite instructive from the fact that every point brought forward is supported by undoubted historic evidence obtained from obscure authors, personal memoirs and all such similar proofs as an assiduous search for and examination of church records and similar documents will furnish. He who undertakes to write such a chapter in history is confronted with a herculean task whose difficulties increase at every step. But, on the other hand, the interest involved in such a labor makes it a pleasant one and interest increases as the writer's critical acumen is exercised more and more as he advances in the pursuit of his subject, and as he endeavors to unravel some unexplained cir

cumstances.

The best example of a writer of this character is Doctor Cabanés, who has been quite a prolific writer in this particular field. He has improved and his latest contributions are examples worthy of study and of imitation. It may be argued that this country does not possess the archives and other material which could be utilized for such an historical work. And yet in the older communities there exist parish registers which contain much, and there also exist many old letters full of interesting gossip and other articles which, if not available for immediate use, are valuable for furnishing indications as to the direction in which search is to be prosecuted. Something of this sort has been done in this country, but it has been very little indeed. Thus some twenty-five years ago quite an exhaustive paper was read before the American Laryngologic Society on the question as to the disease which killed. George Washington, and a mass of evidence was brought forward to show that his trouble was cynanche tonsillaris, and the immediate cause of his death was too much bleeding. This shows that the task is not a hopeless one here, but offers very good opportunities to him who will undertake the task, and the time is very nearly ripe for some one to do this. The profession is ready for such work and it had best be done now when it is a more easy matter, than to begin later when it will be difficult.

MEDICAL NEWS.

THE PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS.

THE American Medical Association adopted the following principles of ethics at the New Orleans meeting:

CHAPTER I.-THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO THEIR PATIENTS. SECTION 1.-Physicians should not only be ever ready to obey the calls of the sick and the injured, but should be mindful of the high character of their mission and of the responsibilities they must incur in the discharge of momentous duties. In their ministrations they should never forget that the comfort, the health and the lives of those entrusted

to their care depend on skill, attention and fidelity. In deportment they should unite tenderness, cheerfulness and firmness, and thus inspire all sufferers with gratitude, respect and confidence. These observances are the more sacred because, generally, the only tribunal to adjudge penalties for unkindness, carlessness or neglect is their own conscience.

SECTION 2.-Every patient committed to the charge of a physician should be treated with attention and humanity, and reasonable indulgence should be granted to the caprices of the sick. Secrecy and delicacy should be strictly observed; and the familiar and confidential intercourse to which physicians are admitted, in their professional visits, should be guarded with the most scrupulous fidelity and honor.

SECTION 3.-The obligation of secrecy extends beyond the period of professional services; none of the privacies of individual or domestic life, no infirmity of disposition or flaw of character observed during medical attendance should ever be divulged by physicians, except when imperatively required by the laws of the state. The force of the obligation of secrecy is so great that physicians have been protected in its observance by courts of justice.

SECTION 4-Frequent visits to the sick are often requisite, since they enable the physician to arrive at a more perfect knowledge of the disease, and to meet promptly every change which may occur. Unnecessary visits are to be avoided, as they give undue anxiety to the patient; but to secure the patient against irritating suspense and disappointment the regular and periodical visits of the physician should be made as nearly as possible at the hour when they may be reasonably expected by the patient.

SECTION 5-Ordinarily, the physician should not be forward to make gloomy prognostications, but should not fail, on proper occasions, to give timely notice of dangerous manifestations to the friends of the patient; and even to the patient, if absolutely necessary. This notice, however, is at times so peculiarly alarming when given by the physician, that its deliverance may often be preferably assigned to another person of good judgment.

SECTION 6.-The physician should be a minister of hope and comfort to the sick, since life may be lengthened or shortened not only by the acts but by the words or manner of the physician, whose solemn duty it is to avoid all utterances and actions having a tendency to discourage and depress the patient.

SECTION 7.-The medical attendant ought not to abandon a patient because deemed incurable; for continued attention may be highly useful to the sufferer, and comforting to the relatives, even in the last period of the fatal malady, by alleviating pain and by soothing mental anguish.

SECTION 8.-The opportunity which a physician has of promoting and strengthening the good resolutions of patients suffering under the consequences of evil conduct ought never to be neglected. Good counsels, or even remonstrances, will give satisfaction, not offense, if