the inference is obvious that the doctor merely desired to indicate the analogy existing between the two organs. A man who expects to procure something for nothing talks about "finding a serum," instead of developing one. An economical author says "in order not to 'take up' too much time I will only speak of some of the more interesting phases of the most conspicuous diseases." Why not obviate the necessity of 'taking up' time by simply consuming it. The doctor seems to be always confronted with a heap of "trouble." His patients have stomach trouble, heart trouble, and liver trouble. Every trifling ailment is designated trouble, the doctor seemingly forgetting that there are other words that would convey a more literal meaning of the condition obtaining. As an instance, one writer says that "nonabsorbable sutures may 'give' trouble," but whether it will manifest itself in mental anguish or physical fracus is not stated. "Farther" and "further" are often employed interchangeably, notwithstanding the fact that better usage has long since decreed that the former shall apply to distance and the latter to degree. The climax was capped, however, when "numerous reasons" was employed where many reasons was indicated. And again, "The popularity of the manual can be attested 'for' by its 'numerous editors'." A society or army may be numerous, but reasons or editors never!

** *

The foregoing defects are not recounted in a spirit of criticism, for we are mindful of the admonition that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Some of the imperfections were found in the leading medical journals of the country, and afford evidence of the fact that few publications are models of accuracy and elegance of diction. The reason for this is obvious. Papers are usually prepared hurriedly, and authors who are inclined to employ similar phraseology in writing and speaking are almost certain to manifest linguistic shortcomings, for few people speak correctly and elegantly always. Various other blemishes in construction not alluded to are apparent in medical journals, chief among which is the tendency to shirk the proper amplification of sentences. This baneful practice is not attributable so much to oversight as to unconscious investion with the spirit of the age, which, feigning to exemplify brevity as the soul of wit, is abridging esthetic language to the jargon of slang.

CONTEMPORARY.

FILTERED LANGUAGE.

[George moore, in Lippincott's.]

WHY is it that England has failed to produce a first-class work of fiction? It is refreshing to ask these questions, they lead into pleasant meads of meditation, and this is not the first time I have mused in these meads. I remember trying once before to answer this question, and I

pointed out that the tragedies of Shakespeare were every one the development of a moral idea, that "Hamlet" was but the tragedy of doubt, that "Macbeth" was the tragedy of ambition, that "Lear" was the tragedy of parental altruism. "A nation," I said, "is interested in moral ideas in its infancy. As a nation grows it becomes interested in discriminating between the different classes, the grocer and the baronet, the Methodist and the Unitarian; if the author is an American, between Americans who go to Paris and Americans who stay at home. As a nation grows old its language becomes polluted. In the beginning language is like a well head from which all may draw pure water. The well passes into a rivulet, the rivulet flows into a river, the river passes through the town, and henceforth the water must be passed through a filter. Style is the filter that a language that has been much written in must be passed through. Milton was the first stylist."

MEDICAL NEWS.

THE ENNO SANDER PRIZE.

"THE Relation of the Medical Department to the Health of Armies" is the subject of the competition for 1904. A gold medal, of the value of one hundred dollars, will be awarded to the essayist securing first place, and a life membership in the Association of Military Surgeons. of the United States, of the value of fifty dollars, will be awarded to the essayist securing second place. Following are the conditions of the competition:

(1) Competition is open to all persons eligible to Active or Associate Membership in the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

(2) The prize will be awarded upon the recommendation of a Board of Award selected by the Executive Committee. The Board will determine upon the essay to which the prize shall be awarded, and will also recommend such of the other papers submitted, as it may see fit for honorable mention, the author of the first of which shall receive a life membership in the Association.

(3) In fixing the precedence of the essays submitted, the Board will take into consideration-primarily-originality, comprehensiveness and the practicability and utility of the opinions advanced, and— secondarily-literary character.

(4) Essays will consist of not less than ten thousand, nor more than twelve thousand words, exclusive of tables.

(5) Each competitor will send three typewritten copies of his essay in a sealed envelope to the Secretary of the Association, so as to reach that officer at least one month before the next ensuing annual meeting, in the present case on or before September 10, 1904.

(6) The essay shall contain nothing to indicate the identity of the author. Each one, however, will be authenticated by a nom de plume, a copy of which shall, at the same time as the essay, be transmitted to the Secretary in a sealed envelope together with the author's name, rank and address.

(7) The envelope containing the name of the successful competitor will be publicly opened at the next succeeding annual meeting of the Association, and the prize thereupon awarded.

(8) The successful essay becomes the property of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and will appear in its publications.

The Secretary is Doctor James Evelyn Pilcher, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

MINOR INTELLIGENCE.

MRS. MARY LEWIS, who recently died at New York, bequeathed three thousand dollars to Christ Hospital and two thousand to Saint Catherine's Home, both of Jersey City.

AN epidemic of yellow fever has appeared at Laredo, Texas. Thirty-seven cases have already been reported and sixteen of these have been pronounced genuine by attending physicians.

THE corner stone of the new King Edward's Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis has been laid at Lord's Common, Sussex, England. The erection of the hospital is facilitated by a gift of $1,000,000 from Sir Edward Cassel.

THE use of tobacco and intoxicating liquors by employes is being discouraged by many railroad corporations throughout the country. The officers assert that men who are addicted to smoking and drinking are not safe to entrust with the lives of passengers.

THE American Congress of Tuberculosis will convene in Washington, District of Columbia, on April 4, 5 and 6, 1905. Doctor Alfred Meyer, of New York City, has been appointed Chairman of the Committee in charge of the Section on the Sanitarium Treatment of Consumption.

THE General Naval Hospital, located at Portsmouth, Virginia, will be enlarged, in accordance with the request of Surgeon-General Rixey The present institution affords capacity for two hundred beds, and it is proposed to increase the facilities so that five hundred patients may be accommodated.

A LARGE sanatorium is to be established, outside the walls of Rome, for the treatment of consumption. Signor Pietro Cartoni recently offered one million lire for the erection of the building, and has further signified his intention to bequeath his entire possessions to aid in the study of the disease. The signor has lost two children from the great white plague.

MORE than five hundred persons were killed by cars and street vehicles in New York City last year, while in the metropolitan district of London, which occupies more than six hundred eighty-eight miles, only one hundred fifty-eight met death through these agencies.

THE Supreme Court of New Hampshire recently ruled in favor of a Christian science operator, and thus established the legality of the practice of the cult in that state. This is probably the first instance in which an Eddyite has been upheld by the highest court in a state.

ON September 20 a monument was unveiled, at La Malou-les Bains, in honor of Charcot, the famous French physician, much pomp and ceremony characterizing the occasion. The ceremonies were conducted by the Ministers of Commerce and of Public Instruction.

THE Duke of Devonshire has appointed a committee to investigate the alleged deterioration in physique of certain classes of English people. Much discussion has occurred for long concerning this question, but no effort to verify the truthfulness of the allegation has been made until now.

AN advance in medical education is contemplated by the University of Maryland, which proposes to establish a chair of Medical History. This subject has been grossly neglected in the past and it is to be hoped that medical colleges throughout the country will follow the initiative taken by Maryland University.

THE free river baths, which have been allowed in New York City, will probably be abolished on the ground that a certain amount of infectious disease is contracted by bathers. The president of the Board of Health has advocated the discontinuance of the system heretofore in vogue, and the substitution of shower and plunge baths.

THE Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis has inaugurated a novel method to aid in the suppression of that malady. Signs will be posted on bil boards and street poles, admonishing the public to guard against contagion, and the newspapers will be asked to publish occasionally short articles bearing upon the disease.

FIVE thousand dollars is the valuation placed on the stomach of a Milwaukee woman. A physician of that city performed gastrectomy on the patient and now the son has charged the operator with stealing the gastric reservoir and instituted proceedings to obtain compensation, notwithstanding the fact that the woman soon recovered from the effects of the operation.

THE sixtieth annual meeting of the American Medico-Psychological Association will be held at the Planters' Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri, Monday, May 30, 1904, to Friday, June 3, 1904, inclusive. The local Committee, to whom was referred the matter of date and place of meeting, recommends a five days' session, mornings only. The Secretary, Doctor C. B. Burr, of Flint, Michigan, will be indebted for the promise of papers.

Two hundred fifty school teachers in Indiana have been dismissed. because of the fact that they are tuberculous. The State Board of Health lately issued an order prohibiting consumptives from holding positions in the schools, a commendable move that should be followed by other states.

THE Board of Health of Boston proposes to strictly enforce the act which requires that alleys and private passageways be paved at the owners expense in order to render them sanitary. Several alleyways have already been condemned as public nuisances and orders have been issued to have them properly paved.

THE present season has been the scene of especial disaster on the Alps. More than three hundred accidents have occurred and the lives of over one hundred fifty mountain climbers have been sacrificed. The victims are numbered chiefly among the Germans and Austrians, who recklessly ascend the peaks without the aid of guides.

THE eyes of the employes of the Boston and Albany Railroad. Company have recently been examined, with the result that many of the older men have received their dismissal from service. This may seem unjust to some, but it is nevertheless a timely precaution, considering the number of lives entrusted annually to railroad workmen.

TWENTY-SEVEN thousand six hundred fifteen students were enrolled in our medical colleges during the year 1903. Twenty-four thousand nine hundred thirty of these affiliated with the regular schools; one thousand four hundred ninety-eight the homeopathic; eight hundred forty-eight the eclectic; and three hundred thirty-nine the physiomedical and other schools.

THE corner stone of the new Saint Joseph's Hospital, which will be in charge of the Little Sisters of the Order of Saint Dominic, was recently laid at Jamaica, Borough of Queens, New York. This modern structure, which will contain three hundred beds, was designed to supplant the old building, which had become entirely inadequate for the growing needs of the institution.

A REMARKABLE case is reported from the Eastern District Hospital of Brooklyn. A man aged thirty-four, who is alleged to have been deaf and dumb from birth, was found unconscious in a private room. After being in this condition for many hours he regained consciousness and began to talk, stating that he had inhaled the fumes of potassium cyanide, which was responsible for his unconsciousness.

MARSEILLES is suffering from an outbreak of bubonic plague. The disease first appeared in a cardboard factory, located in a suburb of the city. A number of bales of rags were imported from Smyrna, and concealed in the bales were the bodies of several dead rats. The persons who handled the rags were the first to become infected. Already five deaths have occurred and twenty-nine cases of the malady have been reported.