to call attention to Doctor Hammond's recommendation of massive doses of strychnia, which has lately been reported. "He bases his paper on the results of eleven cases, four of tabes, three of progressive muscular atrophy, three of optic nerve atrophy, and one of pseudomuscular hypertrophy. The method of action assumed is that the strychnin improves the nutrition of the neurons in such a way as to arrest degeneration. Cases are reported in detail and the results are favorable. In no case, however, was the patient completely restored to health, nor was that anticipated. All he claims for the method is that it may in some cases arrest degenerative processes in disease, which have hitherto been regarded as hopeless. The amounts given by Hammond are large, the maximum dose reaching two-thirds of a grain three times a day, beginning with one-fortieth to one-fiftieth of a grain."

CONTEMPORARY.

D. I.

THE DOCTOR'S LIBRARY.

[SAINT LOUIS Medical and surgICAL JOURNAL.]

AN old saying is, "Tell me what company you keep and I will tell you what you are.' The truth of this is obvious and we daily see its application in a variety of ways. We could say with equal truthfulness, "Show me a doctor's library and I will tell you what sort of physician he is." The very question of the doctor's library is one on which but very little has been written and it is time that something was said upon it. But in order to give it proper consideration we must take into account the various kinds of doctors' libraries which are seen as well as consider their owners. We find that the one is, as a rule, characteristic of the other and no mistake can be made by anyone who is gifted with any powers of judgment and discrimination.

ness.

In the first place we have the library which consists of but a few books apparently of a prehistoric age which have become antiquated beyond hope of redemption, and whose only leading quality is uselessSuch libraries are much more numerous than progressive members of the medical profession would imagine. We have seen them very ostentatiously displayed on poorly made shelves nailed to the wali of a dingy office, breathing of squalor and fit environments for the owner who seemed to vie with the books in his own filthy condition. He did not consult the few dilapidated, old, musty books he had, trusting rather to an equally dilapidated experience acquired by an incompetent and ignorant mind. And still such individuals have their adherents and deluded admirers.

A second variety of medical library is that which is large and is composed of many old books with here and there a modern one, but all so arranged that their owner cannot find any particular one without making a complete inventory of it. After doing this he forgets what

books he has and the same tedious process must be gone through again at the cost of much valuable time. It is for these that year-books are most valuable and they very properly discourage the bad habit of buying a lot of old junk which is of no value, but merely takes up a large amount of space and possess a bulk which never imposes upon him who is anything of a judge in such matters. The character of the physician who harbors such a hodge-podge is that of an individual who desires to make a great show at a very slight expense of money or work. He gets on in an easy manner and it is no dificult matter for an active competitor to rout him. We see such posing as authority, their position owing its strength to many books of doubtful authority which have never been read. These libraries and their possessors become well known and little respect is paid to the one or to the other. In antithesis we have the library, large in size, containing all the latest and most expensive medical works. It is something magnificent and of the highest value to any one who desires to consult the latest and the best authorities. The best editions are chosen and the owner can point with just pride to his valuable collection. It, unfortunately, but too often happens that he has never read one and does not know the contents of his valuable tomes. He swells with pride when he exhibits his library, but is careful to keep the doors of his bookcase locked, affording others naught but a look at the backs of what would otherwise constitute a magnificent collection. The owner of such a library is puffed up with a good opinion of himself, but shows his deficiency at every turn and is only known as the owner, but not the reader, of a large number of fine books. He is soon gauged at his true worth and it is but late when he discovers what a loss to him it proved to be to spare the bindings and ignore the contents.

We next have the library of the physician who reads. This is not very large, although of such proportions that he is supplied with what he needs. He reads and studies his books during leisure moments and profits by such reading. He does not care to possess a very large number of books, but those which he does have are the best that he can procure. He desires to have books for the good which they can do him. His aim is to know one author thoroughly rather than struggle with the diversity of opinions of a number. What he does learn he knows well and his knowledge so acquired serves him to the best advantage when he is in need of such information. He is very apt to inspire others with a certain amount of fear and respect, for we have all been taught to beware of the nan of one book. He is an individual who is exact, but he is also very a pt to run in one narrow groove and his ideas are so governed by his solitary author upon any one subject. that he becomes narrow and prejudiced and his ideas lack broadness. We now conclude with the library which is large, in which are to be found books often referred to and constantly in use. Books of reference and monographs are numerot is, and new ones are daily added and thus form a continuous accretion. This forms the writer's library and the order in which everything is arranged testifies to his orderly

ways

and methods. It is here that we find the material which furnishes his bibliography, so valuable to the writer and to students. Many volumes are consulted, but they are invariably returned to their proper places so as to be easy of access at any moment. It is here that we can judge of the character of the owner of these books. It is also in such a library that we find files of journals neatly bound, and it is here. also that we find the numerous book marks of stiff paper marking certain passages that have been or will be used. Such a library fully exemplifies Bacon's celebrated aphorism, "Reading maketh a full man; writing maketh an exact man."

Much more could be said on the doctor's library and it may be said with truth that he who reads his medical journals carefully is certain to possess a good library.

MEDICAL NEWS.

REGARDING VITAL STATISTICS.

THE Committee on Vital Statistics of the American Public Health Association reported at the recent Washington meeting of that body, that effective cooperation had been instituted between that association, the Conference of State Boards of Health, the American Medical Association, the United States Census Bureau and the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service for improving the vital statistics. of this country. The movement contemplates the extension of adequate methods of registration, the use of uniform and comparable tables and rates in bulletins and reports, and the improvement of the international classification of causes of death. A pamphlet on "Statistical Treatment of Causes of Death" has been issued by the United States Census Bureau relating to the difficulties encountered in compiling deaths from several causes, and asking for the cooperation of the profession in framing a satisfactory method of procedure in such cases.

MINOR INTELLIGENCE.

THE authorities of Columbia University are considering the erection of a hospital in connection with the medical school. The estimated. cost of the proposed structure is about $2,000,000.

A FIRE, of unknown origin, which completely destroyed the medical buildings of Vermont University, occurred on December 2. The loss, estimated at $220,000, is entirely covered by insurance.

THE Industrial School for Crippled and Deformed Children, located in Boston, will soon be ensconced in a new building, on Newberry street, which is fast nearing completion. The present structure is entirely inadequate for the needs of the institution.

AN epidemic of bubonic plague is reported from Rio de Janeiro. Twenty-nine deaths have already occurred, fifty-two new cases have recently been reported, and at present one hundred nine cases are under treatment.

PLANS for two public bath houses have been submitted to the building department of New York City. The estimated cost of the new buildings, which will be constructed of brick, with limestone decorative trimmings, is $115,000.

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, the Standard oil magnate, who owns an estate near Tarrytown on the Hudson, the many orchards of which produced an enormous yield of apples this year, is manifesting his liberality by donating them to hospitals and other institutions in New York.

DOCTORS SAMUEL W. LAMBERT, Joseph A. Blake, George E. Brewer, John S. Thatcher, and Frederick Peterson were appointed professors in medicine in Columbia University at a recent meeting of the board of trustees. The first two doctors are to have seats in the medical faculty.

DOCTOR AUGUSTUS A. CLOUGH, Health Commissioner of Denver, is the inventor of a street sweeper that is calculated to prevent the dust which usually arises from the operation of such machines, and to obviate the costly necessity of the unpleasant and dangerous practice of sprinkling paved streets.

AT the recent meeting of the New York State Association of Railway Surgeons, Doctor James A. Eaton, of Montclair, New Jersey, read a paper in which was advocated better ventilation in passenger coaches. He protested vigorously against overheating, and favored flushing cars with water after each trip.

THE College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec, Canada, has decided upon a five-year medical course and decreed that British licenses shall henceforth be ignored in that province. A preliminary education as represented by the B. A. degree is also advocated for students who contemplate the study of medicine.

Ar the recent Asheville (North Carolina) meeting of the National Dental Association, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That it is the sense of the National Dental Association that each medical college in the United States should include in its curriculum a lectureship on "Oral Hygiene, Prophylaxis, and Dental Pathology."

DOCTOR GEORGE M. LEFFERTS, of Columbia University, who will have completed thirty years of collegiate service on June 30, 1904, and who occupies the chair of laryngology in that institution at present, has announced his intention of retiring on that date, and has presented to the trustees his unrivalled collection of apparatus for illustrating the teaching of laryngology and rhinology. The gift, which has large pecuniary as well as educational value, will hereafter be known as the Lefferts collection.

DOCTOR GEORGE HAVEN has bequeathed to the Harvard medical school the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars outright and a share of the residue. To the Boston Lying-in Hospital he has given his books and instruments, valued at twenty thousand dollars, and the residue is shared equally with the medical school.

IN accordance with the advice of the commissioner of health of Philadelphia, the schools of that city have been partially inspected by medical authorities, with the result that an average of twenty children have been debarred daily from further attendance, owing to some. diseased condition. The chief affections from which they suffer are those of the eye, nose, and skin.

THE Eastern Pennsylvania penitentiary has been condemned by a Philadelphia grand jury as unfit for the detention of convicts. The place has been stamped as a breeding ground for tuberculosis, more than sixty per cent of the deaths in the institution during the past thirty years having been due to this disease. The imperfect system of plumbing is likewise responsible for the unhealthfulness of the buildings.

DOCTOR JOHN A. McCORKLE, president of Long Island College Hospital, recently tendered a dinner to the Council and Hospital and College Faculties of that institution at the Hamilton Club. Covers were laid for twenty-seven. After the health of the host was drunk postprandial speeches were made by Professor George Plympton, emeritus professor of chemistry, and Doctor Ezra Wilson of the council.

AN attempt will be made by the New York State Medical Association to have enacted, at the next session of the legislature, a bill abolishing the office of coroner. The association contends that no single individual possesses sufficient medicolegal knowledge to officiate in the capacity of coroner, and will therefore endeavor to have the duties of this official distributed to the city health department, the district attorney, and the city magistrates. A like bill was presented to the legislature last year but was defeated.

CLEVELAND has a new institution for the care of the sick, the Mount Sinai Hospital, which formally opened its doors, recently, under the Jewish Women's Hospital Association. It is nonsectarian and equipped to care for thirty-five patients, contagious diseases being excluded. The staff is composed of the following: Surgeons-George W. Crile, Frank E. Bunts, Carl A. Mamann; Gynecologists-Marcus Rosenwasser, Walter Lincoln, Oscar T. Thomas; Orthopedic Surgeon— Walter G. Stern; Eye, Ear and Throat-William E. Shackleton, James Stotter; Pediatrics-Dr. Lueke, J. C. McMichael; Dermatologist-S. Reigelhaupt; Internal Medicine-Arnold Peskind, A. Friedman, Emanuel Rosenburg, Alfred F. Maschke, Joseph C. Steuer, Lewis Robecheck, Daniel Heimlich, Dr. Kaplan, Isador J. Propper, Maurice Budwig, Myron Metzenbaum; Nervous Diseases-Moritz Lowenthal, Isidor Belkowsky; Obstetrics-Samuel L. Bernstein; Frank E. Bunts, President, Walter G. Stern, Secretary.