during the summer of 1899 began to complain of being tired, of having no energy or ambition to do anything. Then came a hemorrhage, and as soon as he recovered from it I sent him to the West. He wintered at Albuquerque, New Mexico. The summer of 1900 he spent in Denver, Colo., living in a tent, and carried out faithfully the practise of cold bathing and wearing a cold pack at night. The winter of 1900 and 1901 was very cold in Denver, so he went to the Colorado Sanitarium at Boulder. The following spring, with a companion, he started on a trip in a wagon, camping out at night, cooking his own meals, in fact relying on himselt entirely. His trip extended from Denver north into Wyoming, south again into Rouette county, Colorado, where he and his companion hunted and fished the whole summer. Returning to Denver by the way of Glenwood Springs in the fall, they drove to Albuquerque, where they sold their outfit and remained during the following winter, improved in every way. He is now in New Mexico, and is able to care for himself.

In the spring of 1901, my daughter Abbie came home from Chicago presenting typical signs of consumption. I immediately took her to Denver, with another sister as a nurse and companion. I told them how they should live in order to avoid contagion, and that the main thing was to rest and eat. The talk of the ripper crimes prevented them from following my advice. They slept in separate rooms, but with doors and windows closed and lockt. The winter of 1901 and 1902 was partially spent at the sanitarium at Boulder; the summer of 1902 in Denver; but not caring to brave ano her winter in Denver, they went to Oracle, Arizona, near Tucson. Not receiving any benefit from her stay in the West, and longing for home, she returned in July, 1903, weak, emaciated, and but a shadow of her former self, and died in February of this year.

My daughter whom I mentioned as acting as nurse and companion for her sick sister, returned with her; and on her return I noticed she had a cough and temperature. She is now in New Mexico, and will I feel, soon follow her sister. While I feel assured that such is the case, and that it was my duty to keep her here, I would have done so rather than to have her go among strangers, but when she lookt up in my face and with tears in her eyes said, "Oh, Pa, I am getting so weak here; I want to go out to George," I could not refuse her

I have made a number of trips to the West, and have noted the status of the invalids there. I have seen how they care for themselves when left to their own devices, and have come to the conclusion that if there is any benefit to be derived from the pure air of that country, few

manage so as to get it. For instance, I was at Oracle, Arizona, in March, 1903 There were a number of invalids at that pleasant but out of the way place. They had parties that kept them up until late at night, all being crowded into one room, windows and doors closed, and the time consumed would be several hours.

I have seen the poor invalids in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, all with the same longing for home and something fit to eat. The poor "lunger" is the butt of a great many jokes among those we term the "nativs." It is useless to repeat them here or even to allude to the acts of selfishness and dishonesty practised by the professional boarding house lady. There are coarse natures everywhere. But there is a bright side, and I should feel ungrateful if I did not state my belief that the people of the West are, as a class, as kindly and as sympathetic as their eastern neighbors. Many acts of kindness and words of sympathy helpt to relieve the tedium of my children's exile; and there are those living at Tucson and other places in the West, strangers to me, who will ever hold a warm place in my heart for the kindness extended to my weary, home-sick children.

I am in no condition to advise. I have tried the West and have failed. During my children's absence they were under the care of good physicians I am convinced that if one is to receive any benefit from living in the West, it must come from living the outdoor life. Sheffield, Ill.

T. SPRAGUE, M.D.

[The Doctor's painfully sad story shows that it is more how those who are afflicted with tuberculosis live, than where they live. It also causes those of us who are free from this awful scourge. in our persons and our families, to realize how fortunate we are.-ED.]

Seeking Health in the West. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In the May WORLD, page 192, Dr. Erskine tells some plain truths about seeking health in the Southwest. There are lessons in this short article for physicians East and West. In the first place, the hot, dry, dusty, half-civilized regions of the Southwest are not the places to send consumptivs. I am aware that New Mexico and Arizona are the fads among eastern physicians just now, even as a few years ago Florida was the fad, and other places previous to that. But the use of a little reason will show the folly of sending patients to those territories. territories. Consumptiv patients do not do their best in the heat of summer. Any physician with any considerable amount of phthisis among his clientele may soon learn that in any country, in any climate, during the hot weather of summer these patients lose strength

and flesh. It is during the cool, bracing weather of fall and early winter that they do their best. It is true that they usually lose ground during the latter part of winter, but this is more the result of methods of living than of the cold weather. If tuberculous patients will keep away from crowded assembly-rooms, theaters, churches, etc., and will keep the windows of their homes open, their rooms well ventilated, it will be seen that they go thru the winter in much better shape than the heat of summer. This being so, it follows that the cool, bracing weather of the middle West is more suitable as to temperature than is the Southwest.

Again, Dr. Erskine is right in objecting to the dust of the Southwest. A dusty, sandfilled atmosphere is not-it cannot be a gocd air for a diseased lung. While living in the East I learned that tuberculous patients sometimes would change from loss to gain simply by moving their room from a dusty location to a place where the air was dust free and

In the mountain region of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming we have a dust free atmosphere. Of course, in any town there may and will be dust arising from streets that are not sprinkled. Patients should seek rooms on the west side of streets and in localities where this dust is least.

By the mountain region I do not mean to advocate extremely high altitudes except for few cases or short periods. But rather the towns adjoining the mountains, and in the larger valleys. Boulder, Colorado Springs, Canon City, Grand Junction, Colorado, and towns of like situations in other states, offer the best advantages in the world to the all-theyear-around seeker after health. These towns have all the comforts and luxuries that towns of the same size in the East can offer. There are no exorbitant prices. Most things cost a little more in Colorado than in the East, but not more than is explained by increast freight. I can assure Dr. Erskine that in Boulder he will not be skinned by our tradesmen. The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker will charge the tourist and healthseeker the same prices exactly that they charge the resident citizen. And the health-seeker may pitch his tent in town if he wishes to do

Boulder, and at prices very little higher than in the East.

Our water cannot be surpassed. Distilled by nature herself, it comes straight from the glaciers and snowbanks of the continental divide.

As to competent medical attendance: There are no better physicians in the United States than may be found in the towns and cities of Colorado. There are quacks here—as where are there not? But many, very many, of our medical men have given up lucrativ practises and high positions in the medical colleges of the East, and have located in Colorado for the sake of their health, or of that of some member of their family. Tho capable men in the East, they have not deteriorated in coming to Colorado. They are men who appreciate the folly and assininity of advising patients weakened by disease to "ride thirty five or forty miles a day, and to climb mountains and inflate that consolidated lung." Patients who follow such advice will not do well North, South, East or West. But of the care of patients after coming West, I will write later if the Editor of THE MEDICAL WORLD will accept the paper. This paper is written to call attention to the fact, that not all of the West is as the part described by Dr. Erskine. Boulder, Col.

L. P. BARBOUR, M.D. [Yes, Doctor, let us have your proposed paper. But how about the complaint that we sometimes hear, that Colorado Springs, being located in a notch-at the base of Pike's Peak -receives sunshine only a few hours a day? Is this true of any of the other places mentioned ? -ED.]

The Blessed Brief.

In a private letter, dated May 5, from Dr. W. F. Waugh, he says, significantly:

"By the way-is it a coincidence?-there is a radical change in the Brief. Where are the laudations of its specialties? Hardly one in the eds., none in the leaders, and a few in the answers to queries."

No, Dr. Waugh, it is not a coincidence. THE WORLD seems to have the ear and the attention of the profession as no other medical publication has. When it speaks out on any subject, its voice is heard and heeded. The doctors of this country cannot be enticed into wild speculations and unfair contracts with collection agencies like they could before THE WORLD showed up the facts. And now the profession will demand that almanac medical journalism must stop. WORLD readers will see that it does stop, or that it shall not prosper, which means that it must firally stop.

My Brief didn't come this month (cut off from their exchange list, I guess), so I borrowed Let us examin it. Those who have received "sample copies" please take up the

one.

May Brief, and we will examin it together. The elaborate reproduction of letters on pages 337 to 345 does not concern us. The editorials begin on page 346, and all thru that department the editor shows that he is in quite a "state of mind." The most vigorous Brief puffing occurs here and there, and equally vigorous proprietary puffing on general principles, without mentioning specifically his own preparations. Instead, in one of his editorials, he takes Dr. Price's flavoring extract of vanilla as an example for his argument. Then follows an editorial on "Lies." He seems to think that somebody has lied about him. His course in the Brief has been open to every one, and only the blind could fail to see. Can facts that are open to everybody be called lies? Then comes an editorial entitled "Therapeutic Ignorance," but it is devoted mostly to "ethpharmacal proprietaries;" then an editorial opposing municipal laboratories; then more Brief puffing; then an editorial intended to encourage doctors to stand alone, individually, instead of with the profession; then an editorial entitled "Science," in which these two short sentences occur: "Follow no one. Accept nothing." Next is an editorial on Sug gestion," which winds up with an argument for 66 ethpharmacal proprietary medicins." This is what the editor seems imbued with constantly. It is his alpha and his omega. Do not Brief readers get tired of it? Can't they see the motiv for it? He has not, this time, specifically mentioned Seng, Chionia, Neurilla, and the rest of the Lawrence list. It would not do after the showing up in the April WORLD. Last summer, after the discussion of this matter in our "Monthly Talks," a great improvement took place in this respect, but in a few months he went back to the same boosting of his proprietaries in his editorials and other reading columns. That being the purpose for which the Brief is run, it is expensiv to run it and not have it fulfil its purpose. We have noted some improvement in May Brief (following the April WORLD); we predict that there will be a still further improvement in the June Brief (following the May WORLD); and if we continue throwing on the light, the Brief may become comparativly free from commercial features-for a few months; then it will go back to its old policy again, cautiously, if Dr. Lawrence thinks that the present showing up has blown over.

But to return to the May Brief: After the editorials, "Old Doc" (of course you know who he is), gives his characteristic "Reminiscent Chats.' I thought, after reading April WORLD, he would "chat" this time without dragging proprietaries in; after a little while he ventures to mention Mennen's toilet pow

der; then, a little further along, Fellow's syrup; after thus paving the way, he comes right out with a strong boost for Seng, and that is all of the Lawrence list for this timevery modest indeed, considering that "Old Doc's" purpose is to push the Lawrence proprietaries. Did you ever see one of "Old Doc's" articles that didn't do so? I never did.

Then follows a section, consisting of nearly half of the reading matter, filled with articles mostly by medical college professors, some of them quite long, and many of them on subjects not of every-day importance, as "Leukoplakia," "The Stump in Appendectomy,"

Sex in Heaven," etc., and over nine of these pages are devoted to eye diseases. These articles are free from puffs of the Lawrence proprietaries, but where are the every-day articles, on every-day subjects, by every-day doctors, that once made the Brief famous, and that make THE WORLD what it is today? These articles, from college professors and foreigners, make this part of the Brief about like the average medical journal, but judging from the widely publisht price the editor paid for a short article in the February Brief, the above mentioned articles must have cost-well he can afford it; but is it fair to make money off the humbler doctor who can be induced to use his proprietaries, and pay it to high-class doctors who seldom or never use such things? But these articles are needed to give an air of respectability, and help to carry the almanac features for which the Brief is publisht.

Next we have a few pages of "Brief Talks," a rather practical department, but the articles are not classified at all, and the department is not free from proprietary boosting.

After that we have a few pages of unobjectionable indeed very acceptable-matter, which is followed by a strong Papine, Ecthol, Bromidia article, and that by a strong Sanmetto article (on page 416 Sanmetto is mentioned eight times, if I didn't miss any), and that by a strong Peacock's Bromides article, in which that preparation is mentioned eleven times. Here are over five pages given to the most vigorous boosting of preparations in which Dr. Lawrence (it has been evident for years) has a financial interest. Then a long article by Dr. Jackson, of Omaha, on the only subject upon which he writes (he is a medical anarchist), a sample of which we gave in May WORLD, in fine print.

In a few more pages we come to the Inquiry Department, which, after receiving Dr. Waugh's letter, I expected to find quite free from almanac features; but I don't see much improvement. Perhaps there will be more improvement next month.

MY DEAR DOCTOR TAYLOR-While I am glad to have had my position made public in the May WORLD, page 191, owing to the misconstructions placed upon it I feel that it is due all concerned to more fully define my stand.

I am opposed to trade journals only when such masquerade as ethical publications.

My idea of an independent journal is one that is not the organ of any college, publishing house or manufacturing firm; in other words, a journal supported by subscription and ethical advertisements. I believe that no remedy should be advertised which cannot be recommended from personal knowledge. I only hope I may become convinced of the complete independence of other journals than yours.

Of course I am sufficiently eclectic to use any preparation that is truly beneficial.

As to Dr. Lawrence, he seems in the May Brief to have cleared away some of the clouds which surrounded the real issue: That of editorially advertising preparations in which he is presumed to have a money interest. I admire his medical heterodoxy and philosophic mind and liberality, but feel that he should positivly declare himself in regard to his alleged proprietorship of certain remedies he recommends. If he does not own the remedies and boosts them because he believes in their efficacy, why that is a matter of choice; but I can conceive of nothing more baneful than the editorial foisting of certain preparations upon an unsuspecting medical public. So far the evidence to my mind is circumstantial, and I am forever opposed to judging by circumstantial evidence alone, for such is never conclusiv. Justice is the paramount virtue, and I am sure you will accord that to all.

WALTER S. BOGART, M.D.

My relationships with Dr. Lawrence in the past have been very agreeable. I believe with Dr. Cooper that heresy is the hope of the world; " but heterodoxy and hypocrisy are not good bedmates; so I hope Dr. Lawrence can clear his ethical skirts as much as I hope you will clean up the ethical atmosphere of medical journalism. Cleves, O. Doctor, you seem to think there is some doubt about it. It has been common knowledge for years, that Dr. Lawrence owns the Rio Chemical Co.; and it is also common knowledge that he owns or controls the Odd Chemical Co., the Sultan Drug Co., the Dad Chemical Co., etc., etc. Things are known in trade circles that distant physicians don't come in contact with; but the evidences are right in the Brief itself, if you will only see it. Notice the advertising pages, also, and compare the articles receiving large space there with those boosted in the reading pages. But the advertising pages are all right. That is the place to present the claims of various preparations.

Editor of THE MEDICAL WORLD:-Dear Doctor:: Sometime ago I received a markt copy of THE MEDICAL WORLD, with a question mark after the matter of certain men appearing in the Brief with scientific papers. Last year a Miss Dunn came to my office and stated that she could take dictation of medical articles directly upon the typewriter. She

stated that she would obtain twenty-five dollars for any short article that I would furnish, and that it was her way of earning a living. It gave busy men an opportunity to say some things that would otherwise remain unpublisht. The articles were to be publisht in "various medical journals." I dictated half a dozen articles, and did not ask where they were going. The first two appeared in a New York journal. The other four turned up in the Brief. I presume that they reacht a large circle of readers. The particular objection, so far as my feelings go, lay in the fact of the publication of my photograph. I had refused to give Miss Dunn my photograph for publication in any journal whatsoever, on the ground that in New York it was considered to be in bad taste, and consequently harmful. It was fair enuf for her to dispose of the articles to any journal after I had given them to her without asking questions or making any stipulation. Yours truly, ROBERT T. MORRIS.

616 Madison avenue, New York.

66

Here is a peculiar psychology. The doctor objected to his photograph being publisht at all; yet his articles, above his own name, might be publisht anywhere, and by a lay woman. Naturally, as that was her way of earning a living,' "she would place them where she could get the most money for them. Suppose she could have gotten a higher price for the articles from the Police Gazette than from any other publication; would the great and good Doctor have cared? Judging from his letter, it would seem not. Or, suppose the woman could have gotten more money for inserting the articles in the Peruna almanac, or Jayne's almanac, in order to give these publications a professional character and standing; what then? What would Dr. Morris say to that? Yet practically the same thing was done. The wealthy Dr. Lawrence bought the articles in order to endeavor to give a professional character and standing to his Brief almanac ; and the strange thing about it is that Dr. Morris doesn't seem to care. A woman working for her living can make a strong appeal to a man ; and we all honor the man who responds to such an appeal; but even so, a man who holds a high position in the medical profession does a very imprudent thing when he places his contributions, with his name, entirely beyond his control, in the hands of a lay person, to be bargained for and given to the highest bidder.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-The squib you exploded by your question "is there anywhere a bona fide subscriber to the Brief," seems to have created a furore. I am a paid up subscriber to the Brief; it came about in this way: Having always declined to subscribe, for reasons stated in your articles, altho receiving sample copies regularly, one evening on looking thru my mail I found a letter containing a check for $5 from J. J. Lawrence, stating that he noticed I wrote good articles for medical journals, and would like to have a short article for Brief Talks, he inclosing the $5 check to pay for the same. Of course, seeing nothing wrong in the proposition, I sent the article which was publisht in the March issue, I think. When inclosing my paper, of course I sent $1 of the $5 for a year's subscription. In view of the above facts, am I a bona fide subscriber? No, not in the sense in which I subscribe for THE MEDICAL WORLD. Since August, 1899, I have been a continuous subscriber for the latter, eagerly and unsolicited. Why? Because I recognized a clean and

fearless medical journal, for all that the title stands for. Apropos of all this, may not B. M. J. and his ilk, who were so loud in May issue, be the same kind of bona fide subscribers to the Brief that I am, and in like manner. In conclusion let me say I admire your pluck and nerve, Doctor; not many editors have it. I recognize your only motiv to be to better serve the great mass of the profession. Rest assured, Doctor, you have the heartfelt thanks of your humble servant. Schultz, W. Va. S. J. Ross.

P.S. Last but not least, please find check for $3 for "The Story of New Zealand."

I guess he can well afford it. He deals out proprietaries with one hand, so with the other he can afford to deal out checks to the doctors to help run his almanac, which pushes his proprietaries. His wealth came from the profession; so a little of it should go back to the profession.

DEAR DR. TAYLOR:-I am with you in your fight against the Brief and all journals of that class, and among them I have no hesitancy in including the Alkaloidal Clinic. I took and read both of the abovenamed journals until I became disgusted with the commercialism that runs so constantly all the way thru them, and quit them. Still there are suckers that take and read that kind of literature, and yap, yap, yap about their being the very best journals publisht, and do not appear to know that they are being worki all the time for all they are worth.

Wadsworth, Nev.

S. E. MORSE, M.D.

The Alk. Clinic would be all right if it would confine itself to its legitimate field, alkaloidal medication, a very large, growing and useful field, in which the Clinic has already done heroic service. As I have already said, anybody can make and sell alkaloidal granules; they are not secret nor coyprighted; and if readers of the Clinic wish to purchase granules from Dr. Abbott, it is a perfectly legitimate and proper transaction. But the booming of secret proprietaries, with fanciful copyrighted names, is entirely a different

matter.

DEAR DOCTOR TAYLOR :-The fight you are making on proprietary medicin boosters, and the journals that place commercialism above all else, is very much to my taste. Some years ago you publisht an article from me in which I handled commercialism without gloves. You should have seen the letters I got from some of the concerns I hit. One layout in Conn. got me mad; they accused me of being a blackmailer! I got a lot of nice letters from doctors all over the land, approving my article.

I took the Brief years ago, but I quit it. Too much for me, and I told them so. I am very much afraid that the Alkaloidal Clinic is also falling from grace. Sorry to see it, as they have a good, honest and legitimate field to do good work in. It seems strange to me that such a high value is placed upon the almighty dollar. Do these men expect to take it with them when they die?

Doctor, I have taken THE WORLD since your second year, 1884, and have not missed a copy. I indorse your pluck in the fight you are making. Bellingham, Wash.

L. R. MARKLEY, M.D.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Picking up THE WORLD this morning I noticed "Medical Brief Defended" and turned to page 186 and read the whole business thru. I think you are giving the editor of the Brief just what he deserves. The chief advice given by said journal is to use chionia, sanmetto, seng, neurilla, respiton, etc. The Alkaloidal Clinic is a journal that I think a

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-The May WORLD has just arrived, and I have been very much interested in the articles on the Medical Brief, and especially in the letter written you by Dr. Stong, on page 190. Dr. Stong says that the proprietaries which Dr. Lawrence boosts in the Brief are "good ones," and that he buys and pays for medical articles that tell something." Now that would be all right if the articles are always reports of genuin cases; but are we certain that they are such? and not very often imaginary, written up for the purpose of boosting certain proprietaries, the writers having no actual clinical experience whatever. To illustrate what I mean, let me give you an incident that came to my attention about seven years ago. A druggist from a small town of this state told me that a young man who had graduated from one of our medical colleges a short time previously had returned home, and while looking up a location, employed himself by writing up imaginary cases, treating them with some one or other of those much advertised proprietaries, and securing prompt relief and cure in every case. He told this druggist that he received from ten to twenty-five dollars for every article he sent in. Is that not an imposition on the profession? When I know of such instances I look askance on all reports lauding such specialties. Hoping you will go on with the good work you have been doing, Í remain, Yours very respectfully Wrightsville, Pa.

J. K. BLANCK, M.D.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Inclosed find draft for $3. for which please send the MEDICAL WORLD to my address four years from expiration of my previous subscription. I must say I am highly pleased with the determined stand you take against quackery, and hope you will continue the fight. All honorable physicians should join you and hold up your hands. Give it to the Brief harder and harder. It deserves all, and possibly more, than has yet been said. I am with you. Glasgow, Ky. S. T. BOTTS.

DEAR DOCTOR TAYLOR:-I am much pleased with the manly stand you have taken regarding the Medical Brief, the acetanilid mixtures, etc. Keep up the good work. I inclose $3 for four years. Joplin, Mo.

GEO. M. MILLER.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Such letters as B. M. J.'s should go to the waste basket without comment. Barham, La. R. L. SELF. True; but it's worth while sometimes to waste a little time and space to show up certain things in their true light. B. M. J. is a typical Brief defender; in order to see him as he is, it was necessary to give some of his vaporings. I got another letter from him very promptly after he received May WORLD, in which he says "Why did you not publish the whole letter?" (See extracts from the letter he refers to, on page 188.) So you see, after the liberal space I have given him, he is not satisfied. Besides all that I printed for