scriptions, said fund to be used in fighting the defensive battle of any member of the association and also in a more aggressive way, to determine, if possible, and publish broadcast the raison d'etre of any given malpractice suit.

Atavism in If one had the time, the ability and the Medicine. inclination it would not be difficult to write a considerable volume upon this fascinating theme. Reversions of type, physical, mental and moral, are so frequently encountered in medical practice that they must be taken into practical account in diagnosis and treatment. Many interesting questions-for instance, the former function of the appendix vermiformis-still await solution. The atavistic theory of the origin of tumors has able supporters. The dreadful manifestations of sexual perversion have been graphically portrayed by Krafft-Ebing. The much-married Mrs. Eddy's propaganda of "Christian Science," when observed closely, is perceived to be only a veiled modification of the ancient phallic worship. One of the principal creeds of her cult, so different in this respect from the Christ or the Jehovah of the Scriptures, is copulation without procreation. Indeed, as we look more deeply into these curious atavistic phenomena, we are inclined to believe that do-nothing hypocrisy and marital onanism are "Mother" Eddy's strong cards.

Vagus Stimulation in
Pulmonary Phthisis.

During the past year and more Dr. Thomas J. Mays has been using silver nitrate injections (in all over 2,000) over the course of the vagi in the neck in the treatment of pulmonary phthisis with most gratifying results. In a recent communication to the Philadelphia Medical Journal he remarks that it is a good plan to give most of the injections on the side of the neck below which the infected lung is located. In some cases, however, the injections become unserviceable on this side, and give a better result on the oppo

site side of the neck. The injection, as a rule, should consist of 4 to 7 minims of a 2.5 per cent. solution of the drug, though the writer has used as much as 5 minims of a 5 per cent. solution. He appears to have made the injections about once a week usually. One patient gained altogether twenty-seven pounds in as many weeks. Even if abscesses are produced, the running discharge has seemed to accelerate the progress toward health.

Schools and When Uncle Samuel inaugurated his sysScholars. tem of free public schools he did the most essential act for the perpetuation of a republican form of government. But all good and necessary things may be and often are abused as well as used, and it seems to us that public school education is not altogether what it should be. In the first place, what reason is there in the complex curriculum maintained at present in our city schools? Most of the studies, it will be granted by everybody, are merely ornamental. To make good citizens, so far as lies in public education, the most elementary studies are all that is required. Will any one affirm that independent citizenship is of a higher grade today than when the three R's formed both basis and superstructure of the common school education? What right has a state to make smattering linguists and scattering pseudo-scientists of promising boys and girls? Do not the showy, skimming, superficial methods of the present day tend to make shoddy workmen or, even worse, men who are ashamed of manual labor and expect to live by their wits, that is by their cunning and crimes?

Far be it from us to decry the hard-working teachers or the bright intelligence of the youth of the land. It is the system which is at fault, and like a fruit-tree gone to leaves and branches, badly needs pruning.

From the hygienic view-point the matter is even less satisfactory. Little tots, no more than babies, are

sent away from home (to get rid of them) to kindergarten schools, there to strain their eyes over colored threads, to "learn manners," to go through senseless motions and to acquire specific infections. The older boys and girls, struggling through the endless maze of superfluous knowledge, which studied night and day could not be properly comprehended, become neurasthenic, hysterical, astigmatic, tuberculous, often, in short, physical, mental and moral wrecks..

This is no overdrawn picture of the imagination, but a simple statement of fact, as any physician of experience can verify. The remedy is obvious and should be applied.

Substituter The decision of Judge Kohlsaat, of the Justly United States Circuit Court at Chicago, Punished. in reference to the fraud and crime of substitution by druggists of one drug for another, should have a wholesome deterrent effect

upon such offenders. The complainants, Fairchild Bros. & Foster, had sued for an injunction restraining Edward Ott, a Chicago druggist, from substituting other and inferior preparations for Fairchild's Essence of Pepsine, when this had been specified-a crime of which the defendant had many times been guilty. The court issued a writ of injunction perpetually enjoining the druggist from this nefarious practice, and assessed upon him all the costs of the suit-about $600. We congratulate Messrs. Fairchild Bros. & Foster upon the stand they have taken in this matter and upon the outcome of the suit, and we wish that all similar offenders might be treated in like manner.

Suggestive

There is frequently a greater curative Therapeutics. effect in the physician than in his medicine. The ability to grasp our patients' mental states, their individual peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, is a very important factor in professional sucThe marked influence of mind upon body to pro

cess.

duce, intensify or remove a host of functional complaints, none, we apprehend, will deny. It is this tonic mental therapy which constitutes practically the whole stock in trade of so-called healers and other charlatans. If physicians studied practical psychology more they would make more cures with less drugs. They would, moreover, by filling the demand for mental treatment, render totally unnecessary the existence of the horde of ignorant quacks that now prey upon the public. In this connection it may be in order to call the attention of our readers to the advertising notice of the Chicago School of Psychology, which has been doing good work upon this line for a number of years. We have just finished reading Dr. Parkyn's special mail course in suggestion, and the reader will find it reviewed among the books.

Suppression When acute congestion with suppression of Urine in supervenes on albuminuria, Dr. BrodPregnancy. head (Post-Graduate, October) advises to give 5 or 10 grains of calomel with twice as much soda or a half dram of compound jalap powder. Bleeding is of advantage in robust women. The hot pack should be used, large quantities of some diuretic given and a mustard paste applied over the lumbar region. Nitroglycerin is indicated for the high arterial tension, and may be combined with chloral hydrate if the patient is very nervous. If improvement does not appear quickly, labor is to be induced.

Treatment of Mathews (Chicago Clinic, September) Constipation. concludes that the majority of cases of constipation are based upon constitutional derangement, particularly a gouty or rheumatic diathesis. He, therefore, makes much use of lithia preparations, taken in a glass of hot water before each meal. He also recommends a high enema twice or thrice a week, of a half to a gallon of water, given through a Wales bougie. A fruit diet should be enjoined,

together with the drinking of large quantities of water. Massage of the abdomen, along the line of the colon, may be practiced by the patient himself. A good, nutritious diet, from which sweets are excluded, is to be advised. Drastic purgatives are harmful rather than beneficial. Every case should be individualized, and routine prescriptions must be avoided if we wish to do our constipated patients good.

Suprarenal Extract
in Addison's Disease.

A case of this disease, treated for two years more or less constantly with 1-12 grain thrice daily of the extract of suprarenal glands of the sheep, is reported by R. Alexander Bate in the American Practitioner and News of Aug. 1. The patient has improved so much that he has been able to earn a living at his usual occupation during the past year. When the remedy has been left off as long as ten days attacks of faintness, cold sweats, muscular twitching and tachycardia have ensued.

Treatment of The report of the committee of Puerperal Infection. the American Gynecological Society (American Journal of Obstetrics, September) concludes that antistreptococcus serum, though harmless, is practically useless. They condemn curettage and total hysterectomy in streptococcus infections after full-term delivery. They advise in any puerperal infection to remove a portion of the uterine lochia by means of Doderlein's tube for bacteriologic examination. If the infection be due to streptococci, the uterus should not be touched again, while the patient is to be given very large doses of strychnine and alcohol if necessary. If the infection be due to other organisms, repeated douchings, and even curettage may be advisable. When the infection extends toward the peritoneal cavity and in gravely septicemic cases, Pryor's method of isolating the uterus by packing the pelvis with iodoform gauze may be of service.