effort of the latter is not taxed in the slightest to appropriate and assimilate them If Verdi be no genius, in the sense that he is the author of no new and startling creations, he certainly has the endowment of most wonderful artistic talents; talents which are understood and enjoyed by the grand totality of his contemporaries; talents that are marvelously perpetuated in his old age. Wagner, on the other hand, although a new and veritable creator, wrote much that was understood and appreciated by only a fraction of the musical world of his day. W. W. Amende Honorable.--For the first time in the fourteen years' life of this journal, so far as we know, a valuable selected article appeared in our columns unaccredited to its proper source. We refer to the valuable paper of H. Babinski, of Paris, on the "Association of Hysteria with Organic Diseases of the Nervous System, Neurosis and other Affections," so ably translated by Dr. C. S. Witherstine for the Universal Medical Journal. We cannot say exactly how this occurred, but we do know that the article was selected on its merits to go first among our selections immediately to follow the original articles. It inadvertently appeared as the last of the original articles. Malt Extract.-Extract of Malt is one of the dismissed articles from the Seventh Decennial Revision of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. Why this, when it is an article of so much therapeutic value and so largely used? Parke, Davis & Co., have called our attention to this fact, and ask why it is so when they have such excellent malt extract to offer the profession. - Chairmen of the Respective Sections of the American Medical Association. The following named gentlemen are chairmen of the respective sections of the American Medical Association for 1894: Surgery and Anatomy, Dr. J. B. Roberts, Philadelphia; Practice of Medicine, Dr. H. A. Hare, Philadelphia; Obstetrics and Diseases of Women, Dr. Joseph Eastman, Indianapolis; Neurology and Medical Jurisprudence, Dr. J. G. Kiernan, Chicago; Ophthalmology, Dr. A. R. Baker, Cleveland, O.; Laryngology and Otology, Dr. E. Fletcher Ingalls, Chicago; Materia Medica and Pharmacy, Dr. Frank Woodbury, Philadelphia; Diseases of Children, Dr. W. S. Christopher, Chicago; State Medicine, Dr. George W. Stoner, U. S. Marine Hospital Service; Dermatology and Syphilography, Dr. A. H. Ohmann-Dumesnil, St. Louis; Physiology and Dietetics, Dr. I. N. Love, St. Louis; Oral and Dental Surgery, Dr. W. H. Fletcher, Cincinnati. A Suggestion of Kleptomania in peculiar form appears in the remarkable discoveries made in the old stone house of Henry S. Cochran, the man who robbed the U. S. Mint at Philadelphia. There were many secret hiding places between the walls, concealed by trick panels. In the cellar of this home was found a tunnel leading from the southwest corner of the cellar to the end of the grassy lawn overlooking Woodlawn avenue, and it was intended to serve as a means of escape for the dishonest bullion guardian should he be surprised while at his crucibles melting the stolen gold. In the sleeping-room that had been occupied by the old bullion weigher a most remarkably constructed panel, concealing a safe of novel design, was found. Chief Drummond took everything from a shelf in the closet, and all in • the party examined it but saw nothing strange about the shelf. Forcing it back, behind it and deeply imbedded in the wall was a tiny fire proof safe. It was of the latest pattern and had evidently only recently been placed in its secure position. From this safe the Chief had on his first visit taken $3,700 worth of bullion. On the top floor of the cottage Cochran had his smelting-room. There was found a stove on which he had heated his crucibles, and in a case against the wall were a big pair of scales, which he had bought at the Mint during the superintendency of the late Daniel M. Fox. Along the opposite side of the wall was placed a work bench completely equipped with a turning-lathe and a full set of fine tools. There were shelves filled with books and in the middle of the floor were heaped 200 iron match-safes of peculiar design he had invented and from which he expected to make a fortune. In the cellar another mold, a forge and a bag of charcoal, which Cochran had used in smelting the stolen bullion, were found. The inspecting party were about to return upstairswhen a screen in the southwest corner of the cellar was noticed. Chief Drummond sent for Sam Shaw and had him take out the screws which held the screen. When it was removed the detectives saw the opening of a tunnel. It was three feet wide and four and one-eighth feet high, the earth being supported by a crib of heavy timber. Shaw, when questioned, said that the passageway ran beneath the lawn to the sidewalk on Woodlawn avenue, but he could not tell exactly where the Woodlawn avenue opening was located. He claimed that Cochran had constructed the tunnel for the purpose of having a drain-pipe laid through it, but he could not explain why it had been enlarged and lined with a heavy supporting crib. The tunnel in its present condition shows that it was intended as a secret passageway from the old stone house. Those who inspected it believed that the dishonest keeper of the bullion vault had depended upon it to effect his escape in case of surprise while reducing the gold in the crucibles. There were other secret panels in several closets, but no valuables were found behind them. From the contents of the various rooms it was evident that Cochran had bought goods at wholesale or else like a reckless spendthrift. In the house were found thirty-five soft hats of fine quality, similar to the one he wore at the hearing. More than twenty pairs of expensive boots and shoes were scattered around the closets and rooms, most of them never having been worn. Closets and chests were stuffed with suits of clothing and sufficient fine linen was found to stock a store. Fifteen gold rings set with diamonds and sapphires were found in little boxes in his sleeping-room. In a case on the wall were thirty-one razors, one for each day in the month. They were numbered and used in rotation and not even for a bar of gold would old Cochran use a 17th instant razor on the 16th. He had five dozen bath towels. Eighteen gingham umbrellas, each the size of a small circus tent, decorated the corners of every room. Cochran always had the umbrellas made to order. In his library the big desk had secret panels and slides, and eight ink wells stood on the top with four student lamps. A bookcase was found stocked with standard works in cheap bindings, and shelves in the corner were burdened with books of adventure and travel and lurid titles. There were also many juvenile works, but the most striking feature was the great display of Bibles in rich bindings, which stood near the hymnals and prayer-books. On the piano, in the parlor, the only books were of a religious nature. Cochran was arraigned, bail was fixed at $17,500, in default of which he was taken to Moyamensing Prison. Nearly all of the stolen gold has been recovered. Cochran is between sixty-five and seventy years of age, has been in the service of the Mint for nearly half a century. His natural character up to the decadence of life had been honest. It looks as if here is a change of character due rather to the cerebral degeneracy of senility than to vice. Vice was not natural to this man either through early acquisition or congenital endowment. He appears to have appreciated the nature, quality and risk. of his stealings but not fully with the natural prudence and probity of character that appear to have belonged to him in his better days. We await more light. The old man may be an unmitigated thief, but this seems doubtful. The Cosmopolitan.-Marion Crawford opens up a new line of thought in his article entitled "Rome, the Capital of a new Republic," appearing in the October Cosmopoluan. It is not likely that the October number will have the success which attended that for September. The extraordinary spectacle was presented of a 12 cent magazine selling for 50 and 75 cents, and many hundreds were even sold at $1.00 each. After 211,000 copies had been sold, the News Company had orders for 50,000 more than they could supply. An edition for December, exceeding 300,000, will be issued. Postscript to Paper on "Erotopathia.” – An Organization of Colored Erotopaths.-Apropos of my paper on Erotopathia," I am credibly informed that there is, in the city of Washington, D. C., an annual convocation of negro men called the drag dance, which 1S an orgie of lascivious debauchery beyond pen power of description. I am likewise informed that a similar organization was lately suppressed by the police of New York city. In this sable performance of sexual perversion all of these men are lasciviously dressed in womanly attire, short sleeves, low-necked dresses and the usual ball-room decorations and ornaments of women, feathered and ribboned head-dresses, garters, frills, flowers, ruffles, etc., and deport themselves as women. Standing or seated on a pedestal, but accessible to all the rest, is the naked queen (a male), whose phallic member, decorated with a ribbon, is subject to the gaze and osculations in turn, of all the members of this lecherous gang of sexual perverts and phallic forni cators. Among those who annually assemble in this strange libidinous display are cooks, barbers, waiters and other employes of Washington families, some even higher in the social scale-some being employed as subordinates in the Government departments. |