sorts of meats, fowl and fish, white bread and butter, small quantities of farinaceous foods, weak coffee with milk. A milk diet is highly recommended, especially when cystitis exists. If the patient dislikes milk, he should drink plenty of water or sweetened chamomile tea, or other aromatic infusions. Of min

eral waters the indifferent thermal waters, and especially the alkaline-earthy waters (Bruckenau, Wildungen, Contrexville, etc.) are indicated. The patient should consume sufficient fluids that he will void at least one litre of urine per day, and the "drink cure” should be kept up for some time, until it is probable that the oxalic crystals have been thoroughly evacuated.-Balneologisches Centralblatt, Dec. 25, 1891.

Restricted Diet Versus Premature Labor in Contracted Pelvis.-Dr. Prochownick has been discussing the questionable procedure of inducing premature labor in cases of contracted pelvis, and reports three successful cases in which the necessity for premature delivery was averted by controlling the diet during gestation. The principle of the dietary consists in the restriction of the quantity of fats ingested and stored away by the mother or the fœtus, much upon the plan pursued in the treatment of obesity. The prohibited articles are fluids, sugar and starch. This diet only slightly reduces the strength of the mother, and does not appear prejudicial to the child in the experience thus far reported. Dr. Prochownick considers that a thin child, born at full term, has a better chance of living than a plumper infant born prematurely. The exposure to air at the seventh month, and the subsequent artificial feeding, involve far greater risks than the proposed reduced nutrition during two months longer residence in utero, and the golden admonition is recalled that that triumph only is perfect when the child as well as the mother is saved. The paper does not state what influence this course exerted upon the formation of the bones of the child's head and the effect upon their delivery. The narrowest conjugate diameter of the pelvis in three cases of successful delivery was 3.94 (nearly 4) inches.-Annals of Gynecol. and Pediatrics.

As to Smoking.-Sir Morell Mackenzie concludes an article in the New Review on smoking with a little practical advice. A person should never smoke, he says, except after a substantial meal, and if he be a singer or speaker, only after and not before using his voice. Let him smoke a mild cigar or a long-stemmed pipe charged with some cool smoking tobacco. If he will smoke a cigarette, let it be smoked through a mouthpiece which is kept clean with ultraMohammedan strictness. Let him refrain from smoking pipe, cigar or cigarette to the bitter, and, it may be added, rank and oily end. Let the singer who wishes to keep in the perfect way refrain from inhal

The Method of Carrying Out Asepsis in Von Bergmann's Clinic. - Schimmelbusch gives in detail the manner in which the dressings, in

struments and brushes used in the clinic of Von Bergmann are rendered aseptic. The use of sublimate and carbolic solutions has largely given way to the employment of moist and dry heat. The efficiency of antiseptic solutions has been overestimated. It has been shown that threads infected with splenic fever contained living germs after fourteen days' immersion in a 5 per cent. carbolic solution. Also that they were not killed by an immersion in a 1 to 1,000 sublimate solution for twenty minutes; they lived even after twenty-four hours' immersion. The antiseptic property of a solution may be destroyed by the active agent being rendered inert by undergoing a chemical change; thus sulphur (as in fæces) will, combine with corrosive sublimate and form an insoluble and inert sulphide of mercury. La Place has also shown how albuminous compounds will combine with it and thus destroy its activity. It is also impossible to subject each individual bacterium to the action of the germicide. Bacteria often occur in masses or in extraneous matter, and it is only those on the surface that are reached and affected by the antiseptic. Oils and fats likewise interfere with their action. These facts, together with the dangerous action of antiseptics on the human organism, contrast markedly with the efficacy and innocuousness of disinfection as accomplished by moist and dry heat. Mechanical cleansing is at the basis of and should precede all attempts at sterilization.-Langenbeck's Archiv.

The Meat Diet.-The attention of the French Society for the Advancement of Science has recently been directed to the evil effects of an excessive meat The diet, or of raw, over-kept, or bad meat. ptomaines thus produced introduce poisonous principles in the system, which the kidneys cannot throw off. Inhabitants of cities indulge far too freely in meat, often badly cooked and kept too long; the poor and country population do not often get their meat fresh.

Professor Verneuil points out that Reclus, the French geographer, has proved that cancer is most frequent among those branches of the human race where carnivorous habits prevail.—Texas Health Journal.

The Medical Calendar.

PUBLISHER'S MISCELLANY.

Diet in Diabetes.-Dujardin-Beaumetz prescribes the following rigorous diet: Eggs, meats of all kinds, poultry, game, oysters, fish and cheese. All green vegetables are permitted except beets, carrots and beans. Fatty foods are recommended, such as sardines in oil, herring, lard, goose grease, ham fat and caviar. All soups are permitted, when made of meats in combination with cabbage, poached eggs and onions. Put no bread nor toast in soup. Only dietetic breads are to be used, and saccharine in place of sugar. All starch foods are strictly forbidden, as well as sweet fruits, pastries and chocolates. Patients may drink claret wine diluted with vichy, but no poor wines, liquors or spirits. Daily exercise, morning and evening, in open air; fencing, gardening and ther light physical exercise.--Lyon Medicale.

cases forty-seven were improved and in thirty.one the improvement was marked. The reactions were usually slight and developed late in the course of treatment.--Balneolog. Centralbl.

Hydrotherapy in the Treatment of Varicocele.-Dr. Wiederhold (Deut. Medicin. WochenWochenschr.) has observed varicocele quite frequently in neurasthenic persons, and regards local treatment (by means of water and electricity) as the most rational. Cool sitz and half baths are recommended, as well as the spray douche directed against the region of the spermatic cord and an ascending douche against the scrotal and perineal region. The application of galvanic electricity diminishes the condition of irritation in the spermatic cords.

How to Purify Rancid Butter.-Melt the butter over a slow fire and add for each ten pounds 175 grammes of pulverized charcoal, 16 grammes of pulverized chalk, one teaspoonful of honey and a few carrots cut into slices. Boil for half an hour, con

stantly stirring and skimming, and then pour the liquid butter through a fine sieve. When cold the butter is odorless, and has a pleasant taste. The charcoal absorbs the offensive gases, the chalk neutralizes the acids, the honey improves the taste and the carrots give a yellow color.-Journal d'Hygiene.

Something New to Eat.-A new vegetable is about to be introduced to the people of the United States, through the Department of Agriculture. It is the root of the calla lily, which resembles somewhat in appearance the ordinary Irish tuber, with the addition of a few whiskers that have nothing to do with the qualities of the article as an esculent. It is more elongated, and when cut the interior is a trifle more viscid; but a section of it is so potato-like you would not be likely to distinguish any difference. In cooking, it has first to be boiled in order to destroy certain acrid properties, after which it may be fried, roasted, baked, or what not, according to taste. Farmers in Florida have begun to raise these calla roots for market. The plants grow readily in swamps, and so thickly that the yield of a single flooded acre is enormous. They reproduce themselves by the multiplication of their bulbs underground, so that the grower has simply to dig up the upshoots and leave the parents to propagate anew. For centuries the Egyptians have cultivated a similar crop during the season of the Nile overflow, and at the present time calla lily bulbs are a common vegetable in Japanese markets. So prolific and palatable are they that their propagation in many parts of the United States, where conditions are favorable, may reasonably be looked forward to as an agricultural industry of the future.— Medical Record.

A Vegetable Hæmatin has been discovered by Linossier ("Compt. Rend.") in a coloring principle, isolated from the spores of the mould known as Aspergillus niger. This aspergillin, as he has called the principle, is extracted by means of ammoniated water, forming a black powder insoluble. in alcohol, water and other neutral or acid solvents, but soluble in solution of the alkalies and alkali carbonates. contains iron, and the reddish brown solution is reduced by sodium sulphite, changing to golden yellow, absorbing oxygen, however, in contact with the air and again turning dark.-Medical Standard.

It

Variation in the Nutritive Value of Potatoes.-Chemical analyses have demonstrated that potatoes lose much of their nutritive value in the months of June and July. Even the new potatoes of this period contain little nourishment, and must be taken with other foods. The chemist Stockhardt has shown that potatoes contain 10 per cent. of starch in August; 14 per cent. in September; 15 per cent. in October; 15 in November; 17 in December; 17 in January; 16 in February; 15 in March; 12 in April, and 10 in May. Hence potatoes are most nutritious in winter time-- Clin et Presse Medicale Belge.

Peroxide of Hydrogen.-Why is it that no one writes anything for your valuable and interesting journal concerning peroxide of hydrogen? Can it be possible for any considerable number of our phy

sicians in this enlightened city to still be ignorant of the most valuable remedy chemistry has ever given to suffering humanity? A remedy, when pure and reliable, perfectly harmless, and yet having a field of usefulness almost unlimited. No one was ever more skeptical in regard to specifics, cure-alls, etc., than myself, until experience convinced me of "Peroxide's " value. I firmly believe, if seen in season, and this is properly and faithfully used (a simple hand atomizer with glass or hard rubber attachments is all the apparatus necessary), no case of diphtheria, membranous croup or scarlet fever need die. A spray of 1 part peroxide to 1, 2 or 3 parts aq. destil. should be used, at least every hour at first, and in some cases every fifteen minutes. The strength used must be In addition, a governed by malignancy of case.

child two to four years of age, must be given teaspoonful doses of 1 part peroxide and aq. destil. 5 parts every two hours, until a decided change for the better is observed. I wish your readers would give this a trial and report. I sincerely believe in less than two years a lotion 1 to 10 aq. destil. of this most powerful of all germicides will supersede all other surgical dressings. The expensive and inconvenient gauzes lints, absorbent cottons, etc., etc., will give way to a simple compress covering the part and kept moist with this simple solution. Not the least heat, swelling, redness or pain will be perceptible and not one drop of pus-no, not even a single drop of "pus bonum et laudabile "-can be formed, provided the I have compress is not allowed to become dry. proved this assertion, in one case particularly. A scrofulous looking lad of twelve years got his head caught between the bumpers of two freight cars; the scalp was badly bruised and torn, while a portion of the peri cranium was literally squeezed off in such a manner as to dislodge splinters of bone. Having faith in the peroxide, I carefully sewed the wound and applied a compress. This was kept constantly

moist in the manner detailed above for such con

ditions. Not any pus formed, nor were heat, pain, redness or swelling at any time present. In a very few days it was entirely well, perfectly healed. will do this also for varicose ulcers.

It

The nacent oxygen in the form of ozone unites with the microbes of diphtheria and they are completely destroyed. The moment a white blood cell, whether of a wound or an old chronic ulcer, makes its appearance, it instantly falls a victim to the ever watchful and alert ozone. Under these conditions nature goes on with the process of repair unmolested. The results of her industry, unimpeded by the presence of her old enemy-pus-are marvelous indeed. The old idea that repair by granulation, in case of loss of continuity, could not go on without the formation of pus, is absolutely disproved.-CLARK TOWNSEND, M.D., in Cleveland Medical Gazette.

may

Treatment of the Senile Heart.-Balfour states that the senile heart may be found in two classes of patients. First, those who are corpulent and who suffer with dyspnoea and intercurrent irregularity of the heart's action, with or without dilatation of the heart. Second, those who are poorly nourished and suffer with disturbances of the heart of various characters, with or without dilatation of the heart. Excesses in eating and drinking often. lie at the root of such troubles. Five hours should intervene between meals, and no solid food must be taken during this time. All alcoholic drinks should be forbidden or the quantity should be reduced to the minimum. Tobacco, also, should be forbidden. In the use of drugs one should always remember that the senile heart is essentially a weak heart, and tonics, of which digitalis is one of the best, are demanded. To combat the spasmodic state of the peripheral vessels, and thus to reduce the arterial tension, the nitrates are useful, especially nitro-glycerine. Iodide of potash and colchicum are the proper remedies when the trouble is of undoubted gouty origin. An important point in the treatment is to maintain free and regular movements of the bowels.-- Cincinnati LancetClinic.

The Therapeutic Value of Linseed Oil. To most physicians linseed oil is good only for the purpose of making carron oil and its subsequent But it has other and application to burned surfaces.

valuable therapeutic values which we believe are not fully understood and tried. It is as valuable as cod liver oil in the treatment of all of those diseases for which the latter is used while at the same time it does

not in the least disturb the stomach. It is a vegetable oil and is as easily digested as the cream of milk. Taken in the form of an emulsion it is readily assimilated by the stomach, and its influence on the mucous membrane of the bronchi is of a healthy character. In phthisis it has been used with great advantage, and in all of the chronic coughs it is simply invaluable. It is also a laxative, and is indicated in the treatment of hemorrhoids. We are sure that if used more freely by the profession it will prove of great value in their hands, as it has in the hands of the comparatively few doctors who have tried it.

The oil should be of the purest character, cold pressed and made from selected seeds.-The Prescription.

Beef Tea.--In order to make a nourishing beef tea, a pound of tender, lean meat should be chopped

fine and allowed to soak two or three hours in a pint of cold water. The vessel should then be heated on the stove (not to the boiling point), for two or three hours longer, until the water has evaporated to half a pint. If the meat be delicate and free from gristle and tendinous matter, and if it be not heated to the boiling point, there will be no scum to skim off of the top nor fibrous residue to remain on the bottom; but the mixture will consist of a brownish liquid, with brown flakes floating in it. When properly seasoned it is as delightful an article of food as can be pre sented to an invalid; and the maker will soon have a great reputation among the sick for her dainty dishes.-Maryland Medical Journal.

The Purification of Water by Electricity. The Webster method of purifying waste. water by means of electricity has been tested by Dr. Fermi in the Hygienic Institute at Munich, Germany. During the course of the experiments it was found that the water became purified in about fifteen minutes, the organic substances being reduced by about one-half, and the suspended substances being precipitated to the bottom. The smell of the water was perceptibly improved. While the results of the tests show that electricity does not at the present time realize the ideal of water purification, it has two great advantages; first, that very little iron is precipitated and its removal is not so difficult as in the case of purification by chemical means; and second, the dissolved organic substances, which are not precipitated by any of the known chemical methods hitherto employed, are at least partially removed by the electric current.-Medical Fortnightly.

The Couch.-A room is only half furnished without one. A room without a couch of some sort is only half furnished. Life is full of ups and downs, and all that saves the sanity of the mentally jaded and physically exhausted fortune fighter is the per

iodical good cry, and the momentary loss of consciousness on the upstairs lounge, or the old sofa in the sitting-room. There are times when so many of the things that distract us could be straightened out, and the way made clear, if one only had a comfortable couch, on whose soft bosom he could throw himself, boots and brains, stretch his weary frame, unmindful of tidies and tapestries, close his tired eyes, relax the tension of his muscles, and give his harassed mind a chance. Ten minutes of this soothing narcotic, when the head throbs, the soul yearns for endless, dreamless, eternal rest, would make the vision clear, the nerves steady, the heart light, and the star of hope shine again.

There isn't a doubt that the longing to die is mistaken for the need of a nap. Instead of the immor

tality of the soul, business men and working women want regular and systematic doses of dozing-and after a mossy bank in the shade of an old oak, that succeeding Junes have converted into a tenement of song birds, there is nothing that can approach a big tired nature can turn her face to the wall and sleep sofa, or a low, long couch placed in a corner, where and daze away the gloom.-Med. and Surg. Rep.

Constipation of

Infants.-Karnitzky's method of treatment by abdominal massage was used by him in twelve cases of chronic and twelve cases of acute constipation in children from eight to eleven years of age. The following are his conclusions:

1. Abdominal massage may produce effects upon the alimentary tract, in connection with digestion, which are not inferior to those produced by purgatives.

2. Habitual constipation may be easily cured by massage without the aid of purgatives.

3. The younger a child is the more readily can the constipation be cured.

4. The younger a child is the milder should the manipulations be, and the shorter the séances.

5. The duration of the séances should be from three to ten minutes, according to the age of the patient. Longer séances are inadvisable, and may even be harmful and aggravate the condition of the patient.

6. Abdominal massage may be regarded as the best means of treating constipation in children. Purgatives should only be used in exceptional cases.

Tritica is one of the very few remedies that is earning for itself an enviable reputation in the treatment of diseases of the urinary organs. Dr. Wheeler's article in the Omaha Clinic, copied on page 14 of THE GAZETTE, shows but a fair sample of results obtained by numerous physicians who are prescribing this medicine.

Contributions and Selections.

THE HYGIENE OF RAILWAY TRAVEL.
BY CYRUS EDSON, M. D.*

The vast distances which lie between the Eastern and Western or Northern and Southern boundaries of the United States; the close and intimate connection which exists between the States of the Great Republic; the fact that two-thirds of our business men have learned to extend their trade by experience as commercial travellers; the general wealth of our people and finally the magnificent system of railways which shackles the States together with bands and lines of steel-not untypical with that patriotism which ties us to our flag-these things combine to make the Americans among the most persistent of travellers by railroads. I question whether, could the statistics be arrived at, it would not be found that the people of this country travel more generally, as they unquestionably travel greater distances, tha ndo those of any on the globe.

In view of the important part which railway travel plays in the lives of our citizens, their wives and children, it is the more curious that no one has seen fit to point out in language "understanded of the people" the influence on health which this persistent moving about must necessarily have. For it is generally understood nowadays that health depends almost wholly on a man's environment, or, in other words, on the circumstances affecting him and conditions surrounding him at any given time in his life. While it is true that the railroad car builders of this country have carried their art to a point of marvelous perfection, manufacturing palaces on wheels in which every attention is paid to the comfort and convenience of their passengers; while the most ordinary cars now employed on all except a very few roads are a thousand per cent. better than those in which our fathers jolted and groaned, while that luxury which is so strong an element in American life shows itself nowhere more than on our railroads, while the road

beds are marvels of construction when one considers

*Copyrighted. The right of republication reserved.

their length; yet it remains that travelling on railroads is a complete change in one's life and that with it comes change in the health conditions. It is worth while, then, to examine into that change.

The first condition which presents itself is the greater or less amount of jolting and shaking inseperable from the best roads, particularly in these days of "limited trains" and high speed. The effect which this has is, perhaps, most strongly shown in those people who become what is ordinarily called "sea sick" when travelling. Although the percentage of them is very small, I purposely choose them to illustrate the result of the constant jar on the nerves.

When a person is something of an invalid, not exactly sick perhaps, but feeling tired most of the time, and suffering from slight attacks more or less often; the jar of the trains is very apt to act injuriously on the nerves. When such a person must travel he or she should invariably consult the physician who is familiar with the case and procure from him, if he sees fit to give it, some form of sedative. With this the extra strain on the nerves may be successfully nutralized and the journey taken without the after ill effects. In the absence of such remedy it is well to carry in the satchel a flask of sound sherry wine. A small amount of this will help greatly when the nerves begin to twitch, and will often ward off a serious attack. At the same time the prescription of the physician should always be preferred to any self-dosing, even though it be merely a glass of wine.

The other great evil attendant on railroad travel of which physicians are forced to complain, is dirt. The great function which the pores of the skin play in preserving health is fairly well understood by those who have never studied medicine. That is to say, it is generally known that the result of stopping up the pores artificially is bad and therefore to be avoided.

It is known also that when nature herself closes these pores-as, for example, during a heavy cold-the result is to the highest degree unpleasant, relief being sought by an increase of all the secretions of the body. But why a stoppage of the pores is dangerous is not so generally known. What is called "railroad kidney" is now pretty commonly recognized by med