Committee of Arrangements-Drs. Martin, Parker, and Watson. Anniversary Chairman-Dr. C. H. Riley.

Delegates to Mass. Eclectic Medical Society-Drs. J. Parker and N. R. Martin.

On motion, the Society adjourned to meet at Portland, the fourth Wednesday in June, 1869.

C. H. RILEY, M.D., Secretary.

DR. JAMES HUNT.

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY of London is now under the general management of Dr. Hunt. This society has been so successful that we propose to notice its operations and success by publishing a few notices.-[ED. E. M. R.]

Dr. James Hunt is a gentleman well known as the author of a variety of works on scientific and literary subjects, and as the founder of the Anthropological Society of London. He was born at Swanage, in Dorsetshire. After finishing his preliminary studies, he devoted himself earnestly to the study of anatomy, physiology, and chemistry. Dr. Hunt also cultivated archæology and the belles lettres, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1854; subsequently he was chosen a member of the Council, and is at present the honorary foreign secretary of that learned body. Shortly afterwards he also became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

In the year 1854, Dr. Hunt became a member of the Ethnological Society of London, and subsequently accepted the post of honorary secretary. When he entered upon his duties, the Ethnological Society was in a very languid if not dying condition. Its publications were few and far between, and its sphere of usefulness very contracted. By the energetic zeal and industry of the new secretary, fresh life was infused into the society. After three years' service Dr. Hunt resigned his post, and the society elected him an honorary Fellow in recognition of the great services he had rendered to it. It was at this period (1862) that Dr. Hunt conceived the idea, which he soon afterwards realized, of founding the Anthropological Society of London. That such an institution was really wanted is sufficiently evidenced by the rapid development of this seciety, which now numbers seven hundred members, and has given rise to several similar institutions in the large provincial towns of England. Dr. Hunt was elected the first president, an office to which he was re-elected for three successive years; and after serving the society as director for one year, he has again been elected its president.

Dr. Hunt's efforts have already given a great impulse to the study of the science of man. Apart from the Anthropological Review and Journal, published quarterly, the society has within the few

years of its existence published two volumes of Memoirs, containing many papers from Dr. Hunt's pen, and several volumes of translations from French and German standard works. Of the German works we shall merely mention Waitz's Anthropologie der Naturvoelker, Blumenbach's Works, and Vogt's Lectures on Manthe latter edited by Dr. Hunt. Several works of Broca, Pouchet, etc., have also been translated under the auspices of the society.

The honors which have been conferred upon Dr. Hunt on the Continent show how greatly his literary and scientific acquirements are also appreciated beyond his own country. In 1855 he received from the University of Giessen the diploma of Doctor of Philosophy, and also, in 1867, that of Doctor of Medicine, Honoris causâ. He is a member of the Leopoldina Academy of Dresden; of the Medical Association of Darmstadt; of the Upper Hesse Natural History Society; of the Société Parisienne d'Archéologie et d'Histoire; of the Congrès International d'Anthropologie et d'Archéologie Préhistoriques; of the Anthropological Society of Paris; of the Sociedad Antropologica Española; of the Société des Amis de la Nature, Moscow, etc. It will thus be seen, that although comparatively a young man, Dr. Hunt has already established for himself a European reputation both in science and literature,

CLIMATIC CURIOSITIES -The changes of a country's climate by settlement and cultivation of the soil often seem strange and inconsistent. A letter from a late traveller in Nebraska notes some curious contrasts: "It is a frequent subject of remark in the Ohio valley, that settling the country, clearing and ditching the land, constantly makes it dryer; that old wells and springs are drying up, and each succeeding summer branches run dry, which never did before. The French agricultural report makes the same complaint, and calls upon the government to stop the destruction of the forests, as the means of preserving the rivers. But here, with settlement, exactly the reverse phenomena are presented, and the quantity of rain in western Nebraska and Kansas has doubled within the memory of man. Perhaps this is due somewhat to the trees planted on new farms, but I think, also, that breaking up the sod allows it to absorb more moisture than it could in the prairie state, and in many instances turning a hundred acres of sod will renew an old spring. Fresh branches are starting in gullies which have been dry for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Thus 'springs break out in the thirsty wilderness, and streams of water in the dry ground!' Here is an important principle at work, which will enable agriculture to make great advances on what is now the American desert." Akin to these are the falls of heavy rains this summer in Colorado and California, States where the rule of dry summers seems to have been invariable heretofore. Who shall divine the law of such revolutions?

NEW ECLECTIC MEDICAL ORGANIZATION.-In pursuance of a call to physicians and surgeons of the Eclectic system of medical practice

in the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Senatorial districts, a meeting was held at Albany on Wednesday, the 10th instant. A society was organized auxiliary to the State Eclectic Medical Society. The Society then proceeded to the election of permanent officers, as follows: President, R. J. Burton, of Albany; Vice-President, R. Hamilton, of Saratoga Springs; Secretary, O. H. Simons, of Albany; Treasurer, H. Pease, of Schenectady; Censors, Drs. A. W. Russell, of Albany, E. H. Millington, and H. Ring, of Saratoga. The meeting was well attended, and all the deliberations indicative of increased efforts to promote the progress of Medical reform.

THE CHEMISTRY OF SUNSTROKE.-An article in the New York Journal of Commerce describes the mystery which associates itself with the cause of sunstroke, which cannot be the intensity of the sun's heat, as the human body endures, without injury, a much greater quantity. Workmen in certain cases are exposed to ten degrees, and sometimes a higher temperature, more than that at which sunstroke is produced, without its visibly affecting their health; some have indeed sat in heated ovens unharmed, while animal food was cooked at their sides. How then is it that men will comparatively melt away with heat in the open air? To this question the article mentioned makes answer as follows:

"The reason, we think, must be looked for in the chemical character of the sun's rays. The heat of the sun differs from any other kind of heat, as the light of the sun differs from every other kind of light. The effect of the sun's heat upon plants-as contrasted with artificial heat-is the most familiar, and perhaps the most striking illustration at hand. All animate and inanimate things are subject to precisely the same great laws of nature; and the solar heat which makes the flowers droop and close their petals, as if to shut out the dazzling rays, is not without its marvellous chemical effect upon the sensitive brain of man. The effect is chemical-just like the effect of a poison. Strychnine, cyanide of potassium, arsenic, morphine, and the other deadly drugs, do not work more marked organic changes in the system than a sunstroke. The countenance of the victim is darkcolored and ejected with blood, and a post-mortem examination discloses congestion of the brain, lungs and heart. These are the effects, varying in degree, of the administration of poisons. The chances of recovery from poisoning are far better, if remedies are seasonably applied than from sunstroke. The latter is almost always fatal with persons of delicate health or full habit."

This peculiar chemical action of the sun's rays on the human body being appreciated, prevention follows as a primary object, and keep out of the sun, if possible, should be a standing rule. But where this is not possible, keep as much in the shade as you can. Should exposure be necessary, an umbrella, a wet cloth or cabbage leaf on the head are excellent preventatives of sunstroke. Drink but little ice-water, eat sparingly of fat meats, take daily baths, walk slow, talk slow, gesticulate gently, avoid politics, and don't get unduly excited

about anything whatever as you value your life. This is the sage advice of last year and the year before, and a century back of that. But while people are dropping on the pavements, and dying in an hour or two, it is needless to stand out for originality. As to remedies, there is no improvement on the old ones. The application of ice to the head and under the armpits, brandy and water or other stimulants administered internally, a mustard-plaster on the stomach, vigorous chafing of the body, and especially the hands and feet, fanning and plenty of air-these are restoratives efficacious where anything is of avail. But the great point is to avoid a sunstroke.

DIFFICULT SURGICAL OPERATION.-Mrs. Abby Kelly Foster, of this city, who has for the past two years suffered from a dropsical affection, suffered the operation of "Ovariotomy," on the 30th ult., by Dr. Kimball, of Lowell. She was placed under the influence of ether, and the time consumed by the operation and dressing was some twenty-five minutes. The weight of the morbid mass and its contents was thirty-five pounds. There was a very trifling loss of blood. She still continues in a comfortable condition, with favorable symptoms, and a good prospect of complete recovery. Her friends anticipate her restoration to complete health and a return to her former life of active usefulness, from which she has been withheld by disease.-Worcester Spy.

INFLUENCE OF DRUNKENNESS ON CONCEPTION.-Dr. Demeaux adduces further facts in support of the proposition that conception during drunkenness is one of the causes of epilepsy, and of other affections of the nerve-centres. He attributes to the same cause a great number of monstrosities and malformations, congenital lesions of the nervous centres, etc., which prevent complete evolution of the offspring, or if it arrive at term, cause early death.

WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION.-Almost at every annual meeting of the medical associations of the Atlantic States, the question of admitting women to equal privileges with men as medical practition ers is canvassed and brought to a vote. Thus far the claims of the sisterhood have failed to obtain recognition. But women have their schools nevertheless, and are plodding onward with the constancy and perseverance of their sex, and winning their way gradually into public favor, if not into the good graces of the lords exclusive. We have before us the nineteenth annual announcement of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania-" the first institution in the world chartered for the instruction of women in medicine"-and also the valedictory address to the graduating class by Emeline H. Cleveland, M. D., Obstetrical Professor in the College; and we must acknowledge that there is more of dignity and self-possession and liberality evinced in these documents than we have observed in the writings and printed discussions of the masculine opposition. "Regarding it as a fact," says the announcement, "fixed and inevitable, that women will study medicine, and that a portion of the practice of the community will fall naturally into their hands, those in charge of this

institution feel more solicitous to make the College worthy of the cause, than to concern themselves with the objections of prejudiced or selfish opposers."-The spirit of this sentence is well maintained throughout both documents.-Pacific Med. and Surg. Journal.

THE NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE FOR WOMEN will begin their Sixth Annual Term of twenty weeks, at their new College in Twelfth Street, corner of Second Avenue, the first Monday in November. For Announcements, giving full particulars, address, with stamps, the Dean, Mrs. C. S. LOZIER, M.D., or the Secretary, Mrs. C. P. WELLS, BOX 730, N. Y.

CHOLERA. The first case of cholera this year occurred in Brooklyn, July 22d, 1868.

THE YELLOW FEVER IN THE NEW YORK BAY.-The steamship Ocean Queen arrived at lower quarantine to-day with one passenger convalescent with yellow fever. He was removed to hospital. Another was suffering from intermittent fever.

The brig T. H. Haviland arrived from Havana, having lost one man in hospital from yellow fever. One man is now convalescent from the same disease.

The brig II. S. Bishop arrived from Sagua, having lost two men by cholera while in that port.

Captain Reed, of the schooner Benjamin Reed, from Cienfuegos, died yesterday morning of black vomit. A boatman, named Nicholas Smith, also died.-Aug. 6, 1868.

SEPTEMBER number, 1866, of the American Eclectic Medical Review, wanted by the publisher, to complete sets. 25 cents per No. will be paid.

PROF. Z. FREEMAN and family, of Cincinnati, have been spending a short time at his old homestead in Nova Scotia.

ECLECTIC PHYSICIANS wanted in the City of New York. One hundred of the very best Eclectic Physicians and Surgeons, all could do well here in their profession.

THE AMERICAN ECLECTIC MEDICAL REGISTER FOR 1868.-A few copies left and for sale by the publisher, Robert S. Newton, M.D. Price $2. This contains the organization of all the State and District Eclectic Medical Societies in the United States.

AN Irishman being asked his views of female physicians, declared that he knew of no reason why ladies should not be "medical

men."

A PRETENDER.-A peripatetic specialist is now visiting the New England cities advertising to "treat most successfully, eye, ear, throat, lung, chest diseases, catarrh, and asthma," and calling himself" Professor and Clinical Operator in one of the Philadelphia Medical Institutions." This institution is a broken-winded eclectic concern, and neither it nor any of its self-styled Professors are recog nized by reputable practitioners in this city. We have received several letters of inquiry about him, and warn our readers against being deceived by his pretensions.--Med. and Surg. Reporter.