tivity of the poultice. Microbes and bacteria, the bacilli of tuberculosis or of septicemia are literally destroyed and driven out of their hidden nests.

The mineral solution is really a modern antiseptic poultice, cleansing and disinfecting, exploratory and healing, instead of dirty and temporary, such as the ancient uncertain flaxseed poultice. It acts by oxidizing-burning away-all impaired and diseased tissues, while it simultaneously stirs the healthy fabric to germinate and heal from the innermost recesses.

The method consists, briefly, in destroying the germ of the disease by oxidation, the oxygen for which is generated from the external application of a poultice-like mass containing chemicals that release oxygen by possibly "osmotic action," which penetrates even an unbroken skin. The effect of this method of treatment is, to bring the germs to the surface, where they are destroyed, and also to facilitate the entrance of the germicidal agent to the affected parts by scraping, chiseling and curetting and subsequently packing the

THEY

cavity thus created with an antiseptic paste or gauze.

Surgery rarely cures the disease, largely because it deals with the effect of the disease and does not effectually reach or eliminate the cause; and it has been repeatedly found that, extending to a considerable distance around the affected parts, are a number of sinuses or channels containing active noxious germs.

As soon as the antiseptic properties of the packing become active, resulting in a recurrence of the disease, necessitating further operation, each subsequent operation involves further loss of bone, until amputation is finally necessary. Many times amputation becomes imperative, to prevent the infection spreading and causing general septicemia.

Such a remarkable record has demonstrated beyond all doubt this method of curing a class of what had heretofore been regarded as incurable diseases.

Baltimore, Md.

L. K. HIRSCHBERG.

Walter Malone.

LETTERS FROM FRANCE-VI*

M. Clemenceau, France's ironhearted premier, has publicly and without solicitation placed the stamp of his official approval upon the work of the Y. M. С. А. overseas. In the course of a recent celebration, in Saint-Mihiel, for the purpose of commemorating the occupation of that town by the Allied troops after four years under German rule, the "grand old man of France" singled out F. G. Randall and H. C. Culbertson, president of Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin, from among the cheering crowd that had assembled in front of the city hall and left a procession that he headed, to praise to them the Red Triangle.

M. Clemenceau shook hands with the two Y. M. C. A. workers and said to them with great earnestness: "We greatly appreciate the work you are doing. Our hearts are full of gratitude; our hearts are with you."

Miss Florence Bullard, American Red Cross nurse, has received a glowing citation for her work in France, this carrying with it the right to wear the Croix de Guerre with bronze star. The citation reads:

"Miss Bullard is a nurse whose efficiency, devotion, and bravery have won general admiration. Ordered to Soissons at the beginning of 1918, she showed the most imperturbable sang-froid under the entire violent bombardments of March and May, searching, in spite of the danger, for the wounded to assist and comfort them. During the operations of July 15 and August 5, she showed the same spirit, devoting all her strength to the care of wounded. Her attitude was especially brilliant during the night of July 31, when bombs burst quite near the outpost."

Miss Bullard is a graduate of St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota. Her home address is Glens Falls, New York. Accompanying the citation, is a letter to the

Paris Red Cross Headquarters, from a commander in the French Army, under whom Miss Bullard served, which reads:

"I take the greatest pleasure in handing you the splendid and well-deserved citation of Miss Bullard, American Red Cross nurse at Evacuation Hospital 13. I beg you to accept the most sincere congratulations of all the doctors in the hospital on the untiring devotion Miss Bullard and her American colleagues, Miss Heath and Miss Ross, have shown to our French sick and wounded men. The noble character of these nurses, the unassuming and touching manner in which they cared for our soldiers deserve at once respectful admiration and our friendly gratitude."

The outstanding feature in the August report of the Red Cross activities is, the great increase in the service for the troops. The canteens have done an enormous amount of work in serving 860,000 men. One canteen alone served 129,000 hot drinks. Doughnuts, sandwiches, and more substantial foods are served with coffee and chocolate.

The metropolitan canteens served more than 330,000 French and American soldiers, during the month, and 44 posts in the army field since distributed 515,000 hot drinks as well as other comforts.

Another great increase is to be noted in the home and hospital work, as more than 10,000 letters have been received and answered regarding missing men and details wanted either by relatives at home or by men here. The number of hospital-recreation-huts has been increased by seven, thus making a total of seventeen.

In the field civilian relief-work, the Red Cross is now operating 72 dispensaries in big cities or in the villages that are without doctors, near the front. These dispensaries and hospitals treated, during August, 34,250 patients, 25,00 being children.

The educational exhibits designed to combat infant mortality and tuberculosis have been attended, within the month, by 380,000 people.

Workers of the Red Cross garage in the American zone, in a series of thrilling night expeditions close to the front have been rescuing furniture and household goods abandoned in the hurried evacuation of last spring.

The refugees from these towns, unable to get together enough new goods to live decently, appealed to the "Prefect" for permission to recover their property. The permission was granted, on condition that transportation could be found, so, the Red Cross, through its drivers, who voluntarily assumed this task in addition to their regular work, offered the use of several camions.

The rescue of beds, linen-chests, and old wardrobes is much more exciting than it sounds. Many of the evacuated villages lie at the mercy of the German guns, and the town where most of the work has been done, a once thriving city of 15,000 inhabitants, is only 1,200 meters from the lines.

Every one of its houses has suffered from shellfire; is exposed to attack by artillery, by gas, and from the air, and, by army-order, no camions are permitted to enter any house, except under cover of night. The bridge that spans the Moselle River, being in full view of the German trenches, cannot be crossed by camion and, so, the little fleet of Red Cross trucks had to divide forces at a bridge several kilometers downstream and enter the town from both sides. What took place when they arrived at the town, one of the drivers, a New Englander, describes as an "evacuation-bee".

Every one pitched in and helped. The men from the other cars ran across the bridge on foot, hugging the shelter of the parapet, and several French civilians, who had been allowed back to help pack up, joined us. The German shells were screaming overhead, but, we could not make a noise or smoke a cigarette, for fear of drawing their fire.

One night, they did run into a bunch of gas and had to work with their masks on, and dark-you could not see your hand before your face, except when they sent a star-shell up from the lines, and then you could see to read. When they sent up red ones, it looked as if the whole town

were on fire. There is not much left upon the place, anyhow, but, they pulled camionload after camion-load of good stuff out of the wreckage, and the gratitude of those poor people was immense.

When the trucks were loaded, they took the goods down to a railway station several kilometers away. There, the furniture and other rescued materials were put on cars and taken to a point where they could be claimed by their owners. The work in this particular town having now been completed, the Red Cross camions are at work on the same errand in smaller villages comparatively far from the front.

Influenza, the grip, or "Spanish flu" again had the honors of discussion at the Academy of Medicine on Tuesday.

In view of the extension of the present epidemic of influenza over the greater part of France-a progress which it is dangerous to dissimulate and absurd to exaggerate-the government requested the Academy to appoint a special committee to take measures against the malady, which is largely responsible for the increased number of funeral-processions observed every day in the streets of Paris as well as in the suburbs.

The Academy has appointed on this committee such eminent medical authorities as Doctors Chauffard, Achard, Vincent, Netter, and Bezancon, men whose reputation is international and who are better qualified than any other scientists in the world to fight the insidious scourge that is now rampant in nearly every quarter of Paris.

During the meeting, the Academy considered a communication, presented by Doctor Achard, on the presence of bronchopulmonary spirochetosis in the present epidemic. Another communication, one from Doctor Patein, dealt with the chemical analyses of blood and other fluids from victims of grip. These analyses revealed the presence of surprising amounts of urea. This is regarded as evidence of denutrition, or of a kind of intense autocombustion, of which other symptoms are the patients' very high temperature and the rapidity with which they become emaciated. With regard to this rapid emaciation, some authorities advise the superalimentation of the sufferers, notwithstanding their feverish condition.

Doctor Netter, who has made a special study of influenza ever since the terrible epidemic of 1889-1890, when people perished by thousands, stated yesterday that, when the present form of influenza first appeared last spring, it manifested no particularly grave characteristics. An attack generally lasted only a few days, the chief symptoms being intense pain in the head and limbs and a feverish temperature. Since last August, however, numerous complications of a virulent nature have developed, including acute bronchitis, suffocation, catarrh, pneumonia, and pleurisy.

The present epidemic is particularly contagious. It attacks members of the same family, while the persons nursing the patients are extremely liable to be stricken.

The treatment varies according to individual cases and can be determined only by the physician attending a given patient. When an attack of influenza occurs, the victim should remain indoors and send for the doctor immediately.

In the tremendous amount of construction that has been carried out for the American Army within the last year, there is nothing so wonderfully interesting as the huge salvage-plant near Tours. No army in the world has anything like it, and not a day passes that representatives from some of the Allied Governments do not inspect it and take notes upon its method of operation. It has saved, not thousands, but, millions of dollars for the United States Government. It has been described, in a general way, several times in The Herald, but, it is constantly increasing its work, so that new details are worth mentioning.

Not a scrap of anything is wasted. Beautiful hospital-slippers are made from old campaign-hats that have been discarded. The question has often been asked as to what became of these hats. They are of a splendid quality of felt, and no matter how old and worn they are, the felt is utilized in the soles of the slippers. The uppers are made from old woolen garments thrown aside as absolutely beyond

repair.

The overseas caps are another specialty made from old uniforms unfit for repair, and brasşards are manufactured by the thousands for the various army services. Old garments are dyed green and marked "P. W.", to be used for the German prisoners of war. The old trench-shoes that have been mended and are beyond more

repairing, are cut up into shoestrings. No matter how worn the shoes may be, there always is a piece of leather left in the uppers big enough to make several pairs of shoestrings from.

The shoe-department is one of the most important. Shoes and boots are brought in by thousands of pairs. They first are washed and disinfected and sorted and then given out to be repaired, greased, inspected, and again packed for shipment. The production in this branch is about 3,500 pairs per day. The total value of the output for the month of August was $449,599. About 80 percent of all shoes received are repaired. New machinery is constantly being added to this department, and when it is completely organized it is expected that 7,000 pairs of shoes will be turned out daily. At present, this branch employs 2 officers, 7 noncommissioned officers, 114 enlisted men, and 280 male and 249 female civilians.

The depot has seven operating-departments: Laundry, clothing, shoes, rubber goods, harness and leather equipment, canvas, and webbing and metals. The laundry alone employs 206 workers, over half of whom are civilians. All sorts of new devices in machinery to save hand-labor for washing, rinsing, and drying are used, and more than 75,000 pieces are turned out a day.

That of clothing is probably the most important department. Its production is limited almost entirely to breeches and blouses, underwear, bedsacks, and blankets. The daily output is 10,000 woolen breeches or blouses, 25,000 garments of underwear or bed-sacks, and 500 blankets.

After coming from the laundry, the garments are examined and marked for repair or, if not reparable, they are cut up for patches. The patches necessary for the reparable garments are cut entirely from the unreparable ones (15 percent of the total) and then sent out to the various branches for the actual sewing, after which they are classified either for reissue to the troops or labor battalions. About 1,600 women are employed in this branch, and 75 men. The value of the production for the month of August was £2,040,831, more than $10,000,000, while the operating-costs were $93,432.

The rubber-goods branch also shows remarkable figures for saving. It handles, primarily, rubber boots and "arctics",

"slickers", ponchers, and shelter-halves. It produces about 3,000 garments and 850 pairs of boots a day. The great feature of the department is, the new vulcanizing machine recently put into operation and which has proved most effective in the method of patching. Its personnel numbers 341, principally women.

The harness-department repairs all the old pieces of harness brought in from the battlefields. Then, after being sorted out, the French harness is returned to the French army and the British harness to the British army. The chief items are complete sets of harness, of which about 1,000 are turned out weekly, and saddles, of which about 700 are turned out weekly. About 150 women and 50 men are employed in this work, and the value of the monthly production amounts to $315,453.

The canvas-department handles leggings, haversacks, canteen-covers, cartridge-belts,

medical packs, waist-belts and other small equipment-articles. It turns out, daily, 5,000 canvas articles and about one carload of burlap sacks. Its production in a month totals about $22,878 in value.

The total value of production for the month of August was over three million dollars ($3,246,588), while the cost of production was $315,013; the percentage as compared with the value of the output was 10 1-4 percent.

The actual salvaging-operations of the depots started last January with 5 officers, 6 enlisted men, and 6 civilian employees, while at present about 10,000 persons are employed. The results show that the depot not only is saving a large volume of transport, but, 100 thousand dollars a day, and the officers in charge say that they expect to double the work.

Paris, France.

B. SHERWOOD-DUNN.