tlemanly; his conversation easy and intelligent. As an adviser he was discerning and discreet."

The integrity of Cutler, his courage, and his scientific attainments were well shown in his examination as a witness in the celebrated cause of "The Commonwealth vs. Thomson," in which the botanic, Samuel Thomson, was on trial for the alleged murder of Ezra Lovett. When witness after witness had testified against the prisoner, with much of the testimony suborned and the persecutory procedure backed by jealous and interested doctors, Dr. Cutler, though not in accord with his medical methods, cleared Thomson by his testimony that the drug which had been brought forward in evidence as a poison-lobelia-was in fact marsh rosemary-a wholly innocuous and beneficent medicine. Who knows how much the development of American medicines might have been retarded by less truthful and more biased testimony, such as had been given by other witnesses? Such is the value of probity of character and of real scientific spirit and attainments, and Manasseh Cutler should be held in reverence for this by every advocate of honesty in medicine, regardless of creed or policy.

THE SMOKE NUISANCE.-Whether or not individuals shall smoke, we do not propose to decide. We leave that for those whose ideas of personal liberty govern their own actions. Neither do we purpose to be the arbiter of what one shall smoke, or the form in which one shall smoke. In this issue we publish a paper, regardless of our personal views, on the much maligned cigarette. It is a more or less scientific study of the forms of employing tobacco as a luxury, and we reproduce it because of the novel views brought out in defense of a form of smoking usually condemned. Personally we believe that the use of any weed or beverage that makes one a slave to it, gives apparent comfort when being used, and torment when deprived of it, is an undesirable habit; and that the individual who has never contracted the habit has gained more than he can realize.

Of the use of tobacco as a medicine there is much to be commended. Formerly it was very largely employed. There is still a field for it as a topical relaxant and pain reliever. Yet it must be used with caution. We value the solution of nicotine denominated dynamyne as a local pain reliever in synovitis and orchitis. Some have reported good results from its use upon felons. It

forms a by no means unimportant constituent of libradol, valued as an application for pain and pulmonic inflammation, pleurisy, chilblains, and inflamed bunions. It should be better studied.

But there is another side to the smoke question. When the use of tobacco is made a nuisance to the well-being and comfort of others, then the user is abusing his privilege: he is no longer merely exercising his personal liberty. Physicians who come into the sickroom, where all the pure air that can be gotten is needed for the comfort and health of the patient, reeking with the odor of tobacco and, worst of all, "stale or dead tobacco," or the fumes of excreted alcoholics, do their clients an injustice and bring reproach upon themselves. Doctors who prate of antisepsis, but exhale odors as unpleasant as those of a goat, or those who insist upon people sleeping with the windows wide open or with heads out the window, do not seem to think that when they or others are constantly breathing in smoke they are shutting out God's air. What is more inconsistent than the overly-scientific doctor who fails to practice what he preaches? Ladies are subjected all the day long to the fumes of tobacco in offices and shops. Fresh air is a stranger to them for at least eight hours of the day. Is it any wonder they become anemic? Is it any wonder they suffer from headache?

Being one of the victims who is always made ill by the streetcar pest, we heartily endorse every word of the following timely editorial from a local paper, titled:

Cigars and Street Cars.-Street car pests have always been numerous enough; but with the advent of the new all-enclosed cars in Cincinnati another has been added to the list. He is the thoughtless individual who brings his lighted cigar into the car. He can't smoke it, because that is against the rules; yet apparently he would quite as willingly throw his right arm away as to dispose of the burning weed.

Even smokers acknowledge that there is nothing quite so bad as the slow death of a cigar. If it does not make a brave effort to send its soul to the roof in its last courageous smoke-curls, it hangs desperately to the lingering spark of fire, hoping against hope that its owner will get out in time to puff that spark into life again. Its rule of conduct is: "Never go out! But if forced to, go as slowly, odoriferously, as possible!"

Cigars, as both the smoking and non-smoking public realize, are of three qualities-good, bad, and impossible. Sometimes it seems as if all the impossible ones were lighted by their owners just before taking a car, and that the love of life was stronger in this class of wrapped tobacco than in either of the other two.

Perhaps some future reformer will put through a law that will

end the practice. But the day is probably a long ways off when the street cars of municipalities will be equipped with storage boxes on the rear platform in which the near-tobacco lovers will be asked to check their faithful stogies and pseudo-Havanas, while they go inside! -Cincinnati Times-Star, March 8, 1912.

DEATH OF DR. HENRY K. WHITFORD.-Dr. Henry K. Whitford, the veteran Eclectic physician of Illinois, died at Elgin, February 15, 1912. For over two years he had been incapacitated for active professional service by reason of dilation of the heart and the weight of his years. Dr. Whitford stood high in the profession and was one of the originators of the National Eclectic Medical Association. We reproduce a sketch (modified) of Dr. Whitford which we published in the GLEANER, September, 1905:

"For over a third of a century Henry K. Whitford was a conspicuous figure in Eclecticism, and for over a half century gave his undivided attention to the practice of Eclectic medicine. Since 1857 he has been a leading physician of Elgin, Ill., where for fiftyfive years he championed the cause of Eclecticism and largely contributed to its popularity in the Middle West.

"Henry Kirkendall Whitford, M. D., was born in Medina, Ohio, February 9, 1829, the son of David M. Whitford, a cultured and well-educated lawyer. Dr. Whitford early exhibited a preference for medicine, showing a strongly marked tendency in this direction while quite a youth. The enthusiasm of that early date lasted through life, thus serving him in the accumulation of a rich store of medical knowledge.

"Left fatherless and penniless at the age of nine years, he was forced from this time to rely on his own exertions for support. He succeeded in working his way upward, and in subsequently acquiring an excellent education in the common schools and academies of the State of Michigan. At eighteen he began the systematic study of medicine. At twenty-one he entered the office of Dr. Murray, of Niles, Mich., and later read medicine with Dr. Harrison, of Buchanan, Mich.

"As was a common custom in the early fifties, he engaged in the practice of his newly acquired profession without attendance upon a medical course. He now supplemented his efforts to obtain funds to attend a medical college and earn its diploma, by teaching school. Leaving his Illinois and Michigan practice, he next repaired to Cincinnati and entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, where, after

being several times obliged to discontinue his attendance for want. of funds, he finally graduated in 1861, with credit both to himself and his alma mater. Now, fully equipped with the coveted and allneedful credentials, and well grounded in the essentials of medicine, he returned to Elgin, Ill., where he soon built up a lucrative and extensive practice. Establishing a branch office in Chicago in 1866, he became conspicuous for his ability and worth, and was prominent in the organization of Bennett College of Eclectic. Medicine and Surgery. In this institution he was in 1868 elected to the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine, holding the position with great satisfaction to all concerned for nearly a quarter of a century; and he was subsequently honored as the Emeritus Professor of Principles and Practice of Medicine in that institution. Dr. Whitford was versed in surgery as well as in medicine, and occupied the position of surgeon to the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway.

“June 26, 1855, he was united in marriage with Susan Daggett, of Elgin. One son, Professor H. E. Whitford, of Bennett Medical College, and three daughters constituted the doctor's family. On June 26, 1905, the National Eclectic Medical Association, in annual session at Saratoga, honored Dr. and Mrs. Whitford, who were in attendance, at the same time commemorating their golden anniversary, by rising en masse in affectionate attestation of their regard for their distinguished colleague.

"Dr. Whitford was a rare example of the cultured, kindly, and educated physician. He impressed one as a thoroughly capable doctor who is the master of his art. Calm and collected under all circumstances, he possessed keen insight into and deep love for the medical service, and, as has been said, he was a surgeon of repute. Dr. Whitford had the "gift of tongues," and in his college work proved a gifted and revered teacher.

"His personality was striking-medium of stature and rather slight in build, his sharp eye and snowy hair and flowing white beard gave him a patriarchal dignity. In the afternoon of his eventful life he enjoyed the distinction of being greatly admired and beloved by his professional associates, who often sought his advice and relied on his wise counsel. In and about Chicago, where his labors have won him reverence, he was regarded as the Nestor of the local profession, and as one who added unspotted luster to the name Eclecticism."

THE INDICATED REMEDY-GERANIUM.-Geranium is a simple drug that deserves to be better known. In the early part of the last century, when drugs were fewer and a dozen newly constructed agents were not thrown on the drug market daily, it was better known and highly valued. But like many quietly acting agents that do not produce medicinal shock, it has lost prestige. In consequence the present generation of physicians know but little concerning it, and what they have learned of it through occasional records in works on therapeutics is to the effect that it is but one form of tannin medication. We are not satisfied, however, to believe that its virtues, for it has virtues, are dependent wholly upon tannin. At any rate, it is an ideal remedy for irritation of the gastro-intestinal tract, relieving distress, often alleviating pain, and, of course if carried far enough, to exert considerable astringency. Our forefathers found it useful in overcoming fluxes, whether mucous or sanguineous. In the various forms of gastroenteric disorders of children, after the bowels have been thoroughly evacuated with a mild laxative, no agent is more soothing than geranium. In the smaller doses it is more restraining than actually astringent-restraining by reason of its soothing effect in conditions of mucous membrane irritation. It is an ideal remedy of this class in catarrhal gastritis, chronic dysentery, chronic diarrhoea with mucoid discharges, and in that imperfect form of diarrhoea associated with intestinal indigestion with constant desire to evacuate the bowels. In such cases there is first irritation, and finally the disorder becomes one of atony. In the earlier stages small doses of geranium are effective, but in the atonic stage then larger or astringent doses may be required, as may also be required in chronic fluxes due to relaxation and atony resulting in enfeebled mucous membranes with copious and debilitating discharges. Geranium in larger doses has some restraining power over passive hemorrhages, and may be employed in hematuria and for the hemorrhage of gastric ulcer. In fact, geranium has come to be a most important remedy for the relief of peptic ulcer in all its stages. Geranium, hydrastis, berberis, coptis, and bismuth should be given a fair trial before one surrenders the patient with gastric ulcer to the surgeon. As a single agreeable agent to control the diarrhoea and, in some measure, the colliquative sweats of phthisis, geranium should not be forgotten. In copious hemorrhages geranium can not be relied upon. The indications for geranium