are: Mucous or muco-sanguineous alvine discharges, due to irritation or debility; passive hemorrhage from stomach, bowels, or kidneys; gastric ulcer.

RENEW MEDICINES OFTEN.-No matter how carefully medicines may be prepared by the manufacturing pharmacist, when they leave his hands they may be subject to many kinds of influence that tend toward their disintegration. Exposure to strong light and sunshine, excess of heat or cold, faulty corking allowing evaporation of menstruum or volatile or delicate evanescent principles, and other forms of carelessness in the keeping of medicines tend to their deterioration and rob the patient and the prescriber of the benefit to be expected from a good preparation. But one of the commonest errors committed by the doctor is the keeping of medicines for too long a period without renewal. No vegetable medicines can be expected to keep indefinitely and under varying conditions; hence the necessity of frequent restocking. With some medicines the therapeutic content is fleeting and short-lived. One may lose a delicate principle, as with rhus or melilotus, or pulsatilla. One may throw down red tannates and take on a form of gelatinization which is at least undesirable. Therefore the best policy is to buy in moderate quantities, even if one has to purchase several small packages of the same medicine, so that not too much will be uncorked at a time, and to buy often. Few vegetable medicines should be on the shelves over six months, though some may be kept for a much longer period without deterioration. Some have lost their best qualities in three months. Study the nature of plant substances and renew medicines often. Then you will not be inclined to speak of the inertness of medicines to the detriment of the honest producer, who has furnished good medicines which you have failed to take good care of or with which you tempted nature's powers of preservation.

THE ECLECTIC AND ANIMAL THERAPY.-When one reads the strange history of materia medica and therapeutics he is astounded by the hundreds of nauseous animal substances and filthy dejecta which have held a prominent place in the official as well as the unofficial regular medicines of even educated physicians. Vipers, toads, dried menstrual blood, human feces, human urine,

the saliva of a fasting man, secundines of a woman, pulverized mummy, scrapings from the skull of an unburied victim of accident or legal execution, moss from such a skull, sow-bugs, earthworms, ear-wax, wood-lice, and bed-bugs ad nauseam are but a modicum of the delectable substances which have figured in the therapeutics of the past. Even to-day we find in the therapeutics of enlightened practitioners substances that would suggest Chinese rather than Occidental preferences. Medicines are still furnished bearing a close relation to many of the above mentioned dainties, for has not a scientist in one of our great institutions of learning found a decided heart tonic in the slimy exudate from the common toad? One of the most disgusting phases of medical practice was the introduction of isopathy, long and loudly condemned by the regular profession, but now being again embraced in a closely assimilated form by many members of the profession in the modern form of the "newer vaccines." Since the introduction of antitoxins and vaccines we have observed less ridicule of the homoeopaths by the regulars, for if not identical in action they closely bear out the homœopathic law of cure. While these things confound and astound us, is it safe to ridicule anything or any sect in medicine? Verily there is no new thing under the sun. Still let us be thankful that outside of lard and wool-fat, suet and spermaceti and beeswax as external applications, and the employment of sugar of milk and honey, cod liver oil, and some of the digestive ferments internally, and the use of gelatin for capsules and cochineal for coloring, the Eclectic school has gone no farther into animal therapy than to employ apis quite generally, cantharis, spongia, and tela occasionally, and ox-gall and musk very rarely.

DO IT YOURSELF.-We would not belittle the value of trusty help, but there are some matters that the physician should attend to personally. One of these, and a most important one, if he dispenses his own medicines, is to fill his medicine case himself. Then there can be no one to blame but himself if a mistake may occur; and singularly enough it reduces mistakes to a minimum. Mistakes in such matters are usually made by those to whom such matters are delegated, and seldom by the physician whose personal interest in the matter seems to act, often unconsciously, as a safeguard. It is an old and true saying that "If you want a thing done, go! If not, send!" A parallel can be applied here. Moreover, it

gives the dispenser a sense of security which he can not feel if he has entrusted so important a matter to some one else. It takes a little more of the physician's time, but it is worth the effort and time in the safety to patient and doctor insured by this personal attention.

DUPLICATE CASE VIALS.—In our experience we have found it convenient and satisfactory to have a dozen or so duplicate case vials, ready labelled, to exchange for those in the medicine case, to meet seasonal demands. Sometimes a vial of medicine is carried for months and unopened, while during certain epidemics and in certain seasons of the year frequent use will be made of that same medicine. When measles and whooping cough are prevalent then we use drosera to a large extent and often, while at other times we rarely employ it. During the summer season we will need a whole array of medicines for which we seldom find use in winter. Sometimes a special case of illness will be the only one requiring a given remedy for some time, as when treating typhoid fever, we may, for a limited time, have use for baptisia. Such medicines would better give room to those more needed, or be included for their special needs, by an arrangement by which exchange vials could be readily used.

Exchange bottles should be of the same kind and size of others in the case, and should be ready labelled for use. They should not, however, be filled with medicine until they are to be placed in the case for use. In this way they are ready to be quickly filled and slipped into the case when needed. This saves time and annoyance, and insures having the medicines when wanted.

Again, a full set of duplicate vials can be kept ready for exchange when the medicine case is to be cleaned. The vials may be kept in preparation, ready labelled (but not filled) by an assistant, and when a clean case is desired can be quickly exchanged for the soiled bottles-the contents of which should be transferred by the physician himself, to the clean vials or to the shelf bottles; or if old, should be thrown away. Those who have spent from one to two hours cleaning their case with the likelihood of a hurry call to interrupt, or have dreaded the ordeal for weeks, will appreciate the convenience of this arrangement. To those who feel that they can afford it, an extra or duplicate medicine case is most convenient and can be filled whenever leisure permits. In this instance

both cases can be better taken care of, will always look clean and attractive, and will last proportionately longer.

YOUR MEDICINE CASE.-Keep your medicine case clean and attractive and your bottles clean and neatly and uniformly labelled. The days of saddle-bags, with their bulky and dirty powders, have passed, and medicines can now be carried and dispensed in a clean, neat, and convenient form. The very richness of specific medicines, with as little menstruum as possible to hold the medicinal ingredients in convenient solution, is a reason for the frequent soiling of bottles and labels and case, for but little evaporation is required to permit them to gum the corks and thus render the case unsightly. Hence the necessity of frequently "cleaning up." It pays to be clean. It means personal pride, professional policy, and a paying patronage.

THE DIRTY TONGUE.-A foul tongue and foul breath are pretty good indications as to the condition of the alimentary tube, if not of the system in general. With such a state it seems hardly reasonable to expect therapeutic results from medicines. Often a remedy of known specific action fails utterly in giving definite and expected results because its absorption and action are wholly prevented by a foul mouth, a foul tongue, and a still more foul gastrointestinal tract. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," it is said, and that adage applies no less to medicine than to morals.

The slogan, "Clean up and clean out!" is not a bad one. Indeed, the toilet of the alimentary tract from mouth to anus is an essential part of the treatment of many affections; and especially for those arising from gastro-intestinal putrefaction and consequent auto-intoxication. During fevers and acute infections no part of treatment is more salutary than that of the toilet of the mouth. See that the teeth are cleaned from pathologic deposits and decaying food debris several times a day and thus prevent the deposition of filth and sordes upon them and the lips. Wash out the half-dry and sticky mucus of the mouth with its imprisoned poisons and the battle against disease has had a good beginning.

We can not, without lavage, emesis, or catharsis, cleanse the whole alimentary tract without doing the tissues violence that we would sometimes avoid. But we can gently scrub the foul deposits from the tongue with water and a very little Asepsin soap, or ivory soap, either of which can be scarcely tasted and are far more

agreeable than the filth; or with a dilution of glyco-thymoline. We can use agents known to sweeten a foul stomach, correct undue acid or alkaline conditions, overcome stench, or cleanse by dissolving or destroying the mucus-enmeshed offending material. This in itself is a laudable part of treatment and opens the way for other direct treatment in the uses of the specific medicines indicated.

It is a well-established fact in specific medication, speaking broadly, that the white coated tongue demands alkaline medication and the red tongue requires acids. There are modifications which point to a selection of these medicines. Thus a tongue heavily coated with a white deposit is benefited by sodium bicarbonate. A foully coated, yellowish-white tongue, with lack of taste or sourish and decaying taste, requires sodium sulphite. There is an exception to this, however, in the early stage of illness, where there is extreme nausea, associated with sluggish action of both patient and disease, and there is no physical contraindication, when an emetic may do more good than any other form of treatment. This may then be followed by the indicated alkaline salt preparatory to other specific treatment. For the persistent white-coated and pallid tongue so frequently found in gall-bladder involvement, with slight gastric pain and decided indigestion, we have been getting the most beneficial effects from potassium bicarbonate in small doses administered for weeks. As a sweetener and renovator we have also used asepsin with the indicated alkaline salts. For the cadaveric odor nothing surpasses potassium chlorate, and another very excellent alkaline cleanser is glycothymoline, which may be used locally and internally.

Sometimes a foul breath will be corrected by an acid. We are all familiar with the dry, red, beefy tongue that indicates acid medication. It may be glazed over like spoiled beef, when sulphurous acid will be found grateful; with a violaceous film, when nitric acid is most effective. But the cases of contracted, red tongue, with or without odor, but with a strong tendency to sordes, are in the majority and require the administration of hydrochloric acid, diluted so as to be pleasantly sour. In some instances the correction of these foul states or the acid or alkaline excess will be all that is necessary to check a disease process. In others it is but preparatory and opens the way for the indicated remedies, which then act with certainty because of their ready contact and absorption.