to treat every man right, and so far as is known he did no man harm. He was a quiet, reticent, retiring, modest gentleman, gentle in his bearing, upright and truthful in his dealings, respected in life, and will be mourned at his departure. The poor as well as the well-to-do will miss his skill and conscientious medical services. He was conspicuously useful in the medical societies of the city, and was one of the organizers of the Clinical Society, and served one term as its president. Resolved, That we attend his funeral, and that we tender our sincere sympathy to the members of his bereaved family, and that a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to them. (Signed) T. P. SATTERWHITE, GEO. W. GRIFFITHS, A. F. BUEREN, F. C. LEBER, Committee. CONFERENCE OF STATE AND PROVINCIAL BOARDS OF HEALTH OF NORTH AMERICA. Official Circular.-The Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Conference of State and Provincial Boards of Health of North America will be held in Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 10, and 11, 1898. The "Quarter Centennial Celebration of the Establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health" will be in progress at the above named time. This will undoubtedly add greatly in every way to the success and profit of the Conference. The usual conference work will begin on the morning of August 10th. Headquarters will be at the Cadillac Hotel. After the meeting it is expected that the sanitarians from outside of Michigan will be given free transportation to various summer resorts. Therefore it is hoped that all will come prepared to spend at least a week in Michigan. The first day, August 9th, will be given to meeting with the Michigan Quarter Centennial Celebration in effecting organization and hearing Reports of Committees. The second day will be given to the subject proposed by Dr. Baker, of Michigan, as follows: Each State and Provincial Board of Health has some principal line of work which reaches nearer perfection than does the work of any other board along that particular line. I therefore suggest that the topic to be presented by all the boards represented at the Conference be as follows: What are the Principal Lines of Work of your Board? How is Each Accomplished? What Modification, if any, does the Experience in your State Suggest?'" Every Board represented in the Conference is expected to present, through its delegate, written replies to the above questions so far as it can. These reports and discussions and reports of committees will consumes the time of the morning, afternoon, and evening sessions of August 10th. The third day, August 11th, will be given to discussion of the various phases relating to the Restriction and Prevention of Tuberculosis. Transportation. The Transportation Committee of the Michigan Quarter Centennial Celebration has secured a rate of one fare and one third throughout America. Pay one fare when ticket is purchased and ask for a certificate. J. N. HURTY, M. D., Secretary. INDIANAPOLIS, April 25, 1898. Editor American Practitioner and News: WITH FELICITY.-Dear Sir: In your paper of April 15, 1898, page 315, reviewing Orthopedic Surgery by James W. Moore, M. D., your reviewer, "D. T. S.," refers to me as "the late Dr. Lewis A. Sayre." Will you kindly inform "D. T. S." that I am still in the land of the living, and constantly applying the "plaster-of-paris jacket and jury mast" in cases of Potts' disease, because it has proved itself to be superior to any other plan of treatment. Very respectfully, LEWIS A. SAYRE. April 28, 1898. DIPHTHERIA MORTALITY IN GERMANY.-The Imperial Statistical Office has recently published the returns of the causes of death in the towns of Germany of more than 15,000 inhabitants from the year 1885 to the year 1895. These returns show that from 1885 to 1894 there were 119,038 deaths from diphtheria or croup, the average number thus being 11,904 per annum. The maximum was reached in 1893 by 15,860 deaths, and the minimum in 1888 by 9,934 deaths. In 1895, when diphtheria antitoxin was first used on a considerable scale, the deaths went down to 7,266. The diphtheria death-rate was 10.69 per 10,000 of the population in the preceding ten years and only 5.4 in 1895, so that the mortality had fallen 49.48 per cent. Of 100 deaths 4.53 were caused by diphtheria from 1885 to 1894 and only 2.53 in 1895. The decrease of the death-rate from diphtheria was almost uniform in every district of the empire; the prevalence of the disease was, however, about the same as it has been for the last twenty years, and it is therefore unquestionable that the serum treatment has had the effect of producing a remarkable improvement.-London Lancet. HOW A DOCTOR'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE AFFECTS HIS PRACTICE.The Lyon medical speaks of a young American ophthalmologist who had operated on an old gentleman for cataract. As soon as the old fellow was able to see, he was in great haste to have a look at his preserver. But the face disappointed him; the man was too young. "It is all the better for you, doctor," he exclaimed, "that I couldn't see you before; you are too young, and I never should have chosen you as a physician!" How sublime, remarks our contemporary, was this heartfelt cry from a man whose sight the surgeon had just restored, and what a gauge it is of human foolishness! New York Medical Journal. Special Notices. AN IDEAL MOUTH-WASH.—In an interesting article on Antiseptics in Dentistry, Dr. H. C. Kahlo, of Indianapolis, says, "that the ideal mouth-wash should possess these essential properties: It should be antiseptic, alkaline, deodorant, somewhat astringent, yet entirely agreeable to the senses of taste and smell. Antiseptic, to arrest fermentation existing through presence of particles of focd which remain lodged between and about the teeth. Alkaline, in order to neutralize any acidity, the presence of which is so destructive to tooth structure. Deodorant, that any existing odor arising from fermentation, the use of tobacco, etc., may be destroyed, or at least modified, thereby rendering the breath inoffensive. The astringent property of a mouth-wash should not exist in a marked degree, only sufficiently to assist in preserving a healthful condition of the gums and mucous membrane. By combining a pleasant taste and fragrance to the preparation, you endow it with properties which assist perhaps more than its real prophylactic worth in influencing the patients to use it regularly." Among the many antiseptic preparations that have been recommended from time to time, none of them corresponds so closely to requisites of an ideal mouthwash as Bensolyptus (Schieffelin & Co.). It is composed of a number of highly approved antiseptics in an alkaline solution. Although possessing strong antiseptic and deodorant properties, it is perfectly free from all irritating effects, while its pleasant taste and agreeable odor commend it even to fastidious persons. As a preservative for the teeth and as a preparation for correcting unhealthy conditions of the mouth, Bensolyptus is deserving of a careful trial, since it is the outcome of thorough scientific experimentation in the laboratory and in clinical practice. The Proper Treatment of Headaches.-J. Stewart Norwell, M. B., C. M., B. Sc., House Surgeon in Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Scotland, in an original article written especially for Medical Reprints, London, Eng., reports a number of cases of headache successfully treated, and terminates his article in the following language: "One could multiply similar cases, but these will suffice to illustrate the effects of antikamnia in the treatment of various headaches, and to warrant the following conclusions I have reached with regard to its use, viz: (a) It is a specific for almost every kind of headache. (b) It acts with wonderful rapidity. (c) The dosage is small. (d) The dangerous after-effects so commonly attendant on the use of many other analgesics are entirely absent. (e) It can therefore be safely put into the hands of patients for use without personal supervision. (f) It can be very easily taken, being practically tastless." PRIMARY SYPHILIS.-In the treatment of primary syphilis mercury is almost a specific; bichloride of mercury is the best form, given by os, hypodermically or by inunction. The last two forms of treatment, however, are very disagreeable, necessitating personal attendance on the part of the physician and preventing the patient from attending to his duties, if they be such as to leave him no time during the day or perhaps requiring his leaving the city. If we now consider that next to mercury tonics of iron and arsenic are the most important drugs to be given, Henry's Three Chlorides, which contain all three ingredients and never cause any disagreeable symptoms, is the desideratum in the treatment of syphilis. OF INTEREST TO MILITARY AND Naval SurgeoNS.-Whether or not the military and naval forces of the Government at present under arms are to see much active service or participate in many pitched battles, certain it is that many minor casualties will occur and that the Surgeons will be called upon to treat a considerable number of minor wounds such as burns, abrasions, small cuts, etc.; in this connection it would seem as if the new local anesthetic Orthoform should prove of peculiar service. For the benefit of the medical officers in charge of large bodies of men, we will state that Orthoform is a fine white powder entirely non-poisonous, possessing the unique power of producing complete and continuous anesthesia when applied to denuded surfaces or whenever it can be brought in direct contact with sensitive nerve-endings. As the drug is also a distinct antiseptic it needs no sterilization. It can be applied pure as a powder or in 10 to 20 per cent ointment with any desired base. Messrs. Victor Koechl & Co., 122 Hudson St., New York, the American Agents, will be glad to send literature and samples to any medical officer requesting same. IMPERIAL GRANUM is a prepared food that makes friends wherever its merits become known. The writer has been familiar with it for years, and takes pleasure in relating the following clinical test of its merits: "The patient, reduced by disease and from the effect of the anodynes necessarily given to alleviate her sufferings, developed malignant cholera-morbus, and for days lay in an almost unconscious condition. As a last resort she was taken to a Boston hospital where the physicians began administering IMPERIAL GRANUM, prepared as directed for acute cases, in very small quantities. After several trials it was retained, and the strength and quantity was slowly increased. After four weeks' treatment taking IMPERIAL GRANUM only for nourishment, she was discharged from the hospital, and a few weeks later endured a severe surgical operation from which she completely recovered, and to-day seems in perfect health." JOHN C. LEVIS, M. D., West Bridgewater, Pa., says: I have used Celerina in my own case for insomnia. Among all the hypnotic preparations and nerve tonics it stands justly pre-eminent. Several persons are now using it and report that no preparation has given such permanent and prompt relief. In a general practice of more than half a century this is perhaps the first public testimony I have offered. Celerina is the very best nerve tonic now offered to the profession, and can not be too highly recommended. To those wanting a nerve stimulant it will be just the remedy. NOTWITHSTANDING the large number of HYPOPHOSPHITES on the market, it is quite difficult to obtain a uniform and reliable Syrup. “ROBINSON's” is a highly elegant preparation, and possesses an advantage over some others, in that it holds the various salts, including Iron, Quinine, and Strychnine, etc., in PERFECT SOLUTION, and is not liable to the formation of fungous growths. MR. J. B. DANIEL: Dear Sir-The Passiflora Incarnata sent me has had a magic effect on my patient, a single woman thirty years old, whom the physicians that treated her before I saw her were going to send her to an Insane Asylum because she was prostrated by nerves and wild, but the medicine has cured her, and she is all right now. Yours very truly, Delevan, N. Y. A. WILTSE, M. D. Barley Crystals" (Taswell & Sheals, Watertown, N. Y.) is a nourishing and simple diet in cases of Nervous Prostration and Cholera Infantum, which I have long needed in the Home for Mothers and Infants here. Baltimore, Md. DR. K. C. HIND. I HAVE used Seng and found it to be a most valuable stomachal tonic. It is a pleasure to recommend a remedy that truly deserves commendation. West Liberty, W. Va. E. M. EPSTEIN, M. D. Certainly it is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than any thing else.-RUSKIN. Original Articles. THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE KENTUCKY STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY AT Maysville, MAY 11, 1898. BY J. M. MATHEWS, M. D. Ladies and Gentlemen: Any man must feel complimented to be elected President of the Kentucky State Medical Society. So many men distinguished and honored have filled this chair, that it must be regarded as one of much dignity, and I therefore return my heartfelt thanks to the members for this distinction having been placed on me. It becomes my painful duty in the beginning of this address to call to your mind that a recent President of this Society has been called to his reward by the divine power who gave him life. A man indeed among men. A physician the peer of any, kind, gentle, and affable always, courteous, dignified, and yet withal never assuming, a citizen of great worth to the Commonwealth, a father devoted to his family, a husband with the truest instincts of devotion. So John Q. A. Stewart died as he had lived, honored and respected by all men. In looking around for a subject that might interest yon, my mind was put at ease when I learned that my distinguished and scholarly friend, Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd, was to address you also to-night. I shall therefore leave to him the pleasant duty of entertaining you indeed, while I "beat about the bush" and see what I can scare up, without attempting to be either scientific or profound. The State Board of Health. I am sure it is not necessary to beg pardon for saying a few words to you concerning the work of the State |