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of some flavoring which would correct the otherwise objectionable taste, and at the same time make agreeable the odor. As far as I have yet been able to judge, the resultant solution is perfect, from a pharmaceutical as well as from a physiological and therapeutical standpoint. In making it public, as I do now for the first time, simultaneously in several journals, I take the liberty of claiming priority, and at the same time claim originality in the application of the drug.

Working formula for the production of an aqueous solution of strontium arsenite, one per cent :

LIQ. STRONTII ARSENITIS AQUOSUS, ONE PER CENT.

R Strontium arsenite, Merck,

Potass. bicarb, .

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Triturate the strontium arsenite with ten grains of the potass. bicarbonate; transfer to a small porcelain capsule, and add two drams of the distilled water. Apply heat up to the boiling point; decant the clear solution and add small quantity of the bicarbonate of potassium and one dram of water to the residue, boiling again and then decanting the clear solution. Continue to boil the residue as before, each time with a small quantity of the bicarbonate and about one dram of water, or less, until the entire residue is dissolved. The compound spirits of orange is dissolved in one-half dram of alcohol, and the one dram of syrup is added. The solution is now filtered, and sufficient water added to bring the total quantity up to one ounce.

We thus prepare a clear, aromatic one-per-cent aqueous solution of strontium arsenite, having a sweetish taste, an agreeable odor, and permanent. The writer recommends it as seemingly, in every way, worthy our confidence, and a decided improvement over Fowler's solution.

LOUISVILLE.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN AND PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

BY J. F. RASCOE, M. D.

Divine wisdom conceived and Omnipotent power created man a perfect model of animal mechanism, each and every organ performing its wanted function. The same wisdom and power created myriads of planets and worlds, and they still, though ages have elapsed, are revolving in their respective spheres in perfect harmony with the original intention.

But man transgressed law, and two penalties were the result: Woman should suffer the pangs of labor, man should earn his bread by the sweat of his face. Theologians tell us that he was assigned to a spiritual death, and that all physical suffering is due to violation of law. Be this as it may, it is not the province of physicians to deal with metaphysics, but rather to face facts and environments as they find them.

This once beautiful piece of organism we find to-day loaded down with a whole train of transmitted diseases: Consumption, rheumatism, syphilis, lung, heart, liver, and kidney troubles; while the very air we breathe is contaminated with a host of endemic and epidemic entities, smallpox, measles, whooping-cough, diphtheria, cholera, yellow and typhoid fevers, and various and many others, to say nothing of our constant enemy, malaria. Septic agents are ever ready for the slightest abrasion. All these at home, to say nothing of the scourges that infest the older countries. So we find from the cradle to the grave we are running a continuous gauntlet.

To eradicate and stamp out such as are transmissible, of which there are a goodly number, and to find out how best to forestall those that are not, is the work of physicians as the guardians of the public health. To undertake to canvass this subject in its entirety would transcend the limit of this paper by far. So with a brief reference to our transmissible or inherited diseases, we will pass on.

I am of the opinion that a large percentage of our inherited troubles had their origin in filth, promiscuous cohabitation, poor food, and a total disregard of hygiene. Both sacred and profane history bear out the assertion. If we go back to the early history of the human race we find licentiousness, drunkenness, and filth was the order of the day. Both men and women were given to excesses of every description.

They herded together like cattle, and were from a higher social standpoint very little above the brute creation. Indeed, we find during one epoch such a condition of venereal diseases existed as to make necessary to engraft circumcision into the religious code of laws as a sanitary

measure.

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Many of you gentlemen no doubt have been appalled at what you have seen in the dives and dens of negroes and lower class of whites. But these are not to be compared to the times referred to. For if we come down to so recent a period as the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, they are all classed as harlots and whoremongers. There could not be. even five righteous persons found in those great cities. I cite this merely to show what a filthy and disease-breeding age existed even then. There is no doubt but that poor food, vitiated air, and the like tend to lower vital organism.

No less distinguished a personage than the grand and great Paul F. Eve, the pride of two continents, said in a lecture that tight houses and feather beds were a prolific source of consumption. Many of you older members of the profession remember the ravages scurvy made in the ranks of our young soldiers who were put in prison. Robust, vigorous, and models of young manhood, they went from the active field, and after a few months or years of confinement came out broken down in health and constitutions ruined, the result of poor food and vitiated air. So I repeat and emphasize, that poor food, vitiated air, and promiscuous cohabitation and filth were the main factors of most of our inherited diseases through succeeding generations. The remedy for these transmissible diseases we leave to the consideration of those who are to come after us, as no one has offered any thing practical on the subject. Some have suggested the organization of societies requiring each member to obtain a physician's certificate of freedom from all constitutional taints before entering into matrimony. While this would be a move in the right direction, we can not hope for its becoming a general law.

Dismissing this part of the subject, we will hurriedly notice those diseases that are not inherited. As you are aware, there are just certain ways that materies morbi can enter the system, namely, through the air passages, the alimentary canal, and the skin. Our young friends will tell us that there is a fourth way, as the followers of Venus can testify. Of this latter class, however, we need not speak more than to say, to afford protection from these loathsome diseases some have suggested circum

cision and licensed houses; but I think nothing but educating people to a higher life of chastity will ever do away with their ravages.

We next come to the skin. I believe it was Paracelsus who said, "Every opening of the flesh may become a doorway to death." The truthfulness of this has often been verified by a pin scratch taking on erysipelas, or some other septic agent finding ingress. But, thanks to the immortal Lister, this need no longer be the case, for to-day we see the most capital operations performed with perfect impunity. It is true that an undue exposure of the surface, that is, a sudden transition from a warm to a cold atmosphere, will cause congestion, but this can be avoided.

We now come to the two last sources of our bodily troubles, the stomach and lungs. Of those brought about by over-indulgence at the table, moderation is of course all that is necessary to prevent. I believe all have agreed that it is through our drinking-water that typhoid fever finds ingress into the system. And since we have a State bacteriologist ready and willing to inspect samples of our drinking-water, if physicians will but do their duty and the people co-operate with them, we need no longer let this disease obtain to any great extent.

We now come to the last source of our troubles, that is, the lungs. There is no question but what by far the larger majority of our diseases are carried into the system in the air we breathe. For the past fifteen or twenty years I have been giving this subject some consideration, and I am thoroughly convinced that just as the surgeon protects by his aseptic treatment his patients from the ingress of microbes, so the physician can guard against the ingress of these germs. If the surgeon by his aseptic technique, having his bandages, instruments, and operating-room sterilized, can prevent these deadly agents from entering so large a surface as is left after laparotomy and other capital operations, I can see no good reason why we can not prevent their entrance into so small a space as the nose and mouth. There is no longer any doubt that bacteriologists can recognize the various microbes, for they all have their peculiar and distinguishing characteristics. Not only is this so, but it has been ascertained what is inimical to the existence of some of them. I am thoroughly of the opinion, if we could get Congress to make suitable appropriations to establish experiment stations, and have competent men to take charge of them, a great deal could be accomplished in securing immunity from disease. Year by year millions of dollars

are voted to protect our coast defenses, while untold thousands pass away annually from disease where there is one endangered by a foreign foe.

"A wise physician, skilled our wounds to heal,

Is more than armies to the public weal."

My idea would be to have at each experiment station a medical board composed of a bacteriologist, an analytical chemist, a therapeutist, and a general practitioner of medicine. Let them have the authority and means to select a building during an epidemic, sterilize it by spraying the walls, ceiling, and floor with such germicides as in their wisdom best suits the case. Purify the atmosphere by charging it with medicated steam. Curtain in the windows and doors with gauze saturated with disinfectants. And when parties are to be exposed, require them to wear a gauze mask treated in like manner. By having a skeleton mask made of wire with glass eyelets, the gauze could be placed over it and worn without any discomforture. A shield of this kind. treated with peroxide of hydrogen would be quite a protection to those treating malignant throat troubles.

I think the time will come when all that will be necessary to protect us from all atmospheric poisons will be to wear a mask over the nose. and mouth that has been saturated with the proper germicide. While on the subject of disinfectants, I wish to say that while we have quite a lot of valuable ones, formaldehyde, peroxide of hydrogen, bromo-chloralum, and the bichloride of mercury, and so on, I do not think there is any better than chlorine. We have it in salt, in the bichloride of mercury, and many other forms. That it is one of the greatest purifiers, we have but to look to the ocean that has purified all of our drinking-water for thousands of years.

In conclusion, permit me to say that while for years I have given this subject considerable thought, on account of circumscribed surroundings and limited means I have been prevented from experimenting and pressing the investigation of this subject as I would like. So now I have very briefly and hurriedly mentioned the subject, with the hope that younger and abler workers in the profession may see fit to give it still further study, for I fully believe a crown of glory like unto that which immortalized Jenner awaits the student who will discover a prophylactic that will bid defiance to all the poisons that float in the air, and protect alike the babe in the cradle and the old physician who rides amid the pestilence.

JULIEN, KY.

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