with each in carrying forward the great work he loved so much, and in which he was ardently engaged. Resolved, That we tender to his family in this sad hour of affliction our heartfelt sympathy. Resolved, That these resolutions be handed the family of our deceased brother, and to the daily papers and to the TEXAS MEDICAL JOURNAL, and be spread upon the minutes of this Association. JOHN V. SPRING, Committee. At a called meeting of the San Antonio Druggists' Association, held last night, the following resolutions were adopted: WHEREAS, It has pleased an all-wise Providence to remove from our midst by death Dr. George Cupples; therefore be it Resolved, That the San Antonio Druggists' Association, while bowing with resignation to the will of the Almighty, do learn with sorrow of the demise of that distinguished citizen and illustrious member of the medical profession. Resolved, That the City of San Antonio in the death of Dr Cupples has lost one of its most respected, venerable and upright citizens, and one who stood by the city in time of need, and whose many good deeds will perpetuate his memory and be more lasting than monuments of marble. Resolved, That the medical profession has lost one of its brightest ornaments, but to his record it can always point with pride, which stands out in bold relief and challenges the admiration of mankind, and will be a shining model and beacon light for the present and future generations yet unborn. Resolved, That the San Antonio Druggists' Association have lost a loyal friend, patron and supporter, one who by his wise counsel and example gave spirit and emulation to our Association. Resolved, That the public at large have lost a benefactor, both as a citizen and physician, whose genial and helping presence and skill will ever be missed. Resolved, That we extend our heartfelt sympathies to his bereaved family in this the sad hour of their affliction. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished his family and printed in the city papers. GEORGE J. F. SCHMITT, GEORGE H. KALTEYER, A. DREISS, E. REUSS, W. R. CLAVIN, Committee. Medical Advertising and the Mails. NEW YORK, March 28, 1895. To the Editor of the New York Medical Journal: SIR: I received to-day (in common with many other victims, I suppose) a pamphlet containing some twenty reproductions of photographs of syphilitic skin lesions. Many of the pictures were of men stark naked, and showing uncommonly well-developed genitalia. One picture showed the genitalia, and but little of the man. This pamphlet, issued to advertise some proprietary nostrum, was sent by mail to my house, and lay for a while on the table of my waiting room in an unsealed envelope, so that any woman or child prompted by curiosity might easily have inspected it, which they would have been all the more prone to do since the wrapper was marked in large letters, "for medical men only." While photographs of this kind have a legitimate place in systematic works on syphilis, to use them for purposes of commercial exploitation is disgusting, and to thrust them into a man's house in such a way that any member of his family-the women, the children, and the female servants-may easily get hold of them, is a signal invasion of his rights. I have sent the pamphlet, with the wrapper as I received it, to the Postmaster-General at Washington, with the request that the postoffice take means for the abatement of this nuisance. For scarcely a week goes by without there arriving by mail, in open envelopes, pamphlets marked in large letters on the covers, "Painful Menstruation," "Sterility," "Impotence," or some such title calculated to arouse curiosity, and it is some trouble to be obliged to tear these to pieces 'small enough to be useless before throwing them into the waste basket. But pamphlets of this sort are petty annoyances compared with the ostentatious indecency of the publication received to-day. While we may call on the postal authorities to protect us from having these things thrust into our houses in unsealed envelopes, yet the ultimate cure for this evil (steadily on the increase) must be sought in the attitude of the medical profession itself, which should mete out a stern disapproval to all who, for the sake of selling their wares, offend against decency and good sense. WALTER MENDELSON, M. D. NEW YORK, March 29, 1895. To the Editor of the New York Medical Journal: SIR: A letter has reached me from a medical practitioner of this city in which he complains regarding a pamphlet recently sent out by our company. This pamphlet is intended to show the therapeutic value of arsenauro and mercauro. It is entitled "Twenty Photographs for the Medical Profession Only," and it means exactly what it says. My response to the complainant will be found herein. May I ask that you publish it? M. D., CHARLES ROOME PARmele. [Mr. Parmele's inclosure.] Street, New York: "NEW YORK, March 28, 1895. "DEAR SIR:-Your favor of even date just received. If our pamphlet has reached other eyes than your own in your house, the writer exceedingly regrets the fact. Upon both the envelope and the pamphlet are the plain Anglo-Saxon words, 'For the Medical Profession Only.' Far worse illustrations appear in the medical journals and in medical text-books, and if you subscribe for any you must know that neither reach you in sealed envelopes. It occurs to us that every physician who keeps pace with medical progress must constantly receive in his office many things which are profitable to him, yet not intended as an amusement to the household. The writer claims to possess proper instincts as to morality, propriety, and refinement; hence the wording on the envelope and on the pamphlet. "You speak of our goods as nostrums. Permit us to say that they are not such; they are very remarkable chemical products and indorsed by professional colleagues of yours whose utterances we do not believe you will have the temerity to question. We do not permit the laity to have any of our literature, our work being done in strictly ethical channels. "Pardon us if we offer the suggestion that, inasmuch as your office and residence are in the same building, you do as other medical practitioners do-namely, insist that communications addressed to you be opened by you and not inspected by those to whom the communications are not addressed. If the members of a household should inspect every medical journal which comes to a physiclan, your line of argument would exclude the very data which make medical journals of value. How about the New York Medical Journal, the New York Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the American Journal of Obstetrics, the Journal of Cutaneous and Genito-urinary Diseases? All of them contain illustrations of interest to a physician, but not of profit to his family. Very truly yours, [The above is reproduced from the New York Medical Journal as being of interest to all physicians, and especially as there are differences of opinion among physicians on the subject. There are two sides to this question, as there are said to be to all questions; and undoubtedly, in our opinion, Mr. Parmele is on the correct side. He might have asked his doctor-correspondent if his family do not have access to his medical library? Many physicians keep most of their medical books at home, for night reading, and if he were not afraid Susan or Jane, or some member of his family, might get hold of Morrow's Atlas, for instance. Physicians who will allow the average daily paper, and we blush to say it, especially the religious papers, to come into their families, with all the vile stuff they publish-pictures and all-ought not to complain of strictly medical works; for they-the papers -are infinitely worse; they put evil thoughts in the minds of young persons which would never be suggested by any such pictures as are described; they incite to immorality. For instance; a lady is assured of immediate relief-for suppression, but is cautioned not to take the medicine if pregnant! An abor tifacient recommended as sure to produce the desired effect. Why not ask Mr. Postmaster Wilson to taboo Gray's Anatomy? Out on such prudery. --ED.] A Texas Doctor in Luck. Friends of Dr. L. W. Cock, late of San Marcos, Texas, will be pleased to learn that he has perfected a device for disinfecting, and for preserving meats, etc. It is an ingeniously constructed apparatus which burns sulphur, boracic acid, and some other ingredients, liberating a gas which has been said to be a pure bisulphide of carbon. This gas, while deadly to all germ, insect and parasite life, and even to higher organizations, rats, mice, roaches, ants, etc., is said to be free from danger to man. The doctor is in Chicago; has organized a stock company, and has gotten all the pecuniary assistance necessary to introduce his invention. He writes the JOURNAL that experimental tests have been made which show it is especially well adapted to disinfecting hotels and sleeping cars. In his pamphlet the doctor very pertinently says: "Why should you be required to occupy a room at a hotel, a berth in a sleeping car, or a state-room in a steamer, unless the same has been disinfected, when it may possibly have been occupied the night before by a consumptive or a person suffering from small-pox, diphtheria, yellow fever, typhoid or scarlet fever, or a score of other diseases? Why, we ask, should this be required of you, any more than that you should be required to sleep between the same sheets his body has polluted-when for a few cents the apartment can be fumigated with the Acme, which will insure safety and cleanliness. "Surely, the prices charged and paid for those accommodations are large enough to warrant the expenditure of five or ten cents to rid the room of all disease germs, and guarantee the guest or occupant an atmosphere to stay in, as pure and sweet as that in the mountains." The doctor is right Book Notices. TWENTIETH CENTURY PRACTICE. An International Encyclopedia of Modern Medical Science. By Leading Authors of Europe and America. Edited by Thomas L. Stedman, M. D., New York City. In Twenty Volumes. Volume II. Nutritive Disorders. New York: William Wood and Company. 1895. Volume I. of this work was issued three months ago, and a notice of that volume, together with an outline of the plan and scope of the entire work, appeared in the March number of the JOURNAL. It is the purpose of the publishers to issue one volume every three months, until the whole series of twenty volumes have been published. That it will be the greatest medical work of this century, and a worthy successor of the great but too ancient Encyclopdæia of Ziemssen, we have no doubt. In this volume, the following subjects are considered: Addison's Disease, and other Diseases of the Adrenal Bodies, by Sir Dyce Duckworth, M. D., LL. D., of London-31 pages. Diabetes Mellitus, by Carl Von Noorden, M. D., of Frankforton-the-Main-154 pages. Rheumatism, by T. J. Maclagan, M. D., of London-143 pages. Gout, by Henry M. Lyman, M. D., of Chicago-182 pages. Arthritis Deformous, by Archibald E. Garrod, M. D., of London-64 pages. Diseases of the muscles, by G. S. Dujardin-Beaumetz, M. D., of Paris-48 pages. Obesity, by M. J. Oertel, M. D., of Munich-103 pages. The index covers twelve pages. |