charmed circle of his knowledge, save and except him who pays this trust-royalty, has descended several steps from his pinnacle of great

ness.

E have one other instance in mind to which we allude with sorrow. A repertory-a book as needful to the homoeopathic practitioner as a Bible to a minister-has been completed. From the very inception of the work, the Journal in interest has advised the profession that it would be sold only by subscription; that as soon as the full number subscribed for had been printed, the type would be distributed, and no plates kept. This has actually been done. Now what was the purpose of this maneuver? Every practical business man, and especially if a printer, or having to do with printing, knows that the greatest expense of a publication is in the composing, and the printing of the first one hundred or two copies; that thereafter the expense is simply the labor and paper. Had this author or compiler been imbued with a proper motive-not that the getting of money by sharp dealing and shrewdness is an improper motive per se-had he been content with a fair remuneration for his time and services, the type of the Repertory might have been put into plates and stored away for reproduction as demand might arise; or a larger edition published for the use of the profession; thus putting within the reach of all medical men the means of becoming better prescribers. As it is, the entire output has been taken up by a few choice spirits, and if any journal in the school was favored with a copy for review purposes it has escaped our notice. "Thrift, thrift, Horatio!"

T

a

**

O return to our text. We opine that the profession at large, or, rather, as a whole, deems the importunities of the several journals for articles as partaking of the nature of a nuisance; that the subscriber does his full duty when he pays his subscription, and ought not to be pestered for copy. Let him who has the time, write. It is well to reflect occcasionally that a medical periodical is what its contributors make it. Advertisements may, for a time, float the paper on which it is printed; but in time the subscription will dwindle away; not because the idle practitioner has failed to air his fine-spun theories, but because the busy practitioner has been too busy to give of his largess to his less busy brother.

Tis the busy practitioner who has the important cases; the cases which the journal is anxious to publish and the subscriber to read. And unless he will contribute, and not simply read what others say, he will soon resemble the shouters in a little burlesque which appears somewhere in "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" when he says that it had once upon a time been agreed that if the inhabitants of this earth would at a certain moment of a certain day, mathematically predetermined, all shout "Boo!" as loudly as they could, the inhabitants of the moon could be signalled. However, when the moment arrived, there remained the most profound silence, each person keeping quiet so as to hear the general noise. Our readers must contribute something

from their mental storehouse, if the interest in the journals is to continue. If all were readers, and none contributors, the end of journalism could not be far off.

ECHOES FROM MINNETONKA.

O. S. RUNNELS, M.D.--I had a case of urethritis perfectly devoid of suspicion of gonorrhoea. It tried me to the utmost. All means failed to do any good in that case. Death a thousand times a day would be drawing it mild. And I finally, in sheer desperation, put the woman under the influence of an anesthetic and dilated that urethra to the point almost of rupture by the introduction of bougie and my finger until the muscle was completely paralyzed, and cured the case. Putting that sphincter completely at rest, by paralyzing its fibers until that irritation. could subside, relieved this case. It may return again in a few months;

or I may never have it to do again.

H. P. HOLMES, M.D.-As to dilatation of the sphincter for vesical irritation, our friends across the water have lately been making some very interesting experiments on microbal infection of the bladder. They have found by experiments upon animals, and verified it in their clinical practice, that retention of urine favors the microbian infection. Ligation has been practiced, and direct infection of the pus microbe has given rise directly to cystitis, where the injection of the microbe without ligation will produce temporary retention. Now if this is the case, it stands to reason that one of the best things to do in that case would be to give such treatment, remedial or instrumental, as will relax. the sphincter muscle and in this way prevent the retention of the urine. Dr. A. C. CowPERTHWAITE.-The last patient I had in my office before coming to this place was a lady who was recently married to a young man whom I had treated for gonorrhoea five years ago, and thought I had radically cured. Said she: "Doctor, do you think he is all right; I believe I have got some bad disease." I recognized the fact that she had gonorrhoea. Some lady friends had doubtlessly warned her that she was in a bad way. I at once hunted up her husband, and from a careful examination and the absence of symptoms, I am certain that the man never had a symptom of gonorrhoea since I treated him. Once in a while he says he will notice, especially in the morning, a little drop of mucus in the mouth of the urethra. His wife has certainly an acute attack of gonorrhoea to-day, and that isn't all; there is no urethritis about it, but there is a cervicitis, and I haven't the slightest doubt from what I have seen of her that we have an ovarian irritation, and that it will pass through the whole of the generative intestine.

DR. ROBERTS.-The majority of cases of gonorrhoea get no treatment whatever, and in my opinion the majority of cases are not benefited. by treatment. The simple remedies aconite, gelsemium, cannabis, at the beginning of the disease are efficient in the treatment. Lately,

however, it has become my opinion from practicing in both schools that neither homœopathy nor allopathy has any remedy that is of any material benefit. In nine cases out of ten, if not ninety-nine in a hundred, they will get absolutely well. I believe further that four out of five cases of gonorrhoea in the female are never treated at all.

C. E. LANING, M.D.-Alcohol for its destroying and oxydizing power in the blood is contra-indicated in pneumonia and in any other hepatic disease; it is contra-indicated in rheumatic disorders; in the socalled bilious pneumonia, if the right lung is involved, simply because the movements of the diaphragm are interfered with, because the action of the liver and the passage of the bile from the liver and the exudation of the substances from the liver take place very largely through the action of the diaphragm pressing upon the liver. Now if you rob this lung of motion from any cause, then the diaphragm ceases to move.

In pneumonia you have that condition; therefore, when you get a bilious pneumonia, look out for your alcohol; you have got to administer it very carefully. Mention has been made of phosphorus to prevent fatty degeneration. I think that may be sometimes prescribed a priori. As scientific physicians we may learn the coming of a thing, as we know by the shadow of the coming event. You see a disease threatening, and you are put to it to give your remedies before the absolute thing has arrived. You must do this on the same principle adopted by Hahnemann when he prescribed belladonna as prophylactic against scarlet fever. So you may prescribe phosphorus or any other remedy to prevent fatty degeneration.

THOMAS M. STRONG, M.D.—I have been chief of staff of Ward's Island Homœopathic Hospital for six years. I was recommended by the Medical Board, and appointed by the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections. My duties are both executive and professional. There are nine physicians on the staff who report to me; three go off every six months. There are twenty-five physicians and surgeons on the visiting board. We get our patients from the ordinary pauper poor of the city. They apply at the central office of Charities and Corrections to go to the hospital, and unless the Commissioner knows some good reason to the contrary he gives them a permit which takes them up to the examining office. Then he distributes the patients to the different hospitals according to their disease, or may reject them. Patients may choose our hospital, otherwise they send us the pro rata, usually about one in three or five. Discrimination could exist, but we have no reason to suppose that it does; if it ever should, the Commissioners are right at our back to stop it. We receive every courtesy from the Commissioners and every attention that our hospital requires. It is a State institution. Our expenses are about $5000 a month. We have 570 beds. We treat everything except infectious diseases.

THE IMPORTANCE OF APPROPRIATE FEEDING AFTER THE NURSING PERIOD, IN PREVENTING DISEASES OF CHILDREN.

THE

By H. M. HOBART, M.D.

HE attention of the profession and those having the care of young children has, of late, repeatedly been called to the great importance of selecting suitable food, and having it properly given.

The magnitude of this subject has been demonstrated by showing the very large mortality among children under one year of age, and by estimating the amount of this that is the result of improper feeding. While much has been written upon this subject, and many valuable and practical articles have been published by different members of the profession, still proof is abundant to show that quite a part of the profession is still very careless and apparently ignorant upon this question, which lies at the foundation of all successful treatment of very young children. But when we observe closely the way children are fed in the majority of homes, after they have passed the nursing period, we shall be convinced that at this time there is even greater carelessness, both on the part of physicians and mothers, than when the children were nursed at the breast and fed with a nursing-bottle.

That children from one to three years of age, to a large extent, do not receive appropriate food, given at proper intervals, is a fact so well known that I shall not take the time to present proof, by giving tabulated reports.*

The cause of improper feeding after the nursing period is two-fold: First, Ignorance; second, Carelessness and over-indulgence. Many parents would have their children properly fed, but the difficulty of selecting the proper food and giving it to them as it should be is great, and with the advice of friends whose children have survived in spite of improper feeding, the chances are that, without some timely directions from the family doctor, they will fail to solve this complex problem, and give little attention to the food question until the results of bad food begin to develop serious symptoms.

It is, however, doubtful if ignorance is the cause of as much bad feeding as is carelessness and over-indulgence. The mother is often occupied otherwise, and an incompetent nurse or servant feeds the little one. At another time he goes to the table, and an indulgent parent or grandparent says, in answer to his wishes: "Oh, that wont hurt him; if he wants it, that is proof that it is just what he needs "; and thus, from mistaken kindness, supply him with articles of diet which they consider suitable for his requirements because they know them to be appropriate for their own.

* These proofs can be secured at any time.

It is not, however, what a child eats, but what he digests and assimilates, that concerns us as regards nutrition. Food constantly taken into the stomach, but not digested and assimilated, proves a source of irritation and does harm.

Later, if the doctor is consulted about what he shall eat, he often replies carelessly, saying: "Oh, he is about two years old now, and can eat almost anything that does not seem to hurt him." Thus the foundation of impaired digestion is slowly and surely laid, which will in due time bring forth its fruits in impaired health or fully developed disease.

This is well illustrated by the following case: Lyon N., aged three years; the son of wealthy parents. He presented a history of repeated attacks of stomach and bowel trouble. He had been treated by an eminent physician for some months without permanent improvement, When the mother consulted me last October, she was becoming alarmed. We prescribed, and at the same time gave careful directions about food and clothing. The little boy did well and escaped the frequently recurring attacks of former months. Later the mother said to me that she had seen her former physician, and told him that the reason he did not succeed in the case was that he was "too high and mighty to look after such little things as food and clothing."

The bad effects of improper feeding may be seen at any period of life, but immediately after the nursing period, when the simple food upon which the child has principally subsisted thus far is withdrawn, he is especially exposed to this danger. As a result of inappropriate feeding at this period we observe three things: First. The child's appetite is perverted; Second. The digestive organs are so enfeebled that the power to resist disease is much reduced; Third. The most serious diseases are developed. Under perfectly normal circumstances instinct may guide us to a large extent in the selection of food. Even in the care of young children when fed upon simple articles of diet, the sensation of hunger will help to regulate the amount of food to be taken. In this way good feeding develops good habits in eating, both as regards quantity and quality of food.

On the other hand, in disordered conditions of the digestive system, there is such a perverted appetite that reason alone must decide the food question.

Uneasiness produced by acidity and flatulence will excite in children. such a great desire for food, that they will often swallow whatever is offered them, although it will soon increase their distress.

Defective nutrition develops and keeps up an abnormal appetite. It is a matter of frequent observation that a child suffering from longcontinued impairment of nutrition from any cause, has his power to resist injurious influences greatly impaired. In this condition he is