gency outfit to do aseptic work. And yet the railway surgeons in each community are the men who do not only the railroad surgery, but the bulk of the general surgical work in the localities in which they live. Therefore I do not hesitate to emphasize in the columns of The Railway Surgeon the importance of being prepared with a complete outfit to do aseptic emergency surgery. I would ask every man who reads this article to ask himself if he is so prepared, and I would urge every one who is not, to study the subject carefully and furnish himself with the necessary emergency outfit, not necessarily the one I outline below, but one which is equally complete and efficient. The complete outfit consists of the following articles: One emergency bag containing I amputating knife for hip and thigh, I amputating knife for leg and arm, 6 minor operating knives, I Emmett's uterine needle holder, 12 Tait's artery forceps, I pair Collin's retractors, 2 plated probes, 2 grooved directors, I pair strong scissors, I pair curved scissors, I pair strong scissors, 6 inches, I pair of Liston's bone forceps, I pair of curved lithotomy forceps, I bone curette, I set Brainard's bone drills, I Smith & Sharp thermometer, I wooden case for two amputating knives, I wooden case for 8 smaller knives, I razor in case, I dozen assorted uterine needles, I dozen assorted surgeons' needles, I hypodermic syringe and tablets in an aluminum case. I set of Murphy's buttons, 1 Bouchard's syphon syringe, 14-ounce hard rubber syringe, I papier maché catheter case, 6 dressing splints, 2 plated male catheters, 2 Nelaton's catheters (soft rubber), 3 filiform bougies, 2 Hunter's wedges, I bottle of assorted drainage tubes, I large aspirating syringe, I Esmarch's bandage, I eight-ounce metal cased bottle for chloroform, I four-ounce metal cased bottle for alcohol. pound of ether, I bottle of sublimate tablets, I coil silkworm gut, I hard rubber iodoform duster, 2 bottles of assorted catgut, I bottle kangaroo tendons, I Esmarch's chloroform inhaler. 3 duck rolls for instruments, I Esmarch's tongue forceps. One 16-inch telescope case containing 6 plaster of Paris bandages, (3 inches by 6 Notes of Societies. American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The ninth annual meeting of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists will be held at the Hotel Jefferson, Richmond, Va., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 22, 23 and 24, 1896. The proprietors of the Jefferson offer special rates to the Fellows of the association, their families and guests, as well as to any physicians who come to attend the meeting. It is confidently expected that the railways will offer transportation at a uniform rate of a fare and a third on the certificate plan to all in attendance. Let all obtain certificates from I can of sublimate gauze, I can borated gauze, pound of absorbent cotton, dozen gauze bandages (2 inches by 10 yards), dozen cotton bandages (2 inches by 8 yards), dozen flannel bandages (4 inches by 8 yards), 2 brass pulleys, 3 dozen safety-pins, I pure rubber bandage (2 inches), 2 rolls adhesive plaster (1 and 2 inches), 6 sterilized laparotomy pads, 8 sterilized towels, I can of iodoform gauze (10 per cent), 20 tubes of sterilized silk, Needles for intestinal sutures, 2 aprons, I nail brush. 100 State street. their local ticket agents, or from the nearest point where certificates are granted. OUTLINE PROGRAMME. The association will meet in executive session with closed doors on Tuesday, September 22, at 9:30 o'clock a. m., for the election of new Fellows. The open session for the reading of papers will begin at 10 o'clock a. m. Recess for luncheon at 1 o'clock p. m. Afternoon session at 3 o'clock p. m. An evening session will be held Tuesday at 8 o'clock. Morning session will begin Wednesday at 9:30 o'clock for the reading of scientific papers. Recess at 1 o'clock. Afternoon session at 3 o'clock. Adjournment at 5 o'clock. Executive session at 6:30 o'clock. Annual dinner at 8 o'clock p. m. Thursday morning the session will begin at 10 o'clock. Recess at 1 o'clock. Afternoon session at 3 o'clock. Final adjournment at 5 o'clock. A full attendance is specially requested at the final session. PAPERS PROMISED. Note. No attempt is made to arrange papers in the order in which they are to be read. That will be done in the permanent programme. 1. "Principles and Progress in Gynecology." President's address. Joseph Price, Philadelphia. 2. "Vaginal Hysterectomy by the Clamp Method," Sherwood Dunn, Los Angeles. 3. "Further Experience With Appendicitis," A. Vander Veer, Albany. 4. "Relation of Malignant Disease of the Adnexa to Primary Invasion of the Uterus," A. P. Clarke, Cambridge. 5. "Treatment of Puerperal Septicemia," H. W. Longyear, Detroit. 6. "Treatment of Posterior Presentation of the Vertex," E. P. Bernardy, Philadelphia. 7. "Relation of local Visceral Disorders to the Delusions and Hallucinations of the Insane," W. P. Manton, Detroit. 8. "Differential Diagnosis of Hemhorrhage, Shock and Sepsis," Eugene Boise, Grand Rapids. 9. "Movable Kidney: Local and Remote Results," A H. Cordier, Kansas City. 10. "Pathology and Indications for Active Surgical Treatment in Contusions of the Abdomen," W. G. Macdonald, Albany. II. "Some Causes of Insanity in Women," George H. Rohé, Sykesville. 12. Subject to be announced, John Milton Duff, Pittsburg. 13. "Shall Hysterectomy be Performed in Inflammatory Diseases of the Appendages?" L. H. Dunning, Indianapolis. 14. Subject to be announced, Rufus B. Hall, Cincinnati. 115. Subject to be announced, Geo. Ben Johnston, Richmond. 16. "Dynamic Ileus: With Report of Cases," J. W. Long, Richmond. 17. "Faradic Treatment of Uterine Inertia and Subinvolution," Charles Stover, Amsterdam. 18. "A Plea for Absorbable Ligatures," H. E. Hayd, Buffalo. 19. "Treatment of the Stump," J. F. Baldwin, Columbus. 20. "Limitations in the Teachings of Obstetrics and Gynecology as Determined by State Medical Examining Boards," William Warren Potter, Buffalo. 21. Subject to be announced, Walter B. Chase, Brooklyn. 22. (a) The Philosophy of Drainage;" (b) "Treatment of the Pedicle in Hysterectomy or Hystero-myomectomy in the Abdominal Methods," Geo. F. Hulbert, St. Louis. 23. "Removal of the Uterine Appendages for Epilepsy and Insanity; A Plea for Its More General Adoption," D. Tod Gilliam, Columbus. 24. "Albuminuria of Pregnancy," A. Fr. Eklund, Stockholm. 25. Subject to be announced, Lawson Tait, Birmingham. 26. "Unnecessary and Unnatural Fixation. of the Uterus and Its Results," James F. W. Ross, Toronto. 27. "Sarcoma of the Urethra," Charles A. L. Reed, Cincinnati. 28. "Appendicitis as a Complication in Suppurative Inflammation of the Uterine Appendages," L. S. McMurtry, Louisville. 29. "Gunshot Wounds of the Abdomen With the New Gun," J. D. Griffith, Kansas City. 30. Subject to be announced, Walter B. Dorsett, St. Louis. 31. Subject to be announced, W. E. B. Davis, Birmingham. 32. Subject to be announced, E. Arnold Praeger, Los Angeles. 33. "Tubo-ovarian Cysts, With Interesting Cases," A. Goldsphon, Chicago. 34. "Obstruction of the Bowels Following Abdominal Section," Geo. S. Peck, Youngstown. 35. Memorial of Dr. Hiram Corson, Traill Green, Easton. Correspondence is pending concerning additional papers. All titles must be offered before August 25, when the permanent programme goes to press. The executive council directs attention to the following by-law: PAPERS. VI. The titles of all papers to be read at any annual meeting shall be furnished to the secretary not later than one month before the first day of the meeting. No paper shall be read before the association that has already been published or that has been read before any other body. Not more than thirty minutes shall be occupied in reading any paper before the association. Abstracts of all papers read should be furnished to the secretary at the meeting. All papers read before the association shall become its sole property if accepted for publication; and the executive council may decline to publish any paper not handed to the secretary complete before the final adjournment of the annual meeting. Dr. Geo. Ben Johnston, 407 E. Grace street, Richmond, Va., is chairman of the committee of arrangements, who should be addressed in regard to hotel accommodations and railway fares. Joseph Price, President. William Warren Potter, Secretary. We are much pleased to be able to publish in this issue a most excellent paper by Professor A. H. Levings of Milwaukee, under the above title. We take an especial pride in this paper, for the reason that it describes a lot of valuable experimental work which was performed as a preparation for an original thesis to be read at the ninth annual meeting of the National Association of Railway Surgeons. Only those who have been engaged in such research can fully appreciate the amount of toil which Doctor Levings has performed in working out his experiments and making his modest report. We feel sure that all our friends who favored us with papers at the St. Louis meeting of the association will forgive us when we say that we regard this paper as the most valuable, from a purely scientific standpoint, of the papers which were read at that time. Dr. Levings is certainly. to be congratulated upon his paper as a whole, and especially upon his successful establishment of the fact that the adjacent muscle affords the most suitable material for bridging the defect in resected nerves. We We make no apology for reprinting in this issue the masterly article of Professor Senn, under the above title. We regard it as one of the soundest contributions to modern surgical literature, and coming from the pen of such an authority as Doctor Senn, it must do a great good especially at a time when every new graduate in medicine regards himself as a surgeon and when so many who occupying positions as teachers would fain make us feel that modern surgery scarce has any limitations. Few men have done as much for American surgery during the last decade. as has Doctor Senn; perhaps no one man has ever done as much for American surgeons as he, and all honor is due him for his boldness and his honesty in taking the stand for rational conservatism which he has taken in the article above referred to. THE SURGEON'S ARMAMENTARIUM. Of course the prime essential in the practice of modern surgery is a man of sound judgment and individual skill. Scarcely second in importance, we would say, comes thorough scientific preparation. Certainly the third pre-requisite for success must be the equipment, for without the best tools even the most skilled workman cannot do his best. We publish in other columns of this issue a paper by Professor Arthur Dean Bevan of Chicago, in which he describes a most complete, and some will say, elaborate outfit for emergency surgery, and suggests that every surgeon, and especially those engaged in railway work, prepare himself, as he has already done, to pick up his grips at a moment's notice and go to any case, no matter how serious, fully equipped with instruments, dressings, and other appliances. He makes the statement that with such an outfit any well trained surgeon may perform in a farmer's kitchen as aseptic an operation as can be done in any modern hospital. We also reprint in this issue a short paper by Doctor A. J. Ochsner, which originally appeared in The Corpuscle, in which he describes his method of performing a thoroughly aseptic operation amidst the filthiest surroundings. We know from personal experience the comfort and feeling of security which comes from being ever ready, and cheerfully endorse the advice of Doctor Bevan that everyone who does surgical work should provide himself with a complete outfit suited to the work which he is called upon to perform, and always have it in order and within easy reach. The outfit described in Doctor Bevan's article may seem to many surgeons altogether more elaborate than is necessary, but we feel sure that his paper will be a helpful guide to many, especially of the younger men, in the selection or preparation of an emergency outfit which will save them many annoyances and make their practical work much simpler and more successful. We can also testify from familiarity with Doctor Ochsner's work and from personal experience, that it is possible to do aseptic work in the way and under the circumstances which he describes, but it requires constant care and thoughtfulness in regard to many details and a carefully prepared outfit which is constantly replenished and kept in order. It has been decided to erect in one of the squares of Paris a monument to the memory of M. Pasteur. Statues or busts will also, no doubt, be located at his birthplace and in other cities. The Paris committee has, however, wisely determined that the statue obtained through international effort shall be located at Paris, where it will be seen by the greatest number of his countrymen and also by the greatest number of his admirers from other lands. The Paris committee has for honorary members the President of the Republic and his cabinet, together with about one hundred and sixty of the most prominent officials, scientists and other distinguished citizens of France. The active members of the committee are: J. Bertrand, president, member of the French Academy, perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences; J. Simon, vice-president, member of the French Academy, perpetual secretary of the Academy of Moral and Political Science; Grancher, secretary, member of the Academy of Medicine, professor in the Faculty of Medicine; Bruardel, member of the Academy and of the Academy of Medicine, dean of the Faculty of Medicine; A. Christophle, honorary governor of the Credit Foncier, deputy from l'Orne; Count Delaborde, perpetual secretary of the Academy orf Fine Arts; Duclaux, member of the Academy of Science and of the Academy of Medicine; Magnin, governor of the Bank of France, vice-president of the Senate; Baron A. de Rothschild, banker; Roux, assistant director of the Pasteur Institute; Wallon, perpetual secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres. The Paris committee has kindly extended the opportunity to the people of the United States to assist in this tribute of appreciation and love and have authorized the organization of the Pasteur Monument Committee of the United States. The members of this commitee gladly accept the privilege of organizing the subscription, and of receiving and transmitting the funds which are raised. We believe it is unnecessary to urge anyone to subscribe. The contributions of Pasteur to science and to the cause of humanity |