Papers Read by Title. Dr. Frank H. Caldwell of Waycross, Ga., superintendent and chief surgeon of the Plant System Relief and Hospital Department, was not present to read his paper, entitled "Relief and Hospital Department." The following abstract, prepared by Dr. Caldwell himself, will be of interest. After giving a history of the establishment of the department by the Plant System, he said: In addition to the hospital benefits given under the old organization to both sick and injured, we give a daily cash benefit to sick and injured, together with a death benefit. You will note from the rate card which I have distributed for your perusal that these benefits range from fifty cents to $2.50 per day, not including Sundays, or in case of sickness, the first six working days. Our benefits then are: First, free medicine and surgical attendance by company surgeons. Second, free care and treatment in company hospitals. Third, a cash payment for each day of sickness and injury, except as above specified. Fourth, a cash death benefit. The cost to the employe for this form of benefit, as compared with other forms, cannot be accurately estimated, as no other mutual association for relief gives the amount of benefit that this department does. After July 1, 1896, each applicant for employment was required to make application upon the prescribed form, and pass a satisfactory medical examination. I would like just here to discuss our methods of examination; more especially the sight, hearing and color sense, but time forbids. Our regulations provide for an advisory committee, elected by the employes from among their own number, to which appeals may be made from the decisions of the superintendent and chief surgeon. Final action is taken by a committee from the board of directors of the Plant System. Could the employe be better protected in his rights? An additional benefit is provided by allowing the employe to keep up his natural death. benefit after leaving the service of the company, whether he is discharged for cause or resigns voluntarily. ciate the benefits of this department? Let us see: On July 1 there were, in round numbers, five thousand three hundred employes; on July 15 we began taking applications, by going over the line on a special train, explaining to the men the workings of the department, and the benefits to be derived therefrom. On August 14 we returned to headquarters, having completed a tour of the system, taking four thousand and seven applications for membership-nearly four-fifths of all employes. At this writing ninety-eight per cent of the old employes are members of the department. J. A. HUTCHINSON, M. D., Chief Surgeon Grand Trunk Railway. What does it cost the Plant System, and how does the company profit by the department? The Plant System pays into the department $1,000 per month in cash; pays the salary of the superintendent and chief surgeon, and allows the use of the office force and facilities of all departments for the proper transaction of the Relief and Hospital Department business. The profit to each company is that they get rid of petty lawsuits which, while not just claims and could not recover, yet are annoying and expensive, and also time demands which are always so hard to settle with equity to both parties. They have strong, able-bodied, physi Do the employes of the Plant System appre- cally perfect employes, and when an employe is distressingly painful, and which destroys that approximate replacement which we call reduc tion. sick or injured they are not worried and tormented with his care and the necessary expenses (as a humane proposition) attached thereto. The Relief and Hospital Department Whatever may be possible with the facilities relieves the management of all these petty of a great hospital, it is impossible for the surgrievances; takes charge of the case, gives the geon who works in isolated regions to propatient prompt and systematic attention, and cure, from a crowd of by-standers, an assistant has him at his post at the earliest possible mo- who can hold a fractured limb motionless in ment, thereby keeping trained men in the serv-mid-air while a plaster dressing is applied, and ice. it is doubtful whether such a limb can be so The Hospital Department was self-sustain-held by anyone, whatever his facilities may be. ing, and so far the combination has been, and The different forms of apparatus invented to we see no reason why it should not continue so. overcome this difficulty have seemed to me to In conclusion the writer asserts that the Relief and Hospital Department of the Plant System is the ideal department, and is the only one which gives the same amount of benefits for as little money. It is self-sustaining, it is popular, it costs the railway company pract:cally nothing in comparison with other systems. Why then cannot all lines of equal importance at least adopt a similar department? The employes are willing, why not the management? The following is an abstract of the paper by Dr. A. C. McClanahan of Red Lodge, Mont., which was read by title: The superiority of plaster-of-Paris as a dressing for fractures is so obvious that, without attempting to prove it, I shall merely recall some of its chief points of excellence and then pass at once to the consideration of the difficulties which attend its use. A plaster dressing fits. It is light, strong and porous. It is cheap and easily altered without disturbing the limb within it. It is, however, difficult of application to recent fractures, for the reason that the broken fragments of bone are extremely liable to become displaced during the application of the dressing. I do not mean to imply by this that a slight deviation of a fractureed bone from its original condition is of any importance. Such permanent alterations can be shown by accurate measurements to result from nearly every fracture, and they could not have their present medico-legal importance if the laity had not been taught, by inexperienced or unscrupulous persons, to expect impossibilities. It is, however, both desirable and difficult to prevent, during the application of plaster, that motion of the jagged ends of the fragments which is so J. L. EDDY, M. D., introduce more difficulties than they over come. My own plan is to apply plaster in the form of roller bandages, while the limb rests on pillows. The limb is first covered by a stocking, the leg of a pair of drawers, or the arm of an undershirt. One of these is worked carefully over the limb, while the latter rests on the pillows, the elasticity and softness of the pillows permitting this to be accomplished without depriving any considerable portion of the limb of its support at any one time. Then plaster is applied to any portion of the limb which is not in contact with the pillows. Now, one pillow is shifted to this part of the limb, We are indebted to Dr. Thos. H. Briggs of Battle Creek, Mich., for the following abstract of his paper on "Our Problem," which was read by title at the afternoon session yesterday: I wish to present, for the consideration of railway surgeons, a problem, not new, but one that has received more or less thought from each one of us. It is a problem of vast importance and vital interest to every railroad corporation, as well as to railroad operators in the employ of these corporations. How to care for the injured employed in operating the great railway systems with equal justice to both parties is receiving the most serious thought from our active and painstaking managers. I have for several years given the subject a great deal of thought. I have visited the hospitals of several railway systems which have this work partially classified and in operation, and have had the opportunity to investigate their methods of caring for their injured. I have also considered the influence of their methods on the injured employes of the various systems. I have also investigated the important question of expense or outlay involved and how defrayed. We will first consider how a railroad company can care for their injured and maimed employes-men who have spent the best part of their lives, it may be, in the service of the company, and whose earnest efforts have materially promoted the success of the company. We will also consider what care or disposition should be made of those who, through injury or otherwise, are incapacitated for the complete performance of their duties, and, through their incapacity, may jeopardize the lives of the patrons of the company, as well as the vast properties entrusted to their care. We know that disabilities arising from disease are fully as damaging to the service as those from injury. Such disabilities will be the constant heritage of those who, for a series of years or less, propel the rapidly moving machinery of our great railroads or spend their lives and energy in the great machine shops of the country. Such employes enhance the risks and embarrass the service in such a degree that the material success of the railway company employing them cannot successfully compete with companies employing only those who are in every way capable of performing duties of such vast responsibility. The conditions of close competition require that every man in the railway service should possess a quick brain, a firm and steady hand and an accurately trained eye. Only by strict adherence to these requirements in regard to employes and the same vigilance to details in every department can the railway company of the future pay its losses, and a limited dividend on the cost of construction. If a company has faulty machinery, it is replaced without hesitation by the best possible mechanism to be procured. Not less exacting should be the requirements of men retained in service or seeking employment. All such should pass a prescribed examination before a proper tribunal or special department of the company, as to their physical, mental and moral efficiency for their capacity. HOW TO KILL TIME IN CHICAGO AND SAVE MONEY. VISIT THAT FAMOUS SURGICAL INSTRUMENT STORE. EVERY HIGHEST GRADE GOODS. CHICAGO PRICES. SEE OUR EXHIBIT. 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