resourceful politicians, such adroit leaders of new cults, but no scientists, no artists, no philosophers, no statesmen, no genuine talent, and no true genius."

The red tape of officialdom, like a poisonous weed, grows luxuriantly in our schools and chokes the life of our young generation. Instead of growing into a people of great independent thinkers, the nation is in danger of fast becoming a crowd of well-drilled, well-disciplined, commonplace individuals, with strong philistine habits and notions of hopeless mediocrity.

In leveling education to mediocrity we imagine that we uphold the democratic spirit of our institutions. Our American sensibilities are shocked when the president of one of our leading colleges dares to recommend to his college that it should cease catering to the average student.

"Awaken in early childhood the critical spirit of man; awaken, early in the child's life, love of knowledge, love of truth, of art and literature for their own sake, and you arouse man's genius. We have average mediocre stulents, because we have mediocre teachers, departmentstore superintendents, clerkly principals and deans with bookkeepers' souls, because our schools and colleges deliberately aim at mediocrity.

"Ribot in describing the degenerated Byzantine Greeks tells us that their leaders were mediocrities and their great men commonplace personalities. Is the American nation drifting in the same direction? It was the system of cultivation of independent thought that awakened the Greek mind to its highest achievement in arts, science and philosophy; it was the deadly Byzantine bureaucratic red tape with it cut-anddried theological discipline that dried up the sources of Greek genius. We are in danger of building up a Byzantine empire with large institutions and big corporations, but with small minds and dwarfed individualities. Like the Byzan

tines we begin to value administration above individuality and official, red-tape ceremonialism above originality.

"We wish even to turn our schools into practical school-shops. We shall in time become a nation of well-trained clerks and clever artisans. The time is at hand when we shall be justified in writing over the gates of our school-shops 'mediocrity made here!"

To make matters worse, the country is filled with a smug self-satisfaction on the subject. The Americans think they are educated.

DR. BURRAGE, PRUDENTIAL MEDICAL CHIEF, IS DEAD.

Newark, N. J. October 30, 1911.-Dr. Robert Lowell Burrage, Medical Director of The Prudential Insurance Company, and chief of the company's staff of 11,000 medical examiners in the United States and Canada, died October 29, 1911, at his home, 211 Lincoln avenue, Orange, N. J., of heart disease.

Dr. Burrage was 54 years of age and had been with The Prudential nearly 22 years. He graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, in 1878, and held a conspicuous position among medical men in the life insurance profession. Dr. Burrage leaves a widow and one son. Dr. Burrage's death came unexpectedly, the official cause being given as myocarditis.

A strange coincidence in connection with the death of Dr. Burrage is that it occurred on the anniversary of the death of the late Edward H. Hamill, Consulting Medical Director of The Prudential, on October 29, 1910. Dr. Burrage, Dr. Hamill and Dr. Leslie D. Ward, former vice-president of The Prudential, who died in Europe a year ago in July, had been closely associated in the direction of the medical work of the company for more than twenty years.

Dr. Burrage was born in Newark, June 14, 1857, of English parentage. Upon graduation from Bellevue Hospital

Medical College, Dr. Burrage practiced in Newark. He entered the medical department of The Prudential in January, 1890, and in 1898 was made Associate Medical Director. After ten years he was promoted to Medical Director of the Company and placed in entire charge of the company's vast army of medical examiners, as well as the medical department of the home office.

Dr. Burrage was a man of unusually robust health, and traveled widely for the company. He addressed nearly all the important agency conventions of the company in recent years. He had a wide medical experience in the life insurance field, and while of a naturally retiring disposition, was extremely popular with his associates, by whom his death is severely felt. He was a man of clear medical judgment and eminently practical in his work. His writings on tuberculosis were widely distributed by the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis.

Dr. Burrage was a member of the American Medical Association, and one of the Executive Committee of the International Medical Directors' Association. His death is a big loss to those associated with the medical work of The Prudential.

ATTENTION TO LITTLE THINGS.

Chas. E. Warren, in the Medical Fortnightly, reminds us that it is human nature to long for pretense and show. The druggist who has the largest plateglass windows, the largest soda fountain, the greatest display within and without, is the most popular.

The druggist who dispenses your prescriptions in clear-glass bottles, with capped corks and other frills, is thought more of, and consequently has a larger trade than one who put it in cheap, greenglass bottles, and wraps it in a scrap of newspaper, although the latter may be far more scrupulous in the compounding and conscientious regarding the

purity and quality of the ingredients.

The doctor who lives in the "swellest"-front house, who has the latest model of automobile, who dresses in the latest style, who makes the greatest display, will have the largest list of patients, if not the wisest, but of this more anon.

The doctor who prescribes drugs not in the common list, as commonly known, will gain a reputation for knowledge and progressiveness. But he who neglects to write a prescription for sodium chloride, C. P., and aqua destillata, when he desires to use a solution of salt, but merely asks for some salt and water from the kitchen, is apt to be branded with contempt and called an old fogy, away behind the times, who has not gone beyond the age of simples.

The public, in fact, does not want to be commonplace or economical in sickness, say what they may. They will put off calling the doctor until the eleventh hour, but when they do call him they want to get their money's worth of attention.

In the urgency of acute illness all care for appearance is cast aside, nor do they question the means. But let the danger pass, let the crisis be o'er, and convalescence ensue, and all the innate pride for good appearance manifests itself in the best nightgown for the patient, the best spread and comforter for the bed, and numerous useful, more often uselessly ornamental accessories deck the table and otherwise adorn the room.

Should we ask the reason why this is done, we should be indignantly told it was, of course, for love of the patient, that daintiness of environment is a powerful adjunct in the recovery of the invalid, a sentiment which cannot be denied, but it is also true, although the statement would meet with indignant denial, that it is partly for effect, to impress the doctor and sympathizing visitors with the display.

Realizing this, the doctor who is politic I will take due notice of this weakness of

human nature and notice some of these adornments of the sick-room with a truehearted note of admiration, if he wishes to impress a good opinion of himself upon those with whom he comes in contact in his daily routine. For good opinion is reciprocal.

Moreover, patients and their friends will take due notice of the physician who is well equipped with conveniences, useful, if not necessary, but of a more or less attention-attracting character.

In the practice of medicine, as in other things, it is not the man who is "just like other folks" that gains fame; it is the one who is "different." Not ostentatiously so, but just sufficiently different to make folks "sit up and take notice."

A chronograph watch, for example, with its long sweeping second hand, is not only desirable for its usefulness in "taking the pulse,' but folks will say of the doctor who has one, "he is so accurate and painstaking, he has a doctor's watch for counting the pulse," and the neighbors who hear this gossip will think they would like that kind of a doctor, and when in need will govern themselves accordingly. Nor is such a watch and similar things within the reach of the wealthy practitioner only, for a good watch, with a "timing second hand" may be bought for $5.75. Certainly, the benefit therefrom is worth more.

QUACKERY IN THE EAST.

An Indian correspondent to The Lancet has sent some pages from a price-list issued by a native saddler in Cawnpore. This correspondent remarks that it is a unique example of the extremes to which uncontrolled quackery can run, and that it shows the type of remedy for which there is a demand in India. Incidentally, he adds, the advertisements have a humorous aspect, and with this we find it hard to disagree. The catalogue of the Medicine Dapartment of Messrs. Mo

hamed Shafi and Co. has for its text the admirable sentiment, "Health is the Life of the Body," and it fills seven quarto pages. The 80 or so preparations (which are all compounded under the eye of "a very able doctor," Mohamed Sayed) cost from 1 to 5 rupees each, and they are guaranteed to be infallible remedies for almost all the ailments and disabilities to which mankind is heir. An "Oil for the remedy of the errors of youth" is especially recommended, and a Tonic for Weakness which "proves to be a stuff for old people." But there is something for everybody in Mohamed. Shafi's price list, and no one need despair who has a rupee or two to invest. Barrenness, baldness, and bugs disappear like the mists of morning, and "foreign humours" can be driven from a “disorderly stomach." A charm for removing snakes and scorpions can be bought for the same price as a specific for small-pox marks which "removes the complexion." With reference to condensed milk at 12 annas a tin, "the public are informed not to be deceived by buying cheap and superious milk." Prophylactic bangles and lockets cost only 2 or 3 rupees each and effectually ward off "cholera weakness, cold, thinness, fever cough, inflammation of the eyes, erysipelas, indigestion, small-pox, impurity of blood, fits, and many other diseases to which children are subject." A plaster which has cured hopeless cases will "heal any old man and obstinate ulcer," while if Tooth Oil is used intelligently the user for the rest of his life "will have a set of unshaken teeth." Jawahar Mohra (or Tone Restorer) "makes a man patent," and Sukha cures "infants who pine away and ultimately die." Although "the inflammation of kidney is iatal," Mohamed Shafi has a remedy which never fails to cure it, and the price of a box is 2 rupees. Should you wish to give up opium, chandoo or spirituous liquors, he has a "lifesaving thing which will relieve you radically" for 5 rupees the bottle.

THE PERCEPTION OF LIGHT AND THE SENSE OF COLOR.

T

WO recent papers read by Dr. F. W. Edridge-Green before the Royal Society and the Phys. Section of the British Med. Association, have an interesting bearing on the principles of color perception.

The first of these papers contains particulars of tests by the spectrometer method on a variety of color-blinds. It has often been pointed out that tests of color-blind people, which ought to afford confirmation of a correct theory cf color-vision, often yield results which it is extremely difficult to reconcile with the older theories. Dr. Edridge-Green lays stress on this point, and has come to the conclusion that it is only by discriminating between the power of distinguishing color and the capacity to see light that consistent results can be obtained. Thus a shortening of the spectrum at one end may coexist with normal powers of analyzing color, and may interfere very little with the general perception of shade. Again, it is difficult, except by separating the senses of light and color, to explain the variation in the luminosity curves of different colorblinds; in some cases the curves resemble those of ordinary vision, in others they are quite peculiar. A. Koenig, for example, has pointed out that, even in the case of people credited with normal vision, considerable variations in this respect exist, while one so-called "greenblind" had almost the same curve as himself and a normal sighted woman.

The second paper deals with another item in Dr. Edridge-Green's work, namely, the suggestion that visual purple is not non-existent in the "yellow spot" on the retina, as was recently supposed, but can find its way in between the cones.

All the peculiar phenomena connected with the behavior of the eye at low illuminations, previously explained by crediting the rods and cones with distinct functions, are, on this theory, due to the ebb and flow of the visual purple towards the central retina.

This paper describes a new method of actually demonstrating the movements of the visual purple. After gazing a moment through certain color solutions and then shutting the eyes, an image of the yellow spot becomes distinctly visible. Again (as was long ago discovered by Purkinje), if light is concentrated on the eye while the subject looks at a dark background the vessels of the retina and the yellow spot can be distinctly perceived. Dr. Edridge-Green describes quite a number of methods of studying the eye in this way, and draws attention to a curious phenomenon thereby made visible, namely, the presence of "whirling currents" apparently revolving around the yellow spot, and altering according to the nature of the illumination. These he suggests are not due to the circulation, but are actual streams of visual purple flowing into the fovea. Those interested should read Dr. Edridge-Green's paper for fuller details of these effects and how they are produced. They may possibly also prove of value in affording information on some obscure points in photometry and also as indicating a possible means of studying the influence of glare.

CONGENITAL COLOUR BLINDNESS.

Where the appeal of the special senses is concerned, says G. H. Taylor in the Australian Medical Journal, it is necessary for a trained mind to form its judgment from a critical experience of a large number of minds. By this method

an intelligence, although it may have 2 defect in one or more of its special senses, may be able to correctly record the effect of an appeal upon the mind of cther persons. An intelligent moral blind person may perceive this effect and use it for gain. A sanctimonious criminal is not uncommon. One of the leading authorities upon the subject of colour blindness is himself blind to colour (Professor Nagel). A person may have a keen condition of his special senses and be highly educated, his criticism of the work done by others may be sound, and yet he may be unable to acquire the dexterity necessary to interpret the music of a master or to excel as a painter. The center in his brain which deals with the movements of the hand, and the center which is concerned in the appreciation of form may transmit a deficient appeal to the mind. One of the earliest sensations of a new-born child is a perception of light and dark-of black and white. These conditions remain in alternate evidence during the life of a person who can see. It therefore, under ordinary conditions, does not make any special appeal to the mind. It is different with colour. The face of a young child shows emotion to colour, particularly to red, and red remains the colour with the strongest appeal to a great majority of persons. It excites to a greater degree than green, because of its comparative rarity and because of its association with human life and health. It causes an emotion of pleasure in the mind of a person with a keen colour sense when it is perceived in contrast to green in the form of a flower. With barren and grey surroundings, a person with a keen colour sense exhibits emotion when he perceives green. A red-green blind participates in none of these emotions. With an equally intelligent mind he has merely the appeal of black and white and the varying degree of shade which bridges the one from the other.

EXTRINSIC MUSCLE TESTS.

S. P. Ward, in the Optical Review and Journal, remarks that many refractionists now consider a test of the muscle balance as much a part of every examination, as is the record of visual acuity. Many others make a perfunctory test only in those cases where a marked diplopia is present and cannot be ignored; and some diresgard muscular imbalance except where prisms have been worn.

Probably the chief reason for not making such tests is the pretty general assumption that they require great ability and technique, but few people will deny their value as part of a thorough test.

Assuming that the supposed technicality required in the use of prisms is the reason for the neglect shown, it follows that any means by which they might be more simply used would remove all difficulty.

Several instruments have been devised to make muscle testing simple, and while the personal ability does enter into the accuracy of the results, no one need hesitate through diffidence to at least make a fair test of the different phorias.

The Stevens' Phorometer is practically a trial frame with spirit level, in the two cells of which are prisms in geared rings, managed to rotate in conjunction with each other, and so fixed that the prism bases are opposite each other in whatever meridian they may be turned. By this instrument exophoria, esophoria and hyperphoria may be quickly and accurately determined, and the result indicated on a scale, as one reads the cylinder axis in the trial frame scale.

The Risley rotary prism is a combination in a single cell, of two 15° prisms, which may be rotated with regard to each other, to give any prism power from neutrality to 30°, by turning a milled button at the side. The combination of prisms may be turned in the cell to bring the prism effect wherever required for