Dr. J. R. Smith, of Warsaw, Mo., writes that he has had universally satisfactory results in obstinate cases of eczema by the use of icthyol, together with proper constitutional treatment as demanded by each case. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-If Dr. Ferguson, of Tenn,, will give atropin to his case of stomatitis materna, his patient will get well. If patient is a blonde and nervous, be careful in administering drug. Vanceburgh, Ky. W. B. SECRET, M.D. A Request to Test Homeopathy. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-As a pure homeopath, I ask every one of your readers to obtain from a homeopathic pharmacy a two dram vial of cina 30, in pellets. And when you find a child from 1 to 10 years old, presenting several of the following symptoms (I do not care what diagnosis you may make, worms, worm fever, malarial or infantil remitting fever, convulsions, cough, croup, hooping cough, or one of those nameless indispositions to which children are liable): cheeks red, bluish white around the mouth, picks and rubs the nose, is very cross, rolls and tosses about constantly during sleep, grinds the teeth during sleep, appetite capricious, at one meal eats voraciously and again refusing all food, twitching of limbs, frequent motion as tho swallowing something; give to such a child one dose only of 2 or 3 pellets and no more of any kind. In order to quiet your fears or your conscience, begin with cases that cannot prove fatal. Do not worry as I see Dr. Piper is doing, as to how much of the 30th potency the patient must take in order to get one drop of officinal tincture. Keep that for after consideration. I request as many as have the courage to do so to report the results to this journal after thus treating five cases. A. MCNEIL, M.D., San Francisco. The Thirtieth Potency. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In reply to Dr. Piper's inquiry in your June issue, "how much of one drop of the officinal tincture is contained in one drop of the thirtieth potency," perhaps may be answered in the same spirit by "asking an other." The mother after a fit of anger, nurses her babe. Within an hour the child is in convulsions. How large a dose did the baby receive? What was the potency? It was effectiv, even if dynamic. A gentleman was riding on the road after a rain. To the windward, perhaps fifty feet away, was a vine of the rhus radicans (poison ivy). In a few days he had a severe dermatitis covering the entire body, which lasted for weeks. He had but the one dose, yet it was terribly effectiv. How large was the dose? What portion of a drop of "the officinal tincture" did he receive? How large a dose and what potency do we receive to have measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, pertussis, diphtheria, etc.? Dr. Piper says: "I could never understand potencies or similars, and the prescribing for symptoms in place of the disease." Can he understand or explain chemical affinity, or why or how oxygen and hydrogen unite in definit, fixt proportions, and in no other way, to form water? There are many every-day facts in science not easy to understand and very difficult to explain, and must be taken as facts whether we can explain or not. It is not difficult to understand potencies or similars or the prescribing for symptoms if we study them as we did algebra, mathematics or anatomy. How the potency acts or cures no man can tell any more than he can tell how the crude drug acts. That they act is a fact, and is neither a question of faith or belief. Dr. Hahnemann was as "regular" as Dr. Piper can be. Let Dr. Piper make the scientific experiments in therapeutics that Dr. Hahnemann made and publish the failures. Chicago. H. C. ALLEN, M.D. Did the Swallowed Copper Coin Cause the Asthma? Editor MEDICAL WORLD: A stout hearty boy, 7 years old, swallowed a twocent copper piece. In about three weeks he had an attack of asthma. In about four weeks he had another attack, and continued to have them at irregular intervals until he passed it by rectum nine months. after swallowing it. When called in I found it was giving him no pain nor trouble of any kind, except he was scared. I instructed his parents to feed him plenty of potatoes, cookt in different ways, and watch the stools for the coin-which the boy never failed to do. I think that boy sat in the corners of the fence for about one-third of his time for three months, trying to have another action just to see if the money would come; but he had to wait nine long months (or until the full turn of rectogestation) before he called for his "granny" to deliver that long lookt for mulatto. Proud boy he was when granny" with a stick separated it from its fecal placenta, washt and dresst it (by wrapping it up in a rag) and brought it around for the doctor's inspection. He, she, or it had the appearance of being perfectly healthy, except a few little corroded specks about the size and shape of a flax seed. It has now been five years since the copper past, and that boy has had no more asthma nor any symptoms of it. Now, Mr. Editor, did the copper cause the asthma ? Yantly, Ala. J. P. PHILLIPS, M.D. [It seems that the asthma was a reflex from the presence of the coin in the alimentary canal.-Ed.] Quinin in Labor.-Gelsemium in Gestation. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-On page 184, May WORLD, is an article on postpartum hemorrhage caused by the use of quinin to induce labor. Dear Doctor Hammond, allow me to rise from my office chair and shake hands with you for this timely article. I will give a case in my practise in line with your experience in the use of quinin in labor. On January 1, 1901, I was called to see a Mrs. W., six miles in the country, age 36, multipara; delayed labor. I gave three grains of bisulf., quinin and in one hour gave a second dose. Labor was hastened with violent labor pains. Normal otherwise. Placenta delivered in normal manner and condition. Good contraction. On the third day I was sent for. Not being in town, Dr. Wolff was called. Dr. W., supposed that there was a retained placenta. Dr. Field was called, who did not agree with Dr. Wolff. Examination showed no retained placenta, but some small pieces of coagulated blood. Hemorrhage continued; ergot was administered by hypo. Finally hemorrhage ceast. I have had twenty-two or three such cases as far as postpartum hemorrhage from the use of quinin is concerned, in the last twenty years' practise. Brother practioners, please give us your experience. Allow me to say a few words in regard to the use of gelsemium as a relaxant in rigid It will relax the os and relieves the patient of a great deal of suffering. Os. Also it will produce abortion. In treating malarial fevers I feared the use of quinin during gestation, having had bad resultsabortions. I conceived the idea of giving fl. ex. of gelsemium to break the fever, which it did, and I also had several abortions from its use. S. F. SCOTT. Waukomis, Okla. Gall Stones. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-During my thirty years' experience in practise I have seen but one genuin case wherein gall stones were diagnosed, and which a postmortem examination verified. I saw this while in practise in Humboldt county, Iowa, during the year 1873. The patient, Mrs. H., aged 64, weight 300 pounds, multipara, with a complexion that any girl would envy, complained for many years of spasmodic pains in the hepatic region. At her request I did the postmortem,finding one large gall stone (weighing ounce) and a calculus of very inferior size, both completely filling gall bladder. The calculus was ovoid, with colored rings of light-brown and yellow. This patient had hydroperitoneum, umbilical hernia, and ovarian tumor. Of the several suspected cases of gall stones I have seen, I do not think ol. olivae would have had any effect in relieving, for if such be given to a healthy person, and the stools noticed after twenty-four hours, it will be observed that there will appear a great number of so called gall from the air. The above application would not serve this purpose very well. It might serve a useful purpose in bruises and sprains.-ED.] TO THE EDITOR:-The following agreement has been signed by every physician in this city, and it has been publisht in the two daily papers here, and the universal comment excited by its publication has been favorable to the stand taken by the physicians. The people say that it is just and right, that the County is not a pauper, and should pay physicians' prices ruling and establisht in the neighborhood as it pays the grocer for his goods, the mechanic for his labor and material, and for services rendered by supervisors and road commissioners when on duty for the County; that physicians pay their taxes like other people, and, besides, render to the public much other service for which they are not remunerated at all. We, the undersigned physicians of Pana, do hereby mutually promise and agree among ourselves and to each other to the following: 1. That we will not bid for pauper practise; 2. That we will not attend the paupers at a less rate than the regular, establisht and recognised Fee Bill of Pana. N.B. It is also understood that no one physician shall be favored in the distribution of the pauper practise, but that the patient shall have the privilege of choosing his own physician. Pana, Ill. J. J. CONNER, M.D. The Death Penalty Without Pain. So long as the law of "a life for a life" is accepted by civilized nations, the grim question as to the most humane method of putting that law in force is one which is bound to come up for discussion from time to time. In New York State, the electrical process is resorted to, while in some other states the old method of hanging by the neck has been sufficiently modified to insure the instantaneous death of the culprit. There are foreign countries in which the death penalty is enforced in a far more ghastly manner. It has been reserved for the Japanese to suggest another system, which seems to be effective and at the same time free from the reproach of inhumanity. The condemned person is shut up in a lethal chamber, and by means of powerful pumps the air is rapidly withdrawn from it, and death at once ensues. Experiments upon animals point to the conclusion that this method is quite painless.-Inter-State Medical Journal. To those who find this little paragraph markt with a blue pencil we wish to say: Now is the time to get square with the world in general (see Monthly Talk" in this issue), and with THE MEDICAL WORLD in particalar. The four year plan continues to grow in popularity, for many busy doctors find that renewing every year is a little matter that is easily overlookt and neglected. Dr. Chas. O. Lowry, of Indianapolis, Ind., seuds check for $3, and writes: "Please accept my sincere thanks for your extreme consideration, and find check for THE WORLD AS noted above. I enjoy and appreciate THE WORLD and am always glad when it comes. Neglect is my only reason for delay, and I ask pardon for my forgetfulness." Combination Saddle and Buggy Case. ested in the combination saddle and buggy Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I am intercase as described by you in MEDICAL WORLD for November, 1900. Please advise me if you can secure such a case for me, and at what cost to me. Pineville, N. C. W. K. Reid, M.D. [The case was devised by our assistant editor, and the intention of the article on pages 420 and 421 of the November WORLD was to give such instructions that any cabinet maker could construct one in a satisfactory manner. We had our cabinet maker make the body and the racks and had our local saddler cover with leather of the best quality. The flat tin boxes are made by W. A. Gill & Co., of Columbus, Ohio, and are known as "Lacquered Ob. long, 1 Ounce;" the glass stoppered, medicin case and physicians' supplyscrew top bottles are sold by all of our houses. We have quite a number of advertisers along this line, and it may be that any of them could construct such a special case cheaper than you could have it done by local talent. Write to all of them, and if none of them care to make the case for you, we will send you the addresses of the shops who made ours; but it is likely that men in this business will work more skillfully and cheaply than those not accustomed to such work. Any way, it is always well to patronize WORLD advertisers.-ED.] "Heart Burn." Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I have a patient whom I have been treating for about two years. I diagnosed the case as one of chronic catarrh, or chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach, and have been treating it as such. The patient is 68 years old, has always been a very temperate man in every respect, has never used tobacco in any form nor liquors of any kind, never drinks tea or coffee, but uses milk or chocolate and only a very small quantity with his meals; never uses ice water, eats very little meat and that is beefsteak cookt without butter or grease of any kind. It cannot be said that his digestion is bad, yet it is not perfect; has very little gaseous formation in the stomach or bowels: food sours a little after eating. Has "heart burn" when he takes the least exercise or makes any exertion; walking will sometimes bring this heart burn on, and his face will turn very red when he is suffering with this burning. When he is sitting or lying down and making no exertion it does not trouble him. He has tried starvation for the heart burn, thinking what he ate caused it but it did not make any difference; whether he starved or ate, it would come on just the same if he exerted himself. He has not lost any flesh, but looks fairly well only when he is suffering with this burning; his tongue is coated slightly with a white coating; when he gets up in the morning the least exertion quickens the heart action very much. He sleeps well, has a good passage from his bowels once a day, kidneys act all right and all organs of the body seem to act all right. He says if this heart burn could be cured he would be a new man. He has no other pains at any place. The treatment which I have used at different times is as follows: I have used Marchand's glycozone and hydrozone for a long time, but it had no effect on the disease. I thought it would remove the mucus which collected on the mucous membrane of the stomach, but it did no good. I have tried quite all of the digestivs, antiacids, and sedatives; caroid, taka diastase, subnitrate of bismuth, subgallate of bismuth, magnesia, charcoal, hydrochloric acid, Fowler's solution, oxalate of cerium, kava kava, fld. ext. boldo, tr. lycopodium, fld. ext. primrose, carbonate of ammonia, cocain, lime water, hyoscya mus, creasote, dioscorea villosa., tr. monotropa, fld. ex. California poppy. Some of these have given temporary relief but do not cure the burning. I am now using diluted prussic acid three drops, three times a day, but as yet have realized no benefit from it. Mr. Editor, I would like to have your opinion and treatment of this case; also the opinion and treatment of the many subscribers to THE WORLD. I feel discouraged as I have used about all the remedies recommended in the allopathic, eclectic and homeopathic materia medica. I could not do without THE WORLD; it is a welcome visitor. C. H. HUBBARD Hickman, Ky. [Have him take the artificial Carlsbad salt, a heaping teaspoonful to a pint of hot water; sip slowly half an hour before breakfast. The salt is made by taking five parts sulfate of sodium, two parts bicarbonate of sodium, and one part chlorid of sodium, by weight. This will dissolve the mucus clinging to the walls of the stomach, and will permit the food to be acted upon. If this does not bring rapid results, we would suggest washing the stomach thru a stomach tube. In the way of medication, try him on five drops of the strong nitro muriatic acid, freshly prepared, in a glass of water before meals. When this acid is properly prepared it is red in color; when it becomes yellow, it is unfit for use. It is not worth while to make up over an ounce of it at a time. If he needs any intestinal antiseptic we would suggest beta-napthol in five grain doses an hour after meals.— Ed.] no way from the local product. All authoritativ text books are naturally chary of giving space to such a product, and we can not give you further information of value; but there is little doubt of the formula being approximately correct, and you, yourself, may readily judge of the value of the product. It is turpentin oil diluted with a simple lubricant, and with sulfur and petroleum added as adjuvants. ED.] Stainless lodin Ointment. A Canadian subscriber asks for a formula for stainless iodin ointment. A pharmacist friend advises us that colorless iodin ointment may be made by the following process: Iodin........ Potassium iodid Benzoinated lard Hyposulfite of soda.............. .18 grains .4 grains ..8 minims .418 grains ..enuf. Rub the iodin and potassium iodid with the water, and then add only enuf hyposulfite of soda to decolorize the mixture; then blend with the benzoinated lard. Do not use metallic utensils, spatulas, mortar, or containers. Saturated Tinctures. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In a back number of your valuable journal is a formula for Osgood's India Cholagog in which a saturated tincture of stillingia is mentioned. Would you kindly inform me what a saturated tincture is? I have not been able to find it in any reference book. Mattapaw, Mass. CHAS. E. BAGLEY. [Use 94 per cent. alcohol and allow to macerate a week. This will give you all the strength it is possible to get into a tincture. We would use a double portion of the drug. The formula was publisht by us as given in "Secret Nostrums and Systems." In a strict sense, you know there could be no uniform line of "saturated tinctures." Strange terms are common in such formulas. Weigh your drug and measure your alcohol. See that the drug is finely divided. Keep it in the alcohol one week, with frequent agitation, and you will have a "saturated tincture" as strong as any tincture can be saturated. -ED.] Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Won't you please have the automobile discust in your colums? I would like to know whether [Those who have had experience are invited to speak.-ED.] Painful Movements of the Testicles. DEAR EDITOR-I have a case of a man approaching sixty who for many years has suffered from painful movements of the testicles. He admits having, in former years, made too free use of that part of his anatomy, but for twenty years has been as well behaved as the general run of married men. For a long time there was an almost constant up and down movement of both testes, and the alternate contraction and relaxation could be easily noticed. With this there has been pain, constant, aching and annoying. During the last two years the right has been less painful, and sitting or walking, indeed, in any but the left retracts somewhat tightly, position, fails to do away with this ever present worry. Wearing a suspensory seems to relieve the right, but not the left; then in stooping at work (being a farmer) the touch of the support aggravates the trouble. The left has become much less than it was in its palmier days. The treatment has been, use of the suspensory, attention to bowels, cold bathing, sleeping alone; then potass. brom., potass. iod., valerian, sambul, each in its turn; also counter irritation to spine, low down, and yet the unwelcome song, "No better," meets me at office door from time to time. I have suggested the removal of the left. Now then, what do the Editor and readers of THE WORLD suggest? "ONTARIO." [If we understand your treatment, you have filled all the indications. The trouble is evidently either nervous or reflex. We assume that you have not gotten a complete physiological effect from your bromids, or that you are dealing with a hysterical case. Examin his prostate thru the rectum. Continue use of suspensory, laxativs, ice sponging of the scrotum every eight hours, and the use of bromids to the verge of bromism. Explain to him that his former indiscretions can not have anything to do with his present condition. Convince him that every man's testicles grow less in size as age approaches Suggest to him that if you relieve his pain, he ought to think less of |