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we had very considerably increased our corps of instructors and demonstrators in enlarging our scheme of practical work, and it was, therefore, considered best to restrict the service of teaching to those who had an official connection with the institution, in such capacities.

4. Were not these gentlemen 'removed' (as Guiteau would put it) soon after the conflict in the American Medical Association, in which conflict they helped to secure the recognition of the claims of the South and West?"

We are able to reply to this question in the most unqualified manner in the negative. We assert in the strongest terms of which the English language is capable, that no action of the faculty in respect to these gentlemen, nor in respect to any other person or thing, has been suggested, influenced or determined by the controversy over the "code question," or over the organization of the International Medical Congress. The decision of the Faculty to give up the Post-Graduate course was made at the "Annual Meeting" in April, one month before the American Medical Association met at New Orleans, and consequently before there had been any intimation of the differences which then arose. It follows, therefore, that the Faculty could not have been influenced in coming to the conclusion in question by the International Congress dissensions. Furthermore, the Faculty of the Jefferson Medical College, following in the footsteps of its distinguished predecessors, holds to the doctrine of confining its attention to working with all its power in the cause of education, and while leaving to every individual connected with it in any way the fullest right to act on public questions as seems to him best, abstains as a Faculty from entering the arena of medical politics, is solely occupied with medical instruction and means to remain so.

"5. Are not the members of the present faculty conspicuous by their absence from the official list of the Congress, and from the meetings of the American Medical Association, to which they know the large majority of the profession is loyal?"

Not more conspicuous by their absence from the official list of the Congress, than the members of nearly all the other prominent medical schools of the country. The absence from the meetings of the American Medical Association is occasional and accidental, and when it occurs is simply due | to the difficulty busy men have of attending protracted meetings, sometimes at distant places. They all uphold without question, and in the firmest manner its code of ethics.

Having thus replied to the questions addressed to us, we might close this communication here, but your editorial reflects on the present faculty,

by an injurious comparison with their eminent predecessors. Whilst we are by no means inappreciative of the past glories of the Medical School, we are justified in asserting that never since its organization has the teaching been so practical, so thorough, and so extensive in detail. Never has the College been so well equipped; never have its students been so carefully trained: never was the standard for the doctorate so high. If the late Prof. Dunglison, the eminent medical scholar and author, for so many years the Dean, could now visit the School, see its hospital and witness the variety of clinical work, with over 20,000 cases a year from which to choose, go into the laboratories where in every department of the curriculum there are elaborate provisions for practical work, obligatory on all who expect the honors of the College, and especially to go into the physiological laboratory, his own branch, and take note of the most complete equipment for physiological study in this country, he could hardly realize that in a few years so much improvement had been effected, and he would hasten to admit that his successors had well maintained the position of the College as a great seat of medical learning and of the highest order of medical teaching. We had not spoken thus, if your remarks did not imply a censure of the present faculty, for we prefer that the extent and manner of our work vindicate our right to be the successors of the great men whom you extol and we all reverence. That the efficiency of the instruction, and the character of the results, have not declined in our hands is attested by the number of welleducated young men who annually enter the classes. The number and excellent quality of the young men now assembling for the course of 1886-87, enables us to quiet your apprehensions that other medical institutions are thriving at the cost of Jefferson College.

By the Faculty,

ROBERTS BARTHOLOW, M. D., Dean.

From N, Y. Record, Oct. 2, 1886.

JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE.-It looks almost as if Jefferson Medical College would be driven by force of professional opinion to elevate its standard. At any rate, it has of late received publicly some very severe hits. The West Virginia Board of Health, on July 14th, refused to register its diplomas. The next day they rescinded their action, but meanwhile the news of it got abroad and considerable comment was excited. The charge against Jefferson is that no entrance examination is called for, only two courses of lectures are required, and the final examinations are, to put it mildly, not difficult. We have in this city two or three colleges that are no better in these respects than Jefferson. We have often

insisted that, even if it be at some pecuniary loss, our large city colleges should institute more rigid courses, and we believe that the time is approaching when such changes must be made or the colleges will lose in character more than they will gain in students.

From Daniel's Texas Medical Journal, Sept., 1886. DR. BARTHOLOW'S POSITION.-An editorial in our July number, 'Do we need a Civil Service Reform in Medicine?' has elicited a letter from Dr. Roberts Bartholow, the distinguished Dean of Jefferson Medical College, which letter will be found in our department of "Correspondence." It will be seen that Dr. Bartholow strenuously denies that politics bad anything to do with the removal of Dr. Atkinson and Shoemaker from the

faculty. The doctor gives us a refreshing little piece of news to the effect that he refused appointment under the original committee because he "had a confident anticipation that the arrangement would prove unsatisfactory because the organization did not have a sufficiently national character, in that it did not include many eminent men of the West and South." That is to say, he anticipated that the South and West would not submit to any such injustice, and would protest against it. He anticipated trouble and stood from under. Had Dr. Bartholow, occupying the important position he does in the medical world, used his influence to have the organization made more representative, he would have shown himself to be a friend of the South and West, and of justice, and the result might have been different. His views are identical with those of Dr. Shoemaker, who promptly allied himself in the direction of his sympathies and convictions, and spoke out in defence of right. He thereby endeared himself to the South and West,and they will not forget it. It is said "a still tongue shows a wise head." Dr. Bartholow has given evidence of much wisdom, by this standard; he said nothing; and to-day the positions of the two gentlmen are very different; one is in and the other is out of the Jefferson Medical College.

Sept. 30, 1886.

Editors Review:-With the inclosed slip and postal note I must add my testimony of highest appreciation. Out of many "specimen copies" lately received I found none that I cared to add to my already full list except the REVIEW.

No live physician in the great Northwest can fail to appreciate the REVIEW, and I hereby prove that appreciation.

With best wishes for your continued prosperity, I am, very truly yours,

E. A. FISHER.

NOTES AND ITEMS.

"A chiel's amang you takin' notes, And, faith, he'll prent 'em."

-The Ninth International Medical Congress is fortunate in possessing as its executive officer Dr. Nathan S. Davis.

With the record he has made both at home and abroad he can but attract to the Congress the best men of all nations.

He stands today the grandest and most heroic character in the profession of America. The originator and the defender of the American Medical Association, all devoted members of the ancient and honorable profession of medicine feel proud of him.

-The Century Magazine for October contains among many other good things, an article by Clarence King on Lincoln's Biographers: Jno. G. Nicolay and John Hay, with excellent portraits of them both. A considerable space in the Century during the coming year will be given up to presenting this Life of Lincoln, written by the two men best qualified for the work.

Both possessed of excellent literary ability, and having served as private secretaries to Lincoln during his term as president, with excellent opportunities for studying and knowing their subject and having been aided in the preparation of Robert the work by the martyred president's son, T. Lincoln, we have reason to expect something interesting and valuable.

We congratulate our native county of Pike, in the State of Illinois, for having produced along with many others, the two men who are the

authors of this work.

Nicolay is now Marshall of the U. S. Supreme Court at Washington, surrounded by a charming family in an ideal home of refined elegance and culture. John Hay is one of the editors of the N. Y. Tribune and, as every one knows, the author of "Pike County Ballads;" among which were "Jim Bludsoe" and "Little Breeches." Having amassed and married an enormous fortune he can indulge and enjoy his literary tastes to the fullest extent,

This number of the Century also contains a very interesting paper on the Christian soldier, Stone

wall Jackson.

-The Independent Practitioner, edited by Dr. W. C. Barrett, is always interesting and practical. Under the heading “A dentist should have clean white hands," it says:

“The following hints will be found of service in accomplishing the desired end. A little am

monia or borax added to the water you wash your hands with, and that water just lukewarm, will keep the skin clean and soft. A little oatmeal mixed with water will whiten the hands. Many people use glycerine on their hands when they go to bed, wearing gloves to keep the bedding clean, but glycerine does not agree with every one. It makes the skin hard and red. These people should rub their hands with dry oatmeal and wear gloves in bed. The best preparation for the hands at night is white of egg with a grain of alum dissolved in it. White of egg, barley flour and honey, is a good application, but not better than oatmeal. The roughest and hardest hands can be made soft and white in a month's time by doctoring them a little at bedtime, and all that is required is a nail-brush, a bottle of ammonia, a box of powdered borax, and a little fine white sand to rub the stains off, or a cut of lemon, which will do even better, for the acid of the lemon will clean anything."

The same hints should be of value to physicians as well. From a thick, hard skinned, long nailed, dirty handed doctor in these days of germs and bacteria, good Lord deliver us.

-The Atlanta Med. and Surg. Journal for October, has an admirable editorial on the International Medical Congress, counseling a proper and dignified course on the part of all who may feel dissatisfied with its management. It says:

"While many have not approved of the course taken by those in charge of this undertaking, yet, it being understood now that the ninth International Congress will be held at the appointed time in the city of Washington, every member of the profession should feel committed to uphold the honor of his brotherhood by promoting the scientific outgrowth from an interchange of sentiments with the representatives of other countries in this reunion of the medical world. To put forth impressions unfavorable to the progress of the work at this stage of affairs is like a bird fouling its own nest, and if there are some who

however, by its "sore head," inherited or ac-
quired from former associations.
Will our con-
temporaries, if they meet the stray, prac-
tice the proper "editorial amenities," apply a
soothing salve to his sores, and a stimulant to his
hair bulbs, and return him to the "Medical Age,"
which is so much in need of young blood.

—The Missouri Medical College, of St. Louis, in our judgment did a wise thing when it connected itself with the State University at Columbia, as its medical department.

--At-a late meeting of the Basel Medical Society a local surgeon showed the stomach of a woman upon whom had been performed, for malignant tumor, first a resection of the pylorus,and a year later, on account of recurrence, gastro-enterostomy. Death ensued eighteen months thereafter from redevelopment of the neoplasm.

-Sir Andrew Clarke declares that one-half of the population of London is permanently ill. His definition of health is: That state in which the body is not consciously present to us; that state in which work is easy and duty not over a great trial; the state in which it is a joy to see, think, to feel and to be.-Medical Age.

We commend this thought to the editor of the Age. We fear he needs a stimulant to the hepatic secretion, and a gentle tonic, in order that he may take more joy in seeing, thinking, feeling and being.

-The Bicycle and Prostatic Disease.-The "California Practitioner" says that horsemen, after the age of forty, begin to exhibit evidences of disease of the prostate gland. This being true, it is evident that the rider of the bicycle is much more likely to acquire such disease. The genitocannot consistently aid in the undertaking, they urinary specialist will rejoice in the prospective should at least refrain from doing anything prej-harvest afforded by the increasing use of the bi

udicial to its success."

-The "Medical Age" has no "cub." Its name, tone, spirit, columns, humor, and general appearance indicate antiquity. It is nothing if not severe, sedate, correct and credulous, and would not for one moment tolerate anything from a cub to a facetious paragraph, that was not hoary with age, and capable of presenting a full growth of whiskers. If it ever had virility sufficient to be

get or secure a "cub," the same has strayed away, owing, no doubt, to its chilling environment. We think it could be easily recognized,

cycle.

-Dr. J. H. Jones recommends belladonna internally for sterility. After a number of weeks' administration the ladies become pregnant. "This is important if true," and may be a source of much happiness to such of our disappointed patients as are longing for the joys of maternity, but it is another strong argument against the taking of belladonna for cosmetic purposes by the belles of "sassiety," particularly the unmarried

ones.

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REPORTS ON PROGRESS.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY.

BY B. J. PRIMM, M. D.

1. FUNCTION OF THE THYROID GLAND.— Science, October, '86.

2. THE SHORT MUSCLES OF THE THUMB AND LITTLE FINGER.-Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences, October, '86.

3. THE NOBLE FOREHEAD FALLACY.

4. ON THE CENTRAL CONNECTIONS OF THE AUDITORY NERVE.-Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences, October, '86.

5. INDIRECT INNERVATION OF THE SKIN.Phil. Med Times, October, '86.

6. THE CORTICAL CENTER OF CONJUGATE DEVIATION. Amer. Med. Digest, Sept., '86. 7. ON THE SKIN OF THE EXTERNAL AUDITORY MEATUS.-Ibid.

TERMS: $3.50 A YEAR.

deprived of this gland, have come to the conclusion that it gives to hemaglobin the faculty of absorbing oxygen. The fact is, that the blood of animals which have been deprived of the thyroid gland contains a very small proportion of oxygen; their arterial blood contains less of this gas than the venous blood of healthy ones; and the investigators ascribe the symptoms of acute cachexia strumipriva in dogs to this very considerable diminution of oxygen which always follows upon enucleation of the gland.

THE SHORT MUSCLES OF THE THUMB AND LITTLE FINger.

H. St. John Brooks finds that the outer head of the flexor brevis pollicis muscle most frequently receives branches from both the median and ulnar nerves. The following table shows the variations in the nerve sup

8. ON THE POSITION OF THE PELVIC OR- ply of this muscle in 31 dissections: Outer GANS IN THE FEMALE.-Ibid.

FUNCTION OF THE THYROID GLAND.

An interesting review of the researches recently conducted by two Italian physiologists concerning the physiological action of the thyroid gland has been published by Professor Herzen, of Lausanne. It is known that the views held by different investigators are very diverging, and that many are obliged to confess that though this gland seems to be connected with the blood corpuscles, the exact relation between the two is quite problematic.

MM. Albertoni and Fizzoni, the above mentioned investigators, believe they have discovered the real function of this gland, and after a careful study of the blood of animals

head supplied by deep branch of ulnar alone, 5 cases; outer head supplied by ulnar and median, 19 cases; outer head by median, inner head by ulnar, 5 cases; outer head by median, inner head by median and ulnar, 2 cases. The same anatomist shows, from a comparison of the muscles in a great number of mammals, and from their relation to the deep part of the ulnar nerve, that the muscle known' as the flexor brevis minimi digiti in human anatomy, and the larger part of the opponens minimi digiti, are derived from Cunningham's superficial or adductor layer, while the ulnar head of the true flexor brevis is only represented by a part of the opponens beneath the deep branch of the ulnar nerve; the radial head of the flexor brevis forms the third palmar interosseous muscle. The so-called deep head of the flexor brevis rollicis is really

a part of the abductor, and the proper ulnar head of the short flexor is the first palmar interosseous of Heule.

THE "NOBLE Forehead" FALLACY.

an interest in opposing the theory of evolution, that the posterior lobes of the cerebrum exist, just as well marked, just as unequivocally, in the highest apes as in man; that they extend backward and cover the lobes of the cerebellum in those apes as they do in man, and to claim that they have no posterior lobes is like claiming that they have no hippocampus minor, or a posterior horn to the lateral ventricle, structures which were also thought at one time to have no existence in any animal but man, but which have now been proved to exist in the brains of the higher apes. He further says, that in apes, and in idiots in whom the posterior lobes of the cerebrum were illy developed, the back part of the head and neck have a flattened appearance, the occipital region not having that curve backward which is found when the pos

point in which the writer is in error, as the flatness of the posterior portion of the head and neck is not due to the absence of posterior cerebral lobes in the anthropoids, but to the position in the base of the skull of the foramen magnum and the articulating condyles on each side of it, which structures are placed further back in the skull, and, as the vertebral column articulates with the skull at this point, the further back this articulation is placed, the less will the occiput project back of the neck, thus giving rise to the flat

Under this heading the Pacific Med. and Surg. Journal questions the validity of the time-honored belief that with a massive forehead there is associated a correspondingly elevated intellect, and claims that the height of the forehead depends much upon the line of growth of the hair that limits it, and that if many with low foreheads would have the hair removed to a height of four or five inches, they would present as fine specimens of the traditional "noble forehead" as could be wished. The writer holds that the front portion of the brain has very little to do with the intellectual processes; that it is the posterior lobes are well developed. This is another terior lobes of the brain with which the higher faculties of the mind are associated. All this may well be very true, and nothing is more certain than that commanding intellects are found associated with foreheads "villainous low;" but with this he might well have stopped, and not laid claim to man's peculiar possession of those posterior lobes, those seats of the intellectual processes, to the exclusion of all other animals, for he says: "only man possesses posterior or oc cipital lobes; they are the latest achievement in the long line of cerebral de-ening spoken of by the writer. In fact, in velopment." He, however, generously concedes to the higher apes the possession of rudimentary posterior lobes. These last statements must be a wilful misstatement of facts, or a failure to have kept apace with these facts, and it is by just such means that errors in regard to any matter may be extensively spread and indefinitely continued. If the above statement were true, it would afford to the anti-evolutionist another apparent stronghold, although an insecure one, for the estab-eighth nerve in the rabbit, by observing the lishment of an insuperable obstacle, an impassable gulf, as they delight in calling it, between man and the higher apes. It is now thoroughly established, in fact it was never a question except in the minds of those who had

one of the monkeys, the chrysothrix, in which the foramen magnum is placed as far forward as in man, the occiput projects quite markedly back of the neck.

ON THE CENTRAL CONNECTIONS OF THE AUDI-
TORY NERVE.

Benno Baginsky has studied the origin and central course of the auditory portion of the

degenerations following destruction of the cochlea in young animals. He contrived an operation by which the cochlea was completely destroyed, while the other parts of the labyrinth remained intact, and found the

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