On

enced and controlled by the higher nerve centers as the sexual. It is excited by lewd imaginings, loose talk, and sensuous scenes. It is set in motion by even accidental stimulus of any part of the nervous system affected by the sexual organism. Hence the difficulty of continence. all sides are sights and sounds that may become the stimulus of sexual excitement. The other side of the picture is equally true. By the exercise of watchfulness and self-control, the occasions of such excitement may be reduced to a minimum and the passion may be subdued. Medical men are sometimes asked to formulate rules of diet and exercise-hygienic rules - by which immorality is to be banished. The task is impracticable. Vice is voluntary, and it is only by the exercise of a resolute self-will that virtue is maintained." J. H. K.

re

Raw Beef Steaks.- Popoff's searches on the digestibility of beef and fish prepared upon different methods, show very conclusively that both these comestibles are much more digestible in their raw state than when cooked. According to his observations, the longer the beef is cooked the more indigestible it becomes, and contrary to generally prevalent ideas, beef is, in all cases, more digestible than fish, except in case of smoked beef. The superior digestibility of raw meat has long been recognized by physicians in the feeding to invalids with weak digestion, meat pulp, beef juice, and other preparations of raw meat. The question now arises, Shall the cooking of meat be abandoned?

In the light of these physiological researches, it would seem that the cooking of meat is an ancient error into which the human family have fallen, and that if we are to use flesh as an article of food, we ought to return to the primitive habit of eating it raw, like a native of Terra

ans.

del Fuego or a Kalmuck Tartar. The danger of contamination by disease germs or infection by trichinæ, the embryos of tapeworm, and other parasites, stares us in the face, however, and hence there seem to be left but two alternatives: either to take our beef steaks as heretofore, well done, or to become vegetariVegetarianism seems to be growing in favor; less, however, through the agitation of the advocates of man's return to his primitive diet, than as the result of the constant revelations made by those engaged in pathological and bacteriological researches respecting the numerous evils which arise from the free use of flesh, and the dangers of contamination which threaten meat-eaters from a hundred different sources.

J. H. K.

Electrical Quacks at the World's Fair. We are glad to see that the electrical quacks are having a hard time with the managers of the World's Fair. Prof. Peabody, the head of the department of Liberal Arts and Manufactures, is a man of wide learning, great information, sagacity, and rare good sense. He has been beset on every hand by charlatans of every description who have been determined to make a representation of their wares in this department. Failing in their designs, the manufacturers of electrical belts, pads, and other similar humbugs, appealed to the managers of the electrical department, but, we are glad to say, with equal ill success. The public will probably not appreciate the obligations which they are under to the men who have stood sternly against the tremendous pressure which has been brought to bear upon them to ignore the dictates of reason and principle in this matter, but the medical profession certainly will, and do appreciate this intelligent action on the part of laymen.

J. H. K.

REVIEWS.

P.

Hand-Book of Obstetrical Nursing. By Annie M. Fullerton, M. D. Blackiston, Son & Co., Phila., pub.

The publishing house by whom this work is issued, seem to have a happy faculty of finding just the right parties to prepare a work on any given subject which they recognize as requiring a new or more lucid representation in medical literature. They certainly have been fortunate in securing the services of Dr. Fullerton, the able physician, obstetrician, and gynecologist in the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia. The volume is an excellent one, and presents just the technical knowledge required by the obstetrical nurse who wishes to give to her patients all the advantages of modern aseptic and antiseptic care. Every trained nurse should be provided with a copy of this work, and make herself familiar with its contents. It will doubtless be largely used as a text-book in the nurses' training schools of the country.

Gould's Pocket Medical Dictionary. - P. Blackiston, Son & Co., Phila. This little volume contains 12,000 medical words, which are briefly but clearly and concisely defined, and have the pronunciation correctly indicated. It is beautifully bound in Morocco, gilt edges, and is of a size convenient for carrying in the pocket. It will doubtless prove a greater boon to medical students than the larger dictionaries, as it may be always at hand ready for use. A copy ought to be in the coat pocket of every medical student in the country.

paper is unquestionably one of the most important contributions to the scientific study of the effects of alcohol upon the human body, which has recently been made. The general results, which will be more thoroughly stated elsewhere in these columns, were to demonstrate that alcohol uniformly increases heat dissipation, and almost uniformly, thirteen out of eighteen, diminishes heat production. In this respect it differs from most other agencies which increase heat dissipation, the general rule being that such agencies at the same time increase heat production. The value and importance of these observations will be readily recognized.

The National Medical Review.By C. H. Stowell, M. D., editor and publisher, Washington, D. C. This journal is what its title indicates, a medical review. It is one of the brightest and most readable journals that comes to our table. Every page has something sparkling on it from the pen of the editor, who puts himself into his journal in a way which indicates that he loves his work and knows how to do it. Each number of the journal contains a new installment of "Letters to a Young Physician," which contain a fund of good advice that it would be well if every young physician could read and heed.

OBSERVATIONS WITH REFERENCE TO THE VALUE OF METHYL-VIOLET AS AN INDICATOR OF THE PRESENCE OF FREE HYDROCHLORIC ACID.

THE general use of methyl-violet in the colorometric method of studying stomach fluids with reference to the presence or amount of free hydrochloric acid, renders important a precise estimate of the value of this color reagent. Within the last six months, the relation of this reagent to the amount of free hydrochloric acid present in the stomach liquids, has been comparatively studied by the writer in more than 600 different stomach fluids. In a few of these, the data observed were not quite complete, so that they were thrown out, leaving 567 cases to which the statements made in this article refer. Of these 567 cases, free HCl was indicated as absent in 86 (15 per cent), and present in very small quantity in 57 (9.9 per cent). The reaction was decidedly marked in (56.4 per cent) cases, and was very marked, indicating excess of HCl, in 108 (18.7 per cent) cases. In each case in which the color reagent was used, a careful quantitative analysis was also made, in which the total chlorine was determined as well as the amount of chlorine in the form of free HCl. Quantitative analysis showed free HCl to be absent in only 8.6 per cent of the cases, a trifle more than one half the number of cases in which the color reagent indicated it to be absent. The quantitative estimation indicated HCl in excess, that is, in a quan

325

BATTLE CREEK, MICH., MAY, 1893.

tity greater than 50 milligrammes of anhydrous HCl in 100 c. c. of stomach fluid, in 146 cases, or 25.3 per cent.

These figures indicate sufficiently the inaccuracy of methyl-violet as an indicator of either the absence or the relative amount of free HCl present, since free HCI was present in nearly one half the cases in which it was indicated to be absent by methyl-violet, and the reagent failed to indicate excess in nearly as large a proportion of the cases in which decided excess existed. But a careful study of the cases in which free HCl was indicated to be absent or in excess, in comparison with cases in which the actual facts were determined by quantitative analysis, shows a most astonishing lack of coincidence; for example, of the 86 cases in which methyl-violet indicated the absence of free HCl, the acid was found present in 54, or 62.9 per cent, of the cases. In a majority of the cases in which free HCl was present, although indicated to be absent by methyl-violet, it was present in a quantity of from 4 to 8 milligrammes for each 100 c. c. of stomach liquid. In ten cases the amount of free hydrochloric acid reached from 16 to 18 milligrammes per 100 c. c. of stomach fluid; in one, 36 milligrammes; and in another, 40 milligrammes. The average of 18 cases was nearly .018 grammes, a close approach to the normal amount. Certainly, from the pathological indication in these 18 cases, positive damage might have been done by the administration of hydrochloric acid, al

It is thus apparent that as an indicator of excess, the methyl-violet reagent fails much more frequently than it succeeds, and hence, if used at all, should be interpreted negatively, the failures being 7.4 per cent of the cases, or one third more frequent than the successes. study of all the cases showed that free HC was absent in 21 cases in which methyl-violet showed it to be present. Of these, acid fermentation was present to a very marked degree in 8 cases. The reaction for lactic acid was distinctly marked in 9 additional cases, and in the remaining 4 cases in which neither fermentation nor lactic acid was indicated as present, there was a great abundance of peptone. As lactic acid is almost invariably present in connection with fermentation in the stomach, it is probable that this is at least one of the substances which interfere with the color reaction of methyl-violet as an indicator of free HCl.

The above facts seem to indicate beyond controversy the unreliable character of methyl-violet as a color indicator, and to condemn its use as a reagent in the examination of stomach fluids. Günz

burg's reagent, and the resorcine reagent of Boas, are much more reliable, and, as a rule, may be depended upon as indicators of the presence of free HCl.

The reason why Ewald finds so many cases in which free hydrochloric acid is absent, is to be found in the explanation which he himself gives in explaining another anomalous fact, which he says is

have found free hydrochloric acid absent in only 52 instances, and in not a single instance has free hydrochloric acid been found to be absent without very distinct evidence of ill health, in disordered digestion.

Examinations of stomach fluid have frequently been made in women during the menstrual period, but in no instance has free hydrochloric acid been found. absent. The reason for these numerous errors in observation, which are so misleading in diagnosis, is to be found in the unreliability of the color-tests for free hydrochloric acid, especially the methyl-violet test, which, as already shown, not infrequently fails to indicate the presence of free HCl, although it may be present in a considerable quantity in the fluid examined.

Physicians have frequently found themselves in disgrace from basing a diagnosis of atrophy or cancer of the stomach upon the absence of free HCl, as indicated by methyl-violet, and have thereby been led to discredit the value of all chemical methods of investigating stomach disorders. It is safe to say that the colorometric methods are wholly unreliable, except as giving suggestive indica

tions, which in a majority of cases are of some value, although not infrequently the indication given is the opposite of the truth.

I shall give, at some future time, a more complete account of my investigations in this direction.

GRAPHIC STUDIES OF THE SINUSOIDAL AND OTHER FORMS OF ELECTRICAL CURRENTS.

(Continued from January No.)

THE motor effects are obtained by running the apparatus at a slow rate of speed; that is, a speed giving alternations of the current varying between 50 and 150 per second.

Sensory Effects.-The sensory effects are obtained by running the machine at a high rate of speed, securing alternations of 100 to 200 per second. The effect of the current upon the sensory With nerves is equally remarkable. sponge electrodes applied to the temples, the machine being run at a high rate of speed and the current controlled by a rheostat, a most remarkable display of light impressions is observed in the vicinity of each pole, the impression being that of moving circles concentrically arranged. The appearance might be not inappropriately compared to a great whirlpool of light. Absolutely no other sensation is perceived with a current of moderate intensity. As the intensity of the current is increased by the adjustment of the rheostat, the display of light increases to a marvelous extent, and finally a light prickling sensation is experienced in the skin, which becomes painful and is accompanied by tonic contraction of the underlying muscles, if a certain strength of current, variable with each individual, is exceeded. studying the effect of the current upon the various divisions of the tactile sense, the sense of taste, the olfactory sense, and the auditory sense, but am not yet prepared to publish my results. The peculiar effects of the current upon the

I am

optic nerve I attribute to its remarkable power of diffusion or penetration.

I have found the current of very great service in connection with the application of large currents for the electrolytic treatment of uterine fibroids, as it greatly lessens the pain of the application, and thus enables the patient to tolerate a current of considerable greater strength than could otherwise be borne. When used for this purpose, an additional electrode is placed upon the back, to which one. reopore is attached, the other being con

nected with the intra-uterine electrode. If after the galvanic current has been made as great as the patient can endure, the magnetic current is turned on, the patient is at once relieved, and the galvanic current may then be increased, usually from to 30 milliamperes. Even when the galvanic current has been increased to such an extent as to lead the patient to beg to have it reduced, the pain usually ceases almost instantly when the sinusoidal current is switched on.

20

As an analgesic, and for the relief of various illy defined sensations to which persons refer under the general term "pain," I know of no mode of electrical application so valuable as the sinusoidal current obtained from the machine when moving very rapidly, the dose, of course, being regulated by means of a suitable rheostat.

In a case recently under observation, a patient who had suffered for several years from a peculiar sensation of emptiness in the head, and what she termed a loss of the sense of time, doubtless using this mode of expression for want of a better means of expressing her feelings, complete and permanent relief was obtained by two or three applications. Many patients who seem to have an utter intolerance of any other form of electrical current, are benefited by the application of this current. Indeed, I have never found a case in which any unpleasant effects were produced by it.