infectious. It was also discovered that the bed and clothing of the sick absorbed the poison, and afterward gave it off when exposed to the air, and thus communicated the disease. These clothes or other articles were called fomites, from their power of retaining the poison. The porous walls of the room also received the virus, and would give it to the next occupant. So subtle, indeed, did the poison seem to be, and so many sickened without known contact with the sick, that it came to be believed that the disease was communicated by sight and by hearing, and even by the imagination. More recent investigations have developed the theory that the human subject is born with certain materials in his blood or tissues, which the poisons of small-pox, scarletfever, or measles act upon as yeast acts upon the dough-namely, as a ferment. In this fermentation, the peculiar poison multiplies itself infinitely, and shows itself in the efflorescence or eruption. But it destroys wholly or in part the original material upon which it acted: when it entirely destroys this material, the disease can never repeat itself in the same person; when the fermentation is partial, the disease may recur. This theory explains also the nature of the process of inoculation and vaccination-the two great preventive measures of small-pox and the necessity of revaccination until the individual has no longer any susceptibility.

LIV.

STUDY OF MEDICAL ETHICS.

HE Code of Ethics of the American Medical

THE

Association has now been the recognized standard of medical morals in this country for a quarter of a century. It was prepared by the wisest members of our profession, among whom we recognize the honored and trustworthy names of DRS. BELL, HAYS, and EMERSON, of Philadelphia; PROF. CLARK, of New York, and PROF. ArNOLD, of Georgia. When submitted to the Convention of 1847, the Code was adopted unanimously. Since that period no one has dissented from its provisions, but every legitimate medical organization in the country has adopted it; and thus it stands as our organic medical law. This document defines with admirable simplicity and purity of language, and with the nicest appreciation of the exalted spirit of scientific medicine, the duties of physicians to each other as members of a liberal profession, and the reciprocal obligations which exist between them and the individual members of society. It is, in a word, the guide to the formation of a true medical character. And yet how little is this regarded by physicians, and how few are familiar with its admirable pro

visions? Of the hundreds of graduates who are annually introduced to the ranks of the profession, how few are aware of even the existence of such a chart to professional excellence, much less imbued with its spirit? Annually, on the commencement day, some venerable physician addresses the departing graduates; dwells upon the duties and responsibilities awaiting them in their new relations to society; encourages them by the hope of success; stimulates their ambition by the example of great lives which have adorned the profession; then, with a parting blessing, the young Esculapians are dismissed to their great encounter with the realities of medical practice. Such advice is useful, but the inquiry naturally arises whether our colleges can be said to do their whole duty toward students in fitting them to practice successfully, when they fail to instruct them in those rules of professional intercourse whose observance brings them, antecedently even to intellectual merits, the approbation of their fellow-practitioners, and on the contrary, whose violation insures them the certain and immediate reprobation and scorn of their professional brethren. If an individual wishes to rise to meritorious eminence in any profession he must, first of all things, secure to himself the sympathy and the respect of his fellow-laborers. Without that he can never permanently sustain his status among gentlemen. For, although he may rise spasmodically, and flutter in mid air awhile upon

waxen wings, yet the inexorable sunlight of Truth will speedily dissolve these frail supports, and leave him to flounder among the shoals of pretenders who swarm in the lower depths of the profession. It does not follow because a man has acquired large stores of knowledge that he may not at the same time be a low and vulgar boor, whose self-conceit or selfishness leads him to trample alike upon the rights and the feelings of his professional brethren, in his insensate haste to become rich, or to gain the bubble reputation. These things are of too frequent occurrence not to have been noticed by all, and it is not difficult in any community to point out some physicians who, great enough in intellectuality, are yet moral idiots in respect to the dignity and the honor of the profession they follow. Such men, whatever their talents, their wealth, or their factitious distinctions, are still living in virtual outlawry to the canons of medical ethics, nor can the ephemeral praises of an indiscriminate press indemnify them for the lost sympathy and respect of their fellows. Pitiable indeed is the condition of that man who is shunned by his peers, whose name provokes only contempt, and who is dismissed from the thoughts as one fallen from the high estate of a Christian gentleman and an honorable man. Our code of ethics, therefore, in all its length, breadth, and strength of application, should be taught to the young men in the medical colleges.

LV.

THE GRAND ARMY.

F

ROM the prostration which followed the memorable battle of Bull Run the country gradually recovered, new armies were raised, equipped, and put in the field, surpassing in numbers, physical perfection, provisions, and every article necessary to the comfort and health of the individual soldier, any army of modern times. The "Grand Army" was the proud title which was given to the new army of the Potomac. The nation took courage, became proud of its military strength, and finally stood ready, not only to crush all domestic combinations against its authority, but to arbitrate diplomatic questions with foreign governments on the field of battle. One year passed-a year of battles, of victories and defeats, of marchings and countermarchings innumerable. The country rang unceasingly with the clash of arms. But the year closed, as it commenced, with a great crisis. The "Grand Army" on which rested the hopes of the nation, had met with a reverse more disheartening than the defeat at Bull Run. It had failed in every particular to accomplish its object, and lay on the inhospitable banks of James River,