OUR MISCELLANY, EARLY MATURITY.-Mr. Henry Dodd reports in the London Lancet the birth, at term, of a child weighing seven pounds, from a mother fully matured, aged nine years less two months, when she became pregnant. BOYS SMOKING.Mothers have a duty to perform towards their boys in teaching them to avoid tobacco. Some investigations by Decaisne, of Paris, may help them in the discharge of this duty. Decaisne examined a large number of young smokers, and found the following symptoms, evidently due to this habit: Palpitation, intermittent pulse, chloro-anæmia; besides this, the children showed impaired intelligence, became lazy, and were disposed to take alcoholic stimulants. The latter effects are worse than the first, and no doubt grow out of them.- World, London. Yellow Fever. — During the week ending October 14, 24 cases of yellow fever and 3 deaths were reported from Brownsville, making a total, during the epidemic, of 1,936 cases and 112 deaths. Since the 14th very few cases have occurred, and the epidemic is practically at an end. - At Pensacola, since Oct. 11, the daily number of new cases has been between 60 and 70, with from 2 to 4 deaths. The total number of cases up to Oct. 16, 1,680, with 143 deaths. ENCOURAGING TO OBSTETRICIANS. In a recent number of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal the following interesting and encouraging statement appeared: It is just a hundred years since the expectation of life among English women became equal, for insurance purposes, to that of men. Prior to 1772 women were compelled to pay an extra charge. At present the female expectation of life is about three years in advance of that of males. A great factor in this prolongation of life is undoubtedly the increased knowledge and skill as regards the management of pregnancy and childbirth. There is hardly any progress in the past century which can be contemplated with such deep satisfaction as this diminished mortality rate Some figures recently collected by Dr. E. H. Sieveking may here be cited in illustration: The mortality of lying-in women in London was, in 1660 to 1680, one death to 44; 1700 to 1740, one death to 70; 1760 to 1780, one death to 82. In the Hotel Dieu, Paris, in 1786, it was one in 15. At the beginning of the century the hospital mortality declined very much, while the total mortality also became considerably less. In Prussia, in 1817, it was one in 112. In the whole city of London, during the years 1780 to 1820, it was one in 108.5. From this time there has been an almost steady decrease in the death-rate of parturient women. This may be shown by a table compiled from statistics given by Sir James Simpson and Dr. Farr:— Years. 1841 1851 1881 Proportion of Maternal Deaths in Childbed: I in 192 A distinction has to be made between the mortality rate of primiparæ and multiparæ. Among 36,776 cases collected by Hardy and McClintock, Matthews Duncan, and Johnson, and Sinclair, the ratio of deaths among primiparæ was one in 62; among multiparæ, one in 124. This is certainly too high a rate however to represent the present state of affairs. We can say now that whereas one hundred years ago one mother out of every 80 died in childbed, at the present time only one in 260 to 270 fails to survive. Obstet. ricians, midwives, sanitarians, all lay some claim to this prodigious advance in the saving of life. No single class or single influence, however, can be considered to have special and exclusive merit. Much is due to the advance in general knowledge and intelligence. More is due to the medical profession undoubtedly than to any other one agency. SPONTANEOUS Cow-Pox. - Dr. Jose R. De Argumosa describes a case of spontaneous cow-pox, observed by him in the spring of the present year. A servant called his attention to the cow, saying that she was uneasy when milked, and that he had noticed some pimples on her udder. The papules were a little raised, whitish in color, and surrounded with a very slightly inflamed areola. When a crust was formed he removed it and inoculated a heifer in fourteen places on the udder and belly. On the fourteenth day there were six well-formed papules. With the lymph from one of these the author then vaccinated a boy fourteen years of age. On the sixth day there was slight inflammation, and on the eighth umbilical papules appeared. The following day they were more marked and the boy complained of headache. The axillary glands were swollen and very painful. The vesicles were of enormous size, surrounded by a large erysipelatous areola, and contained a quantity of transparent lymph. The temperature was 38.4° C. The symptoms increased alarmingly, and on the eleventh day the temperature rose to a maximum of 40.1° C. All the symptoms, however, gradually subsided, and in a few days the boy was perfectly well. Seventyseven persons were afterward vaccinated, and the observer summarizes the results as follows: The period of incubation was longer than is ordinarily the case. The vesicles were larger and surrounded by a much wider areola, and the fever was greater in intensity and duration. The cow in whom the disease was discovered had been separated from other animals for several months, and as small-pox was prevalent in the neighborhood at the time, the author believes that the disease was acquired from man. Medical Record. AXILLA LACTATION. -The following item, from the Homeopathic Journal of Obstetrics, is the more interesting on account of its analogy to the case reported by Dr. Russegue in the present issue of the GAZETTE. S. F. Smith, M. D., in the Louisville Medical News, writes as follows: "I delivered a black woman in this city of her first child one month ago. A few days after the birth of the child she sent me word that milk was running out from under her arm and down her side. I went to see her and found that it was really axilla lactation. I went to see her again this morning to make a full investigation of the case. There is a milk-gland in the right axilla, but no nipple. The gland is about half an inch in diameter. When pressed between the fingers pure milk flows out through the small aperture. Her mammary glands are large and furnish a free flow of milk." PERSONAL. DR. J. P. STEDMAN has removed from Savin Hill to Westboro, Mass C. E. JONES, M. D., has located in Hartford, Conn. GEORGE GREEN, M. D., has located in Hartford, Conn. R. E. PIERCE, M. D, has located at No. 429 Shawmut Avenue, Boston. FREDERIC N. PALMER, M. D., has established an office at No. 3 Hamilton Place ; residence, suite 4, Hotel Huntington, Boston. W. H. STONE, M. D., has located at Taunton, Mass., and not at Hamburg, Ill., as reported in our October number. G. R. SOUTHWICK, M. D., has returned from Europe, and located at No. 626 Tremont Street in Boston. THE annual meeting of the Vermont Homœopathic Medical Society is held on the third Wednesday in October instead of on the first Wednesday, as announced in the Catalogue recently issued by Messrs Otis Clapp & Son. SAYER HASBROUCK, M. D. (class of '82, B. U. S. M.), sailed for Europe, Oct. 17, to remain one or two years. A portion of his time will be spent in the hospitals of Vienna. A DAUGHTER of Dr. W. T. Helmuth will be married to Lieut. W. P. Edgerton, U.S. A., on Tuesday evening, Nov. 7, at St. Bartholomew's Church. The ceremony will be followed by a reception at No. 299 Madison Avenue. HOMEOPATHY IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE. It is one of the principles and traditions most rigidly held by those who style themselves "regular" practitioners of medicine that the medical service of the United States, with its emoluments and honors, must be preserved from every taint of heresy, and that all who enter the government service must be protected from those who cure the sick by any method different from their own. Even in the stress of our national conflict, when brave, self-sacrificing men, crowded in the hospitals and lying on the field, were suffering and dying for lack of attendance, this duty of protection was not forgotten. Through all that time of distress the efforts of those in control were unremitting to shield the sick and wounded from the care of all who differed from themselves in medical theory. We know the cases, which then went upon record, where the urgent call for help was answered by surgeons whose skill and experience were well attested; whose education embraced too much rather than too little; whose examinations, when they were permitted to take them, were passed with honor; and who yet were repeatedly denied the privilege of serving, for the sole reason that their medical theories varied from the selfaffixed standard of those in power, though their abilities marked them for distinguished service. In the years which have passed since then, many changes have taken place. The army and the navy have almost disappeared, and the number of positions to be filled by medical men in the government service is comparatively small. The principles of justice, however, remain the same, and unjust discriminations before the law, even in individual cases, are as worthy of redress as ever. To test the principles which now govern appointments to the medical corps in the various branches of the naval, military, and civil service, the chairman of the Bureau of Medical Legislation of the American Institute of Homœopathy, J. C. Morgan, M. D., of Philadelphia, addressed a letter to the Hon. Chas. O'Neill, M. C., as follows: "Dear Sir,- Will you kindly inform me, first, if the Honorable Secretary of the Navy authorizes a discrimination between the diplomas of homoeopathic medical colleges in good legal standing and those of the allopathic or so-called "regular" school, in the admission of candidates to examination for the medical corps of the navy; and, second, if a graduate of a "regular" medical college, who shall avow himself an adherent of homœopathy, will be admitted to examination, and to appointment on proving himself possessed of the required amount of knowledge?" This letter was referred to Secretary Chandler, of the navy, and the following extract from his reply explains itself: "I beg leave to say the matter was referred to the chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, who reports that no discrimination is made in favor of or against any school. The only requirements of the department are, that a candidate, in addition to his moral and physical qualifications, shall possess the necessary professional and literary knowledge to enable him to pass the established examination." This is all that can be desired, and indicates the liberality and regard for justice which governed Surgeon-General Wales in his decision. Homoeopathy in the navy rests, then, upon the basis of knowledge. When we turn our attention to the military service, however, we find quite a different aspect. Two letters were sent by the Hon. Chas. O'Neill to the Secretary of War, presenting, in separate form, the same two questions which were propounded to the Secretary of the Navy. These were in turn referred to Surgeon-General Barnes, and two letters were received from him in reply. From their spirit we might imagine ourselves back again in war times. In reply to the first question, after explaining that "the term 'regular' as applied to a medical school, has no relation to its legal standing," he says: "The knowledge which a medical officer of the army should possess to enable him to properly discharge the important and responsible duties which devolve upon him, and to make use of the means of treatment which are provided by the department, can only be obtained at a regular medical school; and it is not considered worth while to waste the time of the Army Medical Examining Boards, or to induce young men to incur useless expense, by extending invitations to appear before such boards, to those who cannot furnish evidence that they have at least had an opportunity to obtain the knowledge required." And in reply to the second question, he writes to the Secretary of War: " Sir,- I have the honor . . . to state that it is not considered desirable to introduce in the army the practice of homoeopathy, hydropathy, botanicism, physico-medicalism, or any other sectarian and exclusive system of medicine. The fact that a candidate has a knowledge of the dogmas of any or all of these systems would be no bar to his admission to the medical corps of the army; but the fact that he avowed his adhesion to some one of these would indicate that he is not suited to the position of a medical officer, nor, in my opinion, would he be acceptable to a large majority of those for whom medical attendance is provided by the government." An appeal from this decision of the Surgeon-General, made to the Secretary of War, had received no response at the time when Dr. Morgan made his report to the American Institute. This, then, is the relation of homoeopathy to the military service, so far, at least, as the Surgeon-General is concerned. Knowledge, in this case, in no way enters into the problem, as not even an examination will be permitted. In regard to the other departments, a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, asking the same questions in regard to appointments in the marine-hospital service, received no answer; while for the medical staff of the Pension Office, the believer in homœopathy was found to be perfectly eligible. Upon the report of these facts concerning the relation of homoopathy to the government service, the American Institute took action unanimously as follows: "Resolved, That the subject of the rejection of homoeopathic physicians from service as surgeons in the United States army, as distinctly stated by Surgeon General Barnes in his correspondence with Dr. J. C. Morgan, be referred to the Committee on Medical Legislation, with power to act in the name of this national body." The obvious method of procedure was, of course, to introduce into Congress the proper measure, resembling somewhat the British Medical Act of 1858 (Section XXIII.),* and to secure its passage. The following was accordingly framed : "JOINT RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO SCHOOLS OF MEDICAL PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE GRADUATES THEREOF. "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars and dismissal from office, for any officer of the United States government, civil, military, or naval, to make discrimination in favor of or against any school of medical practice, or its legal dipolmas, or its duly and legally graduated members, in the examination and appointment of candidates to medical service in any of the departments of the government. * See British Journal of Homœopathy, April 1, 1882. |