change in temperature and an increased development of electricity; and as a result, a greatly increased quantity of ozone. This ozone is especially felt after a discharge of electricity from the storm-cloud, or in the presence of the scintillations of the aurora-borealis.

The remote causes of these phenomena are the ocean currents of water and the greater currents of ether blue, ever flowing from the torrid to the frigid zones; and in turn the cold from the North to the South, which by contact and intermingling, form vast dynamos developing electric currents which circumvent the globe; and whose touch, though silent and unseen, or leaping from the clouds to cleave the rock-ribbed mountain and terrify all animate nature, strews the paths of the living with the bodies of the dead.

The properties of ozone are those of oxygen intensified, and it is very irritating to the mucous membranes; and when the atmosphere.contains a disproportionate amount it causes distressing coryza or even hemoptysis. The congestion of the mucous surfaces prevents oxidation of the blood, and the retention of carbon dioxide follows. This poison affects the nerve centers and a condition of auto-intoxication with shock to the whole system ensues. Should any organ of the body be in a weakened condition the greatest effect will be felt by it.

It must be remembered that in the undue proportion of ozone in the atmosphere, that its action is repeated and cumulative, so that while days and years may be its measure of time, yet

FORCEPS AND FACIAL PARALYSIS IN AN INFANT.— Laskine (British Medical Journal) speaks of an instrumental labor where the mother was a primapara, aged 22. After she had been in labor 54 hours the forceps was applied. A large child, weighing nearly ten pounds four ounces, was delivered; the perineum was torn. The child had facial paralysis, which was treated by the interrupted current. At the end of two months the condition had disappeared. Laskine admitted that the

in a night the chilly blast may strew its victims thick as the leaves of Vallombroso.

In the evolution of electricity, still other irritating gases may have something to add to the destructive forces at work in the form of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide gases. There is still another factor in the case, and that is the barometric influence on the circulation. When the atmospheric pressure is light, the fluids of the body, as if by suction, tend toward the surface, and in the reverse condition the internal organs of the body are congested. Then again the temperature of the encircling medium disturbs the distribution of nerve force, locks up the secretions, and disturbs the functional actions of the body.

Should these causes be sufficient to create the havoc, which plays as if in mockery and fiendish glee with the lives of the unnumbered thousands in every land on the globe, what then becomes of the microbic theory? That the microbe has been found in the secretions of those affected with influenza is doubtless true.

The microbe is a development of necessary conditions, and is to my mind chemical in character, and is found only when the elements entering its composi tion are present. That microbes are

found in the secretions of a case of influenza is doubtless true, because the soil is favorable to its evolution; but that the microbe is the cause of the disease is another question. It is an inhabitant of physical debris, and once formed, will doubtless propagate under similar conditions.

child's father had syphilis. Altogether, however, he thought the evidence was in favor of the opinion that the paralysis was caused by injury with the forceps. This complication took, he thought, long to cure. Gaulard, in a discussion on the case, knew of another far more chronic instance of the same lesion, for one of his colleagues, about 40 years old, still suffered from facial palsy, caused by the forceps when he was brought into the world.

MARYLAND

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Address: MARYLAND MEDICAL JOURNAL, 209 Park Ave., Baltimore, Md.

WASHINGTON OFFICE:

Room 22 Washington Loan and Trust Co. Building.

BALTIMORE, JUNE 29, 1895.

THE good work which the American Academy of Medicine has done and is doing has already been referred to in Higher Medical these columns. A great part Education. of the meeting recently held in Baltimore was devoted to the cause of medical education and of the many papers read perhaps none was more practical and worthy of note than that on the need of efficient legislation regulating medical practice by Dr. Perry H. Millard of St. Paul and which appears in this issue.

It is interesting to note the good work that has been done in controlling and regulating the practice of medicine in so many States and the great advantages reaped from such legislation by the people and by the profession. The people receive better medical attention and the number of unskilled and incompetent physicians is reduced. All that is needed is a good effective law in every State so that incompetent men will not be driven into the unprotected States and work their havoc there.

One great help in the cause of advanced medical education is the lengthened and strengthened medical course which is gradually becoming one of four years' length. Too much credit cannot be given to one medical school of Baltimore, the Woman's Medical College, and more especially to Dr. Eugene F. Cordell, who was instrumental in calling together a convention of the medical schools which resulted in the adoption of a uniform system of instruction and a three-year course in those schools which took part in this convention. At that time many present were of the opinion that such a convention would amount to little and rather stood back, as is human, waiting to see which way the largest number would turn and holding a neutral position long enough to crow with the victorious.

What has been done is seen in this excellent paper of Dr. Millard's, a copy of which, according to a minute adopted at the last meeting of the Academy, has been sent to all medical journals with the request that they make as full use of it as possible and with which request it is hoped that many journals will comply. Such work helps along the cause of advanced medical education and strengthens the position of the true physician.

***

IT has so often happened that cases of apoplexy have been treated as cases of "drunk " and have been carried to a Drunk or Apoplexy. police station, there to die, that the Medical Society of the County of Kings, New York, appreciating this matter, have issued the following recommendations, which should be followed by all city police :

1. Whenever a person is found in an unconscious or semi-conscious state on the street, or elsewhere, away from his own home, the police, when notified of such case, shall immediately summon medical aid; sending for the ambulance surgeon, or for the police surgeon ; or in towns, where there are no such officials, then for the nearest physician, who should be compensated for his services by the authori

ties.

2. The police shall not decide as to the disposition of such a case, but must wait the decision of the ambulance surgeon, police surgeon, or of the physician called, and must act in accordance with such decision.

3. A police officer who acts in opposition to

such decision should be by the ambulance surgeon, police surgeon, or the physician, reported to the Police Commissioner, who should subject such officer to discipline, rules governing such cases having previously been made and promulgated.

4. Ambulance surgeons should give prompt and immediate aid to patients found in the condition hitherto described, and remove them to the nearest hospital, or to their homes when ascertainable, according as his judgment dictates, is the best course to pursue in the interest of the patients. The existence of an alcoholic complication in the case should in nowise adversely influence the surgeon or physician called as to the disposition of the case, as such a complication often renders skillful medical treatment the more imperative.

5. Ambulance surgeons, and other medical men, brought in contact with cases in which alcoholism is a frequent complication, should be reminded that this condition often renders an immediate diagnosis impossible in the most serious and oftentimes fatal forms of cerebral disease and injury, as well as in other diseased conditions.

6. The examination of ambulance surgeons should include the differential diagnosis of alcoholic coma from other forms of coma, and the various diseases or injuries that may produce a condition simulating alcoholic intoxication.

7. Hospital authorities receiving financial aid from the city should not refuse admittance to patients suffering from supposed alcoholism, for in so doing they are liable to be contributory to the death of such patients. They should know, that if the condition be one of uncomplicated alcoholism, this fact will in a short time be revealed, and other disposition may be subsequently made of the case; while if the patient is so affected as to need immediate and skillful treatment, his rejection by the hospital authorities may conduce to a fatal result. If they refuse to receive such cases, because complicated with alcoholism, they should be held legally responsible for the results. And, further, if such refusal is persistent after their attention has been called to the matter, the city authorities should strike the name of such hospital from its list of beneficiaries.

8. The municipal authorities should also

consider the question of the establishment of a special emergency hospital, or hospitals, conveniently located with reference to the various districts of the city; or a system, similar to that of the Bureau d'Admission in Paris, connected with which there is a special hospital for all cases of alcoholism, or cases complicated with alcoholism, that may occur in the streets of that city. Or the authorities might consider the establishment of a special department in connection with the hospitals of the city, similar to the "Alcoholic Wards" of Bellevue Hospital, New York, where more than 4000 alcoholics are annually treated. Such a plan would relieve the general hospitals of the burden of such cases, or compel them to make special provision for their care. Should the existing methods prove inadequate, the Committee recommends some such plan as is here outlined.

It is the hope of the Committee, now that the attention of all concerned has been specifically called to the matter, that they will cooperate in such a manner, by adopting rules and otherwise, so that methods will prevail in Brooklyn and other cities in the management of cases of the nature described, such as exist in most European cities. If this is done, then persons who are rendered unconscious from any cause on the streets or elsewhere, will receive prompt medical and humane treatment, and will escape the danger of being thrust in a cell as drunks," and there left to sleep off the supposed debauch, which in no inconsiderable number of cases has proved to be "a sleep that knows no waking."

This question is an exceedingly important one and the medical society bringing out these rules deserves especial credit. It would be well if all large cities would formulate such rules for the guidance of the police, who too often hastily condemn a sick man to a drunkard's cell, only to find out their mistake when it is too late. It is wrong to blame the police for these mistakes as even the most skilled physician is at times in doubt, but, as this society has shown, the unconscious man should be given the benefit of the doubt, for it is much better to put the case of "drunk" in a hospital and find out the mistake next morning than it is to let an apoplectic die in a station house cell.

Dr. A. M. Elmore of Dallas, Texas, is editor of the Texas Health Journal.

Dr. Frederick T. Rogers is editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Medical Weekly.

Trendelenburg has succeeded Thiersch in the chair of surgery at Leipsic.

The death is announced of Verneuil, the French surgeon, in the sixty-third year of his age.

Secretary Morton has just issued new meat inspection regulations which will take effect July 1.

A Western court has decided that a physician may be held liable for dismissing a case too soon.

The death is announced of Mr. W. H. Schieffelin of the well known drug firm of New York City.

From October 6, 1894, to March 23, 1895, there were 524 cases of smallpox in Milwaukee, with 164 deaths.

A School of Medicine for Women is to be opened at St. Petersburg, Russia, under the auspices of the State.

The Cartwright Prize, offered by the Alumni Association of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, was awarded to Dr. James Ewing of New York.

The meeting of the bacteriologists in New York last week was productive of much good and the objects desired will probably be attained in time.

Dr. Louis McLane Tiffany of Baltimore has been elected an honorary member of the North Carolina Medical Society.

It is proposed to erect a home in New York for the dying, a rather novel institution, which is to be called the Thanatopsis Home.

At Southampton, England, all the garbage is burned in a furnace which was erected at an expense of $18,000, and which consumes from twenty-five to fifty tons of garbage a day at a merely nominal cost.

Yellow fever prevails to a considerable extent on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts of Mexico. It is increasing in Cuba, the newly arrived Spanish troops furnishing abundant fuel for the spread of the disease.

The importance and need of post-graduate work is shown in the excellent prospectus of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, which offers especial facilities for this work. Over seventy-five physicians took these courses in the last year, most of whom were from out of town.

The board of managers of the Baltimore General Dispensary, Lexington Street, met last Tuesday and elected the following physicians to serve in the dispensary: Drs. Haughton Baxley, J. B. Saunders, E. A. Munoz and Henry M. Baxley. During the year 12,317 patients were relieved and 15,037 prescriptions put up.

The Gynecological, Obstetrical and Pediatrical Congress will convene at Bordeaux on August 12 and continue until the 15th, each department under its respective president. The order of subjects for discussion will be, in Gynecology, Uterine Displacements; in Obstetrics, The Treatment of Puerperal Septice. mia; and in Pediatrics, Hip Disease and Clubfoot.

A new mountain resort for consumptives, named the St. Gabriel's Retreat, will soon be inaugurated under the care of the Sisters of Mercy of Ogdensburg, N. Y. It is to be located at Paul Smith's, in the northern Adirondack region, where a plot of land, one hundred acres in extent, has been secured. A large central hospital with outlying cottages has been planned, in close proximity to pine forests covering thousands of acres. A very large sun-bath portico will be provided. One cottage has been promised by a benevolent lady living at Troy, N. Y.

WASHINGTON NOTES.

The last meeting of the Washington Obstetrical and Gynecological Society was held on Friday night, June 21. The Vice-President, Dr. S. S. Adams, was in the chair.

Dr. J. T. Kelly was elected an active member of the Society.

Dr. I. S. Stone presented one mulberry calculus removed from the gall duct and eighty small stones removed from the gall bladder. He also showed a splendid specimen of pus tube. He dwelt at some length on the importance of stopping all hemorrhage and not losing any more blood during the operation than possible.

Dr. J. Taber Johnson thought it more important to make the operation as short as possible. The incision should be as small as possible and no more ether given than was absolutely necessary. The loss of an ounce more or less of blood was, in his opinion, not so important.

Dr. Francis S. Nash presented a specimen of multilocular cyst for Dr. H. L. E. Johnson, who was out of the city.

The discussion on Dr. J. Foster Scott's paper on "Criminal Abortion " was continued from the last meeting and Dr. E. L. Tompkins, in keeping with the subject, read a short paper entitled "A Case of Criminal Abor

tion."

Dr. J. Taber Johnson, Dr. W. P. Carr, Dr. T. C. Smith, Dr. F. S. Nash and others joined in the discussion. The society then adjourned until next fall.

PUBLIC SERVICE.

OFFICIAL LIST OF CHANGES IN THE STATIONS AND DUTIES OF MEDICAL OFFICERS.

UNITED STATES ARMY.

To June 24, 1895.

Captain Charles Richard, Assistant Surgeon, is relieved from duty at the United States Military Prison, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to take effect June 30, 1895, and will proceed to comply with the order for him to take station at St. Louis, Missouri.

Leave of absence for two months, to take effect about July 1, 1895, is granted Colonel Francis L. Town, Assistant Surgeon General. Captain Harry O. Perley, Assistant Surgeon, will report in person to Colonel Charles H. Alden, Assistant Surgeon General, President

of the Examining Board appointed to meet in this city, at such time as he may be required by the Board for examination as to his fitness for promotion, and upon the conclusion of his examination to return to his proper station.

Leave of absence for one month and twenty days, to take effect on or about August 10, 1895, is granted Major Louis M. Maus, Surgeon.

Captain Edwin F. Gardner, Assistant Surgeon, is relieved from duty as Attending Surgeon and Examiner of Recruits in Boston, Massachusetts, and will report in person to Colonel Charles H. Alden, Assistant Surgeon General, President of the Examining Board appointed to meet in this city for examination by the Board as to his fitness for promotion and upon conclusion of his examination will report for duty at Fort Grant, Arizona.

Captain Alfred E. Bradley, Assistant Surgeon, will be relieved from duty at Fort Custer, Montana, upon the arrival there of Major William C. Shannon, Surgeon, and will report for duty at Fort Yellowstone, Wyoming, for duty at that post, relieving Captain Charles M. Gandy, Assistant Surgeon.

Captain Gandy, on being thus relieved, will report for duty at Washington Barracks, D. C. Leave of absence for two months and twentythree days to take effect on or about July 6, 1895, is granted First Lieutenant William F. Lewis, Assistant Surgeon.

The leave of absence on surgeon's certificate of disability granted Captain James E. Pilcher, Assistant Surgeon, is extended four months on surgeon's certificate of disability and permission is given him to go beyond the sea.

Captain George McCreery, Assistant Surgeon, will be relieved from duty at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming, and will report in person to the Commanding Officer, Fort Niobrara, Nebraska, for duty at that post.

BOOK REVIEWS.

IMMUNITY, PROTECTIVE INOCULATIONS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, AND SERUM-THERAPY. By George M. Sternberg, M D., LL.D., Surgeon General United States Army, ex-President American Public Health Association, Honorary Member of the Epidemiological Society of London, of the Royal Academy of Medicine at Rome, of the Academy of Medicine at Rio Janeiro, of the Société d'Hygiene, etc. New York: William Wood & Co. 1895. Price $2.50. Pp. 325.

The clinician and practical man have so often asked if the study of these apparently theoretical subjects aided in the cure of disease that Dr. Sternberg has brought together in this little volume what we know of immunity and kindred subjects. The first part is on natural and acquired immunity and the