have combined with them some nerve sedative-like sodium bromide, or cactus grandiflorus.

If our workman's heart is near the point of asystole,—as a result of long continued and undue physical strainmorphine and atropine are often sovereign helps in time of greatest stress, and take the place, for the while, of any but very small doses of the socalled cardiac tonics, or stimulants. And here it is that hospital treat

Mortality Statistics

While the death rate on the Isthmus of Panama is rated at about 12.48 per thousand and is held up as a model for many of our existing municipalities, it is well to bear in mind that the comparison is not absolutely fair to municipal health officers. The population of the Canal Zone is not made

up in proportions similar to the population of the municipalities with which it is compared. The percentage of children under five years, the death rate of whom enters so largely

In appointing a successor to the late Dr. Wyman, President Taft has made a wise choice of one of the most courageous of the workers in the public service. We congratulate the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service upon the elevation of Dr. Rupert Blue to the post of Surgeon-General. His services in the West and South especially indicate his manifest fitness for

ment, as a rule, falls much behind as compared with what one learns and estimates in private practice, i. e., the importance of the personal, or functional, part of disease-apart from, or united with, obvious physical changes in organs.

This must be managed with specially trained knowledge and sympathy, for, without these, the results are often wretched, and cure, relative or absolute, rarely obtained.

BEVERLEY ROBINSON, M. D.

of the Canal Zone

into city mortality rates, does not exist in the Canal Zone to the same extent, and consequently invalidates the comparative value of the figures relating to that particular territory. While we admit the wonderful work that has been accomplished by Dr. Gorgas and his colleagues, in making the Canal Zone a habitable place, we feel it necessary to call attention to the fact that the death rate is only relatively to be compared with the death rates of municipalities or areas within the borders of the United States.

the highest position in the PublicHealth Service. As a tried and capable officer, an excellent disciplinaclinician, and a thoro scientist he asrian, a studious investigator, a careful sumes with renewed vigor and intensified interest the duties with which he is most familiar and for which he is especially fitted. The Nation and the Chief Executive may well be proud of Surgeon-General Rupert Blue.

Lord Joseph Lister is dead; Lister still lives. At the age of 84 Joseph Lister departed this life, a member of the House of Lords, a member of the

medical profession, a peer among men. Society

does not yet appreciate the full value of the great blessing that young Lister offered the profession in 1867. Semmelweis, Holmes, and Pasteur, paved the way for the renowned researches of

Lister in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

sacrificed to pyemia, erysipelas and hospital gangrene. Wound infection has largely disappeared, and operations to-day have a mortality that is less serious than at any time in the history of humanity. The antisepsis of Lister has given way in part to the asepsis of today, but without the appreciation

The days of carbolic acid, used externally and by spray, and the competition with the soap and water methods of Lawson Tait have resulted in a boon to humanity that has enriched human life as well as lengthened it and has given opportunity for the rejuvenation of society thru the saving of countless human beings who otherwise would have been

of the value of Lister's

advance in medicine,

surgery

would not have made such won derful progress. The practition e r of to-day rarely sees erysipelas;

pye mia is

scarce; and pueperal in

fection is gradually being reduced to a minimum.

Fortunately Lister lived to see the triumph that he merited and France and Germany and America vied with noble physician, who belongs to the his own country to do honor to the group of men who require no monument to be remembered.

Bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress embodying President Taft's recommendation that a federal commission be appointed to make a searching and comprehensive inquiry into the relations existing between employers and employees under the present conditions of large scale production into the means by which industrial conflicts may be avoided, and also into the means by which such conflicts, when they do occur, may be adjusted fairly and quickly, to the end that peace may prevail-not mere superficial orderliness, but peace due to fair dealing, a decent standard of living for all, a harmony between the different elements in the mechanism of production, and between the interests of producers and consumers.

It would not be difficult to find reasons why physicians should, as physicians, have an active interest in the proposed commission, but it is to physicians as public-spirited citizens, rather than in their professional capacity, that the measure will make its strongest appeal. Mr. Roosevelt, commenting on the President's message in the Outlook, said: "It is earnestly to be hoped that Republicans and Democrats, wise Progressives and wise Conservatives, will all alike back up his action. Just as it is not a party measure, but is receiving cordial support from persons of all shades of political faith, so it is a proposal which may be expected to command sympathy in all the professions. The suggestion originated with social workers and economists, unprejudiced students and observers of social conditions. It was made on the ground of public interest, not the interest of any particular group

of individuals, not even of the entire class of wage-earners, or of the entire class of employers. To quote from the President's message: "The extraordinary growth of industry in the past two decades and its revolutionary changes have raised new and vital questions-which have become matters of pressing public concern. Any interruption to the normal and peaceful relations between employers and wage-earners involves public discomfort and in many cases public disaster. Industrial relations

concern the public for a double reason. We are directly interested in the the maintenance of peaceful and stable industrial conditions for the sake of our own comfort and wellbeing; but society is equally interested, in its sovereign civic capacity, in seeing that our institutions are effectively. maintaining justice and fair dealing between any classes of citizens whose economic interests. interests may seem to clash." Certainly the medical profession, conspicuous as it is for public service, will not be indifferent to the issues here involved.

Putting it more concretely, the inquiry which is proposed would include in its scope the investigation of such questions as these:

How, as a matter of fact, are rates of wages, hours, and conditions of work determined to-day in the principal industries of the country?

What grievances do workmen feel, and what methods are open to them for treating with their employers on the subject of their grievances?

What obstacles, on the other hand, do the managers of industry have to contend with, and what methods are

open to them for overcoming these obstacles?

Do there exist grave dangers to the national welfare, in the way of under pay, overwork, human exploitation, among inarticulate workers-men, women, and children-who perhaps do not even feel that these conditions are grievances?

What has been the history of the relations between labor unions and employers' associations and of the trade agreements between them?

What are the powers, activities, and resources of the various bureaus and departments of labor, and what do they need in order that they may have the maximum of usefulness?

The inquiry is of such magnitude and delicacy, and of such far-reaching significance, that no private organization and no existing department of the government could well undertake it. Remedial action, so far as we can foresee it, will of necessity consist chiefly in state legislation and volun

What governmental machinery has been devised in other countries for raising industrial standards or facilitating the settlement of industrial difficulties (The Australian Minimum Wage Board, for example, and the Canadian Industrial Disputes Act) and to what extent would it be applicable to our conditions?

To what extent could the principles of the Erdman Act, which has operated with extraordinary success in preventing and adjusting strikes on the interstate railways, be applied to other industries, or in the several states?

What is the trend of our new statute laws regulating the contract work in the various states, and what is the trend of court dicisions, federal and state, on questions involving the relations between employer and employee?

liminary inquiry into conditions and possible remedies can be made far more effectively and far more economically by a federal commission than by forty-eight state commissions, even if it were possible to secure them simultaneously. A national point of view, moreover, not local, is essential; and the wisest, ablest, best informed men of the nation, to whatever state summoned to the task. they may owe allegiance, should be

All who are interested in the appointment of this commission are cordially invited or write to the Committee on Industrial Relations, Room 607, Kent Hall, Amsterdam Avenue and 116th Street, New York City, for information in regard to details of the plan and the progress which has been made. Expressions of sympathy from physicians and nurses and other readers of this journal, will be welcomed by the Committee.

April 28th is a Sunday, and it is also a National Tuberculosis Day, upon which date various churches thruout the land will give themselves over to voicing the necessity of paying

EDWARD T. DEVINE.

attention to the serious problem of tuberculosis that affects not alone the churches, but society as a whole. It would be but meet if every minister thruout this country, instead of giving

the sermon himself, should call upon some medical member of his congregation to rise up, assume the pulpit for the day, and speak from personal knowledge and experience the deep

convictions that must come to those who have to deal with the daily life of the consumptives, a tremendous problem which the white plague presents. According to the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, practically ten per cent. of all deaths in church congregations are due to this disease. The problem of tuberculosis might well be considered within a church where dust and dirt, deficient aeration, defective ventilation, at times over-crowding, and the mustiness born of age are factors that deserve immediate recognition by the church authorities as being conducive, at least, to the physical deteri

"On

When "war reaps its wide desolation" and mankind fights mankind and masses of humanity are sacrificed upon the altar of the God of War, nations defend the action on patriotic motives, saying that a nation's honor must be protected. When a cataclysm comes and myriads of souls are plunged into eternity, the sympathetic chords of countless hearts are struck and silvery music is poured forth. Funds come from the rich and the poor to save from further destruction those who have been rendered homeless and destitute by either God or

man.

Daily there is a war going on in which a myriad of microbes are aiming to devastate countless homes and the toll of death goes merrily on without any attempt on a huge scale to prevent the human sacrifice.

Preventive medicine to-day stands at the door of every home ready to

oration of a congregation that comes for spiritual èlevation. Let this day be spent in a church under the scrutiny of the physician, the hygienist, the sanitarian and the engineer, so that the organized work of the congregation may be considered in the light of its bearing upon the tuberculosis problem.

Much of the campaign against tuberculosis is rendered inefficient despite the accumulation of large funds thru the inactivity of large organizations, such as the church itself might typify. The church should appreciate and live up to its responsibility for the welfare of its members, at least.

Let National Tuberculosis Day be celebrated by church introspection and tho no funds be procured, much of the problem would receive discussion that would result in lessening the Scourge that constantly besets us.

bar out the invader when Death with fearful mien would enter. The medical profession is on guard to protect the homes from attack by day or by night, in season and out of season, but the homes are not ready to perceive the distinct advantage that would accrue to them if their sanitarian, educator and medical guide were to stand constantly on guard to preserve the health of the home, instead of making evident his strength and force and power only after the dread invasion has taken place. The door must be closed in the face of grim disease and no chill foot of Death must be allowed to cross the threshold. The battle is more easily fought beyond the sill, and anxiety and grief are twin foes that render the battle within the home more exhausting.

Preventive medicine guards the home and its victories will overbalance those of war.