florid, plethoric persons; in such cases a saline laxative is much better-sufficient to empty the bowels thoroughly. The other condition is menorrhagia associated with pallor and debility. In these cases the saline laxative with a little dilute sulphuric acid and a vegetable astringent, such as infusion of cinnamon, forms an appropriate medicinal agent. Arsenic is a powerful alterative, as we are finding out more and more every day. As a rule arsenous acid should be given after meals, but when the dosimetric-trinity granules are given, much more prompt action may be obtained by giving the arsenic before meals. Arsenic is also one of the best "pick-me-ups" we have. The arsenates of caffeine, iron, quinine, sodium, strychnine, etc. are wonderfully efficient remedies. Arsenate of quinine is a better antiperiodic than quinine sulphate. Arsenate of strychnine is of great value in almost all diseases, but especially in those which are accompanied with atony. It is the best tonic for all the functions, and by all means the best remedy to "take up the slack." In cases where some acute pulmonary trouble has degenerated into incipient tuberculosis the combination of arsenic with iron, with a liberal dietary, seems especially valuable, and gives most gratifying results. I have in my library "Culpeper's Last Legacy," being "The Choicest and most profitable of those Secrets Which while he lived were locked up in his Breast, and resolved never to be published till after his Death, containing Sundry Admirable Experiences in several Sciences, more especially in Chyourgery and Physick." This book was written by "Nicholas Culpeper, Genl. Student in Astrology and Physick," and printed in London "for Obadiah Blagrave at the Black Bear in S. Paul's Church-yard, near the Little North Door. 1685." Culpeper's ideas of hygiene were better than his therapeutics. He says, under "Cautions for the Sick:" "Let the Air and Chamber where the sick abideth, be cold by nature, or else you must make it so by art, as by keeping it continually washed, by strewing there, flowers and herbs and branches of trees that are of cold nature, as Roses, Violets, Water-lillies, Vine leaves, Briar-boughs, Willow-boughs, Endive, Succory, or the like; also to pour water out of one vessel into another near him, to let him smell of nosegays of cold flowers. Let his meat be but little. Let his drink be water, in which a little cinnamon hath been boiled, or the juice of pomegranates or lemons is put. Let him eschew carnal copulation, exercises and baths, all perturbations of the mind, especially anger, all things that are binding and all things that cause stupefaction. Let not their bodies be costive, but have a special care that the Patient go to stool in good order at the least twice a day, if he do not, provoke him first with a clyster, then with an ounce of lenitive Electuary every night when he goes to bed." It's a pity he didn't know of the value of an effervescent laxative saline in those days! Culpeper says: "To prevent drunkenness are many medicines left by the Ancients to posterity, but for mine own part, I have never tried any of them [maybe he didn't wish to destroy his taste for liquor], as to eat six or seven bitter almonds every morning fasting; to drink a draught of Wormwood-beer first in the morning; also to burn swallows in a crucible, feathers and all, eat a little of the ashes of them in the morning"! I know some men on whom I should like to try this treatment. Among Culpeper's "Physical Aphorisms" we have the following remarkable remedies: "For procuring Chastity: Take the seeds of red Nettles, beat them into powder, and take a dram of it at a time in White wine; it procures chastity, they say, and is a far better medicine to rout out the lecherous Devil, than the liver of a fish." Here we have Culpeper's anaphrodisiac. His aphrodisiac prescription "for such as are defective in the parts of generation" is as follows: "In an old Cock you may find, when you have opened his gizzard and looked, a white stone; sometimes more than one, never fewer; this being born in the sports of Venus, and beloved of all; this is the magical use of it." He adds that a similar stone is found in the gizzard of an old hen-"and why might not a man draw a conclusion and think it rational when he hath done, that the male is medicinal, yea most medicinal for men, and that which is found in a hen for women?" If any of our readers should care to try either of these remedies I should be glad to have a full report. "Experiences and Confessions" ought to be interesting reading. In the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis Culpeper was nearer to rational measures than he knew. He writes: "A most admirable remedy if not the best of remedies for a Consumptive, is to go into the Country in Plowing time, and follow the Plow, that so the smell of the Earth being newly broke up, may be taken in at the Nose; if this may not be by reason of the season of the year, or poverty of the Patient, then let it suffice to go out into the field every morning, and dig up a fresh turf and smell to it an hour or two together." To prevent becoming infected with the plague he gives among others the following sensible precautions: "Let such as would avoid this disease, avoid the fear of it, for fear changeth the blood into the nature of the thing feared, the imagination ruling the spirits natural, as is manifest in women conceptions. "Let all passions and perturbations of mind be avoided, together with all violent motions, for these inflame the blood, so also doth drinking much wine. "Let your body be kept soluble; if it be not so naturally, take [a physic] at night when you go to bed." Whatever happens, remember that it might have been worse and it will grow better as fast as we consider it good. Looking back over the years we can only reflect that our troubles were but blessings in disguise. If we could realize this in the midst of our tears, we could smile now as we shall smile later. The heart of everything and everybody is good. Find the heart and be happy. Meanwhile it may be a relief to make a joke of it. The best remedy for the "blues" is the habit of smiling at ourselves, and if we can't smile, let us smile because we can't. Overseriousness propagates disease-germs at an alarming rate, and a hearty laugh is one of the best germ killers. A very few tears will drown an atom, and we are all atoms. Spiritually, we are the suns and stars of the future. Physically and mentally, we are for the present mere grains of sand. And sand is a good thing to have in our make up; even sentiment is to be kept solid, and to keep it solid we must mix sand with it. We fail often for lack of grit. The highest rate of interest that we pay is on borrowed troubles. Things that are always going to happen never do happen. Face all things; even adversity is polite. to our face. The better acquainted I become with doctors, and with men generally, for that matter, the more convinced I am that men are seldom underrated. The mercury in a man (I speak of "mercury" figuratively, of course) finds its true level in the eyes of the world just as certainly as it does in the glass of a thermometer. I have known doctors who prided themselves on their medical lore; they would show me their medical libraries, as if the mere possessing, or reading, even, of a large assortment of medical books made them good physicians. Too much reading and too little thinking have the same effect on a man's mind that too much eating and too little exercise have on his body. A learned fool is one who simply remembers what he has read. Human knowledge is not very comprehensive, after all, for I have seen doctors who could give you the minute pathology of almost every disease known, but who couldn't treat intelligently a case of mumps or an ingrowing toe-nail, or even locate the north star, to save their lives. The vanity of some men is so much more a match for their experience that they seldom learn anything by experience. A man can't learn to be a wise physician— a big, all-around doctor--by just reading medical books alone, any more than he can learn to be handsome by reading the "Health and Beauty" departments in the daily papers. True sympathy and a knowledge of human nature will reveal much to us that science cannot see. A wide knowledge of our common humanity, in all its aspects and workings, is of much assistance in managing different classes of patients. Such knowledge cannot be obtained by reading medical books alone. We must study mankind by mixing with men, interesting ourselves in men's work, and by reading the best books on various nonmedical subjects. Many apparently successful doctors do not seem to be able to search out and understand the moral causes of disease; they cannot read the book of the heart, and yet, as has been well said, "It is in this book that are inscribed, day by day, and hour by hour, all the griefs, and all the miseries, and all the vanities, and all the fears, and all the joys, and all the hopes of man, and in which will be found the most active and incessant principle of that frightful series of organic changes which constitute pathology." A doctor liberally educated is trained in the humanities, skilled in whatever pertains to human welfare. A liberal education is such a one as enriches one's mind, so that it finds contentment in pursuing its own thoughts; so that it does not need to hire out its faculties to make money with which to buy happiness. Liberal culture is public spirit, and the ability to pursue its promptings; a heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathize. Any other education is narrow, shackled, not liberal, because not free, however much one may know and however large the wages the knowledge may earn. Jacobi has said somewhere: "The medical profession only is concerned in the whole man, body and mind, each conditioning and depending upon the other. From the cradle to the grave his [the physician's] advice is required and sought for. The physiological development of period after period of life requires his attention and study. With the changing conditions of the body, its marks on mind and soul are examined, the incipient symptoms of physical and mental observations are known. Public and private hygiene are his domains. The care of the present generation and of those on whom rest the future greatness of the country is the legitimate subject of his study." The doctor has a double responsibility. He shares the duties of citizenship with every other intelligent man, but he has his own grave and responsible duty to perform in behalf of the commonwealth; in fact, there is nothing connected with human life which does not legitimately belong within his domain. How necessary, then, is it for the doctor to be honest, fearless, big and broad. We need in our profession, as in all other walks of life, more men with strong personalities to stem the tide of shuffling weakness and give honesty and tone to politics, trade and society. The great cry of today is for the better, bigger, more hopeful men. The ideal doctor is not working for pay alone; he is working and living to give help and love, and health and life, in every form, by which a strong nature can express itself. We should try to leave the world happier, wiser, better and richer in the things worth while. Our creed should be one of Love, of Charity, Hope and Optimism. In closing my chat I'll give you my creed in the following original Spenserian stanza. I will not yield this everlasting truth- And thro' the grossest clay the smile of God doth shine. McCARTHY'S "HYGIENE FOR MOTHER AND CHILD" Hygiene for Mother and Child. A manual for Mothers and Nurses. By Francis H. McCarthy, M. D. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1910. Price $1.25 net. The volume before us presents the results of a rather ambitious attempt of the author to "tell the mother all about it," and is designed particularly for her use, leading her from the beginning of pregnancy through this often so trying period, and advising her what to do for her baby and for the growing child. In contrast to many similar treatises on the book market, the important subject of feeding, both of infants and of children, has been treated very exhaustively, and the principles of infant feeding, in health and in illness, are excellently described. The clothing of infants and children; the amount of sleep and exercise required; the education, including physical, mental, and moral training; and, lastly, diseases and accidents peculiar to childhood are all considered in their turn, and in a manner usually sufficient for an intelligent mother and which may relieve the physician of the necessity of detailed instruction. What we like about the book is the sound common sense permeating the entire text. The advice to pregnant women, the directions concerning the care of the baby, and the management of the growing child are all characterized by their wholesome and conservative tenor, no fad or craze having found expression. Aside from the physical care, we commend particularly what the author has to say on character training, on school life, on punishment, etc., while his views on the need of sex education are excellent. While we cannot find fault with the book from our own point of view, we fear that it is written above the understanding of uneducated women. Their more fortunate intelligent sisters will, however, find it of great assistance, and they will undoubtedly appreciate the heavy-type marginal notes which indicate the subject-matter of the various paragraphs. For the physician the book is of value. in affording much information in a form that can be immeditaely passed on to the mother without having to be translated into ordinary language; the freedom from technical terms, and the plain, fluent "United States" of the language being decidedly restful. By all means get the book, for yourself and for the Good Wife, and also tell her to pass it along. STEDMAN'S "MEDICAL DICTIONARY" A Practical Medical Dictionary. By Thomas Lathrop Stedman, A. M., M. D., Editor of "Twentieth Century Practice of Medicine" and of The Medical Record. Illustrated. New York: William Wood & Co., 1911. Price, thumb-indexed, $5.00; plain, $4.50. This latest candidate for honors in the not inconsiderable list of medical dictionaries is certain, even on first acquaintance, of gaining many friends. The learned editor of "Twentieth Century Practice" and of The Medical Record is unusually well equipped for appearing as an authority on medical English and on medical onomatology, and this becomes especially evident in his praiseworthy endeavor to replace incorrectly formed technical terms by words in which their Latin or Greek derivation has been duly respected and in the construction of which violence is not done to the grammatical and etymological conscience of scholars. The barbarous atrocities perpetrated in the past under the guise of medical terms have very justly aroused the protest of many Latin and Greek. scholars, among whom, in our own country, Achilles Rose has for years pleaded, with pen and tongue, for the establishment of a correct onomatology. It is gratifying to notice that many of Dr. Rose's suggestions have been adopted in the present dictionary. A noteworthy innovation observed is in the case of diseases or conditions named after persons, in that these are described under their proper scientific designations, instead of under the eponymic, as is the custom. Thus, for instance, under "Bright's Disease" a very brief definition only is given, while under the head of "Nephritis" will be found the detailed. description of the condition. Or, under "Australian Blight" merely the definition of "Angioneurotic Edema" is given; but turning to "Edema," this particular angioneurotic variety is described. This plan is a highly commendable one, for it can hardly be called scientific to designate a disease, or even a mode of treatment, by the name of an investigator, no matter how meritorious his work may have been. But eponymic terminology even may give rise to confusion when, as in the case of exophthalmic goiter, the names of several scientists are applied indiscriminately. So, in this dictionary, the last-named affection is referred to under the heads of "Grave's Disease," "Basedow's Disease," and "Flajani's Disease," but it is described only under its proper designation, namely, "Exophthalmic Goiter." Right here, however, we may call attention to the fact that we miss mention of the tremor that is present, in the majority of cases, as a prominent symptom (see page 297), although it is enumerated on page 357, sub "Goiter, Exophthalmic"; and then, under this last heading, the disease is further referred to as "Parry's" and as Parson's Disease," while in this place Grave's name does not appear. In the definition of terms, the author shows a praiseworthy exactness and precise wording. For instance, while we read in a medical dictionary published in 1906 that “infection" is "the communication of disease from one person to another, whether by effluvia or by contact, mediate or immediate; also by implantation of disease from without"; Stedman defines the term more correctly as the "invasion by living pathogenic microorganisms of a part of the body where the conditions are favorable to their growth and whence their toxins may gain access to and act injuriously upon the tissues." And, further, an "infectious disease" is one "due to the presence and vital activity of a unicellular microscopic animal or vegetable parasite." In view of the fact that the term "infection" is employed, even by prominent writers, in a careless and slipshod manner, as synonymous with infectious disease, this definition is significant and should be adhered to. Guttmann ("Medizinische Terminologie," third edition) calls infection "the invasion of the body by pathogenic agents or the process leading to an infectious disease"; and Orth (Senator-Kaminer, "Krankheit und Ehe," 1904) says clearly: "The infection is, in my opinion, accomplished with the transmission of living, virulent (wirkungsfachigen) parasites. kungsfachigen) parasites. (Nota bene, the translation of this passage, in the English edition published by Paul Hoeber, in 1909, is not quite correct.) If we are permitted to offer a few criticisms, we may say that we miss, under "Nuclein," mention of its therapeutic uses, as also of the sources from which the nuclein preparations for therapeutic use are derived (i. e., principally brewer's yeast and germs of wheat). Under "Consumption," the third meaning given, viz., "tuberculosis, especially of the lungs or intestines," is too wide, since consumption is only the destructive stage of tuberculosis. On the other hand, we are pleased to find the correct distinction made between tubercular and tuberculous, the former properly being limited to nodular conditions and used as a pathologic term, while the second form (i. e., tuberculous) should be restricted to any condition produced by the tubercle |