the abdominal muscles as to render them, in time, weak, flaccid, and unable to sustain the weight of the visceral contents of the abdomen. In view of these facts, it is evident that the radical cure of movable kidney requires, not simply the employment of massage, abdominal supporters, electricity, fomentations, and other similar measures which have a high value as palliatives, but, in addition, the adoption of such measures as will strengthen the natural supports of the viscera by development of the abdominal muscles. requires the skillful application of gymnastics, which involves, This 1. A knowledge of the extent of the weakness of the patient, or of his muscular disability; and 2. An acquaintance with those measures by which the weakness of the special muscles involved may be corrected. Great harm may be done by the employment of exercises too vigorous in character, or such as are not adapted to the patient's condition. How an accurate knowledge of the patient's condition may be obtained by the employment of a suitable dynamometer, we have shown elsewhere. The best means for strengthening the abdominal viscera is the system of exercise known as Swedish gymnastics. What are known as the manual and the educational exercises should be combined in the treatment of these cases. The sinusoidal current with slow alternations constitutes one of the very best means for passive exercise of the abdominal muscles, and by this means alone great good can be accomplished in overcoming the morbid conditions present. One other point of great importance should be mentioned, namely, the relation of posture to this condition. It is quite possible that the habitual use of the rocking chair may be properly regarded as a cause of movable kidney. The relaxed condition of the muscles of the trunk when sitting in a rocking chair, and the depression of the sternum occasioned by the posterior curvature of the spine resulting from this relaxed condition, cause a considerable descent of the abdominal viscera. An incorrect position in standing likewise occasions displacement of the kidney. The correction of a bad posture alone will frequently cause the kidney to rise. and to remain in its normal position. The writer has frequently demonstrated this in cases in which the kidney was very distinctly movable. With the patient standing upon her feet, the kidney could be easily grasped between the two hands. while the patient was standing in her ordinary attitude, that position which is taken by most women who have worn corsets and tight clothing; namely, with the hips advanced, the shoulders forward, the chest flattened, and the upper portion. of the spine with excessive posterior curvature, the head like the hips, abnormally advanced. Making the patient stand in a correct position, with the hips and shoulders well held back, the chest raised forward, the chin drawn in, thus contracting the abdominal muscles vigorously, the kidney will, in a large proportion of cases, be found to ascend at once into its place so that it cannot be felt. But the patient is unable to maintain this position, in consequence of the weak condition of the muscles of the trunk, both anterior and posterior, and consequently in a short time the old position is reassumed, the kidney is again. pendant and dragging upon the branches of the abdominal sympathetic nerve, and all the old pain and reflex disturbances return. It is only necessary to develop the muscles of the trunk and to train the patient to maintain constantly a correct posture when not lying in a horizontal plane, to correct the difficulty. This the writer has demonstrated in a great number of cases, and is constantly demonstrating, in connection with his work in the Battle Creek Sanitarium. J. H. K. THE DIET OF THE COMING RACE. WILL the coming race be a beef-, mutton-, and pork-eating race, like the present? is a question which is already. interesting a large number of persons. The increasing prevalence of disease among animals commonly used as food among civilized nations, with the fact that the association of these animals with man increases both the number and the frequency of the maladies from which they suffer, is becoming so conspicuous and so alarming a fact that intelligent and thoughtful men and women everywhere. are giving the question of the propriety of eating the flesh of lower animals far more attention than formerly. It is interesting in this connection to recall the fact that all ancient writers who have described the Golden Age to which people of all times have looked back as upon a blissful past, have uniformly referred to this period of peace, prosperity, and happiness as one in which the lives of the lower animals were held sacred, as well as those of human beings, and in which fruits and other products of the earth constituted the exclusive dietary of man as well as of animals of the lower species. Thus Ovid describes Pythagoras as saying: "While earth not only can your needs supply, A guiltless feast administers with ease, And without blood is prodigal to please. Wild beasts their maws with their slain brethren fill; "Oh, impious use! to nature's laws opposed, We, by destroying life, our life sustain, The It is also of interest to note that many sagacious modern writers, in looking forward to the coming age in which the recognized evils of our present state shall have been by some means gotten rid of, likewise repudiate flesh-eating as inconsistent with a state of universal love and harmony. Bulwer Lytton, in his "The Coming Race," frequently advances the idea that flesh-eating will be abandoned in the coming age; and in one passage to which a friend has recently called our attention, shows clearly his personal views respecting the deteriorating influence of a diet of flesh. Aph'Lin, one of the philosophers of the coming age, is made to explain to a carnivorous visitor the fact that it was unsafe for him to travel unattended, remarking: "It would depend upon the individual temperament of some individual sage whether you would be received, as you have been here, hospitably, or whether you would not be at once dissected for scientific purposes. Know that when the Tur first took you to his house, and while you were there put to sleep by Tae in order to recover from your previous pain or fatigue, the sages summoned by the Tur were divided in opinion whether you were a harmless or an obnoxious animal. During your unconscious state your teeth were examined, and they clearly showed that you were not only gramnivorous but carnivorous. Carnivorous an imals of your size are always destroyed, as being of dangerous and savage nature. Our teeth, as you have doubtless observed, are not those of the creatures who devour flesh. It is, indeed, maintained by Zee and other philosophers, that as, in remote ages, the Ana did prey upon living beings of the brute species, their teeth must have been fitted for that purpose. But, even if so, they have been modified by hereditary transmission, and suited to the food on which we now exist; nor are even the barbarians, who adopt the turbulent and ferocious institutions of Glek-Nas, devourers of flesh like beasts of prey. "In the course of this dispute it was proposed to dissect you; but the Tae begged you off, and the Tur being, by nature, averse to all novel experiments at variance with our custom of sparing life, except where it is clearly proved to be for the good of the community to take it, sent you to me, whose business it is, as the richest man of the State, to afford hospitality to strangers from a distance. It was at my option to decide whether or not you were a stranger whom I could safely admit. Had I declined to receive you, you would have been handed over to the College of Sages, and what might there have befallen you I do not like to conjecture." Mr. Howells, in his "Altruria," advances a similar thought; and to one who will give the matter serious consideration, it is evident that should the population of the earth continue to increase at the present rate for a few thousand years, the time would come when the habitable portion of the earth would be so densely populated by human beings that it would be necessary to economize food, and land devoted to food production, to such an extent that it would be impossible to depend upon so wasteful a method of nutrition as the use of food at second hand in flesh consumption. England's Drink Bill.- The London Times recently published an article in which the drink bill for England for 1992 is put down at a little more than $700,000,000. The cost of beer and wine was a little less than in 1891, but the expenditure for intoxicating liquors for each family was a little over $90. REVIEWS. A Rational Treatment of Prostatic Obstruction in Old Men. - By G. Wiley Broome, M. D., St. Louis, Mo. Dr. Broome takes issue, in this paper, with Magill and others, with reference to the advisability of prostatectomy. He also opposes systematic catheterism. The systematic use of the catheter invariably gives rise to infection, and so increases the patient's sufferings. Besides, the systematic use of the catheter soon destroys the ability of the bladder to empty itself, and furnishes an efficient means of evacuating the bladder only for a short time, it being impossible to use the catheter in such a way as to completely drain the bladder. Sir Henry Thompson's assertion that habitual catheterism will for two years permanently destroy the power of the bladder to empty itself, is abundantly confirmed by the experience of many surgeons. Dr. Broome's method is based upon the suggestion of Sir Henry Thompson, which aims to relieve these cases by supra-pubic drainage. Dr. Broome's principal improvements consist in opening the bladder at a second operation, by means of puncture with a trocar, and inserting a catheter made self-retaining by a screw thread cut upon it. He claims that in his cases of atrophy of the inflamed prostate, the restoration of the func. tion of the urethra was secured by a few months' rest of the bladder secured by this method. Pharmaceutical Specialties of the Farbenfabriken vorm Friedr Bayer & Co., Elberfeld, Germany, who, in addition to the remedies herewith described, prepare SULFONAL-BAYER SALOPHEN, LOSOPHAN and ARISTOL. OR LITHIASIS, acute and chronic gout, uric acid dyscrasia, and the gouty diathesis generally, no remedy has succeeded so well as PIPERAZINE. Colic and Urinary Hemorrhage, In Renal also, it is especially efficacious. PIPERAZINE-BAYER is made by a new process whereby its cost is greatly reduced. PIPERAZINE-BAYER is supplied in half ounces, ounces and tablets. In painful conditions it may be combined with Phenacetine. HIS WELL KNOWN REMEDY has justified in the most exceptional manner the opinions of medical men touching its value in modern therapeutics. Phenacetine is indicated in all acute, inflammatory, febrile conditions, and all forms of pain. It is the safest, while the most active, of the antipyretics and analgesics. PHENACETINE is supplied in ounces, tablets and pills; also in various combinations with Salophen. Sulfonal, etc. Trional RIONAL is a nerve seda- TRIONAL is administered in Physicians who wish to have the published testimony concerning the therapeutic action of these preparations, or information as to their chemistry or physiological action, should address Sole Agents W. H. Schieffelin & Co., NEW YORK. For the PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. GLYCOZONE FOR GASTRIC ULCERS.- Dr. Cyrus Edson, of New York City, states with reference to the therapeutic value of glycozone for gastic ulcers as follows: "Glycozone is, in the opinion of the writer, the best known agent for the treatment of gastric ulcer. It is also one of the best remedies for the treatment of the stomach, catarrh of chronic alcoholism, and for chronic gastric catarrh from other causes. It is excellent for atonic dyspepsia, and for acid dyspepsia. The writer has seen very gratifying results from its use in these distressing maladies." SENNINE IN ECZEMA AND VENEREAL ULCERS.— W. R. Herdesty, M. D., of Eureka Springs, Ark., claims excellent success in the treatment of eczema and venereal ulcers, stating as follows: "In two cases of eczema covering the inner side of thigh, I applied the Sennine just as I received it from you, that is, full strength, dry, and I am happy to say it acted like a charm in both cases. Again, I applied Sennine to venereal ulcer, and must say it did all that any one could ask. I look upon Sennine as the antiseptic of all others, and shall continue its use in my practice." Sanitarium Boarding House THE ... AT... BOULDER, COLO. HE Managers of the Battle Creek Sanitarium have recently opened at Boulder, Colo., a Boarding House at which invalids may receive proper hygienic care, skilled nursing, and treatment, while enjoying the climatic advantages of this salubrious locality. This particular location was selected in consequence of the remarkable results which have followed a residence in this place of numerous patients sent there by the physicians of the Sanitarium at Battle Creek. The location is salubrious, scenic, and in every way desirable. The rates are very moderate. For further particulars, address, SANITARIUM, Battle Creek, Mich.; or Sanitarium Boarding Horse, Boulder, Colo. For FIFTY YEARS and over we have lived in the belief that DE JONGH said in 1840, "Cod Liver Modern investigation has proven that the value of Cod Liver Oil as a medicinal agent is not due simply to the fact of its being an oil, but to the valuable ACTIVE PRINCIPLES which it contains. STEARNS' WINE of COD LIVER OIL with Peptonate of Iron, exhibits all PERFECT PALATABILITY was trouble. |