For neuralgia of the sciatic and popliteal nerves insert common sewing needles, large size, over the line of the irritable nerve, several inches apart, to the depth of an inch or an inch and a half. I have never cured a case with remedies. I have never failed to cure scores of cases with the needle treatment. The severest cases yield as readily as the lighter ones. The needles should be left in the flesh an hour, and the application should be repeated in two or three days. The only pain felt is when the needles are passing through the skin. A common artery-forceps is best to remove them with, as they will not slip and cause the needles to be broken.

Phosphorus will cure ulcer in stomach when attended with burning pain, cutting, and vomiting of food soon after eating.

Hot water will relieve occipital neuralgia; instantly apply as hot as can be borne, poured from a height. If pain and soreness return lon't count the treatment a failure. A few applications will give permanent relief. The only constitutional remedy I have found helpful is gelsemium.

For persistent drenching sweats give from two to four times a day ten drops of dilute phosphoric acid. If this is not sufficient sponge the surface with alcohol to which has been added a weak solution of alum in hot water.

Medical Hints.

Selected from a contribution by Chas. H. Merz, A. M., M. D., Sandusky, Ohio, in Columbus Medical Journal.

Let the wise physician remember that a patient is often easier lost than gained.

A little common sense often helps a doctor more than all his book-learning and theorizing.

To employ a blabbing physician is to gain a worse malady than the one we have.Meander.

It is one thing for a doctor to understand his business. It is another to understand how to attend to it.

Stupidity is easily pardonable in a doctor, but it is difficult to forgive meanness of heart, purpose and action.

The Talmud says that fruit must grow slowly and ripen of itself. The same is true of the medical student.

The good doctor is cheap at any price, for the same reason that a poor doctor is dear no matter how small his compensation.

The best evidence of higher medical education is the lengthening of the time of study and the recitation plan of teaching.

Be watchful of the doctors that have so much to say about their reputations. Physicians should let others sing their praises. Unfortunately in these days, self-praise often goes a great ways towards securing

success.

Confidence is as powerful an agent as skill. Without it the physician strives in vain for success. People consult only the physician in whom they have confidence. Without the trust of your patients, your work is always in vain.

Some plants grow upon the nourishment taken from others; so some physicians live and thrive upon the practice of others. They are medical parasites. The man of worth strikes his own roots, spreads his own branches and bears his own fruit.

The honest doctor has only his patient's good in view, not his own. He labors for mankind, not to stuff his own pocketbook. He demands pay not because it enriches him, but because he must live that he may be enabled to continue his good work.

The public does not like a croaker-a constant faultfinder. The doctor that occupies his patient's time telling them what a hard and thankless task his is, is in danger of losing his patient. The patient usually comes to the doctor to tell the same story.

When attending society meetings one often meets the dogmatic physician, who is not a pleasant person to associate with. He knows he is right, and that settles the question. He does not care to listen, but would have every one give ear to what he has to

say.

It is better to be true to one's self, to be dignified, to pursue the even tenor of one's way, no matter how much others attempt to belittle one. The weak man stops to listen what the people on the street have to say; the man of dignity and purpose has neither time nor inclination to do so.

A Cure for Appendicitis.

Of late years a dread has gone abroad that every one who eats fruits with small seeds in them is pretty sure to run the risk of dying from appendicitis, or be forced to undergo a dangerous operation. So strong has this dread taken hold of the public mind that thousands refuse to eat small fruits when seeds have to be eaten with them.

Grapes are always pitted by them, and blackberries, and even raspberries, with their small, insidious seeds, are taken entirely from the bill of fare.

The fact is that appendicitis occurs very rarely, and the percentage of people who eat fruit with seeds in them that are caught is insignificantly small. When the complaint does seize one it is not necessary to resort to an operation, except in severe cases, nor is it absolutely necessary to die. The most successful cure is to administer internally from one to two ounces of sweet oil every three hours until the pain and fever are relieved.

The seed which causes the trouble irritates the muscular tissue so that congestion follows, and this may soon cause inflammation of a very serious character. Sweet oil, administered in time and faithfully, allays the inflammatory condition, reduces temperature and relaxes the tension of the muscular coating of the intestines and appendix. Besides that it takes seed or all foreign substances with it and effects a complete cure. The patient should be kept in bed and poultices should be applied very hot over the seat of pain.-Times and Register.

Cream of Tartar in the Treatment of
Gonorrhea.

Dr. Oteri (Journal de Medecine de Paris) has employed the cream of tartar in 280 cases of gonorrhea, bubos, chancres and operations on the prepuce. On account of its mild action it is of service in

urethral injections, even to five a day. It

subdues the inflammation and arrests the discharge. It is possessed of eminent antiseptic and absorbent properties. In profuse suppuration in wounds or cavities with sinous or necrosing walls it will yield good.

results if applied locally. In bubos,

chancres and syphilitic ulcerations, as well as in balanitis, he has found it a good local application. It is cheap, devoid of odor, painless and easily handled.-Lancet Clinic.

Cocaine Injections in Place of Castration for Enlarged Prostate.

"There is an old saying 'any port in a storm,' and while in search for a remedy short of absolute castration I have devised a method that has so far succeeded in two cases. My method is to inject cocaine directly into the testicles twice per week for

about two months. There is considerable absorption; spermatozoa cease to be produced in about six weeks; the patient gets immediate relief from the distressing symptoms of prostatitis and enlargement, the gland gradually shrinks to its normal size, and the finale of the case is recovery, with the power of copulation, but absolute cessation of the production of spermatozoa. Is not this better than castration?-Dr. S. E. McCully, in Medical Record.

Calomel Treatment in Typhoid Fever. In the Yale Medical Journal, Dr. Gustavus Elliot, of New Haven, Conn., gives the following summary of his treatment at the close of his article on typhoid fever.

In conclusion the following general rules should never be forgotten:

I. Keep the patient in bed until for an entire week the temperature has been normal.

II. Keep him on a sterilized liquid diet as long as he remains in bed.

III. At the beginning of the disease. give ten grains of calomel on alternate days.

IV. Give one grain of carbolic acid and three drops of tincture of iodine, every four hours, during the entire illness.

Treatment of Gutta Rosea.

Dr. H. S. Purdon recommends the folfor "acne lowing treatment rosacea." The dietary of any gastric derangement having been attended to, this local plan gives good results: Bathe the affected parts with spirits of horseradish, say in the morning; at bed time rub pretty firmly into the diseased parts a pomade of sulphur combined with a small quantity of carbolic acid. Sometimes good results are obtained by substituting the green iodide of mercury (ten grains to the ounce) for the carbolic acid. All comedones are to be squeezed out with an extractor. As a "reducing" agent, ichthyol is often better than sulphur. Dr. Unna has informed the writer that he has never recommended ichthyol in acne, but only in rosacea,, which is never, in his opinion, a sequence of real acne, but of seborrhoeic eczema, the tubercules of which are those of special follicultis. The common mistake explains, perhaps, the use by some dermatologists of ichthyol in acne. (Dublin Journ. of Med. Science, vol cclix., P. 402, 1894.)

There is only one internal medicine of the slightest utility, and that is tartrate of antimony. But all depends upon the vigor and perseverance of its administration. If prescribed in the penurious and timid doses recommended by some authors, it is simply powerless for good or harm. "Be not afraid of power" was the maxim of a medical philosopher who knew that the biggest engine can do the finest work, if properly handled. Give fifteen minims of antimonial wine (abundantly diluted) every two hours from seven in the morning until eleven at night, and in a large proportion of cases there is not only no disturbance of gastric or intestinal function, but a quick arrest of the disease. Sometimes this dosage can be given every hour, and continued for half a day; very seldom is it that five doses during the day hours can not be well borne, if the diet be limited and absolute repose in bed enjoined. And the result of this medication is often very striking. The raging tumult of skin-structures subsides; the margin of redness ceases to extend; and paleness is observed in the centre of the purple fire.

Withdraw the antimony by degrees; for

several weeks it should be taken at least twice a day as a decided vasomotor tonic.— Medical Brief.

A Treatment for Acne of the Face.

In an abstract from the Bulletin General de Therapeutique which appears in Lyon Medical, the writer gives the following formula which he says, has often been employed at St. Louis with success: Fresh lard, 750 grains; sublimed sulphur, 105 grains; beta-naphthol and styrax ointment, each 30 grains. Applications of this mixture should be made with strong friction every night for a week, then interrupted for six days when they may be repeated, if necessary, although it is often useless to do so. If there is an appearance of small acute clusters, which generally show themselves toward the second day, the acne is ordinarily cured or very much ameliorated at the end of a week.

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Uric Acid Diathesis.

In a recent paper upon this subject, Dr. John F. Barbour very aptly remarks: "Uric acid has now come to be regarded as one of the great poisons, fully comparable in its evil effects upon the human body to syphilis and tuberculosis, but far more insidious and slow in its action than either of these." We entirely agree with Dr. Barbour in his startling statement. It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the fact that uric acid is thus regarded by those members of the profession who have made a careful study of this subject, and have, by experience, learned their inability to cope with chronic disease in many of its forms without a recognition of the important relation of this toxic agent to many pathological conditions, so little is said and done in relation to the prevention of this hydra-headed malady -uric acid intoxication.

We may properly summarize a few of the interesting facts bearing upon this subject, which are admirably presented by Dr. Barbour in his excellent paper:

Vigouroux asserts that neurasthenia is of gastric origin, and adds: "All neurasthenic patients, without exception, are arthritics.

There is no distinction to be made between those affected with simple neurasthenia and the neuro-arthritics. The word 'neurasthenia' of itself implies the idea of arthritism."

Bouchard asserts that the uric acid diathesis is one in which there is a retarded nutrition, or insufficient disassimilation, a pathological state which exists under the following conditions:

"1. When, after the ingestion of a certain amount of food, the organism requires a considerably longer time to return to its original weight than is required in the normal state.

"2. When the amount of food necessary to support life-the living ration-is below the normal.

"3. When the weight of the body increases under the normal amount of food.

"4. When, under the living ration, the amount of excreta is less than normal.

"5. When, during abstinence, the diminution in the bodily weight is less than normal.

"6. When, during abstinence, amount of excreta is less than normal.

the

"7. When there appear in the excreta incompletely elaborated products, uric acid,

oxalic acid, the other organic acids, and the volatile fatty acids.

"8. When one or more of the proximate principles accumulate in the body, the alimentation remaining otherwise normal.

"9. When there is a greater lowering of the temperature during repose and abstinence, and particularly during sleep, than is found in the normal state."

The proposition in relation to the loss of weight is, of course, true only in cases in which there are no serious stomach or liver complications, in which there will naturally be a diminution in weight.

The diminished oxidation and consequent effort of the system to protect itself from the consequences of a lowered temperature are explained, acording to Bouchard, by the vascular spasms by which pallor, cutaneous anesthesia, and sensations of cold, so common in these cases, are produced.

Rockwell, in his preface to the last edition of Beard's classical work on "Neurasthenia," remarks that the chief cause of disturbances in the nervous system is poisoning "by the abnormal products of digestion that enter the blood and circulate freely through every tissue of the body." Our observation exactly agrees with that of Dr. Rockwell. We are glad to see statements of this sort coming from the pens of experienced and thoughtful physicians. The ideas of neurologists are undergoing very important modifications at the present time, and it may be expected that within the next few years quite a revolution will occur in the therapeutics of nervous disorders. The writer thinks it is safe to predict that within ten years of the present time the great share of tonics, hypnotics, rejuvenants, carminatives, nervines, and allied drugs will be eliminated from the armamentarium of the neurologist, and that materia alimentaria, together with careful regulation of the exercise and regimen of the patient, will almost completely displace the materia medical which still occupies so large a place in the treatment of so-called nervous maladies. The idea that every outcry of the nervous system is a demand for medication of the nerves is a most stupendous error. The nerves are the only means through which any organ of the body can express its condition. Pain, hyperesthesias, anesthesias, and paresthesias are much more frequently the expression of a disorder in some other structural tissue than of a diseased condition of the nerves. Dr. Chapman, many

years ago, said: "Pain is the cry of a hungry nerve for better blood." The fault is not with the nerve, but with the blood. Then why should the cry be stifled? Feed the nerve instead of narcotizing it. Rest the weary nerve instead of exciting it to the further expediture of its wasted energies. Purify the blood and stimulate the nutritive processes when retarded nutrition and deficient disassimilation are the causes of a state of systemic poisoning.

Bouchard, in the publication of his work on auto-intoxications, and in the prosecution of the laborious researches upon which the work is based, laid the foundation for a revolution in therapeutics which we are glad to see has already begun.-Moden Medicine and Bacteriological Review.

Collinsonia Canadensis.

Dr. Kroner, of Potsdam, Germany, read a paper before the Berlin Homoeopathic Society on this remedy. He points out the connection of nearly all the conditions which are curable by this drug, with hemorrhoids. The stool is nearly always costive, though this may alternate with diarrhea. The characteristic headache is often observed in persons affected with hemorrhoidal affections. Hemoptoe after suppression of a hemorrhoidal discharge has been reported cured by collinsonia. The disorders of the female genital tract are probably dependent upon passive congestion. In cardiac affections in hemorrhoidal subjects it is to be thought of and especially in cardiac neuroses of these same patients. It has been found of service in vesical catarrh when in connection with hemorrhoids. Its action seems to be centered upon the vascular system and especially the veins, though its efficacy is not limited to these alone. It has been often employed instead of arnica in the treatment of extravasations of blood from the capillaries. It resembles hamamelis in its influence upon the venous system and sulphur, nux vom., esculus aloe, lycopodium upon hemorrhoids; there are no special differentially diagnostic symptoms in the choice of this remedy, so that it might be advised when the usual ones fail.-Zeitschrift des Berliner Vereines Homoeopathischer Aerzte, Bd. XIII. Hft. V. 1894-Hahnemannian Monthly.

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Treatment of Apparent Death by Rhythmical Traction Upon the Tongue.

The first case in which rhythmical traction of the tongue was employed at Paris to produce artificial respiration was by M. Lapicida (La Tribune Medicale), aided by a student.

A young woman wishing to commit suicide, sprang into the Seine. She was seen by two sailors, who went to her rescue; after remaining for five minutes submerged, she was finally withdrawn from the river. Taken at once to the station, frictions were applied, but without success, when M. Lapicida, following the method of Laborde, began rhythmical tractions of the tongue.

At the end of five minutes a slight blowing sound was heard and respirations were established. At the same time the patient experienced a nervous crisis and objected. to being resuscitated. She was placed in bed and enveloped in warm clothing. A few moments afterward she vomited freely and all danger was over.

Lapicida, who is chief of the post of the life-saving society, expressed himself as amazed at the rapidity with which the respiratory functions were restored, and resolved to employ this method in all cases which came under his care in the future.

Notices detailing the method of Laborde have been placed in the life-saving stations throughout Paris. This method has been employed in many cases successfully in this country. It has been found useful in failing respiration from many causes-even in cases of imminent death from disease, finally resulting in complete recovery.

Chloroform During Sleep.

In an editorial in a recent medical journal I noticed that "many good observers claim that it is impossible" to chloroform a person during sleep. Some time ago I was called by Dr. F. B. Carpenter to give chloroform to a child about 10 years of age, in order that he might apply a plaster splint to the leg for morbus coxae. The necessity for the anaesthetic was imperative, as the little patient was very cross and had a mortal dread of the doctor. When we arrived at the home we found the child asleep. and I suggested the propriety of attempting anaesthesia without waking him. Pure chloroform was the anaesthetic used, and by beginning the administration very gradually I succeeded in producing complete