Berries and fruit were unsalable at our summer resorts for a time for fear some of our city friends might get a seed lodged in the appendix, but as far as I know those who have operated find this to be of rare occurrence.

I have never thought appendicitis was a very common disease. I have never yet seen a typical case. I have practiced medicine twelve years in Orwell and I have never known of there being a case in town.

I

This is no sign the inhabitants of Orwell are exempt from this disease-I may see a case within a week. only hope when I have a case I will be smart enough to know whether to depend upon medication or on operation.

Those of you who attended the State Society last year no doubt remember the excellent paper of Dr. S. C. Gordon, of Portland, Me., on the "Medical and Surgical Treatment of Appendicitis.

I was glad to hear him speak so favorably of the medical treatment of this disease, as I have always felt far too many have been subjected to the surgeon's knife, which is apt to be the case when a new operation presents itself. Dr. Gordon claimed he could cure 90 per cent of his cases by the alkaline treatment, and he had never failed when he saw his cases sufficiently early.

He never operated in the acute stage of the disease, but during the remission or commencement of the second attack.

The September issue of the Medical Brief contains the concluding article on the medical side of appendicitis by Dr. E. H. Richardson, of Atlanta, Ga., begun in July.

He is unwilling to be influenced by the sentiment now taught that appendicitis is invariably a surgical disease.

He states that of 100 cases treated from the earliest manifestations of the disease by rest, abstinence from food, opium sufficient to control pain, emptying bowels by large enemas, and hot poultices to the abdomen, 90 cases will end in recovery without surgery.

Eminent French, English and American authors are cited to sustain this view.

The author advises the use of the knife only to give exit to pus where formed for perforation, and for the relapsing form in young subjects, and then only during the remission.

During an acute attack the author insists that surgical interference should never be resorted to except to relieve the above conditions, and rarely before the fifth day.

To operate during the acme of the inflammatory stage and only to remove the appendix he regards as not founded on sound surgical principles and with unwarranted risk to the patient, and in concluding expresses the belief that the future will demonstrate that the treatment of appendicitis belongs to the field of medicine and not to surgery.

Dr. Richardson's extended American experience and observations in the hospitals of London, Paris and Vienna should give weight to his views.

The paper of Dr. McArtney of May 2d, in the New York Medical Record, entitled, "Appendicitis from a Medical Standpoint," in which he has successfully treated 24 continuous cases by medicine alone, has been thoroughly discussed on both sides in the same journal.

This paper has been severely criticised by such men as Wyeth and Morris, who are authority in surgery.

They went so far as to say that he, McArtney, was probably at error in diagnosis, but found the discussion so

hot on the medical side of the question that Dr. Morris finally admits that no doubt McArtney was correct in his diagnosis, and for physicians who are not in control of better resources, the opium treatment will do, and merits attention, but that medical treatment should be rarely substituted in the cities for surgical means.

I can see where the consulting surgeon who operates with a large percentage of recoveries may submit cases to an operation in private practice that might have recovered by medication; while on the other hand a physician who has had success by medication may wait too long before calling the surgeon, but we should lay aside prejudice and examine our cases early in an unbiassed, candid and thorough manner before opiates or general peritonitis have masked and covered up the symptoms, and as I have said before, no disease will try the skill of a physician more than this, to decide what plan of treatment will be the best and safest for his patient, and the physician who thinks medication will bring every case of appendicitis to a safe termination, or the surgeon who thinks that every case of appendicitis should be operated on, should be considered as professional cranks and unsafe to follow the profession to which they belong.

The Mineral Springs of Vermont.

THEIR THERAPEUTIC EFFECT, ETC.

By E. M. Brown, M. D., Sheldon.

The paper which I wish to present to the Society this afternoon, and which is sohastily and imperfectly prepared that it should be prefaced with an apology, is for the purpose of calling your attention to that which should interest you, not only as physicians, interested in everything which has within itself the medicinal ingredients of restorative power, but also, as loyal citizens of the State of Vermont, interested in all of her many resources, which should become more widely known and developed as a scurce of pride and revenue to our Commonwealth.

And one of these resources is our Mineral Springs, which I think today are greatly neglected, and which if more perfectly developed and advertised are capable of returning to the participant a degree of health and strength from a great variety of chronic diseases, which makes money of little value in comparison. Born and reared as a majority of Vermonters are, in or near the town or county in which we live the greater part of our lives, the worth, beauty and attractions with which our noble State abounds are not so well appreciated as they would be

were our State newer and its inhabitants newly settled emigrants seeking homes and wealth.

Where is there a State in the Union which during the summer months presents greater attractions to those in quest of health and pleasure than does the State of Vermont? From early June until late in September the pure, fragrant mountain air is loaded with oxygen from the growing forests, capable of vivifying the system and restoring the rosy blush of health to the pale and emaciated cheek of city life.

The interest which our State is taking through its leg islators in passing laws for the better protection of game and fish and in the stocking of ponds and streams is worthy of commendation, and with the constant improvement of our railroad facilities, Vermont should become one of the most popular summer and health resorts. Having in mind these attractions, my subject today treats especially of balneotheraphy, or the properties and therapeutic effect of mineral waters, in their natural state, as they issue from the earth.

Prof. Hare very truly states "That although an immense literature has accumulated concerning this subject, the precision which modern medicine demands is still lacking."

This is in part accounted for by the combination of ingredients which are usually present in our mineral springs. These medicinal ingredients held either in the finest atomic subdivision by solution which nature is capable of perfecting, or by chemical union in the water, a small amount of such entering the alimentary canal, will be absorbed and produce their therapeutic effect. And such ef fect by a given remedy or class of remedies direct from