these latter two regions the air is comparatively dry, and as we go southward to the Gulf, with increasing humidity and higher mean temperature, we find them marked by a diminished death rate, at least so far as is directly traceable to extreme heat. One, therefore, seems to be warranted in the belief that the temperature dangerous to mankind is that in excess of the temperature of the human blood, and that when the air temperature runs for a considerable number of hours above 98° F. the fatal effects of the great heat necessarily follow. It is obvious that casualities from the intense heat are greatly increased by the unsanitary conditions of life in the great cities, so that it is hardly possible to assign a suitable weight to unfavorable temperature conditions and to insanitation. It is evident, however, as has been shown elsewhere, that injury to public health comes rather with the summer heat than with the winter cold.

“In resume, it appears that the extreme heat of summer is injurious to human health in the United States, except along the immediate ocean coasts, in northern New England, in the lake regions, and on the elevated lands, say, from five hundred to two thousand feet; the elevation necessarily decreasing with the latitude and increasing with the distance from the sea.

"Temperature conditions are ameliorated or aggravated by humidity conditions. Very dry air and great temperature changes, diurnal and annual, obtain to the westward of the Mississippi River and over the mountain peaks of the Atlantic coast. As a rule, the air increases in dryness in its distance from the oceans and within the law; but it is hoped that it will be renewed.

"The attitude taken by the meteorological side of the weather bureau as to the influence of climate upon health cannot be more forcibly illustrated than by the statement that the Monthly Weather Review for August, 1896, contains no allusion to the fact that nearly one thousand persons died in the United States in that month from the direct effects of a prolonged heated term."

HOME DUTIES OF INDIAN CHILDREN.-There are home duties. as well as pleasures for the children. Boys are required to look after the ponies, to lend a hand in planting, to help in the harvest; and they are often made to do active duty as scarecrows in the newly planted field, where, like little Bo-peep, they fall fast asleep. The girls help to gather wood, bring water, and look after the younger ones. As they grow older they are taught to cut, sew, and make garments. In former days, the old Omahas say, no girl

was considered marriageable until she had learned to tan skins, make tents and clothing, prepare meat for drying, and could cultivate corn and beans; while a young man who had not learned to make his own weapons and to be a skillful hunter was not considered fitted to take upon himself the responsibilities of the provider of a family.-"Home Life Among the Indians," by Alice C. Fletcher, in the June Century.

CRETE AND ITS NATIVES.-The peculiarly favorable position of the island, situated at the junction of three continents, as it were, and commanding the coasts of all three, has invested it from the carliest times with an importance such as neither Sicily, Sardinia, nor Cyprus, although much larger in area, ever attained. While forming in prehistoric times a stepping-stone for Egyptian and Asiatic civilization in its progress toward the shores of Greece, Crete remained throughout antiquity singularly free from any close political connection with Egypt, Asia or Greece. This insularity is to this day one of the marked characteristics of the Cretan people; and without accepting the view that they are the purest descendants extant of the Hellenes of the 8th century B. C., we must regard them, nevertheless, as one of the most interesting branches of the Greek race. Unfortunately, the gravest defects of the ancient Greek character were nowhere so pronounced as in Crete; and we are told that its history throughout antiquity was one continuous chain of civil strife, carried on with a savageness and bitterness of animosity exceeding all that was known in the rest of Greece. This political depravity was attended by such a degeneracy of morals as to render the name of "Cretan" a synonym for nearly every vice.-— "Crete, the Island of Discord," by Demetrius Kalopothakes, in the May Century.

AMERICA'S SHARE IN THE CUBAN SHAME.-During the forty years that have since elapsed all the interested powers have recognized expressly or implicitly the position that was then publicly assumed by our government. So, however unpleasant it may be, we must admit that when the consular representatives of France and of England in Cuba say, as I have heard many of them say, in commenting upon the unparalelled horrors of the situation, that the government and people of our country are directly responsible for all the bloody crimes that are committed in the name of warfare, they are right. I believe that our share of responsibility for all this blood guiltiness is a heavy one. We have announced our

peculiar rights as to Cuba; we have said to other nations that they must keep their hands off; we block the way and stop all interference, and assist Spain the while to encompass her ends by the activity of our fleet and the exertions of our Federal officers.-From "The Real Condition of Cuba To-day," by Stephen Bonsal, in May Review of Reviews.

THE LIVING AGE, in entering its fifty-fourth year, seems to have entered a new career of prosperity and popularity. Among the evidences of this is the opening of new departments which enable it to cover a much wider field than ever before. Of the quality of the contents, it is enough to say that it well maintains its former high standard. It could not do more. In the course of a year, aggregating over three thousand double column, octavo pages of the choicest reading that can be obtained; and the price is only $6.00 a year. The Living Age Co., Boston.

THE OPEN COURT for June contains a handsome portrait of Pythagoras, reproduced from an ancient cameo. The main article is on "The Life of Pythagoras," by Professor Moritz Cantor, of Heidelberg, Germany, the great mathematical historian, who has constructed an extremely lifelike and attractive picture of the great Grecian thinker. The editor discusses "The Immorality of the Anti-Vivisection Movement." He regards certain features of the anti-vivisection crusade as extravagant and, in so far as the sentiment on which it is based is unreasoned, he views it as immoral. He takes as his text the article "In the Dissecting Room," in the same number, where the ethical and utilitarian aspects of dissection are considered. The Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago. Single copies, 10 cents. Annually, $1.00.

REMOVAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

E. B. TREAT, formerly 5 Cooper Union.

To meet our expanding business we have been compelled to seek enlarged and more commodious quarters. And my sons, William H. and Edwin C., who have been associated with me in business several years are admitted to partnership interests under the firm name of

E. B. TREAT & CO.

We can now be found in the new building,

Nos. 241-243 WEST 23D STREET, New York.

THE SANITARIAN.

AUGUST, 1897.

NUMBER 333.

PHYSICIANS AND THEIR ARMAMENTARIUM.*

THE OLD SCHOOL AND THE NEW.

BY JOHN A. TANNER, M.D.

It was with hesitation and no little fear I accepted the invitation to deliver the annual address before this society, feeling that in this day of so much writing and talking upon medical matters, it would be a difficult task to bring to your attention a subject not already worn threadbare, or advance ideas with which you are not familiar. Since undertaking the task it has been my regret that I did not decline the compliment. Hence it is that this address does not open by saying that "It is with great pleasure I appear before you on this occasion." However, to-day it will be my endeavor to give you a few thoughts, and possibly set you to thinking upon the subject of

THE OLD AND THE NEW.

The limited time at my disposal will prevent any detailed discussion of the many thoughts of interest brought to the mind by such a subject, so only a few of the most salient points, and those bearing especially upon the general practitioner and his field of work, will be briefly discussed.

This topic was not selected with the view of contrasting the socalled Old School with the catchingly named New School of medicine, for practically to-day there is no difference and hence nothing to contrast but the names, the homeopathic practitioners, with but few exceptions, using, as far as they know how, remedies in the same doses and upon the same therapeutical bases as the regular physician.

*Annual Address at the Meeting of the Norfolk District Medical Society, Boston, Mass., May 11, 1897.

This statement is made advisedly, and is based upon such facts as the following:

1. The following prescriptions written by different members of the Homeopathic Medical Society.

R. Sulphate of morphia tablets....
One every four hours until relieved.

.gr. 1.

S.

R. Hydrochloric acid, dilute.

S. Three drops in water before meals.

2. Have a well-known homeopath attend in an emergency one of your patients, and proceed immediately to give morphia hypodermically for an attack of cholera morbus.

3. An examination of the catalogue of the Boston University School of Medicine, probably the leading homeopathic college in the country, will show in use for "general reading and reference," Pepper's "System of Medicine," Lusk's and Playfair's “Obstetrics," the "United States Dispensatory," and other works by wellknown authors in the regular profession. With such data before us, we must consider that while there was an old school of pure homeopathy, to-day there is virtually a new school of homeopathy, whose members cling to the name for public effect, though otherwise they are in no sense of the word practitioners of what they pretend in holding to the name homeopathy.

The members of the arbitrarily named "Allopathic" school have never claimed any designation but that of physicians, holding to no exclusive dogma and refusing to follow the dictum of any one man, but reserving the right to use any or whatever system and remedy seems best. How often do we now hear quoted the following words of wisdom as emanating from some physicians of the new school of medicine: "I use whatever I can that I think will help my patient." This expression seems to serve as a motto with many homeopaths to be used on selected occasions to convey the idea that they have discovered an advanced and elevated plane of work. What a change!

It is not necessary, in order to contrast the past with the present, to speak of medicine as taught and practised one hundred years