NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Appointment at Ann Arbor.-The vacancy in the Faculty of the Homœopathic College at Ann Arbor has been filled by the appointment of Dr. W. A. Dewey, of New York. Dr. Dewey is a hard worker, has had no little experience as a teacher, and will fill the chair of Materia Medica with credit to the college and himself.

A New Journal.-The Materia Medica Journal is the latest candidate for professional favor. It is devoted to the study and advancement of the homoeopathic materia medica by the proving of new and re-proving of old remedies, and is conducted by Drs. H. C. Allen and W. J. Hawkes. The business manager is W. W. Stafford, M. D. The first numbers of the journal are excellent, and we wish it all success.

Chicago Midwives.-The Health Department of Chicago has recently formulated rules for the government of midwives which, if enforced, will prevent much suffering and keep incompetent persons from endangering the lives of others. Every midwife must have a certificate to practice midwifery from the State Board of Health and must register her name and address with the medical inspector of midwives and show her certificate. They are allowed to attend normal labor only; in all other cases a physician must be called at once. The rules specify when a physician must be sent for, give in detail the general duties of a midwife, instruct her how to avoid contagion, how to avoid child-bed fever, and state definitely just what the midwife may or may not do.

Regulations like these are wise and timely. Similar rules should obtain in every State in the Union.

The Best Way to conduct a section or bureau in a State or national society has been much discussed. Where the contributors to a section are few and the papers excellent the chairman has no problem to solve. With a few good papers he is sure of ample time for reading and discussion and has little to fear. But when contributors multiply and the number of papers increases, time is lacking for the business of the section and trouble follows.

This will inevitably be the case in every large society so long as the plan now followed in the New York State Society or the American Institute is allowed to prevail. At present each chairman indulges in a wild scramble for papers-too often ignoring qualityand when the section meets there is ready for presentation only a vast mass of more or less valuable papers on every conceivable topic and with no opportunity afforded for proper preparation for debate. The result of such a method of conducting a section is, and always will be, failure and chagrin. Haphazard methods work no better here than elsewhere. The chairman of a section must be so in fact as well as in name. He must select topics and writers—the first for timeliness and interest, the second for ability-must secure copies of the papers in advance and furnish abstracts to those who consent to

enter into discussion. A few first-class papers so prepared-with a discussion carefully planned and arranged, would rescue many a section from mediocrity of achievement and give it the prestige of distinguished success. If the American Institute would increase its reputation and widen its field of usefulness let it try a better method of holding sectional meetings.

The International Congress. The registered attendance at the Homœopathic Congress in London last August was one hundred and thirty-nine. Of this vast number seventy-eight were from Great Britain, forty-one from the United States, three from Russia, three from Germany, three from France, four from Belgium, two from Holland and one each from Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland. Outside of Great Britain and the United States there were but twenty foreign representatives at the Congress. It must be confessed that this is a poor showing and leads to the conclusion that either the arrangements of the Congress were not acceptable to our colleagues or that homoeopathy in these countries is at an extremely low ebb.

From America, had it not been for gratuitous and most vexatious interference with the work of the American committee the attendance would have been double what it was; but even then the Congress would have fallen in point of numbers far below its rightful level. Nor may the Congress be truthfully termed a representative body. While many of our able men were there yet there were needed many more to enable the meeting to faithfully reflect the true spirit of the homeopathic school. Nor were the papers in any way remarkable, the superior excellence of a few hardly sufficing to raise the remainder from the dead level of mediocrity. The social side was a great success. Our English brethren distinguished themselves by their graceful courtesy and their thoughtful and always kind consideration for their visitors and guests. Their hospitality was unbounded and will be remembered by those present. But the fact remains that our International Congress has not as yet achieved either marked or permanent success. We must do better or turn our energies in other directions. New York had more in attendance at the Rochester State Society Meeting than did the Congress, and it must be remembered the greatest and most representative homœopathic organization is still the American Institute of Homoopathy. We do not speak in unkindness of spirit or with any unfriendliness to the Congress, but the facts are as stated, and we would advocate either a Congress that shall enlist the best abilities of the homoeopathic world or abandonment of the international meetings.

New Way of Adulterating Milk.-The adulteration of milk seems to be a common offense the world over. Notwithstanding stringent laws the milkman still continues to wickedly "doctor" his milk. An exchange says: "It has been discovered that milkmen in Bordeaux, France, were in the habit of using certain yellow powders to preserve their milk. M. Denigès succeeded in obtaining possession of three samples of this powder and subjected them to

chemical analysis. This analysis showed that two of the powders were composed wholly of neutral chromate of potash, that the third was a mixture of one part of bichromate of potash and two parts of neutral chromate, and that the suspected milk had been adulterated with the latter in the proportion of 0.30 gm. to the liter (five grains to the quart). The alkaline chromates are powerful antiseptics, capable, even in small quantities, of retarding lactic fermentation if not of stopping it completely. But because of the pernicious action of these salts on the organism they ought to be completely excluded from food substances, and particularly from milk, of which many young children drink relatively large quantities. These chromate powders are sold in packages of 2 gm. (thirty grains) each of which should suffice to preserve about fifty quarts of milk, which would correspond to 0.04 gm. (0.6 grain) of antiseptic to the quart, evidently a minimum proportion. But it is likely that the milkmen will be induced to augment this quantity, either because it is insufficient to preserve the milk during the high temperatures of summer, or in order to restore the color of the liquid, due normally to hemolutein, a yellow pigment, when it has been lessened by skimming the cream, adding water, or by inferiority of quality, and thus to cause a mediocre product to pass for milk of greater value. Knowledge travels rapidly, and even American milkmen may not be above such practices. Let us hope that the inspector may be as canny."

CORRESPONDENCE.

EDITOR NORTH AMERICAN :

Mortality Rate.-In Denver the death rate for June was 9.28 per 1,000 per annum, the lowest it has been in that month for ten years, excepting last year when it was only 8.44. For the year ending July 30th the death rate was 10.35 per 1,000 per annum. The percentage of deaths during the month of June for the last ten years has been as follows:

This general decrease is supposed to be due to improved sanitary conditions. Any climatic changes that have taken place would not have been sufficient to produce such results. Neither can we attribute this change to general good times for the opposite conditions have prevailed here for the last three years. According to the belief of some, when hard times prevail the people enjoy general good health, for there is less of in

dulgence in the so-called luxuries of life. The very struggle for existence which seems to be the lot of such a large portion of human kind drives some to a state of mental depression and discouragement and consequent disease. Others are stimulated by the same conditions to renewed exertions, determination is aroused, and they become, comparatively, proof against the ordinary diseases of life. It must be considered that "good.times" and "hard times" can not be considered reliable factors in the production of illness or in determining the mortality rate.

There were no deaths from typhoid during June, and only one from diphtheria.

The Health Board of Denver use the anti-toxine treatment for diphtheria and with good results judging from the monthly reports. But there seems to be a general feeling that the records of the anti-toxine treatment include many cases which are not and never would be diphtheria if left without treatment of any kind. It is well-known that the KlebsLoeffler bacilli are found in cases that are not diphtheritic. If these are all included in the statistics and called diphtheria, as some are known to have been, the percentage of deaths would appear to be less. In Denver there is a growing belief that these bacilli are not pathogenic but only a product of disease.

The College. In the Denver Homœopathic College two new chairs have recently been created, the chair of "History of Medicine, Organon and Medical Technology," occupied by D. A. Strickler, M. D., late of Minneapolis, Minn. Dr. Strickler is well-known to the profession from his articles on vital statistics showing the comparative mortality rate of the two dominant schools of medicine in the principal cities of our country. The medical student of our school should know the status of medicine in Hahnemann's time and what he did to bring about a reform. The student should also be thoroughly informed as to the results under similia as compared with those of the old school treatment. This instruction, we believe, will give to the students new interest in the principles of homœopathy and make them the better representatives of the new therapeutics.

The other chair created is that of “Physics and Electricity," with H. H. Buckwalter an enthusiastic electrician and expert photographer as lecturer. He will take part of the work of the Professor of Chemistry in connection with whom so much success has already been achieved with the X rays. The principles of the new light and the method of taking radiographs will be thoroughly taught the students. Considering the possibilities of the new light and what it may yet do for scientific medicine, we deem this an important part of our college instruction. Already in the van in scientific therapeutics homœopathy should ever lead in all that is of practical value for the relief of suffering humanity. The Faculty of this college are on the alert, and are sparing no pains to make the course of instruction most complete and thorough. W. A. BURR, M. D.

BOOK REVIEWS.

THE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL ANNUAL AND PRACTITIONERS INDEX FOR 1896. Edited by a corps of thirty-seven Department Editors--European and American. Pp. 828. Illustrated. New York. E. B. Treat.

Treat's Medical Annual has become a fixture in Medical Literature, and this fourteenth yearly issue is worthy in every respect of commendation and patronage of the profession. The book is thoroughly up to date in its organization, being alphabetically arranged and in such a way, that the recent advance in a desired subject can be looked up in a moment. The work is divided into four parts. Part first consisting of the extended review of the therapeutic progress of the year, together with a complete list of all the new remedies which have come out during that period. Part second is made up of recent articles by eminent authorities, even so recent an announcement as Roentgen's Rays finding a place therein. Part third covers 500 pages, is a retrospect of the year's Medical and Surgical progress alphabetically arranged; and Part four is made up of miscellaneous articles. This book is, all in all, a wonderful example of the perfection of the Medical Publisher's art and the cheapness of his product.

ATLAS OF TRAUMATIC FRACTURES AND ILUXATIONS, with a brief Treatise by H. Helferich, M.D., New York. Wm. Wood & Co., 1896.

This is one of the series of five Atlases including one upon Ophthalmology, one upon the Nervous System, one upon Obstetrical Diagnosis and one upon Gynecology. The book is an attractive one, made up of 142 pages and containing 166 illustrations after original drawings. The plan of the work is the presentation, upon plate paper, of very excellent drawings representing the most common and even some of the rarer fractures and dislocations. Opposite each plate is a description of the case from which the plate was taken and a short discussion of the anatomical points to be observed in connection with each fracture and dislocation. At the end of each chapter, there is a very excellent description of the most approved method of treatment. These descriptions go outside of the usual routine found in our text-books upon surgery, and are characterized by a very clear, terse style and practical value. The value of this work is greater in our opinion than that of any treatise of similar size and pretentiousness which we have seen, and the publishers are to be congratulated upon the excellence both of the illustrations and the descriptive matter. No physician who is called upon to treat fractures and dislocations should be without this really valuable little volume.

A TEXT-BOOK UPON THE PATHOGENIC BACTERIA FOR STUDENTS OF MEDICINE AND PHYSICIANS. By Joseph McFarland, M.D., Demonstrator of Pathological Histology in University of Pennsylvania, etc., with 113 illustrations. Philadelphia. W. B. Saunders, 925 Walnut St., 1896. Pp. 359.

The purpose of this work is to give a concise account of the technical procedures necessary in the study of bacteriology, a brief description of the life history of the important pathogenic bacteria and sufficient description of the pathological lesions accompanying the micro-organismal invasions to give an idea of the origin of symptoms and the causes of death. The aim has been to describe only such bacteria as can be proven pathogenic by the lesions or toxins which they engender and while considering them, to mention as fully as is necessary the species with which they may be confounded. It is a work carefully planned and will richly repay study.