dishes, gives a scheme for a rational dinner party and touches upon very many other important and interesting points. In the appendix many useful recipes are given.

A TEXT-BOOK OF PRACTICAL THERAPEUTICS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE APPLICATION OF REMEDIAL MEASURES TO DISEASE AND THEIR EMPLOYMENT UPON A NATIONAL BASIS. By Hobart! Amery Hare, M.D., B.S'c., Professor of Therapeutics and Materia Medica in Jefferson Medical College, Phila. Lea Brothers, Philadelphia, 1895. Pp. 740.

The aim of the author to provide the physician with a practical guide in the study of therapeutics or that of remedial measures for the cure of disease has been steadily kept in view. And that the profession appreciate the excellent quality of the work is evidenced by the fact that this is the fifth edition in five years. The arrangement of the book will meet with approval. In every part where drugs or diseases are considered the titles are arranged in alphabetical order according to their English names. The author recognizes the fact that a true classification is impossible and very sensibly avoids the blunders of other writers. In the present volume each article has been revised, many useful suggestions added and several articles entirely re-written. In addition to the general index, a copious and explanatory index of diseases and remedies have been appended.

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE OPENING EXERCISES OF THE NEW MEDICAL HOSPITAL.

BY WM. TOD HELMUTH, M.D.

LADIES AND Gentlemen:—

There always exists a feeling of satisfaction in watching the upward progress of any good work; this is materially augmented if one has been sufficiently interested in it to give a portion of his energies toward its successful accomplishment. Therefore, I may be pardoned for expressing for myself and my colleagues, not only gratification but pride in the completion of this hospital, because we believe it to be an essential addition to that institution for which we have strenuously labored, and which has been blessed with a large measure of success.

A few years since, the plot of ground on which we stand was a desolate waste, indeed there are few sights more uninviting than an open lot on the edge of a great city. Upon this land to-day stand imposing buildings dedicated to one of the most important and dignified purposes known in the educational fields-viz: the proper qualification of men for the reception of the Doctrine in Medicine. Next in importance to the knowledge of God as taught in the Theological Seminaries, is the knowledge of Disease and its Treatment as imparted in the Medical Universities. Hence, the necessity of thoroughness in the curriculum of every such institution. When it is remembered how much of this knowledge, acquired by application and augmented by experience, is given gratuitously to the poor, the far-reaching charity of the medical profession may be appreciated.

In these days of universal evolution, medical teaching has not been stationary, and it is not difficult to understand the process by which the older or didactic, has been superseded by the newer or clinical methods of instruction. The change has been effected by the thorough appreciation of the fact, that the greater the number of the organs of special sense that can be concentrated upon any subject, the more read

ily will it be understood and the more durable will be its impression upon the mind. One may read of the beauty and majesty of Nature's masterpieces; he may study from books the revelations of art; or may listen to dissertations upon epidemics that have swept over the face of a continent, and of each of these he certainly derives an idea which is more or less influenced by his imagination, susceptibility, and temperament. But let this same observer stand face to face with the stupendous and perpendicular walls of the grand canon of the Yellow Stone, with the cataract sounding in his ears and the surrounding peaks stretching to the sky; let him gaze upon the Apollo of the Vatican, or study the intricate traceries of Japanese art; let him stand on the rugged rocks of Northern Ireland, or the treacherous coast of Nova Scotia, while the waves are being lashed into fury by the winds, or wander through the streets of a plague stricken city and behold the horrible paraphernalia of suffering and death and lo! the comprehension of all these things is absolute, they become a portion of the man himself, he understands that which the listening to lectures no matter how graphic, or word painting no matter how beautiful can convey. This is because the organs of special sense-those wonders of the scholar, and the masterpieces of God-acting upon the emotional sensibility of our human nature create impressions that can never be obliterated. Medical teaching is no exception to this general rule. In the lecture room, in the old days, the student sat for many consecutive hours listening to lectures with here and there a demonstration given, a diagram explained or a blackboard drawing hastily made by the Professor. Those who have passed through this ordeal know well how the tedium of listening to lecture after lecture gradually wears upon the sense of hearing, until the voice from the rostrum grows fainter and fainter, a semi-unconsciousness steals over the the worn out listener, until nothing but an indistinct sound, like the murmuring of the waves on the distant shores is audible—impressionless and worthless. Many a time in days long past, I have nodded in my seat in the lecture room, oblivious to all things medical, and many a time in later years have I seen from my platform, my students following my own example.

To-day, with the clinical facilities afforded by hospital teaching, this imperfect and soporose method of imparting medical instruction has undergone a complete change.

A patient is seen in the hospital and a glance suffices to reveal what a mere description could never adequately convey, viz: The general appearance of the sick one, the color of the skin, the expression of the face, the emaciation or plethora that exists, the very position is significant. And the tongue-ah! to the physician, the tongue can tell a tale of good or evil without the utterance of a single word, and the trained eye of the medical man can understand the story and act upon it. "Let me see your tongue," is the question that every sensible Doctor asks to every patient, and upon the condition of that organ as revealed to the mind by the sense of sight, much of importance in disease is indicated. Surely in this, the old proverb is peculiarly applicable "Pluris est oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem' The delicate sense of touch distributed all over the body by the cutaneous end-organs or corpuscles of the tactile nerves, joins hands with sight. We feel the pulse and thereby note its irregularities; the contour of the body is measured and compared; the size and appearance of new growths are defined, and anatomical regions mapped out, fluids are distinguished from solids, while percussion and palpation unfold many hidden secrets of disease. Truly the

tactus eruditus is an important guide to both physician and surgeon. The part that is played by the sense of hearing in compounding a diagnosis can scarcely be over-estimated. It is as an engineer watching the pulsations of his engine. It distinguishes the abnormal from the normal action of that machinery which sends the vital fluid to all parts of the body. It informs the master whether the valves are in order or the stroke sufficient, whether there is a leakage or a friction in the pumps, whether a pipe requires repairing, or a cylinder is clogged. It stands as a sentinel of that great purifying apparatus, which, like the cold air box to the ventilating machine-supplies the element by which we live, and expels the acid by which we die.

The odors of the breath, of the perspiration, of the excretions, of the sick room itself are revealed by the sense of smell, and often taste is called into requisition to sustain or perfect a diagnosis. Nay, generally all these senses are employed together, and not only do such conjoint impressions cultivate alertness on the part of the student, but present to him disease as a fact, as it actually exists, not as it may be described. By bedside instruction alone can these senses be cultivated to perform these important services. But the greatest benefit accruing to the medical student through the medium of hospital instruction has yet to be mentioned, for while the value of recognizing and understanding disease cannot be doubted, such knowledge sinks into insignificance compared to that required for the curing of it. "For this (indeed) are we Doctors." Two centuries before Christ, the Empirics would end their discussions with their rivals, the "Dogmatists" with the following syllogism: "It is not the cause but the cure of disease that concerns us. At the end of 2,000 years, the face of the argument must appeal to every right minded physician.

By the bedside and in the amphitheatre of these hospitals the action of medicines can be observed, the performance of operations and the dressings of wounds can be witnessed; the size of the dose and the varied methods of administration of drugs can be observed; the truth or fallacy of therapeutic doctrines can be demonstrated, and above all, the fact be made apparent that physicians and surgeons are not infallible. The attentive student will soon learn that the most renowned among us make grevious mistakes, the most erudite, err; the most distinguished can record disastrous failures; the most skillful are sometimes the most clumsy, and that in spite of all our best directed efforts and conscientious strivings, death will hold its own, stark, cold, relentless, unerring and inevitable.

The effort has been made thus far to explain certain causes of the evolution of the newer system of instruction through the intervention of clinical methods of teaching. There is, however, still another factor which deserves consideration, viz: the rapid development of what may be called the artistic side of medicine. This art period dates from the introduction and study of the microscope, and at present ends with the application of Röentgen rays; where it may extend in the future, no one in this restless age can predict It is this rapid advance of art in the practice of medicine which has curtailed the sphere of drug therapeutics and demonstrates-as I have elsewhere stated-that agents exist outside the pharm copoeia for the cure of disease. Art cannot be learned by reading, or be taught by lectures. To become an artist, a man must acquire skill in handling his implements. The microscopist must himself arrange his lenses not only for magnification but for definition, resolution and penetration. He must know how to

cut, to color, and to mount his specimens. There are few more artistical than the preparation of microscopical slides. The bacteriologists, must not only understand all this, but in addition the artistic culture of micro-organisms. Art must play an important role in the daily routine work of the electrician, the masseur, the oculist, the aurist and the laryngoscopist, while it goes without saying, that he who can by the arrangement of light and lens, picture and paint outside the body, that which is within it, may cultivate artistic excellence to its highest perfection. Hippocrates has a wise maxim-"where the love of the art is, there is the love of man" and it appears applicable here. In the last years of this now dying century, the revelations in medicine and surgery have been stupendous. A medical student in these times may be indoctrinated in sciences, which a few years ago were unknown, as well as in the older branches of medical knowledge. This instruction can only be accomplished through the clinical facilities offered by medical and surgical hospitals. In view of what has been previously said, I can assert that the equipment of the New York Homœopathic Medical College and Hospital is now complete.

This house, which to-day is opened for the reception of the sick is to fulfill the two great ends for which all such charities should be erected. No hospital, in my opinion, can accomplish to the full, the good of which it is capable, unless besides the help it offers to the sick-poor, it serves as a means of instruction to those who desire to become physicians and surgeons. The sentimental notion, that it is indelicate and improper to expose the patient to the inspection of students, is exploded; the brutal handling of inmates of hospitals about which so much has been spoken in certain social circles, by those entirely unacquainted with genuine hospital work-is a thing of the past; the cry that those lying in the wards of these charities are used only for the selfgratification of the physician or surgeon, to exhibit his skill or to prove a pet theory, is an audacious libel on that widespread charity dispensed by the medical profession all over the world, which has become a proverb among men. After nearly forty years of almost daily attendance in hospitals here and elsewhere, I am prepared to state, that in the great majority of cases patients who come to these institutions for relief make no objection to appear before medical classes -especially when they are brought before the students entirely unconscious through the anaesthetic agent that, if they decide not so to appear they are never forced into the amphitheatre, and it seems to me a mystery and an incongruity that very frequently those who cry so loudly, against this so-called "exposure" when the saving of life and limb or the curing of disease is at issue, are those who can be found at the opera bouffé, the vaudeville, or the concert hall, where there is ten thousand times more suggestive exposure, with certainly no good results to be expected.

I have taken up thus much of your time, Ladies and Gentlemen, because I am anxious you should see clearly the actual necessity for the existence of this hospital in connection with this college, that you should distinctly understand(that which in the majority of instances the laity do not) that this hospital is to accomplish a two-fold purpose-1st, that of charity, 2nd, that of education, so that when you are called upon (which you certainly will be) to assist in its future support, you will realize that you will be giving your countenance and your aid to an institution which has been builded for the purpose of assisting to serve God through its charity, and mankind through its dissemination of knowledge.

SURGICAL AND THERAPEUTICAL POINTS.

Conducted by

JOHN B. GARRISON, M.D.

Do not Drop a Steel Magnet or otherwise vibrate it, as it thus loses its magnetism.

Many a Woman's Ruin is due to the old idea that a woman can safely leave her bed on the tenth day after confinement.

Cimicifuga in Dysmenorrhoea is valuable when the menses are scanty and delayed with much depression of mind, and nervousness at that period.

Petroleum for Burns. Crude petroleum poured upon the burned surface and covered loosely with cotton will subdue the pain almost at

once

Thuja in Epididymitis. In the tincture one drop daily, a chronic case of epididymitis on the left side, traveling the cord for nearly an inch, was completely cured. The condition was probably-not positively the result of suppressed gonorrhoea.

Cimicifuga in Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis. When they are alternate tonic and clonic convulsions, all food and drink instantly rejected, no sleep for many hours; in a case of this kind cimicifuga proved speed. ily curative, after many drugs had been tried and no improvement gained.

In Cases of Flatulence, bear in mind that the patient is probably overtaxing his nervous powers rather than overloading his stomach, and prescribe accordingly.

To Get the Length of a Wire on an electro-magnet, add the thickness of the coils to the diameter of the core outside of the insulation, multiply by 3.14, again by the length, and again by the thickness of the coils, and divide by the diameter of the wire squared.

To Prevent Gonorrhoea. Blodasewski proposes the instilling (not injecting) one or two drops of a two per cent. solution of nitrate of silver into the meatus after coition, a third drop being allowed to flow over the frænulum. This is so simple that it can be carried out by any one. A silver solution of this strength kills the gonococci.

Appendicitis, says Edebahls, should be treated by inversion of the stump instead of ligation in all acute cases in which it can be applied. In chronic appendicitis either the entire appendix or its stump should be inverted, preference being given to the inversion of the uncut appendix whenever practicable. In all cœliotomies undertaken for the relief of conditions other than appendicitis, the normal appendix, if readily and safely accessible, should be inverted entire