my patient to bed and produce free diaphoresis by the administration of jaborandi. With the appearance of free sweating there will be an amelioration of all the violent symptoms, and a speedy and perfect cure within three or four days. A temperature of 105° in congestion of the lungs has, time and time again in my practice, been reduced to 99.5° in twenty-four hours. What has been said of congestion of the lungs can also be said of pleurisy. The doctor also recites the well-known virtues of the drug in erysipelas. He also gives it a high place in uremia and dropsy resulting from defective kidney function. He also used it with much benefit in scarlatina. He next recites its valuable properties as a galactagogue. Lastly, the doctor cites its value as an antidote in belladonna poisoning and snake poisoning. All these curative properties of the drug seem to be due to its wonderful power in stimulating excretion, especially in arousing the action of the sweat glands. To these we would add its value in breaking up an impending attack of coryza, bronchitis or muscular rheumatism. Also its reputed value in the early stages of peritonitis and puerperal fever. The ordinary mode of administration is twenty drops of the fluid extract repeated every two hours until diaphoresis; or one tenth to onefifth grain of muriate of pilocarpine. A "Vitapathic" College. One of the most reprehensible developments of medical humbuggery is the Vitapathic American Health College, of Cincinnati, which, although in operation for the past fifteen years, has but recently been brought to public attention. no The curriculum of this school embraces no regular course of instruction; there are scientific lectures, no study of therapeutics, no demonstrations in anatomy, no pharmacological study nor clinical lectures; in fact none of the study of details which it is generally deemed advisable for embryo physicians to pass through. Only a two months' course, a fee of $100, a graduating exercise which is a sacrilegious parody of the service of ordination, and the student comes out with the titles Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Vitapathy. Some idea of the charlatanry which is practiced by the founder and promoter of this "doctor factory" may be gained from the following address, which J. B. Campbell, the "president" and owner of the institution, made to each member of the last class which "graduated" there: "Brother, you have learned the Vitapathic system, graduated at its college, partaken of its higher sacrament and holier spiritual baptism, and are ready to take on the higher office of Vitapathic minister. We now, therefore, by authority of our country's laws and heaven's highest power, ordain you a Vitapathic minister and physician, with full authority and power to preach the gospel of life as contained in the great Vitapathic system, in all its fulness and power, to all people in all worlds, in all time and eternity; to attend funerals, solemnize marriages and to do whatever a Vitapathic minister physician can do to comfort the af flicted, relieve the distressed, heal the sick, commune with angels, receive higher inspiration, cast out devils, raise the dead, perpetuate existence, and make human life immortal. All power is now yours. Go and perform your duty well; and all the life and power and love of Vitapathy be with you forever." Buchanan, in his palmiest days, would have blushed to hear such a speech, and Cagliostro himself never laid claim to such extraordinary powers as are thus, for a paltry $100, granted by the high priest of Vitapathy.-Druggist's Circular. Vitapathic Physicians. A special dispatch from Baltimore to the Philadelphia Inquirer reads: "A man recently applied for registration as a practicing physician to the secretary of the Board of Health, exhibiting a document purporting to be a diploma issued by The American College of Health and Vitapathic Institute of Cincinnati, J. B. Campbell, President (which turns out doctors in five weeks). The caller was refused registration, as they would not recognize his diploma; but he afterward showed a letter from J. B. Campbell, which said: 'Vitapathic minister physicians need not register; health boards have nothing to do with us, as we never let patients die, but if they do or will die, call in an M. D. in time.' "The secretary informed him that the laws of this state in regard to the practice of medicine are so loose that almost any one can practice, but in the event of a patient dying the coroner would order an autopsy, and should any malpractice be revealed, the practitioner would be summoned before the grand jury." Subscribe for this journal and get it regularly. Scheme of Ectopic Gestations (in Tubo-ovarian Tract.) II. Tubal, in free part of tude is (a) contained in tube up to fourteenth week, at or before which time primary rupture occurs, and then progress of the gestation is directed intoOvarian, possible but not yet proved. * tion; (¿) Abdominal or intra-peritoneal gestation uniformly fatal (unless removed by abdominal (c) Broad ligament or extra-peritoneal gestasection), primarily by hemorrhage, secondarily by suppuration of the sac and peritonitis; or intra-peritoneal gestation by secondary rupture. as lithopedion; purating ovum may be (f) May die and the sup-| (g) May remain quiescent | (h) May become abdominal discharged at or near um bilicus, or through bladder, vagina or intestinal tract. III. Tubo-uterine or interstitial is contained in part of tube embraced by uterine tissue, and, so far as is known, is uni*It may be of interest to refer to the description of the specimen presented to the American Gynecological Society at its last meeting, by Dr. Mann, of formly fatal by primary intra peritoneal rupture (as c) before fifth month. Buffalo.-From a review of Lawson Tait's work in Practice. I. ligament to full time and sorbed as extra-peritoneal hematocele; Suggestion of a New Use for Nitro-Glycerine. Dr. W. C. Kloman writes to the Maryland Medical Journal, December 15, that he has recently had occasion to prescribe nitro-glycerine and to observe its physiological action. He has come to the conclusion that the statement that it abolishes the inhibitory function of the pneumogastric nerve is correct; at the same time he observed that the capillaries, and possibly also the smaller arteries, were conveying far more blood than they had done before its administration. This was evidenced by the flushing of the face and the increased warmth of the extremities, while the radial pulse beat fuller, freer and more rapidly. Dr. Kloman ordered the drug in a case of cardiac asthma, in a man eighty-two years old. There was no evidence of cardiac disease per se, but simply a weakness of the heart's action, with a want of coördination of the action of the right and left side of the heart, due to senile degeneration. Strophanthus had been given, but it failed to be prompt enough to avert the attacks of asthma. He was obliged to give three drops of a one per cent. solution of nitro-glycerine to obtain any sensible effect in this case. On November 29, 1888, Thanksgiving day, the patient spent the afternoon and evening away from home, and returned thoroughly chilled, feeling also the commencing shortness of breath. His wife administered to him a three-drop dose of the solution of nitro-glycerine, and the patient assured Dr. Kloman the next morning that the effect was almost instantaneous: he soon became warm and was relieved. Dr. Kloman concludes as follows: "Now, reasoning from its physiological and its therapeutic action in this case, it seems to me that it would act highly beneficially in cases. of threatened gangrene of the extremities. So far as I know, this idea is original with me, and I should be glad to hear of the results of a trial in a case of this kind."-Med. & Surgical Reporter. Beta-Naphthol in Typhoid Fever. J. Mitchell Bruce communicates a paper on B-Naphthol in enteric fever to the Practitioner, December, 1888. He gave the naphthol suspended in milk, and a small quantity of pure milk was taken after the dose. It must be given frequently, he says, in order to keep up a constant effect, and small doses have also the advantage of not causing the pungent after-taste in the throat which is liable to be produced. To adults it may be administered in gelatin capsules, or by the following formula, which seems the most satisfactory after several trials: B-naphthol.... Tr. aurantii. Mucil. tragacanth. M. Sig. Dose, one ounce. .gr. xx .f3 ii f3 ss .f3 iij .ad..f3vj In four cases, two of which were in boys twelve years old, the naphthol was taken in doses of three and a quarter grains every two hours during the whole course of the disease, until the temperature remained normal for five or six days. The number of cases would seem to be too few to furnish trustworthy conclusions. Nevertheless, Mr. Bruce concludes: "1. That the production of intestinal antisepsis is a rational mode of treatment of enteric fever, and that B-naphthol is a safe and tolerably efficient agent for this end. 2. That by its use in the above cases the duration of the disease was shortened, and the intensity of the symptoms directly arising from profound disturbance in the alimentary canal was lessened. "3. That the tendency to the occurrence of splenic enlargement, albuminuria, and of secondary complications, such as boils, abscesses, etc., of purulent infective origin, is diminished. "4. That complete convalescence is more speedily and satisfactorily attained; and that there is less risk of a propagation of the disease to others. "Finally, we must bear in mind that in some patients naphthol may excite so much gastric disturbance as to prevent its use."-Med. & Surg. Reporter. Single Remedies. [The following article accords so well with our views, frequently expressed in our columns, that we desire to place it before our readers, and to call their especial attention to it.-ED.] The administration of medicine by single remedy is certainly the most intelligible method of treating disease. When I see a prescription with but one drug written by the hand of a physician, I am almost certain to conjecture that the doctor knows just what he is doing that he is settled in his convictions as to the diagnosis of his case; and if he has acted intelligibly, I can almost tell what the difficulty is. On the other hand, a mixture of six or a dozen drugs so mixes my mind that it is impossible for me to tell, and I begin to conclude that the author of this is terribly mixed himself. It is a well-known fact that, in years gone by, the old botanic practice was composed of men who knew nothing of anatomy, physiology and pathology; and their method of compensating for this defect in knowledge was to throw together at times as high as twenty and thirty of their ground roots and herbs into one compound-so as to hit the case, though they were unable to hit the diagnosis. They did, unquestionably, cure many of their cases, but which drug did the work none could tell. * * It is a well-known fact that as our knowledge increases the number of remedies entering into our prescriptions diminish; and having watched this matter for some time, I am persuaded that it is not a bad rule by which we may determine the amount of knowledge a physician carries with him. It is true that a doctor who prescribes a single remedy may grossly miss the mark; but having failed in selecting the right remedy does not invalidate the principle that he has adopted. The principle is a good one, though he may have erred in his judgement in selecting the right remedy. If a physician has cured a certain patological state or removes a certain symptom with his compound, he is scarcely entitled to the credit. This thought, however, must not be pushed too far under the present state of our knowledge. We do not fully understand the complex relations of every part of the human body; neither have we fully determined the manifold laws of physiology and pathology; and, so long as we do not fully understand all things belonging to the intricate, we may be compelled to harbor this element of empiricism. Is it lawful to call the compounding of drugs empiricism? We believe it is, and none of us may be entirely free from it. the method of single remedies is an approach to science; and he who maintains and practices it most is the farthest from being an empiric.-Amer. Medical Journal. But The following was sent to the Berks Co., Pa., Medical Association by the oldest physician in the county, born in 1800, who was unavoidably absent form the meeting: The Old, Retired Physician. The old, retired physician? Well, first, he bled, he always bled, No matter what the ailment; He blistered you and poulticed you And then he gave, he always gave, A bolus, not a sugared pill; For granules draughts astounding; He does but scorn the dainties born Of modern art's compounding. What were his drugs? now let me see- What did he give? he had but three And he was right-these three are right, All herbs he knew that ever grew At homes or in Virginia, And he had heard (though but a word) I do him wrong in this, my song; He had his pukes and purges; And they were swift and they were strong- And then again I do him wrong, No tongue can tell how Calomel And did he see a fever be A-marching for your slaughter, He ordered blankets mountain high, To plenteous air and strength'ning fare With heavy tread and shake of head This man of old was surgeon bold As ever walked on leather; And all alone he'd saw a bone, And fractures bind together. No anæsthetics blessed his day, The women dear of far and near, With thankfulness they cheered him. He does not know, he tells you so, Your thousand modern potions, He laughs at germs-ideal worms, And microscopic motions. He never saw a microscope, Nor any other scopey; Through them he fears your eyes and ears Bacteria germs and such like terms There's anti-seps and septi-seps, And there's the big thrombosis. Histology-what can it be But some new-fangled pathy? Typhli-perityphli-tis Away-you make him wrathy. "O, shades of Greece and Latium," Exclaims the old physician; And straight proceeds with heart that bleeds, To give this sage decision: With dignity he says, "I see (O, why did man begin it), Your searching to infinity, And naught but nonsense in it." "And those great words-alas! alas! -In the case of a lady having pseudo-angina pectoris, Prof. Bartholow directed the administration of trinitrin (nitro-glycerine); cut off alcohol and fat-forming foods from the diet, and also ordered liquor potassii arsenitis, gtt. ij t. d. -For a case of rheumatoid arthritis in a man aged 36, Prof. Da Costa ordered the joints to be sprinkled over with sulphur confined by oiled silk, causing the joints to perspire freely, andR Liquor potassii arsenitis...........gtt. iij Sig.-Ter die, and increase to 10 drops ter die. -In the treatment (medicinal) of the vomiting of pregnancy, Prof. Parvin prefers 3 to 5 drops of tinct. nucis vomicæ given ter die. -Never use cold applications in the local treatment of gout; they may cause retrocession and cerebral symptoms which are dangerous -(Prof. Da Costa.) -For a case of antero-lateral sclerosis in the early stage, Prof. Da Costa ordered -As a stimulating wash to chancroids, the grain hyoscine hydrobromate morning and evefollowing may be used: R Acid tannic, Extract opii aquos. Cupri sulph... Aquæ destillat. Sig. Apply locally. ning and Hydrargyri chloridi corrosivi. R āā.... gr. ij .gr. 1/8 .fzj -(PROF. GROSS.) Ammon. muriat... Aquæ destillat.. Sig. Three times a day. .gr. .gr.] .f3j M. -In the case of a man with acute parenchy matous nephritis, with scanty urine, pain in the loins and swelling of limbs, Prof. Da Costa directed dry cups to back, saline purgatives (Rochelle salts 3ss daily), absolute milk diet; and three times daily a fluidrachm of infusion of digitalis. -For hysteria in a girl, aged 17, having attacks of rigidity, delusions, but never at night or when alone, with scanty menstruation, Prof. and at nightDa Costa directed apiol for the latter condition, |