CORRESPONDENCE.

HEMATOMA OF THE STERNO-MASTOID.

Editor Columbus Medical Journal:

A few days ago my attention was called to an infant, aged three weeks, who presented a small tumor, apparently in the substance of the right sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle. The tumor was hard, about the size of a pigeon-egg, freely movable, and apparently almost painless. The parents had only just discovered it. What is the tumor? I cannot find any description of it in my books. What shall I do with it? Muncie, Ind.

T. M. C.

[The tumor, which is well described by our correspondent, is quite rarely met with. It is described by Owen, in his work on the Surgical Diseases of Children, who regards it as a frequent cause of wry-neck. Vogel also describes it, imperfectly, in his work on Diseases of Children, under the title, "Sclerosis of the Sterno-Mastoid Muscle." The best description with which I am familiar is that of Henock (Dis. of Children, Wm. Wood & Co., 1882), under the title, "Hematoma of the SternoMastoid." The tumor is caused by an effusion of blood (and its subsequent organization) into the sheath of the st. cl. mast. muscle, due to rupture of some of the muscular fibres during delivery. Hence it usually occurs in cases of breech presentation or of forceps delivery, where there has been traction on the neck. This, however, is not always the case; in my own experience I haye met with two cases, in both of which the presentation was normal and the labor easy. As to treatment, do nothing; unless, as Henock suggests, you use an ointment of iodide of potassium, as a placebo, in order to keep the case under observation. The tumor will disappear in a few weeks.-J. F. B.]

A NEW "EPIDEMIC.”

[Dr. Charles Graefe, of Sandusky, sends us the following letter, and expresses the hope that some "medical sharp" will succeed in making something out of it.-EDITOR COLUMBUS MEDICAL JOURNAL.]

DR. CHAS. GRAFE, Sandusky, O.

PORT CLINTON, O., Nov. 29, 87.

Dear Sir. I will cordialy remind you of an epidemic that is coming on the people of this country it is in the shape of constitutional sypilis (Pox) It is seen on all sides, funny colar of the eyes, sinking of the same,

don't feel like doing anything, rubbing the eyes, sore eyes, winking all the time Something is wrong I know pains and swellings, Sore ankles and back, beginning of caries of the bones or cartilege I presume, as the desease advances more will be found out, I seen a child the other day where the eyes were nearly gone, And dont you forgit it. The eyes are going fast allready Hoping you will investigate I remain

Yours Truly

DR.

The latest idea we have had suggested in the way of medical progress is the following: Our postmaster, who is an M. D., while placing a postal delivery stamp" upon our letter "wondered if it would not be a good idea to place one of those 'stamps' upon the abdomen of a woman during labor; that by so doing if it would not hasten delivery.'" Comment unnecessary. I. W. C.

MATRIMONY.

To pop or not to pop, that is the question,
Whether 'tis easier for a man to suffer

In single blessedness the rubs of fortune,
Or ask some pretty girl to share his troubles

And by proposing end them? To woo, to wed,
No more; and by a form to say he's free
From all the little ills a bachelor, poor man,

Is plagued with; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To woo, to wed-
Perhaps a family! Ah, there's the rub;
For in the marriage state what cares may come
When he has taken to himself a wife
Must give him pause; there's the respect
That makes the celibacy of so long a life.

For who would bear the washerwoman's crimes,
The buttonless shirt, the stockings full of holes,
The pangs of collars with a sawlike edge,
The lodging-keeper's sins, the cat's misdeeds,

And strange evaporation of his brandy,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a plain gold ring? Who would chambers keep
And growl and fret a solitary life

But that the dread of endless tradesmen's bills
(But housekeeping expenses, from whose doom

No Benedict escapes) puzzles the will

And makes him rather bear the ills he has
Than fly to others that perhaps are worse.
Thus prudence makes a coward of man,
And thus we see most desperate flirtations
On this account too often end in smoke,
And promises apparently of granite
Are broken like the crust of apple pie,
And the ladies bring an "action."

-Temple Bar.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

J. F. BALDWIN, M. D., Columbus,

EDITOR.

Communications, reports, etc., are solicited from all quarters.

Authors desiring reprints, will receive fifty, free of charge, provided the request for the same accompanies the article.

Subscribers changing their location, are requested to notify the Publishers promptly, that there may be no delay in receipt of the journal, stating both the new and the former post-office address.

We have no authorized Collectors, except such as carry properly made out bills, countersigned by the Publishers. HANN & ADAIR, Publishers, Columbus, O.

COLLEGE COMMENCEMENTS.

COLUMBUS Medical College. The exercises took place in the Metropolitan Opera House, Wednesday evening, Feb. 29. The principal address was delivered by the Rt. Rev. Bishop John A. Watterson. H. J. Booth, Esq., delivered the address to the graduating class. The following named gentlemen then received the degree of M. D., viz:

A. W. McClintock, Lena ; J. W. Hornby, Alexandria; F. E. Thompson, Kingston Center; G. W. Mangus, Herkimer, N. Y.; R. P. Beggs, Perryopolis, Pa.; T. M. Talbot, Urbana; G. C. Lockwood, Johnstown; H. J. Sheppard, Nashport; H. Hewetson, Amanda; J. M. Rhodes, New England; E. A. Williams, Columbus; A. J. Cunningham, Lyons; S. H. Yeater, Nashville; S. Iglick, Columbus, and D. E. Parsons, Mountville. Total 15.

No prizes; no flowers.

This is the smallest class ever graduated from this institution.

STARLING MEDICAL COLLEGE.-These exercises were held at the Metropolitan, on the evening of March 9. Bishop Watterson, of the Diocese of Columbus, gave the address, followed by Prof. Starling Loving with the charge to the class. The following is the list of graduates :

W. A. Cromley, E. M. Gilliam, Louis Kahn, C. W. Miller, S. S. Wilcox, F. B. Williamson, William Berry, H. G. Boynton, W. B. Brown, C. M. Coe, M. S. Cramer, W. L. Dick, E. G. Fuller, J. M. Goff, C. V. High, W. H. Hooper, G. P. Huddle, E. J. Hyatt, D. T. Kiser, P. M. Lehman, W. H. Lemmon, C. A. Levering, S. B. Lusk, E. I. McVey, E. B. Meade, J. H. Moninger, C. E. Monroe, W. Newell, E. E. Neeley,

W. H. Parent, L. H. D. Pierce, G. T. Plotnar, E. D. Rex, J. W. Russell, C. J. Smith and G. T. Snode. Total 37.

Prizes: The first prize, $50, was awarded to Dr. David P. Kizer, of Springfield, for the highest scholarship. The second prize, $25, to Dr. W. C. Weber, of London, for the best written and best defended thesis. Dr. Sterling B. Taylor, of Russelville, Ky., was awarded a case of surgical instruments for the best report of the medical clinics, and Dr. Earl M. Gilliam, of Columbus, was given a similar prize for the best report of surgical clinics.

The stage was covered with flowers and other gifts sent in by friends of the graduates. The class was an unusually large and fine one.

THE Medical Age gives utterance to the following observations in an editorial, anent medical society meetings: "When the remarks do not consist of the utterance of vapid inanities ad nauseam, the evening is taken up with the presentation of eyes which ophthalmologists have enucleated, tumors which gynecologists have removed, arms and legs which surgeons have amputated, fragments of stones which genito-urinary men have crushed, or instruments to which some of the other specialists have attached their names so that they (the names) be carried beyond the confines of their own baliwicks. The average medical society, in cities at least, seems to be run chiefly for the glorification of the specialist, and the chief function of the general practitioner is to furnish the filling for the specialist framework. We have been amused to see your specialist's air of superiority, as he passes to the underlings who sit disposed in regular rows around the room, the eye, for instance, which his peculiar skill has enabled him to enucleate. Your common every-day general practitioner, whose skill and knowledge of the body as a whole, may in numerous instances have prevented eyes from reaching the ophthalmologist, has not a word to say during the specialist's theatrical display (your specialist is nothing if not theatrical), but he is expected to furnish the applause. Instead of taking the back seats where they properly belong in medical societies, the specialists force themselves up into the amen corner, and the general practitioner gets in his say only after the specialists have exhausted themselves."

WE heartily congratulate our sprightly Philadelphia contemporary, the Medical World, on its resolve to abolish from its columns the digraphs æ and œ, except as the former indicates number or case. We think it is now nearly, or quite, ten years since we made a similar resolve in regard to our own columns; and yet the World seems to think the idea is original

with itself, and cackles like a young pullet over its first egg. But, then, it would not be Philadelphian, if not slow. To be sure such words as fetus, and edema, and diarrhea, did look a little queer at first; but the principle was correct; we persevered in the reform, and now they no longer attract attention.

During these years, moreover, we have been pleased to notice a number of publishing houses, and other medical journals, wheeling into line, and although not very many have the hardihood to make the change complete, they are rapidly reaching that point, and it will not be long until the retention of those absurd and useless digraphs will but prove the author's pedantry.

THE INDEX MEDICUS.-We are sorry to learn that this excellent periodical is still unable to meet its current expenses of publication. It is a publication that every medical man of literary ambition should have at hand for reference. Yet it has but 240 paying subscribers in the United States, and 123 elsewhere. Ohio has six subscribers. The Index is kept up through the public spirit of Mr. Geo. S. Davis, of Detroit; but how long he will continue to publish it thus at a loss, we cannot say. The publication deserves substantial support.

DR. R. B. HALL, late of Chillicothe, has removed to Cincinnati, his address there being No. 281 West Seventh Street.

Our readers will recall the Doctor's interesting letters, which he wrote while studying gynecology, and especially laparotomy, under Tait, Keith, and the other masters of Europe. Since his return to this country he has, by a series of bold and successful operations, most fairly "won his spurs," and he now goes to Cincinnati, where he has established a private hospital, in order to secure a larger field for the practice of his specialty.

We take pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to the advertisement of Messrs. John Wyeth & Bro., on page 11. We are sure every physician will be interested in the new remedies that are here presented in the form of Compressed Tablets, affording a means of administration in every way convenient and prompt in therapeutic results. Circular matter containing full recent data of the value of these Antipyretics and Antiseptics, will be sent to any physician who may desire them.

FELLOWS' HYPOPHOSPHITES is a preparation that many unscrupulous pharmacists have attempted to imitate, but thus far unsuccessfully. Physicians have always found it so uniform in its composition and effects, and