larger proportion of our cases in the city are probably brought home from summer resorts and outlying districts where well water is used; in another set of cases the water supply is that of the city; but even if you go to the source of supply and examine it you will not find the germ, the cause being somewhere between the beginning of the supply and where it enters the house. If you have a direct continuation from the pipe outdoors into the house, all is right, but if you draw water from an outdoor hydrant which is close to the pit, it is different-the soil infiltration polluting the water in the hydrant box, which is apt to be pervious.

Dr. O'Donovan: To my mind it is far more important to look after the water supply of large cities. In Germany the disease has been driven away, and should be here. Knowing these things, what should be said of us for drawing our supply from an open sewer? for that is what Lake Roland is. The water which flows into it comes very largely from the region of Towson, whose streams are simply filthy. Should we allow to occur on the Gunpowder what we have seen occur in Lake Roland, when we know that such contamination can be kept down? The sewage along these streams is washed with every rain into the river. The cause appears to be a practically avoidable one, and the power to remove it should not only be given, but used intelligently.

525 N. Howard Street, Baltimore, Md.

H. O. REIK, Sec'y.

Dr. J. N. Hyde, Chicago (Am. Jour. Med. Sci.), reports that there have been 560 cases of leprosy in the United States, distributed as follows: Arkansas, 3; California, 158; Dakota, 2; Florida, 6; Georgia, 1; Idaho, 2; Illinois, 13; Indiana, 2; Iowa, 20; Louisiana, 85; Maryland, 4; Massachusetts, 5; Minnesota, 120; Missouri, 2; New York, 100; New Jersey, 1; Oregon, 3; Pennsylvania, 6; Utah, 3; Wisconsin, 20. This report is based upon the statistics of the American Dermatological Association. Dr. Hyde says the number of lepers in the United States at this time is between one and two hundred, and that California and Louisiana have the greater part of this estimate. There is one case in Texas.-Texas Sanitarium.

Selected Articles.

Petroleum in Medicine.

The use of petroleum for medicinal purposes dates back to the dawn of history. We find that Herodotus wrote of the petroleum springs of Zacynthus, and the fountains of Hit are frequently mentioned by the Arabian and Persian writers. Pliny and Dioscorides describe the oil of Agrigentum under the name of Sicilian oil, and petroleum springs in the Orient are frequently mentioned in the early records of China. In America petroleum was first described by a Franciscan friar, M. d'Allion, in 1629. In 1829 crude American petroleum was exported and sold in Europe under the name of "American oil."

A good many years ago Mr. A. E. Angier, a practical chemist, while experimenting, found that petroleum possessed soothing and healing properties when it came in contact with the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane. A teaspoonful was administered one hour after each meal, but as much of it was found in the stools it was concluded that its action was more or less mechanical. Some years later a finely subdivided emulsion was tried with the effect that all was absorbed. Administered in teaspoonful doses the emulsion is found to possess expectorant, diaphoretic, antiseptic, and slight laxative properties. It also acts as a stimulant to the mucous membranes in chronic pulmonary affections. It is soothing and antiseptic in gastro-intestinal irritation, and acts as a food-a tissue builder-in wasting diseases. The emulsion, and Angier's petroleum emulsion, is referred to as being a typical and so far the only satisfactory emulsion in the market, possesses, besides petroleum purified by their peculiar process, twelve (12) grains of the hypophosphites of sodium and calcium to each ounce. It is easily borne by the stomach; it is tasteless. and odorless; does not produce eructation nor indigestion, and is readily absorbed by the lacteals of the small intestines. A teaspoonful given three times daily after feeding to a full grown cat for three weeks increased its weight 340 grammes. The emulsion was thoroughly absorbed, as shown by the

dejecta. Two teaspoonfuls given three times daily to a large dog for fifteen days increased his weight 659 grammes. The emulsion was perfectly digested. A guinea pig was given half a teaspoonful of the emulsion three times daily for twenty days with the result that it gained 76 grammes. The usual amount of food being allowed these animals during the administration. These experiments prove conclusively that Angier's petroleum emulsion is a tissue builder. In phthisis the emulsion acts most admirably. It may be used in combination with

R Guaiacolis, Di; extract pinus canadensis, Dii; olei eucalypti, 3i; syrupi papaveri, 3i; emulsio petrolei (Angier) q. s. ad., 3vi. Misce et fiat emulsio secundum artem. Signa3ii one hour after each meal.

Under this treatment, with the best hygienic surroundings, proper food, warm temperature, and the constant inhalation of creasote liberated by steam atomization into the air of the room which the patient occupies, it is surprising how many cases of undoubted tuberculosis, with bacilli in the sputum, recover in the course of a few months. The patients soon stop coughing. The appetite improves, and they gain in

weight.

In many cases of chronic bronchitis and bronchorrhoea, this emulsion of petroleum is also of undoubted value. The following combination has been found to act well in these cases:

R Terpinolis, 3ss; olei eucalypti, 3i; syrupi codeinæ; syrupi tolutani, aa, 3i; emulsio petrolei (Angier), q.s., ad., 3vi. Misce et fiat emulsio secundum artem. Signa-3ij one hour after each meal.

The cough and expectoration grow less, and the appetite and strength improve.

For asthma and spasmodic cough great benefit has been derived from the emulsion in the following combination:

R Elixir chloroformi comp. (McNutt), 3ss; extracti pinus canadensis, gr. xii; extracti cannabis indicæ, gr. iii; emulsio petrolei (Angier), q. s., ad., 3vi. Misce et fiat emulsio secundum artem. Signa-3ij every one to three hours during an attack, and after meals subsequently for a month or two.

VOL. XV-2

On trial it will be observed that the latter prescription cuts the attack short and prevents a recurrence by its soothing effect on the bronchial mucous membrane.

In obstinate diarrhoea or constipation, with fermentation, the emulsion acts as an antiseptic, preventing the formation of gases; it is also a gentle laxative, besides being a food which builds up the tissues. In scrofula and marasmus Angier's petroleum emulsion acts as a food which does not disturb digestion. It is an agreeable vehicle for the administration of iodide of manganese and iodide of iron in these cases.

A trial of Angier's Emulsion will satisfy anyone that petroleum in a finely subdivided form acts admirably in pulmonary and wasting diseases, whether given alone or in combination with other remedies. It is worthy the full confidence of the profession.-Extract from Editorial in Pac. Med. Jour.

Unequal Distribution of Cancer.

At the recent Medical and Surgical Congress held at Lyons, France, Dr. Gueillot of Rheims presented statistics showing the unequal distribution of cancerous disease. In Paris and in Rheims there are only 100 cases to 100,000 persons, while in one district of the department of Aisne there are 1400 to every 100,000. Dr. Gueillot adduces these figures as further proof of the contagiousness of cancer, and cites also instances where the inhabitants of a particular district of a town or the occupants of a particular group of houses have been especially visited by the disease. He has known of fifteen so-called "cancer houses," in each of which three or four tenants-an aggregate of fifty persons-have successively fallen victims, and of 103 other houses in each of which there were two successive cases of cancerous disease. Of these latter, fourteen were fellow lodgers, relatives, or master and servant, and of the remaining eighty-nine, more than four-fifths were husband and wife. Gueillot believes that, while transmission of the contagion may be direct through personal contact, it is more frequently through wearing apparel or table utensils; in two cases he traced it to the medium of a tobacco pipe used in common by a cancerous subject and his "chum." In sixty-four cases the interval separating the appearance of

the disease in the two related persons was less than two years. He cites nine cases of physicians who contracted the disease unmistakably from attendance upon cancerous cases. Finally, Gueillot discredits the supreme influence of heredity in cancer; his analysis of the history of cases shows that only 12.5 per cent. can be fairly attributed to this source, while if the number of persons born of cancerous parents be taken into account, the proportion is reduced to between 5 and 6 per cent.-Jour. Amer. Med. Asso.

Contagion in Tuberculosis.

Dr. George A. Evans (Brooklyn Med. Jour.) says:

Tuberculosis is, of all diseases, the one which has the largest number of victims in the cities, and even in certain country districts. In 1884, for instance, of 57,970 deaths in Paris, 15,000 were due to tuberculosis.

The parasite of tuberculosis may be muscles and blood of the food animals.

found in the milk, The use of raw and

underdone meat, and blood that may possibly contain the living germ of tuberculosis, should be prohibited. Milk, for the same reasons, should be boiled before being used. The tuberculous mother should not nurse her child. Cow's milk, when given, should always be boiled. There is less danger in giving ass's and goat's milk unboiled.

It is greatly to the interest of the public to assure the proper inspection of meat, as provided for by law. The only sure way to avoid the dangers of tubercular meat is to see that it is thoroughly cooked.

Inasmuch as the germ of tuberculosis may be conveyed from a tubercular to a healthy man by the sputum, pus, inspissated mucus, and any object containing tubercular dust, it is necessary to bear in mind that:

(a) The sputum of phthisical persons being the most dangerous agent of transmission, there is a public danger from its presence upon the ground, carpet, hangings, curtains, napkins, handkerchiefs, cloths, and bedding.

(b) The use of cuspidors by everyone should be insisted upon in all places. Cuspidors should always be emptied into the fire and cleansed by boiling water. They should never be