woman in the most squalid circumstances, who became the mother of twenty-seven children.

At the night session Dr. Hill of Tennessee read a paper on "Corneal Injuries." No discussion.

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Dr. B. F. Turner of Memphis read an important paper on Responsibility of the Physician in Obstetrical Practice." It appears in this number of the MONTHLY. This is a topic very interesting to those who do obstetrical work, and elicited much discussion, in which Drs. Henning, Stanley, Crofford, Rawlings, Powell, Buford and others participated. The consensus of opinion sustained the author in his claim that the obstetrician is by no means always to be blamed for the septic infection of his patients, inasmuch as very many of them are so situated as to render it quite impossible for the medical attendant to guard them from all the sources of this danger.

In closing the discussion Dr. Turner said that in trying to carry out the rules for asepsis he had encountered many difficulties, and had given offense even by directing the patient to take a bath; still every effort should be made to secure as nearly as possible an aseptic condition of patient and her surroundings.

A paper on "Symphysiotomy, with Report of Case," by Dr. E. E. Ellis of Dyersburg, was read by the secretary and discussed by Dr. Henning of Memphis.

Two interesting papers on "Puerperal Eclampsia" were then read-the first by Dr. L. A. Yarbrough of Covington and the second by Dr. Smith Buford of Raleigh, and were discussed at great length by Drs. D. D. Saunders, Heber Jones, Taylor and Powell.

This ended the program of perhaps the most interesting and profitable meeting in the history of the association, and it is safe to say that this gratifying fact is in a large measure the outcome of the energy and efficiency of the present secretary, Dr. A. B. Holder.

After the appointment of the usual standing committees and a vote of thanks to the hotels, railways and the press, the association adjourned.

WE are pleased to announce the appearance of the initial number of Pediatrics, an illustrated semi-monthly devoted exclusively to the diseases of children. A most excellent editorial staff has been selected to assist the very able editor, Dr. Geo. A. Carpenter of London, and judging by the char acter of the articles appearing in the copy before us, the publication has success assured. The present number contains an interesting review of "Infant Feeding," by Jacobi of New York, and there are also several more well-written articles on different subjects pertaining to this specialty. We wish the new journal every success.

R. B. M.

In the city of Mexico during the month of July one hundred and forty-two specimens of milk were examined by the Board of Health, forty of which were found to be adulterated or altered and unfit for use. For these offenses thirty-three fines were imposed and collected. Of seventy-two samples of coffee examined thirty five were found adulterated and the offenders fined.

From our Texas correspondent we learn that in Mexico and Central America it is a common custom for families to buy ground coffee in quantities only sufficient for a single meal or for one day. This no doubt in a measure accounts for the frequency of adulteration.

IT is with regret that we chronicle the death of Mr. J. L. Hesterly of Bluff City, Ark., a second-course student of the Memphis Hospital Medical College (1894-5), which occurred on August 23d last, the result of injuries received a few weeks previously while on a hand car. Mr. Hesterly was an earnest student, and much esteemed by his classmates and the faculty.

THE attendance at the Memphis Hospital Medical College this session is eminently gratifying to those interested in the welfare of that institution and the cause of medical education.

THE business department of the MONTHLY is always ready to receive subscriptions, and especially so on the eve of the New Year.

WE give space this month to several of the papers read at the recent meeting of the Tri-State Medical Association, but many others were retained by their authors. These should be forwarded to the Secretary at once, with a view to the early appearance of the Transactions. Moreover, this will make possible their publication first in the MONTHLY-a course that will lessen materially the cost of the Transactions.

WE have received a copy of the monthly report of the National Board of Health of the Republic of Mexico. We welcome it to our exchange list, and shall try to keep our readers informed as to what our neighbors are doing for the better preservation of the public health.

THE West Tennessee Medical and Surgical Association held its semi-annual meeting at Covington, Tenn., on the 21st and 22d ult. We hope to give in our next issue a synopsis of the proceedings, and in later issues the papers read before the Society.

DR. R. B. MCKINNEY has been made Assistant Secretary of the Tri-State Medical Association-a very judicious selection.

REWS AND ROTIGES.

The Therapeutic Range of Melachol. Thos. Osmand Summers, M.A., M.D., F.E., Lond., etc., editor Clinique and professor anatomy and histology, St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, says: In these days of physiologic therapy, when the whole medical profession is running wild over the remedial agency of even germ life itself, there is danger of neglecting those agents of the inorganic world, which not only themselves form a large part of the constituency of the human organism, but also, when chemically adjusted, are capable of almost infinite applications in the restoration of physiologic functions. Among these agents, there is nothing which produces such a profound effect, or has a wider range of therapeutic function, than phosphorus and its compounds, espe

cially the salts, which from their crystalline character are ready for osmosis at once, without waiting for any preparatory work of assimilation. If there is any one principle of the human organism which more than any other lays claim to physiologic significance in the higher animal organisms, it is phosphorus. Being the center of crystallization, as it were, for the chemic forces of the whole nerve system are of the physic, and indeed the psychic, autonomy of the body, it is thus absolutely necessary for all building of tissue, as well as performance of function in the metabolism of tissue. Working to this end, the physiologic chemist has reached a triumphant issue in the preparation of these principles in such a form as to accomplish (1) a direct supply of ultimate tissue principles to the organism without the necessity of digestive aid; (2) a direct stimulus of function within the digestive tract; (3) a direct antagonism to all forms of retrograde metamorphosis; (4) a direct antidote not only to the special effect of physiologic narcotism, but also a direct destroyer of that strange and awful livery which the habit of narcosis throws over the nerve centers of the organism. This last effect alone would forever record it a priceless boon to mankind, especially in this age of overheated thought and action. A system of clinical reports is now in preparation setting forth the therapeutic range and effects of Melachol and the technique of its administration in the various pathologic conditions in which it has been proved to be specific and adjuvant in its effect.-Nat. Board of Health Mag., New York, October, 1895.

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The Retreat. We know of no institution more deserving the good will and patronage of the medical profession than that located in the capital city, known as The Retreat. Situated on the table land of Middle Tennessee, in a most salubrious climate, having a full corps of trained nurses, and under the charge of that exceedingly competent specialist in insanity and nervous diseases, Dr. J. H. Callender, and C. S. Lewis, jr., M.D., house physician, the institution is pre-eminently adapted for the accommodation and treatment of insanity in all of its forms and alcoholism and morphinism. A new and complete modern hospital, built upon the most improved plan

and equipped with all of the latest tried and proven appliances for the scientific care of such cases that are admitted for treatment, will shortly be erected. Such enterprise deserves encouragement from the profession; for, we believe, it is only in institutions of this kind that alcoholics and morphine habitues can receive the proper attention and restraint necessary in the treatment of their conditions. Parties desiring to open correspondence with those in charge will please address, The Retreat, Lamar street, Nashville, Tenn.

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Diastase is a vegetable ferment which has the property of converting starchy foods into a soluble material, called maltose. Like the ferments in the saliva and pancreatic juice, it acts in alkaline solution; but, unlike them, it continues to operate in acid media; and therefore its action is not disturbed by the gastric juice. Diastase is a peculiar substance, which causes the ripening of fruits and vegetables by converting their starches into dextrins and sugars; hence fruit becomes more and more digestible as it ripens. Maltine is made from three cereals-barley, wheat and oats. It is rich in diastase. It may be taken either plain, with codliver oil, with coca wine, with pancreatin, with hypophosphites, etc., in tuberculosis and other diseases. W. Gilman Thompson, M.D., professor of materia medica, therapeutics and clinical medicine in the University of the City of New York; visiting physician to the Presbyterian and Bellevue Hospitals, etc.

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Firwein (Tilden's)—A Balsam of Fir Wine with Iodine, Bromine and Phosphorus. After a preparation has stood the most exacting clinical tests for a quarter of a century or more, it is not necessary to enter into any defense for its existence. The fact that it has survived the encroachments of competition and is more firmly intrenched in the confidence and esteem of the profession today than ever before in its history, is a sufficient evidence of the therapeutic value of Firwein. It is a balsam of fir wine with iodine, bromine and phosphorus ; having a pleasant aromatic taste, imparting a warm and grateful glow to the stomach, and possessing remarkable reparative and constructive potency in chronic bronchitis, incipient con