"Relation of the Physician to the Public," by L. Slusser, M. D., Canton.

"Treatment of Purulent Inflammation of the Middle Ear," by A. R. Baker, M. D., Cleveland.

"Some Practical Observations in Obstetrics," by F. D. Bain, M.D., Kent (published in full in this number).

"The Effects oi Food in Health and Disease," by J. W. Shively, M.D., Kenton (published in full in this number).

"The Alcohol Question," by Wm. B. Davis, M. D., Cincinnati (will be published next month).

"Diseases of the Skin Occurring in the Subjects of Gout," by W. T. Corlett, M. D., Cleveland (whose conclusions in reference to treatment are given elsewhere).

"Consanguineous Marriages," by E. S. McKee, M.D., Cincinnati (whose conclusions are given elsewhere).

"Hypertrophic Nasal Catarrh," by A. B. Thrasher, M.D., Cincinnati (will be published next month).

The following officers were elected :

President, Thos. McEbright, Akron.

Vice Presidents, J. M. Weaver, Dayton; W. S. Battles, Shreve; X. C. Scott, Cleveland; Jesse Snodgrass, Kenton. Secretary, Geo. A. Collamore, Toledo.

Assistant Secretary, E. C. Brush, Zanesville.

Treasurer and Librarian, T. W. Jones, Columbus.

The next meeting will be held in Toledo on the third Wednesday in June, 1887.

THE AKRON MEETING was a success in the way of attendance and papers. In the discussions, two or three of the members knew rather too much, and felt called on to enlighten their more ignorant brethren on every occasion, but as a rule garrulity was not indulged in by the speakers. Several of the readers of papers exceeded the limit of time, when their papers and the listeners would have allowed of their condensation.

The Akron profession certainly do not believe in the entertainment of the Society-in the general understanding of the word "entertainment; " yet, while some of the delegates seemed to think their reception rather inhospitable, the majority must have approved, as the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements was elected President. The Akron brethren evidently thought that the intellectual feast offered was sufficient, and that an

evening reception or ride around their beautiful little city might disorder our stomachs or distract our attention from the business of

Perhaps they were right.

the meeting. At any rate, we have very pleasant recollections of the Akron meeting, and were well entertained by "mine host" of the Buchtel House.

PATENT MEDICINES.-From the number of circulars we receive from patent medicine manufacturers, or what amounts to the same thing, the maufacturers of so-called proprietary medicines, we might be led to believe that their use was common among the physicians of this country.

We heard a well known and intelligent druggist remark that if a druggist had an over stock of any article, he had only to have it written up in some prominent medical journal by some plausible writer, to create an active demand for his drug.

All this seems to prove that physicians are readers but not thinkers: or why this desire to try every thing upon the recommendation of an interested party?

URETHRAN AS A HYPNOTIC.-Dr. Myrtle, in the February British Medical Journal, says that he has used urethran in fifty cases as a sedative and hypnotic. He mentions one case that had suffered from insomnia for weeks and could not tolerate either opium or chloral, when refreshing sleep was procured by the use of fifteen grains of urethran at bed-time. The after effects of the drug are especially good, as it has no tendency to check and disorder the normal secretions.

TOTAL EXTIRPATION OF LARYNX.-M. Labbe, at a recent meeting of the Paris Academy af Medicine, reported a case of extirpation of the larynx for a tumor of that organ. Fourteen days af ter the operation the patient was in a satisfactory condition and could be fed by means of a tube. Four months after the operation the wound had completely healed and the glands were healthy.

This society was organized in June, 1882, and, according to its official utterances, was "intended by correct business principles and methods, by associated action, by social intercourse and business conferences, to be an attraction and benefit to its members."

All of which "intending" is very creditable to the parties concerned; and while we are willing to admit that the "Association" is an established attraction and benefit to its members," who include nearly all the wealthy dealers in dental goods in this country, we are anxious to know how much of an attraction and benefit it is to the profession and community at large. In June next the "Association" will have reached the fourth year of its existence and, if we are correctly informed, not a word has been published or a statement made by it to enlighten the outside world as to the nature and character of the measures discussed at "its strictly private sessions!" We confess to a feeling of anxiety to learn what is transpiring at the "business conferences" of this infant monopoly in dental goods that affords so much of an "attraction and benefit to its members" and which seems to be studiously concealed from outside eyes. If a policy is being matured within the enchanted circle to crush out all opposition to the manufacture

and sale of dental goods, so that the monopoly can arrange a scale of future prices for these manufacturers that will swell more rapidly the profits of the members of the "Association," we enter our protest, here and now, against it. There are too many combinations in the country already, in which capital and brains are being arrayed against the sacred interests of society, and especially the poor. At whichever point of the compass we look, we see Capital, proud, haughty, despotic, tyrannical, monopolizing and absorbing every lucrative branch of industry and profitable enterprise, and demanding of its victims its pound of human flesh. Franchises, having to do with the material interests and prosperity of the country, are bought up by moneyed kings who, by combination, fix prices of transportation on the basis of watered stock and love of gold. We have combinations controlling land and water navigation, telegraphy, electricity for public purposes, the express system, gas, coal, iron, oil, staple goods, and the good Lord only knows what! There are, outside these, few necessities not affected directly or indirectly by reason of the combination system.

It is no wonder that most of the wealthy manufacturers and dealers in dental goods, catching the inspiration of the hour, have also coalesced. There is money in it. Considering the immense. profit on the goods controlled by the firms representing the "Association" and the large and continually increasing demand for them, there is nothing strange in the combination and secresy complained of.

Like all other organizations the "Association" has rules and regulations by which it is governed; one of which is as follows:

"The objects of this Association are to reform abuses; to secure unity of action; to promote a friendly intercourse between its members; to avoid and adjust as far as possible, differences and misunderstanding between them, and generally to advance the interests of the trade in dental goods in the United States."

The italics are ours. Now there is just enough ambiguity in the phraseology employed in this "Article" to excite a pardonable anxiety amongst the profession to know just what meaning is intended to be conveyed by it. If the interests of the trade in dental goods is to be advanced by this "Association" through increased sales only, no one has a right to complain. But who, in the face of precedent, can take such a charitable view of the question? Human nature, it is said, is the same the world over;

and notwithstanding most, if not all, the gentlemen comprising this "Association" enjoy excellent reputations in the community, still, many of their best friends believe that their purpose is to establish a scale of prices in advance of those already fixed; and by controlling the market, force the profession to bleed accordingly. Hardly a legitimate industry in the United states pays so handsomely as the manufacture of dental goods. Almost all the pioneer manufacturers of these specialties made large fortunes at the business, and with few exceptions the firms now composing the Trade "Association" have large wealth and influence at their command.

Now, if the manufacturers of dental goods a quarter of a century ago, when the demand for this kind of merchandise was exceedingly limited, owing to the comparative infancy of the profession, made handsome fortunes, what must be the aggregate profits now when dentistry has become, as it were, a part of our civilization? It should be remembered also that the increased facilities of manufacture, afforded by improved mechanical devices, have materially lessened the cost of production, while the prices demanded for dental goods have not been reduced accordingly. Nor is this all. A dental outfit to-day is altogether more elaborate and expensive than it was twenty-five years ago. We have chairs, brackets, engines, automatic and electric pluggers, and many other expensive appurtenances, necessary to a well appointed den, tal office, that were not heard of in the early history of the profession. The profits on these articles are simply enormous compared to the profits ordinarily realized on manufactured goods.

There is also a large foreign trade in dental merchandise. The goods enumerated above and an infinite variety of others of American manufacture are being shipped all over the world in large quantities, swelling the volume of the business and profits of the Dental Trade "Association," and proving a great "attraction and benefit to its members."

It must be remembered. however, that the "Association" claims to have "abuses to reform," notwithstanding this hopefully felicitious outlook. What abuses? If the reformatory measures mean the purgation of New York and other wicked cities from political abuses, the Health and Home will not only endorse the movement, but will fight to sustain it. But if the proposed reformation means the extirpation of all manufacturers and dealers in dental goods that are not members of the Dental Trade "Association,"