pitals, to suppose that the duties of a hospital ended there. "There is a peculiar service which a hospital only can render to the people, and that consists in providing facilities for the practical clinical instruction of the medical profession." The charities of the city of Detroit are cited as an example of the blind manner in which large sums of money are not only fruitless in results, but actually cause injury to the poor who are supposed to be benefitted. He believes that three properly arranged public hospitals could be made to amply accommodate all the invalids which are to-day distributed among the ten institutions of that city. "Every superfluous charity clamors to the public for endowment and support, and it never occurs to the good people who urge their claims upon the public, that they are actually causing injury to the poor whom they are seeking after a blind fashion to aid." After pointing out some of the neglected functions of private charities, Dr. McGraw remarked:

"I declare when I consider the great number of charitable organizations in this city, and the vast sums spent in unnecessary buildings, when I see the reckless zeal with which pious and well-meaning people urge the foundation of new benevolent enterprises, and then consider the manifold and imperative wants of long established and deserving institutions which cannot be supplied because of the diversion of funds into new channels, I feel that the inconsiderate establishment of any new charity ought to be regarded not only as ill-advised but as positively wicked. There is urgent need of some board of control to which all charities should be subject, and without whose consent no new enterprise of benevolent nature should be permitted, but as the establishment of such a board would not be possible under present circumstances, there would seem to be no other remedy for this serious evil of inordinate multiplication of charities than to appeal to the people who have to support them. They must be taught that the art of managing a public charity cannot be learned in a day by any good housewife, that benevolence itself must be guided by reason, and that the community which bears the burdens have rights as well as the poor who receive the benefits. A hospital which refuses or neglects to perform all of its proper functions ought to be left destitute of means. Existing institutions should, as far as possible, be united together for the better and more economical performance of their work, and above all, the claims of any body of men and women who seek to establish a new charity, or even to build a new building, should be subjected to most careful scrutiny."

EDITORIAL BRIEFS.

THE State of Pennsylvania has appropriated sixty thousand dollars to erect a hospital in the Eastern coal region, for persons injured at the mines.

TO EXPEL THE PLACENTA FROM THE UTERUS.-Parvin says firm continued pressure over the organ with the hand until well contracted is better than kneading.

DR. VIBERT has found in two hundred necropsies which he performed at the Paris morgue, on persons who had died a violent death, that as many as twenty per cent. gave evidence of old tubercular lesions in the lungs, which had healed.

A NEW ANATOMICAL DISCOVERY.-Dr. Bryant, of Boston, is accredited to have discovered that there are valves in the portal and mesenteric veins, during infant life, in seventy-five or eighty per cent. of cases. These disappear as the child grows.

THE AMERICAN GYNECOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-The next meeting, which was appointed to be held in Boston, will be held in Washington, on the 18th, 19th and 20th, of September. This change is made at the request of both the Washington and the Boston members, in order that the members may be present at the session of the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons.

RABBITS IN AUSTRALIA.-The British Medical Journal of May 12, says that a telegram from Sydney states that the conference upon the means of dealing with the rabbit pest has resulted in the selection of an island where M. Pasteur's and other methods of extirpation will be thoroughly tried. The liability of other animals and birds to infection by the same means will also be tested.

NASAL CATARRH AND "APROSEPIA."-Attention is called by Dr. Fox in the Lancet, to the association of "aprosepia," a term applied by Dr. Guye, of Amsterdam, to the symptom of inability to fix the attention on any subject, with nasal affections, both acute and chronic. The explanation is offered that the lymphatic passing from the anterior part of the brain into the nasal fossal become more or less chocked, and hence there is exhaustion of the cerebral centres from retention. This inabil

ity to fix the attention is attended with depression of spirits and a feeling of prostration. In a recent case, acting on the teachings of Dr. Sutton, of helping the lymphatic circulation by free respiration, the patient though unwilling to leave his bed, was made to go out and walk steadily up hill. The freer play of the lungs seemed to bring marked mental relief.

SURGICAL CHAIRS.-It will be a matter of business interest to some of our readers to know that since the factory of the "Young Surgical Chair" was destroyed by fire at Canton, Ohio, the works have been established at Marion, Ohio. Mr. Young must certainly have the gratitude of the profession for his persistant efforts to give it a compact chair, which is easy and convenient, and safe and reliable in its working.

INACCURACY OF TELEGRAPHED REPORTS.-In attempting to transmit reports of the proceedings of meetings of scientific associations by wire, through operators who do not understand the technical language or comprehend the information to be conveyed, most aggregious mistakes will occur. Through the efforts of reporters for the various weekly medical journals, to furnish the readers with a summary of transactions of the late meeting of the American Medical Association, some very garbled accounts are printed. We know this to be especially true of the report given in the New York Medical Record, of the paper read by Professor Donald Maclean. In it but little is given of what Dr. Maclean did say, and he is accredited various declarations which he did not make. Dispatch is a creditable attribute of journalism, but accuracy is much more commmendable.

CAUSATION AND PREVENTION OF PNEUMONIA.-A pamphlet on the "Causation of Pneumonia," by Dr. Henry B. Baker, is being distributed by the Michigan State Board of Health. It is an eighty-five page pamphlet, and is a compilation of statistics, collected by the State Board of Health, relating to pneumonia in Michigan and in other parts of the world. It is a thorough consideration of the subject, and seems to prove that pneumonia is controlled by temperature and humidity of the air. The pneumonia increases after the atmosphere is cold and dry, and decreases after the air is warm and moist. One would suppose that such climatic causes could not be controlled, but Dr. Baker points out how he thinks the disease may be greatly les

271

sened by controlling the temperature, and especially by moisten-
ing all air which requires to be warmed, in all buildings public
and private. During the time of greatest danger from the dis
ease (cold weather), most people spend half their time in build.
ings where such conditions can be controlled, and Dr. Baker
claims that it is the long-continued exposure that causes this
disease; so that if the indoor conditions are properly cared for
this disease will be greatly lessened.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THE THREE ETHICAL CODES. Cloth, fifty-five pages, postpat.
fifty cents. The Illustrated Medical Journal Company, Parabers.
Detroit, Michigan.

In this little book is reprinted the Code of Ethics, of the
American Medical Association, with its Constitution, By-Laws
and Ordinances, brought down to 1888; the Code of Ethics of
the American Institute of Homoeopathy and the Code of Ethics
of the National Eclectic Medical Society. Of the three Codes,
that of the American Medical Association is the longest, and
that of the Eclectic Society is the shortest, while much of the
Homoeopathic is strikingly similar to that of the first named
Altogether, it is a handy little book for reference as occasions
may require.

DISORDERS OF MENSTRUATION. By Edward W. Jenks, M. D.
LL.D. The Physicians' Leisure Library. Subscription price, $250
per year. Issued monthly. Detroit: G. S. Davis, 1889.

d style, characteristic dical literature. The tered throughout its tical stand-point, and sy practitioner.

MATERIA MEDICA.. titioners. By Robert T. setts Medical Society, of s; Member of the Meda, of the Association of he American Neurologthe Boston Society for sistant Surgeon United and Jackson Professor y; one of the Visiting five hundred and fiftylphia: Lea Brothers &

er of works recently materia medica and s there any need for gative would be quite

the matter. Every xpectation of obtainn as determined by usly disappointed he view in writing this at "It is of quite as anot do, as what they rts with a moderate e is prepared in the ge, has laid for his afort a much sounder much more effective sm, and disgust, than ef in the unlimited, medicines, which can. in any candid mind." s which the physician ad physiological data. ve a bearing on the practical application, the chemical results. ons have been given,

Dr. Jenks' contribution to the Physicians' Leisure Library series maintains the standard of excellence attained by its predecessors. While disclaiming any pretensions to an exhausted treatise, the author discusses the disorders of menstruation in a short brochure of one hundred and sixteen pages in an attractive and interesting manner. In an age immersed in material preoccupation, brevity assumes the role of a dominant virtue. It is only by compression that facts seem to acquire sufficient intensity to render them interesting; and to reach the busy practi tioner requires the rare talent of being able to say the most in the fewest words-to realize the truth of the apothegm "Omne supervacuum pleno de pectore monat."

The subject matter of this excellent little work is comprised under four heads-amenorrhoea, menorrhagia and metrorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea and derangements of the climacteric. In the

treatment of amenorrhoea the importance of constitutional treatment is insisted upon, the numerous emmenagogues being relegated for the most part to the treatment of menstrual suppression, which is not amenorrhoea. The use of hot water first extensively advocated by Emmet, receives candid approval. "It may seem paradoxical," says the author, "to prescribe the use of hot water here to increase the amount of blood in the pelvic organs, and later to prescribe the same remedy in other disorders for the purpose of decreasing it. But the reader will observe that there is a marked difference in the quantity used in these two diverse conditions; in the former the primary effect or an increase of the peripheral blood is desired, therefore a small quantity (one to three parts) is used, while in the latter the secondary or a decrease of the peripheral blood is desired produced by constringing the capillaries, therefore, a large quantity (one to three gallons) is used. To illustrate what is meant, if one will place his hand in hot water two minutes he will find, on removal, the surface red and swollen; whereas, if it remain fifteen or twenty minutes, the skin will present a blanched and wrinkled appearance." This is but a simple and convincing illustration of a physiological fact, and should conduct to more explicit directions being given when the vaginal douche is ordered.

In menorrhagia and metrorrhagia, we find the use of viburnum prunifolium extrolled as a uterine tonic. The author being, we believe, the first to direct the attention of the profession to the therapeutical value of this drug, we are surprised to find its claims advocated with a modesty, quite unusual with originators of all classes. Iron and quinine are denounced as inadmissable tonics in these disorders; and especially is the "forcing system" of education justifiably charged with perverting the sexual integrity of young females.

Dysmenorrhoe is discussed fully and completely. In the treatment of prolapsed ovaries and uterine flexions, the author's method of tamponing deserves more extensive trial. Galvanism is favorably alluded to in the removal of neoplasms, and hyperthrophies of the endometrium and apostolic methods commented upon.

The concluding portion of this work deals with derangements of the menopause. The author laments the paucity of literature on this subject; but as these derangements usually consist of nervous or circulatory perturbations, their treatment is covered by general therapeutical principles.