to January 9th the contributions, so far as reported, Catarrh of Children, by Dr. Horatio C. Wood, on the amounted to $22,532.85. -The will of Mr. Julius Hallgarten, a wealthy New York banker, who died recently in Switzerland, provides for a large number of charitable requests, among which are $50,000 each to the University of the City of New York and Dartmouth College, and $10,000 to Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. A committee composed of some of the leading physicians of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other cities, of which Dr. Fordyce Barker is chairman, and Dr. George F. Shrady, editor of the Medical Record, secretary, have issued an appeal for contributions towards the erection of a monument in honor of the late Dr. J. Marion Sims. -At a meeting of the Medico-Legal Society held January 9th the recently elected officers were installed. In his inaugural address the President, Mr. Clark Bell, stated that during the past year the membership had been increased from 267 to 314, of which number 147 were physicians and 154 lawyers. The draft of a bill was submitted which provides for the appointment of medical examiners throughout the State whose duty it shall be to pass upon the mental condition of persons before the courts in regard to whose sanity there is any question. A special committee was instructed to secure the passage of the bill by the Legislature if possible. - At a meeting of the Society of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine held January 10th Dr. E. C. Spitzka read a paper on the Execution of an Insane Murderer. The murderer referred to was Graves, recently executed at Newark, N. J., in whose behalf the Governor and Court of Pardons refused to interfere. He said it was the most melancholy case of an insane criminal that had ever come to his knowledge, seven medical experts having pronounced Graves insane, and the post-mortem examination having fully substantiated their opinions. PHILADELPHIA. -The annual meeting of the Philadelphia County Medical Society for the election of officers and new members was held January 2d, when the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: William M. Welch, President (second term); William S. Forbes and S. R. Knight, Vice-Presidents; Henry Leffmann, Recording and Reporting Secretary; M. S. French, Corresponding Secretary; L. K. Baldwin, Treasurer; C. M. Seltzer, Librarian; H. St. Clair Ash, Censor, At this meeting there were among the candidates to be balloted for the names of two prominent women physicians connected with the Women's Medical College in this city. They failed to get the required twothirds vote. - A very full meeting of the College of Physicians was held January 3d, to listen to the address of the retiring President, Prof. Alfred Stillé, who devoted his time principally to a historical sketch of the development and growth of the library, which now contains over 26,000 volumes. Papers were read at the same meeting by Dr. Harrison Allen, on the Chronic Nasal Clinical Aspects of Brain Syphilis, and by Dr. J. Cheston Morris, on an interesting case with specimens. The college is now in a prosperous condition, and every department shows new and increased interest and activity. A fund has been started for enlarging the building by adding another floor, one of the Fellows contributing a thousand dollars to this object, and has promised further assistance if needed. The Nurse Registry Bureau had a successful year, and has contributed a considerable amount to the uses of the library. It is becoming each year better known and more generally used, until it is now considered a necessity. - At the Conversational meeting of November 9th of the County Medical Society, Dr. John Ashhurst, Jr., presented a communication on the Treatment of Chancroid and Syphilis; discussion upon this paper being opened by Dr. J. William White. A large attendance of the members was had, and a general discussion held; full of interest, but, as might be inferred from the subject, containing little that was new. - The Alumni Association of the Jefferson Medical College will give a reception to Prof. Theophilus Parvin on the 28th of January at the St. George Hotel, in this city. A large attendance is expected, and the reception will undoubtedly constitute one of the medical events of the winter. -At the Pennsylvania Hospital Dr. J. M. Da Costa is using hypodermic injections of iron for anæmia, in a case of combined malarial toxæmia and lardaceous disease of the viscera, including the intestinal glands. To the other solutions for this purpose he prefers a double salt produced by the addition of pyrophosphate of iron to a solution of citrate of sodium. Two grains of the salt, in this form, are given every day, varying the points of puncture, but generally administering it under the skin of the extremities; in this form no abscesses have been observed. With other solutions of iron, including dialysed iron, abscesses were quite common even with every precaution as to the cleanliness of the syringe. In a case last winter of idiopathic anæmia (pernicious?) these injections not only arrested the patient in a downward course, but actually worked such a change that his strength and appetite returned and he was afterwards discharged in good health. This case is not called pernicious anæmia because the patient did not die; but if an opinion could be based upon the previous course of the disease, and his chlorotic condition at the time of the change in his treatment, no other diagnosis and no other prognosis would have been entertained than that mentioned by any ordinary observer. -The leading druggists of this city becoming disgusted with the patent medicine traffic have decided after the 1st inst., not to deal in those proprietary medicines which are sold as merchandise to non-medical dealers. It is now, and has been for some time, indeed, considered very bad "tone" for a scientific pharmacist to exhibit patent medicines in show cases, or have their lying placards hung up in the store; much less would one of our principal apothecaries think of as suming the responsibility of recommending articles of whose composition he is ignorant. The druggists all over the country are alive to this evil, which has grown to such proportions as to seriously threaten the future of legitimate pharmacy. Fortunately the public has acquired a healthy skepticism with regard to advertisements of panaceas, even when they appear in religious papers, and endorsed by clergymen and members of Congress. How soon will this country attain to the degree of civilization of Japan, and appoint a government commission to examine all patent medicines that are offered for sale, and publish the formula upon each package sold. We do it with guano, why not with cough syrups? The recent annual report of the Library Committee of the College of Physicians showed that there have been added to the library this year 2186 volumes, 2107 pamphlets, 2862 numbers of journals. The total number of volumes now in the library is 26,359. For the ensuing year the library will be kept open, except on Sundays and legal holidays, from ten o'clock A. M. to five P. M. There are in the collection 3381 duplicates, and particular attention was called to this fact, inasmuch as it affords a rare opportunity to other libraries of augmenting their list at comparatively small expense. The report of the Committee on the Directory for Nurses showed that the Number of nurses registered December 1, 1882 Lost by striking from roll Lost by withdrawal Net gain Present number 104 6 4 10 209 94 303 Of registered nurses, there are males . The amount given to the library during the last year was $200, and for the present year $300. Many physicians take great trouble and waste much valuable time in hunting up nurses personally; or, having obtained a good nurse through the Directory, they transfer her from one patient to another directly, instead of through the Directory. Were they to use the Directory they would obtain the same nurses and add to the income of the Directory, and so to the appropriation to the library. It is the desire of the committee to make the Directory also a bureau for all needed information for the sick; and they have in contemplation measures by which if any one desires to obtain boarding in the country or at the sea-side for cases of whooping-cough, or for recent cases of measles, scarlet fever, or dipththeria, and for information concerning all appliances for the sick, such as invalid chairs, wheel and other crutches, bed-rests, fracture, water, or air beds, etc., he may obtain the object he seeks at the Directory. Correspondence. "SEA-WATER" (?) AND SALT IN THE STREETS. MR. EDITOR, Will you permit me to ask "Nesciens" when and where any Board of Health or any individual ever protested, or had the chance to protest, against watering the streets with "sea water"? Will "Nesciens" also tell us whether he can imagine any face of the streets the sewage which has at great expense harm in carting back upon and evaporating from the surbeen carried off beneath those very streets? Will he further tell us whether, should the streets at any time become dry after the dust became thoroughly saline from pure sea-water, such saline particles would, more than ordinary dust, produce agreeable sensations and healthful results when applied to the mucous membranes of eyes, nose, and air passages by the unrelenting zephyrs? Will he also tell us in what city it is that horses' feet "do not ordinarily come near the rails"? I had supposed that in the vicinity of the rails was just where horses' feet do come, especially of the pair of horses which precede between the rails each horse car that runs upon the rails, and that the mingling of salt and ice produced an intensely cold and corrosive mixture, which not only must be directly injurious and uncomfortable to the feet of the horses, but must produce a temporary shrinkage of the shoes and a permanent rusting of the nails that could not be advantageous. QUÆRENS. CAMBRIDGE, January 12, 1884. SEA-WATER FOR STREETS; SALT ON STREET RAILWAYS. BOSTON, January 13, 1884. MR. EDITOR, - Permit me to answer the questions in your last issue of the JOURNAL by "Nesciens" on Sea-Water for Streets, Salt on Street Railways. He asks four different questions concerning things which he seems to think are naturally innocent, wonders that boards of health denounce them, and that the courts are besieged to put a stop to such proceedings. First and second. "What is there injurious to health in watering streets with sea-water or putting salt on street railway tracks?" Third. After admitting the great cold produced upon the horses' feet by the mixture of salt and snow, and the irritation to their "sore or tender hoofs," he asks, "What has it to do with the public health?" Fourth. "How can the public health be injured by watering the streets with sea-water in summer (repetition of question two) or by running off into drains and cesspools in winter of salted ice-water slightly ferrated?" etc. Although in a position to hear such complaints if they were made, I have never before heard that any one objected to the watering of streets in summer with clean sea-water or of running off the abominable salted slush from the streets in winter. Boards of health and others who have considered the matter prefer the salt water for streets in summer on account of being cheaper than fresh water, doing better service, and being a good antiseptic. I don't know that any one claims any immediate connection between the sufferings of our dumb animals who draw us over the streets with sore and tender feet and the public health. I hope the allusion to the poor horse by Nesciens was not meant to be as coldhearted as it seems. The real question here is the salting of railroad tracks and its connection with the public health. Whenever the railroad tracks are salted nearly the whole street becomes affected through the use of the snow plow at the intersection of streets and large GEORGE CARLISLE LAWRENCE, M. D., a member oft he Massachusetts Medical Society, and one of the oldest and most prominent physicians of Berkshire County, died suddenly on the evening of the 6th inst., at North Adams, of typhoid fever, after an illness of a few days. JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC THE following are the names and occupations of the Health of the Massachusetts Legislature: Messrs. Burmembers of the Joint Standing Committee on Public den of Bristol, physician (Massachusetts Medical Society); Hodges, of Norfolk, banker, and Campbell, of crossings. Where the most travel is found the most salt is used, and the worst condition of things exists. Bowker, of Boston, manufacturing chemist; Stowe, of Suffolk, coal-dealer, on the part of the Senate; Messrs. The salt and snow or ice make a freezing-mixture in Fall River, physician; Hastings, of Warren, physician which no one can long stand or walk with ordinary protection without loss of comfort and danger to his health. (Massachusetts Medical Society); Murdock, of Leices It clings to the feet and cannot be avoided when leav- ter, manufacturer (but at one time a student of mediing a car or crossing a street. When the temperacine); Burditt, of Clinton, apothecary; Hazen, of Shirture rises and thawing begins the streets are turnedley, farmer; Cutler, of Brimfield, life-insurance agent, and Peakes, of Georgetown, leather business, on the into ponds of salted slush too quickly to be cared for, and people have to go with wet and cold feet through part of the House. THE BEQUEST OF THE LATE DR. CALVIN the streets on account of salted car tracks. Do I need to add that cold and wet feet caused by the salt and snow mixture are prejudicial to the health and comfort of our citizens, or that most people will see the want of similarity between a dip into the ocean itself for health's sake," followed by the well cared-for reaction, and walking about the streets with cold feet in a freez-legatee of his property, which is quite considerable, ing-mixture of salt and snow? 66 I am compelled to take issue with " Nesciens" as to the innocence of salted snow in our streets, and claim that the health and comfort of our citizens are disturbed by it, and that our Boards of Health are looked to for protection against this evil by thousands of persons who have denounced it. The courts have not been "besieged to stop such proceedings," but have been properly applied to when necessary in the enforcement of the health order. The "Boards of Health" have not found it difficult to furnish the necessary evidence to convict the violators of the salt order, and anticipate none in the future. Miscellany. S. H. D. OBITUARIES. DR. THOMAS W. PERRY, DR. DR. THOMAS W. PERRY, a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and for many years a practitioner in Providence, died suddenly in this city, on the 5th instant, in the office of Dr. Bowditch, of heart disease. He was born in Hopkinton, R. I., was the son of a physician, with whom he began his medical studies, afterwards continuing them in the office of Dr. Bowen, of Connecticut, and in a school in New York. He entered practice at Wilkinsonville, now Putnam, Conn., but afterward removed to Central Falls, R. I., and subsequently to Providence, where he has had an extensive and successful practice. Dr. Perry faithfully served the country for nine months during the rebellion as surgeon of the Eleventh Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers. He was sixty years of age. UNDER the will of the late Dr. Calvin Ellis we understand that Harvard University becomes residuary under certain contingencies. The income is to be devoted to the support of scholarships and the payment of professors' salaries in the Medical School. HYSTERICAL PSEUDO-PHTHISIS. THE Practitioner (December, 1883) reproduces from Centralblatt für Gynücologie (September 8th) an article by Dr. Fabre describing a condition simulating phthisis often found in young women suffering from chlorosis and hysteria. There is a cough, with expectoration, and even spitting of blood. Physical examination reveals dullness at the apex (usually on the right side), feeble respiration, and occasional râles. The author regards these symptoms as due to a vaso-motor disturbance exciting a pulmonary congestion. Other organs may also be subject to functional disturbances. Obstinate anorexia, gastric pain, occasionally diarrhoea, but more frequently constipation, are not seldom present. The pulse is weak and frequent, like that of fever, although the temperature may be normal. Sometimes, however, there is elevated temperature, but it is only transitory, and regular evening exacerbations are never observed. The expectoration is not purulent, but may be mixed with blood. While in true phthisis there is emaciation, in these cases the patients often increase in weight. Sweating, as a rule, is not met with. The differential diagnosis is often difficult, and the author relates that cases have not infrequently occurred in which a diagnosis of pulmonary consumption was made, but the patient nevertheless recovered. The condition may exist without material improvement for months, or even years. eight in Boston; scarlet fever 29, and diphtheria nine in Milwaukee. In the 83 cities and towns of Massachusetts, with an estimated population of 1,218,000 (estimated population of the State 1,922,530), the total death-rate for the week was 18.00 against 21.05 and 18.60 for the previous two weeks. In the 28 greater towns of England and Wales, with an estimated population of 8,620,975, for the week ending December 22d, the death-rate was 21.9. Deaths reported 3624 : acute diseases of the respiratory organs (London) 391, scarlet fever 129, measles 126, whooping-cough 77, fever 73, diphtheria 30, diarrhoea 30, small-pox (Birmingham four, London and Sunderland two each) eight. The death-rates ranged from 15.0 in Bolton to 29.0 in Halifax; Bradford 16.6; Nottingham 17.3; Sunderland 21.1; London 21.2; Leeds 21.9; Birmingham 22.9; Deaths reported 2783 (no report from Buffalo): under five years of age, 989: principal infectious diseases (small-pox, measles, diphtheria and croup, whooping cough, erysipelas, fevers, and diarrhoeal diseases) 496, lung diseases 547, consumption 388, diphtheria and croup 200, scarlet fever 67, typhoid fever 55, diarrhoeal diseases 46, measles 44, erysipelas 19, malarial fever 19, whooping-cough 16, cerebro-spinal meningitis 13, puerperal fever 12, small-pox four, typhus fever one. From diarrheal diseases, New York 12, New Orleans 10, Brooklyn and Baltimore four each, Boston five, Philadelphia and Chicago three each, Cincinnati, Providence, Nashville, New Bedford, and Shrewsbury one each. From measles, Baltimore 13, New York 11, District of Columbia 10, Brooklyn six, Philadelphia two, Milwaukee and Providence one each. From erysipelas, Chicago five, New York and Brooklyn three each, Philadelphia and Boston two each, New Orleans, Charleston, Springfield, and Ash-Sheffield 23.1; Liverpool 24.2; Manchester 26.3; Newcastleland one each. From malarial fevers, New Orleans five, New York four, Chicago three, Brooklyn, St. Louis, and Baltimore two each, Philadelphia one. From whooping-cough, New York five, Brooklyn three, St. Louis and District of Columbia two each, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburg, Salem, and Ashland one each. From cerebro-spinal meningitis, Chicago three, New York, Lowell, and Fall River two each, Philadelphia, Salem, Somerville, and Dedham one each. From puerperal fever, Chicogo three, Brooklyn, Boston, and St. Louis two each, Cincinnati, District of Columbia, and Providence one each. From small-por, St. Louis two, Philadelphia and New Orleans one each. From typhus fever, Chicago one. Six cases of small-pox were reported in St. Louis, Nashville one; scarlet fever 55, diphtheria 26, and typhoid fever on-Tyne 27.6. In Edinburgh 16.6; Dublin 26; Glasgow 36.1. For the week ending December 15th, in 170 German cities and towns, with an estimated population of 8,655,232, the death-rate was 19.2. Deaths reported 4052; under five years of age, 1853; consumption 567, lung diseases 492, diphtheria and croup 293, diarrhoeal diseases 114, scarlet fever 96, measles and rötheln 94, whooping-cough 61, typhoid fever 46, puerperal fever 18. The death-rates ranged from 13.4 in Würzburg to 39 in Liegnitz; Königsberg 30.8; Breslau 31.8; Munich 29.3; Dresden 26.6; Berlin 22.5; Leipzig 27.2; Hamburg 24.9; Cologne 23.8; Frankfort a. M. 18.9; Strasburg 21. The meteorological record for the week ending January 5th, in Boston, was as follows, according to observations furnished by Sergeant O. B. Cole, of the U. S. Signal Corps: 1 O., cloudy; C., clear; F., fair; G., fog; H., hazy; S., snow; R., rain; T., threatening; W., sleet. RESOLUTIONS ON THE DEATH OF THE LATE DR. S. P. DRESSER. Ar a meeting of the Berkshire District Medical Society, held at Pittsfield, December 26, 1883, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously passed : BROWN, P. R., captain and assistant surgeon. Assigned to duty at Fort Huachuca, A. T. Paragraph 9, S. O. 119, Depart ment of Arizona, December 27, 1883. HAVARD, VALERY, captain and assistant surgeon. Assigned to duty in charge of office of medical director, Department of Texas, during the temporary absence of that officer. Paragraph Whereas, Dr. Simeon P. Dresser, of Hinsdale, has been stricken down in the full meridian of life and in the midst of 2, S. O. 164, Department of Texas, December 31, 1883. EGAN, P. R., first lieutenant and assistant surgeon. Upon his usefulness, we his Fellows deplore his sad and sudden death, reporting of relief to proceed without delay from Fort Huaand our own painful sense of the bereavement we have sus-chuca, A. T., to Fort Apache, A. T., and report to the commanding officer for duty at that post. S. O. 119, Department of Arizona, December 27, 1883. tained therefrom. Resolved, That we recognize an irreparable loss to the Society to which he belonged and to the community in which he so usefully labored. Resolved, That his social and genial nature endeared him as a companion to every one brought within his influence. Resolved, That we will cherish his memory as a sound and able physician, and skillful surgeon. Resolved, That we will transmit to the family of our deceased brother a copy of our proceedings and resolutions, together with our deep condolence upon the calamity which has overtaken them. A. M. SMITH, F. K. PADDOCK, WILLIAM M. MERCER. LIST OF CHANGES IN THE MEDICAL CORPS OF HUDSON, A., medical inspector, from duty as assistant to the RUSSELL, A. C. H., passed assistant surgeon. From the Navy Yard, Washington, to hold himself in readiness for sea service. MCMURTRIE, D., surgeon. Ordered to the Naval Rendez PRICE, A. F., surgeon. Detached from the Receiving Ship St. Louis on the 15th, and ordered to the U. S. S. Ossipee on the 224. ACTION OF THE PROVIDENCE MEDICAL ASSO-vous, Philadelphia, Penn. The committee submitted the following, which was unanimously adopted: "In the death of Dr. Thomas W. Perry the Society has lost a member of twenty years' standing, who had achieved an honorable position as a practitioner, and by the qualities of his heart, his cheerfulness, and his zeal, secured the affection of his large circle of patients. His professional brethren recognized in him one who was always ready to learn and to appreciate fully the attainments of others. Amid various trials and afflic tions he bore himself with fortitude, and was prepared for the final change whenever it might come to him." It was also voted that the above be entered upon the records of the Association. WILLIAM R. WHITE, M. D., Secretary. OFFICIAL LIST OF CHANGES OF OFFICERS SERV- APPEL, DANIEL M., captain and assistant surgeon, having relinquished the unexpired portion of leave of absence granted by S. O. 68, headquarters Division of the Atlantic, November 16, 1883, and reported for assignment, assigned to duty at Fort Porter, N. Y. Paragraph 2, S. O. 247, Department of the East, December 29, 1883. RUSSELL, A. C. H., passed assistant surgeon. Ordered to the U. S. S. Ossipee on the 22d. ECKSTEIN, H. C., passed assistant surgeon. Detached from the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, and ordered to the Receiving Ship St. Louis. WELLS, HOWARD, passed assistant surgeon. From the Natal, Philadelphia. val Rendezvous, Philadelphia, and ordered to the Naval Hospi Contributions of the BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS REceived. · Old Residents' Historical Association, Lowell, Mass., organized December 21, 1868. Vol. II. No. 4. Published by the AssoLowell and Vicinity. By D. N. Patterson, M. Ď. ciation. Containing Reminiscences of the Early Physicians of Also Members of the Massachusetts Medical Society in Lowell from 1822 to 1883. By John O. Green. Random Notes and Observations of a Trip through the Great Northwest, including a Few Words about the Yellowstone National Park. By Dr. Edmund C. Wendt. (Reprint.) Bacteria. By Dr. Antoine Magnin, Laureate of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, etc., and George M. Sternberg, F. R. M. S., Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., etc. New York: William Wood & Co. 1884. Cholera. A Disease of the Nervous System. By John Chapman, M. D., M. R. C. P., M. R. C. S. London: J. and A. Churchill, 1883. Third Annual Report of the State Board of Health of New York. Albany. 1883. Medical Thoughts of Shakspere. Compiled by B. Rush Field, M. D., Easton, Pa. 1884. |