88 88 MANY A SUCCESSFUL PHYSICIAN has learned from practical experience to Gray's Glycerine Tonic Comp THE PURDUE FREDERICK CO., 135 CHRISTOPHER STREET, NEW YORK. 88 88 880 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 THREE CHLORIDES (HENRY'S) LIQUOR FERRISENIC-12 oz. Bottle, Price $1.00. Indicated in anemia and bodily weakness especially in the treatment of puny TRI-IODIDES (HENRY'S) LIQUOR SALI-IODIDES-8 oz. Bottle, Price $1.00. Valuable in acute or chronic diseases of the bones and joints, rheumatism, gout, MAIZO-LITHIUM (HENRY'S) LITHIATED GREEN CORN SILK-8 oz. Bottle, Price $1.00. A genito-urinary sedative, eliminant and solvent of uric acid. Recommended in WRITE FOR DESCRIPTIVE PAMPHLETS, HENRY PHARMACAL CO. ST. LOUIS, Mo. PRIMEDICAL SUMMARY® PRACTICAL MEDICINE, NEW PREPARATIONS, ETC. R. H. ANDREWS, M.D., Editor and Publisher, 2321 Park Ave., Phila., Pa. One Dollar Per Annum in Advance. Single Copies, 10 Cents Vol. XXXVIII Philadelphia, February, 1917 No. 12 SUBSCRIPTION RATES. $1.00 per year in the HOW TO REMIT. A safe way to remit is by postal RECEIPTS. The receipt of all money is immediately acknowledged by a postal card. CHANGES OF ADDRESS. Subscribers changing their address should immediately notify us of their present and past locations. We cannot hold ourselves responsible for non-receipt of the Journal in such cases, unless we are thus notified. We cannot always supply back numbers, but should a number fail to reach a subscriber, we will supply another, if notified within a month after issue. THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS OF CON- It may be a matter of interest to our readers to note that with this issue, The Medical Summary completes its thirty-eighth year of continuous publication. The first number of The Summary was issued in March, 1879, and its Editor fortunately has been in sufficiently good health to be enabled to look after its various interests and also to read the proof of every issue up to the present time. In conclusion, we wish to thank the many who have stood by us, subscribers and advertisers, through all the past thirty-eight years of our life-work in the monthly production of The Summary. A NEW ORGANIZATION This is a day of organization. One of the newest organizations brought to our attention is the National Association of Manufacturers of Medicinal Products. Its object is to maintain high standards of drugs and surgical supplies; to prevent fraudulent practice in the drug trade; to advance uniform and just drug legislation; and in other ways to promote in a lawful manner the welfare of the fraternity among those engaged in the manufacture of therapeutic agents for the use of the medical and allied professions. CONSIDER THE AUTOMOBILE When the car is going to stand still for more than a few minutes the driver stops the engine. the engine. By doing this he saves gasoline, oil, and above all, useless wear and tear on the machinery. If he lets the engine "run idle" he has wasted a lot of valuable material, shortened the life of his engine and in the meantime the automobile hasn't budged an inch. The full pay envelope is the great enemy of tuberculosis. FOOD EXPERIMENTATION Dr. Daniel E. S. Coleman, president of the American Association of Clinical Research in a learned article, "Important Discoveries in Medicine," in Medical Brief, closes with these paragraphs: What is the most important discovery of recent years? In my opinion it is this: Food experimentation in certain colleges where various diets were tried for limited periods taught us nothing; in fact, misled. The two great (though unconscious) food experiments in the history of the world furnish absolute proof regarding diet. These were the "Kronprinz Wilhelm" and the Madeira-Mamore Railway episodes. It was through the admirable work of one of the members of the society that their value was established. I refer to Mr. Alfred McCan, the dauntless pure food crusader. The diet of the sailors of the "Kronprinz Wilhelm" consisted of bountiful supplies of meat, canned vegetables, white bread, butter, cheese, refined sugar, etc. It was not until the 255th day at sea that the symptoms of profound malnutrition began to appear which later caused the raider to dodge the English fleet and make port with 110 sailors at the point of death. Mr. McCan was the only investigator visiting the ship who learned the true nature of the malady; acidosis, produced by the food which had been deprived of its inorganic salts. He prescribed large quantities of foods containing these vital elements: water in which fresh vegetables had been boiled, whole wheat bread, yolks of eggs, milk, etc. All but four recovered. The death of 4000 men of the Madeira-Mamore Railway Company, in building a track from Bolivia to Brazil, resulted from demineralized food. Monkeys in the vicinity living on undenatured food were well and happy. Mr. McCan is accomplishing a wonderful work which is revolutionizing the food in dustry, and which should have unanimous support. The characteristic slow-accepting medical man is again in evidence and I have yet to visit a hospital which provides the correct food. I know a hospital case of pellagra receiving white bread. The truth is gradually coming above the medical horizon. The recent experiments of the Public Health Service in two orphan asylums at Jackson, Miss., is a step in the right direction. Surgeon Joseph Goldberger and Assistant Surgeon C. H. Waring, of the Public Health, say in the bulletin: "The conclusion is drawn that pellagra may be prevented by appropriate diet without any alteration in the environment, hygiene or sanitation." I am of the firm belief that denatured food has much to do, either directly or indirectly, with the presence of anterior poliomyelitis. That it may be due to a micro-organism is no argument against the important etiology of demineralized diet. By proper resistance established and maintained by undenatured food the chances of infection would be greatly reduced. In our investigations do not let us be like the knight in the "Holy Grail." Truth may be at our very doorstep. TREATMENT OF BACKACHES The treatment of pain in the back is a source of great annoyance to many patients and physicians. Patients come for relief, and drugs in some cases fail to cure. In these conditions something must be done. Large doses of salicylates, acetanilid and other sedatives only temporarily check the condition. These are the patients that in the cities slip away to osteopaths and chiropractors. They can be successfully treated by their own doctor. The condition is frequently due to old chronic inflammation in muscles, ligaments, tendons or bone in the back, especially along the spine. One result is tenseness or stiffness of the muscles, tendons, etc., involved. The contractures of the muscles resulting therefrom have pulled hard on the bony structures to which they are attached, and as a consequence, lesions are produced in the bones. Another lesion that the osteopath looks for is vertebræ out of alignment. It is hardly reasonable to suppose that any spinal column will be so perfectly formed as to be in perfect alignment, imbrication, and taper. A slight change in the alignment does not constitute a pathological condition. Not every vertebra that is displaced slightly forward or backward or sidewise is a subject for treatment. If, however, there is a contraction of muscle or stiffening of ligaments, irritation, congestion, inflammation or pain, treatment is needed. Pain is present in |