dent. All the resources of medicine, special and general, should in every case be brought to relieve the sick. This implies that similar direct objective investigations, as that which is pursued in the case of females suffering from sexual disorder not apparently complicated with nervous disorder, shall be made in the subjects of nervous disorder in whom there is reason to infer that sexual derangement exists.

In the first place, there is the immediate indication to seek for light as to the cause of the nervous disorder, with a view to relieve this complication. In the second place, even if the nervous disorder be found not to depend upon the sexual disorder, it is still the duty of the physician to do what he can to relieve the sufferer from this element of trouble. An insane woman has surely as much right to relief from disease of the ovaries and uterus as a sane woman has.

Griesinger (1867) speaks very decidedly upon this point. He says: "On the least suspicion a local examination should be made. It is certainly of great detriment to the patients that there exists among the asylum physicians a truly childish delicacy in regard to vaginal examinations. In Germany, France, and England I have found the same delicacy; they seem to be afraid of exciting the patients." This was said in 1867. I think the censure may now be considerably modified.

One rule I strongly urge. In every case of puerperal insanity examine into the condition of the pelvic organs. Imperfect involution of the uterus is in the highest degree probable. In addition to other factors the functions of the breasts are almost always suspended. Thus a most potent stimulant to involution is wanting. Then retroversion or retroflexion is very probable.

Relief from these conditions can not fail to be beneficial, and may even bring about recovery.

Thus we see that in this inquiry the physiologist and the gynecologist meet on common ground, each enlightening the other, and both helping to build up out of the materials of their special knowledge that true science, that comprehensive medicine which holds out the best prospect for the relief of physical and mental suffering.-Times and Register.

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EARLY RISING AND LONGEVITY.-Professor Humphrey's recent Collective Investigation Report on Aged Persons contains some very positive evidence on a matter which has already engaged the attention of moralists as well as physicians. "The opportunity for nutrition to do its restorative work was in nearly all provided by the faculty of 'good sleeping,' to which was commonly added its appropriate attendant, the habit of early rising."" Thus there is a relation between early rising and longevity. No doubt many people will hastily seize upon the sentence just quoted, and employ it in edifying lectures or essays for the perusal of youth, or embody it in popular medical works. Important qualifications follow in Dr. Humphrey's report, but they are likely to be overlooked. Doubtless the habit of early rising is in itself healthy; most of all, it is a good sign of health when it evidently signifies rapid recovery from fatigue. Again, it usually denotes a strong will, the gift, as a rule, of a good physical constitution, or at least the safeguard of average bodily strength. Late risers are generally either invalids or persons of bad habits, idlers who are never free from other vices besides idleness. The nervous exhaustion which keeps a man wakeful throughout the small hours produces sleep late in the morning. This exhaustion is invariably due to one of several life-shortening influences, especially anxiety or indiscretion in diet or drink. Early rising is thus rather one effect of certain favorable influences, another result of which is longevity, than a cause of longevity. To turn a weakly man out of bed every morning at seven o'clock will not prolong his life. It will be noted that by "good sleeping" Professor Humphrey signifies quick sleeping; "that is, the reparative work which has to be done in sleep is done briskly and well." Here, again, we have an effect of a cause; but preventing a weakly subject from sleeping more than four or five hours nightly would not cause him to live long, but would rather tend to shorten his life. Equally important are Professor Humphrey's observations which show that by "early" he does not entirely mean the time by the clock. The word "has a relative significance with reference to the time of going to bed. A per

son who retires to rest four hours after midnight and gets up at 10 A. M. may be strictly regarded as an early ri-er.'" Thus, early rising is synonymous in long-life histories with short sleeping, which means rapid recovery from fatigue, a sign of bodily strength. These scientific facts in nowise contradict the alleged value of early rising as a practice to be cultivated by all persons in good health. It is excellent as moral discipline, and eminently healthy as a matter of fact. Most persons will eat three meals daily. When a man gets up late those meals will probably follow each other at too short intervals to be wholesome. When he is an early riser it will probably be otherwise. He can enjoy a good breakfast, and by the time for his lunch or mid-day dinner he will have an honest appetite again.-British Medical Journal.

THE OLDEST FRENCH BOOK ON SURGERY. Dr. Pagel, of Berlin, has found the oldest French work on surgery among the manuscripts of the Royal Library here, and is publishing it in the Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie. It was written in the beginning of the fourteenth century, and its author was Henri de Mondeville. He deals in great detail with all the measures necessary for the treatment of surgical cases, and gives exact instructions for the male and female attendants. Many of these instructions afford significant glimpses of domestic life nearly six centuries ago, not only in the palaces of princes, but also in the hovels. of the working people and bondsmen. The author frequently intercalates rules for the guidance of the surgeon in his dealings with patients and their relatives. He instructs his professional brethren, for instance, how to wring their fees-“salariam extorquere ”—from wealthy but ungrateful patients. Passages of this kind give a vivid idea of the social position of physicians and surgeons in that remote period; they also increase our knowledge of the superstitions of that time. Besides this, the work gives a pretty complete idea of the state of surgery in the fourteenth century. Its author was one of the most eminent surgeons of his time. After studying in Paris and Montpellier, especially under Jean Pitard, he

became a professor of medicine and surgery. In 1301 he was appointed physician in ordinary to Philip IV of France, surnamed the Handsome, whom he accompanied to Flanders. He began the book in 1306, but his progress was slow, owing to the multiplicity of his profe-sional engagements. engagements. A long delay was caused by the circum-tance that he accompanied Philip's brother, Charles de Valois, as army surgeon, to Arras and England. Thus it happened that the book was still unfinished at the time the author died of lung disease, about the year 1318. Besides the Berlin manuscript, Dr. Pagel has used for his edition (the first ever published) three manuscripts belonging to the French National Library, which were lent to the Berlin Library by Leopold Delisle, the head librarian there, for this purpose.-London Lancet.

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INSURANCE AND MURDER IN ENGLAND.Children are now insured before they are born, and at the payment of one penny a week. This insures a sum which far more than covers the funeral expenses, and the same child is often insured in more than one office. Under such a system the father or mother may make a profit of three or four pounds on the death of a baby, to say nothing of what would be spent on food and clothes. The Bishop of Peterborough repeated a shocking phrase, which explains itself, and which would be only weakened by comment. They talk, in a town which he did not and we will not mention, of "having a little funeral and a big drink." Now, of course, it does not follow that, because these things may be done, they are done, and some optimists argue that they can not be done. There is, they say, the fear of the gallows"S'il n'y a pas un Dieu, il y a toujours le gendarme"-and there is the doctor's certificate. To cut an infant's throat or give it prussic acid would not only be desperately wicked, but incredibly foolish. Insufficient food, and judiciously improper treatment in one or two small particulars, and the flickering light is effectually quenched. "Would any of your lordships," asked the Bishop, "be willing to intrust a child of yours to a sick nurse who had a pecuniary interest in its death?" A medical man

wrote to the Bishop of Peterborough to say that he had for some time insisted on an inquest whenever an insured child died. What happened? He appeared as a witness, and was asked if he could swear that the child would have lived if it had been properly ted. He could not, and the verdict was "Death from natural causes." "voiding at least the awful blasphemy of "Died by the visitation of God."-The Saturday Review.

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AFTER laughing at Chinese warriors for several centuries for their use of stinkpot as weapons in battle, Christendom has suddenly awakened to the fact that there may be son ething in the idea. "In a sham fight at Portsmouth an advancing column was so affected by the fumes of the moke-ball, which was used to raise a cloud of impenetrable obscurity under which they could advance, that the men had to keep their hands to their noses to avoid suffocation. It is now proposed that the smokeball shall receive a further development. It has occurred to some military men that instead of half suffocating their own troops it would be better to follow the example of the Chine-e pirates with their stinkpots. and asphyxiate the enemy. A Vienna scientist has cc rdingly invented a bomb of such power and virulence that every one who is within a certain radius of it when it explodes is rendered unconscious. Devices such as these would soon modify the art of war, and probably the next develop ment will be an anti asphyxiating bomb whose fumes will neutralize those of the other. It is sail that many years ago a scheme based on the throwing of poisonous gases over a tract of country was put before the war office in England for the purpose of devastating the country in the face of an invading army, but the agency employed was so terrible in its effects that it was not made public and was consigned to the secret records of the war office."-Chicago Daily News.

ADULTERATION IN FOODS AND DRUGS.Dr. Newton, Dairy Commissioner of New Jersey, reports for the past year that of 2,507 articles of food analyzed, 1,102, or 43.96 per cent, were adulterated. While all the Ameri

can canned goods examined were found in good condition and free from metals or other dangerous ingredients, 88 samples out of 107 foreign canned goods were adulterated, the chief adulterant being copper, which had been added to give a green color. Three fourths of the samples of extracted honey analyzed were adulterated with glucose or cane sugar syrup. More than half of the molasses specimens were adulterated with molas-es or cane sugar, and what was sold for molasses was gluose and contained tin. Seventy per cent of the pickles contained copper; seven samples of baking powders contained alum; raspberry syrup contained no ra-pberry, but in its stead an artificial ethereal flavoring essence colored with an analine dye; and sausages were dyed with Bismarck brown and garnet red, and coated with a varnish composed of shellac, resin oil, and alcohol. Jellies, however, bore off the palm. Of 192 samples, 159 were adulterated; starch, water, acetic acid, currant flavoring extract, glucose, and coloring matter masquerading as currant jelly. In Philadelphia one manufacturer sold thirtynine tons of this stuff in a single week while another delivered one thousand tons in six months. Fifty factories are engaged in this bu-iness in this country.

Of the drugs examined, 64.55 per cent were found adulterated or not equal to the standard. The fraudulent list included cream of tartar, opium, paregoric, iodide of potassium, eidlitz powders, spirit of nitrous ether, laudanum, and tincture of chloride of iron.-Brooklyn Medical Journal.

BAD BREATH.-Dr. Frank H. Gardner, in the Dental Review, speaks of the causes of bad breath. He concludes: First, decaying particles in the mouth as far back as the pharnyxvault taint the breath, if exhaled very little if at all. Second, mouth-breathers have a bad breath when the tonsils are enlarged or when cheesy masses exist in the tonsillary mucous. folds. Third, certain gastric derangements taint the breath only when ga-es are eructated through the mouth. through the mouth. Fourth, the principal cause of bad breath is decomposition in the intestinal canal, the retention of fecal matter in the transverse and descending colon, and

the absorption of gases into the circulation, finally exhaled by the lungs. Fifth, catarrh, nasal, pharyngeal, or bronchial, causes bad breath. Sixth, medicines or ailments which undergo chemical changes below the esophagus may, by rapid exhaustion through the stomach walls, or immediately below, give to the breath the characteristic odor. Bad breath is often a source of serious annoyance to the patient, and the fact that it has more than a local cause is too often ignored by the physician, who therefore fails to cure it.- Weekly Medical Review.

REMEDIES FOR NEURALGIA. -Writing to the Provincial Medical Journal regarding the use of new synthetic remedies, Dr. T. P. Thomson states that antifebrin is infinitely a more effectual pain-reliever than antipyrin; the dose is small, and it is not very expensive. Three or four grains in a little brandy or whisky, and then a little water added to this mixture, is the best way to give it. Repeat in four hours, if necessary. Dr. Thomson has never witnessed any bad, depressing effect from the employment of antitebrin. In neuralgia of the head it gives sure and speedy relief. In any given case of nerve pain, where one might suspect a weak or fatty heart, phenacetin is to be preferred to antifebrin, but it does not seem to act quite so surely as the latter. Phenacetin in seven or eight-grain doses every four hours is a safe and effectual remedy in all neuralgias, be they in the head, back, or any other part of the body. Exalgine he has also found useful, and quite corroborates Professor Fraser's statements regarding its efficacy.-Chemist and Druggist.

[Let him try this or any other coal-tar derivative on a case of genuine tic, and then proceed gracefully to haul in his therapeutic antlers.-ED.]

BACILLARY PARTNERSHIPS-In the course of some experimental investigations on the relationship of micro-organisms with diseased conditions, Drs. Cornil and Babés have discovered that a certain affinity exists between particular species. In other words, the develop ment of special varieties may be facilitated, or the reverse, by the presence or pre-existence of

certain other varieties. In this way the occasional complication of an existing infectious disease by a second is not the result of mere chance, but is governed by some still undefined conditions of environment. In other instances this association of two or more species of microorganisms is necessary to the evolution of the malady. This association is the rule in the infectious diseases of human beings, and it is often the secondary infection that determines the fatal issue. This partnership arrangement may take place between microbes belonging to more or less nearly related species, as in the case with the organisms of pneumonia and typhoid fever. Or there may be streptococci and bacilli together, as in diphtheria, or several varieties of streptococci, as in the infection of wounds. In fact, there is a large selection of these associations, some invariable, others frequent, and a third category in which the secondary infection is accidental. These facts may possibly throw some light on the rhythm and sequence of the symptoms in the infectious diseases.-Medical Press.

BLUE-GRASS ENDURANCE. - Professor N. Shaler, in his ethnographic researches, sought the record of a body of troops whose ancestors had been for many generations upon American soil, and he found it in the first brigade of Kentucky troops (Confederate). In Scribner's for November he says: "On May 7, 1864, this brigade, then in the army of General Joseph Johnston, marched out of Dalton 1,140 strong at the beginning of the great retreat upon Atlanta before the army of Sherman. In the subsequent hundred days, or until September 1st, the brigade was almost continuously in action or on the march. In this period the men of the command received 1,860 death or hospital wounds, the dead counted as wounds, and but one wound being counted for each visitation of the hospital. At the end of this time there were less than fifty men who had not been wounded during the hundred days. There were 240 men left for duty, and less than ten men deserted. A search into the history of warlike exploits has failed to show me any endurance of the worst trials of war surpassing this."

TOXIC EFFECT OF CALOMEL IN THE PRESENCE OF CHLORIDES OF THE ALKALIES.-Adam (Nouveaux Remédes) confirms the statement of such authorities as Moll, Hervé, Guibourt, Larocque, Jolly, and others to the effect that within the body calomel does not, to any appreciable extent, go into solution as sublimate. M. Mialhe's assertion that it does, and that the agent in effecting this is sodium chloride, is still current doctrine. Dr. Adam's experiments were made both in the absence and presence of organic matter. In either case only traces of mercury went into solution, provided that there was not free access of air. In the presence of air a considerable quantity of mercury was dis solved. The author claims that within the body the access of air is practically nil. Besides experiments outside the body, others were made on the living animal which confirmed the above negative statement.-British Medical Journal.

A MEDICAL MONOPOLIST.-The little island of Heligoland is an exceptional bit of territory in many respects, among others in this, that never in the recollection of the "oldest inhabitant" has it been the seat of professional jealousies. Why is it so favored? Because only one medical man (dentist, surgeon, general practitioner, all in one) is to be found the length and breadth of the island. No sooner, however, had Germany taken possession of her new appenage than this delightful state of things seemed destined to come to an end. An announcement appeared in the Heligoland Gazette stating that a second German M. D. would shortly take up his residence in the island. Of course the Heligoland doctor was up in arms at once. He appealed to the new governor, quoting the Emperor William's dietum that the rights and privileges of the Heligolanders were to be respected and to remain unchanged for the present," and the result is a decree leaving him in undisturbed possession of the sole right of practice in the island.Ibid.

EXECUTION BY ELECTRICITY.-Dr. C. F. MacDonald, President of the State Commission in Lunacy, on October 8th made a report to

Governor Hill, of New York, on the execution of Wm. Kemmler. He asserts that death was sudden and painless, and that despite all hostile criticism the first execution by electricity was a successful experiment, and will be regarded in the future as a step in the direction of a higher civilization, being infinitely preferable to hanging.

He recommends that there be but one electrical plant, located in the center of the State, with a competent electrician in charge; that there be especially constructed apparatus of at least 3,000 volt power, which will do no injustice to any electrical lighting company, as would be the case with commercial dynamos; that the voltage employed should not be less than 1,500 nor more than 2,000; that a careful record be kept of every point, and that an official report to the Governor be made within ten days after the execution. Med. and Surg. Reporter.

DEATH FROM NITROUS OXIDE.-A death from nitrous oxide is reported from Montreal. A man, aged twenty-four, went to the office of a dentist to have a tooth extracted, and requested to have the gas administered. After assuring himself that the patient was not suf fering from heart or lung disease, the dentist administered the gas. No sooner had the tooth been extracted than the patient gave a gasp and fell over in the chair. He was placed upon the floor and artificial respiration performed, but without restoring animation. The patient was not under the influence of liquor, and five hours had elapsed since la-t taking food (breakfast). The purity of the nitrous oxide was tested shortly after the accident by the president of the dental association, Dr. Beers, who himself inhaled it from the same inhaler. The verdict of the jury was that the man died from syncope, caused by the administration of the gas, and they exonerated the dentist from blame.-Druggists' Circular.

EPILEPSY OF NINE MONTHS' DURATION FOL LOWING DENTAL CARIES.-M. Bakowski reports the following cure of reflex epilepsy: He was called on the 15th of May, 1889, to attend a young girl of sixteen years whom he found