that the opportunity for our physicians is a good one; and in this Governor Wood (who is a physician) concurs. Of course, the disorders are much the same as in the southern states, but now and then the stranger discovers complaints that are apparently peculiar, at least in diagnosis and description. One very interesting incident is but recently on my note-book.

It has been generally read in the press as to the strange superstitions that were noted on the occasion of the eclipse. May I say they were not exaggerated? I need not repeat any of them. Instead, there is another, quite original, and medically related. We had been warned in advance, for it should be known that these superstitions are current on the occasion of every eclipse, lunar as well as solar, partial or total. They had told me that when the eclipse occurred, one of the things that mothers and nurses of infants would do, would be to strip the little ones naked as soon as the eclipse began, and leave them nude, on the ground, out of doors, till all was over. This, understand, was "so as to keep from being hit," they commonly say, "by the eclipse," but in a whisper they add, "by the devil." If the squalling young one takes a thorough-going attack of bronchitis or bronchorrhoea as a result, then it is "hit;" if it escapes, it is blessed. The "hit" child is of course carried first to the priest, and then taken to the doctor.

When it was announced that there was to be an eclipse, mothers went about among their friends crying "Guarte de el como diablo!" ("Beware, as of the devil!") The eclipse came, the children were exposed, and, as might have been expected, there were plenty of the babies who were "hit." Our medical men had their hands full, caring for the outraged specimens of humanity. That was in Cuba and Puerto Rica. But superstition has difficulty in shaking off its coil, and at least one Cuban mother, here in our enlightened United States, clung to it.

They are people of some education, a man and wife, with two little ones, aged three months and fourteen months. On Tuesday evening he came to the office very much excited, exclaiming "Dos hijas con su madre son tres diablos para el padre!" ("Two daughters with their mother are three devils for their father!") During his absence, for nearly three hours, on the sand in her back yard, the woman had exposed the children to the chill east wind. The father blamed her, but at the same time was inclined

to fear the "devils." The woman was frank in her statement and averred that the little ones were "hit by the eclipse." Acute bronchitis, and the worst cases that I ever saw. Already there were atelectasis and apneumatosis, the bronchial tubes filled with mucus, respirations frequent, faces livid, high fever, and relative dullness. The prognosis was serious. The woman volunteered the information that in Havana "her doctor" (Spanish) would give tartar emetic, "to dislodge the devils," and, incidentally, the mucus. This was out of the question. A remedy to maintain nausea would depress. It was plain that the chief object of treatment would be to supply the wants of voluntary efforts of expectoration, and by sustaining measures to maintain the force of the respiratory acts. The priest had arrived a moment after we did, and he was a jolly, good-natured Irishman. He recognized the gravity of the situation at once, and I think horrified the woman by not mumbling prayers, but instead, offering to go with my prescription. We had had the best of success with eucalyptol in the treatment of grip; and it seemed to fill the indications. The priest went for it, and I gave it in ten minim doses every two hours, remaining to watch the effect. In four or five hours, I was gratified to find that the older child began to show better symptoms. The other did not show relief, but, apparently was suffocating. It was necessary to give eau sedatif to quicken the vitality. The effect was all that could be desired, and before midnight the child was perspiring even more freely than the other. The eucalyptol odor appeared in the breath, and as soon as the diaphoresis was in evidence, the dose was changed to once in four hours. Both children recovered.

Last evening the priest called to see me, and with a hearty laugh informed me that the Spanish woman gave him the credit, declaring that he had obtained "such a pleasant holy water" for me, which, "used as directed," had saved her children, "driven out the devils." And this is in commentary on the Australian doctors' opinion that "our eucalyptol is devilish good." Omit the adjective, and every physician who has used it for bronchial and broncho-pulmonary affections, will say "Verily."

W. H. MORSE, M. D.

Editorial

Shall the Patho- It is unfortunate that any dispute should have logical Institute arisen between the State Commission in Lunacy of the New York and the Director of the Pathological Institute of State Hospitals the New York State Hospitals, still more unStudy the Pathological Material fortunate that this dispute should find expression of the State Hos- in medical journals, and most unfortunate that pitals? the real point at issue should be obscured by personalities and that a letter should have been published resurrecting old antagonisms and animosities which were supposed to have been buried nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Up to the present time advance in our knowledge of disease has been acquired by a clinical study of the patient, by an investigation of the excretions and secretions during life, and by an examination of the diseased organs after death. This is a very laborious process and it is perhaps conceivable that better methods of studying disease may be found, but the old method has led and is daily leading to very substantial results, and where it has been replaced by theorizing and generalization, usually error has ensued.

The need of utilizing the pathological material afforded by an institution for the insane was publicly recognized in New York by legislative enactment in 1872, creating the position of special pathologist and providing for the equipment of a laboratory at the Utica State Hospital. This was further emphasized in the organic laws of later hospitals, and finally by the State Commission in Lunacy, which urged in 1893 the appointment of "an experienced and competent pathologist who should act for all the hospitals of the State," and in 1895 announced the creation of the "Pathological Institute of the State Hospitals." The authority for this action by the Commission is contained in the appropriation bill of 1895, providing "for pathological research and for necessary expenses in establishing and maintaining a pathological laboratory for the benefit of the State hospitals," and again in the "Insanity Law" of 1896, providing for the appointment of a "Director of the Pathological Institute who shall perform, under the direction of the Commission, such duties relating to pathological research as may be required for all the State hospitals for the insane."

The Director's conception of the function of the Institute has been from the beginning a widening of the work of the laboratory, as far as possible, and the organization under him includes departments of normal histology, pathological histology, cellular biology, bacteriology, physiological chemistry, psychology, anthropology and comparative neurology. To this scheme there would be no objection, if, in carrying it out, the purposes for which the laboratory was primarily established were not disregarded.

In the "State Hospitals Bulletin" and its successor, the "Archives of Neurology and Psychopathology," the official publications, there has appeared only one contribution by a member of the Institute staff upon the pathology of insanity, although abundant space and illustration have been devoted to subjects of more or less remote bearing, among which may be mentioned a technical study of the "nerves of bony fishes." Of the scientific excellence of the investigations thus published there can be only an opinion of approval, but the contention has been raised that such researches even if not altogether foreign to the purpose of the Institute, should not absorb its entire force. Such studies could be made in any laboratory, and do not at all depend upon any connection with the State hospitals.

The whole question lies in a nutshell. There is from the various State hospitals an immense amount of pathological material at the disposal of the Pathological Institute of these hospitals. The question is whether this particular Institute shall reglect this mass of material, shall disregard its duties as expressed in the law of its creation, and do work which can be done in any laboratory, or whether it shall work up the material from the State hospitals, of which it is the Pathological Institute, and in so doing both follow a line of study approved by experience and also increase the interest and value of the clinical work done in such hospitals, which, without such pathological control, is apt to languish. In other words is there to be an intimate relationship of mutual benefit between the State hospitals and their pathological institute, or not?

As we understand the Director of the Institute, he claims that no advance in our knowledge of insanity is likely to result from an examination of this pathological material. He has published an article on the "Correlation of Sciences," in which he has laid

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out a general plan of work which he thinks will lead to great results. It is to be hoped that this prophecy will be fulfilled.

But the days of the prophets are past, and the history of medicine is singularly deficient in discoveries or advances following such announcements.

As we understand the Commissioners in Lunacy, they have given the Director full play in carrying out his scheme, and are still willing that he and a good part of his staff should devote themselves to pure scientific research in any form. But they insist that the law of the State shall be obeyed by the officers of the State, that the teachings of history shall not be entirely disregarded, and that for the benefit both of the hospitals and of our knowledge of insanity, a considerable part of the force in the Pathological Institute of the State Hospitals shall devote its time to the study of the pathological material furnished by the State hospitals, or in the words of the law shall perform "such duties relating to pathological research as may be required for all the State hospitals for the insane." For our part we commend this action of the Commissioners as a proof of their strong common

sense.

No more interesting discussion took place at the recent meeting of the American Medical Infant Feeding Association in Atlantic City than that on infant feeding. None showed more diversity of opinion among specialists, thus proving that this subject upon which so much work has been done has hardly got beyond the embryonic stage.

Baginsky and Sommerfeld of Kaiserin Friedrich Hospital, Berlin, place reliance on the chemical examination of the milk to determine its fitness for food. They sterilize the milk for thirty minutes and do not believe that Barlow's disease results from the use of sterilized milk unless it is kept too long. Northrup showed that percentage feeding which is commonly thought to be the universal panacea, has simply added to the responsibilities of the physician by the need for constant observation to see that the infant obtains sufficient nourishment. Many physicians after having once determined the proper percentage lose sight of the infant and as he grows older and needs more nourishment, continues to receive the same formula. In such cases he had seen