quite prolific in a variety of remedies. I recognize the fact that doctors have their successful and unsuccessful periods, and, like empires, they rise and fall; but I will say, with some degree of modesty, of course, that I have never lost a case of smallpox. I am not a routinist in any sense of the word, and understand that every case is a law unto itself, and that conditions arise which demand frequent changes in our prescriptions; but I have had such brilliant results from ecthol, prepared by Battle & Co., of St. Louis, that I am impelled thereby to mention it. I prescribe it with as much confidence in smallpox as I do quinine in intermittent fever one dram every four or six hours. The sore throat disappears as by magic, and the subsequent course of the disease is rendered mild and robbed of its many dangers and disagreeable features. I regard it as the finest product of modern chemistry, and every physician should be well acquainted with its properties." AN OBSERVATION. The gresses in the right direction-no matter what he thinks to the contrary notwithstanding.-Dr. Rullison. JONATHAN HUTCHINSON, F.R.S., general secretary of the New Sydenham Society, has requested Messrs. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., of Philadelphia, the American agents. of the society, to announce the publication of "An Atlas of Clinical Medicine, Surgery and Pathology," selected and arranged with the design to afford, in as complete a manner as possible, aids to diagnosis in all departments of practice. It is proposed to complete the work in five years, in fasciculi form, eight to ten plates issued every three months in connection with the regular publications of the society. The New Sydenham Society was established in 1858, with the object of publishing essays, monographs and translations of works which could not be otherwise issued. The list of publications numbers upwards of 170 volumes of the greatest scientific value. An effort is now being made to incease the membership, in order to extend its work. THE Bible recommends fasting. most of those who pretend to believe in the Bible practise feasting. The ancients were nature-like, and wise enough to discover, DIURETIC EFFECT OF that to overtax the physical body with food was to sin against the spiritual and soul side. That no high sense of the spiritual can be present with the feasting or full-stomach plan can easily be proven. The full stomach benumbs and makes stupid the brain (a drunken and satisfied state), which makes man a pretender, causes him to be "animally selfish," which shuts out the light of reason and truth. Partake of food to supply the "needs" of the body, but refrain from eating all you want, and you will see and know things that you never sensed before. The individual who is well fed deteriorates in habit and action, and never pro GRAPES. DR. PECHOLIER, of Montpelier, has published a note on the duretic effect of grapes, which would appear to confirm the diuretic action of glucose recently brought to notice. In two cases, one a patient with cardiac disease, and the other the subject of hepatic cirrhosis with ascites, a "grape cure" was undertaken with the best results. In the former patient, notably, five pounds of grapes were daily ingested, in three parts, and the diuresis produced was much more considerable than with milk, digitalis, or iodide of potassium. This effect can only be attributed to the sugar of the juice of the grape, the other parts of the fruit having been rejected. THERAPEUTIC FOOD, THERE are, as there always have been, radicals, iconoclasts and nihilists in the medical profession. Really scientific men get excited over the revelations of the microscope and the crucible, and are at such times inclined to make extravagant statements. At least this is a plausible explanation of some of the assertions of extremists in relation to questions of dietetics and nutrition. These people expend a great deal of vital energy and intellectual effort in a vain attempt to adjust human life to certain facts that are not facts. One of their would-be axioms is that every substance that enters the human system is either food or poison, helpful or inimical, a friend or a foe. Going a step further they deduce the corollary that articles classed as drugs can never be termed foods. Technically correct, this position is practically untenable. Certain drugs act chemically, converting indigestible and unassimilable substances and elements into forms in which the system can cope with and utilize them. Others are not themselves absorbed or appropriated but discharge an important function by their mere presence. They induce activities on the part of other substances that would have failed to take place without their presence. Instance the action. of antiseptics which have the power to prevent degenerative or putrefactive changes in the contents of the stomach until the latter organ can recuperate sufficiently to digest and dispose of them. In other instances they act by inducing and promoting organic activities that would have remained dormant but for the presence of these technically innutritious and indigestible drugs. Iron may be cited as an example. True, it is a normal constituent of the tissues, but the quantity is so comparatively infinitesimal that it bears no relation to the enormous quantities of this drug now used in medicine. Probably not a thousandth part of the iron prescribed is appropriated by the system, and yet it is being more generously prescribed than ever before in the history of medicine. Nor is its use confined to any particular school of practitioners. The consensus of opinion, the uniformity of definite results certainly prove that iron is an invaluable therapeutic agent. We use the word "agent" as covering every form of favorable result attained by its use. One of these we take to be a nutritive result. It is a food. The system does not require nor does it absorb and appropriate any considerable quantity of the element, but the little it needs is very much needed. The excess is of course eliminated. There is no question but that its excessive exhibition is sometimes attended with more or less irritation of the digestive organs; but this is not the fault of the iron. It is want of proper discretion on the part of the prescriber. This objection was more pertinent when the preparation was exhibited in the cruder forms of bygone years. For example, what a harvest the dentists have reaped from the corrosive effects of "Tinct. fer. chlorid." prescribed in the good old days. Later on "Fer. redact." was considered a great advance over common iron rust, but in these days of refined pharmacy there is no need for any prescriber to resort to these crude forms of this important vital tonic. To the extent that it is assimilated it acts as a food, but it has another office quite as important, and one that is often overlooked. In all so-called anemic conditions sub-oxidation is the fundamental fault. The subject breathes sparingly and passively and all the vital processes are lowered in tone for lack of the adequate absorption of vivifying oxygen. The tissues are negative; they have no affinities, so to speak. There is oxygen within reach, but they do not sieze it, and so they languish. This is the point at which the eligible chalybeate realizes its mission. A little is directly assimilated, but the major portion acts as an attracter, collector and distributor of the lacking element. It becomes an oxygen carrier for the entire system, and its office as carrier and incitant to absorption is even more important than as a food. Anemics and neurasthenics do not lack merely the few grains of iron required for so-called "corpuscular nutrition," they chiefly lack oxygen and its far-reaching control of all the digestive and assimilative processes. In a limited way it helps the organism as a direct nutrient to the tissues, but it undoubtedly contributes a hundred times more by prompting the tissues and fluids to help themselves to all the needed elements of nutrition and to oxygen, without which no food can be transformed into proper pabulum for building or sustaining purposes. Another important item has been very generally overlooked. It is that uncombined iron is not in condition for easy absorption. As the profession has come to realize this fact the pharmacists have sought to keep pace with the advanced thought, and we now have at command. preparations that are both elegant in appearance, free from the old objections, and ideal from a chemical standpoint. We have only to cite the difference between pil. mass. Vall. and "Pepto-mangan" (Gude). The former is a mixture of ferrous sulphate, sodium, carbon, honey, sugar, syrup, distilled water and what not. The latter is, as its name imples, a pepto-manganate of iron and while it is not the only representative of the perfected chalybeates it may be safely quoted as a model for all the rest. OVEREATING. MOST of us have a strong prejudice against leaving the table hungry, or omitting a meal. We desire not to be satiated into stupor, but to have a comfortable sense of satisfied appetite. For us it will be wise to increase the keenness of appetite by getting as much outdoor air and exercise as can be compassed, and making our meals consist as largely as possible of appetizing fruits and vegetables. There are a few things of which it is very difficult to eat too much dead ripe blackberries, pears or peaches picked from the trees in a state of absolute ripeness, sweet apples that are mel low through and through, and grapes as sweet as honey. A really hygienic dinner for Thanksgiving or Christmas would include turkey or chicken without dressing, vegetables and fruits, without pastry or pudding. The occasional overeating of pure foods gives merely a temporary feeling of inconvenience, while a surfeit of rich substances leads to a sick headache, an attack of rheumatism or asthma. In its effects undereating is less harmful than overeating. Bread and water, crackers and tea, will give health to us all. The food of those who fear that they overeat should be full of nourishment and free from grease and spices, sugar, vinegar and drugs. -Good Housekeeping. TALK HEALTH. TALK happiness. The world is sad enough Without your woes. No path is wholly rough; Look for the places that are smooth and clear, And speak of those to rest the weary ear, come; No one will grieve because your lips are dumb. AT THE DAY'S DAWN. DAYLIGHT dawns in the dappled sky- 'Tis but a flash till the day goes by What shall the new day see? Hopeful hearts that look for the best? Sorry souls in a mournful quest? With the sun in the east or the sun in the west It's a choice for you and me! Daylight dawns in the dimpled sky— Joy that the night is done! 'Tis but a breath till the day shall dieGet the good of the sun! For the little day is yours to make Bitter or sweet for your own life's sake, Talk health. The dreary, never changing And your heart shall strengthen or your STATE. who stopped at a newspaper office on his THE MORTALITY IN NEW YORK way to the theater and placed an advertisement for a boy. Half an hour later one fell from the gallery into his lap. THERE were 10,999 deaths in this State during August, according to the monthly bulletin of vital statistics issued by the State Board of Health. The number of deaths was 1,300 less than in July, when the rate was excessive. The only material decrease was, however, in deaths from accident and violence, to which heat stroke added 1,300 deaths. In August the heat was the cause of very few deaths. There were five deaths from lightning. Smallpox caused forty deaths, and pneumonia 280. There was an increase in the deaths from typhoid fever, diphtheria, and pertussis. Department of Physical Education. WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO SYMMETRICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE BODY NOTES ON NEURITIS AND ITS RADICAL TREATMENT. By G. H. PATCHEN, M.D., Medical Director of the Zander Improved Movement Cure Institute. (Concluded from the November Number of the GAZETTE.) IN every case of neuritis the indications for treatment are essentially the same. These are, to use the comprehensive language of another, "to remove the disturbances of sensation and motion, and to promote regeneration and prevent degeneration." "This," the same author continues, "can be done by dealing thoroughly with the causes and restoring the normal resistance of the nervous tissues." The causes which stand most in the way of recovery and which are the most difficult to overcome are the constitutional ones -those which have their origin within the system and which were in existence prior to the advent of the exciting causes. While the coöperation of both classes of causes is necessary to precipitate the disease, the predisposing or constitutional causes control the pathological situation. They consist of defects in one or more of the various processes of nutrition, and find expression in those conditions of the blood recognized as impurities. These exist in many forms and possess various qualities and characteristics, but are alike in respect to their origin, since they are all imperfectly oxidized residuals of food. To distinguish them from perfectly oxidized products, for the purpose of classification, they are called sub-oxides. The presence of any of them, in any considerable amount, is the best preparation that can be made for the advent of some form of disease which any exciting cause will develop, and whose nature and location will be determined by the organ or function which offers the least resistance. There are practically only two causes of neuritis which require active therapeutic measures for their relief. These are, (1) the sub-oxides referred to, and (2) some local obstruction of the blood-supply to the affected area. The removal of the suboxides can be effected only by increasing the power and capacity of the oxidizing functions. This procedure is equally imperative whether their accumulation is due to anemia, rheumatism, malaria, lithemia, neurasthenia with its many complications, or to the depressed and impaired state of the vital forces induced by syphilis, alcohol, lead, mercury or other poisons introduced from without. The noticeable lack of free, normal circulation in the affected member, usually regarded as an effect of the diseased condition, should, I am convinced, be considered an important cause. Stagnation of the local blood currents affords the sub-oxides every facility for developing their diseaseengendering qualities and exerting their baneful influence. It not only allows them to accumulate to an extent which interferes, mechanically, with the healthful action of the invaded tissues, but, what is a still greater menace to health, it permits them to take on degenerative changes, which, if unchecked, inevitably result in inflammation. The obstructed circulation is caused either by abnormal pressure, at some point, upon one or more of the vessels upon which the |