England, and Patrick Henry, Webster, Charles Sumner, Beecher, Chapin, Brooks, John Hall, and Dwight L. Moody of our own country. The great founders and preservers of the nation, like Washington, Franklin, Presidents Jackson and Lincoln, and some of the chief justices, like John Marshall, Lemuel Shaw, John B. Gibson, and Samuel F. Miller, were men of powerful bodies, capable of great physical strength and endurance. Our great financiers, manufacturers, and successful men of affairs, like Vanderbilt, McCormick, and Huntington, were of sturdy stock and great constitutional vigor. So are Morgan, Carnegie, and the present-day leaders in the triumphs of gigantic business enterprises.

The twenty-nine distinguished Americans. whose names were selected to adorn the "Hall of Fame," at the New York University, will be found to have been considerably above the average in height and weight; to have lived, upon an average, over seventy years; and to have been blessed with good working constitutions and very good health. It is true that many distinguished men, like Alexander, Napoleon, Milton, Wesley, Alexander Hamilton, Wellington, and General Roberts of South African fame, have been below the average professional man, in stature. In point of weight, however, it is a question whether they would not surpass the average. I think they would. Sometimes, such eminent men as Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin, and Francis Parkman, the historian, are brought forward as illustrations of men who have become distinguished and successful, in spite of being in feeble health. They all had strong constitutions, and Darwin had a vigorous physique, which he inherited from his father. He practised athletics in his youth, and so did Francis Parkman, who continued doing so until a few years before his death. They were all prodigious workers, and each one impaired his health by over-application and almost constant mental strain. As soon as they found their health impaired, they conserved their vital energies by reducing their social and extra

neous duties to a minimum, lived under the most favorable hygienic conditions, and devoted themselves exclusively to their special pursuits, which called, however, for a broad range of mental activity. By pursuing this method, they were able to accomplish an extraordinary amount of work, and to arrive at a tolerably good old age. Parkman lived to be seventy, Darwin to be seventy-three, and Herbert Spencer is still alive and active, at eighty-two. Although these men had, respectively, functional disturbances of the special senses, stomach, and nervous system, that impaired their efficiency in some directions, they could hardly be called invalids. Indeed, the great amount of mental work they did had its force-equivalent in the food they consumed. This food must have been digested, and sent, as blood, to the brain, and then, as waste matter, thrown off from the system. These organic processes involve the action of the stomach, heart, lungs, liver, and other organs and parts of the body, which must be in fairly good condition to do the amount of work exacted from them for seventy-odd years.

Thus, if the life one would lead is largely a mental one-and I have assumed, all through this paper that the only success worth striving for is based on superior intelligence-the health and tone of the brain are entirely dependent upon the condition of the heart, stomach, lungs and other bodily organs. The ability of these organs to do their work, and properly nourish the brain and nervous system, must either be inherited or acquired. It is the chief province of physical culture-or physical training, I prefer to call it-to improve the condition of the vital organs. This is effected through the exercises of the muscular system. The muscles comprise about forty-six per cent. of the entire weight of the body, and are constantly consuming oxygen, and giving off carbonic acid. The amount of oxygen consumed by the body, as a whole, depends upon the activity of the muscles. Thus, if the amount is represented by one when the person is lying down, it will be increased to three and thirty-two hundredths when he is

walking at the rate of three miles an hour, and by seven when he is running at the rate of six miles an hour. The first effect, therefore, of active exercise, is to increase respiration; that is, to make one breathe faster. This tends to quicken the action of the heart, so that it pumps the blood more rapidly through the body. But blood and lymph are, to the bones, muscles, and nerves, and other parts of the organism, what food is to the body as a whole. They strengthen and nourish the various parts, and make them increase in size, power, and efficiency. The heart, lungs, and stomach, in return, are repaid for their efforts by an increase in their functional capacity; for it is a law of physiology that every bodily organ strengthens and enlarges in proportion as it is exercised, and shrinks and becomes enfeebled if it be comparatively unattended to and unemployed. Thus it is possible, through the influence of the will on the nerves and muscles, to start up increased chemical action in different parts of the body, and, in that way, attract to it an increased supply of blood. In this way it is possible to develop and strengthen different parts of the body, or different parts of the brain. If the brain is used excessively, it will rob the muscles of their just share of the body's nutriment; or, if the muscles are over-developed, it will tend to impoverish the brain. In both cases, the heart, stomach, and lungs may be weakened by the excessive drain upon them, and be the first to cry out for less work or more food; for these organs, though of fundamental importance, are the slaves of the master-tissues, nerves, muscles and brain.

In primitive times, when every man was his own farmer, hunter, carpenter, blacksmith, etc., the ordinary duties and employments of life were sufficiently diverse to bring all parts of the body into active exercise. But times have changed. Now, a man does some one thing for himself, and everything else is done for him. The minute division of labor and the extensive use of steam and electricity have wrought most radical changes in our methods of working

and living. Not only is all of the mental work done by one class and all the physical work by another class, but even the mental and physical work are so divided and subdivided that it is possible for one to perform some necessary function in the business or industrial world by the employment of but very few muscles and faculties. This tendency to specialize, though it may lead to the successful development of an institution, a city, or a community, makes it absolutely necessary that the individual man should have some form of exercise or recreation to bring his unused faculties into action, and preserve a proper physical and mental balance, which alone insures health.

Just what the best physical training is for each individual, it is difficult to state, as a great deal depends upon hereditary influences, present environment, and past and present forms of activity. Many persons inherit so much vital capacity—just as persons sometimes inherit pecuniary capitalthat they can live and thrive upon it a long time without making any effort to improve upon their original endowment. Others inherit only a train of physical and mental deficiencies, which, like other ancestral debts, have to be paid before the individual can begin to accumulate anything for himself. This class in the community has a hard struggle, and is severely handicapped in the race for the prizes and successes of life. The only course for such people to pursue is to enter, at once, hopefully and courageously, upon a systematic attempt at bodybuilding. I can recall hundreds of cases that have thus made amends for a poor inheritance, and finally added greatly to their original stock of strength and vitality. Furthermore, if the environment is favorable, a very little regular physical exercise will keep one in good condition. By environment, in this case, I mean fresh air, suitable temperature, proper food, clothing, bathing, dwellings, and various hygienic conditions and surroundings that tend to promote health. Persons so agreebly situated may often find, in certain mental pursuits into which they enter earnestly and enthusias

tically, a physical equivalent for a certain amount of bodily exercise. People who People who take large views of life, and fully realize the dignity and importance of their missions in the world, like many of the distinguished men I have mentioned, often experience this physical equivalent for exercise in their mental work. When people so constituted read, write, speak, or think, they do so all over, and feel the effects of it in every fiber of their being. But, unfortu

nately, most of us are not so highly organ

ment. By thus engaging in some mild form of recreative exercise as a systematic thing, varying it a little, from day to day, it is possible for one not only to improve his physical and mental condition, but also to add to his stock of energy and constitutional vigor, upon which health, happiness and success so frequently depend.

We have seen that the parts most used are the parts most developed; and, if they are used exclusively or excessively, they are developed at the expense and to the neglect of other parts. The intense rivalry and keen competition which are so apparent to-day, in all of the pursuits of life, make this tendency to an excessive development in one direction very marked. We see it even in the various forms of athletics, when success is made the chief end in view. Thus, the gymnast cultivates his arms, the oarsman his back, the runner his legs, etc. Although the nervous system will permit of a certain amount of one-sided development with impunity, where health, strength and endurance are to be cultivated, it is always better that the activity should be general, rather than local. A frequent change of organic than local. A frequent change of organic activity, followed by complete rest, is the most crying need of the hour. Those who are engaged in brain work should seek some form of exercise that brings the greatest number of muscles into play with the least. expenditure of nervous energy, like rowing, swimming, etc. Those whose occupations call for powerful muscular efforts through the day, will find recreation in the evening, in mild forms of mental activity, like games of checkers, dominoes, or a good lecture, concert, or drama. Those who use their legs excessively should use their arms and chests more, and vice versa. A change of activity is the chief thing necessary, and just what this change would better be will depend upon the individual's usual employ

BY J. C. ANDERSON, M.D.,

Grange Tex.

WE recognize the fact that during college days a great deal of stress is laid upon the importance of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, surgery, etc., but not a great deal is said about therapeutics. Also, when the graduate goes to the polyclinic we hear a great deal about surgery, gynecology, skin and venereal diseases, diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and every good clinician insists on the importance of a correct diagnosis, all of which is eminently correct; but medical therapeutics is not much discussed.

Therapeutics is the science which treats of the healing of disease. It deals with the form, manner and time in which drugs should be administered, if needful to ad

minister them at all. It instructs how to avoid incompatible combinations and classifies remedial agents. It also investigates the laws of health and how they can be preserved.

Of course, every physician understands. the reason why we resort to drugs, ani, more important, that every one should grasp the limitations which govern the administration of remedies. Two very foolish and unfounded ideas have been put forward by certain physicians: one being that medical therapeutics is useless, and the other that this branch of medical knowl

edge is not advancing so rapidly as pathol

*Read before the Williamson Connty Medical Society; republished from Texas Med. News.

ogy and surgery. The individual who scoffs at the use of drugs in disease has either never tried them, or, if so, has used them ignorantly or wrongly. Thus, the careless methods of the physicians of the last century laid the foundation of homeopathy, and Christian Science, a therapeutic nihilism.

At the present time, although we have much to learn, it can be said that we have benefited by these errors and are, in consequence, taking a path which may be considered a happy medium.

The statement that therapeutics is more backward than other branches of medicine is a great error, for the therapeutist is able to treat successfully many diseases of which the pathologist knows nothing and is obliged to rest his treatment on empiricism, simply because he cannot tell how his drugs act if the pathologist cannot tell him what the disease is. Rheumatism is a good example of this very point.

We all readily recognize the extraordinary advances in surgery in the last one or two decades, and yet comparatively few of us realize that the introduction of certain drugs have made these advances possible. To the surgeon may belong the credit of inventing many instruments and appliances, but the discovery and introduction of new drugs must belong to the therapeutist. We find, then, that ether and chloroform began to revolutionize surgery fifty years ago, and made possible any operation that in the judgment of the surgeon would give hope of relief. Later came antiseptic surgery, which was the application of corrosive sublimate, carbolic acid and many other drugs by way of preventing infection and securing union by first intention. Cocaine has changed the entire aspect of eye surgery, and other minor operations; and last, but not least, those triumphs of modern therapeutics, the use of thyroid extract for myxedema and antitoxin for diphtheria.

The man who does not believe in the proper use of remedies for the cure of disease lacks the very keystone to the arch upon which all medical investigation rests.

The ultimate aim and object of all medical thought is to cure disease and relieve pain, hence therapeutics is that refined product culled from every department of medical learning. Like every other thing requiring a thorough knowledge of its component parts, it is often much abused by the ignorant, but is a power for good in the hands of the well-educated physician.

Homeopathy depends upon more than one reason for its existence. If small doses are given the patient is satisfied that he is receiving medicine, and Nature often produces her most wonderful cures when left alone; hence, we should have the courage to advise our patients when we know that nothing is needed, as in many cases of typhoid fever, that they may have more confidence in us as physicians and to realize that the treatment of disease does not entirely consist of the administration of drugs. No detail should be too small to attract the attention of the physician, and he who exercises care in detail must reap reward in a large measure.

The first object of the physician when called to a patient is to make a diagnosis. of the ailment before he can prescribe intelligently; however, in certain cases, where the symptoms are severe or indicate immedite danger, it may be necessary to give temporary remedies to prevent death or relieve pain in order to make a diagnosis possible. In other instances the case may be so obscure that several days of careful study may be necessary to reach a correct diagnosis, and during this time palliative remedies may be required.

Before ordering a drug or method of treatment, the physician should have a clear conception of what he is trying to accomplish. No remedy should be given unless there is a distinct indication for its use. The old-fashioned shotgun prescription containing many ingredients, one or more of which might hit the mark, should be supplanted by the small-caliber rifle ball, sent with directness to the condition to be relieved; hence, the importance of being familiar with a few of the most common

drugs, such, for instance, as opium, strychnine, iron, quinine, mercury and arsenic: also, the bromides and iodides.

If we thoroughly understand the physiological action and the therapeutical application of the above drugs (and, of course, you may add as many more to the list as you choose) we are qualified to prescribe for the great majority of cases that come under our care, thus rendering it unnecessary for the great manufacturing chemist to keep agents on the road to tell the physicians of the wonderful curative properties of some new discovery or peculiar combination that surpasses all others on the market and heretofore offered to the public, sold just as any other patent nostrum is sold, only they seek to use the physician as a medium to get it before the public. So let us rely upon such men as Fothergill, Wood, Bartholow, Potter, Hare and others, and wait until the experimental stage of a new remedy has passed before we take it up, and then only when it has been endorsed by such men as above mentioned.

It has often been said that if a remedy does no good it will do no harm. There never was an idea more erroneous than this, nor a practice more dangerous. Take, for example, tuberculosis. The laity have all learned, or at least been educated through the daily press, that certain remedies are sure cures for consumption, so after a diagnosis by a competent physician they will adopt a plan of treatment of their own under the supposition that if it does not do any good it will not do any harm. You are all aware that tuberculosis taken in its incipiency, and with climatic, dietetic and hygienic treatment, as well as the intelligent administration of certain drugs, a life may be prolonged and possibly saved. The danger or harm comes from the loss of valuable time.

THE study of homoeopathy is interdicted. in Japan.

SIR HARRY H. JOHNSTON, in McClure's, says it is just possible that this type of pygmy negro which survives today in the recesses of inner Africa may even have overspread Europe in remote times. If it did, then the conclusion is irresistible that it gave rise to most of the myths and beliefs connected with gnomes, kobolds and fairies. The demeanor and actions of the little Congo dwarfs at the present day remind one over and over again of the traits attributed to the brownies and goblins of our fairy stories. Their remarkable power of becoming invisible by adroit hiding in herbage and behind rocks, their probable habits in sterile or open countries of making their homes in holes and caverns, their mischievousness and prankish good nature, all seem to suggest that it was some race like this which inspired most of the stories of Teuton and Celt regarding a dwarfish people of quasi-supernatural attributes. The dwarfs of the Congo forest can be good or bad neighbors to the big black people, according to the treatment they receive. If their elfish depredations on the banana groves or their occasional thefts of tobacco or maize are condoned, or even if they are conciliated by small gifts of such food left exposed where it can be easily taken, they will in return leave behind them in their nightly visitations gifts of meat and products of the chase, such as skins or ivory. I have been informed by some of the forest negroes that the dwarfs will occasionally steal their children and put in their places pygmy babies of ape-like appearance-changelings, in fact-bringing up the children they have stolen in the dwarf tribe. These collections of pigmies, which one can scarcely call tribes, certainly exhibit from time to time individuals of ordinary stature, and with features not strongly resembling those of the pygmy type.

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