that can satisfactorily do its work, and that is Sunshine. "Blest power of Sunshine, genial day, What balm, what life is in the ray!" Dry hot air, in our large cities should be available at all times, day and night, and at all seasons. Sunshine or solar therapeutics, with our present knowledge, and in this latitude, is available only for a comparatively short period during each clear, warm day. People of elegant leisure and abundant means, by recourse to the tropics and by judicious selection, can live in almost perpetual sunshine. To others no such boon is possible. The skin may be said to possess four distinct functions. First, it is a covering for the exterior surface, which is permeated with a fine network of peripheral nerves. Second, it regulates the temperature of the body. Third, it is the analogue of the kidneysan indispensable emunctory. It is the sewerage system of the general excretions and the safety valve of the heart and circulatory system. Fourth, it is largely concerned in the function of respiration. These facts were well illustrated in the time of Leo X., who had a child gilded to represent the Golden Age. The death of the child soon followed, from suffocation! There are more deaths resulting from occlusion of the pores of the skin than are dreamed of in our philosophy. The course of phthisis pulmonalis is greatly accelerated by stoppage or by neglect of the functions of the skin. Every sanitarium should possess dry hot-air baths, well constructed, well conducted and well ventilated. No other agent can compare in effectiveness with dry air at high temperatures. Ventilation is indispensable to successful results. Without complete and constant ventilation dry air at high temperatures is not available, and anything short of this is inefficient. The average bather in the average hot air chamber cannot remain long enough to be in any material sense benefited. At the end of twenty or thirty minutes he must retire from the room, or he will become unconscious, or at least suffer from a "big head" and a congested brain. It was an often-repeated saying of a notorious New Yorker, "You know how it is yourself." In a recent visit to one of the largest and most pretentious dry hot-air bathing establishments of Greater New York, I resolved, if possible, to stick to the hot room at least thirty minutes, but was so completely prostrated before the end of that time that I could not leave the room without assistance. The heat in these so-called dry hot-air baths is not dry, and the perspiration so eagerly sought is not perspiration at all. It is condensed moisture, which acts like a coat of varnish, checks evaporation and abnormally augments instead of reducing the blood temperature. Why is it that these baths that claim to be dry are generally moist? Simply because. the proprietors find it less expensive to supply moist heat of moderate degree than dry heat of high degree. To secure effective ventilation also requires an extra degree of heat. In dry, well-ventilated hot chambers, at high temperature the veteran or practised bather can remain twenty-four hours, or longer, without danger or discomfort. I will add a few cases that tend to corroborate these statements. A well-known architect of New York spent a certain Sunday in New Jersey, where he was caught in a severe gale, with drenching rain. He remained in a cold room, after this exposure, until he became thoroughly chilled. The next morning with much difficulty he found his way to a wellknown sanitarium, was put in charge of two attendants and given dry hot-air, hot douches, electric and Roman baths, and although he remained in these baths from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M., little seemed to have been accomplished. As he could remain not longer, on account of his children being alone, he went home, but was told to return next morning, and was instructed to fast until his return-meanwhile he was permitted to drink hot lemonade or hot water ad libitum. He returned next morning, saying, "I have followed instructions." He was put in charge of the same attendants and the same general plan of treatment was resumed. At twelve o'clock the flood-gates were opened and perspiration poured in torrents down his chest, back and limbs. He immediately became "straight" and could move about with natural ease. At four o'clock he was discharged cured. To more definitely state his condition, this man came with a trinity of maladiesan obstructed skin, lumbago, and double sciatica. In these two visits he was relieved of all disability and at the same time lost ten pounds in weight. (He still had twenty pounds of adipose that he could have well spared.) A patient with Bright's disease, with much general edema, was reduced four pounds in weight in one hour, on his first visit, and relieved of much discomfort. An acute case of urticaria was developed and dissipated during one visit. This man came, as usual, on Sunday morning, as a preparation for church. After his ordinary bath in dry hot air, he returned to his dressing-room completely covered with elevated purple blotches. He was promptly sent back to the hot room, where he remained until the urticarial wheals or blotches had disappeared. This is believed to be an unparalleled case of so rapid a cure of acute urticaria. At first he could not recall that his breakfast had been unusual, but finally remembered that in addition to his usual morning meal, bologna sausage had been freely ingested. Cases of equal and possibly greater interest might be added indefinitely. It is not alone the office of dry air at high temperature to dissipate disease; it is equally effective in maintaining health and in the prevention of many maladies. hot-air will avoid pneumonia and other prevailing diseases. The temperature for effectiveness should range from 150° to 250° F. A recent asthma, a bronchitis, a severe cold, or a dietetic disturbance, a recent eczema, alternating chills and fever, in fact the whole catalogue of recent ills, have been generally dissipated, in a single hour. The time saved to the sufferer is by no means a matter of small consideration. I have treated many cases of blood-poisoning, from autopsies and dissecting wounds, and the poison has been promptly eliminated, and the cases cured, except those in which the alcohol habit in some form has interposed to frustrate the work. In the treatment of the early stages of lunacy the same measures will effect more cures than all other remedial resources combined. THE EFFECT OF CLUB LIFE UPON BY LILLIAN WRIGHT HESTER, Historian of the Hundred Year Club. In my opinion, if the clubs are wisely. chosen, club life is beneficial to women. Of course it should be enjoyed in a sensible manner, and not to the neglect of essential home duties. But now that people are adopting hotel life more and more, or living in apartments, there is much spare time left the average woman. Before club life became known to women, before this field was open to them, the woman who boarded—the woman who had no family ties, and the wealthy woman whose home was under a housekeeper's care, had no resources in her idle moments, but in novels and gossip, unless she was above the average in mind, or had artistic tastes. Many a woman had talents which lay undiscovered until club life claimed her attention. Many an intellect was going to rust for lack of something to really interest and sustain it, and much mis The man who bathes every week in dry chief was done for the reason that "Satan finds mischief still for idle hands (and able hints, so perhaps it is fairly balanced. heads) to do." At the present day you can hardly find a woman above the very lowest classes who does not belong to some club, from the milionaire's wife to the working girl. And consider the object and aim of some of these clubs. First we will take that one which helps the housewife. The New York State Economic Association takes in everything of interest to the housekeeeper. And what lessons in economy and hygiene one receives from this splendid association. Then there is the Mothers' Club. Here one learns from experienced mothers how to care for and to manage their children. What a help to young mothers. How much better than to trust to even the advice of the family physician, who is sometimes a bachelor, and how can he know as much about many simple ailments of childhood as a mother. Children are tender plants, and it takes a mother's eye to see their needs and to sensibly supply them. Then we have in a different vein, the various patriotic societies these have done great good, for our country was fast forgetting our heroes of the Revolution. To be sure we learned all about them at school, but for many this history contained no real interest until, on looking up family records, we found ourselves related to some of these glorious old heroes. That our own ancestors took actual part in those hard-fought victories, brought the possessive feeling which always holds one's interest. And see how public spirit was roused, and how many almost forgotten martyrs had their memory honored by monuments, and tablets. Then we have health clubs like our Hundred Year Club, for the study of all matters pertaining to a healthy life, with interesting lectures given under pleasant auspices, with friendly discussions on vital points. How many sensible hints are given. In one way it is not very good for the doctors, as it saves many a doctor's bill, but sometimes the doctors themselves receive valu And all given and received in a pleasant social atmosphere which makes it a pleasure to the senses as well as food for the brain. Of course, we have had for years the literary clubs for the study of various authors. In Boston they have been studying Emerson and Browning for so many years that it makes one feel they and their writings must have been either most intricate, or that the far famed "Boston mind" has Deen unequal to the problem for once. But, of course, these literary societies do their share of good, and stimulate the brain. Then our outing clubs and yacht clubs bring together congenial people, and this helps greatly in the enjoyment of life. Our charity clubs are wonders of welldoing and philanthropy. What energy is displayed by their members! What splendid work is done every year! Large affairs taking time and strength and brains, successfully carried through by women. Some women who seem too languid to hold a skein of wool and certainly some who would not dust their own drawing-room, will stand behind a table selling things at a charity fair, all the afternoon and evening, and have strength enough even then to coax you out of your last penny. She will start to go home a "total wreck" as she says, and pause at the door to gladly discuss plans for another such affair, to be given the next week. To be sure some men have been unkind enough to question the motive of all this, to their eyes, misdirected energy, but they do sometimes misjudge us, much to our surprise. If the general public could only see the results of some of these charity affairs, which they grow so tired of before the Winter ends! The little white cot in the hospital, where the hurt limb is carefully treated and perhaps made "whole" again. The little fever-stricken patient, taken from a home of squalor and neglect and given the proper care and attention. And when convalescent, visited by some bright-faced girl with a present of toys and flowers! Oh! what bright spots these are in some dark little lives, so that it is "almost fun to have a leg broken" as one little boy said in one of these "charity wards." And then in summer, to be taken to the bright, beautiful country which some have. never seen before! To see beautiful nature at its best. Many a dormant soul has been awakened by these sights and sounds, which might never have been found but for these noble charities. Our political clubs, too, have done us good. We all know men have not the time to explain the questions of the day to their wives. Men discuss these matters with each other and get both sides of a question, and can then judge accordingly. A woman sees a daily paper-perhaps two-they are sure to be the ones of which her husband approves, and of his political party, and so she goes on hearing one side only, unless she belongs to a club of standing, which discusses these questions. In these days a woman often astonishes her husband by knowing more about current events, and the personal attributes of this or that candidate for office, than he does. And, as we all know that "constant dropping will wear a stone" there is no doubt that a woman who has thus primed herself, and selected a candidate which she is convinced is the best one for her party, can and will be an important factor in politics, by influencing her men folk. Then our working girls, catching the fever, have their little clubs and reading rooms, where they can have the social life young hearts crave, without seeking it in the ever-prevalent dance hall. And so it seems to me that club life has done good deal for my sex. Knowledge, we know, broadens our views, and in the future I think we shall not hear so much that saying, that "Men are broader minded than women." We took a narrow view of things when our knowledge was narrow. For even a college education does not teach us all we should know, to make us fair and just in our censure and praise. It takes knowledge of many different phases of life to do this. Women must learn to take things more moderately, not to carry an idea to extremes, not to overtask brain or body. To learn what "relaxation" is, for body as well as mind, and with her mind and body thus at its best, she should be, what she was made to be, "A thing of beauty and a joy, forever." IS MEDICINE FOUNDED ON TRUTH?* BY W. J. GEORGE, M.D., Of Johnstown. MAN and his relation to the universe, or, more technically speaking, the microcosm and its relation to its prototype, the macrocosm, is a subject that has pre-eminently engaged the attention of the scientific world from the earliest dawn of intellectual reasoning until the present day. The truths elicited from the study of this subject throughout the different ages have formed the fundamental principles upon which rests the science of medicine. This trend of arduous thought has been evolutionary in its character. It has been a gradual unfolding of scientific truth. Physio In the advancement of knowledge physics has achieved many victories, yet medicine, within itself, is not recognized as a true science. The deductions drawn from the principles of pure science are always exact, and in conformity to law, but from physiological principles it is simply preposterous to attempt a scientific deduction. logical reasoning has been so varied in respect to physical law, and therapeutical achievements are still so empirical and indefinite in clinical results, that many observers are prone to believe that medicine, as a science, has scarcely arisen above the horizon of mysticism. This is the attitude. in which modern medicine is almost universally viewed in comparison with other sciences in this day of general enlightenment and recognized scientific progression. *Pennsylvania Med. Journal, Many of the subordinate elements entering into medicine constitute distinct sciences within themselves. This has rendered reasoning from a medical standpoint more complex in its nature than if it depended directly upon primary principles of its own. We have learned from experience in scientific conclusions the self-evident law that if the principles of a subordinate science are true the logical conclusions derived therefrom must also be true. From this maxim we learn that medicine can be a true science if only its principles are true. Then in the study of man and his relation to the universe our ancestors must have some time in the past mistaken an untruth for a truth, and allowed it to become incorporated as one of the fundamental principles of medicine. The sphere of medicine embraces not only a science but also an art. It embraces something more than the mere assembling of principles in order to ascertain definite results. It teaches man how to live, but through its skilful application it accomplishes a nobler purpose. It alleviates suffering humanity, which has given it a divine mission. Pope said: "The proper study of mankind is man." But the study of medicine is still a higher mission. It is to ascend to the very zenith of intellectuality and look down upon and grasp the truth of all science for the love of humanity. Then to those who are so honored as to be entrusted with this precious science it becomes a sacred duty to review the studies of our ancestors under the present light of science, in order to learn wherein lies the error that has retarded the progress of medicine. In reviewing this subject, for our purpose, it only becomes necessary to consider the physical nature of man, that is, matter and energy, and its physical relations to the universe. The consideration of the soul, or that part of the subject pertaining to the intelligence, as it has been denominated, we will leave for the present with the Theologian and the Psychologist. Matter and energy then, are the two great elements that confront us for consideration in our review of the study of man and his relation to the universe. In the beginning it seems to have been the wisdom of the Allwise Architect to begin with matter, as the lowest, and to end with the soul, as the highest in the order of creation. The same arrangement is characteristic of the whole domain of nature. We will proceed as far as our subject pertains, following the same natural order. This Matter as defined by scientists is a transformation of energy. In other words it is the power of the Allwise Creator directed into a physical state of perception. transformation of energy which is called matter, constitutes everything that is real and tangible in nature. It forms the earth, the atmosphere, the planetary systems that abound in distant space and everything material under the boundless canopy of the universe. Through the advancement of science man has been enabled to differentiate and classify the universal matter. By the aid of the spectroscope he has scanned the heavenly bodies and has analyzed and reduced matter into elements of the most simple form. The molecule has been separated into its different atoms and the atoms again synthetically reorganized into their original state. It has been conclusively demonstrated by analytical science that man himself constitutes one of the integral parts of the universe and is composed of the same common matter. The same kind of atoms that enter into the organism of man enter into the formation of the universe. The difference of organization depends only on the molecular and atomic combination. Then, in our review of the study of man and his relation to the universe we have found nothing from the materialistic aspect of our subject to indicate an error in the fundamental principles of medicine, but there remains another universal element for our consideration-that is energy. Energy is an attribute of the same power asserted by the same Divine Author into a |