the prevention of the preventable diseases, and shows its real colors in the indifference of our legislators to the appeals or advice of this society upon matters of public health, in the penurious appropriation for the maintenance of our state board of health and in the conspicuously inadequate salary of the state commissioner of health.

The members of the legal profession seem to fight each other vehemently in court, but are not known to quarrel among themselves when urging that the salary of the judge be made commensurate with the dignity of his office, and it is so.

The people have ever reserved to themselves the right to say who shall practise the healing art, and what qualifications if any such persons shall have. The questions of what preliminary education such persons shall have, what shall be considered to constitute the science of preventive medicine, a knowledge of which all persons who practise any part of the healing art shall have, are ones upon which the people will probably listen to, and possibly be advised by this society. The broader questions of how the healing art shall be practised, what the size of a dose of a particular remedy for a particular disease shall be, whether remedies shall be gathered from nature's inorganic kingdom, or from her organic storehouse, or from both sources at will, whether men shall use water within and without, massage, electricity, hypnotism, or mental suggestion, with or without the added enforcement of religious belief, are those concerning which the people have ever shown themselves unwilling to be advised and intolerant of dictation.

Not understanding or not comprehending the spirit of the people in this important direction has in times past placed this society in a false light upon questions of great popular interest, if not of public importance.

Read in the light of history it seems clear that it would have been better for the medical profession, better for the great interests of the public health, which the medical profession must ever guard, if this society could have refrained from seeming to want

to dictate to the people how they should be doctored, could have contented itself with advising, and could have withheld that advice until it was requested.

Your committee is compelled to force these observations upon your attention by the logic of recent events. The people of the state are experimenting with osteopathy and Eddyism, just as a few years ago they were experimenting with homeopathy and eclecticism. There is great danger now, as then, that this society wishing to advise from abundant knowledge, will be found to seem to dictate to the people how the people shall conduct their own affairs; that the ever to be lamented blunders of 1857 and 1865 may be repeated in this the beginning of the new century. It would seem that this society should have learned by sad experience that the right is not always expedient, that it is wiser to be content to advise, and perchance to guide in medical questions, to be content to memorialize and to protest with becoming dignity, remembering that the weightier matters,-higher medical education, increased medical efficiency and better protection to the public health,-may only be adequately promoted and prospered by a united medical profession inspiring, guiding and leading a sympathetic and appreciative people.

port will show that of 4,919 men shot during the recent war in Cuba and the Philippines, 586 were killed and 4,333 were wounded. The mortality of those struck was 11.9 per cent., or one man killed for every 7.4 wounded. This shows that the Mauser bullet was less deadly than the missiles used in the civil war. During the rebellion of 507,910 wounded there were III,286 killed, or one killed to 4.56 wounded. Of course modern surgical methods saved a large percentage of the lives of those coming under the army surgeon's care in the late war.

AGE AND ACTIVITY.

FROM The Hospital we abridge the following:

A Nestor of the profession of surgery, Sir Henry Thompson, who, at the ripe age of eighty-two, retains very considerable bodily and undiminished mental activity, has just given to the world, in an enlarged and amended form, an essay on diet, in relation to age and activity, which he first published some sixteen years ago, and which he has now so far enlarged as to bring down its precepts from the seventh to the eighth decade of human life. There can, we think, be no doubt that an annually increasing number of persons are engaged in qualifying themselves to profit by its teaching; and that the eighth, or even the ninth decade, is now reached more frequently, by both sexes, than was even the seventh a century ago. The obituary columns of the newspapers contain facts which, in the main, are derived entirely from comparatively wealthy classes of the community; and the tables of the Registrar General, although they include all classes, are nevertheless vitiated, for many purposes, by the necessary inclusion of a large number of feeble folk, of sickly or neglected children, and of drunkards or depraved persons, who swell the total mortality of the nation by figures which are only applicable to a small proportion of its elements. Speaking in very general terms, it may perhaps be said that moderation is the chief source of the increasing longevity of the rich, including in that term all those whose circumstances place them beyond the probability of want; and that prosperity is the chief source of the increasing longevity of the poor, including in that term, all those of whom it may be said, in the words of Johnson's epitaph on Levitt, that

"The modest wants of every day,
The toil of every day supplied."

In other words, it is important for the continued life of the rich man that he should use discreetly the favors which for

tune has bestowed upon him; and it is important for the continued life of the poor man that his earnings should afford him a sufficiency of reasonable comfort in the direction of food, of clothing, of habitation, and of warmth. Abernethy touched the essence of one aspect of the matter when he declared that the best time to eat was, for a rich man, when he could get appetite, and, for a poor man, when he could get food.

Sir Henry Thompson's very edifying lay sermon is preached, of course, to those who fall within the former of Abernethy's two categories, and may almost be regarded as adding, to the words of the earlier master, "provided they don't eat too much." He draws a quite pathetic picture of the mischief which may be wrought by the loving wife, who endeavors to coax her elderly spouse into swallowing this and that compound supposed to be "nutritious," and who, when her well-intended persuasions fail of their effect, feeds him surreptitiously by concealing calf's-foot jelly in his tea. He lays down the perfectly sound principle that what is called "indigestion," as a rule, does not depend upon any fault of the digestive apparatus, but solely upon its being called upon to accomplish work which is beyond its powers; so that the remedy is not to be found in the gastric juices of the pig, or in the ingestion of the various chemically-prepared messes advertised as being digestible or as being nourishing, but in a simple accommodation of the demands made upon the stomach to its capacity for fulfilling them. He would leave the pepsins and the messes to be applied, if at all, by skilled physicians in cases of illness which may possibly require them, and lays down, as of practically universal application, the principle that the elderly person neither requires nor can digest as much food as the young person, and that this principle should govern the arrangements of his life. The total amount of his food should be steadily diminished as age advances, and this total amount should be divided among a larger number of meals than were sufficient for his wants in former days. In other words,

not only should the entire daily demand upon the digestion be diminished, but the demand made at any one time should be diminished also. It is commonly asserted, and is by many believed, that the average duration of human life has been increased by dentistry; but Sir Henry Inclines to the opinion that the loss or failure of teeth is one of Nature's kindly warnings that the use of them, and by implication the use of foods which require their active exercise, should be diminished in corresponding proportion. The principle which he applies to food, he applies also to all the forms of alcohol; and his contemptuous rejection of the idea that "wine is the milk of old age," reminds us of Sir James Paget's frequent saying that this or that was "as false as a proverb." Sir Henry's little book should win for him the gratitude of all who are approaching those slopes down which he has dscended so gracefully; and it has the rare merit that, in the words of a great moralist, the preacher "is the example of his own sermon."

A MODERN MYTH.

WE find this crisp editorial in the Denver Critique:

The fad for evolving new theories is working the medical profession pretty hard nowadays. Every fellow with a microscope and a potent imagination endeavors to astonish the world and gain notoriety through the announcement of some pretended discovery concerning disease, its causation, or its eradication. The medical journals, to say nothing of the daily press, are flooded with these fake discoveries, and it is high time for our medical editors to draw the line on everything of the kind that does not present at least a reasonable degree of scientific authority.

We had thought that at least the cancer theorists had reached their limit, but we find in a recent article in the Lancet that Dr. James Braithwaite of Leeds claims to have discovered that cancer is caused by

the excessive use of common salt in food. It is quite the fashion now to attribute almost any effect upon the human system, good or bad, to the use of salt, and we presume Dr. Braithwaite thought it an opportune time to spring a new theory upon a gullible public and no less gullible profession. The doctor travels a large circuit. for arguments in support of his theory (not omitting our Jewish friends), but the strongest one seems to be that malignant disease is very prevalent at Malton and Pickering, where the main articles of food are beef and bacon, a diet containing an excess of salt.

Now cancer has been attributed to almost everything in the vegetable kingdom from tomatoes to peanuts, salted or unsalted, but this venture into the mineral kingdom is a departure that must jar the credulity of western men who have had opportunity to observe the effect of excessive salt food diet upon our hardy Colorado miners, among whom cancer is almost unknown.

Evidently Dr. Braithwaite has another guess coming, for as a matter of fact that is all his article on the salt theory of can cer amounts to. And so it will be found with nearly all of these mushroom theories. of modern times-mere sentiment and imagination dealt out to impress the public mind and possessing not even a modicum of scientific accuracy.

A JUDGE DEFINES OSTEOPATHY.

JUDGE SAMUEL E. GREENE, of the Criminal Court at Birmingham, Ala., has decided that osteopathy is the practice of medicine, and that any person engaging in the same in Alabama can be forced to procure a license for practising medicine. His decision was based on the dictionary definition of the word "medicine," which is: "Science which relates to the cure, prevention or alleviation of disease." The defendant claimed that osteopathy was not the practice of medicine, as no drugs were used.

Too many people assume that because they enjoy fairly good health no improvement can be effected in their diet. That this position is fallacious none who carefully consider the subject will deny. Those whose practice brings them into contact with the wealthier classes have frequently an opportunity of estimating the bad effects of improper diet, not alone among the rich, but also among the poor. The latter are frequently unable to procure meat on account of their poverty, and as a result their diet is composed largely of carbo-hydrates. On the other hand, the well-to-do people, many of them at least, have little to distract their attention or develop the muscular abilities, and, as a consequence, there is but little demand for a meat diet. In the case of general sickness, or even without unfavorable climatic conditions, both classes seem to be unable to resist attacks of disease. These are, for the most part, the apparently healthy people, who are so quickly stricken down by disease, while no one thought they were in the least predisposed. In old times, it was customary when one became ill to prescribe a diet of toast, broth, gruel, and the like, and keep the sufferer on the shortest kind of short rations, even of this sort of food. No matter how long the illness continued, this régime was kept up. Exhausting and depleting medicines were given, and every effort seemed to be made to reduce the strength and vitality of the patient. To be sure, many people got well in spite of this treatment, but it must be said that it was more through good luck than good management. When the constitutions were robust enough to triumph over so many adverse conditions, there was a more or less com

plete recovery; but delicate and susceptible temperaments usually succumbed to this formidable array of adversaries. Modern medical common sense dictates that people shall not be starved, at least, whatever other treatment may be necessary. A sufficient amount of nourishing food is therefore given, and this food is quite likely to be the same that the person has been in the habit of taking during health, barring, of course, all extremely indigestible dishes, or those that will conflict with the remedies given. As a general thing, a sick person requires very much less food than a healthy one, although this is not always the case. People of sedentary habits, those who take little or no exercise to exhaust the physical forces, might need almost as much food when sick as when well.

There are few follies more extreme than that of putting sick people on a diet of toastwater and thin gruel. It would make a strong person sick, and how one can be expected to recover health and strength on such pabulum is more than ordinary intelligence can conceive. A small quantity of good meats, the vegetables that are most craved, a little light bread, the best of butter, and the usual beverages should be given if they are at all relished. It is one of the greatest of mistakes to give sick people sloppy drinks of any sort. If it is necessary to quench the thirst an abundance of pure water, boiled and cooled to the temperature of spring water, is most desirable. Coffee, tea, and chocolate are better when used of regular strength, such as is taken during health. The quantity may be a good deal lessened, but the quality should remain the same. If people in ordinarily good condi

tion get cup of tea or coffee, such as invalids are supposed to require, it would be almost certain to upset the digestion. How much more need is there, then, of care when all of the functions of the body are more or less deranged? It is frequently the case that a bit of broiled chicken, steak, or bird, with a little dry toast and a cup of good coffee, will relish and be satisfying when nothing in the way of invalid's food, as ordinarily given, can be tolerated. Of course, the food should be eaten very slowly indeed, and thoroughly masticated. If the condition of the patient will permit, some extremely interesting conversation may be carried on during the meal. It is a well-established fact that amusement during eating, especially that provocative of laughter, is of the greatest possible benefit. Indeed, the laughter cure, administered in a quiet way, and without too much nervous agitation, has been of the most marked advantage in many instances. Many physicians make it a point to amuse and entertain their patients quite as much as to diagnose and prescribe drugs.

HOPE FOR THE BROKEN-DOWN DYSPEPTIC.*

BY DAVID PAULSON, M.D.

THE broken-down dyspeptic, or any one who has serious indigestion, is prepared to take almost any disease, and readily succumb to its ravages. Often such cases make but little progress in their efforts to recover lost health, yet they ought to be resurrected quickly and beautifully, and even pleasantly. When a man has a sort of dingy-looking skin, with just a slight suggestion of jaundice, and the white of his eyes is just a little more muddy than yellow; when his tongue is thickly coated with a gray or dirty brown substance, and his breath is foul; when he cannot sleep well, and has an almost constant headache; when his bowels are extremely constipated, and

From the Pacific Health Journal.

he has irregular pains in various parts of his body; and yet he has practically a normal temperature; such a person can generally get well in a very short time if his case is laid hold of in a vigorous manner.

POISONED FROM WITHIN.

Such a set of symptoms does not suggest such serious diseases as consumption, typhoid, or malarial fever; but merely that the man is slowly but surely poisoning himself; he is, in fact, virtually committing suicide by means of the toxic substances developed in his alimentary canal as a result of various fermentations and putrefactions. A man may present such a picture as has been sketched, and at the same time have other serious diseases; but, if not, he can ordinarily be quickly cured; but usually he simply makes a funeral march toward the tomb. The process of curing such a patient is very simple. Such a man is generally doped with calomel, which provokes activity of the bowels, but does not remove the cause of the trouble. He may take headache powders which will stop his headache, but they likewise fail to remove the cause. He may take tonics, such as strychnin, etc., and feel better, when, in reality, he is no better. All this is simply a process of treating symptoms. The proper thing to do is to treat the causes, not the symptoms.

CURE THE MAN, NOT HIS SYMPTOMS.

When we attack the causes, we at once give such a patient a splendid chance for his life. The first thing to do is to place him upon such a diet as will tend to kill the germs which are at work in the alimentary canal, and at the same time encourage the elimination of the poisons which are being there produced. Nothing will accomplish this more admirably and quickly than an exclusive fruit diet. Give the patient fruit for breakfast, dinner, and supper. Let him have fruit three or four times a day, and thus avoid the wretched feeling which arises from a long-continued empty condition of