should he not know? Physicians know how women dress." Oh, yes, but he never in his own body felt the bondage. Nothing teaches like experience. No surgeon is so thoroughly aseptic as one who has seen the germs grow in the culture tube and demonstrated them under the microscope. He has seen with his own eyes, and knows he has an actual factor to deal with; there is nothing that would so effectually convince physicians of the immense factor for harm that woman's dress is to women, and so to the race, as a little individual experience. You need not put on a fashionable calling suit with braid and jet which would weigh all the way from ten to forty pounds, the waist of which must be put on after the bonnet and gloves, for after it is fastened the arms are literally pinioned. This would be extreme and unfair. Take an ordinary working suit, not omitting the high-heeled, narrow-toed boot. You would then have from four to ten pounds slipped snugly down over your corset, with yards of drapery outside and beneath swaying and twisting about your limbs. Go about your ordinary work, which involves no more active movement than woman's work. Feel the clinging friction at every step. Have a hand always ready to hold your skirts. from your own and others' feet as you go up and down stairs; get in and out of your carriage. Walk across Boston Common in a stiff breeze-this for one day only. Three items I would confidently vouch for in the outcome: first, most righteous, but undignified and unrestrained rage; second, rending of raiment; third, you would never attempt to treat a patient for displacement, or congestion, or vesical irritation without first working a reform in her dress.

lack of effort in this direction may be due to the fact that it is exceedingly difficult to persuade women to make radical changes in their dress. They will tell you their clothes are not tight, they never lace, they can turn round in the corset. Indeed their clothes are quite comfortable. They would rather take medicine for the congestion or the constipation, or most usually both, and in the pressure of daily work, when I see that only a round half-hour's talk with blackboard illustrations and full directions for the entire change of dress will effect a conversion, I have given the patient the desired bottle of medicine, pocketed the fee, shut the office door with a groan over the hopeless condition of the patient, and let me add in self-defense, a groan over my own shiftless treatment.

Were this matter not one of vital moment, in view of the unwillingness of women to make the necessary change we might, with some peace of conscience, leave these miserable women and girls to their unhealthful dress, treat them as so many emergency cases, whose lives are to be comforted and eked out in a superficial from-hand-to-mouth way. But this is not a side issue. No fact in Biology stands better proved than this, that change of function is followed by change of structure. With diminished exercise comes diminished size and development, and the dwindling of a little-used part has by inheritance been more and more marked in successive generations. This opinion, in his later life, Mr. Darwin was careful to keep constantly in view. Although the especial factor of natural selection which he first recognized still held its ground as playing an immense part in organic evolution, he repeatedly stated that great weight must be attributed to the inherited effects of use and disuse with respect to both mind and body. If these are facts, and they stand proved every day to those who observe and think, what sort of a race will the half-developed, half-furnished pelves of to-day bring forth? Is it inevitable that the children of culture and intellect be always puny and sterile? If his

tory must repeat itself can we not by earnest, wise effort raise the next cycle to a higher plane than this?

The matter of women's dress is one in which public opinion has a powerful influence, especially the opinion of men. Women dress not for their own comfort, or the health of posterity, but to please their brothers, their lovers, and their husbands. Men could wield a mighty influence for good in this work if they but realized its importance. As man has a more extended field for observation, woman has come naturally to regard his opinions with deference.

Women physicians, especially, work here at a disadvantage. With most women, save those in the advance ranks of thought, any suggestion in the way of hygiene in dress is immediately branded as Dress Reform, and straightway the masculine, pantaloontype of radical dress is brandished and they say, "What else could we expect from one who would study medicine?"

Woman does not like to be laughed at and called strong-minded. She would rather suffer pain and discomfort in her body than to be wounded in her heart by those whom she loves. This seems a plight -certainly we are warranted in using the word, for never was mortal more plicated, enfeebled, almost inextricably entangledthis seems a plight in which you, my brothers, have a work to accomplish, which no one else can do. Will you do it?

take who had the power and those might keep who could, we were a fighting people, and a people who fought hand to hand. Naturally in this kind of fighting it is most convenient to wield a weapon which can be used by one hand only, leaving the other hand and arm free for preserving balance, for defensive covering, and for offensive seizing.

Now, the right hand would naturally be used in preference to the left for wielding a weapon, in order that the heart might be kept as far away as possible from the assault of an adversary. Hence, right-handedness arose, and was passed on from father to son.

Moreover, when men first fought together in companies, they must soon have found that it was most convenient to handle their weapons in a uniform way. If some in a fighting company were right-handed, and others were left-handed, their weapons. would be continually clashing. Whether drilling or fighting, the men would need more space for wielding their weapons. If, on the other hand, each man used his sword or his staff with the same hand as his neighbor employed, confusion would be minimized, and a symmetrical appearance would would be given to the martial body.-From Pearsons' Magazine.

WHY ARE WE RIGHT-HANDED?

How often does one hear a fond mother saying, "Right hand, dear," to a child who puts out a left in greeting, or who prefers. to use its left hand for holding a spoon or knife. Many wise doctors now advise mothers to allow their children to use either hand without any preference.

Sir James Sawyer, M.D., has probably hit upon the most plausible reason for the right-handedness of the human race. In those early days, he says, when those might

HOW TO REDUCE THE WAIST.

To decrease the size of the waist by tight lacing is simply to ruin the figure irretrievably. So much has been said and written on the subject, and the physiological reasons of this fact are now so generally known that it is unnecessary to go into the matter here. The fact remains, tight lacing, so far from adding to a woman's beauty, merely detracts from the symmetry of her shape, and ultimately results in what is popularly described as a "lost figure" in early middle age. Most girls, happily, are now beginning to realize this truth, and in

stead of squeezing their waists into the smallest possible compass, have taken to reducing its actual size by a series of gymnastic exercises. The following simple movements, if persevered in regularly and consistently, will work wonders in this direction: First, stand, perfectly upright, with shoulders back, chin pressed well back, and arms at the sides, with palms of the hands to the front. Raise the arms over the top of the head till the thumbs touch, and then drop them down again Second, hold the arms straight out in front of you, palms down, and then move each arm around gradually to the side and back again, keeping them on the level of the shoulders. Third, stand with the arms stretched as far apart as possible, level with the shoulders, and making a perfect cross with the body, and describe small circles with each arm, using the shoulder as center. Repeat each exercise half a dozen times consecutively. London Health.

THE RELATIONS OF BODILY MUTILATIONS TO LONGEVITY.

JOHN HOMANS, writing from the standpoint of life insurance, in The Medical Record, says that injuries to the skull, with loss of substance, prevent the applicant from being a good risk; without loss of substance, and with no symptoms, he would be as good a risk as any one. Loss of sight from injury is no bar, but those whose eyes have been removed for carcinomatous or sarcomatous growth are usually short lived. Loss of limbs is apt to induce mental depression and a resort to alcohol and morphine. Persons whose stomach, spleen, liver, or kidneys have been interfered with surgically or by accident do not promise a longevity which would justify their insurance. Those who have suffered removal of a small portion of the intestines for injuries or gangrenous hernia, or of the appendix, have a

good chance of living to be old. Women who have had ovariotomy or hysterectomy performed are apt to be long-lived as the healthy. After hysterectomy performed for fibroid tumors, however, the probability of longevity is good. By careful selection many mutiliated persons might be picked out who would be good subjects for life insurance.

A CURE FOR INSOMNIA.

DR. VON GELLHORN has recently reported a cure for sleeplessness or "insomnia." A piece of muslin, about eighteen inches wide and two and three-quarter yards long, is rolled up like a bandage and a third of it wrung out of cold water. The leg is then bandaged with this, the wet portions being carefully covered by several layers of the dry part, as well as by a layer of gutta-percha tissue, and a stocking drawn on over the whole. This causes dilatation of the vessels of the leg, thus diminishing the blood in the head and producing sleep. It has been found by Winternitz that the temperature in the ear passage begins to fall in a quarter of an hour after the application of the bandage; the decrease amounting to .4° C., and the normal not being again reached for from one and a half to two hours afterwards. The author has employed this means of procuring sleep for a couple of years, and finds it especially useful in cases where there is congestion of the brain. Sometimes he has found it necessary to reapply the bandage every three or four hours, as it dried.

This is very much the same in its effects as the cold wet compress over the abdomen or at the nape of the neck. They are much used in health institutions and home treatment, and are often beneficial.

FOOTBALL IN AMERICA.

THE Medical Record thus comments on this brutal game, which seems to be gaining rather than losing popularity. We have no sympathy with its numerous victims, and cannot help a feeling of humiliation when we note the "taste" displayed by women admirers and applauders of this heathenish game:

"The football season is now at is height, and the results of the matches between the different college teams are eagerly followed by an army of partisans and other devotees of the game.

"The reports of the condition of the players after a particularly brisk match between two noted elevens, as given by the press, would be amusing were it not sad. When one reads that such and such a man is in hospital from the effects of injuries received in former game, but that the coach trusts that he will be sufficiently recovered to take part in the match of the season; that another man has had his shoulder dislocated; that several more are suffering from sprained ankles and slight hurts of that description, and, finally, that out of the whole number some two-thirds are rendered temporarily hors du combat, the fact is irresistibly borne upon one's mind that this game of football has decidedly its serious, not to say brutal, aspects.

as nurse and to devote her whole time to the patient and prevent other members of the family and visitors from having access to the sickroom.

3. We can have the excretions and expectorations in such diseases as typhoid fever and diphtheria received in disinfectant. solutions, and burned or otherwise properly disposed of.

4. We can have clothing and bedclothing thoroughly boiled and the furniture, floors and walls scrubbed with some disinfectant solution; those recommended by the State Board of Health are good and not expensive.

5. We can have the patient bathed and disinfected before we let him mingle with the public.

These few points seem simple, and one would think any family would be glad to adopt such procedures. It is hard, though, to have even that much done. So many people seem to be fatalists and say: "If the disease is going to spread it will spread, and what is the use of trying to prevent it?" By taking the heads of families into our confidence, and instructing them as to the danger of contagion much good may be accomplished.

MILK.

HOW TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.

I. ISOLATING our patient.

2. Having one member of the family act

TUBERCULOUS

THE question of the non-transmissibility of bovine tuberculosis from the animal to the human race is still sub judice. The Medical Record has this to say:

"Dr. George F. Still of London has always contended that tuberculous milk was an infrequent cause of infection in the young, and claims that the commonest channel of infection with tuberculosis in childhood is through the lung.

"Dr. Boviard, Jr., of New York read at paper before the Section on Pediatrics at the New York Academy of Medicine relating to this question, and has likewise concluded.

that milk from tuberculous cows is responsible for but few cases of tuberculosis among children. In support of his contention, Dr. Boviard quoted statistics of the New York Foundling Hospital, which has regularly in its care about. 2,000 children In 250 autopsies performed at that institution upon the bodies of children who had died of tuberculosis, it was found that but five cases, or 2 per cent., of definitely primary intestinal infection occurred among them.

"Nocard's conclusions are practically identical, as are those of many other authorities.

"Nevertheless, if it were allowed that these distinguished men are right, it should by no means follow that efforts to banish tuberculosis from cattle should not be pursued as vigorously as ever.

"That milk from a cow infected with tuberculosis is not as wholesome as that drawn from a healthy animal is obvious enough even to the non-scientific individual."

HUSBANDS AS

PORTRAYED BY WOMEN NOVELISTS.

JUDGING from the women's novels of the present day, the only good husband is a dead husband.

I take up one of these books to find the story of a young governess who, after her marriage with a Cuban relative of her employer, discovers that she has a jealous husband. Under the many indignities heaped upon her, the injured wife at length revolts. She then learns to love another man, who returns her affection. But the lovers agree to try to forget each other, and one succeeds.

fies the mere housewife, is revolting under the tyranny of the kitchen pots, and refuses to be comforted with her knitting. In an age which sees more women writing than ever before in the history of the world, it is natural that this unrest should find its expression in many of their books.

In the minds of the disaffected portion of the sex arise these questions: Why are these women discontented? What is it they protest against? What do they really want? Is it true, as one of their critics asserts, that they mistake curiosity about morbid social conditions for a desire for social reforms?

But, at least, the novelist might teach the uses of a sorrowful marriage. She might teach that to bear is to conquer our fate. She might teach us that though happiness has not fallen to her heroine's lot, or ours, in this age of philanthropy and intellectual activity, there is plenty of occupation for heart and head and hand.

And we will rise up and call her blessed if in future novels she will admonish the family skeletons to rattle their bones as faintly as possible, in case they cannot be absolutely silent. Let her preach to us the gospel of hope, hope for despair itself, as Dickens preached it. And may we yet meet a few good husbands in her pages, for if the husband in women's fiction continues to go from bad to worse, as rapidly as he has been doing of late years, he bids fair to soon occupy the place once held by the eighteenth century villain.—Nina R. Allen in Modern Culture.

HOME MADE SPLINTS.

DISSOLVE one pound of gum shellac in one pint and a half of ninety-five per cent. alcohol, with one drachm of borax. Let the mixture stand until all of the shellac has been dissolved; then it is ready to be applied. Old cloth makes the best splints. I generally use an old pair of trousers, ap