and the attack will be at once aborted. I have demonstrated this a thousand times. In moderate attacks of fever or inflammation and in delicate patients the treatment may be less heroic. Indeed it may be so insidiously and temperately applied that patients will be surprised, and the doctor too, to find such splendid effects from such apparently simple means. It may be given to the most delicate infant, and it is one of the best remedies ever in vented for baby colic. I have raised ten children of my own on it and hundreds of other peoples'. To infants one teaspoonful mixed in four or six of hot water, sweetened, and given a teaspoonful of the mixture every few minutes until the colic or fever ceases or emesis follows. The extract of the seeds-Extractum Lobelia Semina is a more powerful remedy and is used in the worst forms of fever and inflammation and in tough, strong patients with sthenic developments. It is good also in strangulated hernias, or whenever relaxation of tissue is desired. In tetanus it is one of our best remedies, and in connection with the vapor bath will be more likely to cure than any other remedy. The dose is from one-eighth to a whole grain, made into a pill with capsicum. Work into the soft pultaceous extract all the powdered capsicum it will hold and form into pills, to be given as required until the same effects produced by the tincture as above indicated follow. In asthenic developments of fever and inflammation it should be used with more care; but knowing its effects to be always only relaxation, and its counteraction is stimulation and contraction, you are its master and it will prove to be to you a faithful and efficient servant. 2. For half a century I have had a large country practice and have never bled a patient, given a grain of any preparation of mercury, antimony, lead or arsenic, and I am sure that all who know about it will at least admit that I have been as successful in curing my patients as the best of my fellow-practitioners; while I claim for myself much more than this. Fifty years ago I took this position and have contended with my contemporaries on this subject until I have seen the lancet set aside and the mercurials reduced from thirty grain doses to one-fourth grain, antimony and lead almost entirely abandoned as internal remedies, while arsenic is used as much as ever by all those who know of nothing better, and the forms of disease for which it is used have become more numerous and inveterate; I hope to labor on in this direction until I see all these inorganic poisons entirely set aside as medicines. They were brought into use in the dark ages of medicine, and will go out of use when men are brought to see that such poisons always tend to corrupt the blood, and thru such corruption healthy tissue can never be constructed. Such corruption does, and has, and necessarily must produce many new, strange and unaccountable forms of disease. They ruin the stomach into which they are received, and hence the increase of gastric disease now so common. They irritate and poison the liver, kidneys and skin, thru which organs they are eliminated, and hence the enormous increase of disease in all these organs. Years ago I have satisfied myself that all cancerous and cancroid forms of disease are the result of such medicinal poisoning. I have never had a case of cancer that I could not trace directly to this cause. So confident am I on this point that I assure all persons that have grown up under my care from birth, that they need never fear that they will have a cancer. The same assurance may be given as to tertiary syphilis. Patients properly treated without mercury never have tertiary syphilis. The corrupted blood flowing to any point of the organization where irritation exists most continuously, fails to remove the irritation because of the cells damaged by the poison, and the result is the abortion which we call cancer. The stomach, liver, rectum, lips and tongue in men, and the womb and breasts in women, are the chief seats of the disease because they are the most subject to irritation, which invites the corrupted blood to these points. I am sure if these poisons should be universally banished from the materia medica and never again used as medicines, scores of our worst forms of disease would in a generation or two pass entirely away, and chief amongst them would be cancer in all its forms. Let your readers consider in a reasonable, unprejudiced manner what I have written here, and I believe they will conclude with me that virulent, inorganic poisons can never become medicines, even tho they are given with ever so good intentions. In conclusion let me call attention, in this connection, to Dunglison's definition of a medicine. It is anything administered with the intention of curing disease." Such is the absurdity to which 66 Salicylic Acid for Tape Worms. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-A short time ago I was called to see a patient who was believed to be suffering from some form of dyspepsia. Upon careful consideration of the symptoms and history of the case, I diagnosed tenia medio-canellata, or beef tape worm, as the patient had been in the habit of eating meat almost raw. Having arrived at the diagnosis, I set looking about for the easiest and best way of removing the cause of the trouble. The usual treatments recommended in our text-books or in our medical cyclopedias, with fastings, copious enemas, milk diet for a few days previous to the administration of the pelleterine, papain or ethereal extract of male fern, seemed to me rather prolonged and tedious both to the patient and the physician. I remembered reading somewhere in THE MEDICAL WORLD something about salicylic acid causing the expulsion of a tape worm. So looking up the question of the properties of salicylic acid, I found it greatly praised by dermatologists as a parasiticide. After some consideration of the subject, I decided to administer salicylic acid in the case, thus: The patient was allowed to eat as usual; breakfast was partaken of at an early hour, and by nine o'clock a. m. the first dose, consisting of eight grains of salicylic acid, was taken. This was repeated every hour until five doses were taken; the last dose was followed by about one ounce of castor oil. About nine o'clock p. m. the worm was expelled. It came in a mass and was still alive and squirming. Upon unfolding the mass we found the tenia to be thirty feet in length, the head being seen thru an enlarging glass plainly showing the four hemispheral suckers. A smaller worm about six feet in length was also expelled at the same time. During the day's treatment the patient, a lady, kept busy about her household duties and did not seem to feel the least inconvenience from the use of the drug. Since that time she has been perfectly well. Have we not here a simple and easy treatment by which we can successfully evict those uninvited tenants of the intestinal tract? Norwich, Conn. E. CARNET, M. D. Drunkenness Among Physicians. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I second the motion of "A subscriber in China" for a free discussion of the subject of drunkenness among physicians. I believe that a doctor should either give up his whisky or his profession. My own opinion is that a physician even partially under the influence of alcohol is in no condition to successfully practice medicine or surgery. Every physician should be a teetotaler. The habitual use of opium in some form is increasing among members of the profession to an alarming extent. Let us have the opium habit among physicians discust also. Doctors should set a good example before the world. It is hard to convince the people that whisky and opium are injurious to their health as long as the doctors use them habitually. Altonia, Texas. G. W. WOODS, M. D. Electricity in the Treatment of Leukorrhea. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In the treatment of leukorrhea, electricity is the most satisfactory and reliable agent to use, and it is within the reach of every doctor, and can be used by him as successfully as by the specialist. It is particularly to be recommended in the treatment of the chronic form, characterized by free discharge. We will not enter into the discussion of the usual methods of treatment, as they are known by every doctor, and it is the almost universal opinion that the ordinary treatments are slow, unsatisfactory and ineffectual; and after a physician i has intelligently applied electricity, he invariably uses this agent in the treatment of this trouble, because with it he gets prompt and permanent results. Galvanism is the treatment to be applied as follows: After a hot antiseptic vaginal douche, the patient is placed in the dorsal posture and the speculum in position. A towel is then wrung out of hot water, and my spiral spring disc abdominal electrode placed upon it. Attach to the positive pole of the galvanic battery. The corners of the towel are then tucked between the spirals of the electrode, and the whole placed over the abdomen, with another dry towel above it to protect the clothing, and the patient directed to place both hands above this, outside the clothing, and use firm pressure. This insures accurate and complete contact over large surface thru a good conductor, and heavy currents can thus pass without pain. The insulated intra-uterine electrode is then attacht to the negative pole of the galvanic battery and introduced to the fundus, and a current turned on of from twelve to twenty cells, or about fifteen or twenty milliamperes strength. The electrode is then gradually withdrawn, the whole treatment lasting about twenty minutes, and after the entire membrane lining the uterus and cervix has been gone over, the current is then gradually reduced to zero and the electrode removed. As the cervix is more sensitive than the fundus, it is best to reduce the current about one-half when treating the cervix. I then put about a dram of irisol in the posterior cul-de-sac, with an absorbent cotton tampon at the cervix and remove the speculum. I then insert either a carbon or aluminum insulated vaginal electrode, and reverse the direction of the current, using the positive in the vagina and the negative on the abdomen, and thoroly treat the vaginal membrane as before, using about the same strength of current. In very bad cases, or where there is any bleeding, it might be best to give a few treatments with either the pure copper or zinc intra-uterine, with the positive pole, thus getting the localized, astringent, antiseptic action of the oxy-chloride of copper or zinc; but these cases are the exception, and the above treatment is the rule. This method gives entire satisfaction in a great majority of cases, as the results are prompt and the effects permanent. Treatments may be given once or twice a week, between the periods. This method of treatment requires but little skill and very simple apparatus, and can be used by any doctor, and a few cases of this kind promptly cured, in patients who have been troubled for years, and have taken all kinds of / treatment from all kinds of doctors without avail, will do more to advertise you than anything else, and if you adopt this method of treatment, you will never regret it, as it will increase your practice and bank account, and you can have no fear in assuring your patients that if they give you a chance and follow your directions, they will be cured of a very troublesome symptom. The conditions of subinvolution, congestion and enlargement are nearly always present in these cases, owing to the effects of child birth, or the habits of life or dress, and these conditions rapidly disappear under this treatment. Absolute cleanliness and gentleness are necessary. The irisol, which I use, made by the East Avenue Drug Company, of Hamilton, Ohio, after the formula which I have been using for a number of years, consists of equal parts of boracic acid and iodoform, with five per cent. of deodorizing agent added, and is an excellent preparation. This form of treatment will restore the normal healthy condition as far as is possible, and the effects on the uterine and vaginal tissues are wonderful, and if you follow out this plan you will not only have the satisfaction of curing your patients and having their gratitude, but the male population who pay the bills and are particularly interested in this part of the anatomy, will rise up and call you blessed. H. C. BENNETT, M. D., M. E. Lima, Ohio. Secretary The National College of Electro-Therapeutics. Editor "The Electro-Therapeutist." Removal of Tumors from Vagina of a Child. Editor MEDICAL WORLD: A large, wart-like tumor protruded from the vagina of a mulatto child, one year and five months old. This tumor was so large that it entirely occluded the vaginal orifice and prest upon the urethral canal, causing retention of the urine. I decided, after examining the tumor and its attachments, to operate for its removal; so, after bringing the patient under the influence of chloroform to complete esthesia, I graspt the protruding mass with a pair of forceps and directed that traction be made while I dissected it from its attachments with a pair of scissors, after which, with considerable traction, the tumor came away. It was attacht to the vaginal walls, and was also connected with other tumors above, extending up to the cervix. After removing the first tumor I made further examination with my finger, and I discovered numerous small tumors attacht to the vaginal walls, extending up to and all around the cervix uteri. I will note here that upon introducing my finger into the rectum, that severe pains, like those common to regular labor, would come on. By external manipulation thru the abdominal wall, the other tumors were brought into view, and could be caught with forceps and taken away. This method was pursued until twenty-five or thirty tumors, from the size of a navy bean to that of a guinea egg, were removed. After the operation, carbolic acid solution was used as a vaginal wash. There was little or no hemorrhage. The vagina was packed with iodoform gauze, which completed the operation. Gauze was removed on the second day, and a vaginal wash was then used twice daily. The operation was performed May 8, 1899. The case seems at this date to have completely recovered. As regards constitutional treatment, the child has been on potassium iodid, 5 gr. doses, three times daily since the operation. Drs. Allen and Alter, of England, Ark., assisted in this operation. Dr. Carter in 1812, in Kentucky. I will give a selection from it. The book is better than "Peck's Bad Boy," and almost as good as Dr. King's "Life of a Country Doctor." For a woman in travail, the ashes of a jack ass' hoof mixt with oil; anoint the privates. Is very good. For speedy delivery, boil mugwort in water till it becomes a poultice. Apply hot to the woman's thighs. It causeth both births to come away. If it remains too long, will bring the womb also. For colic, cat dung tea. Never fails to give ease. Even in our day, during the war between the States, some of our boys had measles while prisoners up north. They actually believed the Yankee doctors were trying to kill them by letting them have all the cold water they wanted. Well, of course, they had been taught by the doctors of the South that it was sure death, and I suppose the next generation will laugh heartily over some of our ideas. Nubia, Tex. J. W. H. MARTIN. Practice in "Ye Olden Time." One of Our Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-The editorial in May WORLD, page 175, relating to the output of medical graduates, contains much truth. It occurred to me in this connection that I would like to give some of my early experience, as it might be some benefit to those who have just started in the profession. On October 1st, 1846, I took an office, hung out a sign, "Doctor James M. Hole, M. D.," nothing more. Then there were no "pathies" to my knowledge. 66 The following was my talismanic mascot": "Thou great first Cause, least understood, yet reverenced by the wise and good, thou ever gracious, ever kind, thru life, thru death, attend the virtuous mind." Acting upon this, I have tried to be in position at all times to merit gracious favor. The first case I had was an old German. His urinary arrangements did not suit him. He said that his wife, to cure him had a cow's horn filled with urine hanging up in the chimney, which would have to all evaporate before he was well, but his sufferings were such that he could not wait longer for the cow's horn remedy. Allow me to illustrate my feelings by an anecdote. A man had a blanket stolen and went to a justice of the peace to get a search warrant. The squire took his books down, and examined them for a while, and then told the man he could not give the warrant as he could not find the word blanket in any of his books. This case was to me like the blanket was to the squire, but I gave the German 10 grains of submuriate of mercury and the same number of grains of jalap, and followed with castor oil and turpentine. I repeated the doses for several days, and when he was thoroly cleaned out he got all right. The cow's horn was still evaporating but it lost its charm when he got well. I continued to find patients, but whenever there were doubts as to the character of the disease and its treatment, as soon as I returned to my office, either night or day, I consulted my books. Even if at midnight, I slept not until I had consulted all the authors I had upon the case, if I was not fully satisfied as to the case sooner. I lookt at it this way if by my neglect the grim reaper should get in his work, I had failed to do with my patient as I would wish done were the case reversed, he the doctor and I the patient. Also I invariably visited my patients at the time I told them I would, unless unavoidable circumstance interfered; indeed I was careful to not deceive or mislead them in any manner, so that they soon lookt upon me as entirely reliable. stopt the blood by tying up the arm. The other physician who was in the village had been there several years, and had taught those people to follow out this bloody work. His charge was 12 c. to each one for bleeding them; indeed it was quite a money-making scheme to him you see, yet I was powerless to change it. His charges for going into the country 4 or 5 miles to attend one of their women in confinement was $3.00 only, if they paid cash; if in produce $3.50. I had to accept the same price, or not get the practice. I Here I recall a case of obstetrics. lost the patient, too. The lady was taken sick at noon. They sent for me in the evening; it was about four miles. When I went into her chamber she was in very severe labor. Her water all at once seemed to break, yet very little came away. From that time all night she did not have any more labor pain. The presentation was normal. All that I could give her or do for her did not start up her pains. I was greatly worried to know the cause. At about 10 a.m. next day I told her husband I wanted him to send for Dr. Fowler, an old physician, about ten miles away. He came. I stated the case. "Oh," said he, "she can become all right soon." "I shall be glad if she does," said I. "Go to work at her, Doctor." He did, but nothing favorable resulted. At last, about night, he said we must take the child with forceps, which we did, when we found a rupture in the body of her womb. All surplus waters were in the abdominal cavity. She expired at midnight. This is the only case of that fearful nature I have ever met. My location was in a small village; the surrounding country for eight or ten miles was being cleared up by an industrious class of farmers, principally of German nationality. Many of them had their minds chock full of remedies, such as herb Only a few days thereafter I was called teas, charms, etc., to cure them when sick. to attend a stout, healthy German woman, I had a spring lancet, a scarificator and in her thirtieth year of age, who lived on cups, which were quite often required. A A an adjoining farm. Upon an examination woman, as soon as she was sure she was I found the right arm and cord both expregnant, must be bled; and again about ternal, the head lying over on the left the seventh month of her pregnancy, and shoulder. I made effort after effort to also after her labor was over 24 hours. push the child back and turn it, but the Every spring nearly all the females and moment I tried to do so her pain came so many of the males would come to my office vigorous that I could not overcome it. to get bled. The females were bled in the When I stopt the pain would stop, until I foot, the males in the left arm. This tried it again. Thus I tried for hours, bloody work was again all to be gone over when at last I gave it up, and again sent in the fall; so that I had quite an experi- for Dr. Fowler. He came. I told him I ence in blood-letting. Indeed almost all was certainly destined to become a failure, kinds of disease had to be bled or scarified and that I certainly would give up the and cupped once or several times. I used practice. He said, "No, no." He then to set the patient up in bed, open a vein in went to her bed, tried to force it back and the left arm, take from 10 to 15 ounces of turn it. He continued for some hours, blood, if they did not faint sooner, then I with no better results than I had. Said |