The author is a "Past Grand Master" in the manufacture of surgical instruments, and has actual and practical knowledge whereof he teaches. He commends skill in construction of instruments designed and manufactured by rival houses. He does not spare criticism of any instrument that seems to him faulty in mechanical construction, or that has proven defective in actual use. This feature will prove valuable to physicians and surgeons in the purchase of new instruments. The author endeavors to aid the purchaser in selecting from a multitude of appliances which he thinks he might want (and yet many of which he will never use) only those which have been found well suited to their purpose at the hands of a great mass of the profession.

The work commends itself because of its thoroness-the article on "Needles, Sutures and Needle Holders" occupies 32 pages. The use of "artificial testes of ivory, celluloid or silver," as described and illustrated, is surely one of the refined modern surgical achievements. Many presumably popular instruments are mentioned only to condemn as "being too cheaply constructed to be of practical use": "Practically out of use since the principles of asepsis have been generally accepted and the dangers of primary and mixt infections known."

Articles on "Construction of Instruments," "Care of Instruments," "Honing of Knives," "Microscopy and Microscopical Methods," etc., are well and concisely written and thoroly illustrated. Truax denies to the phonendoscope "any advantages not found in the better patterns of stethoscopes." "It is, however, we believe, less definit and accurate than a perfect binaural stethoscope." Ten pages are devoted to hypodermic syringes, and their perusal and the following of their advice will save the busy practitioner much worry and many "cuss words." Lists of instruments to be used in any special operation are not given, but under the head "Laparotomy" all the instruments used in any sort of abdominal operation are grouped; and so on under various general headings. The article on the Roentgen ray is somewhat disappointing, less than two pages being devoted to it. various dressings for wounds are discust in detail as to their respective merits and demerits, 12 pages being devoted to this. Six pages are given to discussion of Hernia and Trusses. Military surgery and its appliances cover 12 pages. One of the novelties illustrated under this heading is Getz's bicycle litter, an ordinary bicycle, so modified as to make a very satisfactory ambulence when such alteration is desired. The stretcher frame is 6 feet long, and 26 inches wide, and weighs 8 pounds, being constructed of bicycle tubing. One man can thus handle both bicycle and patient. Fracture and orthopedic appliances take up 83 pages.

The

This work will be found useful by the recent graduate in selecting his first stock of instruments; it will be used by the older men who wish to keep up with modern advance; it is a portrayal of the Mechanics of the Surgery of today; and in years to come it will be valuable as the most perfect index of surgical advance. Its good points are many and valuable, and its faults few and of minor importance.-A. L. R.

The third edition of "A General Freight and Passenger Post," by J. L. Cowles, Esq., and publisht by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 27 W. 23d St., New York, is at hand. It has grown to nearly double the size of former editions, containing 312 pages, and is announced at $1 in cloth and 50 cents in paper.

We need hardly say anything in addition to what we have already said about this remarkable book, excepting to say that the additional matter is just as instructive as that presented in the first edition. Any one reading this book will be surprised many times by the facts here revealed.

Mr. Cowles has a very interesting and spirited manner of writing. His book is as interesting as a novel, and if the voters of this country should read it, the transportation question would soon be solved.

The "Tri-State Medical Journal and Practitioner," of St. Louis, has changed its name to the "Interstate Medical Journal."

Our Monthly Talk.

Has your party got its face set toward the past or the future? The following news item does one good. It is concerning the action of the Massachusetts Democratic convention yesterday. I wish I could record the same item concerning the action of every party of every state in the Union. Will your state and your party come up to this standard? Here is the item:

The platform favors direct legislation thru the initiative and referendum, the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people, the enforcement of an eight-hour workday, the abolition of the law granting a lifetenure to members of the judiciary, and the public ownership and operation of street railways, water works and other municipal business enterprises.

A Year of Patriotic Study.

Rev. W. D. P. Bliss, of Alhambra, Cal., is a clergyman that believes in serving God by trying to make the world which we are now living in better. He is the prime mover of the Social Reform Union, a non-partisan organization to push education on public questions among all classes of people and all political parties. The fact is that the well-to-do and so-called intelli

gent classes need this kind of education much more than many of the humble. The following is the program for the year:

SUBJECTS FOR MONTHLY STUDIES.

October-Direct Legislation.

November-Proportional Representation. December-Public Ownership of Public Utili

ties.

January-Municipal Ownership of Public

Utilities.

February-National Ownership of Public

Utilities.

March-The Taxation of Land Values. April-The Taxation of Franchises, Inheritances and Incomes.

May-Government Money vs. Bank Money. June-Scientific Money.

July-Postal Savings Banks.

August-Public Ownership the Only Cure for

Trusts. Strikes, Government by Injunction and Government by the Sword.

September-Public Ownership, the Key to Short Hours and the Employment of the Unemploved.

Write to Rev. Bliss for samples of the literature publisht by the Union. Better send fifty cents or $1, while you are at it, to pay for literature to be sent to you for a year.

Gold Certificates.

The banking interests have complained long and bitterly that the greenbacks were an "endless chain" to take gold out of the treasury in times of panic. However, these same interests have finally brought strong enuf pressure upon the administration to secure the issue (the legal authority for which is doubtful) of gold certificates. They want to kill the "soldier's money," the money that saved the nation; but they want gold certificates. They said that the greenbacks are a danger to the gold reserve in times of famine. How about gold certificates? The fact is that they need paper money, and they know that the people prefer paper money, but they oppose the paper money which stays at home and fights the country's battles in time of need. Gold certificates are not money proper, but only receipts for goods. They enable the bankers to store their gold in the government vaults without charge, and use the certificates as money, saving the express charges on the gold, by sending the certificates on missions of trade to "move the crops" instead of sending the gold itself. The government does that for the banker; then why should it not store lead, zinc, copper, wheat, etc.. for the owners of the same on the same terms? But all must agree that it would be much better for the government to issue, not certificates for gold, lead, wheat, or any other kind of product, but it should issue paper money, based on all the leading products of the country, or a general average of say 100 of the leading products of the country as a standard of value. The book called "Rational Money" tells how this can be done. This is the only way to finally and permanently settle the gold question and the silver question. When money so based is issued by the general government in quantities to maintain a normal average of prices, panics will cease, for falling prices and panics go together, and if a normal average of prices is maintained, a panic is impossible. This would be a definit, permanent and safe basis for all business. It does seem that we ought to reach such a basis some time. Are we not tired of panics and uncertain business conditions? Is not a permanently safe basis worth studying for and working for?

Postal Savings Banks.

The American people think they are very progressive, but as a matter of fact, in many ways they are very slow and stupid. Some idea of this can be gotten from the following clipping from the Chicago Tribune, and when such a slow and conservative paper as that begins to move for the interests of the common people it is time that all the people should get the same kind of a "move on them." Yet you will allow your con

gressmen to dally along with partisan questions, to the neglect of questions of vital importance to the common people. Here is the article from the Chicago Tribune, which will indicate how far we are behind England in meeting the wants of the masses of the people:

GROWTH OF ENGLISH POSTAL BANKS.

One of the most remarkable instances of the encouragement of national thrift is that furnisht by the post-ctice savings banks in England. As a financial institution, the postal bank is less than half a century old in the "tight little island," having opened its doors in September, 1861 At the end of the following year there were 180,000 accounts, aggregating about $8,750,000, and in the five ensuing years the total sum deposited averaged about $35,000,500. From

to 1875 the average stood about $90,000,000, and from 1975 W 1880 it reacht the great annual average of $145,000,000. Great as was this phenomenal growth in deposits with corresponding increase in the number of depositors, it was not until Mr. Fawcett became the head of the Post-ofice Department that it achieved fully the aim of its promoters in being an institution that could gather up every unemployed penny in England and make it the nucleus of further savings. Mr. Fawcett threw himself into the cause of popularizing the people's savings bank with an energy and zeal that, supplemented by his practical methods and sagacity, launchit the post-office bank upon that grander era, the evidence of which is furnisht in the magnificent buildings, covering five acres of ground, now rising at West Kensington, dedicated by the Prince of Wales this year. Mr. Fawcett interested even the children of England in saving by providing the penny stamp slip, by which the school boy might accumu late the minimum deposit of one shilling by pennies at a

time.

The system as developt by Fawcett was logically and economically complete, and the results are shown in the steady and enormous growth of the bank ever since. In the years between 1881 and 1885 the deposits rose to an average of $200,000,000; in 1890 they rose to $335,000,000, and in 1857 reacht nearly $550,000,000. The annual depositors between 1896 and 1897 reacht 577,000. In all there are more than 7,000,000 depositors, with an average deposit of something over $80.

Not only has the bank thus become the poor man's reposttory, but it has served as banker to small societies, for soldiers at home or abroad, and small depositors of all kinds. And the most gratifying feature is that, instead of diminishing the number of depositors and the amount of deposits in the other banks, the latter have increast in all branches of the business proportionately, or nearly so. This tact disposes of the argument in this country against postal savings banks, that they would tend to diminish the business of other banks. As a matter of fact, the reverse is true. More people accumulate sufficient money to open an account in the other banks than before, and many of them do

There are now ower 12,000 offices in the entire kingdom, each village and town having one, tho all the money is collected into the main bank in London. The latter, tho called a bank, is not one in the general sense of the word, as it merely keeps accounts and pays out, in a leisurely way, the sums it receives, when demanded, but not doing any of the business usually transacted by banks. The post-office bank is simply a bank of deposit-a place where the smallest suni can be put where the owner will always be able to find it when he needs it. As an agency in allaying popular discontent and in inculcating habits of thrift, the value of the post-office bank cannot be overestimated. In its influence it makes for government stability and the happiness and content of the people.

Walter Hurt's Case.

Editors are beginning to wake up to the importance of the persecution of Walter Hurt, editor of The Gatling Gun, of Cleveland, Ohio, and his case is getting an amount of attention from the editorial fraternity that no similar case has previously had. It is beginning to be seriously realized that an injury to one is the concern of all, and that accompanying the advance of imperialism there is a breaking down of the constitutional guarantee of free press which threatens the safety of every editor in the land.

Mr. Hurt has been relentless in his criticism of the administration, and political heelers are trying to ingratiate themselves with the powers that be by retaliating upon him with this groundless prosecution. The infamy of the scheme is so well understood, however, that no profit will come to any of the conspirators from their attack upon Mr. Hurt.

In the July number of The Gatling Gun Mr. Hurt says: "Under present conditions, freedom is fast becoming a farce. Soon will it be the hollowest of all humbugs. The same spirit of imperialism that is responsible for the attempt at foreign conquest is seeking to crush the liberty of the press and suppress free speech. Unless there is soon a revolt

(Continued on next leaf.)

November brings red cheeks to the robust urchin; but to the aged, or to the advanced consumptive, it makes pale cheeks more pallid, unless great care is taken. The crisp morning air is stimulating to the youth, but chilling to the aged or to the invalid. Why this difference? It is all in the ability to react. The elastic and abundant vitality of the young and robust immediately responds to the cold winds, and the November days are glorious days. We can all look back in memory and see in each November of our youth the red cheekt apples, the cider-press, the "frost on the pumpkin and the fodder in the shock," the great yellow ears of corn in the crib, the nuts in the woods, the

thrill of victory at the spelling "bees," the beginning of the annual season of evening fireside life, with games and stories and riddles and books and nuts and apples, etc., etc., etc., to last the whole winter thru. How happy we would be if this period of life would last always! The reason that it doesn't, we will see further on.

The month that is so happy to the youth with bounding vitality, is the opposite to those who have become weakened by age or disease. To them it is the beginning of the most trying part of the year. The whole secret of the matter is in reaction. The responsive heart of the youth sends an abundance of blood to his cheek to meet the keen November air, and he feels "glorious." The invalid has no vitality to spare for reaction, and the chilling cold creeps in farther and farther until the very marrow seems about to congeal, and the vitality sinks to a lower and lower level. This is the kind that physicians meet in their daily work. We can't say "harden yourself to it" to this class. If any "hardening" process is possible, it is only applicable to those who have plenty of vitality for recreation. Perhaps they can go into the snow with bare feet, or take a cold plunge on a frosty morning. with impunity, but the degree to which such things can be safely indulged in is entirely in proportion to the ability to

react.

Those who have no vitality to spare cannot indulge in such things. Ample protection from cold is the only safety for them. Under safe conditions they should exercise judiciously, take baths, followed by brisk rubbing, etc., but

they would better under-do than over-do. The physician must measure the limits of their vital force, and instruct them accordingly.

If we were askt what vital force is, we would be compelled to say that we don't know. It is the one difference between a rosy, frollicking boy or girl, and one wrapt in its shroud-a lump of clay only fit to be returned to mother earth. While we physicians know little about its essence, yet we know the importance of protecting and fostering the flame while it exists. The management must all depend upon the amount and condition of the flame. A strong wind will make a vigorous flame crackle and roar all the more; but it may blow a weak and flickering flame entirely out. What may give increast vigor and life to one may be death to the other. We physicians must decide as to the cases which need protection and building up before exposing to the winter now near at hand. This depends more on judgment than on learning, but judgment and learning combined are much better than either alone. In fact, only those with good natural judgment should ever become physicians, and they should learned ones.

The Latest Fraud.

become

When Noah Webster graduated, he tore his diploma up on his way home, saying, if I have gained knowledge, it is in me, and not in this sheet of paper-or words to that effect. By his long, laborious and useful literary life he amply proved this. The diploma does not make the man, nor does it indicate that there is much in the man. There are men who could paper their room with their various diplomas, certificates, etc., and whose various degrees would extend across a page, and yet who have never been of any signal service to the world, and never will be. On the other hand, there are men who care little for diplomas or degrees, but whose actual service to humanity and to the world is "known of all men."

I do not wish to disparage regular and systematic college work, but I wish to emphasize the fact that such work should be done for the knowledge-the increast power to serve humanity-and not for the diploma to hang on your office wall. People will judge you by the work you do. and not by the blue ribbon, gold seal and Latin text of your diploma. True, some people may be dazzled by such display, but they are usually people whose patronage is not worth having, and you must have the intrinsic merit to meet the expectations based on such display.

It is a sad fact that there are some socalled doctors who are so anxious for cheap tinsel that they will buy anything that looks like it may be a diploma, if it is gotten up so as to present a dazzling appearance. The latest fraud of this kind that has showed its brazen head is the following: An old residence in an inland town was secured, which was then named "St. Luke's Hospital." The cut of this old residence presents an imposing appearance on a circular. Very cleverly-composed letters and circulars are sent out to doctors, offering an appointment upon their staff," conditioned, however, upon the purchase of a "certificate of membership." The prices of the certificate are as follows: "Heavy Royal Linen Paper, $5; Imitation of Parchment, 87.50; Genuine Sheepskin, only $10." The following quotation, immediately following this scale of prices, is significant:

"We send out all of our Certificates with your name handsomely engrossed thereon in an old round-hand style of letters, with dark blue ribbon and a large corporate gold seal affixed thereto, giving it the general appearance of a regular Medical College Diploma."

Also notice the following quotations:

"QUALIFICATIONS FOR JOINING OUR MEDICAL STAFF: "The necessary qualifications required for proper admission to membership on our Medical Staff shall be:

FIRST.-Every graduate of any legally authorized medical college in any State or territory of the United States, or in any other country, shall be deemed qualified to join our Medical Staff: provided, they have been duly registered within their own respective State or Territory.

"SECOND.-Every person who has received a legal license to practice medicin, surgery, obstetrics, or any branch thereof, from their own respective State or Territorial Medical Examining Board.

THIRD.-Every person who shall have actually practised medicin or surgery continuously for at least five years, and who are properly registered under the years of the Practice Act."

Please note the following possibilities of this scheme: There are upwards of 100,

000 physicians in this country. It is easy to see that if each one of these would take a "sheepskin" at $10 each, a million dollars would be in sight. But suppose that only 5,000 per year are sold, and at $7.50 as the average price. Here we have an income of $37,500, about nine-tenths of which would be profit. Is not this rather better, from a financial point of view, than practising medicin-with long night rides, few undisturbed nights, and income only sufficient to make ends meet, and this frequently with difficulty? Their side of the picture is the raking in of a fortune every year, with ease and comfort-with luxury instead of hardship.

The question is, whose fault is it? Men are always looking for opportunities to make a fortune in ease and comfort. If none were gullible enuf to become their victims, this would be impossible. Those who patronize such schemes as the above make them possible. If they were not possible, the schemers would go to work like you and the rest of us. They are bright men to see the weak points of those whose patronage they expect. If the entire profession were bright enuf to see thru their scheme, they would have no patrons.

"Don't be a clam."

During the hot months a physician's attention is called chiefly to the region below the diaphragm; during the cold months his attention is called chiefly to the region above the diaphragm. Can you make the transition easily and gracefully?

There seems to be a popular impression that the general health is better, and consequently physicians are more free from professional cares, during May than during any other month of the year. Is this correct? If not, what month is "the healthiest "? Many state and other medical societies have their annual meetings in May for the supposed reason that there is less sickness then than at any other time in the year.

During what month are your collections the best? This will vary according to the occupations and customs of the people in different sections of the country. You can succeed best in collecting when your debtors have the most money. That is the time to make your effortsbefore it is all distributed to "the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker." It is important to watch just such little practical points, for you want to be successful financially as well as professionally, in your profession. If you are too busy to look after the financial side of your work, employ a young man, or possibly a young woman, to act as clerk, book-keeper and collector. It will pay you. Many a worthy practitioner has workt hard for years, and died leav ing nothing for his family but old, neglected and now uncollectible bills.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS

Short stories on the treatment of diseases and experience with new remedies are solicited from the profession for this department; also difficult cases for diagnosis and treat

ment.

Articles accepted must be contributed to this journal only. The editors are not responsible for views expressed by contributors.

Copy must be received on or before the twelfth of the month for publication in the next month. Unused manuscript cannot be returned.

Certainly it is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than anything else.-RUSKIN. REFLECT. COMPARE. RECORD,

READ.

Notes and Comments.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-If any reader is in danger of accepting Dr. Cooper's views in regard to the uselessness of iron in anemia, I would suggest that the said doctor first answer in a manner satisfactory to himself the following questions: If his cider barrel has lost its contents by leakage, will mending the leak fill up the Does the removal of a barrel again? cause necessarily remove its effects, and restore the situation to what it was before the cause was put in operation? Will the study of authorities, such as Niemeyer, and your own experience if based on his priceless observations, show any medication, in any disease, as successful as the use of iron, when intelligently administered, after due regard has been paid to the causal indication? Niemeyer pronounced the iron medication in anemia one of the most brilliant manifestations of the physician's art. Get a grip on the leg and tail of the elephant, brother Cooper, as well as on his trunk. By all means remove the cause, and then take a crack at the effects.

That great man, Samuel D. Gross, used to say that the tincture of iron contained something more than the chalybeate element, possibly from the action of the acid on the alcohol. At any rate it possesses the greatest powers as a reconstructive of any ferruginous preparation. In 1874, while in a man-of-war off the coast of Africa, I was attackt with anthrax on the lip, the legacy of some wandering fly that had been feeding on an infected animal, I suppose. My life was saved by the use of tincture of iron in teaspoonful doses every four hours, alternated with aromatic sulfuric acid in like doses. years later, my mother was seized with asthenic erysipelas, she then being in an advanced state of heart-disease, of which

Ten