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not be too much and hoping labor would progress rapidly so as not to require earlier interference, the flow continuing, I inserted my hand and detached and removed about half the placenta. But uterine expulsive pains increasing forced the vertex against its walls, and I was compelled to desist, and apply the forceps to fetus. I delivered it and, in a few moments afterwards, having removed the remainder of the placenta, which was attached to middle and lower thirds of anterior and left lateral sides of body of womb, cut and tied the umbilical cord. I could not resuscitate the child.

The mother had slight fever for two days, the pulse was extremely weak, small and tremulous, but by careful nourishing and using mercuric bichlorid injections into womb she recovered nicely. On the seventh day after delivery she became nervous and talked incessantly for hours on religious subjects. Under influence of nerve sedatives, in two hours she became quiet and later well, strong, and a grateful patient. The iron persulfate solution was not used. Lutcher, La. DR. R. W. SEAY.

Should a Physician Dispense His Medicines?

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I am a sub

scriber of a pharmaceutical journal, and frequently see communications from pharmacists who are inclined to complain because so many physicians are dispensing their own remedies instead of allowing the pharmacist an opportunity to follow his calling. Only a few days ago I wrote a few lines to Meyer Brothers Druggist, which the editor has informed me will appear in the September issue. My argument was that the physician was forced to dispense his own remedies as a means of self preservation. He does so from choice in only a few instances. He will gladly recognize the pharmacist as a professional brother when the pharmacist concludes to lay aside his shoddy shop tactics, and instead of keeping the local papers full of advertisements and recommendations of all sorts of nostrums and cures of his own and of other manufacturers.

If druggists would keep such things only to supply the already created demand, and spend one-fourth the time and talent in the interest of really useful physicians, or, in other words, create a demand for prescriptions instead of patent nostrums, and, above all, use good articles in filling the physician's prescriptions and then wrap the vial with wrapping paper instead of a

patent medicine circular, the physician would gladly divide his work with him. The druggist could then become a professional man rather than a tradesman.

I requested them to bring the matter up in their association meetings and send representatives to the meetings of the influential medical societies, etc. I feel that if you would champion the cause in your forcible way that great good would result for all parties concerned. Nostrums injure the people physically and financially more than they do the physician, and make a common tradesmen of our pharmacist. Maunie, Ill. W. A. STEELE,

A Little Too Hard on the Average Druggist. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Following are ten reasons why a doctor should not trust a druggist to fill his prescriptions: 1. He substitutes.

2. He counter prescribes.

3. He advertises and pushes patent medicine.

4. He charges more for filling a prescription than he sells large quantities of the prescribed article for. For instance-A prescription given for sulph. mag. 3ij. aqua q. s. 3viij, will cost from 50 to 75 cents. If the doctor tells the man to

buy five cents' worth of epsom salts and take it in half tablespoonful doses, he will get one-half pound for five cents. (Of course it takes skill to put two ounces of epsom salts in eight ounces of water).

5. He refills prescriptions.

6. He fills and refills prescriptions to his own aggrandizement.

7. He often uses prescriptions as a ing and criticising them. weapon against the doctor-by fault-find

8. He makes errors.

9. He keeps cheap and inferior medicine.

10. He is in no way in sympathy with, or interested in the welfare of the doctor, and the doctor should be separate and independent of the druggist. Emporia, Kans.

J. T. WEBSTER, M. D.

"A Little Nonsense Now and Then." Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Believing that a little mirth, to furnish recreation for the minds of busy physicians who read THE WORLD, will be considered in place, I wish to relate the following incident which actually took place in my presence before the board of examining surgeons for pensions, of which I was a member.

In 1892, said board was composed of Drs. S. B. Rowe (now of St. Louis), R. L. Johnson and myself. Dr. Rowe, who was secretary, is a man of more than average ability, earnest in his manner, and is possessed of a very quick temper. On one occasion, an applicant who did not understand medical terms very well, presented himself for examination for "Disease of the Lungs." In taking his statement the following conversation took place:

Secretary: "Do you cough much?" Applicant: "Yes, doctor, I cough a great deal."

Secretary (after writing first answer down, looked up and said): "Mr. do you expectorate anything?"

Applicant: "Yes sir, I do."

Secretary: "What do you expectorate?" Applicant (in a loud and angry voice): "I expect to rate about $30 per month if you fellers haint too stingy to give me justice."

The temper of our noble secretary was plainly manifested, but it is not lawful to repeat here all that he said; but suffice it to say an explanation of the word " expectorate" was made to the applicant, and he secured a fair "rating." Rolla, Mo.

J. L. SHORT, M. D.

New Material for Skin Grafts-The Use of Specified Drug Products.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I wish to present a new (to me) material for skin grafting. Two years ago I was applying grafts to rather a large burn on a child's chest, and used hardened skin from the inside of the hand on half of the surface and found those grafts to do far better than those cut from the arm. Since then I have had several opportunities to try again, and had such good success that I thought it best to report. I used it as follows: Prepare the sore as usual, wash the hand with alcohol and ether, then take a thin shaving off a calloused part of the palm. Then take a second shaving from under the first and divide into small specks for grafts, proceed as usual.

Why do doctors specify a certain brand. of chemicals? I venture the assertion that they very seldom, if ever, specify a particular maker's article unless asked to do so by the manufacturer. Altho there are cheap foreign makes of quinin, it is very seldom one sees a prescription containing quinin sulf. (P. & W.) or pot. iod. (Mall.). This is because these manufacturers do not advertise and ask "specify my brand."

In fact, like the preacher's dinner, these are good enough without praising. Some foreigner imports an article and advertises it, charging enough extra over the home manufacturer, and straightway we specify their brand without making any comparison with other products. In fact we play "Simon says thumbs up," and up they go. This makes it very hard for a druggist. One physician prescribes one manufacturer's fluid extracts and another's chemicals, and another wants one maker's peroxide, forsooth because he is told to "specify my make."

I do not deny the doctor's right to specify if he really believes the brand to be the best, but I have yet to see the prescription calling for a brand which is not advertised as "better than my neighbor's." Vernonia, Or. C. H. NEWTH.

Uses of Silver Nitrate.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD: -On page 251 June WORLD I note M. L. Coe wishes treatment for cystitis. Put three grains of silver nitrate in one ounce of pure water. Inject a syringeful or all of it thru a catheter into the bladder, previously emptied artificially or naturally. Let it remain for half a minute and draw off by the same catheter which has remained in situ. Repeat in three days. Between times, once daily, wash out the bladder with an ounce or two (in same manner) of this: Boric acid two drams, water one pint. This has cured a large number of cases for me. I seldom have to use the third application of the silver. The treatment is best administered while patient is on the back.

Also let me add that for inflammation of the stomach, two grains silver nitrate to one ounce of water, one teaspoonful every hour, has cured some very severe You seldom have to give the third teaspoonful. Afterward the following will do good work:

cases.

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to one ounce water, and there are no unpleasant sequelæ.

I have used boric acid for 20 odd years and find no trouble with it. I myself took five grains three times a day for three weeks to ascertain its value or reverse in stomach troubles, and now I mix it in all of my dysentery medicines. I found no difficulty in any way from its use. It is a cooling neutral salt, a fine sedative and stomachic, and pleasant in urinary troubles.

I always test a new remedy on myself first, and any experiments I make are on myself or on some animal. I follow books but little, but the journals much. I study the condition shown by the symptoms, and work toward relief by the most simple, easily-understood means; using medicines or other means as best suits the BEN H. BRODNAX.

case.

Brodnax, La.

The Aborting of Certain Inflammations, which

Terminate in Suppuration.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Boils on the face may be aborted by camphor, dissolved in equal parts of alcohol and sweet oil, using about four or five grains to one dram of oil and alcohol. Shake and rub the mixture well on the affected part with the tip of the finger several times during the day.

Boils and carbuncles on other parts of the body can be aborted by covering well the affected spot with a coating of collodion in which salicylic acid (one and onehalf or two grains to the dram) has been dissolved. Apply three or four coats within twelve hours. This will save an immense amount of suffering.

During forty odd years of practice I have had frequent occasion to confirm the truth of the report of the prompt effects of nitric acid on felons, published some months ago in THE WORLD. Paint every three or five hours the end of the affected finger with fuming nitric acid, till the deep-seated pain has ceased. One or two minutes after each application, or as soon as it smarts, the acid may be rinsed off with water. Generally two applications are sufficient.

In all these affections it is very essential that the application should be made as soon as the first signs of the disease appear; the earlier, the more effective; the later, the less After the third day the good effect is uncertain, but it will do no harm if ineffective. F. G. OEHME, M. D.

So.

Roseburg, Or.

Poisoning by Phytolacca Decandra or Poke Berries.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-August 16, 1898, two little girls who live on a farmit is about two miles from me-Annie Rosen, seven years of age, and Beckie Borenstine, five years of age, went to adjoining field where there were a number of bushes and in an hour or two returned home pale and sick. The older one, Annie, told to her father: "We ate some berries and we are sick." The parents of the two children carried them to my office.

Annie Rosen presented the following symptoms: Narcosis, i. e., great inclination to sleep; relaxation of muscles, nausea and vomiting; complaint of pain. irritation of stomach and throat; paralysis of secretory apparatus.

Beckie Borenstine presented the following symptoms: Narcosis, no nausea, no vomiting, extremities stiff, respiration normal, pulse full and strong, paralysis of the secretory organs followed by paralysis of respiratory organs; pupils first contracted, then dilated.

I kept them on emetics as zinc sulfate solution, mustard and strong coffee. After a few doses Annie felt well and recovered entirely.

Beckie took the same remedies and also the stomach pump was used, and an injection of atropin sulfate made and brandy given, but with no avail. She died while I was working over her.

H. ROSAHNSKY, M. D. 470 Watkins St., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Yellow Fever.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD.-I have been reading up and thinking up on yellow fever, as it is dreaded more at this time than Spanish bullets. I lived in Texas from 1850 to 1868, during which time we had five or six very severe epidemics in Galveston, Houston, and some of the towns near the coast. I lived near Austin and had occasion to send parties to Houston every year when yellow fever was there, and never had one of the parties take the disease while there.

Now, you will ask, what was done to prevent taking the disease. My instructions were not to go into the city before 8 o'clock a. m., and to leave before 5 p. m., not later.

The fact that no one contracted the disease proves one thing beyond a doubtthat the cause did not prevail at that time

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of day, and those who contracted the disease took it into their systems between the hours of 5 p. m. and 8 a. m. This seems conclusive evidence that the disease was taken into the system by inhalation and in no other way, not into the water or food. We have established that fact beyond a doubt.

I believe we can best treat the disease by applying our remedies to the lungs direct by inhalation. Using aromatic spirits of ammonia, with a small portion of ether, chloroform and a great many other volatile mediums, will kill all the germs that are taken into the lungs and bury them so deep that the hand of time will never reach them.

Milton, Cal.

J. R. SIMMS, M.D.

Successful Treatment of Ringworm. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In reply to Dr. J. L. Watson, Parker, Texas, July WORLD, touching treatment of ringworm, I would say that in the most obstinate case of a series of that trouble in which the face and neck was attacked in a man

Quiz Department.

Questions are solicited for this column. Communications not accompanied by the proper name and address of the writer (not necessarily for publication) will not be noticed.

The great number of requests for private answers, for the information and benefit of the writer, makes it necessary for us to charge a fee for the time required. This fee will be from one to five dollars, according to the amount of research and writing required.

The Dispensing of Iron Tincture in a Capsule. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In reading the September WORLD I notice an article on medicines that should not be dispensed in capsules. When I first began to practice the idea came to me that it would be a nice way to administer tincture ferric chlorid in capsules, but I decided that perhaps it was too strong a medicine to come in contact with the mucous membrane of the stomach undiluted, so I dispensed with that mode of administration. I would like to ask you and the WORLD family if any capsule, and if you believe there is any of you ever gave the tincture of iron in a danger of producing an ulcer in the stomach by so doing? If it is safe to give iron that way, it certainly is the most desirable mode of administration, because one can

with heavy beard, I prescribed with prompt drop fifteen to twenty drops in a No. O

success as follows:

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capsule and swallow it, thus preventing its coming in contact with the teeth. I would like to hear from some of THE WORLD readers on this subject.

Republic, Mo. G. B. DORRELL, M.D.

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are greatly relaxed. There are a good many reddish bodies projecting from the mucous membrane of the pharynx. I think these are what Osler describes as "proliferations of lymph tissue about mucous glands." His throat is constantly dry. The symptoms are aggravated by each fresh cold, and at such times swallowing is very painful. He does not use his voice except in conversation. His occupation, that of a merchant, does not expose him to inclement weather. He does not smoke, but chews constantly. He has tried all the gargles, etc., recommended by text-books. At present I am applying tannic glycerite 1:8, to the pharynx, and using a spray of soda bicarb., soda biborat, menthol, carbolic acid, glycerin and water, also an occasional application of carbolized vaseline to the pharynx. His appetite is first rate.

Flat Lick, Ky. W. R. ARTHUR, M.D.

How to Use Chloroform at Night. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In using chloroform in labor cases, when engaged in my work at night in a room lighted by gas, I find I am seriously distressed not only by a spasmodic cough, but with nausea, faintness and embarrassment of respiration. My suffering is such as almost to preclude this class of work at night, yet occasions arise where this duty is imposed upon me, and I am compelled to face the ordeal. While appreciating the fact that all my discomfort at this time is due to the chlorinated vapors developed by the union of chloroform with carbon thrown off by the consumed gas, this knowledge has suggested to me no means of relief, beyond that of ventilation. May I ask if the editor or any of the vast number of readers of THE MEDICAL WORLD know of any way to prevent the formation of the chlorinated vapor, or of any means to make the vapor less irritating?

WILLIAM O. BAILEY, M. D. 282 S. Orange Ave., Newark, N. J.

Continued Fever.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I have one case on hand that I would like to ask a question about:

Miss A., aged 26 years, was taken with chill, diarrhea, followed by fever, 103° F. for a day or two. Diarrhea subsiding, fever dropped to 101° for a day or so; then to 99°-100°. The bowels became torpid and now she has to take some laxative and

then the action is hard, in balls, and with a good deal of mucus. There is some tenderness over the bowels, but no tympanites. The pupil is dilated when the fever is up. The fever comes about 12 m. and goes off about 6 p. m. The tongue is slightly furred, but not white, more red. She complains of no pain at all, only when bowels are tender. If you can advance any idea on such a history I would be glad to have it, and treatment.

Winnefield, La. B. L. BAILEY, M. D. Treatment for Syphilis, Appendicitis Gonor rhea.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-I have a man under my care who has had syphilis for three years. I have given him pota-sium iodid, sarsaparilla comp., protoiodi and bichlorid, and nothing as yet has helped. The question is, can there be anything done to alleviate the severe sore throat, as he calls it? If so what shall I do for him?

Can appendicitis be alleviated or helpe without an operation? If so, by what means?

Give best treatment for gonorrhea. By so doing you will greatly oblige a WORLD reader. Cairo, W. Va.

X-Rays Not Needed.

DR. F.

Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-In looking over my journals of 1896, I find on page 173 of THE WORLD, an article by Richar H. Wood, M. D., of Clio, Mich., headed "X-Rays Not Needed."

Will Dr. Wood, or some one else who understands it, tell us how the machines made? What size do you have the postboard? how long and how wide? What size is the hole in the center, and what shape is the hole. Will any kind of black cloth do to cover it with? Any ore complying with the above request wil greatly oblige a brother practitioner. Geneva, Ala. W. H. CHAPMAN.

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