Of course the milk of the cocoanut contains oil which can be extracted with ether or carbon disulphide, and the ether evaporated; but the most of the oil is contained in the "meat." I was told by a chemist that "cocoanut oil is no good and should not be used for food," but I have seen the most delicious dishes made by parching equal parts of sugar, corn meal (or other farina) and wheat bran, and then adding cocoanut oil as "shortening" and salt. The caramelizing of the sugar makes it sedative. to the gastric mucosa, and the same heat disintegrates the union of the silica with the phosphates of the bran. A higher degree of carbonization or dehydration of this compound when brewed like coffee, makes an agreeable stimulating phosphatic drink. The poorer natives of Hindustan, where I first saw cocoanut trees growing, wear no clothes excepting a breech cloth. To them salt is a luxury, and possibly the large amount of salt in the cocoanut is especially attractive to their taste. They only take one meal of cooked rice a day, and they are as agile as a cat. The relatively large amount of sulphuric acid in the milk in the cocoanut is probably absorbed by the roots of the trees as ammonium sulphate (NH4)2SO4. The jungle is exceedingly rich in both animal and vegetable life; the two biological king doms living at the expense of one another. The Hindoo will not eat beef, because, being a transmigrationist, he believes that the souls of his ancestors on death, if they have been good, enter the body of the cow; and not even a cannibal much less a Hindoo would be willing to eat his own kith and kin. That cow, however, may be eaten, and often is, by a royal Bengal tiger, which, in turn, may meet his death by the bite of a cobra di capello. The body of the tiger, like other animal bodies, contains sulphur and nitrogen in organic combination; the sulphur, on decomposition of the animal body, first appears as sulphuretted hydrogen (hydrosulphuric acid HS) which is gradually oxidized into sulphuric acid (H2SO1); the nitrogen combination becomes deoxidized to the stage when ammonia (NH3) appears, when it combines with the sulphuric acid to form sulphate of ammonia. This is now ready for absorption by the roots of the cocoanut tree; so that "the Hindoo's grandfather in the cow becomes part of the tiger which became part of the cocoanut to be eaten by the man!" Psychological conditions are much influenced by unassimilated proteins. Night terrors and even dreams are usually associated with excess of protein, in some stage of metabolism as toxins, in the circulation, irritating the cortex cerebri, tho these manifestations of morbid cerebration are assumed also to be due to nerve influences originating within the gastroenteric system and transmitted upward thru the splanchnic nerves. Living under mental and physical strain first induces toxemia from demoralized metabolism, acetone being a common product of disordered metabolism; and then the toxins induce increased formation of antibodies. An excess of sodium chloride in the system retards the formation of these antibodies and retards their decomposition after they have combined with the toxins; then the rate of elimination of sodium chloride is a measure of the vitality of the individual. In these conditions of disturbed metabolism it is possible for part of the brain to be awake and another part to be asleep at the same time. Many years ago at sea, for several consecutive days I was not conscious of having been asleep, and during that time hardly ever lay down. On two occasions afterward I had proof of what I previously doubted, that one may sleep on horseback. One of these experiences-I was riding in the woods on a dark night on horseback, and I knew that I had an undue amount of protein in my circulation which under the circumstances could not be normally metabolized. I dreamt that I met my father (who was thousands of miles away from that place at the time) just under the old walls of a tower with a large clock where I attended college, and he began to talk to me about the late hour. As I looked upward at the clock a sharp "look out" from the man riding by my side awakened me. My horse, a gray with a white mane, reared upon his hind legs until my face touched his neck, and I saw at the same instant, diaphanously, the old clock and the white mane. Visual impressions on the retina last of a second: this can be demonstrated by revolving discs. That mental impression lasted a good 3 seconds after I began to see the white mane. The clock gradually faded as consciousness returned probably within three seconds. That I should have balanced myself on a plunging horse in the dark without being unhorsed was not due to conscious cerebration, but probably due to the unconscious automatic centers in the cord, for then these centers had been well exercised. Living under such strained conditions protein food is usually toxic, and I can remember that the juice of one grape fruit, the only food available, not only relieved hunger but gave a delightful sense of satisfaction such as is experienced on appeasing hunger by a proper meal. Such a con dition would be a good one to test the merits of the milk in the cocoanut, but such opportunities do not often occur. With all the remarkable discoveries made by medical men within the last twenty-five years, we are still at sea as to the best methods of feeding in the various occupations. Those who idle away their time and do not give to society the kind and output of energy they owe as members of the community, invariably make work for the doctors, or more frequently, money for the quacks. Those farmer boys who come to the city and get jobs on the street cars, when they eat the same kind of food as they did on the farm, invariably suffer. In such cases the physician who measures the nitrogen output and compares that with the chlorine output (they should be equal in normal euphoria), has his work well in hand. Why the human machine should be so persistently treated at random and only. after it has broken down, when all kinds of machinery is overhauled in advance of break-down, is not very creditable to human intelligence, and is something for doctors to think about and prepare themselves for. A simple case of absent-mindedness shows a "screw loose" somewhere, and it should be the business of the doctor to ascertain where that loose screw is. That little symptom may furnish the clue to many disorders and diseases in their incipiency, when it might be possible to avert disaster and beat the surgeons out of a job! It is related of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-172785) that he was in the habit of disentangling those cerebral combinations necessary to intense mental concentration, when they persisted too long, by working out a problem in mathematics. One night he directed his attendant when to call him in the morning. It was his custom when called to cook an egg for breakfast in his own room. He asked the attendant "how long should it boil?" "Three minutes, Sir Isaac." The attendant returned in twenty minutes, and found Newton holding the egg in his hand and staring at it while the watch was boiling in the pan of water. Newton then had probably too much protein in his system; he needed more carbohydrate for the kind of work he was doing! ANOTHER RELIABLE SNAKE STORY. BY HOWARD CRUTCHER, M. D., One evening many years ago I was seated near the desk of a famous man of letters who opened an envelope, glanced hastily at its contents, summoned his managing editor, and remarked with deep enthusiasm, "Here is another rattling good snake story from Blankins; run it tomorrow under a tip-top heading." I remember that I felt something akin to astonishment that so distinguished a man should ballast the columns of a great newspaper with anything so trivial as a snake story. However, after reading Genesis III, written by the greatest man of letters of his day, not to mention later and less sublime treatises by Leonard Stjneger, Howard Kelly and Raymond Ditmars, I began to attach more than ordinary importance to the movements of the snake, more especially those made in my own immediate vicinity. It must not be inferred that I rank Moses above the distinguished scientific men named, except as a literary man. Unfortunately, literature and truth. are not always convertible terms. During a visit to another part of this State I became much attached to a young man of Spanish origin who was deeply interested in scientific matters. We talked much of medical and other sciences. One day he told me, in substance, the following story which well exemplifies the errors liable to arise when conclusions are based on superficial facts, or half truths. A married man of 35 was stung, slightly above the ankle joint, by a large rattlesnake and died within a few hours. At the time of the injury the victim was wearing. a pair of fancy boots. After mourning grievously for a few days, his widow remarried and as a part of her dowry bestowed the boots of husband No. 1 upon husband No. 2. The latter died within a few days of his wedding. Her spirit undaunted, the widow promptly remarried, the boots going as usual to the new husband. Death again left the woman a widow. While not expressed in words, the inference was perfectly plain: the fangs of the rattler were imbedded in the leather and had been the direct cause of all three deaths. To which I replied, with considerable spirit: "You must not repeat such preposterous nonsense and expect to be respected as a man of scientific training. If you should narrate that story in a body of educated men they would laugh you to scorn. Science has no time for such foolishness." This caustic rebuke brought out an explanation altogether truthful and wholly in accord with the most advanced scientific requirements. Husband No. 2 had died from pneumonia, a disease which even Our "pathic" colleagues sometimes fail to cure, and whose ravages are even looked upon with composure by our esteemed and wealthy fellow citizens, the undertakers. Husband No. 3, a man of powerful frame and vigorous health, fell suddenly ill with "inflamed bowels" one afternoon and passed away thirty-six hours later-without operation, I ought to add for the benefit of some of our anxious newspaper friends. Reviewing the death list, it is probable that prompt treatment in skilled hands would have saved husband No. 1. As to the pneumonia, few men of ripe experience will say that they can do much for it beyond the application of a few well understood expedients. So far as husband. No. 3 is concerned-or, rather, was concerned an immediate operation might have saved him, and then again it might not. Some infections of the appendix are so deadly that nothing will arrest their fatal progress. There are some poisons so virulent in their nature that the sting of a rattlesnake appears mild in comparison. USEFUL KNOWLEDGE OF STAMMERING. BY ERNEST TOMPKINS, M. E., To have knowledge of a generally misunderstood subject is to win desirable distinction. How often do we hear it said admiringly that a certain person "gave an intelligent opinion when every one else was in doubt." Those who appreciate that distinction will realize one opportunity to obtain it provided by Dr. Liebmann's booklet, "Die psychische Behandlung von Sprachstörungen," published by Oscar Coblentz, Berlin, 1914, the simple but valuable con tents of which are a light in the darkness which envelopes the subject of stammering. The most striking feature of this latest reliable development of the subject is its revolutionary character-not the first such development in medicine. Whereas it was thought, and still is, that the stammerer should be taught to talk, it now appears that it is injurious to him to try to teach. him to talk. No treatment is considered complete without breathing exercises; yet, the breathing exercises are clearly shown to be harmful. These features and many others become evident from a review of a typical case in the new light on the subject. Consider the case of a child who contracts stammering by imitation. That imitation is conscious interference with his normal speech. At first it is merely fun, and it may be stopped at any time. Some one tells the child to desist because it might contract the disorder, or the fear of contracting it arises from contemplation of the suffering of the one who is imitated. In this state of fright the child makes a panicky effort to talk correctly, misdirects the effort, and thereby blocks its normal speech. That convinces the child that it has been attacked by the disorder; and it continues its misdirected efforts in order to avoid the imaginary trouble. This view not only coincides with the universally admitted facts, but explains much that has hitherto been considered a mystery. It is the only view that has accounted for the acquisition of stammering by imitation. The origin in childhood is. due to the fact that normal speech is most readily interfered with then. The increase in tenacity with increase in indulgencechildren are much more readily corrected than adults-is due to the fact that the repeated speech difficulty intensifies the con viction of speech disability. Unity of causation has never before been shown, as witness the remark by Fletcher, one of the recent investigators, "Just how being bitten 'by a dog can produce stuttering in the same fashion in which habits are acquired is not easy to see; But it is very clear under the interference-with-speech view. The fright so unnerves the child that its speech becomes broken, and the child makes the conscious interfering effort to correct that broken speech. The effort is abortive; the child thinks its speech is deranged; and it continues the effort in order to correct the derangement, not realizing that it is making the derangement. Sicknesses, falls, extreme emotion, extreme exhaustion, all cause broken speech, and consequently are all inducers of stammering. Similarly, thru all the long list of peculiarities of this most peculiar disorder, the explanation is found satisfactory; and that can not truly be said of any other explana tion. Bearing in mind that stammering is frightened interference with speech, we see the harmfulness of the current treatments; the breathing, vocal, and articulatory instruction become stammering when that instruction is followed by the fright which almost inevitably returns when the pupil is away from the stammering school. That instruction may be practiced with apparently beneficial results in the calming environment of the cure-indeed, the distractive effect there may be really beneficial-but in a disturbing environment it is no longer a distraction. It rivets the victim's attention on his speech and induces him to redouble his misdirected efforts instead of desisting from them. Ample testimony to this is available from sources independent of Thorpe, Liebmann, and other investiga E. M. PERDUE, A. M., M. D., D. P. H., A research conducted according to scientific criteria is the only research which will give dependable results. It is high time that medical research quit trying to mould facts to fit hypotheses and devotes its energies. and endowments to making hypotheses conform to facts. The true end and purpose of all medical research is the prevention and cure of disease. Such research is humanitarian and altruistic. It is a prostitution of both the sentiments and purpose of research to make it a platform upon which to build reputations or a rostrum from which to advocate pet hypotheses. The writer has the temerity to make the foregoing assertions at the peril of being called "unethical" or of being cited for suspension or expulsion from his medical societies. He further desires to be understood as meaning that these assertions especially apply to the so-called research in pellagra. The cause, prevention and cure of pellagra were announced to the scientific and medi |