Before the mosquito arrives at the stage where he can fly about and inoculate human beings with malaria he exists in stagnant water. Here is another opportunity to get rid of him. Dr. Samuel G. Dixon, Commissioner of Health of Pennsylvania, is reported to have stated that ducks eat the mosquito larvæ. Therefore a flock of ducks should be kept about the farm or wherever there is any water in which mosquitoes may breed.

Of course, it is well known that the addition of a thin film of oil to the surface of any stagnant pool will prevent mosquito breeding.

BUSINESS TALK TO DOCTORS

Smiling June comes, this year, overcast by the frown of war. These times will become historic in the way that Napoleon's times are historic-discreditable to civilization and to human intelligence. It seems that we have not learned much in the past century concerning the most important human interest-how to prevent wholesale mutual murder. What will we learn in another century about this most important of all subjects? If, at the close of this war, the intelligence of civilization does not bend itself to the important subject of preventing future destruction of the fabric of civilization, we will have to conclude that there is not much intelligence in civilization, and that it is hardly worth building up again.

What has this to do with business? Everything. Business is not possible in a community nor in a nation without peace. The most important business essential is peace.

We now see how foolish, from a business point of view, and from every other point of view, people in the mass can be. Individuals can be foolish in a business way. Many doctors are. But did you ever know a man as foolish in a business way as Europe now is? The most important thing for the safety of property (not to mention human lives) in Europe, and perhaps in the world, is the establishment of a world-wide organization, by means of which human relations can be adjusted so as to avoid such clashes as are at present in progress in Europe. This should have been done many decades ago. If it should not be done at the close of this war, we may consider such

omission a neglect of an important, yea necessary, business policy. For, why create homes, ships, and all the innumerable forms of wealth only to be destroyed again?

Please do not consider this cold-blooded. Here, I am purposely taking only a business view of the matter. I willingly grant that there are other more important points of view.

Fortunately, in this country, we are reasonably free from the danger of war. We have a federation of states that is considered safe, sound and permanent since our civil war. We have the protection of 3,000 miles of ocean between us and the maelstrom of European politics. However, many of our people think we should maintain a strong navy, to keep our "honor" safe. Our greatest safety from outside dangers is our position; and our federal plan, binding together the interests of all our states, makes us safe from wars within. And this is good business. Think how much wealthier we are as a nation than we would have been if New York and Pennsylvania were jealous and constantly bickering; if the Ohio and Mississippi rivers had forts and custom houses on both banks all along their courses. In union there is both strength and prosperity.

But you want me to say something that will affect your interests as a private citizen. Everything I have said above does so interest you. terest you. The large public interests include the interests of every private individual. But there are purely private interets that every individual must look after.

"Protected" by the WORLD.

Dr. S. C. Long, of Monterey, Ky., sends $3.35 and says that when a slick-tongued agent for some "investment" comes into his office he picks up a WORLD and turns to the "Business Talks." As soon as he does this the "booster" turns on his heel and walks Thus he gets the protection that he desires with the least possible trouble and loss of time.

out.

Dr. J. F. Michel, of Farmingdale, N. Y., is president of the First National Bank at that place. He sends us $3 and says:

By the way, here is a fact that I do not think is a mere coincidence: I used to receive a vast amount of "get-rich-quick" literature, waste paper basketfuls, in fact; but since I have become president of the bank here I get so little that what I do get makes interesting reading for the very novelty of it. See the point? The doctor is an

easy mark; the banker is a "wise guy." That bears out your advice: "consult your banker."

The Capital City Co., of Washington, D. C., is trying to bribe physicians to prescribe their tablets, with an offer of 30% of the price the patient pays to the druggist. Is there a physician anywhere who will enter such a compact?

Land Selling Schemes.

The following explains itself:

PHILADELPHIA, April 29, 1915.

Dr. W. P. Beane, Keystone, W. Va.:

DEAR DOCTOR:-I wish you had inclosed the printed matter concerning the Tangier's Manor Corporation of Long Island.

But without knowing anything further than the brief points you mention in telling of the scheme, it is plain to me that you should not go into it. What do you want with a lot about twenty miles from New York City? You don't expect to move there, do you? And if it is a good speculation, do you suppose that there are not many men on the spot to take it up? When an appeal is made to a man so far away from New York as West Virginia to invest in such a scheme, you can safely keep your money in your pocket.

Very truly, C. F. TAYLOR.

An Ohio brother asks about an Oregon Orchard Co.; "$450 per acre; company cares for trees for five years; and promises that orchard will pay for itself in ten years; and will have doubled in value." The doctor wisely does not seem to be inclined to buy. The excellent apples raised in Delaware last year went begging for a market. I was told that it didn't pay to ship them, and they were here, near the great centers of demand. If you want to raise apples, do it right there in Ohio, or Massachusetts, or Michigan, or wherever you may live. You can do it right at home as well as in Oregon, and on cheaper land than $450 per acre. There are many people who want your money; and they concoct many schemes, hoping to interest you in some way. Don't sign any papers until after several days' thought and consultation. In the hypnotic presence of an agent you may do a thing that you will sincerely regret in the cool afterthought. Don't do it. Put him off. Tell him you will write if it appeals to your second thought.

Foxes Are Sly.

If you are interested in foxes, the following from the Financial World will interest you:

WAR, THE SILVER FOX AND FOX STOCKS.

In view of the recent revival of the stock-selling campaign by promoters of corporations organized to exploit the silver fox industry, with its so-called wonderful, even marvelous, profits, the following cold facts, supplied by U. S. Consul L. T. Mays to the Department of Commerce at Washington are quite pertinent. Mr. Mays is stationed at Charlottown, Prince Edward Island. Mr. Mays writes to the department as follows:

In March (1914) sales of silver fox skins in London averaged only $182 each, while by June following the sales averaged only $118 each, and to make matters worse it was found that the darker skins could hardly find a market at less than half the former prices. These discouragements were followed by the practical ruin of the present European market for luxuries, as a result of the war, but the least hopeful phase of the situation is that the low prices received in London, as stated above, were reached before the war disturbed natural conditions.

"The fox companies," explains Mr. Mays, "were so highly capitalized that they found it difficult to adjust themselves to these conditions. In April, 1914, there were in Prince Edward Island, 1,600 silver black foxes and a number of red and patch foxes that had little value. The total authorized capital of the companies selling shares of stock based on these foxes was $28,500,000, or a sum equal to the number of pairs of black silver foxes in the island multiplied by $35,000. The total number of black silver foxes, counting this year's (1914) pups, is now 2,600, and the authorized capitalization is $41,500,000. Probably $26,000,000 of this stock has been issued; hence the capitalization is at the rate of $20,000 per pair, counting pups and grown foxes."

We think the public will be more disposed to listen to an official report on this subject than the promoters whose game Consul Mays has so fearlessly and pitilessly exposed. Luxuries like silver fox skins are the last thing the rich will buy in these times.

This is very timely advice, in view of the fact that concerns have started out in this country to boost Silver Fox Company stocks. A company in Philadelphia, by the name of the Imperial Silver Black Fox Co., is promising earnings of at least 100 per cent. during the coming year, which seems to contrast strangely with the caution expressed by our consular agent at Prince Edward Island.

Get Your Money First.

You can't save nor invest money before you get it. The old saying is, "catch the rabbit first." Now, how are you going to do it? First, earn it. You must prove your professional ability sufficiently to command a practise. Then you must serve your patients faithfully and skilfully. After you have done that, and made proper and reasonable charges for same, the next thing is to collect the money. This is an ever-present problem. These columns have offered more aid to doctors on this vital part of a physician's business life than perhaps all other publications combined.

Being Your Own Collector. Here is another plan from a Missouri brother:

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo., April 30, 1915. EDITOR MEDICAL WORLD:-Regarding collecting plans, I send you my own, which I got out several years ago, with which I collected many old

accounts.

I got out the letterheads, selected a lock box and sent my statements to my old and weary customers.

Every man read the heading and selected the class which he wanted to be in. All you do is to send a courteous demand for settlement.

THE MEDICAL MONTH.

Dr. Simon Flexner, director of the Rockefeller Institute, said in an address at the City Club, at St. Louis, April 30th, that the time would come when city, state and nation would have to contribute to the support of institutions of medical research. Nearly all such institutions in this country, he said, are supported by private endowments. John D. Rockefeller had given $13,000,000 to the Rockefeller Institute, and he gave the money only after being convinced that the funds would be put to a useful purpose. "We are not thru with him yet," Dr. Flexner added.

The new buildings of the medical school of Washington University were dedicated with an elaborate program at St. Louis, April 29th. The three large buildings, which contain laboratories, dispensaries, lecture rooms and libraries, with the new Barnes Hospital, the St. Louis Children's Hospital and St. John's Hospital, form one of the largest groups of buildings in the world devoted to medical and surgical purposes. The school is the outgrowth of the two oldest medical schools west of the Mississippi River, the medical department of Kemper College, organized in 1840, and the medical department of St. Louis University.

Anyone interested in a little deaf child can obtain free literature explaining approved methods of training deaf children from infancy to school age by writing to The Volta Bureau for the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge Relating to the Deaf, 1601 Thirty-fifth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. This literature relates only to the training of little deaf children; not to medical treatment nor to the deafness that comes in later life. Age of child and other details are welcomed.

James O'Donnell, druggist, of Washington, D. C., has filed suit under the Sherman act to recover $30,000 damages from the Beechnut Packing Company, which manufactures Beechnut chewing gum. The plaintiff alleges that the defendant

has an agreement with certain jobbers and druggists, which is in restraint of trade, and which fixes the retail price of the product. He declares the defendant has refused to sell to him unless he would enter into the agreement, and he asserts that jobbers are not permitted to furnish him with the company's product. He has lost large profits by the alleged refusal to sell him, Mr. O'Donnell says, and under the law he is entitled to three times the actual damage-N. A. R. D. Notes. (Would this not likewise apply to manufacturers who refuse to sell direct to physicians?)

Sir William Gowers, Britain's renowned neurologist, died in London, May 4th.

Surgeon General William C. Gorgas is outlining a campaign against the mosquito for the city of Baltimore. He suggests the dividing of the city into districts and the employment of some of his old inspectors who helped him to clean up Panama.

Dr. Albert Fuchs, of Loyal, Wis., died at his home on May 5th, aged 58 years.

Several county medical societies in Indiana make contracts with the proper authorities for Noble doing county pauper medical work. County has had such a plan in operation for a number of years and those interested report that it is eminently satisfactory. To make the plan effectiv the reputable physicians of the county should refuse to bid for the work except thru the county medical society, and the authorities should be told that the work will be done thoroly and well, but that the fees, while less than customarily charged, should be something more than a mere pittance. The work is then divided among the members of the society, each agreeing to do his share in his given locality, and where there are several physicians in one locality the work is divided equally-generally by having it understood that one doctor shall do the poor practise for a certain period and be succeeded by another doctor who does it for a like period, and so on until the contract is fulfilled. Payment for the services is made direct to the medical society and the amount

search Laboratory with Dr. Strangeways, and was put on the Rockefeller list. He died suddenly after an operation for volvulus. How the poor fellow and his family suffered at the Louvain tragedy is told in the British Medical Journal, January 16th," says Sir William Osler, in the Journal of the American Association, of February 20, 1915.

The men who led the army of Panama Canal builders to the triumphant consummation of their work have been justly-and promptly-rewarded by Congress by promotion to the rank of MajorGeneral. The equalized recognition commemorates services different in kind, but contributory to the same end. Gorgas made it possible for Americans to live in comfort and to labor with efficiency in a climate that had sounded the death knell of the French occupancy thru the tiny song of the mosquito. His remorseless vigilance against the unseen circulation of the pestilence laid the foundation whereon Goethals, with courage and patience and the facts in hand, created a work that shall be perdurable with the frame of the earth itself. The master builders and those associated with them require no other memorial than this.

A special hospital to be devoted exclusivly to the care of wounded soldiers whose cases require delicate surgical operations was opened March 8th at Compiegne under the direction of Dr. Alexis Carrel, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Particular attention will be devoted to the study of gaseous gangrene, for the treatment of which a new serum recently has been discovered.

A correspondence course for health officers is announced by the University of Wisconsin Extension division. This course has been prepared to meet the need and desire frequently exprest for better preparation for local health administration. It is designed for health officers not able to pursue or warranted in taking residence work, as well as for others desiring to take up the study of health administration.

This movement [against fee-spliting] has crystallized in bills now before practically every legislature in the United States. In two states, at least, namely, Wisconsin and Nebraska, these bills have been enacted into laws, copies of which appear in the Lancet Clinic (Feb. 6, 1915).

It is curious how lay editors of even such well-equipt newspapers as the New York Sun bungle when they attempt seriously to discuss scientific questions, and what superficial and inadequate standards they take for a supposedly mature judgment on technical subjects. Dr. Eugene L. Fisk, at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, pointed out the decreast expectation of American life, beginning at the age of forty. The "young men" of the Sun and other papers, who were covering the meeting of the association, evidently had no more comprehension of Dr. Fisk's paper than if it had been delivered in Sanskrit, and, therefore, gave their imaginations free rein in reporting his paper for the next day's issue.Lancet Clinic, Feb. 6, 1915.

All civil employees of the Federal Government engaged in interstate travel must be vaccinated against smallpox and typhoid fever. This order was issued at Washington, March 13th, by Secre

tary McAdoo. It also affects those engaged in handling mail and other material carried in interstate traffic.

The recent decision of the Hamilton County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court that occupational diseases come under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act in that they are personal injuries, is not only in accordance with common sense, but, fortunately, for the disabled workmen and the credit of the people of Ohio, in line with a rapidly accumulating number of precedents of Ohio and other courts. Two Hamilton County Common Pleas decisions and one Superior Court decision of the city of Cincinnati, one decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, one decision of the English House of Lords and the wellknown meaning, from a common law standpoint, of the term personal injury, would seem to go far toward fixing the intent of the people of Ohio in passing this law so firmly that it could not be misinterpreted even by the Industrial Commission.-Lancet Clinic, Jan. 30, 1915.

The May issue of the Medical Review of Reviews is a woman's number. All the articles contributed are from the pens of women physicians whose work has achieved national importance.

The success of the plant establisht at Denver by Dr. Howard Kelly, of Baltimore, and Dr. James Douglas, of New York, for the extraction of radium from the carnotite ores of Colorado and Utah was announced in the House at Washington, January 27th. These two men contributed each $75,000 to establish this plant by which as an act of humanity, this wonderful and most valuable substance might be produced. The arrangement under which the radium produced at Denver was obtained is that the annual output shall belong to Drs. Kelly and Douglas until the amount shall reach seven grams, when the laboratory founded by the two physicians shall be turned over to the Government and continued for the benefit of the American people. It is declared that the new process of reduction is much simpler than old methods and accordingly cheaper.

The false and fraudulent labeling of medicins and mineral waters has recently received a great Ideal of attention from the Government's Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C., according to the bureau's report for the year ending June 30, 1914. A large number of instances have been found in which impossible claims for the preparations in question have been made and in these cases steps have been taken to compel the owners to alter the labels. As for mineral waters, the position long held by the bureau, that so-called lithia water must contain enuf lithia to produce an appreciable therapeutic effect, has now been sustained by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and in consequence action has been taken to enforce this ruling. Measures are being taken to prevent the exploitation of so-called radio-activ waters in which the amount of radium is negligible. Furthermore, mineral waters to which has been added carbonic acid gas or mineral salt, are not any more sold as "natural," but are properly labeled.

A western physician has had made for himself a cement sign with his name in it in sunken letters. It makes a very durable sign and made upon the lawn at a place visible from the street is easily seen.