We consider the Crowning Pharmaceutical Success in the line of a Gelsemium preparation to be the elegant Specific Medicine, Gelsemium Red.

Characteristics. This preparation has the following characteristics. It is of a rich crimson color, and can not be mistaken for a common fluid. It has no unpleasant odor, being practically odorless. It does not change in quality from age, neither precipitating nor undergoing other alteration. In medicinal proportions it mixes without precipitation with water, glycerin, syrup, simple elixir, dilute alcohol, or other ordinary prescription diluents. It possesses the full therapeutic properties of fresh Gelsemium, without such objectionable products and by-products as may be found in ordinary preparations of the drug.

The dose is the same as that of the old style Specific Medicine Gelsemium, that stood for decades as a standard. However, its cleanness and clearness, its perfect dilution without precipitation, and its ready assimilation, makes Gelsemium Red exceptionally attractive, effective, and pleasing to the patient.

• A Beautiful Experiment. To a half tumbler of clear water, add one fluid drachm (or less) of Specific Medicine Gelsemium Red. There will be no precipitate. Add now half a teaspoonful of baking soda. A beautiful, fluorescent, ultramarine blue color results.

Specific Medicine Gelsemium Red is made by means of the recently discovered Lloyd's Reagent, which enables us to exclude the inert coloring matters of the crude root. The preparation carries the full therapeutic qualities of the drug, (alkaloid and otherwise), and it is, in every wise, a perfect pharmaceutical compound.

Commendations. In a therapeutical sense, the reports of physicians who have used Gelsemium Red speak for themselves. These reports will be printed soon and mailed on request. They are of 'exceptional value, because of the great experience of their authors in the direction of the clinical use of Gelsemium in disease. Within a year thousands of physicians, in even stronger terms, will commend Gelsemium Red to their brother practitioners. The stocks of all jobbers are now being supplied with "Gelsemium Red," at the usual list price of Specific Medicine Gelsemium. (Send for descriptive pamphlet).

December 1, 1914.

LLOYD BROTHERS,
Cincinnati, Ohio.

GEORGE W. BOSKOWITZ, M. D., Editor.
JOHN W. FYFE, M. D., Associate Editor.

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VOL. XVII.

NEW YORK, MAY 15, 1915.

No. 5

Hints and Winnowings.

Placenta previa comes within the formidable anxieties of the young obstetrician, and still cases of this dangerous state are not frequently seen in general practice. In a large family practice of more than forty years I have seen but two cases-one central and one marginal. This, however, constitutes no valid reason for the young doctor neglecting to keep fresh in his mind a thorough knowledge of the abnormality and its skilful treatment.

In giving some interesting statistics in regard to placenta previa the American Journal of Obstetrics well points out the importance of the cesarean section, and in part says:

"Since 1891, in the service of the New York Lying-In Hospital, there have occurred 470 cases of placenta previa, and the operation of cesarean section has been performed for this condition nineteen times by six different operators, all since 1905. The situation of the previa was central in nine cases, marginal in five cases, and no statement as to situation was made in the history in five cases; no case was more than two fingers dilated; all had had severe hemorrhages before entrance into the hospital, and in all it was a matter of rapid delivery being considered advisable; the patients varied from para-i to para-xiv; the youngest was eighteen and the oldest, thirty-eight. As to results; of the nineteen cases operated upon, one mother died, a maternal mortality of 5.3 per cent. ; two children were still-born, and three died before leaving the hospital, two on the first day, and one on the ninth, a fetal mortality of five, or 26 per cent.

"It will be seen, then, remarks Ross McPherson, that in this series, the maternal mortality is cut down by about two-thirds of the usually accepted mortality, whereas the fetal mortality is cut almost in half. While the number of cases is too small to more than point the way, he believes, that the indication is clear, and that when one encounters a primipara with a placenta previa either marginal or central, or a multipara with a central placenta previa in either case where the cervix is

rigid or undilated, whether or not there is pelvic disproportion, provided the child is viable and the mother offers the ordinary safe operative risk, that cesarean section holds out a better chance of saving the lives of both mother and child with fewer complications than any other method of delivery, always provided that the operation is performed by a competent and experienced operator and amid suitable surroundings."

Mental suggestion, says Dr. W. F. Campbell, of Brooklyn, N. Y., is a powerful adjuvant to anesthetization. Suggestions of encouragement, assurances of safety, have a wonderful effect in making the patient pliable and in releasing his will to that of the anesthetist. The one thing that the patient wants to know is that "everything is all right."

This exact phrase our anesthetist repeats at definite intervals in a firm and quiet voice which passes into a sort of droning monotonous lullaby, which itself suggests sleep. During this suggestion no outside stimulus is permitted to break in upon this anesthesia lullaby; for the purpose of this procedure is to compel the patient to concentrate upon one thing, and that is the idea that he is dropping off into a natural sleep. Anesthesia at its best is not an agreeable procedure, but it can be robbed of much of its terror if it be given with a due regard to the humanities. Even in giving an anesthetic, kindliness and sympathy play an important role; in fact, our technique will lose nothing in precision and gain much in efficiency if permeating it all are the principles of the Golden Rule.

Every Eclectic should belong to the Eclectic Society of the State in which he resides. This is a duty that he has no right to neglect. Such membership carries with it membership in the National Eclectic Medical Association-an association that is doing much for the protection of our interests and toward the elevation of our school in the estimation of the public throughout the United States. The man who neglects to join his State society makes it evident that he is perfectly willing that others should pay the expense of protecting him from the detrimental legislation that is constantly being urged upon legislators throughout the land. A great deal of good can be accomplished when there is a thorough organization. The Eclectic branch of the medical profession should stand together as one man.

Medical colleges, according to the latest statistics, have considerably lessened in number during the past few years. Since 1904, 85 medical schools have been closed, 49 of which were merged into other medical schools and 35 became extinct. During the same time 24 new schools were organized, making a net reduction of 61 colleges. There were in 1914, 16,502 students studying medicine, or 513 less than in 1913. In 1914 there were 3,504 medical graduates-387 less than in 1913. Women students constituted 3.8 per cent. of all students. Of the