Gelsemium

Red

I

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, JULY 15, 1915.

Hints and Winnowings.

No. 7

Fee splitting is an irregularity which should be denounced by all who desire to protect the honor and dignity of the medical profession. It is a dishonorable procedure that cannot be too strongly condemned. The subject of fee splitting and its evil effects was fully discussed at the recent meeting in San Francisco of the Fellows of the College of Surgeons, and the practice was denounced in language of an unmistakable character. In addressing his associates, Dr. W. D. Haggard in substance said:

"Fee splitting is criminal, because it leads, first, to unnecessary operations; second, to incompetent work, resulting in unnecessary death; and, third, to a constant lowering of the moral and professional standards in medicine. The practice has all through it the element of theft.

"When a physician refers a patient to a surgeon under agreement that the surgeon is to divide with him the fee, the crime is not primarily one against the pocketbook of the patient. It is a crime against the health or life of the patient.

"This practice means that the physician auctions off his patient to the highest bidder, who naturally is the most incompetent and unscrupulous surgeon available.

"Another evil is that the surgeon feels under obligation to accept. the diagnosis of the physician to operate, whether or not on examination he agrees with the diagnosis of the physician.

"If he does not operate in such cases he discredits the ability of the physician and loses further business with him. Thus is perpetrated the meanest of crimes-an unnecessary surgical operation.

"The sovereign remedy for commission giving by surgeons and bribe-taking by physicians is publicity. If we don't cure the evil by extermination, the public will do it by legislation and the elimination of the unfit.

"The physician who diagnoses a case is quite as much entitled to compensation as is the surgeon; but separate bills should be ren

dered to the patient. In other words, the patient should always know what he is paying for.

"To stamp this practice out of the profession of medicine is one of the chief tasks of the American College of Surgeons."

Diarrhea in infants and its management is well discussed by Prof. J. Epstein in a timely and useful article published in the current issue of the Medical Times. Dr. Epstein's extensive experience in pediatrics should give much weight to his opinions on this subject. In part the doctor says:

"It is a notable fact that the majority of diarrheal diseases in infants during the hot Summer months are in bottle fed babies. This, of course, suggests that the trouble is in the food and not in the baby. If every physician would carry the gospel of maternal nursing to every mother, diarrheal diseases in infants would not take such an important place in pediatrics.

"Diarrhea in infants may be due to:

"(1) General or local diseases not connected with the gastrointestinal tract.

"(2) Gastro-intestinal indigestion, as a result of too much food, too frequent feeding, too high fat or sugar or a lowered tolerance for fat or sugar, or both.

"(3) Intestinal intoxication, caused by fermentation or putrefaction as a result of impure food or food not kept at the proper temperature.

"The first essential in the successful treatment of diarrheal diseases in infants is a correct diagnosis. When the diarrhea is simply a symptom of a general infection and not of gastro-intestinal origin, the treatment is that of the primary infection. If the trouble lies in the gastro-intestinal tract, the cause of the diarrhea and the condition of the little patient will largely determine the course of treatment.

"One good dose of castor oil or calomel in divided doses should be given. At the same time the lower bowel should be irrigated with warm normal saline. The laxative drug should not be again administered as repeated doses cause irritation and catarrhal inflammation of the intestines. Plain water, warm or cool, should be the only diet for 12 or, if necessary, 24 hours. This starvation diet should not be repeated. The mistake is frequently made of too prolonged starvation. This only lowers the vitality of the already weak patient and decreases the chances of recovery. To control the painful peristalsis, hot moist applications to the abdomen are very grateful to the patient. If necessary, a few small doses of codein or deodorized tincture of opium may be given.

"Many infants will get well without any medicine if the gastrointestinal tract has been cleaned and proper attention has been given to feeding and general hygiene. When medicine is indicated it is only