CHOLERA INFANTUM. ACUTE POLIOMYELITIS. Acute poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, is a disease which usually attacks children, and may result in death, or recovery, with or without partial paralysis and atrophy of one or more of the limbs. The disease may be ushered in by high fever, followed in twenty-four hours by localized paralysis, or the paralysis may be the first symptom noted, the fever apparently being absent. In cases not terminating fatally the paralysis, after a varying length of time, shows improvement which may gradually proceed to complete recovery. In other cases, however, more or less localized paresis persists accompanied by localized muscular atrophy. Characteristic lesions are found in certain portions of the spinal cord. It had long been supposed that the disease was caused by some micro-organism, and it has also been generally assumed that it could be transmitted from one person to another, possibly through the medium of flies, bedbugs and other insects. This disease is generally regarded as infectious and communicable, although admittedly not as acutely contagious as scarlet fever or measles. The recent announcement of the discovery of the micro-organism by Dr. Simon Flexner, who describes it as a very minute coccus, should be fruitful in the further treatment and control of this disease.-Bulletin Dept. of Health, N. Y. City. Fifteen years' experience with tenement house babies has taught me that the main cause of cholera infantum is the overfeeding and too frequent feeding of improper food by careless mothers; it is also certain that careless medical advice, consisting usually of prescriptions of all kinds of mixtures containing opium in some form, is the main cause of the high percentage of mortality; the druggist who has no conscience, but who has a ten-cent panacea for every disease, is also a very serious menace in the poorer districts of the city.-Dr. Joseph Baum, in "Medical Standard." REPORTING VENEREAL DISEASES. Indiana physicians are now required to make reports to the State Board of Health of all cases of diseases resulting from the social evil just the same as smallpox, diphtheria and other contagious diseases. Indiana is the sixth State to take this advanced step. This law is also enforced in New York, Utah, New Jersey, Washington and California.-Medical Record. ENURESIS AND THYROID EXTRACT. TREATMENT OF GONORRHEA. In combination with local treatment, Dr. O. Nitze, of Berlin, has used santyl with good results in the treatment of acute and chronic gonorrhea. He reports also that Dr. A. C. D. Firth in the Lancet says that he has used the drug in non-gonorrheic af28 consecutive unselected cases of enuresis fections, from simple bladder disturbance to were treated with thyroid extract, and of cystitis of a marked degree. The author these 16 showed marked improvement or describes two cases in detail, the first that were cured, and 12 did not improve at all. of a woman who had suffered for a decade As the children were seen only once weekly with leucorrhea, menstrual disturbance and the treatment was cautiously given, the in- trouble in urination, and the second case, a itial daily dose being 4 or 1⁄2 grain. The woman 50 years old, who had an inveterate cases which appear to react to this form of vaginitis, endometritis and pronounced cystreatment better than all others are those titis. In the second case the urine contained in which the enuresis has persisted since pus and had a disagreeable odor. Irrigation birth, and in which the patients are also of the bladder with a solution of potassium backward. A record was kept of pulse, permanganate seemed to have very little temperature, weight, and number of nights effect. Under santyl the acute bladder during which enuresis occurred, regarding symptoms disappeared in a short time and which the author has some interesting notes. the urine became clear.-Merck's Archives. PHENOL TREATMENT OF TETANUS. P. Kintzing reports seven cases of tetanus successfully treated by means of the method introduced in 1892 by Baccelli namely, the hypodermic injection of phenol. The author used a solution of pure phenol of 10 per cent. strength, made by dissolving the deliquesced crystals in sterile water. This solution was then diluted to suit the case, generally to thirty or forty minims and administered by hypodermic injections deep into the muscles; the dose being repeated at intervals of three hours in the beginning, increasing the interval as improvement manifests itself. The full adult dose employed was ten drops of this 10 per cent. solution equaling practically one grain of pure crystalline phenol. As a precaution against soreness of suppuration the author has sometimes diluted with sterile water the stated amount, five drops, to the capacity of a twenty-five or thirty-minim syringe, injected this into one buttock, following immediately with the remainder of the dose into the opposite buttock; the succeeding injection may be made into the deltoids or the pectoral muscles, if deemed advisable. The author regards the antitoxin treatment of tetanus as far from ideal and his own experience disappointing.-N. Y. Med. Jour. SUGGESTIONS ON IVY POISONING. A strong saturated solution of sodium solicylate and fluid hydrastis and water will do the trick every time, and in short order at that. There is only one objection, the doctor has no chance to make a bill, as the case don't last. When the case is seen late and a very large surface is already raw, an ointment made of white petroleum and actanilid helps and hastens the cure. I have been using this exclusively now for fifteen years and have never fixed up medicine for one case more than twice: TUBERCULOSIS AND POVERTY. The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor has recently completed a study of the causes of poverty in New York, from which the conclusion is drawn, that tuberculosis is responsible for over 8 per cent. of the destitute homes in the city. It was found that of 6,565 families applying for aid between October 1, 1911, and June 30, 1912, 1,605 were forced to do so on account of illness, and tuberculosis was found to be the disease responsible in 555 or 34 per cent. of these. Rheumatism forced 187 other families into dependency, and the remaining cases were classified as follows: Illness attending childbirth, 161; kidney and heart disease, 156; pneumonia, alysis and epilepsy, 48; eye and ear diseases, 99; children's contagious diseases, 48; par45; cancer and tumors, 44. The Association concludes from these statistics that the berculosis, is a most important phase of the prevention of disease, and especially of tucampaign against poverty.-American Prac titioner. Saw palmetto has an excellent influence also in nocturnal enuresis in elderly people. Sometimes they are obliged to arise every hour, or they have difficulty to urinate, or there is some pain, associated with dribbling, although with these symptoms thuja and saw palmetto do better than the latter remedy alone. Under the circumstances named, especially as stated before, if in the male there is a large prostate, this remedy should be given in full doses. It seems to have a general sedative influence also."Ellingwood's Therapeutist." کہ For this Department we cordially invite Questions, Comments and Criticisms on all Topics of interest to the Physician de his daily work for relief of the sick, thus making the Summary a valuable medium of communication between the medical profession. Correspondents will give their names and addresses, but initials will only be printed when desired. The queries in this issue awaits the Answers which our inteligent readers may be pleased to contribute for publication in our next. A FEW THOUGHTS. Editor Medical Summary: The practice of medicine is a most gracious profession, when practiced as a profession, but when worked as a business it is a most dangerous and ruinous affair. As a profession there is not an over plus of money in it, but a great field for doing good, and helping suffering humanity. As a business, much charlatanism is practiced and much harm is done, and many lives, instead of being blessed and made stronger and more healthful, are ruined, blighted and damned. As a business, habits most unfortunate are saddled upon mankind, that brings a world of suffering and harm. How? Well, let us see how. The hypodermic syringe is one of the most useful and delightful discoveries in the whole realm of medicine and surgery, stands a close second to the anesthetic, when in the hands of the man who is professional in his use of it, using it only when really, absolutely, necessary, but in the hands of the man who is in the profession as a business, it is a most cruel and miserable habit former, ruining both mind and muscle, and making existence horrible to thousands upon thousands of individuals in our beautiful homeland. There is no excuse for any practitioner fastening such habit upon any one, and the severest condemnation, even unto the taking away the right to practice, should be Idealt such man. The opium habit is a most dreadful habit, and no one is excused for its being fastened upon any one, if by the aid of administration by any doctor. Such habit destroys health, ruins life, wrecks mind, robs of hope and all usefulness in life, a most pitiable condition to witness. The doctor is largely to blame for this habit in the United States. It is but little better in the use of whiskies. This, however, is not as bad as it used to be, because there is a public sentiment being bred against it. There is, even yet, too much carelessness manifested in the giving of all sorts of alcoholics. One studying the effect of this narcotic upon the system must surely know that there is no use for it in animal or plant life; that it will paralyze and kill both, and is utterly useless in the practice of medicine and ought not under any condition or circumstance be prescribed. That drunkenness and a wasted life often follow the careless prescribing of this soul and muscle paralyzing thing, cannot be questioned, and that there is ever any good at all comes from its use is indeed very questionable. That there is a world of harm so comes there is absolute certainty. This evil, this traffic-whiskey-is gigantic in its proportion and amazing in its greatness. In July, August and September of 1912 there was consumed in the United States 33,150,000 gallons of whiskey alone, 450,000 gallons more than was consumed in the same months of the year preceding. In the same months there was consumed 19,800,000 barrels, not gallons, barrels of beer, 320,000 barrels more than in the same months of the year preceding, and this does not take into cognizance the amount of wines and other drinks of a lighter caste, and enormous as this amount is, remember that it covers only three months of the year. Multiply this by four, and then can you conceive of the enormous quantity that is used in this fair land of ours, and many users get their impetus from the medical men of the land. Listen: Just incidentally, there were 3.800,000,000 cigarettes smoked in the same three months, and more than two trillian cigars smoked in the same time. These dull the perception and activity of the mind and the body and lessen the vitality of the race. Habits of these sorts fastened upon a race of whom four out of every five has gonorrhea, and one out of every five have syphilis by contraction, and many more have the syphilitic taint by inheritance, is it any wonder that one in seven of the deaths is due to consumption, a defective born race with such depressing and devitalizing habits can result in nothing but the thing we see all about us, for what you sow you will as surely reap, as it is that the world stands, and many of us reap what our fathers and mothers sowed, for the inherited taint of syphilis is more terrible to the inheritor than the contracted is to the contractor. It is the business of the profession to cure, and not inflict, so that it is well for us as a body to study well the result of our work and the real need and as well the danger in the practice of the art of healing, and not only is it our duty to heal but to prevent disease as well, and this is the most humane of the two. Well, since the article, "Are We Beginning at the Wrong End?" the great cure, the great discovery of the age, the cure for consumption, has failed of the test, as all other cures will fail, for until the men who give thought to the study of disease will look at the right thing as the cause of the disease, there will be no cure, and this cure can and will only appear from the horizon of breeding. We must prevent the propagation of the defective, and until we do that there will be an increase of one in seven dying from consumption. We are pretty well saturated with syphilitic tendencies by inheritance, and it must come sometime that the infected must be castrated to preserve the race, and it is as well that that time come now and here in the present generation. Sin gives rise to the need of poorhouses, asylums for the blind, the insane, the mean, the thief and murderer, the deaf, and all other institutions of reform and treatment for the defective, and the medical profession if of the right stamp would be a mighty army for good and the healing of the nation if they were so disposed, for that they are a power in the weilding of influence toward anything that looks to sickness and health, as is proven by the germ theory, for, as big a humbug as is the germ theory, see what a mighty hold it has on the folk of the land, and yet if it were true there would be no living being on earth, but it is a nice thing to talk and makes excuse for much ignorance and uncertainty. C. W. HEFFNER, M.D. Bellefontaine, Ohio. DEAD-BEATS. Editor Medical Summary: Dead-beats are numerous, and their existence is widespread. They deceive the "very elect." They change doctors, grocers, and landlords, and turn to pastures new. They go upon the principle that "the world owes them a living." We are victimized by them, and there is no way to head them off. Every community and every kind of business is inflicted by their presence. When they work one community to the limit, they decamp for "parts unknown"-a densely populated country. They are mean, contemptible, sly, long on promises and short on performance, slick liars, voluble tongues, deceitfully polite, and boastful of their honesty (?) They get us, and there is no chance to get them. They are law-proof, drug-proof and hide-proof. A dog has mute gratitude for kindness shown him, but to a dead-beat it is an unknown emotion. An animal will lick the hand that ministers to his sufferings, but a dead-beat will smite it. There is nothing that betrays gratitude in the dead-beat except the advent of a new doctor. He hails a new "shingle" with the keenest delight. He has been the rounds of the "miserable comforters" of the profession, and he proceeds to "unfold a tale" to the new-comer that secures his sympathy and services at once. It isn't many moons until he finds he has had his labor for his pains. A lightfingered gentleman may relieve you of your wallet and land in the "pen," but the deadbeat will rob you of more, and escape his just dues. The thief takes chances, but the robber of your services and fees is allowed to remain scot-free. Jeffersonville, Ind. D. L. FIELD, M.D. MEDICINE AND RELIGION: NOTES. Editor Medical Summary: As a physician I am an Eclectic-a permanent member both of my State and National Associations. As a minister of the Gospel I am a Christian and Disciple of Christ; not ashamed of my combination calling, as I find myself useful to my fellowmen, and serviceable to God at all times. A few weeks ago my wife, children and I attended an annual all-day singing at a neighboring church, but when my presence became known the exercises were suspended and I was strongly solicited and urged to preach, to which I complied. I had about reached the climax of my sermon and near a finish when I noticed a fainting lady in the audience, and as usual on such occasions the congregation was becoming fully aroused with excitement. The ordinary clergyman never stops his sermon when such emergencies occur, but continue preaching, and the friends look after the patient if a physician is not present. This lady was approaching her climacteric and every month suffers from fainting attacks or syncope. I do not think she acted wisely in not remaining at home, but what I did, perhaps saved a panic of excitement and gave her relief. I requested perfect stillness and silence, walked to her, crushed a 1/100 gr. tablet of nitroglycerin into powder on her tongue, and as soon as it came in contact with the moisture on the tongue, became dissolved and had its effect. She recovered, her friends took charge of her, and I finished my sermon in less time than it takes to write this account of it. Nitroglycerin is certainly an emergency remedy. Death-bed repentance has never been my lot to come in contact with. I never advise my patients spiritually unless solicited, or requested by the relatives to do so. I positively refused a mother's request once to officiate at the burial of her wicked son, because I knew she would expect me to do and spec. thuja. with elix. lac. pepsin; alnot. Religion and salvation are in everyday acts of the living, and not of the dying or deceased. The religiously inclined darky always attributes his recovery to the ability and marvelous skill and power of "de doctah and de Lawd," while his white brother may or may not believe in the efficacy of prayer or miracles. Some time ago I was called to see a very sick young man suffering from the retarded eruption of the measles. Not having a very plentiful stock of therapeutic agents with me, I gave a hypodermic of H.M.C. No. 1 (Abbott's) and put a couple of one-gallon jugs of hot water in the bed with him. In one hour the nausea, pain, delirium and restlessness were all gone, patient bathed in a profuse perspiration, and the eruption complete. He declared it was because I was a preacher-doctor that he was relieved so soon. I attended a pellagra patient through a long tedious illness. I gave her bismuth and spec. thuja, with elix. lach. pepsin; alternated sodium cacodylate and solution of iron arsenite hypodermically. Gave the usual diet of milk and eggs. She did not improve as my other patients did. I saw her grow steadily weaker and worse each day, her hands finally sloughing to the tendons. On seeing me make preparation to go home one day, she called me back to her bedside and asked me to read and pray some before I left. I was glad to do this much more for the poor suffering woman, and on my reaching the neighborhood, in advance of my arrival next day I learned that she had passed away a few hours before. Two of my illustrious professors were ministers: Drs. A. G. Thomas and I. G. M. Goss, but I cannot say that anything done, said or influenced by them had anything to do with my calling as such. Neither do I remember ever hearing either of them relate any experiences coincidental with the two callings, nor am I advising a blending of the two prefessions, but would point out at all times the advantages and opportunities of being useful as such, and before I close I want to say that while we are endeavoring to benefit mankind, we should not forget one of God's nobler creatures-the horse. I have lost two or three of as fine horses as are ordinarily seen on account of not having this remedy at hand: R Chloral hydrate, Gum camphor, .āā 3j. Fld, ext. cannabis indica... . . .3ij. |