But same, while all the time the actual percentage, it is declared, was about 18. After nearly three years of this adroit management the Commissioners began to find it very troublesome to be issuing so many fresh permits to the same individuals, so an order was issued to let parties wanting passes have them. the homeopaths were equal to the emergency, and the next device, it is alleged, was to discharge the sick and keep the healthy in the building. This piece of strategy, it is said, has been carried out during the past year, and when the annual report for 1879 is published the mortality report of the Homeopathic Hospital will once more appear (on paper) astonishingly low. The considerable number of the practitioners of homeopathy depends in part, at least, upon the fact that it opens a door of easy entrance into practice. Hence it resists attempts to advance the standards of medical education. An atmosphere of scientific investigation is unfavorable to its growth. It does not thrive under State supervision, and every act of restrictive legislation is a nail in its coffin. In Germany, it birthplace, it is under the ban of the law. Homeopathists are not permitted to practice as physicians, and the system is universally condemned by the intelligent classes. In England it is not strong. There are said to be 105 homeopathic practioners in London. In Great Britain and Ireland, with a population of 35,000,000, there are about 275. Liverpool and Glasgow with about 500,000 population each, have, respectively, 15 and 5 homeopathic doctors. In America homeopathy has had its hot-bed. Homeopathists have never risen to distinction in the medical profession. Search the list of honorable dead for the names of those whose memory is revered for their service to medical science; search in vain for a disciple of Hahnemann. Mention the names inesparably connected with medical discovery; call over those which are universally accepted as authority upon medical questions; there is not a homeopathist among the number. They are not to be found in places of distinction, nor employed in the military service of governments or the health boards of cities. If homeopathy ever established a laboratory for the purpose of investigation in biologic science it has never been heard of, and not one of the discoveries of modern times has emanated from such a source. Upon the shelves of the world's great libraries is not to be found a single standard volume of scientific merit upon any medical topic written by a homeopathist, Hahnemann, driven from the court of Science, appealed to the people. His cause has been kept a popular one ever since. His disciples have ever avoided a scientific discussion of their doctrines. In view of these facts, how can any intelligent person or lover of true science countenance homeopathy for a moment? If he does, his conduct is indefensible. All graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, and especially those who were of this institution during any period of Dr. Agnew's service, will be pleased to hear that his life work has thus been commemorized. Agnew, the surgeon, is deserving of every recognition which the medical profession can render. THE CLINIC has given, heretofore, much that he has done for the advancement of surgery. We gladly take this opportunity to call the attention of all who knew Dr. Agnew to this story of his life. We feel that all such will glean from it the example of one of the most noble men which the American medical profession has produced. This work will find a place in the libraries of all surgeons, to be read in future years with the same interest as the lives of Ambroise Pare, Hunter, Gross and all great epoch makers in surgical science. We take pleasure in chronicling that we have here in Nebraska a monument to his name: the little town of Agnew, Lancaster county, near Lincoln, is a pleasant reminder to us all of his noble life and his great work in that "calling"-the practice of medicine-which he always said was to him but a sacred duty. whose results have never been surpassed, and whose works cannot be duplicated by any man or set of men in Europe. Truth is universal and knowledge makes the whole world akin. Provincialism is narrow and science is independent of patriotism, yet a decent regard for one's own country and the achievements of one's own countrymen is at all times a laudable spirit. To worship at foreign shrines just because they are foreign is a more detestable spirit than that mole-eyed selfishness which sees nothing good, hears nothing worthy, and says nothing commendable of anything or person outside of its own narrow horizon." There seems to have been some misunderstanding by the profession of Germany as to their position toward the Pan American Congress. Although the invitation is extended to all countries, the official language of the congress, does not include German, and it looks at first as though an oversight was made in this by the Congress. In replying to this state of affairs to the German profession the Pan-American Medical Congress relate that the occasion for holding a medical Congress in the United States in 1893, is the fact that a large number of physicians will be in this country in attendance upon the World's Columbian Exposition. This attendance will be largely, although not by any means exclusively, from the countries of the Western Hemisphere. It would have been very desirable indeed, to have arranged an organization which would have embraced all the countries of the world. The medical profession of the United States, however, acknowledges allegience to the World's International Congress which is to meet in Rome. To have attempted an organization in Germany or in any other European countries in the interest of the American meeting, would have been in violation of our loyalty to the International Congress, while an official invitation to the government and medical societies of Germany and other European countries to send delegates to the Washington meeting would have been almost equally inimical to the interests of the Rome Congress. It was therefore resolved that the organization should be limited to the American countries, and that while it was desirable to secure the attendance of our distinguished confreres from Europe as guests, invitations to that end should be strictly personal in character, and should be issued by the general officers and presidents of sections, at their discretion. The languages chiefly spoken by the peoples of the various constituent countries of the congress are Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and these were accordingly selected by the committee as the official languages of the Congress. French, which is the language of important colonies and communities, was subsequently added, at the instance of our confreres in Brazil, who employ it largely in scientific communication, as, indeed, do a large proportion of the physicians of both the English and Spanishspeaking countries." The Medical Practice Act, of Iowa, is not worth the paper it is written on. It is full of loopholes, and its workings simply exemplify a miserable state of affairs. Physicians directly are more interested in a good practice than a sanitary act. Iowa has been a harbor for those driven from Nebraska. The Woman's Medical Journal, "a monthly journal devoted to the interests of women physicians," is the name of the latest venture in medical journalism. Mrs. Ellsworth Miller, of Cold Springs, N. Y., has just presented her husband with triplets, two boys and a girl. This brings her record for triplets up to three sets and her total up to sixteen. She was married on October 10, 1883, nine years and five months ago, and she is now 31 years old. She has seven living children, including the three whom she has just borne. St. Clement's Hospital, of Philadelphia, is to be reorganized as a hospital for epileptics. It has been estimated that in the United States there are 120,ooo epileptics, 1,000 to 2,000 alone in Philadelphia. The date of the Railroad Association meeting in Omaha has been changed to the last week in May, During the progress of the Hyderabad experiment, (says the Hospital Gazette), several female monkeys were fitted with an apparatus to resemble the feminine corset and chloroform administered. Two died promptly and the others were saved with difficulty. Miss Mary Garrett, of Baltimore, has made a noble contribution to the forces for the promotion of the higher education of women in her recent gift of the $300,000 necessary to complete the $500,000 required as endowment to secure to women all the priviliges of the splendid Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School. A Memorial to Dr. Agnew in the shape of a new endowed ward at the University Hospital, Philadelphi, is to be erected. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell is chairman of the committee soliciting subscriptions. The Brain of the late General Butler is said to have weighed sixty-two ounces. This places it very high in the list of historic and heavy brains. This list, leaving out certain hydrocephalic squaws and laborers, is: Cuvier, 64.5 ounces; Abercrombie 63; Butler, 62; Spurzheim, 55.6; Daniel Webster, 53.5. Gurlt reported to the last German Surgical Congress some interesting statistics of deaths from anesthetics from the observations of sixty operators. His figures as to chloroform and ether, number of narcoses, number of deaths and percentage of deaths are as follows: Chloroform, 94,123 narcoses, 36 deaths, .00038 per cent.; 1 death to 2,614 cases; ether, 9,431 narcoses, no deaths. An Exciting Time is expected at the next meeting of the American Medical Association over the Code of Ethics question. The pros and cons will be represented in full force and the battle, from present indications, will be a fierce one. We would advise the Milwaukee brewers to put an extra quantity of hops in their beer as the lupulin may exercise a certain calmative effect upon the excited spirit which will be present. --Medical Review. "Cathartics" is a $600,000 item in the Panama Canal expenses. Peroxide of hydrogen as a remedy in diphtheria was very seriously called in question by Dr. Jacobi, before the American Pediatric Society last spring, as he asserted that in some cases it seemed practically to cause the diphtheritic trouble and was an irritant He paid his respects particularly to the preparation of Marchand, which practically is the one used throughout the United States, and has called forth in turn considerable interesting literature from the Drevet Manufacturing Co., who put Marchand's preparation upon the market. He even questions its germicidal properties, which have been so generally affirmed by independent and capable observers throughout the world. The statements of Dr. Jacobi are apparently too broad and without proper foundation; they certainly do not meet with confirmation in the experience of the very many equally shrewd observers. A recent case in this city of a very severe nature, was very successfully managed by an almost unlimited application of the peroxide, thirtyeight pound bottles being used within a few days, the atmosphere being constantly charged with the peroxide of hydrogen, and it was also used as a throat and nose spray with apparently the best results. Certainly had it been injurious this amount would have demonstrated its irritant qualities. Marchand offers, in an open letter to Dr. Jacobi, to submit his own throat for a number of consecutive days to a spray of twenty-five per cent. of his peroxide of hydrogen instead of the ordinary five per cent. which is usually dispensed, and proposes if any irritation appears or diphtheria is induced, as Jacobi claims may be the case, that he will publicly acknowledge the position of the learned doctor. We trust that his proposition may be accepted in the proper spirit, and that we may all be informed of the results. Chicago Medical Recorder. Animal Extracts. And now comes Dr. W. A. Hammond, who says that in August, 1889, he published his convictions that in the juice of the testicular organs we had a means of acting upon the body in a manner to an extent different from that of the effects of any other substance previously known to medical science. He has prepared extracts from brain, testicles, spinal cord, ovaries, pancreas, stomach and heart. His theory is that by injecting into the body these extracts, each organ selects its particular kind. That he has seen a feeble heart rendered strong by the use of "cardine," and the sexual system restored to its normal tone by the use of "testine," cerebrine and meduline. In another part of this journal will be found the manner of preHammond. paring these extracts used by Dr. Brown-Sequard may well look to his laurels with Dr. Hammond now in the arena. We Sincerely hope that every subscriber to this journal who is in general practice did not omit to read in the January number the paper of G. E. McKeeby, on the "Management of Abortion." Dr. McKeeby is telling an old story, but he tells it in the light of recent obstetrical advancement. His paper is the more remarkable and the more important because it comes from a man whose practice is greatly in rural districts. That this practitioner is able to carry out so thoroughly rational operative interference for retained fœtus or its membranes in utero; and this among a clientele distant from the usual advantages for such facilities, is a commentary bright and splendid to dwell upon and proving that medical progress is alike to the interests of all conditions of man. Physicians preparing papers for societies or otherwise making research in matters relating to medical science who are in need of necessary reference literature, the editor of THE CLINIC will gladly assist from the files in this office. If such matter cannot be had from these files we can possibly point out from classified records where such reference literature-books, pamphlets, articles, etc., can be written directly for. One of the most discouraging things that the proof reader has to contend with is the fact that the printer will ignore all deference to the proper use of capital letters. It seems that the daily newspaper has a way of its own in using the small letter, (lower case), and putting down" on every opportunity, and this is the schooling of nearly every typographer. If this is to be the custom, and usage has now made such correct, we are ready to fall in line with the newspaper: but somehow the idea of spelling Deity, or the word president, when referring as a title to the President of the United States or of our own local medical society, is more than we think the newspaper has a right to dictate; thus changing all accustomed usages of typography. Here is an evil which we want our State Medical Society to pass a resolution upon, namely: that the State Board of Health shall incorporate in their rulings, the fact that no one shall practice medicine in this State under any but his own name; nor shall he hold himself out to the public disguised. Here is a sample of this newspaper physician business: PARTNER WANTED. I have now four offices in different cities; all office work; cash receipts for past three years $1,000 per month. I want to enlarge and open more offices; will guarantee a partner $300 a month cash for 6 months. Address Dr. There is considerable dissatisfaction in the State because the Governor has appointed an eclectic to the superintendency of one of the state's asylums. It is claimed that the law designates that a regular physician shall fill this position. The law cannot certainly construe the term in this sense. This would be class legislation. Between the law and what we know would be the best law in medical matters, there is a vast gulf, and the ways of politics are peculiar but not past finding out. A good deal of speculation is going on at present as to the meaning of Tesla's electrical experiments. Some seem prone to forget that they are purely of the nature of applied physics, and want to carry them into the realms of the supernatural. The alternating of Tesla's dynamos is so rapid that he seems to have demonstrated the relation of electri cal energy waves in the ether. It is impossible yet to explain his discoveries. Why these currents, or whatever they be, are able to give light or to light up the ether and with no particular point of incandescence visible, in the sense in which we use the word, or why such a wonderfully high tension current has no effect on the human being, is a problem yet to be solved in the relation of electricity to the "wave theories." All speculation as to the relation of these striking visible proofs of this agent, especially in relation to life, is at this time premature. We shall in the May issue of THE CLINIC, give a sketch of an electro-magnet by which it is claimed that a perceptible influence, even to fatal result, can be made upon the human body. Instead of placing the patient between the poles of a field magnet, as was recently done at the Edison Plant in Orange, New Jersey by Kennelley and Peterson, and in which enormously strong currents were developed and with no perceptible effect: in this instance the patient is placed in the coil, as the core so to speak of the magnet. Six years ago this month Mr. H. J. Penfold founded this journal, and during the trials of the first part of its existence, in times when it seemed that it were too much to ask of one man, he faithfully gave it his aid. The revenue in support of the journal today is of its own resources. Mr. Penfold leaves it a legacy to the profession-its mission he having first firmly established. He never, in any way dictated for the editorial or other columns, but trusted to those in charge to be fair, yet, when occasion demanded, to tolerate no abuses in the profession. His past relation to THE CLINIC calls for the approbation of the profession of this Western country. The report of the Nebraska Board of Health consists of little more than a list of the practicing physicians of Nebraska, with six pages of information as to the working of the Medical Practice Act. The board acknowledges that under the existing law it "has no sanitary powers." Why then should it be entitled a state board of health? --Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. [Nebraska is a new state. In time it will be able to add sanitary duties to this board. This winter our legislature even refused to grant the stationery bill incurred by our board. Still this is better than to have no practice act as in Massachusetts. Give us time and maybe the State will be ready soon to make the necessary appropriation for the sanitary part of this board. were open to this sort of thing when this bill was framed.-ED.] Our eyes After being fashionably good for forty days we will now return to the flesh and the devil.-Life. Charlatanism always hobbles on two crutches-the tattle of women and the certificates of clergymen. -Oliver Wendell Hotmes. Omaha Medical College Commencement Exercises. The Twelfth Annual Commencement of the Medical Department of the University of Omaha took place Tuesday, March 28, 1893. Following are the names of the graduates and their prospective lo cations: Harry Samuel Brevoort, Denver, Col, James Frank Davis, Douglas County Hospital (interne). Lee Wilson Edwards, Lincoln. Frederick C. Rugg, Mariaville, Neb. Frank A. Stockdale, Griswold, Iowa. The following gentlemen were awarded prizes: Leeper received the first award, a surgical operating case, for the highest average attained in the final examinations, while Stockdale and Linley received honorable mention. Rugg received a pocket surgical case for the best anatomical specimen. The Aloe & Penfold Company of this city presented each member of the class with a Russia leather pocket medicine case. At the close of the exercises Dr. D. Macrae, dean of the faculty, addressed a few remarks to the graduates. He said there was no medical college in the United States which required a more exacting test from its students than the Omaha Medical College; that there was scarcely a college in the country where the standard were so high or the test so se vere. He then referred to the new building, which he hoped would be completed by the next commencement exercises. The doctor closed by explaining the material advantages which a small class had over a larger one, especially at clinical study, the facilities for which were so abundant in the city of Omaha. Dr. J. C. Denise, president of the Board of Trustees, then conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon the graduates and spoke of the honor accorded him in thus being able to confer a degree granted by the state of Nebraska to the eleven young men before him. Chancellor James H. Canfield, of the University of Nebraska, delivered the address of the day, the major portion of which was allegorical and a comparison in progress made in the upbuilding of this new American continent in all that pertains to its unparalelled growth, equalling, as it does, in so short a time, and paralleling the exploits of the nations of the old world. The reason for this he gave as being that the best seed from all nations had been sifted and planted here. He dwelt at length on the result of the growth of that seed as it pertained to the three great professions. Here the tenor of the chancellor's address changed to a philosophical trend. He thought the environment of modern times had completely changed the outward manifestation of each of the professions in the body politic; that the clergy had lost its hold-speaking relatively-by virtue of the fact that, as modern innovations of thought have changed the current and broadened men's views, they were not able to accommodate themselves to the conditions, and thus stand behind where otherwise they should, as of old, be still leading the masses. With the bar; that the material results of that special plea by which there is constant effort on the part of the lawyer to make the worst appear the better reason, and the appeal to prejudice and passion rather than broad interpretations in the service of justice and equity were doing that which only a revolution in the future can adjust. In a certain sense the speaker tnought the profession of medicine was gradually being warped into channels which rendered it if not unfit, certainly in some way apart from that active interest which at one time it was wont to exert in a way far more useful than now, by direct contact in the affairs of government as in "the good old times." The proofs of this latter conviction with reference to medicine as advanced by the speaker, did not seem to be clearly defined. At all events they were statements which do not apparently conform to reason when criticized from a professional point of view, although they may virtually be thus apparent to a layman. The Alumni association held their regular annual business meeting at the Mercer hotel and elected officers for the ensuing year as follows: J. W. Straignt, Louisville, Neb., president; F. A. Stockdale, Griswold, Ia., first vice-president; Dr. Metz, Millard, Neb., second vice-president; Dr. Baker, Coin, Ia., recording secretary; Dr. Brevoort, Omaha, corresponding secretary; Dr. H. Linley, Omaha, treasurer. |