THE BOSTON has been foremost in some of these reforms,

notable among which is the radical rearrange-

Medical and Surgical Journal ment of the examination system, described by him
in a recent number of the Harvard Graduates'
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, Magazine. 1912
A Journal Although it may with justice be said that any
of Medicine, Surgery and Allied Sciences, published at
Boston, weekly, by the undersigned. progressive institution is continually in a con-
Subscription Terms: $5.00 per year, in advance, postage paid,
structive period, it is none the less true that the
for the United States, Canada and Mexico; $6.50 per year for all foreign
countries belonging to the Postal Union.
development of the. Harvard Medical School,
All communications for the Editorial Department and all orders for
particularly in its relation to various hospitals, is
Reprints must be sent in writing to the Editor of the Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal, 809 Paddock Building, 101 Tremont Street, Boston.
in a peculiarly active phase at the present time.
All letters containing business communications, or referring to the
Undoubtedly problems, some already recognized
publication, subscription or advertising department of this Journal, should
be addressed to the undersigned. and others which cannot be foreseen, will arise in
Remittance should be made by money order, draft or registered letter
payable to the immediate future, and the school may well
W. M. LEONARD,
101 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass. congratulate itself that it has as its dean a man
wholly capable of dealing, not only with the past,
but also in a constructive spirit with the future.
DEAN OF THE HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL. The problems of his predecessor have in part been
The appointment of Dr. Edward H. Brad- met so far as circumstances would permit and
ford to the position of Dean of the Faculty have in part been formulated for the action of the
of Medicine and Dean of the Medical School new administration. Many of these are vital
of Harvard University, as announced in a recent to the usefulness of the school as an agent of
number of this Journal, has received the con- education in a broad sense. The old questions
sent of the Board of Overseers. Dr. Bradford of how the general practitioner is to be trained,
undertakes this new responsibility after a long what is to be taught in the short undergraduate
association with the Medical School as a teacher period, the relation of specialism to the general
and member of its faculty. He was graduated body of medical knowledge, and the further
from Harvard College in 1869, received the question, now assuming a particularly active
master's degree in 1872, and the doctorate of form, of the organization of post-graduate teach-
medicine in 1873. He began his active teaching as ing, together with the ever-present problem of
assistant in clinical surgery, a position which he financial administration, are all matters demand-
held from 1881 to 1886. He then became clinical ing wisdom and judgment of the highest order.
instructor in the subject with which his lifework These qualities Dr. Bradford undoubtedly has,
was to be identified, orthopedic surgery. From and all who are interested in the welfare of the
this position he rose through the rank of in- Medical School will see in his choice as dean the
structor in surgery, instructor in orthopedics, assurance of continued progress, of a healthily
assistant professor of orthopedics, to that of constructive sort.
professor of orthopedic surgery. This chair he
has recently resigned through the age retiring
rule of the Children's Hospital, where his clinical SHAKESPEARE AS A MEDICAL OBSERVER.
teaching was largely done, and has been appointed It was a wise critic who said: If you wish to
"

emeritus professor. know the heights of human genius, read Shakes-

While, therefore, Dr. Bradford has given up his peare; if you wish to know the depths of human
work as a teacher, he is perhaps the more ready fatuity, read his commentators." In the teeth
to devote his time to the exacting work which of such an epigram, one hesitates to add another
the dean's office demands. For many years he has iota to the subject of Shakespearian commentary;
been active in the councils of the Faculty of Medi- yet the temptation to do so is irresistible to
cine, and has invariably stood for progress and re- every one who thinks he has seen something that
form. He brings to his new position an experience others have not emphasized. That Shakespeare
ripened by long contact with bis colleagues, and thus continues to be more commented upon than
by wide knowledge of men and affairs. It is than any other figure in the world's literature is
not, therefore, to be questioned that the Medical evidence both of the universality of his human
School will continue the development which has interest and of the inexhaustible richness and
been marked during the four years' service of his variety of his genius.
immediate predecessor. In fact, Dr. Bradford There seems to have been no branch of human

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activity orknowledge with which Shakespeare by no means so difficult of identification. It was
was not conversant. Apart from criticisms and presumably and most likely potassium cyanide,
interpretations of the literary and dramatic such soon-speeding gear "

aspects of his works, extensive essays have been
written on his historic and scientific allusions.
References to medicine and to allied topics
are frequent in Shakespeare. The entire sub-
ject of his medical and surgical knowledge was
exhaustively reviewed some years ago by Dr.
John W. Wainwright. Shakespeare never writes
of medicine as such, but rather as it appears
incidentally as an element in the woof of life.
For this reason his testimony is perhaps the more
valuable as affording unvarnished evidence of
the status of medicine in his time.
Medicine in the Middle Ages was closely al-
lied to alchemy and necromancy, and in Eliza-
bethan England had hardly more than emerged
As will disperse itself through all the veins
That the life-weary taker may fall dead
And that the trunk may be discharg'd of breath
As violently as hasty powder fir'd
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb."
This poison he procures not from Friar Lau-
rence, but from an apothecary, and the episode
of its purchase has afforded us one of the finest
descriptions and the most unaffected comparison
of gold to poison in the literature.
Though medieval pharmacology may have
been half primitive alchemy, there is something
startlingly modern in the legal provisions regu-
lating drug sale. Apparently the traffic in poisons
was capitally banned, for the apothecary replies

from that condition. A knowledge of drugs and to Romeo's query:

their compounding, more or less inaccurate,
was at least the chief stock in trade of its practice.
Moreover, the use of drugs was not confined
solely to legitimate medicine. Narcotics were
employed, much as they are to-day, for their
temporary pleasant effects, and poisons were
still not unfamiliar agents in the hands of mon-
archs and others who wished to be rid of thwarting
adversaries. If this were not true of Shakes-
peare's England, it was at least true of the times
and scenes whereof he wrote. Hence there are
in his plays many references to poisons and to
drugs of baleful or benign properties.
Apparently the medieval monks were often
pharmacologists of considerable skill and knowl-
edge. Thus in "Romeo and Juliet," Friar Lau-
rence is introduced as culling herbs and simples and
descanting on their dual or contradictory
characteristics.
"
Within the infant rind of this sweet flower
Poison hath residence, and medicine power;
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part, to which they subjected Friar John and his com-
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart."
It is Friar Laurence who supplies Juliet with
the hypnotic under whose influence she lies as if
"Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
Is death to any he that utters them."
Perhaps if our penalties were more severe we
should have more success in suppressing the
illegal sale of opium and cocaine. However,
not even fear of death could prevail with the
apothecary against the temptation of forty
ducats, and his conscience seems to have come
no more in question than that of the modern
dealer in " dope."
Another strikingly modern suggestion in this
play is the reference to quarantine during an
epidemic in Verona. Friar John goes
"
To find a barefoot brother out,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth."
The searchers of the town were the local board
of health inspectors, and the enforced detention
cost Romeo and Juliet their lives. The
panion
friars' resentment thereat is also not without
modern parallel. It is significant that Shakes-
"
peare uses the word infectious in an age long
"

dead " two and forty hours, and then awakes

before the true nature of Asiatic cholera (as the
as from a pleasant sleep." The identification
of this drug has of course been attempted by pestilence most presumably was) was known.
And in a later line, in response to Friar Lau-
some of the aforementioned commentators, but
rence's query about his letter, Friar John says:
is of course impossible. Medieval pharmacology
was half magic, and the properties of its drugs
"
I could not send it, here it is again,
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
— —

resided at least half in the credulous imagination

So fearful were they of infection."
of the people. That, however, made them none
the less effective for literary purposes. With this quotation should be placed another
The poison by which Romeo ended his life is from Hamlet's interview with his mother, a

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passage which is in many respects the most of teachers to study and
remarkable medical reference in Shakespeare. of instruction.
"
Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul;
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen."
Shakespeare obviously had in mind a varicose
ulcer, such as he must have seen among the village
folk of Stratford, for such ulcers were pre-
—
sumably as common then as now, and to it
he compares his mother's trespass, a moral ulcer.
—
In his day words were nearer their original mean-
"
ing than now. Flattering " meant " soothing "
and unction was the literal and regular word
" "
for ointment, as when Laertes later says:
"
I bought an unction of a mountebank."
Shakespeare had doubtless seen varicose ulcers
treated, as we treat them still to-day, with some
"
soothing ointment," and warned his mother
against an analogous moral procedure. For his
clinical observation had gone even deeper. He
had seen, as physicians all see, an ulcer ap-
parently skinned over with a thin film of epithe-
lium, under which, however, infection is still
active and ready to break out anew. Corrup-
tion is still a popular term for pus, and we still
" and experience. If it be granted that the ultimate
technically speak of the margins of an ulcer as
being undermined.
Now this passage from Hamlet merely illus-
" "
trates with particular force to a physician what
may be equally well demonstrated from any
page of Shakespeare's writings, that he learned — purposes, but in clinical subjects the highest
less from books than from observation. He had
the faculty, which is of as prime importance to
a poet as to a physician or other scientist, of
seeing accurately and of stating accurately what
he saw. This led him often to realize a truth,
and even to use a technical word, such as " infect,"
far in advance of his time. Upon this faculty,
upon his human sympathy, and upon his supreme
felicity of expression, rests the consummate
genius of Shakespeare.
METHODS OF TEACHING IN MEDICINE.
In the issue of Science for April 12 is published
a paper by Dr. C. M. Jackson, of the University
of Missouri, on " The Improvement of Medical
Teaching," which was read in Chicago, on Feb.
28, at the twenty-second annual meeting of the
Association of American Medical Colleges. Pro-
fessor Jackson, who views the subject from a
pedagogic standpoint, believes that one of the
faults of modern medical teaching is the failure
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apply effective methods
"
Efficient teaching requires a clear view of
the ultimate aim, which in medicine is to train
efficient practitioners. To accomplish this aim,
rational methods of teaching should develop in
the student self-activity in observation, reasoning
and action. While some may be unable to accept
fully the ideas here presented, all will surely
agree that great improvement would result if
medical teachers would study more carefully
their educational methods. The younger teachers
who are so fortunately located could greatly
improve their efficiency by taking work in the
schools of education connected with the various
universities. Those unable to do this should
at least study the principles of pedagogy, which
are available in numerous books."
Doubtless there is much truth in what Dr.
Jackson says. Certainly good teachers are as
rare in medicine as in any other branch of knowl-
edge. Probably most good teachers of anything
are born rather than made. At any rate, it
seems that in medicine the art of teaching is
peculiarly a matter of personality. It should
be remembered that medicine, particularly in its
surgical branches, is in considerable part a handi-
"
craft, which like all fine arts is taught by example
aim of teaching medicine is to train efficient
practitioners, it must be conceded that though
pedagogic methods can do much, personal in-
fluence can do more. Class teaching is available
in laboratory subjects and for general didactic
instruction can best be given to small sections
or to the individual. There is still something
to be said for the old method of learning medicine
by apprenticeship. It is this personal element in
the teaching of medicine which makes our pro-
fession to some extent still an esoteric craft.
Whatever each of us may have acquired in the
class room by way of fundamental principles and
of detailed information, the finalities of our
education and the inspiration of its practice are
due not so much to pedagogic methods as to the
transmission of personal example from those who
have been our masters.
NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
For a number of years the Boston Board of
Health has been making a vigorous effort to
obtain as complete reports as possible of the
existence of those infectious diseases in the city
which physicians are obliged by statute law to
report. Several notices were sent to the physi-
cians of the city calling their attention to this
law, and requesting that these reports be sent in
all cases to the board. In spite of this, however,
in the year 1909 it was found that 324 cases of
pulmonary or laryngeal tuberculosis were not
reported, the first intimation of their existence
being the presentation of the death certificate.
An investigation was made of all these cases and
in a great majority it was found that physicians
had been called and had made one or two visits.
Other cases were reported by medical examiners,
and quite a number from hospitals, the cause of
death being discovered on autopsy. In 1910
there were 328 cases, and in 1911 but 63 cases,
thus neglected. This improvement in reporting
followed the prosecution of physicians who were
found to be attending cases of tuberculosis and
not reporting them. During the present year,
1912, but 14 cases have been found not reported
up to April 1. These have all been investigated,
and as a result two physicians have been sum-
moned into court. One has been fined $50, the
minimum fine which the court can impose on
cases found guilty, and the other case is pending.
It is not the desire of the Board of Health to
prosecute any physician, but it is its determina-
tion to have these reports full and complete, in
conformity with the law. It feels that in no
other way is it possible to deal with and control
this disease. The board hopes that the physi-
cians of the city will realize its position in this
matter and the importance of their submitting
reports on contagious diseases as required by law.
Otherwise it feels it a duty to proceed against
them, if in no other way it can obtain this in-
formation. Physicians reporting infectious dis-
eases will greatly aid the board in its work if they
will carefully fill out the returns, giving infor-
mation on all the details requested.
MEDICAL NOTES.
London Death-Rate in February. Statis-
tics recently published show that the total death-
—
rate of London in February, 1912, was 17.9 per
1,000 living. Among the several districts and
boroughs the highest rate was 25.1 in Holborn,
one of the central districts of the old city, and the
lowest was 13.9 in Lewisham, a southern suburb.
Location of Buboes in Plague.
report of the United States Public Health and
—
Marine-Hospital Service for April 5 is a note by
Dr. George W. McCoy on "A Peculiarity of
Plague on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii."
Of the cases of plague occurring in all other parts
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of Hawaii from 1900 to 1912, 86% had buboes
in the inguinal region and only 2% in the cervical.
In Hamakua from 1910 to 1912, 90% had cervical
buboes, 10% axillary, and none inguinal. In
explanation of this peculiarity, the author says:
"
It is well known that when plague is induced
in experimental animals by feeding infected
material, in the great majority of cases a bubo
develops in the neck; hence one is justified in
suspecting that when a series of cases in human
beings occur in which cervical buboes predominate
we must consider it at least possible that the usual
mode of transmission (through fleas) may not
have operated in these cases, and that ingestion
may have played a part."
Seawater Dispensaries in England. The
with which
—
promptness any new method of treat-
ment becomes popularized is illustrated by the
establishment of " seawater dispensaries " in
England. The seawater treatment for diarrheal
diseases of infants was originated in 1910 by
Dr. Quinton, of Paris. It was immediately
taken up by English enthusiasts, and in 1911 the
first seawater dispensary for its administration
was established in London. A second was opened
at Edinburgh recently, and others are soon to be
established at Leicester, Windsor and Lime-
house. The treatment, which consists of the
subcutaneous injection of a series of doses of
sterile seawater, has been extended to chronic
gastritis, neurasthenia, anemia, eczema, psoriasis
and chronic tuberculous adenitis and osteitis.
Care of Student Health at University
of Wisconsin. The issue of Science for April
12 notes the progress of plans for a new building
—
for the department of clinical medicine at the
University of Wisconsin.
The department exists for the purpose of
"
looking after the health of students in the uni-
versity. There is a corps of five doctors and
four trained nurses to attend to sick stu-
dents or take precautionary measures in the
case of those exposed to disease. The new build-
ing will have on the first floor ten offices for the
treatment of common ailments, and in the base-
ment a sterilization room and special treatment
rooms, fitted up with x-ray machines, baking
machines and other equipment. The value of
having a department to look after the health of
students is shown by the fact that since the
establishment of the department there have been
In the no epidemic diseases among the students that
were not controlled as soon as the first cases ap-
peared. Previous to its establishment, there
were a number of bad epidemics among students,
the most serious of which was an outbreak of
typhoid fever in 1907 which resulted in the death
of several students."
 Seventh International Congress on Tuber- measles, 160 cases and 4 deaths; tuberculosis, 113
culosis. —
On Sunday, April 14, the Seventh cases and 24 deaths; smallpox, 0 cases and 0
International Congress on Tuberculosis was deaths. The deaths from pneumonia were 44,
formally opened by the King and Queen of whooping cough 4, heart disease 32, bronchitis
Italy at the Capitol in Rome. On Monday, April 1. There were 10 deaths from violent causes.
15, the first general business session of the Con- The number of children who died under one
gress was held in the historic Castel Sant' Angelo, year was 38; the number under five years, 58.
where the meetings of the several sections have The number of persons who died over sixty
continued during the week. One of the promi- years of age was 68. The deaths in hospitals and
nent topics for discussion has been the relation public institutions were 96.
of bovine to human tuberculosis and the infectivity A Centenarian. Paces Slosberg, who died
of bovine tubercle for man. It is hoped that new on —

contributions of value may be made to this and locally April 2 at Randolph, near Portland, Me., was
to other questions left unsettled at the close of
reputed to have been born in 1803.
the Sixth International Congress on Tuberculosis, Instructive District Nursing Fund. The
which was held at Washington, D. C, in 1908. total subscriptions to the endowment fund of the
—

The present Congress has been attended by the Boston Instructive District Nursing Associa-
representatives of forty civilized nations. The tion, whose appeal has been noted in recent issues
senior delegate from the United States govern- of the Journal, now amount to $65,430.
ment is Mr. Nathan Strauss, of New York; the
Society. At the
j unior is Dr. Edward O. Otis, of Boston. The six Massachusettsof Humane the Massachusetts Humane
annual meeting
—

official representatives of the American National

Association for the Study and Prevention of Society, held in Boston last week, Dr. J. Collins
Tuberculosis are Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs, of Warren was elected president and Dr. George B.
Baltimore; Dr. Livingston Farrand, of New Shattuck first vice-president for the ensuing year.
York; Dr. Charles L. Greene, of St. Paul. Minn.; Termination of Smallpox Epidemic in
Dr. Walter Holden, of Denver, Colo.; Dr. Gerald Salem. The smallpox epidemic at Salem,
B. Webb, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Dr.
Mass., which was noted in last week's issue of the
—

William H. Baldwin, of Washington, D. C. Journal, seems to be at an end, for no new cases

BOSTON AND NEW ENGLAND.
Acute Infectious Diseases in Boston.— For
the week ending at noon, April 16, 1912, there
have been reported this week. There was a
total of forty-two cases, with no fatality.
Scarlet Fever in Middleboro. Report
states that on April 8 there
—

from Middleboro
were reported to the Board of Health of Boston
were in that town twenty-seven cases of scarlet
the following cases of acute infectious diseases:
fever and that in consequence the local high
Diphtheria 19, scarlatina 24, typhoid fever 4, school and other public buildings have been
measles 192, smallpox 0, tuberculosis 104.
closed and several infected houses quarantined.
The death-rate of the reported deaths for the
week ending April 16, 1912, was 18.90. Recrudescence of Measles Epidemic in Bos-
Boston Mortality Statistics. The total ton. During the week ending April 13, one
hundred and sixty cases and four deaths of
—

number of deaths reported to the Board of Health

—

measles were reported in Boston, showing an

for the week ending Saturday noon, April 13,
1912, was 242, against 243 the corresponding week incidence and the previousof this disease.
increase over the week in both the
of last year, showing a decrease of 1 death, and mortality
making the death-rate for the week, 17.35. Of Milk and Oleomargarine Fines. Before
this number 134 were males and 108 were females; the South Boston district court last week six
—

236 were white and 6 colored; 146 were born in local dealers were fined an aggregate of $220
the United States, 94 in foreign countries and for having in their possession milk from which the
2 unknown; 46 were of American parentage, cream had been taken, and for selling milk below
169 of foreign parentage and 27 unknown. The the standard required by law. Another dealer
number of cases and deaths from infectious dis- was fined $10 for selling oleomargarine as butter.
eases reported this week is as follows: Diphtheria,
26 cases and 3 deaths; scarlatina, 27 cases and A Living Centenarian. Mrs. Laura Griggs
death; Moore, Mass.,
—

1 death; typhoid fever, 1 case and 1 of Brimfield, who is said to have

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been born in 1810 at Union, Conn., celebrated NEW YORK.
last week the supposed one hundred and second Sullivan Insurance Bill. Governor Dix
anniversary of her birth. Since June, 1911, she has signed the Sullivan insurance bill, which —

has been confined to her bed on account of paraly-

sis from cerebral hemorrhage.
provides that an insurance company may issue a
single policy embracing a risk the life or
upon
health of a person, together with insurance against
Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical accident and
Society. The annual meeting of the Massa-
disability resulting from sickness.
chusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, held in
—

Report of Department of Health. A

Boston last week, was attended by over two from
recently published
—

hundred members. Dr. George R. Southwick, annual

extract the thirty-second
report of the New York State Department
of Boston, was elected president; Dr. Edward of Health discusses
S. Calderwood, of Roxbury, recording secretary;
particularly the fight against
preventable diseases, and contains abstracts
and Dr. Thomas M. Strong, of Boston, treasurer, of the various activities of the
for the ensuing year.
department in its
prosecution.
Work of Salem Hospital. The recently Proceedings of Conference of Sanitary
published thirty-seventh report of the Salem Officers.— The recently published report of the
—

(Mass.) Hospital records the work of that institu- eleventh annual conference of sanitary officers
tion for the year 1911. During this period, 2,603 of the state of New York
presents the series of
persons were admitted to the different depart- eighteen addresses on hygienic
ments of the hospital, of whom 1,095 received various sanitarians before the
topics delivered by
house treatment and 1,399 were treated in the
meetings of that
organization on Oct. 25, 26 and 27, 1911. They
public and 109 in the private clinic of the out- are valuable reading for those interested in
patient department. Four nurses were gradu- these topics.
ated from the training school. There is urgent
need of a new building for the nurses' home. Gift of Stadium. The Sinking Fund Com-
mission has voted to grant to the College of the
—

Report of Foxborough State Hospital.

The recently published twentieth annual report
City of New York a tract of land which had
—

previously been acquired for a park, situated to

of the trustees of the Foxborough State Hospital the south of the
college grounds and
records the work of that institution for the year from 136th to 138th Street. On this extending
it is pur-
ending Nov. 30, 1911. During this period the posed to erect a large stadium, for the construction
new law permitting voluntary admissions came of which
into full effect, and 474 cases were admitted offered to
Adolph Lewisohn, the banker, has
under its provisions. The total number of
provide as a gift to the city. The
plans for this, as proposed by President Finley,
patients under treatment during the year was include seats of cement or stone for from 7,000
1,137, of whom 248 were insane and 889 inebriate. to 10,000 persons on the natural grade at the
Of the latter class 709 were discharged, of whom upper
about 20% were considered cured and 20% im- outdoor
portion of the plot and the erection of an
stage, leaving room at the lower part for
proved. The need is emphasized of colonies athletic fields and running track, the whole
for the treatment of special groups of cases.
amphitheater to be encircled by a promenade.
The donor, Mr. Lewisohn, is well known as a
Recent Hospital Bequests. The will of benefactor of educational and charitable
the late Elizabeth Hooker, which was filed last
—
objects.
Among his gifts is one of $250,000 for a building
week in the Suffolk probate court, contains for the School of Mines of Columbia
University,
bequests of $1,000 each to St. Martha's Home, aüd he has been a liberal contributor to Mount
Bronxville, N. Y.; to the House of the Good Sinai Hospital and other benevolent institutions.
Samaritan, Boston; and to the Convalescent
Home of the Children's Hospital, Wellesley, Mass. New Hospital for Chronic Tuberculosis.
The will of the late Oliver I. Kimball, of New- The New York Association for Improving the —

ton, Mass., which was allowed last week in the Condition of the Poor has renewed its offer to
Middlesex probate court, contains bequests of build and equip, at a cost of $250,000, a large
$5,000 to the Lynn (Mass.) Hospital and $1,000 hospital for the treatment of bone, joint and
to the Free Home for Consumptives, Dorchester. gland tuberculosis, on condition that the
city

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 A. V. Torsion of Uterine Adnexa in the
provide a suitable and adequate seashore site for 6. MoscHCOWiTZ,
Hernias of Nurslings.
the institution and assume its ownership and main- 7. Keller, W. L. Further Observations on the Surgical
tenance when completed. In a letter addressed Treatment of Hallux Valgus and Bunions.
8. Desvernine, C. M. A Contribution to the Study of the
to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment Physiology and Pathology of the Skeleton on the Oral
the association, after referring to the excellent Extremity of the Thorax (Stethographic Method).
results accomplished at its Sea Breeze Hospital 5. Robinson recommends in highest terms the use of
alcohol and spirit of camphor as surgical dressings. He
on Coney Island, says: Both the cures and im- always uses one
"
of these for wounds, bruises and sprains.
provements effected and the large number of way For open wounds he considers them preferable in every
to corrosive sublimate or any other antiseptic solu-
cases we have been unable to receive demonstrate tion. He suggests the use of alcoholic solutions for irri-
the urgent need for a sea beach hospital adequate gating the abdominal cavity in cases of diffuse septic
to the number of children suffering from this peritonitis. He uses spirit of camphor with water, one
part to three, the alcohol diluted less and sometimes pure.
disease. The present city administration has [L. D. C]
wisely decided to acquire the site known as Rocka- The Journal American Medical Association.
op the

way Park for health and recreation purposes, and,
with the appointment of the Commissioners of
Estimate on March 21, title thereto has vested
in the city. This is a part of the site which the
city decided in 1907 to acquire for the express
purpose of devoting a portion of it to the above-
mentioned hospital, and also of providing sites
for one or more convalescent hospitals to be
erected and maintained by charitable and benevo-
lent societies of the city. Our association has
already caused its architects to prepare tentative
plans, and is, therefore, in a position to break
ground and proceed with the construction of the
hospital almost as soon as the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment shall assign a site and approve
the plans." Of the 204 patients admitted to
Sea Breeze since its opening in 1904, 98 have been
discharged cured; in 14 cases the disease has been
permanently arrested; 45 have shown decided
improvement; 6 have died; and 41 are still under
treatment.
Current Literature
Medical Record.
April 6, 1912.
1. Jacobus, A. M. Physical Examination a Requirement
for a Correct Diagnosis and the Honest Treatment of the
Sick.
2. Reed, R. The Sexual Education of the Child.
3. Farbach, H. J. Specific Treatment of Pyosalpinx.
4. Bissell, J. B. Fracture and Dislocation of the Upper
End of the Humérus.
5. Winfield, J. M. Salvarsan as a Cure of Syphilis. A
Résumé of Results Obtained in Cases after Ten
Months' Observation.
6. vonOefele, F. Clinical Technic for Enzymes.
New York Medical Journal.
April 6, 1912.
1. Lydston, G. F. Sex Mutilations in Social Thera-
peutics.
2. Williams, T. A. Diet in Nervous Disorders.
3. Hays, H. The Regulation of Fees.
4. Rongy, A. J. Report of Three Cases of Pubiotomy.
5. *Robinson, B. Alcohol and Spirit of Camphor as
Surgical Dressings.
April 6, 1912.
1. *Murphy, J. B. Contribution to the Surgery of Bones,
Joints and Tendons. (To be continued.)
2. Grayson, C. P. The Chorus Girl's Vocal Troubles.
3. Hemenway, H. B. The Therapeutic Use of Citric
Acid and the Citrates.
4. Simpson, C. A. Infantile Eczema.
5. Reed, A. C. Chronic Constipation.
6. Chamberlain, W. P. A Study of Tropical Diseases
in the Philippine Islands: a Summary of the Work
Performed during the Last Two Years by the United
States Army Board.
7. Daland, J. The Diagnosis of Pain in the Upper
Abdomen.
8. Hopkins, F. T. Acute Mastoiditis, Sinus Thrombosis,
Superficial Brain Abscess: Recovery.
9. Williamson, C. S. The Value of the Loeffler Method
of Sputum Examination.
10. Bernheim, B. M. An Emergency Cannula. Trans-
fusion in a Thirty-Six-Hour-Old Baby Suffering
from Melena Neonatorum.
11. Smithies, F. A Simplified Technic for the Application
of the Glycyltryptophan Test to Gastric Contents.
12. Ahlborn, M. B. A Simple Method for Making Carbon
Dioxide Snow.
13. Bren, M. R. Report of a Case of Simulated and One
of True Maxillary Empyema, Both of Dental Origin.
14. Jackson, D. E. A System of Electric Wiring for Using
Direct Street Current in Laboratories.
15. Krauss, W. A Slick Drying Attachment for Centri-
fuges and an Aluminum Staining Dish.
16. Weber, L. Pipette Filler.
17. Heyn, L. G. Acute Articular Rheumatism Treated
by the Rectal Administration of Sodium Salicylate.
1. Murphy makes the following statements as a result
of extensive experimental bone work. The periosteum
fully detached from bone and (1) transplanted into a
fatty or muscle tissue bed in the same individual, if he be
young, may produce a lasting bone deposit; (2) trans-
planted into another individual or animal of the same
species, it rarely if ever produces a permanent bone de-
posit; (3) transplanted into another species it never does
so. Periosteal strips elevated at one end from the bone
and attached at the other, if turned out into muscle or
fat, reproduce regularly bone on their under surface for
a greater portion of their entire length, but transplanted
into other individuals or animals of the same species and
contacting at one end with exposed or freshened bone, it
rarely produces permanent bone, even for a small extent
at its basal attachment and never produces bone for its
full extent. Bone with its periosteum transplanted into
muscle or fat in the same individual, and free from bony
contact, practically always dies and is absorbed, except in
the case of very young children or infants. Transplanted
into another species it is always absorbed. Bone trans-
planted without the periosteum into the muscle or cellular
tissue always dies and is absorbed. Bone with or without
periosteum tissue planted in the same individual and con-
tacted with other living osteogenetic bone at one or both
ends of the transplanted fragment always becomes united
to the living fragments and acts as a scaffolding for the
reproduction of new bone of the same size and shape as

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