sion. Every thinking doctor needs to read this book. It is as entertaining as the best of fiction, and every page has a jewel of psychic instruction for the medical man. He easily proves his title: the mind has an influence over the body. It is not a dry lecture for neurological specialists, but an entertaining and instructiv little book for any professional man, nurse, or even layman.-A. L. R.

A Manual of Medicinal Treatment. By I. Burney Yeo, M.D., F.R.C.P., Emeritus Professor of Medicin in King's College, London; Consulting Physician to King's College Hospital; formerly Professor of the Principles and Practise of Medicin and of Clinical Therapeutics in King's College; and Examiner of Medicin in the Royal College of Physicians. Revised edition, with formula adapted to the standard of strength of preparations employed in America, by Oscar Oldberg, Pharm. D., Dean of the School of Pharmacy of the North-Western University; Member of the Committee of Revision of the Pharmacopeia of the United States. Fourteenth edition; twenty-second thousand. Publisht by W. T. Keener & Co., Chicago, Ill., in two volumes. Price $5.

Vol. I contains 696 pages and vol. II 762 and an index. The books are of convenient size, and are well printed and bound. The author has carefully sifted the great mass of knowledge concerning drugs which are commended for various affections, but "trusts he has not overlookt anything of real value." He approaches every item from the viewpoint of the disease rather than of the drug, and this gives the work a peculiar practical value to the man who is after useable information. Under the heading of each disease he discusses all forms of approved treatment, and at the close of the article he gives a number of formulas showing how the drugs are best combined for the purposes intended. It has just enuf of foreign flavor to impress the practician searching for something new, and yet the American reviser has guarded that no distinctiv nativ plan of treatment has been omitted. It is more than a mere manual; it is in its present form a work worthy the confidence of any practician_as_a work of guidance and every-day referenee.-A. L. R.

Perjury for Pay. An Expose of the Methods and Criminal Cunning of the Modern Malingerer. By Willis P. King, M.D., Ex-Assistant Chief Surgeon of the Missouri Pacific Railway System. Publisht by The Burton Company, Kansas City, Missouri, 1906. Price, $2.

Dr. King is widely known thru the authorship of "Stories of a Country Doctor." This time he writes in a different vein. The book is dedicated "To those rare individuals, the honest litigants in personal injury litigation." The author has had 25 years' experience in combatting malingerers, and while detailing many pleasing anecdotes, he never loses sight of his object, and he has given us a book in many ways unique. It is entertaining reading for any doctor, and it is invaluable to all those engaged in railroad, accident insurance, or corporation work. Every physician desiring to perfect his medical knowledge so that he may be the best "all around doctor" it is possible for him to be, needs to read it. He details many cases, some simple and ordinary, others complicated and rare. Thru all of it he offers suggestions helpful to any one who might become involved in such cases.-A. L. R.

Eczema. A Consideration of its Course, Diagnosis, and Treatment, embracing many points of practical value, and containing 146 prescriptions, illustrating dosage in local applications. By Samuel Horton Brown, M.D., Assistant Dermatologist, Philadel phia Hospital; Dermatologist, Southern Dispensary; Assistant Dermatologist, University Hospital Dispensary, etc. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut street, Philadelphia, Pa., 1906. Price, $1.

Contains 100 pages with a complete index. Few books are more needed by the average general practician, for, the large works on dermatology being unintelligible to them by reason of faulty education in this branch, they are often at sea both in diagnosis and treatment of lesions of the skin. Many hazard a guess on a diagnosis of eczema, when in reality they do not know what is the matter. This book will permit of any one's satisfying himself both on diagnosis and proper treatment of any form of eczema. The direc

tions are not vague, but explicit; the language is not stilted, but tersely plain and simple.-A. L. R.

Blakiston's Quiz Compends. A Compend of Pharmacy. By F. E. Stewart, M.D., Ph.G., formerly Lecturer and Demonstrator of Materia Medica and Pharmacy, Jefferson Medical College. Based upon Prof. Joseph P. Remington's "Text-Book of Pharmacy," and the U. S. Pharmacopeia, eighth revision, 1905. Sixth edition, revised and enlarged, with a very complete index, and table for converting English measures into metric, and the reverse. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 1906. Price, $1.

Contains 181 pages with index. It is a good book of its class, and will be an aid to students and to those practicians deficient in the knowledge and training common to those proficient in this branch.-A. L. R.

The Doctor's Speaking Tube, and Other Poems. By Katharine Dooris-Sharp, London, Ohio. For sale by the Author. Price, 50 cents.

In paper. Contains 30 pages. In addition to "The Doctor's Speaking Tube," it contains 11 other poems. The little book will be of interest to those making a collection of literature referring to the profession, its joys and its sorrows. Katharine Dooris-Sharp is the wife of Dr. H. J. Sharp and the mother of Dr. Wilfrid Dooris-Sharp.-A. L. R.

Pre-Natal Culture: a systematic method of moulding the tendencies of offspring before birth. By A. E. Newton. Publisht by Stockham Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill. Price, 25 cents. A paper-bound pamphlet of 109 pages. A theoretical discussion of embryonic moulding of physical and psychic traits and characteristics, wherein much is asserted that is not proven, and many things taken for granted which are open to argument. It will interest those who make a study of stiripiculture.-A. L. R.

A Text-Book of Human Physiology: including a section on Physiologic Apparatus. By Albert P. Brubaker, A.M., M.D., Professor of Physiology and Hygiene in the Jefferson Medical College; Professor of Physiology in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery; Lecturer on Physiology and Hygiene in the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry. Second edition. Revised and enlarged. With colored plates and 356 illustrations. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadel phia, Pa. Price, $4.

We can only reiterate our previous unqualified endorsement of this book. In this issue the few errors are eliminated, and obscure paragraphs have been cleared. Additional material has been added on the chemistry of proteids, of digestion, on the movements of the intestins, on the production of the lymph, on the nerve mechanism of the heart, and on the physiology of vision. A number of pages have been added, and in its present form it represents all that a physiology ought to be for the practical every-day use of the general practician wishing to keep abreast of the times. This issue has 708 pages and an index. It is tastefully bound, and is offered at a low price when the labor and material are considered.-A. L. R.

A Compend of Operativ Gynecology. Based on lec tures in the course of Operativ Gynecology on the cadaver at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, delivered by William Seaman Bainbridge, M.D., Adjunct Professor of Operativ Gynecology on the cadaver, New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital; Consulting Gynecologist, St. Mary's Hospital, Jamaica, L. I.; Consulting Gynecologist to St. Andrew's Convalescent Hospital, New York, etc. Compiled, with additional notes, in collaboration with Harold D. Meeker, M.D., Instructor in Operativ Gynecology on the cadaver, New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, etc. Publisht by The Grafton Press, New York, N. Y. Price, $1.

A neat 12mo cloth-bound volume of 76 pages, suited as a guide to post-graduates operating on the cadaver. All tested gynecological operations are concisely described, yet enuf detail is embodied to make it all very practical. The chapter on Exploration of the Viscera will aid the surgeon to cope with any intra-abdomina condition which may confront him. The chapter on Miscellaneous Points is after our own heart, and valuable. It will aid any physician or student following this line of work.-A. L. R.

SEPTEMBER, 1906]

OUR MONTHLY TALK.

We have a large measure of self-government in this country (not as much, however, as we think we have), and the time is approaching for us to choose a new lower house of Congress. Speaker Cannon, of Illinois, was renominated for Congress and indorsed for the republican presidential nomination yesterday (August 16), and on that occasion he sounded the republican keynote for the campaign. Mr. Cannon is an old campaigner, and knows how to make the most of conditions and figures for his side. The republican keynote which he sounds is, "stand pat." He has been a "stand pat" man ever since the return of prosperity after the gold panic of the '90's. He wanted to "stand pat" during the last session of Congress, and took only the part that he was compelled to take by the President and public sentiment, in the progressiv measures of that session. He wanted the House to take no action on the meat inspection bill, but public sentiment was too strong for him. True, the House was the first branch of Congress to act on the subject of rate regulation, and it did so almost unanimously; but Cannon and the "stand pat" men in the House were so ready to do this only because they knew that their action was not a finality. They were only "passing it up" to the Senate, where they knew it would meet determined and perhaps fatal opposition. We used to consider the House radical, close to the people, etc.; but last session proved the Senate the more radical. The controling elements on the republican side of the House are as conservativ as ever the republican party was in the past, and Cannon is their chief; but Cannon, being an expert politician, knows when to yield to pressure. This element of the republican party would never have made a move in the direction of the good work done last session if Roosevelt had not been behind, urging the party to action. Such republicans always want to "stand pat." If crops are good, they "stand pat" and claim all the credit. They would never do anything for the people, but would let corporations and monopolies drain the people, and then collect fat campaign donations from the protected and privileged interests.

Mr. Cannon is now an acknowledged candidate for the republican nomination for the presidency. In his "keynote" speech he makes no specific reference to the progressiv measures of last session of Congress, noted in "Talk" for last month, and not a word about any further progressiv measures. The burden of the speech is the tariff and the record of the g. o. p. There is no promise of revision of the tariff. There is no promise of anything for the future except to let well enuf alone. That is always his position during good crops and republican rule. If that policy had been followed during the last session of Congress we would not have the Rate Law, Pure Food Law, Meat Inspection Law, Denaturized Alcohol Law, etc. So we see the danger of stand-patism; it is hold backism. Cannon and his policy would have given us none of the above-mentioned laws. Roosevelt forced the rate legislation; Upton Sinclair's novel created irresistible sentiment for better meat inspection; the sentiment against the Standard Oil Company created a demand for denaturized alcohol that would have been dangerous for any political party to ignore; and the pure food sentiment had been gathering strength for 15 or 20 years, and it mounted the radical wave and went thru. This is not a record of "standing pat." No credit is due to Cannon. He contributed nothing to the obtaining of these laws. He only yielded to forces which he couldn't resist, or that he considered it imprudent to resist. The Philadelphia Ledger says editorially of Mr. Cannon's speech:

It is a full, clear and emphatic declaration of the policy of "standing pat," of "letting well enuf alone," of continuing in power the party to which the country, as the Speaker assumes, owes its present unexampled prosperity, Mr. Cannon, it will be observed, is one of your practical statesmen who have no time for philosophical distinctions between sequence and consequence Prosperity has followed the Dingley tariff; therefore the Dingley tariff is the cause of prosperity, and to disturb it would be ruinous,

*

After the election it may be necessary to talk about the future. Till then the party will "stand pat."

379

Roosevelt is the positiv force in the republican party; but under Cannon it would go back to corporation grafting, fat frying, and "standing pat," claiming credit for the glorious sunshine, the beneficent showers, fertil soil, mineral deposits, etc., and all the natural resources and forces which make this country great. God is forgotten, and the republican party seeks to unsurp His place. That policy will not do any longer. I was born a republican, but I have had too much of that. The people have wakened up; and they demand a party of the present and future, and not of the past.

The democrats in both houses of Congress took up President Roosevelt's recommendations last session, particularly concerning the progressiv legislation mentioned, more readily and more unanimously than the republicans did. In electing the next House (next November) great care should be taken that the right kind of men be elected. The party doesn't matter so much. There are a few progressiv republican leaders, but the majority are stand pat" corporation sympathizers, ready to become corporation tools, unless a positiv and radical president or a powerful public sentiment forces them to serve the interests of the masses of the people. While some democratic leaders are the same (their numbers are getting lessGorman, for example, is dead, and most of the others are now either out of office or dead), the majority have shown themselves to be in harmony with the interests of the masses rather than the privileged classes. If the next House should be democratic, it does not follow that it would not be Rooseveltian. The democrats in Congress have proved themselves to be more favorable to Roosevelt's ideas than the republicans, and if the new House should be democratic it does not seem likely that it would be antagonistic to the present administration, if that administration should continue to be progressiv.

The rate bill would never have gone thru the Senate if it had not been for the attitude of the democrats of that body. The democrats with a few Roosevelt republicans in the Senate could and would have passed a rate regulation bill, and the "hold-back," corporation republican Senators knew it; and to save their face" they got as good a compromise as they could from Roosevelt and then passed it as a republican

measure.

So to those who look beneath the surface, to judge the future by the past does not necessarily mean that the best good of the country and the masses of the people demands the perpetuation of republican control, as Mr. Cannon argues. Don't be influenced by specious partisan arguments. Look more to the man than to the party. There is more individual independence in Congress now than there used to be, and it is a good thing to encourage. There are many earnest and determined Roosevelt republicans; and there are some who are willing to become corporation tools, for revenue, who want to get in by taking advantage of the wave of Roosevelt popularity. Look out for them. And there are democrats who were trained in the old school of subserviency to corporations and protected interests (the Randall type), who appreciate the desirability and importance (from a political point of view) of fat campaign contributions. Look out for them, also.

There are new forces coming into politics. One of these is the enormous number of thinking men who are becoming independent of partisan influences. Among these I hope are the readers of THE MED ICAL WORLD, and the leading citizens in many thousands of communities whom our readers can influence. Then there are the old populists of the 90's and the many whom their arguments taught to think-and populist principles are coming to the front rapidly enuf to surprise and gratify the most sanguine populist. Populism was largely of organized farmers, when they sought to go into politics-a very laudable purpose. Now we have an entirely new force which has resolved to make itself felt in practical politics; and that is organized labor. It is a reversal of the old policy of organized labor, which was to keep out of politics. All this, with the old political machines, is enuf to make politics interesting. The old political machines still have a strong pull, for the majority of

mankind will perhaps always be ignorant and dependent upon leaders; and perhaps the majority of mankind look backward instead of forward, and hence will be controled by party traditions. It is sad that this should be true in an enlightened country like this, and we should try to make it not true.

Another force should come into our politics, and we (MEDICAL WORLD people) can bring it in if we will; and that is, the New Zealand policy of questioning candidates. You who have The Story of New Zealand," or "Politics in New Zealand," please read it up. If every candidate for Congress were forced to meet the issues as you could present them, what a stirring up there would be! What questions would you ask? I wish our readers would reply in time for next WORLD. If the brightest of our readers would send in lists of questions in time for October WORLD, suitable for candidates for Congress to meet upon the stump, what an interesting time we would have! In the meantime, I will venture a few suggestions:

Your candidate for Congress, and also your candidate for the state legislature and governor, should be put thru a series of questions testing their knowledge of and position upon Direct Legislation, consisting of the Initiativ, Referendum, and Recall. This will test their belief in real, Simon-pure democracythat is, the right of the people to really manage their own affairs, vetoing their agents' work if they want to, and voting them out of office as well as in, if they want to. There are many books on this subject, telling all about it; we publish one," Direct Legislation" only 25 cts. No question can be more important to a self-governing people than this. This system changed Switzerland from one of the most corrupt, politicianridden countries into the most perfect democracy in the world.

One of our citizens (Morse) invented the telegraf, and the rest of the civilized world has a telegraf service as a part of the government postal service; but we can't have it, because a private monopoly stands in the way.

Other countries have postal savings banks; but we can't have them because the banking interests stand in the way.

Other countries have a parcels post; but we can't extend our postal service in that way, because several private express companies stand in the way.

The steel trust exports a considerable portion of its products, charging a much lower price abroad than at home, and yet it insists on a continuation of the tariff, which enables it to continue its high prices at home.

I have before me the official figures showing exportations of agricultural implements in the 12 months ending June, 1904, to the value of $22,749,635; 1905, $20,721,741; 1906, $24,554,427. Yet Mr. Cannon says nothing about removing the tariff from agricultural implements! When exportations are so large in a certain class of manufactures, there is no need for "protection" from importations. When this condition exists, and the manufacturers want a continuance of the tariff, the only reason possible is that they want "protection" in the high prices charged American purchasers. Mr. Cannon is opposed to any "tariff tinkering.' Would it be "tinkering" to remove the tariff from trust-made goods and all other classes of goods exported at a less price than the price charged American consumers? Wouldn't it be interesting to bring every candidate for Congress, of all parties, to a committal in writing on this subject? And why not on all of the above subjects?

As for revenue, these schedules do not yield revenue; and the "protection" is not needed, except for fleecing American consumers. I believe in a tariff for protection of American production, when the protection is needed; but when American products in a certain line are exported, and at a less price than the domestic selling price, it proves that protection against foreign importations is not needed. I do not believe in the old democratic doctrin, "tariff for revenue only." I believe that tariff should be for protection against the products of cheap foreign labor, when needed; but when we (by our machinery, superior efficiency of labor, etc.) can produce cheaper than foreign labor, as proven by expor

tation to the countries where the foreign labor exists, we need protection no longer, and the tariff should be removed. Revenue should be incidental to the above process; and when more revenue is needed, we should turn to the vast fortunes of our millionaires. When our millionaires die, the Government should take a liberal share as an inheritance tax. Other countries do it, and we did it twice in our history as a war tax." We should do it in peace as well as war, like England and a number of other countries.

Over ten years ago I proposed a bill providing for a National inheritance tax, applying to the estates of millionaires alone. The first million and all estates under a million should be free; the second million should be taxt say 5%; the third a higher tax, and so on until all above fifty millions should be taken by the Government. Such a law would produce a revenue of about fifty millions from the estate of the late Russell Sage, and it would wrong no one-no one would be poorer. No revenue is more easily collected, and no tax is more just, and no tax falls lighter on the living. The dead cannot feel it. The dead have no needs. And the dead hand should not control.

Brazilian Mining Schemes.

If a promoter of any scheme for mining for gold or diamonds in Brazil comes your way, turn him down. Cousul George E. Anderson writes from Rio de Janeiro that he has learned that most of the mining companies that are peddling stock in New York, Chicago and London have nothing but stock to sell. Mr. Anderson has been unable to find a single company that has paid a dividend. He has also found that the alleged diamond mines of Brazil are things of which to steer wide.

"In offering general discouragement as to mining propositions," says Mr. Anderson, "I wish it to be understood as not reflecting upon all the enterprises now on foot to develop Brazilian mining properties. It is possible, and even probable, that some of them will result profitably, and the reports of mining ex perts on the country in general are such as to indicate that it will probably some day produce great returns on mining investments. At the same time, it is full of schemes, which are either out-and-out frauds or which are based upon claims and facts so slight as to make them little less than frauds."

Many things have to be considered. Brazilian mining laws are very incomplete and unsatisfactory. While land is cheap, if any special value is developt, particularly by a foreigner or by a company made up chiefly of foreigners, some one is very likely to urge a prior claim to that particular land. And suppose the ore is very rich; the absence of railroads, involving the heavy cost of carrying ore many miles on the backs of mules over a rugged and mountainous country without roads or bridges, will take away much if not all the profit. So you see, the glitter of seemingly great promises vanishes as you get closer to the proposition. It is easy to talk, or to write glowing descriptions of the untold wealth that has been lying there for ages, but if doctors have any wealth in their pockets they would better let it stay there, and not put it in Brazilian mining schemes, however promising, seemingly. Remember my advice: keep your invest ments close to your home, and let them be loans guar anteed by first mortgages on property well known to you, loans not to exceed half the assest value of the property. If you can get 6 percent interest, the principal being thus made safe, you are doing far better than the man who reaches out for larger returns, and who usually loses all.

"I want to send my magazine, called the MoneyMaker, six months free, if you want to save, invest, and get ahead in the world," says William Ostrander (Incorporated) of Philadelphia, in his advertisements. So far, he has always managed to get ahead of all who have saved and invested in his dubious securities, whose real value is hardly one-tenth of the price at which they have been unloaded on the public.-Financial World.

DEAR DOCTOR :-I beg to thank you for your communication of June 27th, and to state that I am having a notice prepared which I will send to each Local Registrar in the state, calling their attention to the fact that if they furnish any information upon a certificate received by them, for commercial or other purposes, that they render themselves liable to prosecution under the Registration Law. You can rest assured that I will enforce this to the letter, as we do not propose to run the Bureau of Vital Statistics or any part of it as an adjunct to adopt patent medicins or other commercial schemes. Yours very truly, WILMER R. BATT,

State Registrar.

Thus THE WORLD nips a scheme in the bud in this state. Physicians in other states where a system of Vital Statistics has been inaugurated should look up this matter and see if this plan is being used to foster and further the conscienceless schemes of these vampires who would willingly prey upon the very infant in the cradle.

Look it up, doctor; have a talk with your Local Registrar. Doubtless the scheme was not confined to one state alone. If you find evidence of this iniquity being attempted elsewhere, notify us of the essential facts, and we will see that the matter is made public. It is also within the bounds of probability that more than one company would be engaged in this same scheme. What a great plan it would be to learn the name of one party to a nuptial contract when the other had died of tuberculosis. A shrewd nostrum promoter could hound the very life out of the surviving head of a family, by mail, frightening them by false assertions until their fears would drive them to invest in the medicin heralded as a "sure preventativ and cure for consumption." Then, by the assistance furnisht by obliging third and fourth class postmasters, who are glad to make out a list of the names of the patrons of their office, for a consideration, more distant relativs could be workt. The possibilities of the plot are unbounded.

In this connection, we have often been amazed that the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General permits his postmasters to furnish the names of the patrons of their offices to fake mining companies and "patent" nostrum vendors. We cannot think that the Department is ignorant of the fact that such lists are furnisht, for some of the nostrum vendors are so particular about having their lists correct that they insist upon having them revised and corrected each year.

The Rubber Band in Therapeutics. The recent and most successful investigations and experiments of Bier along the lines of therapy by means of intelligently induced hyperemia are bearing fruit in a multitude of reports and suggestions looking toward the relief and cure of many conditions hitherto considered as tardy in yielding to treatment. Bier divided his therapeutical hyperemia into two classes: activ and passiv; the former referring to arterial hyperemia, and the latter to venous hyperemia. The former he induced by means of bandages and a hot air apparatus; the latter by a suction apparatus and bandages. About the most practical point he developt in the complicated indications for each of the separate varieties was that the activ, or hot air hyperemia, was not to be used in tuberculous affections about the joints, it having proven decidedly harmful in such conditions, whereas the passiv form showed improvement in the local conditions.

The plan is easily tried in any of the host of affections for which it has been commended, and any ingenious physician can contrive apparatus from his present armamentarium without going to expense for other supplies. The plan is to induce hyperemia without undue congestion; i. e., the bandages must not be too tight.

Latterly a mere rubber band has been employed with good results in a variety of affections. The ordinary elastic web a half inch or an inch wide, such as it is customary for ladies to use for hose supporters, provided with a buckle or clasp arranged so that no undue pressure will come under the fastening, is sufficient in many cases.

In addition to tuberculous joints, all varieties of arthritis, suppurativ processes, otitis media, gout, rheumatism, etc., may be benefited by this treatment; observers have now also reported beneficial results in facial eczema and acute coryza. We would suggest its trial in erysipelas, in conjunction with the ordinary internal medication. The headaches having evidences of cerebral anemia as a symptom might be so treated, also.

In coryza, the elastic bandage is applied tightly enuf around the neck to produce noticeable flushing of the face, but not tight enuf to cause discomfort. The lachrymation and tickling sensations about the nares disappear within an hour. The bandage may then be removed; if the symptoms reappear, it may again be applied. Other observers have reported favorable results following the same method of application in obstinate facial

eczema.

The theory of the method is readily understood, and we will expect to see a wider range of application speedily developt by the thinking and working members of the profession. When any one has tried the plan in a series of cases, we will be glad to have the