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596 ,] NOTES, SHORT COMMENTS, AND ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Notes, Short Comments, and Answers to Correspondents. AN ADAPTABLE REMEDY AND A FAMOUS QUACK. IN the July number of the St. Mary’s Hospital Gazette is a letter from Mr. R. S. Wilkinson inclosing an advertisement from the last page of "The Compleat Practice of Physick," in 18 volumes, by Lazarus Riverius, London, 1655, which Mr. Wilkinson believes to be the first medical book published .in English. It is a translation of a Latin work, which we take to have been that made by Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, and William Rowland, and a popular work which went through many editions. The advertisement is such an excellent example of the claims of the eternal quack that we quote it in full :- The Vertues, life and variety of Operations of the True and Phylosophical AURUM POTABILE, Attained by the Studies of Doctor Freeman, and Dr. Culpeper, and left with his Widdow, and administred by a Physitian in her House neer LONDON, on the East side of Spittlefields, next door to the red Lyon. The Vertues are as follows :- It Cures all Agues, whether Quotidian, Tertian, or Quartan; as also it cured divers people of that most horrid putrid Feaver, which so violently siezed on mens Bodies (both before and after Michaelmas, 1653), to the great admiration of many; and when the parties Diseased have been both senceless and speechles, for that neither that, nor any other Medicine or PANACEA, though never so gentle, could safely be administred into the Body, it hath beyond all hopes, by external application on the stomack revived them. It cures the Gout of all sorts perfectly being ad- ministred as the Physitian shal advise. It causeth Women subject to Abortion, or Miscarriage, to goe their time; and yet being given when the time comes, it causeth a spedy and easie delivery. It is an infallible cure for the French Pox and doth it with such speed, ease, and Secretness, that none of the nearest relation shall take notice thereof. It cures the Green-sickness and all sorts of Jaundice. It provokes the Terms. It is good for Aches and all affiictions coming of cold. It helps the Rickets. But to what purpose do I nominate diseases in particular, when it is an universall Remedy for all diseases being administred as the Physitian shal advise? For its chief aim is exhilarating the vital spirits and heart. It both binds and stops Fluxes, yet Purges; it both Vomits, and stays Vomiting; it causes sweat, yet cures preternatural Sweatings, and performs all its operations as Nature itself would have it, because it only fortifies her in her Centre. We doubt whether even the columns of a modern newspaper trading in quack advertisements could match the effrontery of this, the com- pleteness of which, indeed, almost compels admiration. For the credit of seventeenth century medicine in England it is gratifying to record that Nicholas Culpeper, who was a notorious quack and astrologer, incurred the severe displeasure of the College of Physicians, whose Pharmacopoeia he translated under the title of "A Physical Direc;tory," a book of which, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, the royalist periodical, "Mercurius Pragmaticus" (Pt. II., No. 21, 1649), wrote that it "was done (very filthily) into English by one Nicholas Culpeper who ...... is arrived at the battlement of an absolute Atheist, and by two yeere’s drunken labour hath Galli- mawfred the apothecaries book into nonsense, mixing every receipt therein with some scruples, at least, of rebellion or atheism, besides the danger of poysoning men’s bodies. And (to supply his drunken- ness and trachery with a thirty shilling reward) endeavoured to bring into obloquy the famous societies of apothecaries and chyrurgeons." We fear that the tenderness of the modern law renders this robust statement of opinion an undesirable model for the castigation of a modern quack. But the phrase "hath Gallimawfred the apothecaries book into nonsense deserves rescuing from oblivion. We commend it to any examiner in materia medica who may be casting about for a phrase that shall express a candidate’s insufficiency in vigorous but still dignified language. NEW ZEALAND SUBSIDISED APPOINTMENTS. To the Edito1’ of THE LANCET. SIR,-Occasionally an advertisement occurs in the home papers for a medical man for a sparsely populated district in New Zealand. A guarantee of E300 per annum is usually offered, part of which is a grant from the New Zealand Government, and part made up by subscrip- tions from the settlers. The writer has had personal experience of one of these appointments and thinks it his duty to place it before intending applicants. The scale of fees is very high compared with home charges, but the fewness of patients and the dearness of living more than outweigh any apparent advantage, and ;C300 in these parts of New Zealand does not go as far as £150 in the United Kingdom. In winter the main roads were mud up to the horse’s knees and frequently to its girths, while the bush tracks were, even to an experienced rider, dangerous and often impassable. Ile was under the domination of a committee of settlers, some of whom could neither read nor write, before whom he Was liable to be hailed on the most trivial pretext. Recently a medical man holding one of these appointments had to go through the insolvency court because the settlers tailed to pay their subscriptions. Space forbids further details, but I woulcl advise any medical man to make every inquiry before accepting one of these appointments. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, August 17th, 1908. ALTRUIST. INFECTION AND THE TELEPHONE. OF the several devices for the prevention of infection through the use of the unprotected telephone mouthpiece which we have been callect upon to notice in our columns the best yet submitted to us seem to be those founded on the principle of preventing germs from entering the mouthpiece by means of a covering of fabric impregnated with an antiseptic. Messrs. Jeyes have submitted to us an " Antiseptic Telephone Cap " which is sold at the price of 3d. and consists of a metal ring and rim with the annular space filled by a diaphragm of gauze. This diaphragm is intended to be occasionally moistened with a solution of Jeyes’ fluid. The cap is adjusted to the telephone by means of fine wire springs, which, it seems to us, however, may break away from the rim. In the Times of August 12th a correspondent makes the suggestion that users of public telephones might "fit a piece of thin but tough paper (good typewriting paper does well) over the mouthpiece of the receiver, so as to form a little tight drumhead to it. If the paper be strong enough it will suffice to crumple it tightly round the neck of the cup, but a small elastic band holds better. The paper is fitted in a few seconds and removed as quickly. The user speaks against it, but without touching it." I This is the adoption of a suggestion made in these columns that public call offices should be supplied with some kind of aseptic paper mouthpieces which could be destroyed after use. THE MANGO FRUIT. IN olden days Anglo-Indians whose lot had been cast in the Western Presidency used to say that the queen of all fruits was the mango and that it could only be obtained in perfection in Bombay and Goa. The fruit that occasionally appeared on English dessert tables was a mango only in name, flavour and aroma being both absent. To obtain the supreme luxury in its prime it was absolutely necessary that the sybarite should cross the sea. It seems, however, according to the Pioneer Mail, that there is some chance of the Alfonzo mango find- ing its way to the Covent Garden fruit stalls, for Florida has lately been importing grafts of the Bombay stock and the promoters are confident of their ability to supply the English markets, in the near future, with as many mangoes in perfect condition as there may be a demand for. As might be expected, too, continues the writer of the article in our contemporary, the flavour and quality of the Alfonzo will be greatly improved through the introduction of the parent tree into American soil. R. H.-We do not see that the words of the surgeon reported in THE LANCET are at variance with the medical advice. Our corre- spondent had better follow his physician’s counsel and keep his physician informed as to his health. Enquirer.—From what our correspondent tells us the election seems to have been highly irregular. COMMUNICATIONS not noticed in our present issue will receive attention in our next. M ETEOROLOG ICAL READINGS. (Taken daily at 8.30 a.m. by Steward’s Instruments.) TEE LANCET Office, August 20th, 1908. During the week marked copies of the following newspapers , have been received :-Daily Telegraph, Portsneouth Evening News, Lancashire Post, Daily Chronicle, Daily Mirror, Daily Graphic, f Western Chronicle, Christchurch Times, Scieatific American, Literary Digest (New York), Broad Arrow, Coventry Times, Edinburgh Evening s News, Hereford Tinaes, Wimbleclon Gazette, Jlotor Car Journal,, Liverpool Daily Post, Liverpool Daily Courier, Cardiff Timea, Ely o Gazette, Alnwick Express, &e.
