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METEOROLOGICAL READINGS.(Taken daily at 8.30 a.m. by Stewarcrs Instruments.)

THE LANCET Office, August 25th, 1898.

Notes, Short Comments, and Answersto Correspondents.EDITORIAL NOTICES.

IT is most important that communications relating to theEditorial business of THE LANCET should be addressed

4oolusively " TO THE EDITORS," and not in any case to anygentleman who may be supposed to be connected with theEditorial staff. It is urgently necessary that attention begiven to this notice. -

It is especially requested that early intelligence of local eventshaving a medical interest, or which it is desirable to bringunder the notice of the profession, may be sent direct tothis Office.

Lectures, original articles, and reports should be written onone side of the paper only, AND, WHEN ACCOMPANIEDBY BLOCKS, IT IS REQUESTED THAT THE NAME OF THE

AUTHOR, AND IF POSSIBLE OF THE ARTICLE, SHOULDBE WRITTEN ON THE BLOCKS TO FACILITATE IDENTI-

FICATION.

Letters, whether intended for insertion or for private informa-tion, must be authenticated by the names and addresses oftheir writers, not necessarily for publication.

,We cannot prescribe or reeommend practitioners.Local papers containing reports or news paragraphs should be

marked and addressed" To the Sub-Editor."Letters relating to the publication, sale, and advertising de-

partments of THE LANCET should be addressed " To theManager."

We cannot undertake to return NSS. not used.

NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM.

’We have received from a correspondent a small pamphlet published bya manufacturer of artificial limbs. The articles, if we judge bysundry testimonials, seem very perfect in their way, but there is a,passage in the pamphlet to which we must strongly take exception.The passage in question is headed " Observations on Amputationsfrom an Artificial Limb-maker’s Point of View," and it goes on tosuggest that " the less taken off the better " is not always the bestpolicy. This is no doubt true from the limb-maker’s point of view,but he has no right as he does in this pamphlet to say: "When aknee has to be sacrificed the amputation should if possible be performedabout four inches above the kneejoint," and still more presumptuousignorance is shown in the remark, "A portion of an injured handshould never be left, as it is perfectly useless to the patient." It is notthe business of an instrument-maker to advise a surgeon how muchor how little he shall remove, and such advice is merely a piece ofimpertinence.

’

ASSES’ MILK.

PHYSICIANS of every age and nationality have commended the milk ofthe ass as an excellent succedaneum for woman’s milk, but accordingto the following published opinion one eminent authority has cometo a precisely opposite conclusion. " The asses’ milk which I experi-mented on," says M. Duclaux, the Director of the Pasteur Institute," was obtained from one of the droves which are taken round to

patients’ doors in Paris. It will be seen how little milk so obtained isto be depended on, notwithstanding its enormous price. The

specimen which I analysed was very transparent and contained (a)substances in suspension : fatty matter, 1-00 ; casein, 0’99 ; phosphate

of lime, 0’06 ; (b) substances in solution: sugar of milk, 6’54 ; casein,0’34; phosphate of lime, 0’10; soluble salts, 0’27. Deducting thesugar, which in milk constitutes two-thirds of the dry residue, itwill be seen that in spite of its ten-fold cost this milk is not morethan one-third as valuable as cow’s milk." Replying to this attack,M. Variot writes to the following effect: " Such a condemnationcannot be final but must admit of an appeal, being founded on oneanalysis only, which, with regard to butter and casein, is in conflictwith the analyses of Fery and Gautrelet. And, moreover, if asses’milk is more easily assimilated than cows’ milk by certain debilitatednurslings it is precisely on account of its lightness and poverty incasein. The excess of protein substances in cows’ milk, which causesAmerican physicians so much anxiety, is not to be’dreaded in asses’milk. M. Duclaux may say, if he pleases, that as a cheese producerasses’ milk is valueless by reason of its lack of casein, but the fact,nevertheless, remains that for puny children deprived of the breastit is the very best substitute for their natural food." Doubtlessthis view will obtain most suffrages. Such, at least, is the opinionof an anonymous commentator, who exclaims, "We are on the sideof M. Variot and clinical experience against M. Duclaux andchemistry. Yes, asses’ milk is unquestionably the proper suc-

cedaneum for maternal milk and that precisely because, like woman’smilk, it is poor in casein."

A COURTEOUS SUGGESTION.

THE Daily Mail of August 24th publishes the following letter :—

" CHEMISTS AND DOCTORS.

A subject that affects the interest of the public to a momentousextent is that of dispensing by doctors. At present it can be usedin the hands of the unscrupulous to smother crime."There is not the division of labour between the doctor and the

chemist there should be. The doctor should prescribe and thechemist dispense, and there ought to be no departure from thisrule. At present, dispensing by the chemist is the exception, savein the West-end of London and fashionable resorts."In 1868 the Pharmacy Act came into force.’wherein it decreed

that before a chemist be permitted to dispense and sell scheduledpoisons he must prove himself capable by passing a very stringentand searching examination in chemistry, pharmacy, materia

medica, and dispensing. Since then 90 per cent. of the chemistshave passed these examinations, yet the bulk of dispensing is doneby the doctors, who have but a smattering of the art."The gravest point is this, that through inadvertence or by

design the medical man may send medicine improperly dispensed,or containing some poisonous drug by which his patientbecomes very ill or dies. In the one case he can explain his erroraway ; but in the latter he can sign the death certificate and forever hush up the true cause of decease.

" JosEPHUS."

We call this an infamous insinuation. Of course it is possible thata medical man may poison his patient either " through inadvertenceor design "-anything is possible. For all we know " Josephus " maybe a criminal of the deepest dye, but it is more probable that he is astruggling dispensing chemist.

NEWS FROM FRANCE.

(NOT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.)WE confess to being lost in doubt whether the articles from theJournal de Médecine de Paris translated extracts from which we sub-join are intended as examples of esprit or of " wut." They cannot beserious. Is it that the writers, after visiting the northern capital,have sought to combine the two-to serve up a s rt of humorous

gâchis, as it were a haggis flavoured with absinthe ?" OUR DOYEN IN LONDON.

" The above headline does not refer to the doyen of the Facultyof Medicine, but to the gentleman who hails from Reims. The laypress informs us that M. Doyen, that Napoleon of surgery, wassummoned to London in order to perform several operations of thegravest possible description. The illustrious surgeon was pre-sented to the Princess of Wales and exhibited his opera-tive procedure with the utmost success before numerous Englishsurgeons and also before the students of St. Mary’s Hospital. Thepatients he operated on are all progressing most favourably. TheQueen of England sent to ask M. Doyen if he was willing to accepta post as Her Majesty’s Surgeon in Ordinary with a salary of10,000 1 guign6es’ per annum ; but our compatriot refused, beingunwilling to deprive France of his services. Upwards of two-thousand English medical men made a point of accompanyingM. Doyen when he left. He promised to take part in the Congressof the British Association at Edinburgh, and the moment the newsbecame known the hotel tariff in the Scottish capital was trebled.’’

The following announcement is taken from the same source. Itshumorous character is not so obvious:-

"Necrology.-Lord Playfair, Commander of the Legion of Honour,sometime Professor of Chemistry at Manchester, at Edinburgh, andat Saint-Andrews, one of the most distinguished of hygienists, hasjust succumbed at the age of 79 years. Formerly vice-president ofthe House of Commons, formerly Minister of Public Instruction inone of the Gladstone ministries, Lord Playfair was raised to the.peerage in 1892. But this accoucheur was above all celebratedthrough the misadventure which befel him two years ago whenhe was condemned to pay a quarter of a million francs damagesfor having unduly disclosed the fact that one of his patients had.had a miscarriage."

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THE BONE-SETTER AGAIN.

MR. A. T. SHEPHERD, deputy coroner, held an inquest at Gateshead onAugust 18th to inquire into the circumstances of the death ofIsabella Keenan, aged thirteen years. It appeared in evidence, thatshe had been ill for three weeks and was attended by Dr. ArthurGreen. Then she was taken to a bone-setter, but she got worse.Dr. Green was sent for again on a Friday but the girl died onthe following Wednesday. Clayton, the bone-setter, said that hefound that the muscles of the right leg were contracting. He"eased them down" and put on a bandage. Her back hadbeen blistered. Dr. Arthur Green said that when he first saw the

girl she had severe bruising of the muscles of the back, and hadbeen blistered over the loins. When next he saw her she had a largegangrenous patch upon the back and was crying ; she had pneumoniaas well. He considered the gangrene was due to the over-tightbandaging. The coroner said that Clayton had been negligent,though he did not think criminally negligent. Probably if Dr.Green had had charge of the case all through the poor girl wouldnot have died. The jury considered that Clayton had been

negligent and ought to have called in a medical man. The deathwas due to the causes enumerated in the medical evidence. Wemake no comment upon this case, for it is of no use. This is a free

country and practices of this description are quite legal.

THE TITLE OF " DR."

To the Editors oj THE LANCET.

SIRS,—I am a Bachelor of Medicine of the University of Cambridge,also a Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Arts. Am I right in havinginscribed upon my doorplate and visiting cards simply "Dr. X"?This has been called in question by some of my fellow practitioners,who contend that as I am only a Bachelor of Medicine I have noright to style myself " Dr." I know it is the custom of Cambridge andOxford Bachelors of Medicine to style themselves Dr.," but I shouldbe very pleased to have your authority to point to, which would, ofcourse, end the matter at once. I am, Sirs, yours faithfully,August 22nd, 1898. X.

*,* It is usual for a Bachelor of Medicine to style himself " Dr." andwe have not before heard any objection to the custom from hisprofessional brethren. Our correspondent is referred to THE LANCETof August 17th, 1895, where the subject is discussed at length in aleading article.-ED. L.

THE LATE ARTHUR JEFFARES BARLOW.

IT has been decided to keep the appeal on behalf of the widow of thelate Mr. Arthur Barlow open for a short time longer. Mr. R. H.

Capper, of Buckholt, Battle, Sussex, who will receive subscriptions,asks us to acknowledge the receipt of the following contributions :—

Faraway, *25 5s.; Mr. Snook, Weymouth, per Dr.Henry, ;;82.

PROSECUTION OF PECULIAR PEOPLE.

OK August 24th a carman and his wife, named Cook, were committedfrom the Lambeth Police-court for trial on a charge of the man-

slaughter of their child. The prisoners are Peculiar People and thechild had been ill for six weeks with no medical attendance. An" elder " had, however, anointed the child and prayed over it. Medicalevidence showed that the death was due to broncho-pneumonia.

A HERBALIST IN TROUBLE.

AT Norwich, on August 23rd, Mr. Samuel Matthews, a former memberof the town council of the city, was fined Rl by the magistratesfor unlawfully using the title of "Surgeon." On the following dayMr. Matthews, who was a medical herbalist, was fined R20 in thecounty-court, at the suit of the Society of Apothecaries of Londonfor illegally acting as an apothecary. Mr. Matthews’s counsel calledthe prosecution "persecution," but was informed by his honour

Judge Willis in giving judgment that he could see no persecutionin the matter; it was most important that persons who undertookthe care of other people’s health should be duly qualified. We quiteagree, but unfortunately the law does not. A summons for illegallyusing the title of " Doctor " was dismissed.

"ETHERION."

THE New York correspondent of the Standard announces the discoveryby Mr. Charles Brush of an exceedingly attenuated gas to which hasbeen given the name of etherion." It would appear to invade allinterstellar space and may prove to be the "matter" or "ether " bythe vibrations of which alone can many physical phenomena be

explained. It occurs in the atmosphere and its density is one-

thousandth of that of hydrogen. If this announcement-which wasmade at a meeting of the American Association of Science-be correctwe would appear to be approaching the discovery, or even isolatio n,of Crookes’s "protyle," the primordial element.

A. J. G. entered into a bond and he must keep the terms thereofwhether the other party to the agreement be a layman or not. Wequite agree with him that it is inadvisable for a medical man tobecome a servant of these lay associations-we have said so over andover again-but we cannot advise that an agreement once entered dinto should not be kept.

Public Health is requested to send his name and address-of coursenot for publication-and also the name and date of the newspaperwherein the report appeared. We will then make a note of the-matter if it seems to us that to do so will be useful.

Emigrant.-The regulations governing medical practice in Americavary in the different States. Full information will be found inTHE LANCET of Sept. 12th, 1896, page 769, and also in our issue oOct. 3rd of the same year, page 969.

M. G. Y. B.-We do not as a rule publish letters which have alreadyappeared elsewhere.

Percy.-We do not recommend treatment.F.R. C.S. must verify his references.H. S. should consult a lawyer.

Medical Diary for the ensuing Week.OPERATIONS.

METROPOLITAN HOSPITALS.MONDAY (29th).-London (2 P.M.), St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), St.

Thomas’s (3.30 P.M.), St. George’s (2 P.M., Ophthalmic 1.15 p.m4St. Mary’s (2.30 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), St. Mark’s (9.30 A.M.).

, Chelsea (2 P.M.), Samaritan (Gynaecological, by Physicians, 2 P.M.),! Soho-square (2 P.M.), Royal Orthopaedic (2 P.M.), City Orthopsedie-!’ (4 P.M.), Gt. Northern Central (2.30 P.M.), West London (2.30 P.M.)’ Westminster (2 P.M.), London Throat Hospital (2 P.M.).’ TUESDAY (30th).-London (2 P.M.), St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), Guy’&

(1.30 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (3.30 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), West-minster (2 P.M.), West London (2.30 P.M.), University College

’

(2 P.M.), St. George’s (1 P.M.), St. Mary’s (1 P.M.), St. Mark’s(2.30 P.M.), Cancer (2 P.M.), Metropolitan (2.30 P.M.), London ThroatHospital (2 P.M. and 6 P.M.).

WEDNESDAY (31st).-St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), University College(2 P.M.), Royal Free (2 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.), Charing-cross(3 P.M.), St. Thomas’s (2 P.M.), London (2 P.M.), King’s College (2 P.M.),St. Mary’s (2 P.M.), National Orthopsedie (10 A.M.), St. Peter’s (2 P.M.).Samaritan (2.30 P.M.), Gt. Ormond-street (9.30 A.M.), Gt. NorthernCentral (2.30 P.M.), Westminster (2 P.M.), Metropolitan (2.30 P.M.),London Throat Hospital (2 P.M.).

THURSDAY (lst).-St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), St. Thomas’s(3.30 P.M.), University College (2 P.M.), Charing-cross (3 P.M.), St.George’s (1 P.M.), London (2 P.M.), King’s College (2 P.M.), Middlesex,(1.30 P.M.), St. Mary’s (2.30 P.M.), Soho-square (2 P.M.), North-WestLondon (2 P.M.), Chelsea (2 P.M.), Gt. Northern Central (Gyn2eco-logical, 2.30 P.M.), Metropolitan (2.30 P.M.), London Throat Hospital(2 P.M.).

FRIDAY (2nd).-London (2 P.M.), St. Bartholomew’s (1.30 P.M.), St.Thomas’s (3.30 P.M.), Guy’s (1.30 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.),Charing-cross (3 P.M.), St. George’s (1 P.M.), King’s College (2 P.M.).St. Mary’s (2 P.M., Ophthalmic 10 A.M.), Cancer (2 P.M.), Chelsea(2 P.M.), Gt. Northern Central (2.30 P.M.), West London (2.30 P.M.),London Throat Hospital (2 P.M. and 6 P.M.).

SATURDAY (3rd).-Royal Free (9 A.M. and 2 P.M.), Middlesex (1.30 P.M.).St. Thomas’s (2 P.M.), London (2 P.M.), University College (9.15 A.M.),Charing-cross (3 P.M.), St. George’s (1 P.M.), St. Mary’s (10 P.M.),Cancer (2 P.M.), London Throat Hospital (2 P.M.).

At the Royal Eye Hospital (2 P.M.), the Royal London Ophthalmic(10 A.M.), the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic (1.30 P.M.), and theCentral London Ophthalmic Hospitals operations are performed daily.

During the week marked copies of the following newspapershave been received: Birmingham Gazette, Nottingham Express,North Herts Journal, Luton Reporter, Walsall Observer, TorquayTimes, Wilts Standard, Ilfraeonabe Chronicle, Times of India, PioneerMail, Harwick Advertiser, Architect, Citizen, Scotsman, Builder,Liverpool Daily Post, High Peak News, Driffield Observer, LeedsMercury, Wigan Examiner, Derby Times, Ampthill News, HarrogateAdvertiser, Bristol Mercury, South Wales Daily News, Eastern

Morning News, Croydon Guardian, Bridgwater Independent, York-shire Post, Chester Chronicle, East Essex Times, Lynn News,Lancashire Express, Manchester Guardian, Western Morning News,Newcastle Journal, Cheltenham Mercury, Hereford Times, LancasterGuardian, North Jliddlesex Chronicle, Worcestershire Echo, SanitaryRecord, Mining Journal, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Journal, CityPress, Reading Mercury, Hertfordshire Mercury, Observer andChronicle (Bournemouth), Local Government Chronicle, Guy’sHospital Gazette, Surrey Advertiser, Redditch Indicator, LocalGovernment Journal, Australasian Medical Gazette, Forres Gazette,Falkirk Herald, Brecon County Times, Buckingham Express, Free-man, Exnzouth Journal, SleaJond Journal, Market Rasen Maid,School Guardian, Aberystivyth Observer, Cromer Post, GranthamJournal, Harwich Chronicle, Kendal County News, Dover Express,Andover Advertiser, Loughborough Monitor, Western Daily -Press,&c., &c.