fortunate victims of circumstances. Warped and twisted by early misdirection they never see the beauty which is all around them. While this is often the case the sad truth remains that some, few let us hope, enter upon a dishonest course from deliberate choice, dead weights which drag down and defile the noble profession under whose cloak they seek to hide. We have drawn the picture in black color, but we have not done so from choice, but rather in Its contemplation is so painful that we would gladly forget its exE. B.

sorrow.

istence.

:0:

The Buffalo General Hospital.

The annual report of this institution for the year 1874 is before us, and its contents demand our attention. The Trustees in their report pay a deserved tribute to the Ladies' Hospital Association, and express the wish that the plan of uniting the Executive Committee of the Ladies' Hopital Association and their Board may be continued in operation. The efforts of the ladies have been quite successful in relieving the Trustees of a large share of the direct care of the Hospital, and through their efficient aid a considerable amount of the necessary funds of the institution have been raised.

Considerable interest has been manifested in procuring a permanent endowment, and we understand that the move has met with considerable encouragement. There is now belonging to this fund paid in the sum of $26,000, of this $5,000 was contributed by a charitable lady for the endowment of free beds. There are also bequests amounting to $16,000 not yet paid in.

The report of the Ladies' Hospital Association gives some idea of the work which they undertake, but can convey no correct idea of its magnitude to those unacquainted with the details. A considerable sum of money is contributed by the various churches, but there probably remains a number who never contribute from lack of opportunity, to meet this we think that the plan which has been put in operation in Boston of having one Sunday of the year designated as Hospital Sunday, on which day a general collection could be taken up in all the churches, might be made to work. This plan we suggested in August last, but do not know that its merits have been canvassed by the Ladies' Association.

The report of the Superintendent conveys some interesting intelligence concerning the expenses and general conduct of the Hospital. It closes with a tribute to the faithful attendance of the Resident Physician, who, we can say from personal knowledge has proved himself commendably attentive to his duties.

Medically the report does not contain any information, but we may hope for an improvement in this direction as the Hospital grows. The situation of the Hospital is an excellent one, and the building is very well adapted to its purposes. The wards are high and airy and the hygienic conditions good.

Erie County Medical Society and Preliminary Education.

Below we present our readers with a letter taking exception to some of the statements in a communication to the Medical Record of May 22d.

The charges against the member of the Society mentioned in that letter, were preferred, as many of our readers are aware, against the Senior Editor of this JOURNAL, such being the case we have thus far refrained from saying any thing in regard to the matter, and our correspondent has presented our views so fully that we have nothing to add. The remarks which we have already made under the head of "The American Medical Association and Medical Education," will sufficiently explain our views upon the general subject. We are, however, surprised that the correspondent of the Record should allow the impression to be made that the charges preferred at the January meeting resulted in anything like a resolution of censure, partaking as he says, of a character of "diplomatic indefiniteness." He must have known that they were wholly dismissed, the simple addition to the resolution being that the Society committed itself to the advisability of preliminary examination of medical students. We shall welcome the time when the qualifications suitable to the commencement of the study of medicine shall be definitely settled and some plan established of determing those qualifications. It seems to us that in their determination the moral as well as the mental qualifications should have some weight.

The preliminary examination should be undertaken by the Colleges, and we are glad to see indications of a move in that direction, when such a step is taken and the system firmly established, we may look for a real advance in the standard of medical education.

To the Editor of Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal.

E. B.

DEAR SIR: In the Medical Record of May 22d, which reached me this morning, I find some statements in regard to the Erie County Medical Society and Preliminary Education which seem to demand a little attention. In the outset do not understand me to convey the idea by any portion of this letter that preliminary education of medical students should not be insisted upon, on the contrary, I am heartily in favor of the most thorough preliminary education, and am willing to lend my aid to any move which shall strive to bring about this desired reform. The correspondent of the Record says that for four years there has been a systematic and sustained effort in the Erie County Medical Society to faithfully execute the by-laws in regard to this matter, and further states that the move which finally aroused the Society was taken at the annual meeting in January last. This move was the preferment of charges against "a prominent member of our Faculty and Society," for "knowing repeated and willful" violation of the by-laws in admitting students to his office without the required certificate of preliminary

examination. To the members of the Erie County Medical Society who were present at the January meeting the facts are doubtless sufficiently fresh not to demand a repetition here, suffice it to say, that the prominent member aforesaid was wholly exonorated from each and every charge, by the adoption of a resolution, which, however, was not of that indefinite character that the correspondent of the Record would have us believe, neither was it in any sense, indefinite or otherwise, a resolution of censure.

In common with other members of the Society the question suggested itself to me, why did the primary board select only one, or, the one whom they did, against whom to prefer charges. They must certainly have known that there were students of medicine in the offices of many other members of the Erie County Medical Society who had never presented themselves to the Board for examination, and it seems to me that one-half the labor expended in the unsuccessful endeavor to secure affidavits, etc., might have proven such to be the fact. Of the motive of these charges, however, I have nothing to say. The member against whom they were preferred has seen fit to let the matter drop, and I do not propose to again open the case.

One single statement in the letter demands further notice and I have done. The correspondent carries the idea that students who have commenced the study of medicine without preliminary examination have done so in an illegal way, and that diplomas granted to them have been granted contrary to law, and do not entitle the holders to all the rights and privileges of the practice of medicine. I have yet to learn that the law has anything to do with the preliminary education of medical students. The requirement is one made of their preceptors and does not in any way effect them, moreover it is simply a requirement of medical societies, and the law, as I read it, does not give these societies any power to regulate the practice of medicine. If a young man sees fit to graduate without a preliminary examination, his diploma confers upon him all the rights and previleges that it ever did.

Nothing is ever gained in any cause by misrepresentation. The resolution as it is, is sufficiently binding and definite in its requirements, but if the chairman of the Primary Board attempts to add a legal force which it does not possess, he will convey the idea that he is striving to defend a cause which can not stand on its own merits.

May 24, 1875.

A MEMBER OF THE ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

:0:

Sugar Coated Pills.

At a late meeting of the Pharmacentical Society of Philadelphia, Dr. Miller spoke strongly against the purchase of cheap sugar coated quinia pills. There in the market forty-five thousand such pills which do not contain a trace of quinia. They were made from muriate of cinchonia, furnished by a New York house as sulphate of quinia to some of the makers of sugar coated pills.-New York Evening Post, May 14.

When the plan of sugar coating pills was first brought to the notice of the profession it was very generally commended, and the Hieroglyphics S. C. became a uaual addition to every prescription in which medicines were prescribed in the pilular form. The elegant appearance of these pills with their glossy saccharine coating so effectually concealing the taste and even smell of nauseous and repulsive remedies seemed to leave nothing to be desired, and their popularity was such that the plan was adopted by nostrum venders and Homeopathists, and almost every variety of drug from Cod Liver Oil to Dovers Powder was offered in this form to the regular profession, and readily swallowed by the public.

The preparation of sugar coated pills soon became a special branch of Pharmacy, and large fortunes were embarked in the business.

The usual competition in prices soon resulted, and the business which had at the first yielded large profits was done on very small margins.

Unprincipled parties were not slow to discover, however that to increase profits and reduce prices it was only necessary to use cheap drugs, or to substitute for the more expensive chemicals, those of a similar nature but cheaper, while the finished pellet with its white and glossy covering concealed all defects and sold well to these sharp buyers who are always on the lookout for bargains. The consequence has been that the market has been flooded with sugar coated pills which, as many physicians have found to their sorrow, have either been almost inert, or as in the case of cathartics have operated with a severity which is easily accounted for, if for a prescription for pil. coloc. comp. the unsuspecting patient has received a compound of cape aloes and croton oil; or if, as noted in the extract from a New York paper, with which we have prefaced these remarks, pills of cinchonine are labled sulphate of quinine and dispensed as such to the malaria stricken patient, is it surprising that we frequently do not get the results expected from sugar coated quinine pills. Again, it is the custom of some makers to mix the sugar used in the coating of pills with a large proportion of Terra Alba, and in many cases even where there is no fraudulent substitution or inert drugs, the pills are in this preparation subjected to so great a heat that they become hard as adamant, and absolutely insoluble in the alimentary canal.

From such experiences many physicians have entirely discarded the use of sugar coated pills, but at the same time it is undeniable that if reliable and soluble pills can be obtained, the sugar covered form, is for very many nauseous medicine decidedly preferable to any other.

We fully believe that all of these essentials are fulfilled in the pills prepared by some of the reliable manufacturers, and physicians in order to obtain the desired results in prescribing medicines in this form should see to it that their prescriptions are dispensed by druggists wholly above suspicion

POSTPONED.-The time of meeting of the Ohio State Medical Society has been changed from the second to the third Tuesday in June. The meeting will be held at Put-in-Bay, Tuesday, June 15th, 1875.- -ZIEMSSEN'S CYCLOPÆDIA.-Messrs. Wm. Wood & Co., the publishers of this work wish us to announce that it will not be sold in separate volumes, but only in complete sets. Those wishing the work are therefore cautioned against purchasing any odd volumes which may be offered for sale. -ENTERPRISING.-The American Medical Weekly, of Louisville, Dr. E. S. Gaillard, Editor, had a complete report of the proceedings of the American Medical Association in its issue of May 8th. Our thanks are due the Editor for an advance proof sheet. -MERCURY IN SYPHILIS.-From the Doctor we learn that Dr. Drysdale who was at one time an active opponent of the use of mercury in syphilis has changed his views, and now believes that in many cases it may be used with benefit.- -THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN MEDICAL EDITORS at its annual meeting in Louisville, selected the following officers: President, Dr. Bell of the Sanitarian; Vice President, Dr. Wood, Jr., of the Philadelphia Medical Times; Secretary, Dr. F. C. Davis, of the Chicago Medical Times;Dr. D. W. CHEEVER has been appointed Professor of Clinical Surgery at Harvard Medical College. - -ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.-The SemiAnnual Meeting of the Erie County Medical Society will be held Tuesday, June 8th, in the Medical College. Matters of importance are expected to come before the Society.

:0:

Books and Pamphlets Received.

Sex in Industry: A Plea for the Working-Girl. By Azel Ames, Jr., M. D. Boston: Jas. R. Osgood & Co., 1875.

Buffalo: Martin Taylor.

What Young People Should Know. The Reproductive Function in Man and the Lower Animals. By Burt G. Wilder, M. D. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1875. Buffalo: H. H. Otis.

A series of American Clinical Lectures. Edited by E. C. Seguin, M. D., Vol. I, No. IV. Rest in the Treatment of Nervous Disease. By S. Wier New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Buffalo: Martin Taylor. Annual Report of the Buffalo General Hospital for the year 1874.

Mitchell, M. D.

An Address on the Climatology of Florida. By A. S. Baldwin, M. D. The President's Address before the Medical Association of the State of Florida.

Annual Report of the Managers of the State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, New York, for 1874.

Ninty-Second Annual Catalogue of the Medical School of Harvard Uni versity for 1874-75.