Cow's milk is more digestible by dilution with cereal gruels partly on account of their mechanical action on the curds, and partly because of their stimulating the digestive process. Oatmeal, barley wheat or rice may be used in preparing these gruels. The gruels must be made quite thin. In regard to sterilization and Pasteurization the author says, they have the practical advantages. and will always be necessary in warm weather. The paper concludes with timely remarks on the art of feeding. We have quoted this paper fully in regard to the science of feeding because it puts in clear form the essential principles, and in a very practical way gives simple suggestions for feeding. It removes much of the abstract from this subject and gives practical information. Law and AT EVERY trial in a court of justice where medical men are summoned to testify either as eye or expert witnesses, one cannot help being impressed with the fact that the ends of justice could assuredly be better met were lawyers more conversant with medicine and doctors more conversant with law. In the direct and cross-examination of medical men by counsel, it is worthy of remark that the medical man usually gets the worst of the argument. This is neither the fault of the counsel alone nor of the medical man alone. It is a combination of egregiousness. Frequently the lawyer is called upon to defend a case where a knowledge of a particular part of medicine is called into play. The average lawyer is quite capable of reading up on this one point and is able to discuss the one point quite intelligently. We as medical men, however, fully appreciate how little it avails one to know one thing in medicine and nothing else. In every case, where one particular question in medicine is at issue, it inevitably happens that general considerations of medical nature crop out, and when these general salient points arise, then ensues the downfall of the cross-examining counsel. Counsel frequently brilliantly turn a point and propound an interrogation, which the medical witness must answer in a general way. Unable to respond in one word or two, the counsel must needs beat over the ground until the main proposition is lost sight of. This means long drawn-out harangue and perplexity for judge or jury, or both. The physician too, should know more of law and be prepared to answer questions without frequent admonitions and promptings from the court and from opposite counsel. In this place, it is also well to call attention to the necessity on the part of judges who try these cases to better prepare themselves in a general knowledge of medicine. There are some judges, however, who are quite capable, often better capable than the attorneys, of appreciating the point in a medical question. The writer has been struck several times while in attendance at the court of Judge Hiram Moore of this city, with his keen perception and intelligent understanding of medical questions. It would be well for other judges to seek to emulate Judge Moore's example. While the writer is not prepared to state whether or not this gentleman is a graduate in medicine, certainly his conduct of a case and the conclusions arrived at by him, indicate a clear and accurate conception of medical matters in general-a conception that is foreign nearly always to the minds of a great percentage of the legal talent in this city. The fault on the part of the profession can be traced back to our medical school training. The teaching of medical jurisprudence is absolutely inadequate in our medical colleges. There is a smattering of this subject taught in every school, consisting of a few desultory lectures by some attorney-at-law on the legal status of the physician, the matter of privilege communications, responsibility for fees, etc. We are shamefully deficient in our education in medico-legal matters. A chair of medical jurisprudence should be established in our schools, and it should be held by some one trained in both law and medicine. The lecturer should be capable of dealing with the multitude of hypothetical cases that commonly come up in court. He should be an expert in the conduct and power of drawing deductions from medico-legal autopsies. He should represent the ideal well trained medical man, and should possess in addition a "legal mind," backed up by a sound training in law. There is no class of medico-legal talent such as exists abroad. There is opportunity for the development of such a class in this country. With such a class and with the promulgation of their knowledges to medical students, medical expert testimony can. be raised from its lowly position, and medical men can afford to enter court and testify in a given case without fear of lowering the dignity of their profession. To hear statements made by medical men on the stand nowadays almost makes one ashamed of his profession. R. B. H. G. THE twenty-ninth annual meeting of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association will be held in Memphis, Tenn., October 7, 8 and 9, 1903. Presi Mississippi dent, Dr. Edwin Walker, of Evansville, Ind., and secretary Dr. Henry E. Tuley, of Louisville, Ky., have, with their well known energy and powers for organization, arranged for an excellent program, having in view practical papers which will be of special value to the general practitioner in his daily work. This meeting, therefore, promises to be of an unusual interesting and helpful character in which the wants of the physician in his daily routine of practice will have primary consideration. Memphis is a charming city, and her profession is alive to the importance of such a meeting, both from the standpoint of civic pride and professional interest. The Committee of Arrangements, of which Dr. John L. Jelks is chairman, has in view the comfort and well-being of every physician who is to visit "The Hub of the South," and doubtless the meeting will be in every way a joyous success. We would urge physicians in the Mississippi Valley to join this great working society, as the spirit of progress and good fellowship which characterizes this association will prompt. one to do better professional work, have more regard for his fellows and create friendships which make the world better, happier and brighter during the busy routine of a physician's life. It is better for us all to get out of the rut occasionally, mingle with our fellows and try to contribute from our own experience "the mite" which we have to give in the world of progressive medicine. The Memphis meeting will be "a hummer," and let every physician do his best to make it a memorable occasion. A Lay THERE is something doing these days in the field of medico-politics, judging by the letter-heads and correspondence of the Samuel Bell Thomas American Congress of Tuberculosis. In this layman's boom to get next to the powers that be in authority in National, State and municipal affairs, we witness the poor unfortunate victim of tuberculosis made the buffeting tool. To every delegate who attended the American Congress of Tuberculosis of 1902 in New York, especially those who became familiar with the local colorings there, and learned of the medley of lay-professional, semi-professional and gold-brick combinations, the announcements recently sent out by Samuel Bell Thomas from New York are not surprising. However, the proceedings of the congress of 1902 distinctly show that the cuckoo element of the congress which proposed to lay eggs in the nests of true professionalism were ousted and a strictly scientific organization was perfected, and a meeting of the same under the name of the American Congress on Tuberculosis arranged for. Dr. Daniel Lewis, of New York, was elected to the presidency of this organization, and Dr. George Brown, of Atlanta, Ga., secretary. This congress has not convened since these officers were elected, and will not convene until 1905, when the meeting will be in Washington, D. C. The other organization, which claims to be the real thing, says "The American Congress of Tuberculosis was organized in 1900, and has held annual meetings each year since in New York.' Evidently the secretary, Samuel Bell Thomas, ignores the proceedings on the American Congress of Tuberculosis of 1902, when the perfected plans of organization were passed upon. We regard the attempt to defeat the plans of the congress of 1902 as being on the Foxy Grandpa style of doing business. Certainly the highminded, truly professional and science-loving members of the congress of which Samuel Bell Thomas is secretary, have not been informed of the real status of that organization. We have no objection to Samuel Bell Thomas, or any one else getting up a congress of tuberculosis, but in doing so let them play fair, shinny on their own side, and not try to strike a statesque pose and say 'we are it." The medical profession of the Mississippi Valley; the health officers, State, National and municipal, and the editors of the medical journals of the West should know that the American Congress of Tuberculosis, which is to convene in St. Louis in 1904, is a little world of its own, having one great lay star and a few satellites, and with this luminous aggregation the suffering victim of tuberculosis is to have the light thrown upon him, not in the spirit of the good Samaritan, but that of Pete Finnegan, who proposed to shine in spite of the fog. F. P. N. Books, Reprints, and Instruments for this department, should be sent to the Editors, St. Louis. A TEXT-BOOK OF PATHOLOGY AND PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY. By Dr. Hans Schmaus. Translated from the Sixth German edition by A. E. Thayer, M.D. Edited with additions by James Ewing, M.D. Philadelphia and New York: Lea Brothers & Co. 1902. (Price $4.00.) A concise text-book for students, conveniently divided into two parts. The first part treating of General Pathology, the second part of special pathology. The work is a short compact, but comprehensive treatment of the subject; just what the student stands in need of. The various views. and theories on mooted questions, in which the larger and more discursive books abound are happily absent. Instead of such material there is found in this volume a condensed statement of present knowledge, amplified by a well-chosen array of instances and references. The author recognizes the stress now placed upon the study of pathological anatomy in the higher class medical schools, and has splendidly elaborated this part of the work. To the splendid German illustrations a number of new ones have been added in the translation. ZAPFFE'S BACTERIOLOGY. A Manual of of Bacteriology for Students and Physicians. By Fred C. Zapffe, M.D., Professor of Histology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Professor of Pathology, Bacteriology and Hygiene in the Illinois Medical College, Chicago. In one 12mo volume of 350 pages, with 150 engravings and 7 full-page colored plates. Lea's Series of Pocket Text-Books, edited by Bern B. Gallaudet, M. D. Philadelphia and New York: Lea Brothers & Company. (Cloth, $1.50, net; flexible leather, $2.00, net). This little work certainly presents the essentials of bacteriology in as compact a form as is possible. The author has written the work with the needs of the student of medicine in mind. The larger books on bacteriology, while going into the historical side of modern bacteriology more extensively than the book in hand, give no more information for the student than does this work. As a text-book of bacteriology for students of medicine, this work deserves recommendation. Its principal attribute is its compactness, and yet it slights nothing. G. THE EMBRYOLGY OF THE EYE. By Mvv Lenhossek. Two plates and 19 illustrations in the text. Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, 1903. Many very interesting revelations have been made in recent years in the study of the development of the vitreous body. After the vitreous was recognized as a distinct tissue, it was grouped with the class of connective tissue structures, and it was supposed to have its origin from the mesodern. Recently Tornatola asserted the ectodermal nature if the vitreous body derived from certain retinal cells, whose prolongations yielded the fibrillae of the vitreous. His investigations were corroborated by Fischel and Rabl. Lenhossek deos not deny the ectodermal derivation of the vitreous in his extensive.work, but also traces the source of its structural elements. The author believes the vitreous to be derived from processes of the lenticular cells, and is consequently of an ectodermal nature. But has nothing to do with the retina from which it is completely separated by a complete cutiula retinae. F. PROGRESSIVE MEDICINE. A Quarterly Digest of Advances, Discoveries and Improvements in the Medical and Surgical Sciences. Edited by Hobart Amory Hare, M. D., assisted by H. R. M. Landis, M. D. Philadelphia and New York: Lea Brothers & Co., June, 1903. (Price, $2.00.) Progressive Medicine as a quarterly review of and commentary on the progress in medicine and surgery is an established work which under the able guidance of Hare is being appreciated more and more by the profession. The June volume contains Dr. Wm. B. Coley's review of abdominal surgery, including hernia; Dr. Jno. G. Clark's excellent article on gynecology; Dr. Alford Stengel's exhaustive review upon diseases of the blood and ductless glands; the hemorrhagic diseases, metabolic diseases and ophthalmology by Dr. Edward Jackson. Progressive Medicine is essentially a practical work, as the reviews indicate. None but truly worthy articles in the current medical literature of the day find a place in the work of the contributors; as a result of this careful consideration of what is valuable the readers reassured of helpful suggestions in practice and the most. recent summary of valuable facts in true progress. We always enjoy the perusal of Progressive Medicine and rely upon it as a reference work of what is best in modern medicine. F. P. N. DWIGHT'S EPITOME OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. A Manual for Stu dents and Practitioners. By E. W. Dwight, M. D., Instructor in pages. This little volume contains a wealth of knowledge upon medical jurisprudence. Strange to say, but little instruction is usually given this most important subject in the average medical college curriculum. venture to say that if the general practitioner knows all that is within this little book of 249 pages, he will be well prepared to go into court and make statements that are a credit to himself and a credit to his profession. Again, he who goes into court without the fortification of at least that amount of knowledge upon medico-legal matters that can be obtained from this little manual, will make statements that will not only confuse and perplex the court, but will undoubtedly disgrace himself. An editorial on this very subject appeares in this issue of this journal. This little work coming right on top of it, almost fulfils the long-felt want expressed in this self-same editorial, wherein the writer showed how much better it would be were doctors better lawyers and lawyers better conversant with things medical. G. |