note that Drs. F. J. Waldo and David Walsh, according to the London Lancet, have found that the baker's oven does not destroy bacilli. In sixty-two loaves of bread from various bakehouses in London, thirteen different kinds of bacilli were found alive. On examination it was determined that the heat of the center of a loaf of bread whilst baking ranges from 163°F. to 203°F., according to the size of the loaf. The practical points here are, 1st, sterilization-so-called-of milk short of the boiling point is ineffectual, and 2d, the possibility of contracting diseases from bread.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

Central Building for the Professional Colleges in San Francisco.

The many students, graduates and friends of the Professional Colleges of the University will be pleased to learn that active steps have been taken to procure the necessary legislation for the purpose of erecting a large central building in San Francisco. At a recent meeting of a joint committee representing the University, Professional Colleges and Alumni there was a unanimity of feeling in favor of concerted action on behalf the Professional Colleges in San Francisco, and a committee, consisting of President Reinst ein, of the Alumni Association, Prof. McNutt, of the Medical, and Judge Slack, of the Law Department, was appointed to meet the Regents' Committee on Legislation, consisting of President Kellogg, Regents Phelps, Rogers and Martin, to take the matter in charge. The Professional Colleges-Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy-have over five hundred students in the city. The Veterinary College, which has already made application for affiliation, will add another hundred students to the list, and it does seem high time that the State furnished a suitable building for their accommodation, whilst the various departments furnish and equip their own sections. We hope to see the active coöperation of every alumnus of the University and its various dep ments to secure at least $250,000 from the next legislature for this important structure.

DR. W. W. KEEN, of Philadelphia, has been appointed a member of the Board of Visitors to West Point Military Academy by President Cleveland.

MILK AS AN ABSORBENT.

Milk readily absorbs and retains the odors of volatile substances. This was observed by leaving an uncorked bottle of turpentine in the same room over night with a glass of milk. In the morning the milk smelt and tasted of the turpentine. Similar experiments were carried on with kerosene, oil of peppermint, oil of cubebs and thymol. In twelve hours the milk, at a distance of three, six and twelve feet, absorbed enough of the aroma of these various substances to be easily detected by the nose and, in most cases, by the taste as well.

CALIFORNIA VETERINARY COLLEGE.

The establishment of a veterinary college in this city meets with our cordial approval and support. This side of our continent is in need of a veterinary college and should have had one long ago. The character of the Board of Trustees ensures its success. The Trustees have applied to the Board of Regents for affiliation with the University, which will we have no doubt be readily granted. Every new department, if well organized and properly conducted, adds to the influence, dignity and usefulness of a university. The University of California is just becoming, what a university should be, but too often is not, a grand assemblage of colleges. The Veterinary College opens its doors for the first time in January, 1895. The faculty consists of men of experience and ability in their profession. We wish the new college every success.

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY, UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA.

The graduating exercises of this department took place at Odd Fellows' Hall on the evening of Friday, November 16th, and the following persons received the degree of Graduate of Pharmacy, at the hands of the Hon. Chas. A. Slack, acting in the absence of the President of the University: Edward Frederick Bandel, Joseph Henry Blum, Daniel Joseph Broderick, Francis Joseph Conlan, Thomas William Connolly, Richard John Dowdall, George Henry Emde, William Merton France, Edward Augustine Hazen, Edward Payson Higby, Julian O. Kelton, Charles Maurice Wollenberg, Albert Joseph Kidd,

Donald Duke La Rue, Max Lichtenstein, Victor F. Lucchetti, Bert Nash, Frank Lyle Potter, Richard Frederick Puck, Herbert Goss Shaw, Bertha Irene Stone, Carl Frederick Stange.

The Hon. Wm. G. Barnes delivered an address complimentary to the graduates, and was followed by Chas. A. Seifert, Ph. G., Professor of Pharmacy.

We are pleased to note that the California College of Pharmacy is making material advances, both as regards the requirements for admission and the course of instruction. We are also informed that the standard of examinations, both for promotion and graduation, has been advanced. This policy cannot fail, within a few years, to raise the general standing of graduates of pharmacy on this Coast, and particularly to react in favor of the College itself. The advance referred to in the requirements for admission, while not great, is important as indicating an intention ultimately to require a certificate of graduation from a High School. At present they only demand credentials that cover the first year of our High Schools. This is further than some medical and most pharmaceutical colleges have yet gone, and we are glad to see the California College of Pharmacy taking the lead in this important matter.

PTOMAIN THERAPY.

In the present issue of the PACIFIC MEDICAL JOURNAL we devote considerable space to a review of the latest alkaloidal or antitoxin treatment of disease, because we opine that a new era in the prevention and treatment of disease is being inaugurated, our ancient confrères who still insist upon preaching and teaching that the bacillary origin of disease is a myth, to the contrary notwithstanding. Very few medical men at the present day will deny the immunity bovine vaccination exercises. Very few, if any, who are familiar with Pasteur's Antirabic Inoculation, will deny the fact that the treatment is successful. The same can now be said with reference to the antitoxin treatment of diphtheria, tetanus, anthracis, and cholera, whilst the ptomain treatment of yellow fever, typhoid fever, etc., is well under way.

Antitoxins are alkaloidal substances obtained from cultures of pathogenetic bacilli. The pure toxins are first isolated by the aid of the different culture media. These toxins are the poisonous ptomains of the micro-organisms producing the dis

ease.

The administration to animals of these toxins for several

days in increasing doses establishes immunity from the disease from which the ptomains were obtained. From the serum of the blood of such immunized animals a new alkaloid or ptomain is obtained, called antitoxin, which has been demonstrated to possess the power of modifying the action of the original disease to such an extent as to be curative and protective. Just how this curative action is established is a matter for further investigation. The modus operandi is probably similar to that of bovine virus in protecting individuals from smallpox. At any rate, the antitoxins do not kill the pathogenetic bacilli but rather modify their action on the blood and tissues to such an extent as to establish a tolerance which prevents a fatal termination from the invading micro-organisms.

The four special theories which have been promulgated in explanation of ptomain therapy are briefly these: (a) Chaveau in 1880, brought forth his theory which supposes that a ptomain is elaborated in the system of the individual suffering from an attack of an infectious disease. This ptomain is retained in the body, rendering it immune from a second attack, and also assists the tissues in withstanding the poisonous germs of the original disease.

(b) In 1883 our own now famous Sternberg gave us the acquired or tolerance theory of immunity. The arsenic eaters of the Alps and the morphine users may be cited to show that large doses of deadly drugs may be taken with impunity after a tolerance has been established. So with the toxic effects of the ptomains of disease—a tolerance may be established.

(c) According to Metschnikoff, immunity may be established on the theory of phagocytosis. Phagocytes are fixed endothelial cells, fixed connective tissue cells and wandering leukocytes which act under the influence of thermotaxis or positive and negative trophotropism, a chemiotaxis or selective influence whereby certain foreign or toxic bodies are attacked, absorbed or eaten up by these cells. This theory is based upon the fact that anthrax bacilli have been found in the process of digestion in the interior of white blood corpuscles when given to insus-ceptible animals.

(d) The antitoxin theory is similar to that of Chaveau and not unlike that of Sternberg. Behring and others claim that antitoxic agents form in the body of animals either naturally or in consequence of inoculation with some pathogenic micro

organisms which in some way neutralize the toxidity of the invading bacilli. Immunity is frequently established by one attack, as in small-pox for instance.

Immunity may be congenital or acquired. Some animals are congenitally immune against certain pathogenetic bacilli, such as the dog, which never contracts anthrax. Dog serum is antidotal to anthrax toxin. That is, if a mouse be inoculated with a fatal dose of anthrax toxin and it also be given a few drops of dog's serum no fatal effect will follow. Similarly Lizzoni and Cantani have successfully treated many cases of tetanus in the human race by acquired antitoxin ptomains of the tetanus bacilli. On this same basis rests the present treatment of diphtheria.

DR. WALTER LINDLEY.

It is with pleasure we welcome Dr. Walter Lindley back to active medical practice. He has resigned from the superintendency of the Whittier Reform School-a position which he has so ably filled since the institution was organized. Dr. Lindley has been elected associate professor of gynecology in the University of Southern California.

THE GARBAGE QUESTION IN SAN FRANCISCO.

The subject of disposal of refuse and garbage must never be allowed to rest until the primitive method of dumping within the inhabited limits of San Francisco shall be abandoned. Cremation has been found effective, inoffensive and inexpensive in

large number of cities in Europe and this country, and would be a vast improvement here, though some plan for saving useful products might be preferable. We show below what has been accomplished elsewhere, for illustration:

Montreal, with a population of 150,000, has a contract with the inventor of the Mann Furnace to collect and cremate the garbage for $43,000 annually. It is removed twice a week from receptacles placed in front of all houses. The rate to each family is therefore about $1.50 per annum, or one-half the cost of removing the stuff to the dumps in San Francisco. The cost is estimated at 25 cents for every ton of ordinary refuse. The plant at Montreal is valued at $18,000, and has a capacity of 100 cubic yards, or 4 tons, daily, with 3 tons of coal.