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monalis, not only should we supply the wasting muscular tissues by a medicinal food like cod liver oil, but also the wasting nerve and brain tissues by their natural food, phosphorus in some form.

If, then, we receive the best results by prescribing cod liver oil combination with phos. in diseases analogous to phthisis, in what form are they most acceptable to bring about the results we wish to obtain? All physicians must agree that oil in the form of an emulsion is preferable to any other form, from the fact that the oil globules are so finely divided that they are, when taken into the stomach, ready for assimilation. Now, if we wish to prescribe phos. in combination, what form of that preparation is preferable?

Recent demonstrations have proven that the administration of pure phosphorus is unsafe, and often produces grave nephitic disorders; also that inorganic substances cannot be assimilated into the living animal organism. If this be true, the prescribing of phos. ac. is not only an error, but worse than useless, for it cannot be assimilated to the building up of nerve tissues.

This reduces us to employing the phosphoric compounds elaborated by the growth of vegetables for the nutrition of nerve tissues.

"Immediately within the bran or surface of the grain of wheat lies a shell of gluten, the reservoir of vegetable albumen and the phosphoids." If we can extract this element from the bran of wheat, prepared in the laboratory of nature, we have an agent containing phosphorus which can be assimilated by the living animal organism.

You claim, I believe, that your preparation of cod liver oil contains phosphorus extracted from the grain of wheat, and that it also contains a certain per cent. of pure cod liver oil.

Does it contain these medicinal agents in the proportion you claim, or is it only a palatable preparation of "sugar and gum arabic," containing only a trace of oil?

If the latter be asserted, all I can say is, that in an experience of two years in its use in my practice, sugar and gum arabic so prepared are agents of the most wonderful potency for the cure of wasting diseases.

Two years ago I was affected with a severe cough, excessive expectoration, pain in the lungs, and debility--for the relief of

which I tried all the remedies within my knowledge. My brother, E. O. Benedict, M. D., who resided in New York at that time, sent me a bottle of your emulsion of cod liver oil, which I commenced taking as prescribed.

One bottle relieved me very much, and after I had taken four bottles, all symptoms of disease had disappeared, and I never have been afflicted in the same way since, though I am of a consumptive tendency, born of consumptive parents.

This may sound like a quack advertisement, but I only write this from a sincere desire to aid the unfortunate, and recommend to the profession the merits of a remedy which has in my practice proven of so much value. If they will use it, I know they will be surprised at its results for good, as I have been. I have prescribed it in many cases of incipient consumption; all have been benefited, and some, I believe, permanently cured. For what it has done in my own case I am truly grateful.

TO CHAS. H. PHILLIPS,

I am, respectfully,

FORDYCE H. BENEDICT, M. D.

2 and 4 Platt Street, New York.

Physicians need only to be made acquainted with the merits of milk of magnesia, to accord it their professional sanction. I invite their attention to its advantages.

It is the only perfect hydrate, or complete combination of magnesia and water, by a new and improved process, and is not, as many suppose, calcined magnesia triturated and suspended by a mucilaginous or other auxiliary body. Microscopic examination of it, when mixed with distilled water, discloses a uniform cloudiness, but no separate particles of the alkali. Being a hydrate, it is far more efficacious than the calcined and carbonated preparations of magnesia, which are insoluble, since the hydrate form is that in which combinations are most readily effected in the stomach. In illustration, take the action of the hydrated sesqui oxide of iron, the antidote to arsenic, which it decomposes and then unites with, as arseniate of iron. The lactate of lime, the phosphates and other hydrates, exemplify the above fact. It is claimed that the milk of magnesia combines with and neutralizes the lactic, lithic, and uric acids, which are

Specimens of the best preparations of Magnesia, English and American, magnified 250 diameters.

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generally admitted to be the exciting causes of gout, rheumatism and gravel. It is, moreover, susceptible of the most perfect distribution, a single drop amalgamates completely with a tumblerful or more of water.

The use of milk of magnesia is free from the risk attending that of the undissolved magnesias, which form hurtful concretions in the stomach and bowels--a fact which renders them peculiarly unsuitable to the delicate infant organism. The perfect smoothness and milk-like taste of this magnesia, on the contrary, make it the best of all antacids, and whether used for children or adults, physicians who test it will find that this hydrate possesses all the medicinal properties of magnesia in a much higher degree than the calcined and carbonated preparations of that important alkali, without any of the above objections.

On the preceding page is given an exact representation of the several calcined and carbonate of magnesias of the best manufacture and repute, both English and American, hitherto sold by druggists, compared with milk of magnesia. These samples have been in so-called solution (20 gruins to the ounce) over fifteen months up to the time of writing. The cuts exhibit the fractional part of a single drop magnified 250 diameters; and we would call attention to their appearance, showing the undissolved precipitates and particles with terrible distinctness, and then desire a comparison with the milk of magnesia preparation, which is also given, similarly magnified, and which show the magnesia, like a mist, or vapor, perfectly free from the objectionable precipitates, and entirely dissolved.

Thus, in calling the attention of the profession to the milk of magnesia, I present it with an entirely new therapeutical agent, which both physicians and pharmacists will readily appreciate..

Milk of magnesia is compatible with all compounds and preparations in which the ordinary magnesias have been used.

Keith, of Edinburgh, has performed ovariotomy seventy times. in succession without a fatal result, and 100 times with only three deaths. In his hands the operation has thus become less fatal than amputation of the leg or even of the arm. Why is this operation so safe in the hands of one man and so fatal in the hands of others?

Dr. J. Marion Sims says that Keith's great success as an ovariotomist, is due to the removal of all blood and making the peritoneal cavity dry and clean before closing the abdominal wound.

GERMAN PROFESSORS.-In the German universities the professors are men who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to science. They have usually begun their career as "privat docenten," or private teachers, a position unknown in America. If successful, they are made professors extraordinary, and of these a few only reach the distinction of professor ordinary. Any young man of promise, who has obtained the degree of doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.) with honors, can obtain permission to lecture in a given. university, provided he passes a good examination in the subject. that he intends to lecture on. The university gives him a room to lecture in, and if he succeeds in securing any listeners, he gets their fees; beyond this he takes care of himself. His income depends entirely upon his popularity. If his lectures are good, and he proves his ability, his success is assured. In a few years he is called to a vacant chair in the same, or oftener in another university, where he holds the position of extraordinary professor for years, often for life.

The following list of professors of chemistry in the principal German and Swiss universities embraces many distinguished men whose names are familiar in this country. The figures annexed give the ages of these men, and, as the Journal of Applied Chemistry says, they show that most of them are no longer "mere boys:" Berlin, A. W. Hofmann, æt. 61; Bonn, A. Kekulé, 50; Breslau, C. J. Loewig, 76; Erlangen, J. Volhard, 45; Giessen, H. Will, 67; Göttingen, F. Woehler, 79; H. Huebner, 42; Halle, W. Heintz, 62; Heidelberg, R. Bunsen, 67; H. Kopp, 62; Jena, G. A. Geuther Königsberg, W. Lossen, 41; Leipsic, H. Kolbe, 61; Marburg, Th. Zincke, 39; Munich, A. Bæyer, 44; Strasburg, R. Fittig, 44; Tübingen, Lothar Meyer, 49; Würzburg, J. R. von Wagner, 57; J. Wislicenus, 44; Zürich, V. Merz, 42.

The oldest of these, Professor Woehler, no longer lectures. He will celebrate his eightieth birthday on the 31st of next July.

THE PRECURSORS OF CANCER.-At a recent meeting of the

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