128 



POPULAR SOIElsrOE l^EWS. 



[August, 1888. 



scrambled. If, instead of eggs, they prefer fresh 

 fish or steak, either one or the other may be given ; 

 the meat, of course, must be minced fine Fried 

 foods are forbidden, and this includes fritters and 

 fried cakes. 



At dinner, if the soup is thin, it may be allowed; 

 but that kind of soup so often found in the home 

 of the laborer, and which is made from bones, 

 thickened with vegetables, and strongly flavored 

 with onions, is entirely unsuited to a child's diges- 

 tion, and should never be given it. Roast or 

 boiled meats, such as beef or mutton, may be al- 

 lowed. The fact that pork and all salted and other- 

 wise cured meats are difiicult of digestion should 

 be remembered, and their indulgence forbidden. 



Potatoes, baked or boiled, dry and mashed, spin- 

 ach and peas, string beans, asparagus of good qual- 

 ity, cauliflower, and beets when young, are no 

 burden to a child's digestion, and should be 

 allowed; with green corn it is different, unless 

 that which is very tender is used, and the kernels are 

 carefully crushed or grated. Such vegetables as tur- 

 nips, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, and onions require 

 strong powers to digest them. The same may be 

 said of celery unless it is stewed. While the 

 vegetables which have been recommended as a 

 part of children's dietary are usually well borne by 

 them, it must not be assumed that they can safely 

 eat them all at one meal ; only two of them should 

 be partaken of each day. 



For supper, milk toast, bread and butter, and a 

 glass of milk, with possibly a little stewed fruit, 

 will be quite sufficient for young children. Hot 

 bread, cheese, and hashed meat and vegetables, so 

 often the supper of the hearty workman, is alto- 

 gether too indigestible for young children. In 

 fact, it should be the duty of the mother to learn 

 what foods are easily digestible, and none others 

 should be allowed. Her own powers of digestion, 

 or those of the father, cannot by any means be 

 considered a safe guide in the selection of food for 

 her little one. — Boston Journal of Health. 



ANTI-VACCINATION THEORISTS. 



The people who oppose vaccination are, perhaps, 

 not numerous; but they are decidedly noisy, and 

 seem bent on making themselves as conspicuous as 

 possible. When a man deliberately asserts in a 

 public assembly that " proof after proof has been 

 brought forward that this vaccination, as it is 

 called, is utterly without avail in protecting the 

 community or individual from the dread vari- 

 ola," one hardly knows how to deal with the 

 declaration, it is so extravagantly inaccurate. No 

 one, indeed, will assert that vaccination invariably 

 protects; but its failures are, in a majority of 

 instances, attributable to defective power in the 

 vaccine matter, or careless manipulation, and do 

 not affect the underlying principles in any way. 

 Wh-'n the beneficent results of Dr. Jenner's dis- 

 covery are contemplated, indeed, a feeling of won- 

 der arises at the perversity which can ignore all 

 the cumulative evidence of the prophylactic virtues 

 of vaccination. Before it was introduced, the rav- 

 ages of smallpox were so terrible, that in the 

 seventeenth century it was difficult to find in Lon- 

 don a person unmarked by the disease. Of those 

 who were attacked by it, a fearfully large percent- 

 age died, while the convalescents bore the scars to 

 their graves. It then killed white men as quickly 

 as in later days it has killed Indians. Vaccination 

 has unquestionably drawn the poison-fangs of the 

 disease. To-day smallpox, even in its most viru- 

 lent forms, is never the scourge it was formerly, 

 and ordinary attacks are as easily ti'eated as 

 measles. Vaccination has been proved in the most 

 conclusive way, and by the longest and most 

 extended trial, to be an invaluable prophylactic. 



It may be said that it has practically put an end to 

 the epidemic form of variola, and to call it an 

 " infliction " is about as irrational as to denounce 

 life and fire insurance or the use of ansesthetics. 

 — New York Tribune. 



MEDICAL MEMORANDA. 



A Case of Slow Pulse. — Dr. Czarkowski 

 reports the case of a boy five years of age who 

 had a pulse of thirty-two to the minute. The slow 

 action of the heart was thought to be due to cere- 

 bral anaemia; and under treatment directed toward 

 this condition, the pulse ascended gradually to 

 sixty, beyond which it could not be made to 

 rise. 



A Useful Ointment. — Gum, camphor, and 

 salicylic acid, equal parts by weight, rubbed to- 

 gether in a mortar, dissolve, and make a clear, col- 

 orless, thick fluid, about the consistence of honey. 

 This, when applied with a camel's-hair pencil to 

 many of the itching eruptions that are prevalent, 

 at once relieves the itching and burning sensations, 

 and effects a cure in a short time. It is readily 

 incorporated with petrolatum, and may be exhib- 

 ited in the form of an ointment. . — Indiana Phar- 

 macist. 



A Brave Physician. — The British Medical 

 Journal mentions, as an instance of the devotion 

 of medical men to humanity, the case of Dr. Lan- 

 don, a surgeon in the British army. Mortally 

 wounded himself, and with the agonies of death 

 closing in, he heard a wounded soldier shrieking 

 from sufferings. Forgetful of self, he crept to 

 where the man lay, and gave him a hypodermic 

 injection of morphine to relieve his distress, and, 

 giving it, died. 



Six Living Generations. — Dr. R. B. Root 

 of Georgetown, Mass., writes as follows to the 

 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal : — 



" Last May I attended Mrs. Newall Rogers of 

 Byfield, with her first child. I was then informed, 

 and I have since taken the pains to verify the state- 

 ments then made, that this baby is the sixth living 

 generation, with ages as follows: Great-great-great- 

 grandmother, 95 years; great-great-grandmother, 

 74 years; great-grandfather, 59 years 8 months; 

 grandfather, 39 years 4 months; mother, 16 years 

 2 mouths; child, II months. 



The Chemical Incompatibility of Anti- 

 septic Agents. — R. Boxall has studied the 

 chemical relations of a number of the most common 

 antiseptic agents, and finds several of them incom- 

 patible with oils and soap, as well as with one an- 

 other. For example, corrosive sublimate forms an 

 insoluble soap when a neutral soap solution is used. 

 Hence a small admixture of soap will precipitate 

 all the mercuric chloride in a solution. Therefore, 

 after washing the hands, they should be thoroughly 

 rinsed with fresh water before immersing them in 

 a bichloride-of-mercury solution. 



Alcohol and Crime. — Some figures with ref- 

 erence to alcoholism and criminality were recently 

 communicated to the French Academy of Medicine 

 by M. Marambat. They referred to an examina- 

 tion of three thousand condemned persons ; and 

 it appears that 79 per cent of the vagabonds and 

 mendicants were drunkards, 50 to 57 per cent of 

 assassins and incendiaries, 53 per cent of persons 

 convicted of outrages on morals, 71 per cent of 

 thieves, sharpers, etc. In acts of violence against 

 the person, 88 per cent were found to be drunkards ; 

 against property, 77 per cent. Among youths 

 under twenty, drunkards were nearly as numerous 

 as among adults, the difference being only 10 per 

 cent. Of these youths, 64 per cent were addicted 

 to drinking. An examination of the departments 

 showed the largest number of drunkards from the 

 regions where spirits are most largely consumed. 



€^c ||)oj)uIar ^tience l^ctojtf. 



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* Pnblt6!)tr6' Column. 



Think carefully, and express your thoughts con- 

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WiLMER BiiiNTON, M.D., o{ Baltimore writes: "I 

 have used Colden's Liquid Beef Tonic in my prac- 

 tice, and have been much gratified with the result. As 

 a tonic in all cases of debility and weakness,"ansemia," 

 "chlorosis," etc., it cannot be surpassed. 



The drug-firm of T. Mktcalf & Co. is one of the old- 

 est and most reliable in Boston. Any articles that they 

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— • 



Cairo, III., ,July 14, 1887. 

 Friend Boyle, — Yours of the 12tli inst. to hand, 

 and was glad to see, from your circulars therein, proved 

 conclusively, that the improved " Boyle " was on " top 

 of the heap." Glad to hea»it, and wish you all the 

 success imaginable, as you are certainly deserving of 

 it. Our fiveyear-old " Boyle " (15-ton machine) sings 

 praises to you never ceasing; it has never faltered for 

 a moment, nor cost us a cent for repairs. 

 Yours truly, 



F. L. Galioheh, 

 Manager- Distilled Water Ice Co. 



The Treatment of Ulcers. — An article appeared 

 in the London Medical Record for Dec. 15, 1887, giv- 

 ing interesting details of the treatment of ulcers by 

 phosphoric acid, as shown by the experience of Dr. 

 Grossich. By this method of treatment he used a ten 

 per cent solution of pure phosphoric acid in distilled 

 water. The ulcer is covered with a bit of Hut dipped 

 ill this solution, and the dressing renewed three or four 

 times a day. The patient for the first few minutes 

 feels a slight burning sensation; but this soon passes, 

 and within twenty-four or thirty-six hours the ulcer 

 cleans, and looks better. Inflammation or eczema of 

 the surrounding parts disappears, and all pruritus 

 ceases. The ulcer cicatrizes rajndly, and the cicatrix 

 is firm and healthy. 



Kollischer treated tubercular affections of the joints 

 with injections of the phosphate of lime, with great 

 success Dr. Grossich has also had good results with 

 this treatment, and cites some very interesting suc- 

 cessful ca.ses. 



The treatment by the solution of phosphoric acid 

 was further employed in a case of tuberculous abscess 

 of eight months' duration, and also a case of eczema 

 marginatum which had lasted more than a year, and 

 good results followed. 



The above suggests the superiority of Hoksford's 

 Acid Phosphate as a substitute for the phosphoric 

 acid. 



The effective acidity of this preparation is about the 

 same as the ten per cent solution of phosphoric acid 

 which is prescribed in the above treatment, and it 

 may therefore be justifiably employed by the profes- 

 sion in the treatment of disorders of this character. 

 It has the advantage of containing the phosphates in 

 solution, notably the phosphate of lime. It follows, 

 then, that all cases that require the phosphoric-acid 

 treatment can be more advantageously treated by 

 Horsford's Acid Phosphate, and the suggestion is 

 hereby commended to the profession. 



