904 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 598. 



and at the end of five years lie will be com- 

 petent to bring useful material to the state 

 society and later to the sections ' of the 

 American Medical Association. 



In the practise of medicine the student 

 days are never over. There is so much to 

 be learned that a long and industrious life 

 leaves one with the feeling that he is but a 

 beginner. The most important habit a 

 young man can form is the ' daily study 

 habit.' Let him put in even one hour a 

 day with the reading of journals and books 

 of reference and much can be accomplished. 

 He should keep an account of the time and 

 if something interferes for a day he should 

 charge himself up with it. A two weeks' 

 vacation means fourteen hours to be made 

 up. Most men can do more and no man 

 has a right to do less, no matter how busy 

 he may be. The leaders in our profession 

 make a daily average of three or four times 

 this amount of study the year round in ad- 

 dition to the demands of an active practice. 



The practitioner must make frequent 

 trips away for the purpose of observation. 

 In no other way can he avoid the rut of 

 self-satisfied content which checks advance- 

 ment and limits usefulness. No amount of 

 diligence as a student can take the place of 

 personal contact with men in this same line 

 of work. 



What are the rewards of so laborious a 

 life? They can not be measured becaiise 

 there is no standard of comparison. To 

 realize that one has devoted himself to the 

 most holy of all callings— that without 

 thought of reward he has alleviated the suf- 

 ferings of the sick and added to the length 

 and usefulness of human life, is a source 

 of satisfaction money can not buy. I know 

 many a man grown gray in the profession 

 with little of a tangible nature to show as a 

 result of his work, but who is not only con- 

 tented with his lot but proud to have served 

 in the ranks, and who looks back upon a 



life of privation and hardship for the bene- 

 fit of humanity as a privilege which he is 

 thankful has been vouchsafed him. 



Let us continue to strive as individuals 

 for the honor and dignity of our profession. 

 In this we but follow out the aims and 

 ideals of those who have gone before and 

 prepared the way. But the great move- 

 ments of the future can not be brought 

 about by individual action. They must be 

 initiated and controlled by united effort, 

 and in no other way can the epoch-marking 

 truths of preventive medicine be made to 

 bear fruit. Unity is the spirit of the times ; 

 it marks the difference between the old and 

 the new. 



The vital need of the medical profession 

 is a harmonious organization— an organiza- 

 tion that will encourage right thinking and 

 good usage among ourselves, help to secure 

 needed medical reforms, compel redress of 

 grievances and promote and encourage the 

 highest interests of its individual members : 

 and in this lies the future usefulness of the 

 profession as a whole. 



William J. Mayo. 

 Rochester, Minn. 



TEE KEEPING OF TOBACCOS 

 The smoking quality of cigars and to- 

 baccos depends in a large measure on their 

 physical condition, the moisture condition 

 being an important factor. A green, un- 

 seasoned cigar does not develop that pe- 

 culiar aroma which is the delight of all 

 fastidious smokers, and a cigar which has 

 been allowed to become too dry burns too 

 rapidly, most of the aroma being lost in 

 the rapid combustion. Every manufac- 

 turer or dealer aims to bring his stock into 

 exactly the right moisture condition and 

 then to maintain it in that condition. 



The piiblic taste for cigars varies in dif- 

 ferent localities and countries and in all 

 ' Publislied by permission of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture. 



