380 



SCimJS^CE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 195 



proof or disproof ; and the experience of others 

 practising in regions where yellow-fever prevails 

 will doubtless elucidate the question. 



If, as many thinkers claim, the chief philo- 

 sophic interest in England now centres about 

 psychology, the current issue of Mind cannot be 

 cited as evidence to the contrary. It is distinctly 

 psychological. Professor Bain writes approvingly 

 of Mr. James Ward's Encyclopaedia Britannica 

 article on ' Psychology,' though, of course, men- 

 tioning his points of difference from the Cam- 

 bridge professor. Professor Bain's argument, that 

 a series of states can be aware of itself, seems to 

 us very weak and inconclusive. The president of 

 the Aristotelian society, Mr. Shad worth H. Hodg- 

 son, takes up the articles by John Dewey of 

 Michigan university, which appeared lately in 

 Mind, and attacks them vigorously as based on 

 • unwarrantable assumptions.' Mr. Hodgson has 

 no diflficulty in making out a case. The following 

 article on Hegel's conception of nature, by S. 

 Alexander, is far more clear and interesting than 

 expositions of Hegel usually are. Dr. Cattell 

 continues the record of his psycho-physical ex- 

 periments, treating now of will- time and of the 

 inflvience of attention, fatigue, and practice on the 

 duration of cerebral operations. Joseph Jastrow 

 records his investigations into the perception of 

 space by disparate senses. The book reviews are 

 as full and valuable as usual. 



The degree to which the medical charities are 

 abused in this country is beyond computation. 

 Hospitals and dispensaries which were organized 

 for the relief of the poor are daily thronged with 

 the well-to-do ; and even the rich do not scorn to 

 take advantage of the services of the physicians 

 which can there be obtained gratuitously. It was 

 recently estimated that about one-fourth of the 

 inhabitants of Boston were receiving medical treat- 

 ment free ; in London and New York the propor- 

 tion is about the same ; in Philadelphia it is one- 

 fifth ; and in Liverpool, 398,320 persons in a popu- 

 lation of 579,724, or more than one-half, are, 

 according to the British medical journal, receiving 

 free treatment in their illness. The writer knew 

 of a case in one of our large cities where a lady 

 came to a dispensary for treatment in her carriage, 

 leaving it a block away, and walking that addi- 

 tional distance. Physicians on duty at these 

 places not infrequently learn that their patients 

 have been spending a portion of the summer at 



Long Branch or in the Catskills. Dr. F. F. Dog- 

 gett of Boston read a very interesting paper on this 

 subject before the Massachusetts medical society, 

 calling attention to the abuse of the present meth- 

 ods, and suggesting a plan for their improvement 

 based upon practical experiments of his own in 

 this direction, which have been carried out with 

 success since 1883. Briefly, his plan consists in 

 ascertaining the financial condition of the appli- 

 cant, and, if he finds him able to pay for treat- 

 ment, to refuse to prescribe for him at the dispen- 

 sary. Dr. Doggett has found that this plan has 

 reduced to a minimum applications from those 

 whose means will permit them to eraploy a phy- 

 sician at their own homes, while at the same time 

 it has not prevented the relief of the poor, and 

 indeed has been greatly to their advantage by per- 

 mitting the physicians in attendance at the dis- 

 pensaries to give them more time and attention. 

 Dr. Hall, of the northern dispensary of New York, 

 has followed a somewhat similar plan, with Hke 

 results. Dr. Derby of Boston, in speaking of the 

 methods to correct these abuses, says, " The solu- 

 tion of the whole matter seems to me so simple 

 that I mention it with diffidence. It is but to 

 accept the principle that the out-patient depart- 

 ment is for the benefit of those whose lack of 

 means would prevent their obtaining relief else- 

 where, and to lea ve the application cf this principle 

 to the physician in attendance. When any thing 

 in the dress, manner, or statement of the individual 

 causes hesitancy to be felt, a few questions, put 

 with tact and kindness, will readily resolve the 

 matter ; or, if any doubt should still be felt, the 

 applicant for aid should certainly receive its bene- 

 fit." The evils of this gratuitous treatment to 

 those who are able to pay are many, not the least 

 of which is the effect upon those who receive it, 

 lessening their self-respect, and causing them to 

 look about for gratuitous assistance in other direc- 

 tions. If a central bureau could be established to 

 investigate the claims of all applicants for free 

 dispensary treatment, much good would be ac- 

 complished. Unless this was done, or some plan 

 generally adopted, the rejected ones would apply 

 at other dispensaries and be treated there. 



The Meteorologische zeitschrift (Berlin) for June 

 contains a note by Lieutenant Sobieczky of the 

 Aiistrian navy on the meteorological stations in 

 the West Indies, which he had opportunity of 

 visiting. Mention is made of the former establish- 

 ment of stations during the hurricane months of 



