November 19, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



U7 



stranger's to her breast ; one who can witness the 

 gi-adual starvation and death of her own child, 

 and who may be a double murderess by poisoning 

 her foster-child with opiates or alcohol. If, after 

 being nourished from such a fountain, our child is 

 perverse, fro ward, insolent, and has no regard for 

 truth, who is accountable? Is not the mother, 

 who deprived him of her own pure, untainted 

 breast, and who purchased for him instead a pol- 

 luted and debauched stream ? " It is lamentable 

 that a system so pernicious and injm-ious to the 

 best interests of society should be tolerated, and 

 even encouraged, by the most eminent and honor- 

 able members of the medical profession. Dr. 

 Winters deserves the thanks of all right-minded 

 persons for the able and convincing manner in 

 which he puts his arguments, and it is to be hoped, 

 that, attention having been thus directed to what 

 may be regarded as a great and growing evil, this 

 abominable practice which he so justly condemns 

 may be, to some degree at least, mitigated and 

 lessened, 



It appears to us that the New York county 

 medical society, in its efforts to prevent quack- 

 ery, is in danger of estranging many mem- 

 bers of the medical profession who have thus far 

 given it their cordial support. The law of 1880, 

 requiring the registration of physicians in the 

 office of the clerk of the county in which they in- 

 tend to practise, would not have been enacted 

 without such opposition as would in our judgment 

 have been fatal, had it been known that regular 

 physicians, whose professional attainments were 

 unquestioned, would be arrested and imprisoned, 

 if, having registered in one county in the state, 

 they should commence practice in another county 

 without registering again. And yet this has been 

 done in the case of a regular graduate of medi- 

 cine, who, having practised for eight years in 

 Eichmond county, removed to New York City, 

 and entered practice there, neglecting to register 

 his name anew. It is absurd as a matter of com- 

 mon sense that registration in one county should 

 not be sufficient, rather than that a man should be 

 required to register in all the counties of the state 

 if he desired to practise in them ; and, as appears 

 from an unwritten opinion given by two judges 

 of the supreme court of this state, it is equally 

 absurd as a matter of law. As a matter of fact, 

 the practice seems to vary in the different coun- 

 ties, the clerk of Kings county refusing to allow 

 the re-registration of a physician who is already 



registered elsewhere in the state. In the case to 

 which we refer, where a physician was prosecuted 

 by the county society, we understand he has 

 brought a suit against the counsel of the society 

 who caused his arrest, for damages. 



The statistics relating to the defective, de- 

 pendent, and delinquent classes collected in the 

 tenth United States census, and prepared for pub- 

 lication by Mr. F. H. Wines, editor of the Inter- 

 national record of charities and correction, have 

 been ready for the press for more than two years. 

 But the reduction of the clerical force of the 

 census bureau seemed to postpone their publica- 

 tion indefinitely. Senator Cullom of Ilhnois, how- 

 ever, came to the rescue, and on his motion the 

 senate called for them, and ordered them printed 

 as a senate document. It is hoped that they will 

 be given to the public early in 1887. This suggests 

 the reflection that the newly elected congress will 

 probably be the one which will have to make pro- 

 vision for the taking of the eleventh census, and it 

 is not businesslike to have the publications of one 

 census stringing along in a go-as-you-please way 

 until the time for the next census comes round. 



We had occasion, in a recent number of Science 

 (p. 433), to refer to a new treatment for consump- 

 tion, consisting in the inhalation of bacteria in 

 the form of spray. Another method of treatment 

 which is now attracting the attention of physicians 

 is by injecting remedies directly into the lungs by 

 means of the hypodermic syringe, the needle of 

 which is passed through the wall of the chest, the 

 effort being made to apply the medicinal agent as 

 nearly as possible to the affected portion of th^ 

 lungs. Some very encouraging cases are reported, 

 in some of which the improvement has been so 

 great as almost to justify one in speaking of them 

 as cures. Carbolized iodine appears to have pro- 

 duced the best results, causing the complete ces- 

 sation of cough and expectoration, and the further 

 progress of the disease. 



A CIRCULAR issued by the chief signal officer, 

 under date of Nov. 10, announces that on March 

 1, 1887, a new system of weather-signals will be 

 adopted for general use at local and volunteer dis- 

 play stations. The new system is based on the 

 one in use in Alabama, and designed by Professor 

 Mell, director of the Alabama weather-service : it 

 is of four flags, — a square white flag, for clear or 

 fair weather ; a square blue flag, for rain or snow ; 



