cures for all diseases. When the public speaks of a cure or a treatment, be it the hot water or the cold water or the tepid water, or the climatic, or any of the so-called hundreds of cures or treatments, we take it that they are speaking of, or have in their minds, a certain definite, particular course or routine, which is supposed to be applicable to all sexes, ages, conditions and diseases; to be a panacea, as it were; to be a means of relieving all the ills of humanity. With such an understanding of a treatment or a cure, we say again, we condemn them all, individually and collectively. The "Hot Water Cure" will not cure truly diseased conditions, neither will any other treatment. As panaceas, they are all conspicuous failures; as adjuvants to nature, they are all, at the appropriate time, most glorious successes. Nature, and nature alone, can heal the disordered human frame. There are a very few diseases known to the physician in which particular drugs seem to have a curative effect, and these instances. seem to contradict the assertion we have made, but, to one who thinks deeply, this will prove to be only a seeming contradiction, and our proposition that Dr. Nature is the only doctor who cures will be accepted as an axiom. Of course, nature can be assisted; no one questions this, and all of these cures or treatments may, and oftentimes do, help greatly to aid the efforts of nature. As such, they are good; as cure-alls, they are bad. A famous old atheist once said to us in conversation, "There is no such thing as evil, all things and everything is good; some less good than others, but nothing and no one is evil.”’ Something after this fashion might we reason about these cures; there is some good in all of them. The drinking of hot water and eating of rare beefsteaks, while it will not cure, of itself, alone and unaided, a diseased condition of the body, is yet a harmless process, calculated to do good, unless indulged in by one whose complaint interdicts the use of large quantities of beef. So is it with all such cures. Of the "Hot Water Cure," as of all cures wherein drugs are not used, we can say they are harmless, as a rule, and since those who resort to them generally have great faith and confidence in their efficacy, they will, in many cases, do good, because faith, in the majority of cases, is, after all, the great restorer. To be more plain, the majority of those who consider themselves sick are not so; that is to say, probably ninety out of every hundred who seek advice or treatment do not really require such. However, they think that they do. If, then, they think themselves deranged, and if, at the same time, they really think that a certain treatment will benefit them, it generally transpires that the expected benefit is derived therefrom. But with the remaining ten, who are truly deranged, no particular cure or treatment can be safely recommended. In these cases, those who are capable of being cured will be so only by an intelligent use and application of all the aids to nature in her work with which an intelligent, well-read and educated physician is familiar. Delinquent Subscribers. As a rule, our subscribers have always promptly responded to our notices of "Subscription due," and have thus materially helped to lighten our labors in building up this journal. But we have a few persons on our list who per sistently ignore all of our communications in reference to their indebtedness. They have received the journal, but refuse to pay for it, notwithstanding the fact that we have their written orders to send it. For the information of such we publish the following extract from a Western paper, which will enlighten them as to the law on the subject, and show them how they stand : "For violating civil service law. Didn't pay for their newspapers. Cheerful news for newspaper proprietors comes from Ohio. A paper in that State recently brought suit against forty-three men who would not pay their subscription, and obtained judgment for the full amount in each case. Twenty-eight at once prevented attachment by making affidavit that they had no more than the law allowed. Under the decision of the Supreme Court they were arrested for petty larceny, and bound over in the sum of $300. Six of the defendants refused to give the necessary bonds to pay their respective arrearages, and were promptly sent to jail. This is the result of the new postal law, which declares "it to be larceny to take a paper, magazine or periodical out of the post office, and then refuse to pay for it."-Intelligencer. Outdoor and Indoor Light. The importance of light on health has never been so fully recognized as it is now. The popular conception of the degree or intensity of light is, however, very inaccurate. Most persons would say that the outside light is two or three times as strong as that within our houses. But the ratio of difference is vastly greater. Patients strolling on the seashore in sunny weather are in a light not two or three times, but 18,000 times stronger than that in the ordinary shaded and curtained rooms of a city house, and the same patients walking along the sunny side of a street are receiving more than 5,000 times as much of the health-giving influence of light as they would receive indoors in the usually heavily curtained room. A Census of Hallucinations. Professor William James, of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.. requests answers from everybody to the following question: "Have you ever, when completely awake, had a vivid impression of seeing or being touched by a living being or inanimate object, or of hearing a voice; which impression, so far as you could discover, was not due to any external physical cause?" The object of the inquiry is two-fold: 1st, to get a mass of facts about hallucinations which may serve as a basis for a scientific study of these phenomena; and, 2d, to ascertain approximately the proportion of persons who have had such experiences. Professor James was appointed by the International Congress of Experimental Psychology, held in Paris in the Summer of 1889, to superintend this "census of hallucinations" in America, and he asks for the co-operation of all physicians who may be actively interested in the subject. It is clear that very many volunteer canvassers will be needed to secure success. Each census blank contains instructions to the collector, and places for twenty-five names, and special blanks for the "Yes" cases are furnished in addition. Professor James will supply these blanks to any one who will make application to him for them. NOTES AND COMMENTS. Crime vs. Hygiene. Physicians are beginning to declare that a large amount of the crime for which punishment is inflicted is due to insanity, and that insanity is due to low physical condition, which sanitation by early physical training would remove. The Luxury of Chamois Sheets. Chamois sheets as soft and fine as kid are a healthy luxury indulged in by the robust as well as the invalid traveler. These are much affected by the tourists abroad, who find them a sure protection against the ills of flesh that so certainly result from sleeping in damp linen. An Electric Flatiron. One of the latest novelties in electricity is an electric flatiron. It consists of a hollow flatiron, in the interior of which a coil is placed, which is heated by the current passing through it. The ease and comfort derived from the use of such device, in hot weather especially, is apparent. Earache. Take five parts of camphorated chloral, thirty parts of glycerine and ten parts of the oil of sweet almonds. A piece of cotton is saturated and introduced well into the ear, and it is also rubbed behind the ear. The pain is relieved as if by magic, and, if there is inflammation, it often subsides quickly. A Remedy for Tender Feet. A remedy for tender feet is cold water-about two quarts, two tablespoonfuls of ammonia, one tablespoonful of bay rum. Sit with the feet immersed for ten minutes, gently throwing the water over the limbs upward to the knee. Then rub dry with a crash towel, and all the tired feeling is gone. This is good for a sponge bath also. Doctored Cocoanut. "" It is said there is considerable cocoanut on the market which has had more or less starch added to it. The Grocers and Canners' Gazette says: 'Buyers will find in iodine a good detector of outside substances. Iodine will turn black any prepared cocoanut in which starch or other farinaceous substances may have been used." A Sanitary Organization of Women. The women of Brooklyn have united to form a Ladies' Health Protective Association, similar to the one which has for years been so useful in New York City. The lines of its work will be in the direction of such nuisances as offensive pursuits, uncared-for tenement houses, and filthy streets. The wives of physicians form a considerable proportion of the organization. Stand Straight. Children should be taught to stand straight, to hold up the head, with the chin down, to throw the shoulders back, and to stand on both feet; not bear all the weight of the body on one. It is excellent practice for any one to walk with a good-sized book on the head, and children are benefited by practicing it every day, gradually increasing the weight. Cosmetics. The president of the Chicago Board of Pharmacy asserts that the women of America spend about $62,000,000 a year for cosmetics, most of which are made of zinc oxide, calomel, water, glycerine and perfumes. This is a pretty big item for the satisfaction of artificial good looks, but it is probably small in comparison to what men spend for alcoholic poisons and tobacco smoke. The Wise Physician. "An Irish physician was called to see an Irish woman, and prescribed no medicine. The woman objected, and when he asked for his fee she answered, "Be jabbers, and for phwat?" His quick reply was, "Faith, and for the talk I gin ye." Were all the physicians as wise, the people would understand the doctor was worth his fee, irrespective of such medicine as he might order. How to make a Mustard Plaster. L. H. Cartledge (in Medical Brief) says: Take a thin cloth twice as long as you want your plaster. On half of it spread a thick hot paste made of flour. On the paste sprinkle a heaping teaspoonful of mustard to four inches square of the cloth. Fold the other end of the cloth over the mustard and sprinkle with warm water. Apply warm, and you have a plaster that is clean and will burn like "blue blazes." Physicians Arrested. Scarlet fever and diphtheria are very prevalent in the town of Highlands, near Denver, Col., and the citizens are becoming almost panic-stricken. Among other measures taken to improve the health of the community and to prevent further spread of contagion, warrants have been issued for the arrest of a number of physicians who have failed to report cases of diphtheria and scarlet fever occurring in their practice. A Cure for Dandruff. Dr. A. J. Harrison, Bristol, England, recommends the following: Caustic potash, 8 grains; Cocoanut oil, āā 3iv. M. This preparation should be rubbed into the scalp morning and evening. Complete cure is usually effected in one to three months. |