NOTES AND COMMENTS. Vinegar often relieves at once the irritation produced by the bites of mosquitoes and other insects. Hot Claret Is said to be an excellent gargle in acute sore throat, being an agreeable astringent, and non-poisonous.-College and Clinical Record. Unhealthy Station Houses. The Board of Health in Albany, N. Y., has had an inspection made of the police stations in that city, as a result of which many have been found to be in a decidedly unsanitary condition. Do Quakeresses Have Nasal Catarrh? Dr. D. Hayes Agnew says that he never saw a case of nasal catarrh among the female members of the community of Friends, and he attributes their immunity to the protection afforded by their peculiar bonnets. Restrain Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is like yeast. Life would be flat enough without it; yet there is such a thing as too much yeast for the dough." Nursing Poison Again. A case is reported in the Australian Medical Gazette of a woman who on taking a dose of chlorodyne for the relief of pain, soon after suckled her twin babies. The children were found the following morning profoundly narcotized, and died before evening. Bacteria in Drugs. In a solution of quinine in whiskey which lately produced a severe case of poisoning, there was found a sediment consisting almost entirely of a growth of micro-organisms; evidently of a class with which two of the most deleterious substances in use agree much better than they do with the human organism. "Deadness Here." It is very much the custom, especially in the tenement quarters of New York, when a death has occurred, to notify neighbors of the state of things by attaching a mourning badge to the door. A German citizen on the East side accomplished this object economically, by pinning up a bit of paper on which he had inscribed "Deadness Here." The International Congress of Hygiene. The Prince of Wales has accepted the post of President of the International Congress of Hygiene, which will be held in London in 1891. He has fixed August 10th as the probable date at which he will open the Congress. The Death Plant of Java. The kalimujah, or death plant of Java, has flowers which continually give off a perfume so powerful as to overcome, if inhaled for any length of time, a full-grown man, and which kills all forms of insect life that comes under its influence. After Sweeping. It is very necessary, says Good Health, after sweeping, to wash out the throat and nostrils with warm water. One would better let the face and hands go without washing in this case than let the nasty dust be absorbed by the delicate lining of these organs. Law Against Adulteration in Russia. The Russian Government has recently enacted some very stringent laws against the adulteration of food and drink. Any person guilty of adulterating any article of food will be liable to a fine of $200 or imprisonment for three months for the first offence, double this penalty for the second, and deprivation of all rights as a citizen for the third. Kerosene Vapor. Kerosene vapor is a palpable irritant of the throat and air passages, and may well have had something to do with the alleged fact that in a recent epidemic of diphtheria, in Hartford, Conn., the only fatal cases occurred in families who used kerosene lamps, while the families who used gas or candles for light in sick rooms escaped a fatal termination. Sawing Wood as a "Cure." DR. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, recently received from a woman patient the singular present of a cord of white oak wood, chopped down and sawed up by her own hands. He had recommended to her an active outdoor life in the woods for nervous invalidism. She had followed his directions, with results of which the cord of sawed wood was one of the evidences. Willing to Trust Posterity. A surgeon was called to see a rich but miserly patient, whom he found suffering from advanced cancer of the stomach. 'And what are you going to charge me for treatment, doctor?" 'Nothing; not a cent," was the reply. "Oh, how generous! How can I thank you?" said the patient. "No necessity for thanks, my friend, your heirs will see that I am paid." Is Fair Hair Becoming Extinct? A recent issue of the British Medical Journal prints a long editorial article devoted to this burning question. It concludes as follows: "On various grounds, therefore, it would seem as if the fair hair so much beloved by poets and artists is doomed to be encroached upon, and even replaced by that of darker hue. The rate at which this is taking place is probably very slow, from the fact that nature is most conservative in her changes." A Universal Panacea. The acting colonial surgeon of the Victoria Hospital, in Gambia, states that among the inhabitants of that country there is but one recognized treatment of disease. This consists in calling in a man who is supposed to be a "doctor," and who, after looking at the patient, sits down at his bedside and writes in Arabic characters, on a wooden slate, a long rigmarole, generally extracts from the Koran. The slate is then washed, and the dirty infusion drank by the patient. American Public Health Association. The next meeting will be held at Charleston, S. C. It will convene December 16th. The sessions will be continued for four days. Among the topics announced are those of sanitary house construction in its various details, the disposal of sewege, isolation of hospitals for infectious and contagious diseases, maritime sanitation at ports of entry, the restriction of tuberculosis, We anticipate the presentation of a valuable series of papers in connection with this meeting. etc. How to Extinguish Fire. Take twenty pounds of common salt and ten pounds of sal ammoniac (muriate of ammonia, to be had of any druggist), and dissolve in seven gallons of water. When dissolved it can be bottled, and kept in each room in the house, to be used in an emergency. In case of a fire occurring one or two bottles should be immediately thrown with force into the burning place so as to break them, and the fire will certainly be extinguished, This is an exceedingly simple process and certainly worth a trial. A Famine Duel. Jacques, the professional hunger virtuoso of Paris, has sent a challenge to Succi, the famine debauché of Italy, to the following effect: "I, Alexandre Jacques, having been informed that Signor Succi intends attempting a forty-five days' fast in New York, do hereby challenge him once more to fast for endurance under equal conditions. I, the child of France, defy the blatant Italian, Succi. Accept my challenge and starve with me, or be known for evermore as a braggart sailing under false colors.—Alexandre Jacques.” To Abort a Paroxysm of Whooping-Cough. Dr. Nägeli says that an attack of coughing can be cut short by drawing the lower jaw downward and forward. Patients can readily be taught to make the simple manoeuvre, which the author claims is always effective. The regular suppression of the paroxysm affects favorably, he says, the course and duration of the disease, and also prevents many of the complications caused by the violent efforts. The same procedure has been found effectual in restraining. spasmodic coughing-fits proceeding from other causes.-Revue des Sciences Médicales. Nightmare in Association with Influenza. A blonde girl, aged 9 years, of lively disposition and mentally well organized passed through a severe attack of influenza. During the stage of convalescence, she screamed out in sleep, "Father, I grow, I become an animal, I am steadily enlarging, hold me!" Her father did his best to pacify her, and though fully awake and aware of the fact that it was but a delusion, she feared to go asleep again for sometime. An old gentleman who had likewise gone through an attack of "la grippe," said that at the acme of the attack he felt in his sleep as if he was losing the human form and being changed into a plant. Candy Adulteration. The National Confectioners' Association will give $100 for evidence that will lead to the conviction of any person adulterating confectionery with poisonous or injurious substances, and the association will assume the cost of prosecuting the offender. The publishers of the Confectioners' Gazette will also pay an additional $100 for the same evidence. It is cheering to see the confectioners so much in earnest in their demand for pure goods. When we think of the millions of pounds of candy eaten, and the millions of people who eat it, especially children, it is a matter of national importance that it is made absolutely pure. The Coffee We Drink. The United States, is without a doubt, a nation of coffee drinkers. The imports from South America amount to over 525,000,000 pounds annually, of which 69 per cent. comes from Brazil. The second largest shipper to this market is Venezuela, 11 per cent. The first cost in this country averages ten cents and a fraction a pound, aggregating $56,347,600. The first record of production in Brazil begins with 1870, when 180,000,000 pounds were shipped to the United States. Highwater mark was reached in 1885, with 400,000,000 pounds of shipments. One large item of expense in Brazil is to get the coffee to market. Freight charges as high as fourteen cents a ton a mile have been paid, which from a distant plantation to Rio Janeiro means from from $1.75 to $2.50 a sack. The highest charge from Rio to New York is sixty-five cents a bag. For Tan and Freckles. Dr. Chevasses' preparation for tan, freckles, pimples, etc. : Rub the borax with the glycerin, gradually adding the rose and almondwaters; lastly, add the tincture benzoin, agitating constantly. Apply night and morning.-N. E. Medical Monthly. The Incubator Chicken. Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight, So backward, turn backward, yet once more I beg, A Physician's Power. Professor Schwenninger owes his post as the permanent doctor of Prince Bismarck to his extremely frank fidelity. He is a second Abernethy in the brusqueness with which he treats his patients. The great statesman was plagued for years by his incurable nervous excitement and his ever-recurring gout, though it permitted him to eat well, drink well, work prodigiously and smoke amazingly. No doctor could help him until he had the good fortune to get into the hands of the Bavarian professor, the only man, it is said, who has ever had power enough over Bismarck to compel him to obey. At his first visit, Dr. Schwenninger found the patient in his gloomiest and most hopeless mood. The physician began to catechise the Chancellor about his past life. "That is no matter of yours," said Bismarck; "I want you to deal with my present condition." "If that is the case," said the bold Bavarian, "you had better send for a cattle doctor; he would not be in the habit of putting questions to his patients." He took up his hat and made for the door. But Bismarck, suddenly laughing in the midst of his groanings, laid hold of the independent doctor and said, "I believe, after all, you are my man." He has never lost faith in the doctor from that day till now. He is such a model of docility and compliance toward this one man that there may be some excuse for the notion that Dr. Schwenninger must have hypnotized him. |