The Portland daily press., 1869-01-29
Meeting of the Cumberland County


ceding meeting, brief remarks were made by
the Secretary, Dr. Weeks, abont the condition
of other county societies, showing that quite
number were in good working order in the
State, and recommending the appointment of
delegates to said societies. The recommends
ton being fayorably received, delegates were
accordingly appointed. 900
The subject of the passage Of an Anatomy
Bill by the present Legislature was then
brought up, and the pTopriety of the society's
taking some action in the matter was discuss
ed by Drs. Weeks, Bates and Foster; frornn
what was said it seems that the whole subject
will be properly looked after by the committee
appointed by the State association.
DR.. Foster, who is member of that COM
mittee, said he had good reason to believe that
the bill was refused passage last winter
through the influence of medical politicians,
who thought more of carrying some minor polit-
ical point than the lasting good of the medical
profession, and that these men were mostly
members of the Maine Medical Association,
and not members of the Legislature. Na9
DIR. Harris of Auburn being now introduced
by the President as delegate from the Andro-
scoggin Medical Association, made few APP
propriate remarks and was invited to take part
in the discussion of the meeting. ,r
DR.. Hall of Falmouth next read a very in
teresting paper on s'The Propriety of VACCINE
tiop," showing by carefully collected statistics
that the mortality from small pox had been
greatly reduced by this wonderful discovery
of Jenner. H>esSS
DIR. Foster said he did not suppose that the
question of the propriety of vaccination could
be discussed by the physicians of the present
day, as every one so far as he knew admitted
that it was not only proper but should be made
compulsory. He thought re-vaccination was
quite important He could not tell by the
looks of scar whether the person was protect
ed or not-had had two cases of continent
small pox in persons who had what's called
good we'll pitted scars. He would continue to
to re-vaccinate SO long as the virus had any
effect. .
DR.. Gordon had seen one case and heard Of
several others in which second attack of real
small pox made its appearance and run its
regular course. These were exceptional cases,
as were those of confident small pox after
thorough vaccination
DIR. Bates had q case of real small pox in a
soldier that had been vaccinated but d few
months before. He thought, this case, howev-
er, showed plainly the great protective power
of vaccination in others if not in himself, as
whole regiment was more or less exposed for
three DAYS, all having been thoroughly vaccin-
ated without single one taking the disease.
The subject of "Softening of the Brain was
next brought up, by the reading of short but
interesting paper by DR.. Merrill, Haaa
Interesting remarks were made upon this
subject, by Drs. Foster. Bates, Harris, Weeks
and Perry.
THE subject of Fracture of the Thigh Bone"
was brought up by DR., Bates, and a brief but
interesting discussion followed, in which Drs.
Gordon, French, Harris and others took part.
Adjourned. sgssfa ss!45 o. sr1ia-q z1-3sA q tlTTS
EVENING SESSION. 1idDq sd5
At O'clock the meeting was called to order
by the President, DR.. Bates. "A brief discus,
sion was held upon the time of holding the fu-
ture meetings of the society, and on motiono of
DR.. g ordon, it was voted to hold morning and
afternoon sessions sWsDh XDxsNsD
The medical subject for the evenings discus
sion was then Introduced by an elaborate and
interesting essay on Pneumonia, Tread by DR..
Perry in which a typical case of this painful
disease was beautifully i,lustrated-the usual
symptoms, course, and pathology given, and
the indications of treatment plainly pointed
out r,t,.E ---.r.5.yy ell ,-,,.r.-.,-,, fs,.. --
The DR.. is not believer in blood-letting or
the use Of any debilitants in this disease. He
would support the patient by the liberal use
of beef-tea aud other nutritious diet, give gen.
tie remedies of a stimulating nature. q ne.
A somewhat animated discussion followed
inwhich many of the members took part All
VINO spoke aoread snhstan tiaEu with nr--Per-
ry in fhe principal points OF his essay. "a
DR.. Dana thought the. members of the, pro-
fession should be careful of running into ex-
tremes; it might not be we'll to discard the
practice of our fathers entirely and allow our
selves to fall into an equally great error by
accepting the opposite extreme. Although in
the main he believed, as he supposed all pres
ent did, in the general supporting treatment in
Pneumonia, yet he believed there were cases
where a somewhat opposite course in the be-
ginning and during the run Of the disease was
not only justifable but very beneficial.
DIR. Mitchell of Brunswick, spoke of the
great relief he experienced in his own case by
the use of a blister. sI1G1a Xa8Va
DR.. Harris liked the effsct Of small doses of
theold remedy (antimony) in the beginningof
the disease as well as the use of blisters later
himself and spoke from personal experience.
He considered a large room with pure air and
good sun light very excellent conditions in the
treatment of Pneumania or any other lung
disease. 51s....r655.S,- 81, 800,
DR.. Bates related case where the severity
of the disease seemed to be greatly modified by
slarge capillary bleeding from the bronchial
tubes. He thought this was brought
about by an effortof nature to overcome the
congestion of the lung aud that we might fire.
quently aid her in these efforts by local bleed
ings.
The discussion upon this subject was of I'M
usual interest-nore so perhaps from the fact
that the extensive epidemic now raging par
takes largely of tho Pine umonic character.
2 -Itis much to be regretted that many of our
most able physicians were not present to give
their advice and help on the good cause of
medical improvement ....- /
ii A vote of thanks was passed to Mayor Nc
Lellan for his liberal offer of room, in the
City Hall, for the holding of the meeting of
the society.
The following subjects were asst gned for the
next meeting. ~ s,.
Fractures and Dislocation OF the elbow Joint.
By Dr.iWsWs Greene snmsdoxR
Scarletina.-By DR.. A. Mitchell.
- Post-Parturiant Hemorrhea. -By Me.
Webb.aCANo0 NEh HGhN
1ntiuenza.-By DIR. A Foster.
Valvulars disease of heartily DR.. l. 7.
Dana. - s7q
CHEERFULNEss UNDER TRYING CIRcUM-
srANcEs.-Mrs Pettis, of Yarmouth, an old
lady over eighty of age, who is visiting friends
in this city, was 80 unfortunate yesterday as to
slip on the ice and break her leg Just above the
ankle. DR.. Sylvester was called and "set" the
broken limb. The old lady manifests extraor-
binary fortitude and cheerfulness in her aflc-
tieuand announces her intention Of returning
home to day. ,..r--.,--..--...,
INSURANCE Attention is called to the new
advertisement of the Continental Insurance
Company of New Y ork, the agency of which
is with Messrs. Pow, Coffin & Libby, at Is Ex-
change st. These gentlemen are also agents
of the old and wall known Etna Insurance
Company Of Hartford, the mere mention. Of
which is sufficient, and of several other first
class companies. q Yi3ai Iorai gI..a. 81 ..ffl9a7e