Morning journal and courier., 1884-12-08
HAVEN CONN MONDAY MORNING. DECEMBER S. 1884

nal utters what seems to be sensible when he says: A reform is greatly need ed in respect to tfcatching cold" Let the demon be exercised first from the medical, and next from the popular mind! Let it be generally known and believed that few diseases are referable to the agency of cold, and that even the af- lection commonly called "a cold" is generally caused by other agencies or, perhaps, by special agent which may prove to be mi crobe. Let the axiom, "a fever patient never catches cold,' be reiterated until it
 becomes household phrase! Let the re- storative influence of cool fresh, pure at mosphere be inculcatedl Let it be under stood that in therapeutics, as in hygiene, the single word comfort embodies the principles
 which should regulate coverings and cloth
 ing. Non-medicinal therapeutics will have
 gained much when this reform is accom-
 plished.
 Somebody in Vermont ought to be nov
 ing in behalf of education there. The popu-
 lation of the State in 1S4O was 291 ,949, and
 in 1880 it had risen to 53s, ,s86, yet the num-
 oSOSA1AAE eAlO SO1AAA4Oh SCAOO1S
 has sunk from 97, ,519 in 1S40 to only 72, "A
 in 1884. In 1940 there were 147, ,OS2 chil-
 dren under 20 years of age, out of total
 population of 291 ,948; in 1884 there are but
 139, 452 out of a total population of 332, ,296 One cause of this remarkable change is obvi- ously the diminution in the size of the aver age Yankee family. In 1850 the average
 number of persons to each family in Vermont
 was 5. 36 in 1860, 4.94 in 1870, 4.69, and
 in 1880, only 4.55. Thus, while the popula- tion of the State has increased IA per cent. in the last forty years, the number of chil- dren under 20 years of age is over per cent less now than it was in 1840. Even of those
 who are of the school age about IS per cent,
 or nearly one-ffth, do not attend school.
 The new anasthetic seems to continue to work we'll. Dr. B. Joy Jeffries, the well known Boston oculist, writes: I used CO coaine during November with little differ ent result from what some others report From two to eight per cent. solutions were tried. I think that four per cent. will an swer if, of course, the drug is pure. We can be assured, however, of the effect before operat- ing. The solution with acid smarts little
 but not longer than thirty seconds, and SC does the drug dissolved in hot, distilled water. In thirty more seconds I have al ways found the eye insensible to pain. dc not understand the reports of gentlemen here and abroad of having to wait several minutes In one case of squint the pupil was dilated Several drops have to be used for this opera ton and hence the effect is probably more marked. Anesthesia can readily be kept uI by the application of drop every few min utes. In nearly thirty operations I have seen no i'll effect attributed to the drug. IT the third of these should have used ether
 The time and pain saved in the cases of for. eign bodies in the cornea were we'll wortt saving If the drug only allowed us to hold the lids apart continuously, it would be most valuable. From one to ten drops have proved sufficient for the operations have done. The expense is nothing compared with the relief from pain, and in children the fright etc. I see Ro reason why we should
 not use drop to quiet the eye so as to get | thorough inspection in adult or child.