The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-04-10
HAVE CHRONIC BLUES.
'Melancholia'' Discussed by the
Doctors Last Night.
HOW PATIENTS ARE MADE WE'LL

at the State Insane Asylum-Other
Matters Discussed and Officers
Elected.
Although the Eastern Kansas Medical
society has a membership of at least one
hundred and fifty there was but an even
thirty one present at its meeting at A ..
.. W. hall last night including DE- Tent
who got in at the close of the meeting
just in time to pay his dues. Three OF
the thirty physicians present were
women.
The Eastern Kansas has these meet
ings every three months, but this was
denominated the yearly meeting Tor the
reason that it WAS time to elect the OIL
GERS and pay in dues. This latter may
have had something to do with the light
attendance.
The usual dull order of business was
INDUCED in in which the minutes of the
last meeting are read and adopted unan-
imously although nobody ever listens to
them. The reports of officers also took
up little valuable time.
The election of officers resulted as fol-
lows, and there being no repeaters and
no homeopathists present to vote. there
was no contest: President, DR.. J. G. Nc
Clintock of Topeka; vice president, Or.
w. s. Bum of Lawrence; secretary, DE-
J. L. Gilbert of Topeka; treasurer, Dr.
Ida c. Barnes of Topeka
During the evening two new members,
DIR. A. L. Hamilton of Carbondale, and
DR.. NJ. A. Willard of Oakland, were adj
United to full membership.
The address of the retiring president,
DR.. R. E. McVey of Topeka, was listened
to with a good deal of interest and round
ed with applause. DR.. McVey had
agreeable things to say for everybody.
aud that sort of thing always pleases.
DR. W. S. Packard of Burlingame was
on the programme for paper entitled
"Report of Some Obstetrical Cases." but
asked permission to change it to a report
of a postmortem examination he had
held on the body of a three-year-Old
child Saturday, and the request was
granted. It was a mysterious case in
life and had baffled the diagnostic in
stincts of several physicians sThe trouble
seemed to be of the nature of a tumor
and really proved on discussion to be II
sarcoma of the right kidney Although
the child was only three years of age
and before death greatly emaciated the
tumor at removal weighed nine pounds.
That there had been sarcoma somewhere
there could be no doubt for DR.. Pickard
had it-with him. and passed it around for
the doctors to pick at with toothpicks and
turn over. 1t was on platter and was
declared lovely specimen. Perhaps it
was.
there was a rather plentiful discuss
sion andit was generally agreed that
DR.. Packard was right about it being sar-
coma.
NJ. Morgan Cloud, tall young man
with black, wavy locks, patent leather
shoes and nice clothes, here entertained
the meeting with a paper on "Melan-
cholia." 1t was able and scholarly and
was doubtless the result of considerable
recent research.
The only physician who had the hardi-
hood to criticise it was DR.. Eastman of
the asylum, who knows something about
the subject himself.
an cases of melancholia," said DIR.
Eastman, 81 would advise isolation. Not
even the friends of the patient or even
his near relatives should be admitted Ii
has a tendency to keep his mind
on the subject of his trou-
BILE, to increase hallucination, and il
has this effect to such an extent that
patients have often been known to at
tempt, and sometimes successfully, sui
eide after the visit of a friend or relative,
The idea in melancholia is that the vic
tim has been guilty of something and
broods over it Treatment at home is
not successful for the reason that his
nearest people are the ones he is apt to
think he has wronged and in his ideas OF
Rtonement he is hard to manage. He
will not eat for fear he will deprive
someone else of food and his chance OF
recovery lies as much in his food as in
his medicine. He must take certain
kinds of food as we'll as medicine. Mel
ancholia is often cured in two or three
weeks The longest case 1 know of that
was finally cured was a malignant one
and ran seven years before a cure was
affected. I have heard of them running
fifteen years but l have never known
one"
DR.. a. Fl. Cordier of Kansas City was
on the bill for talk on 'sSarcoma of the
Ovaries" but he was not present and his
paper was passed as was also that on
'School Hygiene" by Dr. Agnes Mckee
Wallace of Topeka, for the same reason
There were no substitutes and after q
motion by DIR. Wall of Topeka, that the
the next meeting be held at Topeka OF
the second Tuesday in July, the meeting
was adjourned.
Just before the adjournment a motor
was introduced to the effect that the
new president DR.. McClintock, treat the
assembly to ice cream, but amid mucl
embarrassment DR.. Wall arose and ex
planned that DR.. McClintock was "broke
and the resolution was withdrawn.
the physicians from out of the cit
were DR.. Hamilton of Carbondale, DI
6chenk of Harveyville, DR.. Bum of Law
renee. DR.. Pickard of Burlingame an
Drs Gray apd Cornell of Kansas City.