The Saint Paul globe., 1900-02-11
MEDICAL NOTES.

Speaking Of diet as method Of dag
nosis, DR.. Spivak says there is q deep
meaning In the German saying. Der
Mensch ist was er esst," which may be
freely translated, 'Tell me what you eat
and III tell you what you are One
will tell you that sauer kraut and beer
predominant in his diet. Don't hesi-
tate to designate him as Teuten. One
who mentions potatoes with sort of
reverence is sure to have come from the
Green Isle. One who speaks of caviar
and vodka with watering mouth may
be put down as a subject of the czar.
II rice and maize are the chief articles
Of subsistence the differential diagnosis
lies somewhere between Chinaman and
q Spanfard If animal food Is con-
sumed in large quantities you will not be
far from the mark by putting him down
either as American or English. Large
quantities of food are taken by work
ing men, butchers, cooks, beer brewers,
gluttons and idiots; by those suffering
from dilated stomach (frst stage) hy-
peracidity and nervous dyspepsia. Amor
of hunger, Is an expression of some dis
turbance, and occurs mostly in the
young among the well-to-do classes, and
predoninates in women. There may be
pseudoanorexia, the patient fearing to
take food on account of the distress it
causes. Anorexia IL persistent and not
amenable to treatment, should be an in
dication for a thorough examination OF
the lungs. Anorexia is a forerunner Of
the tubercle-bacilI. The opposite of
anorexia-bulimia, the absence of safety,
Is in the majority of cases, Of nervous
origin; one should, however, look out for
round ulcer, tapeworm, diseases of the
sexual organs and diseases of the brain.
AbnormalIy large quantities of food are
taken by diabetes and convalescents
from exhausting diseases, and those suf-
ferfng from hysteria, epilepsy, hydro
cephalus and tumor of the brain con-
sumo, as a rule, astonishingly large
quantities.
The average physician Is fortunate II
he makes anything beyond a mere living,
but some surgeons who attain great rep
utation occasionally receive very large
fees A surgeon in San Francisco recent
ly received $4,000 for performing a sue
cessful operation and twenty-one days
attendance upon a miners wife. DR.. Tff-
fany, Of Baltimore received $4,000 for
single operation, while DR.. Chambers, Of
the same city, received $1,000 for dressing
a stab wound. DR.. Parks, Of Chicago.
received s10500 for an operation, and DR..
Bernays, of st. Louis, 5000 for single
operation. This list published in the
Medical Sentinel might be greatly ex-
tended especially if 81, 900 fees were in
cluded. However. the whole list would
be a very small percentage of the total
number of practicing physicians, while
the list of those receiving for all their
services less than 81 ,0C0 per year would be
very large. To those who can see only
the fair side of a physicians life the
prospects seem alfuring, but in order to
be successful the physicians expenses
must keep pace with his increasing
success SO that the cost of instruments
and apparatus, the cost Of keeping a
horse and carriage, the cost, perhaps, OF
driver, the increased household expenses
on one hand and many poor accounts on
the other, the physician, as rule, is
fortunate If his accounts balance. the diff
ference often being one of loss rather
than profit
Acting on the advice of the council Of
hygiene the prefect Of the police in Paris
has decided that ice sellers must stock
and sell ice of two definitely distinct
kinds. These must be ticketed as ice for
eating purposes and ice for Industrial
purposes, the former being obtained from
spring or sterilized water. Attention was
called to the necessity of such a law by
the fact that impure Ice was sold which
caused various disorders of the stomach
and bowels, sometimes of an epidemic
1g,1Jx NJ too
was either natural ice cut from foul wa
ter or artificial Ice made from dirty wa
ter Many years ago expert analysts
proved ir this country that ice contained
disease germs such as typhoid fever, and
the fact that they were frozen did not
materially lessen their viruience, but l
believe that no laws have been passed
regulating the supply or sale Of ice.
A retired physician of Cholet, France,
recently met with a most horrible death
For four years the man had been con-
firmed drunkard, and had lost his reas IN
as a consequence. 1t was his custom to
wander through the streets daily, so that
when he, failed to appear the neighbors
became anxious and went to his house
to see what the trouble was. This physi-
clan had seven dogs, and these dogs were
found in his room, literally devouring him
alive. They were so fierce that no one
dared to enter the room, and they were
only induced to leave their prey by lures
Of fresh meat. by which they were enticed
away from the house and shot. Upon the
table, beside the mans bed, were eight
empty quart bottles, so that when at
tackled by the dogs the man was probably
in an alcoholic stupor.
f,, A.
American Medical Association, gives an
interesting sketch of the condition OF
medicine existing In Hawaii. Many OF
the natives still believe that disease Is
brought about by evil spirits, and there
are still many native physicians, called
kahunas, who practice kind of faith
cure. Epidemics formerly occurred at long
intervals, but were extremely fatal, as
the people were very susceptible. During
an epidemic of measles there were not
enough we'll persons to provide for those
who were i'll, and one-tenth of the inhab-
itants died.
War, so far-reaehing in its result, has
an Influence upon the drug market. OUT
nine. for example, increases in price, ew-
ing to the demand for large quantities
used in the army. and a consequent di-
minution of the home supply. Recently,
London agents have written to wholesale
druggists that the British government
has forbidden the further export of car
bohc acid, claiming that the entire supply
is needed for home use in the manufac-
ture of lyddite shells. The immediate ef-
feet, when the news was received, was
to double the price of carbolie acid in
New York
In France it would seem that a belief
in witchcraft still exists. A peasant of
Noirlieu. being convinced that a quack
doctor named Gatineau had thrown a
spell over his wife and caused her death.
sent for the doctor to meet him at a GER