The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-18
MEDICAL NOTES.
prepared for the Sunday Journal ny
an Old Prnctitioner.D

\ Illustration or the Denenc1ai efIects OF OATH
! ing children has eight children ranging
| from two to sixteen years of age. The chill
dren are all strong and healthy and their
muscles firm and well developed They
are of quiet disposition and neither nervous
nor qIsarreIsome. The doctor believes that
this is all due TO the mothers practice of
bathing the infants. From the age of two
weeks to two years they are bathed every
morning. She takes the baby on her lap
in "a warm room, and. uncovering one part
1T a time, she vets it with tepid water.
and. with soap, she gives the skin
vigorous rubbing with her hand until the
surface Is nearly dry finishing with a
Turkish towel. The time consumed in this
bath and massage is from half hour to
an hour. The skin after the bath is in a
glow and the baby almost Immediately falls
into restful sleep. If for any reason the
bath is omitted there is noticeable differ
ence in the irmness of the muscles and the
quietness Of the child. More than this, the
massage seems to stimulate the abdominal
muscles, and there is but little, if any, need
to give laxatives. a practice which is great
~ to be deplored, although many mothers
give their children laxatives nearly If not
every day.
crowded is acknowledged by physicians
themselves, and, strange to say. they are
in a way 10 blame for it. Advances in sani-
tary science and practice have reduced the
| number of victims to certain diseases. Ty-
phoid fever, for example, was at one time
the source of n steady income for the physi-
clan. Every physician had at least four or
five cases. To-day this disease has greatly
decreased. and some day it will doubtless
disappear. 1t is the same with diphtheria
and In some places with malaria. Strange
to say altruistic medicine is lessening its
own work and diminishing it's own income
The Philadelphia Medical Journal comment
ing upon this editorially thinks the physi-
clan of to-day should discourage all as
pirants TO medical honors and labors who
do not possess natural qualifications of an
exceptionally high order. More care should
be exercised in the selection of medical stu
dents and less enthusiasm manifested in
urging young men to study science for
which they have qualifications. Above
all a higher standard should be required
that the name doctor may mean one
thoroughly qualified to cope with all condi-
lions of disease and advance the security
of the public health.
The growing tendencies for corporations
to employ company doctors for their men
has its disadvantages for the men. 1t seems
that INSCRIPTIONS doctors and agents con-
slider the interests of the company more |
than the welfare Of the laborer. Bayard |
Holmes refers to an instance which shows |
an inhuman case OF this. A Sunday school |
superintendent who had been a claim agent |
for a railroad company told the doctor that |
1T was more advantageous to the company |
to transport all surgical cases due TO in |
juries received along the line to nearby |
city, the fatigue and delay of transpor- |
tation lessened the chances of recovery; |
and the maximum damages in case of |
death are 5000 the company saves money, |
since the damages for injury if the patient |
receivers are practically unlimited.
The longer courses required for medical |
graduation in the best medical colleges |
have led to a necessity for some combna- |
ton system by which the length of time |
spent in study may be lessened Bowdoin |
College has taken the initiative by allowing |
certain courses in the medical school TO |
count proportionately toward the require |
ments for the degree of A. B., and vice |
versa some work in the collegiate depart |
ment is allowed to count toward the medi- |
cal degree. This is due to the fact that last |
year Bowdoin heightened the medical |
course to four years, and a combination be- |
came necessary that the academcal and |
medical courses might be completed in
seven years.
Washing air may seem over nice, but the |
officials of the public library at Chicago. !
are about wash all the air entering the |
building 1t first passes over and through |
shaving bits of straw and paper flaments |
of wool and cotton. etc. and it is then |
forced over a series of inclined metal |
In summer this washed air is cool and re-
freshing; in winter it is warmed by passing
over steam pipes. The washed air is not |
only clean, as far as dirt is concerned, but |
is free from odor, and doubtless contains |
few, if any germs.
Monkmoller and Kaplan may not make |
foot prints on the sands of time, but they |
have devised a method of recording the |
footsteps for study of the gait this being |
important in the diagnosis of some obscure |
diseases. The patient puts on thin stock
ings saturated with 10 per cent solution
OF chloride of iron. They then walk over a |
strip of paper, which is then treated with |
twenty-five parts of sulphocyanate of am
monia, 100 parts of alcohol and ether
enough to make 1000 parts, The foot prints
then appear as dull reddish brown marks.
DR.. Crothers, an authority on alcoholism |
and drug addiction. referring to the abuse
of cocaine. comments upon its prevalence |
and rapid increase. The habitues of |
cocaine are characterized by great mental
exaltation, excessive volubility, without /
point purpose, and with no logical con-
clusion, the style being smooth and con-
tinuous. He believes that this is noticeable |
in fiction, poetry, and even in scientific ar |
ticles, and states that there is often a
mania for writing letters.
The odor of the skunk is not the only bad |
thing about that animal. No one has ever
been known to recover from the bite of the |
species of skunk found in Arizona, and the
bite of these animals in other localities is
presumably equally dangerous. One
Howell an Arizona ranchman, is now at
the Pasteur Institute, in Chicago, under
treatment fnr a skunk bife and his reoox,