"NEC TENUI PENNÂ." VOL. 31. JANUARY 15, 1901. No. 2. H. A. COTTELL, M. D., M. F. COOMES, A. M., M. D., Editors. A Journal of Medicine and Surgery, published on the first and fifteenth of each month. Price, $2 per year, postage paid. This journal is devoted solely to the advancement of medical science and the promotion of the interests of the whole profession. Essays, reports of cases, and correspondence upon subjects of professional interest are solicited. The Editors are not responsible for the views of contributors. Books for reviews, and all communications relating to the columns of the journal, should be addressed to the Editors of THE AMERICAN PRACTITIONER AND NEWS, Louisville, Ky. Subscriptions and advertisements received, specimen copies and bound volumes for sale by the undersigned, to whom remittances may be sent by postal money order, bank check, or registered letter. Address JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY, Louisville, Ky. THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT. That this is the winter of our discontent can be truthfully said for many of us, and likewise for our patients, with the chilling blasts of winter and an occasional attack of la grippe. Each and every one of us would be glad to hie away to some land of sunshine and balmy breezes, where the winter's ravages may be escaped. Where to go and how to go often perplexes many of us, and for that reason we name some places and how to reach them. The Southern Railway and its connecting lines, with the great Plant System of Railways in Florida and its connecting steamship lines, permeates the whole southern and western country; starting from Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Washington, D. C., daily and double daily trains that are unsurpassed by any in the United States will carry you directly to any of the following places, where pleasure, health, and protection from the biting winter winds will be secured: New Orleans, Memphis, Thomasville, Savannah, and all of the important towns in Georgia, Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, Asheville, Tryon, Pinehurst, and other North Carolina resorts, and all of the Florida towns, among the important of which are Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Tampa, Punta Gorda, Naples on the Gulf, and Palm Beach. The plant steamers will take you to Havana, Nassau, or any of the islands in the Gulf. It is only ninety miles from Florida to Havana. The pleasure-seeker may go where he pleases in the South in the winter, and need take only one precaution, and that is to be sure that he secures pure drinking water-water that has no typhoid fever germ in it. Consumptives will be most comfortable in the high piney woods, at such places as Thomasville, Georgia, and many of the Florida towns that are located in the pine woods. The weather along the whole Gulf coast of Florida may be considered one of the most delightful winter resorts in the world; there is nothing that equals it when all things are considered. There is no rain in winter, and eternal sunshine and the most delightful balmy breezes that are to be found anywhere. DR. GEORGE M. GOULD. The summary manner in which the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Medical Journal discharged Dr. George M. Gould was wholly unwarranted and uncalled for, and, as a business proposition, was a bad move, and will cost the Philadelphia Medical Journal the loss of hundreds of subscribers. There is no more worthy gentleman and able editor in the United States than George M. Gould. He has done much for the profession in journalism and medicine in general. The profession will show their appreciation of his good work by sustaining him in his new venture to establish a medical journal. KENTUCKY STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. The approaching meeting of the Kentucky State Medical Society ought to and will doubtless be one of the most interesting meetings that has been held for years. Every doctor in the State should make it a point to attend this meeting, and those that are not members should make up their minds to join the Society and take an active part in its working. It is an honor to be a member of such a Society, as it is one of the very best State Societies in the country. THE two spring schools in Louisville, the Kentucky School of Medicine and the Hospital College of Medicine. have the largest classes that they have had in years, and are in every way deserving of this patronage and the confidence of the profession of the country, as they are conducted on that high plane that tends to elevate the standard of medical education. STANFORD, Ky., January 13, 1901. Editors American Practitioner and News: Please announce in the next issue of your journal that the Kentucky State Medical Society will convene in the city of Louisville on Wednesday, May 22, 1901, and continue in session three full days. The Committee of Arrangements, of which Dr. Louis Frank, of Louisville, is Chairman, and who is assisted by an able coterie of gentlemen, is open for the reception of business. All communications pertaining to "business" should be addressed to Dr. Frank, who will give quick and courteous response. Those who expect to contribute to the scientific part of the "Fortysixth Annual" will please notify the Secretary, sending their titles of papers at as early date as possible. It should be remembered that those who first come are first served-on the programme, which will be issued from the press and distributed about the 20th of April. Already interest has begun to manifest itself. We hope the members of the profession throughout the State will take an earnest interest in this meeting. Yours very truly, STEELE BAILEY, M. D., Permanent Secretary. J. H. LETCHER, M. D., President. January 8, 1901. MY DEAR DOCTOR: Without a day's notice and without any complaint to me or criticism of my editorial management of the "Philadelphia Medical Journal," I have been discharged by the Board of Trustees. I have not been allowed to explain this act to the subscribers of the Journal nor to say a word of goodbye to them. So long as I controlled the reading columns I did so to the uttermost of my ability with the purpose of keeping them wholly free from the influence of any publisher, from commercialism, and from a hundred forms of medical abuses, lay and professional. I have also aimed to give subscribers the most and best literature for the least money possible. In a word, I have sought to establish a great American Medical Weekly, with the closest attainable adherence to professional ideals and scientific usefulness. The organization of the company and its control by lay capital permitted a failure in my attempt at realizing the purpose. Hundreds of letters and words of encouragement are being offered, advising the founding of a new medical journal, so organized that no one person can govern its fate. I am willing to give my best of remaining life to this end, but it necessarily depends upon the co-operation of the profession to carry it out. In order to test the desire of the profession, I request an immediate reply to the following proposition: With trustworthy and competent business and professional associates and under good legal advice, a company may be incorporated and capital stock offered to members of the profession in the following manner : 1. Founders' Shares, at $50,00, giving the owner thereof a lifetime subscription to the new Medical Weekly and perpetual participation in the profits. (The number of Founders' Shares is limited, and the holders will secure a pre-eminent influence in the ownership and conduct of the journal. It is our purpose to make it an honor even to one's children to have been a Founder.) 2. Preferred Shares, drawing 6 per cent dividends from the net earnings, subscriptions to which are requested in amounts of $100.00 and over. (The Preferred Stock offers a safe, permanent, and profitable investment.) 3. For $10.00 three years' subscription to the Journal and $10.00 worth of common stock. (The common stock participates in dividends upon the net earnings after those paid upon Preferred Shares.) 4. For $5.00 one year's subscription to the Journal and $5.00 worth of common stock. These offers, any one or all, may be withdrawn at any time and without notice, when a sufficient working capital has been secured. We purpose maintaining the par value of the stock, and shall issue only sufficient for a safe working capital, thus insuring full dividend-value on all investments. In order to enlarge and perfect the new Weekly so far and fast as possible, the subscription price will be placed at $4.00. By the above plan there will be an absolute security that no combination of capital and no lay owner or publisher can ever obtain control of the journal. Thus at last may be satisfied the greatest need of the American medical profession, for a great organ free from the domination and dangers illustrated in the newspaper world, and unfortunately too frequently in medical journalism. I do not wish money sent at present, but only a reply at once as to your willingness, and to what extent you will give the project your financial support. This letter is designed merely as a test of professional opinion. If sufficient funds are promised, details of plans, prospects, and possibilities will be sent promptly. I wish to issue the first number of the journal in February. The New Century opens with a most prosperous commercial outlook. With your hearty practical interest we shall be able to realize the early establishment of a representative organ of the profession and for the profession. A postal card blank is enclosed, upon which your conditional offer may be indicated, and the same mailed to my address. Faithfully yours, GEO. M. GOULD, 1321 Walnut St., Philadelphia. Current Surgical and Medical Selections. DISPOSING OF the KidneY THROUGH Ligating the Ureter.-L. Landau. (Deutsche Med. Wochenschrift.) In abdominal and pelvic operations the ureter is often severed by mistake, or through necessity. This is especially the case in carcinoma of the uterus and other pelvic organs. Where possible a plastic operation should be done, transplanting the end of the ureter into the bladder. Sometimes, however, such large sections of the ureter are removed with the tumor mass that transplantation is rendered impossible. The author reports such a case, in which he ligated the end of the ureter, with a view of performing a nephrectomy later, viz., after the patient had gained strength and recovered from the shock of the operation. To his surprise, however, further interference was not indicated. For a short time after the operation the patient complained of headache, etc., and the quantity of urine was diminished. Shortly all of these symptoms disappeared, and the patient made an uneventful recovery. The other kidney carried on the function properly, and the excluded kidney ceased to functionate. Hydronephrosis did not occur; at any rate it was not evident. There are several such cases recorded in the literature, with the same satisfactory results. The author recommends this procedure only where transplantation is not possible and nephrectomy contra-indicated.- St. Louis Med. Review. SOME POINTS IN THE MAKING OF A PLASTER of Paris JACKET.—(Albany Med. Annals.) By Dr. J. V. Hennessy. The author describes the case of a girl twenty-two years of age, who weighed 130 pounds. She had Pott's disease of the lower dorsal vertebræ and paraplegia of two years' standing. Ordinary methods of applying a plaster jacket by suspension failed through syncope; in the recumbent position faulty position spoiled them, and the patient could not sit. The mode adopted in this case was to make a form of plaster of Paris from numerous measurements giving width, depth, and girth at hips, waist, and bust. On this an ordinary knitted cylinder was stretched, and the plaster applied as upon the human form. The advantages of this method of making a plaster of Paris jacket are numerous, although the trouble and care are considerable. In the first place, certain modifications of form can easily be made, as may be seen in this specimen. The dorsal deformity is exaggerated, leaving a considerable space so that the spinal protuberance may not rub against the jacket. Next, extension of the trunk may be increased by increasing the length between the crests of the ilium and the axilla. The waist measurement may be diminished and gradually widened upward, giving the support to the trunk which is so necessary, and any other modification of form which may, in the judgment of the maker, add to ease or efficiency. Again, a jacket may be applied to a form so built up |