(previously prepared), but there may be no intelligent discussion, as those present are only half awake.

All go out into the night air reeking with tobacco smoke, saturated with carbon dioxide and loaded to the guards with the specific organism of many diseases, and with resistance reduced in no small degree.

The next day a headache, sore throat, muscular pains, or a well defined attack of grip or even a pneumonia is in evidence, and one wonders how he has 'taken cold.'

Might we not practice what we preach in regard to such matters? Might not the tobacco smoke be eliminated at least? (The writer is a smoker.)

Would not the meetings be brighter and more interesting, and would not all be more comfortable and in better health the next day if the ventilation was better and the cubic feet of air space greater?

Would not more of the stay-at-homes,' particularly the ladies, attend the meetings?"

Dr. Wetheril is perfectly right in his strictures and his questions are quite proper. And while we are on the subject, we might suggest that it would not be a bad thing if many physicians whom we know paid more attention to their personal hygiene, to their own health. We know that in many cases it cannot be helped, for the disease may be hereditary in character or may have had its origin at an early age, but it does seem incongruous to see an obese, asthmatic, rheumatic or dyspeptic physician attempting to relieve the ills of his fellow mortals.

"Physician, heal thyself," is not strictly new, nor strictly original, but the idea expressed in this curt saying will make itself felt very decidedly in the not distant future.

"Not Responsible for the Opinions of Our Contributors".

Many journals have a legend printed to the effect that they are not responsible for the opinions of their contributors. And still, send them a contribution, which expresses opinions widely different from those of the editor or rather the publisher, for it is he who in most instances dictates the policy of the journal— and you will see how quickly it will be rejected. This is not the case with the CRITIC AND GUIDE. It matters not what your opinions may be, if they are expressed in fairly intelligible language, and contain a fair amount of logic, we will print them. And sometimes we will print them, even if they contain no logic at all. Haven't we published communications from Christian Scientists?

Iodine as a Disinfectant.

A large number of articles has appeared recently in the medical journals on the value of tincture of iodine as a disinfectant, and as is usually the case with those who have not made

any study of the history of medicine, the readers-and the writers-believe that this is something new. It isn't, as is demonstrated by the following paragraph which I came across yesterday. It is as follows:

Iodine as a Disinfectant.-Bionet says that the foulest sores may be rendered entirely free from offensiveness by applications of tincture of iodine.

It appeared in the American Medical Times for August II, 1860 (p. 98)-half a century ago.

There are hundreds of such "new" things in medicine.
The most interesting part of medicine is its history.

Adulteration a Century Ago.

Many good people are under the impression that all or most of our evils are of recent date, and they sigh deeply for the "good old times." For instance, we have met people who believe that adulteration of foods and drugs is something of quite recent origin and they like to speak of the purity and genuineness of the articles of food of the days gone by. Such people would be interested in a book published 80 years ago in London, and which bears the following exhaustive title (by the way, nowadays we think the shorter a title, the better; in former days it was just the opposite; some titles occupied an entire page of close print):

Deadly Adulteration and Slow Poisoning; or, Disease and Death in the Pot and the Bottle; in which the Blood-empoisoning and Lifedestroying Adulterations of Wines, Spirits, Beer, Bread, Flour, Tea, Sugar, Spices, Cheese-mongery, Pastry, Confectionery, Medicines, &c., are laid open to the Public with Tests or Methods for ascertaining and detecting Fraudulent and Deleterious Adulterations, and the good and bad qualities of those Articless with an Exposé of Medical Empiricism and Imposture, Quacks and Quackery, Regular and Irregular, Legitimate and Illegitimate; and the Frauds and Malpractices of Pawnbrokers and Madhouse keepers. By an Enemy of Fraud and Villany. London: Sherwood and Co. 12 mo. pp. 187. 1830. A review of this book appeared in The Lancet for Jan. 8, 1831, and if the author has not exaggerated, then conditions a century ago were infinitely worse in this respect (as they were in every other) than they are to-day. Practically every item in our daily consumption is shown by the author to be villainously adulterated.

The Postal Currency.

One can understand the opposition to the Parcels Post. The introduction of cheap and convenient transportation would probably affect unfavorably the tradespeople in the small towns and villages. But the unbiased man cannot understand the antagonism to the postal check, or postal currency. We are behind every other civilized country in this respect. It is a most bothersome thing to have to send by mail small amounts of money. Stamps are unwelcome and by many not accepted, coin is unsafe and is

frequently lost or stolen in the mails, a money order is bothersome, takes away time and is unobtainable in many places. In short, for sending small amounts of money by mail we are about on a par with semi-civilized nations. The introduction of the postal check would stimulate business thruout the country, and would be a great convenience to everybody. How anyone, ouside of bankers. and express companies, can oppose it, is more than the CRITIC AND GUIDE can understand. Do not be a reactionist. You can not stop the wheels of the chariot of progress. If you put yourself in their way, you are just as likely as not to be run over.

Mining Scheme Literature.

Many physicians are complaining of the amount of trash they are receiving in their daily mails, particularly mining scheme and get-rich-quick circulars. The physicians are partly themselves to blame. If instead of merely throwing the trash into the waste-baskets, they would sit down and write a sharp letter to schemers, telling them that their literature is not wanted, they would soon be free from the nuisance.

Signs of the Times.

SALEM, ORE., Feb. 2.-A bill requiring that applicants for marriage licenses be provided with a certificate of good health from a licensed physician unanimously passed the Senate today. DOVER, DEL., Feb. 22.-Drastic restrictions on marriage are provided for in a bill introduced in the Delaware Legislature by Senator Drexler, of Sussex County. The bill directs that candidates for matrimony shall obtain medical certificates of fitness. It carries a penalty of fine and imprisonment for physicians who testify falsely to these certificates.

By all means surround marriage with all possible safeguards. As we have always said: Make marriage harder and divorce easier.

When duty compels me to attack an official journal, it is not because it is official, but because there is something rotten about it. And that there may be no misapprehension in the matter, we will say that there are some so-called independent medical journals that are by far rottener than any official journal that we have ever had. What we object to in some official jaurnals is their inconsistency, hypocrisy, sanctimoniousness and dictatorial attitude; what we object to in some so-called independent journals is their absolute inanity, editorial imbecility, emptiness, the crass ignorance displayed in their pages, their venality and last but not least their utter lack of independence. Which indictment is the severer one, I will leave you to judge.

Some critics made the remark about Dr. Jacobi's Therapeutics of Infancy and Childhood that it is a personal book. In the preface to the second edition Dr. Jacobi says that this is a criticism which he wishes to

deserve. I will say the same thing about the remark made about the CRITIC & GUIDE that it is a personal organ: it is a criticism which I have always endeavored to deserve.

The editor is glad to respond to all inquiries and requests for information, as far as he is able, as far as his time permits. But he does not consider himself under any obligations to do so. The subscriber to the CRITIC & GUIDE is entitled to twelve copies of the journal per annum-and to nothing else. The journal is very well worth a dollar a year without any extras. Of this we are perfectly certain.

Yes, the CRITIC & GUIDE is worth a dollar a year to every man or woman, medical or lay. The only ones to whom it is not worth it are the following: Infants, cretins, imbeciles and those in the lunatic asylums generally. We might include those who are both blind and deaf and dumb.

Bind your CRITIC AND GUIDE; the journal is becoming more valuable each year. Some of the older volumes bring as much as 10 and 20 dollars per volume.

LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR*.

The Celebration of National Holidays.

DEAR CHILDREN:

Spiez, Switzerland, August 2, 1908.

Yesterday the Swiss people celebrated their national holiday. The first of August is the Swiss Fourth of July. It was on August 1st, 1291, that the first compact was concluded between Uri, Schwytz and Unterwald, and the Swiss Confedera-tion is therefore 617 years old. I took this morning's papers to see how many accidents have taken place, how many conflagrations, how many homicides, intentional and non-intentional, how many people lost their sight, how many cases of tetanus developed, etc., and will you believe it?-not a single solitary accident occurred in any of the twenty-four cantons of the Swiss republic. Nor is it likely that any accidents could happen. We watched the celebration from our hotel and we also took a trip to Thun. The entire celebration consisted in the ringing of the church bells for a short while, in illuminating the houses with Chinese lanterns and in a mild display of fireworks. No firecrackers, no "niggerheads," no torpedoes, no revolvers, and-no beer saloon enthusiasm and no Chauncey Depew or Tammany Hall rhetoric. Everything quiet, decent, as behooves respectable civilized beings. Some of our compatriots thought this celebration too quiet, too tame. Perhaps. To such I would recommend a visit to Paris on the 14th of July-the day when the gay effervescent French

*We regret that space does not permit us to print all of Dr. Robinson's letters from Europe, written during his recent trip. We will have to be satisfied with an occasional letter, which may appear more or less timely.

men celebrate their national holiday-the day of the destruction. of the odious Bastille. I have had the good fortune to find myself in Paris twice during the celebration of the national fête, and never shall I forget the glorious gay, truly festive spectacle. The impression will remain with me forever. The streets splendidly illuminated, music stands erected in numerous places, bands of musicians playing till the early hours of morning and the people in the street dancing and enjoying themselves. In short, everybody feels in a holiday mood and the holiday spirit pervades everything. And withal no drunkenness, no rowdyism, no accidents and no brain shattering noise.

How different from our glorious country. Our method of celebrating our national holiday has been a sore spot with me for many years. For twenty years I have been speaking, writing and inwardly fuming against the brutal idiocy of profaning the greatest national holiday in the world with deafening noise and death dealing weapons. Count up the loss of property by fire, the loss of eyesights, the general maiming, the cases of lockjaw, the number of deaths resulting directly from our method of celebrating the Fourth, and the savage absurdity of the thing will-or should become apparent to the dullest intellect. But there is one thing you cannot count up, tho it amounts to more than all the fires and accidents and deaths combined-and that is the wear and tear upon the nerves, the terrible racking of the drum membranes and of the brains of thousands and thousands of people. I am strictly within the bounds of truth when I state that with thousands, nay with millions of people, the Fourth of July has come to be a day feared, hated and cursed. I feel very deeply on the subject, because I have had opportunities to watch the effects of our celebration on both the well and the sick. When in general practice I had a chance more than once to watch, to notice the very unfavorable effect which the Fourth of July had on the course of disease. If you had on your hands a desperately ill little woman, who has not slept for three nights, by whose bedside you watched with the utmost anxiety, and whom after great efforts you succeeded in "coaxing" into a gentle slumber, and if you noticed the sudden quivering and shivering of the body and the hysterical outcry which followed upon the detonation of a giant torpedo and the rapidly following series of pistol shots; if you knew that the sufferings of that patient have become much more intense and that the prognosis has become more unfavorable; if you saw and knew this and multiplied this case by a hundred thousand, then I am sure you would feel on the subject just the way I do. Is there any hope of this criminal nuisance being abated? I hope so. I believe some improvement can be noted already. If our municipal government were not the worst and most ignorant of all municipal governments, we would have had a sane and enjoyable celebration of the Fourth long, long ago.