are indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Frederic C. Curtis, of Albany. The contributions, though not numerous, are varied. The address of the President, Dr. Daniel Lewis, among other very good things, calls the attention of the New York profession to the need for a State Examining Board upon the ground of the large number of foreigners who come to that State attracted by the commercial supremacy of New York, stating that there are upwards of 240 practitioners in the city who are graduates of foreign medical colleges, and that no existing authority is capable of judging of the validity of their credentials. We are pleased to see that our New York friends are moving in this direction, and to know that some good legislation has been accomplished, for it will have a most excellent influence on all the country.

The papers are characterized by their practical nature, and we notice that the same subjects which are uppermost in the thoughts of the surgeons at the Southern end of the Union are exercising our New York brethren, they, however, having the decided advantage which accrues from the density of population.

COLOROMETRIC METHOD FOR TESTING THE Morphine Strength OF LAUDANUM AND OTHER PREPARATIONS.-Mr. S. J. Hinsdale, of Fayetteville, gave an account of a very delicate color test for morphine at the meeting of the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Associ ation. He claims that if one drop of water containing 0.000001 gram (about 1 gr. to a quart) of morphine is mixed on a white slab with one drop of the ferridcyanide of potassium solution, a blue color will be developed within one minute. Standard laudanum is taken and diluted with given quantities of dilute alcohol, and marked in separate vials with the known strength. Ferridcyanide of potassium solution, made by dissolving 0.04 gram potassic ferridcyamide in 500 c. c. water, and add to it 15 drops of liquor ferri chloridi, is the reagent, which must be prepared freshly and with water containing no iron. To make the test four clean wineglasses of 50 c. c. capacity should be placed on a white surface. Drop a very small drop of the dilutions, equal to gr., from a pipette into the glasses. Now add to each glass about 5 c. c. ferridcyanide mixture, and in about a minute add 15 to 20 c. c. water, and observe the shades of color. This observation must be made within five minutes, as the air and light will soon cause all to be uniformly blue. "By comparison of these shades of color produced by the standard solutions, you can easily estimate the strength of any sample of laudanum with much accuracy.”

THE ROSTER OF THE MEDICAL OFFICERS OF NORTH CAROLINA DURING THE LATE WAR.

We have prepared copies of the Roster of North Carolina Surgeons who served in the late war, for the purpose of getting it revised. Our plan is to send them from one to another of the medical officers known to be living, asking them to look over the list and make all the corrections they see necessary.

1. As to the correct spelling of name.

2. Rank and date of commission and date of retiring from service.

3. Arm of service engaged.

4. Campaigns in which he served.

5. Record of capture, wounds or accidents.

6. If the friend or acquaintance of any in the list be dead, please state the fact and the date of death if it can be obtained.

7. If there was any biographical record of the services of such deceased friend, and ESPECIALLY IF A PHOTOGRAPH IS OBTAINABLE.

Such other items of interest as may occur to those who receive the circular, we trust they will kindly furnish, sending the reply on the printed postal sheet, and forwarding the list to their next neighbor, with the request to forward to his, and so on.

The design of this enquiry is to secure this record on behalf of the Committee appointed by the Medical Society of North Carolina to rescue Confederate records from oblivion, and when the records are all in to print them, together with as many photographs as can be obtained.

PALPITATION OF THE HEART.-Dr. Nebo (in Journal de la Sante) says that an excessive palpitation of the heart can always be arrested by bending double, with the head downward and the hands pendent, so as to produce a temporary congestion of the upper part of the body. In almost all cases of nervous or anemic palpitation, the heart immediately resumes its uatural function. If the respiratory movements be suspended during this action, the effect is only the more rapid.-Scientific American.

[We saw a demonstration of this feat by an intelligent friend who was subject to wildly irregular heart, but have never seen it in print before.-EDS.]

CURRENT NOTES.

ATROPINE AS AN ANTIDOTE TO CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM.-A clerk in a business at Halle (Germany), who had made a pleasure trip to Leipzig with the money of his employers, on his return resolved to commit suicide to avoid exposure. He succeeded in procuring a quantity of cyanide of potassium solution, and also of atropine solution, which he swallowed in rapid succession. Beyond a few passing fainting fits, however, he was none the worse for his suicidal attempt, and after a few days' hospital treatment the would-be suicide had completely recovered his health, no antidote whatever being administered to him. It is thought that the atropine solution acted as an antidote to the cyanide.-Chemist and Druggist..

"When

MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION OF URINE.-To facilitate the microscopical examination of urine, the Lancet says: attempting to examine urine under the microssope, for casts, epithelial cells, and other organic bodies, a good deal of annoyance and difficulty is sometimes caused by urates, and also when the specimen is not quite fresh, by fermentation and putrefactive products. In order to obviate this difficulty, and with the further view of preserving the specimen, Dr. Wendringer advises that the urine should be mixed with a nearly saturated solution of borax and boracic acid. This dissolves the urates, and keeps the urine from fermenting, and at the same time exercises no destructive effects upon the casts and epithelial elements which it is desired to examine. The solution is prepared by mixing twelve parts of powdered borax in one hundred parts of hot water, and then adding a similar quantity of boracic acid, stirring the mixture well. It is filtered while hot. On long standing, a small deposit crystallizes out, but clings to the side of the vessel, so that it does not interfere with the transparency of the liquid. The urine to be examined is put into a conical glass, and from a fifth to a third of its bulk of the boracic solution added to and agitated with it. The urine will be found to have become clear in a short time, i. e., if there is no cloudiness due to bacteria; and it will remain unchanged for several days. If it is only wanted to clear the urine and to make it keep for a day or two, the addition of a smaller of the boracic solution is sufficient. If a third of its

bulk is added, no fermentation or putrefactive processes take place, even if the glass is left uncovered in warm places. Albumen, too, if it exists, is not coagulated. The organic elements, such as epithelial cells, casts, blood corpuscles, etc., collect so quickly without undergoing morphological change, at the bottom of the glass, that the first drop taken up by the pipette usually proves a satisfactory specimen.-Indiana Medical Journal.

DIABETIC DIET.-Professor Naunyn, of Strassburg, gives the following rules for the diet of a diabetic person. These rules will be of much practical benefit to those who cannot always consult their physician A. Food.-Meat of every kind and form prepared without starch or sugar. Also sweetbreads and calves' brains. Daily meat ration, 1 to 1 pounds, weighed cooked. In place of meat, eggs may be used as desired. One egg is equivalent to about 2 ounces of meat; the yolk of the egg contains even more nitrogen than meat. Fat may be used in every form. Bread, if at all permitted, may be used to the extent of 1 to 3 ounces per day. Vege. tables and fruits are valuable for the organism, since they supply the salts of the alkalies and alkaline earths; but the carbohydrates contained therein render their use advisable only in cases where it is found that they are comparatively harmless. The dextrogyre earbohydrates, viz: glucose, starch and dextrin, are badly digested by diabetics; but the lavogyres, viz: levulose, inulin (the starch of the Composite), inosite and mannite, are easily and almost completely digested without increasing the sugar. Hence, while the former are dangerous, the latter are harmless. Among vegetables the following are to be recommended: Jerusalem artichoke (Topinambour, from Helianthus tuberosus), Chinese or Japanese stachystubers (contain much inulin), chicory root, dandelion root, common artichokes, green peas, mushrooms (contain mannite), apples and pears (contain levulose). B. Drink.-Milk, particularly sour milk [buttermilk], kefir, or kumyss, 1 to 14 pints, may be used daily, if it is found that the ingestion of milk-sugar is without influence upon the excretion of glucose. (In some patients this is the case, in others not.) Light wines, claret, brandy or whiskey [schnapps] with water are permitted; of the heavier wines, dry sherry. Beers are dangerous. Bitter liquors are permitted; but sweet ones must be avoided. Cocoa is forbidden; but tea or coffee (without sugar) is allowed. Med. Chir. Rundschau.

WOMEN DOCTORS.-Women who practice medicine suffer from inconveniences at times, as, for instance, a man rang the door-bell of a female physician at night, crying: "Quick! Tell the doctor to hurry, as my wife is about to be confined!" Then the husband of the female physician, who had opened the door, responded: "It is impossible for the doctor to go at this moment-she is about to be confined herself!"

READING NOTICES.

A SUCCESSFUL NEW DRUG.-Au efficient Emollient and Sedative is one of the chief indications in the treatment of the urinary

tract.

Among the remedies employed for this purpose PICHI (Fabiana Imbricata), has, through long clinical testing, won an enviable place.

The demand for this drug and the difficulties of obtaining proper supplies has led to the appearance in the market of much Pichi of inferior and therapeutically useless quality.

Parke, Davis & Co. state that they employ a special agent in the habitat of this drug to collect supplies, and guarantee its quality. They will also, on request, supply samples to those physicians who desire to clinically test it in their practice.

SUCCUS ALTERANS.-Maysville, W. Va., September 10, 1889.E. LILLY & Co., Indianapolis, Ind.:-I am fully satisfied your Succus Alterans has no equal as an alterative. I commenced using it on a patient on the 11th of June last. The lady was covered with sores from the top of her head to the soles of her feet, and three bottles have entirely cured her, she thinks, but I prevail on her to continue the medicine for at least six months longer.

Yours, respectfully,

L. R. POOLE, M.D.