has recently been put by an Eastern contemporary, whether each Western doctor did not write his own journal.

And yet, notwithstanding the apparently well filled, and therefore possibly uninviting field for medical journalism here, we are convinced that there is a want that is easily demonstrable, and one which will be readily perceived by anyone conversant with St. Louis medical affairs.

It cannot be denied that the several colleges are well represented by journals which are more or less closely identified with each of them; but at the same time there is no journal which is representative of them all, which draws its sustenance from them all, which is supported actively by them all, and whose direct interests are therefore for them all. Assuming at once a position of independence of any one college, and yet not negligent of its interests, nor inappreciative of its support.

Such are the relations with the colleges that we desire for THE MEDICAL FORTNIGHTLY, and we think that our very cosmopolitan collaborator and associate editors' lists augur well for the attainment of this wish.

Nor yet would we be understood as representing simply the colleges. Our ambition is more comprehensive. We would stand the medium of the profession, of societies, of colleges, of plodding practitioners, and of brilliant lights of the Esculapian fraternity, and our columns are herewith dedicated to their service.

In the several departments of THE FORTNIGHTLY will be presented Original Articles, Hospital Reports, Translations and Abstracts from Foreign Literature, Editorials, News Notes, Book Reviews, Bulletin of Publications, Society News, Society Proceedings, Notes on Materia Medica and Pharmacy, College Class-room notes, Selections from other medical journals, Reading Notices in reference to worthy remedies and appliances, and finally advertisements-that portion of a journal which can be kept at a standard valuable and interesting to the reader, or allowed to degenerate into a meaningless jumble of unworthy claims.

From our corps of Associate Editors, we expect Reports on Progress in the several departments to which the gentlemen have given especial attention in their study and practice, and as most of these gentlemen are in the ambitious period of their professional life, conditions seem propitious for the best of this kind of work.

The reports will consist of synopses, abstracts or cullings from literature, both foreign and domestic, thus affording our readers an opportunity of keeping themselves posted on advances made in all departments of medicine and surgery, without devoting the time and money necessary to get at the same literature. The reports will be presented in compact form, economizing on that element supremely valuable to the practitioner, time. Brevity will be a guiding motto for us.

The editors having charge of Foreign Literature will present, from time to time, also in abstract, what they may find of value in our comprehensive list of foreign exchanges. Their previous work in this direction renders comment as to their qualifications superfluous.

Society work will not be neglected by us; but neither will we sacrifice journal space for prolixity in society discussions. We shall take pleasure in

publishing meritorious papers, with the gist and appropriate portions of discussions pertaining to these. We hope to keep our friends informed as to prospective meetings of societies, of society elections, etc.; and we invite secretaries to avail themselves of what service we may render them in publishing news of the workings of their societies.

The journal will not exactly be designated the "Illustrated Medical Fortnightly," but recognizing the directness and emphasis with which illustrations impress the reader and elucidate what would otherwise be difficult of comprehension sometimes, we shall not only stand ready to illustrate matter free of charge to authors of papers sent us, but it will be our pleasure to present, as in the present number, illustrations of whatever may be deemed worthy of that distinction; American and European medical institutions, and portraits of the leading lights of medicine and surgery-those in whom everyone is interested, and portraits which will be correspondingly prized by our readers.

Book Reviews: The number of books already received, even before our first issue, portends well for this very interesting and valuable department of every live journal of the day. We shall endeavor to give reviews that will be just to the publisher and reliable to the reader and prospective purchaser; and to this end, books will be reviewed by those who are capable of forming and imparting judgment worthy the confidence of our readers.

College News: Appreciating the interest that alumni take in the current affairs of their respective alma maters, we shall devote a portion of our space to news items or class notes from the various colleges of the city.

The practical subject of prescriptions will also receive attention in our page of Notes on Materia Medica and Pharmacy.

Other features will be introduced as expediency and fitness may indicate. It shall, in short, be our desire to furnish the best of which we are capable, and make the subscriber feel that he gets the value of his two dollars in every number received by him.

To enable us to do this, we bespeak the support as well as the good will of the professional part of our community, and in return we hope to give them a journal which will merit their support.

A HAPPY FAMILY.

Speaking of the disruptions in the medical profession at St. Louis-and that seems to be a staple of conversation, usually- observe how beautifully and harmoniously the names of members of the various colleges of the city blend in our collaborator and associate editors' lists. United on the common ground of science, under the guiding principles of progress and improvement, they will maintain THE MEDICAL FORTNIGHTLY as a medium of diffusion of inter-collegiate wisdom; a lens, which shall collect and in turn diffuse the scintillating rays of their scientific genius; or, if you will, a magnet, which will not only draw together into happy and felicitous union this array of otherwise divided medical teachers, but will draw from them the literary evidences of their work in the field of their vocation.

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A MEDICO-LEGAL SUGGESTION.

Anent the universal condemnation with which so-called medical expert testimony is met, a timely suggestion is made by Dr. J. P. Miller, Superintendent of the Eastern N. C. Insane Asylum, in the Medico-Legal Journal for September. Dr. Miller urges "the necessity of a law authorizing the court in all such cases where there is a grave doubt as to the mental condition of the accused," to order the commitment of the prisoner to an insane asylum, for intelligent observation for a specified time. If the accused be insane, an asylum is the proper place for him, and if he be merely feigning insanity, the asylum physician is the most competent to recognize the fact.

While the necessity for some radical reform in the matter is evident to the members of both the medical and legal professions, yet it is doubtful whether the remedy proposed by the writer referred to, is the best or most practicable. The objections are several; the chief of which is the fact that a malingerer committed to an insane asylum would find it very easy to escape, and by flight put an end to the vexed question, at least so far as his own case was concerned. A much better plan is that recently adopted by the Belgian government, according to which alienists of experience and reputation are attached to each prison, and have charge of all prisoners having or feigning any symptoms of insanity. These officers will have the power to examine prisoners and report to the Minister of Justice their mental as well as physical condition. Such an act as this removes all possibility of successful malingering, and at the same time will prevent the punishment of an insane person and insure his confinement in an asylum.

TUBERCULIN AGAIN.

With persistency characteristic of his nation-and commendable, by the way-Prof. Koch makes a further report on tuberculin, the erstwhile magic, but malicious lymph. (Deutsche Med. Woch, Oct, 22, - Med. News.) He has been endeavoring to isolate the active principle, and now has it in the form of a powder, which, dissolved in glycerine, retains its activity for months. He thinks it possibly belongs to a distinct group of albumins that includes also the products of other pathogenic bacteria. Its physiological effects have been demonstrated in guinea pigs, and in man, to be identical with those of crude tuberculin.

The principal blunder connected with the Koch lymph was.the reporting of immature results and deductions, and throwing into general use, by incompetent experimenters, a material which had already been demonstrated to have such wonderful potentialties, and yet the limits of whose action were not at all defined or understood.

Nothing but confusion and disaster could result from such haphazard experimentation as followed. And this is true, aside from the question of the ultimate value of tuberculin as an agent for the cure of consumption.

Bergean, Brown-Sequard and Koch have furnished ample reasons in this respect for the observation of those who would benefit mankind by one great stride in the therapeutic world.

As Horace Greeley said, "Be sure you are right; then gahead. Unfortunately, he didn't say this in French or German, too.

A SAD STORY, the outcome of morphinomaniai, that connected with the death of Dr. Harvey F. Lowry, of Cincinnati. Dr. Lowry was endeavoring to cure his wife of the morphine habit, and had instructed pharmacists not to sell her the drug. As usual, the acuity of the habitue circumvented the plans of protection; the wife wrote prescriptions for morphine and counterfeited the Doctor's signature so perfectly that they were filled without hesitation, until they became so numerous as to arouse suspicion. The revelation that followed proved a serious shock to Dr. Lowry. Despondency was succeeded by a severe attack of double pneumonia, from which he died three days later-another instance, probably, of the influence of the mind over the body.

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INFECTED PORK AGAIN.-The American Hog has again been in an embarrassing situation. Hardly has his credentials been passed upon favorably by Germany, when up comes the report that a number of sailors on board the barque Nixe had contracted trichinosis by eating pickled pork of American origin. We are overjoyed, however, that investigation proved that the pork was not American, was not pickled but was fresh, and, further, that it was eaten raw by the afflicted sailors. The moral is plain, that the hog should be well cooked before eating, and that all hogs are not Americans.

VIRCHOW'S SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY-Virchow's seventieth birthday occurred recently, and was celebrated with several days of feasting and rejoicing. Medals, honors, and congratulatory addresses were bestowed without number, and poor and rich vied with each other to do him honor. The Emperor's absence and his total lack of recognition of the event, is significant of something, we know not what. At any rate, his subject, Virchow, excels him in wisdom and aristocratic manners, even if he is not quite so royally bred.

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THE local profession mourns the death of Dr. Adolph Green, which occurred recently. Dr. Green was an interested and an interesting attendant at the St. Louis Medical Society, members of which passed suitable reso lutions following his decease. The Doctor, though venerable, was engaged in the preparation of a work on "Infectious and Contagious Diseases in General, Diphtheria and its Treatment in Special."

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"ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER." - We wish to thank our friends amongst the exchanges, who have said such kindly things about the prospects of THE MEDICAL FORTNIGHTLY. We hope to have their opinion, now, of the first number.

THE marriage of Dr. Harvey G. Mudd to Miss Marguerite Clarke will take place on Jan. 12th, '92, at Christ Church Cathedral. Our good wishes go with the prospective couple on their matrimonial voyage.

DR. LOUIS BOISLINIERE, after a stay of several years in New Mexico, has returned to the city and resumed practice at 2303 Chestnut Street. REMOVED. Dr. W. C. Mardorf has removed from 1302 to 111 Chouteau Avenue.

BRAZIL has small-pox, yellow fever, a revolution, a new dictator and a dead emperor. Surely the Lord loves Brazil and her people.

DIURETIN is very favorably spoken of by Dr. Pierez, in Br. Med. Jour. He reports a case of cardiac dropsy, in which the patient's legs were enormously swelled, but were reduced in two weeks sufficiently for her to walk without much difficulty.

DR. HENRY S. DOUGLASS, house surgeon of the City Hospital, Kansas City, Mo., committed suicide by taking aconite, on Dec. 13th. He had lately been the subject of investigation by the City Council, the verdict of which was unfavorable to him.

THE grippe seems to have been favorably impressed with the world in general, as it is making its third successive annual visit this winter. A fine large reputation awaits the investigator who shall first corner the microbe and show him up in his true light.

DR. PEARSON states in the Lancet that he has treated several hundreds of cases of typhoid fever in South Africa without a single death. His specific remedy is the solution of chlorinated soda, of which he gives 15 minims every three hours, continued until the temperature has been normal for two successive evenings.

"DON'TS,” in the different departments of medicine and surgery, have followed each other thick and fast during the past year, and it would seem that the ground was now completely covered. Nevertheless, we venture to add one more that has seemingly been overlooked, and one, the observance of which will afford much relief to a suffering public, viz., don't write any more Don'ts!

GOODELL ON HYSTERECTOMY.-Prof. Wm. Goodell says that he was formerly very much dissatisfied with the immediate aud remote results of vaginal hysterectomy, but very recently, after watching German operators and German statistics, he has become a zealous convert, and now asserts that in vaginal hysterectomy we have a most potent measure against a most deadly disease.

THE DISPENSARY ABUSE.-The anxiety of the medical press of New York City over what is termed the "Dispensary Abuse" is amusing, especially to an outsider. It reminds us very forcibly of the old story about the man who found the frozen serpent and warmed it back to life by cuddling it in his bosom, when it promptly stung him for his pains. The medical profession of New York took the afflicted pauper in and is now being "taken in" as a return.

IT is said that the true composition of the Keeley cure will be brought to light by an official investigation of a death that recently occurred at the Hot Springs branch of the "Institute." A man named Johnson died very shortly after receiving his first hypodermic injection at the hand's of the phy-. sician in charge. The verdict of death from "congestion of the lungs," rendered by the coroner's jury, seems to be unsatisfactory, as it is claimed that the patient never had any affection of the lungs.

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