Dr. Berillon, read a paper on "Hypnotism and Education." The discussion that followed will repay a careful reading for such men as Liébault, Liégeois, Leclerc, Ladame and Hement took part in it.

Whatever the future may have in store for this therapeutic agent, we must remember that at present we are standing only upon the threshold of a science that is to most like an unknown country into which few have ventured and none far. If that old philosophical speculation of a universally present ether were true, an ether of which the various conditions of matter are only different expressions and that the higher expressions influence and dominate the lower--a theory that has received a modern impetus through the investigations of the electrician Tesla-then we could understand how the mind, being perhaps the highest expression of this either, might control the body; but so far all is speculation and from a scientific point of view we can accept only what has been proven.

Hypnotic suggestion in medicine is well worthy of the careful attention of all properly trained investigators and in their hands can do no harm, while in the hands of the ignorant or vicious it may prove a boomerang that will knock out both the victim and the thrower. Hypnotic suggestion is of value, not because it is capable of supplanting drugs, but because it frequently acts where drugs fail and that, I believe, is the actual therapeutic value of this

treatment.

In conclusion I will say that as hypnotic suggestion is a thought implantation, the grafting into a brain of a new idea that will become fixed and dominant if not destroyed when its usefulness is passed, it is well for the operator, whether he use this means for sociological, educational or medical purposes, to exercise care lest he implant a thought utterly alien to the new soil---for that way trouble lies. To be even moderately successful one must be able to think in the subject's sphere of thought and reason within the subject's mental limits so as to quickly counteract and remove the evil effects of auto-suggestion in a quiet and to the subject natural way. Regarding the two principal methods of inducing hypnosis, it may be said that the fixation and shock method of the school of Paris have been superseded by the gentler method of verbal suggestion wherever the latter has been accorded an unbiased trial, or else its place has been taken by a combination of the two in which the shock has been more or less eliminated.

The following four rules formulated by Bernheim and Beaunis should always guide the physician when undertaking this treatment:

1st. Never use hypnotism without the consent of the subject or his legal guardian.

2d. Never produce hypnosis except in the presence of a third party standing in some relationship to the subject.

3d. Never make suggestions without the patient's consent except those necessary to effect a cure.

4th. Never use your authority over your patient to procure this consent if you have reason to expect disagreeable results from the experiment.

To which I wish to add another one:

5th. Carefully weigh your words.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Reichenbach-Researches in Magnetism. 1850.
Wetterstrand-Hypnotism. 1897.

Bernheim-Die Suggestion. 1896.

Gerling-Handbuch der hypnotischen Suggestion. 1897.
Fricke-Der Hypnotismus im Lichte der Alten. 1897.

McKendrick-Animal Magnetism. Britannica.
Beaunis-Le Somnambulisme Provoqué. 1887.

Lang-Apparitions, Britannica.

Rose-Die hypnotische Erziehung der Kinder. 1898.

CATARRHAL LARYNGITIS.

BY HENRY R. SLACK, PH.M., M.D., LAGRANGE, GA.

Fortunate indeed, are the parents who have reared children, and are unacquainted with croup. Few diseases of childhood produce such distressing and alarming symptoms, and at the same time are so seldom fatal, as spasmodic croup.

I venture the assertion that nearly all in this presence have time and again had the following experience: Shortly after midnight we are roused from our pleasant slumbers by the violent ringing of the door-bell; and, on answering it, we find a half-dressed, badly-frightened father. "Hurry, doctor! My child has the croup, and I fear he will be dead before you can reach him-hurry!"

We hastily dress, and in a few minutes reach the bedside. There all is consternation and confusion. The little four-year-old is in mother's lap, breathing heavily, face congested and voice husky, with an occasional croupy cough that sends terror to the parent's hearts. Grandmother is busy mixing alum and honey, vinegar, salt and pepper, or dosing the poor little sufferer with syrup ipecac, squills, etc., until, as Dr. Osler says, "Too often the poor child, deluged with drugs, is longer in recovering from the treatment than he would be from the disease."

Finally, the little fellow begins to vomit freely, is bathed in a profuse perspiration, and so generally relaxed and deranged that it takes him days to recover.

It is with the hope of alleviating some of this suffering that I now submit the following prescription, which was suggested to me by Dr. Joseph Holt, of New Orleans, and I have tried it many times with the happiest results:

R Chloralis, 5 gm.

Potassii bromidi, 3 gm.

Ammonii bromidi, 2 gm.

Aquæ Cinnamonii, 60 c. c.

M. Sig. Teaspoonful, and repeat in twenty minutes, if not relieved.

This is intended for a child about five years old. For younger children I diminish the dose slightly, though I find children bear chloral nicely in doses altogether out of proportion to their ages.

This prescription meets the indications exactly. The chloral relieves the spasm of the larynx; and the bromides allay the nervousness, so that the little patient is soon asleep, and awakes the next morning as well as usual, with little danger of an attack the next night. The first dose generally gives relief, and I have never failed to secure it with the second.

Of course this prescription is of no benefit in true membranous croup. Then we must use promptly diphtheria antitoxin, which has reduced the mortality of this dread disease from over fifty per cent. to about thirteen per cent., and is justly classed as one of the greatest medical discoveries of the nineteenth century.

ECCE QUAM BONUM!

A SUGGESTION TO INCREASE THE VALUE OF MEMBERSHIP IN OUR ASSOCIATION.

BY HENRY R. SLACK, PH.M. M.D., LAGRANGE, GA.

When I began this paper, its title was, "A Suggestion to Increase the Value of Membership in Our Association," and it so appeared in the preliminary program.

With thought, conviction came, and I believe a large Inajority will agree that if this suggestion is acted on, we can rightly say, "Behold, a good thing!"

To-day we celebrate the semi-centennial of our Association. In reading our constitution you will note what lofty ideals actuated the founders:

"Article I. To encourage a high standard of professional qualifications and ethics, and to promote professional brothhood."

Thank God, our Association has done much towards accomplishing this worthy end, and to-day it binds in fraternal union the profession from the mountains to the sea, and from the broad Savannah to the muddy Chattahoochee.

Now, in the full enjoyment of the prime of life, having accomplished so much, we must not rest on laurels won, but look for new means to attain our high ideals.

PROGRESS OF MEDICINE.

What wonderful progress medicine has made since the birth of our Association. In 1849, anesthesia, that angel of mercy, discovered by one of our founders, had just begun