some little fellow will say when a cold night comes do not shut down the window, the doctor says put on more cover and not shut down the window. Only in this way can we hope to win this great fight. This fearful disease is causing the death of 275,000 people annually in the United states alone. Something must be done to stop it, and to my mind municipal control through education and stimulation is the way. It is not going to be this generation. The negro is a great source of danger to us.

THE DOCTOR AS A BUSINESS MAN OUTSIDE HIS

PROFESSION

W. B. Hardman, M.D., Commerce, Ga.

When one makes up his mind to become a doctor he has in a manner decided to segregate himself from others. The doctor himself may not be so conscious of this as other people. The world never looks upon a doctor and a minister the same as upon other men-even other professional men. When one really becomes a doctor and not a professional cad or buffoon, the world usually takes him seriously, even old friends no longer greet him with a familiar slap on the shoulder. It is no longer "Hello Bill, Old Boy," but "How are you, Doctor?" Even the undignified "Hello, Doc" is fast falling into disuse.

This seriousness with which the public regards the doctor this peculiar setting apart of the medical profession in the minds of the people and even the earnestness and gravity with which the doctor regards himself and his profession is a vital part of his stock in trade. It all has a good mental effect. Somehow the people want to feel that the man who stands often in the presence of maternity and death, who think often of their livers and appendices, should think seldom of matters outside of these things.

But the public generally admires a good business man. They make no exceptions in the case of a doctor. A doctor should make his charges commensurate with value of his service and the dignity of his profession and he should let the public understand that he expects his pay. A doctor should pay his own bills promptly and demand the same of others.

But when it comes to business outside his profession,

the doctor is handicapped to some extent on account of the facts just recited above, and also on account of his close confinement and the jealous care he must give to his profession and his patients.

It is hard to say just how far it is safe for a doctor to venture into business outside his profession. Of course all doctors should seek a safe and profitable investment for his surplus money (should he have any), and it should be the utmost endeavor of every doctor to have some money to invest. The accumulation of some capital lends dignity and prestage to the profession and in a manner helps to inspire confidence among the people. But necessarily a doctor cannot do justice to his patients and his profession and attempt too much on the side. Hence, a doctor's investments should be such as not to demand too much of his time and attention; especially of he expects to keep abreast of his profession.

But one of the main points I wish to emphasize in this short article is that a doctor, simply because he is a doctor, and labors under many disadvantages, should not narrow himself down to the position of a hireling, who works for his pay-gets it when he can, and spends it as fast as he gets it. He should put himself in position to be felt and respected in his neighborhood as a good, substantial citizen. A man capable of thinking and advising on other lines outside of when to take a purgative and how to raise a baby. I am aware that medicine alone is more in itself than any one mind can master, but it is not healthful and wholesome to feed on the same diet indefinitely. It is better for every physician to have some little diverting business or pleasure.

A doctor should be a genuine citizen, taking an interest in all public affairs, political, municipal, educational, hygienic, etc., for in all matters pertaining to the general welfare of the public he is capable of giving advice that can not be had from others.

I see no special objection to a doctor entering politics,

when he gets tired of medicine (medicine and politics don't mix very well). There are many important matters of legislation which would never be enacted unless we had a few doctors in politics. But we need some doctor politicians. Sometimes going into politics spoils a good doctor and makes a poor politician. But some doctors make fair politicians. Occasionally one gets to Congress and, and Senator Galligher was once a distinguished physician.

But when it comes to business outside of his profession a doctor must be careful to let this business, whatever it is, be secondary to his profession. A doctor can have much outside business. He may run a farm or farms, own stores, traffic in real estate, take a whirl in politics, etc., but he should never do so to such an extent that the public will loose sight of the fact that first and foremost he is a doctor. A doctor who is reading, a doctor who is interested in his work and in his patients, for when he fails to do this he is a doctor who is drifting out of practice.

SOME END RESULTS OF NON-REMOVAL OF THE

APPENDIX IN 23 ABSCESS CASES

R. M. Harbin, M.D., Rome, Ga.

The question of advisability in prolonging a simple operation for appendical abscess, by removing the appendix and dissecting out the abscess wall, is one that is argued pro and con by competent observers; but it is safe to say that a greater number of surgeons disagree from the radical operation. Prolonged anaesthesia, shock, trauma by manipulations in opening up fresh lymphatic areas, the spreading of infection in an already starved and septic patient, may be mentioned as the chief dangers from the radical operation; while the primary dangers from simple drainage, per se, are nil, with a possibility of recurrent abscess and a longer stay in bed.

Repeated observations on animals have shown а greater susceptibility to the inoculation of bacteria in the peritoneum, under the influence of prolonged anaesthesia, and with other conditions combine to produce shock.

The peritoneum is about equal in area to that of the entire integument of the body, and furnishes an extensive surface for rapid absorption. The peritoneum, however, is capable of taking care of a certain amount of bacteria, and the abundance of exudates proves a decided reaction property to septic processes. If the epithelial covering be impaired or destroyed by mechanical or chemical agents, this reactive power is lost, and septic peritonitis may result. Certain experiments indicate that bacteria can be found in the blood in five minutes after inoculating the peritoneum of rabbits, thus proving the septicemic nature of peritonitis.