tient. An atrophic eye is essentially a dead one and much more disfiguring and more dangerous than a Snellen over a good stump.

Sympathetic inflammation is to be differentiated clearly from sympathetic irritation. In the latter we have a functional disturbance presenting a series of symptoms comprising blepharospasm, lacrimation, photophobia, asthenopia and tenderness on pressure over the ciliary region of the exciting eye as I have repeatedly stated, and these, while not symptoms of the more serious disease, are certainly valuable danger signs, and when they are present, the physician should be constantly on his guard and insist upon most carefully and frequently watching for impaired vision or deposits on the posterior corneal surface.

It has for many years been thought that an eye lost through panophthalmitis would not produce sympathetic inflammation in its fellow, the opinion being

held that the disturbance in panophthalmitis was so profound as to effectually seal all possible avenues of communication between the two eyes. Wurdemann has recently reported one case in his own practice and three in the practice of others, in which serious sympathetic ophthalmia has resulted from an eye long lost through panophthalmitis.

This dreaded disease comes on any time after the third week following an injury to the exciting eye, most frequently during the fourth to sixth week, although there is no time limit, many cases being reported occurring years after the original injury.

Enucleation, or one of its substitutes, is certainly a most valuable surgical procedure to be employed with neither ultra conservatism or too pronounced radicalism, but when properly employed will save many a sufferer from humiliation and embarrassment, intolerable pain, and most important of all, danger of the loss of the remaining eye.

My attention was first attracted to this subject by the large number of unfortunate women who have consulted me during the past few years, requiring surgical relief from the terrible ravages following abortion. These were largely recruited from so-called respectable married women; they did not even have the excuse of the unfortunate girl deserted by her lover, who, fearing to face. the scorn of the world, is sometimes driven to this desperate remedy. It ap

*Read before the Section on Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Jackson meeting of the Michigan State Medical Society, May 23-25, 1906.

pears to me that a discussion of this subject should be from both the moral and scientific standpoint, for undoubtedly a great many of the ills surgeons are called upon to remedy are due to depraved morals. The laity is ignorant of the fearful results following abortion. Popular education along these lines through the medium of magazines that reach the public, is necessary. The public do not read medical journals. The country must look to our profession for instruction along this line, and, if we continue silent, we fail to do our duty.

The physician, more than any one else, is familiar with the statistics of this abominable crime, for, is he not called upon to help remedy its evil effects?

I believe it remains with the physician to suggest a remedy; and furthermore, to do all in his power to make that remedy effective. I am sorry to say that there are still quite a few men who disgrace our noble profession by lending themselves to this lowest form of murderkilling the defenseless fetus in utero, but I am happy to say that the majority of those engaged in this nefarious practice are not physicians, but are men and women of depraved nature and habits. That men and women draw their livelihood by depriving others of life, seems incredible, but it is none the less true and we have plenty of evidence to prove it.

Take for example advertisements in our daily papers and magazines of Pennyroyal Pills for Women, etc. All these so-called remedies are guaranteed to regulate the catamenia, in other words, are guaranteed to kill the living fetus. We cannot help asking ourselves. why people marry only to reverse the laws of nature. Surely the gratification of passion is only incidental to this state, the object of which as ordained by God, being to perpetuate the human race. Some will tell you "that children are a great care," that it costs so much to educate them. I cannot deny that children are a care, but is that any reason why they should be murdered? As to the expense of educating them, what about our boasted educational system of free public schools? The expense of raising a family is not as great as some would make you believe. It is true that sacrifices must be made by the parents, but look at any family of well-bred children surrounding their parents and ask yourself are not the parents well repaid for any sacrifices they may make, and on the other hand look at the childless

home and tell me if the gratification of a few selfish pleasures repays the parents for the loss of children and the loss of the true atmosphere of a home. Our sympathy goes out to the childless couple when their condition is due to nature, but we can feel no sympathy for those who have brought it upon themselves.

I think one of the saddest experiences in my professional life was in being unable to offer any help or consolation to a barren wife ,who through an abortion in early married life had totally destroyed the organs of reproduction. Look at the large families reared by our gandparents, they surely had smaller incomes than the average to-day. If they practiced the habit of abortion so prevalent to-day, many of us us would never have been born. Again compare the health of our grandmothers with the young married woman of to-day, and you will find the grandmother had better health, notwithstanding her large family and the attendant care it required. Surely this refutes the argument that mothers of large families have poor health. The facts prove the reverse to be true.

Some women complain of the suffering of childbirth. I can only say that the joy to be found in the new born will repay the mother a thousand fold. I hope the woman of to-day is not a coward; can she not brave the pains her mother suffered for her? If she cannot or will not, then let her not assume the responsibilities of married life. The habit of abortion, (for it is becoming a habit) is not limited to the so-called "Four Hundred," but runs down the social scale to the washer-woman. They all offer a pretext for not having children, but they have no moral or scientific reasoning to back up their excuses. A learned judge in our city stated not long ago that the majority of people who came to his court seeking divorces were childless, and I am inclined to believe

our chancery judges in other states will corroborate him in this statement.

a

It is an open question which of the two, husband or wife, is most to blame for the crime of abortion. It is a man's God-given instinct, if I may so use the term, to wish to perpetuate his name and race and the whole institution of marriage, both morally and legally is based on this presumption. In a legal sense, marriage is a contract sworn to by both the man and the woman by which they are allowed to assume sacred relationship and with it the responsibilities that are inherent to that relationship. Surely it is a grievous crime to break their solemn oaths, to violate their contract and their crime is made still worse by the fact that in breaking it they are guilty of a still more terrible one, that of murdering an unborn fetus. I cannot realize how a man who has any love for his wife, will permit her to jeopardize her health and often her life by having a criminal operation performed. The desire for a small family is frequently with the wife, but it is the husband's duty to see to it that he does all in his power to prevent her committing this abominable crime.

The husband usually having the authority in the home should use it, not to force his wife to commit this horrible crime, but rather to reconcile her to her. condition. A great deal of the blame, however, rests with the woman.

has selecter her for this sacred mission and in doing so, he did not order her to bring one or two children into the world and then kill the rest before they were born. Our ideal of a woman, and espe

cially of a mother, endows her with all tenderness for children and when she looses these attributes and debauches her sacred calling and becomes a murderess, surely our respect for her is gone, and the homes of our country are in grave danger.

The remedy: The first law that should be remedied is our marriage law. Under existing conditions, mere girls and boys enter this most sacred and responsible relationship, without any thought whatever of the burden which belongs to that state. The divorce law, sapping this great American republic at one end and our contracted families at the other, will, before the next two decades pass, place this country in the hands of a foreign population, and the words, "American born" will have become almost obsolete.

My object is introducing this subject at this meeting is to feel the pulse of my brother practitioners as to the advisbility of having a bill introduced at the next meeting our our State Legislature, making it a crime for anyone to approach a physician and ask him to become a party to this heinous crime of abortion. Under our present law, it is no crime to ask a physician to perform abortion, thus placing our noble profession in a category with an ordinary hangman, a law of this kind will go a long way towards stopping this vicious practice and at the same time save the profession from this terrible insult. We will thereby show that the profession is not so ready. to perform abortion as was suggested recently at the meeting of the Wayne. County Medical Society.

It

Avoid introducing a uterine sound in examinations when pelvic inflammation is suspected. may set up a parametritis.

Metal crochet needles are often of great service in removing retained sutures from the depths of sinuses.

In seeking a cause for torticollis, don't fail to examine the teeth.

Unless some other cause is evident, don't fail to examine for signs of tabes when an adult complains of pains about the waist, in the back or in the lower extremities.

The Journal of the

into practice in various parts of the world, so that this great advance in

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JANUARY

Editorial

During Nineteen Hundred and Six what was accomplished by our profession? This is a question well worth discussing. We should now and then

pause to consider the progress which is being made, the questions which are uppermost, and the tendencies which will go far towards determining the fu

ture.

It must be evident to all that the practice of medicine is yearly becoming more exact and more scientific. This was never more clearly demonstrated than during the past year, and the advances which were made were both important and substantial. The enthusiasm shown within recent years, by the profession, for the improvement of sanitary conditions and especially for the education of the laity along important lines, has been much in evidence during the year just closed. Moreover, the efforts of the profession to improve its own condition. and uplift its members, have produced excellent results during 1906. It is along these three broad lines, scientific, altruistic, and politic, that progress has been made.

The most important scientific work during the past twelve months has been in the domain of serum therapy. While the original observations on opsonic therapy were made previous to the past year, nevertheless, nineteen hundred and six saw the theory quite extensively put

have been begun in that year. With the exception of Wright's theory, the most discussed themes in scientific literature were Bier's congestive hyperemia and the physiology of heart block. In surgery, there were many live topics, but no epoch-making discoveries. Nevertheless, the advance there was real and important, so that it is safe to say that, taking the world at large, more surgery. and more successful surgery was done in 1906 than ever before. To the sciences allied to medicine, many important contributions were made during the year.

A most important tendency of the times is the activity of our profession in the matter of educating the people of this great country in matters pertaining to health. We are just awakening to the sense of our duty toward our fellowmen and a most important awakening it is, for if the medical profession does not teach and lead the way in the great health problems which are to be solved, others will attempt to do so and public sentiment will be awry. Unless public sentiment and public knowledge are put upon a higher plane, the laity will continue to be influenced by sach bigots as Fra Albertus, the "Pericles" of the Philistine, whose anti-vaccination tirades, etc., are doing an immense amount of harm. When the manager of the Detroit United Railway says, according to the public prints, that street car ventilators are quite unnecessary and the statement goes unchallenged, the medical profession is not doing its duty. We are only at the beginning of this campaign of education, yet much has already been accomplished in the spread of knowledge concerning tuberculosis and a good start made in public instruction in sexual hygiene.

The great crusades against medical

frauds, of all kinds, have been persistently pushed during the year. The agitation against patent medicines and the successful war for a pure food bill have enlightened the public in a great measure, so that the people understand these matters as never before.

The American Medical Association has enjoyed the most prosperous year in its history. Its membership has increased steadily and its Journal has so improved that every physician in the country having a grain of patriotism, should be proud of it. There never was before such a meeting of the association as the one at Boston, where 4,700 physicians were registered. The Toronto meeting of the British Medical Association was also an important event of the year.

Fees for life insurance examinations, the evils of contract practice, the teaching of medical ethics, and the vexing details of reciprocity are some of the topics in medical sociology which have received attention.

The number of medical students in the country has slowly but steadily decreased since 1903. In 1906, they were fewer by about 800 than in the previous year. Standards are undoubtedly being advanced-in reality, as well as in the pages of the announcements. The dedication of the new medical buildings at Harvard marks an epoch in equipment for medical teaching.

What about ourselves, here in Michigan? Of the 4,750 physicians in the state, 1826 were paid up members for the year, a substantial increase over 1905. At the annual meeting there was a larger registration than at any session since the one in Detroit, in 1903. The entertainment by the Jackson County Society was lavish and important work was done.

With some lamentable exceptions, the enthusiasm in the various county societies has been evident and the reports of

the secretaries have been, on the whole, encouraging. An event of unusual interest was the visit of Dr. J. N. McCormack, who found much to commend and not a little to criticise in our organization. It is yet too early to judge of the results of his meetings, but if we accomplish one-half the ideals set before us by that genial optimist, 1907 will be a banner year.

A review of the past year, even a short and imperfect one, would be lacking were no mention made of those who have left us never to return. Our society has sustained a great loss in the death of William James Herdman, who for the past year, has so ably represented the first district on the Council. There. have been fewer deaths than usual among the prominent medical' men of the world. Mention should be made, however, of such eminent Americans as Dunning, Henrotin, Fowler and Doremus. England lost Beale, the clinician; Germany, Nitze, the inventor of the cystoscope; de Wecker, the ophthalmologist, and Schaudinn, the discoverer of the spirochaete pallida; France, the famous professor of legal medicine, Brouardel.

Medical Liars are of various kinds, but because of the increased standards of education and the general uplifting due to the improved morale of the profession, they are yearly becoming fewer in number. At least this is the view which is expressed by Carstens in his presidential address before the Mississippi Valley Medical Association. We hope and believe that this optimistic view is correct.

Speaking at the annual meeting of that association at Hot Springs, last month, Dr. Carstens referred to prevaricators of various kinds, mentioning especially the pious liar, the specialist liar, the feesplitting liar, the case-reporting liar, the statistical liar and the recommendationfor-pay liar.