Is the Appendix of Any Use? I studied the Eclectic system fiftyseven years ago. About ten years ago I took up magnetic and natural healing. My success has been phenomenal. I find magnetism (vital) to be the greatest healing force known to science, as the mind rules the body. Of course mental suggestion is used in all cases. I generally treat by placing right or positive hand over cervical, brachial, lumbar or sacral plexus, according to location of pain, and left (negative) hand opposite or over the region of pain. Then I require patients to close their eyes and relax their system, then concentrate my mind, making strong suggestions that the pain shall cease or disease be removed. In some cases where the pain is very acute and severe, I reverse the order, placing the positive hand over the pain. This is a general outline of my treatment. Some healers hypnotize their patients before treatment, but I never have, for the simple reason I could relieve without it. Criminal Pharisaism. NE virtuous physician, a Dr. Keitz, who participated in the discussion, overdid himself slightly, we fear. He said he would not go to help a woman who was bleeding from an induced abortion. Here are the noble doctor's exact words, as reported in the New Orleans Med. and Surg. Journal (p. 296): "My advice is not to go to cases of hemorrhage from criminal abortion at all. I refused once to go to such a case, and the messenger threatened to have my license taken away because I would not help the bleeding. A woman committing this crime should die, as she has taken human life, and her life should be the penalty." Oh, how utterly disgusting, how brutally cruel! And this is a member of our profession, which is supposed to relieve suffering wherever found, to save life. under all circumstances. Since when are we supposed to constitute ourselves inquisitors, to inquire into a person's morals before we will agree to 211 give him aid and comfort?-Critic and Guide. Dr. Robinson, editor of the Critic and Guide, is very apt to say things right. He has done so in the above quotation from his journal. A doctor has no business to inquire how a sick man or woman became so. It is his duty to relieve distress and save lives, regardless of how the patient may have contributed to his own sickness. T Uric Acid Diseases. OO much food, too little out-door exercise are the most frequent causes of uric acid excess. The diseases set up by an excess of uric acid in the blood and urine are rheumatism, dyspepsia, skin diseases, enlarged prostate gland, irritable bladder, pruritus, cold sores, gout, stiff joints, falling hair, nervousness, sore eyes, ulcers in the mouth and stomach and constipation. The moral is, eat less and exercise more. Eating one raw vegetable every day is a good preventive. Onions, lettuce, celery, tomatoes and cabbage are the best selections for this use. Plenty of drinking water also helps. T The Uses of the Appendix. By DR. A. J. EDSON, Rockford, Illinois. HERE is a fad nowadays of removing the appendix, which has been increasing for a number of years. I have been reading up of late of the function of that part of the system called the cecum and appendix functional action. Like the stomach, an important organ, we find that the appendix and cecum have glands set thickly together mostly covering the entire surface That these glands secrete a fluid digestive, when mixed with other juices poured into the intestinal tract A mucous secretion from the appendi has a controlling power upon microbe: in the colon (if any occur there) The contents of the intestinal trac are doled off the small intestine int the cecum similar to that by which the contents of the stomach are passe into the duodenum, as shown by som physiologist. The cecum is prepared, they say, for the pouring out of quantities of mucus from the appendix. Perhaps the reason for this was made apparent by taking notice that the ileo-cecal valve is so constructed as to direct the contents of the small bowels which pass through it upon the mouth of the appendix. This mucus poured out of the appendix of course serves the purpose of lubricating the parts while restraining the development of bacteria (if any there), which create great mischief by formation of ptomaines (of the believer), which if absorbed into the blood might work vast mischief through the body. With many other observers I have noticed in many cases called appendicitis, the pre-existent diseases of the I person's history show indigestion. In a state of normal health the appendix is highly useful and it comes to be diseased only as a result of pre-existing diseases of the intestines which gradually develop in the cecum and extend to the appendix. Reports from professors by whom the appendix has been removed, show the patient is subject to frequent attacks of diarrhea, difficult to control. Dr. McEwen is fully persuaded that the appendix performs a necessary function in the human body. Whenever a person is able to live without his appendix, it is only because he is able to tolerate that condition, just as one may live after having some other part removed essential to the health of a person. Smallpox Mistaken For Appendicitis. HAVE received a very interesting letter from a prominent vocal teacher in one of the western states. Among other things she refers to some of her experiences with doctors. I will give it in her own words: Dear Doctor Carr:-I enjoy your Journal, and am glad you oppose needless surgical operations. Talk about operations-I have a pupil, a girl about nineteen. Last fall she sat here one afternoon and complained of pains in stomach. Two days after her sister called up and said she took seriously ill on her return from studio, and in fact so bad they called four doctors in consultation after their family physician pronounced it appendicitis. They decided on an immediate operation. She was hustled to the hospital, prepared and operated upon. Next morning she was completely covered with smallpox. The symptoms they took for appendicitis was smallpox, a dreadful case of it. Of course the operation, shock, etc., all aggravated the poor girl's trouble. I could write you for an hour and tell you of cases of this kind here. I have a pupil who was vaccinated and had a horrible case of smallpox five months after vaccination. I kick and kick on vaccination and think some of my arguments have saved many from that loathsome practice. here. The case of M. R., Nebraska, Page III, February issue of The Columbus Medical Journal, is identical with my experience of two years ago-the flooding, the diagnosis, finally the curetting, also that it was in the walls of uterus, so would have to be entirely removed. I finally decided to have an operation, as the curetting seemed to bring on pains about two weeks and a half after it was done. I went to the hospitar, but before deciding I was examined by five doctors, four of whom said the same thing, the fifth doctor telling me I had no fibroid or anything else. I went to the hospital and was prepared for operation. My son begged so hard for me not to have anything done, that when the surgeon appeared in the morning, I decided to try and get along. I had tried adrendulum and other things, of which hamamelis seemed best, though A Man Who Remembers Names no cure. I laid or crawled around for about six weeks, then went to New York, went to see Dr. Whiting, one of the best known doctors of "women's troubles." He said my case was one of a hundred, and that women of forty often had a spell like this and got fixed up and things righted themselves again. He prescribed "Styptecin." If first day I came around I was normal, I was not to take any of them until morning of the third day, then take two three times a day and continue during period or until I stopped. If, however, I started in flowing too hard on first day, I should start right in with these tablets. I did this. I always have the tablets on hand, but am as regular as clock work. My measurements are perfect. If there was any fibroid I would certainly know something of it by this time. I am in perfect health with the exception of headache once in a while, brought on from lack of fresh air, being "cooped" up in these hot, steamheated studios day and night. I was a little bloated during the trouble, but that has all gone down, and I often think how near I came to being talked into an operation. The strangest of all is this, that two of the best known surgeons made this diagnosis. One a doctor who has a world-wide reputation, yet I have let doctors examine me during the past two years and I have no sign of any tumor. For goodness sake take your chance on the remedy, and a trip or something to get your mind off of yourself and a change of scene and diet. I don't mean diet, eat anything you want, but a decided change. It won't cost any more than an operation and you may be alive to tell the tale afterwards and advise some other illadvised woman in a couple of years. I only had to take these remedies during two periods; when I stopped flowing, I stopped tablets. I have them on hand, but have not taken them for nearly two years, and am perfectly regular every month. 213 The doctors had me nearly killed with ergotine, hot and cold douches, packs, hot bags and cold bags, etc. Remembering Names. By THOS. A. PUGH, R. R. No. 2, Lancaster, O. I AM greatly interested in all the articles and especially in the one on "Remembering Names." That which interests me most is your inability to remember names. With me it is quite different. I readily recall the names of my schoolmates forty years ago. I think of them first by their names, then of some of their characteristics. I can associate a peculiarity with some boy or girl. It is as easy for me to give the names of people I have known as to name the A, B, C's. As soon as I get a new book, the first thing I do is to find the name of the author. Somehow, I can not read the book until I know his name. And I experience no difficulty in remembering the name. With no aid other than my memory I can now name all the authors of the text-books I have used in school from time to time. Some of the authors I have met personally. Knowing their names, our conversation was easy. You say that a name is a name. That one name means no more than another. With me this is also different. Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth do not look alike to me. Even the names. With the new year let us pay more attention to names. Keep in memory the names of the heroes of the American Revolution. The name of Benjamin Franklin, of La Fayette and many others. We must really care to know names and remember them. A politician knows all the congressional districts in his state. It is all important that he know the names of all the congressmen, and that he remember them, too. When we vote for any candidate we must know his name. We should remember his name so well that if he does not live up to his promises, we can vote for some one who will. It is a matter of some consequence that I know the name of the Editor of The Columbus Medical Journal. me there is something in a name. M Vital-Vine. To By F. S. HANFORD, Rochester, New York. Y Dear Doctor:-Nearly all the present day physicians (with yourself, perhaps) will ridicule favorable mention of the remedies our grandmothers used on children for mumps, measles, or chickenpox, yet many of these same grandmothers were born with gifts for detecting, treating and curing diseases, that some of our medical school doctors might well be proud to possess. The writer, when a lad, living in the same home with his grandmother, would sometimes miss her at the breakfast table and would be told that "Neighbor B had come for her in the night." Subsequent conversation by the family disclosed the fact that a new baby had come to that neighbor's home. No doctor was called, no nurse summoned, simply my grandmother officiating as midwife and perhaps the infant's grandmother as assistant. Reflection also brings to mind the herbs, barks, buds, roots and berries she would gather at stated seasons, drying some, boiling others, and perhaps preserving some in alcohol. In spare moments, these would be transformed into syrups, lotions, ointments, candies and salves, forerunners of our present day tinctures, fluid extracts, tablets, capsules and cerates. While assisting my grandmother at such times, some of these experiences became indelibly impressed upon my mind. I generally helped her in the making of a certain ointment prepared from Golden Seal, Wormwood and three or four other creations of Nature, including "mutton tallow." This ointment was a specific for weak nerves and tissues, also used for any derangement that affected the nervous system. Nearly every family in the neighborhood could keep it on hand for emergencies, as grandmother never sold her preparations, but took her pay in the conscious satisfaction of having relieved pain and suffering. When giving it to a neighbor, it was amusing to hear her stern admonition to "rub and rub and keep on rubbing until it is all out of sight." Massaging was an art not then created. Printed directions for using the cerate of the "Hanford Vital-Vine Uterine Treatment" practically expresses the same sentiments concerning "rubbing," and the preparation itself is characterized by the same virtues that were in grandmother's ointment. Who can tell but what the latter is a descendant of the former? A Soul Awakened. By E. A. KING, D. D., B. H., Pastor First Congregational Church, Sandusky, Ohio. I HAVE a friend, a doctor, who told me not long ago of a young girl, a sort of wild, unmoral creature, who came to him for help and sympathy. By association, encouragement, counsel, and some financial help through school, the girl grew up into young womanhood, and is now studying to become a nurse in one of the large sanitariums of this country. The following extract is taken from a letter which she recently wrote. It hardly seems possible, to one who knew her only as a rough, profane tomboy of the country, that she could write such a sentiment. She frequently sees the rich, broken in body, trying to regain their shattered health. Thinking of these and her own experience, she writes: "One must be a Christian before he can be happy. Not a religious crank, but a person who strives to have the spirit of Christ in his heart. No wonder people lose their minds. When some great sorrow comes, they have no backing. Nothing to lean upon. No wonder they fall. "It is like building a house with a frail foundation. The first good storm comes, the house trembles and falls. The foundation is the main point. On it depends all. We can have an elab How to get Acquainted with Good People orate interior and exterior, but if a mistake has been made in laying the foundation, no amount of garnishing will cover the defect. Wait till the storm comes and look out for the weak spots. The only true foundation for a life is the spirit of Christ within the heart. I think if a person has that, sorrow won't leave such a mark of Y desolation behind. 215 A Christ-like per son will make the best of his trials. "I want my life to count. I want it to be a blessing to humanity. If any word or smile of mine can comfort another, I shall be contented. "If I never reach the goal of my ambition in becoming a writer, I shall be satisfied if I have been a comfort to God and His people." The Art of Making Friends. By WALTER STARR, Chicago, Ill. OUR magazine has just come to my attention and certainly seems to be a step in the right direction on many current subjects. It has proven more than interesting to me in many respects, and it is my belief that it would be of great benefit to many thousands of people who do not or will not understand things which are of paramount importance to the welfare and well being of the present generation and the generations to come. With this point in view, and with apologies for the liberty I take in offering this for publication, I trust it may be the means of helping others, among them myself. My personal experience in becoming acquainted in large cities throughout the country has been such that I wish to ask your advice on how to become acquainted with the proper class of people, that is, people of refinement and education, when a person is not acquainted with any one in the city where he now lives. You might say, "Go to some good church, and mix with the congregation." This is all right in some respects, but in order to become well acquainted it is necessary for you to become a member of that certain church, for if you don't you are not wanted as a friend. Many churches nowadays are as hard to get into as it is to get out of jail. (Not speaking from experience.) Personally I like to attend church, but am not particular about any one religion, and do not care to join. I attended regularly a certain church in Boston for over a year and do not know any one there with the exception of the young lady who accompanied me. By attending a dance we very often meet refined people. But suppose we do not dance. The majority of dances, I am sorry to say, that are public are not attended by the best class of people. The employes of the concern that employs you are sometimes the right sort of people and through them you may meet the class of refinement you desire, but as a general rule they are not sociable and seldom invite a person to their homes, either because a great number have no home or have a home that is not Home after all. Many times I have been lonely and have passed some refined young persons on the streets and wished that I could number them among my friends, but as "Modesty" will not permit speaking, we remain strangers, against our wishes. There are doubtless ways of making friends of the right sort, but it has not been my good luck to find the way. Of course one could join some good club or society and do many other things of that sort, but in each and every case it calls for a considerable expenditure of money, and can only be enjoyed by people of means or who earn a good salary. However, the class of people I make reference tc are the clerks in the stores and offices |