iological and Pathological Chemistry, a paragraph of which we quote:

"Proteid contains from one-half to one and one-half per cent. of sulphur which, in the decomposition and oxidation of proteid, is converted into sulphuric acid. Eighty per cent. of the Eighty per cent. of the sulphur taken in food appears in this form in the urine. Under normal conditions this sulphuric acid is united with the bases which are taken up with every form of animal and vegetable food. Animal food contains basic phosphates of the alkalies, carbonates of the alkalies, and alkali-albuminates; vegetable food yields in addition the alkaline salts of vegetable acids, such as tartaric, citric, malic, etc., which in the organism are converted into carbonates by oxidation.

"These bases saturate the sulphuric acid formed from proteid. If the basic salts are removed from the food, this powerful acid finds no bases at hand to neutralize it and consequently attacks those bases which are integral constituents of the living tissues; figuratively, it may be said to wrench individual bricks out of their places, and thus to induce the destruction of the edifice."

Carbonate of soda is contained in the pancreatic secretion, and the intestinal juice is very rich in it. It is a necessary agent in emulsifying fats. The blood and lymph contain it. There may be a deficiency of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and since this acid is now known to be intended to prevent the development of putrefactive organisms, this shortage is marked by the development of gas, the more the greater the shortage.

The deficiency of hydrochloric acid is. not to be supplied by pouring the acid into the stomach, for that would give but temporary relief, but by supplying the tissue salts, the deficiency of which causes the deficiency of acid. The mineral acids are derived from alkaline bodies.

A person does not need to go very far into the subject to prove that the twelvesalt system of Schuessler and his followers is abortive, and far short of perfection. The numerous failures in the practice of this system certainly indicate that there is something lacking. It

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has been the practice to denominate all diseases which fail to yield to a particular system as incurable, when the real fact is that a perfect system should cure every disease, and when it fails it is because we have not discovered what is ready and waiting for us, if we will only look for it and find it. We are too prone to close the subject without proper investigation.

Biochemistry is a curative system, and when we know enough about it, it will be a science. No other system of medicine or treatment has such a promise before it.

UCH is being said in regard to health and right living in your Journal and many others. submit the following thought and consideration:

for

I believe the human aura that surrounds every human being has a tendency to blight one's life or build it. up. Science is now discovering this fact and it will furnish us the key to most divorce suits. Diseased minds are poisoning the very air we breathe. It is being understood by many that the conflict between two persons joined together by law or environments that are not congenial can be accounted for on the grounds that the atmosphere surrounding them does not harmonize. Hence the bad effect that not only brings discord in homes, but children are born under these influences. Disease and premature death are often the result of such unions

This subject should interest every thinking mind, and the time is not far distant if a person has no soul union or companionship of affinities with those around him, he will not be allowed to live or come in touch with others, for the laws of health will be so well understood that we will flee from that which is repulsive to us as from an adder.

It is plainly seen that what is congenial to one is poison to another. It is time that men and women wake up

to this fact and choose natural laws of life, soul companionship. We see this conflict of human aura all around us. We see the effect on our race. The question might be asked, Will Will the laws of progress bring us the ideal plan so we will have no conflict of atmospheres that are not congenial? Reason answers, Yes.

I

To My Patients.

AM receiving every day letters asking my advice for every kind and phase of sickness. In my reply to these letters I frequently prescribe remedies, not in the majority of cases, however. I mostly prescribe things the patient can do for himself and try to regulate the habits or mental condition that has in my opinion caused the difficulty. There are some cases, however, that require remedies of a medical nature. I never neglect to prescribe a remedy or advise what seems to me essential hygienic and dietary details.

Later on I receive replies from these patients telling me how they are getting along. Sometimes the correspondence stretches out into months and even years. There is one thing I have noticed about this correspondence. That is, the patient dwells upon the remedies I am prescribing rather than the other advice that I am insisting upon. The majority of the letters will speak of the remedies, how they have operated, what they suppose the effects have been. The patient seems to have his eye on the remedy. Not a single reference is made to the hygienic advice I have given, although my original letter to him was almost totally devoted to the advice rather than to the remedy..

I suppose my patients read the advice I give them, but whether they adopt it or not in the majority of cases, I have no means of finding out, unless I ask them specific questions.

I am writing this to my patients in the hope that I may succeed in some measure of exalting in their minds the importance of their manner of living, and the secondary part that remedies play in the cure of disease. Nearly everybody looks toward physical rem

edies of some sort for succor in times of bodily derangement. It frequently happens that physical remedies are needed. I am not wishing to say anything against this notion, but in my judgment, where physical remedies are needed, mental conditions, moral conditions, personal habits, vocation, diet, etc., have as much or even more to do with the cure than the best selected remedies.

After I have dictated carefully a long letter attempting to regulate the habits of my patient, and then perhaps at the end of my letter have devoted a few words to a medicinal remedy, it is somewhat discouraging to receive a reply from this patient without a single reference to the bulk of my letter, dwelling only on the remedy I have prescribed.

There is one hygienic measure, however, that patients are more inclined to regard as important than any other and that is, what they shall eat. They seem to believe that the physician knows exactly how to select their food for them and what to avoid. In my judgment the physician knows the least about this very item of their daily habits than any other that touches their personal life.

I frequently state in my letters to patients that there can be no cut and dried rules as to the selection of food. That each one can be rightly guided by his preference, his cravings and the demands of his appetite.

The physician can be of more use to his patient as to advising his manner of eating and times of eating, than he can as to what the patient shall eat. Every one should eat slowly and chew well, keeping the mind free from anxiety, both during and after meals— this will apply to every one, patients and well alike, but it is especially essential to patients.

The best way for a patient to decide what he should eat is to ask himself I believe that the subconscious mind is the best guide in these cases. Let the patient retire to a quiet place. Shut out light, noise and disturbance of every kind.

Go into careful and con

scientious meditation and wait for some movement of the appetite to suggest a selection.

Do not try too hard to find out what Nature wants you to eat, but just sit in passive patience waiting for Nature to suggest. If the appetite demands. nothing, take nothing. But if there comes up out of the subconscious mind a longing or craving, or a slight desire for some article of food, that is the thing for you to eat. Having selected it, it should be well cooked, if cooked at all. It should be served in a palatable way. It should be carefully chewed and tasted, tasted and chewed. Not swallowed eagerly, or bolted voraciously. Plenty of time should be taken in eating, and after it is eaten if the patient is very weak a long rest should follow. Give Nature ample time to assist the digestion and assimilation.

After eating, the mind should be kept off the subject as much as possible, and no strenuous subject should be allowed to harass the mind. It sometimes happens, of course, that a physician is compelled to select food for his patient. Those who make a science of this sort of thing often effect wonderful cures, but as a rule people afflicted with chronic diseases have within them a monitor which if properly used, will guide them to safer selections than any physician can hope to accomplish.

I wish I could get my readers to see the importance of proper living, and also see how small a part remedies form in the cure of disease. Remedies sometimes assist. If this were not true

I would not prescribe them. Some times they are quite essential to a cure. But having said this I would hasten to add that right living, good habits, cheerful state of mind, a little work of some sort that the patient likes to do, these are of far more value than any remedies.

I wish my patients would remember th... Would believe it and act upon it, and when they write to me for ad

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vice would give especial attention to that portion of my advice that relates to their manner of living.

How to Trap Rats.

By Passed Assistant Surgeon W. C. RUCKER, San Francisco, Cal.

T

HE following is a summary of a collection of articles written by the employes of the United States Public Health and Marine

Hospital Service engaged in rat catching in San Francisco, Cal. These men have demonstrated their knowledge of the subject by continuously large catches, and what is detailed here is the result of actual experience:

Rats are to be found where there is an abundant food supply for them. Therefore, the best places to trap rats are slaughter houses, meat markets, chicken houses, in and around garbage cans, and places where garbage is usually placed. If the rat is deprived of this food supply it will be attracted by the bait in the trap and thus enter the trap.

The large 19-inch French wire-cage trap has given very good results where rats are plentiful. It should be made of stiff, heavy wire and well reinforced, as a large, strong rat will force his head. between the wires of a weak trap and thus escape. Before setting, the lever

on the trap should be tested to see that it works properly. The trap should be placed on a hard surface with the rear end a little higher than the entrance, so that the trap will close promptly. When setting the trap in an open place it should be fastened to a board on which about an inch of soft dirt has been spread.

Place the trap where rats usually go for food, or in a runway, and disturb the surroundings as little as possible. It is sometimes well to place the trap near dripping water, as the rats may go there to drink. If the trap is set in hay, straw, or wood, it should be covered (with the exception of the entrance) with the same material. When this is not possible, it should be covered with a piece of sacking, or placed in a dark corner, or beneath the floors. When setting the traps in the sewer, a dry place should be chosen.

The rat is more or less of an epicure; therefore the bait should be changed at frequent intervals, For bait the rat should be given food which is not usual for him to obtain. In a meat market, for example, vegetables are the best bait, while in a location where vegetables are plentiful, fresh liver and fish heads or a little grain are best. The following may be suggested as good bait to be used: Fish, fish heads, raw meat, cheese. smoked fish, fresh liver, cooked corned beef, fried bacon, pine nuts, apples, carrots and corn. When trapping in chicken yards a small chick or duckling is a remarkably good bait. When a large number of rats are caught in one trap, search for the female rat and leave her alive in the trap, as she may call in the young or the males. The bait should be fastened to the inner side of the top of the trap with a piece of fine wire, so that the first rat that goes in can not force the bait underneath the pan and thus prevent the entrance of other rats.

A few grains of barley should be scattered near the entrance of the trap and a small piece of cheese or meat fastened to the pan with a bit of wire. It is often well to touch the pan with a feather which has been dipped in oil of anise or oil of rhodium. The trap should be smoked with a piece of burning newspaper to take away the smell of the human hands, or of rats which have been caught in the trap. Do not handle the trap after burning it out. When trapping in a neighborhood where rats are known to exist, the traps should not be moved for three or four days unless they have rats in them, as it is well for the rats to become accustomed to seeing the traps and thus careless about entering them. It is not wise to kill rats where they are caught, as the squealing may frighten away the other rats.

Snap or spring traps are best for use in houses and stores, with the exception of fish and meat markets. Snap traps are best for use in runways and on beams and shelves. It is sometimes well to disguise the trap by covering its floor with a little sawdust or dirt. The traps should first be tested to see that they work properly and that the staples are secure. New

traps should be smoked or stained to render them of an inconspicuous color.

The bait should consist of some firm material, such as fried bacon or tough meat, and should be tied on so that the rat will be obliged to pull on it and thus spring the trap. The trap should be placed in a corner or close to the wall on a flat, hard surface in order that the rat can not spring it with his tail or by walking on it.

In warehouses and granaries large numbers of rats may frequently be trapped by using a barrel or garbage can having a metal top which is carefully balanced. A large piece of strong cheese is placed in the middle of the cover and a plank laid from the floor to the edge of the barrel. The rat runs up the plank and on the smooth metallic lid, which tips, precipitating the rat into the barrel.

Anti-Diphtheritic Serum.

By W. S. S. S. YOUNG, M. D., Vallejo, California.

I

DO NOT altogether like your article on "Anti-Diphtheritic Serum," in the May issue of The Columbus Medical Journal. It is not just to the people or the medical profession. A physician who is a man of principle can use anti-diphtheritic serum, or any other remedy. Physicians could not very well keep on hand a number of horses inoculated with the diphtheritic virus, for making anti-diphtheritic serum, any more than they could keep a botanical garden to grow medicinal plants, a quicksilver mine to procure mercury, or corrosive sublimate, or the ocean in which to secure cuttle fish, for sepia.

Anti-diphtheritic stands for the results it has produced in curing diphtheria. In the hands of some of the best physicians in the world anti-diphtheritic serum is relied on to cure diphtheria, and generally the patient and physician are gratified with the good results obtained. Statistics from large cities and the private practice of reputable physicians show that it is the best treatment for diphtheria at the present time. So, why condemn it?

In regard to your treatment, would say that any good physician should. take all the precautions and use the

common sense you have. I have no objection to your cider treatment with the indicated medicine, but I am inclined to believe that the action would not be quick enough in the more severe cases to effect a cure. At least that has been my experience, and when anti-diphtheritic serum has been used, immediate and lasting beneficial results occurred.

I believe the inventor of anti-diphtheritic serum a great benefactor to the human race. You will, at least, admit that the serum is being used by physicians of all schools who have no fear financially, morally or otherwise, and are honest in the belief that it is

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the best treatment for diphtheria in existence, and if other treatment presented itself that was better, they would use that.

I want my readers to have both sides of everv question when it is stated respectfully and in simple language, as your letter. I will agree with you that if anti-diphtheritic serum is a good remedy, it should be prepared by those who have the facilities for doing so, as they are preparing it. I have no criticism to offer on that. I do not believe in its efficacy, but I did not intend especially to criticise their method of preparing it.

N

OT long ago I heard a lady college graduate deliver a talk to a girls' club. About thirty girls were present, bookkeepers, stenographers, nurses, music teachers and a few college students. The lady stated in the beginning of her lecture. that as a rule boys had a more definite aim in life than girls. They had higher ideals, and tried harder to live up to their ideals, than girls. That girls were more inclined to generalities, simply drifting along with no particular aim in life. They did their work simply because they had to, without any interest or any ambition to fill any higher sphere in life than the performance of their daily duties.

However, as an incentive to girls and to inspire them to greater things and to bring out the fact that no ideal can be too high, the lecturer gave an outline of the life of Alice Freeman Palmer, deceased, at one time president of Wellesley School for Girls, Wellesley, Mass. How under the most trying circumstances Miss Freeman secured her education, economizing and working her way through college. At the same time she had a sweet, sympathetic disposition which won her a place in the hearts of all

with whom she came in contact, and was doubtless one secret of her great

success.

The lecture deeply impressed me, and I thought to myself if girls could hear such talks and have such ideals held up before them more frequently, what a great help it would be. Every girl should fix upon some one line of work, and try in every way possible to reach the highest attainment in this profession. Life would seem fuller, sweeter, and better in every way.

The girl who is continually striving toward her ideal (no matter what it may be, so it is good), never will have time to yield to the temptations that have ruined the lives of many young girls. She will not allow her impulsive nature to lead her into wayward ways, but will put all her energy into her work to bring it to the highest state of perfection. She has a definite aim in life. She feels that God has put her into this world with a work to do, and she must do it well. Of course she may have pleasures and duties outside. of this special work, but they are as side issues all working together to make her life better physically, mentally and spiritually.