dissent. There is certain knowledge of pharmacy and chemistry which is necessary to accurate prescribing, and which must be taught, if we would use our therapeutical knowledge intelligently. We must know the names of the drugs, the forms and preparations in which they are compounded, the active constituents, the doses, the andidotes, chemical and physiological, but especially must we have full and accurate information in regard of the effects of the remedies and their uses in the treatment of diseases. All of this knowledge is immediately applicable to the requirements of the physician, and no part of it can be omitted without injury. I hold that the action and uses of remedies is the point on which the greatest stress should be laid, and no information, empirical or physiological, should be neglected. Let the student have the minutest information from all possible sources of the physiological powers and capabilities of a drug, its behavior as influenced by idiosyncrasy and dose, its applications in the treatment of disease, the fallacies which affect a proper estimate of its powers, the special conditions in which it is useful, why it should be preferred to another remedy of the same class, and, in fact, any information in regard to it which may facilitate the physician's use of his armamentarium. The artisan is taught the name of the tool, the range of its uses, the mode of handling it under special circumstances; but he is not expected to acquire the mineralogy of iron and the chemistry of steel, subjects concerned with its original construction.

The information which a teacher must convey to a class is derived from two sources: from a study of the authorities who have contributed to the subject; from his personal experience and reflections. The literature from which he gleans is a wide field, and contains a multitude of workers, who differ in capacity, in requirements, in honesty. The instructor may pursue two methods in imparting his information; he may present in order, chronologically or by subjects, a synopsis of the contribution of each individual worker; he may subject the whole to a careful analysis, weigh the merits and truthfulness of individuals, and present the results in the plainest language. The former plan confuses the student with a multitude of names

and opinions that vary, and are often contradictory; the latter gives him some salient points on which he may lay hold. I maintain that the latter plan is the true one, that it is the duty of the instructor to analyze the complexus of facts and opinions, to guide the intelligence of the student through a maze to the right conclusions. Those who wish to engage in investigations on their own account are either advanced students or graduates, who possess the knowledge necessary to find their way through the labyrinth.

I hold, further, that the instruction should be, as far as possible, objective or demonstrative. The lecturer may content himself with stating that drugs will produce certain results, that strychnia will cause tetanic spasm, and that conia will paralyze, and he may illustrate the action of strychnia by an exposition of some famous medico-legal case, as the poisoning of Cook by Palmer, and the action of conia by recounting from the Phædro of Plato the death of Socrates; or he may at the moment demonstrate the effects of the drug by an experiment which makes the fact memorable in the student's mental experiences. The chemist who merely tells his students that water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen, and does not demonstrate it by experiment, will hardly have done his duty. The experiment vivifies the bald fact, and the impress made is permanent. But how demonstrate your therapeutical facts? This brings me face to face with the great vivisection question. Though an advocate for rightly conducted vivisections, I protest against cruelty to animals, who are God's creatures. protest against those barbaric sports in which more animals suffer yearly, hunted to death, than have in all time been under the knife of the vivisector. More than all, I protest against the inhumanity to man-the outcome of an unreflecting sentimentality-which prevents those scientific investigations having for their end incalculable benefits to man. Some of our most important remedies and physiological knowledge of the highest importance have been, and only could have been, obtained by experiments on animals. If animals are sacrificed for the support of men's bodies, why should they not contribute to the improvement of men's minds? Your sentimental

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philosopher does not reflect on the humanity of the butcher, except for the toughness of his matutinal steak. Not to occupy further time with well-known arguments in favor of vivisection, I hold that the actions of drugs should be illustrated as far as practicable by experiments on animals, but the experiments must be decorous, not revolting, not cruel, and made strictly to advance or to impart knowledge for the benefit of our fellowman. In these experiments animals have small occasion to suffer, for the medicament or the anaesthetic so far obtund the sensibility of the centers of conscious impressions that pain is not felt.

Why torture dumb brutes by experiments, which after all cannot be utilized in the treatment of men's diseases; for has it not been shown that the actions on men and animals differ, that rabbits eat belladona with impunity, and pigeons cannot be affected by opium? I might explain to you how idiosyncrasies exist in men and animals alike, and are usually more apparent than real; but let me answer your objections by a quotation from the most competent authority of modern times-Claude Bernard. He declares in that remarkable work-" Introduction to Experimental Medicine" (p. 218)—that "experiments on animals with deleterious and noxious substances are very useful, and perfectly conclusive for the hygiene and toxicology of man. The researches on medicaments or poisons are equally applicable to man from the therapeutical point of view, for the effects of these substances are the same in animals as in man, except the difference in degree." This opinion, based on the largest experience, and after a career of brilliant discovery, might be illustrated and enforced, if I had the time, by the examples of benefits to the race obtained in this way.

The crusade against vivisection in England, which has attained extraordinary volume and force within a few years past, is an outgrowth of dog-worship, which has now become a form of religion in the upper classes of society. With hair perfumed, powdered and curled, his canine worship sits at table with his mistress, rides in the park in the afternoon, sleeps on downy pillows at night; he has his maid to anticipate his wants, besides the undivided attention of his mistress, and when ill,

he is waited upon by a celebrated physician. He makes no return to society for the protection and benefits he receives; he pays no taxes; he merely barks and growls in return for the love of his mistress, and is altogether an ungrateful dog; but he has driven physiological research out of England, and the gentlemen who were engaged in an important series of investigations on the biliary secretion, were compelled by him to go over to France. An epidemic of hydrophobia and the loss of several titled ladies will be necessary to prevent the apotheosis of the dog, and to put vivisection in its proper position, for a cure of hydrophobia can only be arrived at by experiments on this at present distinguished member of society.

A Case of Double Uterus and Superfotation. Dr. Sotschawar, of Moscow, reports the case of a woman, aged twenty-six, to whom he was called on account of hemorrhage. Upon examination, he found two vaginæ, each leading to a distinct uterus. The hemorrhage proceeded from both uteri, and was very considerable. After some manipulation, an embryo of about one month was extracted from the left uterus, and three days later a foetus of three months from the right uterus. The observer asserts that this is the third case of the kind known to science. It may be remembered that Dr. Fordyce Barker, of this city, has had one such case in his experience. The Medical Record.

Puncture of the Synovial Capsule of the Knee-Joint and Injection of Tincture of Iodine.

Translated from German Medical Journal.

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Dr. Orlow has performed this questionable operation in his clinic ten times; eight times on account of a long continued exudation of a serous fluid, and twice on account of pus the knee-joint. In all these cases, no unfavorable symptoms followed the treatment, and the patients were dismissed directly after the injection, and received no further treatment.

Of these patients, three were male and seven female; among them were an eight-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy.

The right knee was punctured six times, and the left one four times. For the puncture and for allowing the escape of the pus, a trocar, about twice as large as an exploring needle, was used in all the cases. The puncture was always made on the outer side of the joint, and above or below the patella, according to the extent of the synovial capsule. Anæsthetics were not used. In two cases there existed severe local inflammation, diffused redness, and the swellings were very painful. The greatest circumference of a tumor was forty-three, and the smallest, thirty-five centimeters. The greatest quantity of fluid evacuated was one hundred and twenty, and the smallest fifteen grams. The fluid injected consisted of a mixture of three and seventy-five one-hundredths grams of tincture of iodine, and eleven and twenty-five one-hundredths grams of distilled water; a part of this flowed out after two or three minutes. The pain from the operation was slight, and soon passed away, so that the patients were able to go to their homes. The inflammatory symptoms soon disappeared, and after eight months there has been no return of the trouble. The after treatment consisted solely in covering the puncture with a piece of sticking-plaster. The following cases are given as the ones more especially worthy of remark:

(a) N. K., seven years old, presented himself on the 22d of October, with all the symptoms of a serous collection in the right knee-joint. It was greatly swollen, and the lower third of the thigh was erysipelatous; movement of the limb was painful, and walking was impossible. The puncture allowed the escape of thirty grams of a synovial-like fluid. The injection of the tincture of iodine (one to three) caused pain. November 6, the tumor and redness have disappeared, and the knee can be extended horizontally. Notwithstanding some adhesions which prevent free movements of the limb, the patient can walk with the aid of a cane.

(b) W. G. P., forty-five years old, with infiltration of the right knee-joint of one year's standing. The synovial capsule is extensive, and measures forty centimeters in its greatest circumference. Movement of the knee gives pain. On puncture, thirty grams of a bloody fluid escaped. The injection