different lesson, and he finds that his cases yield much better results to a milder and consequently more rational course of treatment. I use electricity largely in this class of disorders, combined with such constitutional remedies as tend to restore the physical energies to a normal condition. I find no articles so well adapted to the treatment and permanent cure of inflammation, ulceration, and enlargement of the cervix uteri, as iodoform combined with carbolic acid, iodine and sulphuric ether as a local application, from two to three times a week. Nitric acid is the safest and most potent remedy that we have in the treatment of obstinate and indurated ulceration of the cervix. It must be used with caution and judgment. I must repeat in this connection what I said before: great care should be used in treating the several different classes of ulcerations. There is no doubt in regard to the great cause of ulceration of the cervix, whether it be internal or external. Inflammation is the most prevalent cause, whether it originates from exposure during the catamenial period, from frequent abortions, natural miscarriages, fibroid polypus, laceration of the os tincæ, or from injuries received in or upon the abdomen, by falls, blows, or otherwise. It matters not how, the results are the same; the ulceration is sure to follow a neglected inflammation. As a rule, the ulcers in the primary stage are not extensive, and a few local applications will suffice to remove them. If neglected, however, there is no limit to the mischief they may produce. Nor are these ulcerations by any means confined to married women. I have found the most aggravated cases in girls from the age of twelve years up to full womanhood, who were as pure and chaste as their Creator had made them. Some of them had wasted away to mere shadows, and to all outward appearances seemed to be suffering with phthisis pulmonalis. All those symptoms disappeared under local and constitutional treatment for uterine ulceration. The cause of dysmenorrhoea, as a rule, is incipient inflammation; which will, if not corrected, become, sooner or later, thoroughly established ulceration of the cervix. There are causes, however, which excite painful menstruation oftener than inflammation of the uterine neck. An increased flow of blood to an inflamed part always causes pain. Congestion of the lining membrane of the womb itself is a frequent cause of such suffering. The condition of the membrane is similar to that of the larynx in membranous croup. There is the same pouring out of what surgeons call "plastic lymph," which forms itself into a pseudo-membrane. The womb strives to expel it, and finally succeeds in throwing it off in shreds and patches. These shreds, which women sometimes call "skinny substances," are characteristic of the disease. The effort to expel them cause pains very much like those of natural labor, and sometimes almost as severe. This condition of the lining membrane causes a severe leucorrhoeal discharge, which presently becomes sour and acrid, producing irritation and ulceration; and if neglected it breaks down the system, and makes life a burden rather than a blessing. The treatment must be local and constitutional. The local treatment should be direct applications to the lining membrane. This can best be accomplished by the sound, armed with a soft piece of cotton saturated with the lotion above mentioned, repeated at regular intervals of three days, until cured. As a rule the improvement is rapid. A close examination should always be made for fibroids and polypus, as they are sometimes the only cause of the discharge and ulceration. If present, they must be removed at once. Fibrous tumors sometimes grow to an enormous size. I have forty specimens in my office, one of which weighs six and a half pounds; the smallest, a half-ounce. All of them, except the large one, were removed by the ecraseur. There are two varieties of uterine polypus: the mucous and the fibrous. Both can be easily removed. The mucous polypus is generally found attached to the cervix; the fibrous attaches itself to the fundus of the uterus in a majority of cases. For a more extended description of the different forms of uterine polypi and fibroids and their removal, I would refer to Dr. Atthill's excellent work, pages 114 to 165, which embraces nearly all well-known methods for their removal. (D.) MATERIA MEDICA, PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND CHEMISTRY. MATERIA MEDICA. [SPECIAL REPORT.] By CHARLES BAND, M. D., Crete, Nebraska. The glory of the Science of Materia Medica, in later times, has consisted in the extension of its scope, and the expansion of its field of usefulness. The art of the physician is thus rescued from its low esteem in public appreciation, and placed where it rightfully belongs, foremost among professions. He knows now better how to facilitate the repair of the bodily structure, to soothe that racking pain that would otherwise be certain to retard and perhaps arrest all healing processes, and to enable the disabled functions to resume their proper offices. In this way the physician is a hero and his vocation divine. The agents which he employs are ennobled from the fact that use glorifies all things, transforming the humblest weed into a holy offering and consecrating it to the truest worship. The Reformed Practice has been illustrious as the precursor in this advanced movement in the medical profession. It discarded boldly and resolutely the agencies and methods of treatment which had served principally to multiply diseases and to increase their mortality. The lancet has been left out of the physician's armamentarium, after rivalling the bloodiest chieftain in the carnage which it had produced. With this, the drugs themselves became obsolescent, which had been for centuries the bane of patients, making diseases permanent and incurable, and bringing the physician's office into dis, repute. The New Practice superseded them. Our motto, Vires Vitales Sustinere-to sustain vital energy-expresses the central idea of our medical faith. That the Materia Medica should be reformed, revised and extended to conform to the better order of things, was the legitimate sequence. There must be a brave forgetting of the past, a consigning of Rip Van Winkles to everlasting sleep. We cannot even in jest repeat the little prediction of its revival given by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the scholarly unbeliever in medicine of the present century: "But sleep once more till thirty years come round, Your drugs redeemed from fashion's passing scorn Although our century may be aging into dotage, I can hardly suppose that the old notions will be revived and the old practice restored. The water that once flowed in the river will never flow there again. It may be that many ideas which we now cherish will in their turn become obsolete, as more is learned; but the coming practice will be no repetition of the one which is now disintegrating, and held together only by its organization, State patronage and childish ethics. The contributions to the literature of our Materia Medica for the last few years, have not been numerous. Our witty ex-President, Prof. John King, we understand, is engaged, together with Prof. Lloyd, in revising his American Dispensatory, which the National Eclectic Medical Association, a year ago, adopted as its standard authority. Already a Supplement is in the printer's hands, which contains accounts of various "New Remedies" and new applications. It will be a welcome treatise to many of our physicians; and will win encomiums from many who are not enumerated in our ranks. It is to be desired and hoped that Prof. King will be able to revise and perfect his work. He possesses the mind taste and faculty for it, which few others among us seem to be endowed with; his name is "familiar as household words ;" and he is known, trusted and esteemed. We need the book. Our Old-School rivals, dropping the work of Wood and Bache which had crystallized their ideas for balf a century, are now adopting in its place, the National Dispensatory. The new book is a model of conciseness, but often uncandid and inaccurate when treating of remedies used by our School. This blemish will cost it much favor among the more intelligent pharmacists and practitioners. Meanwhile, it creates a necessity for a newer edition of the American Dispensatory, which will be up with the present state of our information, counteract the erroneous statements of rival works, and remain a monument to the memory of one of our noblest members. A committee appointed by the order of our National Association, will also perform another important work; that of preparing a pharmacopoeia. The accomplished chairman is a gentleman of experience and thorough pharmaceutical knowledge; and we have a right to expect at his hands, aided by his auxiliaries of that committee, a work which will be invaluable to us by enabling druggists and manufacturers to prepare them in reliable forms and of uniform strength. The moment a medicine becomes known as always uniform in character, strength and other properties, it will be appreciated at its just value by every practitioner. The other new literature of our School, belonging to this department, consists principally in monographs and original papers contributed to the medical journals. There are many of these. Dr. Richard E. Kunzé, of New York, has given several essays, indicating great industry, careful study and remarkable acuteness. Several of these have been published in the Eclectic periodicals; others in other journals. As every active member of this Association is a reader of those publications, it is not necessary for me to cite the papers. I will content myself with the wish that our excellent Eastern colleague and pharmacist, will continue his labors, till he shall have made the circuit of the Materia Medica. With his searching, analytical habits, he will enable us to garner much good wheat, rejecting untold quantities of chaff, chess and other rubbish. Another of our number, Prof. A. B. Woodward of Pennsyl vania, has added several contributions upon Gentiana quinqueflora, Eucalyptus, Equisetum, etc. Dr. McClanahan has recalled attention to the almost-forgotten old botanic remedy for nephritic and kindred disorders, Rhus Aromatica. At the present time, however, there is far less disposition exhibited than formerly in the way of making discoveries. Much, in |