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THE COURIER
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dents with no Individual acknowledg
ments. The themes were far too
highly specialized for their own best
educational growl h, and were carried
out, not with the full frankness of co
operators in a joint work, hut as ser
vants do a master's bidding, blindly
and with liitle comprehension, even
after it was done, of its meaning or
wider relations. Within recent years
a few vigorous German students have
pros-cuted their professors for appro
priation of their own intellectual
property, and in one or two cases, as I
think, happily won their cases. Many
an instructor feel Justified in retain
ing, sometimes for years, the work of
his student and depriving him of his
Just right and credit for the same,
and bnngii g forth all the work of his.
laboratory as if it were his own goods
and chattels, a his robs tie student,
of one of the chief values of investi
nation and makes his work so ancllary
and merged into that of bis instructor
- that the spur of individual ambition
Is lost,"
Dr. Hall's confessions concern
mainly his own method of teaching.
They are the confessions of an upright
scholar and honest gentleman who
has never taken advantage of his
position to make his people perform
drudgery whose results he can use in
compiling statistics for a boot to be
published under his own name. The
pamphlet contains besides many valu
able hints to teachers trcin one of the
iuostemincnt teachers in this country.
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Consumption Congress.
The congress of specialists In the
treatment of tuberculosis which
closed in London July 27th was the
i first body of its kind which hasau-
V thoritatively announced that the dis
ease is nearly always curable in its in
itiatory stages and can occasionally
be mattered even in well-developed
cases. The congress devoted Its ses
sions largely to a discussion of sup
pressing the infection. Lack of pure
air. crowded sleeping rooms, neglect
of the proper measures for personal
cleanliritssand dirty dwelling bouses
were given as fruitful allies of the
disease, but the tuberculosis sufferer
himself was proven to be tbe chief
agent in disseminating his own dis
ease among bis friends. Specialists
of all countries stated that tbelr prac
tice had conclusively proven that pro
miscuous expectoration by consumpt
Ives, on the streets or elsewhere, is a
crime against society and a menace
to the general health of the commu
nity, and that dust swept from houses
occupied by infected persons is laden
with incipient disease. German and
English physicians both urged the
confinement of all patients, whether
rich or poor, in sanatoria supported
by the government. In both of these
countries this system has been tried
aad tbe only bitch in its operation
.has been that on account of family
feeling and prejudices it has been Im
possible to make its practice univer
sal. Tbe sanatoria system certainly
looks plausible enough on first consid
eration. We submit to other regula
tions Imposed by the government
which are quite as severe as would be
a regulation requiring the removal of
-all tubercular patients to government
"sanatoria. We submit to the same
thing la the case of Insane patients,
and we submit to quarantine and
lest house regulations In cases of
mallpox and equally virulent and
contagious diseases. But the treat
ment of consumption is made pecu
liarly difficult by the unique nature
of the disease. Other contagious dis
eases strike the victim Into helpless
dependency at once, and are In them
selves visibly and undeniably loath
some. But what consumptive patient
ever believed in or admitted his in
fectlon so long as he was able to walk?
His mind in no way deteriorates his
body Is wholesome looking, his physi
cal faculties are often unimpaired
until the last. He travels, transacts
business, writes a "Master of Baiian
trae' or composes nocturnes or paints,
enjoys good living, and is all the time
a source of imminent danger to bis
fellow-beings. Yet how can such
a man be taken out of the interests
and activities of his life and impris
oned in a sanatorium?
If there is any mental change
wrought by the disease at all. it is
heightened by his love of life and
society. Young patients always want
to marry, old patients always plunge
into multifarious business schemes.
It is this ironical phase of the disease
that has made it play the part of fate
in so many dramas and novels, acd
that mnkes its treatment more difll
cult even from the sociological side
than from the medical side.
Below the Surface.
Those who see in the steel strike
only a conflict between capital and
labor do not look below the surface.
It is not so much labor's attitude to
capital as union labor's attitude to
non union labor which violates the
fundamental principles of libetty.
Like the Declaration of Independ
ence, the right of a man to earn his
living without being controlled by an
organization, rets upon the bed rock
or justice and inherent right. So
long as labor asserts simply its own
rights, it will have intelligent sympa
thy and support. But when one stc
tion of labor assumes to dictate to nil
other labor, and to follow up its mon
strous assumption by violence, the
Yankee Doodle that is ingrained in
every American gets up and protests
vigorously. When a man does not
like the bhape of the slice in which
his bread is cut he is at liberty to re
fuse it, but the day has not come when
he may prevent another man from
sitisfying his hunger with the slice
which he-himself refused. .
Another aspect of the case at pres
ent which is enough to alarm every
unprejudiced mind, and which doubt
less acts as an incentive to those who
are trying to bring about an end tf
tbe strike, is the enormous loss and
consequent suffering to the laboring
classes resulting from the drought.
Every man who lives by his day's
wage will need every dollar he can
lay aside during the coming year.
Unprecedented demand from abroad
and short, supply at home means high
prices for the necessities of life and
the exercise of diligence and economy
instead of idleness and lack of earn
ings. In the end brute force always loses
to intelligence. When the labor
unions recognize this and refuse to
let themselves be used as an unthink
ing mass to be wielded as a club
against capital, they will take a long
step toward the goal they claim to
seek. Labor organizations which
command respect and confidence win
their victories by manliness and rea
son, and not by strikes Their methods
might be made a profitable study just
now for those who have nothing else
to do.
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The Water-god.
The drought of the present season
is so severe that we think of it as un
precedented; yet the experience dates
back to the early days of history and
follows down througL subsequent
ages. The terrible days of famine in
Palestine in Jacob's time, the three
years of drought in Elijah's time, the
reign of heat and death which Homer
chronicles during the siege of Troy,
the constant repetition of draught
at.d famine In India, these are all in
line with the experiences, in these
modern days, of drought and heat in
Australia, in India, in China, and,
this year, in Russia, Siberia and al
most all North America.
It is no wonder that the human
race has developed a sense to which
nothing is so lovely as the movements
of water, In the ocean waves, in the
smootli currents of rivers, in the
waterfall and in thegentle plashing of
fountains. The effect of the grateful
coolness and verdure which they
brirg is heightened by the laws of
association, and lf would seem as if in
water we had really found the benefi
cent deity. The Greeks a d the na
tions of the north bad their water
gods, tbe spirits of tbe fountains and
tbe streams, beings of loveliness and
grace whose favor brought comfort
and blrssing. But even here the ma
lignant element is manifested in
cloudburst, in storm and in devastat
ing flood. Still, after taking up the
question philosophically, we are forced
to conclude that the preponderance of
evidence is on the side of beneficence,
and that this is so general and so con
stant that we realize its extent only
when exceptional deviations from the
normal .impress it upon us. Tbe days
of drought are days in which all life
struggles for existence; days in which
all sentient creatures sutler; days
when it is hard even for reasonable
beings to maintain a spirit of patience
and resignation; days for whose end
ing ail nature, animate and inani
mate, prays in silent misery.
Medical News.
That many things are printed In
what we call the lay press which are
no less injurious to medical science
than the irregular medical advertise
ments, is a fact for which proofs are
easily adduced. When, at a recent
session of the British Congress on
Tuberculosis, Dr. Robert Koch read a
paper reporting some of tbe results of
his prolonged and patient investiga
tions, it was only a few hours until
the large news distributing agents of
the country had placed before tbe
eyes of millions their own distorted
views regarding the significance of
Dr. Koch's conclusions.
Dr. Koch's paper, while a scholarly
and instructive one, really announced
little or nothing of news to tbe medi
cal profession. He contributed re
ports of experiments confirmatory of
facts previously established in part or
whole, together with his own v.ews,
similar to tbe views of many others,
regarding the best means for prevent
ing the spread and fatality of this
dreaded "white plague."
Among other things he announced
his belief that bovine and human tuber
culosis may soon come to be regarded
as separate entities a belief that has
not been generally held he having
failed, in a number of experiments, to
induce tuberculous processes in cat
tle by inoculating them with the
bacillus obtained from human phthi
sis. It is also a fact, as he said, that
although much diseased meat and
milk are annually consumed by people
the world over, primary tuberculosis
of the stomach and Intestines is ex
tremely rare, occurring almost always
secondary to the pulmonary variety.
From these simple statements the
newspaper writers Inferred and made
startling announcements to the effect
that tuoerculosis is not contracted so
easily as has been supposed, that it is
a readily curable disease, and that It
is not, as has been taught, at all trans
missible from animals to men. In
this way very much of the value to
thehuman race of Dr. Koch's insti
gation and the patient toil of many
other experimenters was counter ted
In a few hours by the impression yiveo
to thousands that tuberculosa i,
much less to be feared than has been
supposed, that exposure to it may i e
cur with impunity, and that the meas
ures of the state to dispose of intVcttd
cattle are really superfluous and un
necessary. The real truths of medical science
should be better known. It does seem
that if the medical profession by its
educated writers should make the "best
use of the lay press, the great, sensible
American people would not so easily
be led astray by all kinds of pretend
ers and charlatans who will undertake
the '"cure" of anything from a condi
tion of the ulnd to a gunshot wound.
Those physicians who can should lay
before the people the truth regarding
the application and sphere of useful
ness of the many brilliant, undying
and incontrovertible additions that
have been made to medical science
from the beginning until now.
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The Vengeance of Romance.
Birds come home to roost and the
catcher is always caught at last.
Snake charmers are bitten and sur
geons die of blood poisoning and de
tectives die by a criminal's bullet at
list. Uow it is P. Marion Crawrord
who has executed a feat equal to any
exploit in his novels. The Paris dis
patch says:
"Francis Marion Crawford, the
American novelist, has just had a
j-eriluus adventure on the island of
Jersey. He ws returning from a
visit to Victor Hugo's exde retreat,
wben he spied from an abaudoned
road winding along the rocky shore
a quiet little cave. The weather was
exceedingly warm, and Crawford
found the temptation to bathe in the
blue waters of the deserted spot irre
sistible. He stopped the carriage
and undressed among the rocks. S
While looking for a parh down to the '
water, he lost his balance and plunged
over a cliff thirty-live fret high. Fort
unately the top of the cliff hung over
the sea, and be fell into deep water.
He was stunned and barely able to
swim to safety. The beach along there
is narrow, and where his body shut
over the precipice is an inlet dotted
with half submerged rocks."
Certainly that is an escapade worthy
of Sarasenesca or Dun Orsino or Paul
Griggs or any of the interesting RaN
tons or Lauderdales. After his recov
ery Mr. Crawford went back to his
stopping place in Jersey where Marcel
Schwab is translating his play with
which Mme. Sarah Bernhardt opens
her next season.
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Mental Suicide.
It Is to be hoped that the marks for
entrance examination made recently
by a young girl in Windsor will not be,
exploited by intelligent teachers for ;
the purpose of awakening a like am
bition in others. This girl was only
thirteen years old, yet in passing from
tbe public school to the collegiate
institute she broke tbe record, making
898 out of a possible 1100 marks. If
that girl has sensible parents she will
be kept at home a whole year, aud her
attention turned to something other
than school.
Every girl who enters upon a higher
course of study should have at least
one year of rest after her preparatory
work to recuperate and to secure phjs
ical resources for the work before her.
There is no sadder story than tbe
rapidly lengthening one of young
lives ruined in their unfolding by ex
cessive school work.
A most pathetic case Is that of a
young girl who seldom was known t
fail i recitation. Term after term
and year arter year she made the
hundred mark ic languid, in scienc
and in mathematics, doing it so easi'j
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