tubercular consumption.

In January of 1891, Dr. Koch published to the world the composition of
his remedy. It consists of a glycerine extract prepared by the
cultivation of tubercle bacilli. The lymph contains, as it were, the
poisonous matter resulting from the life and activity of the tubercle
bacterium. The fluid is used by hypodermic injection, and when so
administered produces both a general and local reaction. The system is
powerfully affected. A sense of weariness comes on. The breathing is
labored. Nausea ensues; and a fever supervenes which lasts for twelve
or fifteen hours. It is now known that the action of the remedy is not
directly against the tubercle bacilli, but rather against the affected
tissue in which they exist. This tissue is destroyed and thrown off by
the agency of the lymph; being destroyed, it is eliminated and cast
out, carrying with it the bacteria on which the disease depends.

The results which have followed the administration of Koch's lymph for
consumption of the lungs have not met the expectation of the public;
but something has been accomplished. Ignorant enthusiasm has meanwhile
subsided, and scientific men in both Europe and America are pressing
the inquiry in a way which promises in due time the happiest results.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN SURGERY.

It will not do to disparage the work of the ancients. The old world,
long since fallen below the horizon of the past, had races of men and
individuals who might well be compared with the greatest of to-day. In
a general way, the ancients were great as thinkers and weak as
scientists. They were great in the fine arts and weak in the practical
arts. This is true of the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the
Romans, even of the Aztecs and the Peruvians.

The art work of these old peoples, whether in sculpture, painting or
poetry, surpassed, if it did not eclipse, corresponding periods of
modern times. In some of the practical arts the old races were
proficient. In architecture, which combines the aesthetic and
practical elements, the man of antiquity was at least the equal of the
man of the present. In one particular art--a sort of humanitarian
profession based on natural science and directed to the preservation
of life--the ancients had a measure of proficiency. This art was
surgery. The surgeon was even from the beginning, and he will no doubt
be even to the end.

The great advance which has been made in surgical science and practice
is sh