San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 5, 1899.
To the Editor:
—It seems unfortunate to find articles published in an up-to-date medical journal which may lead to serious loss of life by misinforming a number of the younger members of the profession, and giving them a feeling of false security in being able to invariably cope with a disease like appendicitis, by medicinal means alone. I refer to an article in the Medical Record of Dec. 17, 1898, by T. J. Hutton, M.D., of Chicago, entitled "A Cheap Cure for Appendicitis," in which the author claims to cure all cases of appendicitis by giving the patient a calomel and bicarbonate of soda purge. I do not like to open up the' old controversy as to whether appendicitis is a surgical disease or not, but I can not let go unchallenged such wild statements as the worthy Doctor makes in the article in question.