looked upon as a great diagnostic sign, is the falling-out of the eyebrows, and even the unprofessional public is aware of the importance Those are the most important of the initial symp

of this symptom.

toms, as far as I can now remember them.

Dr. Whiting: Do these abrasions or spots ulcerate?

Dr. Hoegh: No sir, not in the spots, which usually are of a more or less dark color; but the tubercles do, in the course of time.

Dr. Whiting: How recently have you seen cases?

Dr. Graff: I saw one in Eau Claire a couple of years ago, but

about five years ago I saw several hundred cases in the infirmaries

in Norway.

Dr. Whiting: In the cases you saw was there ulceration ?

Does a scab form?

Dr. Graff: If you don't apply the proper dressing to make the secretions soft it will form a scab.

Dr. Whiting: Is there any tendency to heal after the abrasions are broken?

Dr. Graff: There is. For instance, in one night a person might break out all over his body with hundreds of leprous nodules. Some of them will ulcerate, but in three weeks some of them would heal up again, especially under proper treatment, and then he might be free for some time, and after months or half a year have another attack, another breaking-out of these knobs in other parts of the body. In a certain advanced state of the disease, however, when the constitution of the patient is broken down, the ulcerations will not heal, but the morbid process, no longer opposed by any active vitality of the body. will always extend further, and then you get these characteristics.

Dr. Jackson here exhibited a very interesting case of sarcoma in the region of the calf, the patient being a man of about 45 years, the case being one of about four years' standing.

Dr. Wigginton, in behalf of the Special Committee on Immigration of the Defective Classes, appointed at the last annual meeting in response to resolutions received from the Association of Medical Superintendents of Institutions for the Insane, then presented the following preamble and resolutions :

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE WISCONSIN STATE Medi. CAL SOCIETY :

As Chairman of the committee appointed last year by your body, in response to the resolutions received from the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, in regard to the immigration to this country of the defective classes, composed of the indigent, criminal, idiotic, insane, etc., I beg to present the following: That

WHEREAS, It is known that large numbers of foreigners belonging to the defective classes, such as paupers, criminals, the insane, deaf-mutes, blind, and idiots are annually shipped to this country from all nations;

That insanity, pauperism and crime are increasing rapidly in this country;

That the chief cause of this increase is due to the large numbers of defectives found among the "foreign born."

That the foreign-born element constitutes but one-eighth of our population; yet this element furnishes one-third of our insane, onethird of our paupers, and one-third of our criminals, and

WHEREAS, The present national law is not sufficiently potent to guard against this indiscriminate immigration, and

WHEREAS, The individual States and Territories cannot act independently,

Therefore, be it

Resolved, That the President of this Society be, and is hereby empowered to appoint at this session a committee of three of its members to act in the name of the Wisconsin State Medical Society in presenting a memorial to the next Legislature with urgent request that our Legislature take immediate steps to place the matter properly before Congress, which body alone must take final action; and

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to each of our United States Senators, to each of our Congressmen, and to the President of each State Medical Society in the United States, and also

Resolved, That this Society, through the proper channel, shall cause to be printed two hundred copies of the above resolutions for distribution, by the Secretary, to the above-mentioned parties.

[Signed.]

R. M. WIGGINTON,

C. GAPEN,

S. B. BUCKMASTER.

Dr. Wigginton: I would say that this question is becoming a very important one. In New York they have already done something. Laws have been passed by the Legislature to stop, if possible, the immigration of these classes. They have succeeded in a measure, but there should be a national law to correct this evil. The amount of pauperism that comes to this country is very great. We experience all this very greatly in the northern part of the State. In the Northern Hospital for the Insane there are some cases where the treatment is paid for by the State. Most of them are paupers. They are insane, and came to this country insane, landing in New York, Philadelphia and other places, where they were turned loose upon the country as paupers, and eventually found their homes in the west, and especially in the northwest, and have to be taken care of by an already overtaxed people.

Dr. E. W. Bartlett: In regard to lepers we should keep as many away as possible. The figures shown to us here to-day do not indicate that it is pleasant to have them about. I had one case which I supposed was Syphilis. I had never seen such a case before; it did not respond to syphilitic treatment, and I believe it was a case of Leprosy. I think it is a matter of great importance. A man may have a case drop down on him at any time.

Dr. Sether here presented a living subject afflicted with Leprosy for examination by the Society and said: This young man is 21 years old. He was born in Norway and came to this country when two years old. He showed no symptoms of Leprosy until seventeen years of age. On his mother's side there is a record of Leprosy for generations back, but his father showed no symptoms of the disease. His father died two years ago, and I had a chance to see him previous to his death.

It was three years ago that I saw this patient first. He then came to me complaining of inability to breathe through his nose. I found a thickening of the mucous membrane of the nose, and a little thickening of the skin elsewhere. He complained of rheumatic pains, stiffness of the muscles, some chills, and was sick in bed for two or three weeks. He received but little treatment, and only for a week or two. His father said when I told him it was Leprosy that he had no faith in treatment, so the case was left. He has gradually grown worse from that time on. A year ago I showed him to the

County Medical Society here. There was a request sent to the county authorities that they should help him. It was some months before any answer came to that request, but during the last few months he has had some simple treatment, more palliative than anything else. No regular treatment for Leprosy has been carried

out.

Question: What would be the proper treatment to be pursued in the first stages of this disease?

Dr. Sether: I can give you the treatment of this case at the time I first saw him. I put him on quinine and made local applications to the nose, washing it out with astringents etc. He improved very nicely, and was comparatively free from trouble for half a year. The discoloration of the skin now seen has been advancing right along. The case has been a case of Lepra bacillosis, but presents varying phases with advancing growth. You can run a pin through almost any place where there is a thickening of the skin without. causing pain. There is some loss of smell and a little of taste. He says himself he does not notice any difference in his eye-sight, but there is some difference in the senses of smell and hearing. He had a cough a while ago. There is considerable thickening in the throat and there has been ulceration there most of the time. He has had no lung trouble and no kidney trouble. The viscera all seem to be in good condition.

The report of the committee was accepted, and after being so amended, on motion of Dr. Hoegh, as to include lepers by specifically naming them among the defective classes, it was adopted, and the President appointed as the committee provided for in the report Drs. Wigginton, Gapen and Hoegh.

At this point of the proceedings the Society adjourned until 2 o'clock P. M.

WEDNESDAY, June 2, 2 P. M.

The Society met pursuant to adjournment, the President in the Chair.

As the first order of business Dr. Margaret Caldwell read a pa

per on Pelvic Cellulitis, which was referred to the Committee on Publication.

Dr. D. C. Davies read a paper on Breach Presentations, and fatal shock following the use of forceps, which was referred to Committee on Publication.

A paper by Dr. Walbridge on Railway Spine was read by Dr. Palmer.

On motion disposal of this paper was postponed until evening, Dr. Marks being requested to open discussion upon it.

The Society adjourned in pursuance of the recommendation of the Committee on Arrangements to meet at 8 o'clock P. M. and a large proportion of the members accepted the invitation of the physicians of Madison to participate in an excursion on Lake Mendota, stopping at the State Hospital for the Insane, at which place a generous out-of-doors banquet was provided, the whole occasion being one that formed a very enjoyable feature of this session of the Society.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 8 P. M.

Society convened pursuant to adjournment, and was opened by the reading of a paper by Prof. J. E. Davies of the State University, on the Relation of the Exact Sciences to the study and practice of Medicine.

Dr. Gapen: It seems to me that if we had more papers like that there would be more true medical and scientific enthusiasm among us.

I think that it is perhaps generally true that the scientific spirit to which the doctor has paid such a magnificent tribute is not sufficiently cultivated by us. A clear line between the known, and the supposed or not known, is not very often drawn, but I think the true spirit of science is on the increase among us. I think the cultivation of the enthusiastic spirit of science of which the doctor has so nobly spoken in this paper, is the very thing needed to build up the profession. We should call attention to the quack and to the charlatan, who by his boldness wins from the public the applause