It occurs to me that this easy-going feeling has had much to do in keeping our city from occupying the prominent position in education and authorship that her opportunities, and conditions in general, would lead us to expect. I am glad to say that she is arousing from her lethargy, and recently her pen has been busy. Several works have emanated from the profession here which have attracted much attention, and have been quite extensively read. Notably among them is a 'Text-book of Hygiene,' by Dr. Rohe, and 'The Physician Himself,' by Dr. Cathell, which has reached a fifth edition and a sale of over fifteen thousand copies. I should like to say, concerning these two works, that no physician, especially if he be under thirty-five years of age, should be without them. Two other works, 'A Manual on Nervous Diseases,' by Dr. A. B. Arnold, an old, experienced and able teacher, and one on 'Practical Chemistry,' by Dr. Simon, have been much studied and commented upon. They are limited to special subjects and will not naturally obtain a large class of readers. These, like the long-delayed blade of corn, which pushes its emerald tip heavenward and bears upon its face the sparkling matin dew, give promise of a fertile soil and of abundant fruitage. At the last meeting of the Medical and Surgical Society—which we had the pleasure of attending—there was an interesting discussion on cerebral troubles of syphilitic origin. A number of cases were related. The various symptoms of these maladies are familiar to your readers. The treatment which was successful in all but one of the cases here reported, was mercury and iodide of potassium. The plan preferred for the administration of mercury is by inunction. All the debaters insisted upon the full constitutional effects of the drugs. As one gentleman put it, “the system must be saturated before a cure is assured.” I might mention among the symptoms, that those manifested by the eye were not regarded as reliable. In one case the only manifestation was a persistent and severe supra-orbital and occipital neuralgia, and for some time the man was in consequence wrongly treated. One physician noted _insomnia_ as a distinct and always present symptom. Also as a point of differential diagnosis between the convulsions of epilepsy and those of local lesion of the brain, that in the former there is no _consciousness_ of having a convulsion, while in the latter such consciousness is very clear, at least at the beginning of the spasm. A case of pelvic peritonitis of the chronic form, reported by the president of the society, elicited much discussion, especially upon the subject of exploratory abdominal incision as a means of diagnosis. He noticed that the younger surgeons favored the operation, but the older ones were more conservative.