FIRST HOLIDAY EDITION OF THE FAIRHAVEN HERALD, WASHINGTON. When we consider that the handsomely printed and finely and profusely illustrated mammoth newspaper before us, of 24 well filled pages (14 x 21 in.), comes from a town in the newly organized State of Washington, whose beginning was only fifteen months ago, it deserves to rank among the "curiosities of literature." The town and people capable of such master strides are fully equal o achieving and maintaining a prominent place among the rival centres of the great and growing west. GOLDTHWAITE'S GEOGRAPHICAL EXCHANGE, Vol. 1, No. 1, 117 Nassau street, New York City. This is a new Illustrated monthly of 85 pp., devoted to geographical explorations, discoveries and information; the first of this exclusive kind ever undertaken; price $2.00 per annum. It merits a liberal patronage. EFFECT OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES-DYNAMITE AND NITRO-GLYCERINE, on the human system; by Thomas Darlington, M. D., New York City. This is an eight page pamphlet, highly interesting as treating upon a subject quite original. REMOVAL OF TONSILLAR HYPERTROPHY, BY ELECTRO-CAUTERY DISSECTION, By Edwin Pynchon, M. D., Chicago; 12 pp. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, January, 1891. This pamphlet is particularly interesting as containing a comparative table showing the variations of the academic course of forty American Colleges, especially in respect to dead and living foreign languages. ABNORMAL INTRA-THORACIC AIR PRESSURES AND THEIR TREATMENT. An address delivered at the Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Climatological Association, 1890, by Professor Charles Denison, A. M., M. D. Colorado, Prest. An illustrated pamphlet of 41 pp., replete with recitals of individual cases. INSPIRATIONS OF THE SCHOOL-TEACHER. This is an unpretentious little book by a practical teacher, of value to all classes of readers. W. W. Knowles & Co., Chicago. CALENDARS, 1891.-There may be a more uniquely elegant Calendar somewhere published, than that which found its way to our sanctum, by the favor of its enterprising publishers, Mess. Lea & Shepard, of Boston, but certain it is that none such has come under our observation. The illustrated catalogue of infant periodicals and toy books which accompanied it, is a fit companion piece in the exquisite nature of its illustrations, typography, and arrangement. It is hardly possible to conceive any thing more artistically perfect in its line. GALAXY OF MUSIC, for January. E. Trifet, Boston. This publication contains 14 select pieces of music, vocal and instrumental, published monthly, $1.00 per annum. At this rate the yearly subscriber would get some 175 pieces of music arranged in two or more parts, at less than three-quarters of a cent per copy. THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING Co., of Chicago, are about to publish in two handsome volumes, a new authorized translation of Gustav Freytag's well known novel, The Lost Manuscript." This is regarded by critics as the writer's best work. "College and SCHOOL" monthly has been sold by Mr. F. G. Barry, to Louis Lombard, of Utica, N. Y. The next number will appear February 15, entitled The Louis Lombard, with a guaranteed circulation of 5,000 copies and a list of able contributors, comprising many well known writers. PROF. KOCH'S METHOD TO CURE TUBERCULOSIS, popularly treated by Dr. Max Birnbaum. Translated from the German by Dr. Fer. Brendecke, with an appendix, etc., Milwaukee, Wis. H. E. Haferkorn, publisher, 1891, 27 pp., illustrated. Price, 75 cents, cloth $1.00. Since the year 1882, when Prof. Koch published to the world his discovery that some of the worst forms of disease are attributable to micro-organisms, persistent efforts have been made to provide some means of eradicating the evil, and it was fitting that the eminent discoverer, in the first instance, should also be the one to supplement his work by this additional discovery. The treatise before us, is the completest that has appeared in this country, on the symptoms, ravages and effect of tuberculosis, and the treatment by Prof. Koch's method, for the expulsion of microbes, with suggestions for the prevention of the evil, through proper sanitary measures. Physicians will find it of great value to them in their practice. We are also indebted to THE ARLINGTON CHEMICAL Co., Yonkers, N. Y., for a large size portrait of Prof. Koch, and many interesting particulars of his life and labors, especially in respect to those discoveries which have made his name a household word throughout the civilized world. VICK'S FLORAL GUIDE FOR 1891 is an elegant book of over 100 pages, 8 x 10 inches. The beautiful colored illustrations include Sunrise Amaranthus, Hydrangea and Potatoes. Instructions for planting, cultivating, etc. Full list of every thing that can de desired in the way of vegetable and flower seeds, plants, bulbs, etc. Also full particulars regarding the cash prizes of $1,000 and $200. The novelties have been tested and found worthy of cultivation. We advise our friends to secure a copy of James Vick, Seedsman, Rochester, N. Y. Α ΜΑΧΙΜ. DEDICATED TO A DENTIST. "Shoemaker, stick to your last!" Don't give up your trade For one you know nothing about. JOURNAL OF HEALTH TRUTH DEMANDS NO SACRIFICE; ERROR CAN MAKE NONE. Vol. 38. MARCH, 1891. No. 3. OUR PRISON SYSTEMS. Much as our method of treating prisoners before and after conviction, has improved within the past few years, there is still abundant room for further improvement, especially in the jails and strongholds of our larger municipalities. It is a humane maxim of the law that an accused person is presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty, but from the treatment many prisoners receive at the hands of petty officials whilst held to await the issue of a trial, the reverse proposition would seem to be the rule. Especially is this the case in the City of New York, where the jail life of accused persons is far from what it should It is hardly to be expected that humane gentle natured men. would seek or retain the place of jail keepers, but surely there is no excuse for the exercise of undue severity in dealing with those unfortunates who, by the force of circumstances are temporarily committed to their charge. Much less is there excuse or palliation for the wretchedly fifthy and unhealthy state of many of the lock-ups and cells assigned to persons restrained of their liberty. We have in mind the recent commitment of two refined and educated gentlemen (father and son) to the Tombs, upon a charge absolutely false, as it subsequently appeared, where they were not only subjected to the insolence and brutality of coarse subordinates, but the cell where they were compelled to spend their nights, was alive with vermin. A still more recent case of the same kind with like experiences, occurred in a neighboring city. It is true, that a little salve to itching palms might have softened the rigors of treatment meted out to those who decline to purchase forbearance at the expense of principle. Even criminals have rights which all men should respect, and among the more essential ones are the right to pure air which costs noth ing and sanitary quarters and surroundings, which ought to be insisted on by those in authority at whatever cost. What we have said of our jails or temporary prisons, applies with equal force to our more extensive prisons and reformatories, designed for malefactors after conviction. We as a people, have no right to add punishment to punishment by subjecting criminals to needless hardship, much less to shorten their lives by unhealthy conditions. There is to-day, in our prison houses, many an involuntary inmate, who, in all the qualities of manhood is greatly the superior of his keeper. Under some dire provocation, which not to resent, would have shown him less of a man, he incurred the penalty of confinement at hard labor for a term of years. The state is entitled to his earnings, but in its turn, it owes him humane treatment, comfortable clothing, pure air, healthful food and a reasonably clean and restful bed in the solitary hours. Mr. Havelock Ellis, a well known Englishman, who has given much attention to this subject, in a recent treatise, says that the ratio of criminals in most civilized communities, including the United States, is greatly on the increase, and Sidney Smith once declared the prisons of England to be schools for the education of criminals. Are not ours open to the same charge? Nothing so tends to harden and embitter a criminal, as a sense of undue humiliation and severity. His very soul recoils against it, till he feels that he has much to revenge, and this feeling is a frequent source of continual ill-doing. In theory, our prisons are reformatory institutions. The leading objects are the security of the State against the repetition of crime, and the reformation, of offenders. That the best means of attaining these objects have not as yet been arrived at, all must admit. The subject is one which cannot too seriously engage the attention of our lawmakers. We have held for a long time, that a system of prison labor which carries to the credit of the laborer the avails of his handiwork, deducting therefrom a reasonable sum for his keeping, and paying over to him the surplus, if any, at the time of his discharge, would secure more and better work in the various trades, and leave the discharged convict not altogether empty handed, upon his entering anew upon his struggle for subsistence, outside the gates. This may appear to be impracticable, but we would like to see it tried. THE HYGIENE OF MOTHERHOOD, BY DR. JOHN SHEPPMAN. PART FIFTH. How to counteract the seeds of infection and to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, may be a serious problem among many young women; and one, which, devoid of its technicalities, should be looked upon as an interesting study by every intelligent mother. There are few children who are fortunate enough to escape. a siege of one of the many ills, and fewer parents who thoroughly realize the extent to which all sickness is more or less preventable. Science has now conclusively proven that all infectious, communicable, and contagious diseases are caused by a germ, or microbe, which multiplies with incredible rapidity as soon as it is taken into the human system. This minute living organism may be likened to a seed, or plant, which produces only after its kind, and which fructifies according to the cultivated, or favorable condition of the soil. That we are all in constant danger of pestilential infection, cannot be questioned after having microscopically examined all articles of food, drink, and the general condition of the atmosphere. Every thing seems to owe its production to some viable substance, which in its germinating process gives food, and takes food from that upon which it subsists. From these few lines, we can deduct the logical principles of the germ doctrine, which certifies that no inert matter has the power to proportionately increase itself, without some vital assistance. If we allow our bodies to become corrupt, or undermined in health, we make of them an excellent breeding place for the seeds of all contagious diseases, which will take root, and propagate, in the most virulent manner. It is therefore very evident that the principal rules which we all should endeavor to follow, are, to keep the body in a clean and robust state, and to avoid doing any thing that has a detrimental influence upon our health. The small specks of living animal matter which float about in drinking water, are not all necessarily injurious, as a certain species must be present in order to bring about the dreaded results. No form of animal life can originate spontaneously. Nor can typhoid fever manifest itself without the presence of its specific germ. If we study the sources of infection, we will invariably find traces of some pre-existing case where antiseptic precautions were |