Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 1.djvu/134

124 Now, therapeutics is the end, though the study of diseased conditions might be pleasant enough by itself. We are sometimes twitted with letting Nature alone to do her work. We do not. And here, again, we join issue with the theologians. They say, "If it is God's will that a man die, so be it." But, say we, "God's will is to be found out; it is not a mere fate." We are not ignorant worshippers of Nature, and, whether a man is doomed to die or no, we know only by the result. We are connective agents. We have to adjust and correct. We know the tendency to recurrence to the equilibrium—that is, health—and we endeavor to assist in adjusting this balance in each individual.

In fever, for instance, two things are promptly at work—destructive changes, and changes tending to recovery. In such diseases there are certain superficial accidents which we are apt to notice. In fever there are often complications; but these are really part of the fever-process, and are not to be interfered with by themselves. Our study must be, how best to bring the condition to a safe ending; for a patient in fever may get well of the fever, and yet die of a bedsore.

In conclusion, if I have spoken more as regards medicine than as regards surgery, I think the surgeons ought to be indebted to me for hints toward the extirpation of superfluous organs—a grand prospect for the surgeons of the future.—British Medical Journal.

following statements are from a paper entitled "Medical Notes on Alaska," by W. T. Wythe, M. D., read before the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, and published in the Pacific Medical Journal:

The country is very mountainous; lofty peaks, clad with snow throughout the year, being everywhere visible. One mountain-chain, identical with the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range of California, extends along the coast, through the Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands; another chain, the continuation of the Rocky Mountain system, extends across the country to Behring's Strait, and, passing under the sea, is said to reappear in Asia. Between these two mountain-chains lies an immense valley, drained by the Youkon, a river nearly as large as the Mississippi, and which Dr. Dall has well described in his work on Alaska. These mountains, with their numerous branching chains and foot-hills, cover the whole country with impassable barriers. Among them lie many valleys, where, during the few days of summer, some vegetation can be seen, and it is here that the natives live; sometimes, however, a glacier will encroach upon the valley, or an avalanche of snow and rocks from the neighboring hills fill it up, or in spring a flood overflow it. In these inhabitable spots there is but little soil; all the vegetation seems to spring up in the peat-bogs, which are found everywhere except on the mountains. In these bogs, when sheltered from the winds, many kinds of trees will grow, but they are almost totally worthless. Grass grows very rapidly during the warmer days of summer, and sometimes attains a height of five feet. For agricultural purposes the territory is worthless.

The climate of the interior of Alaska is very different from that of the coast. Along the coast the average temperature is about 40° Fahr. during the year, while on the other side of the mountains it is many degrees lower. The coast is very foggy and damp. The rainfalls are very frequent, and it is subject to very severe storms of wind. At Sitka, it is said that for a number of years past the number of days during the year when it did not rain or snow, has been thirty-five. In the interior the climate is very cold in winter, and in summer somewhat warmer than on the coast. There is but little rain or fog. Snow falls to a great depth, and I have seen the ground frozen thirteen inches below the surface in midsummer. The cause of this peculiar climate, and of the difference of average temperature on the coast and the interior, is the same that modifies the whole Pacific coast. The Japan current, which brings the warm waters of the southeast shores of Asia, is undoubtedly the principal agent in controlling the climate of the northwest coast of America. From the Aleutian Islands to Sitka the whole coast is bathed by this "Pacific Gulf Stream." In addition to this current, the winds have a share in influencing the climate. Along the coast the prevailing winds are from the