Scientific American Supplement, No. 795, March 28, 1891 | Page 9

him to a greater transient height. These are
types of the competitions of the circulation liar. At this very hour there
are four daily newspapers each of which has the largest circulation in
the United States. Of the nearly 18,000 American publications only 103
furnish detailed, open, and entirely trustworthy statements of
circulation.
As to the general public this is no great matter, but to the vast number
of business men who buy the real or fancied publicity afforded by
newspaper advertising it is of exceeding importance. That the large
buyers of advertising space are not more and oftener swindled is
because they understand the circulation extravaganza and buy space
according to their understanding. The time is coming, and it should
come soon, when newspaper circulations shall be open to the same
inspection and publicity as is now the case with banks and insurance
companies, and when the circulation liar and swindler shall be
amenable to the same law and liable to the same penalty as stands
against and is visited upon any other perjurer and thief.
_(To be continued_.)
* * * * *

HOW TO PREVENT HAY FEVER.
By ALEXANDER RIXA, M.D., New York.
In the May (1890) number of the Therapeutic Gazette I furnished some
contribution to the "Treatment of Hay Fever." I reported therein a
favorable result in the treatment of this mysterious disease in the
experience of my last year's cases.
My experience of this year is far more gratifying, and worthy of
receiving a wide publicity.
I treated six cases in all, four of which have been habitual for years to
hay fever proper without complications, while the other two used to
have the disease aggravated with reflex asthma and bronchial catarrh. I
succeeded in preventing the outbreak of the disease in every individual
case. The treatment I applied was very simple, and consisted of the

following:
From the fact that I had known all my patients from previous years, I
ordered them to my office two weeks before the usual onset of the
disease. I advised them to irrigate the nose with a warm solution of
chloride of sodium four times a day--morning, noon, evening, and on
retiring; and, a few minutes after the cleansing of the parts, had the
nares thoroughly sprayed with peroxide of hydrogen and c.p. glycerin,
half and half. Those subject to a conjunctivitis I prescribed a two per
cent. solution of boric acid as a wash. At this period no internal
medication was given, but three days previous to the usual onset of the
disease I prescribed phenacetin and salol, five grains of each three
times a day.
On the respective expected days, to the great surprise of all the
members concerned successively, who have been in the habit of getting
the disease almost invariably at a certain date, no hay fever symptoms
appeared, though everyone had been the victim of the disease for a
great number of years, varying from five to nineteen years' standing.
It is self-understood that this treatment was kept up all through the
season, and, as no symptoms developed, the applications were reduced,
toward the termination, to twice and once a day. The internal
medication, however, was stopped after the expiration of the first week,
and all the patients could attend to their various respective vocations,
something they never have been able to do in previous years.
In two cases, though no nasal symptoms developed, about two weeks
after the calculated onset, slight symptoms of asthma made their
appearance. However, I could easily suppress them at this time with the
aid of the hand atomizer and ozonizer, a very ingenious little apparatus,
of which I gave a thorough description in my last year's article. I used
the ozone inhalations every four hours, in connection with the internal
administration of the following prescription:
Rx Iodide of ammonia, 8; Fl. ex. quebracho, 30; Fl. ex. grindelia
robusta, 15; Tr. lobelia, 12; Tr. belladonna, 8; Syr. pruni, virg., q.s., ad
120.
Sig.--Teaspoonful three or more times during twenty-four hours.
However, toward the end of the fourth week, especially in one case--a
stout, heavy-set gentleman--very grave asthmatic symptoms developed,
which compelled me to apply Chapman's spinal ice bag, as well as

resort to the internal administration of large doses of codeine during the
paroxysm, with the most beneficial result.
I gave also oxygen inhalations a fair trial in the two cases. I find them
to act very soothingly in the simple asthma, facilitating respiration after
a few minutes; but during the paroxysmal stage they cannot be utilized,
for the reason that respiration is short and rapid, and does not permit of
a control in the quantity of the gas to be inhaled. Consequently, it is
either of little use as a remedy; or, if too much is taken,