These remarks are a little beside the subject, but I am constrained to quote them to illustrate that but few medicines are needed, if these be well understood, and the indications for their use can be mastered by anyone in a short time.

For the past several years my emergency medical case has contained only ten remedies, and with these I have not hesitated to make professional trips of many miles. The case should be made of sole leather with a pocket for a small note book and loops for a clinical thermometer. The bottles should hold half an ounce and have screw caps. Have the glazier etch with his diamond the numbers from 1 to 10 on the sides of the bottles. The reason for this is that numbers pasted on are liable to rub off, and as many tablets look much alike confusion may occur. Then fill them in this manner:

It will be noted that I did not mention morphine, strychnia, or cocaine, as they were spoken of in connection with the hypodermic. In the case I also place a one-minute clinical thermometer. All of these instruments are now made self-registering and must be shaken down after each using. This should be done, not by a jar, but with a long sweep of the arm. Too sudden a jar will snap the instrument in two. Shake until the mercury column stands below the △ mark. This △ mark indicates the body heat at normal condition, that is, 98.4° F.

Every man should familiarize himself with certain physiological facts, and with these as guideposts he ought to be able to follow a train of indications to a reasonably fair diagnosis. The pulse rate, taken at the wrist, is generally a fair index of the condition of the body. The normal man has a pulse rate of about seventy-two beats per minute, women somewhat more rapid; high elevations also produce a more rapid pulse.

If there is an increase of heart beat above eighty per minute, accompanied by other subjective symptoms, it is an indication that something is wrong. In the absence of a clinical thermometer, one can arrive at a pretty fair knowledge of the body heat by counting the pulse. It is estimated that there will be an elevation of one degree F. for every ten beats above the normal. This rule varies, but is a fair average.

The appearance of the tongue is a valuable signpost, but one that is difficult of mastery. A few prominent indications will be noted. A thin, white, even furring of the tongue is indicative of gastric disturbances and mild fever states. A flabby, swollen, indented tongue covered with a uniform yellow, pasty fur is indicative of profound gastric states and gastro-duodenitis; it may also be produced by a continued moderate fever.

A narrow tongue, with deep median fissure on each side of which is a thick rough fur, the tip and edges being red and denuded, is characteristic of typhoid states whether arising from typhoid or not. The same condition will be found in profound intoxication from septic poisons. If the tongue becomes dry and brown, tremulous when protruded, and the patient returns it slowly when requested to do so, he has typhoid beyond question. A brown fur on the root of the tongue, especially in the morning, indicates a sluggish condition of the liver. In jaundice the tongue is yellow.

It is estimated that the normal man in a state of rest will breathe sixteen times per minute. Any radical departure from the rate will indicate disease. An increase of two respirations per minute is supposed to indicate a rise of one degree F. in the body temperature, though this rule is subject to variations. Inspection of the bare chest tells the trained physician much regarding the condition of his patient and even the layman can glean much knowledge from that source.

If the patient is breathing from twenty-five to thirty-five times per minute, the respiration being confined to one lung as indicated by the lack of expansion in the other, and if he lies so as to take the strain off the lung that does not expand, it is almost sure that the patient has pneumonia. In case the lung is fixed rigidly by the muscles and the opposite lung forced to do all the work, then the patient has pleurisy.