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Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 29, 1883.
N. S. Davis, M.D., Editor:
In an able and comprehensive report of the committeee on Practical Medicine and Epidemics of the Illinois State Medical Society, for 1882-3, published in the weekly Journal of the American Medical Association, October 13, last, the virtues attributed to alcohol as an internal remedy for its germicide power is referred to; also in the same report is mentioned Dr. G. M. Sternberg's recent experiments on the germicide powers of a large number of medicinal agents. According to this report Dr. Sternberg's experiments show that the micrococcus of pus one of the most easily destroyed germs required the presence of 20 per cent. of alcohol for its destruction, while the bacteria termo survived after being immersed in a solution of 95 per cent. alcohol twenty-four hours. From this it is calculated that the amount of alcohol required to be present in