THE TREATMENT OF TETANUS

the equilibrium established must be oscillatory. When the regulating device or governor is sensitive and works with a minimum of lag, the amplitude of the oscillation is small. That is the rule in the animal body. But if the governor is lacking in responsiveness,then periodicity, or "hunting" in engineering phrase, becomes manifest. In the animal body "hunting" is definitely pathological, as in Cheyne-Stokes breathing; but in human social activities the oscillations are normally of major dimensions; hence in art the florid and the austere alternate over a long time interval, and in conduct the puritanical and the dissolute slowly succeedeach other; so we need not be surprised if, in dress, skirts long and short, scanty and voluminous, display the same secular rhythm. What interestsmedicalmen is that the choice of women's dressshould be so generally detachedfrom considerations of health. Livers were once compressed until their inhibited functioning produced chlorosis, and in our own day we find high heels causing all sorts of arthritic degenerationsin the foot, whilst the vogue of artificial silk has led to quite inadequateprotection of the lower limbs from chilI in cold weather. The mere male is baffled in his survey of feminine dress and adornment by the fact that natural beauty is so often impaired or actual ugliness engendered. The charm of unpainted cheeksand lips lies in the subtle play of changing tints, and this is completely abolished by rouge and lipstick, which give a mask-like deadness. The gait of a woman with high heels is the very reverse of attractive, as can be plainly seenby comparingit with the unconsciousgrace of a newspaperboy dodging traffic. How often has a medical student fallen in love with a pretty nurse in uniform, but beensadly disillusionedwhen he has seenthe adored one in mufti with dyed lips and dress-ed inwhat she thinks is the correct mode? The most scholarly philologists insist on the absenceof logic in the development of human speech; we are forced to assumethat a similar syncopeof reasondictates feminine styles.