Psoriasis is another disease in which the views of Robinson have been almost universally and without reservation accepted. His description of the morbid changes in the skin have been confirmed, but have scarcely been modified. Speaking of elephantiasis, and its connexion with the filaria, the misleading statement is made that these minute embryonal worms are to be found in numbers only during certain hours of the day: the fact being that during the day they are rarely seen, but appear between the hours of six and seven in the evening, reaching their maximum at midnight. Clinically, lupus, in both its forms, is well described; but while the author agrees with those who consider that it is related to the ordinary scrofulodermata, and in speaking of these says that the essential cause of scrofula is, of course, the specific infecting agent, the bacillus, he is altogether silent as to the relation of the bacillus to lupus, or even as to its presence in the giant cells. While we have pointed out some of the defects, and alluded to a few discrepancies which we have met with during a perusal of this volume, it must not be thought that we are dissatisfied with it as a whole. On the contrary it will be found, in most cases, a reliable guide, and no little labour must have been expended on its preparation.

Von Ziemssen's Handbook of General Therapeutics. Vol. III. Respiratory Therapeutics, by Professor M. J. OESTEL, M.D., of Munich. Translated by J. BURNEY YEO, M.D., F.R.C.P., Professor of Clinical Therapeutics in King's College, London; Physician to King's College Hospital, etc., etc. London: Smith, Elder, & Co.: 1885.

THIS Volume will, we anticipate, be one of the most important of the series, for the subject with which it deals has not hitherto been so fully treated of. While it may be regretted that the author has confined himself exclusively to what may be called the direct or local method of treatment, it need hardly be made a serious objection, as the knowledge of the ordinary methods of medication, by the administration of remedies through the stomach, is pretty general, and much of the literature is fairly

accessible.

After a short historical résumé, the chemical part of respiratory therapeutics is taken up. This section occupies half the volume, and is devoted to the subject of inhalations. It is necessarily prefaced by an argument to prove that not only fluids and vapours but also solid bodies find their way into the remotest recesses of the pulmonary tissue. It has been contended, and is still held by many, that medication by inhalation in pulmonary affections is wholly vanity; but in the light of our pathological knowledge of coal-miner's lung and analogous states, and from the results of

physiological experiments, there can be no reasonable doubt that medicated vapours and fluids find their way into the respiratory passages.

The various apparatus used are described-both those for the pulverization of medicated fluids, and those for the development of medicated vapours, either by artificial volatilization or administered by means of respirator-inhalers. All the different substances applicable to any of these methods are passed in review, and are too numerous to be referred to more specially.

This section concludes with the treatment of special maladies by inhalation, and comprises the treatment of hæmorrhage from the respiratory passages, diseases of the nasal passages, mouth, and entire respiratory tract.

These methods have been much more elaborately tested in Germany than in this country, and the translation of this volume will probably give an impetus to their use here. We may not be so sanguine of great results as the author appears to be, but from the fairness and accuracy with which he has stated the result of treatment in affections in which we have used almost identical methods, we should be prepared for results beyond what we should have anticipated before we perused this work.

The second part of the volume is devoted to the physical part of respiratory therapeutics-that is, to the treatment by alterations of air pressure. Here also considerable space is devoted to the description of apparatus and to theoretical considerations and experimental evidence. We have witnessed the beneficial action of compressed air in some respiratory affections, and are rather surprised to find that in asthma it is not always safe to adopt this treatment; while the results recorded by the author as obtained by the pneumatic treatment of emphysema are somewhat startling.

We commend the volume to the favourable consideration of the profession, who will find much suggestive material in it presented in good English, thanks to the translator, who is himself wellknown as an able labourer in a like direction.

A Handbook of Therapeutics. By SYDNEY RINGER, M.D., Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine in University College, Physician to University College Hospital. Eleventh Edition. London: H. K. Lewis: 1886.

WE have on previous occasions noticed favourably Professor Ringer's Therapeutics. The fact that this manual has reached an eleventh edition within a few years shows the great popularity of the work. It is well that such an excellent book should have an extensive circulation. The book is confined to Therapeutics, meaning thereby "the physiological and therapeutic action of individual drugs on the body." It contains no Materia Medica and

Pharmacy properly so called, and therefore can only be used as a text-book for Therapeutics. In these days, when students have so much to learn, we could have wished that the book had been smaller, but the way to accomplish this is to curtail the list of official medicines. The book is adapted to the new Pharmacopoeia, and is sure to have, like the previous editions, an extensive circulation.

The Prescriber's Pharmacopoeia, containing all the Medicines in the British Pharmacopoeia. Arranged in Classes according to their Action, with their Composition and Doses. Revised and Edited by NESTOR TIRARD, M.D., M.R.C.P., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at King's College, etc., etc. Sixth Edition. London: J. & A. Churchill: 1886.

THE general plan of this work is excellent, and on the whole Professor Tirard has produced a Pharmacopoeia which will be valuable to many prescribers. The great defect in the book is the fact that it includes "all the medicines in the B. P." Many of these should never have been in any Pharmacopoeia, and certainly are seldom if ever used by physicians who know the proper remedies to administer in the treatment of disease. Professor Tirard would make a selection of those medicines which are really valuable, he would greatly increase the value and popularity of his work.

If

Another improvement of considerable importance would be the omission from their respective classes of those drugs, which, though possessing the peculiar physiological action of that class of drugs, are never used to produce that particular physiological action. Many drugs possess physiological actions, and yet these are of such a kind that they cannot be taken advantage of in the treatment of disease-for example, lobelia is undoubtedly emetic, but it cannot be safely used for the purpose of emesis; for a similar reason colchicum should not be classed under "Purgatives," for though it may possess this property, it is never used as a purgative in the treatment of disease. Notwithstanding these defects we have much pleasure in recommending the book to the notice of our readers.

The Pocket Pharmacopoeia for 1885, including the Therapeutical Actions of the Drugs, etc. By ARMAND SEMPLE, B.A., M.B., M.R.C.P. Lond., etc. London: Baillière, Tindall, & Cox: 1886.

THIS Volume, which is meant to be an epitome of the New Pharmacopoeia, to which are added the therapeutical actions of the drugs, is one which we cannot recommend. The therapeutic actions are

so meagrely stated, that the book can never be used as a text-book by students. It is a book which can be of little use either to students or practitioners.

The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By ALFRED BARING GARROD, M.D., F.R.S., late Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at King's College, etc., etc. Eleventh Edition. Revised and Edited under the supervision of the Author by NESTOR TIRARD, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at King's College, etc., etc. London: Longmans, Green, & Co.: 1885.

WE are glad to see that this popular and excellent text-book has reached the eleventh edition, embracing the alterations contained in the New Pharmacopoeia. It is, however, not yet free from inaccuracies, as when the authors, at page 311, speak of the leaves of Vaccinium Vitis-Idaa having their "margins crenated." This is a very common mistake of writers on Materia Medica, but could be made by no one acquainted with the plant. Again, it is very misleading for students to be told that the cinchona bark, used to obtain the alkaloids, is "collected in the north-western and western regions of South America." True, South America is the home of the cinchonas, but equally true, the alkaloids are now obtained chiefly from cultivated plants. These and similar mistakes will doubtless be corrected in future editions.

A Practical Treatise on the Sputum, with special reference to the Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapeusis of Diseases of the Throat and Lungs. By G. HUNTER MACKENZIE, M.D. (Edin.), Lecturer on Practical Laryngology and Rhinology in the ExtraAcademical School of Medicine, Edinburgh, etc. W. & A. K. Johnston, Edinburgh and London: 1886.

SINCE Koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus, the sputum has received increased attention from physicians. The result is seen in such works as that now before us. It is not a large volume, but there is much in it that will help to throw a new light on respiratory disease. There are in all thirteen chapters. In the first three of these the characters of the sputum in non-tubercular affections of the lungs are considered. Attention is paid to the occurrence of Charcot's crystals and Curschmann's spirals, the latter of which appear to be better known in German than in English literature. It is also shown that elastic tissue may occur in some of these sputa, e.g., that of chronic bronchitis. The presence of schizomycetes in certain forms of pneumonia

and pleuro-pneumonia is pointed out, but Dr Mackenzie is of opinion that they do not possess specific properties like the bacillus of tubercle. Two chapters are devoted to the consideration of the sputum in phthisis. The relationship of Koch's bacillus to non-tubercular diseases, to early phthisis, to advanced phthisis, and to the other constituents of the phthisical sputum, is discussed in Chapter V. Like other reliable observers, Dr Mackenzie has not found it in non-tubercular disease. In early phthisis he regards its presence in the sputum a most invaluable aid to diagnosis, and more important than the physical signs, affording as it does "the only satisfactory evidence of the existence of tubercular disease of the lungs."

The importance of a microscopic examination of the sputum in laryngeal disease is shown in Chapter VII. Portions of tissue spat up may enable a diagnosis to be made in cases that were previously obscure.

The therapeutic indications of the sputum in lung and laryngeal diseases are discussed in Chapters IX., X., and XI. In these, by means of the "bacillary scale" invented by the author, and described by him in a previous number of this Journal, he is enabled to show graphically the effects of climate and of antiseptic inhalations on the organisms. The results got from treatment by these or by drugs are not encouraging. Winter residence in high altitudes would appear to have more influence on the organisms than anything else, but this point has not yet been sufficiently studied.

A chapter on disinfection of the sputum, followed by another on the methods of examination, closes a work which, though not extensive, is sufficiently exhaustive and enriched with a large number ⚫ of painstaking observations of great value. The illustrations, whether of organisms or tissues, call for much praise. The volume will repay a careful study.

Part Third.

MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES.

MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. SESSION LXV.-MEETING VI.

Wednesday, 17th February 1886.-Professor GRAINGER STEWART, President, in the Chair.

I. ELECTION OF ORDINARY MEMBERS.

W. Greenfield, M.D., and Dr Oswald Wood, M.B., F.R.C.S. Ed., were elected Ordinary Members of the Society.

EDINBURGH MED. JOURN., VOL. XXXI.-NO. XI.

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