Lectures on Nasal Obstruction. By A. Marmaduke Sheild, M.B., (Camb.) F.R.C.S., (Eng.). Surgeon to St. George's Hospital, London, and Surgeon in Charge of the Throat Department; Late Assistant Surgeon, Lecturer on Operative Surgery, and Aural Surgeon, Charing Cross Hospital. With one colored plate and 27 illustrations in the text. Price, $1.50. Philadelphia. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut street.

1901.

In this small volume we have a series of lectures delivered in connection with the throat department at St. George's Hospital, London, 1900.

The author has a good style, but is at times rather prolix. He rightfully takes a position that there is too much abuse of nasal surgery, and, although, as he states, there are a number of people who are convinced that they must be operated upon for the relief of an imaginary obstruction, whose practice the surgeon is likely to lose by refusing the operation, he earnestly urges his students to exercise great care in selecting patients for operation.

The author commends the Asch's operation, for deviated septa, as the best operation that is now practiced for extreme obtuse septal deviation. He introduces, however, a celluloid splint, to be continuously worn, which is his own modification.

In operation for adenoids the author has found the A. C. E. mixture very satisfactory as an anesthetic, but takes quite a firm position against chloroform; the bad effects and fatalties attending the administration of this latter in young children he believes to be due in the majority of cases to overdose and faulty administration. The author does not seem to be partial to any particular method of operating, but uses the steel finger nail, Gottstein's curette or forceps (with a cutting edge), as the case may be.

The section devoted to the treatment of nasal polypi deserves special notice. It considers the subject fully, and is well illustrated.

The entire work is amply illustrated, and many interesting cases are reported to emphasize particular points.

A Textbook of the Practice of Medicine. By Dr. Herman Eichhorst, Professor of Special Pathology and Therapeutics and Director of the Medical Clinic in the University of Zurich. Translated and edited by Augustus A. Eshner, M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Philadelphia Polyclinic. Two octavo volumes of over 600 pages each; over 150 illustrations. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901. Price per set: Cloth, $6.00, net.

The Germans are especially well-known for their superior work in diagnosis, and the fact that they lead the world in internal medicine is due to the painstaking care and arduous toil with which they have evolved and investigated diagnostic methods, and so thoroughly studied the physiologic action of drugs. The name of Eichhorst is not so well-known to American students and practitioners as some of the other German writers, but in his own country his name is placed in the first rank of leading medical men.

Although this book is a new one, its publication in Germany was the occasion of its gaining immediate popularity, and it is now regarded as one of the leading textbooks in that country. While the work is published in two volumes, it is not necessarily too elaborate for medical students, since the volumes are not unwieldy, and are printed in good, clear type.

The author, true to his training, has devoted considerable space to the consideration of pathology, but this is presented in an especially clear and attractive manner. His portrayal of clinical symptoms is accurate, and his therapy rational. The work should find considerable favor with students and practitioners in this country.

Principles of Surgery. By N. Senn, M.D., PH.D., LL.D., Professor of Surgery in Rush Medical College in Affiliation with the University of Chicago; Professorial Lecturer on Military Surgery in the University of Chicago; Attending Surgeon to the Presbyterian Hospital; Surgeon-in-Chief to St. Joseph's Hospital; Surgeon-General of Illinois; Late Lieutenant-Colonel of United States Volunteers, and Chief of the Operating-staff with the Army in the field during the Spanish-American War. Third edition. Thoroughly revised with 230 wood engravings, half-tones, and colored illustrations. Royal octavo. Pages, xiv-700. Extra cloth, $4.50, net; sheep or half russia,

$5.50, net. Delivered. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, publishers, 1914-16 Cherry street.

The author of this work is one of the most versatile writers in the medical profession of America, and his contributions to surgical literature are always characteristeric of the man-one of the ablest surgeons in the world.

The work before us is now in its third edition, and has already become so well known to the profession that it would be superfluous for us to attempt to add anything to what has previously been said of the book. Let it suffice for us to state that the volume has undergone thorough revision, and purchasers will find a great deal in this edition that was not found in the one issued a short time since.

Atlas and Epitome of Obstetric Diagnosis and Treatment. By Dr. 0. Shaeffer, of Heidelberg. From the Second Revised German Edition. Edited by J. Clifton Edgar, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Clinical Midwifery, Cornell University Medical School. With 122 colored figures on 56 plates, 38 other illustrations and 317 pages of text. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901. Cloth, $3 net.

Operative treatment is at times, we regret to say, a recognized necessity in this field, and accurate diagnosis and quick application of treatment are as essential in this branch of surgery as in any other. In this atlas we have a graphic series of plates, together with a concise and definite text, which should be of material aid to the obstetric surgeon.

Eczema, with An Analysis of Eight Thousand Cases of the Disease. By L. Duncan Bulkley, AM., M.D., Physician to the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital; Dermatologist to the Randall's Island Hospitals; Consulting Physician to the New York Hospital, Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled, and Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, etc. Third edition of Eczema and its Management, entirely rewritten. G. P. Putnan's Sons, New York and London. The Knickerbocker Press. 1901.

Of the many persistent lesions of the skin that are encountered in practice, none is more unsatisfactory to handle than is eczema. Dr. Bulkley has written extensively on this subject, and presents in this manual a comprehensive considera

tion of the disease in all its manifestations, and concisely and explicitly sets forth the indicated treatment. An experience of 8000 cases of this disease justifies him in contributing this book to the literature.

Induction Coils-How to Make, Use and Repair Them. Including Ruhmkorff, Tesla, and Medical Coils, Roentgen Radiography, Wireless Telegraphy, and Practical Informatian on Primary and Secondary Battery. By. H. S. Norrie (Norman H. Schneider). Second edition, revised and much enlarged. New York. Spon & Chamberlain, 12 Courtland street. London: E. & F. N. Spon, Ltd., 125 Strand. 1901.

While many physicians have in almost constant use an induction coil, very few of them understand the construction of such a coil, and in minor degree only comprehend its uses. The author of this work has supplied us with a short treatise that includes not merely the subject of its primary title, but goes into a discussion of the construction and working of a great deal of other apparatus that may or may not have application in medicine. To those who desire practical instruction in this field this work will have peculiar interest.

Atlas and Epitome of the Nervous System and Its Diseases. By Professor Dr. Chr. Jakob, of Erlangen. From the Second Revised German Edition. Edited by Edward D. Fisher, M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System, University and Bellevue Medical College, New York. With 83 plates and copious text. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901.

Cloth, $3.50 net.

The subject of the nervous system and its diseases is one of such abstruseness that it is largely neglected by students and practitioners of medicine. Any work, therefore, that may tend to simplify its study should receive a cordial welcome from the medical profession. This characteristic commends Dr. Jakob's Atlas, for by the aid of the beautiful plates therein contained, the anatomy and pathology of diseases of the nervous system become more readily comprehended, and the succinct descriptions that accompany the plates help to elucidate the pathological states considered.

Atlas and Epitome of Ophthalmoscopic Diagnosis. By Professor Dr. O. Haab, Director of the Eye Clinic in Zurich. From the Third Revised and Enlarged German Edition. Edited by George E. de Schweinitz, Professor of Ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. With 152 colored lithographic illustrations and 85 pages of text. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901. Price, $3 net.

As a field for beautiful illustrations, no department of medicine presents better opportunities than that of ophthalmology. The skillful user of the ophthalmoscope has before him a small chamber richly stored with pictures of varying hues and conformations.

The plates in this atlas are exceptionally clever, and the reproductions of normal and pathologic states cannot fail to be of great value, not merely to the beginners in ophthalmology, but also to the experienced specialist.

Atlas and Epitome of Labor and Operative Obstetrics. By Dr. O. Shaeffer, of Heidelberg. From the Fifth Revised German Edition. Edited by

J. Clifton Edgar, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Clinical Midwifery, Cornell University Medical School. With 14 lithographic plates, in colors, and 139 other illustrations. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901.

Cloth, $2 net.

Of the several excellent volumes in this series of atlases, none shows evidence of greater popularity than this. It has already gone to the fifth edition in Germany, and promises to go to many more before its popularity is exhausted.

While there is considerable descriptive text accompanying the plates, the chief value of this atlas will be found in the beautiful and lifelike illustrations which portray so vividly the subjects selected for illustration.

Essentials of the Diseases of Children. By William M. Powell, M.D. Third Edition. Thoroughly revised by Alfred Hand, Jr., M.D., Dispensary Physician and Pathologist to the Children's Hospital, Philadelphia. 12mo., 259 pages. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders & Co. Price, $1 net. The growing importance of thorough study of the diseases of children in our medical colleges has resulted in the establishment of chairs on this subject in most of the leading medical colleges.

Every practitioner can attest to the fact that a large proportion of his practice consists of the diseases of infancy and childhood, so it is of paramount importance that medical students should become thoroughly versed in diagnostic methods and treatments as required for the juvenile element of our communities. This compend is one of the best devoted to this subject that can be found.

"Let us then be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait."-Longfellow.

MEDICAL MONTHLY.

VOL. XXI

MEMPHIS, JULY, 1901.

No. 7

ORIGINAL ARTICLES.

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF IODIDES AND MERCURY IN THE TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS.*

BY EUGENE CARSON HAY, M.D.

HOT SPRINGS, ARK.

I SELECT this subject because of my experience in treating syphilitics from all over a very large territory, and especially patients who have been under their home physician before consulting me. As a result of my experience I am frequently impressed with the fact that there is a wide difference of opinion among our profession in the estimation of the value and use of mercury and iodide in the different stages of syphilis. For example, patients presenting themselves for treatment, who, in my opinion, have been taking mercury, when mercury and iodide are indicated; again, patients taking mercury and iodide, when only mercury is indicated, and last but not least, patients taking only iodide, when they should have either mercury and iodide or mercury alone. Hence, I wish to emphasize a few points especially in regard to the administration of these drugs in secondary syphilis; points that I know are contrary to the writings of some of our most eminent authors on the subject; but facts that have been repeatedly impressed upon my mind by clinical experience, and the excellent results obtained in treating a large number of syphilitic patients, both in private and dispensary practice.

*Read before Tri-State Med. Assn. (Miss. Ark. & Tenn.) Memphis, Nov. 14, 1900 VOL. XXI-25 337