in these therapeutic agencies. The profession may rely upon you with confidence. C. H. Hughes, M.D., President of Faculty, Barnes Med. Col., St. Louis, Mo.

***

Adhesion of Placenta, with Hemorrhage. I had a bad case of adhesion of placenta, with dangerous hemorrhage. With ergot and Sanmetto the danger was at once removed, and by continued use of Sanmetto patient, although very weak from loss of blood, improved rapidly, and is now up and about the house, helping about her work. In sixty years' practice, with an attendance upon more than three thousand child-births, I have used no medicine that seemed to hit the case better than Sanmetto in this instance. I am now in my eighty-seventh year, and have practiced since 1832. S. G. Matson, M.D., Viola, Iowa.

***

The Mercer Chemical Co., Omaha, Neb.: Gentlemen-Mr. W., married, age 39; since an attack of paralysis two years ago has suffered complete impotence; had not experienced in all this time the first sign of even a partial erection. After twenty-four days' treatment with Pill Vita, Blue (Mercer), the patient reported himself restored to full power. Dr. W P. Smith, Assistant Surgeon U. P. Railway, Gothenburg, Neb., Jan. 15, 1895. (Original on file in our office.)

***

If there were any one definite, non-poisonous, non-irritant chemical product capable of destroying all kinds of germs equally well, and under all circumstances, there would be no need of seeking any other; compounds would not be wanted; but unfortunately, owing to the different tenacity of germs, and the fact that some are aerobic, others anaerobic, all do not yield equally to a given germicide. Hence the necessity of producing a combination of comprehensive properties for general use, like Pasteurine, which is prepared from well chosen, antiseptic drugs, and made deodorant, palatable, harmless and universally effective.

***

Samples of Sander & Sons' Eucalypti Extract (Eucalyptol) gratis, through Dr. Sander, Dillon, Iowa. Eucalyptol stands foremost as a disinfectant and antiseptic.

Meyer Bros. Drug

Co., St. Louis, Mo., sole agents. Look for the genuine product.

BOOK REVIEWS.

Obstetric Surgery. By Egbert H. Grandin, M.D., Obstetric Surgeon to the New York Maternity Hospital; Gynecologist to the French Hospital, etc.; and George W. Jarman, M.D., Obstetric Surgeon to the New York Maternity Hospital; Gynecologist to the Cancer Hospital, etc. With eighty-five (85) Illustrations in the Text, and fifteen full-page Photographic Plates. Royal Octavo; 220 pages. Extra Cloth, $2.50 net. Philadelphia: The F. A. Davis Co., Publishers, 1914 and 1916 Cherry Street.

Following an introduction on Asepsis and Antisepsis, this work appears in nine chapters, as follows: 1, Obstetric Dystocia and its Determination; 2, Artificial Abortion and the Induction of Premature Labor; 3, The Forceps; 4, Version; 5, Symphysiotomy; 6, Cæsarean Section; 7, Embryotomy; 8, Surgery of the Puerperium; 9, Ectopic Gestation.

Clearness, terseness and emphasis characterize this book from beginning to end. There is no uncertainty as to what the authors desire to convey, nor of their absolute faith in their doctrines. This is precisely the kind of teaching that is craved by the undergraduate, and which carries conviction to the mind of the reader.

On cleanliness in the lying-in room it is insisted that physician and nurse shall scrub hands and arms in hot soap and water, immerse them in 1 to 1000 solution of bichloride of mercury, and then wash them in alcohol. If either have within a short time been in contact with infectious material, the hands and arms must be scrubbed for at least ten minutes in hot soap and water, giving especial attention to the nails, next covered with a hot saturated solution of permanganate of potash, and then immersed in a hot saturated solution of oxalic acid until the permanganate stain has disappeared. The acid is then removed by soaking the hands in hot sterilized. water. The external genitals of the patient must be scrubbed with hot soap and water and washed with bichloride solution 1 to 1000, and with similar treatment for the vagina, but the scrubbing of which should be done with a new toothbrush. All instruments must be equally radically treated. The vaseline pot is a veritable culture medium for bacteria and must be banished from the lying-in chamber.

Expertness in pelvimetry is an essential part of skillful midwifery. On it often depends the fate of both mother and

foetus. The induction of abortion is in no case to be undertaken without the support of at least one consultant, and the various so-called abortifacients are condemned on account of the liability to septic infection. Only operative procedures under strict asepsis should be adopted.

The authors advocate the immediate repair of the lacerated cervix, as this shuts off one of the avenues of sepsis, removes one of the most common causes of subinvolution, and as primary union usually takes place, obviates the necessity for a secondary operation. How to perform the operation without skilled assistants is shown. After the third stage of labor the labia must be separated and the pelvic floor examined, and if lacerations involving the fascia and muscles be found, they must be repaired at once unless great exhaustion of the patient demand delay, otherwise rectocele and cystocele with their sequelæ may be entailed.

The authors advocate subcutaneous symphysiotomy, and assert that the results obtained during the last three years show that this operation need not have a mortality rate, as the fatal results since its re-introduction have in all cases been due either to the exhausted condition of the patient or to septicæmia. The Galbiati knife is condemned as unnecessary and in some cases dangerous. A short, blunt-pointed bistoury answers better.

We heartily commend this book as one that will richly repay the reader for the time spent in its perusal.

Bloodserum-Therapy and Antitoxin. By George E. Kreiger, M. D., Surgeon

to the Chicago Hospital. With Illustrations. Price, $1 net. E. H. Colegrove & Co., Medical Publishers and Booksellers, 52 Randolph St., Chicago. This timely little book is written to instruct the practitioner in the details of the doctrine of bloodserum - therapy - the modern method of treating infectious diseases—and to explain the effect observed in the use of antitoxin. It also gives the bacteriologist directions how to prepare the remedy. The text is divided into four chapters - the first on bloodserumtherapy in general, its meaning, history, and value in medicine; the second on toxins and toxalbumins - the poisonous products of pathogen microbes; the third on the use of antitoxin in tetanus - this being the first infectious disease in

which the effect of antitoxin was studied; the fourth is on diphtheria, with special attention to the practical administration of the diphtheria-antitoxin, including some valuable suggestions as to the successful use of the remedy. The book contains sixty-nine pages, and seven half-tones, representing microscopical specimens of various microbes.

The Pocket Anatomist. By C. Henri Leonard, A.M., M.D., Professor of Gynecology, Detroit College of Medicine. Leather; 300 pages; 193 Illustrations; postpaid $1. The Illustrated Medical Journal Co., Publishers, Detroit, Mich.

The eighteenth edition of this popular pocket anatomy is now before the profession. It is printed upon thin paper and bound in flexible leather. The illustrations are photo-engraved from the English edition of Gray's Anatomy, so are exact as to their details. Three large editions have been sold in England, and some sixteen thousand copies in this country. It briefly describes each artery, vein, nerve, muscle and bone, besides the several special organs of the body, and contains more illustrations than any of the other small works of this kind.

Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine, and Toxicology. By R. A. Witthaus, A.M. M.D., Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Hygiene, in the University of the City of New York, etc., etc., and Tracy C. Becker, A. B., LL.B., Councillor at Law and Professor of Criminal Law and Medical Jurisprudence in the University of Buffalo. In four volumes. Volume II. Large 8vo. 751 pages, illustrated with wood cuts and three plates, two of them in colors. Price in muslin $5; in brown sheep and law style, $6 per volume. Sold by subscription only. Wm. Wood & Co., New York.

The second volume of this great work is no less meritorious than the preceding one, and with those to follow will constitute an exhaustive treatise on Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, and one which should be in the hands of every physician and lawyer who desires to keep step with the march of his profession.

The present volume contains the following series of articles: Examination of the Blood and Other Stains, by Edward S. Wood; Examination of Hair, by Edward S. Wood; Abortion and Infanticide, by J. Chalmers Cameron; Determination of Survivorship, by T. C. Becker and J. Parmenter; When Medical Examination of the Living is Permitted or Required by Courts of Law, by T. C. Becker; Pregnancy, Labor and the Puerperal State, by J. Clifton Edgar; Sexual Incapacity, by

Irving C. Rosse; Rape, by J. C. Edgar and J. C. Johnston; Unnatural Crimes, by Irving C. Rosse; Railway Injuries, by W. B. Outten; Simulated Diseases, by W. Thornton Parker; a table of cases cited by legal authors, and a table of cases cited by medical authors.

Each of these writers has been selected for his special fitness to treat the subject assigned to him in such a manner as to render it authoritative. The illustrations are numerous and excellent and add greatly to the value of the work. In paper, type and binding this volume is very creditable to the publishers.

The Principles of Surgery and Surgical Pathology. General Rules Governing Operations and the Application of Dressings. By Dr. Hermann Tillmanns, Professor in the University of Leipzig. Translated from the Third German Edition, by John Rogers, M.D., New York, and Benjamin Tilton, M.D., New York. Edited by Lewis A. Stinson, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the University of the City of New York, Medical Department. With 441 Illustrations; 8vo., pp. viii, 800. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1894.

The last ten years have added so greatly to our knowledge of minute processes and tissue changes under morbific influences, their causes, and the principles of repair, that surgery today rests upon a basis, broad and scientific, quite beyond conception by its votaries of the last generation, and only by the mastery of this knowledge can the surgeon of the present hope to make his work fruitful of good. In the acquirement of the learning and skill necessary to the erection of this superstructure of good results, Tillmanns' Surgery and Surgical Pathology will be an invaluable aid. It is arranged in three sections, of which the first gives "The General Principles Governing Surgical Operations;" the second "The Methods of Applying Surgical Dressings;" the third "Surgical Pathology and Therapy." The first section gives the preparations for an aseptic operation; the alleviation of pain during operations; the prevention of loss of blood during an operation; general rules for performing an aseptic operation, and for the after-treatment of the patient; the different ways of dividing the tissues; the methods of arresting hemorrhage; drainage of wounds; the method of uniting the tissues; amputations, disarticulations, and resections; and operations for remedying defects in the tissues. The second gives the anti