of Philadelphia. 12mo. pp. 158. cloth $1.00. Philadelphia: The Medical Register Co., Publishers. This is a good book. And it is one that every doctor ought to have, 1st because cases of poisoning are liable to occur at any moment, 2nd because a physician cannot remember the antidotes of all the poisonous drugs, and 3d because when a man is poisoned he doesn't want the doctor to wait to look through a whole encyclopædia to find what will prevent death. Here the whole matter is summed up in a brief space, and in convenient form; and besides this it is quite "readable." In fact, the writer seems to be possessed of a considerable amount of humor as well as toxicological learning-as witness his preface: "This work has reached a fifth edition, but it is not my fault and I disclaim any responsibility in the matter. I am told it has been the means of saving many lives, and I have no doubt this is true, for I hear that a gentleman who thought of poisoning himself changed his mind upon reading the directions for treatment. He was of a retiring disposition and objected to have a pint of hot, strong coffee injected into his rectum. A complaint has been made that the book is getting too big. I admit it, but the fact is, there are too many poisons now-a-days. If the people who contemplate suicide would only adopt a uniform method it would facilitate matters greatly. I have introduced a chapter on The Fee' which is very often forgotten. "The Register is to be congratulated upon the typographical neatness of this second volume of its cheap edition of practical books. E. L. The Physician's Dose and Symptom Book.-By Joseph Wythe, M. D., It is perhaps useless to offer any suggestions regarding a book that has reached its seventeenth edition. Yet the same objection exists to this as to other similar books-it is too large for the purpose intended. Besides, there is (to me) a still more serious mistake-one of arrangement. Why cannot authors of such works put under each drug the various preparations with the doses and the incompatibles? Thus: "Digitalis. Foxglove. Cardiac tonic, diuretic. Use. In inflammatory diseases; phthisis; active hæmorrhages and dropsies, unattended by palsy and unsound viscera. From its influence in lowering the pulse, digitalis has been much employed in palpitations and other affections of the heart, in mania, epilepsy, etc., also as an anti-spasmodic in pertussis and spasmodic asthma; where there is a laxness of fibre and a pale countenance. Dose. Of powder twice or thrice a day one grain, but the tincture and extract often used. Preparations. Abstractum digitalis; abstract of digitalis; dose 1 gr. Extractum digitalis; extract of digitalis; dose gr. Extractum digitalis fluidum; fluid extract of digitalis; dose 1 to 2 m. In fusum digitalis; infusion of digitalis; digitalis leaves 30 gr., boiling wa ter 10 fz dose, zij to zss. Tinctura digitalis; tincture of digitalis; dose 10 to 20 gtt; zj represents 8 gr. Incompatibles. Acid, tannic : cinchona, infusion of; iron, sulphate of; lead, acetate of; vegetable astringents." -To secure this information one has to turn to six different parts of the book, and if there were a pill, a syrup, a contection, etc., there would be that many more, instead of all being in one place. Of course the arrangement followed is that of the dispensatories and the pharmacopoeias yet it is none the less objectionable. By obviating this second objection. the first would be overcome. Aside from these two things the book is about as near perfection as can be attained. E. L. The Vest Pocket Anatomist.-By C. Henri Leonard, A. M., M. D., Professor of Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women and Clinical Gynecology in the Detroit College of Medicine; Gynæcological Surgeon to the Michigan College Hospital, etc. 13th edition, 16mo, pp. 154, Detroit: The Illustrated Medical Journal Publishing Co. This little book is deservedly one of the most popular of the dissecting room companions. It has passed through twelve previous editions, four editions being sold in London alone. This book has been thoroughly revised by the author and enlarged by sections on the anatomical triangles and spaces (hernial), gynecological anatomy and dissection hints. Students, for whom it is chiefly intended, will find the contents accurate, being founded upon Gray, and fully meeting the requirements it is intended to fill. E. L. Anamia.-By Frederick P. Henry, M. D., Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Philadelphia Polyclinic; Physician to the Episcopal Hospital; Physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital, etc., 16 mo., pp. 136. Price 75 cts. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. This reprint from The Polyclinic, neatly and uniquely printed and bound by the Blakistons, presents in a brief way all that is known pertaining to anæmia. Professor Henry touches up some points with the hand of a master. For instance: Female anæmics are usually treated with excessive consideration by friends and relatives of their own sex, and regarded by the average practitioner as lucrative humbugs. The fact is that such women are suffering if such a term may be applied to a condition which brings with it so great freedom from responsibilityfrom a light grade of anemia. Many such persons play the role of amia ble drones in the hive of busy workers. They do not repine at their lot preferring to bear the ills they have than fly to others (the responsibilities of health) that they know not of." He defines anæmia as "not a neurosis or functional disorder, as one might suppose from the lose way in which the term is occasionally employed, but a systemic condition dependent upon a lesion which can be demonstrated with the utmost precision--a diininution of the number or value of the red blood corpuscles, that is to say of the normal amount of hæmoglobin, easily recognized with the microscope even when not very perceptible clinic ally. Rest, food and tonics are the remedies. Of drugs, the chief are iron, arsenic, mineral acids and cod liver oil. Of the iron preparations he prefers: R Ferri sulphatis Potassii carbonatis ää gr. iss. M. Sig. One, two or three after meals.--Arsenic is specially indicated in anæmias of malarial origin. He takes up the subjects of secondary anæmias, toxanæmias, parasitic and primary anæmias (chlorosis, Hodgkins' disease, leucocythemia and pernicious anæmia) and altogether has a most instructive little work. E. L. Treatment of Ha morrhoids by Injection of Carbolic acid and other Substances. By Silas T. Yount, M. D., Physician to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, La Fayette, Ind., Member American Medical Assocition, etc. 16mo., pp. 63. Price $1.00. La Fayette: Echo Music Co. In this little brochure Dr. Yount explains the manner of curing piles by the injection of carbolic acid-in fact the Brinkerhoff system of rectal treatment simplified. To the Pratt speculum he objects on account of the pain produced by the large distal end. The Rorick he characterizes as unhandy and besides can only be purchased in a set of expensive instruments. The Aloe causes too much pain on introduction. The old Brinkerhoff is better but can only be obtained by purchasing a county right to use it. Withal he prefers his own which never pulls or drags the piles down, is simple in construction and can be obtained at a very moderate price. The matter is well-handled though occasionally the individuality of the writer crops out a little too plainly. The typography is miserable and the proof-reader was evidently off on a junketing expedition at the time the folios went to press. Dr. Yount"gets off" some excellent advice in a peculiar strain once in awhile as when he says of making a rectal examination: "Do not hurry or act like you were pushing your finger into a Dutch cheese. In exainining the rectum it is important to bear in mind that force is never justifiable, no matter what disease is suspected." To one desiring to practice this method of treatment and not possessing the requisite knowledge this little book is well worth the price asked. E. L. NEW PUBLICATIONS. Mooter Points in Gynecology. By Thomas Addis Emmet, Surgeon to the Woman's Hospital of the State of New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. In this Dr. Emmet attacks the common errors of gynæcological practice, particularly the use of the speculum as a means of diagnosis when the finger should suffice and of the frequent use of the uterine sound -an instrument in which great danger lies. He says he lost his sound some two years ago and has never yet had occasion to replace it! Some of the speculomaniacs of the West should carefully read this Deep Urethral Stricture. Some Important Points in the Treatment. By Fessenden N. Otis, M. D., Clinical Professor of Genito-Urinary Diseases in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. Appleton & Co. In this the author calls attention to the fact that where there is a stricture of the penile urethra there is almost always a stricture in the deep urethra. Even if the outer stricture be one of large calibre there will be found a stricture apparently of small calibre in, or back of, the bulbous portion of the urethra; this is simply spasmodic, and relief of the outer or organic one will cause disappearance of the internal. The operator should always remember this and never attempt to treat the deep stricture until the external one, though of large calibre, be cured. Address of the President, Dr. I. N. Love, St. Louis, at the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, Crab Orchard Springs, Ky., July 13, 1887. In this interesting address Dr. Love quotes, in conclusion, the words of the late John T. Hodgen in response to an extravagant denunciation of homeopathy: "Life is too short to indulge in the arraignment and condemnation of all those who do not happen to look at things as we do. Hahnemann's ideas were mostly absurd, it is true, from the standpoint of logic and common sense, but that they have accomplished so noted. College wars are like Banquo's ghost, and they are as apt to break out over Strongylus Gigas as over irregularities in conferring degrees. Importance and Value of Experimental Research. By N. Senn, M. D., Milwaukee Wis., Professor of the Principles and Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. This is the doctorate address delivered at the graduating exercises of his college, Feby. 21, 1887. It abounds in wholesome truths, among which is found: "It must become apparent to you that in order to succeed as scientific men you are not to lead a life of leisure. * * * In bidding you an affectionate farewell I will give you the watchword that will secure your entrance into the ranks of successful men--work-uninterrupted, hard, faithful, honest work." A very interesting and comprehensive description of "Intubation of the Larynx," is contained in a monograph by E. Fletcher Ingalls, M. D. of Chicago. It is a reprint of two articles upon this subject that appeared in the New York Medical Journal, July 2 and 9. The author has reports of 514 cases, in 134 of which, or 26-100 per cent., the patients recovered. He advocates the claims of this operation for preference over tracheotomy, and remarks that while it cannot always take the place of tracheotomy, it has much to recommend it in a large percentage of all cases met. ABOUT EXCHANGES. who At the recent meeting of the American Institute of Homoeopathy at Saratoga, N. Y., Dr. Pemberton Dudley, of Philadelphia, editor of the Hahnemanian, presented the report of the committee on medical literature, and Dr. F. F. Allen moved, and it was carried, that the New York ¡Medical Times be stricken from the list of homoeopathic journals as befing a constant opponent to all the interests of the school.-Ah there! Dudley! This looks like a piece of journalistic jealousy rather than an effort at purifying the ranks of homoeopathy. Because the Times admits frankly that in certain cases the law of similia will not cure, or decimal attenuations relieve must the editor thereof be ostracized while you, often in practice secretly resort to methods never dreamed of by Hahnemann and which are not homoeopathic, remain in good standing? Go to Bro. Dudley; remember the rebuke about the beam and the mote, bear in mind that the great mass of homeopathic practitioners are, in practice, the followers of the Times and above all consider well the fact that the tendency of the day is toward liberalism whether in the ranks of "old school" or homeopathy. Must the INDEX be driven from the ranks of the "Regulars" because it advocates pulsatilla for epididymitis, small doses of ipecac to control nausea or the homeopathic treatment of insanity? The St. Louis Medical Journal is a curiosity. Here is a sentencefrom its editorial columns, complete, and given verbatim et literatim : "Surgery proper, considers and deals with results though by custom, is delegated the superogation of directing applicable activities." A year's subscription to the INDEX will be given to the first person sending in a clear explanation of the author's intended meaning. There it stands, pure and unadulterated; solve the problem if you can. This month Dr. George H. Rohé assumes the editorship of a quarterly journal, The Climatologist, devoted to the scientific and practical consideration of questions in the domain of medical and sanitary climatology. Each number will contain forty-eight quarto pages of reading matter, the subscription price will be fifty cents per year, and the place of publication southeast corner Baltimore and South streets, Baltimore, Md. The Texas Courier-Record of Medicine, edited by Drs. S. A. Thurston and H. K. Leake, begins its fifth volume by being very much enlarg ed and otherwise improved-a credit to the great south-west and the medical profession thereof. The St. Jo Medical Herald in its new cover is a beauty. The color perhaps is a little too suggestive for delinquent subscribers-old gold. The Journal of the American Medical Association makes a much better appearance with its new pink cover. The contents improve-slowly. The Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner is a beauty in its new form with which the forty-fifth volume begins. It resembles the Century very much and is, without exception, the handsomest medical publication in America. The New York Medical Monthly, Dr. J. Leonard Corning's excel lent journal, has been discontinued. Frank Woodbury, M. D., and William F. Waugh, A. M., M. D., of the Medico-Chirurgical College, of Philadelphia, have purchased the Medical Times from J. B. Lippincott Co. and have greatly improved it. But isn't the Medico-Chirurgical attempting to monopolize medical journalism in Philadelphia? The American Journal of the Medical Sciences will appear in January as a monthly instead of quarterly journal, retaining its present form and style. EDITORIAL NOTES. AMERICAN PHYSICIANS." Westward the star of empire takes its way," and the time is not distant when the same may be said of medical learning there will be a time when American physicians will lead the world and to the savants of the occident rather than those of the orient will the eyes of the medical world be turned for instruction. Lawson Tait is a keen observer as well as wonderful operator, and Tait says: "In my early days the medical education of a British youth was not considered complete unless he had made the tour of the schools of France and Germany, and, like others, I felt myself, as was said of Pro teus : 'Twould be an impeachment to his age, In having known no travel in his youth.' |