From a social stand-point the Cincinnati meeting was a great success.

Altogether, the future of the American Medical Association looks more bright to-day than it has in many years; if the tail that tried to wag the dog in the management of the International Medical Congress will consent once more to become a component part of the parent animal, the association may assume a very respectable appearance yet. But so long as the "rule or ruin" spirit characterizes the action of the members, thus moulding that of the association in a similar line, there will be little enjoyment and less profit in attending the meetings. The prospect, however, is pleasing; the outlook clear; the sky of the future unclouded, save by the dark thunder-clouds just passing; let us all, then, like Paul of old, "live in hopes of better things."

E. L.

BOOK TALK.

WALL. ON PRESCRIPTION-WRITING.

The Prescription, Therapeutically, Pharmaceutically and Grammatically considered. By Otto A. Wall, M. D., Ph. G., Professor of Materia Medica in the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Professor of Pharmacyin the Missouri Medical College, etc. 8vo, pp. 184, price in cloth $1.50. St. Louis A. Gast Bank Note Co.

A theoretical and practical knowledge of the construction of the prescrip tion is of great importance to the physician as well as to the pharmacist, as it is so important a feature in the daily life of both.

A knowledge of prescription writing is of importance to the physician, because the style of his prescription is usually considered to furnish a fair index. or guage to his professional accomplishments and knowledge. And generally it is, perhaps, but fair to assume that the physician who is neat, careful, and correct in waiting his prescriptions is also careful and painstaking in the exam. ination and treatment of his patients, while he who is slovenly and careless in writing his prescriptions will probably allow the same characteristics to prevail in his treatment.

Correct prescription writing is an accomplishment which is to the physician what elegant clothes are to a gentleman, or a handsome frame to a fine painting. If it is not an essential part of his education, it at least displays his other acquirements to best advantage.

A thorough knowledge of the prescription in all its relations is equally important to the pharmacist, as such knowledge raises him in the estimation of physicians with whom he comes in professional or social contact. It also makes him a better dispensing pharmacist.

Prof. Wall's work is the most extensive and complete treatise on the prescription published, and met with exceedingly favorable reception when issued serially in a pharmaceutical journal. It has since been thoroughly revised and

enlarged and is now issued in book form. It will doubtless prove popular among physicians.

It contains the rules of the Latin language; rules for abbreviating; an explanation of weights and measures, including easy methods of acquiring the ability to write metric prescriptions; rules for general and special extemporaneous prescribing and determining doses for adults and children; rules in regard to combining remedies of similar and different therapeutical or physiological actions; an explanation of incompatibles; statements of the influences of sex, age, climate, time of day, etc., on the action of medicines; and, in short, explanations of every influence or circumstance that should be considered by the therapeutist when writing a prescription. It also considers fully every form in which any remedy can be prescribed for either internal or external administration or application, and gives rules for writing such prescriptions.

GOODELL'S LESSONS IN GYNECOLOGY.

Lessons in Gynecology. By William Goodell, A. M., M. D., Professor of Clinical Gynecology in the University of Pennsylvania Third edition, thor. oughly revised and greatly enlarged. 8vo., pp. 599, with one hundred and twelve illustrations. Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton.

The first and second editions of Goodell's Gynaecology were soon exhausted by an appreciative profession, and the work consequently was long out of print. But the author at last took the work of revision in hand, carefully revised the original work and added much new matter, so that now, thanks to Dr. Brinton, the publisher, we have the best work of the kind now in print. The two Italicized words are used advisedly; for while this volume is not a complete treatise upon diseases of women, yet it contains just those practical points that many text-books lack-so that for the physician (not the specialistgynecologist) it is the most valuable work in the English language so far as concerns the special subjects discussed.

Extended mention of the contents o: the book is unnecessary; suffice it to say that every important disease found in the female sex is taken up and discussed in a common-sense kind of a way. In this year of our Lord 1888 when spaying women is the popular operation it is pleasant to note that he agrees with Koeberle in saying that extirpation of both ovaries causes no marked change in the sexual appetites of those who have been operated upon-their instincts and affections remain the same. This is also in harmony with the experiences of Hegar and of Battey; all opposing the statement of Virchow that upon the ovaries of woman "depend all the specific properties of her body and her mind, all her nutrition and her nervous sensibility, the delicacy and roundness of her figure, and, in fact, all other womanly characteristics." Although the ovaries may be essential to the development of all these attributes, after they have become matured, removal of the organs does not annihilate them by any means.

I wish every physician in America could read and carry out the suggestions of the chapter on "the sexual relations as causes of uterine disordersconjugal onanism and kindred sins." The department treating of nervous

counterfeits of uterine diseases is a most valuable one.

E. L.

LITERARY NOTES.

Medical Diagnosis with special reference to practical medicine. By J. M. Da Costa, M. D., LL. D., Professor of Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Sixth edition revised. 8vo. pp. 967. Leather $7.00, cloth $6.00. Published by J. B. Lippincott Co., the well-known publishing house of Philadelphia. The book is (justly➤ too popular to need any word of commendation. As a guide to diagnosis it is a work of most excellent character.

Diseases of Children; a practical and systematic work for practitioners and students. By William Henry Day, M. D., M. R. C. P. Second edition. 8vo., pp. 752. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co.-This volume, the outcome of large hospital and private practice, is a work of established reputation on the other side of the Atlantic, and probably stands second only to that of Lewis Smith in the estimation of American physicians. His broad assertion: “Arsenic will cure chorea in large doses, whilst it will frequently fail in small doses," may be taken as an example of his positivism in therapeutics—the only serious objection to the treatise.

Messrs. John P. Morton & Co., of Louisville, have issued a little book (12m0, pp. 140, cloth, price $1-25), entitled The Essentials of Medical Chemis try and Urinalysis, by Sam E. Woody, A. M., M. D., Professor of Chemistry and Public Hygiene and Clinical Lecturer on Diseases of Children, in the Kentucky School of Medicine. The part devoted to the consideration of chemistry is entirely too condensed to be satisfactory, the whole ground of organic and inorganic chemistry being covered by one hundred and ten pages. The dis course upon the urine and its examination is better, but is also much too brief. Still, to any one who wishes the essentials presented in the least possible space the book will be found exactly fulfilling the requirements; as such it is probably unsurpassed.

Number 4, of the "Quiz Compend," is: A Compend of Human Physiology (Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co.,-12mo, pp. 174, cloth, price $1.00) by Albert P. Brubaker, A. M., M. D., Professor of Physiology in the Philadelphia College of Dental Surgery, and Demonstrator of Physiology in the Jefferson Medical College. This compend (like its companions) is intended and especielly adapted for the use of medical students, and for the purpose for which it is designed it is excellent. Even the busy practitioner who has not or thinks he has not, which amounts to the same thing-time to read carefully the more complete, recent text-books upon physiology, will find this little book an excellent one to refresh his mind regarding the older principles, and to give a fair idea of the points learned in recent physiological investigations. The illustrations are an admirable feature of the

book.

ABOUT EXCHANGES.

Dr. Pemberton Dudley, for seventeen years editor of the Hahnemannian, has retired from editorial labors.

The name of Wm. H. Pancoast, A. M., M. D., now appears with that of John V. Shoemaker, A. M., M. D., as editor of the Medical Register.

The Fort Wayne Journal of the Medical Sciences has become a monthly publication. One by one the quarterlies disappear. It is none too soon.

After many years editorial work, Dr. Frank Woodbury retires from the Philadelphia Medical Times, leaving Dr. Wm. F. Waugh (late of the Medical World) in sole control. He has been connected with the Times about a year..

The University of Pennsylvania, Medical Department, has at last been forced to the inevitable-it is to have a college journal, the University Medical Magazine, a sixty-four page monthly, the first issue of which will bear date of Oct. I.

The Popular Science Monthly for June contained an article on the "Effects of Moderate drinking," by George Harley, M. D., in which the author records the effect of "nipping" upon the liver, kidneys, heart and brain, the organs which medical science has shown to be chiefly affected by alcohol in moderate quantities.

I. N. Love is putting in some excellent work on the Weekly Medical Review. En passant, a journal without personal editorial writing cropping out is a pretty dry thing. The profession of to-day wants something brief, chatty and pleasant mixed with the heavy, scientific (?) articles which constitute the major portion of medical publications. The day of editing a medical journal with a

pair of scissors is past.

Two articles are promised in "The Popular Science Monthly for July that are especially worthy of attention. They are: A fully illustrated paper on "Safety in House-Drainage," by William B. Hoyt, S. B., in which the belief that plumbing-fixtures in our houses are inevitable sources of danger is controverted, and ways are shown for making them wholly safe; and the concluding essay of the remarkable series on "Darwinism and the Christian Faith."

Geo. S. Davis has sent out an "appeal" to medical journals to help the Index Medicus which he claims has only 240 subscribers in the United States, 123 in foreign countries, and 100 for the United States Army, making a total of 463. Yet in a little book entitled " Advantages to Advertisers" in his advertisement of the Index Medicus he says: "Guaranteed circulation 1000 each issue!" Where do the extra 627 go to, Bro. Davis? In the same book he "guarantees" that the Therapeutic Gazette has a circulation of 15,000. Oh, dear!

The Texas Health Journal is the name of a publication the first issue of which will appear July 1; it is intended for popular distribution and will prob ably prove an interesting addition to medical literature, since its editor is to beJ. R. Briggs, M. D., Dallas, Texas, author of an "Epitome on Eye-Sight and Hearing, and how to preserve them;" author of an original paper read before the Texas Medical Association on "Trichiasis and Distichiasis, with Treatment by Electrolysis;" also many other medical papers read before the Texas State

Medical Association; author of a "Prize Paper "-the best contribution to the Courier-Record of Medicine on eye diseases; author of "Prize Essay of $100 in Gold, for the best original paper" presented to the Texas State Medical Association for 1886; author of "Prize Essay of $100 in Gold for the Best Original Paper presented to the Texas State Medical Association for 1888; author of a paper read before the Texas Dental Association on "Eye-Strain," and many other Scientific and Medical contributions published throughout the United States; Member of Cooke, Tarrant and Dallas Counties Societies; Member of the Texas State Medical Association; Member of the American Medical Association; Honorary Member of Texas Dental Association; formerly Associate Editor of Texas Courier-Record of Medicine. 'At least, such is the statement in its prospectus. Briggs is a "rustler," and there can be no doubt but the future of the journal will be a brilliant one.

EDITORIAL NOTES.