Reviews and Book Notices.

8 vo.

A TREATISE ON AMPUTATIONS OF THE EXTREMITIES AND THEIR COMPLICATIONS. By B. A. WATSON, A. M., M. D., Surgeon to the Jersey City Charity Hospital; to St. Francis's, and to Christ's Hospital at Jersey City, N. J. Fellow of the American Surgical Association; Permanent Member of the N. Y. Pathological Society; Member of the N. Y. Neurological Society; Member of the New Jersey Microscopical Society, etc. Illustrated with two hundred and fifty Engravings and two full-page plates. Cloth. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston, Son & Co., Publishers, 1885. Dr. Watson has made a very systematic and useful book, and a very accurate one. Indeed, we do not recollect having anywhere seen condensed in so concise and yet satisfactory a shape, the methods and facts regarding Amputations of the Extremities. The study of each subject is thorough.

While the work will find its highest appreciation from those who are engaged in Surgery, there is a great deal which will prove interesting and valuable to the general practitioner,

Particularly would we call attention to Chapter I, "History of Amputations." The Author has certainly embodied all the known facts, from the early science and art as practised in Egypt to the present day. This portion of the work reads like a novel.

Unlike most treatises of the kind, this volume has a Chapter of near one hundred and fifty pages, devoted to the "Selection and application of Artificial Limbs. No work that we are acquainted with is so full and complete on this subject. It is certainly desirable that Surgeons should be in accord on these points,

that they may endeavor during the whole management of a case to secure the most desirable results. It is universally admitted that the best stumps are those which are the most servicable and least troublesome; and consequently, a practical test of their value will be found in the ability of the patient to wear without pain or inconvenience to himself an artificial limb, which possesses the highest possible degree of utility.

In a word, we have such a high appreciation of the work, we would not do without it.

SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE. October, 1880-December, 1884. Published by Edited by J. BERRIEN LINDSLEY, A. M., M. D., LL.

authority.

D., Secretary.

State, 1885.

8 vo., cloth. Albert B. Tavel, printer to the

This is a volume of six hundred pages.

It has a good article on School Hygiene by D. F. Wright, M. D.; Vital Statistics by J. D. Plunket, M. D., President of the Board.; Report of P. D. Sims, M. D., on Prisons in Tennessee; Natural Divisions of Tennessee in their Relation to Disease, by J. M. Safford, M. D.; Ozone and its Relation to Public Health, is discussed.

It has a splendid index. The Report shows that the State Board of Health is capable of doing good practical work.

The book, however, is too big. The Report we presume is for the people, and there is much printed matter here that is unnecessary, and will prevent the reading of that which would be beneficial to the public.

Tennesseans in this respect do not care for a book, but they want to know what the State Board is doing for their welfare. If the report had been boiled down to one-half its present volume, that in it which would be profitable would have been read. There are several other good papers not mentioned in this notice, but one gets frightened in reading through so many routine motions and circulars, and papers of mutual commendation, to find them. The type is good, but there are a few typographical errors.

The Board in its present and original organization is in accord with the spirit, but not the letter of the law. Of the three physicians from Middle Tennessee, who in the language of the original act should "have been engaged in practice not less than ten years," we are of the opinion that one at least has not been engaged in practice a single day.

By

A TREATISE ON THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF MIDWIFERY. W. S. PLAYFAIR, M. D., F. R. C. P., Professor of Obstetric Medicine in King's College, London, etc. New (fourth) American edition, revised by the Author. Edited, with additions, by ROBERT P. HARRIS, M. D. In one handsome octavo volume of about 700 pages, with 183 illustrations and three plates. Cloth, $4; leather, $5; half Russia, $5.50. Lea Bros. & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia, 1885.

No one book has given more satisfaction to Teachers than Playfair's Midwifery, and we conscienciously recommend it as par excellence, the book of all others for the student. It is of convenient size, yet while its treatment of the various subjects embraced in its scope is concise and plain, compact and condensed, it is also full and comprehensive, and its discussions and descriptions are sufficiently elaborate to give a very intelligible idea of them. It certainly is a most admirable exposition of the science and practice of Midwifery, and the notes and additions of the American edition by one so well and favorably known for his studious researches in Obstetrics, are of great value, and bring the work up to the latest period, even in an American view. He has added the new forms of Cæsarean operation devised in Germany, the experiences in Berlin of Hicks' method of treating placenta prævia, the latest American statistics in Cæsarean section and laparo-elytrotomy, the latest Porro statistics, etc., etc. His additions are enclosed in brackets.

The author has fully revised the whole work since the publication of the preceding edition, and the chapter on "Conception. and Generation" has in great part been re-written, so as to incorporate the most recent advances in embryology.

A TEXT-BOOK OF MEDICAL PHYSICS. For the use of Students and Practitioners of medicine, by JOHN C. DRAPER, M. D., L.L. D., Professor of Chemistry and Physics in the Medical Department of the University of New York, and of Natural History and Physiology in the College of New York. Author of a "Text-book on Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene," and "Practical Laboratory Course on Medical Chemistry." 8 vo., cloth, pp. 733, with 377 illustrations. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia, 1885.

As showing the scope of this excellent work, we make the following extract from the author's preface:

"The fact that a knowledge of Physics is indispensable to a thorough understanding of Medicine has not been as fully realized in this country as in Europe, where the admirable works of Desplats and Gariel, of Robertson, and numerous German writers constitute a branch of educational literature to which we can show no parallel. A full appreciation of this the author trusts will be sufficient justification for placing in book form the substance of his lectures on this department of science, delivered during many years at the University of the City of New York.

Broadly speaking, this work aims to impart a knowledge of the relations existing between Physics and Medicine in their latest state of development, and to embody in the pursuit of this object whatever experience the author has gained during a long period of teaching this special branch of applied science."

The work is designed as a manual for the Student of Medicine, and as an auxilliary to his other text-books, and will be particularly useful and of great value to all practitioners who have neglected a satisfactory study of physics.

THE TECHNOLOGY OF BACTERIA INVESTIGATION. By Dr. C. S.

DOLLEY. Concise direction for the Study of Bacteria, their Culture, Staining, Inoculation, Mounting, etc., according to the methods employed by the most eminent Microbists. I vol. 12mo. Cloth, S. E. Cassino & Co., 41 Arch Street, Boston, publishers, 1885.

There is nothing as yet in English, or in fact in any language, that gives the physician and investigator the methods employed

by such men as Pasteur, Koch, Erlich, Weigertz, etc., and it is believed a book giving concise directions where to look for and how to study the different forms, especially those having a pathogenic significance, will be gladly welcomed, especially at this time when there is such widespread interest in the etiology of certain infectious diseases. It is also hoped that the publication

of this work will stimulate original work among American investigators in this department, as heretofore by far the greater amount of work has been done by Europeans. The following is a summary of the work: General introductory remarks; Chapter I., Microscopical Preparations; Chapter II., Study of Bacteria by culture; Chapter III., Caccination Method of Studying Bacteria, Anthracis, Chicken Cholera, Bacillus of Tuberculosis; Chapter IV., Study of Bacteria by Biological Analysis; Chapter V., Formulæ, etc.

The work will be sent postpaid on receipt of $2.00 by the publishers. It is also for sale by A. Setliff, of this city.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON URINARY AND RENAL DISEASES, including Urinary Deposits, illustrated by numerous cases and engravings. By WLLLIAM ROBERTS, M. D., F. R. S. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London; Professor of Medicine at the Victoria University; Consulting Physician to the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Assisted by ROBERT MAGUIRE, M. D., London, Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London; Physician to out-patients, St. Mary's Hospital, London; etc., etc. Fourth edition. 8 vo. Cloth, pp. 628, illustrated. Lea Bros. & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia, 1885.

This is one of those works which no good physician's or surgeon's library should be without. The well-known ability of its distinguished author, his recognized standing as an authority upon renal affections, give it an unquestioned value to the professional reader.

An entire revision has been given it by Dr. Maguire, and the author has almost entirely re-written the articles on albuminuria and micro-organisms in the urine,

The practical aim of the work has been steadily kept in view; and no alterations or additions have been permitted which are not