Obituary. PAUL HOWARD MACGILLIVRAY, M.A., LL.D., Dr. MacGillivray died on July 9, at Forest Street, Bendigo, after a brief illness, terminating in erysipelas, regretted not only by everyone who knew him, but by that larger community who reverence and admire great natural powers and scientific success. Dr. MacGillivray was the son of Dr. William MacGillivray, formerly Professor of Natural History in Marischal College, Aberdeen, and afterwards curator of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, whose "History of British Birds" has long been one of our English classics. It was intended that his son should continue in a similar exercise of scientific work, but the death of the elder MacGillivray, in 1852, rendered it necessary that the son should qualify as a member of the medical profession. He accordingly studied for that purpose, and in 1855 passed his examination for M.R.C.S. Eng. Shortly afterwards he came out to Australia, settling first in Williamstown in this colony, where he practised in association with the late Mr. D. P. Maclean, L.R.C.S. Ed., whence he removed to Bendigo, then Sandhurst, having been appointed resident surgeon to the hospital in that city. Here he showed a quite unexpected aptitude for operative surgery, and, during the many years he held the position of resident surgeon in that institution, he established for himself a reputation which made his name deservedly famous all through the colonies. This development in his professional work took even his intimate friends by surprise, for he had been regarded as so closely interested in certain branches of natural science that it was not regarded as likely that he would devote himself, save in a routine fashion, to the recondite accomplishments of chirurgical skill. But he represented, in an eminent degree, the truth of the proverb, "L'occasion fait la force." He became a great operating surgeon as soon as the opportunity was afforded him of exercising the power which had been, up to that period, latent within him. None the less, however, did he pursue with enthusiasm his researches in natural science. Therein his industry was incessant, and his contributions to the scientific periodicals of the time contain an extraordinary number of papers both on surgical matters and on the discoveries he had made in the large field of polyzoic research. After continuing in the hospital for some time, Dr. MacGillivray entered into private practice, and the reputation he had gained, during his official life, served him well in his private work. He had not only a very large ordinary clientèle, but he was necessarily in extensive request as a consultant, and he enjoyed completely the confidence of his professional brethren. In 1874, Dr. MacGillivray was elected president of the Medical Society of Victoria, and although on the occasion of the monthly meetings he had to come all the way down to Melbourne from Bendigo, he was present at nearly every meeting during his year, and sometimes he came to the meetings of committees. Four years ago, the University of Aberdeen, of which he had been M.A. since 1852, conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D., a distinction which his father had received fifty years before. But, indeed, in respect of scientific distinctions, his great merit had been recognised for many years by several of the learned societies of Europe, where, as a contributor to the stores of practical natural science, his great worth had been warmly recognised. Like all men of real endowments, he was a very modest man ; indeed his modesty amounted to diffidence, and those who met him for the first time, not being aware of his scientific eminence, were not, all at once, favourably impressed with him, for he was habitually silent and reserved with strangers, and unless "drawn out," was not remarkable for conversational power. It required that one should know him very well to estimate him at his proper value. But, besides his scientific merit, he was a thoroughly honourable member of the medical profession. He was a man to be proud of; it was an honour to be able to call him your friend. He never descended to any practice unworthy of a high-minded man. He loved his vocation; he respected his co-workers, and, in the exercise of his art, he had far more than a commercial motive in pursuing it. His death, at the age of 61, is a loss not only to the whole medical profession of Australia, but to the entire scientific world, in which he laboured so earnestly, so honestly, and so com. pletely successfully. J. E. N. Rebichos. The Extra Pharmacopoeia. By WILLIAM MARTINDALE, F.C.S. Medical References, and a Therapeutic Index of Diseases and Symptoms. By W. WYNN WESTCOTT, M.B. Lond. Eighth edition. London: H. K. Lewis, 1895. Few books are in more constant use than the well-known extra pharmacopoeia of Martindale and Westcott, and the last edition, which is just to hand, will well maintain its reputation. Fifteen pages are devoted to notes on the proposed revision of the British Pharmacopoeia, in which is given an analysis of 25,500 prescriptions, dispensed in the colonies as well as in Great Britain. From these it appears "that the materia medica of the Colonies are much the same as at home, and that the requirements of an Imperial Pharmacopoeia are, to a great extent, collateral with those of Great Britain and Ireland. The same medicaments appear to be most frequently in demand, and but few drugs, so far as dispensing is concerned, are in request in the colonies, that have not been tried, and are not well known here." It is interesting to note that the drugs most frequently dispensed are those prescribed presumably for dyspepsia-tinct. nux. vom. heading the list, and spt. chloroform, glycerinum, sodii. bicarb., and syrup. aurant. coming next. Quinine and spt. ammon. arom. are almost equal; then vin. ipecac. and potass. bromid. In this edition, a special and very useful chapter is introduced on antitoxins, serums, and lymphs, and on animal glands and tissues, and their preparations. Many points worthy of note have been collated from the new Pharmacopoeias issued in the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and Japan, and from the recent supplements to the French Codex, the German Pharmacopoeia, and the Unofficial Formulary of the British Pharmaceutical Conference. Indigestion: An Introduction to the Study of the Diseases of the Stomach. By GEORGE HERSCHELL, M.D. Second Edition. London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox, 1895. Dr. Herschell's book, in its present form, has been considerably enlarged, and to a great extent re-arranged, and is a really useful guide to the study of the great system of diseases included under the comprehensive term "indigestion." The author has tried to bring his information up to date, no easy thing in view of the large amount of investigation that steadily goes on, the results finding record chiefly in the medical journals of Germany. If anything, one gets the impression that the book is almost overloaded with facts and doctrines, while claiming only to present to the student the "minimum amount of knowledge with which he can hope to study, at all scientifically, the chronic disorders of digestion." It is pleasant to find an author thus ready with his "counsel of perfection," and undoubtedly there is often too little of the desiderated thoroughness thrown into the study and rational management of dyspeptic troubles. The book contains seven chapters; the first, discussing shortly the physiology of digestion; the second, the conditions under which indigestion occurs; three more are taken up with the discovery of the signs and symptoms, with a long chapter following on treatment; and lastly, a collection of illustrative cases, and a sufficient bibliography of recent literature. Dr. Herschell properly lays great stress on the regulation of diet, in respect both of quantity and quality, and he makes one observation, in connection with atonic dyspepsia, or as he also calls it, gastric neurasthenia, the importance of which is great, though it is very often over-looked. He contrasts the condition with chronic catarrh of the stomach, and goes on "now we can easily see that we cannot possibly hope to cure a case of this kind by further restricting a diet, which the patient has in all probability himself curtailed below the requirements of health, by voluntarily leaving off everything that he has found to disagree with him. We must consequently try and induce the patient to take as much nourishment as possible, whether it produces discomfort or not." The italics are the author's own, and the passage quoted contains an important truth, though its application must be based on careful diagnosis, and carried out with discrimination. Another point, rightly insisted on, is that in true acid indigestion, what is described as hyper-chlorhydria, the food should consist mainly of nitrogenous articles, and that all stimulants, including spices and sauces, should be excluded, When there is any sign of dilatation it is a further rule, that the bulk of meals should be kept at a minimum. Again, of course, the necessity of a careful diagnosis is evident in the application of the rules. Dr. Herschell discusses very shortly what is meant by the digestibility of foods, a subject on which there is need of clearness. Perhaps the matter might be summed up in this formula, which the present writer has constructed for his own use— "The digestibility of articles of food depends on the ease with which they can, by mastication, be converted into a soft and uniform mass.' We can recommend this book as a useful practical guide to the study of the indigestions. وو J. J. The Anatomy of the Nasal Cavities and its Accessory Sinuses: An London : The appearance of a translation of the second Hungarian edition of Dr. Onodi's "Atlas of the Nasal Cavities and Sinuses," furnishes occasion for comment. It has already been pointed out by the American ophthalmologists that, if essential ophthalmic apparatus alone continues to increase as it has done recently, the consulting-room of an oculist will become filled with an awe-inspiring mass of mechanical appliances. It is equally certain, that the library of a worker in any special department of practical medicine. threatens to assume equally awe-inspiring proportions if he makes an earnest endeavour to keep himself " up to date." Yet in Dr. Onodi's work, one is furnished with one of those additions to the special department in which he works, a knowledge of which is absolutely essential to those who concern themselves with the treatment of diseases of the throat and nose. The book consists simply of a representation, in sixteen plates, of the anatomy of the nose and of the naso-pharynx, and a praiseworthy production it is. The present writer has already had photographed on lantern slides several of the engravings, and has used them for teaching purposes. The sections of most interest to rhinologists will be Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, in which a sagittal section has been made through the head to one side of the nose. The outer wall of the nose has been removed, and the turbinated bodies are seen on their outer surfaces-surfaces which, of course, are quite invisible during life. These representations, if new to the reader, are apt to considerably modify the conception of the anatomy of the nose. The methods by which the frontal sinuses, and the anterior and posterior ethmoidal walls open into the nasal sinuses, |