reasonable man to believe such "puerile tales" as those of the Tower of Babel, of Jonah, and of the creation of the world in six actual days, was an insult to his intelligence. He was a fellow of the Royal, of the Linnæan and the Zoological societies. His attainments as a man of science have been generally recognized, particularly in his works on and in opposition to the Darwinian theory of the origin of species.

PRIZE FOR AN IDEAL ARMY RATION.—The prize of $100 (or its equivalent in the shape of a gold medal) offered by Dr. Louis L. Seaman of New York, through the Military Service Institution, for the best essay on The Ideal Ration for an Army in the Tropics," has been unanimously awarded to Capt. E. L. Munson, assistant surgeon, U. S. A. The board of award consisted of three army officers, Col. John F. Weston, acting commissarygeneral, Lieut.-Col. Charles Swart, deputy surgeon-general, and Lieut.-Col. Wm. H. Dougherty, Seventh United States Infantry. Dr. Munson holds that the present army ration contains too much nitrogenous food and hydrocarbons and not enough carbohydrates, and the ration in general is too large.

AMERICAN MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.-The annual meeting of this association will be held at Richmond, Va., May 22-25, under the presidency of Dr. Joseph D. Rogers, Logansport, Ind. The Jefferson—an extremely desirable convention hotel- has been secured and the committee of arrangements is making every effort to provide for the comfort and entertainment of the members. The annual address will be delivered by Dr. J. Allison Hodges of Richmond. Other addresses will be made by Governor J. Hodge Tyler, Major R. M. Taylor and Dr. John N. Upshur of Richmond. Among the papers promised are those by Dr. J. M. Mosher, Albany, N. Y., on “The Insane in General Hospitals;" Dr. W. P. Spratling, Sonyea, N. Y., "The Colonization of Certain Classes of the Cronic Insane with Suggestions and Illustrations from the Craig Colony of Epileptics;" Dr. Wm. Mabon, Ogdensburg, N. Y., "Surgical Operations in Hospitals for the Insane;" Dr. P. M. Wise, New York, The State of New York vs. The Pathology of Insanity;" Dr. R. Dewey, Wauwatosa, Wis., "What Condition if any would Warrant the State in taking Life because of Incurable Mental Disease or Defect;" and many others.

WATER FILTRATION.- The Scientific American in commenting upon the results of the recent instalment of the filtration beds in connection with the water supply of Albany, says: "The disease directly traceable to the sewer polluted water of the Hudson was typhoid fever, the death rate from which the city of Albany for nine years ending 1898 had averaged 85 per annum. During the first four months in which the filters have been in operation, 7 deaths from this cause have been reported. During the corresponding interval of nine years ending 1898, the average number of deaths was 24; so that the filtration of the water has reduced the deaths from this cause in the ratio of 24 to 7. The filtration plant at Lawrence has reduced the typhoid fever death rate in that city from 11.31 to 2.54. The filtration plant in the city of Hamburg, Germany, was put in opera

tion in 1895; during the five years previous to that date the average typhoid death rate was 4.72, since that date it has fallen to .72. Since the opening of the filtration plant at Mount Vernon, N. Y., in 1894, the number of deaths from typhoid has decreased over 76 per cent. The average cost of operating the filters at Mount Vernon, including the laboratory work, is $1.67 per 1,000,000 gallons."

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL Congress of Medical DEONTOLOGY OR MEDICAL ETHICS.-By virtue of the Ministerial Decree of June 11, 1898, an International Congress, dealing exclusively with economical and ethical questions, is convoked. It will hold its first sitting at the Palace of Congresses and of Social Economy, situated within the Exhibition Grounds, on Monday, July 23, 1900. After the inaugural ceremony the Congress will meet at the Faculty of Medicine, 12 Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, Boulevard St. Germain, and continue its sittings till July 28th. Dr. L. Leveboullet, Member of the Academy of Medicine, is president. Dr. G. H. Simmons, of Chicago, is the president of the committee representing the United States. The Congress will be divided into four sections for the discussion of the following general subjects: 1st. The Relations of Medical Men and Collectivities; 2d. The Relations of Medical Men and Individuals; 3d. The Relations of Medical Men with Fellow Medical Men (Medical Deontology); 4th. Professional Organization of Insurance, Mutual Assistance and Defence. All Medical Associations or societies who deal with economical and ethical questions are earnestly invited to appoint delegates to represent them at the Congress.

RECENT CHANGES IN THE FACULTIES OF MEDICAL COLLEGES.-University of Pennsylvania: Dr. J. William White, Clinical Professor of Surgery is to be made Professor of Surgery in place of Dr. John Ashhurst, Jr., who lately resigned.

Jefferson Medical College: Two additions have been made to the major faculty. Dr. F. X. Dercum, formerly Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System; has been elected Professor of Neurology, and Dr. Chalmers Da Costa, Clinical Professor of Surgery has been elected Professor of the Principles of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery.

Rush Medical College: The office of vice-president is established, and Dr. Henry M. Lyman, Dean of the Faculty, in view of his long connection with the college and the valuable services rendered is appointed to this office. Dr. Frank Billings, Dean of the Senior class, is promoted to the deanship of the faculty. Dr. John M. Dodson and Dr. Frederic S. Collidge are reappointed Deans in charge of the Freshman class. The resignation of Dr. Norman Bridge as Professor of Medicine is accepted and he is appointed Emeritus Professor of Medicine. Dr. John M. Dodson has been appointed to the Professorship of Pediatrics; Dr. D. R. Brower to the Professorship of Mental and Nervous Diseases.

Columbia University: Dr. R. F. Weir and Dr. W. T. Bull, Professors of Surgery and visiting surgeons to the New York Hospital, have been appointed visiting surgeons to the Roosevelt Hospital.

FOREIGN UNIversity IntellLIGENCE.- Cracow: Dr. S. Ciechanoneski has been appointed Extraordinary Professor of Pathological Anatomy. Bologna: Dr. Cervesats of Padua has been appointed Professor of children's diseases. Genoa: Dr. Rudolf Weber has been appointed to the Chair of Mental Diseases in succession to Dr. J. Martini, resigned. Jassy: Dr. C. Juvara has been appointed Professor of Surgical Anatomy. Leipzig: Dr. Felix Marchand of Marburg, has been appointed to the Chair of Pathological Anatomy in succession to the late Dr. Birch-Hirschfeld. Marburg: Dr. Hugo Ribbett of Zürich has been appointed to the Chair of Pathological Anatomy in succession to Professor Marchand who goes to Leipzig. He is the author of a manual on pathological histology and a work on the historical development of the theory of disease. St. Petersburg: Dг. Skorichenko has been promoted to the ordinary Professorship of the History of Medicine and Dr. Kholodouski to the ordinary Professorship of Comparative Anatomy. Dr. Magawly, Director of the University Ophthalmic Clinic, who was a pupil of Albrecht von Græfe and assisted in introducing modern ophthalmic surgery in Russia, is about to retire. Turin: Dr. A. Carle has been promoted to the ordinary Professorship of Surgical Pathology.

STATE HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTIVES.-After Governor Roosevelt had signed the bill providing for the establishment and maintenance of a State Hospital for Consumptives, it became his duty to appoint a board of five trustees, two of whom shall be physicians. The full board is as follows: Howard Townsend, of the borough of Manhattan, for five years; John H. Pryor, M. D., of Buffalo, four years; Willis G. Macdonald, M. D., of Albany, three years; Walter Jennings, of the borough of Manhattan, two years, and Frank E. Kendall, of Saranac Lake, one year.

PERSONAL.- Dr. HOWARD E. LOMAX (A. M. C., 1892), has removed from New Baltimore to 114 Jay street, Albany, taking the practice of Dr. Rensselaer J. Smith, who leaves for California.

Book Reviews

Bacteriology in Medicine and Surgery.
cians, Health Officers and Students.
Assisted by A. R. Guerard, M.D.
New York and Philadelphia, 1899.

A Practical Manual for PhysiBy WM. HALLOCK PARK, M.D., Published by Lea Bros. and Co.,

The object of this work, which comprises nearly 700 pages of reading matter, is, according to the author, to bring together those facts in bacteriology which will constitute a sufficient text book for the student, and which are of direct practical value to the physician and health officer. A sufficient amount of detail as to the technical procedures of bacteriology is given to enable the physician to understand those methods which can be carried out by an ordinary practitioner.

After an introduction which deals with the historical development of eriology, the author proceeds in the first seventeen chapters to deal

with the biology of bacteria, paying special attention to their chemistry and to the effects of the different agents which can be used for their destruction. He also takes up in this portion of the book the questions of immunity and infection, the question of the use of animals for diagnostic and test purposes, and the questions of the procuring of material from patients and of the examination of water and air. The remainder of the book is devoted to the discussion of specific bacteria. As an appendix the author has inserted brief descriptions of some of the pathogenic microorganisms which are not usually included under the heading of bacteria. Finally after this appendix there is a short index of infectious diseases with their bacterial causative agents.

The book in its entirety is quite satisfactory, and gives a fair and impartial digest of the ground it covers, besides bringing in both published and unpublished work of the author and his laboratory associates.

The chief fault which we have to find with the volume is that it gives evidence either of hasty preparation or of very careless proof reading. In numerous places proper names of well-known investigators are improperly spelt. Thus, Birch-Hirschfeld is spoken of as "Birsch-Hirschfeld;" Hansen, the discoverer of the leprosy bacilli, is spoken of as "Hausen;" Barbacci is spoken of as "Barhacci" and Charrin is spoken of as "Chassin." There are a number of other similar mistakes chiefly in connection with the names of foreign writers.

Besides these mistakes in names the text at times shows carelessness in its construction. For example the sentence: "This bacillus is pathogenic for rats, mice, guinea-pigs, monkeys, rabbits, flies, and other insects, which usually die within two or three days after inoculation," is open to a construction which the author certainly did not mean it to have. There are other instances of this kind in the book.

There are a few statements made by the author which we think are open to criticism. For example, in the section under tuberculosis the author speaks as though authentic instances of tuberculosis in the new born child had not been proved, while as a matter of fact there are a number of undoubted cases in the literature. And again, the same remark may be made in connection with placental tuberculosis. In the section on typhoid fever the author makes the statement that in this disease necrosis of the tissues of the internal organs is a comparatively rare occurrence, and that caseation of the mesenteric glands, which is commonly observed, is due probably to mixed infection. We think that few observers who have studied their typhoid autopsies, both pathologically and bacteriologically, will agree with either of these statements. In this same chapter the following sentence occurs in connection with suppuration following typhoid fever. "Such cases, however, are of comparatively rare occurrence, because only exceptionally do the bacilli sufficiently mass together in such numbers as to become pus producers." This would give the impression that the production of pus was due to the massing together of the bacilli, which is hardly, we think, what the author means to suggest. Other examples of more or less involved sentences could be quoted, although the number present in the book is not large. Another point in which the author makes

a mis-statement is in regard to the bacillus aërogenes capsulatus. He states of this organism that it does not produce spores, while Dunham showed that the organism does produce spores on blood serum, and this statement was confirmed by Welch. In speaking of the staphylococcus pyogenes aureus we wonder that the author did not mention its growth on potato, as the most characteristic pigment formation occurs on this medium. In connection with the proteus vulgaris the growth on potato is also omitted, although on this medium the organism gives rise to its characteristic trimethylamine smell. The author omits mentioning the para-colon group of bacilli, and under the heading of Friedlander's bacillus, does not mention similar organisms described by Pfeiffer and Wright.

The index of infectious diseases at the end of the volume would be more useful if more comprehensive. The statement regarding appendicitis would indicate that it is generally due to the bacillus coli communis, a statement with which but few careful bacteriologists will agree.

The book in places shows evidences of careless book-making. For example, one of the chapters has a superfluous "the" in the heading, and the descriptions beneath the plate opposite page 264 do not describe the appearances seen in the two lower fields of the plate. With the correction of these few minor errors and more careful proof-reading, we think that the book would usefully fulfill the purpose for which it is intended.

We regret to observe that some of the illustrations of apparatus in the early part of the book are labeled with the makers' names. This savors too much of commercialism, which is unfortunately already a stench in the nostrils of the medical profession.

G. B.

The International Medical Annual and Practitioners' Index: A Work of Reference for Medical Practitioners. By Forty-Two Contributors. Eighteenth Volume. New York and Chicago: E. B. Treat & Co. Pp. 748. Price, $3.

The eighteenth volume of this well known annual comes each year as a welcome addition to the every day consulting library of the physician. Its value consists in the practical and useful character of its references. The latest scientific theories are considered as well as the most approved lines of treatment for special conditions. The latest theories in regard to the aetiology of cancer and malaria are fully discussed, while that bane of medicine, the treatment of rheumatism, receives for its consideration eight pages. The inflammations of the accessory sinuses of the nose are well illustrated and fully covered. Each year one subject receives especial prominence and in this volume the consideration of the diseases of the stomach, their medical and surgical treatment, has this place of honor. The unusual disease mycetoma, a condition similar to actinomycosis and usually affecting the feet, is made very easily recognizable by three colored plates.

The volume has in addition a review of the latest therapeutics, a chapter upon Radiography, the year's work in sanitary science, and an abstract of the legal decisions affecting medical practitioners and the public health.