brated in the hall of the Pathological Museum, which was constructed through his efforts. There was no banquet or similar social function, but the Senate of the University presented to the revered and honored professor an illuminated and illustrated address, the text of which was written by Professor Waldeyer. Virchow's wonderful achievements as scientist, archeologist and politician were recounted therein in flattering terms. Professor Virchow is now in his seventy-eighth year, and, in spite of fatigues of the celebration, participated during the evening in a learned discussion on organotherapy.

NEW EMERGENCY HOSPITAL AT BUFFALO.- The Emergency Hospital, which was established in 1883 as an adjunct to the Buffalo Hospital of the Sisters of Charity, has become inadequate to the present needs. Plans are being made for a new hospital, which will be thoroughly equipped, roomy and perfected in every particular. It will be four stories high, contain 100 beds, besides accommodations for nurses, et cetera. The operating-room will be located upon the fourth floor, which will be easily reached with modern elevators. There will be wards for general patients, separate wards for each of the railroads and private rooms will also be provided for such as require them. A noteworthy feature will be the stables at the rear of the Hospital, which will contain two ambulances under "quick-hitch" regulations, the drivers' apartments being overhead.

THE FIRST SUBURBAN SANITORIUM IN RUSSIA FOR INDIGENT TUBERCULOUS PATIENTS.- The Medical Society at St. Petersburg, after three years agitation of the subject, have succeeded in securing a sanitorium for indigent tuberculous patients. It is located at Taitzi, and built upon land given by the Emperor, who, also, contributed half a million rubles toward its establishment. It contains accommodations for twenty men and twenty women. In the treatment of the patients attempts have been made to realize all the advantages of good diet, abundant air, physical and moral repose, and agreeable occupation for such as are able to perform any labor. The success of the institution is shown by the fact that fifty per cent of the patients treated during the first year were markedly improved; twenty per cent were slightly improved, while sixteen per cent and fourteen per cent, respectively, were unimproved or died.

MORE MEDICAL OFFICERS IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY.- SurgeonGeneral Sternberg has prepared a bill for presentation to Congress providing for an increase of men in the Medical Department of the army. This increase is necessitated by the expansion in the military organization. The bill provides for an addition to the present corps of four assistant surgeon-generals, with the rank of colonel; ten deputy surgeongenerals, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel; thirty surgeons, with the rank of major, and eighty assistant surgeons, with the rank of lieutenant, who will have the rank of captain at the expiration of five years' service. These positions are to be filled by seniority promotion, in accordance

with the established laws and regulations. Acting assistant surgeons, to the number authorized, are to be appointed, subject to the usual examination, for a probationary period of six months, during which they will attend the Army Medical School in Washington. At the end of this time, if their standing is satisfactory, they will be commissioned to fill existing vacancies.

PERSONAL.-CORRECTION: Inadvertently, in the notice of marriage of in the December ANNALS, the year of graduation of Dr. Charles E. Parish, of Maryland, N. Y., was given as 1896, instead of 1880.

-Dr. GEORGE H. JANES, of Westfield, Massachusetts (A. M. C.), has been appointed Medical Examiner for that district.

MARRIED: ROSE-EDDY.- At Providence, Rhode Island, Wednesday, December 6, 1899, Alanson Decatur Rose, M. D. (A. M. C., '89), to Helen Maud Eddy, daughter of Elmer Burtly Eddy, M. D. (A. M. C.), of Providence.

-Dr. GEORGE STANWIX (A. M. C., '98), who has been very seriously ill for some time, is now convalescent and is sojourning at Old Point Comfort, in the hopes that he will speedily be restored to health.

-Dr. JOSEPH A. LANAHAN (A. M. C., '99) has recently been appointed Resident Physician at St. Peter's Hospital to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Dr. Byron L. Sweet, who goes to Berlin, N. Y.

Book Reviews

Refraction and How to Refract: Including Sections on Optics, Retinoscopy, the Fitting of Spectacles and Eye-glasses, etc. By JAMES THORINGTON, A. M., M. D., Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology in the Philadelphia Polyclinic for Graduates in Medicine; Assistant Surgeon at Wills' Eye Hospital; Associate Member of the American Ophthalmological Society, etc. Three hundred pages, two hundred illustrations, thirteen of which are colored. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia. 1900.

The work is designed for the student and young practitioner of ophthalmology. It is written by a student and devotee of that school of ophthalmology which represents undoubtedly the highest plane of development and exactness of the science in America. The author has presented the essential principles of refraction in a clear and concise manner, on a wholly practical basis, eliminating the abstruse and theoretical problems which so often discourage the beginner and confuse the advanced student. Yet there are no sacrifices of necessary principles or axioms. It is the only book of its kind by an American writer and fills a long felt want. It is a practical instruction and working book for the student and those who cannot understand the classic works of Landolt, Donders, etc. On the other hand it is written in a style so attractive that the scholar can read it from cover to cover with pleasure.

The first chapter is devoted mostly to the essential principles of optics which are demonstrated clearly and briefly and in such a manner that failure to understand them is impossible. The explanation of the new numbering of prisms now in vogue based on the centrad and prism-diopter will appeal to the older practitioner; the rules for changing the old focal length or inch system into diopters in the numeration of lenses may also give him satisfaction equal to the student's, because of their simplicity of expression. The rules for the combination of lenses will be found valuable to nearly every ophthalmologist. They are not found in the classics and to the retinoscopist are absolutely necessary. The thinest and lightest lenses and periscopic effects are produced by the transposition of formulæ according to rules easily understood and followed. Some useful points for the selection of test cards are given with the names of some, the letters of which are formed on the correct angle (five minute) basis. The writer states that many on the market are not correct.

In comparing the measurements of the eye with emmetropia the significant statement is made that: "An eye, to be emmetropic, * * * no matter what its length, must have its refractive apparatus of just such strength that, in a state of rest, the principal focus will coincide exactly with the cones on the fovea."

Sixteen tests for the detection of astigmatism are given, some of which can be used for estimating the degree, the author expressing his opinion of the scope and merit of each test. The colored illustrations of the chromo-aberration or cobalt-blue test and the colored diagram showing the foci of the red and blue rays are excellent as well as very instructive. The ophthalmometer as a means of diagnosis is considered as "suggestive rather than positive." The writer says that in point of fact the instrument is a "Keratometer" and as such, cannot be excelled, but that lenticular astigmatism is not to be ignored as it will often increase, diminish or even neutralize corneal astigmatism and that the ophthalmometer is more often useless than of real value in estimating the total refractive error. Retinoscopy is considered the test par excellance for the detection and estimation of astigmatic or any other refractive errors and a separate chapter is devoted to its description. The principles of and the methods of using both the plane and the concave mirrors are given but the author refers the student who would avoid confusion to his separate work on "Retinoscopy with the Plane Mirror." He does not favor the movement of the observer till he finds the point of reversal but simplifies the test greatly by the rule, "If the surgeon will always refract the patient's eyes so that he gets the point of reversal at one meter distance, he will have the following rule to guide him-i. e. : To add a -1 sphere to the dark room correction, no matter what that may be."

The consideration of muscles is elementary in character and deals principally with the relation of refractive errors to muscular anomalies. The retinoscope is considered by far the most efficient and reliable means for estimating refractive errors in strabismus as "most cases of strabismus appear in children, and, too, the squinting eye, often being amblyopic, cannot assist in the selection of the glass."

The illustrations are mostly from original drawings by the author and elucidate the text admirably. Cycloplegics are differentiated from mydriatics; the cumbersome word "hypermetropia" is replaced by "hyperopia," and the work is replete with "points" which would be of great value to the beginner.

The last two chapters are devoted to presbyopia, aphakia, anisometropia, spectacles, the ordering of lenses and instructions for measuring and fitting frames. To the student we cannot recommend the work too highly; it will save him much time and many discouragements and pave the way to a better appreciation of the advanced works. The surgeon with greater knowledge could enjoy an evening with the book and not without profit.

H. S. P.

A Practical Treatise on Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By ROBERTS BARTHOLOW, M. A., M. D., LL. D. Tenth Edition. Revised and Enlarged. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1899.

Dr. Bartholow's Materia Medica and Therapeutics has been a standard work for twenty-five years. It is one of the few books whose arrangement and scope really meet the double purpose of a text-book for colleges and a reference book for practitioners, and the latter will feel a debt of gratitude to the author that their favorite work has been kept up to date. The eighth edition, published in 1893, was newly edited to meet the revisions of the United States Pharmacopoeia, and many new remedies were discussed, especially the synthetic products. In that edition a tabular statement of the metric system and its equivalents in the Troy measures was published. The ninth edition (1896) was enlarged by forty-five pages, in which the synthetic products were more completely exploited. The tenth edition is again an author's revision. and not a reprint. Newer remedies have been added, errors have been corrected, and a special article on prescription writing has been inserted. The propriety of this can hardly be questioned, the less that it is made available for physicians not versed in Latin by the clearness and succinctness with which the subject has been treated. Genitives and accusatives are always troublesome elements in formulating the rhetorical prescription, and the rules cited will assist the novice. The following illustration, given by the author, appears to be faulty:

Pilula Cathartica Compositæ, No. xii.

In such prescription the accusative would be preferable as there is no other noun for agreement of the adjective, and the Latin construction is more properly represented by

B Pilulas Catharticas Compositas, No. xii.

One feature of Dr. Bartholow's book deserving special commendation is the section on diet and alimentation. This includes chapters on "The Physiological Relations of Food;" "Special Plans of Diet;" "Alimentation in Disease," with formulæ; "Artificial Digestion;" and "Beverages."

It is a pleasure to state, without reservation, that this work easily maintains its high place among the best, and that its conservatism will be most acceptable to practitioners who are skeptical upon the fads and fashions in medicine which follow each other with such bewildering rapidity in these days of fancy pharmacy.

The Surgical Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Tract, Venereal and Sexual Diseases. A Text-book for Students and Practitioners. By G. FRANK LYDSTON, M.D., Professor of the Surgical Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs and Syphilology in the Medical Department of the State University of Illinois; Professor of Criminal Anthropology in the Kent College of Law; Surgeon-in-Chief of the GenitoUrinary Department of the West-Side Dispensary. Fellow of the Chicago Academy of Medicine; Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; Delegate from the United States to the International Congress for the Prevention of Syphilis and the Venereal Diseases, held at Brussels, Belgium, September 5, 1899, etc. Illustrated with 233 Engravings. 6% x 9 inches. Pages xvi-1024. Extra Cloth, $5.00, net. Sheep or Half-Russia, $5.75 net. The F. A. Davis Co., Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry St., Philadelphia.

This treatise on genito-urinary, venereal and sexual diseases is a new candidate for professional favor. Its text is based on twenty years of experience as a practitioner and teacher along this special line and on some sixty special articles and monographs published by the author at various times since the year 1883.

It would be unfair to adopt any other standard of comparison than that chosen by the author himself. In the preface he says "No attempt has been made to cover the literature of the various subjects comprised in this volume. The endeavor has been to give a practical survey of the field of genito-urinary and venereal disease." Judged by the author's own standard Professor Lydston has succeeded in presenting to the profession an exceedingly useful and valuable reference work. The book is written in an easy, flowing style and can be perused with pleasure as well as profit by all those who desire to have on their shelves a practical, modern and conservative book of reference on genito-urinary disease. The work is fully abreast of the latest theory and method in the practice of this special line.

As a work for students, however, one would feel that this book is a little beyond their knowledge and experience and that more satisfactory results would follow the study by them of the more condensed hand books, books dealing more with classification and few essential facts rather than books written from the standpoint of experience.

Part one deals with the general principles of genito-urinary, sexual and venereal pathology and therapeutics, and presents among others a chapter on genito-urinary and sexual hygiene, one on the bacteriological relation of genito-urinary infection and one on urinary fever. Much valuable and recent information of practical interest is contained in this latter chapter and one is thoroughly impressed with the soundness of the doctrine and the completeness of its presentation. The whole subject of urinary fever is offered in a most admirable, modern and satisfactory way.

Part two deals with the non-venereal diseases of the penis, part three with diseases of the urethra and gonorrhoea. The profession will be interested in the following opinion of Professor Lydston's: "Physicians should embrace every opportunity to impress the patient with the fact that gonorrhoea is one of the most severe and perhaps the most far-reaching in its