The symptoms whose arrangement is thus described are (in the first three parts) taken from the Materia Medica. The choice of symptoms, however, in the first part, and the relative size of type in which the names of the medicines are given in the second and third, are determined by clinical experience. For this the author can draw upon "the important accumulation of 115 quarto volumes of most carefully kept case-books," ranging over a space of thirtyThe fourth part is, of course, clinical only. five years. Bönninghausen's first edition was given us in English many years ago by Dr. Hempel. The second is translated by Dr. Korndorfer, who is a well-known and laborious member of the Hahnemannian school of American homœopathy. He has added twenty-six remedies to Bönninghausen's list, and incorporated their symptoms in the repertory. We regret to find, however, that in so doing he has departed alike from Bönninghausen and from Hahnemann himself in following the vicious practice of his party of mingling "clinical symptoms" with pathogenetic, without note of distinction. We want to know what febrile symptoms each drug has caused on the healthy body; and then, quite separately, what febrile conditions have disappeared under its medicinal use, and how quickly. It is simply confusing and misleading to blend the two in one homogeneous list as "characteristics." The volume is got up with that excellence of type and paper (with leaves already cut) which now distinguishes our American publications. They only want more careful reading of the press to make them models of typography. So far we have limited ourselves to giving an account of the work before us. And if it had been published, and this review written, thirty years ago, there would have been nothing to add but an expression of appreciation. But when we come to consider it in the light of present knowledge and possibilities, it is impossible to close without considerations of a less favourable tenor. The idea is a good one. To abstract" fever," pure and simple, from the various concrete forms in which it is manifested; to inquire what medicines produce it, in what manner and with what concomitants; to collate the results of experience as to the power of such medicines over it, in its generic, specific, and individual varieties; and to convey all this information in a compendious and available form, would be a work of obvious and great value. But it has already appeared how imperfect is our author's conception of what "fever" is. It consists, to him, in disordered circulation, chill (including coldness and shivering), heat, and sweat. "One or more of these conditions," he writes, can, in general, indicate or characterise a fever." Correspondingly, the "General Fever Symptoms" of his first part include every disturbance of the heart's action, every lowering of bodily temperature, every sudorific effect produced by the drugs named-the slow pulse of Digitalis, the chilly depression of Pulsatilla, the sweating of Sambucus. Now all this may be excusable to Bönninghausen in his study; but how can Dr. Korndorfer be content to reproduce it in the light of modern science? He must know that there are a hundred derangements of the circulation which have no connexion with pyrexia; that there is no true febrile chill in which the internal temperature has not already risen; and that mere perspiration, without relation to heat, may be a phenomenon quite foreign to the present matter. Judged by this standard, four fifths of the medicines given, and one half of their symptoms, might be expunged with advantage. In fact, true pyrexia is (as Dr. Gibbs Blake showed at the late Leamington Congress) a rare pathogenetic effect; and we certainly have very few medicines which exert a real control over it. The great majority of Bönninghausen's 130 may occasionally come in to help in the treatment of a fever; but unlucky would be the patient who had to depend on them (on Agnus, Ambra, Asarum, Cyclamen, and such like) to mitigate its severity or shorten its duration. He would probably do much better under the care of the despised treater of pathological names, who would at least keep him on medicines which are truly anti-pyrexial. These considerations bear mainly upon the first part of the work. The second and the third-the Repertory-will be valuable in proportion to the amount of clinical experience they contain; and practice only can test them. As far as they merely refer to the first part, they are vitiated by its essential faultiness. The fourth part, the Pathological Names of the Various Fevers," with their remedies attached, had better have been supplied by one who had some sympathy with pathology, which author and translator alike disclaim. The list is of the crudest and most antiquated kind. Here are its earliest constituents: "Bilious Fever, Catarrhal Fever, Cinchona Fever, Congestive (chills) Fever, from overheating, from taking cold, from bathing, from getting wet through. It is not surprising to find "Nervous Fever" and "Slow Fever" mentioned as separate entities; while typhoid is bracketed as identical with typhus. We are thus regretfully compelled to pronounce that, whatever be the value of this book, it belongs to the Dark Ages of homoeopathy, and that the "Homœopathic Therapeia of Fever" is a treatise still unwritten. Annual Record of Homœopathic Literature. 1873. Edited by C. G. RAUE, M.D., assisted by fifteen others. SINCE We noticed, in our number for April, 1871, the first volume of this Record, it has been appearing annually, and the present volume is the fourth of the series. It continues to be an excellent compendium of all that has appeared worthy of note in German, British, and American journals during the preceding twelve months. We ought to be able to add "French;" but we find that these, with their fellows in the Spanish tongue, are used only "as far as translated in other journals." Surely, even if Spanish is unattainable, Dr. Raue could find some fellow-labourer in the States who understands French. The three indices of Diseases, Remedies, and Authors continue to be a most useful feature of the work, and with their aid we can find out what has been written on any subject, and where, during any of the years (1869–1872) over which the Record extends. This will be invaluable to authors, and only less so to practitioners. We advise all our readers to take in regularly this excellent year-book. The Science and Art of Surgery. Compiled from Standard Allopathic Authorities, and adapted to Homœopathic Therapeutics. By E. C. FRANKLIN, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the Homœopathic Medical College at Missouri, and Surgeon to the Good Samaritan Hospital of St. Louis. Vol II. St. Louis, 1873. THE first volume of this work appeared (in two parts) in 1867-8, and was reviewed in vol. xxvii of this Journal, p. 321. Its present continuation has all the merits we found in the earlier part of the work. It is excellently adapted for the students of the American Homœopathic Colleges, for whom it is written; and may be useful to any practitioner. We have noted the following practical observations as worth extracting: Page 29. In the treatment of sprains Dr. Franklin advises that the lotions, medicated with the appropriate remedy, should always be applied warm. He prefers Ruta lotion to any other application where the deeper-seated joints are injured. Page 49. He speaks highly of Sulphuric acid as a remedy, after Aconite, for acute rheumatism. Page 158.- He contributes another case of the cure of paralytic after-effects of spinal concussion by Hypericum. Page 364. He is enthusiastic in his praise of the power of Symphytum to promote the union of fractured bones. These are medicinal points. In the surgery proper of his book Dr. Franklin seems to have compiled and repro duced well; and occasionally gives some useful experience of his own, as, for instance, a case of ovarian tumour cured by galvanism (p. 731). The only fault we have to find is that inveterate one of our trans-atlantic confrères, carelessness in typography, punctuation, citation, and arrangement. Thus, the virtues of Iodine in scrofulous swellings and indurations are mentioned under the head of "Ganglion ;" and Dr. Hornby's experience in the treatment of whitlow as a note to "Toe-nail Ulcer;" lupus and rodent ulcer under the head of Diseases of the Lymphatic System, and so forth. The following is a specimen of faulty citation (p. 53):-" Viola odorata. Three cases are given of the curative effects of this drug in rheumatic synovitis, all of which were severe and occurring on the right side of the body; improvement began within two days; complete recovery followed rapidly. The 12th potency was used." The reference is to vol. xxiv of this Journal, p. 315. But we find there six cases; in three the 12th dilution was given, in one the 1st, in one several, in one the dilutions are not mentioned; and the special point of the paper is to show that the action of the Viola is pretty well limited to the right carpal and metacarpal joints. There was, moreover, much more variety than is stated as regards the time at which improvement began and cure resulted. If errors of this kind were avoided, and the press more carefully read, our satisfaction with the American contributions to our literature would be more unalloyed than at present they are. C. Hering's Materia Medica; with a Pathological Index. Vol. I. New York: Boericke and Tafel. H. Turner and Co. London : THIS volume is a collection of monographs on medicines, such as the author has given us before in his Amerikanische Arzneiprufungen. Its 706 pages contain the sixteen reme |
