A Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Children, for Physicians and Students. By B. Sachs, M.D., Alienist and Neurologist to Bellevue Hospital; Neurologist to the Mt. Sinai Hospital, consulting physician to Manhattan State Hospital, east and west. Second edition, revised. Octavo. pp. 12-571. New York: William Wood & Co. (Price: $4.25). This work being written by a trained neurologist of wide experience, it is interesting to note the position Sachs takes in regard to certain mooted questions. In his chapter on epilepsy, he says of eyestrain, of urethral stricture, of narrow prepuces and of laryngeal irritation: "I doubt if any one of these conditions has ever been the sole cause of epilepsy, though I am willing to conceed that they may be sufficient to produce occasional attacks in persons with this special hereditary taint." In view of the strong anti-bromide position taken by Dr. Spratling, of Sonyea, it is important to observe that Sachs says, "up to this time, we have found no drugs that can in any sense be considered proper substitutes for the bromides." He is outspoken in utterly condemning the cutting of the eye muscles in epilepsy. In the treatment of chorea, he places rest in bed in the foreground, milk diet coming next in importance. In using arsenic, he is far more cautious than was Seguin. Sachs would rather abandon the use of arsenic than push it to the extreme that Seguin did. We do not agree with the author in his discussion of headache and eye strain. He is "firmly convinced that eye strain is the sole cause of headache in relatively few instances, and that these are located over the eyebrows." In our experience the location of the headache dut to eye strain is quite as often occipital in location. The description of the diseases of the spinal cord is most admirable, while the work as a whole is an excellent presentation of the subject as it is taught today. The author's personality is strongly felt throughout the book. We feel that this work fills a distinct gap in medical literature. J. W. P. Essentials of Genitourinary and Venereal Diseases. By Starling S. Wilcox, M.D., Professor of Genitourinary Diseases and Syphilology, Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio. 12mo. of 313 pages, illustrated. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company. 1906. (Cloth, $1.00 net). It is a difficult matter to crowd into a compend all the material necessary, to an understanding of so complicated a subject as genitourinary work, to say nothing of venereal diseases; yet Wilcox has made a brave effort to combine the two subjects in one small volume of the Saunders series of compends and has succeeded in presenting a book which is, at least, helpful to a student in a broad sense, for it gives him an idea of the depth of the subject and its manifold difficulties. One cannot very well approve of the subcutaneous ligation in varicocele, nor of castration for prostatic hypertrophy, any more than one can accept the suggestion to irrigate the urethra by means of catheter. The treatment of gonorrhea by irrigation is given its proper place in the forefront of other methods of local procedures, and did some of the insurgents of the profession use the care in irrigating by the Valentine method which Wilcox so strongly advises, they would get better results; also be less likely to beat the tom-tom of ridicule, and hold up their own mistakes as routine results of a most excellent treatment. Wilcox's command of the subject is comprehensive and his manner of presenting the details of symptomatology and treatment is admirable. The book cannot help being of great service to the student; and it might be studied to great advantage by many a general practitioner whose tendency is to make light of the venereal diseases, and whose lack of detailed knowledge in the genitourinary field leads him to practise in this branch of medicine with a bottle of acid and another of alkaline cystitis tablets. N. W. W. Ellis's Demonstrations of Anatomy. Being a guide to the knowledge of the human body by dissection. Twelfth edition. Revised and edited by Christopher Addison, M.D., BS. (Lond.), F. R. C. S. Lecturer in Anatomy, Charing Cross Hospital, Medical School, Examiner in Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons, England, etc. Illustrated by 306 engravings on wood, of which a large number are in colors. Octavo volume, 861 pages. New York: William Wood & Company. 1906. (Price, muslin binding, $3.50 net). Without doubt the best way to obtain an accurate knowledge of human anatomy is through dissection of the various structures of the body. To do this work properly the anatomical student must have a good instructor and an excellent book as a guide. Ellis's demonstrations for many years have been considered among the best, having stood the test of experience. Addison has revised the present edition to meet the advances in the knowledge of anatomy and the changes in the methods of teaching. The material has been rearranged to follow the course taken by students; in appropriate places old matter has been eliminated, principally in those relating to the viscera ; and sixty-two illustrations, twentyseven of which are in colors, have been added. The marginal references are a great convenience to the student of anatomy, and the book is in every respect worthy of continued confidence and favor. Mt. A Treatise on the Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. For Students Koplik is not a new name nor is he a new author to become acquainted with. His first edition was received with encomiums and his fame as an accomplished pediatrist is world-wide. His treatise takes rank with the best in any land or tongue and his ability as a teacher is acknowledged everywhere. In this edition the advances of the past few years have been met, and the author's vast personal experiences have been incorporated, thus making the work a practical clinical treatise. It becomes, therefore, of extreme value to the general practitioner, while the specialist of necessity will appreciate and possess it. The section on infant feeding, in which every young mother is so deeply interested, is well worth the price of the book; it is scientifically sound and intensely practical. A strong feature of the treatise is the importance given to physiology and pathology of the newborn; the specific infectious diseases, too, have been elaborately dealt with; in short, the author has presented a detailed yet succinct reflection of the present status of pediatric knowledge, which is not surpassed by any other treatise on the subject. The illustrations are superb, many of them being original. plate delineating Koplik's spots, a pathognomonic sign of measles, is deserving of special commendation. The volume is provided with an excellent index, which is an essential of every medical treatise. The The International Medical Annual. A yearbook of Treatment and Practitioner's Index. Twenty-fourth year. Substantially bound in cloth and fully illustrated by plates in color and black and white. New York: E. B. Treat and Company. 1906. Octavo, 700 pages. (Price, $3.00 net, post or express paid). This book is always welcomed by those most familiar with its scope and purpose. It is a résumé of the medical literature of the past year, prepared by thirty-one department editors, and contains added articles by noted specialists. The staff of editors is made up of men with established reputations in their respective fields, all specialists of the highest type. This is the twenty-fourth annual issue of this work and to its credit, its general appearance, size of page, and form remain unchanged. This uniformity in its external fashion gives the volumes a fine showing in the library. Its dictionary make-up, supplemented by a full index, makes it a most complete and satisfactory year book, and with it the busy practitioner is enabled to keep himself in touch with the most recent advances in knowledge and practice respecting any subject in medicine or surgery. The present number exceeds that of any of its predecessors, as might be expected, and it is not second to any work of its kind in the world. The Opthalmoscope and How to Use It. By James Thorington, A.M., M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Eye in the Philadelphia Polyclinic; Ophthalmologist to the Elwyn, Vineland, and New Jersey State Training Schools for Feeble-minded Children, etc. 12 colored plates and ther illustrations. 8 vo. PP. 398. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Company. 1906. (Cloth, $2.50 net). Thorington has become well known to the medical profession as an author of scientific attainments, through his previous works, "Refraction and how to Refract," and "Retinoscopy." In the present work he discusses the use of the most important diagnostic instrument relating to the eye that the last half of the nineteenth century produced. The author gives the most perfect directions for the employment of the ophthalmoscope in the most concise manner, so that even the neophyte cannot fail to comprehend the correct use of the instrument. Moreover, he tells what we should see in the eye, both in health and in disease. Not only this, but he tells how to refract, discusses optics, instructs in retinoscopy, and informs the student upon many cognate subjects. Thorington, however, has limited his descriptions in the main to those diseases which interest in particular the general practitioner in his daily work. It is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise but, instead, a description of the ophthalmoscope and how to use it, a purpose in which the author has succeeded in a most admirable manner. The drawings, half-tones, and colored plates give excellent illustration of the text and make it clearly as well as easily understood. A Textbook on the Practice of Gnyecology. For Practitioners and Students. By W. Easterly Ashton, M.D., LL. D., Fellow of the American Gynecologic Society; Professor of Gynecology in the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia. Second Edition, revised. Octavo of 1079 pages, with 1046 original line drawings. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company. 1906. (Cloth, $6.50 net; Half-Morocco, $7.50 net). It is a rare occurrence for the second edition of a medical work to be required within six months from the appearance of the first, but this distinction belongs to Ashton's treatise. It is not only unique in this respect but further, because it describes in adequate detail what is to be done and tells precisely how to do it. Still further, the engravings are line drawings from living models, dissections on the cadaver, actual apparatus, and the operative technics of other authors,-ten-hundred and forty-six cuts in all. The demand for this edition, coming so soon after the original issue of the book, has left very little to be done in the way of revision. Some errors have been corrected and a few of the illustrations have been altered, otherwise the book remains the same. What we said, therefore, in commending the first edition. remains good for this one-namely that it is a practical treatise by an accomplished gynecologist. The Operating Room and the Patient. By Russell S. Fowler, M.D., Surgeon to the German Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. Octavo of 172 pages fully illustrated. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company. 1906. (Cloth, $2.00 net). A book with this title coming at the present time is to be welcomed as an addition of value to the literature dealing with opera tive preparation. The work is really an expression of Fowler's own ideas regarding operative technic, and is essentially useful also for the purpose for which it was written-namely, that of placing before assistants, internes and nurses, proper and safe methods to be followed in operative technic, preoperative preparation and sterilisation. It is full of valuable instruction to those who have not had the advantages of hospital service. The book is unique in that it is the first to be published wholly confined to operative technic and preoperative preparation and sterilisation. Not only that, but it outlines preparation of material of all kinds, details necessary instruments for various operations, and describes the preparation of the patient before and his care after operation. There is considerable space devoted to anesthesia which is valuable and instructive, especially that portion which deals with post anesthetic nausea. An interesting feature of the work is the descriptions and illustrations of the different positions of the patient in various operations. Fowler's style is direct and convi ing and his book is happily free from that egotistic straining for effect which mars so many otherwise excellent publications. N. W. W. The Physical Examination of Infants and Young Children. By Theron Wendell Kilmer, M.D., Adjunct Attending Pediatrist to the Sydenham Hospital; Instructor in Pediatrics in the New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital; Attending Physician to the Summer Home of St. Giles, Garden City, New York. Illustrated with 59 Half-tone Engravings. 12mo., 86 Pages. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, Philadelphia, Pa. (Price: $75 net). This author has done the medical profession much service in presenting a subject not heretofore dealt with in monographic form. Whatever has been written regarding it, is to be found in textbooks or general treatises on diseases of children, hence lacks the emphasis that attaches to the treatment of the topic in a separate book, as in the present instance. Kilmer displays an intimate knowledge of children and how to handle them; he knows how to interpret not only their symptoms but their mannerisms, and he has told the story most attractively as well as in thorough scientific fashion. The illustrations, practically all original, are superb and bring out the salient features of the text with insistence. It is, by and large, a book that will do a vast amount of good to all who treat diseases of children Saunders's Question Compends. Essentials of Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Prescription Writing. By Henry Morris, M.D., College of Physicians, Philadelphia. Seventh edition, thoroughly revised. By W. A. Bastedo, Ph.G., M.D., Instructor in Materia Medica and Pharmacology at the Columbia University (College of Physicians and Surgeons). New York. 12m0, 300 pages. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Company, 1905. (Cloth, $1.00 net). A good way to study the topics of which this excellent little volume treats is to use it as an index and pursue the investigation from that basis. The student always has needed reminders such as this and will continue to do so probably as long as time and memory run. |