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Nursing in the Acute Infectious Fevers. By George B. Paul, M.D., Assistant Visiting Physician and Adjunct Radiographer to the Samaritan Hospital, Troy, N. Y. 12mo. volume of 200 pages, illustrated. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders and Company. 1906. (Price, $1.50 net).

In this monograph will be found the essentials pertaining to nursing fever patients; indeed, it may be said that it reduces that form of nursing to a specialty. The author divides his work into three parts. The first treats of fevers in general; the second of each fever individually; the third deals with practical procedures and information necessary to the proper management of the various diseases discussed, such as antitoxins, bacteria, urine examination, poisons and their antidotes, enemata, topical applications, antiseptics, weights and measures, diet, and various other requisites pertaining to this special form of nursing. A table of the signs of the onset of the toxic effects of drugs, and one of poisons and their antidotes, add useful features to the book, which is one that every nurse should obtain and study.

The World's Anatomists.

Concise Biographies of Anatomic Masters from 300 B. C. to the present time, whose names have adorned the literature of the medical profession. By G. W. H. Kemper, M.D., Professor of the History of Medicine in the Medical College of Indiana at Indianapolis. Revised and enlarged from the original serial publication in the Medical Book News. With eleven illustrations. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Company. 1905.

The memoranda contained in this small brochure should attract the attention of every physician interested in the classics of medicine. They serve to refresh the memories of those who may have forgotten specific data, and to inform others who may not have learned them as yet. The author has done the profession a marked favor in collecting short sketches of the world's famous anatomists.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

A Textbook of Histology. By Frederick R. Bailey, M.D., Adjunct Professor of Normal Histology, Medical Department of Columbia University, New York. Second, revised edition. Illustrated.

Octavo, pp. 497. New York: William Wood & Co. 1906. (Price, $3.00).

The Medical Student's Manual of Chemistry. By R. A. Witthaus, M.D., Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Toxicology in Cornell University. Sixth edition. Octavo, pp. 820. New York: William Wood & Co. 1906. (Price, $4.00).

Transactions of the twenty-eighth annual meeting of the American Laryngological Association held at Niagara Falls, N. Y., May 31, June 1 and 2, 1906. James E. Newcomb, M.D., secretary. Lea's Series of Medical Epitomes. Edited by Victor C. Pedersen, M.D. Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Edward J. Kiepe, M.D., Adjunct Professor of Materia Medica in the Medical Depart

ment, University of Buffalo. 12m0., pp. 265.

Philadelphia and New

York: Lea Brothers & Company. 1906. (Price, $1.00).

Annual report of the Department of Health of the City of Buffalo for the year ending December 31, 1905. Walter D. Greene, M.D., Health Commissioner.

Rhythmotherapy, or a Discussion of the Physiologic Basis and Therapeutic Potency of Mechano-vital Vibration; to which is added a Dictionary of Diseases. Illustrated by Samuel S. Wallian, A.M.,

M.D., Chicago: Ouellette Press. 1906. (Price, $1.50).

International Clinics. A quarterly of Illustrated Clinical Lectures and especially prepared articles on Treatment, Medicine, Surgery, Neurology, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology, Orthopedics, Pathology, Dermatology. Ophthalmology, Otology, Rhinology, Laryngology, Hygiene and other topics of interest to students and practitioners. By leading members of the medical profession throughout the world. Edited by A. O. J. Kelly, A.M., M.D. Philadelphia. Volume III. Sixteenth series. 1906. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co. (Cloth, $2.00).

ITEMS.

THE approach of the holiday season calls to mind the fact that physicians, equally with other persons, are interested in the proper preparation of the table delicacies and luxuries that serve to make for good cheer during the festivities. Among other things two articles are indispensable in making up for these occasions. One of these is Apollinaris Water, which is unrivalled for the table and holds its own as the "Queen" of table waters. The other is "Moet and Chandon White Seal Champagne, vintage of 1900," which is unexcelled by any sparkling wine in the market. It is proper to remark, too, that both "Apollinaris" and "Moet and Chandon" are often of value in the sick room. Whenever sparkling water or wine is indicated these are each at the top of the list in their class.

TO CHESS PLAYERS.-The Tri-state Chess Association, an organisation composed of over four hundred players, most of whom reside in the Mississippi Valley, is arranging a correspondence match at chess, the Doctors vs. the Laity. It is desired to have physicians from every section of the United States engaged in this match. Therefore, every chess loving physician is urged to become a consultant in the case. The match will begin early in November; entries will be accepted until January 1, 1907. All who will play are urged to send their names and addresses to the president, with the number of games they will take on. There is no fee attached to the match.

Address,

DR. VAN NUYS, President, Lorain, O.

BUFFALO MEDICAL JOURNAL.

VOL. LXII.

A

DECEMBER, 1906.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

The Social Evil.'

BY DENSLOW LEWIS, M. D., Chicago, Illinois.
Chairman of the Section on Hygiene and Sanitary Science of the
American Medical Association.

No. 5

Noccasion like this is usually improved to offer congratulations to the new members of the craft who have served their apprenticeship and are now joyfully admitted with us to the rank of master workmen. It is also customary for some one to speak of the high ideals of the medical profession, to give perfunctory advice, and to indulge in words of eulogy and enIt is certainly a glad day in any man's life when fruition comes at last as the result of honest labor.

couragement.

I look back now to a day nearly thirty years ago when I was found worthy to take my place with the others, to do what I might to bind up the wounds that bleed, and above all things, by judicious endeavor, to try to learn how a wise and practical prophylaxis might limit disease and increase the usefulness and happiness of the human race. My struggles will not be yours. Honest men have worked faithfully and well for humanity and, although in many instances even their names are now forgotten, the imprint they have left on medical progress and the incentive they have given to modern thought attest the usefulness of their lives, and form a more substantial reward than title, worldly honor, or the accumulation of property. advanced, and the new generation begins where the workers of the present leave off.

It

Medical science has

is, I think, interesting to observe that the profession realises now more than ever that its members have other things to do than wield the knife or roll the pill. It is a happy sign of the times when medical men understand that they must study Sociology, that they must appreciate economic conditions, that they must face the facts and know life as it is, and not as their wishes would have it be.

1.

A great step in advance is taken Delivered by invitation at the Commencement Exercises before the Alumni

Association of the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo, May 31, 1906.

when we really believe that our way, while it seems to us to be the best, is not the only way; that our creed may not be the only true creed; that our standard of right and wrong and justice and truth may be only relatively correct. Above all things it is most fortunate for humanity and most propitious for real advancement, when we begin to discern that precedent is not authority, that human judgment may err, that civilisation advances, and that our knowledge of the truth is progressive.1

It is only of late years that we have learned all this. We have of course admitted it in a very general way, as every man who thinks must do. We have been hampered in the study of many of our most serious conditions by a false modesty and a maudlin sentimentality .which prevented us from looking facts well in the face. We have thought, as at least our actions would seem to indicate, that ignorance meant innocence, and that certain conditions of our society were so deplorable and disgusting that it were shameful even to admit their existence.2 And yet we

knew they existed; we knew the illness, the suffering of body and the distress of mind they caused. We tried to suppress them, but they would not down. We tried to ignore them, but their effects were so manifest that we realised the folly of closing our eyes and saying we did not see. At last we have come to our senses, and our better judgment prevails. We know there must be a reason for every event and a cause for every effect. We know there must be an incentive for every action and we understand now, in a most practical manner, that our only hope of effecting radical improvement consists first of all in a true understanding of the relationship between cause and effect and in realising that a knowledge of all the facts is of the first importance.3

In this liberalising spirit of inquiry, I purpose to offer for your consideration some of the facts, as I understand them, regarding what is known as the social evil. It is, I believe, the first time in America that this topic has been the subject of an address of this kind. Education and culture cause increased responsibility. It is a happy augury of the future that intelligent men and women throughout the country wish to devote serious. thought to this most momentous problem that pertains to our civilisation. Their work will bear fruit. They cannot study this great question of the ages without some practical benefit. They have taken the first step, they cast aside all prudery, they investigate with candor and deliberation this condition of our society and the direful effects that result from it, they know the folly of concealment, they wish to show the danger. The value of publicity is acknowledged.

With

this preface which, if you please, may serve as an apology for my topic, if it is thought that an apology is necessary, I state that next in importance to the instinct that demands the preservation of the individual is the instinct which determines the perpetuation of the species. This is a simple thing to say and a fact which is universally acknowledged. There is nothing disgusting about this. It shows to my mind a wonderful provision for the continuance of the race. This sexual instinct is the basis of love, for without its presence the platonic affection that exists between man and woman is only friendship. This need not be a startling declaration. I do not mean that the man who loves a pure young woman wishes to take an unfair advantage of her affection for him. I do not underestimate in the young woman the value of culture, education, and refinement, but I do maintain that the beauty of face and form, given in their perfection to women only during the years when childbearing is possible, indicate that her chief mission is that of the mother and that her most exalted station is that of the wife who makes possible the home which is the cornerstone of our society.

nature.

This matter of the sexual instinct must be studied very carefully and most thoroughly. It is the impelling force in our It demands satisfaction. Its consideration may not be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders, neither is it just or wise to call it nasty. It must be remembered it means home and children and happiness.

It is the noblest function of which any man or woman is capable. It is the keynote of a harmonious community.

It exists and it must exist or there is no future to

the race, no happiness to human life, no guarantee of safety to the

commonwealth.*

With the age of puberty comes the awakening of the sexual instinct. It is usually more accentuated in the boy than in the girl. It makes itself evident in an unmistakable manner, and unless the child is told about it, there is danger of masturbation, unnatural practices, or premature intercourse which may prove disastrous in many ways. As the child grows older, as adult life is reached and indeed during the greater part of every healthy life, the sexual instinct exerts itself in a dominating manner which, of course, is to be expected and which we must admit is desirable

when

we realise that were this not the case the race would be in danger of extinction. It is due to this sexual instinct that the social evil exists. It is chiefly due to the masterful influence of this instinct in the male that prostitution is possible.

I wish here to discriminate in regard to the use of a few expressions. When we say "evil," we must realise that there is a relative meaning to the word. If it is an evil for a man to co

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