under foot weak women and little children, and individuals taking chances for escape that would have seemed second only to the danger of instant death from the fire. Truly the mental state at such a time must be dreadful indeed.

It would seem that suffocation was a chief factor in occasioning dissolution in many of those who met their death during this fire, for a number of the bodies were found to be without a mark of any kind sufficient to cause death. Burns of every degree naturally were found, and that many of the victims met their death from shock and violence could not other than be surmised, in view of the awful stampede and great excitement at this time.

This terrible calamity will always remain one of the most frightful catastrophes that has occured in the history of the human race, not that the loss of life was so very great on the whole, but in proportion to the number participating, and the suddenness with which it occurred, history shows few parallel examples. We trust that the wave of reform in theatre management which is now passing over the country will not last merely for the time that this horrible object lesson is held before us by its freshness, but that it may be enduring and bring about a due regard in the construction and conduct of such edifices for the protection and preservation of their patrons which should be demanded by the laws of every land.

THE MORTALITY IN PNEUMONIA.

WHILE the medical profession has been cognizant for some time of the increase in the mortality from pneumonia, it is only recently that the laity have begun to realize that this disease now holds first place in the destructive diseases which afflict mankind. This campaign of education has been taken up by the daily press, and we trust that it may have some influence in teaching people the importance of observing the prophylactic measures which can be used in warding off this very fatal disease.

For a number of years consumption held first place among the fatal maladies to which humanity is heir, but pneumonia has steadily increased in its death rate, while consumption

has, owing to modern methods of treatment and care for hygienic surroundings, shown a decrease, until now pneumonia is to be reckoned with as the king of all diseases in this respect.

To what this increasing mortality is due it would be difficult to precisely state. Certainly modern building construction is a great improvement over that of olden times, and our buildings are now heated with a uniformity that was never the case in the homes and offices of our grandfathers. Clothing is good and cheap, and the quality and amount of food consumed can be regarded as of proportionate superiority. Perhaps it may be that the more or less coddling lives that we now lead is a prime cause of the increased incidence of this disease, for the luxuries of modern civilization probably do not tend to strengthen resistance to the invasion of the morbific germ of pneumonia, but rather have the effect of weakening the vital powers of the human economy in this respect. At any rate, this is opening a wide field for investigation, and we are sure that the efforts to discover a specific serum for pneumonia will be redoubled, with, we hope, ultimate success. In the meantime we should impress upon our patients the necessity for avoidance of unnecessary exposure and for building up in every way possible the physical man, and, by all means, the urgent need of pure air and hygienic dwelling places.

EDITOR'S NOTES.

DR. CLIFTON LAMAR GREEN was married to Miss Bessye Ruberta Hart, December 2, 1903, at Utica, Mississippi.

THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF OTOLOGY will be held at Bordeau, August 1-4, 1904.

DR. A. A. DANIEL, of Effie, Louisiana, was married to Miss. Pauline Irene Berlin, of Marksville, Louisiana, December 6, 1903, at Marksville.

DR. C. TRAVIS DRENNEN, of Hot Springs, Arkansas, who is councillor for his district of the Arkansas Medical Society, has been conducting a vigorous campaign against quackery at Vol. 24-4

Hot Springs, in which he has the co-operation of the Secretary of the Interior, was recently arrested under an indictment charging him with unprofessional conduct. The case was nolle prossed in the circuit court by prosecuting attorney Martin, although Dr. Drennen was anxious for a trial so that the public might be made familiar with the testimony which caused his indictment. That this latter was very flimsy, was borne out by the manner in which the case was disposed of. The Hot Springs Sentinel Record, of November 21, 1903, states that "From the day the indictments were returned, (Dr. T. E. Holland being similarly charged), it was the general opinion of all that the grand jury had allowed themselves, unwittingly, to be imposed upon by a few men with a carefully concocted scheme to besmirch the character of the men who stand at the head of the crusade against drumming, in order that the crusade might become a failure and a farce." Dr. Drennen and his colleagues in this campaign of purification should have the sympathy of every self-respecting member of the medical profession.

BOOK REVIEWS.

American Text-Book of Surgery. For Practitioners and Students. Edited by William W. Keen, M.D., LL.D., F.R.C.S. (Hon.), Professor of the Principles of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery (Jefferson Medical College). Philadelphia; and J. William White, M.D., John Rhea Barton, Professor of Surgery, (University of Pennsylvania), Philadelphia. Fourth edition, thoroughly revised and greatly enlarged. Handsome octavo of 1363 pages, with 551 text-illustrations and 39 full-page plates, many in colors. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Company, 1903. Cloth, $7 net; sheep or half morocco, $8 net.

The immense sales which have attended the former editions of this work are the highest testimonial that could be paid to its scientific value, for when a medical work shows the sale of 40,000 copies, evidently it is of much worth. This edition of the work has undergone the customary revision and many new chapters have been added. The more recent researches of Monks on the intestines, Crile and Cushing on shock and blood pressure, Matas on neural infiltration and aneurism, Edebohls on renal decortication, etc., have been included. The use of paraffin in nasal deformities, the methods of spinal and local anesthesia, and the newer anesthetics have been described. There are new chapters on military surgery, naval surgery, tropical surgery, examination of the blood, immunity, and surgery of the pancreas. Altogether it is an exceedingly masterly contribution to the literature of surgical science.

The Physician's Visiting List for 1904. (Lindsay & Blakiston's). Fiftythird year of its publication. Published by Messrs. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut street, Philadelphia. Price, $1.

ance.

With never-failing regularity Blakiston's excellent visiting list makes its appearIt is now in the fifty-third year of its publication and, judging by its ever-increasing popularity, its endurance will be forever.

Egbert's Hygiene. New (3d) edition. A Manual of Hygiene and Sanitation by Seneca Egbert, M.D., Professor of Hygiene in the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia. New (3d) edition, enlarged and thoroughly revised, in one 12mo. volume of 467 pages, with 86 illustrations. Cloth, $2.25 net. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers. Philadelphia and New York.

It is a rare compliment to a work of this character that it so shortly should run to three editions, for naturally a text-book on hygiene would not secure the immediate and large circulation of a text-book on one of the other more commonly studied departments of medicine. But this indicates the growing interest of the profession and laity in the subjects of hygiene and sanitation, and shows that the author has succeeded in furnishing a thoroughly satisfactory work. In this new edition the old matter has undergone careful revision, and much that is new has been added. A Text-Book of the Practice of Medicine. By James M. Anders, M.D., PH.D., LL.D., Professor of the Practice of Medicine and of Clinical Medicine (Medico-Chirurgical College), Philadelphia. Sixth edition, thoroughly revised. Handsome octavo volume of 1300 pages, fully illustrated. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Company, 1903. Cloth, $5.50 net; sheep or half morocco, $6.50 net.

It would be difficult to find in the history of medical text-book making another work which so speedily gained for itself the widespread popularity and demand for repeated editions that has fallen to the lot of this text-book on medicine. Dr. Anders has every reason to feel gratified over the success of his book, and we can well understand the interest that he constantly displays in seeing that each successive edition is modernized in every respect. This edition has been enlarged by the introduction of a number of new subjects, and the old chapters have been thoroughly revised. The work is eminently practical in its character and pays great attention to diagnosis and treatment.

A Text-Book of Diseases of Women. By Barton Cooke Hirst, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics in the University of Pennsylvania; Gynecologist to the Howard, the Orthopedic, and the Philadelphia Hospitals. Handsome octavo volume of 675 pages, sumptuously illustrated with some 650 mostly original illustrations, many in colors. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1903. Cloth, $5 net; sheep or half morocco, $6 net. So well known has become Dr. Hirst's text-book of obstetrics, that this latest work of his will no doubt immediately gain for itself commensurate popularity. This text-book of the diseases of women is eminently adapted to the requirements of the general practitioner, as the palliative treatment, as well as the radically operative, is fully described. This is especially desirable to the predominant element in medicine, the general practitioners, who necessarily are compelled to treat, even though to a limited degree, many of these cases. The author has not neglected the subject of gynecic surgery, for an entire section is devoted to a full description of all modern gynecological operations, illustrated and elucidated by numerous photographs taken especially for this work. The high degree of training that the author has had in the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases of women will be evident throughout the work to even the most casual reader, and this application has been a great factor in enabling him to produce a work of great practical value.

The book is beautifully illustrated, but for a few exceptions all the illustrations being original, having been reproduced from photographs and water colors of actual clinical cases accumulated during the past fifteen years. We predict for this work instant success.

Roger on Infectious Diseases. Their Etiology, Diagnosis and Treatment, by G. H. Roger, Professor Extraordinary in the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, etc., translated by M. S. Gabriel, M.D.. New York. In one octavo volume

of 864 pages, with 43 illustrations. Cloth, $5.75 net. Lea Bros. & Co., Philadelphia and New York, 1903.

It is an unusual feature in medical text-book literature to find an entire work devoted to the consideration of infectious diseases, but we can readily see that this field is ample enough to justify a very full volume on the subject. The author of this work, Professor Roger, of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, has had rare opportunities for the study of infectious diseases. In the hospitals under his charge are reviewed all cases of contagious diseases which occur in Paris, and he has personally attended more than 10,000 patients during a period of five years. What could come of an experience such as this but a very ripe knowledge of the conditions with which he was brought in contact? Thus he has been enabled to actually estimate the independent value of exceptional research and clinical observation, and that he has had a chance to reduce the theories of infection and immunity to a basis of practical utility cannot be doubted.

In this work Professor Roger has pursued simple and practical methods in unfolding the knowledge of his subject. He studies the pathogenic agents, inquires into their distribution in nature, the conditions under which they attack man and their modes of invasion. He further goes into full consideration of their effects upon the human economy and the reaction of the latter upon the invaders, and devotes considerable space to questions of diagnosis and prognosis. What is of greater interest to the practitioner is the fact that more than a quarter of the volume is devoted to treatment, both preventive and curative. This work undoubtedly will at once win for itself a strong place in the good opinion of the entire medical profession.

Lectures on Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By Frank D. Smythe, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at the Memphis Hospital Medical College, Assistant to the Chair of Surgery at the Memphis Hospital Medical College, Clinical Lecturer on Surgery, Attending Surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital, Member of the American Medical Association, Tennessee State Medical Association, Memphis and Shelby County Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Association of Mississippi. Arkansas and Tennessee and the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, etc., etc. Edited by J. L. McGehee, A.B., M.D., Quiz Master on Materia Medica and Therapeutics at the Memphis Hospital Medical College, Assistant Demonstrator in the Laboratory of Histology, Bacteriology and Pathology, Member of the American Medical Association, Memphis and Shelby County Medical Society, Tri-State Medical Association of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, Captain and Assistant Surgeon Second Infantry, N. G. S. T. Published by Paul & Douglass Co., Printers, Memphis, 1903. Price, $3.

The medical college curriculum of today is so extensive that it passes ordinary comprehension as to how the student manages to imbibe and assimilate the vast quantity of information that is given him during the average college course. Necessarily he must do a great amount of reading, and most text-books contain more or less superfluous material; therefore the tendency of the present day is to prepare compends or abstracts of the various subjects to be studied. The compend habit is seriously to be deprecated, for it induces a superficiality of study that cannot other than result detrimentally to the student's thorough understanding of the general field of medicine. But a work such as the one before us, in which the lectures of the master are presented in their entirety for