BOOK REVIEWS. Lectures to General Practitioners on the Diseases of the Stomach and Intestines, with an Account of Their Relations to Other Diseases and of the Most Recent Methods Applicable to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Them in General; also "The Gastro-Intestinal Clinic," in which all such diseases are separately considered. By Boardman Reed, M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Gastro-Intestinal Tract, Hygeine and Climatology in the Department of Medicine of Temple College, Philadelphia; Attending Physician to the Samaritan Hospital; Member of the American Medical Association, American Climatological Association, American Academy of Medicine, American Electro-Theraupetic Association; Foreign Member of the French Societe D' Electro-Therapie, etc. Illustrated. Published by Messrs. E. B. Treat and Company, 241-3 West 23rd Street, New York. 1904. Price, $5.00 net. The name of Boardman Reed has long been before the medical profession for his numerous and scientific contributions to the subjects of the diseases of the stomach and intestines, and a work by him on these diseases will no doubt receive a very cordial welcome. Dr. Reed has had a large experience in this special field of medicine, to which he has devoted twenty years of practice. He is further qualified by his special training under leading gastro-enterologists of Europe, and has for some time been teaching this department of medicine. Dr. Reed has embodied in this work the substance of a series of lectures delivered to general practitioners, which gives it an intimate style which will appeal peculiarly to the reader. He undertakes to present an up-to-date consideration of the entire field of diseases of the stomach and intestines, and in doing this, presents not only his own views, but also the latest advances and discoveries in this line of medicine are described. Besides the subject proper of this work, the author discusses appendicitis, diseases of the rectum and anus, constipation and chronic diarrhea, and other allied affections. The section entitled "Symptomatic Guide to Diagnosis" will be found a welcome feature, and will enable the practitioner to trace any obscure and puzzling symptom to its possible cause. Rectal surgeons will find to their surprise that the author of the section on diseases of the rectum and anus, Dr. Colier Martin, is an advocate of the injection treatment of hemorrhoids. Other surprises, however, even more interesting in character, are contained in this work. Von Bergmann's Surgery. A System of Practical Surgery. Drs. E. von Bergmann, of Berlin, P. von Bruns, of Tubingen, and J. von Mikulicz, of Breslau. Edited by William T. Bull, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University), New York. Complete work now ready, in five imperial octavo volumes, containing 4220 pages, 1976 engravings and 102 full-page plates in colors and monochrome. Sold by subscription only. Per volume, cloth, $6.00; leather, $7.00; half morocco, $8.50, net. Volume V just ready. 789 pages, 354 engravings, 23 plates. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia and New York. In this we have the final volume of von Bergmann's splendid system of surgery, which has been translated into English and published in this country in order that many American surgeons who do not possess a sufficient knowledge of the German language to digest the original work may have an opportunity to enjoy this monumental publication. The work is encyclopedic in character, and some of its chapters are so full and comprehensive that they really are larger than special treatises devoted to the subjects. The complete volume comprises five handsome octavo volumes, 2420 pages, 1976 engravings and 102 full page plates in color and monochrome. Apart from its encyclopedic character, the work is essentially practical and clinical, and will be found a most excellent working text-book for practitioners of any department of surgery. The fifth volume of the system considers malformations, injuries and diseases of the pelvis, the anus and rectum, the urethra, abnormalities, injury and diseases of the kidneys and ureter, etc., etc. It is thoroughly in keeping with the high character of the previous volumes which we have had occasion to review. Dr. Bull and his collaborators who have translated and revised this work, deserve great credit and praise from the profession of America for the consistent fidelity and thoroughness with which they have labored in completing this work for the benefit of American surgeons. They have not only made an excellent translation of the original work, but have added helpful references to the methods of practice which have gained preference with English and American surgeons, which their own wide experience has taught should prove valuable. Nagel's Epitome of Nervous and Mental Diseases. A Manual for Students and Physicians. By Joseph Darwin Nagel, M.D., Consulting Physician to the French Hospital, New York. In one 12mo volume of 276 pages, with 46 illustrations. Cloth, $1.00 net. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia and New York, 1904. In this series of excellent medical epitomes, no volume should prove more acceptable to students and practitioners than this. It treats of a comparatively new department of medicine, and one which the medical student and practitioner, with the great demand upon their time, can scarcely find leisure to thrash out in the larger text-books. The author of this work has not undertaken to give a mere exposition of his views in the brief volume, but has gathered various facts and data contributed to the numerous text-books and pamphlets on the diseases of the mind and nervous system and woven them into a compact fabric, which enables the student to readily grasp the views of the best authors and lecturers. The work is well illustrated and gives much for a very small price. The Surgical Treatment of Bright's Disease. By George M. Edebohls, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Professor of the Diseases of Women in the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital; Consulting Surgeon to St. Francis Hospital, New York, Consulting Gynecologist to St. John's Riverside Hospital, Yonkers, N. Y., and to the Nyack Hospital, Nyack, N. Y.; Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and of the American Gynecological Society; Honorary Fellow of the Surgical Society of Bucharest; Permanent Member of the Medical Society of the State of New York, etc. Published by Frank F. Lisiecki, 9 to 15 Murray Street, New York. 1904. It is but a few years since Dr. Edebohls appeared in the arena of medical debate as a champion of the surgical treatment of chronic Bright's disease by the method of decorticating the kidneys, but in that time he has achieved success in so many instances, and has received such support from other operators, that this clever surgeon is justified in believing that he has added to the treatment of chronic Bright's disease the only method which as yet has been of specific value in prolonging life if not in curing patients thus afflicted. In his preface to this work, Dr. Edebohls states that while the time is not ripe for a complete systematic presentation of the subject of the surgical treatment of Bright's disease, yet there is manifest a very active and insistent demand on the part of the medical profession for such facts and information, especially as regards results, as may at present be available concerning the new treatment of so common and fatal a malady as chronic nephritis. To meet this demand as nearly as possible has been the object of this volume. The work is composed in about half its extent of articles contributed by Dr. Edebohls to medical journal literature from time to time, the latter portion of it being devoted to a presentation of the histories of cases operated upon by him, giving these in detail, so that they all can be carefully and analytically studied. One of the cases, number sixty-two, was that of a patient of Dr. M. Goltman, of Memphis, which was described by Dr. Goltman in the MONTHLY for January, 1904. Dr. Goltman has done some little work along this line himself, much of which has appeared in the MONTHLY. Dr. Edebohls closes his interesting volume with an analysis of results in the seventy-two patients whose histories he records, and indulges in the conclusion that the evidence submitted not only justifies the surgical treatment of Bright's disease, but establishes surgery as the main, if not the only, hope of sufferers from a hitherto incurable malady. Hyde and Montgomery on the Skin. A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Skin, for the Use of Students and Practitioners. By James Nevin Hyde, M.D., Professor of Dermatology and Venereal Diseases, and Frank H. Montgomery, Associate Professor of Dermatology and Venereal Diseases in Rush Medical College, Chicago. Seventh and revised edition. In one octavo volume of 938 pages, with 107 engravings and 35 plates in colors and monochrome. Cloth, $4.50 net; leather, $5.50 net. Lea Brothers & Co., Philadelphia and New York, 1904. The field of dermatology is being accorded an amount of study by scientific investigators of such proportions as to evidence its great importance in medicine. The efforts of these investigators are bringing splendid results in developing a knowledge of the etiology, clinical features and therapy of many comparatively superficially understood skin diseases, therefore frequent editions of text-books devoted to dermatology are necessary in order to keep in touch with progress in this line. This work represents the most advanced discoveries in all diseases of the skin. It gives full consideration to the subjects of radio-therapy and photo-therapy, which latterly have taken a conspicuous position in the treatment of skin diseases. Moreover, it is one of the best illustrated works published, having a series of engravings and of plates in color which are profuse in quantity and lifelike in quality. Altogether the work is a very representative one. For the A Text-Book of Clinical Diagnosis. By Laboratory Methods. use of Students, Practitioners and Laboratory Workers. By L. Napoleon Boston, A.M., M.D., Associate in Medicine and Director of the Clinical Laboratories of the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia; formerly Bacteriologist at the Philadelphia Hospital and at the Ayer Clinical Laboratory of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Octavo volume of 547 pages, with 320 illustrations, many of them in colors. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1904. Cloth, $4.00 net; sheep or half morrocco, $5.00 net. Laboratory methods have a very important place in the diagnosis of disease, and medical development during the past decade or so owes more perhaps to the clinical laboratories than anything else. The student should be well grounded in the various procedures in laboratory technique used in arriving at a diagnosis, and where he fails to secure this instruction he cannot other that feel handicaped when he goes out in practice. Dr. Boston has prepared a practical manual of clinical laboratory methods, his special purpose being to provide the busy practitioner in his office, as well as the student in the laboratory, with a work which could be called practical, in that it is devoid of theories and methods which have not received the commendation of experience. The methods now used in blood examination are described and illustrated by original drawings, and the subject of serum diagnosis is carefully considered. The newer methods for the estimation of sugar, Bence-Jones' albumin, uric acid, etc., are described. The subjects of animal parasites, dis eases of the skin, transudates and exudates, etc., also receive due attention, and other topics which deserve a place in a book of this character have freely been accorded space. It will be found a serviceable and valuable work. Examination of the Urine. By G. A. de Santos Saxe, M.D., Pathologist to Columbus Hospital, New York City. 12mo volume of 391 pages, fully illustrated, including 8 colored plates. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Company, 1904. Flexible leather, $1.50 net. Urinalysis is of such great importance to the clinician that every practitioner who fails to give it that careful study which its practical application demands is very neglectful of the physical welfare of his patients. By urinalysis an early diagnosis can be arrived at in many cases of doubtful nature, and appropriate treatment, preventive and curative, applied in time will be of benefit. To make a reliable urinalysis, however, the practitioner must understand thoroughly the application of the chemical methods and of the microscope to this purpose. In giving this information a work such as this of Dr. Saxe's is indispensable. The author has herein given us a book that is unusually complete, up-to-date, concise and yet exhaustive. It will be found thoroughly satisfactory in every detail by the practitioner and the student. Progressive Medicine, Vol. III, September, 1904. A Quarterly Digest of Advances, Discoveries and Improvements in the Medical and Surgical Sciences. Edited by Hobart Amory Hare, M.D., Professor of Therapeutics and Materia Medica in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Octavo, 284 pages, 19 illustrations. Per annum, in four cloth-bound volumes, $9.00; in paper binding, $6.00, carriage paid to any address. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia and New York. The September issue of Progressive Medicine presents the subjects of diseases of the thorax, dermatology, obstetrics and nervous diseases. These departments of medicine are all rapidly developing, and the advances of the past year are carefully reviewed and digested in this work. The practitioner will find herein a summary of work in these lines which has the quality of being both comprehensive and discriminating. Essentials of Chemistry, Organic and Inorganic. Containing also Questions on Medical Physics, Chemical Philosophy, Medical Processes, Toxicology, etc. By Lawrence Wolff, M.D., formerly Demonstrator of Chemistry at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Sixth edition, thoroughly revised. By A. Ferree Witmer, PH.G., formerly Assistant Demonstrator in Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania. 12mo volume of 225 pages, fully illustrated. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Company, 1904. Cloth, $1.00 net. It is sufficient to say of this little work that it has gone to its sixth edition. This revision has enabled the author to bring it thoroughly up-to-date, and to make numerous extensive additions. It is a great favorite with students. Regional Minor Surgery. By George Gray Van Schaick, Consulting Surgeon to French Hospital, New York. Second Edition, enlarged and revised, 228 pages, bound in cloth, profusely illustrated. Price $1.50. International Journal of Surgery Co., Ñ. Y. Evidently this little work has gained a place for itself in surgical literature, for a demand for this second edition has arisen in an unusually short time. In this new edition the book has been subjected to the customary revision, and additional chapters have been added. The author has supplied general practitioners with much practical information on the treatment of minor surgical conditions. A HIGHER STANDARD OF PHYSICAL MANHOOD. JERE LAWRENCE CROOK, A.M., M.D. A PRIMAL instinct of humanity is the law of self-preservation. Upon it depends the perpetuity of the race, and all mankind-both civilized and barbarian-recognize and obey it to a greater or less extent. An outgrowth of this universal law are all efforts on the part of individuals and nations to seek a higher standard of physical manhood, and all measures adopted to lengthen human life; for a longer span of human existence inevitably results from a nearer approach to physical perfection. It is fitting that the time and thought of the medical profession should be given to a subject of so vital and universal importance, one so intimately identified with its highest aims, for every movement that tends to lessen human suffering, lengthen human life and augment human happiness finds sympathy and support from the disciples of Esculapius. It is passing strange that the medical profession, deeply concerned as it is with the welfare of the race, and earnestly engaged not alone in combating disease, but striving in every President's Address, Tri-State Med. Assn. of Miss., Ark. and Tenn., Memphis, November 15, 1904. Vol. 24-45 617 |