in medical literature. It will be a quarto in size, of about 900 pages, and will contain upwards of 800 illustrations. It will be ready for distribution in a few weeks.

CLINICAL TREATISES ON THE PATHOLOGY AND THERAPY OF DISORDERS OF Metabolism AND NUTRITION. By Professor Dr. Carl von Noorden. Publishers, E. B. Treat & Co. New York City, New York. 1905.

Volume VI of Diseases of Metabolism and Nutrition by Dr. Carl von Noorden, is now ready for distribution. Its subject is Drink Restriction (Thirst-cures), particularly in obesity.

MALFORMATIONS OF THE GENITAL ORGANS OF WOMEN.

By

Ch. Debierre, Professor of Anatomy in the Medical Faculty at Lille. With eighty-five illustrations. Translated by J. Henry C. Simes, M. D., Emeritus Professor of Genito-Urinary and Venereal Diseases in the Philadelphia Polyclinic. Publishers: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 1905.

This little work is interesting as well as instructive. The first chapter is devoted to the normal anatomy of the genital organs. The second chapter to the development of the Genital Organs and the third chapter to malformations of the Genital Organs.

Anyone who is interested in teratology will be interested in a perusal of this book.

HANDBOOK OF ANATOMY. Being a Complete Compend of Anatomy, including the Anatomy of the Viscera and Numerous Tables. By James K. Young, M. D., Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Philadelphia Polyclinic; Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania; Instructor in Orthopedic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania; Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; Fellow of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery; Fellow of the American Orthopedic Association; Member of the American Medical Association, etc. Second edition, revised and enlarged. With 171 engravings, some in colors. Crown octavo, 404 pages, extra flexible cloth, rounded corners, $1.50 net. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry St., Philadelphia.

This little book, we have no hesitancy in stating, furnishes all that is claimed for it by the author. Whether it is a valuable book for students is a question for teachers of anatomy. Other than for convenience there is no abbreviated work on anatomy than can fill the place of the standard works.

The author has succeeded in making a thoroughly complete and accurate text and it must be admitted that it is readily ac

cessible for reference and study. Students who do not care for the larger texts will find this one of the most valuable compendiums in the market.

THE SURGICAL ASSISTANT- AManual for Students, Practitioners, Hospital Internes and Nurses. By Walter M. Brickner, B. S., M. D., Assistant Surgeon, Mt. Sinai Hospital, OutPatient Department, etc. 360 pages. 123 original illustrations of surgical instruments. New York: The International Journal of Surgery Co., 1905. Price, $2.00 net.

This splendid manual is one of the really important books of the year, inasmuch as it fills a place in medical literature that has hitherto been unfilled. It certainly meets a widespread demand in a highly acceptable manner, and it is sure to attain immediate and lasting popularity. The book in size may become the companion of the doctor or nurse, who will find in it many. useful and practical suggestions.

One of the most valuable chapters is the tenth, concerning itself as it does with those important matters that may confront an assistant left to watch a patient just after operation. Vomiting, urination, pain, the arrangement of the bed and other numerous details are succinctly dealt with and a valuable table for differentiation between shock and concealed hemorrhage is incorporated. The management of these and all other emergencies that may arise is given in great detail.

The second part of the book deals with the most commonly performed operations, describing them step by step, from the assistant's standpoint. A regional classification is here adopted. With each operation is given a list of the instruments and accessories required and the manner of preparing them. The complete technique of intravenous infusion is accurately described.

In an appendix the preliminary preparation and routine after treatment of operative cases are very thoroughly described. It is a book that will prove of the greatest value to the young practitioner in his every day work. Surgical nurses should also be familiar with it. By careful study of its contents embarrassing delays and annoyances caused by inexperience or lack of knowledge on the part of the assistants and nurses may be avoided.

THE NATIONAL STANDARD DISPENSATORY. By Hare, Caspari and Rusby. Will be ready for sale September 1, the date when the new U. S. Pharmacopeia goes into effect. By authority of the Convention it will contain every article in the new U. S. P., as well as the explanations and instructions necessary to understand and apply the brief statements to which the official guide is restricted.

The National Standard Dispensary is a new work, a distinct improvement upon anything of the kind hitherto published. Its authors, Dr. H. A. Hare, of Philadelphia; Prof. Charles Caspari, Jr., of Baltimore; and Prof. H. H. Rusby, of New York, are all men of the highest eminence in their respective fields, and are all members of the Revision Committee of the U. S. P. It not only covers the new U. S. P. as aforesaid (and the chief foreign pharmacopeias as well), but the scarcely less important domain of the unofficial drugs and preparations so largely used. It offers full information regarding the pharmacognosy, the pharmacy, and the medical action and uses of all substances used in pharmacy and medicine at the present day.

Dr. Hare has again justified his reputation for knowing what is wanted by giving a compact and direct presentation of modern therapeutics in the section dealing with that subject in the case of each drug. The Appendix contains useful tables, formulas, etc., for practical work. There are two indexes, the general, covering all the names in the text, and so affording a guide to the drugs of the entire globe, and the therapeutic index, where, under each disease, are given all the drugs used in its treatment, with reference to the page where the conditions indicating a choice are found.

THE PHARMACOPEIA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Eighth Decenial Revision, by Authority of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, held at Washington, A. D. 1900. Revised by the Committee of Revision and published by the Board of Trustees. Official from September 1, 1905. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., agents. Philadelphia, Pa.

This revision is the result of the work of a committee appointed by an organization incorporated in 1900 for the purpose of the encouragement and promotion of the science and art of medicine and pharmacy by selecting, by research and experiment and other proper methods and by naming such materials as may be properly used as medicines and drugs with formulas for their preparation.

Attention is called to the changes in strength of tincture of aconite, tincture of veratrum and tincture of strophanthus. The strength of tincture of aconite has been reduced from 35 per cent. to 10 per cent., and that of tincture of veratrum from 40 per cent. to 10 per cent. The strength of tincture of strophanthus has been increased from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. These changes have been made in order to conform with the standards adopted by the International Conference on Potent Remedies held at Brussels in September, 1902, the object being to make uniform the strength of potent remedies in all parts of the world. These changes go into effect officially on September 1, 1905.

Medical Director, Department for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Ohio Sanitorium, Columbus, Ohio.

The very incipient stages of all mental ailments are the most important periods for the necessary steps to be taken looking toward cure and amelioration. Sometimes the lapse of a few hours may convert a hopeful case into a hopeless one. Brain changes often progress with startling rapidity, and a process which may easily be stopped and controlled at its commencement soon passes into conditions beyond the reach of any remedial agencies. Like the small break in the levee, where a few shovels of earth will completely repair the break if applied at once, becomes an extremely difficult if not impossible task after the waters have cut out an opening large enough to permit the passage of a flood. Therefore it is highly important, not only to recognize very early the existence of mental change, but to begin the proper treatment for the interruption of the diseased processes and the restortion of normal functions. In this paper it is intended to deal only with one form of mental alienation, and that form perhaps the one most frequently met with, the most dangerous to life and future health, and withal the most promising for early care and treatment-namely, Melancholia. It is hardly necessary to say much concerning the symptomatology of this well recognized form of mental alienation, and yet it may be well enough to call attention, briefly, to some of the danger signals which usher in an attack. This is all the more important since it is too often so insiduous in its advent, and so unexpected that it is frequently mistaken for mere depression of spirits, neurasthenia, dyspepsia, hysteria, or some other trival sympathetic trouble until it becomes

fixed to an extent requiring a much greater time to control than if recognized earlier in its progress.

Melancholia is essentially a mental pain. Whatever may be the cause of it, its nature is nearly always the same, and as it is, in a great many cases a functional trouble, it is therefore often amenable to treatment. As a rule it has little if anything to do with the ordinary affairs of life which usually cause melancholy. There is a broad difference between melancholy, and melancholia. The first is a normal emotion following any circumstance or condition tending to disappointment, sorrow, grief, or loss; while the latter is a pathologic condition which may bear no relation whatever to any of the normal emotions or passions. The mere expression, therefore of grief, or sorrow, even if long continued may be but the accentuation of a healthy emotion perhaps unreasonably indulged in, but may not approach the realm of disease. On the other hand, insanity caused by excessive grief or sorrow or disappointment, may find expression in hilarious mania, as readily as in melancholia, and in my experience this is more often the case. In other words the usual moral causes of insanity are not always followed by corresponding emotional symptoms; and melancholia is not, necessarily caused by, or preceded by circumstances or conditions which normally produce sadness, lowness of spirits or melancholia. The form assumed by insanity bears no relationship in its manifestations, to the causes of the disease, but frequently appears as the opposite. The profoundest meloncholy may never be followed by disease.

Shakespeare describes melancholy, not melancholia, when he writes of the one "who never told her love; but let concealment, like the worm 'i the bud, feed upon her damask cheek, and sat like patience on a monument smiling at grief."

Melancholia is usually rather slow in its onset, the depression of feelings approaching deliberately, and without any appreciable cause. This is not universally true, for the onset may be very sudden and entirely unexpected and the cause of it may be distinctly apparent. The cases which occur suddenly are the ones most likely to recover as suddenly as they appeared. The depression is prone to come on without any adequate cause; often, indeed without any apparent cause whatever. It is attended by a peculiar facial expression indicative of pain and distress. There is as a