COUNTY MEDICAL ORGANIZATION.-Dr. I. A. McSwain, of Paris, Tenn., Councilor A. M. A., reports: On the first Monday in October, Henry County Medical Society was organized with ten members. Officers elected : Dr. A. F. Paschal, President, Cottage Grove. Dr. R. A. Grainger, Vice-President, Paris. Dr. Jno. H. McSwain, Secretary and Treasurer, Paris. The Society meets once a month at Paris on the first Monday. October 28, 1902. Henderson County Medical Society was organized at Lexington, with twenty members enrolled. Officers elected: Dr. M. P. Boyd, President, Farmville. Dr. Jno. M. Arnold, Vice-President, Middle Fork. Meetings quarterly in the months of November, February, November 3, 1902. Weakley County Medical Society was organized at Dresden. Twenty-four members were enrolled. Officers elected: Dr. V. A. Biggs, President, Martin. Dr. A. D. Finch, Vice-President, Dresden. Dr. W. W. Mitchell, Vice-President, Greenfield. Dr. Carl Finch, Secretary and Treasurer, Dresden. Dr. C. M. Sebastian, Delegate, Martin. Meetings quarterly at Dresden, in the months of November, February, May and August. November 11, 1902. Fayette County Medical Society was organized, with fifteen members enrolled. Officers elected: Dr. W. B. Granberry, President, Somerville. Dr. M. M. Moody, Vice-President, Brinkley. Dr. D. M. Morrow, Vice-President, Oakland. Dr. Yancey, Secretary and Treasurer. Dr. J. A. Albright, Delegate, Somerville. Meetings quarterly in the months of November, February, May and August. November 19, 1902. Cornell County Medical Society was organized at Huntingdon, with an enrollment of fifteen members. Officers elected: Dr. Joseph W. McCall, President, Huntingdon. Dr. C. T. Love, Vice-President, McLemoreville. Dr. J. B. Cox, Vice-President, Huntingdon. Dr. W. N. Enochs, Secretary, Huntingdon. Dr. A. M. Grizzard, Treasurer, Huntingdon. Dr. W. M. Wright, Delegate, Huntingdon. Dr. C. T. Love, Alternate, McLemoreville. Meetings quarterly in the months of November, February, May and August. December 8, 1902. Obion County Medical Society was organized, with thirty members enrolled. Officers elected : Dr. E. H. White, President, Rives. Dr. P. N. Matlock, Vice-President, Masonic Hall. Dr. T. J. Walker, Vice-President, Dyersburg. Dr. R. A. Burke, Treasurer, Dyersburg. VARICOCELE.-C. Chassaignac (Med. Rec., vol. 62, no. 16) says: Varicocele is a common disease, from 10 to 15 per cent. of males above puberty being affected to a noticeable extent. In the majority of instances it causes little or no trouble. In a certain proportion it leads to more or less pronounced symptoms, physical or psychical, direct or reflex. Palliative measures are sufficient when the symptoms are not severe. The only radical cure is by operation. Open scrotal ligation and resection is the operation of choice. Suprapubic ligation and resection may be substituted by those who prefer. Subcutaneous ligation is proper in selected cases. BOOK REVIEWS. How to Succeed in the Practice of Medicine. By Joseph McDowell Mathews, M.D., LL.D., President of the American Medical Association, 1898-9. Price, $2, postage paid. John P. Morton & Co., Louisville, Ky. That genial scholar and gentleman, Dr. Joseph Mathews, of Louisville, Kentucky, has in this book turned his attention from his customary writings on subjects pertaining to the specialty in which he has attained such merited distinction, and contributes to the extra-medical literature a book that should be of as much good to physicians and medical students in its way as have the previous scientific productions of this able author. Dr. Mathews does not write from the standpoint of the theorist, but has himself been all along the road that he so vividly portrays for the benefit of the struggling young physician and medical student. He is an enviable type of the self-made and highly successful physician, and such advice as he offers concerning the way to succeed in the practice of medicine could not be regarded otherwise than as authoritative. The author considers severally the requirements for entering the medical profession--location, marriage, ethics, the first year, specialties in medicine, the business side of it, the young versus the old doctor, the country versus the city doctor, art in medicine, some rare types that you will meet, and lights and shadows. Every one of these various chapters bears the imprint of the author's individuality and charming personality, and his words of advice are so interspersed with amusing and interesting anecdotes that the reader fain would finish the book at one sitting. As the book will largely be read by the young doctor, he naturally will feel great interest in the chapters on the young versus the old doctor, and Dr. Mathews wisely says to them: "Both of you, the young and the old doctor, clasp hands and be friends." In the chapter on the country versus the city doctor. the author pictures the life of the country doctor in terms that most clearly render the country practitioner the more enviable of the two, from the standpoint of what one gets out of life. This has always been our view, for it seems to us that there could be no more independent or honored calling than that of the country doctor. The difficulties of the rural practitioner are more than outweighed by the nerve-racking mental and physical struggle for existence that is the lot of the average city physician. Every physician and embryo physician will profit by reading Dr. Mathews' most interesting book, and we commend it to all readers for its captivating style, abundance of wisdom and delightful humor. A Treatise on the Eye, Nose, Throat and Ear. For Students and Practitioners. By Eminent American and English Authors. Edited by William Campbell Posey, M.D., Surgeon to Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, and Jonathan Wright, M.D., Laryngologist to the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital, etc. In one octavo volume of 1234 pages, with 650 engravings and 35 plates in colors and monochrome. Cloth, $7 net; leather, $8 net. Lea Brothers & Co., publishers, Philadelphia and New York. Undoubtedly this is the most magnificent treatise on the subjects comprehended by it that has appeared in a number of years, and is a monument to the well spent efforts of its editors and publishers. While we have never believed much in the collaborated form of medical work, feeling that the distinct individuality capable writer is better exercised in the production of an entire work, yet the present book is so exceedingly thorough that we could not criticise it from the standpoint of lack of fullness and cohesive detail. Each author has written a complete treatise on the subject committed to him, and thus the various chapters bear the imprint of individuality, and are exhaustive in every respect. of one Our most serious criticism of the work would be the combination of the diseases of the eye with those of the nose, throat and ear in one volume, for the eye alone offers sufficient subject matter for any one volume, no matter how voluminous, and assuredly the nose, throat and ear are similarly blessed with enough material for a work to themselves. In fact, we generally find even these treated separately. Were we to endeavor to discuss separately every chapter in this book that deserves special notice, we should find ourselves running far beyond the allotted space for this review, but we cannot refrain from offering our congratulations to our local colleague, Dr. E. C. Ellett, on the excellence of his chapter on the diseases of the crystalline lens, which displays in every paragraph the usual high character of the author's work. Illustrations are a feature of this volume and are found most profusely scattered throughout the various sections. This work should promptly find rank as a classic, for it is the most notable contribution to the literature of its particular field that has been offered to the medical world in years. A Text-Book of Diseases of the Eye. A Hand-Book of Ophthalmic Practice for Students and Practitioners. By G. E. DeSchweinitz, A.M., M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology in the University of Pennsylvania, etc. Fourth edition, revised, enlarged, and entirely reset. Octavo volume of 773 pages, with 260 text-illustrations and 6 chromo-lithograph plates. Cloth, $5 net; Sheep or half morocco, $6 net. In the short time that has elapsed since Dr. De Schweinitz brought out the first edition of his work on the diseases of the eye, three more editions have been called for, thus attesting its great popularity not merely with his own students, but universally. In an edition appearing so shortly after the edition preceding this, we could not look for great changes in the work, but the text has been thoroughly revised in this edition, the entire work has been rewritten, and many new chapters have been added. Among these latter may be enumerated Thompson's Lantern Test for Blindness; Hysteric Alopecia of the Eyelids; Metastatic Gonorrheal Conjunctivitis; Grill-like Keratitis (Haab); the So-called Holes in the Macula; Divergence Paralysis; Convergence Paralysis, and many others. A number of new cuts, and six full-page lithographic plates have been added to the previously existing rich supply of the volume. Diseases of the Bronchi. By Dr. F. A. Hoffmann, of Leipsic. Diseases of the Pleura. By Dr. O. Rosenbach, of Berlin. Pneumonia. By Dr. F. Aufrecht, of Magdeburg. Edited, with additions, by John H. Musser, M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Handsome octavo volume of 1030 pages, illustrated, including 7 full-page colored lithographic plates. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1902. Cloth, $5 net; half morocco, $6 net. The fourth volume of Saunders' American Edition of Nothnagel's Practice exceeds even the expectations that were justified by the preceding volumes of this series. Not contented with the already exhaustive character of the monographs comprising this volume, the American editor has made many new and valuable additions, representing the more recent progress of this study. This volume considers the very important topics of the diseases of the bronchi, pleura and pneumonia, and the various sections are strikingly complete in their descriptions of these conditions. A debt of gratitude is due the publishers from the American medical profession for their having prepared for American publication this exceedingly useful work. The Pocket Reference Book and Visiting List, Perpetual. Price, $1. Published by J. H. Chambers & Co., St. Louis, Mo. This is a very good visiting list at a moderate price. It is well arranged and printed and is a handy size for the pocket. International Clinics. A Quarterly of Illustrated Clinical Lectures and especially prepared articles on Medicine, Neurology, Surgery, Therapeutics, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Pathology, Dermatology, Diseases of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat, and other Topics of Interest to Students and Practitioners, by Leading Members of the Medical Profession Throughout the World. Edited by Henry W. Cattell, A.M., M.D., Philadelphia, U. S. A., with the collaboration of John B. Murphy, M.D., Chicago; Alexander D. Blackader, M.D., Montreal; H. C. Wood, M.D., Philadelphia; T. M. Rotch, M.D., Boston; E. Landolt, M.D., Paris; Thomas G. Morton, M.D., Philadelphia, James J. Walsh, M.D., New York; J. W. Ballantyne, M.D., Edinburgh, and John Harold, M.D., London, with regular correspondents in Montreal, London, Paris, Leipsic and Vienna. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and London. Cloth, $2. Volume 3, Series 12. International Clinics is always a welcome visitor, for it can generally be counted upon to contain much practical information that is commensurately valuable. The purchaser always gets more than his money's worth. This volume contains a large number of clinical lectures that will appeal to every medical man for their preeminent feature of direct teaching. Bacteriological Technique. A Laboratory Guide for the Medical, Dental and Technical Student. By J. W. H. Eyre, M.D., F.R.S., Edin., Bacteriologist to Guy's Hospital, and Lecturer on Bacteriology at the Medical and Dental Schools, etc. Octavo of 375 pages, with 170 illustrations. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders & Co., 1902. Cloth, $2.50 net. There are not a few, works devoted to bacteriological technique to be found in the market, but the most of them seem to be more or less lacking in many details which are indispensable to the laboratory worker. This work affords an unusually complete book on its special subject. It is thorough and explicit in its descriptions of the methods employed in the study of bacteria, and contributes a great deal to their life histories that may be classed as still undetermined. A noteworthy and valuable feature is the adoption of Chester's terminology, as this is well calculated to induce in a student habits of accurate observation and concise description. The author has paid particular attention to the illustrating of his book, and in a work of this character this should be a prominent characteristic, for good illustrations are most excellent teachers. The work is not intended merely for the medical and dental student, but the technical student in any line will find it a valuable aid. A Text-Book of the Surgical Principles and Surgical Diseases of the Face, Mouth and Jaws. For Dental Students. By H. Horace Grant, A.M., M.D., Professor of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery, Hospital College of Medicine; Professor of Oral Surgery, Louisville College of Dentistry, Louisville. Octavo volume of 231 pages, with 68 illustrations. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1902. Cloth, $2.50 net. While originally designed for the benefit of students of dentistry, this book should find a field of greater scope than its editor gives it. Primarily the dental student will find the book of value, for it succinctly and clearly explains the principles of dental surgery applicable to all operative procedures, and also discusses such surgical lesions as are likely to require diagnosis and perhaps treatment by the dentist. Any physician or medical student would find the knowledge imparted by the work of some value to him in practice. The Physician's Visiting List for 1903. 52nd year of its publication. P. Blakiston's Sons & Co., 1012 Walnut St., Philadelphia. Appearing in its customary form, this visiting list presents the usual excellent features that have so long commended it to the medical profession. It is a mine of information as well as an indispensable daily record. |