The little volume begins with the history of the discovery of micro-organisms, taking in the biology of bacteria, the germs in water and air and soil, bacteria in fermentation, bacteria in milk and other foods, etc., etc. The question of immunity and antitoxines is carefully considered. The chapter on bacteria and diseases is alone worth the value of the book. Disinfection is carefully gone into, and anyone desiring an up-to-date volume on the question of micro-organisms cannot do better than to read Dr. Newman's work. A MANUAL OF ORGANIC MATERIA MEDICA AND PHARMACOGNOSY. An in troduction to the study of the vegetable kingdom and the vegetable and animal drugs, comprising the botanical and physical characteristics, source, constituents, pharmacopoeial preparations, insects injurious to drugs, and pharmacal botany. By Lucius E. SAYRE, B. S., Ph. M., Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy in the University of Kansas, Member of the Committee of Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia. Second edition, revised, with Histology and Microtechnique, by WILLIAM C. STEVENS, Professor of Botany in the University of Kansas, with 374 illustrations, the majority of which are from original drawings. Price, $1.50. P. Blakiston's Sons & Co., Philadelphia, Publishers. 1899. Professor Lucius E. Sayre, B. S., Ph. M., of the University of Kansas, has presented to the medical, dental and pharmaceutical professions an estimable work on organic materia medica and pharmacognosy, containing some 700 pages. The work is profusely illustrated, excellently arranged, and the subjects lucidly described. The crude drugs are illustrated, leaves, bark, root, etc., giving the vegetable histology, active principles of the drugs, and their therapeutic qualities. For medical, dental and pharmaceutical students this is a most excellent work, which we take great pleasure in recommending. PHYSICIANS' MANUAL OF THE PRODUCTS OF THE LABORATORIES OF PARKE, DAVIS & CO., including a Complete Price List, corrected September 1, 1899. Press of Parke, Davis & Co. 1899. The enterprising house of Parke, Davis & Co. has issued the Physicians' Manual of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Preparations. It is a little volume of some 400 pages, containing all the essential preparations and compounds used by the busy practitioner. The work will be sent free of charge to any subscriber of the PACIFIC MEDICAL JOURNAL who will write to Detroit, Michigan, giving his name and address. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERVISING SURGEON GENERAL OF THE MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, for the Years Ending 1897 and 1898. Published by the Treasury Department, Marine Hospital Service. Washington, 1899. Walter Wyman, Esq., M. D., Supervising Surgeon-General, M. H. S., of the United States, has issued his reports for 1897 and 1898, in two large volumes comprising some 800 pagès each. The Surgeon-General is to be complimented upon his excellent reports, and upon the detailed and painstaking accuracy of the various and complicated cases. In the volume for 1897, Assistant Surgeon L. E. Coper has an excellent article on the moral obligation and duty of the nurse, which includes asepsis and antisepsis, and their methods of application. The sterilization by formaldehyde has not been forgotten. All of the various ports of entry in the United States, with the peculiar diseases that are to be combated, are ably described etiologically, pathologically, and as to their prophylaxis. The two volumes include all of the various diseases brought to this country during the war, with their means of extermination or limitation; even tuberculosis of the lungs and intestines are carefully considered. Dr. Kinyoun's able report on leprosy is of unusual interest. Yellow fever has received careful attention. The Surgeon-General is to be complimented upon these elaborate and carefully prepared reports that are of value, not only to the medical officers in charge, but to the medical profession at large, as undoubtedly the Surgeon-General has, in the Marine Hospital Service, many ' of the most competent men in the United States. We have had the pleasure of meeting some of them, among whom we remember with pleasure Dr. Kinyoun, now stationed at Angel Island, as United States Quarantine Officer for the port of San Francisco. He is one of the most competent bacteriologists we have in this country. We, as San Franciscans and Californians, as we have expressed before, are exceedingly sorry to know that it should be possible for there to be any difference between the Federal State Government and the Boards of Health of various States. As a matter of fact there should be none. The United States should have entire control of every port of entry within its domain. The local and State Boards should take charge of matters appropriate to their locations, and we are pleased to observe that the Treasury Department at Washington has at last taken the same view in reference to the VOL. XLIII-4 two most important points of entry in the United States, namely, New York and San Francisco. We trust the SurgeonGeneral, Walter Wyman, will be able to carry on his important work and present to us next year an equally interesting and valuable report. THE MINERAL WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES AND THEIR THERAPEUTIC USES. With an account of the Various Mineral Spring Localities, their Advantages as Health Resorts, Means of Access, etc., to which is added an Appendix on Potable Waters. By JAMES K. CROOK, A. M., M. D., Adjunct Professor of Clinical Medicine and Physical Diagnosis at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School; Attending Physician to the Post-Graduate Hospital; Member of the Medical Societies of the County and of the State of New York; Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, etc. Lea Brothers & Co., New York and Philadelphia. 1899. The medical profession and the laity will be equally interested in this, the first work which gives an authoritative and practical knowledge of the mineral waters of the United States. European nations have appreciated the health and wealth giving powers of their natural waters, but Americans have yet to learn that their own country contains the close counterpart of the best foreign springs, and that the American springs compare favorably with the most highly developed European resorts in charm of scenery and surroundings and in the facilities for comfort. Dr. James K. Crook deserves well the praise of the American medical profession for bringing out such an excellent work. Incidentally the Editor of the PACIFIC MEDICAL JOURNAL is somewhat proud of his quota, for as the editor remarks on page 186, in speaking of California mineral springs: "The recent treatise of Dr. Winslow Anderson has brought many of the California springs resorts into prominence. The analyses show that some of the waters compare favorably with the most celebrated springs of Europe. Many of them are put up for sale and shipment. The following account of the California springs is based largely on Dr. Anderson's work, supplemented by various geological reports and by correspondence with all sections of the State." The doctor then goes on and gives all the important analyses of the California mineral springs as made by the Editor of the JOURNAL in 1888 and 1889. By comparison they are found to be accurate and we have every reason to believe that the analyses of the mineral springs of other States are equally faithfully given, rendering the volume at once authoritative, as well as of intrinsic therapeutic value. Dr. Crook has given us excellent chapters on the origin of mineral springs, their classification, their analyses, etc., etc., but especially on the therapeutics of mineral waters. This chapter alone is worth the entire price of the work, and no physician in the United States who desires to familiarize himself, not only with the locations and analyses of mineral springs, but also with their therapeutic values, can afford to be without this excellent volume. SAUNDERS' QUESTION-COMPENDS, No. 4. Essentials of Medical Chemistry, Organic and Inorganic; containing, also, questions of Medical Physics, Chemical Philosophy, Analytical Processes, Toxicology, etc. Prepared especially for students of medicine. By LAWRENCE WOLFF, M. D., Demonstrator of Chemistry, Jefferson Medical College; Physician to the German Hospital, of Philadelphia; Member of the German Chemical Society of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, etc. Fifth edition. Thoroughly revised. By SMITH ELY JELLIFFE, M. D., Ph. D., Professor of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, of the city of New York; Clinical Assistant Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 925 Walnut St. 1899. Price, $1. Medical chemistry, organic and inorganic, has always been of inestimable value to the medical practitioner. Prof. Wolff and Prof. Jelliffe have favored us with the essentials on these important subjects, being one of Saunders' Question-Compends of 1899. The volume is dedicated to Professor Holland, of Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia. It is well and accurately written, containing as it does a great deal of important information concisely stated. The work is of special value to students of medicine and pharmacy, and we highly recommend the same. "QUIZ-COMPENDS," No. 7. A Compend of Gynecology. By Wм. H. WELLS, M. D., Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Infancy n the Philadelphia Polyclinic; Instructor of Clinical Obstetrics in the Jefferson Medical College; Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and of the Gynecologic Section thereof; late Assistant in the Out-Patient Gynecologic Department of the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, etc. With illustrations. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1012 Walnut St. 1899. Price, $0.80. Dr. Wm. H. Wells, of Philadelphia, has again favored us with a Compend on Gynecology, one of the best of the series of Quiz-Compends issued by that popular house of Blakiston's Son & Co. The work is a handy volume for medical students, and, so far as we know, there is no better compend on gynecology, nor on any of the subjects treated by the QuizCompends of P. Blakiston's Son & Co. Department of Dentistry. J. L. ASAY, M. D., Editor in Chief. Professor of Dental Pathology and Therapeutics in the Dental Department of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco. CHARLES BOXTON, D.D.S. CORYDON B. ROOT, M.D., D.D.S. COLLABORATORS. WALTER F. LEWIS, D.D.S. A. F. MERRIMAN, D. D. S. The Editor of this Department is not responsible for the views of contributors. All communications relating to the Editorial Department of Dentistry should be addressed to J. L. ASAY, M. D., College Building, 14th Street, between Valencia and Mission. SHALL STATE LICENSE BE ISSUED ON DIPLOMAS? A controversy has existed for several months between the Wisconsin State Board of Dental Examiners and the Chicago Dental College, relative to the issuance of State licenses to practice dentistry on the diploma of that institution. The action of the Wisconsin Board, in refusing such certificates, was untenable from the start, its duties being prescribed by the legislative enactments of that State from which it was evolved, and it possessed no authority to exercise an extra judi cial function in the premises. Besides this the Wisconsin Board committed an error in recognizing as a superior authority to its own, the existence and legislation of a body, having no state, territorial or national status, known as the "National Associa tion of Dental Examiners," whose rules and edicts it adopted as its own. The Wisconsin Board held a membership in this Association, as many other State Boards have done, and still hold, and no matter what arbitrary rules or unjust measures the National Association of Dental Examiners might adopt, the State Boards, members thereof, felt it their bounden duty to support and maintain. In California, about two years ago, it was decided in the opinion of the Attorney General of this State, on appeal to him, that the California State Board of Dental Examiners was a creature of the State for the special purposes as defined in the enactment which created it, and was for the benefit and protection of the people of this State and for none other, as no State or organization had any right to legislate for another State, therefore it owed allegiance to the State of California |