posed to contain an antibody or cytotoxin specific in its action on the thyroid epithelium, and an antitoxin for the thyreoglobulin, which is believed to be the toxic product of the gland. In obtaining the earlier sera substances from pathological thyroids, only, were injected. Later substances from normal glands were used. The differences in the action of the two sera thus obtained do not seem to be of great importance. In 71 cases treated by this method there were II cures, 42 improvements, and 4 deaths. None of the deaths seemed to be due directly to the administration of the serum. There is, however, a marked reaction following its injection in many cases and great caution has to be taken in its use. The acute cases show the best results. They require the least serum, and exhibit the least reaction following its injection. The chronic cases with severe symptoms have not yielded so promptly to treatment, while the atypical chronic cases show practically no benefit whatever. The Opsonic Index in Typhoid Fever. C. P. Clark (Jour. A. M. A., December 29, 1906) draws the following conclusions, based upon a study of 33 cases. He finds that the opsonic index shows a marked rise in the beginning of the disease; that it varies somewhat from day to day; that it falls with the subsidence of the temperature; and then rises again as convalescence progresses. He thinks on account of the high index early in the disease, that it may prove of value in early diagnosis. No attempts have been made as yet to put it to any therapeutic use. BOOK REVIEWS. RHYTHMOTHERAPY. A Physiological Discussion of the Basis and Therapeutic In this little volume the writer in the first place disclaims the employment of a preface, a rather unique position, as the preface usually is supposed to define the author's point of view. He also disclaims all association in his work to the history of the subject. The burden of the author's consideration is rhythmic vibration. The difficult problem seems to be to discover and apply the appropriate rhythm, to the conditions as they arise. The writer touches upon the general scope of what he considers natural therapeutics, attributing and according to each an appropriate place. Rhythmotherapy he desires to have accorded a place with the other recognized measures, distinct from mechano-therapy, under which nomenclature has generally been considered mechanical vibration. The writer devotes paragraphs to the consideration of nomenclature, rationale of vibratory therapeutics contrasted with massage, consideration of trophic centers, stimulation, elimination, etc. He shows and describes in detail the vibrators, and describes the technique of treatment. He gives considerable thought and attention to dietetic mistakes and dietetic signs. The last half of the book takes up briefly the consideration of treatment by the author's methods of numerous diseases including in the list a larger part of the diseases known to medical science. The volume is unique in many particulars and will be read with interest. SURGICAL SUGGESTIONS. PRACTICAL BREVITIES IN SURGICAL DIAGNOSIS and TreatmenT. BY WALTER M. BRICKNER, M. D., Chief of Surgical Department, Mount Sinai Hospital Dispensary, New York; Editor, American Journal of Surgery, and ELI MOSCHCOWITZ, M. D., Assistant Physician. Mount Sinai Hospital Dispensary, New York; Editorial Associate, American Journal of Surgery. Duodecimo; 60 pages. New York: Surgery Publishing Co., 92 William St., New York, 1906. Cloth, 50 cents. This little volume contains a list of practical brevities in the line of the present status of surgical science, as derived from the surgical experience of the writers. The work is arranged in unique style, beginning with the head, and passing down over the neck, thorax, abdomen, including the organs in each region and the surgical procedure, and conditions arising from the same, closing with the extremities. He then considers various general classifications as fractures, wounds, tumors, instruments, anesthesia, etc. The 250 suggestions contained are presented in a manner which will impress them upon the reader's memory. The little book will be appreciated by the general practitioner and the student. It is printed on heavy paper and bound in cloth. PROGRESSIVE MEDICINE, Vol. IV., December, 1906. 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, 349 pages, with 29 engravings. 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. This number of this valuable serial begins with an article. by J. Dutton Steele, M. D., on the Diseases of the Digestive Tract and Allied Organs. He reports the X-ray treatment of Esophageal Cancer from the writings of W. Wendle, that by means of esophagoscope he believes that he has solved the problem with the use of the Roentgen ray in cancer of this region. In one case marked results had taken place over the site of exposures. He considers the significance of the Weber test and various modifications in detecting gastric ulcer. He states that "the statement that occult bleeding occurs in every stool in ulcerated cancer" should be modified, as cases have been shown in which hemorrhages have been intermittent. He favors the employment of hydrotherapy and electro-therapy in connection with treatment of stomach diseases. He devotes considerable space to the radiograph examination with diseases of the stomach by the employment of large quantities of bismuth subnitrate before taking the skiagraph; by this means showing the various irregularities in the contour and position of the stomach. He considers the employment of mechanical measures in the treatment of constipation, but has failed to discover mechanical vibration and static electricity as valuable in the treatment of this condition, quoting rather from Erb's clinic of long ago, the value of the Faradic current. The subject is treated with thoroughness and in a practical manner in most respects in this portion of the volume. Dr. William T. Belfield considers the treatment of GenitoUrinary Diseases, considering pathological conditions in the affections of this region. He treats the management of prostatic cancer from the operative point of view, reporting from one set of cases, showing that in 20 of 43 cases, in which extirpation was undertaken, death followed immediately after the operation, one survived five years, one five and a half years, but the majority showed prompt recurrence. He discusses the methods of treatment of prostatic hypertrophy by irrigation but has failed to note any benefit as others have from physical measures. John Rose Bradford considers in a brief article the conditions and treatment of diseases of the kidneys. The chapter on Fractures, Dislocations, and Surgery of the Extremities by Dr. Bloodgool is exhaustive, and is a practical collection of facts and methods. It also considers Bier's treatment by hyperemia of these conditions, as well as surgery of the joints. The closing article, a therapeutic referendum, considers therapeutics from the drug point of view, giving some attention to the employment of toxins, but no space whatever is devoted to the employment of physical measures. The December number is an excellent one, and contains very much that is valuable to the specialist and general practitioner. CONSERVATIVE GYNECOLOGY AND ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Women and Their Treatment by Electricity. By G. BETTON MASSEY, M. D., Attending Surgeon to the American Oncologic Hospital, Philadelphia; Fellow and ex-President of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, etc., etc, Fifth, Carefully Revised Edition. Illustrated with 12 Original Full-page Chromo-lithographic Plates of Drawings and Paintings, 15 Full-page Half-tone Plates of Photographs made from Nature, and 157 Half-tone and Photo-engravings in the text. Complete in one Royal Octavo Volume of 467 pages. Extra Cloth, Beveled Edges. Price, $4.00 net. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry Street, Philadelphia. It is with pleasure and satisfaction that we are called upon to review the fifth edition of this valuable work of Dr. Massey's. Its appreciation by the medical profession is evidenced by the fact that another edition has been issued within one year of the appearance of the fourth edition. It must also be conceded that the prejudice so long existing in the professional mind against the employment of electricity is waning. In this volume the writer has added to the fifth edition the technical consideration of the constant current as derived from the street mains, bringing it up to date, and has also elaborated the chapters on the cataphoric treatment of cancer. The volume is the most comprehensive work on the subject in the English or any other language, and should be in the possession of every progressive physician. NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS. This department is devoted to publishing, with illustrations, drawings, and descriptions, new apparatus, electrodes, etc., for the benefit of those interested in the progressive improvements in armamentaria. NEW ELECTRODE FOR BRUSH-DISCHARGE. One of the most useful modes of treatment by static electricity is with the effleuve or brush-discharge. But it has not received the attention due to so valuable a method, because of the unreliability of the medium employed to obtain this characteristic discharge. The best electrodes heretofore used were made of wood in a variety of shapes, the most common being with point, cylinder, and balls tips. When the wood is green, or if kept at the right degree of moisture and temperature, they work tolerably well for a short time. They give so much trouble that, most physicians have not the time or patience to bother with them. Therefore a very valuable mode of treatment has fallen into disuse with them. Recognizing the latter fact, as well as the need for so useful a mode of treatment, led to the new electrodes illustrated herewith, which, after the name of the inventor Dr. E. T. Nealey of Bangor, Maine, are called "Nealey's Fluid Electrodes." The illustration furnishes an idea of the adopted form for a set of these new electrodes, from which a handsome blue brush can be obtained in a mild, medium, or heavy discharge, suitable for all requirements. The shaft of the electrodes is a |