DR. WM. H. WATHEN, of Louisville, will read a paper on Hysterectomy in Cancer of the Uterus," at the meeting of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association in the evening session, December 5th.

DR. EDWARD CLARK, Health Physician, attended the meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Milwaukee last month, as the official representative of the Board of Health of the City of Buffalo.

DR. T. GAILLARD THOMAS, for many years one of the surgeons of the Woman's Hospital of the State of New York, has resigned. It is announced that Dr. Henry D. Nicholl has been appointed to fill the vacancy.

Society Meetings.

THE BUFFALO MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATION Will hold its regular monthly meeting at the Mechanics' Institute, No. 9 West Mohawk street, Tuesday evening, December 4th, at 8.30 o'clock.

THE SOUTHERN SURGICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION will hold its first annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala., commencing Tuesday, December 4, 1888, and lasting three days. It will be remembered that this meeting was postponed from September, owing to the quarantine against yellow fever. Dr. W. E. B. Davis, of Birmingham, is the secretary, and the programme includes a number of papers upon interesting subjects.

THE CENTRAL NEW YORK MEDICAL ASSOCIATION held its regular semi-annual meeting in Rochester, November 20, 1888. The Association celebrated its twenty-first birthday in a fitting manner. Dr. E. M. Moore, its first President, delivered an interesting address, in which he reviewed his surgical work, embracing a period of upwards of forty years, during which he had

been a teacher. This was the best attended meeting the Association ever held, and we hope to publish a full account of its proceedings in our January number.

THE NEXT ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION will be held in Newport, R. I., commencing Tuesday, June 25, 1889, and continuing four days. The change of date from the first to the last Tuesday of June, was made imperative by reason of the fact that no adequate hotel accommodations could be provided for the delegates and members on the date first named. The Rhode Island State Medical Society has already taken steps to coöperate with the committee of arrangements with a view to make the meeting both successful and pleasant. Newport celebrates the 250th anniversary of its settlement on the same date.

Obituary.

DR. HENRY B. SANDS, of New York, died suddenly in his carriage while returning home from a visit to a patient, on Sunday P. M., November 18, 1888, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. Though his health had been somewhat impaired of late, he was yet in the active practice of his profession, and seemed in the best of spirits even up to within a few moments of his death, which was decided at the autopsy to have been due to heart failure.

Dr. Sands was concededly the leading surgeon of his native city, recognized as such not only by his dextrous skill as an operator, and his unerring acumen as a diagnostician, but by that other and even more important qualification, a keen and well-poised surgical judgment. These made him famous throughout the world, and led to his frequent summons as a consultant in difficult, dangerous, and distinguished cases. He will be remembered as having rendered conspicuous services in the management of the cases of General Grant, ex-Senator Conkling, and Dr. C. R. Agnew.

No attempt is made here to do justice to the memory of this remarkable man, and it is difficult to express in words the loss which the profession and community suffers in the sadly sudden death of Henry Berton Sands.

Book Reviews.

Hand-Book of Historical and Geographical Phthisiology; with special reference to the distribution of consumption in the United States. Compiled and arranged by George A. Evans, M. D., Member of the Medical Society of the County of Kings, New York; Member of the American Medical Association, etc. 12mo, pp. 295. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1888.

In compiling the above work, Dr. Evans has rendered a most useful service to the profession. Heretofore, it has been necescary to glean from many sources the knowledge here contained in one small volume. Any one who has had occasion to perform this arduous work will appreciate at once the labors of the author. The task he had before him is well stated in the preface: "In the following volume I have attempted to present a sketch of the development of our knowledge of pulmonary consumption from the time of Hippocrates up to the present day, together with the ascertained facts regarding the geographical distribution of that affection. It has also been my effort so to arrange the statistics in regard to the geographical distribution of consumption in the United States as to make them available for convenient reference in selecting localities of resort, or residence for invalids, and also for those who are in health." This task has been performed thoroughly and well. The divisions of the book are as follows: I. Historical Sketch. II. Geographical Distribution of Consumption in Countries other than the United States. III. Geographical Distribution of Consumption in the United States. IV. Topography and Climate of States and Territories, and Summary for States, Groups, Cities, and for Counties of 10,000 Population and upward, showing the Number of Deaths from Consumption per 1,000 Inhabitants. V. Meteorology. VI. Etiology. VII. Conclusions.

It will be seen at once that the author handles the subject in a comprehensive way. We feel sure the book will be found upon the table of every physician interested in this widespread and fatal disease. We notice the author says, and justly, that New York State is noted for the beauty of its lakes, and he then proceeds to name the principal ones. "In the west are Chautauqua and Cattaraugus." We have never heard of the latter, nor can

we find it upon any map. Whatever Cattaraugus county is famous for-and we feel sure it is famous for something-it cannot lay claim to any body of water large enough to be dignified with tbe name of a lake. The author has been so careful in his statements, that even a slight inaccuracy like this should be pointed out, so that in the future it may be corrected.

The Ear and Its Diseases: Being Practical Contributions to the Study of Otology. By SAMUEL SEXTON, M. D., Aural Surgeon to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary; Fellow of the American Otological Society; Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine; Member of the Medical Society of the County of New York, and of the Practitioners' Society of New York. Edited by CHRISTOPHER J. COLLES, M. D. Octavo, 473 pages. Numerous illustrations. Extra muslin, $4.00. New York: William Wood & Co.

It is the pleasant part of the reviewer's task to praise work well done. This cheerful duty is ours in calling attention to the work noticed above. Dr. Sexton has written a book which merits the description of its title page. It is a book of "Practical Contributions to the Study of Otology." The author is a teacher of long experience, and he has had large opportunities to make and correct observations upon the diseases of the ear. These observations and their lessons, or, at least, a good part of them, he presents to us in this book. It is not a text-book for students, though they can use it to advantage; it is rather a work for the physician who has already had experience in treating the diseases of the ear, and who desires to add to his knowledge by familiarity with the experience of others. The author tells us in the preface that many subjects are considered here that are not usually prominent in works upon the ear, and this statement is borne out by the study of its pages. Among these are the following: Catarrh of the Upper Air Tract; Oral Irritation, especially Dentition and Deceased Teeth; Sea Bathing; Wounds and Injuries of the Ear, occurring in warfare and civil life; Rupture of the Drum-head from Boxing the Ears; Concussion from the Blast of Great Guns, Explosives, etc.; Anomalies of Audition; The Effects of False Hearing on Singers, Lecturers, Actors, and Musicians; Othematoma occurring in Lunatics, Pugilists, and others.

There is a chapter devoted to "The Operation of Excision of the Drum-head and Ossicles for Otorrhea and Deafness due to Catarrh of the Middle Ear." It is stated that the results of this operation have been satisfactory, and that it is hoped that its usefulness will be confirmed by experience.

Another chapter considers the subject of "Defective Hearing among School Children and Teachers." This is a very important subject, and this chapter merits careful study by every physician.

The author's observations on "The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure on the Ear, in Tunnels, Caissons," etc., already familiar to the profession, has been incorporated and forms a chapter. Finally, we have here considered the claims of soldiers, sailors, and marines, for pensions on account of disability from deafness. Altogether this work shows the great advance that has been made in otology during the past few years, and it also shows that the author has contributed his share to this advance.

A word must be said about the work of the publishers. The book is well printed, the type clear, and the illustrations, many of which are original, are very fine. This, of course, adds to the attractiveness of the work and to the pleasure of those who will follow the author through its instructive pages.

The Physician's Leisure Library. Clinical Lectures on Certain Diseases of the Nervous System. By Professor J. M. CHARCOT, Professor to the Faculty of Medicine, Paris, France; Physician to the Salpetriere; Member of the Institute and Academy of Medicine; Honorary President of the Anatomical Society, etc. Translated by E. P. HURD, M. D. Member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and of the Climatological Society, Newburyport, Mass. 1888: George S. Davis, Detroit, Mich.

The writings of Charcot, and especially these lectures, have been fully appreciated by the general practitioner, as well as the specialist, who reads French. The opportunity for a greater number to profit by them is now given through the efforts of Dr. Hurd, who has given us a good translation of eight lectures delivered by the author. The publisher has done his part, and the work is presented in a neat form. The chapter on Spiritism and Hysteria is very interesting. It recites of The Influence of Intellectual Excitations on the Development of Hysteria; Belief in the Supernatural, of the Marvelous; Practice of Spiritism; Account of an Epidemic of Hysteria in a family of three childdren inhabiting a Military Penitentiary and Addicted to Spiritism; Concerning antecedent Nervous and Rheumatic attacks; Permanent and variable Stigmata. Under the head of Treatment, he points out the necessity of isolation, suppression of all visits on the part of parents and friends; of modifying the diathesis, if any exist (rheumatic, for instance); of static electrization, methodical hydrotherapy, etc. The other lectures are Choreiform Movements and Tremblings, Rythmical Chorea. He treats of the Trembling of Multilocular Sclerosis, of Paralysis Agitans, Senile Tremor, Vibratory Tremblings, Tremor of General Paralysis, of Basedow's Disease, Chorea, Characters of the Involuntary Movements of Sydenham's Chorea, Chorea and Hemi-Chorea, Pre- and Post-Hemiplegic, Athetosis and HemiAthetosis, Rythmical Chorea. The third chapter is on Muscu

on