is given, and at the end of the book a general reference to the literature occurs, which makes the volume one of easy reference. A complete index closes this most interesting book, which we again regret to have noticed so imperfectly. The illustrations are chiefly diagrammatic drawings, but serve to illustrate the text in a clear and satisfactory manner.

It is a book which no teacher can be without, and every practiser of Gynecology will be ashamed not to have it on his shelves. The book is made up in the excellent quality and style that always characterize the publications of this house.

Wood's Medical and Surgical Monographs. Vol. I., No. 2. February, 1889. Contents: I. Gonorrheal Infection in Women. By William Jap Sinclair, M. A., M. D.; 2. On Giddiness. By Thomas Grainger Stewart, M. D.; 3. Albuminuria in Bright's Diseases. By Dr. Pierre Jaenton, Paris, France. 8vo, pp. 260. New York: Wm. Wood & Co., 56 and 58 Lafayette Place.

This second number of this new series of medical publications impresses us even more favorably, if it were possible, than the first, an extended notice of which appeared in the January number of this journal.

The first subject in the number now under consideration, Gonorrheal Infection in Women, has come to be one of the first importance in view of the light-clinical, pathological, and histological-thrown upon it by the labors of Noeggerath and Neisser. It is doubtful if any disease is capable of propagating more of sickness, woe, and misery as an uncured gonorrhea. In view of the recent researches, and especially of the clinical experiences of abdominal surgeons, it seems to be admitted that what was taught and written on the treatment of this infection prior to 1872, was little better than so much chaff. Nor did the medical profession heed the notes of warning sounded by Noeggerath when he published his "opuscule" in 1872. It has taken fifteen years of continual hammering" to arouse the profession to the dangers that lurk in an uncured or latent gonorrhea. Most surgeons or physicians who have been asked to treat the disease in its acute stages, whether in the male or female, have generally regarded it in a light or trifling manner, contenting themselves with ministering to the first distress, and paying little heed to its secondary possibilities. The literature of this disease must be entirely rewritten, and the teachings of the schools entirely recast, in view of the awful consequences of neglect, to entirely stamp out or prevent the propagation of this subtle, deceptive and virulent infection, when once it has been contracted.

It has come to a pass that a woman who accepts an offer of marriage finds herself treading upon dangerous ground-a

danger far more extended than by any possible contemplation of mother Eve when she entailed her sex-and it becomes a problem of the most serious import, when her answer may fetch her to "a spring of woes unnumbered." We have been impelled to say this much by a sense of duty that has been growing for some time upon us, and the monograph before us serves to again admonish us that the fulness of time has arrived when some serious talk must be had on the subject.

In the introductory chapter of the brochure, Dr. Sinclair strongly brings out the importance of a clear knowledge of his subject, not only to the gynecologists whom he mainly aims to reach, but to every practiser of the medical art. He shows the

inadequacy of the teaching of text-books on the subject in a most striking manner. In the historical retrospect, in Chapter II., our author divides his subject chronologically into three epochs, namely: First, before Noeggerath's treatise appeared; second, Noeggerath's work and its immediate influence; and third, Neisser's discovery. In the first period is included all the centuries from Hippocrates down to the threshold of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The second period covers but seven years, namely, from 1872 to 1879; and the third period embraces the years subsequent to Neisser's discovery of the gonococcus.

The discovery of this micro-organism furnishes a pivot around which diagnosis may swing with certainty. For we are not aware that the accuracy of Neisser's discovery has been successfully challenged by any competent authority.

Chapter III., devoted to Contemporary Pathology and the "Gonococcus-Neisser," is a most interesting one, and deserves to be thoroughly studied in connection with pathological researches of the malady.

In Chapter IV., devoted to Clinical Phenomena, the interest is heightened by the cases cited in detail in support of the position assumed.

Chapter V. is devoted to the Consequences of Gonorrheal Infection, and we wish it could be furnished to every young man of proper age in the land. We mean, of course, its essential features, divested of its technical and scientific phraseology.

The final chapter (VI.) considers Treatment and Prophylaxis, which concludes a most interesting, instructive, and classical treatise of 128 pages, on this important subject. We have nothing but praise to give our author who, jointly with the publishers, is entitled to great commendation for placing this valuable monograph within the range of every physician's purse.

The remaining subjects considered in this number we reserve for a future notice.

I. Favorite Prescriptions of Distinguished Practitioners, with Notes on Treatment. Compiled from the published writings or unpublished records of Drs. Fordyce Barker, Roberts Bartholow, Samuel D. Gross, Austin Flint, Alonzo Clark, Alfred L. Loomis, F. J. Bumstead, T. G. Thomas, H. C. Wood, Wm. Goodell, J. M. Fothergill, N. S. Davis, J. Marion Sims, Wm. H. Byford, E. G. Janeway, J. M. Da Costa, Meredith Clymer, Brown-Sequard, M. A. Pallen, W. A. Hammond, etc. By B. W. PALMER, A. M., M. D. Pp. 256. New York: E. B. Treat, 771 Broadway. 1888.

II. A Treatise on Headache and Neuralgia, including Spinal Irritation and a Disquisition on Normal and Morbid Sleep. By J. LEONARD CORNING, M. A., M. D., Consultant in Nervous Diseases to St. Francis' Hospital; Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine; Member of the New York Neurological Society; of the Society of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine; of the Medical Society of the State of New York, etc., etc. Author of "A Treatise on Hysteria and Epilepsy; "Local Anesthesia ;" "Brain Exhaustion, with some Preliminary Considerations on Cerebral Dynamics;' "Carotid Compression; "Brain Rest, being a Disquisition on the Curative Properties of Prolonged Sleep," etc., etc. Illustrated; pp. 227. New York: E. B. Treat, 771 Broadway. 1888.

III. A Practical Treatise on Nervous Exhaustion (Neurasthenia).

Its Symptoms, Nature, Sequences, and Treatment. By GEORGE M. BEARD, A. M., M. D., Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine; of the New York Academy of Sciences; Member of the American Neurological Association, etc., etc. Edited, with notes and additions, by A. D. ROCKWELL, A. M., M. D., Professor of Electro-Therapeutics in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital; Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine; Member of the American Neurological Association, etc. 8vo; pp. 254. New York E. B. Treat, 771 Broadway. 1889.

I. These three books constitute the three latest volumes of the Medical Classics Series, and are uniform in size and style. with the handsome volumes that have already preceded them.

Dr. Palmer's book, which is substantially a republication on an enlarged scale, is a compilation of the prescriptions of the various authors named above. In some instances, it may be well to preserve this kind of literature in book form; but we have very little to say in commendation of " favorite prescriptions," no matter from what sources they may be obtained. We are, however, free to confess that of all the books of this sort we have seen, Dr. Palmer's is the most attractive. There are blank inter-leaves for the addition of such prescriptions as the reader may find useful.

II. Dr. Corning's treatise on Headache and Neuralgia is certainly a readable book, and it is doubtful if any person can arise from its careful perusal without the consciousness of having acquired some new information on these subjects. The general division of headache into intra- and extra-cranial, is a very satisfactory way to begin the study of the subject; and the sub-divisions which he makes of these two general heads are such as to lead one into paths of satisfactory knowledge. Dr. Corning's classification of neuralgia follows the well-established precedents, and is, perhaps, as good as any. He deals succinctly with the vari

eties, causes, diagnosis, pathology, prognosis, and treatment of this subtle and sometimes obstreperous disease, emphasizing local medication and electricity in its management. Parts IV. and V., on Irritative Conditions of the Spine, and Normal and Morbid Sleep, are well worth the price of the book to anyone whose library is deficient in such literature.

III. The re-issuing of this book in the present form is wise, in that it brings it nearer to the mass of physicians who cannot fail to profit by its careful study; and, again, in affording the editor an opportunity to make such needed additions as seemed necessary to bring it up to the level of the present state of medical thought.

Now-a-days it has become fashionable for the people to be so generally afflicted with "nervous prostration," that it is important for every physician to carefully study the various phenomena of its manifestations, and the countless guises under which it masquerades. The true and the false must be most cautiously differentiated, else errors of great magnitude will be resultant in treatment, and delays in cure consequently ensue.

In dealing with the diagnosis of neurasthenia, this book is particularly strong, and the editor has fittingly supplemented the work of the author in his own contributions thereto.

The treatment of nervous exhaustion is fully and elaborately considered, not only in relation to the administration of drugs, but all the accessories thereto, such as electricity, baths, massage, traveling, hygienic care, etc., are dwelt upon in detail. Throughout the text, cases are briefly referred to which forcibly illustrate the teachings of the author. It is a good book to possess.

Leçons de Gynecologie Operatoire. Par VULLIET et LUTAUD, avec, 180 figures (448 pages). Paris: Bailliére et fils. 1889.

Seldom since we first perused Sims have we had such genuine pleasure in reading a gynecological work. Though in the shape of lectures, nothing is left out. Vulliet contributes fifteen and Lutaud eight lectures. The numerous wood-cuts greatly enhance the value of the book, actually representing almost half of it, although their execution is frequently very rough. Their main importance is the originality of the majority of the drawings. The language is lucid, the minutia not neglected, and thus the work well fit for the beginner. Several peculiarities, worthy of mention, are : The dilatation of the uterus up to such a degree that the cavity thereof assumes the form of a conus, with the apex at the fundus-"la grande dilatation;" the good results of uterine massage; the rules about treating sterility, and the good results of the actual cautery in cancer, minor

points not included. The only novelty some may miss is the electrolytic proceedings of Apostoli.

A very beautiful way of reasoning brings Vulliet to the conclusion that in normal conditions the pelvic viscera, and especially the uterus, suffer only the most insignificant pressure from above. We have to refer in this respect to the original.

The book is certainly very worthy of translation into the English language. The grande dilatation being original with Vulliet, deserves special description. If the uterus is very narrow, he begins, after a thorough antiseptic cleansing of the vagina, with a tent or metallic dilator, or both. After the first expansion, he substitutes repeated tamponning of the uterus with iodoformized cotton plugs attached to threads. He uses iodoform, one to thirty ether, to dip the plugs in. After evaporation of the ether the plug, which is never above the size of a hazelnut, is used, and such a number of them packed into the uterus as the latter will hold. After forty-eight hours, the plugs are removed and new ones substituted, and this proceeding so often repeated until the funnel is obtained which can be inspected, by a speculum of his own, way into the fundus. At the time when Vulliet used stronger solutions, he saw a few cases of beginning iodoform-poisoning. The asepsis is thus maintained well for weeks; one difficulty may be met with-slipping out of the tampons-if the secretion of the uterus is profuse. All there is about it is replacing by new ones, which will stay, because the mucus is gone with the first ones. While engaged reading the book, we had a fit occasion to try this proceeding in a case of a broad-based intra-uterine papilloma, but abandoned it on account of the long time required, preferring the pain of more rapid, though less complete, dilatation to this painless method. We had to pay one penalty though, by the greater difficulty in the final operation.

Transactions of the Association of American Physicians. Volume III. Printed for the Association. Philadelphia. 1888.

This is a creditable volume, and contains many important papers. Typhoid Fever receives considerable attention. It is considered as to its geographical distribution and its relation to fevers of malarial origin, by W. W. Johnston, M.D., of Washington; as to the management of the stage of convalescence, by James H. Hutchinson, M. D., of Philadelphia; as to some forms of paralysis following the fever, by George Ross, M. D., of Montreal.

Certain diseases of the heart are the next to claim attention. These are: "Fatty Overgrowth," by F. Forchheimer, M. D., of Cincinnati; "Disturbances of its Rhythm with Reference to their Causation and Value in Diagnosis," by G. Baumgarten,