ing achromatic zone and the protoplasm. As it grows the chromatin increases in quantity but becomes thinner. The chromatin first proliferates then divides, fragments being again surrounded by achromatic zone. No spores were found. He believes in the individuality of the tertian and quartan forms. The estivo-autumnal parasite was identical with that found in Kummaroon. The oval and crescentic bodies are degenerative types, transitional stages between the small types and these bodies were found in bone marrow and spleen.

If the host dies the ameboid movements cease. Phenocoll hydrochlorate and methylene blue seem to have no effect upon the parasite.

In cases recovering spontaneously phagocytosis appeared to play no part.

Quinine appears to act first upon the protoplasm and secondarily upon the chromatin and seems to have less effect upon the parasite in the process of division, due apparently to relative increase and vitality of chromatin.

Ziemann believes the plasmodium to be an obligate parasite. As yet he has been unable to find it outside the human body. He suggests that it may exist in nature in another form, but is surprised that transitional stages are not found. He also suggests that it may be a plant parasite.

He also found a number of parasites in various species of birds, all of which appeared to be similar to the parasite of human malaria.

Book Reviews.

A Compendium of Insanity. By John B. Chapin, M.D., LL.D., Physician-inchief Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane; late Superintendent of Willard State Hospital, New York, etc., etc. Illustrated. W. B. Saunders, 925 Walnut St., Philadelphia. pp. 254, $1.25. 1898.

On looking through this little volume it will be seen that it contains a clear, concise statement of the clinical aspects of the various abnormal mental conditions, together with directions as to the most approved methods of managing and treating the insane.

It is believed the book will supply a real need, insomuch as heretofore the physician and student have had no brief manual on this. important subject, and have been compelled to search through the larger treatises for just such practical information as this book contains.

But the book is intended not alone for the physician. Written in clear, untechnical language, it will prove a most useful manual for members of the legal profession. By the layman, too, it will be read with much interest, and will furnish information of the utmost value, enabling him to recognize insane tendencies and to provide

intelligently for any case of insanity in the family that he may be called upon to care for temporarily.

British, Colonial and Continental Homoeopathic Medical Directory, 1898. Homœopathic Publishing Co., London; Boericke and Tafel, New York. pp. 116, $1.00.

This timely and valuable little directory will be of great service to the profession. It is edited by a member of the British Homœopathic Society and Dr. Alexander Villers, of Germany, and the work will be found a decided advance on its predecessors.

Atlas of Methods of Clinical Investigation, with an Epitome of Clinical Diagnosis and of Special Pathology and Treatment of Internal Diseases. By Dr, C. Jakob, formerly First Assistant in the Medical Clinic at Erlangen, Edited by A. A. Eshner, M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Philadelphia Polyclinic, etc., etc. W. B. Saunders, 925 Walnut St., Philadelphia. pp. 300, $3.00. 1898.

This handsome volume is a continuation of the fine series of manuals issued by Mr. Saunders, and commends itself at once to the very favorable attention of every medical man. The translation is an authorized one from the German, and the work is beautifully illustrated with 182 colored pictures upon 68 plates, and 64 illustrations in the text. The work is characterized by a high degree of accuracy and patient attention to detail.

The text accompanying the illustrations is clear and definite in description, and together with the colored plates leaves little to the imagination. It is a book of great practical value to the practicing physician, and deserves and will doubtless obtain a wide popularity and circulation.

The Scientific Basis of Medicine. By I. W. Heysinger M.A., M.D. Author of "The Source and Mode of Solar Energy throughout the Universe," etc. Boericke & Tafel, Philadelphia. pp. 122, $.50. 1897.

This philosophical little treatise will find numerous readers. The views of the author may not be always acceptable to those who study the book, but his method of presentation will hold the interest. Atlas of Legal Medicine. By Dr. E. Von Hofmann, Professor of Legal Medicine and Director of the Medico-Legal Institute at Vienna. Authorized translation from the German. Edited by Frederick Peterson, M.D., Clinical Professor of Mental Diseases in the Women's Medical College, N. Y., etc., assisted by A. O. J. Kelly, M.D. With 56 plates in colors and 193 Illustrations. W. B. Sauuders, 925 Walnut St., Philadelphia. $3.50. 1898. There is perhaps no topic which has been so neglected by the medical profession as "Legal Medicine." This is due to the fact that the physician's study and research is devoted almost exclusively to gaining an increased and more accurate knowledge of the science and art of medicine. He has but little time to give to questions which force consideration of the intricacies of the law. For this reason there is need of just such a manual as that of Dr. Hofmann's. From its richly illustrated pages and its descriptive text a most valuable knowledge of the subject may be gained in a comparatively short time. The topics discussed are all important, and

most of them of great practical interest and value. The book is admirably edited, and the typographical work, so important in a work of this kind, is beyond criticism. It should be in the hands of every progressive physician.

The Journal of the British Homoeopathic Socicty, Edited by Richard Hughes, M.D. New series. Vol. 6, April and July, 1898. John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd. London.

The contributors to the April number of this excellent journal are E. H. Roche, M. R. C. S.; J. R. Day, M. D., J. B. Moir, M. D., C. T. Green, M. R. C. S., Edward Mahony, M. R. C. S., Richard Hughes, M. D., and Edward Blake, M. D. The papers presented by these gentlemen are well worthy of serious attention, and will serve to increase the high reputation of the society of which they are members. The July number is also full of good things. Frank A. Watkins, M. R. C. S., William Cash Reed, M. D., John D. Hayward, M. D., Gerard Smith, M. R. C. S., Bernard Thomas, M. B., C. M., and J. Galley Blackley, M. D., each contribute valuable papers, and both numbers are edited with the thoroughness characteristic of Dr. Hughes.

A Repertory to the Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy. Compiled by Richard Hughes, M.D. Part II. Eyes-Ears-Face-Digestive System. E.

Gould & Son. London.

This second part of the Repertory bears silent witness to the painstaking work performed in its preparation. It will be rapidly followed by other parts.

Twentieth Century Practice. An International Encyclopedia of Modern Medical Science. By Leading Authorities of Europe and America. Edited by Thomas L. Stedman, M.D. In twenty volumes. Vol. XIV. Infectious Diseases. William Wood & Co., New York. 1898. PP. 602. The contributors to Volume Fourteen are more numerous than those to some of the more recent numbers of the series. They are eleven in all, of whom five are foreign and six are American. Frederick Forchheimer, M. D., of Cincinnati, treats of "Scarlet Fever" and "German Measles;" Dawson Williams, M. D., F. R. C. P., London, discourses on "Measles" and "Glandular Fever;" Dillon Brown, M. D., New York, describes "Chicken-Pox;" Joseph O'Dwyer, M. D., and Nathaniel Read Norton, M. D., New York, discuss "Whooping Cough;" A. Jacobi, M. D., New York, tells of "Cholera Infantum;" Theodor Rumpf, Hamburg, writes on "Cholera Nostras" and "Asiatic Cholera;" Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart., M. D., LL.D, London, depicts the evils of "Cengue;" A. A. De Azevedo Sodre, M. D., Rio de Janeiro, relates the history of "Beriberi;” A. Netter, M. D., Paris, discourses of "Miliary Fever;" and Davis Bruce, M. D., of South Africa, British Army, closes the book with an account of "Malta Fever."

From this brief indication of the contents of the volume, it will be perceived to be of exceptional interest and value. The authors are all experts, and the monographs on the various diseases are complete and authoritative

VAGINAL CYSTOтOMV.-Dr. Hyrup-Pedersen, of Denver, Colorado, favors vaginal cystotomy for removal of vesical calculi in women. His reasons for that choice and his method of operation follow :

"The advantages of the vaginal cystotomy over the suprapubic are the absence of the peritoneum, and consequently no danger arises from peritonitis and free drainage of the bladder is secured on account of the law of gravity, which will help to cure the concomitant cystitis. The incision can be made longer through the vaginal section than through a section above the os pubis, and this will allow a free digital exploration, giving the operator certainty that there are no other calculi left after the operation is done.

"Method of Operating. I put the patient in the lithotomy position with an assistant on either side. The vulva and vagina are thoroughly scrubbed and disinfected according to the general rules; the bladder is irrigated with a 1-5000 solution of permanganate of potassium.

"A short posterior retractor is placed in the vagina and held in position by one of the assistants, while the other places a male sound into the bladder and directs it downwards, putting the anterior vaginal wall on the stretch, and on this sound the incision is made through the median line of the anterior vaginal wall large enough to pass the index-finger through. The stone or stones are located, their size carefully noted, and the incision enlarged to such. an extent that they will pass through without causing any tear, as a clear cut will heal up only too readily, whereas a tear, as a rule, will leave a permanent vesico-vaginal fistula.

"An ordinary pair of gynecological dressing forceps are passed through the incision guided by the index-finger, the stone is grasped by these and pulled out; the finger next explores the bladder, and if any other calculi are found they are treated in the same way. A free capillary hemorrhage takes place from the mucous. membrane of the bladder on account of its rich blood supply; this is, however, controlled with a very hot irrigation of some antiseptic

solution; a 1-5000 permanganate of potassium solution, or a one per cent. solution of lysol, or 1-10,000 solution of bichloride of mercury, answers very well. After the hemorrhage has been checked I commence to stitch up the fistula with interrupted catgut sutures, leaving a small opening near the entrance to the vagina, and in which I leave a soft-rubber catheter to secure free drainage of the bladder; the wound is next dressed with iodoform gauze and the patient placed in bed. Twice a day for a few days I irrigate the bladder through the catheter I left in the fistula with a 1-5000 solution of permanganate of potassium, taking care not to overdistend the bladder and cause undue traction upon the stitches in the upper part of the fistulous opening. The catheter is removed in a few days, and the opening in which it was left will heal up by itself without any trouble."-Medical Age.

VACCINATION OR NO VACCINATION.-Dr. W. Curtis Cross, in a paper entitled "Vaccination a Fallacy-Its Compulsion makes his argument as follows: The advocates of vaccination claim, first, that vaccination protects against small-pox. This the author shows to be fallacious. He quotes from the records of an English epidemic of 1884, where of 100 patients ill with variola 96. had previously been vaccinated. In Sheffield, England, in 1888, vaccination and revaccination which had been compulsory for years, did not prevent a disastrous epidemic of small-pox. There were 6,088 cases. Leicester, a place where vaccination was not carried on during the epidemic, presented the lowest death rate of any city affected. The writer of this abstract knows of cases where smallpox has occurred in the previously vaccinated. Vaccination is therefore not a sure preventive of small-pox.

The advocates of vaccination claim, second, that vaccination mitigates a subsequent attack of the disease. This statement, Dr. Cross says, cannot be substantiated. Different epidemics of smallpox have always had varying mortalities. The death rates of the great epidemics before and since the introduction of vaccination show no decided improvement in favor of vaccination.

The third claim of the advocates of vaccination, that small-pox is dying out, Dr. Cross does not believe to be due to vaccination. He quotes Farr as saying that small-pox began to be less frequent before vaccination was introduced. Again, he states that other diseases, notably typhus, are dying out. He believes that this gradual disappearance is probably due to improved sanitation.

The fact that vaccination is indorsed by the majority of the medical profession, Dr. Cross does not consider of importance. The history of medicine shows the profession to have been unanimously mistaken so many times that its opinion in this instance carries no weight. The writer would call attention to the fact that we, as homœopaths, are still in the minority. The belief of the majority of the medical profession that Homœopathy is a delusion is not a proof that it is so.

Dr. Cross shows that the advocates of vaccination are not unanimous in the kind of lymph to use. Nor are they unanimous as.