Surgeon-General, Washington, D. C., Dear Sir:-Can you inform us how many volumes constitute a full set of the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion? and how many of the volumes are devoted to medical and how many to surgical subjects? Also, what is the cost of the complete set? We wish this information for publication in THE MEDICAL WORLD, and will be greatly obliged to you if you will supply it. We have been informed that this work is a government publication, and that you could probably give us data concerning it. Thanking you in advance, we remain, very truly yours, THE MEDICAL WORLD. THE MEDICAL WORLD, 1520 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion was publisht in six (6) volumes, in three parts, one medical and one surgical volume to each part. No copies have been printed for sale by the Government. No sets of this work remain on hand for distribution by this office, the supply having become exhausted some years ago. The cost of this work is not known to this office, but can probably be ascertained by addresing the Public Printer, Washington, D. C. R. M. O'REILLY, Surgeon-General, United States Army. The Public Printer, Washington, D. C., Dear Sir:-Can you inform us as to the cost of the Government publication entitled the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion? Also, what do you think would be the probable value of a set in good condition? We wish this information for publication in THE MEDICAL WORLD, and will be greatly obliged to you if you will supply it. The Surgeon-General wrote us that we could probably get the desired information from you. yours, Thanking you in advance, we remain, very truly THE MEDICAL WORLD. Editor MEDICAL WORLD:-Replying to your letter to the Public Printer, asking the price of the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, and inquiring as to the probable value of a set in good condition : 1. The set consists of six volumes, three medical and three surgical. The latter are profusely illustrated with cuts and colored plates. The price of a set is $38.00. 2. As to the probable value of a set to a physician or surgeon, I am unable to give an opinion which will be of value to any one of the medical profession. However, I do not think the work is of any value now except for the statistical and historical information it contains. Very respectfully, L. C. FERRELL, Superintendent Government Printing Office. CURRENT MEDICAL THOUGHT Treatment of Those Dying from Exposure to Cold. "The indications for the care of persons in whom death from cold is imminent include the preservation of the remaining body warmth, the provision, in every way possible, of warmth to make good the loss which has occurred, and the maintenance and stimulation of the flagging circulation. After immediate reaction has been obtained, the subsequent measures should be directed to overcome the more or less persisting effects of the wide spread internal congestion, especially of the kidneys, alimentary tract, lungs, and brain, and the establishment of full excretion and of nutrition. The first of these indications demands the immediate application of large amounts of light nonconducting clothing. The patient should be immediately, or as quickly as possible, placed in a warm bed. Hot diffusible stimulants should be administered, and hot bottles and other external heat applied to the surface. The skin should be thoroly rubbed with hot towels. Among the stimulants indicated, whiskey, strychnin, and digitalis are probably the best. Hot saline enemata may be administered with benefit. The body should be placed in such position that determination from the brain will naturally occur; but with any sign of syncope the head should be lowered at once. After the reaction has been establisht, the further treatment of the case resolves itself into that of the nephritis and other inflammations which may arise, and must necessarily vary greatly with the intensity and special involvement of this or that organ. In every case, however, the necessity for the care of the nutrition and the establishment of free renal and dermal excretion must enter largely into the special treatment, in order to afford the means of maintaining the chemical activities upon which the thermogenesis depends, and in order to free the system of the deleterious products which have formed or accumulated during Text-book of the period of refrigeration." When the facts concerning the political experiments Legal Medicin and Toxicology: Peterson and in New Zealand become widely known among our people, this knowledge will cause a revolution-a peaceful and up-building revolution-in this country. An invasion by armies can be resisted; but ideas cannot be resisted, nor can they be barred out of the country; they permeate and conquer. One or more copies of "The Story of New Zealand" should be in every community, and passed from hand to hand. Now, during the winter, farmers and many others have more time to read than during other portions of the year. It is a beautifully illustrated cloth-bound book of over 800 pages; price $3. Address orders to this office. C. F. Taylor, M. D. :-"The Story of New Zealand" is a great book. Every statesman and legislator ought to read it. Waterproof, La. MARK ANDREWS, M. D. Haines. [The above is quoted verbatim, as the latest text-book utterance upon the treatment of such cases, and because of its wide variance from the accepted teaching.-ED.] In suppuration about the fingers of working men, when the skin is tough and calloused, and no site for puncture is evident, it is good practise to shave off the outer hardened epidermis until the wound is about to bleed, and then to apply a good poultice. The pus will find its way to the thinned skin quickly, and immediate relief is often obtained from the lessening of tension. Notes on Traumatic Pneumonia. W. T. English, M.D., in an article on Traumatic Pneumonia, read before the meeting of the American Medical Association in New Orleans, says: "When a physician is called to a case of injury liable to produce traumatic pneumonia he will probably find a rapid pulse and accelerated respiration, and in fully 65 percent the sputum will show some trace of blood within a few hours, if not immediately. The shock is the first element of alarm requiring attention. The respiration reaches 60 to 70 per minute, but is not so common a symptom in adults as in children, and does not always correspond with the gravity of the case. Hamilton notes that "expectorations of blood in most cases occur immediately-frequently not till after the lapse of several hours, or even days, but it is rarely seen after the fifth, sixth, or tenth day." The speaker observed a case recently in which the spitting of blood persisted fourteen days. Dyspnea may be absent, and no duskiness of the face, and nothing to suggest injury except disturbed breathing. No general or extensiv contusion may appear with the history of a slight blow affecting one portion of the chest, and yet the shock be disastrous. A condition of syncope immediately following trauma may be due to direct stimulation of the vagi, or to cardiac compression. The depressor nerves and the sympathetics may also act as causativ agents in lowering the blood pressure during any prolonged period. The examination of these patients must be conducted with celerity, and the physician should endeavor to give the patient as little discomfort as possible. The horizontal position is usually the safest and the one causing the least suffering. The external bruise or contusion will heal rapidly, and the pneumonia usually gives its characteristic signs and symptoms after forty-eight hours from the time of the contusion. The pneumonia may or may not be promoted by a destruction of the continuity of the lungs, pleura or bronchial tubes, and the mechanical jar of the impinging stroke cause a slight tenderness or soreness which may arouse latent pneumonic energies which otherwise might have been continued in abeyance or be counteracted without reaching the dignity of pneumonia. Slight concussions are rarely dangerous in a purely surgical sense, but can thus directly prove fatal, and it is well to remember that infection may come to the lungs thus crippled and phthisis speedily follow. The relations of time to these consequences are very variable, and it is not safe to say that pneumonia coming on a fortnight after the injury of the lungs is not due to concussion, nor is it to be regarded as a safe position to assume that a phthisis, following years after the lungs have shown apparent cure, bears no responsibility as a causativ agency. The rusty sputum is likely to succeed upon the streakt sputum as soon as the pneumonia reaches the second stage. Moreover the diplococcus is to be found in traumatic pneumonias as easily as in cases free from injury. Biography of a Fool. He didn't have time to chew Ho the books and the ticker! A bite 8. What are the chemical antidotes to be used in carbolic acid poisoning? 9. What chemical antidotes should be used in corrosiv sublimate poisoning? 10. What chemical antidote should be used in arsenical poisoning, and how would you prepare it? HISTOLOGY. 1. Name different varieties of epithelium. 2. Describe the periosteum. 3. Where is non-striped muscular tissue found? 4. Name and describe the coats of an artery. 5. Describe the wall of a capillary blood vessel. 6. Describe a lymph gland. 7. Give the structure of the pia mater of the brain. 8. Give the structure of a hepatic lobule. 9. Describe an air cell. 10. Give structure of a malpighian corpuscle. PATHOLOGY. 1. What diseases are attended with ulceration of the intestin? 2. What diseases are attended with cardiac hypertrophy? 3. What general pathological lesion characterizes chronic alcoholism? 4. What degenerativ changes occur in the walls of an artery? Give pathology of malarial cachexia. 8. Give pathology of scarlet fever. 7. What diseases are characterized by the formation of a membrane in the throat? 8. Give pathology of locomotor ataxia. 9. What changes are produced in the cerebral tissues by a thrombus? 10. Give pathology of acute pleurisy. MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. 1. What is (a) Fowler's solution, (b) Donovan's solution, (c) brown mixture, (d) Monsell's solution? 2. Name the principal local systemic emetics, and give their doses. 3. Physiologic action and therapeutics of pilocarpin. 4. What is (a) Mentha peperita and (b) Mentha virides, with their preparations and doses? 5. What are (a) escharotics, (b) antipyretics, (c) anthelmintics and (d) emollients? Name principal drugs belonging to each group. 6. What is (a) an alkaloid, (b) a decoction, (c) a tincture, and (d) a fluid extract? 7. What is the physiologic action of amyl nitrite, and for what is it used? 8. For what is arsenic used? Give symptoms and treatment of a case of arsenic poisoning? Give the names of members of each group, with their different actions. 10. What is the source of digitalis? Name its preparations and their doses. 9. Name the various groups of cathartics PRACTISE OF Medicin. 1. Mention briefly the diagnosis and treatment of yellow fever, and the measures to prevent its spread. 2. Give the symptoms and treatment of diphtheria. 3. Give the varieties of malarial fever and their treatment. 4. Give the treatment of typhoid fever, and state briefly the measures to prevent infection. 5. Give in detail the early diagnosis of tuberculosis of the lungs, and briefly the treatment. 6. State briefly the care and treatment of scarlet fever until dismissed. 7. Give the diagnosis and treatment of lobar pneumonia. 3. Give the diagnosis and treatment of Bright's disease. 9. Give briefly the management and treatment of smallpox. 10. Give the medical treatment of appendicitis. OBSTETRICS. 1. (a) Give the anatomy of the ovaries, (b) the uterus, (c) the vagina, and (d) the anatomic relations of each 2. Describe the phenomena of ovulation and menstruation. 3. Describe the development of the fetus in the different months of pregnancy. 4. Give the causes and prevention of abortion, and treatment of inevitable abortion. 5. State some of the more important physiologic changes in the genitalia during a normal pregnancy. 6. State some of the more important changes in the maternal organism during pregnancy. 7. (a) Is the pregnant woman immune from any disease? (b) Does pregnancy modify or increase the severity of acute infectious diseases? (c) What are the chief dangers? (d) State in full what is the duty of the physician in regard to pregnant women during epidemics. 8. Puerperal infection: Give its etiology, pathology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment. 9. (a) What is the difference between the insanity in the pregnant woman and the puerperal state and that at any other period of the woman's existence? (b) What are the predisposing causes of insanity in the pregnant and puerperal state? 83 10. What are the symptoms of the socalled puerperal insanity Give an outline of its treatment. GYNECOLOGY. 1. Give the blood and nerve supply of the uterus, ovaries and vagina. 2. What are the means used in examination of the pelvic organs of the female? 3. Describe the preparation necessary for an aseptic gynecologic operation in private practise. 4. Give the etiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment of vulvitis pruriginosa, or pruritus of the vulva. 5. Give the pathology, symptoms, prognosis, complications and treatment of specific vaginitis. 6. (a) Give the subjectiv and objectiv symptoms of imperforate hymen. (b) Describe the operation for its relief. (c) The dangers attending or following operation and after-treat ment. 7. (a) Give the ascribed causes of calculus in the female bladder. (b) The most common varieties. (c) The different methods of treatment of the same. 8. What are uterin fungosities; symptoms and technic of treatment? 9. What are the most common benign growths found in the cavity of the uterus; causes, symptoms and treatment? 10. (a) Give the causes of retroversion and retroflexion of the (b) Give the differential diagnosis between the two. (c) The treatment of each. uterus. 1. At what temperature would you keep a sick room, and how ventilate it for a patient with pneumonia? 2. Give details of fumigating a room, recently occupied by a patient with scarlet fever, with sulfur and with formalin. 3. In hospitals, prisons, etc., what should be the minimum number of cubic feet of air space allowed for each occupant? 4. How soon should a child be allowed to return to school after having had scarlet fever? 5. What is the best general method of purifying drinking water? 6. Where is the contagion of typhoid fever found; how carried, and how is the spreading of the disease prevented? 7. At what temperature is it necessary to heat milk to sterilize and pasteurize it? 8. Below what degree of temperature is it necessary to keep milk to prevent its souring or "turning"? 9. What per cent of the oxygen inhaled is consumed during an ordinary inspiration? 10. What percent of carbonic acid gas is there in exhaled air during ordinary respiration? MEDICAL JURIisprudence. 1. Of what does medical jurisprudence treat? 2. What do you understand by the term "medical expert"? 3. State the difference between criminal and civil malpractise. 4. Give in detail the duties of the practician who is called to in spect a dead body. 5. What precautions are absolutely necessary to make a physician's testimony of value, when vomited matters, medicins, articles of clothing, blood stains, or any part of the human body is committed to his care for inspection or analysis? 6. Name some of the violent causes of death. 7. Give in detail the conditions which would warrant the induction of abortion by the practician 8. At what stage of intrauterin life does the fetus become viable? What are the evidences of a live birth subsequent to respiration? 9. 10. Define the word "insanity." Prevention of Nephritis in Scarlet Fever. [The following extract is from Nothnagel's Encyclopedia of Practical Medicin, publisht by W. B. Saunders & Co.] Every scarlatinal patient, whether lightly or severely affected, should be kept in bed at least four weeks and longer if the epidemic is one in which there is much nephritis; not because I fear his catching cold, but because I am of the opinion that a uniformity of the body temperature such as is insured by a rest in bed may have a markt significance. In regard to nourishment we avoid everything that transgresses the cardinal rule that one should give to scarlatinal convalescents, as rapidly as possible, a substitute for what they have lost during the disease. For this purpose a milk diet is hardly suited. Heretofore there has been much fear of giving a diet rich in albumin. This is without ground. The functional activity of the diseased kidney has been proved adequate for the excretion of the nitrogenous bodies manufactured from the albumin. Of course such forms of nourishment must be avoided as tend to cause digestiv disturbances. A free diet, even of the albuminous foods, and not too small a quantity of liquid. The acids are very appropriate in this condition, and alcohol is not contraindicated, if there is any need for it, tho it is well not to use it in the form of beer. Daily baths should be given at the temperature of the body, and lasting from a quarter to a half hour; they have a beneficial influence upon the reproduction of the skin, which has suffered in nutrition, owing to the scarlatina. The temperature of the room should be about 68° F., and the patient not too lightly covered. The amount of urin excreted daily is to be carefully observed. When possible, an examination should be made daily for albumin, and this can be done perfectly well at the bedside. One must look diligently for the edema which often precedes the albuminuria, or the hematuria, in point of time; in this respect special attention should be paid to the eyelids. As soon as there is a suspicious appearance I employ hot baths, with a hot pack following. One should begin with water at a temperature of 102.2° F., and leave He is the patient fifteen minutes in the bath. then directly wrapt in a linen sheet soakt in hot water, and with one or more blankets, laid in a warm bed, and well covered up. After one or two hours, during which he is given considerable quantities of hot fluids, the patient is relieved of his wet coverings, and rubbed well with warm, dry towels. He is then given fresh Care must be warm clothing and kept in bed. taken that the bed is neither moist nor cold, and the patient must be warmly covered after the bath. Usually there is an immediate and free perspiration which lasts by no means seldom for several hours. In many cases there Care of Catheters. Nothing is more annoying than to be prepared to use a catheter and find it unfit, dangerous, or totally useless. Yet many practicians treat their catheters less carefully than they polish (or fail to polish) the nickle plating on their instruments. With perfect care, a catheter will last a long time, and will always be in condition for immediate use. 1. Immediately after use, hold the instrument in running boiling water for three minutes, and make certain that the water enters the lumen of the instrument as well as flows along the outer sides. 2. Scrub the instrument with brush and soap and water. 3. Rinse well, and place in a bottle of glycerin to which a dram of formaldehyd has been added to each two ounces of glycerin. 4. When wanted for use, remove from formalized glycerin and rinse well in steril water; lubricate with sweet oil or vaselin. 5. After use, cleanse immediately and replace in formalized glycerin. 6. If it is inconvenient to keep the catheters in a bottle, cleanse at once after use, shake well, and hang up in a warm place by sticking a pin thru the edge of the distal end; when dry, wrap in steril cloth or paper. Catheters may be conveniently and quickly sterilized by washing in water to which an ounce of formaldehyd has been added to a pint; dry as above. One of the strongest drawing poultices it is possible to make, and one whose ingredients are always at hand, is prepared by stirring common salt into the yellow of an egg until a thick paste is formed. The salt should not be added in sufficient amount to absorb all the moisture. The application is too severe in very high grades of inflammation, but it is not excelled for power where it can be tolerated. Diabetes Insipidus. Diabetes insipidus exists simply as a profuse flow of urin dependent upon some disorder of innervation of the kidney or upon atony or relaxation of this organ. Its treatment consists in the use of astringents and tonics, and in some cases in the employment of opium or belladonna, particularly if the oversecretion rests upon nervous irritability. Gallic acid may be used in 20 grain powders three times a day, and the fluid extract or wine of ergot is often of service given in the dose of 30 minims to a dram of the former to a wineglassful of the latter. As tonics the sulfate of iron and strychinin are indicated. Suprarenal gland may be employed in some cases.-" Practical Therapeutics. Hare. RECENT BOOKS A Manual of the Practise of Medicin. By A. A. Stevens, A.M., M.D., Professor of Pathology in the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, Lecturer on Physical Diagnosis in the University of Pennsylvania, Physician to the Episcopal Hospital and to St. Agnes' Hospital. Sixth edition, thoroly revised, enlarged and reset. Handsome post-octavo of 556 pages, illustrated. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Flexible leather, $2.25 net. The popularity of this manual can be attested for by its numerous editions. The work covers completely the ground gone over by the student, especial stress being laid on diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment. Each disease is treated in a concise, clear, and scientific manner, and the reader can not fail to grasp the author's meaning. This sixth edition has been entirely reset and greatly enlarged without changing, however, the original style of the work. The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; second edition, revised and greatly enlarged. Maidenhood, Marriage, Maternity, Menopause. By Anna M. Galbraith, M.D., Author of "Hygiene and Physical Culture for Women," Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicin, etc. With an introductory note by John H. Musser, M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicin, University of Pennsylvania. 12mo volume of 247 pages. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Cloth, $1.50 net. This work, written for the instruction of the laity on subjects of which every woman should have a thoro knowledge, is an excellent one. The language used is clear and comprehensiv, yet, withal, modest, and the meaning easily graspt even by those unfamiliar with medical subjects. As a further aid a comprehensiv glossary of medical terms has been appended. In this new edition the author has made some additions, viz: A section on "The Hygiene of Puberty;" one on "Hemorrage at the Menopause a Significant Symptom of Cancer;" and one on "The Hygiene of the Menopause." These sections make the work the very best on the subject we have seen, and physicians will be doing a real service by recommending it to their patients. Saunders' Medical Hand-Atlases. Atlas of the External Diseases of the Eye. Second edition, thoroly revised. By Prof. Dr. O. Haab, of Zurich. Edited, with additions, by G. E. DeSchweinitz, A.M., M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology in the University of Pennsylvania. With 98 colored lithographic illustrations on 48 plates, and 232 pages of text. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Price, $3. This Atlas on External Diseases of the the Eye forms an excellent companion book to Professor Haab's "Atlas of Ophthalmoscopy and Ophthalmoscopic Diagnosis." Starting with examination of the eye, the student is easily and gradually led from one examination to another, thus becoming familiar with the best methods of investigating the eye for the detection of disease. The most important diseases are clearly described, and the best therapeutic measures recorded. The text has been amply illustrated by a series of beautiful chromo-lithographic plates, to each one of which a clinical history is appended. Modern Surgery. General and Operativ. Fourth edition, greatly enlarged and entirely reset. By John Chalmers DaCosta, M.D., Professor of the Principles of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Handsome octavo volume of 1099 pages, with over 700 illustrations, some in colors. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Cloth, $5 net; sheep or half morocco, $6. This work presents in a concise form the fundamental principles and the accepted methods of modern surgery. The author's extensiv experience as a teacher is evident thruout the entire work, the statements being clear and to the point. There have been added over two hundred excellent and practical illustrations, greatly increasing the value of the work. A Compend of Diseases of the Skin. By Jay F. Schamberg, A.B., M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Skin, Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates in Medicin. Third edition, revised and enlarged. With 106 illustrations. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Price, 80 cents. Contains 281 pages, The illustrations are very good, and the work really has more of value in it than the ordinary quiz compend. Considerable space is devoted to treatment.—À. L. R. Surgical Diseases of the Abdomen. With special reference to diagnosis. By Richard Douglas, M.D., formerly Professor of Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery, Medical Department, Vanderbilt University, Nashville; Ex-president of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association. Illustrated by 20 full page plates. Publisht by P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Contains 883 pages. The work is the climax of eighteen years' experience in abdominal surgery, and fills a niche heretofore empty. Only practical methods of value are detailed. The object is more to clear up obscurity in diagnosis than to describe operativ technic; indeed he discourages difficult surgery as attempted by unskilled and inexperienced men. After-management has full space. There are numerous text-books which describe mechanical operativ technic, but this author seeks only to teach one to know when a certain operation is required, and why. It is best fitted for those who either make such surgery a specialty, or can afford many books.-A. L. R. "The Story of New Zealand." By Professor Frank Parsons, the well known writer and authority on law, economics and sociology; edited and published by C. F. Taylor, M.D., editor and publisher of THE MEDICAL WORLD, and of "Equity Series," 1520 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, Pa. Handsomely bound in cloth, fine, heavy paper, over 170 illustrations, many of which are full page. 836+xxiv=860 pages; price $3 net. The direct historic review occupies 500 pages illumined by more than 100 illustrations (there are over 170 pictures in the whole book) and grouped in 72 chapters. After this the principles involved in New Zealand's progress are gathered into one section, and the birth days of progress tabulated. Then the principal services rendered by the People's Trust, Civic Fraternity, or Cooperative Industrio-political Combine called "The Government," are summarized, the conservative view of the Liberal Movement is developed and prevalent misstatements and misapprehensions are cleared up. In chapter 75 the national debt and the national assets are analyzed, after which there is a discussion of the economic worth of high character and civilization and of the monetary value of scenery, with notes and views of the charming visions that delight the traveler in New Zealand. Chapter 76 deals with the future moves under consideration in the Colony, several of |