BOOK REVIEWS. The Courier of Medicine Company will mail, postpaid, any book reviewed, on receipt of price. Blood-Pressure. As affecting Heart, Brain, Kidney and General Circulation. A practical consideration of Theory and Treatment. By Louis Faugeres Bishop, M.D., physician to the Lincoln Hospital, New York. E. B. Treat & Co., New York. This book is very enjoyable and instructive. It reminds one of Balfour, whose book on "Senile Heart" has always seemed to us one of the most entertaining books in the literature of medicine. Dr. Bishop discusses the alterations of pressure in the blood vessels and the error of comparing the circulation to the passage of water through pipes; the management of primary and secondary low-pressure cases and of high-pressure cases. His explanations throw much light on certain obscure cases in elderly people, where occur slight attacks simulating paralysis, pains in various parts of the body, head-noises, etc. His remarks on the importance of early adjustment to the circulatory demands of each individual of his work, diet, exercise, baths, etc., are very effective and to the point. We commend this little book, especially to men who deal with problems of internal medicine and neurology. Diseases of the Stomach and Intestines. With an account of their relations to other diseases and of the most recent method applicable to the diagnosis and treatment of them in general, also the "Gastro-Intestinal Clinic," in which all such diseases are separately considered. By Boardman Reed, M.D., professor of diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract, hygiene and climatology in the department of medicine of Temple College, Philadelphia. Illustrated. Price, $5.00, net E. B. Treat & Co., New York. The first few lectures consider the anatomy and physiology of the digestive tract. The following lecture evidences the fact that the author fully appreciates the necessity and importance of securing a complete and accurate history of the patient. The making a systematic physical examination is considered equally important. Special atten. tion is called to the combined external method of outlining the stomach. If the stomach is to be distended the author prefers to have the patient take sodium bicarbonate followed by a few drops of hydrochloric acid (depending on the quantity of the salt) in a glass of water. He claims that this is the better and more reliable method. In considering the examination or the secretory function of the stomach, the usual methods are given. For obtaining the test meal the author commends the suction method. It must be remembered that no single test-meal is conclusive. The common qualitative and quantitative tests are presented. The author considers it absolutely necessary to make a urinalysis in every chronic lesion of the stomach. The urine should be collected in a graduated tube and not passed in the night-vessel. The feces should also be examined. The symptomatic guide to the diagnosis presented by the author will be found of great benefit to the general practitioner.-Several lectures on dietetics are given and should prove beneficial. The various methods of treatment, e.g., exercise, hygiene, electricity, dietics, etc., are then presented. Medicinal therapy will be found beneficial. Attention is called to the fact that hydrochloric acid is injurious in various stomach lesions. Illustrative cases are given. The author has no faith in the pharmaceutical monstrosities which are said to contain pepsin combined with pancreation, since the two are incompatible. Saline mineral waters may lead to an active and permanent increase in the production of hydrochloric acid. Chapter 4 considers individually the various diseases of the stomach and intestines. In classification the author has taken a middle-of the-road stand. He thinks that functional disorders would be better considered under the title. 'Diseases Having no Known Anatomic Basis." Splanchnoptosis is given considerable attention. Acute and subacute as well as chronic gastritis are carefully presented. Due attention and importance is given ulcer of the stomach. The author thinks that tuberculous ulcers of the intestines occur more frequently than similar lesions of the stomach. Cancer more frequently attacks the stomach and rectum than other portions of the digestive tract, because these regions suffer most from irritation. The finding of a palpable tumor is the chief sign of an intestinal neoplasm. Cancer of the rectum is the most frequently encountered of intestinal neoplasms. The author's lectures, on intestinal obstruc tion are worthy of special commendation. The reviewer believes, however, that he should have more forcibly impressed the fact that delay in operation very, very, often means death. The author does not consider intestinal catarrh and diarrhea synonymous. He has given a very excellent series of lectures on appendicitis. Ochsner's, and the various methods of treatment are outlined. One third of the acute cases of appendicitis associated with general peritonitis die. Constipation, diarrhea, neuroses of the stomach, of the intestines, affections of the rectum and anus, and the surgery of the stomach and intestines are duly considered. In summing up the review we have been very favorably impressed. For the general practitioner it is a very valuable book-in fact, any physician can find many valuable points. We heartily commend it The publishers deserves credit for the excellent paper, accuracy and general appearance. Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear, and Their Accessory Cavities. By Seth Scott Bishop, M D. Third edition, thoroughly revised and enlarged, with 94 colored lithographs and 230 additional illustration. F. A. Davis & Co., Philadelphia. 1904. This is a good work. For the specialist it is helpful to refer to recent books of this kind. This is up-to-date. The general practi tioner would do well to study at least the diagnosis of every disease mentioned in this and similar treatises. He should learn, and may learn, from reference to cuts and descriptions to recognize diseases of the nose, throat, and ear. Dr. Bishop has given his views and method of treatment in a comprehensive manner. The book abounds in illus. trations of instruments, of pathological states, of methods of examination. The author has gone into detail in a commendable and helpful manner. Surgical Emergencies. Part I.-The Surgery of the Abdomen. Appendicitis and Other Diseases Part first under the above title is an integral portion of the author's work on Surgery of the Abdomen. While dealing principally with the subject Appendicitis, the topics Typhoid perforation, IntussuscepPeritonitis, and Carcinoma of the Intestinal Tract are also taken up. The subject of appendicitis is of great interest to every practitioner, and a work which besides dealing thoroughly with the anatomy, patho logy, etc., of appendicitis carries the reader to the bedside of many characteristic cases in the author's practice is a welcome addition to medical literature. The literature of appendicitis is, as every one knows abundant, and no effort has been made in this work to collate the various contributions of the professon, but the author relates clearly and graphically casses illustrative of various phases of the disease taken from his own extensive experience. The Gazette Pocket Speller and Definer. English and Medical. Second edition. The Gazette Publishing Co., 503 5th Avenue, New York. This is a very useful pocket dictionary, especially adapted for physicians and medical students. The Perpetual Visiting and Pocket Reference Book. Including Information in Emergencies from Standard Authors, also the following comprehensive contents: Table of Signs and how to keep Visiting Accounts, Obstetrical Memoranda, Clinical Emergencies, Poisons and Antidotes, Dose Table, Blank leaves for Weekly Visiting List, Memorandum, Nurses Addresses, Clinical Record, Obstetrical Record, Birth Record, Death Record, Vaccination Record, Bills Rendered, Cash Received, Articles Loaned, Money Loaned, Miscellaneous, Calendar for 1905. Bound in Morocco, Red edges. Pages 124. Price, 25 cents. The Dios Chemical Company, 2940 Locust street, St. Louis, Mo. 1905. This is one of the neatest and most complete Visiting Lists offered to the profession. The Dios Chemical Company propose to furnish a limited number of this unexcelled Visiting List to the profession for 25 cents. The doctor will readily recognize that the Dios Company is saving no expense in keeping its name prominently before the profession, for whom it manufactures products, of more than ordinary merit, exclusively for the physician to prescribe. Those of our readers who desire a complete Visiting List, have only to remit 25 cents (for postage and wrapping) to the Dios Chemical Company, St. Louis, Mo. Announcement. Of this issue we mail 5,000 extra copies with a view of increasing our subscription, see subscription blank, advertising page 3. M R. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN: - Let me thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me by inviting me to address your distinguished Society. From the title of my subject you know that I am to speak of tuberculosis as the "Great White Plague." I have been informed that my audience here tonight is not exclusively a medical one; I will therefore try to render my discourse as popular as possible, and ask the physicians to whom much of it must sound like the A B C, pardon the occasional discussion of rudimentary subjects of hygiene. While the etiology of tuberculosis is well known to the profession and even to the laity, it might be well to emphasize once more that the only direct cause of tuberculosis is the tubercle bacillus. Tuberculosis is an infectious, communicable, Address delivered by invitation of the World's Fair Entertainment Committee of the Medical Society of City Hospital Alumni, of St. Louis, Mo., October 6, 1904. |