curial. As usual, the truth doubtless will be found at some intermediate point. Let us hope that it will not require fifteen years to determine that point, as was the case with tuberculin. In a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association for January 14, 1911, Pusey of Chicago states his present opinion of the value of the drug as follows: "There is good ground for the belief that a larger proportion of serious accidents are occurring than would be estimated from the present literature. And that serious accidents should occur is not surprising. Salvarsan is the lineal successor of atoxyl, soamin and arsacetin. All of these were introduced as safe, arsenical preparations-atoxyl so safe that its atoxic character was 'blown' as it were in its name-and all have a train of arsenical fatalities and optic atrophies in the wake of their use in therapeutic doses. Salvarsan has about 35 per cent. arsenic content; it is administered in an average dose of half a gram-8 grains--that is, a dose of 2.8 grains of arsenic. There is no doubt that such a dose of arsenic has in it immediate possibilities of optic atrophies and other dangers. The dangers of its use, however, are as nothing in the face of a severe syphilitic crisis, or if the remedy were able to cure syphilis. "There is great diversity of opinion about technic of efficient administration, with much striving for a new technic that will be more effective. Injections in neutral emulsion, in alkaline solution, or mixed with oil, into the subcutaneous tissue, into the muscles, or into the veins, or combinations of these various methods of administration are succeeding each other. The hope of a therapia sterilisans magna-the complete destruction of the spirochetes of syphilis in an infected patient-is practically abandoned, and two or three or more injections are being used. And, finally, the recommendation of the use of salvarsan and then mercury, as heretofore, is the last evidence that the new agent is not equal to its proposed mission. "It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the situation with. 606 is still experimental-and more experimental than it was thought to be when the drug was introduced. Its position is not established; the degree of its usefulness-even of its immediate usefulness on the active manifestations of the disease-is not established. The amount of beneficial effect it will have on the after-history of syphilis is, of course, with our present brief experience with 606, purely theoretical-with grounds existing for different theories. Our present experience shows that it does not cure syphilis, and that we are not justified in holding out to patients any hope of cure by it, but that it is likely to prove a useful remedy in syphilis, with mercury, however, as before, our chief dependence." Mr. and Mrs. William D. Sloane have recently contributed a surgical department to the Sloane Maternity Hospital of Columbia University. It has been erected at a cost of more than $200,000, is eight stories high and contains an operating amphitheatre entirely of marble. BOOK REVIEWS Clinical Diagnosis. A Text-Book of Clinical Miscroscopy and Clinical Chemistry for Medical Students, Laboratory Workers and Practitioners of Medicine. By Charles Phillips Emerson, A.B., M.D. Late Resident Physician, The Johns Hopkins Hospital; and Associate in Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University. Second Edition. J. B. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia and London. This is the latest and without doubt the most complete book upon a subject of constantly increasing importance. The earlier edition made an excellent reputation in a field already well covered. The entire subject of clinical laboratory diagnosis is covered in a manner that is decidedly practical. After a first chapter upon sputum comes a very full section upon the urine, covering in all nearly two hundred and fifty pages. Next in importance to this comes the chapter covering the subject of haematology. As in all such tests one might take issue with the author concerning certain isolated ideas, but the general arrangement is excellent. Thus, to illustrate: the Talquist haemoglobinometer is criticised very harshly in spite of its well-known clinical worth, which is attested by no less an authority upon the subject than Cabot. Certain other minor points might be taken up. A more important question comes, however, in the matter of practical adaptability of the book to the needs of the physician. It would seem that a somewhat greater emphasis might be well placed upon those tests, particularly in uranalysis, that any general physician might be able to perform even if it had to be at the expense of some more complicated investigations. Taken all in all, we have here probably one of the best printed books in the English language covering the work of the clinico-pathological laboratory. Many of the illustrations are excellent. Leucorrhoea and Other Varieties of Gynæcological Catarrh. A Treatise on the Catarrhal Affections of the Genital Canal of Women: Their Medical and Surgical Treatment. By Homer Irvin Ostrom, M.D., Surgeon to the Metropolitan Hospital; Surgeon to the Hahnemann Hospital. Author of "A Treatise on the Breast and Its Surgical Diseases," "Epithelioma of the Mouth," "The Diseases of the Uterine Cervix." Boericke & Tafel, Philadelphia, Pa., 1910. This little booklet contains a lecture treatise upon a topic that is often of great importance to the practitioner. It gives a classification of the various types, a short and rather clear description of each, and notes upon treatment, local and operative. The final chapter is devoted to suggestive therapeutics and a repertory, and from the standpoint of the homeopath is the section that will be of most value for reference. Compend of Gynecology. By William Hughes Wells, M.D., Associate in Obstetrics in the Jefferson Medical College; Assistant Obstetrician in the Jefferson Medical College Hospital; Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Etc. Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with 153 Illustrations. Price $1.00 net. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, 1911. The quiz compend series published by Blakiston is familiar to every recent medical student and the value of the individual issues is beyond possibility of cavil. The present one, now in its fourth new dress, does not differ in essentials from the others in merit and the present attire is not very unlike that of its past appearances. Diseases of the external genitals, of the vagina, of the uterus, of the tubes and of the ovaries are all taken up seriatim while an additional chapter upon vesical and urethral disorders is found in the very end. A number of illustrations are included, some very good but a few bad and better omitted, particularly the one on p. 94. The book will be of no special service to the practitioner; it is not intended to be. It will enable one to give himself a very efficient quiz upon an important subject such as is necessary prior to examination in college or before state board. In general appearance it is uniform with the series and is very compact for pocket u. e. Practical Dietetics. With Reference to Diet in Disease. By Alida During the past eight years six editions of this book have appeared for each of which a very evident demand has been noticeable from medical and non-medical sources. The book, we are now told, has been adopted as a text for nurses in a large number of hospitals throughout the country. It has been favorably commented upon in the Gazette in its earlier editions and the present one fully justifies the favorable things expressed concerning it heretofore. It takes up the subject of food and cooking from a strictly scientific standpoint and clearly demonstrates the various nutritive values of food in its various preparations. A large number of recipes is given. The last part covering hospital dietaries, diet in disease and feeding of infants and young children, will be of particular value to the medical profession in so far as it is interested in dietetics. Case Histories in Pediatrics. A Collection of Histories of Actual Patients Selected to Illustrate the Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment of the Most Important Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. By John Lovett Morse, A.M., M.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Associate Visiting Physician at the Infants' Hospital and at the Children's Hospital, Boston. W. M. Leonard, Boston, 1911. The method of class instruction by case teaching has been one of the distinct advances in the didactic medical world, proving in the larger proportion of the work decidedly more beneficial than the usual lecture. So far as we have noted recent books, it has not as yet been widely applied in printed works in medicine. Such is the present book, however, based, we presume, largely upon similar instruction given verbally by the author to his classes. A total of one hundred cases has been taken and classified so as to cover all the important topics and classes of disease of particular value in pedology. Each case is carefully described as to history, present condition, physical examination, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Twenty-nine cases are given illustrative of gastroenteric diseases, all of which are freely and fully discussed. Other conditions such nutrition disturbances, infectious diseases of the lungs, head, liver, kidneys and nervous system are included. The book should prove to be interesting reading, although one misses the regular sequence with which he is familiar in the usual books upon the subject. Coming from this author the various statements are very authoritative. It is unfortunate that illustrations were attempted, as the very limited number are almost of microscopic size, not well prepared and entirely inadequate. Upon the whole, the book will probably receive, as it doubtless deserves, a quite favorable acceptance by a large number of physicians. Hughes' Practice of Medicine. Including a Section on Mental Diseases and One on Diseases of the Skin. Tenth Edition Revised and Enlarged. By R. J. E. Scott, M.A., B.C.L., M.D., Attending Physician to the Demilt Dispensary; formerly Attending Physician to the Bellevue Dispensary, New York. With 63 Illustrations. Price $2.50 P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, 1911. net. This volume is one of the leather-bound series of medical manuals published by Blakiston. Other members of the group already noted in these columns are Green's Medical Diagnosis, Sluss' Emergency Surgery and Thorndike's Orthopedic Surgery. Without question the best known of these is Hughes' Practice. It brings up many associations to the reviewer of his earlier work in medicine as a student and of the confidence that he felt when turning to this book for informatic. It has received and has undoubtedly richly deserved very cordial commendation from the medical profession throughout the country. The present, which is the tenth edition, has been considerably enlarged and several complete sections have been added. In several instances we might take distinct exception to statements particularly along the line of treatment. It would seem, for instance, that the emphasis given to the use of whiskey, brandy and other alcoholics in treatment of tuberculosis is not justified by the results of later investigation and clinical experience. In view of much recent work with tuberculin we are rather surprised to note that the initial dose of the refined product is given, at least by presumption, as about .2 milligram, because by almost universal concensus of opinion the present dosage begins at about .0001 of a milligram. Certain statements might be emphasized with much benefit. One is: "Be guided by the fact that you are not to treat pneumonia but a patient with pneumonia." Another concerning the open-air treatment of pneumonia: "Fresh air bears about the same relation to canned oxygen that good porter house steak does to embalmed beef." A large number of physicians will not agree with the unqualified statement that "there is no remedy that can exert a favorable influence upon the pneumonic process." Apart from these minor points, however, such as may probably be found in almost any book, we feel that this manual deserves hearty commendation. Most of our readers are doubtless already familiar with the earlier editions, and we believe that those who procure the present one will be equally as well satisfied as those who obtained the earlier ones. A Manual of Physical Diagnosis. By Brefney Ralph O'Reilly, M.D., C.M. (F.T.M.C., Toronto; M.R.C.S., Eng.; L.R.C.P., Lond.); Demonstrator in Clinical Medicine and in Pathology, University of Toronto; Assistant Physician to St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto; Physician to Toronto Hospital for Incurables. With 6 Plates and 49 Other Illustrations. Price $2.00 net. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, 1911. In these modern days, when diagnosis is the ultimate sum of so many and an earnestly sought objective of all, any book enabling one to attain a greater degree of skill in this aim is to be commended. In the book now under consideration the author has attempted to bring together into a small compass the most important diagnostic measures of clinical medicine and of the laboratory combining the same in proportion to their true worth. The general plan as laid down and followed appeals to the reviewer as an excellent one. Following the clinical history comes the actual centre of the entire work, the general inspection with its various connecting branches along special lines. Special directions are then given for more minute examation of the skin, the respiratory, the circulatory, the digestive, the genito-urinary and the neuro-muscular system. Additional chapters are prepared upon topographical anatomy, upon hæmatology, uranalysis and various other laboratory methods. The book is well written throughout, not in a single flowing manner but of necessity in short concrete paragraphs. We have studied it with much interest and as a result sincerely believe that any one, be he general man or specialist, will be better able to pursue his work by an accurate knowledge of the material herein contained. The few illustrations vary much, many of the wood cuts being rather poor, but the colored plates are very commendable. Progressive Medicine. Vol. 1, March, 1911. A Quarterly Digest of Advances, Discoveries and Improvements in the Medical and Surgical Sciences. Edited by Hobart Amory Hare, M.D., Professor of Therapeutics and Materia Medica in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Octavo, 355 pages, with 18 engravings. Per annum, in four paper-bound volumes, containing over 1,200 pages, $6.00 net; in cloth, $9.00 net. Lea & Febiger, Publishers, Philadelphia and New York. The March number brings some very interesting reading. In the surgical section the article upon the thyroid gland is of much value, while in that upon infectious diseases the resumés of poliomyelitis, typhoid fever and tuberculosis are of particular worth. In otology a report of the papers of the recent Congress is given, in which the vaccine treatment receives warm praise. Other sections cover laryngology, rhinology and pedology and are of the usual grade of excellent merit. THE MONTH'S BEST BOOKS. Clinical Symptomatology. Pick & Hecht. $6.00. D. Appleton & Co. & Co. Gynecologic Surgery. Berkeley. $5.00. Funk & Wagnalls Co. Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technique. Morrow. $4.00. W. B. Saunders. SOCIETIES BOSTON HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY. The regular monthly meeting of the Boston Homœopathic Medical Society was held on Thursday evening, April 6, in the Natural History rooms on Berkeley street, Boston. The program of the evening was as follows: A Study of Hydrocyanic Acid, by Walter Wesselhoeft, M.D.; Perforations in Typhoid Fever, by Charles H. Thomas, M.D.; Empyema, by William F. Wesselhoeft, M.D. The following named were proposed for membership in the society: Susan M. Coffin, M.D., Nathan M. Goodman, M.D., Fredrika Moore, M.D. NATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF STATE MEDICAL EXAMINING AND LICENSING BOARDS. At the 21st annual convention of the National Confederation of State Medical Examining and Licensing Boards, recently held in Chicago, the following officers were elected: President, Dr. Charles A. Tuttle, New Haven, Conn.; First Vice-President, Dr. James A. Egan, Springfield, Ill.; Second Vice-President, Dr. A. B. Brown, New Orleans, La.; Secretarytreasurer, Dr. George H. Matson, Columbus, Ohio; Executive Council: Dr. N. R. Coleman, Columbus, Ohio; Dr. James A. Duncan, Toledo, Ohio; Dr. Charles K. Cook, Natick, Mass.; Dr. Joseph C. Guernsey, Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. W. Scott Nay, Underhill, Vt. AMERICAN MEDICAL EDITORS' ASSOCIATION. The 42d annual meeting of the American Medical Editors' Association will be held at the Alexandria Hotel, Los Angeles, Cal., June 26 and 27, under the presidency of Dr. J. MacDonald, Jr. Unusual efforts are being made for this annual convention, and members are urgently solicited to be present. Plans already matured enable the executive committee to assure those who will attend a most interesting session both from a literary as well as a social view-point. t |