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up to the requirements of the present, and fail to give a full exposition of the advances in knowledge obtained by abdominal section. Not sufficient importance has been given to the diseases of the uterine appendages in the causation of pelvic inflammations, and illustrations of pus tubes would have well adorned some of the pages on pelvic peritonitis.

Barring the exception mentioned, and which is with some a disputed point, the author has given us a most excellent book, and valuable to every practitioner and student. w.w.T.

A NEW PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF MEDICINE. Being a volu minous and exhaustive handbook of Medical and Scientific Terminology, with Phonetic Pronunciation, Accentuation, Etymology, etc. By John M. Keating, M.D., LL D., Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; Vice-President of the American Pediatric Society; Ex-President of the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors; Formerly Visiting Obstetrician to the Philadelphia Hospital (Blockley), and Lecturer on the Diseases of Women, St. Agnes Hospital, Philadelphia; Editor "Cyclopedia of the Diseases of Children," etc.; and Henry Hamilton, author of "A New Translation of Virgil's Eneid into English Rhyme," co-author of "Saunders' Medical Lexicon." etc. With the collaboration of J. Chalmers DaCosta, M.D., and Frederick A. Packard, M.D. With an Appendix containing Important Tables of Bacilli, Micrococci, Leucomaines, Ptomaines; Drugs and Materials Used in Antiseptic Surgery; Poisons and Their Antidotes; Weights and Measures; Thermometric Scales; New Officinal and Unofficinal Drugs, etc. W. B. Saunders, publisher, 913 Walnut street, Philadelphia. Price, net, cloth, $5.00; sheep, $6.00.

This is a voluminous and exhaustive handbook of medical, surgical and scientific terminology, containing concise explanations of the various terms used in medicine and the allied sciences, with phonetic pronunciation, accentuation, etymology, etc. The necessity for a work of this class has been apparent to the profession for some time. The eminent authors of this dictionary, with the assistance of their collaborators, have compiled a voluminous and exhaustive work which meets the most exacting requirements. It has been the aim of the publisher to place in the hands of the medical profession a work which should contain the names of hundreds of new words now being adopted, and, at the same time, by leaving out the numerous obsolete terms contained in most dictionaries, keep the volume of such a size as to be the most convenient for ready reference. In this he has eminently succeeded. We notice with a great deal of pleasure that the compilers of this work have adopted the English sound of i is such words as peritonitis, phthisis, etc. The pronunciation of the word gynecology, jin-e-kol-o-je, is not so euphoneous as formerly pronounced, but we are glad to see the authors confirm the now generally accepted pronunciation of the word.

An appendix containing many useful and important tables completes this very valuable volume. In fact, to use a popular expression, it is a "daisy."

A TREATISE ON DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND THROAT. In Two Volumes. By Francke Huntington Bosworth, A. M., M. D., Professor of Diseases of the Throat in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York; Consulting Laryngologist to the Presbyterian Hospital; Consulting Physician to the O. D. P. of the Bellevue Hospital; Fellow of the American Laryngological Association, of the American Climatological Association, of the New York Academy of Medicine; Member of the New York Laryngological Society, of the Medical Society of the County of New York, etc. Volume Two, Diseases of the Throat, with 3 colored plates and 125 wood cuts. Wm. Wood & Co., New York.

The first volume of this superior work, which was devoted to the consideration of the diseases of the nose and nasopharynx, published about two years and a half ago, took its place at once in the front rank of works on these subjects. The present volume, treating on diseases of the throat, will, no doubt, receive an equally friendly reception.

The author has substituted for the old, vague and indefinite nomenclature used in naming and classing diseases of the oropharynx and larynx, one which not only locates the morbid process, but also defines its character.

The author's superior facilities and long experience have enabled him to prepare a work which will prove a vade mecum to the practitioner and specialist.

The presswork is good and the wood cuts are well executed.

THE PHYSICIAN'S LEISURE LIBRARY.

Subscription price, $2.50 a year. Issued monthly. Single copies, 25 cents. Geo. S. Davis, Detroit, Mich., Publisher.

THE USES OF WATER IN MODERN MEDICINE. By Simon Baruch, M.D., Attending Physician to the Manhattan General Hospital and New York Juvenile Asylum; Consulting Physician to the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids; Formerly Chairman of the Board of Health of South Carolina; Gynecologist to the Northeastern Dispensary; and Physician for Eye, Ear and Throat to the Northwestern Dispensary of New York; Member of the New York Academy of Medicine, County Medical Society, and Northwestern Medical and Surgical Society of New York; Honorary Member of the South Carolina Medical Association. Volume II. Geo. S. Davis, Detroit, Mich. In this, the second volume, the author treats on the application of the different baths used for the treatment of diseases. He devotes a chapter to the consideration of the treatment of phthisis by judicious hydrotherapy, etc. The practitioner will find this very instructive and entertaining reading. THE HYDERABAD CHLOROFORM COMMISSION. A Review by George Foy, F.R.C.S., Fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland; Surgeon to the Whitworth Hospital, Dunnecondra. Fannin & Co., 41 Grafton street, Dublin. Price, 2s. 6d. net.

The work and conclusions of the Hyderabad Chloroform Commission are ably set forth by Dr. Foy in this review. The Commission has undoubtedly done much toward establishing the scientific value of chloroform on a firm basis, and to dispel the illusions which the majority of the profession have been laboring under.

NEWS, NOTES AND ITEMS.

We beg to call the attention of the medical profession to Boehringer's Muriate of Cocaine, which is the handsomest and purest preparation put on the market. Every conscientious physician should use it, as it has been proven to give the best and quickest result. ***

The phosphates of iron, soda, lime, and potash, dissolved in an excess of phosphoric acid, is a valuable combination to prescribe in nervous exhaustion, general debility, etc. Robinson's Phosphoric Elixir is an elegant solution of these chemicals. (See advertisement.) ***

CATARRHAL CYSTITIS-PATIENT IMPROVED AND NOW SEEMS ENTIRELY WELL.-Thomas J. Bowles, M.D., of Muncie, Ind., writes as follows: I prescribed Sanmetto for a patient who had been a sufferer with catarrhal cystitis, and who had undergone for a long time the classical routine of treatment, including frequent injections into the bladder of various medicaments, but no permanent benefit was achieved till she began the use of Sanmetto, since which time she has steadily improved, and now seems entirely well. I was so forcibly impressed with its beneficial action in this case that I immediately ordered my druggist to keep it in stock, and I now prescribe it in a number of cases of prostatorrhea and in gleet with most gratifying results.

***

PERMITTED NATURAL SLEEP.-V. R. Tomlinson, M.D., Indianapolis, Ind., writes: Have tried Antikamnia in various neuroses due to menstrual irregularities. It calmed the nervous excitement, relieved the pains, and permitted natural sleep. I shall use it hereafter with pleasure.

***

Thos. S. Mitchell, M.D., of Columbus, Ga., writes as follows to the Clemiana Chemical Co., Atlanta, Ga.: Please ship to Rose Hill Pharmacy one dozen bottles of Verrhus Clemiana by Monday's Express. I am going to use it more extensively. Rose Hill Pharmacy is all right, and one of my headquarters for my prescriptions. Send bill by mail.

We will be exceedingly obliged to all physicians who will report their experience in the use of this medicine. The Clemiana Chemical Co.

***

Samples of Sander & Sons' Eucalypti Extract (Eucalyptol) gratis, through Dr. Sander, Dillon, Iowa. Eucalyptol stands foremost as a disinfectant and antiseptic. Meyer Bros. Drug Co., St. Louis, Mo., sole agents. Look for the genuine product.

MEMPHIS

MEDICAL MONTHLY.

VOL. XII. MEMPHIS, SEPTEMBER, 1892.

No. 9

Original Communications,

PYRETOGENIC AGENTS.

Read before the Memphis Medical Society, August 16th, 1892,
BY M. B. HERMAN, M.D.,

Visiting Surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital.

Of late years the subject of fevers has been the object of researches, which have led to results, the importance of which cannot be ignored.

The object of these researches, leaving aside physical, chemical and other theories, has been to acertain the nature of agents capable of giving rise to fevers by disturbing the thermogenic centers. One fact remains at present as it has in the past, and that is, that thermogenesis depends on the nervous system.

It is, however, possible that cellular life, independent of any nervous action, is capable of producing thermic modifications. The cerebro-spinal system, by its thermogenic centers and its vaso-motor attributes, as well as its action upon the glands, muscles and the intimate nutrition of the tissues, etc., is, of all the systems of the organism, that which governs mostly exaggerated heat production.

It is not my intention in this brief essay to enter into the history of the numerous experiments which have led to these conclusions. I wish simply to speak of such agents which, from experiments, have been found to influence the nervous system sufficiently to elevate the temperature.

VOL. XII 28

433

Certain diseases of the nervous system will give rise to pyrexia; for instance, neurotic pyrexia, or hyperpyrexia, may exist in hysteria. It is now an established fact that, in some cases, the temperature may rise as high as 105 or 106 F., while in others, it often consists simply in a modification of the temperature.

This form of fever is due principally to an abnormal excitability of the thermogenic centers. In this instance, the pyrogenic agent is of a dynamic or psychical character.

But it is especially in infectious diseases that we are most interested to know the nature of agents which give rise to high temperatures, as it is in these diseases that the fever is of most importance.

Years ago already it was suspected that in infectious diseases the febrile state might be due to soluble substances circulating in the blood. In 1866, Weber and Chauveau have demonstrated that the injection of sterilized putrid matter into the blood of animals would be followed by an elevation. of temperature; and later Brieger has extracted from putrefied animal matter a certain peculiar substance called "mydaleine," which, when introduced into the animal economy, would produce pyrexia. These experiments have, however, not established the fact that these agents were of microbie origin, for not only were the cultures impure, but they were taken directly from animal matter, and we know now that extracts from such tissues may contain certain principles which alone will cause an elevation of temperature-for instance, if we take the ferments of coagulation of the blood and inject it into a vein, the temperature will rise several degrees.

Experiments made by Rueffer and others, demonstrate beyond a doubt that pathogenic microbes will produce substances which, when injected into a healthy animal, will produce a febrile state.

These experiments were made with the "bacillus pyocyaneus.* Intra-venous injections in the rabbit of either this

*The pigment formed by this microbe is a definite principle, "pyocyanin," and can be extracted from pus by the action of chloroform. This bacillus is found in pus in those cases in which the wounds and pus-stained bandages exhibit a greenish blue color.

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