Philadelphia, for she will then not only hold the annual commencement but will celebrate her semi-centennial. Beginning Wednesday morning, May 11, there will be a conference of homoeopathic college workers for the discussion of a number of subjects of collegiate interest, among them being the following:

1. “The Use and Abuse of the Didactic Lecture."

2. “The Province and Value of the Laboratory in the Medical Course."

3. How Can the Teaching of the Specialties, in the Undergraduate Course, be Made to Serve its Best Purpose-the Qualification of the Student for General Practice?"

4. The Proper Place and Period of Clinical Work in a Four Years' Course."

5. Preparatory Studies and Preparatory Departments in Medical Colleges."

"The Relation Between the Literary School and the Medical College" will also be made the subject of discussion at a public meeting, to be held on the evening of May 11. Addresses will be delivered by representative educators from both classes of institutions, and those having special interest in educational work will probably constitute the main portion of the audience. The college commencement will be held in the Academy of Music, on Thursday afternoon, May 12, at which the valedictory will be given by Prof. Charles M. Thomas, M.D., and an address delivered by Prof. W. Tod Helmuth, M.D., of New York, in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the college. The alumni banquet, with the class reunions, will be on Thursday evening, and will be made specially attractive.

Το

the Institute. The General Secretary of the Institute has issued the following circular letter:

DEAR EDITOR:-The annual meeting of the American Institute of Homœopathy to be held at Omaha Neb., beginning on June 24th, 1898, bids fair to eclipse all previous gatherings of this vigorous association. The interest in the Institute has been stimulated and strengthened, and it is evident that an united effort will be made to advance the influence and power of the Institute in every possible way. There should be but one desire, one aim and ambition in common to all the members of the Institute, and that should be to aid by every endeavor to try and make this meeting of 1898 exceed all our former records. The various Chairmen of the Sections have prepared excellent programs, and they have made it a special point to consider, not quantity but quality in the papers presented. Each paper will be definitely arranged for in the sectional programs, and will be well and ably discussed. Some of the Sections have in preparation programs which will be entirely novel to most of the members of the Institute, Whatever changes are made will be made to increase the interest in sectional work. The local Committee at Omaha has been most thoroughly occupied since last Fall, and has done an immense amount of work. They are prepared to afford us a number of welcome surprises while we are their guests; in fact there seems to be no limit to their hospitality. There will be ample accommodations at Omaha so far as the hotels are concerned for all who attend the maha meeting, and the rates will be extremely reasonable. It will not be Ootten that the great International Exposition will be held at Omaha during the time of the Institute meeting. This in itself, as it will be the greatest Exposition held in this Country since the Chicago World's Fair, will be a great attraction, various excursions have been arranged for, one to Yellowstone Park and return, another to Denver, to the

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Glenwood Springs and return to Omaha. Others will be announced. The reports from various sections of the country indicate that the attendance at the Institute will be very large, and it is expected not only that every member should come himself to attend this meeting, but that he should try to bring with him at least one new member; this is certainly not a laborious task and could easily be done if earnestly undertaken. Let us pull together at Omaha, and make that session not only the most pleasant in its relationships, not only the greatest in its record of attendance, but the most perfect in harmony, the most marked in progress and in contributions to medical science. Railroad rates and different routes for reaching Omaha, and statement of hotel accommodations will be found in the annual circular. I am, Yours very truly,

E. H. PORTER, Gen'l Secretary.

Correspondence.

VAGINAL CYST.

DEAR NORTH AMERICAN:

The accompanying diagram represents the condition I found not long since, while examining a woman for pelvic disease. As it was a vaginal cyst, congenital in its origin, a large one, and had withstood the storms and assaults of fourteen confinements without beng ruptured, I have thought it best to put it on record. The history, briefly, is this: Mrs. M., German, age forty-five, mother of

новил

Bladder

fourteen living children, was examined by me on June 20, 1897, for supposed ovarian disease. I found, however, filling the vagina, a mass that felt like an inflated rubber ball. This mass was easily delivered at the vulvar orifice, and proved to be a thin walled cyst with an elongated neck which gave it the appearance of a pedicle. The growth sprang from the anterior wall of the vagina, in the middle line, and about c.m. from the meatus urinarius. The contents were clear serous fluid. Specific gravity 1020, and neutral reaction. This tumor had existed all her life as far as she knew. Had been quite as large as at present at her first confinement, but the midwife who attended her had carefully replaced it, she said, and

4 CM.

Cyst. 9c.nt

thus it continued without injury during the fourteen confinements. I easily removed it without any anæsthetic by cutting out the base, and closing the incision with two catgut sutures.

This cyst was evidently of embryonal origin, due to the persistent remains of the Müllerian ducts.

1927 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Md.

Book Reviews.

IRVING MILLER.

The Surgical Complications and Sequels of Typhoid Fever. By William W. Keen, M.D., LL.D. Based on Tables of 1,700 cases compiled by the Author and Thompson S. Westcott, M.D., with a chapter on the Ocular Complications of Typhoid Fever. By George E. De Schweinitz, A.M., M.D., and The Toner Lecture No. 5. W. B. Saunders, 925 Walnut St., Philadelphia. pp. 386. $3.00.

In 1876 the author delivered the fifth Toner lecture "On the Surgical Complications and Sequels of the Continued Fevers." From that lecture the book may claim its origin. The Toner lecture and the present book together cover 1,700 cases, and practically include nearly all the cases recorded in the last fifty years. In the volume are considered not only the six complications and sequels treated in the Toner lecture, but there is added a formal chapter on the "Pathology of the Surgical Affections of Typhoid," and also twelve other chapters on other surgical affections of particular organs and regions. The monograph is very complete, and will be read with much interest by every physician.

Orthopedic Surgery. By James E. Moore, M.D. Professor of Orthopedic and of Clinical Surgery in the College of Medicine of the University of Minnesota, etc., etc. With 177 Illustrations. W. B. Saunders, 925 Walnut St. Philadelphia, $2.50. PP. 360. 1898.

The book has been kept within due bounds by eliminating all not of practical value. Special stress is laid upon early diagnosis, and such methods of treatment are given as in the writer's experience have yielded the best results. The simplest kinds of apparatus, such as can most readily be applied by the general practitioner, are

recommended.

The teachings of the author are in accordance with his belief that true conservatism is to be found in the middle course between the surgeon who operates too frequently and the orthopedist who seldom operates.

A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence. By Alfred S. Taylor, M.D., lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence and Chemistry in Guy's Hospital, London. New American edition of 1897 from the twelfth English edition. Thoroughly revised by Clark Bell, Esq., of the New York Bar. Lea Brothers & Co., Philadelphia & New York. $4.50, cloth. pp. 831. 1897.

"Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence" gives fresh evidence of its hold upon professional favor by adding another to its long list of editions,

the present being a thorough revision of the latest English edition-the twelfth. America has absorbed about an equal number, and will doubtless welcome this new one. Such facts indicate that the book is the authority accepted as final by the courts of all English-speaking countries. This is the important consideration for medical men, since in the event, more or less certain to occur, of their being summoned as experts or witnesses in medico-legal matters, it strongly behooves them to be prepared according to the principles, and practice everywhere accepted. Mr. Clark Bell, of the New York Bar, has again revised this standard and classical work to the date of issue, so that medical students, practitioners and lawyers can produce it in full confidence of finding it thorough, authoritative and modern. The Treatment of Disease by Electric Currents. A Handbook of Plain Instructions for the General Practitioner. By S. H. Monell, M.D. William Beverley Harrison, Publisher, 5 West 18th St., New York. pp. 1100. $7.50. In "The Treatment of Disease by Electric Currents" the author presents a working handbook of plain instructions for the general practitioner. He clears away many of the perplexities of the subject and concentrates into a few pages the essential facts of the physics and physiology of galvanic, faradic, and static currents. Thereafter every page of the book is practical therapeutics. Detailed directions are given for the selection of current, choice of poles, application of electrodes, regulation of dose, duration and frequency of treatment, and the most helpful clinical particulars throughout.

The author presents every essential scientific fact in plain language that can be understood, and no work upon electro-therapeutics has hitherto appeared in which directions for treatment have been so explicitly given. The great strength of the work is its complete representation of the practical therapeutic uses of all three great medical currents in the office practice of the physician. The section devoted to gynecology is exceedingly valuable and complete.

Genito-urinary affections in the male are also considered at length. Nervous and chronic diseases are treated with great detail. The book is devoted to treatment and the means of making treatment successful.

To the practitioner who seeks to inform himself of therapeutic development for consultation purposes or for personal use of electrical apparatus this volume is practically indispensable.

The Journal of The British Homoeopathic Society. Edited by Richard Hughes, M.D. New Series, Vol. 6, No. 21. January, 1898. Together with the Annual Supplement Containing List of Officers, Council, Fellows, and Members of the Society.

This most valuable record of the proceedings of the British Homœopathic Society is always received with pleasure. The present number contains "The History and Life History of Uterine Fibro-Myomata" (presidential address) by Edwin A. Neatby, M. D. "Clinical Observations and Indications as Aids for Drug Selection in Homeopathic Therapeutics," by A. C. Clinton, M. D. "On the Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Disease," by

Giles F. Goldsbrough, M. D. "Some Aspects of Intra-Cranial Disease Viewed from a Surgical Standpoint," by Dudley D'A. Wright. "A Digest of Ten Years' Work at the Children's Sanatorium, Southport," by William Morrison Storrar, E. R. C. P., L. R. C. S. Edin.

The volume is edited with the marked care always exercised by Dr. Hughes, and is a marked addition to our current literature. The Prescriber. A Dictionary of the New Therapeutics. By John H. Clarke, M.D., F. R. C. S. American Edition Revised and Enlarged by the author from the Fourth English Edition. Boericke & Tafel, Philadelphia. pp. 258. 1898.

This American' edition of Dr. Clarke's well-known volume will meet with ready acceptance in this country. The present volume is considerably enlarged, and contains such additional matter as the reading and experience of the author suggested. The newer remedies also are not forgotten. Another American edition will probably soon be needed.

Department of Pædiatrics.

CONDUCTED BY

MARTIN DESCHERE, M.D.

The following is an abstract from an "Old School" journal, which may greatly interest our readers:

Cyanide of Mercury in Diphtheria.-Luddeckens-Liegnitz (Erztliche Rundschau, 1896, VI., 773), has used this preparation for a number of years in diphtheria; scarlet fever, even when diphtheria is absent, is also treated by him with cyanide of mercury, and good results obtained. The treatment is as follows: ExternallyMoist cold compresses are to be applied to the neck every two hours, covered by woolen cloths or frequently renewed hot compresses over the larynx; and, if necessary, packs and baths. Locally -One to three times daily, after scraping off of necrotic deposits, the pharynx is swabbed with liquor ferri sesquichloride. If necessary, the mucous membrane may be anesthetized by the application of ten drops of a three per cent. solution of cocaine. (This should always be omitted in small and weakly children.) As soon as the borders of the diphtheritic patches show a decided tendency to heal, they should be touched with the liquor ferri sesquichloride, diluted with equal parts of water. If possible a gargle of chlorate of potassium, a teaspoonful to a goblet of water, should be used, or the mouth frequently swabbed out with this solution. InternallyThe juice of one or two lemons in sweetened water, bland food, the best being milk, and a mixture of cyanide of mercury is given every hour. The dose is to be regulated according to the individual; the