BOOK REVIEWS

Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear. By Kent O. Foltz, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology, Otology Rhinology, and Laryngology in the Eclectic Medical Institute; Consulting Physician to the Seton Hospital, Assistant Editor of Eclectic Medical Journal; author of a Manual on Diseases of the Eye. illustrations. 12mo. 643 pp. Cloth, $3.50. The Scudder Brothers Co., publishers, 1009 Plum Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1906.

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This volume, of something over six hundred pages, is one primarily for medical students of the eclectic school. The first hundred pages are devoted to the anatomy and examination of the nose, pharynx, larynx, and ear; the last hundred to the diseases of the ear, while the intervening four hundred consider the diseases of the upper respiratory tract. The author considers in order: Diseases

of the anterior nasal cavities, the accessory sinuses, the naso-pharynx, the uvula and soft-palate, the tonsils, the pharynx, the larynx, closing this portion with a chapter on "Intubation and Tracheotomy." The portion devoted to the ear seems altogether inadequate for a proper consideration of its diseases and their treatment.

By

A Non-Surgical Treatise on the Diseases of the Prostate Gland and Adnexc. George Whitfield Overall, A.B., M.D. Chicago: Rowe Publishing Co. 1906. In this volume the author describes in detail his method of treatment of diseases of the prostate, seminal vesicles and urethra. He advocates the use of the electric current both directly for its therapeutic effect and also for cataphoresis. He describes carefully his special instruments and the technique of their use. His chapter on senile hypertrophy is of interest, because it differs from the line of treatment generally accepted to-day. He maintains that the removal of the gland in toto is seldom necessary and advocates what might be called a modified Bottini operation, using a broad, flat electric-cautery and searing the prostatic bar gradually in a number of treatments rather than cutting through at one operation as did Bottini. He claims that the searing softens the gland sufficiently to allow of cataphoretic treatment which ultimately reduces it to nearly normal size.

At the present time when so much is being written on senile hypertrophy, and when every endeavor is being made to discover the best line of treatment, this volume is of interest because of its originality.

The Physicians Visiting List for 1907.

Fifty-sixth year of publication. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co. Price $1.00.

The large number of physicians using this list proves that it is very acceptable to the profession. Those who are accustomed to its use will seldom change for any other. It is as neatly gotten up as usual, and its compact form makes it very convenient for the pocket.

BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, REPRINTS, ETC., RECEIVED.

Me.

Physical Economics. Erastus Eugene Holt, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Portland, Glycosuria. S. H. Blodgett, M.D., Boston, Mass.

The Physician as a Character in Fiction. Presidential Address. C. B. Burr, M.D.

Medical Inspection in the Public Schools. Edited by Joseph Lee and Margaret Curtis.

Principles of Serum Therapy. By Henry G. Graham, M.D.

Report of Five More Apparent Cures of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. By John F. Russell M.D.

Phototherapy in General Practice. By Herbert Pitcher, M.D.

Therapeutics of Light as Illustrated with the Leucodescent Therapeutic Lamp. By Lamson Allen, M.D.

The Journal of the British Homoeopathic Society. G. F. Goldsbrough, M.D., editor.

The Cause and Prevention of Consumption. Circular issued by the Illinois State Board of Health, 1905.

Infant Feeding. Circular issued by the Illinois State Board of Health, 1996. Practical Disinfection. Circular issued by the Illinois State Board of Health,

1906.

Typhoid Fever, Rules and Regulations. Issued by the Illinois State Board of Health, 1904.

Scarlet Fever, Its Prevention, Restriction and Suppression. Published by the Illinois State Board of Health, 1906.

Diphtheria, Its Prevention, Restriction and Suppression. Issued by the Illinois State Board of Health, 1903.

Small Pox, its Prevention, Restriction and Suppression. Issued by the Illinois State Board of Health, 1905.

Genitourinary Diseases and Syphilis. By Henry H. Morton, M.D.

A Compend of Genitourinary Diseases and Syphilis. By Charles S. Hirsch,

M.D.

The Blind and the Deaf. Issued by the Bureau of the Census, 1900.

Vital Statistics of Boston & Philadelphia, 6 years ending May 31, 1890, Department of the Interior, Census Office.

Pathology. By Dr. John Stenhouse and Dr. John Ferguson.

SOCIETY REPORTS.

BOSTON HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.

The regular meeting of the Boston Homoeopathic Medical Society was held in the Natural History Rooms Thursday evening, Nov. 1, 1906. The meeting was called to order at eight o'clock by the President.

The records of the last meeting were read and approved.

Dr. H. G. Batchelder was proposed for membership.

The President appointed the following committee to nominate officers for the ensuing year Drs. J. Emmons Briggs, W. F. Wesselhoeft, and J. Herbert Moore.

SCIENTIFIC SESSION

Pathological specimens were exhibited by Drs. J. E. Briggs, W. S. Smith, W. H. Watters, and W. F. Wesselhoeft.

:

Dr. Briggs I wish to exhibit some pathological specimens of prostates. All of these were removed in our hospital within the last six months. They show a great variety of sizes. This was all I could get from one patient, the rest of the prostate was so adherent that it came away in fragments. This is the largest prostate which it has been my fortune to remove, and weighs five ounces, but I have heard that one has been recently removed at our hospital more than twice as large.

I should also like to speak, if I may be allowed, under the third heading of the Scientific Session (new discoveries or inventions pertaining to surgery or medicine) of a form of rubber bag which I have devised to be used in order to stop bleeding after the removal of a prostate by the supra-pubic route. This instrument consists of a rubber bag which is vulcanized to this rubber tubing and is capable of being expanded by water or air. I use preferably water.

The method of use is to carry it through the supra-pubic opening after the prostate has been removed, by first introducing a bougie through the penis.

After being put in as far as it will go, it will protrude through the suprapubic opening; the next step is to push this bougie into the end of the rubber tubing. Tying a silk ligature around here we are able to withdraw the bougie, which leaves the rubber bag in the bladder, the tubular end projecting from the end of the penis. This should be distended with water to a degree which makes it a little larger than the opening from which the prostate is removed. This will stop bleeding if it is at all troublesome.

I like very much to use continuous irrigation, and use Dr. Packard's hydraulic

pump to remove blood and urine from the bladder. With it in place this hydraulic pump can be put in operation immediately after the operation. It stops all bleeding and the urine will hardly seem to be red after a few hours. A great advantage in this apparatus is that it is so easily removed. Simply taking the artery forceps off the end of the tubing, the water flows out of the bag. It then folds upon itself and is easily withdrawn through the penis. I have used it perhaps ten or a dozen times with satisfaction.

Dr. Smith: This brain was from a case in which death followed anesthesia. The case was one of fracture of the left hip, in which the patient, a woman of sixty-five years of age, was given ether in the ordinary way for the reduction of the displacement. The patient took the anesthetic without any difficulty at all; it was an ordinary normal case as far as we could determine during the entire procedure, but she failed to come out of the ether. The operation took place about midday and when I was called in late in the afternoon she was in a state of coma, pupils contracted, and no absolute, unqualified evidence of any pathological condition. It might have gone as a case of death from ether had we not surmised that there was something complicating the case. The patient died that night and the next day Dr. Watters made a pathological examination of the brain. The right frontal lobe was the one which was affected, and the extent of the clot shows very nicely in the specimen.

Dr. Watters: I have here two or three specimens which may be of some interest. The first is a case of carcinoma of the breast which shows a rather peculiar condition, due to an unusually lobulated appearance in the growth.

Here is a foetus about two months and a half old. I have here a foetus of less than one month, which appears only as a thread-like process in the uterine cavity.

Dr. W. F. Wesselhoeft: I have here a specimen of cancer of the lower part of the sigmoid flexure and upper part of the rectum. In this case I carried out a method which I think very widely applicable to cancer in the lower part of the bowel, that is, to make first an inguinal colotomy which removes the growth from any mechanical irritation due to the passing of feces and puts it in the most favorable condition for the comfort of the patient, even if a radical cure cannot be effected, and then secondly to remove the growth.

This case was that of a woman forty-eight years old, who entered the Hospital in September, and in the latter part of September I made an inguinal colotomy. The growth was just above the rectum, could not be felt through the rectum, but through the vagina. It had gone so long that it seemed to me very problematical as to a radical cure being effected. She recovered from the inguinal colotomy very well, and two weeks and a half later, through a medium incision the gut from below the colotomy was very easily removed by simply tying off the mesentery as far as it could be and then encircling the gut below the growth with a silk ligature, the gut above was cut off and the stump of the ligature was inverted and the peritoneum sewed over it.

She made a recovery, and while it may not be a radical cure, it puts her under the most favorable conditions, and the inguinal colotomy, to my mind, gives a more comfortable relief than the operations through the sacrum or vagina.

PROGRAM

How Far Do We and How Far Can We Agree? Richard C. Cabot, M.D., Instructor in Medicine, Harvard University.

The Question of a Common Ground in Therapeutics. Walter Wesselhoeft, M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicine, Boston University.

At the close of the program it was voted to extend the time of the scientific session for discussion, and the President called upon the following members for remarks: Drs. George E. May, J. A. Rockwell, Frank C. Richardson, F. E. Allard. It was voted that owing to the lateness of the hour, the written remarks of Dr. Krauss be referred to the publication committee.

Dr. Cabot closed the discussion.

Adjourned at ten o'clock for a social half-hour.

BT. LORING General Secretary.

WORCESTER COUNTY HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL

SOCIETY.

The fortieth anniversary of this society was held at the Bay State House, Worcester, on Wednesday afternoon and evening, Nov. 14.

The meeting from beginning to end proved to be one of unusual interest, and was notable, not only for the large attendance, but even more so for the unusual excellence of the papers presented.

The new president is Dr. E. R. Leib, of Worcester, who has so satisfactorily filled the vice-presidential chair for the past year.

Dr. A. E. Cross continues as secretary.

Following the business session the Bureau of Surgery and Physical Diagnosis, under the chairmanship of Dr. E. A. Fisher, presented the following program:

The Early Recognition of Incipient Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Egbert Guernsey Rankin, M.D., Professor of Theory and Practice, New York Homeopathic Medical College. Discussion by George Lapham, M.D., Rutland.

Some Problems in Diagnosis. F. P. Batchelder, M.D., Boston, Professor of Physiology, Boston University School of Medicine. Discussion by J. K. Warren, M.D., Worcester.

Gastric Surgery and the General Practitioner. William Francis Honan, M.D., New York, Editor Homeopathic Journal of Obstetrics. Discussion by N. W. Emerson, M.D., Boston.

Electric Light and Vibratory Massage. Carl Crisand, M.D., Worcester. Discussion by Alonzo G. Howard, M.D., Boston.

Following this session the members adjourned for dinner, after which the post prandial addresses were given as follows:

President's Annual Address. R. G. Reed, M.D., Woonsocket, R. I.

The Old Guard. Geo. F. Forbes, M.D., Worcester. Our honored "charter member."

Rational Homœopathy. E. H. Copeland, M.D., Northampton, ex-president Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society.

The University Idea. John P. Sutherland, M.D., Boston, Dean of Boston University School of Medicine.

Physicians and their Societies. E. B. Hooker, M.D., Hartford, Conn., President American Institute of Homœopathy.

A notable feature of these after dinner speeches was the definite aim indicated in each one in contrast to the usual somewhat aimless, if entertaining, remarks often made on such occasions.

In addition to a large representation of the membership, physicians were present from several other parts of the state and from the adjoining states. The meeting was one that has seldom, if ever, been excelled in interest and in value to all in attendance.

NEIGHBORHOOD MEDICAL CLUB.

The November meeting of the Neighborhood Medical Club was held at Young's Hotel on Thursday evening, Nov. 22.

After a dinner enjoyed by a large proportion of the members, a paper upon the Value of the Laboratory to the General Practitioner was presented by Dr. W. H. Watters. This was followed by informal discussion upon this and allied subjects.

The meeting adjourned about 10 P.M.

THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PHYSICAL THERAPEUTICS-It is a well-known fact that homoeopathic physicians actuated by the progressive spirit that actuates them as a class, are good customers of the manufacturers of apparatus used for physical therapeutics. It is undoubtedly true that at least a thousand homoeopaths daily use one or more of the therapeutic measures which range themselves under this department of medical practice, and every one of them should be enrolled in the National Society of Physical Therapeutics, the one organization that has stood for the development of this line of work among homoeopathic practioners. The dues are but one dollar a year, and this entitles the member to a

printed report of the business transacted, and of the papers and discussions offered at the annual meeting. Anyone interested in this line of work is bound to get many a hint, each of which is well worth much more than the membership fee. Membership is open to all practitioners who are members of any local, state, or national medical society. Applications, accompanied by the first year's dues, can be sent to any member of the executive committee: Hills Cole, M.D., president, 1748 Broadway, New York; Rollin H. Stevens, M.D., Detroit, and W. H. Dieffenbach, M.D., New York, vice presidents; Annie R. Higbie, M.D., treasurer, 158 W. 76th St., New York; John D. Boileau, M.D., secretary, 804 Lehigh Ave., Philadelphia; W. H. King, M.D., and J. Oscoe Chase, M.D., New York. It may perhaps be added that the National Society of Physical Therapeutics is the outgrowth of the National Society of Electro-therapeutists, the scope of the latter organization having been enlarged and its name changed at the annual meeting held in Niagara Falls.

DR. R. H. BURKE has removed from Sutton to West Burke, Vt.

Dr. Francis X. Corr has been appointed Gynecologist to Boston Insane Hospital.

DR. EMILIE YOUNG O'BRIEN, formerly of Washington, D.C., has removed to Allston, Mass.

DR. VINCENT T. LATHBURY announces his removal from Searsport, Me., to Pittsfield, Me.

DR. MARY JOHNSON, B. U. S.M., 1903. has been appointed interne at Westboro Insane Hospital.

DR. BENJAMIN C. WOODBURY, JR., B. U. S. M., 1906, has opened an office in Winthrop, Maine.

DR. EMMA M. WOOLEY of Boston, and Dr. Isabella P. Gibby of Worcester will spend the winter at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

DR. IDA J. BROOKS has resigned her position at Westboro Insane Hospital to resume private practice at Little Rock, Ark.

MARRIED April 12, 1906, at High Point, N. C., Dr. Eulalie M. Abbott, B.U.S.M. 1899, to Mr. William Gates of High Point.

DR. F. L. EMERSON of Dorchester has just returned from a six weeks' trip to Europe, travelling through Italy and France.

DR. NOBLE HIND HILL announces the removal of his office from 206 to 189 Huntington Avenue. Office hours, 9 to 10 and 2 to 4.

DR. F. C. ROBBINS, B. U. S. M., 1896, has been recently promoted to the position of assistant physician at Gowanda State Hospital.

DR. EDWARD MOORE, B. U. S. M., 1905, after a year spent as interne at the Massachusetts Homœopathic Hospital, has located at 199 Church Street, Newton, Mass.

DR. ANNA T. LOVERING, 10A Park Square, Boston, will assist members of the profession in the preparation of papers for societies or publication; also in re-search work or proofreading.