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REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

OBSTETRIC AND GYNECOLOGIC NURSING.

By Edward P. Davis, A. M.,

Philadel

M. D., Professor of Obstetrics in the Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, and in the Philadelphia Polyclinic, etc.
phia and London : W. B. Saunders & Co. 1901. pp. 402.
Price, $1.75 net.

The above is one of the most valuable of the recent contribuions to medical literature for nurses. It is exceptionally thorough and comprehensive, and in a plain, straightforward, practical way gives all the teaching required by a nurse engaged in obstetrical and gynecological work.

In Part I., Obstetric Nursing, an outline of the anatomy and physiology of pregnancy is followed by instruction in nursing in complicated and uncomplicated cases. Chapters are devoted to preparations for confinement, nurse's duties during and after labor, care of the child, obstetric surgery, complications during and following labor, feeding and weaning, disorders of infancy, etc.

Under Part II., the examination and management of patients, local treatment, douches, preparation for and assistance during operations, post-operative nursing, and care in special cases are treated at length, and many additional directions are given in regard to the preparation of surgical supplies, selection of foods and aseptic precautions to be observed.

There are many good full page illustrations, and carefully a prepared index.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK FOR THE YEAR 1900. Vol. XXXV. Edited by the Secretary, De Witt G, Wilcox, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y. pp. 410. The present volume is a record of the forty-eighth annual meeting of this society, held at Albany, N. Y., Feb. 13 and 14, 1900, and of the thirty-fourth semi-annual meeting held at Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. 3 and 4, 1900.

It contains a large number of short suggestive papers, which are well supplemented by the discussions they evoked. Transactions like these are interesting reading, and form excellent books of

reference, inexpensive to society members, and serviceable to all who would keep in touch with what is being thought and done along medical lines.

We are pleased to note that Drs. N. W. Emerson and Horace Packard, of Boston, have been elected honorary members of this society.

A TEXT-BOOK ON PRACTICAL OBSTETRICS. By Egbert H. Grandin, M. D., with the collaboration of George W. Jarman, M. D. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Illus. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co. 1900. pp. 511. Price, cloth, $4 net; sheep, $5 net.

As a standard work on obstetrics Grandin and Jarman's occupies a decidedly leading position. If it is less voluminous than certain. contemporary treatises which might be mentioned, it is not the less instructive and reliable on the subject of essentials. The schema of the work, which for the most part relegates instruction in anatomy, physiology, embryology and pathology to other and earlier chairs, admits of a considerable omission and condensation of matter ordinarily included. We think this a reasonable and advantageous plan to pursue, and that little is gained by diffuseness and repetition if the student comes to obstetrical work well grounded in preliminary branches.

We also commend the omission of many of those antiquated wood cuts, whose introduction to the pages of books on midwifery antedates the memory of the oldest practitioner. There are still a few, notably those illustrating the structure of the genital organs, which we hope to see superceded by far better ones in a subsequent edi tion. There are numerous excellent plates, photogravures from nature, in the present volume.

We have always liked this book, and continue to think it well and conscientiously written. It is clear and practical, not over burdened with theory, statistics or literary references which do not help a man out appreciably in a difficult case, and which often confuse a student.

Students and practitioners need more than one text-book on obstetrics, and the one under discussion may well be among the number selected.

We quote one or two of the many sensible sayings concerning

precautions, to prevent infecting the lying-woman: "These precautions take but little time, and the man who is not willing to give this time to safeguard a human life had better decline obstetrical work altogether."

Again, "The vaseline-pot should, once and for all, be banished from the lying-in chamber."

Concerning the time for instrumental delivery, "It is a question of conditions, and not minutes or hours."

NURSING ETHICS FOR HOSPITAL AND PRIVATE USE.

By Isabel Hampton Robb, Graduate of the New York Training School for Nurses, Bellevue Hospital, etc. Cleveland: J. B. Savage. 1901. Price, $1.50.

The qualifications of a young woman who wishes to become a professional nurse are summed up by the author as being good physical health, education and culture. To these must be added a sense of personal responsibility which shall ensure the conscientious discharge of her obligations.

The author very carefully presents the ethical side of a nurse's service as probationer, junior, senior and head nurse while in the hospital, and the relations she should bear to patient, doctor and family when practicing her profession outside.

It is unfortunate so much important and well expressed advice and instruction should be dissociated from a text-book on nursing, as joined with the technical teaching, a larger circle of readers might be reached.

THE MEDICAL ADVISER; OR HOW TO TREAT THE SICK AND THE INJURED. By O. Edward Janney, M. D., Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the Southern Homœopathic Medical College. Baltimore Maryland Homoeopathic Pharmacy Co. 1901.

pp. 72.

Designed primarily for the use of patients temporarily out of reach of a physician, this monograph is also recommended by the author to readers at large. The best things it contains are the suggestions on diet in common diseases, but the text throughout is too sketchy to be otherwise than frequently misleading to the laity. This is especially noticeable in the section on Remedies and Reme

dial Measures. The subject of dysentery, for instance, is dismissed as follows: "Mercurius corr. 3x one tablet every hour or two." There are several good receipts for the preparation of food for the sick.

INFANT-FEEDING IN ITS RELATION TO HEALTH AND DISEASE. By Louis Fischer, M. D., Attending Physician to the Children's Service of the New York German Poliklinik, etc. Illus. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co. 1901. pp. 368. Price, cloth, $1.50 net.

We have no hesitation in predicting that Fischer's Infant-Feeding, will at once command the appreciative attention of the profession. It is the work of an educated man and a clinician who has thoroughly mastered his subject.

The plan of the book embraces a description of the digestive organs of the infant, verified actual capacity of the stomach at different ages, properties and action of the digestive juices, intestinal bacteria, constituents of breast and cow's milk and their value, feeding of milk, diet of mother, wet-nursing, care of nipples, importance of record of infant's weight, properties of human and cow's milk, modification of milk, how good milk may be secured, sterilization, pasteurization, modification, mixtures, infant foods with analyses and deductions, condensed milk, Gærtner's "mothermilk," chemical and clinical reports on same, infant stools, appropriate feeding of infants in various diseases, rectal feeding and feeding in intubation cases, dietary.

When breast milk is not available, Dr. Fischer favors the feeding to healthy infants of raw milk obtained under conditions of perfect cleanliness. He points out its superiority over sterilized or pasteurized milk, and gives rules for its modification at home. The use of modified or laboratory milk is not recommended. He notes that it causes constipation, retards development, and may occasion or predispose to intestinal disorders and scurvy.

It is impossible to call attention to all the good points of this book which will not only supplement, but supercede much of the present teaching of infant-feeding.

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The above cut represents the Emergency Hospital which has been erected on the Pan-American Exposition Grounds at Buffalo. It is equipped with all the approved medical and surgical appliances necessary for emergency work. A unique feature consists of two electrical ambulances, and also another automobile ambulance to run either by gasoline or steam. The hospital has accomodations for from twenty-five to thirty patients at one time. Physicians visiting the exposition will doubtless find much to interest them in the arrangements and appliances of the hospital, all of which are of the most modern style.

Ar the next meeting of the American Homoeopathic Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngological Society, which will open its session in the parlors of the Hotel Earlington, Richfield Springs, New York, on Saturday, June 15, at 2.30 P. M., and have sessions on Monday and Tuesday, June 17, and 18, it has been arranged to have Mr. M. R. Hutchison,

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