BOOK REVIEWS

RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION. THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS IN THE UNITED STATES. Including a Directory of Institutions Dealing with Tuberculosis in the United States and Canada. Compiled under the Direction of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, by Philip P. Jacobs, New York. Charities Publication Commit

tee, 1908. Cloth. Pp. 467. Price, $1.00.

This volume, offered for the exact cost price of its publication, is issued solely in the interests of the study and prevention of tuberculosis. It consists of a directory of all the institutions and organizations dealing with tuberculosis, a digest of all legislation regarding it, etc. By means of it a person can ascertain the part taken in the campaign by his state and city; and inform a victim concerning the terms and entrance requirements of any or all the sanatoria on this continent which deal exclusively with tuberculosis. It is certainly a convenient means of reference for any medical man.

NORMAL HISTOLOGY. By George A. Piersol, M. D., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. Eighth Edition. J. B. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia and London. 1910. Cloth $3.50.

Piersol's Histology in its new edition appears opportunely at this time when medical schools are beginning their year's work. The usual conciseness, combined, however, with sufficient fulness to impress important detail, characterizes the volume.

The histologic descriptions are prefaced with brief accounts of the macroscopic appearance of the various organs and tissues. This assists very materially in correlating the demonstrations seen in the dissecting room and those studied under the microscope.

The importance of very accurate illustrations of the usual histologic findings has been appreciated by the author. The publishers have succeeded in making the plates particularly clear, and have thus aided largely in furthering a very necessary acquisition to a work of this kind.

NURSING IN DISEASES OF THE EYE, EAR, NOSE, AND THROAT. By the Committee on Nurses of the Manhattan Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, New York City. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company, 1910. Cloth, $1.50 net.

There are few adequate text-books on nursing in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. The difficulty of presenting a work that will be comprehensive to all of the nursing profession, the preliminary education of whose members varies so greatly, has been overcome by the committee to whose efforts this volume is due, in presenting the subjects in a popular style and yet with accuracy.

The first third of the book is given to general considerations of disinfection, preparation for and conduction of operations, and further care of the patient. Then follow consecutively divisions on the eye, the ear, the nose, and the pharynx and larynx. Each section

has a preliminary chapter outlining the anatomy and physiology of the special organ with which it deals.

The book is abundantly and well illustrated. It will serve as a most useful text in training schools as well as a convenient reference book for the graduate nurse.

THE ESSENTIALS OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS FOR NURSES. By John Foote, M. D., J. B. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia and London. 1910. Many of the books on materia medica and therapeutics for nurses have been such that to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the subject from the text a familiarity with the sciences of chemistry and pharmacology must be presupposed.

This small volume is divided into five parts, with chapters devoted to the following subjects: (1) Definitions, (2) Weights, (3) Important drugs and medicines, (4) Hypodermic and rectal medication, (5) A reference list of commonly used drugs, chemicals and proprietary medicines, (6) Therapeutic definitions. The essentials only are given, so that a working knowledge is easily attainable without having to read through and study much detail information not of practical importance. For emphasis words and sentences of greatest consequence are italicised. At the end of the minor divisions in each chapter are a series of questions.

This manual no doubt will be well received in nurses' training schools.

GYNECOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS. By Walter L. Burrage, A.M., M.D., Instructor in Gynecology Harvard University, etc. New York and London. D. Appleton & Company, 1910. Cloth, $6.00. Half leather, $7.00.

So many texts upon operative gynecology are deficient in full diagnostic accounts. This book is written from the clinical point of view, with the salient points of the anatomy and latest views of the pathology summarized at the beginning of each chapter. Throughout the volume are extensive discussions and tables of differential diagnosis.

The chapter on diseases of pregnancy, both normal and abnormal, including abortion and hydatidiform mole, is an extremely important one because of the many mistakes in diagnosis made in this field. Separate sections are given to diseases of the rectum and bladder. The author's extended experience with cystoscopy makes the observations regarding the urethra, bladder and ureters particularly instructive. Gynecologic affections of infancy and childhood form an interesting and profitable chapter to the general practitioner. It is within recent years that pediatricians have discovered the importance of different affections of the uterine organs in children and have called attention to the points in diagnosis.

The closing chapter on the menopause deals with this physiologic period in all of its varied aspects and is an intelligent discussion of a complex condition concerning which there is yet much misconception.

A complete alphabetical index of the illustrations is given in the front of the volume. The illustrations are well selected and are of much assistance in the elucidation of the text.

measure in the therapeutic gamut has been given a trial.

It would be well for the author to acquaint himself more thoroughly with the work and teachings of the American masters in surgery before attempting a bibliographic discussion of the problems under consideration.

A commendable plea for a more prolonged surgical training before entrance into the actual operative field should meet with a hearty response from those who have at heart the interests of this specialty.

A few typographical errors are noted, as on pp. 122 and 201. The language is at times a little clumsy, but with all a great many practical and helpful suggestions are offered.

DUODENAL ULCER. By B. G. A. Moynihan, M.S. (London) F.R.C.S., Senior Assistant Surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary, England. Octavo of 379 pages, illustrated. Philadelphia and London, W. B. Saunders Company, 1910. Cloth, $4.00 net; Half Morocco, $5.50 net.

So interesting does the experience of Mr. Moynihan make this work that one is loathe to lay down the book ere he has read it through.

As is related in the preface, no other problem in abdominal surgery has begun to compare in development within the past ten years with that of duodenal ulcer. And as our knowledge of the subject daily broadens, the narrower becomes that category of cases which a decade ago went by the name of "functional disturbances" of the stomach or bowels. Modern surgery shows us that at the bottom of the vast majority of these old so-called "dyspepsias" there rests a definite pathology, either in the stomach, bowel, gall-bladder or appendix, and of all these, our knowledge of duodenal ulcer stands out perhaps the clearest. Hence it is not surprising to have the author declare that in his hands the mortality for his whole series of cases was only 1.6 per cent., and among the last 121 cases operated upon there was not a single death.

So firmly convinced is the author that the old cases of "hyperacidity" or "acid gastritis" are in truth cases of duodenal ulcer that he makes the statement that "recurrent severe hyperchlorhydria' is duodenal ulcer." And the interesting fact is brought out that as a rule when a test meal is given in such cases there is rarely found any excess of acidity.

Hematemesis and melena should not be considered as usual symptoms of duodenal ulcer but rather, according to Moynihan, as complications and evidence of neglected opportunities.

A curious contrast seems to exist in relation to the progress of chronic ulcer of the duodenum as compared to a like lesion in the stomach. That is to say, we are all now familiar with the frequency with which cancer of the stomach develops upon the site of an old ulcer; and yet, whereas chronic duodenal ulcer is a far commoner lesion than gastric ulcer, cases of primary cancer of the duodenum are extremely rare. As yet there remains no satisfactory explanation for this curious phenomenon.

The latter part of the volume is devoted to a detailed statement of all the cases operated upon for duodenal ulcer by the author up to the end of 1908, together with an analysis and summary.

So concise and yet exhaustive a treatise on a by-nomeans uncommon lesion should find a ready place in the library of every medical man and particularly the surgeon, though the responsibility for the diagnosis involves either to an equal extent,

DISEASES OF THE EYE. By George E. de Schweinitz, A.M., M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology in the University of Pennsylvania, etc. Sixth edition. 1910. Thoroughly revised. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company. Cloth, $5.00.

The sixth edition of this comprehensive work shows many changes due to revision and addition of new material in order to keep it, as it has been in the past, one of the leading text-books on diseases of the eye. The author has given very complete descriptions of the methods of examining the eyes and the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of ocular diseases.

In the new matter incorporated in the book may be found the following subjects: The Use of the Astigmatic Lens, or Crossed Cylinder; Obstetric Injuries of the Cornea; Posterior Scleritis; Cyanosis of the Retina; Atoxyl Amblyopia; Ocular Complications of Nasal Accessory Sinus Disease; Intermittent Exophthalmos; Kuhnt-Szymanowski Operation for Ectropion; Galvanopuncture for Ectropion and Entropion (Ziegler); Establishment of a Filtering Cicatrix (Herbert's operation); Combined Iridectomy and Sclerectomy (Lagrange's operation); Precorneal Iridotomy (Axenfeld); V-Shaped Iridotomy (Ziegler's operation); Smith's Operation for Removal of Cataract in the Capsule; Operations for Prothesis in Cicatricial Orbit.

Many of the chapters have been entirely re-written to make them conform to present-day knowledge and throughout the entire work due care has been observed to include all recent advances in the field of ophthalmology. The wide experience of the accomplished and well known author is indicated by the thoroughness and apparent accuracy with which all subjects are treated, and this only adds to the value of a book which has long been held in high esteem by the medical profession.

The mechanical work of the publishers is up to the usual standard and is all that could be desired. The work is enhanced by a carefully prepared index.

A TREATISE ON DISEASES OF THE EYE. By John Elmer Weeks, M. D., Professor of Ophthalmology in the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College; Surgeon to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary; etc. In one octavo volume of 944 pages, with 528 illustrations and 25 full-page plates. Cloth, $6.00, net. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia and New York, 1910.

So many new or revised treatises on ophthalmology have appeared recently that it would seem that there is no legitimate reason for the publication of any