PERMANENT SYRUP OF IPECAC.

Mr. Geo J. Geiger writes that the following formula yields an ipecac syrup that will keep a long time.

Fluid extract of ipecac, 3 ss (15 c.c.)

Loaf sugar, 3 viii (250 gms.)

Pure water, q. s. 3 viii (237 c.c.)

Mix the fluid extract with 3 oz. (104 c.c.) water, shake well and filter. Put the sugar into a percolator, add the filtrate and percolate—adding enough water to make half pint (237 c.c.).— Merck's Report.

MEDICAL ITEMS.

THE poem which appeared in our last issue, kindly sent us by our friend, Dr. C. W. Thompkins, of Jasper, Florida, was incorrectly attributed to the Jasper News. It first appeared in the columns of the Mayo Free Press, and was written by Dr. Robt. Lee Goodbred, of Mayo, Florida.

SIR ASTLEY COOPER used to address every candidate for membership in the Royal College of Surgeons of England, of which he was president, somewhat in these words: "Gentlemen, you are about to enter on a noble and difficult profession; your success in it will depend on three things: first, a good and thorough knowledge of your profession; second, an industrious discharge of its duties; and third, the preservation of your moral character. Without the first no one can wish you to succeed; without the second you cannot succeed; and without the third, even if you do succeed, success can bring you no happiness."-Ernest Hart.

Polk's Medical Register of the United States for 1893 contains the names of more than 105,000 practitioners, including "paths" of every variety. Of the 137 lawfully established colleges in the United States and Canada, 23 now require four courses of instruc

tion of not less than six months each; 23 require four or more years of study and three courses of not less than six months each; 55 require three or more years of study and three terms of not less than six months each. Of the remaining 36, all but 7 have announced a minimum requirement of three courses of instruction before candidates are admitted to the final examination. Nearly every medical college in the United States now requires clinical instruction, laboratory instruction in chemistry, toxicology, the analysis of urine, normal and pathological histology, bacteriology, pathology, and hygiene. More than ninety per cent, of the regular colleges in the United States now require preliminary education equal to or better than that required in high schools of the first class.-Medical Record.

MR. W. B. SAUNDERS, publisher, of Philadelphia, Pa., announces the American Text-book of Gynecology as ready for early issue. It is the joint work of Drs. Howard Kelley, Pryor, Byford, Baldy, Tuttle and others who stand before the profession for all that is progressive in gynecology. The work will contain operations not before described in any other book, notably ablation of fibroid uterus. It is designed as a profusely illustrated reference book for the practitioner, and every practical detail of treatment is precisely stated.

THE College of Physicians of Philadelphia announces that the next award of the Alvarenga Prize, being the income for one year of the bequest of the late Señor Alvarenga, and amounting to about one hundred and eighty dollars, will be on July 14, 1894, provided that an essay deemed by the Committee of Award to be worthy of the prize shall have been offered.

Essays intended for competition may be upon any subject in medicine, but cannot have been published, and must be received by the Secretary of the College, Dr. Charles W. Dulles, on or before May 1, 1894.

Each essay must be sent without signature, but must be plainly marked with a motto and be accompanied by a sealed envelope having on its outside the motto of the paper and within the name and address of the author.

It is a condition of competition that the successful essay or a copy of it shall remain in possession of the College; other essays will be returned upon application within three months after the award.

THE United States grand jury at Chattanooga, Tennessee, has ignored the bill in the criminal suit for libel against Dr. James E. Reeves for his denunciation of the so-called "Amick Cure for Consumption" as quackery and fraud. There is still a civil suit pending, but Dr. Reeves is afraid that it will not be pressed, as the rules of civil suits will permit him to introduce testimony in support of his statements which in criminal proceedings might have been fought out. He says that he welcomes the opportunity "to expose the vile thing," and that if he once gets before a court with his testimony there will be nothing left of the fraud.

Dr. Reeves is to be congratulated for a display of courage in standing up for the right, which is unfortunately rare among medical men to-day. The number of so-called medical journals that have given advertising and reading columns to the exploitation of this "Amick" nostrum is a humiliating spectacle. The continued violation of the rule forbidding advertising of nostrums by the trustees of the Journal of the American Medical Association is another sight that should bring the blush of shame to the cheeks of every mem

ber of the great association defiantly misrepresented by its elected officers. To think that the absence of one man from the Milwaukee meeting caused the matter to be passed over in silence is an evidence of general pusillanimity that makes courage like that of Dr. Reeves stand out in bold relief.-Medical News.

A private letter from Dr. Reeves states that "we have the quack Amick on the run, and we claim it another victory for the medical profession of the South." We heartily congratulate Dr. Reeves upon his success in this fight.

BOOK REVIEWS.

A DICTIONARY OF MEDICAL SCIENCE. By Robley Dunglison, M. D., LL. D., Late Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence in Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Twenty-first edition, thoroughly revised and greatly enlarged, by Richard J. Dunglison, A. M., M. D. Lea Bros. & Co., Philadelphia.

r

There is no greater classic in medical literature than Dunglison's Dictionary. For more than thirty years it has been the standard. The edition of 1874 had about lived out its usefulness on account of the numerous changes and additions that have been made in recent years to our medical terminology. Hence the present twentyfirst edition is very acceptable. Some improvements have been made in the old work which render it more useful both to the student and the physician. To the edition of 1874 there have been added forty-four thousand new terms and subjects. Pronunciation and accentuation of terms are now introduced for the first time. The derivation of words is also added, which will be found of great assistance. Some very excellent tables are incorporated in the body of the book under such headings as Bacteria, Doses, Examination of Urine, Localizations of Lesions, etc. This is the day of medical dictionaries. Some of them do not contain enough, and some contain too much. We think this one fulfils better than any

other the requirements of a practical and serviceable dictionary. The medical profession we believe will receive the revised edition. with genuine pleasure, and we doubt not it will continue to enjoy its well-merited position in the library of nearly every physician.

GRAY'S ANATOMY. A New American from the thirteenth English Edition. Philadelphia, Lea Brothers & Co., 1893.

The name of this book is too well known, and its character as a standard work too well established to need especial notice or praise. The publishers say each of the thirteen editions have been scrutinized by the foremost anatomists in order that the work might be kept up with the progress and knowledge of anatomy. In this addition there has been a thorough revision of the text, and where necessary for clearness the plates have been re-engraved.

Special stress is laid upon the fact that this Anatomy is intended for the practical use of students and practitioners, who must apply their anatomical knowledge to the practice of surgery.

The descriptions are made of each structure separately and not regionally, though the "relations" are always given.

There is quite a thorough description of the minute anatomy of the general structure of the body at the beginning of the book, and the illustrations are excellent.

Following the histological descriptions is a chapter on development, from the ovum to the matured fetus. Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy" follows. The colored lines (red), indicating points of attachment of muscle to bone, are of great assistance to the student, as well as to one wishing to refresh his memory in a very few minutes. In muscular anatomy the arteries, veins and nerves related are shown in red, blue and yellow, respectively, in the plates. In the description of the arteries, veins and nerves, the plates show this same coloring of these structures; the lymphatics are not colored. New plates appear, showing dissections not shown in older editions.

The anatomical descriptions, as well as the "surgical anatomy," are full and complete. Here and there is a slight change in the name or a more particular description of a structure.

M. B. H.