REVIEWS AND NOTICES

OF

BOOKS.

THE OPIUM HABIT AND ALCOHOLISM. By Fred. Heman Hubbard, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. pp. 259.

The

Dr. Hubbard has prepared a very comprehensive treatise on the subjects of opium and its compounds, alcohol, chloral hydrate, chloroform, bromide of potassium, and cannabis indica, including their therapeutical indications and treatment. author declares there is a great increase in the number of opium consumers in the United States within late years, and bases his assertion on the enormous increase in the importation of the drug and its corresponding consumption. He certainly seems to have had an unusually large experience with patients who have used opium to excess. He describes very minutely and vividly the manner in which the opium habit is acquired, the abject slaves it makes of its victims, and the horrible suffering experienced by them if they are deprived suddenly of its use. He has discovered and describes a mode of treatment which has proved very successful in his hands. Patients who have had the habit for two, five, ten years, and even longer, have been completely cured by him; and not only cured of the habit, but renewed activity of all the functions followed, the patients_becoming healthier and more vigorous than ever before. "It appears strange," he says, "and unreasonable, and is not consistent with well-known laws of cause and effect, yet it has been proved under our observation to be a fact, that after restoration no complications present themselves indicative of permanent lesions, resulting from the habit." The history and treatment of seventeen cases of patients with the opium habit are clearly described in this book, giving a great variety of temperaments, complications, and modes of using the drug, with the appropriate treatment. Dr. Hubbard also gives a good description of the habit of using alcohol to excess, including in the term "alcohol" all beverages containing alcohol. He divides the patients into six classes, beginning with those who only go on an occasional " spree," and ending with the confirmed dipsomaniac. His modes of treatment contain some very valuable practical hints. He warns the profession against a too general and indiscriminate use of the other drugs mentioned above, describing the deplorable state the excessive use of these drugs engenders.

S.

SUPPRESSION OF URINE. CLINICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSIS OF SYMPTOMS. By E. P. Fowler, M. D. New York: Wm. Wood & Co. 1881. Octavo. pp. 86.

This is a careful analysis of ninety-three clinical cases, with illustrations, tables, and diagrams, presented to the New York Medico-Chirurgical Society, Dec. 14, 1880. It is a purely scientific study of the disease, and would be interesting to any scientist or physician; but it strangely lacks all consideration of the part the physician has to play when called to a case of this or any other disease, viz., treatment. If we are not mistaken, the society to which this was presented is composed of physicians of various schools, homoeopathic, allopathic, and eclectic. We can well believe that such an essay as this could not be objected to by any physician, whatever might be his therapeutical opinions ; but we cannot see how the members of the society or the readers of the book will be practically assisted in treating any cases which may come under their care. Had a little useful information regarding homoeopathic indications and treatment been added to this essay, we wonder how this new and liberal society would have received it.

WINTER AND ITS DANGERS. By Hamilton Osgood, M. D. Philadelphia: Presley Blakiston. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 1881. 12mo. pp. 160. Price 30 cents.

This little pocket volume contains many suggestions and directions valuable both to the profession and to the laity. The following list of its various chapters conveys a good idea of its scope: General Considerations, Dangers arising from Errors in Dress, Carelessness and Ignorance in Bathing, Inattention to Pulmonary Food, Danger from Overheated Air, Indifference to Sunshine, Sedentary Life and Neglect of Exercise, the Dangers of School Life in Winter, Winter Amusements, Closing Considerations.

*

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH OF NEW YORK. Albany: 1881. Octavo. pp. 203.

A careful reading of this report would show how much may be accomplished by a State Board of Health. The prevailing diseases of the State, and especially those of local character, have received careful investigation at its hands, and many suggestions are made, which would give the physician a clew to diseases, that would aid him very materially in their treatment. Thus, six different reports on diphtheria, in seven different counties, are accompanied by sanitary suggestions of the greatest importance, while dysentery, malarial diseases, small-pox, etc., etc., are all considered in the most practical manner. One thing in the report is,

perhaps, a little remarkable. While four members of the board are allopathic physicians, one is a well-known homoeopath; and yet the report reads so smoothly that one would never think of the possibility of an explosion in the board itself. In fact, as Dr. Delavan occupies a prominent position in the board as chairman of one of its important committees, it is fair to presume that his ability, as well as gentlemanly bearing, places him in pleasant relations with the other members. The experiment of having homœopathy represented on the Board of Health seems to have been as successful in New York as it has proved in Illinois. *

TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN HOMOEOPATHIC OPHTHALMOLOGICAL AND OTOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Brighton Beach, June, 1881.

This is a brochure of 79 pages, containing fourteen different articles, each of which would have proved an interesting contribution to any of our medical journals. As it is, it will go gratuitously to the twenty or thirty members of the society, and such others as choose to send fifty cents to the secretary, Dr. F. Parke Lewis, of Buffalo, New York. But we can see no good reason why all of these papers should not have been presented in the American Institute, which has a special bureau devoted to these subjects. They would then have been accessible to the nine hundred members of the Institute, without being a special tax to any one. Would it not be well for this society to consider whether it is profitable for the work in a single section done at the same time to be thus divided between two organizations? *

PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO. Seventeenth Annual Session. Toledo, May 10 and 11, 1881. Octavo. pp. 178.

GAN.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE TWELFTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF MICHIAnn Arbor, May 17 and 18, 1881. Octavo. pp. 148. These volumes, respectable in size, quality, and general appearance, show the working capacity of our branch of the profession in these two noted Western States. They contain a great deal of practical as well as interesting matter; and it seems a pity, when they are prepared with so much care and expense, that they cannot have a wider circulation than to the limited membership of their respective societies. It may not be practicable, but it would seem desirable, if a system of exchange could be adopted by which the members of one State society could receive the publications of other similar organizations. *

MATERIA MEDICA AS A SCIENCE. By J. P. Dake, A. M., M. D. Nashville.

DRUG ATTENUATION: ITS INFLUENCE UPON DRUG MATTER AND DRUG POWER. By J. P. Dake, A. M., M. D. Nashville.

These pamphlets are reprints of papers presented respectively at the World's Homœopathic Convention, held in Philadelphia in 1876, and the International Homoeopathic Convention, held in London in 1881. They contain the ripened thoughts of a lifetime of study and observation.

*

OUR MISCELLANY,

IN THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL.

THE VIVISECTIONIST.

"Our doctor has called in another: I never had seen him before,
But he sent a chill to my heart when I saw him come in at the door,
Fresh from the surgery schools of France, and of other lands, -
Harsh, red hair, big voice, big chest, big, merciless hands!
Wonderful cures he had done, - Oh yes! but they said, too, of him,
He was happier using the knife than in trying to save the limb,
And that I can well believe, for he looked so coarse and so red,

I could think he was one of those who would break their jests on the dead,
And mangle the living dog that had loved him and fawned at his knee-
Drenched with the hellish oorali - that ever such things should be!"
Tennyson's Ballads and other Poems.

CASES OF ABNORMALLY HIGH TEMPERATURE. -The Pacific Med. and Surg. Journal makes the following condensed extract from the British Med. Journal, in which Dr. Donkin reports eight cases of abnormally high temperature, all but one in females, and none proving fatal. Pain was a prominent symptom in all: No. 1, 111.60; convalescing from enteric fever. No. 2, 108°; no organic lesions; ovarian pain. No. 3, 115.8°; great abdominal pain and excitement. No. 4, 111°; convalescing from enteric fever No, 5, 113°; enteric fever and double pneumonia. No. 6, 1120; synovitis. This was the only male. No. 7, 112°; painful stump, with necrosis. No. 8. 117°; pyonephrosis.

A SOMEWHAT CROWDED PROFESSION.In the Sherley will case, before the Louisville court the other day, in reviewing the medical testimony, Col. McKay, one of the counsel for the will, remarked upon the number of doctors in the world, and said that down "in his country, between the hills and the river, they are so thick that two had to ride one horse; and that a flat-boat having been stranded in the river one night, the next morning three doctors' signs were hanging out from its sides."-Louisville Medical News.

TUBERCULOUS DISEASES.-MILK A CAUSE. According to Cohnheim's latest views and experiments, indorsed by Friedlander, the intestinal tract is liable to direct infection through the agency of diseased cow's milk. This leads to phthisis mesenterica so frequent in children. Adding thus the theoretical views of Cohnheim to the facts given by Fleming, there is good cause for paying close attention to the subject, and perhaps keeping supervision over our dairies and slaughter-houses.-Med. Record.

RULES FOR AUTHORS. - Dr. Billings, in his able, practical, and witty address before the London Congress, laid down the following cardinal rules for authors in the preparation of journal articles: 1. Have something to say. soon as you have said it. 4. Give the paper a proper title.

2. Say it.

3. Stop as A VERY SERIOUS EPIDEMIC-which appears to be a sort of malignant type of measles is stated to have been prevalent amongst the Esquimaux inhabitants of the Labrador coast, and has carried off nearly one twelfth of the population.

WATER ADMINISTERED HYPODERMICALLY. - De Ponte, in the Medical Gazette of Venezuela, relates his experience in several instances in which he employed water hypodermically for the relief of pain. He cites a case of intercostal neuralgia, and another of odontalgia, where permanent relief was obtained. Another patient had been suffering nine years from intense gastro-intestinal neuralgia, which baffled all remedies. Two injections relieved the pain, and subsequent tonic treatment restored her to perfect health. He proved that it was not imagination, by informing the patient of the treatment before trying it. Several hundred cases have been treated in this manner, even where morphine had been the drug previously administered, with good results.

THE MEDICAL NEWS AND ABSTRACT, of Philadelphia, appears, for the last time as a monthly publication, with the December number; hereafter it will be greatly enlarged, and appear as a weekly.

AUTOGRAPHIC MEN.. - Chomel reports a class of human beings whom he calls "autographic men," who, from certain central neuroses, present a form of urticaria, which shows itself when a slight irritation is applied to the skin. The cuticle may be written on and retain the character inscribed on it for some time, through the urticaria so produced. Dujardin-Beaumetz was the first to describe this phenomenon, which is by no means rarely observed. - Chicago Medical Review.

SPONGE GRAFTING. — Dr. D. J. Hamilton, in the "Edinburgh Medical Journal " for November, has an interesting article on sponge-grafting. Pieces of very fine sponge, after having been cleaned and treated with carbolic-acid solution (five per cent), were inserted into wounds in men, and into serous cavities and intermuscular spaces in animals. The wounds thus treated were protected by careful antiseptic measures It was then noticed that the sponge became adherent to the edges of the wound, and that its edges became indistinct and gradually melted down into the living tissues; soon, when pricked, the sponge bled, though it was not at all sensitive; and ultimately, it became completely organized and skinned over.

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION. — In the late International Medical Congress, held in London, in the session of the State Medicine Department, under the presidency of John Simon, LL. D., F. R. S., the preponderance of medical opinion was strongly against government regulation of prostitution. Among its opponents were several distinguished physicians from Continental cities, who may certainly be presumed to be familiar with the practical workings of the regulation system, and who were earnest and outspoken in their condemnation of it. America would be unwise, indeed, now to undertake to adopt, as a questionable experiment, what the Old World is preparing thus to discard.

CHARCOAL IN INFANTILE DIARRHEA.. - M. Jules Guérin (Med. Press and Circular) recommends charcoal in the treatment of infantile diarrhoea. The affinity, he says, he sought to establish between the choleriform diarrhoea of children and adults, led him to apply to the children the same treatment he had used so successfully with adults. M. Guérin orders the charcoal (wood) to be put into the feeding bottle (half a teaspoonful suffices at the time), and, where the child takes the breast, in a little milk sweetened; a teaspoonful to be given frequently during the day. After the first day the evacuations change in consistence and odor; from green they become a blackish yellow. From this treatment M. Guérin has seen children who were wasted by seven or eight days' obstinate diarrhoea recover their usual healthy expression in three days.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AS A CALLING. It is strictly true that the medical profession is overcrowded, and cannot be regarded as an eligible "calling" for needy men, or indeed for men who are not practically independent of their work as a means of livelihood. The laborer is worthy of his hire, and it is in the last degree desirable