were prescribed, and worn by the patient with wonderful improvement. CASE II O. D. v. = 3. With + 1.75

Mrs. S, Auburn; blepharitis and asthenopia.

=

1o axis 60°, v. = 1.
4.

1o axis 110°, v. = .

O. S. v. . With+1.25 This combination of spherical and cylindrical glasses was ordered, and the patient relieved of further trouble.

Blepharitis

CASE III. Miss H. G. Vision always very poor. Eyes always troubled her and could never get glasses to fit. and asthenopia.

O. D. v. 4. With + 2.25° axis 90°, v. = &.

4

O. S. v. With+11.5° axis 90°, v..

= 18.

It will be observed that in this case vision was not brought to the normal, owing, probably, to some irregular astigmatism which could not be corrected. The patient was made happy, however, in the great improvement to sight and the improved condition of the lids.

CASE IV. Mrs. E, Lewiston. Lewiston. A bad case of blepharadenitis.

Refraction: O. D. v. = +. With + 1o v. = 4. O. S. v. -. With + 1o v.. = = 3/

This case had previously been treated with ointments, but to no avail.

CASE V. Eva L, aged twelve. Bleph. ciliaris. This case had been treated by local and constitutional means. The edges of the lids were relieved for a time, yet, as soon as she began to go to school and use the eyes, the whole trouble returned. Testing for ametropia revealed the following:

O. D. v. . With + 1.5 +5° axis 70°, v. = .

=

=

O. S. v. . With+1+.75° axis 110°, v. = . After using the glasses a few weeks the lids were all right. CASE VI. Master G, aged nine. Always had trouble with his eyes. Blepharitis ciliaris and asthenopia.

Refraction: O D. v. . With + 1° axis 90°, v..

O. S. v. With+1 axis 90°, v. =:

36.

It was impossible to make an entire correction on account of other conditions; nevertheless, the glasses were worn with great comfort and relief to asthenopia and blepharitis.

CASE VII. Miss L. Y, aged fifteen. Blepharitis with asthenopia and much headache from using the eyes. Refraction

revealed:

=

=

44

O. D. v. ——. With+.25 +75° axis 180, v. = +. O. D. v. . With+.25.75° axis 180, v. =+. These glasses were worn with wonderful relief to all the head troubles. It will be observed that astigmatism enters into the most of these cases, a slight degree of which even it is sometimes of the greatest importance to correct.

These are but a few of the cases which I might adduce wherein correction of the ametropia has cured the blepharitis. I have introduced them to show you a method of curing this trouble which you will often find indicated, and when indicated will find no substitute in therapeutics.

BOSTON HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.

OCTOBER MEETING.

THE first meeting subsequent to the summer vacation was held Oct. 9, at the usual place. Dr. F. B. Percy resigned the secretaryship of the society after a year of faithful service, and nominated in his place Dr. Horace Packard, who was elected. The quarterly election of president and vice-president resulted in the choice of Dr. F. B. Percy and Dr. J. P. Sutherland. Dr. David Thayer tendered a letter of resignation, which was accepted. Dr. C. H. Farnsworth presented a short paper setting forth the flattering results obtained by him from the use of Con. mac. in a case of scirrhus mammæ. When the case was first brought under his observation it presented all the characteristics of malignancy, but, under the long-continued use of the above-mentioned drug, the swelling and pain have entirely disappeared, and, at the present time, both mammæ are in an equally healthy condition.

Dr. Talbot has observed cases where the same remedy has seemed to remove pain and check the progress of the disease. A case was brought before the society which presented characteristics of epithelioma in the initiatory stage, but cicatrization had taken place, and ultimate recovery seemed assured. Hydrocotyl had been administered internally and a solution of Merc. cor. occasionally applied externally.

Other remarks in relation to the treatment of malignant diseases were made by Drs. Sherman and Cushing.

NOVEMBER MEETING.

The November meeting was fully attended, forty-one persons being present. The exercises of the evening were preceded by a social lunch.

Drs. W. H. White, M. F. McCrilles, Geo. R. Southwick, and A. M. Selee were elected to membership.

Dr. Talbot called attention to the effort being made to gain admission for homoeopathic practitioners into the United States army and navy, urged all members to use every personal effort possible, and closed by offering the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :

Whereas, The medical officers of the civil, military, and naval departments of the national government have, alike by their words and acts, refused to admit homœopathic treatment to those under their charge, and have persistently refused to admit to examination for appointment to medical offices under their control any physician who believes in or practises homoeopathy;

and

Whereas, This is a gross injustice and insult to those members of the profession who believe in homœopathy, to the general public, and especially to those persons in the employ of government who desire homœopathic treatment when sick; and

Whereas, A joint resolution has been introduced into Congress which is designed to remedy this injustice;

Therefore Resolved, That this society heartily approves the action already taken in this matter, and would call upon all the members of Congress to see that this resolution, which protects important rights of so many people, be speedily passed and enforced.

Resolved, That we call upon all believers in homœopathy, whether physicians or laymen, to use their influence with members of Congress to secure the speedy passage of the pending resolution.

Dr. Talbot also made an appeal for efforts on the part of members of the society towards raising funds for the hospital.

Sections were formed for the special study of materia medica and surgery, and Drs. J. P. Sutherland and Alonzo Boothby were chosen as chairmen of the respective departments. These sections are open to all who will signify intention and desire to work, and will meet monthly between the times of the regular meetings. Dr. Conrad Wesselhoeft addressed the society on the subject, Re-proving of Drugs." He regrets the errors which have crept into our symptomatolgies, and to expunge them urges the necessity of a thorough re-proving, not only on the human subject, but also, and prefatory to it, on the lower orders of animals, from the lowest up. He presented a series of aphorisms, which have been the outcome of twenty-five years of hard work and observation. Dr. Wesselhoeft's remarks commanded the closest attention of the society, and were enthusiastically applauded at the close.

Dr. Sutherland reported some drug tests made on animals during the past year, and gave assurance of the interesting and instructive results obtainable.

Dr. Talbot presented reports of two cases of tracheotomy recently performed, both successful. The second was of especial interest, in that the operation was necessitated in threatened asphyxia from the lodgment of a peanut in the larynx. The foreign body was subsequently expelled, and, though it had remained several days in the respiratory tract, it presented no signs of disintegration.

From lack of time much interesting matter prepared for presentation at this meeting was laid over for the next, which is to take place the second Thursday evening in December.

REVIEWS

AND

NOTICES

OF

BOOKS.

THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF SURGERY. By John Ashhurst, Jr., M. D. Third edition, enlarged and thoroughly re

vised. pp. 1064. Large 8vo. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Co.

1882.

About this time, as the almanacs say, a vast amount of surgical thought and knowledge seem to find expression on the printed page with us, or, more properly, in the English language. Scarcely had Helmuth issued a "new and enlarged" edition of his valuable work on surgery, when Gross appeared in two large volumes, and its rival, Erichson, in two still larger volumes, almost accompanied it. Not to be outdone, or rather to surpass the others, Agnew appears in two large volumes issued and a third to come. To cap this climax of greatness, the International Encyclopædia of Surgery is issued, in how many immense volumes, ere it is finished, who can tell? Now to say nothing of the smaller books, such as Gilchrist, Smith, Stimson, Ranney, etc., one would suppose that this vein had been nearly exhausted.

But here comes a bulky volume, of more than one thousand large pages, filled from beginning to end with what concerns the surgeon and still more his patients. Unlike the Encyclopædia, this work does not attempt an exhaustive treatise on the various, or, in fact, any of the subjects which it presents; but it aims to place before the reader, in a reasonably concise form, all the socalled surgical diseases and conditions, giving a diagnostic description together with the best method of treatment, or, if need be, of operation. It is astonishing how many obscure and worthless methods are mentioned, although the author does not waste much space on those which he evidently thinks valueless. But even this mention is important, for it enables the quick mind of the surgeon and he is not worth much if he has not a quick mind to recall, or to trace out, what has been previously done and, perhaps, forgotten.

The variety of subjects treated is, as we have said, enormous. Thus, for example, Chapter XXXIX., on Diseases of the Breast, in twelve pages, includes "Hypertrophy of the Breast,” “Supernumerary Nipples or Mamma," "Galactocele or Milk-Tumor," "Fissures and Excoriations of the Nipple and Areola," "Abscess of the Areola," "Condition of the Areola preceding Mammary Cancer," "Mastitis," "Chronic or Cold Abscess," Encysted Abscess," "Neuralgia of the Breast," "Cystic Tumors of the Breast" in their different varieties, "Glandular Tumors of the

Breast," "Painful Mammary Tumor," "Sarcomata of the Breast," "Cancer of the Breast," "Excision of the Mammary Gland," and "The Mammary Gland in the Male." Thus seventeen subjects, several of which are multiple, are given in relation to this one organ, which, in some works on surgery, seems to be considered of little value, save for incision or excision.

The style, as a whole, is clear, crisp, condensed, seldom skirting around on the borders" of any subject. Thus, where of Tracheotomy, in the first two lines, he says: "In this operation two or more of the tracheal rings are divided or an elliptical portion of their anterior face cut away," at one bound he is in medias res. But when in the next line he says, "under the influence of an anesthetic, the surgeon, standing at his left side, or, which I prefer, at his head," the question at once arises, where does the assistant stand who administers the ether, and how does the surgeon use the dilating forceps, so important to distend the wound and give a good view down the trachea? Again, the advice about tying the isthmus on either side before it is divided is theoretically very good for an author, but, in the hundreds of times this operation has been performed, how many times has it been done? In fact, any case which would seem to require it presents insuperable obstacles in the venous hemorrhage, while, if this is absent, there is no necessity of ligating the isthmus. Mr. Ashhurst tells us the chief danger from tracheotomy is from hemorrhage. We suppose by this he means the danger in the performance of the operation; yet we venture to say that not one in fifty of the many fatal cases of tracheotomy has resulted from this cause. To lessen this fatality, the after-treatment is of the greatest importance, yet, strange to say, the detail of this is wholly omitted.

The illustrations in the book are both numerous and excellent, the mechanical execution is suitable for a surgical book, and the work itself, despite any of its faults, we can heartily commend to the seventy thousand surgeons in the United States.

A TREATISE ON THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, OR THE PATHOLOGY AND THERAPEUTICS OF INTERNAL Diseases. By Alonzo B. Palmer, M. D., LL. D. 2 vols. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882.

Under this title we have offered to us another text-book teaching the nature and course of diseases, and what, to the author, appears as the best method of treating them. The perusal of a number of chapters in these two volumes soon convinces the reader that he has before him an honestly written book, which will furnish him with a very good account of the present knowledge of diseases. The student, as well as the practitioner, is