these libraries have card catalogues such as those I have described.

Supposing now that you have not access to any large public library; what will you do? First, you will want to buy the best books for your own library. Even if you are not interested in any special department, but are general practitioners, as I presume most of you will be, there are books in many special departments which you will always want to buy for your library in addition to such as treat of medicine, surgery, gynæcology, etc., in general. Some of you who can afford it will do this readily, others less quickly. Every one of you will, I hope, found somewhat of a library. The man who has ten books is only one-half as good as he who has twenty, and has read them.

Next, with regard to medical journals. If you read Bancroft's history of the United States, and after that McMaster's, you would have some knowledge of the history of the country, but you observe that your history would date back to when the book was written. So in text-books. The author cannot issue a new edition every year. They must come out at certain intervals of two to five years or more. Meantime, what are you going to do? There is constant progress going on, and you must keep up with it. You keep up with civic affairs by reading the newspapers, and the newspaper is to history what the medical journal is to medical books. I have brought quite a number of journals in order to say a word to you in reference to them. First, take your local journal. Never mind where you are, always take the journal in your own neighborhood. Very likely this will be a small journal, and will not give you all the information you need, so you must take some others. Let me point out to you a few of the various journals which I take. Of course, I speak only of surgery, and no other department. We will take the American journals first. Here is the "Annals of Surgery," of which two volumes are issued annually. In this you get original papers and a very admirable review of the surgical

work of the world. I get as much out of this as any other surgical journal I see. I have here the oldest medical journal in the world, the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences,' published monthly in this city. This is volume cxii, which terminated on December 31. Like the "Annals of Surgery," this consists of original papers, reviews of books, and finally a résumé of the more important recent medical papers. Here is another journal published in New York, the "Medical News," of which I have here a single weekly number and a bound volume. In this there are original papers, proceedings of medical societies, selections from other journals, etc. This is a copy of the "New York Medical Record," a weekly, and this is one of the bound volumes for six months of the year. This is the "New York Medical Journal." These are two excellent journals, both of the same type as the "Medical News." A number of other excellent American journals, such as the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," the "International Medical Magazine," the "Journal of the American Medical Association," the "Medical and Surgical Reporter,' etc., I see regularly in a small "journal club." Here are two English periodicals. This is the old one that so many of you are familiar with,-at least by its name, now a happy misnomer, the "Lancet." This is the "British Medical Journal," and these two are the best journals published in Great Britian, not only for surgery, but for medicine, obstetrics, gynæcology, the ear, the eye, and, in fact, every department of medicine. They are universal journals in that respect.

I will now show you some of the Continental journals, and this leads me to urge you all, if possible, by all means to learn at least one other language than your mother-tongue. When you have acquired another language you have doubled yourself. If you have an opportunity of studying only one, study German. This is the hardest language, perhaps, but it is certainly by far the most desirable at the present time for papers and books on the practice of medicine and surgery.

Add French to German if at all possible, for there is much that is valuable in that language. Let me show you a few of the foreign journals which I take myself. Here are single numbers of the "Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie" and the "Beiträge zur klinischen Chirurgie," and here are bound volumes of each. This is another one, founded by the great Langenbeck, the "Archiv für klinischen Chirurgie," and here is one of the volumes. This is a smaller weekly journal, the "Centralblatt für Chirurgie," which has often one important paper at the beginning, while all the rest consists of free abstracts of the important surgical papers of the world. If you take only one German journal, this is the one I would advise you to take. It makes one large volume for each year. In the "Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift," the "Berliner klinische Wochenschrift," the "Wiener medicinische Wochenschrift," and the "Wiener Klinik" you will find many important contributions to medicine, surgery, obstetrics, etc.

In French literature you will find less of importance, although there is a good deal. I take these two journals, the "Revue de Chirurgie" and the "Archives provinciales de Chirurgie."

When you first enter in practice you most probably will not be able to subscribe to so many journals, but you can read a number of them at small expense by forming a "Journal Club" of from half a dozen to a dozen neighboring doctors who will pay, say five or six dollars a year each. With this money you subscribe to as many journals as your money will buy and pass them from week to week around the club. The journals are sold to the highest bidder, to whom they are delivered after having been seen by all the club, and this will add to the receipts of the club.

Not only are these and many other journals of value, but you will find "year-books" in which are gathered all the more important papers of each year. I think the best one in this country is the "American Year-book of Medicine and Sur

gery." It is a large book, with a good many illustrations. This is the volume for last year. It consists of articles, criticisms, and suggestions. One who reads this carefully will keep well up in all departments of medicine. Every year there is published by Dr. Sajous of this city the "Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences." It consists of five volumes each year, and I have brought one volume as a specimen. "International Clinics" consists of four volumes a year of valuable clinical lectures in many departments, from which you will gain much.

I have spoken to you of books, of journals, and of yearbooks, but you cannot be expected to remember all of the articles you read. How are you going to make them useful? Just in the same way you make your cases useful. Have a second card catalogue for all such articles and books. I have brought one drawer of my own card catalogue along to show you how it is done. I saw, for example, the other day in the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," by Higgins, a case of Kraske's operation for imperforate rectum. In the “Medical News" I soon came across a second by Elliot, and the case I myself operated on the other day is the third case. Immediately that I read the first two I catalogued them under "Rectum, imperforate, Kraske's operation for," giving the author, the journal, the volume, year, and page. I also catalogued them under "Kraske's operation for imperforate rectum." When, then, I had such a case myself, in a moment I could refer to all the prior cases I had seen recorded, and thus learn the advantages, the disasters, and the results of prior cases, and embody them in any paper I may wish to write, and in my daily work can avail myself of the experience, both favorable and unfavorable, of my predecessors, and if possible improve upon their methods. Sometimes I do not have time to read the articles at the moment, but I catalogue them. If I have occasion thereafter to refer to the topic, I can find the paper and can immediately get access to it and read

it. In this catalogue I follow the same plan that I do with my cases. If during a reported operation on the neck the internal jugular was divided, I would catalogue that under "Vein, jugular," and also under "Neck, glands of." In that way I not only catalogue the important papers, but also the details. Murphy's button is a new appliance. When I treat a case of gastro-enterostomy or ileo-colostomy or intestinal anastomosis in which Murphy's button has been used, I would catalogue that under the disease and also under "Murphy's button." If successful, it is so recorded. If an accident happens and the button is retained, or sloughing follows, I refer to it in my catalogue. If I read John Hunter's "Life" and find a statement I want to refer to, I catalogue it with volume and page under one, two, or three headings. In this catalogue of papers, and also in my cases, I make crossreferences, as, for example, cancer of the rectum is so closely allied to cancer of the sigmoid that I would refer under "Rectum, cancer of," to "Sigmoid, cancer of," and vice versa. In this way I can find all cases that are allied.

I should refer also to certain encyclopædias, as, for example, Ashhurst's "International Encyclopædia of Surgery," in six volumes; Buck's "Reference Hand-book of the Medical Sciences," in eight large volumes, and other similar works, of each of which I show you one volume. Specialties also have their encyclopædias, such as those on the eye, the ear, children's diseases, etc. You can always consult these with profit. In addition to these there are the "Transactions" of many societies, as, for example, of the American Surgical Association and the American Orthopaedic Association, and so on with many other associations. You should make all of these available by cataloguing their valuable papers in the way I have mentioned. For instance, "Artery, popliteal, perforation of, by a splinter of bone in fracture," is catalogued under "Artery, popliteal, perforation of," etc., and also under "Fracture of femur, perforation of popliteal by a splinter of bone,"