one important factor, viz., the shrewd-witted lawyer, to be found in every country town, who would infallibly see that not one syllable of the carefully worded statements in my paper supported any unqualified microscopist's claim to distinguish human from dog's or monkey's blood. Hence, trusting to this powerful element for the protection of the two or three innocent persons who might otherwise be endangered, I felt (honestly if mistakenly), whilst writing both my first paper and its continuation, that, should I more than indicate the animals which render our conclusions doubtful, my work might be utterly condemned as prejudicial to the interests of society, and myself perhaps compared (should I emphasize and reiterate the fact that science alone could not detect the falsehood of a criminal's story if he cunningly asserted that suspicious stains were made by the blood of a dog) to a toxicologist publishing a treatise, setting forth most faithfully the method by which poisoners may best destroy their victims with the least danger of detection in their crimes.* Be it remembered also, that in all cases a really innocent person, wrongly accused of murder, on the ground of blood stains upon his clothing, etc., actually produced from that "constant" (yet rarely slaughtered) companion of man," the dog, or from a seal, or otter, needs no microscopist to prompt him into telling (and trying to confirm), when first arrested, the true origin of the suspicious blood spots.

These various considerations led me to publish my results in a guarded manner, but, now that all responsibility for harm has been removed, I am glad for the sake of the few who might draw erroneous inferences from my former papers, to say most emphatically, that I believe we cannot at present distinguish positively, in dried stains, between the blood corpuscles of man, and those of any mammal in which the disks measure on an average over 0% of an inch. Hence, therefore, until further discoveries are made, a microscopist's best efforts at revealing crime can only serve the cause of right and justice in those cases where the criminal's attorneys, in spite of being forewarned and consequently forearmed, fail to

*The gendarmerie of Valenciennes have just arrested a Dutchman whose profession is, to say the least of it, extraordinary. He is a dealer in all sorts of instruments employed by burglars and thieves. When arrested he had in his possession a large stock of pamphlets giving the fullest directions as to the best plan for waylaying people on the high roads, and also how to kill them without any noise in case of resistance.

prepare or suborn testimony skillfully enough to convince the jury that some dog, rabbit, elephant, monkey, etc., has been killed, in such a way as to produce blood stains which are likely to be confounded with those of the murdered victim. That I was induced to avoid specifically stating this failure of our science by no unfounded apprehension of evil results, is proved by the fact that after my evidence was delivered in the Larribee trial at Franklin, Pa., the prisoner's counsel, a "shrewd-witted lawyer," in order to account for spots on the defendant's boots, brought two women into court who testified that the boots were sprinkled as they stood in a corner of the kitchen, by a puppy which jumped away from them just as they got one ear cut, and ran round the room shaking its bleeding head. Further to substantiate this tale, a dog with one ear clipped was shown to the jury, and sworn to as the very one from which the blood was shed. Fortunately, however, it so happened that I had examined two spots on the prisoner's pantaloons, finding them to be human blood, in contradistinction to pheasant's blood, as he first explained them to be, and since the contrivers of this dog story apparently forgot that the pantaloons were not standing up in the boots, to be sprinkled with them, their ingenious theory failed to gain credence with the jurors, who brought in a verdict of guilty. I venture, however, to predict that from this explanatory note, and the essay which made it necessary, will spring a host of bloody dog tales to account for suspicious stains on the clothing, etc., of murderers, until even attorneys for the defense become themselves ashamed to put forward this thin, worn-out plea.

In regard to the supposed greater accuracy of Carl Schmidt's observation, that dried and remoistened blood corpuscles shrink nearly one-half, I desire to add that I think it is chiefly accurate concerning specimens of crenated corpuscles, such as form when considerable quantities of blood undergo desiccation, and will be pleased at any time to demonstrate the general correctness of my measurements of the disks in the thin films of true blood stains (as emphatically distinguished from masses of dried blood).-Am. Jour. Med. Sci., April, 1875.

Editors' Book Table.

[NOTE. All works reviewed in the pages of the CHICAGO MEDICAL JOURNAL may be found in the extensive stock of W. B. KEEN, COOKE & Co., whose catalogue of Medical Books will be sent to any address upon request.]

DENTAL PATHOLOGY AND SURgery. By S. James A. Salter, M.B., F.R.S., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Examiner in Dental Surgery at the College, Dental Surgeon to Guy's Hospital. New York: William Wood & Co., Publishers.

1875.

The author of this work will be recognized by surgeons as likewise author of the article on "Surgical Diseases of the Teeth," in Holmes' System of Surgery. Having had the advantage of a previous medical education, and some years subsequent practice as surgeon, he comes to his task as an instructor in the department of dental surgery better prepared than the majority of his predecessors who have enriched the literature of this specialty. The chapters upon the anatomy-normal and morbid-of the teeth are unusually full and explicit. Not only the special forms of these organs, and the deformities and irregularities to which they are liable, are elaborated carefully, but their general anatomy, together with that of their accessory structures, are carefully considered.

The subject of the pathology of the teeth is treated comprehensively and in full detail, and in the chapters devoted to the special subject of the nervous relations of the dental apparatus, a wide, and hitherto almost unex plored, field of investigation is opened up to the student. The portion of the work devoted to the subject of the mechanical appliances for the treatment of deformities, displays sound judgment and thorough appreciation of the necessities of each case. We know no better book upon the subject than this volume, and doubt if one so good is within the reach of the American student.

H.

ESSENTIALS OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. A Handbook for Students and Practitioners. By Henry Hartshorne, A.M., M.D., Professor of Hygiene in the University of Pennsylvania, etc., etc. Fourth Edition. Thoroughly Revised, with One Hundred Illustrations. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea. 1874.

That three editions of a work should have been already exhausted, and the issue of a fourth demanded in a comparatively short time, is a criticism sufficiently favorable to satisfy the self-love of any author. Nor will we attempt to detract from its force by any unfavorable comments upon one of the best books of its kind extant. Upon general principles, we cannot accord a hearty approval to compendiums as a class, believing that, while they will subserve for some their legitimate purpose, for the majority they will be made pretexts for sciolism. The work is divided into two parts, the first containing four sections, the first of which comprises an excellent summary of general pathology as presented in the morbid states of the system at large and of special organs, concluding with a brief statement of the different modes of death. The second section, upon semeiology, includes symptomatology, physical diagnosis, with descriptions of the operative procedures and apparatus for laryngoscopy, diagnosis of diseases of women, ophthalmoscopy, sphygmography, thermometry, and pneumatic aspiration, with directions for conducting post-mortem examinations and medico-legal investigations in cases of suspected poisoning. In regard to the mode of conducting post-mortem examinations of the spinal cord, we will venture to suggest an improvement upon the "chisel and mallet or saw," for facilitating section of the vertebral arches-a pair of strong cutting pliers, the blades bent at an obtuse angle to the handle. In section third, upon "general therapeutics," we are sorry to see the author holding on with such tenacity to the use of "blood-letting in the treatment of violent inflammations and congestions." This seems like turning the wheels of progress backwards. Part second, upon "special path

ology and practice," constitutes nearly three-fourths of the bulk of the volume, to which we must object, as being entirely too extensive to be sufficiently comprehensive.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

H.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE ILLINOIS STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY-Held in the City of Chicago, May 19, 20, 21, 1874.

PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.

ON CERTAIN MORBID ALTERATIONS OF MUCOUS MEMBRANE: Their Influence on Speech and Their Apparent Relations with Diseased Nerve Structure. By Beverly Robinson, M.D., Surgeon to the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, Department of the Throat. Formerly Resident Physician to the Paris Hospitals, etc., etc. Reprinted from the New York Medical Journal, March, 1875. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1875.

THE NASAL DOUCHE: What it Accomplishes, and What it Does Not. By Beverly Robinson, M.D.

THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees, Superintendent and Treasurer of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane, Jacksonville. 1874.

VALEDICTORY ADDRESS to the Medical Graduates of the University of Louisville, March 1, 1875. By D. W. Yandell,

Professor of the Science and Art of Surgery and Clinical
Surgery.

FIFTH REPORT of the New York Ophthalmic and Aural Instistute, for the Twenty Months beginning May 1, 1873, and ending December 31, 1875.

CLINICAL STUDIES, with Large Emetic Doses of Ipecacuanha. Reprinted from the Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal. ON THE HOMEOPATHICITY OF ELECTRICITY: Where Indicated, and where Electricity may be Potentized. By R. N. Tooker, A.M., M.D., Chicago. 1875.

A CASE OF REFLEX NEURALGIA, Associated with Urethral Contractions, and a Rare Form of Urinary Sinus, with a Description of the Cold Water Coil. By Fessenden N. Otis, Clinical Professor of Genito-Urinary Diseases, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. Reprinted from the New York Medical Journal, Feb., 1875.

CHOLERA AND PLANETARY EPIDEMICS. By Richard Mansell, Rock Island, Ill. 1875.