the ample corroboration supplied in his admirably conducted wards at Bellevue Hospital, where the good results of the practical application of his conclusions are apparent.

The value of this agent in surgical practice, has moreover been thoroughly demonstrated by Prof. Moses Gunn, of Rush Medical College, both in his surgical clinic, and in his wards at St. Joseph's Hospital, and has received his cordial approval. So well is the professor's predilection for getting his patients into actual hot water understood by the students, that they have learned to expect metaphorical hot water for themselves if they neglect it.

H.

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.]

ANNUAL ADDRESS before the Society of the Alumni of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. By Cornelius G. Comegys, MD., Lecturer on Clinical Medicine in the Cincinnati Hospital, Ohio, etc., etc.

The above address is worthy of notice inasmuch as it is above the average of similar productions, and moreover presents some noteworthy propositions. Commencing with an eloquent tribute to the old Professors of the Faculty of Medicine of the University, both living and dead, the author proceeds to the consideration of "the position and responsibility of medical men." Under this head, he urges upon medical men the necessity of devoting more time and attention to the subject of "State Medicine," i. e., public hygiene, and to a more active "participation in legislation," with the end to direct and control it in this relation. Not only does

he advocate the exercise of the influence of the profession in the political arena, to the end that their knowledge might be utilized for the protection of public health, but likewise for the more judicious selection of men for positions of public trust and responsibility, who should be, by reason of more perfect mental and moral organization, better fitted for the discharge of important trusts, requiring both intelligence and integrity for their satisfactory fulfillment.

The author's opinions of the relations of mind and matter, are embodied in the expression-"This supreme mental force-will-is no transcendental entity to be considered apart from physical existence, but may be said, in its fullness, to be the correlative of the totality of the organic power of the brain." Hence, he urges the necessity for the exercise of educated judgment in the selection of leaders. His defense of the profession against the charges of superficiality and uncertainty of knowledge is able and just, and his advocacy of the claims of medicine upon private and public benevolence, well founded and forcible. He asserts truthfully, that "the resources of medical education have been derived from the profession itself." "Millions of dollars have been given to other colleges, but no one has constructed a medical edifice, or so endowed a medical school that its teachers should not be dependent on students' fees. Nevertheless, under all the embarrassing circumstances, our faculties have provided buildings, accumulated museums, libraries, and apparatus, at a vast expense, and have moreover assumed the gratuitous care of all the sick poor of hospitals and dispensaries. It is an unparalleled spectacle, and nowhere seen in the world but in the United States of America." The author presents his views upon the momentous question of medical education, which are worthy of study. Indeed, the whole address is evidently the production of a profound student, a liberal thinker, and an accomplished physician.

H.

CERTAIN NERVOUS AFFECTIONS OF THE THROAT. By Clinton Wagner, M.D., Physician to the Metropolitan Throat Hospital; late Clinical Assistant, Hospital for Diseases of the Throat. London, etc., etc.

An interesting abstract, read before the New York Neurological Society, of some of the work of the Metropolitan Throat Hospital, organized Jan. 3, 1874, under the special charge of Drs. Clinton Wagner and J. Morris Asch, both late of the U. S. Army, with an efficient staff of consulting surgeons and clinical assistants.

This institution is the first systematized effort to specialize the study of laryngoly, in the United States, and thus far, as exhibited in the pamphlet before us, has been eminently successful.

H.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE MEDICAL AND SURGICAL USES OF ELECTRICITY, including Localized and General Faradization; Localized and Central Galvanization; Electrolysis and Galvano-Cautery. By Geo. M. Beard, A. M., M.D., Member of the New York Society of Neurology and Electrology, etc., and A. D. Rockwell, A.M., M.D., Member of the New York Society of Neurology and Electrology, etc., etc.

The work of Drs. Beard and Rockwell became so widely and favorably known in its first edition, that but little is left to be said of this, the second, further than that it bears the impress of careful revision of the former, and presents moreover some valuable additional matter, especially in the department of electro-physics, and in that of electro-physiology and clinical electro-medicine likewise.

The authors' remarks on the necessity resting upon every one pretending to the use of electro-therapeusis to become first an electrologist, are worthy of careful attention. It is certain that had the therapeutic application of this force been restricted to "masters of electricity in its physical and physiological" relations, the range of its applicability would have been much more clearly defined, and its results more satisfactory.

The work is one of the most complete summaries of the whole science of electrology extant, and should be carefully studied by every one desiring to become expert therein.

The mechanical and typographical excellence of the book is assured by the imprimatur of William Wood & Co., New York. 1875.

H.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON ECZEMA, including its Lichenous and Impetiginous Forms. By Dr. McCall Anderson, Professor of Clinical Medicine in the University of Glasgow; Physician to the Royal Infirmary, to the Dispensary for Skin Diseases, and to the Cutaneous Wards of the Western Infirmary, etc., Glasgow. Third Edition, with Illustrations. Philadelphia Lindsay & Blakiston. 1875.

One of the most satisfactory books which has issued from the press during the current year, which no one, we think, can read without deriving both pleasure and profit therefrom. And no one, who has had even a few cases of the troublesome and obstinate malady in his care, will feel that the time spent in the study of this work has been lost.

The author's definition of eczema is clear and concise, and his description graphic. The etiology, pathology and therapeusis of the disease as it has occurred under his observation, are elaborated with much care and with a detail which, while circumstantial is never tedious. He has, moreover, collated his own observations, for making which, his opportunities have been singularly ample, with those of contemporary writers, thus presenting a copious array of corroborative testimony. His remarks upon the neurotic origin of eczema might have been elaborated a little more fully with advantage, for while he refers to it as a "transferred neurosis, with illustrated cases, he nowhere indicates its existence -which is of frequent occurrence-as a reflex neurosis from remote peripheral irritation.

The mechanical execution, including paper, presswork and type, is really beautiful-the arrangement of mar

ginal titles greatly facilitating study. We should be glad to recognize in this the beginning of another permanent improvement in the art of medical book making, which has in the hands of our more prominent publishers already made such rapid advances.

H.

ORTHOPÆDIA, OR A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE ABERRATIONS OF THE HUMAN FORM. By James Knight, M.D., Member of the Medico-Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, the District Medical Society of Ohio, and the County Medical Society of New York; Physician and Surgeon in Charge of the Hospital of the New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled, etc., etc. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1874.

The practical results of thirty years of private and ten of hospital practice, in the special department of orthopædic surgery. The author has undoubtedly enjoyed immense advantages in accomplishing himself in his specialty, and appears to have utilized them fully, not only by observation, but by study of the literature of his subject, which he seems to have mastered from the earliest to its most recent contributions.

The book comprehends a very wide range of topics within the specialty, all of which are carefully considered. Some of the more remarkable cases detailed are illustrated by wood cuts, as are likewise the various forms of apparatus recommended. The work is thoroughly practical, and cannot fail to prove very useful.

H.

ON THE TREATMENT OF PLEURISY: With an Appendix of Cases, showing the value of Croton Oil, Ether, and Iodine, as Counter-irritants in other Diseases. By John W. Corson, M.D., Late Physician to the Class of "Diseases of the Chest and Throat," in the New York and Eastern Dispensaries, etc., etc. New York: Wm. Wood & Co. 1874.

A pleasantly written narrative of the advantages to be derived from the use of mild measures generally, and especially of external remedies in the treatment of chest affections, as practically demonstrated in the large field of observation afforded in the New York Dispensary.