Cardiac hypertrophy, though a conservative process, is apt to be followed by a train of unfortunate consequences. At first no ill effects are noticed. The augmented force of each pulsation produces extreme distension of the elastic arteries, and this is followed by increased recoil, which, by forcing a larger amount of blood through the coronary arteries, supplies the ventricular walls with the increased nourishment demanded. Eventually, however, strain upon the arteries induces atheroma of their walls; they become rigid, and thus offer a new impediment to the flow of blood, while at the same time they are so weakened that the laboring heart is liable to cause rupture of their fragile coats. Rupture is most likely to occur in the thin walled arteries within the encephalon, therefore, in this condition, we have great liability to apoplexy. Diminished elasticity of the arteries lessens their recoil, in consequence of which the coronary blood-vessels are imperfectly filled, and the heart walls suffer for want of nutriment. As resultshypertrophy, the necessity for which is constantly increasing, ceases; atrophy follows, and soon dilatation; and with dilatation come all the baneful effects of venous congestion, and imperfect oxygenation of the blood.

In this chapter also are shown the effects of renal disease on other organs, as the brain, air passages, alimentary canal and skin.

The author has shown, the manner in which disease of the heart may cause Bright's disease; and how these diseases act and react upon each other, under the constant effort of nature to maintain an equilibrium between the various organs of the body.

On a fly-leaf half a dozen mistakes are pointed out, but we cannot understand why these are mentioned while the multitude remain unnoticed. It has never been our fortune to read a book so filled with grammatical faults and typographical errors. Involved and obscure sentences are constantly occurring, to the great annoyance of the reader. In some of these the author is made

to say the reverse of what he evidently intended, and in others the thought is so hidden by the extraordinary punctuation and construction that it would be difficult for any one, unfamiliar with the subject, to find it. Plural are used for singular verbs, and vice versa. The tenses are carelessly employed, and pronouns are separated so far from their antecedents that the relation can hardly be traced. We quote as illustrations : "The muscles of the body largely cross the arteries, and, when in action, constricts them and impede the flow of blood through them." "It is often best given after food, and

is then digested with the food, in the shape of drops, pill, or powder." The obscurity of many paragraphs is well illustrated by the last sentence in the book, which, from its length and construction, much resembles the style of "Mrs. Flinching," in Dickens' Little Dorrit.

Many of these errors must be chargeable to the printer and proof reader. Doubtless others result from the author's desire to avoid verbosity; if so, we can almost excuse him, for the work is condensed, and yet complete.

As a whole, this is a valuable book, with substantial merits and non-essential faults; yet we are much surprised at its errors, for we had supposed that such shortcomings were confined to American authors and publishers. Especially in England, where they do not deign to recognize diplomas from our medical schools, we expected to find little less than perfection in medical publications. When such an imperfect book is written by a gentleman with M.D., M. R.C.P., attached to his name, we are led to ask, in what does the superiority of a foreign education consist?

E. F. I.

VISION: ITS OPTICAL DEFECTS AND THE ADAPTATION of SpecTACLES. With 74 Illustrations on Wood. By C. S. Fenner, M.D. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston.

The literature of Medicine possesses in "Helmholtz's Physiological Optics" and "Donder's Anomalies of Refraction and Accommodation," two works which treat

of vision and its optical defects in a way that can hardly be surpassed. Both books, however, containing so much that is unpalatable for a reader not familiar with the higher mathematics, have not found so large a circulation in the profession as they deserve for their ingenious composition and their interesting contents. For this reason the author has endeavored "to give, in a concise and popular, yet comprehensive form, a resumé of our present knowledge of physiological optics and the defects of the eye as an optical instrument."

The book is divided into three parts and an appendix. The first part-Physical Optics (pages 17 to 68) is a short abstract of the properties of light and its physical laws; it is evidently intended to give the reader such preliminary information as he needs in order to understand the other parts of the book. The author would have done better had he omitted such subjects as Fluorescence, Phosphorescence, Spectral Analysis-interesting though they may be and by enlarging upon those laws which have a direct bearing on the optical properties of the eye.

The second part (pages 68 to 168) is devoted to the discussion of "Dioptrics," "Visual Sensations" and "Visual Perceptions." The composition of this portion of the book has materially suffered through the inability of the author himself to write and revise the manuscript on account of a serious affection which befell his eyes. Too brief in some important points (dioptrics, ophthalmoscope), too lengthy in some immaterial questions (shape of spectacles), it is not arranged in that systematic order most intelligible to the learner. Confusion creates confusion.

The third part (pages 168 to 284) treats in a plain and comprehensive way of the "Errors of Refraction," (Hypermetropia, Myopia, Astigmatism) and the "Defects of Accommodation," (Presbyopia, Aphakia). But we are greatly surprised at the author's absolute silence in regard to paralysis and spasms of the accommodation,

the action of atropia and calabar. He dismisses hurriedly the determination of hypermetropia and its degree, by means of the ophthalmoscope. Does he not deem it necessary to control the result obtained by the test-glasses, by an ophthalmoscopic examination, in order to guard himself against mistakes? Has he not met with persons who by the test-glasses are apparently myopic but by the ophthalmoscope are actually hyperopic? He does not allude to these phenomena at all.

The "Appendix" gives some plain instructions for the adaptation of spectacles to persons so situated that they cannot well obtain competent professional advice. We do not think much of this popular advice; it will do neither harm nor good. And in spite of it the traveling optician will always find a good market for his "pebbles"!

The wood cuts are well executed, and print and paper are good. In fine, this book, like the majority of these "concise and popular" treatises, cannot satisfy the reader. Incomplete as they are, they can but stimulate the desire of the student for more knowledge of this rich and interesting field. But if it awaken this interest it accomplishes a great deal and fulfills its task.

LECTURES ON DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. By Jerome K. Baudery, M.D., etc. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

This book claims nothing original "as to its facts or as to its theories." It professes to be a course of lectures recently delivered by Prof. Baudery before the students in the Missouri Medical College, or rather, it is made up from the notes of such lectures taken down "by V. Biart, M.D., his former pupil." Strictly speaking, it should have been entitled "Prof. Baudery's Scrap-book," in which "the views of Maudsley, Van der Kolk, Blandford and Gray, of Utica, will be frequently recognized" along with "the classic representations and literary photographs of disease by the im

mortal Trousseau, the forcible diagnostic elucidations of Da Costa, and the beautiful and interesting theories of the late Dr. Bentley Todd." The preface contains the names of not less than thirty-five different authors to whose works he is indebted for the major part of his own. This recognition of authority is honorable, and would be highly praiseworthy had there been more cause for it. But the list, unfortunately, contains not . one of the names of the mos celebrated French and German teachers who have recently written upon the subject of nervous diseases. To attempt the compilation of a treatise concerning any scientific subject without an acquaintance with the most recent works of French and German specialists in the original, is an unpardonable sin. The bookmaker who forages only among English books and English translations is likely to find himself ten years behind the times. This, we fear, is true of too much that is palmed off upon the unsuspicious medical student. It certainly is true in the present instance. Since, then, we are dealing with a compilation of this sort, rather than with an original work, it would be hardly fair to single out for objection any particular passages which may admit of question. As the lawyer said, when the judge overruled all his special objections, "we object to the whole proceeding."

Such books are not needed by practitioners of medicine their necessities demand a wider range of reference. They are worse than useless to medical students, because they tend to beget a cursory, slip-shod method of study, and, moreover, do actually serve as a barrier between the mass of students and the really good books which they ought to find in their hands. When the average graduate has purchased a volume like this, perhaps the production of a favorite professor, it will be a long time before he buys another-even though ten-fold more valuable and recent than the one in which he has invested his funds.

This book will secure for its author a certain kind of VOL. XXXII. - No. 12.

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