‘An Essay on the Pathology of the Œsophagus.’ By John F. Knott. Dublin: Fannin & Co.

‘The Operative Treatment of Intra-Thoracic Effusion.’ By Norman Porritt, L. R. C. P., Lond., M. R. C. S., Eng. London: J. & A. Churchill.

‘On the Pathology of Bronchitis, Catarrhal Pneumonia, Tubercle, and Allied Lesions of the Human Lung.’ By D. J. Hamilton. London: Macmillan & Co.

We can well imagine the interest with which some practitioner in a comparatively isolated locality—in the sense of being far from some one of the great Atlantic cities where all new medical and surgical works are kept in stock—reads over the titles of forthcoming works in the particular department in which he is most concerned, and the eagerness with which he anticipates their arrival after he has gone so far as to order them. It may be, in this catarrhal land of ours, that it is throat and chest diseases he is studying, and that the above works excited his interest and drew from his pocket his hard earned dollars. If so, who can doubt that emotions of pleasure warmed his heart as he contemplated the instruction to be gained and the information to be acquired from their perusal? For who would dare write on the pathology of the oesophagus, if he had nothing to say? or descant on the operative treatment of intra-thoracic effusion, if he was not qualified by learning and experience to speak on the subject? But, lest the doubter be abroad in the land, look further to the vouchers of the title page or the preface. The first work on our list is “the Essay to which was awarded the Gold Medal of the Pathological Society at the close of the Session, 1876-77.” The second, “the Essay to which the Medical Society of London awarded the Fothergillian Gold Medal, 1883.” Can anything be more satisfactory? It is true that our last work boasts no such authoritative endorsement, but then as the author is a professor of pathological anatomy at Aberdeen, its other imperfections—from this standpoint—we can imagine passed by, and the book, not without misgivings, may be ultimately ordered with the rest.

What is the consequence? Two of the books will prove extremely unsatisfactory, and but one will be found to fulfill in any way the anticipations of the purchaser. The work on the oesophagus is the production of an undergraduate—a creditable performance for a student, but by no means the work any practitioner, not a friend of the writer, would care to purchase. Mr. Porritt’s treatise is good to that degree that one feels aggrieved that his friends permitted him to publish anything until he had produced something first-class—for he is evidently a young man of ability. Practical surgeons who have arrived at years of maturity, not infrequently have occasion to notice that young men of brilliant parts who enter upon the practice of that art, seem to think they are unjustly kept in the background because no notice is taken of their efforts to gain position in their profession by the arts of the rhetorician or the tricks of the essayist. Nevertheless, no man can become a surgeon, save by surgical works, or be entitled to speak as one except he be a man of learning or experience—or both.

After so much that is unpleasant, it is a pleasure to turn to a work of a radically different kind. In ‘Hamilton’s Bronchitis,’ the reader will find a treatise that is a mine of pathological lore; a work every page of which is suggestive and instructive. It possesses the rare quality of being interesting to an unusual degree, and its perusal will be a substantial pleasure to all its readers.

‘The Physician Himself.’ By D. W. Cathell, M. D. Fifth edition. Baltimore: Cushings & Bailey.

It is rather humiliating to the physician who is interested in equipping his brain to successfully combat disease to find himself distanced by the individual who rides into a paying practice in a fine carriage. But we must take the world as we find it, and so long as people are judged by what they seem and not by what they are, such books as the ‘Physician Himself’ will be demanded. What shall we eat, and where shall we sleep, and how shall we be clothed withal, are, like the poor, always with the doctor.

Dr. Cathell has succeeded quite well in showing the importance of business tact and sagacity in promoting the welfare of the physician. He gives rules as to the best methods to pursue toward patients both in the office and out, so as to line the doctor’s pocket-book. He tells him how to dress, how to walk, how to sleep and how to eat, what kind of signs to display, gives hints as to the selection of an office, together with suitable furniture, etc., etc.

‘Post-Mortem Examination.’ By Professor Rudolph Virchow. Translated by T. P. Smith, M. D., from the fourth German edition. Philadelphia: P. Blackson, Son & Co.

In this admirable little work, Prof. Virchow gives a brief account of his early experience as Prosector in the dead-house of the Berlin Charity Hospital, and traces under his auspices the development of a systematic method of conducting post-mortem examinations. He also criticises, explains and illustrates the regulations which have been promulgated throughout Germany for the guidance of medical jurists in performing autopsies and drawing up reports.

He also gives three interesting cases in which the post-mortem examinations were performed by himself, the order of sequence enjoined by the regulations being closely adhered to. They may be taken as examples of the way in which all post-mortem examinations for medico-legal purposes should be conducted. It is much to be wished that a method similar to the one which has received the high sanction of Prof. Virchow were adopted in this country. One hundred and thirty-eight pages, neatly bound in cloth, with a number of plates. Price $1.50.

The Seventh Annual Report (1885) of the Ohio State Pharmaceutical Association contains, besides the constitution and by-laws and history of the organization, a number of interesting articles. One of them, by S. J. Nicolay, M. D., of Hamilton, Ohio, is in reply to Query No. 1—“Do the Various Fluid Extracts of Hydrastis Canadensis, Made Without Alcohol, Contain all of the Active Principles of the Drug?” The writer says that, properly, this extract “should not contain alcohol, since the alcoholic extractive essentially contains resin, which, being an irritant to inflamed mucous surfaces, is a detriment in a large majority of cases to which it is otherwise applicable.” As to whether the various fluid extracts of this drug, made without alcohol, contain all the active principles of the crude article, he concludes, after an examination of six specimens from different manufacturers, that “each specimen was found to contain portions of the two known alkaloids—berberine and hydrastine—in their varying proportions.” “As to whether these samples contained the alkaloids in as large quantities as the respective samples of the crude drug from which they were made, was not determined, but probably they did.” If this is true, the fluid extract, without alcohol, will be as effective as that made with alcohol, beside being quite miscible with water for topical application, injections, etc., without becoming turbid and depositing resin.

Query 24—“What is the Most Effective and Pleasant Disinfectant?”—is answered by L. Sollman of Canton in an essay in which he treats: 1. “As to what is that something which disinfectants are intended to counteract.” 2. “What articles are disinfectants, and what is the way in which they effect disinfection.” 3. “Which of them is practically useful, and which is the most practical way of using them under various conditions.”

A copy of the report can be had by forwarding fifty cents to the secretary, Lewis C. Hopp, Cleveland, O.