This is certainly the most remarkable human malformation ever born, and will no doubt attract the attention of the medical fraternity throughout the world.

Very Respectfully,

J. R. MORGAN, M. D.

BOOK REVIEWS.

SYNOPSIS OF HUMAN ANATOMY, being a complete compend of anatomy, including anatomy of the viscera and numerous tables. By James K. Young, M.D., Instructor in Orthopaedic Surgery and Assistant Demonstrator of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania. Cloth. 12mo. pp. xii-393. Philadelphia and London, F. A. Davis, Publisher.

This book belongs to the "Physicians' and Students' Ready Reference Series." Although we have not, as a rule, given an endorsement to books which assume to compress a large octavo of information into a small duodecimo of space, we must give praise to the present work for the simple reason that it does not come within the foregoing category as its name would seem to imply. We have examined this very convenient work on several critical points and find it correct in text and reliable in its illustrations. The tables in the back of the volume are of extreme value. press work is well done.

The

SOME NEW VEGETABLE DIURETICS.-Three plants of recent introduction have been found to possess valuable diuretic properties-pichi or piche, bean flowers, and chimaphila umbellata. Piche (Fabiana imbricata) is a native of South America and the parts used are the stems, twigs, and flowering tops. Treated by ether the plant yields a large proportion of a green resin. The aqueous decoction is of a brown color and free from turbidity. The plant has long been utilized in Chili in the treatment of inflammatory conditions of the urinary tract both in man and animals. In England and America the plant is reported to have given excellent results in cases of cystitis, gravel, and renal congestion. It is usually presented in the form of a decoction, made by boiling an ounce of the cacumina in two pints of water for half an hour. Three or four pints of this decoction should be given during the twenty-four hours.

EDITORIAL.

THE CINCINNATI FREE HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN.

The multiplication of hospitals, particularly of special hospitals supported by private charity, is the logical outcome of the conservatism which characterizes the administration of the large general hospitals which are generally supported by municipal taxation. The specialization of work is in conformity with the law of progress; but this specialization could be carried on with a measure of success in large general hospitals providing the governing authorities of those institutions would appoint staffs made up of the representative men of the different specialties of practice. This part of the reform could be easily accomplished, involving as it would no extra outlay of money; but to make this reform fully effective something more needs be done. Classification of patients and isolation of individual classes, if not of individual cases, is necessary to the attainment of the best results in practice. This part of the reform would in the majority of hospitals necessarily involve architectural changes which in turn would involve the expenditure of large sums of money. This becomes the sticking. point. The average wary trustee will not jeopardize his popularity by voting extra dollars even though it be to avert death.

One of the reactionary consequences of this maladministration of public charities is found in the organization of small general hospitals supported by voluntary contributions. This is not a mitigation but rather an aggravation of preexisting evils; for all of the bad conditions inherent in hospitalism as exemplified in large general institutions must of necessity be intensified in small general institutions. Classification of cases is less practicable, and isolation of patients more difficult in consequence of the architectural limitations of these institutions; and specialization of work, as demanded by latter day science, would involve a staff numerically greater than the entire number of cases that could be under treatment at any one time. Thus a small general hospital becomes the reducio ad absurdum of hospitals. Patients do vastly better in large general institutions.

This is not true, however, of small special hospitals devoted to the treatment of a particular class of cases. In no instance has this been demonstrated so conclusively as in the statistics of spe

cial hospitals for the treatment of surgical diseases peculiar to women as contrasted with the statistics of similar diseases treated in large general institutions. This fact has lead to the organization in Cincinnati of The Cincinnati Free Hospital for Women, the Board of Trustees of which institution have issued the following manifesto:

"There are certain diseases peculiar to women which, if not treated, are uniformly fatal. Treatment of these cases is necessarily by surgical operation of the gravest character.

'That grave surgical operations should not be done (emergencies excepted) in the unhygienic homes of the poor goes without saying.

That these operations are alarmingly fatal when done in large general hospitals is a fact not only of common notoriety but capable of statistical demonstration. For instance: The operation of OVARIOTOMY, which may be taken as an index of the others, has a mortality in general hospitals ranging from 30.7 per cent. to 87.5 per cent.; and an average mortality of nearly 60 per cent. The following is a summary of recently compiled statistics from unselected hospitals:

"The analysis of this table is to the effect, viz: (1) That women afflicted with Ovarian Tumor, alarmed by the notorious mortality in general hospitals, seldom apply to those institutions for relief. (2) That of those who do apply but a little over half are given a chance for their lives. (3) That of those operated upon more than half die. (4) That counting those not operated upon as fatal, with those who die from the operation, the result shows that 771 WOMEN DIE out of every one thousand afflicted with Ovarian Tumor and relying upon general hospitals for relief.

"That the operation is followed by a comparatively low death rate when done in small special hospitals is shown by the following exhibit, viz.:

"The analysis of this table is to the effect, viz.: (1) That women

afflicted with Ovarian Tumor, attracted by the good results of special hospitals, apply to those institutions for relief. (2) That of those who apply all are given a chance for their lives. (3) That of those operated upon less than thirteen out of a hundred die. (4) That after deducting the total mortality the result shows that 877 WOMEN LIVE out of every thousand afflicted with Ovarian Tumor and operated upon in small special hospitals."

The Hospital has been organized by the election of the following officers:- Board of Trustees. Thos. H. Egan, President; Dr. H. Longstreet Taylor, Secretary; W. H. Curnayan, Esq., Treasurer ; Dr. C. L. Armstrong, H. M. Rulison, Rev. M. C. Lockwood. Staff: Charles A. L. Reed, M. D., Rufus B. Hall, M. D., Surgeons; Charles E. Caldwell, M. D., Pathologist. Drs. J. A. Johnston and A. I. Carson, Assistant Surgeons.

A large and influential Board of Lady Managers has also been elected.

SUMMER VACATIONS.-It may be accepted as generally true that the aggregate results of labor will be greater in the case of the man who works ten months and plays two months in the year, than in the case of the man who works all the time. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," is an old saw that, unlike many another old saw, has something of truth about it. Everybody who can do so ought to take a vacation. Viewed from the economic standpoint such outings are often cheaper than staying at home; and looked at from the physiological standpoint they are but schemes for conservation of health and recuperation of vitality -that is, when properly managed.

Proper management does not imply over-crowded hotels; it does not imply frequenting fashionable resorts; it does not imply attention to all sorts of social dissipation; it does not imply the excitement of passions by nude exhibitions of either the ball room or the bathing beach; it does not imply the thousand and one frivolities exemplified daily at the crowded resorts; nor does it imply a voyage on a crowded ship.

It may imply a cottage on a quiet beach by lake or sea; it may imply a camp in the pine woods; it may imply a sojourn on a quiet farm; it may imply a season with rod and reel on the crystal waters of the north; it may imply a yachting tour on the billowy deep; or it may imply sleepy days on breezy mountain heights.

In all events it must imply change-change from the din and

confusion of the city; change from quiet and tedium of the farm; change from torrid heats; change from humid chilliness; change from care and anxiety; change, indeed, from all that environment which has reduced vitality to its minimum. The stimulus of change is the desideratum in a vacation.

Hygienic precautions, however, should always be observed. That farm, however delightfully located, is a bad place if the cellar be undrained or the well be but the catchbasin of a neighboring vault. That beach is a dangerous locality should it have a stretch of marshland in its rear. That camp would be insalubrious that was located amid miasmatic surrounding. That flying excursion would be barren of good results that was nothing but a prolonged dissipation. That sojourn at a comfortable inn would be disastrous were the latter not supplied with sanitary attachments.

The last observation is the most important we have made. By far the larger number of those who go away for the heated term go to hotels. Not all of these institutions are fit places for well, let alone delicate people. The problems of drainage and water supply are often not half satisfactorily solved in these large summer caravansaries. These things should be looked into by the prospective sojourner. Such institutions as the New Kent and the Sterlingworth Inn, at Lakewood, New York, should be taken as the standard, and other hotels should be forced to at least approximate their excellences.

But, finally, go away from home for at least a brief season. If possible, go from one latitude into another-a higher; go from one altitude to another-also, generally a higher; go from inland to sea shore, from sea shore, inland; go from valley to mountain, from mountain to valley; go for a change; go for rest, and you will soon find that change is rest. Go!

THE WOMAN'S MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CINCINNATI.-This young institution held its commencement July 2. The Dean briefly sketched the development of the Woman's Medical College, which is the woman's department of the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. Professor T. V. Fitzpatrick delivered an eloquent valedictory. The degree was conferred upon the following: Catherine A. Astler, Ohio; Eliza J. Dickey, Ohio; Sarah Alta Fulton, Penn; Bertha Lund Glaeser, Ohio; Ella B. Rutledge, Ohio; Margaret C. Wood, Ky.