health; his appetite became poor and digestion bad; pulse, 84; his mind peevish and irritable, bowels irregular, and everything seemed to be in a disordered state. The finger could not be moved by any will-power, yet the articulations did not appear to be involved by the diseased mass; the inability to move it arising from disuse, and, possibly, encroachment of inflammatory process upon the flexor and extensor tendons. I acquainted him with my suspicions of its malignancy and advised immediate removal. This he would not consent to, but sought other advice and was told that it was a cancer, and should be taken off at once. Two weeks afterwards he again called upon me and wished to have the operation performed. I put him upon a treatment of arsenic 2x and arnica 3x every three hours, and in a few days amputated it at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint. The dressing was antiseptic throughout, and primary union resulted. Everything went along smoothly for some weeks, but still there remained a tenderness in the palm near the point where the finger was amputated, and about two months and a half afterwards he noticed the commencement of another swelling that appeared to be located beneath the palmar fascia, and was very tender to the touch. This continued to increase for two months longer, but under the persistent use of chloride of lime mixed with flax seed, one part of the former to three parts of the latter, made into a poultice and changed four times daily, applied hot, and daily application of the solid nitrate of silver to the diseased surface, it entirely disappeared and has never returned.

PATHOLOGICAL APPEARANCES.-In the first case the cells were round and spindle-shaped, the latter predominating, large in size, lying in alveoli, formed by intersecting bands of white fibrous tissue to which they were connected. On section a considerable fluid of a reddish-yellow color oozed out, alkaline in reaction.

To the naked eye the second tumor appeared dense, of dark-grayish, red color, with white bands intersecting each

other, which gave it the appearance of being lobed. On pressing it there exuded a thin, light, yellow-colored fluid, alkaline in reaction, which when allowed to stand in a vessel for a short time, became somewhat gelatinous. Microscopical examination showed large spindle-shaped cells with pigmentary deposits, and a thin or scanty intercellular tissue.

SUCCESSFUL REMOVAL OF A DISEASED SPLEEN.

Dr. B. Crede, of Dresden, has lately put on record a case in which he removed successfully from a bricklayer, fortyfour years of age, a spleen containing cysts (Deutsche Med. Zeitung, No. 44). The patient had received, ten years ago, in the left hypochondriac region, a blow from a brick, which had caused him some pain for five days. A year before the operation, a tumor the size of a fist was observed in the left side of the belly, which grew at first slowly, and later on more rapidly, so as at last greatly to interfere with the patient's movements. On the day of the operation (September 25, 1881) the belly is described as being greatly arched; a very movable fluctuating tumor, the size of a large child's head, adherent at its upper part, and not very tender, was felt in the left side of the abdomen. As the swelling was apparently not adherent to the skin or intestines, the operator saw no reason why an exploratory laparotomy should not be performed with a view to radical operation, should the case be favorable. The diagnosis rested between cystic spleen and hydronephrosis. Laparotomy was done, the incision being made to the left of the rectus abdominis, reaching from the ribs to the anterior superior spine

of the ilium. A cyst presented and was tapped, a great deal of clear, yellow, slightly albuminous fluid being let out. Finally, seeing that this cyst was in the spleen, it was decided to remove that organ. The wound was treated antiseptically, but not drained. Healing took place without any bad sign, and the patient slowly gained strength. The tumor weighed about a pound (without the cystic fluid). Four weeks after the operation, doughy, painful swellings of all the lymphatic glands were observed, which subsided after four months. Eight days ofter the operation the number of white lymph-corpuscles in the blood was found to be increased. Gradually the proportion of white blood-cells to red blood-disks returned to the normal, and no difference was found at the end of four months and a half. The patient was in good health ten months after the extirpation of his spleen. Medical Times and Gazette.

SEPIA IN TINEA.-I have just been reading an article in the last number of The Investigator, purporting to be a part of a lecture wherein he says, "sepia will do no good in tinea circinata," but recommends one of the various Allopathic or Eclectic nostrums in its stead. Is this the kind of Homœopathy taught in Chicago? If we send our sons and students there must we expect them to be taught such foolishness? Is it any wonder you have had a fight among yourselves? I have been practicing medicine and have tried to be a Homœopath for twenty-five years, and have seen many cases of ringwor,m but never saw a case that did not yield readily to some attenuation of sepia.

A. M. Cushing, in Med. Investigator.

Book Notices.

ADVERTISERS' HAND-BOOK. Pratt & Co.: Phila., Pa,

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE INDIANA INSTITUTE OF HOM

CEOPATHY.

CLINICAL PAPERS ON OPHTHALMOLOGY AND OTOLOGY. J. H. Buffum, M. D.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF KINGS. Report of Committee on Surgery.

THE CHARGE OF "EXCLUSIVISM" AS APPLIED TO HOMEPATHISTS. F. H. Orme, M. D. Reprint: N. Y. Medical Times.

THE SOUL AND THE BODY. A Sermon to Students: Rev. L. P. Mercer.

Every student who reads this book will be wealthier in knowledge when he has finished it, and a re-reading will reveal more of its true worth. It contains some beautiful gems of thought.

Though we cannot say of this book that it supplies that oft-mentioned desiderratum, "a want long felt," we can say of it that it is useful in its place, and one that may be profitably read by the practitioner and student alike. In the opening chapter the author asserts, "that consumption is not an incurable disease so long as vitality can be made to take a more self-asserting influence in the tuberculated tissue than that of degrading chemical forces." This is true in all diseases, but unfortunately the "selfasserting influence" does not arise at our beck, and upon reading the sentence we were prepared to find somewhere in the book just how to develope this recuperative force. But also, we are again directed to the old plan of applying remedies that have over and over again failed to cure tubercular phthisis.

Now and then a case may be restored to health by proper regimen, diet, and well-selected remedies, but we cannot feel so sanguine, as is the author, of its frequent curability, whether tubercular or caseous. We are somewhat sceptical in belief that many of the cases related as cures

were those of tubercular phthisis, or manifested any tendency thereto, as nothing in their symptoms indicate any alliance to this disease more than too many other conditions which present signs of wasting or degenerative changes.

The chapter on "Importance of Early Recognition of Phthisical Tendencies," is given much less space than the question demands, and the subject of "Temperature as an aid in diagnosis, is disposed of in about twenty lines. Chapter XVI is devoted to dress, food, climate, hot baths, surgical drainage and pneumatic treatment, and contains a goodly number of valuable hints. Of surgical drainage as a curative means in this disease we venture the prediction it will soon be known as a thing of the past and relegated to the sphere of the obsolete. The indications for the proper Homœopathic remedy are concisely and quite accurately given, and embraces the larger portion of the work, and in this respect is commendable.

Physical diagnosis, causes, complications and suggestions for management, are each given a proper place, and carefully analyzed. It seems somewhat odd now-a-days to pick up a medical work on any disease and not find some hints or suggestions on the subject of bacterism. More especially so if the theme be allied to scrofulosus, struma or syphilis. Evidently the author does not believe in the theory of Koch, for nowhere does he allude to it nor present any claims of the consumptive bacillus as being the originating cause of so much destruction and death. The work is issued by Boericke & Tafel, in good binding, good paper and clear print.

PREPERTORY TO THE SYMPTOMS OF INTERMITTENT FEVER. Wm. A.. Allen, M. D.

Any essay or book that tends to enlighten the profession on the treatment of intermittent fever, should always be received with gladness, especially by those who reside in malarious districts, such as are found in the Mississippi Valley. There are a great many homœopathic physicians who often have cause to reproach themselves for their inability to cure this ever-present pest. This often arises from lack of research for the "similar" remedy, and again may be due to a want of time to study up the case and obtain its perfect picture. This little work was, no doubt, intended for just such persons, and can be used by them to great advantage. The arrangement of the different stages with all the peculiarities and concomitant symptoms so frequently observed, as well as the adaptation of remedial agents to each, are concisely, accurately, and plainly given, and needs but a few moments perusal to find the remedy required. Brevity in literature is to-day the great demand of the medical profession, and here we have it in a nut-shell. We do not wish our medical friends to think that this book will guide them to a successful result in every case, for such is not our belief. That it will materially aid in speedily curing the larger proportion of cases that dwell on high lands, may be set down as correct. But there are some ague shakers that live in low, marshy regions, inhabitants of cess-pools of miasm, in which nothing short of