A TEXT-BOOK ON PRACTICAL OBSTETRICS.

By Egbert H. Grandin, M. D., Gynecologist to the Columbus Hospital; Consulting Gynecologist to the French Hospital; Late Consulting Obstetric and Obstetric Surgeon of the New York Maternity Hospital; Late Obstetrician of the New York Infant Asylum; Fellow of the American Gynecological Society, of the New York Academy of Medicine, of the New York Obstetrical Society, etc., etc., etc., with the collaboration of George W. Jarman, M. D., Gynecologist to the Cancer Hospital; Instructor in Gynecology in the Medical Department of the Columbia University; Late Obstetric Surgeon of the New York Maternity Hospital; Fellow of the American Gynecological Society, of the New York Academy of Medicine, of the New York Obstetrical Society, etc. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Illustrated with Fifty-two Full-Page Photographic Plates and One Hundred and Five Illustrations in the Text. 6x9% inches. Pages xiv-511. Extra Cloth, $4.00, net; Sheep $4.75, net. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry street, Philadelphia.

There is no scarcity of good books on obstetrics, but for clear, concise and practical teachings, this book has no rival. There is no long array of statistical data and hair-splitting theories to confuse the student or practitioner. It is a bedside presentation of facts relating to all the phenomena of pregnancy, labor and the puerperal state, with which the student and beginner should be made familiar. As the anatomy of the female organs of generation is the groundwork of obstetrical science, this branch should be thoroughly mastered by the student before he enters upon the study of obstetrical or gynecological science. The authors recognize this fact and have, therefore, enlarged this edition by the addition of a chapter on anatomy and embryology. The practitioner should always be prepared to deal with emergency cases. For this purpose he should study carefully the chapter on pathological pregnancy, especially that part of it which treats of eclampsia and diabetes, which are often dangerous complications. Contents are as follows: Part 1st, Pregnancy. Part 2d, Labor. Part 3d, The Puerperal State. Part 4th, Obstetric Surgery.

STUDENTS' EDITION. A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS, with Special Reference to the Clinical Application of Drugs. By John V. Shoemaker, M. D., LL. D., Professor of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine and Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Skin in the Medico-Chirurgical College, of Philadelphia; Physician to the Medico-Chi

rurgical Hospital; Member of the American Medical Association, of the Pennsyl vania and Minnesota State Medical Societies, the American Academy of Medicine, the British Medical Association; Fellow of the Medical Society of London, etc., Fifth Edition. Thoroughly Revised. 64x91⁄2 inches. Pages vii-770. Extra Cloth, $4.00, net; Sheep, $4.75, net. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry street, Philadelphia.

etc.

The above is essentially a students' edition, which will be shortly followed by what will be known as the physicians' edition. The object of dividing the work into two independent issues is, through the students' edition to make the student acquainted with official remedies and preparations, and through the physicians' edition to familiarize the physician with the clinical application of the same. A strong point in favor of this edition is the attention given the metric system of weights and measures. The aim of the author, in giving the doses in the text in decimal terms with their equivalents in the English system, is to train the student in the metric system, which will eventually supersede the older system and become a necessary part of the student's education. All the important newer remedies of the chemical laboratory and vegetable kingdom are included in this edition. This volume reflects much credit alike on the author and publishers, and will be warmly welcomed by all who are interested in this progressive branch of medicine.

RUDIMENTS Of Modern MeDICAL ELECTRICITY. Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers. Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine. By S. H. Monell, M. D. (New York). New York: Edward R. Pelton, Publisher, No. 19 East Sixteenth street. 1900.

The above question compend has been prepared with the view of supplying a want long felt among undergraduates of medicine. To master the rudiments of medical electricity without burdening the mind with unnecessary details has been a difficult problem to solve. Electricity is so firmly established as a therapeutic agent that a rudimentary knowledge of its principles is an essential part of a medical student's education. This compend furnishes the groundwork for such an education. It teaches the facts now known about the rational therapeutics of scientific electric currents, which are just as necessary as the knowledge of drugs, and their scientific application in the treatment of disease. Contents are as follows: What is Electricity? What is Medical Electricity? Electro-Therapeutic Prescribing. Electro-Physics. Electro-Physiology. Galvanic Currents. Electro-Diagnosis. Galvanic Equipment. Faradic Equipment.

Faradic Currents. Sinusoidal Currents. Static Electricity. Electro-Therapeutics. General Indications. Summary of Uses and Value of Selected Currents in Special Diseases.

PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS IN OBSTETRICS. A Guide in Ante-partum, Partum and Postpartum Examinations. For the Use of Physicians and Undergraduates. By Edward A. Ayres, M. D., Professor of Obstetrics in the New York Polyclinic; Attending Physician to the Mothers' and Babies' Hospital. With Illustrations. New York: E. B. Treat & Co., 241-243 West Twenty-third street. 1901.

As a convenient and reliable guide to the undergraduate and physician in clinical obstetrics, this book will meet an urgent demand. It omits all reference to authorities, and restricts its teachings to a concise and practical presentation of physical diagnosis, with such reliable aids as are found in obstetrical history charts, pelvimetry scale and table; table of average dimensions of the external pelvis, including weights and heights, and a long, complete list of illustrations. The author emphasizes the importance of an examination and supervision of the patient by the physician in the ante-partum period, in order that complications and accidents may be guarded against which so often imperil the lives of pregnant women. There is much valuable information in this little volume that it would be difficult to gather from other sources. Contents are as follows: Obstetrical History. Chart. Scope of Ante-partum Examinations. ent Impregnation. Ante-partum Examinations. Uterotomy, Pelvimetry and Abdominal Palpation. Vaginal Examination. Urinary Organs. History of Labor. The Breasts. The Child's History. Maternal Post-partum History and Final Examina

tion.

Pres

INTERNATIONAL CLINICS. A Quarterly of Clinical Lectures and Especially Prepared Articles on Medicine, Neurology, Surgery, Therapeutics, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Pathology, Dermatology, Diseases of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat, and Other Topics of Interest to Students and Practitioners. By Leading Members of the Medical Profession Throughout the World. Edited by Henry W. Cattell, A. M., M. D., Philadelphia, U. S. A. With the Collaboration of John B. Murphy, M. D., of Chicago; Alexander D. Blackader, M. D., of Montreal; H. C. 'Wood, M. D., of Philadelphia; T. M. Rotch, M. D., of Boston; E. Landolt, M. D., of Paris; Thomas G. Morton, M. D., and Charles H. Reed, M. D., of Philadelphia; J. W. Ballantyne, M. D., of Edinburg, and John Harold, M. D., of London. With Regular Correspondents in Montreal, London, Paris, Leipsic and Vienna. Volume IV. Tenth Series. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. 1901.

The above volume contains a vast amount of interesting and useful reading matter worthy of careful examination. The subjects discussed are practical and ably treated. The article on "Surgery," by Dr. John B. Deaver, will be read by all interested in

this branch with unusual satisfaction. The subject of "Mosquitoes and the Prophylaxis of Malaria" is ably discussed by Prof. B. Grassi, of the University of Rome. The monograph by Dr. Henry W. Cattell on "The Etiology and Morbid Anatomy of Various Diseases" covers over one hundred pages of this volume, and will prove useful for reference purposes to the general practitioner, as well as helpful to students as a compend when about to pass examinations in medicine or pathology. The reader will here find a definition, the etiology and pathology of nearly all the common diseases. The arrangement of the subjects is, with few exceptions, alphabetical and convenient for hurried examination. This compend alone adds much to the attractions of the volume.

PUBLISHER'S DESK.

THE TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS-A NEW AND TOLERABLE FORM OF ADMINISTERING MERCURY, WITH REPORT OF SIXTY-FIVE CASES TREATED AT BELLEVUE HOSPITAL.

BY WINFIELD AYRES, M. D., New York City,

Instructor in Genito-Urinary Surgery at the New York Post-Graduate Hospital and Attending Genito-Urinary Surgeon at Bellevue Hospital, Out-Door Patients' Department.

The writer states that when his attention was called to mercurol as an antiseptic of special value in the treatment of gonorrhea, it occurred to him that it would be a first-class preparation for the treatment of syphilis. Some time was necessarily spent in determining the proper dosage. At first one-eighth of a grain was given three times daily, and this dose was gradually increased until it was found that three grains was the average quantity required to control the malady. The highest amount given was seven grains, and the lowest amount that exerted a controlling influence upon the disease was one-half grain. In starting a patient on a course of mercurol the author advises beginning with half-grain or grain doses. Salivation has been produced by two grains, and yet as much as six grains has been taken with no disagreeable symptoms.

The objections to the use of unguentum hydrargyri as a remedy in secondary syphilis are referred to; and while the popularity of mercuric protiodide is conceded, the irregularity of its action and its tendency to cause gastric and intestinal disturbances are not overlooked. In the writer's experience thirtythree per cent. of his cases were not benefited by this drug.

Mercurol is a nucleid of mercury, and was discovered by Karl Schwickerath, of Bonn, Germany. Kopp, director of the Royal Polyclinic for Genito-Urinary Diseases at the University of Munich, uses mercurol in smaller doses, which leads the writer to remark: "He will find, as I have done, that it is desirable to use a much larger dosage." Mercurol should not be given in solution with potassium iodide.

In all sixty-five cases received mercurol at the Bellevue clinic, sixty of which had not had previous treatment. Of these thirteen did not return after the first or second visit, fourteen did not remain long enough under treatment to give the preparation a fair trial, and thirteen may be described as new patients. Deducting these forty cases, there remain twenty-five cases that have been sufficiently long and regular in their attendance to supply data from which definite conclusions may be deducted. The detailed histories of these twenty-five cases are included in the paper. In summarizing, the author remarks that while two months' treatment of syphilis is insufficient to determine absolutely the value of any remedy, the marked improvement shown by many of his cases makes it certain that mercurol is of great value. Its superiority to mercuric chloride in controlling the symptoms of syphilis is proved. Like all internal remedies, it has very little effect upon the initial lesion; still it has hastened the healing slightly. None of the cases required treatment with potassium iodide to control secondary manifestations.

To recapitulate: (1) mercurol causes less disturbance of the gastro-intestinal tract than any other preparation of mercury used internally; (2) it controls skin eruption and pains much better than any other preparation, while it controls mucous eruptions as well as any other, and has equally as good an effect upon the chancre; (3) it is an advantage that it can be taken in pill form.-Abstracted from the author's original paper in the Philadelphia Medical Journal, November 10, 1900.