TEXT-BOOK OF EMBRYOLOGY. By Charles W. Prentiss, A.M., Ph.D., Professor of Microscopic Anatomy in the Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. Octavo of 400 pages with 368 illustrations, many of them in colors. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company, 1915. Cloth, $3.75.

This book represents an attempt to combine brief descriptions of the vertebrate embryos which are studied in the laboratory with an account of human embryology adapted especially to the medical student. The writer has for several years experimented with methods of dissecting pig embryos, and his results form a part of this book. It is an attractive work on the subject, that will appeal to both the student and the investigator.

DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC TECHNIC. A Manual of Practical Procedures Employed in Diagnosis and Treatment. By Albert S. Morrow, M.D., Clinical Professor of Surgery, New York Polyclinic. Second edition, thoroughly revised. Octavo of 834 pages, with 860 illustrations. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia and London, 1915. Cloth, $5.00 net; Half Morocco, $6.50 net.

While some of the methods herein detailed belong essentially to the domain of the specialist, the majority are the every-day practical procedures which the hospital interne or the general practitioner may at any time be called upon to perform. All important steps have been illustrated so that the reader may grasp at a glance the technic of the various procedures. One is impressed by the great amount of ground covered, and the thoroughness in detail. It is adapted especially to the requirements of the general practitioner

and the hospital interne. The early call for this second edition is evidence of its field of usefulness.

GYNECOLOGY, Student's Manual of. M.D.. By John Osborn Polak, M.Sc., F.A.C.S., Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Long Island College Hospital; Professor of Obstetrics in the Dartmouth Medical School; Gynecologist to the Jewish Hospital; Consulting Gynecologist to the Bushwick, Coney Island, Deaconess', and Williamsburgh Hospitals, Brooklyn, and the People's Hospital, New York; Fellow American Gynecological Society, New York Academy of Medicine. 414 pages. Illustrated with 100 engravings and 9 colored plates. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia and New York. 1915.

Polak's Gynecology is especially designed for students, supplying the necessary reading in a convenient form. It will also prove of value to busy physicians, especially men in general practice, who must keep abreast of the times and at the same time conserve their time so much as possible.

INFANT-FEEDING.

Its Principles and Practice. By F. L. Wachenheim, M.D., Attending Pediatrist, Sydenham Hospital and Mount Sinai Dispensary, New York City. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia and New York. 1915.

This manual is designed to supply the practitioner with a reference handbook, of moderate size, in which he may find an exposition of the present theory and practice of infant feeding. Some five hundred selected literary references add markedly to the value of the work. A remarkable amount of practical material has been crowded within 340 pages.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. Annual Report of the Board of Regents Showing the Operations, Expenditures and Condition of the Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1913. Washington. Government Printing Office. 1914. This is an excellent report of a remarkable institution. The publications issued by the Smithsonian Institution and its branches during the last fiscal year make a total of 6260 printed pages, and the aggregate distribution comprised 182,883 copies of pamphlets

and bound volumes. The Institution has completed a series of vocabularies of the 25 existing linguistic stocks of California and Nevada. The report

contains a number of monographs by able writers that must appeal to all scientists. Americans may well be proud of the Smithsonian Institution.

THE DOCTORS-GOD BLESS

THEM.*

Through recent advance in medical science the percentage of deaths from typhoid has been reduced to a minimum; the plague, which, in the early centuries, took off a third of a nation's population in one visitation, now is scotched as soon as it shows its head; and such old fashioned" disease as diphtheria have been robbed of their mortal terror.

Jenner and vaccination have almost obliterated smallpox. Pasteur and antitoxins have made tetanus and hydrophobia curable, when treated in time. Ehrlich, in 606, has found the great specific for the dreaded scourge syphilis. Flexner, through remarkable talent and the Rockefeller millions, has brought cerebro spinal meningitis under control. Gorgas, by keeping down the mosquito, eliminated yellow fever and malaria and made possible the Panama Canal. Lister laid the foundation for asepsis in surgery so that now the danger from blood poisoning is practically eliminated.

The surgeon, with an improved kind of shears, cuts a good-sized window in the skull of a "hopeless" paralytic, takes a tumor from the brain, closes the window, and the patient gets well. A permanently stiff or diseased knee joint is replaced by a perfectly good one from some other person's otherwise useless amputated leg, and the patient goes about his business almost without a limp.

These are only a few of the things that medical science has accomplished for humanity, principally during the

last century; and almost without exception these great discoveries were arrived at only after years of painstak ing effort and close application, and are given to the world freely and without price. It is generally regarded as unethical for a doctor to patent his discovery; and show us the doctor who does not do more or less charity work -principally more. And the modern doctor is paying more and more attention to diatetics, mental suggestion and natural remedies, and relying less and less upon the administration of drugs. Most of his thought and effort is directed toward the prevention of dis

Wassermann Test $5.00

(Each test is controlled with
Noguchi's Modification.)

And all other Laboratory Investigation at a fee which is not prohibitive to the patient.

The Pacific Wassermann Laboratories are independent and not dominated by any faction. We do not practice medicine, nor are we interested in anything but our Laboratories.

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ease the doing himself out of a job. In view of all these things doesn't it seem astounding that in this enlightened day and generation there are a lot of people, more than ever in fact, who look upon doctors as a privileged and certified class of conspirators and grafters let loose to prey upon an unwary and unsuspecting public?

*This is an editorial in the California Outlook by Mr. Meyer Lissner, the

Editor.

use of advantages is shown by the fact that Pituitary Liquid and such things are without added preservatives. The manufacturers themselves believe that the excellent keeping qualities of their goods are due to the freshness of glandular tissue, as well as to improved processes. Armour will supply to the medical profession Pineal substance, Posterior Pituitary, Anterior Pituitary substance, and any other glands that are collectable.

WINTER COUGHS AND COLDS. The severe and often intractable coughs of winter colds too often owe their continuance to systemic weakness. To relieve and overcome them it is essential to raise the vitality and nutrition of the whole body. For this purpose there is no remedy so prompt and reliable in its effects as Gray's Glycerine Tonic Comp. and its easily proven efficiency in affections of the respiratory tract-chronic bronchitis, incipient tuberculosis, asthma, laryngitis and catarrhal diseases in general -readily accounts for its widespread use by the profession in this class of ailments.

Its regular systematic administration rapidly restores the nutritional balance and as patients gain in strength and weight usually the most intractable coughs grow less and less and finally disappear.

THE

PHYLACOGEN TREATMENT
OF PNEUMONIA.

As every physician of experience knows, the mortality in pneumonia is very high, as compared to that of the average infectious disease. The dream of scientific men that a specific for pneumonia would some day materialize has not yet become a fact, and it is probable that it will not for a long time to come. In the opinion of many advanced members of the profession Pneumonia Phylacogen, while not a specific, is the nearest approach to such an agent. Certainly some remarkable results have followed the use of this product in many serious cases that have been reported in recent monthscases in some instances that had failed to respond to conventional methods of treatment. Physicians owe it to their pneumonia patients to inform themselves with respect to the merits and accomplishments of Pneumonia Phylacogen.

LOS ANGELES OBSTETRICAL SO

CIETY.

January 12, 1915.

Dr. Titian Coffey, President. Dr. George E. Malsbary, Secretary. DISCUSSION OF PAPERS BY DRS. THORPE AND MCREYNOLDS.

Dr. M. L. Moore: Both these papers have been very practical, excellent papers. I have nothing to say in regard to the paper read by Dr. Thorpe; he covered the ground completely. It is one of the best papers I have ever listened to.

We

The paper read by Dr. McReynolds is a most excellent paper, but there are grounds for discussion regarding the methods of treating these cases. all know puerperal sepsis is a wound infection due to some germ which has been introduced. Outside of gonococcus infection which may be present in the genital tract, the other germs, such as the streptoceous and the staphylococcus and also the putrefaetive germs which cause a sapremie condition, all cause trouble which we should be quick to recognize, because it is the early treatment which may enable us to treat such infections successfully. In puerperal sepsis, I believe the concensus of opinion is that curettage is dangerous, since it opens the mouths of the lymphatics and enables the infection to become more general. In puerperal sepsis the uterine muscle becomes soft and flabby and the germs in the wall of the uterus may produce multiple abscesses or they may extend also into the cellular tissue to cause abscess or resolve before abscesses form, or the infection may extend into the tube to cause salpingitis, or into the peritoneum to cause peritonitis, or it may be so virulent as to cause general sepsis with very little evidence of effect on the

tissues through which it has passed. The actual condition present must regulate our treatment. In sapramia we do not hesitate to curette, because the constitutional effects are due to the absorption of toxins and the curettage usually stops the absorption and the patient recovers. Not so, however, in streptococcus infection. There we should not curette. Possibly a douche might be given, but I would not repeat it. I have done so and seen follow a douche, a chill and high temperature and the condition of the patient become worse. If it goes on to the formation of multiple abscesses in the uterus there is nothing to do but the removal of the uterus. I have done that in one case, a prominent physician's wife in Pasadena, who was ill for several weeks running a very high temperature. A careful examination showed no extension beyond the uterus, and the removal of the uterus cured the patient, who otherwise would have died. There radical surgery was nec-. essary to save life. When we have abscesses formed and we find the broad ligament becoming more tense, possibly showing fluctuation, with chills, fever and sweats, we have no alternative but to operate and secure drainage. When it is drained and the pus is discharged, with the supportive treatment which the doctor has recommended, recovery is the rule. In septic peritonitis I have seen very few cases and they have all died. As soon as we diagnosticate infection of the uterus, ergot is one of our best drugs. It gives tone to the uterine muscle, contracts it and possibly tends to lessen the extension of the infection. Whiskey in moderate doses, strychnia and an abundance of nourishing food help to increase the vitality and resistance of the patient.

Dr. P. R. McArthur: I was very much pleased with both papers pre