PERSONALS.

BOWLSBY.-The friends of Dr. Bowlsby will be grieved to learn of his serious illness. Recently the doctor has been confined to his bed, and watchers from Empire Conclave and from Continental Lodge have had charge of him during the nights. By the faithful attentions of the doctor's wife and friends, we hope his affliction will be of short duration, and that he will again soon be enabled to attend to his accustomed duties.

Later-Dr. B. is now out of danger and sitting up.

BOOK NOTICES.

SORE THROAT; ITS NATURE, VARIETIES AND TREATMENT: Including the connection between affections of the throat and other diseases. By Prosser James, M. D., Lecturer on Materia Medica at the London Hospital, Physician to the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat and Chest. Fourth edition. Illustrated with hand colored plates. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1880. Price, $2.25. Dr. James, through his large hospital experience, has been enabled to produce a work that is of interest and importance not only to the general practitioner, but also to the specialist. Aside from its use as a guide to diagnosis and treatment, its value is greatly enhanced by the author's just appreciation of the fact that, while a lesion to view may be in the throat, the general system must also be investigated; hence, he is constantly showing the connection between throat diseases and those of functional or organic implication. The arrangement is complete and comprehensive. Part I. gives a synopsis of all the subjects treated, including a description of the use of the laryngoscope and rhinoscope. With Part II. comes individual chapters devoted to special consideration of every form of disease affecting the pharynx and larynx, with their appropriate treatment. The plates are neatly executed, and present the commoner lesions found in the pharynx and larynx.

OUTLINES OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DISEASE; with appropriate formulæ and illustrations. By Samuel Fenwick, M. D., Lecturer on the Principles and Practice of Medicine at the London Hospital. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1880. The author is of the opinion that physical diagnosis and pathology are too often considered to the exclusion of symptoms, hence doubts arise as to treatment; and to remedy this defect, he has written the present manual, which is essentially practical. All the prominent diseases are discussed at length as regards their symptomatology and treatment. The commencing chapters are among the most important, and are written in a way that must impress upon the reader the importance of symptoms. The illustrations are excellent, and the formulæ selected from the best sources. BRAIN WORK AND OVERWORK. By Dr. H. C. Wood, Professor of Nervous Diseases in the University of Pennsylvania. Volume 6 of the American Health Primers. Philadelphia: Presley Blackiston.

HYGIENE AND EDUCATION OF INFANTS; OR, HOW TO TAKE CARE OF BABIES. Translated from the French by G. E. Walton, M. D. Cincinnati, O.: Robert Clark & Co. Pp. 72. Price, 25 cents.

It is a translation of the recent work edited and published by the Société Française D'Hygiène, of Paris, bearing the seal of its authority. It tells the young mother, in a pleasing and accurate way, all that is necessary to know concerning the minute details of the baby's life: how to clothe it, how to feed it, how to wean it, etc., etc., and, by its lucid explanations, will relieve her of the many anxieties which, to the inexperienced, wait on every moment of the baby's young life.

THE NATIONAL DISPENSATORY: Containing the natural history, chemistry, pharmacy, actions and uses of medicines, including those recognized in the pharmacopoeias of the United States, Great Britain and Germany, with numerous references to the French codex. By Alfred Stillé, M. D., LL.D., Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine and of Clinical Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, etc., and John M. Maisch, Ph. D., Professor of Materia Medica and Botany in Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, Secretary to American Pharmaceutical Association. Second edition; thoroughly revised, with numerous additions. In one very handsome royal octavo volume, of sixteen hundred and ninety-two pages; illustrated with two hundred and thirty-nine engravings on wood. Extra cloth, $6.75; leather, raised bands, $7.50. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea, 1880. The demand which has exhausted in a few months an unusually large edition of the National Dispensatory, is doubly gratifying to the authors, as showing that they were correct in thinking that the want of such a work was felt by the medical and pharmaceutical professions, and that their efforts to supply that want have been acceptable. This appreciation of their labors has stimulated them in the revision, to render the volume more worthy of the very marked favor with which it has been received. The first edition of a work of such magnitude must necessarily be more or less imperfect; and though but little that is new and important has been brought to light in the short interval since its publication, yet the length of time during which it was passing through the press rendered the earlier portions more in arrears than the later. The opportunity for a revision has enabled the authors to scrutinize the work as a whole, and to introduce alterations and additions wherever there has seemed to be occasion for improvement or greater completeness. The principal changes to be noted are the introduction of several drugs under separate headings, and of a large number of drugs, chemicals and pharmaceutical preparations, classified as allied drugs and preparations, under the heading of more important or better known articles. These additions comprise, in part, nearly the entire German pharmacopoea and numerous articles from the French codex. All new investigations which came to the authors' notice up to the time of publication, have received due consideration.

The March number of the MEDICAL ECLECTIC will contain a review of this excellent addition to medical literature.

ON THE INTERNAL USE OF WATER FOR THE SICK, AND ON THIRST. By J. Forsyth Meigs, M. D.

This little book is a clinical lecture, delivered at the Penn. Hospital by Dr. Meigs. It is not only worthy of publication, but it should be carefully read by every physician. Fifty-four pages. Price, 25 cents. Presley Blakiston, 1012 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

REYNOLDS' SYSTEM OF MEDICINE. By J. Russell Reynolds, M. D., F. R. S., Professor of the Practice of Medicine, University College, London; with notes and additions by Henry Hartshorne, M. D., late Professor of Hygiene, University Penn., etc., etc. In three volumes. Price of each volume, $5.00 Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea.

A review of this excellent work will appear in the March number.

THE MEDICAL ECLECTIC,

DEVOTED TO

Reformed Medicine,

GENERAL SCIENCE AND LITERATURE.

Editors:

ROBERT S. NEWTON, M. D., LL. D.,

Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Eclectic Medical College, of New York. ROBERT S. NEWTON, JR., M. D., L. R. C. S.,

Professor of Surgery and Ophthalmology in the Eclectic Medical College, of New York. Published every month, by THE ECLECTIC MEDICAL COLLEGE, of the City of New York.

VOL. VII.

MARCH, 1880.

No. 3.

ORIGINAL DEPARTMENT.

NECROLOGY.

A special meeting of the board of trustees of the Eclectic Medical College, of the City of New York, was held at College Hall, Thursday, February 19, 1880, for the purpose of taking action with reference to the death of Dr. Benjamin Brandreth.

President Robert S. Newton, in the chair; Robert S. Newton, Jr., was chosen secretary.

The president expressed the object of the meeting, and spoke of the painful duty before the board in the loss of their friend and colleague, one who, unasked, had voluntarily presented himself as the staunch friend of eclecticism and the college. Dr. Newton related his first association with Dr. Brandreth; it occurred one

morning in the summer of 1874. "I was sitting in my office when Dr. Brandreth was announced. I arose, and immediately he commenced his conversation by saying, "I have watched the progress of your college since its very start, and feel confident that it has done a great work in advancing the science of medicine, and educating the people beyond the dogmas that had hitherto bound them. What you want is a large, elegant building, fine situation and appointments, or, in other words, to be able to represent the flourishing condition of the cause by external appearances." I was more than pleased; I was surprised, that our individual efforts had won for us such a munificent friend as Dr. Brandreth. At his request I accompanied him to a real estate agent, and one hour afterwards the papers were signed, and the elegant building, No. 1 Livingston Place, became the property of the Eclectic Medical College.

Dr. Robert S. Newton, Jr., moved that a committee of two be appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the loss of their friend and colleague. Carried. Samuel Sinclair, Esq., and Robert S.

Newton, Jr., were appointed.

The following resolutions were offered and unanimously adopted :

Resolved, That we have learned with the deepest regret our irreparable loss in the death of our friend and colleague, Dr. Benjamin Brandreth. To his family we extend our heartfelt sympathy in their bereavement.

Resolved, That in the death of Dr. Benjamin Brandreth, humanity has lost a devoted friend and science an enthusiastic devotee.

Resolved, That we will ever cherish and hold in high esteem the memory of Dr. Benjamin Brandreth as the earnest and manly friend of medical reform, who cared only for truth, justice and the public good. His example produces a lasting fame, and will be remembered in love and honor by the wise and good.

Mr. Sinclair moved that a committee of five be appointed from the class of 1880 to attend the funeral. Carried.

Remarks were made by Messrs. Sinclair, Moller and Newton. The meeting then adjourned.

ROBERT S. NEWTON, JR.,

Secretary.

BENJAMIN BRANDRETH, M. D.

"Dr. Benjamin Brandreth died suddenly, at his residence, in Sing Sing, February 19, 1880, of embolism of the heart. He arose at an early hour and went to the laboratory where he manufactured the Brandreth pills, and after mixing 250 pounds of medicines, started to his residence, a few rods away. As he entered a toilet room to wash his hands, he fell and died almost instantly. When discovered by a member of his family the doctor was dead.

"Dr. Brandreth was born near Leeds, England, in 1808. He was bred by his paternal grandfather, William Brandreth, to the manufacture of pills, and when his grandfather died Dr. Brandreth was only eighteen years old. He then became sole proprietor of the business, put the pills upon the market, and extended the business. In 1829 the doctor married Miss Harriet Small Page in England, by whom he had three children. She died in 1836, and in 1837 the doctor and his three children came to America and opened an office in Hudson Street, near Canal, where he remained until 1838. He then bought a tract of land at Sing Sing, and established an extensive manufactory for his pills. He soon afterward established an office at No. 241 Broadway, where he carried on business until 1857. In 1839 he married Miss Virginia Graham, by whom he had ten children. In 1856 Dr. Brandreth purchased the property at the corner of Broadway and Canal Street of John Lafarge, and built the Brandreth House. After the erection of this building the office of the Sing Sing manufactory was moved to the Canal Street side of the hotel. Dr. Brandreth spent about $2,000,000 in twenty years advertising, and to this he often said that he owed his The doctor leaves a wife and thirteen children-six sons

success.

and seven daughters.

"Dr. Brandreth was well known and highly respected throughout Westchester County. He was a prominent Democrat, and represented the Westchester district in the State Senate from 1849 to

1