PRACTICAL MEDICINE SERIES: VOLUME III.* THIS Volume embraces the eye, the ear, the nose and the throat. It possesses the same practic features of authorship that characterize the other volumes of this series. *Edited by Casey A. Wood, C. M., M. D., Albert H. Andrews, M. D., and T. Melville Hardie, A. M., M. D. The Year Book Publishers, Chicago, 1902. INTERNATIONAL CLINICS: VOLUME IV, TWELFTH SERIES.* THIS Volume concludes a series of practic and exceedingly valuable clinical lectures and specially prepared articles. Through them the reader is put in touch with the masters of medicine throughout the world, for evidently the publishers have spared no trouble to make this publication the best possible. This particular collection is especially attractive and is sure to make many friends for the series to which it belongs. *Edited by Henry W. Cattell, A. M., M. D., Philadelphia, with the Collaboration of John B. Murphy, M. D., Chicago; Alexander D. Blackader, M. D., Montreal; H. C. Wood, M. D., Philadelphia; T. M. Rotch, M. D., Boston; E. Landolt, M. D., Paris; Thomas G. Morton, M. D., Philadelphia; James J. Walsh, M. D., New York; J. W. Ballantyne, M. D., Edinburgh, and John Harold, M. D., London, with Regular Correspondents in Montreal, London, Paris, Leipsic, and Vienna. Cloth, $2.00. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and London. ANATOMY OF THE PERITONEUM AND ABDOMEN.* To the average practician doubtless the study of anatomy becomes a bore. The memorizing of dry facts, even though they relate to blood-vessels, muscles and nerves, is persisted in only for their practic bearing upon the art of medicine and surgery. The author of this volume has, however, hit upon a less common aspect of the subject. He has considered the subject from the standpoint of development and comparative anatomy and by the aid of numerous elegant illustrations made it especially attractive. This work is only to be seen to be commended. It is divided into four parts, namely: Anatomy of the Peritoneum and Abdominal Cavity; Anatomy of the Peritoneum in the Supracolic Compartment of the Abodmen; Serial Review of the Ileocolic Junction and Connected Structures in Vertebrates; Morphology of the Human Cecum and Vermiform Appendix. *By George S. Huntington, M. D., Professor of Anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City. In one handsome quarto volume of 590 pages, including 300 full-page plates in colors and monochrome, containing 582 figures. De Luxe edition. Gilt top. Uncut edges. $10.00, net. Lea Brothers & Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1903. PRACTICAL MEDICINE SERIES: VOLUME VII.* We have here condensed the progress in materia medica and therapeutics, preventive medicine, climatology and forensic medicine. No comment is in place concerning the material. Criticism in this case would pertain only to method, which in this series is specially adapted to the needs of general practicians. *Edited by George F. Butler, PhG., M. D. The Year Book Publishers, Chicago, 1902., DISEASES OF METABOLISM AND NUTRITION.* THE idea of the author is to supply to the profession in bound pamphlet form essays published in various periodicals and monographs in certain text-books, as well as current work by himself and his assistants. Obesity, the indications for reduction cures, is the title of Part I just issued. This section considers-(1) simple obesity in otherwise. healthy subjects; (2) complications with other diseases. The following themes are under consideration for future numbers of the series: The treatment of colica mucosa; the medical treatment of diabetes mellitus; indications for and the methods of pursuing feeding (most) cures; the technique of reduction cures; the significance of acetone in diabetes mellitus. The publishers aim to have these sections appear as nearly simultaneously in America and Germany as possible. Doctor von Noorden's work is well known to the profession and the series of translations from the German will be welcomed in America. The books are written especially for the general practician. *Doctor Carl von Noorden, Senior Physician to the City Hospital in Frankfort. Translated into English under the direction of Boardman Reed and published by E. B. Treat & Company, New York. PROGRESSIVE MEDICINE.* WE have had occasion before to speak of the excellence of this work. The present volume is especially praiseworthy. The abstracts and commentaries on each subject are, with few exceptions, all that could be desired. The authors are men whose ability in their respective lines is well known. This in itself is enough to recommend the work. The present volume considers the following subjects: The surgery of the head, neck and chest-Charles H. Frazier; Infectious diseases, including acute rheumatism, croupous pneumonia and influenza-James B. Herrick; The diseases of children-Floyd M. Crandall; PathologyLudwig Kektoen; Laryngology and rhinology-Logan Turner; Otology-Robert L. Randolph. The idea of furnishing to the physician every three months a volume complete with index, containing a comprehensive review of the world's literature on special subjects, is a good one. *A Quarterly Digest of Advances, Discoveries and Improvements in the Medical and Surgical Sciences. Edited by Hobart Amory Hare, M. D., Professor of Therapeutics and Materia medica in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Octavo, handsomely bound in cloth, 450 pages, illustrated. Per volume, $2.50, by express prepaid. Per annum, in four cloth-bound volumes, $10.00 Fifth annual seriesVolume I, March, 1903. Lea Brothers & Company, Publishers, Philadelphia and New York. PRACTICAL MEDICINE SERIES: VOLUME VIII.* THIS Volume covers the departments of pediatrics and orthopedic surgery. The reviews are very carefully made and reliable. *Edited by W. S. Christopher, M. D., John Ridlon, A. M., M. D., and Samuel J. Walker, M. D. The Year Book Publishers, Chicago. MEMORANDA ON POISONS.* THIS might be called a vest-pocket manual of toxicology. It is certainly the handiest and most comprehensive little text on this subject that we have seen. *By Thomas Hawkes Tanner, M. D., edition. By Henry Leffman, A. M., M. D. Son & Company, Philadelphia, 1902. F. L. S. Ninth revised CELLULAR TOXINS.* THE work known as "Ptomains and Leucomains" appears in its fourth edition under the new title of "Cellular Toxins." "The advance in knowledge has rendered the chief title selected for former editions inappropriate." The authors have gathered together a mass of literature difficult to obtain elsewhere, and it is a matter of great misfortune that so important a part as the bibliography should have been omitted, thus making it necessary for the reader to possess the last edition, to which he is referred. Considerable space is given to the chapters on the specific precipitins, the lysins, bacteriolysis, hemolysis and the agglutinins, subjects which are receiving the attention of scientific. workers at the present time all over the world. In this respect the book differs from the last edition in which the nucleins were given special prominence. Much of the subject matter in the older editions. has been cut down to make room for newer and more advanced ideas on the chemistry of the infectious diseases. "Cellular Toxins" is the only book published in the English language in which the entire subject of the chemic factors in the causation of disease is fully considered. *A Treatise on Cellular Toxins, or the Chemical Factors in the Causation of Disease. By Victor C. Vaughan, Ph. D., M. D., Professor of Hygiene and Physiologic Chemistry, and Frederick G. Novy, M. D., Junior Professor of Hygiene and Physiologic Chemistry, in the University of Michigan. New (fourth) edition, revised and enlarged. In one 8vo volume of 480 pages, with 6 illustrations. Cloth, $3.00 net. Lea Brothers & Company, Publishers, Philadelphia and New York, 1902. THE TREATMENT OF HYPERACIDITY OF THE STOMACH CONTENTS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CARBOHYDRATE OR MEAT-FREE DIET.* BY DAVID MURRAY COWIE, M. D., ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN. FIRST ASSISTANT IN INTERNAL MEDICINE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. [FROM PROFESSOR DOCK'S CLINIC.] HYPERCHLORHYDRIA is an exceedingly common and distressing condition, one that can in the majority of cases be readily relieved in a symptomatic way, but one that requires time and careful observation to cure. The majority of cases can be cured. By this I mean that the patient's stomach can be brought to a point where the secretion of hydrochloric acid is either reduced to what we call normal, or where the mucous membrane becomes more tolerant to a degree of acidity that formerly produced irritation. When we speak of the treatment of hyperchlorhydria we mean not only the treatment of all conditions whether in the stomach itself or apart from it-that produce or are accompanied by excessive output of hydrochloric acid, but also of other functional or organic conditions with which it is frequently associated. The scope of a paper treating upon all these conditions would be too great to consider at one time, so that what I have to say is limited to cases of true hyperchlorhydria and the care of this symptom group in other conditions only in so far as the measures mentioned herein may apply to any case. The treatment may be conveniently described as hygienic, dietetic, and medicinal, including lávage, the prime object being, as stated before, to reduce the secretion of hydrochloric acid or render the stomach mucosa more tolerant. Hygienic Considerations. In all disorders of digestion, personal hygiene is an important factor in treatment too often neglected. The skin requires frequent cleansing and many home methods of hydro * Read at the Detroit meeting of the MICHIGAN STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY, June, 1903. therapy known to ali may be instituted. However, the mouth is the place where strict hygienic measures should be inaugurated. The cause of much of the distress in hyperacidity is due to so-called amylaceous dyspepsia. Neglected teeth, resulting in ulcerated gums and irritation of the already diseased tongue, gives little encouragement to the patient to masticate his food. There is no part of the treatment that is more frequently overlooked by physician and patient than this one. For this reason no apology is necessary for referring to it at this time. All old stumps and badly decayed teeth should be removed and above all the articulation must be looked after and good grinding surfaces provided. Thorough mastication of food swallowed before the patient sips his tea will often relieve distressing symptoms. People who eat fast often swallow much atmospheric air and this adds to the discomfort already set up by gases elaborated by the disintegration of food. The patient should be instructed to brush his teeth at least twice daily, better before and after meals and always before going to bed, for during the day the movements of the mouth and the more or less constant secretion of saliva tends to remove material from the teeth and gums while during the sleeping hours the conditions are reversed and decomposition goes on more rapidly. The tongue when badly coated should also be brushed frequently. A systematic examination of the tonsilar crypts will often reveal collections of food and decomposed stinking cheesy material. The tonsil should be pulled forward and the posterior portion explored. Bad taste in the mouth and bad breath may frequently be overcome by attention to these simple procedures. A better quality of saliva will result if the mouth is well cared for. If more attention were given to the importance of salivary digestion in the treatment of hyperacidity, fewer of the socalled diastatic preparations would be employed and better results obtained. Physicians are led to use many preparations purported to be active and rapid digesters of starch because they are put upon the market by "reputable" firms. They may be surprised to know that most of these preparations are absolutely inert. It takes but a few seconds for a small amount of good saliva to do a large amount of work. It takes on the other hand in cases of hyperacidity some minutes before free hydrochloric acid appears to check the action of ptyalin, so that in addition to the sojourn of the food in the mouth there remains a period during which salivary digestion is active. in the stomach. It is quite well known to clinicians-although discountenanced by most physiologists-and has recently been confirmed by Pawlow, that the quality of the saliva differs with the kind of stimulus employed. Dry food calls forth an abundant secretion rich in ptyalin, while other stimuli may provoke a copious flow poor in ptyalin. This fact can be used to advantage in the treatment of unpleasant symptoms that sometimes accompany the use of certain kinds of diet. The newer physiology of digestion is explaining many of the facts which have guided clinicians for years in spite of the seeming evidence |