8. That complete division of stricture at any point results in the immediate disappearance of the stricture.

9. That separation of the sundered ends of the stricture, suitably maintained until the healing of the wound, prevents the return of the stricture, and finally results in the complete absorption of the stricture tissue.

10. That stricture is, strictly speaking, an inflammatory product, and that any acute or chronic inflammation may produce it.

11. That stricture is often present as a result of inflammation caused by lithiasis, masturbation, or urethral laceration (by gravel, etc.), though usually the sequel of a gonorrhoea.

12. That stricture occurs most frequently in the anterior part of the canal; and with increasing frequency when approaching the meatus, where a gonorrhoeal inflammation begins the earliest, rages the hottest, and lasts the longest.

ART. IV.-Lithoplaxy, or Rapid Lithotrity with Evacuation. By HENRY J. BIGELOW, M. D., Professor of Surgery in Harvard University; Surgeon of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Boston: A. Williams & Co. New York: William Wood & Co. 1878.

THIS volume of forty pages is a reprint with additions from the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences" of January, 1878, the "Massachusetts Medical and Surgical Journal" of February 28, 1878, and the "New York Medical Record" of June 8, 1878. The publicity given to this method by several. so recent appearances in print renders it unnecessary for us to do more than call attention to its distinctive features. These are, in the first place, the lengthening of the sitting till the stone is completely crushed, and, in the second place, the removal of the fragments by a new evacuating apparatus, which is far more efficient than those now in use. Dr. Bigelow believes that the damage to the bladder from sharp fragments of calculi is much greater than from the blades of a properly constructed instrument, and "that it is better to protract the operation indefinitely in point of time, if thus the whole stone can be removed without serious injury to the bladder." The evacuating apparatus consists of straight and curved silver

tubes of sizes varying from twenty-seven to thirty-one of the French scale, and a rubber tube of seven sixteenths of an inch diameter connecting the tubes with a large rubber bulb, which has a glass receptacle attached to its fundus for the purpose of receiving the fragments. These tubes are larger than any heretofore used, and allow the passage of fragments of a diameter little less than their own. It is hence no longer necessary to reduce the stone to powder. To break it into fragments is sufficient; and, to accomplish this as rapidly as possible, the lithotrite has been so modified as to make it more powerful, quite as easy to manipulate, and less likely to catch the mucous membrane. It is, like the evacuating apparatus, a vast improvement on the instruments which have preceded it.

The clinical evidence as to the value of this method, although meager, is extremely satisfactory. Fourteen cases have been operated on with one death. All but two were finished in one sitting, varying in duration from one to three hours, and yielding quantities of detritus varying from fifty and sixty to one hundred and ten grains. These are sufficient to prove the tolerance of the bladder to longer sittings than have been advised by lithotritists, and to induce surgeons to put the method at once on trial. Some disadvantages may be disclosed by the record of a larger number of cases, but at present the operation seems likely to revolutionize the surgical treatment of stone in the bladder.

ART. V.-Practical Surgery: including Surgical Dressings, Bandaging Ligations, and Amputations. By J. EWING MEARS, M. D., Demonstrator of Surgery in Jefferson Medical College, Professor of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery in Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, Surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital, etc. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1878.

In a small octavo volume of two hundred and eighty pages the author has dealt very fairly with the subjects mentioned in the title. The part devoted to Bandaging is on the whole satisfactory, although the illustrations are very familiar and could be improved upon. To Surgical Dressings a little more space could have been advantageously given, certainly

more than six lines to "Splints," while mention of Guérin's Cotton Dressing and some details of the open treatment of wounds would have been valuable. Lister's antiseptic method is properly described. Jute, which in its commercial form, as well as when impregnated with carbolic or salicylic acid, has found such favor in Germany, does not appear to be known to the author. We are surprised that the various dressings for fractures of the extremities have not been included in the surgical dressings. Practical points in reference to the application of these are generally too meager in our standard text-books, and the practitioner is obliged to refer to treatises on minor surgery. On the other hand, such operations as ligations and amputations receive ample attention in the larger books, and are not needed in the smaller ones. These operations have been briefly described by the author, with anatomical details and some passable illustrations. They do not merit special comment. Some of the minor operations would have been quite as useful subjects for a book of this sort. Incisions into abscesses, counter-openings and insertion of drainage-tubes, cauterization, subcutaneous injection, cupping, and venesection, may be mentioned as examples. At the same time we must not forget the purpose of the author, as announced in the preface, of including in his book those subjects which are treated of in his courses of instruction. He has certainly handled well the topics selected, and produced a valuable and useful volume.

ART. VI.-Hand-Book of Surgical Pathology for the Use of Students in the Museum of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. By W. J. WALSHAM, M. B., F. R. C. S., Demonstrator of Anatomy and Operative Surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. London: Henry Kimpton. 1878.

In the preface the author writes: "The method of conducting the pathological part of the examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons of England is to show the candidate a number of specimens of surgical affections, the morbid appearances of which he is expected to recognize, account for, and to describe. This book encourages the method of study which

the highest surgical authority recommends by the nature of its examinations."

The author's plan is to give a short account of the affections of different tissues and organs, and then to illustrate, as far as possible by the description of specimens, the stages, terminations, etc. The number of specimens is so great that most important lesions are thoroughly illustrated, and many rare conditions are exhibited. The injuries and diseases of bloodvessels and the genito-urinary system, and diseases of the female breast, are represented by unusually rich collections.

The pathological processes are described briefly but clearly, and with due reference to the views and statements of recent authorities. The addition of illustrations would have made the book far more attractive. In its present form, however, it is a very satisfactory volume, and one that is likely to prove both instructive and interesting to many other readers than those preparing for the examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

ART. VII.-A Manual of Prescription- Writing, with a Full Explanation of the Methods of correctly writing Prescriptions; a Table of Doses expressed in both the Apothecaries' and Metric Systems; Rules for avoiding Incompatibilities and combining Medicines. By MATTHEW D. MANN, A. M., M. D., Lecturer on Clinical Microscopy and Examiner in Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, etc. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878. Pp. 156. Price, 90 cents.

MANY students who obtain a fair and available knowledge of other departments of medicine begin practice with a very imperfect acquaintance with the art of prescribing—an art which they are called upon to exercise at the very outset of practice, and under such circumstances as render it impossible to refer to text-books. It is to supply this needed information that Dr. Mann has prepared the useful little volume to which we now direct attention. The scope and purport of the book are sufficiently indicated by the title, and we need hardly say more than that the author has very satisfactorily accomplished the task he undertook. The directions for prescription-writing

are clear and concise, and the examples given in illustration. are well chosen. The list of medicines with doses in both the ordinary and the metric terms will be found very convenient for reference, while the chapter on the metric system strikes us as the best we have yet seen. The work should be in the hands of every student of medicine, and might be perused with advantage by a great many practitioners.

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.-The Bearings of Chronic Disease of the Heart upon Pregnancy, Parturition, and Childbed. With Papers on Puerperal Pleuro-pneumonia and Eclampsia. By Angus Macdonald, M. A., M. D., F. R. C. P. E., Lecturer on Midwifery and Diseases of Women in the Medical School, Edinburgh. London: J. & A. Churchill, 1878.

Lectures on Bright's Disease of the Kidneys. Delivered at the School of Medicine of Paris. By J. M. Charcot, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, etc. Collected and published by Drs. Bourneville and Sevestre, editors of the "Progrès Médical." Translated, with permission of the author, by H. B. Millard, M. D. New York: William Wood & Co., 1878.

Lectures on Localization in Diseases of the Brain. Delivered at the Faculté de Médecine, Paris, 1875. By J. M. Charcot, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, Chief of the Salpêtrière Hospital, etc. Edited by Bourneville. Translated by E. P. Fowler, M. D. New York: William Wood & Co., 1878.

Laceration of the Cervix Uteri. The Address in Obstetrics delivered before the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, at its Annual Meeting held at Pittsburg, May, 1878. By William Goodell, A. M., M. D., Clinical Professor of Gynecology in the University of Pennsylvania. Reprinted from its Transactions.

The Illinois State Medical Register for 1878-79. Published annually, under the Supervision of the Chicago Medico-Historical Society, with the cooperation of the Illinois State Medical Society. D. W. Graham, M. D., editor. Vol. IV. Chicago: W. T. Keener, 1878.

On Artificial Disinfection as a Means of preventing the Spread of Infectious Diseases. By Rev. J. H. Timins, M. A., F. G. S., Vicar of West Malling, Kent, Student of St. Thomas's Hospital, London. London: J. & A. Churchill, 1878.

Epithelioma of the Cervix Uteri; Amputation with Paquelin's Thermo-Cautery. By H. P. C. Wilson, M. D., Vice-President of the American Gynecological Society. Reprint from the "Maryland Medical Journal" for December, 1878.