butions to the literature of medicine were given to the world, and indeed in which many of the more recent are being published. This condition of much of our professional literature is deeply regretted by all, and particularly by those whose taste and research lead them to refer to this class of works, when the fact is made apparent that whole editions of tracts and books have entirely perished through neglect. With a view to provide against such a contingency, and preserve for the benefit of the profession in some accessible and central locality copies of all home medical publications, the American Medical Association, at its annual meeting in May last, resolved to establish at Washington, D. C., a Library or Repository of American medical works, to which it is believed all the current medical literature of the country will be cheerfully, promptly, and constantly contributed.

It is designed that this repository shall contain copies of every contribution by American physicians to the literature and science of medicine from the earliest settlement of our country, no matter how or where published, including all the books, pamphlets, journals, and even unpublished manuscripts, that can be collected.

Nearly all physicians have some book or pamphlet of the character indicated, which may contain facts relative to the diseases of his section published nowhere else, which they can contribute without inconvenience, and which of itself is of trifling value; yet when many such treatises are assembled together from all parts of our country, embracing its nosology from the earliest period of its settlement, they will form a collection of the greatest importance to the profession.

The secretary (Professor Henry) of the Smithsonian Institute has generously granted the use of a room in that fire-proof building for the keeping and preservation of the library of the American Medical Association, under the charge of its own librarian. The accommodation thus offered the Association for accumulating and preserving its library free of cost is generous

and most encouraging. Gentlemen having scarce and valuable American medical publications will not hesitate to deposit them in such a safe, central, and national repository, where they will be preserved from destruction, and their usefulness secured to the profession.

An appeal for contributions to this library is now made, personally and distinctly, to each and every American physician, medical publisher, and editor, to deposit copies of their works in this repository, where they will be carefully kept for reference, and catalogued with the name of the donor.

Having been selected to carry into effect, as far as practicable, the resolution of the Association to establish a library, we have completed all the necessary arrangements for the reception and preservation of those books which may be sent to our care. Contributions of the class of works mentioned are therefore respectfully and earnestly solicited from every source. Packages may be sent by mail or by Adams' Express to either of us, which will be promptly acknowledged on reception, and a record of titles kept. The library-mark of the Association will be pasted on the inside of the cover of each volume, which will contain also the name of the donor.

Hoping that you may further the project to the extent of adding at least your own productions,

We remain, respectfully,

F. A. ASHFORD, M. D.,

No. 1330 New York Avenue, Librarian;

JOSEPH M. TONER, M. D.,

No. 665 Louisiana Avenue, Library Committee.

REVIEWS.

"Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur."

ART. I.-PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY OF SPIRITUALISM. By W. A. HAMMOND, M. D., Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System, and of Clinical Medicine in Bellevue Hospital Medical College. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

1871.

This pleasing and entertaining little book gives, in a most satisfactory and scientific manner, the coup de grace to all of the absurd and extravagant claims that have been made for the supernatural origin of those manifestations which are popularly termed "spiritualism." Spiritualism would seem to be too small a foe against which to have directed, in sober earnestness, the weapons of medical and psychological science; but Dr. Hammond has thought otherwise, and the medical and general public will thank him for the good service which he has rendered; his arguments are efficient and satisfactory.

It may be remembered that Faraday also thought this myth, which is termed spiritualism, to be a foe worthy of his steel; and all who are familiar with his experiments will recollect how thoroughly he destroyed the pretentious claims of those dishonest or misguided "circles" in London, whose services disturbed 80 fearfully the weak brains of the gentlemanly women and lady-like men of the English metropolis.

Dr. Hammond's little volume will be found very entertaining to the general as well as the medical reader.

ART. II.-LECTURES UPON DISEASES OF THE RECTUM. By W. H. VAN BUREN, M. D., Professor Principles of Surgery and Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs in Bellevue Hospital Medical College. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1870.

This exceedingly excellent and useful little volume will give general satisfaction. It is concisely arranged, and in a very

small compass are condensed all of the practical directions and details connected with this important, much neglected, and comparatively obscure portion of surgical literature. Almost every practitioner is practically interested in the diseases analyzed in this little volume; and as brief, practical, and plain instructions are often sought in vain in the larger surgical works, it is a duty as well as a pleasure to call attention to this contribution of Dr. Van Buren. The table of contents is as follows: and all will see how important it must be to obtain recent and reliable instruction in regard to the troubles mentioned, with so small an expenditure of labor and money. The work does not exceed 164 small pages, and will not cost, perhaps, more than $1.50.

Here is the table of contents: Pruritus Ani-ErythemaHerpes-Chronic Eczema-Eczema Marginatum-Oxyris Vermicularis-Hæmorrhoids-Polypus and Prolapsus Ani-Fistula in Ano-Irritable Ulcer-Stricture of the Rectum-Cancer— Diagnosis-Means of Exploration-Neuralgia-Atony-Impacted Fæces-Hygiene-Special Therapeutics.

ART. III-GALVANO-THERAPEUTICS-THE ACTION OF THE GALVANIC CURRENT UPON THE ACOUSTIC, OPTIC, SYMPATHETIC, AND PNEUMOGASTRIC NERVES. By W. T. NEFTEL, M. D. New York: D. APPLETON & Co. 1871.

The preface to this work is certainly in bad taste-very. It is egotistical to such a degree that the reader examines the work with unavoidable prejudice. There are few physicians who are capable of doing justice to the claims and reasonings of the author, for his chemical and electrical formulas are certainly beyond the ken of any but the expert and specialist. The pathology advanced for many morbid conditions borders upon transcendentalism in medicine, and the phraseology (even to those reasonably familiar with the most pedantic technology

which obscures the pages of current medicine) is so unusual and grotesque as to leave the reader in a double labarynth of wonder and bewilderment. Migraine is a species of hemicrania, the pathology of which is to be accepted as a tetanus of the vaso-motor nerves of the affected side; while the reader is called upon to tread a dangerous highway, upon which he finds, at intervals, these intelligible guide-posts to reassure, to comfort and protect him: "Electro-otiatrics," "paradox-reactions," "anodic openings," cathodic closings," etc., etc. As soon as the patient investigator endeavors, through the agency of his reference works, to determine something approaching to a meaning of these terms; as soon as he is reassured and begins to feel that he is not quite as ignorant as he feared himself to be, the following obstacle is found aggressively objective across his path. After surveying it carefully he falls into a condition of nosological collapse, and almost involuntarily cries aloud for aid; for some one to extricate him from this technological wilderness into which his enthusiasm and spirit of investigations have so disastrously betrayed him. Here is the electrological phantasm which has overpowered and conquered him; and be it understood that many of these phantasms are seen in the shadowy perspective awaiting any one who may have the temerity to undertake the dangerous transit. The following passage may be simple and rational medicine, but the reviewer is not sufficiently educated so to feel and accept it: "I found the left ear affected with torpor; twenty Siemen's elements, with exclusion of the rheostat, called forth no acoustic reaction. Right ear hyperæsthetic; with reversion of formula K a C, Ka D, and A n D, remain without reaction. At the Ka D, A n C, and A n D, two distinct noises, roaring, and bubbling, which at K a D last indefinitely."

Again, there is found this simple explanation of torpor of the acoustic nerve, with twenty Siemen's elements and exclusion of the rheostat; XXX 2100 K a CsEI; XXX 800 K a CSEIII. There can be no doubt that the reader, after examining these extracts, will be either profoundly awed in regard to the science