directs his attention especially to constitutional treatment. His long experience has shown him that arsenic is a most useful remedy, and that the drug sometimes requires to be pushed beyond the regulation doses if a cure is to be effected.

Mr. William Adams has contributed the articles CURVATURE OF SPINE and TALIPES, in the latter of which is included an account of all the congenital and non-congenital distortions of the feet. Mr. Adams is well known as a leading supporter of what is commonly known as " orthopaedic surgery," and these articles give a good résumé of that practice, which consists mainly in the use of mechanical apparatus and the division of contracted tendons. Whether a more physiological view of the nature and treatment of these affections might not be followed in some examples of deformity by better results than are now obtained, it is not for us now to discuss.

Mr. Gascoyen, in addition to several articles relating to diseases of the bones, has edited the article on DISEASES OF THE TESTICLE. In this due reference is made to the researches of Lawrence and Syme on hernia testis, and the labours of Curling, Gross, and other writers on the subject. Many new and useful sections have been added to the original article, which now fully represents the knowledge of the day.

TETANUS has been rewritten by the late Mr. Poland, whose industry and research on any subject he took up are unrivalled. The article is, however, neither so complete nor so modern as the same author's essay on the subject, in Holmes's 'System of Surgery,' and is, in particular, wanting in reference to more recent researches as to pathological changes in the spinal

cord.

Mr. George Lewis Cooper has edited the article, DISEASES OF THE TONGUE, to which he has added a good account of the modern operations for removal of the whole or part of that organ; and has also contributed a biography of his uncle, Samuel Cooper, which is placed at the beginning of the second volume of the Dictionary. From this we learn of Cooper's indomitable industry dating from early life, of his military experiences, his literary successes and temporary hospital failures, and, lastly, of his career at University College, where he probably never was estimated as highly as he deserved, from being brought into close contrast with the more brilliant Liston, and also from the fact that he clung to office longer than his age warranted. Cooper's First Lines of Surgery' and his 'Surgical Dictionary' are the best monuments of his fame.

6

Dr. Robert Barnes has contributed a short article on TRANSFUSION, of which he speaks hopefully, believing that it will gradually come more and more into employment and esteem, and

The

has also edited the various articles relating to the uterus. article INVERSION OF UTERUS is rewritten, and is replete with references to valuable cases, but that on PROLAPSUS OF UTERUS is the original one of Cooper, with merely an addendum by Dr. Barnes, who remarks-"The article by Cooper is so excellent that I have feared to mar it by interpolation. I simply add such information as subsequent progress demands."

TUMOUR has been undertaken by Mr. John Birkett, who has contented himself with making some additions to Cooper's original article. Now, if there is one article in the whole work which of necessity demanded entire rewriting it is this, since the whole subject has undergone such alterations at the hands of Paget, Virchow, Billroth, Broca, and others, that to quote Abernethy, Carswell, and Warren, in the present day is hardly fair either to them or to the reader. Mr. Birkett quotes Broca's classification of tumours with approval, but does not attempt to follow it, and is content with inserting brief notices of the myeloid, recurrent fibroid, and myxomatous tumours. He subsequently gives another classification of tumours, presumably his own, which is "based upon their elementary composition, and has been arranged especially with regard to facilitating their diagnosis at the bedside;" and yet a third quoted from Billroth; but the article is unsatisfactory as a whole, from being simply a piece of patchwork.

ULCERS AND WOUNDS (besides several articles earlier in the work) have been entrusted to Dr. Macleod, of Glasgow, who has made many excellent additions to both. The varieties of ulcers are well described, and good rules for their treatment are laid down. In the article on wounds the various modes of healing as laid down by Paget are given, and an excellent sketch of the history of surgery in the treatment of wounds is appended. Perhaps the most interesting portion is the sketch of modern practice in relation to wounds, which Dr. Macleod divides into-1. Methods of treatment which aim at excluding the air altogether. 2. Plans of disinfecting or preventing putrefaction. 3. The thorough drainage of wounds. 4. The use of irrigation. 5. The employment of certain gases. Speaking of Mr. Lister's antiseptic dressing, Dr. Macleod writes, "That very much can be done by the careful development of this system of practice, and that much more may be expected of it than has even yet been accomplished, no one who has read Mr. Lister's able papers can doubt." We should have been glad, however, to have had Dr. Macleod's own experience on the subject, and some reference to what he had personally witnessed in the wards of the Glasgow infirmary.

Sir Henry Thompson has revised the articles relating to the

URINARY ORGANS, including the PROSTATE, and he has so completely exhausted these subjects in his well-known treatises upon them, that it would be vain to look for any new information in the articles before us. They are, in fact, excellent epitomes of the author's larger works, and may be, therefore, recommended to those who have neither time nor opportunity to devote to literary labour. We are a little surprised to find the operation of tapping the bladder above the pubes in cases of retention spoken of as "easily performed and without danger," in cases in which the bladder can be felt above the pubes; nor do we agree with the dictum "no doubt this is the best situation in which to retain an instrument afterwards." We are not aware of any published cases proving tapping above the pubes to be superior to the operation per rectum, and have known disastrous results follow the operation in the most skilful hands. A short article by the late Mr. Weedon Cooke on the surgical uses of preparations of ZINC concludes the work.

We have purposely left all reference to the labours of Mr. Samuel Lane, the editor of the 'Dictionary,' to the last, and have now to congratulate him on the satisfactory completion of his work. The book would, doubtless, have been of more uniform value had the two volumes appeared more nearly together, but only those who have had to drive a team of medical writers knows what the difficulties in the way of punctual performance of promises are. Mr. Lane's own labours must have been very great, since the revision of a multitude of small details has fallen on his shoulders. He has not, however, shrunk from undertaking several lengthy articles, all of which show evidence of a thorough acquaintance with the literature as well as the practice of surgery, and give proofs if any were required of Mr. Lane's fitness for the editorial office to which he was appointed. From among Mr. Lane's articles we select that on VENEREAL DISEASE for comment as being of general interest, and on a subject upon which that gentleman is especially entitled to speak with authority.

The earlier part of the article is a reproduction of Cooper's historical summary, together with a few interpolations by the editor. In this we have in detail the views both as regards pathology and treatment of Hunter, Carmichael, Wallace, the anti-mercurialists Rose and Fergusson, &c. This, though interesting, will, we fear, tend to confuse those who plunge into the article without any distinct ideas as to modern teaching; and for students, therefore, we should recommend the perusal of the latter half of the article first. This latter portion consists of an elaborate, candid, and fair statement of the views of modern writers on the nature and treatment of venereal disease.

Mr. Lane is an uncompromising "unicist," and has no belief in the existence of two poisons, the one producing the simple chancrous sore and the other the true infecting chancre.

"We of course admit," he says, "that the separation of venereal ulcers into two classes, the indurated or infecting, and the unindurated or non-infecting sore is within certain limits of great practical value. We admit freely that the indurated sore will, as a rule, be followed by constitutional infection, and that the unindurated sore will, as a rule, produce no such results. But both rules, the latter especially, have occasional exceptions, and we believe it to be impossible to predict with certainty of any given sore, however typical in appearance, that it will or will not be followed by secondary infection. There is no certain proof of the infecting nature of the sore, but the fact of infection itself."

Again, upon the important question of infection of the system by a soft sore, Mr. Lane says:

"We are certain that sores that have never shown induration at any period of their progress, and which we have ourselves carefully watched throughout, have, nevertheless, been followed at the usual period by a well-marked secondary eruption."

We need hardly say that Mr. Lane has no faith in the so-called "chancre mixte" which is put up to explain the undoubted occurrence of constitutional symptoms after a soft sore, and which he speaks of derisively as "this double-barrelled sore."

The section on modern treatment is full and satisfactory. Mr. Lane speaks in no uncertain tone of the use of mercury given with judgment, and thinks it of secondary importance by what means it is introduced into the system. He regards iodide of potassium as rather antagonistic to mercury, and therefore characterises the common practice of giving the two drugs in combination as "blowing hot and cold." Sections on syphilis affecting internal organs taken principally from Dr. Wilks' essay; on Mr. Hutchinson's views on inherited syphilis; and on syphilisation, quoted principally from Mr. James Lane's and Mr. Gascoyen's paper in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,' are followed by a transcription of the greater part of the valuable report of the Government committee on venereal diseases published in 1867.

We have thus endeavoured to do justice, so far as the space at our disposal will permit, to the labours of the editor and staff of collaborateurs of the last edition of Cooper's Surgical Dictionary.' We recommend the work to the notice of all those students of surgery who are not content to accept the last new view as true because it is new, but desire to know something of the history of their art, and to form their opinions upon those of the leading thinkers of the past and present generation.

V.-Letheby on Food. 1

THE work which we have before us, and which ought to have received earlier notice, is by the well-known medical officer of health of the City of London, and consists of four lectures delivered by him at the Society of Arts in 1869, in his capacity of Cantor Lecturer. It is characterised by the chemical knowledge and general ability of its author, and has been so well appreciated by the public as to have already reached a second edition.

In proceeding to describe the contents of this work we may remark that there are three qualities which run through it. It does not lay claim to originality of observation as to food and dietaries; it acknowledges fairly the source whence the extracted materials have been derived, and it possesses numerous tables, which render it a very useful work of reference. We may also add that it is written in a terse, clear, and attractive style, and is excellently well adapted to the intelligent auditory, to whom it was originally addressed.

The subjects discussed by the author are large and important, viz. 1st. Varieties of food-their chemical and nutritive values; 2nd. Comparative digestibility of foods, and the functions of different foods; 3rd. Construction of dietaries and preparation, and culinary treatment of food; and, 4th. Preserved unwholesome and adulterated foods. The works most largely laid under contribution are those of Dr. Edward Smith, and particularly his reports to the Privy Council, his lectures at the Society of Arts, and his papers in the Philosophical Transactions.

Taking the quantity of nitrogenous matter which Dr. Smith had found to be necessary to sustain life in the Lancashire operatives, viz. 1220 grains, he supplies a table which shows the very varied quantities of carbon which would be associated with it in different foods, viz. from 2723 grains in skim-milk cheese to 15,062 in bread, and 1,110,000 in beer or porter, and for greater convenience of comparison supplements it with another in which human milk is taken at 100. This method, however, yielded no satisfactory results, and it became necessary to select foods which by combination would yield a suitable proportion of nitrogenous and carbonaceous matter, and to take a standard quantity of nitrogen and carbon as a daily supply. By making an average of many observations recorded by Dr. Lyon Playfair and Dr. E. Smith he found that the daily requirement

On Food: its Varieties, Chemical Composition, Nutritive Value, Comparative Digestibility, Physiological Functions and Uses, Preparation, Culinary Treatment, Preservation, Adulteration, &c. Being the Substance of Four Cantor Lectures by H. LETHEBY, M.B., M.A., Ph.D, &c.