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It remains for us to refer to one or two special points in the general arrangement which have not hitherto been mentioned. One of these is the form of the table of Contents. This gives really a brief summary of the whole book, so that the general plan on which each subject is treated may be readily seen. After reading any portion, the memory may be refreshed by turning to the contents. After each item in the contents the number of the page is inserted, so that the fuller statement of any subject sought for may at once be obtained.

Another feature is the free use of capitals in the text. Whenever in the midst of a paragraph or elsewhere a new subject is introduced, it is indicated by small capitals; these here take the place, to some extent of italics, which latter are very sparely used in the text.

Micro-Photography, including a description of the Wet Collodion and Gelatino-Bromide Process, together with the Best Methods of Mounting and Preparing Objects for Micro-Photography. By A. COWLEY MALLEY, B.A., &c. London: H. K. Lewis. 1883.

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IN the first place, we must take exception to the title of Micro-Photography" given to this little work, as by it the art of producing minute pictures of large objects is generally understood, whilst Mr. Cowley Malley's book treats, properly speaking, of Photo-micrography, or of the art of photographing the magnified image of microscopic objects, or of producing photo-micrographs. As the numerous descriptions of photomicrography are at present scattered in innumerable scientific publications and periodicals, a small handbook containing a description of the most successful methods is very welcome. It is impossible to overrate the value of an art which enables its professor to fix almost instantaneously the enlarged image of microscopical objects, and to produce a large number of copies of it with the greatest ease, whilst drawings of the same objects might require the skill of an artist and days or weeks of time to execute them, in fact, might be impossible in the case of objects undergoing rapid changes. Moreover, the best drawing must always leave doubts as to its correctness.

Mr. Malley gives us first a chapter on the properties of lenses, which any one attempting photo-micrography is sure to have found already in his elementary handbook on the microscope, for assuredly no one need attempt photo-micrography unless he has made himself thoroughly familiar with the

microscope, the optical appliances belonging to it and their uses, by a study of some good work on this subject, as well as by practical work. In the second chapter, Mr. Malley speaks of the microscope and illuminating apparatus which he recommends for photo-micrography-viz., a simple rigid stand without mechanical motions to the stage, although we do not see what objections could be urged against these movements, and how, without them, an object could be looked over systematically under high powers. The achromatic condensers recommended, if we except Powell and Lealand's immersion condenser, are also not those which microscopists would employ who are able to appreciate the modern refinements of illumination and the best workmanship. Mr. Malley goes even the length of saying that the various additions generally made to the first class stands are "an insult to the skilled microscopist." In this we cannot concur, although we are of opinion that they are in many cases quite superfluous. The author, in speaking of illumination, describes how a simple heliostat may be made out of a French clock for the purpose of photographing by sunlight; but he recommends the light of a paraffin lamp, as being always obtainable, requiring little care and expense, and as being sufficient for taking negatives of objects even with the twenty-fifth-inch objective, having a magnification of from 1,000 to 5,000 diameters, which will bear subsequent enlargements to 50,000 before the finest details become visible to the naked eye. This will be encouraging to those who think that either sun or electric light is indispensable for photo-micrography with high powers, as used to be the case before the introduction of "dry plates." Mr. Malley recommends a conical bellows camera, which is generally thought to be the best, and describes a wooden stand for the whole apparatus which he adopted finally after more than ten years' experience, and by means of which the operator is enabled to photograph with the camera either horizontal or vertical, the latter when the objects are in fluid and when the stage of the microscope has to be kept horizontal. According to our experience a better and more rigid arrangement for the latter case is a short stout body bent at a right angle and having a right angle prism, which arrangement allows of the stage of the microscope and the camera being both kept horizontal. Chapter IV treats of mounting and preparing objects, giving some of the best known methods, and calling attention to the staining of objects with suitable colours for photography. The wet collodion process is next referred to (Chap. V) as giving superior results over the dry plate

process, although only suitable for high powers, when sunlight is available. The dry plate process is recommended on account of the short exposures required and its cleanliness and simplicity. Chapter VI informs the reader of the arrangement of the dark room, of the arrangement of the apparatus, and of the method employed by Mr. Malley for taking negatives of photo-micrographs. The author condemns here the employment of amplifying lenses, or of eyepieces to obtain increased magnification of the negative. This is hardly the experience of others; for instance, Mr. George E. Davies, in his excellent handbook on Practical Microscopy, says that he finds the employment of such amplifiers makes no difference, and Dr. Woodward and others obtained with amplifiers results far superior to those obtained by Mr. Malley, if we are to judge of his success from the photo-micrographs forming the frontispiece of the little volume under review. To obtain with a high power objective and without the interpolation of an amplifying lens, a direct negative of sufficient size, necessitates the employment of a long camera, but a long posterior focus of the objective implies a shorter anterior focus or a shorter working distance, which is often not obtainable owing to the thickness of the covering glass. The fact is, that the result depends largely upon the quality of objective and amplifiers employed, and the proper correction of the former for the distance from the latter. Of course, there will be a fractional loss of light, but this may be compensated for by a longer exposure.

The seventh chapter discusses the defects in negatives, their causes and cures; and the last chapter, the production of positives according to various approved methods, as described in handbooks on photography and in the directions accompanying the dry plates. We would have liked to have had here more detailed information about the printing of good positives to be used as lantern transparencies, which are invaluable for lecture purposes. Mr. Malley's book, whilst containing little that is new, will be found useful chiefly by beginners in photo-micrography, and will thus serve its object. Το succeed in photo-micrography requires, besides good microscopical apparatus and first rate object glasses, a thorough acquaintance with the microscope and with photography, and an immense amount of patience, which latter are only acquired in the course of years of serious work.

The type of the book is good, but there are several typographical errors in it, whilst one of the principal diagrams referred to in the text is awanting altogether.

No. 6.

2 H

Vol. XIX.

The Diseases of the Prostate: their Pathology and Treatment. (Students' Edition). By SIR HENRY THOMPSON. J. & A. Churchill.

1883.

ENCOURAGED by the success that attended the cheap issue of his Clinical Lectures, Sir Henry Thompson has now published this cheap edition of his famous prize essay on the Prostate Gland. By so doing, he has laid both students and practitioners under a further debt of gratitude. For, though this is not a student's book in the same sense as the other, it is so in perhaps a higher sense. If it is not a mere statement of the main facts of pathology and treatment, in a short and practical way adapted to the limited time and receptivity of the already overburdened student, it is still a book which, by its very elaboration and its academic form, cannot but prove most stimulating to the younger members of the profession, and will lead them to a more enthusiastic study of anatomical details, to a more accurate observation of pathological processes, and to a greater interest in, and reverence for, the works of the older surgeons.

For this edition, all the chapters have been carefully revised and added to, and a new chapter has been specially written, embodying the author's description of a new operation for the relief of the very distressing symptoms which accompany extreme cases of hypertrophy of the prostate. In some of these cases in which the patient becomes the victim of a vicious circle of actions, in which an absolutely indispensable remedy, the catheter, aggravates the inflammation of the bladder, which therefore in its turn demands the instrument with increasing frequency, it occurred to me, that were it possible to suspend all action on the part of the bladder for a few days to get rid of all accumulation of urine from the organ-to allay the constant and painful want to pass urine, and also, at the same time, to abolish catheterism altogether. with its irritating effect on the urethra, the inflammation of the bladder might subside, and its tolerance of urine might largely increase." With these objects in view, Sir Henry Thompson opens the urethra at the anterior part of the prostatic portion, by a vertical incision in the perinæum, using a grooved staff as for median lithotomy. The urethra being opened for about half an inch, the fore-finger is insinuated into the bladder and its interior explored. A large vulcanized india-rubber catheter, No. 18 or 20 (English scale), should then be introduced and retained for a few days. The relief given by this operation is very great, and the risks of it are slight.

The illustrations are numerous, and include one of the author's new aspirators for removing fragments of calculi from the bladder. In every respect we heartily commend the book, and wish it as much success as the former venture.

REPORTS OF HOSPITAL AND PRIVATE
PRACTICE.

WESTERN INFIRMARY.

REPORTS UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF J. LINDSAY STEVEN, M.B.

FROM PROFESSOR GAIRDNER'S WARDS.

A CASE OF CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS. [Reported by Mr. J. Lindsay Steven, M.B.]—This case is of interest for two reasons, first, because the disease is rare in this country; and second, because it presents several points of great similarity to one which Dr. Finlayson brought under the notice of the Glasgow Pathological and Clinical Society some little time ago. There was no opportunity for making anything like complete clinical observations, and the following note, inserted in the Infirmary Pathological Journal by Dr. Gairdner, contains all that was made out concerning the case during life.

"Peter D., æt. 2, admitted only to die, and with no information as to antecedents. Seen by Dr. Gairdner at the visit preceding death in an obviously extreme state of exhaustion, pallid to a high degree, semi-comatose or completely unable to speak, with dilated but equal pupils nearly, if not absolutely, insensible to light; tache cérébrale not producible to any appreciable degree; fontanelle scarcely closed, otherwise not remarkable; no convulsion nor any cries observed; no paralysis; no squint. The only account that could be obtained was that the child had been wasting before admission; but how long the illness had lasted was unascertained."

The following is Mr. Steven's account of the post-mortem examination, which was made on the 3rd of May.

External appearances.-There is great emaciation; and on the skin of both forearms there are several small bluish or "blae-coloured" spots of varying size, the largest being about the size of a split-pea.

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