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Reviews and Notices of Books.An Anatomical Dissertation upon the illove?ne?tt of the Heart
and Blood in Animals, being a Statement of the Discovery ofthe Circulation of the Blood. By WILLIAM HARVEY, M.D.Privately reproduced in facsimile from the Original Editionprinted at Franckfort-on-the-Maine in the year 1628, witha Translation and Memoir, for G. Moreton, 42, Burgate-street, Canterbury.
THIS handsome volume deserves to be studied by all whoare interested in the story of England’s greatest contributionto physiology. It contains a masterpiece of facsimile repro-duction of typography, comprising everything that is in theoriginal edition of Harvey’s famous Exercitatio Anatomicade Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus," from the
engraved title-page to the concluding list of errata, forwhich the Frankfort printer apologised on the ground of"rei novitas & nostris correctoribus inusitata missi exem-
plaris litera peregrina." He, however, omitted reference tosome of his errata, as, for instance, that on p. 7, line 3,where the medial letter p has dropped out of the word
"philosophati." The method of reproduction is not men-
tioned ; but it has, no doubt, been some photo-mechanicalprocess. The result has been compared with a copy of theanginal edition in the library of the British Museum, and thepractical identity of the printed surface in the two volumesis hardly attainable by any other means. The above-mentionedgap in the word I I philosophati is in the Museum copy filledby a letter of distinctly more slender outline than the others.In the new edition the two engravings of the arms
bandaged for venesection have a pale-grey background,which does not exist in the original. The latter, more-
over, was printed on paper of indifferent quality withnarrow margins, but the new edition is on thick and fine
paper with wide margins all round, top edge gilt, front andbottom edges rough, vellum back with cloth sides. Whenthe original appeared in 1628 Harvey would be in his fiftiethor fifty-first year ; the first English reprint of the Latin textwas published in 1648, and the first English translation in1653. Harvey died in 1657. The Exercitatio consists of
only seventy-two pages (thirty-six leaves), including thetitle-page, but not including the list of errata, and is there-fore among the smallest of the seventeenth-century treatiseswhich have conspicuously extended the field of know-
ledge. The original work on Logarithms by Napier ofMerchiston is comparable with it in this respect. Amongother treatises of the same century, which, though in smallcompass, nevertheless enjoy permanent celebrity, that ofSir Isaac Newton on Fluxions was bound up with the first
edition of his Opticks ; and that of Descartes, in which thescience of coordinate geometry was first unfolded, waspublished anonymously in 1637 in connexion with the
" Discours de la Méthode pour bien conduire sa Raison."The book has for its frontispiece a portrait of Harvey, and
it also contains an excellent English translation of the
"Exercitatio," being, with a few verbal emendations, theversion by Dr. Robert Willis of Barnes, Surrey, by whomthe whole of Harvey’s works were translated for the
Sydenham Society in 1847.
Physical and Viztitrad Therapeutics. By GEORGES HAYEM,M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Faculty ofMedicine, Paris ; edited by HOBART AMORY HARE, M.D.,Professor of Therapeutics and Materia Medica in theJefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Edinburgh andLondon : Young J. Pentland. 1895. IAs a sub-title explains, this is a worK clealing with the
remedial uses of atmospheric pressure, climate, heat and
cold, hydro-therapeutic measures, mineral waters, and
electricity. This is a comprehensive and not wholly homo-
geneous group of subjects, and we are not entirely convincedof the practical utility of treating them together. Climato-
logy is in itself a very large subject, any cursory treatmentof which cannot be of much value ; balneology in likemanner has become too extensive to handle conveniently asa mere section of a general work, and the therapeutic appli-cations of electricity have become almost a new branch.On these grounds, therefore, we think Dr. Hayem has essayeda task of no ordinary difficulty, nor can we think that theexecution of it has been quite successful. In the sectionon Climate we are informed that " Tasmania and NewZealand have been much extolled in recent years as
climatic resorts. They are not of sufficient interest to warranta detailed description. ...... New Zealand has a humid andwind-swept coast, and should be avoided by sufferers frompulmonary diseases." This is both superficial and inaccurate.The provinces of Napier and Canterbury in New Zealandafford some good resorts for phthisical patients. As
regards Davos we are informed (p. 67) that " the air is quitehumid, more so in the winter than the summer." Again,what are we to make out of the statement on p. 73
that the dry and cold climates are so rarely employed inthe treatment of disease that their considerations (sic)may be omitted"? In this section Dr. Hayem draws
largely, with the most ample acknowledgments, upon theworks of Weber, Williams, and Lindsay, but we imaginethose writers will be somewhat surprised at the use some-times made of their material. The section on MineralWaters seems to be more carefully done, and is on the wholesound and accurate. The writer’s estimate of the
sphere and utility of mineral waters is moderate and
judicious. The section on Electricity is full and com-
prehensive, and is perhaps the best part of the book.The writer has a high opinion of the practical applicationsof electricity, which he styles " one of the most remarkableof therapeutic agents." The following paragraph containssome of the more important of his views on this subject:"Central galvanisation is said to produce chiefly improve-ment in sleeping, increase of appetite and muscular force,reawakening of intelligence, and the disappearance of
fatigue. An increase in the body-weight is not observedafter this treatment, this being produced only by generalfaradisation. The indications for the general measures arenumerous. They comprise, apart from the neuroses, thosediseases that are associated with disorders of nutrition, andinvolve from their long duration a more or less intense
wasting of the organism. It is conceded that in cases in
which it is desired to act specially upon the central nervoussystem preference should be given to general galvanisation,and that general faradisation has a more marked action onthe skin and the muscular masses, and that it is particularlyadapted for producing a general tonic action." On the
whole, this is a disappointing book.
Ireland : its Healts-resorts and Watering-places. By D.EDGAR FLIN-N,, F.R.C.S. Irel., D.P.H., Examiner in StateMedicine and Public Health, Royal Colleges of Physiciansand Surgeons’ Conjoint Examining Board, Ireland.Second Edition. Dublin : Fannin and Co. London :Bailliere, Tindall, and Co. 1895.
MANY writers, both in prose and verse, have celebrated thebeauties of Irish scenery, and reminiscences of famousevents are plentiful all over the country ; but the throng ofEnglish tourists who make their way every year to the
Rhenish watering-places, to Switzerland, and to the shores ofthe Mediterranean do not fully realise the excellent oppor-tunities which await the summer visitor to Ireland. Fashion
is, no doubt, accountable for some of this indifference, butother explanations of it are to be found in the superiorattractions of gay Continental show places and the, rskill of their inhabitants in suiting various tastes
108
Mr. Flinn’s book contains a wealth of information forthose who desire relaxation and change of scene without
enoountering the drawbacks incidental to foreign travel. Itis a valuable addition to our manuals of special topo-graphy, being profusely illustrated and introducing thereader to some ninety localities notable either for mildness ofclimate, charming scenery, or mineral springs. Sulphurettedsprings occur at Lucan (nine miles from Dublin), at
Lisdoonvarna (on the west coast, near Galway Bay), at
Swanlinbar (county Cavan), and at Ballynahinch (seventeenmiles from Belfast). Chalybeate springs are found at
Lisdoonvarna, Castleconnell, Ballynahinch, and other
places. The only warm spring in Ireland is at Mallow, incounty Cork, the temperature of the water being from 70°to 72°F.
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Nursing in a Nutshell : t7ie Rearing and Management ofChildren from Infancy upwards. By a DOCTOR OFMEDICINE. London : Iliffe and Son. Price 6d. ’
THIS little work is described as a practical instructor
for the use of parents and superior nurses, and is mainlyapplicable to children in ordinary health. It is excellentlyadapted to the end in view, but in the short chapter onthe Eyes and Sight some warning might have been added asto the care of the sight during school-life, and readers arelikely to be misled by the reiterated statements to the effectthat "a successful vaccination affords as much protectionagainst small-pox as an attack of that disease itself." This
statement is rather equivocal; it would have been more to thepoint had the writer emphasised the value of re-vaccinationafter childhood, as ensuring a degree of protection evengreater than that afforded by a previous attack of small-pox.
LIBRARY TABLE.
A Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Children, for Phy-sicians and Students. By B. SACHS, M.D., Professor ofMental and Nervous Diseases in the New York Polyclinic, &c.pp. 650. 160 Illustrations. London: Bailliere, Tindall,and Cox. 1895.-Dr. Sachs presents us in this volume witha very full, clear, and well-illustrated account of a numberof forms of nervous disease. From the title of the book wewere led to expect that the description of the diseases would refer to the manifestations present in children. Liberal
space, it is true, is given to affections such as chorea andthe myopathies which are met with most frequently in juvenile subjects ; but when we come to conditions such as l
epilepsy, which are met with at all ages, the descrip- tion of the disease is much more suited to adult gcases than to children. There is no attempt made to differentiate for the reader the picture presented by children suffering from particular complaints and that of adults in ]the same condition. Chapters are even given to paralysis
agitans and tabes dorsalis. Hence the reader is constantly inconfusion as to whether adults or children are referred to.A chapter on Mental Disorders is added, including a sectionon Idiocy and Imbecility. The book shows through-out that the author is a man of very wide and accurate
neurological knowledge, and that his descriptions are basedon personal observation and experience. It is much to be
regretted that he did not prune the book more thoroughlybefore publication and keep rigidly to the subject he had!chosen for the title. The language employed is clear and’pleasant, and the book is profusely illustrated, chiefly fromphotographs of clinical cases.Annales de l’Institut Pasteur. Vol. IX., No. 11. Paris.- e
G. Masson, Nov. 1895.-This account of original workcarried on in the Pasteur Institute comprises several
papers of great interest. M. Marchoux has experi-mented further with the serum of blood taken froman animal that has been immunised against anthrax,and finds that the antidotal powers of the serum are greaterif taken a short time after a fresh dose of a virulent anthraxculture has been given to the immunised animal. He finds
that the best results are obtained if the serum is pre-pared two or three weeks after the last inoculation. M.Duclaux continues his researches on intra-cellular nutrition,based mainly on the behaviour of the ordinary organisms of’fermentation in various media, and M. Grimbert deals withthe changes produced by the growth of pure cultivations ofFriedlander’s pneumococcus in sugars, glycerine, &c.
Contrary to what Frankland had supposed, he finds thatit acts on glycerine, splitting it up into ethyl alcohol, aceticacid, and lactic acid.
The Care of the Baby : a llannal for Mothers and N2crsesPBy J. P. CROZER GRIFFITH, M.D., Clinical Professor ofDiseases of Children in the Hospital of the University ofPennsylvania. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders. 1895.
Price,$1.50 -Parents will find in this volume of 37D
pages most copious information on every detail of’
nursery management. The opening chapter describesthe precautions to be observed by the mother duringhe later months of pregnancy and gives elaboratelirections as to the preparations to be made for the
expected event, "ether, one half-pound," being among thearticles to be provided for the occasion, although its use)r application is nowhere alluded to. There are eleven
;hapters in all, the last of which, on the Sick Baby, is theargest, covering about 130pages. It contains rather more thanhe average mother can be expected to assimilate, but thegeneral directions as to domestic treatment until medicaladvice can be obtained are excellent, and the fulness of the
symptomatology makes it worthy the attention of young)ractitioners. The book is written in an agreeable style ands copiously illustrated.
New Inventions.A NEW VACCINATOR.
PRACTITIONERS who have to vaccinate a large number of patients in rapid succession will appreciate the utility of any
contrivance by which the operation is facilitated, and
observation for an hour or two at a well-attended vaccinationstation will remove any doubts as to the saving of time andlabour which may be effected by the adoption of a judicioussystem. For these reasons I forward a description of an
instrument which Messrs. Mayer and Meltzer have made forme, and which I have found very effective in my capacity asa public vaccinator. It consists, as will be seen by the’
illustration, of a blunt-pointed lancet and needle in oneinstrument. The advantages of it are, firstly, that it is.
easily kept clean ; secondly, that it can be used either as a,
’ scarifier or as a puncturer ; and, thirdly, that the roughness.of the handle enables one to use it more easily than anI ordinary lancet. It is put up in a wooden case in which
there are recesses for tubes. T. GARRETT HORDER.. Cardiff.
T. GARRETT HORDER.