MEDICAL SERIES
The medical volumes which have been translated for this series may be divided into two main groups, the first dealing with certain epidemic diseases including syphilis, which are most liable to attack soldiers, and the second with various aspects of the neurology of war. The last word on Typhoid Fever, hitherto "the greatest scourge of armies in time of war," as it has been truly called, will be found in the monograph by MM. Vincent and Muratet which contains a full account of recent progress in bacteriology and epidemiology as well as the clinical features of typhoid and paratyphoid fevers. The writers combat a belief in the comparatively harmless nature of paratyphoid and state that in the present war hæmorrhage and perforation have been as frequent in paratyphoid as in typhoid fever. In their chapter on diagnosis they show that the serum test is of no value in the case of those who have undergone anti-typhoid or anti-paratyphoid vaccination and that precise information can be gained by blood cultures only. The relative advantages of a restricted and liberal diet are discussed in the chapter on treatment, which also contains a description of serum-therapy and vaccine-therapy and the general management of the patient.
Considerable space is devoted to the important question of the carrier of infection. A special chapter is devoted to the prophylaxis of typhoid fever in the army. The work concludes with a chapter on preventive inoculation in which its value is conclusively proved by the statistics of all countries in which it has been employed.
MM. Vincent and Muratet have also contributed to the series a work on Dysentery, Cholera and Typhus which will be of special interest to those whose duties take them to the Eastern Mediterranean or Mesopotamia. The carrier problem in relation to dysentery and cholera is fully discussed, and special stress is laid on the epidemiological importance of mild or abortive cases of these two diseases.
In their monograph on The Abnormal Forms of Tetanus, MM. Courtois-Suffit and Giroux treat of those varieties of the disease in which the spasm is confined to a limited group of muscles, e. g. those of the head, or one or more limbs, or of the abdomino-thoracic muscles. The constitutional symptoms are less severe than in the generalised form of the disease, and the prognosis is more favourable.
The volume by Dr. G. Thilbierge on Syphilis in the Army is intended as a vade-mecum for medical officers in the army.
Turning now to works of neurological interest we have two volumes dealing with lesions of the peripheral nerves by Mme. Atanassio Benisty, who has been for several years assistant to Professor Pierre Marie at La Salpêtrière. The first volume contains an account of the anatomy and physiology of the peripheral nerves, together with the symptomatology of their lesions. The second volume is devoted to the prognosis and treatment of nerve lesions.
The monograph of MM. Babinski and Froment on Hysteria or Pithiatism and Nervous Disorders of a Reflex Character next claims attention. In the first part the old conception of hysteria, especially as it was built up by Charcot, is set forth, and is followed by a description of the modern conception of hysteria due to Babinski, who has suggested the substitution of the term "Pithiatism," i. e. a state curable by persuasion, for the old name hysteria. The second part deals with nervous disorders of a reflex character, consisting of contractures or paralysis following traumatism, which are frequently found in the neurology of war, and a variety of minor symptoms, such as muscular atrophy, exaggeration of the tendon reflexes, vasomotor, thermal and secretory changes, etc. An important section discusses the future of such men, especially as regards their disposal by medical boards.
An instructive companion volume to the above is to be found in the monograph of MM. Roussy and Lhermitte, which embodies a description of the psychoneuroses met with in war, starting with elementary motor disorders and concluding with the most complex represented by pure psychoses.