We are thankful though that the civil surgeon still sees “union by adhesion,” and “first intention,” and “granulation,” in regions so far remote from Listerism that there is little hope it will enter there, and if it does it will hardly captivate the even-minded country surgeon. When the days of probationary Listerism have ended, we will not be surprised if the verdict is against it.
But we have digressed from our book. It is the XVIth chapter on “Diseases of the Skin” that will be often consulted by the busy doctor. Having made his diagnosis, here is a goodly array of remedial agents, from the most eminent teachers to help him out of difficulties. We miss chrysophanic acid in the composition of his formulæ for the treatment of psoriasis. It certainly has made as much headway in the favor of the general practitioner as any of the more recent agents.
But why say anything about a book which has made its way through the world, and has now come to its sixth edition? The hundreds of medical men who will read it, will traverse a field of surgical treatment far beyond the facilities of those possessed of the best private libraries. As long as the author keeps up with the current of surgical treatment, his book will be sought after. We congratulate the author, and Dr. Brinton, on the success of this book, and advise our friends to buy it.
A Clinical Treatise on Diseases of the Liver. By Fried-Theod. Frerichs. Prof. of Clin. Med. Uni. of Berlin, &c., &c. In three volumes. Translated by Charles Murchison, M. D., F. R. C. P. Physician to the London Fever Hospital. New York: Wm. Wood & Co. 27 Great Jones Street. 1879. 8vo. Pp. 224.
This is the third volume of Wood’s Library of Standard Medical Authors.
For many years this work of Frerich’s has been a classic, although only known popularly to the American profession by the large number of quotations made from it by writers on diseases of the liver. Although the word “Clinical” appears on the title page, it is nevertheless a systematic treatise which traverses the entire field of clinical pathology, and embraces also lucid historical accounts of the phases of change which medical men have passed through on their way to the knowledge of the present day.
This book, more than any we have been called upon to review, shows how much German authors rely upon the authority of their own people. References everywhere abound, but for the most part to German works. We do not mention this as a fault, but to make the contrast with American authors who seem to glory in going far away from home for authority among the unspeakable names of the Russian and German gentry.
Prof. Frerich’s work for this reason will be more valuable to American students who wish to know the state of pathology in Germany in regard to “the great gland.”
As, of course, no American physician can now forego the pleasure and duty of making Frerich’s on the Liver one of his working tools, we leave them to judge if we are mistaken in saying that it is a master-piece.
Dr. Charles Murchison is the translator, and his preface serves to elucidate many points, and to bring the work up to the present advanced state of pathological and physiological knowledge. It is not necessary to say anything commendatory of the author of Functional Diseases of the Liver, as every Southern physician will have found a good friend and counsellor in this volume already.