What is the consequence? Two of the books will prove extremely unsatisfactory, and but one will be found to fulfill in any way the anticipations of the purchaser. The work on the œsophagus is the production of an undergraduate—a creditable performance for a student, but by no means the work any practitioner, not a friend of the writer, would care to purchase. Mr. Porritt’s treatise is good to that degree that one feels aggrieved that his friends permitted him to publish anything until he had produced something first-class—for he is evidently a young man of ability. Practical surgeons who have arrived at years of maturity, not infrequently have occasion to notice that young men of brilliant parts who enter upon the practice of that art, seem to think they are unjustly kept in the background because no notice is taken of their efforts to gain position in their profession by the arts of the rhetorician or the tricks of the essayist. Nevertheless, no man can become a surgeon, save by surgical works, or be entitled to speak as one except he be a man of learning or experience—or both.
After so much that is unpleasant, it is a pleasure to turn to a work of a radically different kind. In ‘Hamilton’s Bronchitis,’ the reader will find a treatise that is a mine of pathological lore; a work every page of which is suggestive and instructive. It possesses the rare quality of being interesting to an unusual degree, and its perusal will be a substantial pleasure to all its readers.
‘The Physician Himself.’ By D. W. Cathell, M. D. Fifth edition. Baltimore: Cushings & Bailey.
It is rather humiliating to the physician who is interested in equipping his brain to successfully combat disease to find himself distanced by the individual who rides into a paying practice in a fine carriage. But we must take the world as we find it, and so long as people are judged by what they seem and not by what they are, such books as the ‘Physician Himself’ will be demanded. What shall we eat, and where shall we sleep, and how shall we be clothed withal, are, like the poor, always with the doctor.
Dr. Cathell has succeeded quite well in showing the importance of business tact and sagacity in promoting the welfare of the physician. He gives rules as to the best methods to pursue toward patients both in the office and out, so as to line the doctor’s pocket-book. He tells him how to dress, how to walk, how to sleep and how to eat, what kind of signs to display, gives hints as to the selection of an office, together with suitable furniture, etc., etc.
‘Post-Mortem Examination.’ By Professor Rudolph Virchow. Translated by T. P. Smith, M. D., from the fourth German edition. Philadelphia: P. Blackson, Son & Co.
In this admirable little work, Prof. Virchow gives a brief account of his early experience as Prosector in the dead-house of the Berlin Charity Hospital, and traces under his auspices the development of a systematic method of conducting post-mortem examinations. He also criticises, explains and illustrates the regulations which have been promulgated throughout Germany for the guidance of medical jurists in performing autopsies and drawing up reports.
He also gives three interesting cases in which the post-mortem examinations were performed by himself, the order of sequence enjoined by the regulations being closely adhered to. They may be taken as examples of the way in which all post-mortem examinations for medico-legal purposes should be conducted. It is much to be wished that a method similar to the one which has received the high sanction of Prof. Virchow were adopted in this country. One hundred and thirty-eight pages, neatly bound in cloth, with a number of plates. Price $1.50.