Reviews and Notices of Books

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101.2° F. She made a good recovery, though somewhat slow.When removed and in the recent condition the tumourweighed 5½ lb. The following was the report made by Dr.McWeeney : " The tumour is whitish in colour, covered closeto the pedicle with rather dark-coloured skin, from whichgrew a few long hairs, whilst elsewhere it is covered withepithelium which has the character of mucous membrane.It is lobulated and very irregular in shape, with numerouspapilla-like exerescences, so as to resemble a gigantic wart ;the consistency is rather soft. Between the larger lobes arecurious sinuous cavities, some of which are actual passages orcanals running right through the mass from near the pedicleat one end to the free convexity on the other. Part of the skincovering the base of the tumour is covered with innumerablesmall pedunculated protuberances like fungiform papillæ.Microscopically the tumour consists of a somewhat cedematousfibrous tissue of loose texture containing so many lymphclefts that in places one might almost term it a lymphangioma.There are also very numerous newly-formed bloodvessels.Around the lymph clefts are many collections of lymphoidand epitheloid cells. Sections of the papilla-like pro-tuberances show essentially the same appearances. Thesurface is covered with stratified epithelium, which, from itsslightly-developed horny layer and absence of hair follicles,may be said to constitute a mucous membrane. I should beinclined to class this specimen provisionally as molluscumfibrosum." Dr. Kidd exhibited two excellent photographsof the tumour before removal.-The PRESIDENT had only metwith one case analogous to this, one of the labia beingenormously enlarged, but the growth did not reach one-thirdof the dimensions seen in the present instance.-Dr. JELLETThad observed a case in many respects similar to Dr. Kidd’s,one labium being three times the size of the oppositelabium.Mr. HASTINGS TWEEDY read a paper on Eclampsia, arguing

that it, like uraamic convulsions, arose from retention pro-ducts in the system the normal resultants of tissue waste.There may be either a diseased condition of the kidneys orelse an increased formation of toxine This latter factor isalways present during pregnancy and is in large part to beattributed to the growth of the fcetus. Convulsions do notowe their causation to the presence of toxines in the blood,but rather to the deposit of the poisonous substance in thenervous centres, and he believed that it was quite possibleto quickly remove this substance from the endangeredcentres by depleting the blood of its water. Purging,sweating, or blood-letting would effect this ; but thekidneys alone were to be relied on to directly get rid of theharmful substance. Of course, the administration of fluids inany form would completely counteract any good effectswhich might follow the above line of treatment. Morphiagiven hypodermically in large doses (up to 22 grains intwenty-four hours) presented the greatest number ofadvantages with the fewest disadvantages in the treatmentof eclampsia. All now knew that morphia had but slight ifany effect on either the heart or kidneys. On the other hand,it limited the formation of toxines, controlled convulsions,dried up bronchial and salivary secretion, was a diaphoretic,and above all prevented the onset of labour. No greater dangercould happen to an eclamptic patient than that labour shouldset in.-Mr. HORNE said that the presence of these toxines hadnot been demonstrated.-The PRESIDENT said that the dangerof the convulsions is infinitely greater when they occur inthe earlier stages than when they occur in the later stagesof labour. He had induced premature labour successfullyin two or three cases.-Dr. ALFRED SMITH pointed out thatsome German investigators were inclined to believe thatacetones in the blood were the cause of eclampsia. The

recognised treatment of eclampsia was by large doses ofmorphia.

Dr. ALFRED SMITH showed an Unilocular OvarianTumour the size of an adult head which he had removedfrom a child aged thirteen years. The patient made a rapidrecovery. She had not menstruated.

Sir W. THORNLEY STOKER exhibited a Uterus with anumber of attached Fibro-myomata which he had removedfrom a patient thirty-five years of age. The pedunculatedgrowths varied from the size of a goose egg to one so largethat it weighed 151b. The entire weight of the parts removed,when drained of blood, was 19 lb. 10 oz., and must, whenfull of blood, have been about 24 lb. The condition of thepatient from the time of operation to the date of meeting,ten days, was perfectly satisfactory. She had not evensuffered inconvenience and was practically out of danger.

Reviews and Notices of Books.Parasitism, Organic and Social. By JEAN MASSART,

Assistant at the Botanical Institute, Brussels, and ÉMILEVANDERVELDE, Lecturer on Political Economy, Brussels.Translated by WM. MACDONALD. Revised by J. ARTHURTHOMSON. With a Preface by Professor PATRICK GEDDES.London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co., Limited. Pp. 124.Price 2s. 6d.

THIS little volume is an attempt to trace the analogies thatexist between the forms of parasitic existence that are foundin the animal kingdom with those that may be observed inhuman society, and is written with some sense of humour. Itis the combined production of a biologist and of a politicaleconomist. It is shown that in societies of animals andman alike there are to be found individuals and even classeswho live at the expense of others without destroying themand without doing them service. In some instances theassociation is only one of commensalism, as von Beneden hastermed it, where one animal accompanies another and feedsat the expense of the host without harming it, merely pick-ing up as it were the crumbs that fall from its table;whilst there are others which lodge in the intestinal canal,or even inhabit the blood of its host, and do not require totake any kind of thought or trouble to obtain the food whichhas been obtained by the activity of its host, and which isso abundantly provided for it, surrounding it in a more

or less elaborated and assimilated condition. The wholeseries of transitions from free life to parasitism may betraced in some of the Gasteropoda which live on or in theEchinoderms, the animal in each instance possessing in

youth the characteristic shell of the gasteropod, therebyproving that they were all derived from non-parasitic types.Thus Capulus is a parasite of support which attachesitself to Crinoids and lives upon their digestive wasteproducts. Next to it comes Thyca, which buries part of its

body in the outer coating of its asteroid host. Then Stylifer,which has almost completely disappeared into the substanceof the sea star which bears it. Then Entocolax, which

penetrates into the tissues, and is therefore virtually anendo-parasite ; nevertheless, it still remains fixed by its hindextremity to the outer wall of its host. Lastly, comes

Entoconcha, which is absolutely endo-parasitic and fixes

itself by its head end to that part of the vascular systemwhich runs along the digestive tube of its host." Corre-

sponding with all this, and many other examples derived fromthe animal kingdom are given, we have a development ofparasitism in human societies. In lowly organised com-munities each man must gain his own livelihood and foodfor his family by work ; but, as is seen in the Bosjesmans,who eat ants, wild fruits, and carrion, no opportunity islost of changing to the parasitic state and living by plunder-ing the Kaffirs, the Hottentots, and the white settlers. Soa gamin of our streets may be almost simultaneously aparasite as when he practises larceny, a mutualist when hetakes a turn at going errands, and then immediately a sortof social saprophyte when he gives himself to the gatheringof cigar ends, or a holophytic individual when, reverting tomore primitive habits, he betakes himself to the country togather what fruit he can lay his hands on. In the history ofthe Roman people we have a classic example of a communitywhich begins with an agricultural, self-supporting mode oflife and ends by being altogether parasitic. In the later

days of the Republic and under the Emperors the populacewere largely fed on the corn of the provincials, and the richemployed armies of slaves to till vast farms.Mutualism ends, the authors remark, when absenteeism

begins, and in most instances parasitism quickly takes its place.In the United States and in Great Britain the proprietary

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régime is producing exactly the state of things that pre-vailed in the Roman Empire, where six monopolists ownedamong them one-half of the whole province of Africa; and ithas been alleged, though we doubt the figures, that at

this moment half of England and Wales belongs to 4500

persons, half of Ireland to 744 persons, and half of Scotlandto only 70. Again, in the factory system the evolutiontowards parasitism goes forward in open daylight. In pro-

portion as the extension of the market calls for an increasein the scale of production, the more marked becomes theseparation of the wage-earners who are engaged in the actualwork of production from the capitalist master, who retainsto himself the task of direction alone. Then comes the

moment when these captains of industry delegate theirfunctions to lieutenants, reducing their personal inter-ference in the business to a minimum. One step furtherand the parasitic condition is fully achieved : on theone side work and no property, and on the other side propertyand no work.Once more it is easy to trace the transformation of personal

services into parasitism, and the authors take as typicalexamples the clientage of Rome and the court officialdomof France under the ancient régime. In the Court of Francethere was an army of 14,000 men, absorbing a tenth of theentire public revenue, at whose head was a certain numberof high and mighty seigneurs, hereditary holders of officeswhich had gradually assumed the character of lucrative sine-cures, such, for example, as the master of the king’s horse,master of the pantry, grand master of the wardrobe, grandcup-bearer, grand carver, and many others, the titles showingthat the persons actually holding them had taken the placeof former companions of the king who were wont to renderhim real personal services. Spain at the end of the lastcentury, like certain ants, the whole community of whichare sometimes destroyed by their parasites, harboured so

many parasites that out of a population of 3,800,000 menthere were 1,221,000, or nearly one-third, priests, soldiers,marines, nobles, lawyers, Custom-house officers, students,and domestic servants. No wonder its vitality and energywere feeble! We recommend the work to our readers as onefrom which they will derive both amusement and instruction.The translation is very well done.

The Prvnciples and Practice of Medicine. Designed for theUse of Practitioners and Students of Medicine. ByWILLIAM OsLBB, M.D., F.R.C.P., Professor of Medicinein the Johns Hopkins University, and Physician-in-Chiefto the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Secondedition. Edinburgh and London: Young J. Pentland.1895.

DR. OSLER’S work has acquired such well-merited popu-larity in this country that the appearance of a second editionin little less than four years is no matter for surprise. Ithas now been thoroughly revised and several of the chaptershave been more or less rewritten. This has involved an

increase in size from 1050 to 1110 pages, while the index hasalso been extended from twenty-eight to thirty-two pages.Much of the change which has been made is due to the

incorporation of recent bacteriological research. The chapteron Diphtheria is practically new, owing to the extensiveadvances which have recently been made in our knowledge ofthis disease and its treatment, and it forms a very completeand valuable account of the subject. There are manyadditions to the chapter on Malaria, and even the modernoyster is noticed in a short paragraph on the spread of

typhoid fever. The changes in the book are, however, byno means confined to bacteriological subjects. The sectionon Appendicitis has been much improved, and we notethe incorporation of Hawkins’s valuable work on this subject,as well as that of other recent writers while the surgical

aspect of the question is very fully insisted on. The

pages dealing with Diseases of the Nervous Systemshow some important changes ; a general introduction to thesubject has been inserted dealing with the course of the

various tracts, with cerebral and spinal localisation and

topical diagnosis ; and the text has been embellishedwith a number of new and valuable diagrams in whichthe judicious use of colours adds greatly to the clearnessand effect. Besides these more striking changes therewill be found a multitude of minor additions and altera-

tions, and, thanks to the care with which it has been

revised, the work possesses, in addition to the reputationestablished by the success of the first edition, the greatrecommendation of being thoroughly up to date. To the

English reader it offers a happy combination of the fruits ofan eminently cosmopolitan study of medical literature, withthe attraction of originality and freshness in the discussionof many questions which in our series of text-books haveoften received a stereotyped treatment, little conducive topersonal thought and investigation on the part of the

student. We know of no text-book better adapted for

steady reading in connexion with the clinical work of thefive years’ curriculum.

The Riviera, Ancient and Modern. By CHARLES LENTHÉRIC’,Ingenieur en chef des Ponts et Chaussees. Translated byCHARLES WEST, M.D. Berlin. With Maps and Plans.London : T. Fisher Unwin. 1895.

DR. WEST has done a good piece of work in introducingthe present volume to English readers. The book is a most

pleasant one, full of interest and of the best kind of in-

formation on the subject with which it deals, and it will bewelcomed by the philosophic traveller and the many Englishlovers of the French Riviera. Its scope cannot be better

indicated than by the following extract from the translator’spreface :-

"It is not as a guide-book, but as a companion to theintelligent traveller, and one who will answer every questionas to what the land was in bygone days, as well as what itnow is, that I present in an English dress this work ofM. Lenth6ric....... Many holiday visitors know nothing ofNice beyond the promenade, and of Monte Carlo besides therooms’ and the concerts, and for them this book will have noattraction. There is, however, a large minority who travel,as Opie said he mixed his colours, with brains, sir,’ and bysuch I believe that this book will be prized."Dr. West, we feel sure, will not be disappointed for it is

just the book for the wearied brain-worker travelling insearch of health, affording, as it does, the right proportionof intellectual exercise and relaxation. It becomes a duty tothe English medical man to acquaint himself, as far as hisopportunities allow, with the various characteristics of themany continental health resorts, one or other of which heis so often called upon to recommend to his patients. If

unable to visit them himself he will find much valuable in-

formation about the French Mediterranean in M. Lenthéric’s

work; in an even higher degree, if he is fortunate enough tomake a personal study of these districts, will he find in it acompanion supplying just those intellectual wants in whichthe ordinary guide-book proves so woefully deficient.The author’s interests are mainly antiquarian and archæo-

logical, and on such points he presents an array of facts

pleasantly narrated in an easy and very enjoyable style, andthe modern aspects of his subject are also well treated fromthe point of view of the geologist, engineer, and sanitarian.His chapters give many an added interest to even the mostwell-known and most written-about of subjects, such as theglorious Corniche-road, the Rock of La Turbie, and the oliveand lemon groves of Mentone ; and on many less worn topics,especially when recalling the ancient occupations of thelands by Phoenicians, Greeks, and others-a vivid narrative

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of the Saracen irruptions may be specially noted-or in hisarchaeological or philological’ speculations, his matter is

unique and of the highest interest.Especially valuable from a medical aspect are the reflec-

tions on the influence, direct and indirect, of vegetation andforest growth on the health of the country, the importantpart these play in protecting the soil from the wasting actionof mountain torrents and so in checking alluvial deposits-the precursors of malaria-being clearly traced, togetherwith the opposite evils caused by forest fires and indis-criminate tree-felling.M. Lentheric is justly proud of the many improvements

carried out in these regions by his countrymen in recentyears, and he holds sanguine views as to the immediate goodresults to be expected from the modern introduction of theAustralian eucalyptus tree, views with which our own obser-vation disposes us to concur. We can, with Dr. West, recom-mend the book as a companion to any who travel throughthese noble lands, "with brains, sir." The translationis an admirable one, written, in fact, in English, not in

translated French ; there is a good index, with copious andconcise chapter headings, and nine finely executed repro-ductions of old maps and plans add largely to the value ofthe volume.

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LIBRARY TABLE.

The Galenical Pre2rarations of the British Pharmacopœia.By C. O. HAWTHORNE, M.B., C.M. Glasg. pp. 118. London :J. & A. Churchill. 1895. 4s. 6d.-This book gives evidenceof a praiseworthy effort to deal with the infinite detailof the British Pharmacopoeia so as to render the mainfacts in a form which may be readily grasped andremembered by the average medical student. The

author has endeavoured to eliminate many details and toretain only those facts which will be of service in the

selection and administration of the various pharmacopeeialpreparations. General principles are dealt with ratherthan minute variations, and the result is that studentsare presented with broad outlines which may be com-

mitted to memory, while they must consult the Pharmaco-pceia or some work on practical pharmacy when they wishto prepare any particular official preparation. Students so

commonly find difficulty in acquiring a sense of proportion,in determining what must be learnt and what may be

neglected, that this handbook will probably be welcomedby them. It must be understood that, although intendedfor students preparing for examination, it presents factsin an assimilable form without insulting the subject, thestudent, and the examiner by jingling rhymes devoid ofreason or other tips " so dear to the crammer, so ephemeralin staying power. The author has succeeded in compressingin brief space a large amount of useful information, and thebook appears to be commendably free from errors.

On Gout as a Peripheral Neterosis. By WILLOUGHBYFRANCIS WADE, M.B., F.R.C.P. LOND. London : SimpkinMarshall, Hamilton, Kent, and Co. Birmingham : Cornish.1893.-We owe the author of this brochure an apology for notearlier noticing his interesting contribution to clinical

pathology. In it he seeks to explain the reason for the variouslocalised manifestations of gout by referring them to

peripheral neuritis, which again may be determined byan external agency, such as strain or pressure. He wasled to this opinion by the observation that in cases of

typical gouty arthritis the pain is not seated in the jointitself, but in its vicinity, and, further, that there may bevery definite areas of tenderness corresponding to the linesof nerve-distribution to the implicated region. The occur-rence of pain and inflammation in other parts than jointsis easily explained by reference to nerve-distribution,whilst the frequency with which traumatism or chill may

evoke an attack of gout is much more easily explainedon the neurotic hypothesis than on any other. He shows,by reference to the classical description of neuritis given byErb, how closely parallel are the symptoms of that disorderwith those of an attack of gout ; and, whilst recognising thecurrent belief that neuritis may be secondary to gout, boldlyadvances the converse proposition-namely, that neuritis

precedes the characteristic gouty inflammation. There i?,we think, a good deal to be said for this point of view,which the author puts forward with all diffidence, but withthe hope that it may evoke careful observation upon the

precise mode of evolution of an attack of gout. He states

truly that uratic deposit in joints is variable in amount andoften quite disproportionate to the severity of acute attacks,but he does not thereby question the recognised pathology ofgout itself. His thesis is rather that in a peripheral neuritisto which the gouty " state disposes is to be found the mostrational explanation of the arthritic and non-arthritic mani.festations that characterise it.

Orotava as a Health Resort. London : Street and Co.,Cornhill. Price ls. 6d. - The position of the CanaryIslands within the area of the trade winds, not far from theAfrican coast and just outside the border of the tropics,causes the climate to be remarkably dry and equable, analmost ideal combination for many classes of invalids.Orotava is the name of a town-or rather two towns-and a

valley in the mountainous island of Teneriffe, celebrated forits snow-covered peak and situated 4° south of Madeira.At Orotava the temperature on the coldest winter night doesnot fall below 50° F. and in the middle of summer rarelyexceeds 80°. From May to August there is no rain, and evenin the rainy season the amount is so small that the annualaverage is only about thirteen inches. There are severalmodern hotels on the island and there is frequent and easycommunication between England and Santa Cruz, the land-ing place for Orotava. The length of the voyage is about

six days from London or Southampton, five days from

Plymouth, and eight days from Liverpool. Much informa-tion relative to Orotava and Teneriffe generally is to be foundin the pages of this little book ; it is also illustrated withseveral views of the harbour with the steamers and other

places of interest. ___

MAGAZINES.The Practitioner continues its warnings to the modern

nurse, and, indeed, this class of working woman has beenmuch in evidence of late. There is little fear, however,that the trained, intelligent, and obedient nurse will everlose her place through the eccentricities of those who some-times, perhaps, forget that they are not responsible for thepatient, but that this responsibility lies with the medicalattendant. Dr. Ord continues his lectures on Renal Disease.Sir W. Thornley Stoker writes on Excision of the Knee-joint,and Dr. Arlidge upon the Medical Aspect of Factory La,wSand Workers. The hero of medicine for the month is

Morgagni, and the medico-literary causerie deals with"Molière and the Doctors."

The Birmingham lifedical Review.-Mr. Haslam’s two

lectures upon the Value of Symptoms in the More CommonDiseases of the Rectum are well worth reading, as they drawattention to some points not uncommonly overlooked. Mr.Gilbert Barling contributes a very interesting case of Quiet

: Necrosis of the Femur simulating Sarcoma.. In Chapman’s Mayagzine is a story by Miss Gertrude

Kingston called " Nurse Agnes." The medical story writtenby a lay man or woman is usually a wonderful composition,

but Miss Kingston has successfully avoided pitfalls, although; she has selected a rupture of the liver with which to affict, her hero.r In the Veterinarin is a paper by Mr. Hugh Bell which