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816 alludes to the remarkable influence of the sense of smell over the human frame: how that one odour will produce loathing, nausea, and vomiting-such as sulphuretted hydrogen or sewer air; while another acts in producing an exhilarating effect-such as the fragrance of the early morn- ing country air, the sweetness of the sea-breeze, or the per. fume exhaled in the season of haymaking. But putting aside all questions which involve the expression of opinion, the work is clearly entitled to rank as a worthy addition to the literature of science. Illustrations of the Inductive Method in Medicine. By WILLIAM MURRAY. M.D., F.R.C.P.Lond., Consulting Physician of the Children’s Hospital, Newcastle. own Tyne. London: H. K. Lewis. 1891. THERE are few things in medical literature more useful or interesting than the modest little volumes in which practitioners of individuality and experience convey their chief impressions to their profession. These impressions may not always be the most accurate exposition of medical or physiological truth. They may occasionally be fanciful or theoretical. Bat for all that they are valuable contributions to the literature and the art of medicine. Such is the nature of the little book which we are now noticing. It begins with an exposition of the place of the inductive method of reasoning and the deductive in medical science, in the form of an address at the opening of a winter session in the Newcastle College of Medicine, and this is followed by some papers in illustration of the inductive method, and others more clearly practical and clinical in their nature. For our own part, we prefer the individuality to the induction, and value most the latter class of papers, such as No. 8, on the use of belladonna in toxic doses for the removal of renal calculi, No. 9, on the treatment of anaemia and marasmus by the combined use of pepsin, pan- creatinin, and ox-gall, and No. 10, on emphysematous dyspepsia. To Dr. Murray is due the great credit of being the first to treat an undoubted aneurysm of the abdominal aorta by pressure and under the influence of chloroform, and the careful narrative of this historical and fruitful case is a fitting subject for a closing chapter. Surgeons will not be less grateful tha.n physicians for this record, or less generous in their admission of the great credit of the case because it was the work of a physician rather than a surgeon. The cases illustrating the use of belladonna in renal colic are very striking. Dr. Murray’s views of the importance of osmosis in the functions of the body are well worthy of attention. It is a process which is too little considered. Whether the action of calomel and other drugs can be explained by their facilitating the osmotic process is doubtful. The sugges- tion is rather another form of stating the facts than an explanation of the process. Bat be this as it may, the therapeutical illustrations in Chapters VIII., IX., and X. are well worth the attention of practitioners. The chapters headed the Danger of Regular Habits and the chapter Starving into Health are characteristic of the bold and original look at things which a strong man takes. Neither of them will wholly please persons who like regularity of habit and accept stereotyped views of life and its functions. They must be taken together; and, so taken, will be found corrective of formalism and dogmatism in the practice of medicine, and in the guidance of individual patients. Dr. Murray has done well to lay his views before the profession. OUR LIBRARY TABLE. Transactions of the Association of American Playsicians. Vol. V. Philadelphia. 1890.-This volume contains the proceedings of the fifth session of the Association held at Washington in May, 1890, and consists of papers of much interest and scientific value, together with accounts of the discussions raised upon them at the meeting. The subject of inflammations of the appendix and csecum is treated by Dr. Norman Bridge, who is clearly of opinion that the vast majority of cases of 11 typhlitis are due to appendicitis, and who formulates in a systematic manner the indications which call for surgical intervention. The rare condition of varicose aneurysm of the aorta and superior vena cava is described by Drs. W. Pepper and J. Crozier Griffith in a paper that reviews fully the cases hitherto recorded,. and gives a useful analysis of the symptoms. Dr. Weir- Mitchell writes in his attractive style upon some disorders of sleep, a subject which is further developed (especially as regards insomnia) in the next paper by Dr. Folsom. Dr. Reginald Fitz reports a case of acute pancreatitis, which he considers as being more frequent than is generally supposed. Dr. Shakespeare raises the question of prophylaxis in tuberculosis, which he declares should rest upon the three principles of-(l) destruction of the bacillus wherever it may be found outside the human body; (2) avoidance of unnecessary risk of its introduction into the organism ; and (3) the improvement by personal hygiene and surroundings of the resistance of the individual to the development of the bacillus. Dr. Kinnicutt dis. cusses the modern methods of diagnosis of diseases of the stomach, a subject also treated by Dr. Shattuck; and Dr. Graham describes two cases of acromegaly. There are other papers of interest on hysteria, migraine, and renal inadequacy. Medicine in the Middle Ages. Extracts from "Le Moyen Age Medical" of Dr. EDMOND Dupouy. Translated by T. C. MINOR, M.D. Cincinnati Lancet Press. 1889.- Lovers of the curious and antique in medical literature will derive some interest from this volume. The work,, which contains within its moderate dimensions the results of a considerable amount of antiquarian study, is divided into four sections. That which describes the physicians of the Middle Ages, male and female, and also tells us something of their mode of practice in that period of medical knowledge, does not show the profession in great public favour. We may note in passing the account of the early life and rivalries of the French licensing faculties. A section on the Epidemics of the Middle Ages (including the plague in various forms, scurvy, leprosy, the sweating sick- ness of the fifteenth century, syphilis, &c.) will be appre- ciated by the medical historiographer. A minute and full description of theso-called "Demonomania,’ whiehperplexed the legal mind a few centuries ago, and led to the exer- cise of many judicial cruelties, forms the third portion of the book. The close resemblance of this neurosis to modern spiritism is discussed with care and ability. There is. nothing very notable about the fourth subdivision, which deals with Medicine in the Literature of the Middle Ages,. particularly as seen in French plays and in the writings of Rabelais. If some allowance be made for a certain dryness natural to the work as a digest, it will be found a readable and in its own field an instructive treatise. A Manual of Diseases of the Nose and Throat. By PROCTER S. HUTCHINSON, M. R. C. S. London: H. K. Lewis. 1891.-There is little but praise to be said for this small handbook. It is unpretentious, concise, and free from con. troversy. So far as it aims it must be considered successful, though naturally in a work limited to 121 pages it is not possible to give a great amount of practical information. As an introduction to a post-graduate course it must meet a demand. Our only adverse point of criticism is that whereas one would often wish the author to speak more. authoritatively, especially with regard to his own experiences as to treatment, in one or two questions of etiology still subjudice he writes too dogmatically. The illustrations, either drawn from life by the author or carefully selected
