ROUGH ON THE CHILD.-Says one of the sanitary journals: "If a child does not terive on fresh milk, boil it." We are opposed to boiling children, whether they thrive on fresh milk or not. And yet they belong to the genus carnivora.

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS INTERESTS ABROAD.— In Vienna, Austra, a local committee of twenty-five members has been formed for facilitating arrangements for attending the Ninth International Medical Congress in Waghington, 1887.

BOS-TON-IAN." If you can't feel any more interest than this, Caroline, perhaps we had better break off our engagement.” "Don't say "break,' Charles-it's horridly violent. But we might let it disintegrate peacefully, don't you think?"

READY FOR THE SUMMER TOUR.--"Oh, my dear," said one charming girl to another: "I have such good news to give you. Papa has been bitten by a mad dog, and we are all going to Paris at once."

THE SHARPENED BLIND MAN.--Professor (at Columbia): We cannot taste in the dark. Nature intends us to see our food. Student: How about a blind man's dinner?

Professor: Nature has provided him with eye-teeth, sir.

DR. A. M. POLLOCK, of Pittsburgh, Pa., has been appointed Secretary of the Section of Surgery and anatomy of the American Medical Association for the present year.

Reviews and Book Notices.

A SYSTEM OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE. By American Authors, edited by WILLIAM PEPPER, M.D., LL.D., Provost and Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine, and Clinical Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; assisted by Louis Starr, M.D, Clinical Professor of Diseases of Children in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Vol. V.-Diseases of the Nervous System. 8vo, leather, pp. 1,326. Lea Brothers & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia. 1886.

The fifth and concluding volume of this magnificent and truly national work is a most fitting capstone of a grand undertaking so faithfully carried out by Professor Pepper. It is devoted excusively to diseases of the Nervous System, the various articles being contributed by Drs. Johu Ashurst, Jr., P. S. Conner, Edward P. Davis, Robt. Edes, Chas. F. Folsom, A. McL. Hamilton, Wm. Hunt, Mary P Jacobi, Morris J. Lewis, Jno. H. Lloyd, Henry M. Lyman, Francis T. Miles, Chas. K. Mills, Francis Minot, S. Weir Mitchell, Jas. J. Putnam, H. Schmidt, E. C. Seguin, Wharton Sinkler, E. C. Spitzka, M. Allen Starr, Jas. C. Wilson, and Horatio C. Wood. All being gentlemen, who are recognized as American authorities on the special class of diseases to which the volume is devoted.

We take pleasure in laying before our readers in full, the Author's Valedictory in this the fifth and last volume of the series.

"In presenting to the profession the fifth and concluding volume of the 'System of Practical Medicine by American 3 S. P.

Authors,' the Editor may be permitted to refer briefly to labors which for years have called forth his strenuous endeavors. The original prospectus of the work was issued in 1881. The first volume was published in January, 1885; the second in May, 1885; the third in September, 1885; and the fourth in February, 1886. In view of the delays inevitable in large and complicated literary enterprises, such unusual punctuality reflects credit alike on the zeal of the contributors and the energy and resources of the publishers. The duties of the editor have been lightened and rendered agreeable by the unvarying courtesy and cordial cooperation of all connected with him in the undertaking; and he has been amply rewarded by the realization of his hopes in the favorable reception accorded to the successive volumes by the profession on both sides of the Atlantic. The plan of the work has been strictly adhered to, and the articles promised have been furnished without exception, although in a very few cases circumstances required a change in the authorship. Special mention is due to Dr. Louis Starr, and to Dr. Judson Deland for the very valuable assistance they have rendered.

"The only alloy to the pleasure which the editor has had in the progress of the work has been the removal by death of so many of his distinguished collaborators: such men as Flint, Van Buren, Armor, Bemiss, and Elsberg will long be mourned by the profession.

"The number of articles is 185, written by ninety-nine authors, covering, with indexes, about 5,600 pages, and throughout its whole extent the original purpose has been kept constantly in view, that the practical character of the work should adapt it specially to the needs of the general practitioner. In conclusion, the editor feels it is a subject of congratulation that through the combination of so many leading members of the profession it has been rendered possible to present in this work, for the first time, the entire subject of practical medicine treated in a manner truly representative of the American School."

He is, indeed, to be congratulated in presenting to the medical world such a grand and durable monument of American Medicine.

A MANUAL OF DIETETICS. By J. MILNER FOTHERGILL, M.D., EDIN., Physician to the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest (Victoria Park). Hon M. D. Rush Medical College, Chicago, Ill., Foreign Associate Fellow of the College of Physicians, Philadelphia. 8vo, extra muslin. 255 pages. $2.50. New York: William & Wood Co.

Price,

The merit of this work, designed for the use of lectures upon the subject of which it treats, deserves more than the usual terms of approval.

We find it impossible to give any generalization of its contents at all satisfactory to ourselves. It is enough to say that it is the author's purpose to so direct attention to the science of nutrition that none may starve within the reach of food, and that the patient, instead of the disease, may be fed.

With good claims previously to this corner of the field of science, as Brillat-Savarin would say, he now seems firmly estab lished there; and the coufidence with which he awaits the coming of the Newton of physiology, is sometimes modestly, always forcibly evinced.

The divorcement from the now popular idol-beef-tea-is not the least feature of interest of the book; but the author compensates for the pain of separation by the skillful presentation of a most desirable kind of information.

Nearly every physician knows his power of illustrating. Nothing can be flat in his vivacious language. We should compare him to his fellow countryman, Macaulay, whose accuracy on a question of dietetics he impugns by hearsay evidence, did not our reverence for this very attribute of that distinguished littérateur forbid.

We shall venture to apply Ne sutor ultra crepidam to this scientist, who calls Cain a keeper of sheep, and abuses him for the exercise of the qualities of a carnivorous brute, and then gravely speaks of Isaac as having "marked an important family ceremony by first partaking of savory meat"!

It is both a privilege and a duty to all active practitioners of medicine to study this book. What it contains is nowhere else readily available.

It is a matter of some concern to us that the work is marred by the inaccurate proportions of half of its chemical formulæ, and several other minor typographical errors.

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS IN INFANCY AND Childhood, WITH CHAPTERS ON THE INVESTIGATION OF Disease, and on THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN. BY LOUIS STARR, M. D., Clinical Professor of Diseases of Children in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Physician to the Childrens' Hospital, Philadelphia, etc. With colored plate and other illustrations. 8 vo., cloth, pp. 385. P. Blakiston, Son & Co., Publishers, 1012 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

1886.

Dr. Starr has already attained prominence in American medicine by reason of his association with Prof. Pepper in bringing out the valuable System of Medicine, which will do so much toward affording a proper and just appreciation of medical attain ments on this side of the Atlantic.

In the monograph before us he devotes the energies of his mind and his valuable clinical experience to a consideration of a special class of disorders, too casually considered in works on pediatrics, but which, from their frequent recurrence and and unfortunate fatal tendency, demand a most careful study and thorough investigation. He fully recognizes that attention to the general regimen is quite as important as the administration of drugs for the successful treatment of the diseases of the digestive tract in infancy and childhood, and for this reason alone his work will prove peculiarly valuable to the student and young practitioner.

"The chapter on the Investigation of Disease," says the author in his preface, "does not necessarily belong to a work on disorders of the digestive organs, but as so much difficulty is experienced by students in the study of disease in children, it has been incorporated as an aid to such." In this we can fully agree with him, as well as most heartily commend the excellent article on the general management of children, in which the author has placed before us results that could only be obtained by much study and and careful practical work.