our library table
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ments as to this experience, and we recommend a comparison of the sort of evidence given for Bombay on thsubject with that coming from Madras. In reality the conditions of the experiment differed essentially in the tw(Presidencies. In Madras the grain used was rice; inBombaymillet and other forms of grain more nutritious than riceMoreover, in Bombay, from the first, the 1 Ib. grain allowance was supplemented with a money payment whiclenabled the receiver to obtain an unobjectionable rationNevertheless, as an example of the risks run even in thisPresidency, we would especially ask the reader’s attentiorto the result of another " experiment " of reducing diet to ssimple sustaining amount in the Bombay gaols, as given irthe Times of India for December 13th, 1877, and quoted irMr. Digby’s second volume, p. 253.The dreadful general results of the famine, as affecting the
health and mortality of the populations stricken by it,may be read in Mr. Digby’s volumes. The results as ex-hibited in the phenomena of starvation may be studied inthe report by Mr. Cornish and Dr. Porter. We are unawareof any work which presents so complete and comprehensivean account as this of starvation in relation to the variousdiseased states which are simply manifestations of it. ShRichard Temple, and, following him, the Government of India,sought to restrict the term, as we have already noticed, to theform of starvation which follows complete deprivation of food,putting aside altogether the starvation following upon long-continued insufficiency of food. They admitted only thefatal results of acute starvation, ignoring the not lessfatal results of chronic starvation. Mr. Cornish and Dr.Porter’s report now sets forth in detail the phenomena ofchronic starvation and of the pathological conditions whichaccompany it, as observed in the famine, which, it is to be
hoped, will render any such administrative blunder for thefuture impossible. Whether in regard to the future famine-administration of India, or as a contribution to pathologicalliterature, this report is invaluable.
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
Clinical Lectures on Diseases peculiar to TVomen. ByLOMBE ATTHILL, M.D., Master of the Rotunda Hospital.Fifth Edition, revised and enlarged. Dublin : Fannin andCo. 1878.-We have on former occasions noticed this work,and it is already too well known to need more to be saidthan to express our satisfaction at the continued demandfor it. It does not pretend to be a complete work on thediseases of women. In our judgment it is none the worsefor that ; but it omits few of the common diseases of women,and the author deals with them in such a practical andclinical way, incorporating so much independent judgmentand so much original practice as to make the study of hisbook indispensable to anyone who would acquaint himselfwith the present position of practical gynecology. The
chapter on chronic endometritis, which has been for the mostpart rewritten, is especially worthy of perusal, as are alsothe chapters on menorrhagia, subinvolution, &c.
Revue d’Hygiene et de Police Sanitaire. Edited by Dr.E. VALLIN, aided by MM. BERGERON, BOULEY, DURAND-CLAYE, FAUVEL, GUBLER, PROUST, and WURTZ. No. 1.Paris : G. Masson. 1879. - This is the first number of anew monthly journal of Hygiene and Sanitary Police, whichis to appear as the official organ of the Society of PublicMedicine and of Hygiene, Paris, under the distinguishededitorship of M. Vallin, with the equally distinguishedassistance of the several familiarly known masters in hygienenamed above. The journal cannot fail to prove an importantaddition to the literature of public health. The presentnumber contains papers-by Dr. Vallin on the Study andProfessional Practice of Hygiene; on the Institutions of
. International Sanitary Police, by Dr. Fauvel; on the Departmental Councils of Hygiene in France-what they areand what they ought to be, by Dr. Bergeron; and the :fir&t
, part of a critical review by Dr. Vallin on Disinfection byDry Powders, which is devoted to an account of the dry-earth system of excrement-disposal, of great interest. In
addition, there are excellent sections of foreign correspond-ence, summaries of proceedings of learned societies, recordsof proceedings of departmental councils of hygiene, notesfrom journals, and a report by Professor Wurtz on theHygienic Institute at Munich. In other words, the firstnumber of the journal is rich in matters of interest to
hygienists generally.Dispauperisation: A Popular Treatise on Poor-law EvïC8;
and their Remedies. By J. R. PRETYMAN, M.A. Second
Edition; pp. 293. London : Longmans, Green, and Co.1878.-The author of this work has apparently a very im-perfect acquaintance with the "hand-working" classes, ashe aptly designates them, and his knowledge of them seemsto be from the side of their foibles rather than of theirvirtues. He attributes, however, to the influence of thePoor Laws alone, as affecting these classes, evils not a fewof which have an origin in much more complex conditions.These defects vitiate many of the author’s conclusions, andought to have been got rid of in the interval between afirst and second edition of the book. Nevertheless, thework contains much to interest and profit the reader.Aids to Therapeutics and Materia Medica. Part 1. By
C. E. ARMAND SEMPLE, B.A., M.B. Cantab., &c. London dBailliere and Co. 1878.-This is a little work of sixty-fourpages, the first of a series" specially designed for studentsand junior practitioners," and containing brief but categoricalparticulars as to the non-metallic and metallic elements, aswell as the alcoholic and etherial preparations, &c. The
type is small and the writing concise, and thus the compilerhas concentrated into a very limited space a considerableamount of information. The series (if this is a fair example}may be useful to the student, but hardly, as is suggested inthe title-page, to the practitioner; for when the four years’’minimum work is done, we conceive that the sight, muchmore the perusal, of such a compilation must be eminentlydistasteful to the newly-fledged practitioner.The Diseases of Women. By a Physician. London :
Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.-This is an unpretending littlework, written by one who has a respectable acquaintancewith the subject, and who shows discretion by not soaringtoo high. But for what class of readers he has written it isdifficult to say, seeing that the book is too technical for layreaders, and not ample enough for the profession. It has,at least, one claim to recommendation, in that it is not
likely to mislead the uninformed.The Journal of Physiology. Edited by MICHAEL FOSTER,
M.D., F.R.S. Vol. I. No. 6. Jan. 10th, 1879.-This partcontains four papers, and completes the first volume. Thefirst is by E. G. Cutler and E. H. Bradford, on Changes ofthe Globular Richness of Human Blood; the second byV. C. Vaughan, assisted by Miss Bills, on the Estimation ofLime in the Shell and in the Interior of the Egg before andafter Incubation; the third by Sidney Ringer and E. A.Morshead, on the Physiological Action of Narcissia, analkaloid obtained from the bulb of the common daffodil;and the fourth by S. Charles Roy, on the Influences whichmodify the work of the Heart.
The Magazine of Art. Illustrated. London : Cassell,Petter, and Galpin.-The February number of this admirablemagazine is well up to the average of a series that promisesto take a high place among art periodicals. The illustrationsare well executed, and the articles written with a good dealof spirit and intelligence.