ity of the homeopaths in these two cities, and all over Great Britain, as in the practice of the 4,000 or 5,000 practitioners in America. Such provincial physicians as Dr. Hayle, of Rochdale, and Dr. Simmons, late of Liverpool, now of Cheltenham, will rank with C. Dunham, Lippe, Raue, Lilienthal, and others on our side the Atlantic. Dr. Payne, who once called on me in England, is an excellent man, but has come too much under Dr. Berridge's influence, and sees everything with Dr. Berridge's green or yellow tinted glasses, and actually takes the trouble (and space) to repeat Dr. Berridge's malicious statements about the box of allopathic drugs found in the London Hospital, etc., so that we have two articles in your May number treating of the same subject in much the same words. I cannot for a moment believe that two communications of this kind can do any good to Homœopathy, nor do I consider that the New England Medical Gazette is consulting the true interests of its readers by printing them at full length. Dr. Payne's paper, being the observations of an able correspondent and traveller, has some raison d'être, but Dr. Berridge's none. The existence of these allopathic prescriptions is easily explained, thus: We have no "School or College of Homœopathy," unfortunately, in Great Britain. Consequently, young graduates have to take the first appointment they can obtain in the homeopathic hospitals or dispensaries, in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, or Manchester, and study Homœopathy, while endeavoring to put it into practice, often at great disadvantages, for they, possessed of no knowledge of our Materia Medica and but little true conception of the law of "similia,” are suddenly confronted with very serious cases. Being humanely anxious to save the lives and relieve the sufferings of those intrusted to their care, they at first use allopathic palliatives, purgatives, etc., but as their knowledge of and skill in our remedies increase, they throw aside these old nostrums and become true homœopaths. Such was my course at first, when I took up the study of Homœopathy in June, 1866, being then perfectly sceptical about it; and now, after nine years' increasing experience, study, and therefore confidence in it, there is no more thorough supporter of the system than I am, either in England or America. Let us make charitable allowances for the allopathic leaven still clinging to students of Homœopathy, and not swallow all the stories told by Dr. Berridge, as if they represented the general practice of English homoeopathic practitioners. Dr. Berridge's own record is not a spotless one; therefore, let him beware of personalities. All his Liverpool colleagues know that he was "invited" to resign the resident physicianship of the dispensary there, on account of his neglect to attend patients and record cases in the books, and some amusing facts came out relating to his clinical treatment after he left that town. As to the value of his clinical contributions to our journals, it is but insignificant, if we are to take as a specimen his case narrated in the American Journal of Homœopathic Materia Medica for January, 1875, where one dose of Lyc. 2m "cured" a wart that was spontaneously dropping off. Even a brother high-dilutionist, "G. W. P," comments satirically on this case in the American Observer of this month. Dr. Pope may have some personal feeling, preventing him from inserting Dr. Berridge's contributions in the Monthly Homœopathic Review, but it is much more probable, nay, it is the fact, that the three editors of that Review do not consider Dr. Berridge's clinical cases worth printing; hence he sends them across the Atlantic, where he shines as a literary star. He is very industrious and laborious, no doubt, but is bitterly personal, disingenuous, and when I knew him was rather deficient in the diagnosis of disease. I request the insertion of this communication, if space allows, in your July number. J. MURRAY MOORE, M.D., 410 Kearny St., San Francisco. Edin. M. R. C. S., London, etc. REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. Books sent to THE GAZETTE for notice will, after suitable examination and criticism, be presented to the College Library, where they will be accessible to the profession under the rules of the library. WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW: The Reproductive Function in Men and Animals. By Burt G. Wilder. Boston: Estes & Lauriat. Although every sincere effort to instruct the masses on all matters concerning the public health and morals is in itself highly meritorious, and sure to be followed by benefit in one direction or the other, the appearance of a book like the one before us, by an author of Prof. Wilder's antecedents, can only be looked upon as a misfortune to the author himself, to his readers, and to popular scientific instruction in general. It is a noticeable fact that of late years a kind of semi-scientific literature is springing up in great abundance, purporting to convey to laymen the results of modern professional inquiries on a variety of intricate subjects, and poured out upon an ill-prepared but eagerly-devouring public from every motive except those few legitimate ones which alone can justify the publication of a book. Aside from all the trash designed to gull the young, and manufactured for the most sordid end, we are flooded with family guides, family physicians, treatises on health and disease, and kindred subjects, for all classes and conditions, meeting, in some instances, with such extraordinary success, even among scientific readers, that it has become wellnigh impossible to distinguish the good from the bad, or to draw the line between deserving and undeserving authors. It is high time to recognize the fact that together these publications form a class of exceedingly unwholesome literature, of which Dr. Clarke's "Sex in Education" may be taken as the most prominent and plausible example, and among which the work before us must likewise be counted. Like others of its kind, it may be said to contain nothing but what is accepted by science, or what could not be safely asserted, and like them, too, it contains nothing original, either in the facts it adduces or the uses to which they are put, except, perhaps, the erroneous suppositions that society may be bene fited by the particular notion of reform advocated, and that welcome and much-needed information is conveyed to the particular class of readers to which it is addressed. In order to establish his claim to a hearing, Prof. Wilder adopts the easy method of book-making, and quotes without stint from authors and authorities of all sorts and descriptions, in support of views, which, however fully persuaded we may be of the purity of his motives, we cannot but consider as questionable. His answers to anticipated objections do not explain away the natural shrinking of an uncontaminated young mind from the consideration of subjects proscribed by the ethics which distinguish an advanced civilization, nor does he take into account that a book, however proper and deserving its tendency, can only be pure to the pure, whose healthy moral tone requires no extraneous guidance or support, while to the impure, all the best things that can be said on the reproductive function are only thrown as pearls before swine. The plea that detailed information on this subject is necessary for the young as a preventive of many of the greatest dangers to which they are exposed is not borne out by experience, as every physician can testify who has had sufficient opportunity to watch the growth and unfolding of youthful bodies and minds, nor is it evident, from Prof. Wilder's reasoning, that the proper handling and application of scientific knowledge such as his book contains can be advantageously intrusted to other hands than those of the physician, in the first instance, to be judiciously filtered by him, either directly or through intelligent parents or guardians, to the young at the fitting moment. However true it may be that plain, unvarnished information should be had for the asking, or even unasked by those who can value or who stand in need of it, it is equally true that popular treatises such as the present are not calculated to impart this information wisely, and, appalling as the evils undoubtedly are which arise from ignorance, we must not assume that knowledge can be conveyed by any and every channel. The remedies to be applied to these social evils must be much more thorough-going. Before books like these can be freely distributed with advantage, we must have healthy minds to read them; and these will be created by everything that tends towards physical health, towards vigor, courage, candor, and a cheerful, generous spirit in our boys and girls. What we want are more watchful and intelligent family physicians, who run less on specialties and more on the study of the human being who is subject to the various diseases concerning which modern pathology has brought to light some valuable information; we want very much less theology, and very much more appreciation of moral principles; less repression and more guidance and direction of youthful vitality. Among other means to this end, those suggested by the very able and thoughtful paper on physical training, read by Dr. J. J. Putnam before the last meeting of the Social Science Association, and the timely article by Prof. Elliot, in the May number of the Atlantic Monthly, on "Wise and Unwise Economy in Schools," though bearing but indirectly on the subject, will be found infinitely more beneficial in the end, than any "hints to the young." We take pleasure in calling attention to the historical number of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, to appear in honor of the Centennial celebration. It will be devoted chiefly to historical matters of special interest to the profession, and contain among its most attractive features: 1. A copper-plate portrait of Gen. Joseph Warren, M. D., with quotations from his Medical Day-book. 2. An Original Sonnet by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 3. A paper by Dr. George B. Loring, on the Medical Profession of Massachusetts at the Time of the Revolution. 4. A paper by Dr. J. M. Toner, of Washington, D. C., on the Medical Department of the Continental Army. 5. A Translation of a Hessian Surgeon's Notes of some of his American Experiences. 6. Reminiscences of a Tory Surgeon's Part in the Battle of Bun ker Hill. 7. A letter from Charleston, S. C., upon historical subjects. Price 15 cents. Persons wishing to obtain copies of this remarkably attractive and valuable number should apply early to the publishers, H. O. HOUGHTON & Co., Corner Beacon and Somerset Sts., Boston. ITEMS AND EXTRACTS. A CASE OF CHLOROFORM NARCOSIS RESUSCITATED BY NÉLATON'S METHOD. - Dr. M. H. Jordan, of Birmingham, Alabama, reports (American Practitioner, February, 1875) the following case :— Miss, aged eighteen years, stout, of full habit, and seeming to be in perfect health, applied to Dr. Eubank, a dentist of this place, to extract a tooth. She was accompanied by Dr. F. D. Nabors, and concluding that she could not undergo the operation without chloroform, this after some solicitation was administered by Dr. Nabors on a napkin. After four or five inhalations, some spasmodic movements of the face being observed, the napkin was removed, and the patient directed to open her mouth, which she did, when the tooth was extracted without pain. No indications of a return of consciousness being observed, and the pulse being found excessively small and feeble, and it along with the breathing soon ceasing to be perceptible, the patient was quickly placed prone on a bed, and Dr. I. W. Sears and myself sent for. Dr. Sears arrived a few minutes before me, and finding the jaws tightly closed, he forcibly opened them with the handle of a spoon, and pulled the tongue, which had fallen back upon the fauces, well forward. When I reached the scene the young lady was apparently dead. There was complete relaxation of the entire muscular system; the lips, face, and hands were livid; breathing and pulse had ceased. Having in mind the experience of Dr. Marion Sims in a case in many respects similar (see Am. Journ. of Med. Sei., Oct. 1874, p. 570), we immediately inverted the patient's body, the head hanging down, while the feet were raised high in the air by Dr. Eubank, both legs resting over his right shoulder; Dr. Nabors supported the thorax; Dr. Sears kept the jaws open and managed the tongue; while I made efforts at artificial respiration by alternately pressing on the thorax and abdomen. After anxiously waiting for about five minutes for some indications of returning vitality, we were overjoyed at seeing one feeble attempt at respiration, followed after a long and painful interval by another, which gradually became fuller and more frequent, accompanied by a return of the pulse, until we concluded that it was safe to place her back in bed. Imagine our distress to find that as soon as she was put in the horizontal position the breathing again ceased and the pulse disappeared, and she looked again the very picture of death. She was again and instantly placed as before, so as to invite the blood to gravitate a second time to the brain, while efforts at artificial respiration were briskly kept up. After a prolonged and most anxious interval we were again delighted by hearing a feeble spasmodic gasp, followed after another protracted interval by a second, then a third, etc., until the breathing finally became natural and the pulse returned. We laid her on the bed a second time, confident that it was now safe; but shortly after resuming the horizontal position there followed a spasmodic twitching of the muscles over the entire body, with a decided inclination to fall into a heavy sleep. Finding it difficult to keep her awake by mild means, we made stimulating applications along the entire spine, and put her feet into hot (almost scalding) water, which aroused her sufficiently to make further treatment unnecessary. After anxiously watching and working with this patient for one hour and a half, we were rewarded by seeing her restored to life, and at the expiration of four hours finding her able to ride to her home, a distance of five miles. I feel that I am simply stating a reasonable conclusion when I say that the life of this young woman was saved by practising the method of M. Nélaton, and I do not believe that she could have been resuscitated by any other. ON THE EFFECT OF VENOUS OBSTRUCTION OF THE SKIN. - Dr. Auspitz has lately brought before the k. k. Gesellschaft der Aerzte in Vienna some observations on the effect of venous obstructions upon the skin, which are reported in the Allgemeine Wiener Medizin. Zeitung for November 3. 1. A ligature was tied round the arm of a healthy person, as if for bleeding. First the superficial veins swelled, then a livid color spread over the arm, beginning on the flexor surface (where the skin is thinnest), and at last affecting all but the volar eminence (the thickest part of the skin). At the same time the temperature sank. The next eflect was oedema of the skin, followed in from five to ten minutes by the appearance of numerous patches of red or brownish-red color, accompanied by minute spots, which were either bright scarlet |