LITERARY NOTICES. 



857 



wise to the profession as a whole. Those 

 who know nothing of dictionary-editing will 

 hardly appreciate the editorial labor that 

 this work represents. A sense of propor- 

 tion in assigning the space to the several 

 subjects in a vast field of knowledge must 

 be constantly and watchfully observed, along 

 with a due consideration for the value of 

 everything that a distinguished contributor 

 would wish to write on his favorite theme. 

 It is given only to a firm hand and a delicate 

 tact to achieve success in such an enter- 

 prise ; and the measure of Dr. Quain's suc- 

 cess must be, on the one hand, the compact 

 form and size of his dictionary, and, on the 

 other, the endless variety of the articles and 

 the value of the signatures that they bear. 

 An encyclopedic undertaking of this com- 

 pass and quality brings to light both the 

 wealth of our home resources in the par- 

 ticular learned profession, as well as the dis- 

 tinctively English characteristics of brevity 

 and point. The new " Dictionary of Medi- 

 cine " will take rank with the corresponding 

 works in other departments of knowledge, 

 for which the English press has acquired 

 a certain distinction abroad ; and it does 

 not surprise one to hear that steps are being 

 taken to have it translated into more than 

 one Continental language. 



The work is primarily a dictionary of 

 practical medicine for the use of practition- 

 ers. It includes naturally all the diseases 

 that come more particularly within the prov- 

 ince of the physician as distinguished from 

 that of the surgeon ; but in the numerous 

 articles on general pathology, general thera- 

 peutics, hygiene, medical jurisprudence, dis- 

 eases peculiar to women and children, and 

 subjects on the border-land of medicine and 

 surgery, it includes all but the most tech- 

 nical parts of surgery also. It is, therefore, 

 a work in which the general practitioner of 

 medicine will find articles, in alphabetical 

 order, on all the subjects that are likely to 

 come under his notice in the course of his 

 every-day work. The direct interest of it 

 for the laity the interest of the subject- 

 matter, if not of the volume itself is proved 

 by the liberal allowance of space given to 

 many matters that are a concern to all edu- 

 cated persons. Chief among the articles of 

 this class are those on "Nursing the Sick 

 and the Training of Nurses " (Miss Nightin- 



gale), " Administration of Hospitals, and the 

 Construction of Hospitals " (Captain Doug- 

 las Galton), "Public Health " (the late Dr. 

 Parkcs), " Vaccination " (the late Dr. Sea- 

 ton), "Contagion" (Mr. Simon), " Personal 

 Health " (Dr. Southey), and " Predisposition 

 to Disease " (Dr. W. B. Carpenter). Shorter 

 signed articles of general interest are those 

 on "Diet," "Climate," "Health Resorts," 

 " Mineral Waters," " Sea- Air," " Sea-Baths," 

 " Sea-Voyages," " Sea-Sickness," " Baths," 

 "Douche," " Hydrotherapeutics," "Exer- 

 cise," " Fatigue," " Effects of Extreme Cold 

 and Extreme Heat," " Sunstroke," " Mala- 

 ria," " Periodicity in Disease," " Epidem- 

 ics," "Plague," "Quarantine," "Disinfec- 

 tion," "Mortality," "Alcohol and Alco- 

 holism," " Criminal Irresponsibility," " Civil- 

 Incapacity," and many more. 



Many of the subjects of that class were, 

 of course, ably handled by the older writers ; 

 and, more particularly, diet, climate, sea-voy- 

 ages, and the like, were matters familiar to 

 the contemporaries of Hippocrates and Ga- 

 len. But there are not a few articles in 

 this dictionary of which even the headings 

 would have been looked for in vain in a 

 similar work as recently as fifty or sixty 

 years ago. "Anaesthetics," "Ophthalmo- 

 scope," " Laryngoscope," " Microscope in 

 Medicine," " Clinical Thermometry," " Phys- 

 ical Examination " how great an increase 

 in the useful power of medicine and surgery 

 do these new titles represent ! " Addison's 

 Disease," " Lymphadenoma," " Leucocythe- 

 mia," "Pernicious Anaemia," " Myxoedema," 

 " Locomotor Ataxy," " Pseudo-hypertrophic 

 Muscular Paralysis," " Diseases of the Spinal 

 Cord," " Pneumogastric Nerve," " Sympa- 

 thetic Nervous System " how much is there 

 here that is quite new and curious, and may 

 one day be even useful ! " Diphtheria," 

 " Typhoid Fever," " Malignant Pustule," 

 " Micrococci," " Bacilli," " Parasitic Skin 

 Diseases," " Chyluria," " Thrombosis and 

 Embolism," " Fatty Degeneration " how 

 much of progressive theory, better discrimi- 

 nation, and rational suggestion is contained 

 in those ! The headings " Antiseptic Treat- 

 ment" and " Diseases of the Ovaries" will 

 call to mind a degree of success in formida- 

 ble surgical undertakings which no previous 

 generation has known. It would be an end- 

 less task, and much too technical, to enter 



