LITERARY NOTICES. 



565 



has given his treatment extensive trial, and 

 avers that it has rarely failed. The remedy 

 he has found best of any is the bromide of 

 sodium in doses of thirty to sixty grains, 

 three times a day for several days before 

 starting, and during the voyage, until all 

 danger is past. The remedy should at 

 first be administered by a physician, and 

 can afterward be intrusted to the patient. 

 Dr. Beard especially warns against the use 

 of purgatives, spirituous liquors, and mor- 

 phine or opium. With the bromine-treat- 

 ment he states that the patient may remain 

 on deck or in his state-room indifferently, 

 and may eat such things as he may desire. 

 He is also much less liable to take cold at 

 sea or just after landing. 



The Throat and its Functions. By Louis 

 Elsberg, A. M., M. D. New York : G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons. 1880. Pp.60. Price, $1. 



This is one of the popular scientific lec- 

 tures given under the auspices of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences, and the subject, 

 as befits such a course, is treated in a man- 

 ner to make it clear to the unscientific. Dr. 

 Elsberg describes the various parts of the 

 throat and their function in speaking, and 

 some of the instruments used in examina- 

 tions of the throat, and closes his lecture 

 with a description of Edison's phonograph, 

 which he exhibited to his audience. 



Alva Vine; or, Art versus Duty. By 

 Henri Gordon. American News Com- 

 pany. Pp. 233. 



This is a sketch, a fancy sketch, of what 

 the author calls " a suggestive woman of the 

 republic a girl with a good physique, a 

 cultivated mind, a large heart, capable of 

 taking an interest in all that appertains to 

 the welfare of the whole human family." 

 It is a very fancy sketch. 



A Study of some op the Starches. By Mrs. 

 Lou Reed Stowell, M.S., Microscopi- 

 cal Laboratory, University of Michigan. 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan: Courier Steam 

 Printing-House. 1880. Pp. 17. Price, 

 15 cents. 



This is a brief description of the appear- 

 ance under the microscope of some of the 

 more common starches, with instructions 

 how to study them. The starches considered 

 are those of potato, arrowroot, wheat, bar- 



ley, bean, pea, corn, rice, oat, buckwheat, 

 sago, tapioca, turmeric, and ginger. 



The Management of Children, in Sickness 

 and in Health : A Book for Mothers. 

 By Annie E. Hale, M. D. Philadelphia : 

 Presley Blakiston. Pp. 110. Price, 60 

 cents. 



No better fifty cents' worth of a book for 

 mothers have we seen in a long time. It is 

 full of just the kind of information that all 

 mothers require to possess, and this informa- 

 tion is imparted in a simple and sensible 

 manner, so that it may be perfectly under- 

 stood. The points of most importance are 

 given emphatic prominence, and the subjects 

 are treated throughout with excellent judg- 

 ment. It is one of the little manuals that can 

 not be too strongly commended. 



Problems in Relation to the Prevention 

 of Disease. By J. R. Weist, A. M., M. D. 

 Richmond, Indiana: Telegram Printing 

 Co. 1880. 



This is the address of the President of 

 the Indiana State Medical Society at its ses- 

 sion of this year. Dr. Weist points out the 

 great losses, commercial and other, that 

 result from an ignorance and disregard of 

 sanitary conditions, and insists upon the 

 necessity of legislation in the matter. He 

 contends that the aim of physicians must 

 be more and more to prevent rather than 

 cure disease, and urges the consideration by 

 them of such problems as have direct bear- 

 ing upon public hygiene, a number of which 

 he briefly indicates. 



The Problems of Insanity. A Paper read 

 before the New York Medico-Legal So- 

 ciety, March 3, 1880. By George M. 

 Beabd, A. M., M. D. 



Dr. Beard declares, probably with much 

 truth, that psychology is to be the great ab- 

 sorbing study of the future, and, in the study 

 of the human mind, a thorough understand- 

 ing of insanity will not only be of the great- 

 est help, but indispensable. Among the 

 problems he indicates as demanding atten- 

 tion are the proper definition of the disease, 

 the general causes of it and of its increase 

 in modern life, its real or apparent increase 

 among the poorer classes, its diagnosis, and 

 the proper system of treating it. In con- 

 sidering its increase Dr. Beard points out as 



