LITERARY NOTICES. 



119 



A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the 

 Skin. By Louis A. Duhring, M. D., 

 Professor of Diseases of the Skin in the 

 Hospital of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; Physician to the Dispensary for 

 Skin-Diseases, Philadelphia; Author of 

 Atlas of Skin-Diseases, etc. Philadel- 

 phia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. Pp. 000. 

 Price, $6. 



As a manual of dermatology for the 

 medical practitioner this treatise will be 

 found valuable and satisfactory. It is prac- 

 tical, thorough, and systematic, without 

 claiming to be exhaustive, in the erudition 

 of the subject, or the details of its histori- 

 cal literature. It presents the elements 

 of the subject concisely, giving all the im- 

 portant facts in connection with each dis- 

 ease treated of. In classification Dr. Duh- 

 ring follows the authority of the celebrated 

 Prof. Hebra, of the University of Vienna, 

 his former teacher, and to whom the pres- 

 ent tvork is dedicated. A special and highly- 

 commendable feature of Dr. Duhring's work 

 is the definition of the various skin-diseases, 

 which he has made out from the standpoint 

 of clinical observation with a view to its 

 practical usefulness, and which consists 

 mainly of succinct descriptions of charac- 

 teristic lesions and symptoms, where the 

 cases were not too complex and obscure to 

 make clear definition possible. In the sec- 

 tions devoted to treatment, while the author 

 makes due reference to all those methods 

 that are favorably regarded by the pro- 

 fession, he has also brought distinctly for- 

 ward those remedies and modes of treat- 

 ment that he has found of greatest benefit 

 in his own medical experience. 



Skin-diseases appear to undergo grave 

 modifications in different geographical cir- 

 cumstances, so that well-executed treatises 

 upon the subject in one country are liable 

 to lose their accuracy when applied to other 

 countries. On this point Dr. Duhring re- 

 marks : " I can but incidentally refer to the 

 fact that disorders of the skin manifest 

 more or less variation in type as they occur 

 in one or in another part of the world. 

 Having had some few years ago favorable 

 opportunities for observing a large number 

 of cutaneous affections in the various coun- 

 tries of Europe, and since then of studying 

 these diseases in the United States, I can 

 state that in many instances they differ 

 materially in type as they are seen on the 



two continents. Without entering into this 

 interesting subject, it may be remarked 

 that the diseases met with here resemble 

 more closely those of Great Britain than 

 those of either France or Germany. A 

 recognition of this fact must, I think, go 

 far in accounting for the discrepancies 

 which exist in the descriptions of certain 

 diseases as given by trustworthy observ- 

 ers." 



Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian 

 Symbolism. By Thomas Inman, M. D. 

 Pp. 174. With numerous Illustrations. 

 New York : Bouton. Price, $3. 



The exceedingly curious figures which 

 abound in this volume give to it nearly all 

 the value which it possesses. The book 

 contains no less than 180 woodcut figures, 

 together with 19 lithograph plates of full- 

 page size. With hardly a single exception, 

 they are more or less plainly symbolical of 

 sexuality in religion. The author has un- 

 doubtedly rendered a great service to stu- 

 dents of that particular aspect of the re- 

 ligious idea, by bringing together so many 

 interesting memorials of the wide diffu- 

 sion of sex-worship. His own remarks and 

 speculations, however, do not carry much 

 weight. 



We reproduce some of the tilings said 

 by the London Examiner in reference to 

 Arnott's " Physics," which, in its new form, 

 is attracting much attention : 



" It was in 1827 that Dr. Arnott took 

 the world by storm. The publication, in 

 that year, of the first volume of the ' Ele- 

 ments of Physics ' was probably the great- 

 est ' sensation ' ever made by a scientific 

 work, purely as an exposition. The first 

 edition was sold in a few days ; a second 

 had to be followed by a third, a fourth, and 

 a fifth, in as many years. If the author had 

 devoted himself to keeping it up by the 

 necessary improvements, it would have long 

 continued to distance all competition in its 

 own walk. It had an equal run in America, 

 and was translated into nearly all the Con- 

 tinental languages. The popularity of the 

 book was not due to any meretricious qual- 

 ities. There was an extraordinary profusion 

 of interesting examples, but these interfered 

 less than in almost any other popular work 

 with the understanding of the doctrines 



