286 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



stances and statistics of the case, may be required. The chief aims being that 

 advice for prevention of disease shall be had by periodical visits : and that the 

 best and most prompt attention shall be secured on being attacked by sick- 

 ness, without any immediate outlay, or increased annual expenditure." 



The author concludes by stating the advantages which would result from 

 such an institution under three heads: namely, the advantage to the indivi- 

 duals ; the advantage to the medical profession ; and the advantage to the 

 public. He says, 



" The advantage to individuals is the primary object in view, and conse- 

 quently includes most points. The chief benefits will be, the procuring the 

 best advice at the least cost, the being relieved from any additional ex- 

 penditure at the time of sickness, and all its anxieties, the having the 

 best medicines administered in the best manner, and from the purest mo- 

 tives, the security of having no more medicine than is absolutely necessary, 

 nor any other treatment than is requisite, it being the interest of the medical 

 attendants to keep the books as clear of patients as possible, they having no 

 interest in useless attendance or in the sale of thedrugs, the having periodical 

 attendance, so that the first approach of diseases may be perceived and pre- 

 vented. This last is a most important point, as it is well known that a greater 

 proportion of the severe diseases terminate seriously, and often fatally, from 

 the want of timely remedies. Those engaged in business too often defer 

 having advice from prudential motives ; and all are unwilling to contemplate 

 a sick bed, however obvious it may be that ' prevention is better than cure." 

 Several minor advantages will present themselves in the working out the 

 scheme, such as the joint use of expensive apparatus, baths, &c. 



" The advantages to the profession are the certainty of ability gaining a 

 remuneration, without, as is too often the case, having to mingle the anxieties 

 of the tradesman with the practice of a profession, the formation of new 

 schools for the promulgation of medical science, by the extension of the field 

 of professional observation, the removal of the possibility of incurring the 

 accusation of venal motives in the application of remedies, the consequent 

 destruction of unfounded prejudices against the profession, and the dissemina- 

 tion of sounder opinions of medical requisites, the avoiding the risk of bad 

 debts, a contingency to which medical practitioners are more liable than any 

 other, the formation of certain scales of professional incomes, which may 

 regulate the entrance into the profession, and give a more equal and beneficial 

 employment to all members of it. 



" The advantages to the public are many of them included in those apper- 

 taining to individuals and the profession ; in addition to these, however, will 

 be found several which would benefit even those who did not belong to such 

 institutions : the chief of these are the removal of vulgar prejudices against 

 medical science, and the dissemination of sounder opinions as to it, and the 

 consequent destruction of empiricism, the improvement of medical science 

 by the inducements held out by the offices to be filled, and by the competition 

 and rigid examination requisite to procure them, the improvement of the 

 public health, and probably morals, by the means thus given of preventing 

 not only ordinary disorders, but the spread of those which are contagious, 

 the formation and distribution of boards of medical ability, the consultation 

 and concentration of which, in any particular times of pestilence or peculiar 

 sickness, and whose knowledge at all times must be most serviceable." 



Tales of a Rambler. Smith, Elder, and Co. 



THIS is a handsomely got up volume. It is illustrated by various beautiful 

 etchings. The literature is also respectable. It is well written; but the author 

 does not always infuse enough of spirit into it to ensure the reader's attention. 

 The characteristic of the tales is a fluent rather than forcible stvle of diction. 



