LITERARY NOTICES. 



REVIEW OF RECENT TEXT-BOOKS OF ANATOMY AND 

 PATHOLOGY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



SECOND ARTICLE. 



Church and Peterson's Text-book ' 



"This book has been written for medical students and general 

 practitioners. It makes no claim to be other than a carefully prepared 

 text-book. The literature of neurology and psychiatry has been sifted 

 by the authors, and such digest revised in the light of their own exper- 

 ience in practice and in teaching." 



Church starts from the methods of examination of patients (pp. 

 17-69), which are presented clearly and concisely. Then follow the 

 descriptions of the various diseases, of the cerebral meninges and 

 cranial nerves (pp. 70-154); of the brain proper (pp. 155-259); of the 

 spinal meninges and the spinal nerves (pp. 260-315); of the cord prop- 

 er (pp. 316-433); then diseases of the general nervous system with 

 anatomical basis (pp. 434-455) and diseases of the nervous system 

 without known anatomical basis (pp. 456-585) and finally symptomatic 

 disorders (pp. 586-600). 



Opinions may well be divided as to what is the best classification 

 of the material for a text-book. The use of the coarse anatomical dis- 

 tributions of lesions as a fundamental principle will appeal to many 

 students, since examinations are apt to lay stress on such questions. 

 For the logical thought of a physican, confronted with broad patholog- 

 ical problems, this method seems, however, less advantageous. The 

 various chapters are well and lucidly presented and the promise given 

 in the preface is well lived up to. The numerous illustrations are well 

 chosen. Many objects and patients are shown in a number of views 

 which give vivid pictures rarely found in equal quality in text-books. 



Dr. Peterson gives a picture of psychiatry, based on his clinical 

 lectures and embodying "only the facts which I believe to be most 



1 Nervous and Mental Diseases, by Archibald Church and Frederick Peter- 

 son. With 305 illustrations. 843 pp. VV. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1899. 



