LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1886. 



491 





and the most considerable addition to the 

 patent lawyer's library is " Federal Cases on 

 Patents, Copyrights, and Trade-Marks," edited 

 by W. D. Baldwin and Woodbury Lovvry. It 

 contains the more important decisions in full 

 and a digest of minor cases. Duryee on " As- 

 signments of Patent Rights " is a small digest, 

 in a special field, and B. V. Abbott has edited 

 two volumes containing the u Patent Laws of 

 All Nations." 



" Tact in Court," by J. W. Donovan, while 

 hardly to be classed as an authority, contains 

 many valuable hints suggestive alike to lawyer 

 and layman. " Among the Lawyers," by Ed- 

 mund Alton, is a contribution to the general 

 literature of the guild. 



Our list may close with reference to J. P. 

 Gray's "Rule against Perpetuities," a text- 

 book that embodies a valuable study of the 

 American law of property. 



Medicine. The year was not prolific of new 

 books, if quantity alone is considered. There 

 were published in the United States, however, 

 a number of special volumes highly creditable 

 to the profession, and the work of compilation 

 and codification has commanded the services 

 of many competent workers. 



Bearing upon diseases of the brain are J. L. 

 Coming's "Local Anaesthesia in General Medi- 

 cine ; also, " Brain-Rest," by the same author. 

 With these, W. D. Granger's "How to care for 

 the Insane " should have a place. F. Treve's 

 ' ; Manual of Surgery" is a compilation in three 

 volumes of monographs by acknowledged au- 

 thorities. R. T. Morris writes for beginners a 

 surgical manual entitled " How we treat Wounds 

 To-Day." It treats especially of the compara- 

 tively modern methods of antiseptic surgery. 

 Another work by the same author is " Surgi- 

 cal Diseases of the Kidney." Lane's " Manual 

 of Operative Surgery " is an excellent conden- 

 sation of practical information with which 

 every general practitioner should be, but not 

 always ia, familiar. 



Dr. E. G. Loring's " Text-Book of Ophthal- 

 moscopy," Part I, is a profound and admirable 

 work, recounting all the latest improvements 

 in instruments, of some of which he is himself 

 the inventor, and describing minutely the eye 

 in its normal and diseased condition. Prof. 

 Weisse, under the title of "Practical Human 

 Anatomy, a Working Guide for Students of 

 Medicine and a Ready Reference for Surgeons 

 and Physicians," has condensed the acquire- 

 ments of his professional life. Illustrations 

 occupy a large part of the book. 



Delafield's " Studies in Pathological Anato- 

 my" have reached "Chronic Phthisis" in the 

 second volume. The discussion of this dreaded 

 disease will be found well-nigh exhaustive. 



" Buck's Reference Hand-Book of the Medi- 

 cal Sciences " has reached its second volume, 

 professedly embracing the entire range of sci- 

 entific and practical medicine. 



" The Curability of Insanity " is a series of 

 intelligent studies of especial interest to neu- 



rologists, as tending to correct many errors 

 that are common even among members of the 

 profession. C. "W. Cutler, in his a Manual of 

 Differential Diagnosis," has provided an excel- 

 lent hand-book for students. A. Worcester's 

 "Monthly Nursing" is not strictly intended 

 for professional use, but physicians are often 

 glad of such manuals to place in the hands of 

 those seeking instruction. Some hints on the 

 phenomena of heredity may be found in " Out- 

 lines of Lectures on Physiology," by Dr. Mills, 

 of McGill University. 



Dr. Billings's report on the "Mortality and 

 Vital Statistics of the United States, as re- 

 turned at the Tenth Census," is a work involv- 

 ing vast labor and a highly commendable thor- 

 oughness in statistical method. It is one of the 

 most creditable works issued by the Govern- 

 ment. J. W. Stickler has written " The Adi- 

 rondacks as a Health Resort," citing instances 

 of benefit in cases of pulmonary disease. 



The increasing scope of professional publica- 

 tions no doubt turns the current of professional 

 writing to the direction of detached papers. 

 These, however, if of any permanent value, 

 are eventually gathered into volumes, and the 

 world is in no way the loser. The Surgeon- 

 General's office at Washington calls for a large 

 amount of highly valuable work, and the un- 

 dertaking of cataloguing the library of that 

 office, deserves especial commendation. 



Miscellaneous. A few books of interest to 

 special groups of readers remain to be noticed : 

 "The Law of Field- Sports," comprising the 

 game-laws of all the States, by George Put- 

 nam Smith; "The Boat-Sailer's Manual," by 

 Edward F. Qualtrough ; " Fly-fishing and Fly- 

 making for Trout," by J. Harrington Keene; 

 "The American Salmon-Fisherman," by H. P. 

 Wells; " Whist Scores and Card-Table Talk," 

 by H. Rheinlmrdt. 



Statistics. In the following table, compiled 

 by the " Publishers' Weekly," the issues of the 

 minor class of cheap libraries have been omit- 

 ted, as they are for the most part reprints, and 

 hardly to be classed as books. Six hundred 

 are included from the cheap libraries. The 

 books of 1885 are included for comparison : 



