TRANSLATOES' PEEFACE TO THE EDITION 



OF 1880. 



THE last edition of the American translation of Niemeyer's 

 " Practical Medicine " appeared in 1871, and in the same year 

 Prof. Memeyer died, his death probably having been hastened 

 by his labors during the French-German war. His loss to the 

 medical profession was a great one, for in him unusual abilities 

 for teaching were united with untiring industry and a rare ex- 

 perience. He was about fifty years of age, and in the prime of 

 life and mental vigor. 



Since his death his text-book has gone through another edi- 

 tion in Germany, edited by Dr. Eugene Seitz. The changes in 

 the text made by the new editor have been extensive, and a large 

 amount of new matter has been inserted ; but in condensing the 

 book, in order to afford room for the fresh material, much of the 

 charm of style and graphic description peculiar to the original 

 has been sacrificed for the sake of brevity, so that to the transla- 

 tors the new work seemed less readable than the old. 



In bringing out a revised American edition, they have, there- 

 fore, adhered as closely as possible to Niemeyer's original ; and 

 while they have drawn freely upon the last German edition, they 

 have not attempted to make a close translation of it. At the 

 same time, they have made such additions to it from other sources 

 as seemed to them calculated to render the work more useful 

 to the American reader. Short articles have been inserted upon 

 Chronic Poisoning by Alcohol and Morphine, as well as upon 

 Wandering Spleen, Paralysis Agitans, Scleroderma, Elephantia- 

 sis Grsecorum, and Progressive Pernicious Anaemia. A chapter 



