LITERARY NOTICES. 



129 



A number of useful lists are appended to 

 the book, including the bibliography, appa- 

 ratus needed by a cooking school, charts on 

 the composition of foods, and an index. 



A CLINICAL STUDY OF DISEASES OF THE KID- 

 NET. By CLIFFORD MITCHELL, A. M., M. D. 

 Chicago: W. J. Keener, 1891. Pp. 432. 

 Price, $3. 



THIS is a volume intended for a profes- 

 sional audience solely. It has been written? 

 the author states, with particular reference 

 to the bearing of uranalysis upon the diag- 

 nosis and treatment of renal diseases and 

 associated disorders. 



The recent literature of the subject, par- 

 ticularly that referring to the toxines con- 

 tained in the urine of persons either in good 

 or bad health and their influence on the or- 

 ganism, is but cursorily referred to ; and the 

 pathology in general seems too meager for a 

 work of this character. The author has not 

 been an original experimenter in the field 

 treated of by his work, rather contenting 

 himself in clinically determining the efficacy 

 and truth of the observations reported by 

 others. He has quoted from many of the 

 more recent writers on this subject, and that 

 portion of his work devoted to dietetics and 

 hygienic treatment is very satisfactory. His 

 therapeusis is that of what is called the ho- 

 moeopathic school, and we do not believe that 

 the text-books of homoeopathy could more 

 carefully or efficiently discuss the subject. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO PRACTICAL BACTERI- 

 OLOGY FOR PHYSICIANS, CHEMISTS, AND 

 STUDENTS. By Dr. W. MIGULA. Trans- 

 lated by M. CAMPBELL. New York : Mac- 

 millan & Co., 1893. Pp. 247. Price, 

 $1.60. 



IT is intended that this little volume should 

 serve as a practical guide for a short labora- 

 tory course in bacteriology. The apparatus 

 necessary for bacteriological research is de- 

 scribed, and instructions are given for ex- 

 amining living bacteria, for preparing nutri- 

 ent media, for making plate or tube cultiva- 

 tions of micro-organisms, for cultivating these 

 organisms at high temperatures and also 

 without the access of air, for staining the or- 

 ganisms and their spores, and for mounting. 

 Certain of the more important microphytes 

 are described in order that the student may 

 familiarize himself with them. It is not in- 



TOL. XLIV. 11 



tended that the volume should supplant the 

 larger and well-known text-books on this 

 subject, and it seems that its practical char- 

 acter fits it for a guide for students desir- 

 ing a knowledge of the elementary princi- 

 ples of this interesting and important topic. 



THE SOIL IN RELATION TO HEALTH. By H. 

 A. MIERS, M. A., F. G. S., and R. CROSS- 

 KEY, M. A., D. P. H. New York : Mac- 

 millan & Co., 1893. Pp. xvi-135. Price, 

 $1.10. 



THE object of the authors has been to 

 prepare a work that will give information on 

 the principles of geology hi so far as they 

 concern sanitary science. There is a brief 

 review of the origin of rocks, of their de- 

 composition, and of the formation and dis- 

 tribution of soils. The relation of humus 

 and micro-organisms is then discussed, at- 

 tention being called to the soil being a habi- 

 tat for pathogenic micro-organisms and to the 

 necessity for preventing soil infection there- 



by- 



The distribution of water in the soil is 

 described, the subject of subsoil water afford- 

 ing an opportunity of presenting Pettenko- 

 fer's theory that, as the authors truly state, 

 has not been confirmed. Sufficient reference is 

 made to the relation between the dampness 

 of the soil and the prevalence of phthisis, 

 though the authors seem unaware of Bow- 

 ditch's pioneer work in this matter. 



There is a chapter on the constituents of 

 water derived from the soil, and the influence 

 that certain of these constituents exercise 

 upon the prevalence of certain diseases. 



The chapter on the relation of the soil to 

 the air considers not only the movement of 

 ground air, but also the influence of specific 

 heat, radiation and absorption, conductibility, 

 and color of the soil upon the climate. 



The final chapter, on the geographical 

 distribution of disease, very properly calls 

 attention to the fact that while disease maps 

 are of great value in indicating the geograph- 

 ical distribution of disease, they can not be 

 used as maps illustrating the geological distri- 

 bution of disease until statistics are grouped 

 by similar geological areas where the other 

 conditions are absolutely uniform. 



There are several errors in the chapter on 

 humus and micro-organisms. It was Laveran, 

 not Marchiafava and Celli, that discovered 



