272 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



crimination will rather pay more for advice 

 how to live and for frank declarations that 

 they do not need medicine than for drugs. 

 It promotes general reliance upon those pro- 

 cesses which go on equally in health and dis- 

 ease. But these ethereal practitioners have 

 no new force to offer ; there is no causal con- 

 nection between their cures and their theo- 

 ries. . . . Recoveries as remarkable have 

 been occurring through all the ages as the 

 results of mental states and Nature's own 

 powers." 



A Dictionary of Terms used in Medicine 

 and the Collateral Sciences. By the 

 late Richard D. Hobltn, M. A. Oxon. 

 Twelfth edition. Revised throughout, 

 with numerous Additions, by John A. B. 

 Price, B. A., M. D., Oxon. New York : 

 MacmiUan & Co. Pp. 822. Price, $2.25. 



The appearance of the twelfth edition of 

 this dictionary, with revisions and additions, 

 which include even the terms used in the 

 very modern science of bacteriology and bring 

 the book fully up to date, places a use- 

 ful work at the disposal of physicians and 

 students. It is, of course, not exhaustive; 

 but it contains descriptions of all the ordi- 

 nary terms relating to medicine, and these, 

 although necessarily brief, are full enough 

 for all practical purposes. Under the head 

 of poisons, eight or nine pages are devoted 

 to a classification of the commoner ones, in 

 which the symptoms and most approved 

 methods of treatment are given. 



Its small size and good print make the 

 contents of the volume readily accessible, 

 and the names on the title-page are suffi- 

 cient guarantees of accuracy. 



A Manual or Practical Medical and Physi- 

 ological Chemistry. By Charles E. 

 Pellew, E. M. New York : D. Appleton 

 & Co. Pp. 314. Price, $2.50. 



With the recent attempts to regulate the 

 conferring of medical degrees by means of 

 State legislation has come a tendency in the 

 more prosperous medical schools to make 

 their curriculums even more extended than 

 the law requires. One of the most important 

 innovations in this line has been the incor- 

 poration into the regular courses of a system 

 of laboratory work, by means of which each 

 student is given facilities for the actual 

 chemical and microscopic study of the proxi- 



mate principles, the elements entering into 

 the composition of the human body and its 

 secretions, and the reactions and histological 

 characteristics produced by various patho- 

 logical conditions, which are of value in 

 diagnosis. The study of these subjects, in a 

 practical way, has until quite recently been 

 confined, in this country at any rate, to a few 

 physiologists and post-graduate workers, so 

 that an elementary text-book suited to less 

 practiced students became a necessity. Mr. 

 Pellew' s book was designed to fill this need. 

 Its treatment of the subject is neither origi- 

 nal nor exhaustive, but it is very well adapt- 

 ed to the use of elementary students. It is 

 printed on heavy paper, and contains several 

 well-prepared plates and numerous line draw- 

 ings. 



Ethnographische Beschrijving van de 

 West en Noordkust van Nederlandsch 

 Nieu w-Guinea (Ethnographical Descrip- 

 tion of the Western and Northwestern 

 Coasts of Dutch New Guinea). By F. S. 

 A. de Clercq and J. D. E. Schmeltz. 

 One vol., 4to, pp. 300, plates xlii. Ley- 

 den : P. W. M. Trap. 



This magnificent work describes the col- 

 lections made by Mr. F. S. A. de Clercq in 

 New Guinea in the years 1887 and 1888, 

 which are now in the Royal Ethnographic 

 Museum at Leyden, Holland. The descrip- 

 tive portion of the work is mainly by Dr. J. 

 D. E. Schmeltz, conservator of the museum. 

 The book is a model of its kind. It is fur- 

 nished with a full list of all authorities 

 quoted, a list of all places mentioned, an 

 excellent map, and admirable indices — all 

 necessary, but, unfortunately, often omitted 

 in ethnographic writings. 



The main portion of tbe work is divided 

 into three parts. In the first we have a de- 

 scription of each object — size, form, mate- 

 rial, details, and provenance — with references 

 to passages in any author where similar ob- 

 jects have been described or illustrated. 

 Where necessary for comparison or illustra- 

 tion, sketches are introduced into the text. 

 The objects described are divided into five 

 groups: a, dress and adornment; 6, houses 

 and domestic utensils; c, objects used in 

 trade, fishing, etc. ; d, weapons ; e, objects 

 used on festal occasions, ceremonies, etc. 

 The plates, more than forty in number and 

 mostly colored, represent the objects de- 



