BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
A System of Operative Surgery; based upon the Practice of
Surgeons in the United States, and comprising a Biblio-
graphical Index and Historical Record of many of their Opera-
tions for a period of two hundred years. By Henry II.
Smith, M. D., &c. &c. Illustrated by numerous steel plates—
Parts ls£, 2c?, 3d, 4th and 5th (complete in one vol. 8vo., pp.
698, including index, and 80 plates.) Philadelphia, 1852 :
Lippincot, Grambo & Co.
In the publication of parts 4th and 5th of Dr. II. II. Smith’s
Operative Surgery, our readers will be glad to find the comple-
tion of his work. We congratulate the author upon the termina-
tion of his arduous task. He has good reason to rejoice with all
concerned at the very handsome appearance of the volume of
colored plates, in which the result of his labors has at last been
presented to the public. We cannot discover that there has
been any falling off in the preparation of the concluding portions,
which it is our business nowr to notice. On the contrary, we are
inclined to think that some improvement has been gained, at
least in the coloring of the plates, if not in their general execu-
tion.
Part IV. is devoted to Operations on the Genito-Urinary Or-
gans and Rectum. It is divided into five chapters, containing
in all about one hundred and four pages, and illustrated by six-
teen plates. The first of these chapters is occupied with opera-
tions on the male genito-urinary organs, and treats in different
sections successively of the surgical anatomy of the parts con-
cerned, of operations on the penis, on the urethra, on the sper-
matic cord, and on the testicle. Chapter 2d has for its subject,
stone in the bladder ; and in this connection it presents us with
the surgical anatomy of the male perineum, and with the different
operations of lithotomy. Chapter 3d discusses the operation of
lithotripsy; and in chapters 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, we find, in
regular order of succession, descriptions and representations of
operations on the female genito-urinary organs, operations for
vaginal fistula, operations practised on the deep seated repro-
ductive organs of the female, and lastly, of operations prac-
tised on the rectum.
Part V. concludes the work with an account of operations on
the extremities, in eight chapters and eighty-six pages, these latter
being accompanied with sixteen beautifully engraved and colored
plates. Chapter 1st of this part gives us, under the caption of
general operations on the extremities, some observations on the
operations for inverted toe-nail, for the cure of paronychia, for
the cure of enlarged bursse, for the relief of certain conditions of
the nerves, onthe management of varicose veins, and on the opera-
tions of tenotomy. Chapters 2d and 3d describe the ligature of
the arteries of the upper and lower extremities ; chapters 4th and
5th treat of operations on the bones of the two extremities. Chap-
ter 6th is occupied with general remarks on amputation; and
chapters 7th and 8th are devoted to the particular amputations.
Of the thirty-two plates belonging to the concluding chapters
just enumerated, the first four are occupied with the instruments
employed in operations on the urethra, and with operations prac-
tised on the penis, urethra, and the testicle and cord. Then we
have five plates devoted to the instruments and operative pro-
cedures required for the removal of urinary calculi, including,
of course, the usual modes of operating by lithotomy and litho-
tripsy. Next in order comes a plate which represents a great
variety of instruments employed in operations upon the vagina
and the rectum. This is followed by four plates, intended to
represent the different operations upon the female genito-urinary
organs; by two plates exhibiting the operations practised on the
rectum ; by four plates, in which are shown the deligation of the
arteries of the two extremities ; by two plates displaying the dif-
ferent resections of the bones of the extremities; and lastly,
by one plate presenting the instruments for amputation, and by
nine, in which are figured the several amputations of these
extremities.
So much for the topics of text and illustration which con-
stitute the material of Dr. Smith’s concluding parts. The
very brief summary which alone we have been able to offer
in this place, will serve, we trust, to show that they are fully
equal, in the variety and interest of their contents, to their pre-
decessors already presented to our readers. A careful scanning
of their pages, although, as a matter of course, bringing to
our notice much that must meet with general approval, and more
or less about which there might be a difference of opinion, has
nevertheless-suggested very little that was possessed of novelty
or unusual interest enough to authorize any special comment.
It may suffice to note in passing, that of the many well known
operations with which the names of American surgeons are con-
nected, he presents us in this portion of his work, among others,
with figures and accounts of those for lacerated female perineum,
introduced and successfully performed by Mettauer and Ilorner,
for vesico-vaginal fistula by Hayward, Mettauer and Marion
Sims, for recto-vaginal fistula by Rhea Barton, for ovariotomy
by McDowell and W. L. Atlee, for Caesarian section by Gibson,
for extirpation of the uterus by Esselman and T. F. Eve, for
encysted rectum by Physick, for excision of hemorrhoids by
Horner, for fistula in ano by Gibson, for anchylosis by Rhea
Barton and Gurdon Buck, Jr., and for the introduction of the
seton in false joint or ununited fracture by Physick.
Under the head of perineal fistula we are glad to observe a
description of the mode of operating which Dr. W. E. Horner
has for a long time employed and recommended, but we cannot
help regretting that the whole subject of stricture and perineal
disease and injury is so hastily dispatched. The management of
the prostatic and other portions of the male urethra involved in
these perineal dyscrasies is so vitally important and has been of
late so frequently discussed, that a few meagre paragraphs
and a single operative procedure would hardly seem a fair
proportion of attention to it in a systematic work which,
notwithstanding the disclaimers of its preface, is manifestly
offered as the first attempt at an embodiment of American Ope-
rative Surgery, and in which far less interesting questions are
allowed to occupy a greater space. The same objection might
be made, without injustice, and in some instances with much
stronger reason, to other portions of our author’s pages, in the
earlier as well as later parts. Some of these short-comings arc
doubtless the result of haste in preparing for the press ; or, as
intimated in the preface, they could not easily be avoided in a
book of plates without an inconvenient development of bulk ;
some of them arise, perhaps, from mere inadvertence of revision
—to which, by the by, must be attributed the lack of grammati-
cal elegance and perspicuity oflanguage observable in many places.
But admitting, with a judgment of charity, that such accidents
are excusable, and may not materially impair the standing of an
authoritative work, we are still forced to conclude that some of
his omissions and superficial modes of treating certain subjects
are intentional, and the deliberate result of his particular views.
What, for example, are we to suppose of the state of American
aural operative surgery if we are to judge from the following
cavalier disposal of it in the remarks with which the section on
operations on the ear concludes ?
“ The almost universal necessity that exists in the United States for
every surgeon to practise several distinct portions of his profession, as
well as the absence of definite instruction in these complaints, usually
noticed in the ordinary courses of education of our medical schools, has,
for many years, induced the majority of the profession to shun the treat-
ment of aural c< mplaints, and forced patients into the hands of empirics.
All the operations upon the car are, however, so easily practised, and
the character of the complaints requiring them so very limited, that this
condition of things may be remedied by any surgeon. QI]
“ In order to prove this, an effort has now been made to describe, as
fully as is necessary, all the ordinary operations required for the relief of
deafness, and if the reader will follow the description, in connection with
the plates, he will, it is hoped, find them quite full enough. Pages have
been written on most of these operations, but with the tendency to con-
fuse and embarrass rather than encourage the reader. Washing out the
external and internal auditory tubes, witli perforation of the meinbrana
tympani, or perhaps the mastoid cells, really constitutes the entire por-
tion of aural operative surgery, and are certainly easily executed. [!!] The
prognosis of the complaints requiring these operations is, it is true, often
doubtful, or decidedly unfavorable; yet, it should be remembered that,
even when unable to cure, a surgeon may effect much good by assuring
the patient of the impossibility of his being relieved, and every operator
should, therefore, gain such an amount of practical skill as will enable
him to give an opinion. By washing out the meatus externus, and
examining the condition of the membrane of the tympanum ; by cathe-
terizing the Eustachian tube, or by perforating the membranum tympani,
and testing the permeability of the passage to the throat, as above de-
scribed, much advantage will often be gained by the patient, whilst
many persons will be saved from the hands of unprincipled men, who,
in the majority of cases, only do them harm.” [Ill] (pp. 219, 220.)
We do not believe in the necessity for exclusive devotion to
the study of this or of any other department of surgical
practice; and we wrnuld be sorry to admit the existence of
such a lamentable state of ignorance in “ the majority of the
profession,” whether among specialists or not, in regard to dis-
eases of the ear, as the foregoing extract would lead us to imagine.
Again, under the head of means of radically curing reducible
hernia, we are treated to the following bright light on an old
question.
“ After the reduction of a hernia and the application of a truss, the
patient is secure for the time from the danger of strangulation, and
though it has been asserted that radical cures have been effected by the
constant use of the instrument, inducing such adhesions and induration
of tissue as plugged up the ring, my opportunities (and they have not
been slight) have never enabled me to see one well grown adult who
had obtained this result from the use of an instrument. In children
and young persons, such a condition has been created as prevented the
reproduction of the complaint for years; yet, even in these patients, the
success has been far from constant.
“ The most, therefore, that can be asserted of any truss is, that after
its application, the patient is not liable to a descent of the hernia, pro-
vided it fits well, and is constantly worn. The manufacture and appli-
cation of these instruments having, in many sections of the country,
passed into the hands of ignorant men, professional evidence of the ad-
vantages resulting from the use of any particular kind of truss is rare.
Some, I think, do more harm than good, and the surgeon should, there-
fore, make it his duty to examine the mode in which the truss is worn,
as the instrument is often so badly adapted to the part as to increase the
complaint.
“ It being generally admitted that little or no reliance can be placed
upon a truss for the accomplishment of the radical cure of hernia, several
surgeons have endeavored to find some other means of effecting this im-
portant object. Most of these, though differing in the details, have had
one grand object in view, and that is, the creation of such a condition of
the parts as would effectually and permanently close the opening.”
(p. 413.)
This free and easy way of solving our doubts as to the radical
cure of hernia by trusses, does not happen to agree with very
respectable evidence against his confident assertion in our
own country, and certainly does not accord with the very positive
experience of European surgeons, as may be easily ascertained
by reference to the works of authors of repute on both sides of
the channel.
Once more ; in the concluding paragraphs of his remarks on
the lateral operation he thus disposes of the Gorget question.
“ There are, however, many surgeons in the United States who do
not use the gorget, preferring a beaked knife, of various shapes, most of
which are apparently favorites, from having been designated by the name
of the inventor. In many instances, such knives arc only poor modifi-
cations of a gorget; they act in the same manner, but do not make so
accurate an incision, and are liable to create an opening in the pelvic
fascia by leading the operator to incise the prostate to too great an extent
laterally. In a deep perineum, it is always difficult to judge of the
position of the point of a knife, even when apparently directed by the
left fore-finger; but with a staff held in the median line of the body,
with its curve close under the pubis, and with the beak of a gorget well
placed in it, it is impossible to extend an incision beyond the limits of
the width of the blade. This subject is, however, one which has en-
gaged powerful advocates on both sides, and I shall, therefore, dismiss
it with the simple statement of individual preference for the gorget of
Physick, though, at the same time, I should not hesitate to cut for
stone with a staff and pocket bistoury, if nothing else could be obtained,
nor doubt the possibility of a surgeon operating neatly and properly with
any instrument when a correct anatomical knowledge of the structure
concerned was made to direct it.” (pp. 522, 523.)
Fortunately for the guidance as well as reputation of Ameri-
can surgeons, this same question, so far as substitutes for the
gorget are concerned, is more fully, as well as modestly, dis-
cussed by the only other recent American writer—one who cer-
tainly enjoys the most extended reputation, at home and abroad,
to say nothing of his numerous operations, and his long course of
practice and teachingas a surgeon of the highest standing. Yet,
although an opponent of the gorget, Dr. Gross, to whom we
allude, does not allow us to suppose that even with his authority
he would thus contemptuously treat the instrument which, old-
fashioned and almost disused as it is, Dr. Smith chooses to style
the type of all—the one par excellence—of which the different
forms of knife constantly preferred by the first surgeons in the
world are only so many poor modifications.
These quotations have been taken as we happened to be struck
with them in looking through the book. We might add many
others equally characteristic; but there is enough already to ac-
quit us of unfairness in expressing the opinion which, as consci-
encious reviewers, we are forbidden to withhold, that our author
does not afford such a “ comprehensive view of the opinions, ope-
rative methods and instruments of those of his countrymen who
have given to American surgery a character of its own,” as the
language of its title and preface would imply to be the grand
object of his"work.
We have not the least desire to quarrel with his individual
opinions in regard to the theory and practice of his art, so long
as they are allowed to rest solely upon his personal responsi-
bility, and to go for what they may be individually worth. But
we cannot aid in presenting them to the professsion under the
guise of a national authority, or even the prestige of a strictly
native origin. Let the “ System ” to which they are attached be
avowedly established on the “ basis ” of their author’s individual
opinions and experience, and not upon that of the “ views of his
own countrymen,” or of the practice of American surgeons in
general, and we will bow to his decisions with all the deference
due to the superior advantages and opportunities which his seven-
teen years’ devotion to his favorite branch has given to him.
We are aware of the tendency of the “sovereigns” of our de-
mocracy to imagine their doings and sayings to be American,
merely because they happen themselves, as individuals, to belong
to the American nation. We know that we are all too apt, in
our republican simplicity, to mean “I, the people,” when we say
“ we, the people ”; and our only hope in connection with this
new competitor for national distinction is, that strangers as well
as natives may not fall into the common error. Our friend’s book,
however creditable to himself and advantageous to us all, cannot
afford us an adequate idea of the actual state of surgery on this
side of the Atlantic. This could not be expected in its limited
amount of space for letter press, and with its independent doc-
trines in regard to different subjects; while the very large pre-
ponderance of European illustrations and the number of operative
precepts—nearly all the amputations for example—taken di-
rectly from the French, (see p. 665,) give it rather the aspect in
some parts of a Parisian compilation. The materials for a
genuine cis atlantic work may yet be had abundantly within the
reach of those amongst us,—and there should be many such—
who are competent and not afraid to use them. The task,
however discouraging it may now appear, must sooner or later
be fulfilled, without this resort to the enervating draughts from
foreign sources, which of late years have been the curse of
so many of our publications. No man need go to Paris or Lon-
don now to learn how to amputate a limb or extirpate a tumor,
resect a bone, extract a calculus—in short, to effect the greatest
triumph which surgical art and science, under Providence, have
ever yet achieved. Why, then, this never-ending slavery to the
parasitic feebleness which will scarcely allow us, without resorting
to an unknown tongue, to show our pupils how to perform the
simplest operation?
Let us not be understood in these remarks to be harboring any
prejudice against the work before us, because it happens, from the
predilections of its author and his peculiar opportunities, to savor
more of European continental surgery than we are inclined to re-
gard as needful in the United States. We have no intention to
criticise his taste or judgment as singular in this particular con-
nection, for we admit that he has only followed a prevailing
fashion ; and we can, and most cheerfully do, recommend his work,
whether original and national or not, as the handsomest and most
convenient atlas and illustrated outline of operative surgery
that has yet appeared in this country, and therefore, one that
must prove in a high degree valuable to students, teachers and
practitioners. We can recommend it, too, as desirable and im-
portant in its influence on account of its many detailed reports
of operations by American Surgeons, and of its bibliography; al-
though this latter might have been made a little more complete
in several places, without injury to the rest. But we do not
venture to endorse it as an epitome or mirror, to use a
popular term, of the operative surgery of our own land. Nor,
do we mean to say that it is offered, or will be anywhere received
as such; and we only have suggested the idea at the risk of making
what may seem to be an invidious and gratuitous distinction, in
order to clear ourselves, if possible, from the imputation which
our notice of the first and second parts has placed us under of
favoring such a view. We extended a cordial welcome, in
spite of some misgivings at the outset, to an undertaking
which bid fair to prove one of the most extensive that had ever
been ventured on by an American publisher ; and our regard
and respect for the enterprise and energy of all concerned led us
then, as they do now, to wish them the most flattering success.
But we cannot leave them without expressing the disappoint-
ment which we sincerely feel, not only at the want of truly
native hue in the compilations of the text, but at the almost
exclusive preference manifested, in letter press as well as illustra-
tions, wherever foreign aid is resorted to, for French works (and
especially the superficial manuals,) to the more practical and
substantial productions of the British press. The book, as a
specimen of printing and engraving, is most attractive in its
getting-up, however ; and, although it does not accomplish all
that we would like to see effected by such a publication, it still
goes far beyond anything we have yet known in its class, and
gives us much more, perhaps, than, according to ordinary cal-
culation, we had a right to expect.
A Practical Treatise, on Diseases of the Skin. By J. Moore
Neligan, M. D., M. R. I. A., Lecturer on the Practice of
Medicine in the Dublin School of Medicine, &c. &c. Phila-
delphia: Blanchard & Lea, 1852. 12mo. pp. 333.
The Diseases of the Skin constitute an exceedingly important
department of nosology, of which, with comparatively few excep-
tions, practitioners of medicine are lamentably ignorant. This want
of knowledge does not depend upon any deficiency of publications
upon the affections in question, for such are abundant in the
English, French, and German languages, and many of them are
accompanied with more or less faithful pictorial representations
of the various eruptions described. The difficulty is ascribable
partly to peculiarities connected with the diseases themselves,
and partly to confusion in the modes of their classification and
description. To most physicians they certainly present no
special attractions; but, on the contrary, much that is repulsive,
in their frequently unsightly appearance, and the not uncom-
monly disagreeable odor which they occasion. Moreover, they are
usually the concomitants, and indeed frequently the result of po-
verty and filth,'and consequently can contribute less to the social
position or to the emoluments of the physician than most other
complaints which are more equally visited upon all classes of man-
kind. Again, most of them do not so much interfere with the ordi-
nary pursuits of their victims, as to induce them to resort early to
means of cure. And in this country, particularly, there being no
public institution for the especial treatment of skin diseases, clinical
instruction upon them has never been attempted in any regular
and methodical manner; hence young men enter upon the active
practice of their profession with the most imperfect notions con-
cerning the diagnosis, and with very empirical views about the
treatment of them.
The learner might commence the study of these affections with
more hope and zeal, did he see a greater degree of harmony pre-
vailing among dermatologists with reference to the important point
of diagnosis. But, inasmuch as the very same disease wears at dif-
erent stages an entirely different aspect, it has received one appel-
lation from this writer, and another from that; so that at the very
threshold of his inquiries the student is perplexed and disheart-
ened.
The two different bases for the classification of cutaneous dis-
eases which are now most prominently presented, are the artifi-
cial and the natural, as they are termed. The first depends
upon the specific form and appearances which the eruptions ex-
hibit; the other upon the anatomical seat of the eruption, or, upon
the immediate pathological lesion or modification of structure which
it indicates. The first was proposed, as Dr. Neligan informs us, by
Riolanus, revived by Plenck, and received currency and charac-
ter from Willan, whose classification, in its essential features, is
to this day regarded as the best adapted to facilitate the recog-
nition of the diseases of the skin. The natural systems of
classification are chiefly those of Wilson and Cazenave. Mr.
Wilson adopts as the basis of his arrangement the anatomy and
physiology of the skin, and makes four primary groups of the
eruptions which appear upon the latter, viz:
1.	Diseases	of the Derma.
2.	“	“	Sudoriparous glands.
3.	cc	“	Sebiparous glands.
4.	u	11	Hair and hair follicles*
Each has several sub-divisions. M. Cazenave includes all
cutaneous affections under eight classes, each of which is founded
upon some pathological modification of the structure or proper-
ties of the skin, viz :—1, Inflammation ; 2, Lesions of Secretion ;
3, Hypertrophies ; 4, Deteriorations ; 5, Hsemorrhagiae; G, Le-
sions of Sensibility; 7, Foreign Bodies ; 8, Diseases of the Ap-
pendages, embracing the hair and the nails.
If scientific accuracy alone were desirable in a nosological
arrangement, as in the classifications of Natural History, it must
be confessed that the system of Wilson, which starts from known
and always verifiable data, would be the best for cutaneous dis-
eases. But in the examination of these, facility of application
must be an important consideration in determining what mode
of classification to adopt, and in this respect we cannot but think
that the method of Willan possesses advantages over any “naiw-
ral” arrangement yet proposed. It was originally open to
serious objections, of course ; but it has been of late years so
much improved as to be not more amenable to criticism than
those which have been advanced to supercede it. The chief ob-
jection urged against it is that the characteristic form of the
eruption is subject to such changes,—the papule becoming vesicu-
lar, the vesicle pustular, &c., fr,om accidental circumstances,—that
it may be placed in every group but the right one. It rarely
happens, however, that a careful examination will fail in detect-
ing its proper and specific form.
The treatise of Dr. Neligan, which we have already cited by
its title, advocates the Willanean system, with the modifications
and improvements to which we have just alluded. The author
says, “In proceeding to describe the classification of diseases of
the skin w'hich I intend to adopt, I -wish, in limine, to disclaim
any pretensions to originality. My chief object is to endeavor
to simplify a subject which has often not received from the
student and practitioner the attention it merits, owing to the
difficulties with which complicated arrangements and even
changing nomenclatures have invested it. I shall therefore take
advantage of the labors of those who have preceded mo, and en-
deavor to reduce the grouping together of cutaneous eruptions to
a3 fewr sub-divisions as attention to accuracy will admit.”
The arrangement which he adopts is exhibited in a tabular
form, as follows:
Order.	Genera.
1.	Exanthemata, comprising Erythema, Erysipelas, Urticaria, Roseola.
2.	Vesiculae,	“ Eczema, Herpes, Pemphigus, Rupia,
Scabies.
3.	Pustulae,	“	Acne, Impetigo, Ecthyma.
4.	Papulae,	“	Lichen, Prurigo.
5.	Squamae,	“	Psoriasis, Pityriasis.
6.	Ilypertrophiae, “	Icthyosis, Molluscum,	Stearrhoea, Elephan-
tiasis, Verruca, Clavus, Callositates, Con-
dylomata, Naevus.
7.	Haemorrhagiae,	“	Purpura.
8.	Maculae,	“	Vitiligo, Ephelis.
9.	Canerodes,	“	Lupus, Kelois.
10.	Dermatophytae,	“	Porrigo, Sycosis.
Supplementary Groups.
Syphilides,
Diseases of the appendages of the Skin.
The simplification is more conspicuous in the diminished
numbers of the varieties included in each of the genera.
Thus, Erythema comprehends, in the arrangement of Dr. Ne-
ligan, three varieties: E. simplex, E. papulatum, and E. nodo-
sum. Erythema simplex is made to embrace the E. fugax, E.
laeve, E. intertrigo, E. marginatum, and E. circinnatum of some
other writers,—varieties which depend for the shades of differ-
ences which they exhibit upon some peculiarity of the skin in
individuals affected, or upon the localization; but which do not
present features so striking as to demand a specifie designation.
Of Acne he makes but two varieties, calling them after Willan,
A. simplex and A. rosacea, rejecting as not deserving special de-
signation the other two varieties of the same author, A. punctata
and A. indurata.
Again, he indicates but two varieties of Ecthyma, E. acutum
and E. chronicum, instead of the more numerous varieties de-
scribed by Willan and others, and which are separated from in-
sufficient motives, as the age of the patient, the color of the
eruption, and the constitutional cachexia.
In like manner, we might pass over all the orders and genera
included in the classification of Dr. Neligan, and show that in
almost all of them his pruning-knife has been judiciously exer-
cised in lopping off supernumerary branches which can bear no
good fruit for the cultivator of this field of pathological inquiry.
We think that in general his modifications are improvements.
The descriptions which he gives of the different affections are
sufficiently clear and precise, and the rules for diagnosis will ma-
terially assist in the determination of the order and genus to
which any doubtful eruption should be ascribed.
lie combines in his account, so far as can conveniently be
done, the advantages of the natural and artificial system of
classification, by not only describing the specific form and ap-
pearances of each eruption, but by also designating its anatomi-
cal seat and its pathological character. The descriptions are
short and are in a great measure pathological definitions.
The treatment recommended is evidently the result of the
author’s own experience, for it is advised decidedly, and very
generally accompanied with an assurance of its utility. The
treatment of diseases of the skin is fast losing the empirical char-
acter which so long tainted it, when the materia medica con-
tained but three or four articles which any one thought of using
in the treatment of cutaneous affections,—Sulphur, Tar-ointment,
and Arsenic, to which might be added, from the practice of some
one more ambitious than his fellows, mucilaginous baths. Were
a physician of the old school of practitioners, one who had not
kept himself informed of the improvements, introduced into the
various departments of medicine, and particularly into the thera-
peutics of diseases of the skin, to be suddenly shown the long
list of medicinal agents now to be chosen from, he would be
struck with amazement at the change.
This department of the subject has occupied a large share of
Dr. Neligan’s attention, and to it he devotes perhaps the most
considerable portion of his book. The details of the treatment
of each eruption are given in immediate connection therewith ;
and in addition to this, the concluding chapter-of the volume is
consecrated to a review of the general and special therapeutics
of cutaneous diseases. The reader will here find a great deal of
valuable information upon this subject, together with numerous
formulae for lotions, baths, and for internal administration. The
author’s recommendations are based upon sound pathological and
physiological views, and possess the essential requisite of being
the results of his own careful observations. They are compre-
hensive in their bearing ; having regard not to the mere name
of the disease, but to the state and stage of the eruption, the
peculiar departure from the normal condition of the skin at the
part affected, and also of internal organs, and the constitutional
condition.
To the beginner, and to the physician who wishes a useful and
not voluminous manual to assist his examinations in cutaneous
affections, we can highly recommend Dr. Neligan’s book. Those
who wish to study fully this interesting and neglected class of
diseases must, of course, possess themselves of more extended
treatises.
We regret to have observed, in perusing this volume, that the
American reprint bears evidence of having been hastily passed
through the press. It contains very many typographical errors,
which could have been easily avoided by greater care on the
part of the employes of the printing office.
A Memoir of the Life and Character of James B. Rogers, M. D.,
Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania.
By Joseph Carson, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica and
Pharmacy in the University of Pennsylvania. Delivered by
request of the Faculty, October 11, 185*2, and published by
the Class.
This elegant Memoir is a tribute in every way worthy of the
subject; distinguished alike by the unaffected simplicity and re-
fined earnestness, which were so eminently characteristic of the
lamented colleague of the biographer.
There was much in the career of the late Dr. Rogers to elicit
sympathy—especially in his long unrewarded struggles and
premature demise, almost immediately after he had reached the
goal; and Dr. Carson has delineated it with his proverbial good
taste, and all the warmth of long attachment and close intimacy.
The life of Dr. Rogers offers points of much interest to the
young aspirant for medical honors. He was emphatically a self-
made man. And, when he finally attained the honorable and
important post, which he filled for so brief a space, his promo-
tion was strikingly the result of merit unaided by influence ; and
his selection by the Trustees, and approval by the Faculty of
the University, was confessedly but the registration of “ the
earnest wishes in his behalf and the partiality of the profession.”
Dr. James B. Rogers was born in Philadelphia, in 1803. He
graduated in Medicine in 1822, at the University of Maryland,
and, almost from the commencement of his professional career, de-
voted himself to the speciality of chemistry. Ilis first appear-
ance as a teacher was in the chair of Chemistry, in the Washing-
ton Medical College of Baltimore. From 1835 to 1839, he oc-
cupied a similar position in the medical department of the Cin-
cinnati College. Upon the close of that institution, he returned
to Philadelphia, and was soon afterwards engaged in the Phila-
delphia Medical Institute, where he continued for several years
to lecture on the same branch. In 1846, he filled the chair of
Chemistry in the Franklin Medical College, of this city, and in
1847, upon the resignation of Professor Hare, he was chosen,
“ after a spirited canvass,” with great unanimity to succeed
him. lie filled this situation for five years with the highest
popularity; when, shortly after the close of the last session, he
fell a victim to an insidious disease, w’hich, it appears, had been
gradually but surely fixing its hold upon his constitution.
The subjoined feeling allusions of Dr. Carson to the moral at-
tributes of his friend and colleague, will, we know, be responded
to with singular warmth and unanimity by the profession and
community of Philadelphia:
“ He was an object of affectionate regard to those who knew his
social worth. Disinterested and generous in his relations with the
world, mild and conciliating in deportment, open and affable when ap-
proached, urbane to every one, his virtues shone conspicuously within
the circle of his friende. With his pupils he was sympathizing; he en-
tered cheerfully into their discouragements and difficulties; and those
who confided to him, received that encouragement and counsel so grate-
ful to the student’s feelings. He was emphatically the student’s friend.
In his death, a sore bereavement has befallen us; and we may be per-
mitted to give utterance to our sentiments of sorrow. The grave may
conceal from view his mortal lineaments, but they are engraven upon our
recollection. A portraiture, distinct and vivid, with all the freshness
that affection can give to it, will ever be before our mental vision.”