BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
On Diseases of the Liver. By George Budd, M. D., F. R. S.,
Professor of Medicine in King’s College, London, etc. Second
American, from the last and improved London edition. With
Coloured Plates and Wood Cuts. Philadelphia. Blanchard
& Lea. 1853. pp. 468.
The lapse of seven years between the publication of the first
and second editions of this valuable work, has imposed upon the
author the necessity of more than usual revision, modification,
and addition; for, certainly, upon no subject within this period,
has more new light been thrown, than upon the anatomical struc-
ture and functions of the liver, and the chemical composition of
its chief secretion.
Dr. Budd, in his voluminous introduction to this edition, pre-
sents a lucid and detailed account of the recent discoveries in re-
lation to the intimate structure of the liver, which have led him,
in many particulars, to modify his previously expressed opinions
on this subject. Among the late observations of anatomists upon
which he has drawn, in his minute anatomy of this viscus, we
may mention those of our countryman, Dr. Leidy.
As regards the composition of the biliary secretion, the im-
proved analysis on this point since Dr. Budd’s first edition have
of course led him to very considerable modification of the account
which he then gave of the constituents of the bile. After pre-
senting the more recent views of prominent chemists on this
point, the author adopts that of Strecker, whose “ researches have
shown that the biliary matter, which is (as shown by previous
chemists) combined with the soda, may be resolved into two acids :
both containing nitrogen, and one of them containing sulphur.”
The highly important and interesting discoveries of M. Ber-
nard, as regards the formation of diabetic sugar in the blood,
during its passage from the liver, receive, we need hardly say,
the notice to which they are so well entitled at the hands of Dr.
Budd. While admitting, however, the demonstration of M. Ber-
nard, that sugar is formed habitually in the liver, “ it seems
improbable, he thinks, that the production of a substance which
is to be had at so cheap a rate in nature, is an essential office of
this organ, at least in herbivorous animals ; for not only do these
animals find sugar in considerable quantities ready made in their
food, but a great part of the starch they consume is also speedily
converted into sugar by the action of the salivary and pancreatic
juices. It seems more probable that the sugar formed in the liver
is incidental and complementary to some more important product.”
The subject-proper of the book, the Diseases of the Liver, is
illustrated in this edition, by numerous additional observations
and cases which have since occurred in the practice of the author.
We are unable to notice them verbatim ; but we can most un-
hesitatingly recommend the work as a most complete and learned
treatise on this important subject,—-a subject of the highest in-
terest to the numerous class of our readers, whose range of prac-
tice is within the more southern portions of our country.
Elements of Health, and Principles of Female Hygiene. By
E. J. Tilt, M. D., Physician to the Farrington General Dis-
pensary, &c., &c. Philadelphia. Lindsay and Blakiston. 1853.
Dr. Tilt, in the elegant little volume before us, has done for
woman, what Johnson, Combe, Mayo, Thomson, and Southwood
Smith had previously done for man, and has presented to the
profession, as wTell as to the general reader, an excellent treatise
on the general hygienic treatment of females from infancy to old
age. We know not when we have read a book of similar design,
which, upon the whole, has pleased us so much as this one. Its
principles are sound, philosophical, and intelligible to all. We
should be glad to see it in the hands of every mother, and believe
that much evil might be averted were the contents generally and
carefully studied. We wish that space were afforded us to pre-
sent an analysis of it to our readers. We must content ourselves,
however, with a hearty commendation of it to them, with the con-
viction that they cannot fail to derive benefit from its teaching,
and from the extended experience of its author.
Medical Jurisprudence. By Alfred Taylor, M. D., F. R. S.,
&c., &c. Third American, from the Fourth London edition.
Edited, with additions, by Ed. Hartshorne, M. D., &c., &c.
Philada. Blanchard & Lea. 1853.
The author’s belief, that this volume has already found a wide
circulation, not only among his own profession, but gentlemen prac-
tising at the bar, is a well-founded one. Certain it is, that no
similar book, with the exception of Beck’s, has been more popu-
lar in this country. Dr. Taylor has displayed great diligence
and fidelity in accumulating all the valuable matter presented by
journals and other sources, since the previous edition, while
the American editor has introduced all the important facts and
cases that have occurred in this country. The present edition,
therefore, we think, fully represents the existing state of know-
ledge both abroad and at home.
Principles of Medicine: comprising General Pathology and Thera-
peutics, and a brief general view of Etiology, Nosology, Semei-
ology, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Hygienia. Edited, with
additions, by M. Clymer, M. D., &c. Fourth American edi-
tion, revised. Philada. Blanchard & Lea.
Another new edition of this popular, we may say now, standard
work, evidences a desire on the part of the profession to become
familiar with principles, and we know no work to which we can,
with more safety, direct the student and practitioner than this.
Although no new English edition has recently appeared, the
American reprint has been carefully revised and posted by the
editor, and much additional matter added. It should be on the
shelves of every professional library.
On the Nature and Treatment of the Deformities of the Human
Frame: Being a Course of Lectures delivered at the Royal
Orthopcedic Hospital, in 1843. By W. J. Little, M. D., Phy-
sician to the London Hospital, etc., etc. London. Longman,
Brown, Green & Longmans. 1853. pp. 412.
We are indebted for this valuable monograph, certainly the
most complete on the subject in the language, to the London
publisher. The author considers it, as it is in some sense, a third
edition of his Treatise on the Nature and Treatment of Club-Foot,
published fourteen years since : and it consists in the main of a
reprint of his Lectures on the subject, published originally in the
London Lancet, in 1843. Dr. Little has, however, interwoven
with the Lectures the results of his additional experience, and has
adapted the work to “ the altered position of the pathology and
treatment of distortions at the present period, compared with its
state when Stromeyer commenced his labors.”
The subjects are, 1. Deformities in General; 2. Deformities
from Wounds and Diseases of Joints, Accidents, Rheumatism,
&c. ; 3. Deformities from Spasm, Paralysis, Burns, Habitual Re-
tention in One Position ; 4. Deformities from Rickets, Weakness,
and Curvatures of Bones; 5. Congenital Distortions, Club-Foot,
Club-Hand, &c. ; 6. Congenital Malformations, Monstrosities ;
7. Distortions of the Spine.
This brief outline of the contents of this very useful and prac-
tical work, is perhaps a sufficient notice of it on the present occa-
sion, as it has been already substantially for a considerable time
before the profession. We shall offer our readers, however, a
detailed extract from its pages, on a subject of recent interest,
the treatment of anchylosis by forced extension, which is very
judiciously treated by Dr. Little.
“The art of surgery has, however, recently received an invaluable
addition to its means of usefulness, by the discovery of the anaesthetic
properties of ether and chloroform; and orthopaedic practitioners have
not been slow in availing themselves of the assistance these means are
calculated to render in the cure of deformities. Hence the employment
of forcible extension with the aid of chloroform or ether. By chloro-
formisation, the two great obstacles to the employment of force adequate
to straighten or bend a contracted limb,—namely, pain and voluntary
muscular resistance.—are removed. As soon as these impediments
disappear, the hands of the single operator, and his single mind, applied
to the parts, encounter the physical resistance only of the deformed
parts; comparatively gentle manipulations now acquaint him with the
nature and amount of difficulty • he can feel his way in the application
of greater force; feels and perceives the resistance of parts successively
overcome, in an anatomical order; if greater rigidity still oppose, a few
movements of the joint backwards and forwards prepare the way for a
more extensive yielding; and often the practitioner has the satisfaction
of being able to effect every natural movement of the joint, and satisfy
himself that a cure is obtainable.
“ Chloroformisation, with manipulations, and the use of a certain
degree of force, is often of great service as a means of diagnosis; by it
the practitioner is enabled to ascertain what proportion of the deformity
is due to shortening of soft parts, and how much mischief the articular
surfaces may have undergone. He may have reason to conclude, from
the amount or nature of the resistance, and the change of articular
surfaces, that restoration of the form and functions of the part is im-
practicable, and thus save much time, which without chloroform might
have been uselessly expended in an attempt to straighten the part.
“ After straightening or bending the limb, as the case may have re-
quired, by means of this forcible procedure, the part should be lightly
secured in a retentive instrument or upon a common splint, adjusted so
as to maintain the position more favorable than that which obtained
before the operation, though not in the new position, ?. e., the entirely
straight or bent position into which the hands of the surgeon may have
brought it. For, as soon as the effect of the chloroform upon the
sensorial system disappears, the patient will arouse to the conviction of
the violence which may have been employed, the part may be acutely
painful, and incapable of sustaining the pressure of a tight bandage or
ligature.
“ The author has usually contented himself with the increased
knowledge of the nature of the case, with the satisfaction of knowing
that the part could be improved in form and function, and that as the
resting parts had once yielded, that they would afterwards oppose less
resistance to cure; whether the means subsequently employed should be
simple manipulations, the use of mechanical apparatus, or repeated
administrations of chloroform, and ‘forcible extension? The surgeon
who should attempt the forcible binding down of a long-deformed limb
immediately after ‘forcible extension,’ would betray a lamentable igno-
rence of the pathological condition of the living parts in the immediate
vicinity and within the deceased articulation. Although the muscular
structures may have yielded under chloroform, and indurated fasciae
and old adhesions may have been overcome by tearing, it will be remem-
bered, that much adaptation on the part of nerves, blood-vessels, and
absorbents to the altered position of structures needs to be accomplished.
The author has found that, by taking moderate means of retaining as
much improvement after the forcible extension as can be borne by the
sufferer, by unsparing use of lotions of spirits of wine, no inflammation
of joints thus straightened has supervened. He has witnessed no
untoward accident; and, by employing the ordinary means of gradual
extension, and repeating once or twice the chloroform, and complete
extension while the patient lay under its influence, he has restored cases,
the relief of which would have required many months of ordinary treat-
ment, or would otherwise have constituted very mediocre cures.”
The work is illustrated by upwards of 160 well executed
engravings and diagrams.