Recent Literature Quain's Dictionary of Medicine . By Various Writers. Third edition. Largely rewritten and revised throughout. With 14 colored plates and numerous other illustrations. Edited by H. Montague Murray, M.D., F.R.C.P., Joint Lecturer on Medicine, Charing Cross Medical School, and Physician to Out Patients, Charing Cross Hospital, Senior Physician to the Victoria Hospital for Children, Chelsea, and to the Foundling Hospital. Assisted by John Harold, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O., Physician to St. John's an
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1902
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal
Company. 1902. This dictionary of medicine, now in its third edition, includes a consideration of the subjects of general pathology, general therapeutics, hygiene, and the diseases of women and children, in addition to many other matters relating to the science of medicine. The general design of the book, as originally planned by the writer, Sir Richard Quain, has been preserved, that special emphasis should be laid on diagnosis and treatment. Tho present editor has deemed it advisable to
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... somewhat from this original plan. Certain articles have been omitted, and the inevitable tendency to repetition in works of this sort has been as far as possible excluded. New articles have been added, others rewritten, and the dictionary now appears in a single volume. The so-called special branches of medicine and surgery have received more adequate recognition than heretofore. Referen00 to theli6t of contributors, very largely made up of English names, is sufficient guarantee of the excellence of individual articles. It is worthy of special comment that so largo a material and such varied aspects of medicine should be condensed into a volume of less than two thousand pages. The type, though somewhat small, is extremely clear and satisfactory. Illustrations are not particularly numerous, but when undertaken the best processes have been employed and in many cases special paper provided. The volume is attractively bound. The Medical Record Visiting List or Physicians' Diary for 1903. New revised edition. New York: William Wood & Company. 1902. This well-known Visiting List retains its compact form and attractive appearance. It is covered with flexible leather and is of a size to fit easily into an ordinary pocket. Certain changes have been made in revision, with the general plan of increasing the amount of information useful to physicians in relation to emergencies, and cutting out matter which may better be found in books. An ingenious obstetrical chart has also been added, which should prove of much practical use as a means of ready reference. The Visiting List is, in general, to be warmly commended. There has for some time past been a growing feeling that the position of medical men, both in the army and navy, was not in accord with the dignity of their profession. Men who are in the best position to judge have long felt that the medical service in both of theso departments would be very greatly improved if the position of surgeon were placed on a somewhat more suitable plane. In this connection it is of particular interest that the last report of the surgeon-general of the navy takes up in much detail questions relating to the matter of opportunities for advanced medical work in the navy as now constituted. It is evident at the outset that men who enter the service of the army or navy make a certain sacrifice of independence which should so far as possible be compensated for by advantages coming to them within the service. This appears not to have been the case, with the somewhat inevitable result that the applications of men for these positions are not what the authorities desire. Surgeon-General Rixey comments on the fact that it is worthy of commendation that the duties of the officers of the medical corps have been adequately performed in spite of the increase in the amount of work put upon them. Hospitals with twice the number of patients as in 1897 now actually have fewer surgeons to care for them. Medical officers at sea have been cut down onethird to one-half. Shore stations in certain instances are required to depend in medical matters upon the inadequate skill oía pharmacist. Young medical oflicers entering the service have not been promoted as they had hoped, and the resignations for the year 1901 were five, or nearly onefourth of the number taken into the service during that period. In tracing a reason for these resignations it was found that there was dissatis-
doi:10.1056/nejm190211271472211
fatcat:ov7a3wni4ngnbimuibac535ryi
