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 familiar with what has been accomplished in certain limited localities."

It will not be possible in our space to go into any analysis of the varied and extensive contents of this treatise, much less to attempt a criticism of its plan or execution. It has evidently been done with admirable judgment, and the names of its contributors are a sufficient guarantee that its pages faithfully reflect the present state of hygienic knowledge. Part I. of the first volume is devoted to individual hygiene, and begins with the treatment of "Infant Hygiene," by Dr. A. Jacobi, of New York. This iii followed by "Food and Drink," by Dr. James Tyson, of Philadelphia. Professor William Ripley Nichols, of Boston, writes "On Drinking Water, and Public Water Supplies." The article on "Physical Exercise" is by Dr. A. Brayton Ball, of New York; and the last essay of Part I. is on "The Care of the Person," by Dr. Arthur Van Harlingen, of Philadelphia. Part II. of Volume I. treats of "Habitations," and its first essay is on "Soil and Water," by Dr. William H. Ford, of Philadelphia. Dr. D. F. Lincoln, of Boston, next takes up "The Atmosphere," and Dr. Francis H. Brown, of Boston, closes Volume I. by a disquisition on the "General Principles of Hospital Construction." Part I. of Volume II. treats of "Occupation." The first essay is on the "Hygiene of Occupation," by Roger S. Tracy, M. D., of New York. Charles Smart, M. D., C. M., assistant Surgeon U. S. Army, takes up the "Hygiene of Camps"; and Dr. Thomas J. Turner, Medical Director U. S. Navy, treats of "Hygiene of the Naval and Merchant Marine." Henry C. Sheafer writes on the "Hygiene of Coal Mines," and Rossiter W. Raymond, New York, contributes an essay on "The Hygiene of Metal Mines." Part II. of Volume II. is devoted to the general subject of "Public Health." Dr. Thomas B. Curtis, of Boston, presents the subjects of "Infant Mortality" and "Vital Statistics"; Professor Stephen P. Sharpies, of Boston, considers "Adulteration of Food"; and Dr. Roger S. Tracy develops the subject of "Public Nuisances." "Quarantine," with reference to seaport towns, is by Dr. Vanderpoel, of New York; and Dr. S. S. Herrick, of Louisiana, writes on "Inland Quarantine." "Small-pox and other Contagious Diseases" are treated by Drs. Hamilton and Emmett, of New York, and "The Hygiene of Syphilis" by Dr. F. R. Sturges, of New York. "Disinfectants" is by Dr. Elwyn Waller, of New York; "Village Sanitary Associations" is by Dr. R. S. Tracy; and Dr. Lincoln, of Boston, closes the work by an essay on "School Hygiene."

The treatise has an excellent index, and a very valuable feature of it is the copious bibliography appended to each contribution.

important work is addressed to a fundamental question in practical medicine—the old question of the relations subsisting between nature and art in the cure of disease—what is the value to be assigned to the vis medicatrix naturæ, or the spontaneous processes of healing and recovery in the diseased constitution? That the followers of the medical art should magnify their vocation, and that practitioners should be led to favor those theories which enlarge the sphere of practice, is perfectly natural, but there can be no doubt that the consequence is greatly to exaggerate the efficacy of drugs in the treatment of disease. The doctors want business, and the people want medicine; and so the profession is at any rate not pecuniarily interested in belittling the administration of remedies. But able physicians have appeared from time to time who recognized very clearly that there is far too much medical meddling, and too little recognition of the forces and tendencies of nature in the eradication of disease. It is to the credit of the profession that its best mind is in cordial sympathy with all rational hygienic measures which have for their object the prevention of disease; but the use of hygienic agencies in disease is a lesson which many think has yet to be more enforced in the sphere of medical practice.

Many medical men have ranged