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The endocrines in general medicine
352
American Journal of Surgery
Book Reviews
urinary and hiIiary tract; Dr. J. C. BIoodgood, on acute and chronic diIatation of the duodenum and on gastroenteric iIeum; and Dr. Vincent Gaudiani, on how to dea1 with the ureter in its extravesica1 insertion. We were under the weather one week-end and occupied our time with a perusal of the severa good books, the first of which is: REBUILDING THE CHILD, A Study in MaInutrition. By Frank Howard Richardson, A.B., M.D., F.A.c.P., containing an introduction by Wm. R. P. Emerson, A.B., M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Tufts CoIIege MedicaI SchooI, Boston. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, N. Y ., 1927. We copy the bIurb on the cover, “This book is a study of the vast number of schoo1 and preschoo1 children who are for some reason beIow par, over-tired,-in a word, falhng short of the joyous, abundant heaIth that is the birthright of every chiId . . . he [Dr. Richardson] addresses himseIf,-‘The four Iearned professions of Parents, Teachers, Nurses and Doctors! ” This is a popuIar book inasmuch as Iayman or physician may read and enjoy, absorb and comprehend. The bIook is 3 I 9 pages long and has 44 iIIustrations, for the most part from actua1 photographs. Such topics as An OId Disease in a New Garb, Making the Diagnosis of MaInutrition, FauIty HeaIth Habits, FamiIy and SchooI Strain, PhysicaI Defects, Fatigue, The Nutrition CIass, Home Treatment, MaInutrition and Measured Feeding, Nutrition and the Overweight ChiId, Posture, MentaIity and MaInutrition, The Cure of MaInutrition, and What Has Been Written about MaInutrition, have been done in a manner that wiI1 appea1 to the parent and the genera1 practitioner. We omit the speciaIist in pediatrics as this book to him wouId at best be juveniIe. But the rest of the worId may foIIow the written Iines and here and there find a pear1 of knowIedge and wisdom. The next to engage our convaIescent minutes was : THE ENDOCRINES IN GENERAL MEDICINE. By W. Langdon Brown, M.A., M.D., F.R.c.P., Physician to St. BarthoIomew’s HospitaI, London. PauI B. Hoeber, Inc., N. Y., 1927. The first sentence of the Preface reads, “In this book I have attempted to give a brief account of the endocrine system and its diseases
MARCH, 1928
in a form which I hope may be of service to the genera1 practitioner.” Doctor Brown has Iived up to that promise and, in addition, has written an engrossing book on what, to many, is a deep subject. Why so many physicians Iook upon the genera1 topic of the endocrines as something to avoid and Ieave to the other feIIow is a mystery. SureIy mereIy because the study as a whoIe is in its infancy and yet governs such a large part of genera1 medicine, it shouId attract the majority of the men in practice. This book is chiefIy a record of Dr. Brown’s persona1 experience, first in the Iaboratory, Iater at the bedside. He has Iinked the physioIogica1 and clinica methods, and given an account of the bioIogica1 position of the endocrine system in reIation to the vicera1 nervous system. The book begins with a chapter on the bioIogy of the endocrine system. Then the endocrine system in chiIdhood is covered. There foIIows chapters on the thyroid gIand, the parathyroids, the pituitary body, the adrenaIs and the chromaffrn system, the retarding gIands, the endocrines and the gonads, the endocrines and genera1 metaboIism, the endocrines and the psychoneuroses, endocrine therapy, and the future of endocrinoIogy. The book is engaging in styIe. Parts of it read Iike a good nove1, as, “We ordinariIy think of the evoIution of the nervous system as peacefuIIy accompIished. A struggIe between two animals or two species we recognise. But it wouId appear that a simiIar struggIe accompanies the integration of the muIticeIIuIar individua1. Many apparentIy peacefu1 events in nature prove on cIoser anaIysis to invoIve a conceaIed struggIe. Man is a gregarious anima1, but he has not found it an easy task to adjust the desires of the individua1 to the needs of the community. PhiIosophers may Iament this, theoIogians may attribute it to origina sin, but it shouId Iead the bioIogist to enquire whether the ceIIs of which he is composed have aIways found it easy to sink their individuality in that Iof the organism.” After one has read this book he wiI1 have a good and workabIe knowIedge of the subject. To be a good surgeon, gynecoIogist or internist, one must be on more than speaking acquaintance with endocrinology. To have had a book done on this topic that covers the ground thoroughIy, giving the meat of the subject and forgetting the trimmings of speculation,
NEW SERIES Vor. IV.No.3
Book
giving it to us in a styIe distinctIy literary, and boihng the whoIe down to a hundred and forty-four pages, which inchrdes an index, makes it a work that shouId find favor with the profession at Iarge, a book that shouId grace many Iibraries. The third book made a duI1 Sunday pass more swiftIy. We refer to: APPENDICITIS. By Hubert AshIey Royster, A.B., M.D., Surgeon to Rex HospitaI; Surgeonin-Chief, St. Agnes HospitaI, RaIeigh, N. C.; Former President Southern SurgicaI Association. Surgical Monographs, Under the Editoria Supervision of Dean Lewis, A.B., M.D., Director of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University; Eugene H. Pool, A.B., M.D.,Attending New York HospitaI; Arthur W. Surgeon, of Surgery, EIting, A.B., M.D., Professor AIbany MedicaI CoIIege. D. AppIeton and Company, New York, 1927. Doctor Royster in his preface says in part, “The purpose of this monograph is to present a study of inflammation of the veriform the past few years appendix . _ . Within no treatise on the appendix has appeared, whiIe the numerous articIes published in medica journaIs Iack correIation and need integration in the Iight of more recentIy acquired knowIedge and of enIarged experiences is an effort based on . This monograph the hope that it wiI1 clarify the questions which have been brought to the surface by the shifting period which is now present in our attitude towards appendicitis and that the writer’s endeavor to stabilize contemporary opinions wiII be welcomed.” This book is weIcomed to the company of a11 good books. We hope it wiI1 be widely read, especiaIIy by the genera1 practitioner and the man who beheves in trying to prevent or cure appendicitis by “freezing” it. The book opens with a heading, “‘Last Words On Appendicitis.” The first quotation is from the pen of the Iate John B. Murphy, written in 1915, “Is it time to stop taIking about appendicitis? No! It is just the time to begin talking about appendicitis and taIking most seriousIy and emphaticahy about it.” To which the reviewer cries out a Ioud, “Amen!” in the year of our Lord, 1927. Chapter I deaIs with a historica sketch of appendicitis. Perhaps we have a weakness for things historica1. We beheve one is not cuItured in his profession or speciality unIess he
Reviews
American Journal of Surgery
353
has acquired a. thorough knowIedge of the historica background of his caIIing. And so this sketch on the history of appendicitis is fascinating reading.. The anatomy of the cecum and appendix follows, and is recommended to surgeon and internist that their anatomica memories may be refreshed. A chapter on PhysioIogy is next in order, and in its train comes EtioIogy, PathoIogy, SymptomatoIogy, Diagnosis, CompIications, Appendicitis in ChiIdren, Prognosis, and Treatment. TopographicaIIy the book has been we11 done. In Iength it is 370 pages, with 56 iIIustrations and two coIored pIates. We earnestIy and seriousIy recommend Dr. Royster’s monograph to many Doctors of Medicine. The Iast book to engage attention and so cIose the review for this month is: NASAL NEUROLOGY, HEADACHES AND EYE DISORDERS. By Greenfield SIuder, M.D., F.A.c.s., CIinicaI Professor and Director of of the Department of OtoIaryngoIogy, Washington University SchooI of Medicine, St. Louis. 8 vo. Cloth. $I 1.50. Pp. 428; 167 iIIus. C. V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, 1927. SIuder’s book is a contribution both to cIinica1 medicine and anatomy: to the former because of its content of vaIuabIe cIinica1 experiences and ideas and to the Iatter through the suggested points of attack in anatomica research. It is a compiIation of the previousIy pubIished works of the author on the referred pains produced by sinus disease, with many additional comments. Most extensiveIy treated are the experience of SIuder and others, both corroboratory and contradictory, in vacuum fronta headache, “anterior ethmoida1 neuraIgia,” “ lower half” headache and the neurologica1 sequelae of hypertrophic sphenoida1 sinusitis. Each of the four main conditions deaIt with is introduced in an anatomica substraction, as fuIIy presented as present knowledge wiI1 permit, and is deveIoped through cIinica1, diagnostic, pathoIogic and therapeutic treatises. There are chapters in surgica1 technique, and a brief one in orbita abscess. The observations in injection of the nasa1 gangIion for various sorts of pain-the “Iower half” headache in particmar-are perhaps the most interesting and suggestive.
American Journal of Surgery
Book Reviews
urinary and hiIiary tract; Dr. J. C. BIoodgood, on acute and chronic diIatation of the duodenum and on gastroenteric iIeum; and Dr. Vincent Gaudiani, on how to dea1 with the ureter in its extravesica1 insertion. We were under the weather one week-end and occupied our time with a perusal of the severa good books, the first of which is: REBUILDING THE CHILD, A Study in MaInutrition. By Frank Howard Richardson, A.B., M.D., F.A.c.P., containing an introduction by Wm. R. P. Emerson, A.B., M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Tufts CoIIege MedicaI SchooI, Boston. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, N. Y ., 1927. We copy the bIurb on the cover, “This book is a study of the vast number of schoo1 and preschoo1 children who are for some reason beIow par, over-tired,-in a word, falhng short of the joyous, abundant heaIth that is the birthright of every chiId . . . he [Dr. Richardson] addresses himseIf,-‘The four Iearned professions of Parents, Teachers, Nurses and Doctors! ” This is a popuIar book inasmuch as Iayman or physician may read and enjoy, absorb and comprehend. The bIook is 3 I 9 pages long and has 44 iIIustrations, for the most part from actua1 photographs. Such topics as An OId Disease in a New Garb, Making the Diagnosis of MaInutrition, FauIty HeaIth Habits, FamiIy and SchooI Strain, PhysicaI Defects, Fatigue, The Nutrition CIass, Home Treatment, MaInutrition and Measured Feeding, Nutrition and the Overweight ChiId, Posture, MentaIity and MaInutrition, The Cure of MaInutrition, and What Has Been Written about MaInutrition, have been done in a manner that wiI1 appea1 to the parent and the genera1 practitioner. We omit the speciaIist in pediatrics as this book to him wouId at best be juveniIe. But the rest of the worId may foIIow the written Iines and here and there find a pear1 of knowIedge and wisdom. The next to engage our convaIescent minutes was : THE ENDOCRINES IN GENERAL MEDICINE. By W. Langdon Brown, M.A., M.D., F.R.c.P., Physician to St. BarthoIomew’s HospitaI, London. PauI B. Hoeber, Inc., N. Y., 1927. The first sentence of the Preface reads, “In this book I have attempted to give a brief account of the endocrine system and its diseases
MARCH, 1928
in a form which I hope may be of service to the genera1 practitioner.” Doctor Brown has Iived up to that promise and, in addition, has written an engrossing book on what, to many, is a deep subject. Why so many physicians Iook upon the genera1 topic of the endocrines as something to avoid and Ieave to the other feIIow is a mystery. SureIy mereIy because the study as a whoIe is in its infancy and yet governs such a large part of genera1 medicine, it shouId attract the majority of the men in practice. This book is chiefIy a record of Dr. Brown’s persona1 experience, first in the Iaboratory, Iater at the bedside. He has Iinked the physioIogica1 and clinica methods, and given an account of the bioIogica1 position of the endocrine system in reIation to the vicera1 nervous system. The book begins with a chapter on the bioIogy of the endocrine system. Then the endocrine system in chiIdhood is covered. There foIIows chapters on the thyroid gIand, the parathyroids, the pituitary body, the adrenaIs and the chromaffrn system, the retarding gIands, the endocrines and the gonads, the endocrines and genera1 metaboIism, the endocrines and the psychoneuroses, endocrine therapy, and the future of endocrinoIogy. The book is engaging in styIe. Parts of it read Iike a good nove1, as, “We ordinariIy think of the evoIution of the nervous system as peacefuIIy accompIished. A struggIe between two animals or two species we recognise. But it wouId appear that a simiIar struggIe accompanies the integration of the muIticeIIuIar individua1. Many apparentIy peacefu1 events in nature prove on cIoser anaIysis to invoIve a conceaIed struggIe. Man is a gregarious anima1, but he has not found it an easy task to adjust the desires of the individua1 to the needs of the community. PhiIosophers may Iament this, theoIogians may attribute it to origina sin, but it shouId Iead the bioIogist to enquire whether the ceIIs of which he is composed have aIways found it easy to sink their individuality in that Iof the organism.” After one has read this book he wiI1 have a good and workabIe knowIedge of the subject. To be a good surgeon, gynecoIogist or internist, one must be on more than speaking acquaintance with endocrinology. To have had a book done on this topic that covers the ground thoroughIy, giving the meat of the subject and forgetting the trimmings of speculation,
NEW SERIES Vor. IV.No.3
Book
giving it to us in a styIe distinctIy literary, and boihng the whoIe down to a hundred and forty-four pages, which inchrdes an index, makes it a work that shouId find favor with the profession at Iarge, a book that shouId grace many Iibraries. The third book made a duI1 Sunday pass more swiftIy. We refer to: APPENDICITIS. By Hubert AshIey Royster, A.B., M.D., Surgeon to Rex HospitaI; Surgeonin-Chief, St. Agnes HospitaI, RaIeigh, N. C.; Former President Southern SurgicaI Association. Surgical Monographs, Under the Editoria Supervision of Dean Lewis, A.B., M.D., Director of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University; Eugene H. Pool, A.B., M.D.,Attending New York HospitaI; Arthur W. Surgeon, of Surgery, EIting, A.B., M.D., Professor AIbany MedicaI CoIIege. D. AppIeton and Company, New York, 1927. Doctor Royster in his preface says in part, “The purpose of this monograph is to present a study of inflammation of the veriform the past few years appendix . _ . Within no treatise on the appendix has appeared, whiIe the numerous articIes published in medica journaIs Iack correIation and need integration in the Iight of more recentIy acquired knowIedge and of enIarged experiences is an effort based on . This monograph the hope that it wiI1 clarify the questions which have been brought to the surface by the shifting period which is now present in our attitude towards appendicitis and that the writer’s endeavor to stabilize contemporary opinions wiII be welcomed.” This book is weIcomed to the company of a11 good books. We hope it wiI1 be widely read, especiaIIy by the genera1 practitioner and the man who beheves in trying to prevent or cure appendicitis by “freezing” it. The book opens with a heading, “‘Last Words On Appendicitis.” The first quotation is from the pen of the Iate John B. Murphy, written in 1915, “Is it time to stop taIking about appendicitis? No! It is just the time to begin talking about appendicitis and taIking most seriousIy and emphaticahy about it.” To which the reviewer cries out a Ioud, “Amen!” in the year of our Lord, 1927. Chapter I deaIs with a historica sketch of appendicitis. Perhaps we have a weakness for things historica1. We beheve one is not cuItured in his profession or speciality unIess he
Reviews
American Journal of Surgery
353
has acquired a. thorough knowIedge of the historica background of his caIIing. And so this sketch on the history of appendicitis is fascinating reading.. The anatomy of the cecum and appendix follows, and is recommended to surgeon and internist that their anatomica memories may be refreshed. A chapter on PhysioIogy is next in order, and in its train comes EtioIogy, PathoIogy, SymptomatoIogy, Diagnosis, CompIications, Appendicitis in ChiIdren, Prognosis, and Treatment. TopographicaIIy the book has been we11 done. In Iength it is 370 pages, with 56 iIIustrations and two coIored pIates. We earnestIy and seriousIy recommend Dr. Royster’s monograph to many Doctors of Medicine. The Iast book to engage attention and so cIose the review for this month is: NASAL NEUROLOGY, HEADACHES AND EYE DISORDERS. By Greenfield SIuder, M.D., F.A.c.s., CIinicaI Professor and Director of of the Department of OtoIaryngoIogy, Washington University SchooI of Medicine, St. Louis. 8 vo. Cloth. $I 1.50. Pp. 428; 167 iIIus. C. V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, 1927. SIuder’s book is a contribution both to cIinica1 medicine and anatomy: to the former because of its content of vaIuabIe cIinica1 experiences and ideas and to the Iatter through the suggested points of attack in anatomica research. It is a compiIation of the previousIy pubIished works of the author on the referred pains produced by sinus disease, with many additional comments. Most extensiveIy treated are the experience of SIuder and others, both corroboratory and contradictory, in vacuum fronta headache, “anterior ethmoida1 neuraIgia,” “ lower half” headache and the neurologica1 sequelae of hypertrophic sphenoida1 sinusitis. Each of the four main conditions deaIt with is introduced in an anatomica substraction, as fuIIy presented as present knowledge wiI1 permit, and is deveIoped through cIinica1, diagnostic, pathoIogic and therapeutic treatises. There are chapters in surgica1 technique, and a brief one in orbita abscess. The observations in injection of the nasa1 gangIion for various sorts of pain-the “Iower half” headache in particmar-are perhaps the most interesting and suggestive.