"New Books and Book Notices"

“New Books and Book Notices”

Here’s a fun entry from the archives of the Brooklyn Medical Journal from March 1890.

In the back pages of this journal there was a fascinating review of a then newly-released book entitled Emergency Notes: What to do in Accidents and Sudden Illness Until the Doctor Comes,” reviewed by Glentworth R. Butler, MD (it's not clear who the author of the book is).

This journal snippit is a review of the aforementioned book and sadly I could not find any digital copies of that book's contents.

It is worth noting something here. The author of this review says “It is rarely that we would commend a medical book for domestic use, knowing that the adage, ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,’ applies especially to this class of works,” perhaps lamenting the layperson’s ability to “Google” their illness with this resource of the time. The reviewer however goes on to praise the book’s authorship and handling of several very practical emergencies such as “stopping Haemorrhage; wounds; Burns and Scalds; Frost-Bites; Treatment of Drowning and Suffocation’ Transportation of the Sick and Injured, etc.”
It’s hard to argue with the practicality of the above. I for one would love to know how the various ailments above were treated in the early 1890’s.

In an unrelated note, here's hoping to see "Glentworth" start climbing the charts for baby names in 2022.

[1] Butler MD, G. (1890). Emergency Notes: What to do in Accidents and Sudden Illness until the Doctor Comes. Brooklyn Medical Journal, 4(3), 63. https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/bitstream/handle/1951/43006/bmj189003.pdf?sequence=12&isAllowed=y

Max

[Doctor with a mustache]