A text-book of the practice of medicine

Front matter

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A TEXT-BOOK

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.

Preface To The Second Edition

In presenting the second edition of his text-book on the Practice of Medicine the author desires to express his appreciation of the cordial reception of the work since it first appeared, a reception which necessitated its being repeatedly put to press.

The present volume, prepared for the physician and student of medicine, embodies the experience of more than twenty-two years of active hospital and private practice, during which time the author has been constantly teaching the subjects of clinical medicine and therapeutics. With this experience he has attempted to present the facts which the practitioner needs and which the student must thoroughly grasp if he is to be successful in gaining his degree and in practising his art.

In the preparation of many portions of the work careful collections of statistics have been made, and these have not infrequently given results which add materially to our conception of the frequency of certain diseases at different periods of life, of the relative frequency of different symptoms, and the value of certain plans of treatment.

Particular pains have been taken to present methods of treatment clearly and in such a way that they may be put in practice.

Much information that might be included, which deals with subjects which are still uncertain and debatable, has been excluded.

Warm thanks are due to my colleague, Dr. W. M. L. Coplin, Professor of Pathology in the Jefferson Medical College, for valuable suggestions and criticisms, in which he has shown not only a complete grasp of his own department of medical study, but intimate knowledge concerning the latest developments in clinical medicine.

The author also desires to acknowledge the valuable suggestions, made during the preparation of this edition, of Dr. Aller G. Ellis, Demonstrator of Pathology, and Dr. Alfred Gordon, Instructor in Neurology in the Jefferson Medical College.

The fact that the United States has, within the last few years, become possessed of territory in the tropics has greatly increased our interest in the many tropical diseases heretofore scarcely known by practitioners in the temperate zone, and the investigations by surgeons in the Army, Navy, and

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the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service have thrown much light upon these affections. Further than this, the investigations by English physicians have broadened our views very greatly as to tropical disease. As troops returning from tropical service often bring with them manifestations of. these diseases, it behooves every practitioner to be able to recognize and treat such conditions. It seems appropriate, therefore, that a modern work on medicine should contain chapters on tropical medicine, the more so as lectures upon this subject are now given in many of the great medical schools.

In the preparation of this second edition great care has been taken to embody the latest views that have received general acceptance as being scientifically and clinically correct, it being constantly borne in mind that the needs of the student and practitioner will be best met by excluding statements open to criticism and presenting facts which will prove useful in practice.

H. A. H.

Spruce and Eighteenth Streets, Philadelphia, January, 1907,