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discussion, which the authors have not failed to avail them-selves. The dissertations upon Ectopic Gestation, Abortion,Miscarriage and Premature Labour, as well as those on

Cæsarean Section and Craniotomy are specially interesting.They may not satisfy all readers, but that would be im-

possible. It is certain that able theologians differ upon someimportant points concerning these subjects and it should notbe forgotten that it is one thing to sit down in the study andto put forward views upon different problems and quiteanother matter to stand by a bedside as a physician, andas such to decide, while one or more lives are at stake whatis the right course before God to pursue.We think that many physicians and clergymen who

of necessity are deeply interested in the topics at issuewill be glad to find a place for this volume in their

libraries. We know only one other treatise on the same

lines and that is Medicina Pastoralis by Dr. C. Capellmann,Aquisgrani, Sumptibus Rudolphi Barth, 1890. This work,however, has, we regret to say, a limited value, for it iswritten not only in Latin but in scholastic Latin, a languagewith which many busy practitioners have but little acquaint-ance. The publishers of these Essays in Pastoral Medicine

"

have done their part admirably.

LIBRARY TABLE.

Dental Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and PrescriptionWriting. By ELI H. LONG, M.D. Illustrated with seven

engravings and 18 coloured diagrams. Second edition,thoroughly revised and enlarged. London : Hodder and

Stoughton. 1906. Pp. 298. Price 15s. net.-This bookembraces all that the dental surgeon requires in the conductof his practice. The contents are divided into four parts.In the first general matter connected with drugs and medi-cines is considered-namely, their constituents, classifica-

tion, methods of administration, action, and so on. Parts II.and III. deal with local and general remedies. The drugs arenot dealt with alphabetically but are classified under definiteheadings, such as depletives, escharotics, bleaching agents,alteratives, and sedatives. This plan certainly has advan-tages but it also has disadvantages, as it does not clearlybring out the general properties of individual drugs. The

question of prescription writing, together with a table ofpoisons and antidotes and an index of drugs form Part IV.From many points of view the book is excellent, one featurebeing the capital diagrams illustrating the action of im-portant drugs, such as cocaine, belladonna, and ether.Into the subject of anaesthesia the author enters fully andhe has some very sensible remarks on the use of patentpreparations.The Care and Nursing of the Insane. By P. J. BAILY,

M.B., C.M. Edin. London : The Scientific Press, Limited.1907. Pp. 97. Price is. net.-The first part of thisbook consists of a short rcsumc of the anatomy and physio-logy of the human body. The author endeavours to

make his descriptions of these subjects as simple as

possible but in so doing he is sometimes misleading andis liable to leave a wrong impression upon the mind ofthe reader. The account of the circulation of the blood is

good and the physiology of the digestion is also lucidlygiven. Taken as a whole this will be found a useful little

volume for teaching purposes and it also has the advantageof being cheap and well illustrated.

Case Teczehing in Medicine By RICHARD C. CABOT, B.A.,M.D. Harvard, Instructor in Medicine in the HarvardMedical School. Boston, U.S.A.: D. C. Heath and Co. 1906.Pp. 214.-In this book the author supplies a series of

graduated exercises in the differential diagnosis, prognosis,and treatment of actual cases of disease. As Dr. Cabot saysin his introduction, the most important lesson to be learned

by every student of medicine is the art of recognising thephysical signs of disease. With the basic facts we can

become familiar only by direct contact with patients and bylong practice. But these data of physical diagnosis have tobe interpreted. They do not crystallise spontaneously intoconclusions. They do not arrange themselves in those

groups which we call diseases. They have to be worked upinto diagnoses by a reasoning process and this process needspractice. To aid the teacher in training his pupils to thinkclearly, cogently, and sensibly about the results of physicalexamination is the object of this book and to this end Dr.Cabot narrates and considers a series of well arranged andinstructive cases. The book should be useful to advancedstudents as well as to practitioners.Norway as a Winter and Summer gealth Resort. By A.

MA&ELSSBN. Kristiania : Printed by Nikolai Olsen. 1906.

Pp. 48.-Many of our readers will remember the descriptionof the inhospitable Scandinavian climate given in the

opening chapters of Voltaire’s " History of Charles XII. ofSweden." In the present work Mr. Magelssen gives a differentview of the same phenomena, showing that Norway,although agriculturally unimportant, nevertheless offers re-markable climatic advantages to seekers after health. In

spite of its northerly position mild south-westerly winds pre-vail and the ocean currents which flow to the coasts help toraise the temperature. One effect of this is that theNorwegian coast temperature is much higher than mighthave been expected, for the January isothermal of - 50 C.coincides with the whole Norwegian coast. For the purposeof comparison it may be mentioned that the Januaryisothermal of + 50 C. (i.e., 100 C. - higher) passes almost

in a straight line from Liverpool to near Bordeaux. Norwayhas, of course, for many years been a favourite summerresort of tourists from Great Britain and certain parts ofcontinental Europe but the work before us is principallydevoted to the therapeutic possibilities of the country. It is

therefore pointed out that the greatest part of the west coastdoes not, in spite of the exceptional winter temperature,present a convenient climate for sick persons. The winter is

comparatively mild but also damp and windy, whilst thesummer is neither dry nor warm. Districts more inland,and especially the alpine and subalpine ones, are thereforerecommended for patients. The alpine climate in Norwayis reckoned as being between 2500 and 3000 feet above sealevel and the subalpine climate as being from 1500 to 2500feet above sea level. The author states that in winter,spring, and autumn, when residence at the higher levels isimpracticable, invalids will find the climate of the subalpineor lower mountain belt much better than that of the low-lands. Various parts of the Gudbrandsdalen area supplyexamples of both alpine and subalpine regions.The Special Temptation of Early and School Life. By

C. G. WHEELHOUSE, F.R.C.S. Eng., D.Sc. Fourth edition.Leeds : H. Walker. Price 3d.-This pamphlet was first

published in 1885 at the request of the Ripon DiocesanConference; it is an attempt to solve the difficulty ofapproaching a pure and healthy-minded child on the subjectof sex and the mischief of onanism. There is probably nowa consensus of opinion that boys on nearing the age ofpuberty should not be kept in ignorance of the nature of thegenerative mechanism and the evils consequent on its abuse,knowledge being preventive of prurient curiosity and itsattendant evils. Mr. Wheelhouse has undertaken the difficulttask of presenting the necessary knowledge to an innocent-minded child who is about to enter a large school; the pamphletis to be put in the latter’s hands for a time sufficient for himto master its contents and then to be returned to his fatheror master. If the boy does not fully understand it the ice isbroken for further explanation. The author has well dis-chare-ed his task and the book in the hands of a young chiM

1436

should be productive only of good; the subject is approached with tact and explained on lines of natural law. The utility of the pamphlet has, no doubt, been already great and we i

believe that many of our readers may like to know that a (

fourth edition has appeared. ]The Infant, the Parent, and the State. By H. LLEWELLYN

HEATH, L.S.A., D.P.H. Cantab. London : King and Son. l

Pp. xv.-191. Price 3s. 6d.-We trust that the increased

production of books intended for public distribution on the eproblems of infant life and death is the consequence of areal demand for them ; provided they are written by a com-petent authority who can command even a limited audienceamongst intelligent persons, we are in complete sympathywith them. The work before us is not only written with a fullknowledge of the statistics and results of other authoritiesbut is enriched with some interesting information gatheredby the author himself. An analysis in a large town, for

instance, of an infant mortality-rate of 151 per 1000 belowthe age of 12 months revealed the fact that duringthe first week of life the rate was so high that wereit to continue at the same figure for 42 weeks everyinfant born alive would have succumbed within such

period." The author’s observations support Dr. Vilderman’sexperience in Paris that the death-rate is four times as

great amongst bottle-fed babies as amongst those nourishedat the breast ; in fact, breast-feeding may be said to bethe predominant note in this book. So strongly does theauthor feel on this point that he condemns the distri-bution by local authorities of pamphlets of instructionin proper methods of hand-feeding, as he considersthat they may unduly exalt the latter method. But

there are two sides to this question: it is extremelydoubtful whether any mother who intended to suckle herchild would be deterred by such a pamphlet, and manyignorant mothers who would in any case bring up the childby hand may by this means be led into correct ways of doingso. Mr. Heath reviews the methods of milk distribution forhand-fed babies adopted in London and gives an appreciativeaccount of the late Professor Budin’s admirable work in theestablishment of the French "Consultations de Nourrissons" ;he shows, moreover, that this system may be extended atlittle expense. The extreme importance of the proper feedingof the pregnant and lactating mother is insisted upon as isalso the responsibility of the State in its illegitimatechildren. The book is certainly a useful contribution tothe subject with which it deals and in the hands of peoplewith leisure and inclination to devote themselves to socialwork may well be productive of practical good.

JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES.

The Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. April, 1907.London : Charles Griffin and Company. Price 6s. net.-Thisnumber contains the following articles: 1. Description of aHuman Embryo of 23 Paired Somites, by Peter Thompson,M.D. Vict., Professor of Anatomy, King’s College, London.With three plates and five illustrations. Professor Thompsongives a very interesting description of a wax-plate model ofan embryo which he constructed from one measuring 2’5millimetres obtained at an operation. The total length ofthe model when completed was 244 millimetres. In addition,other models of special organs-viz., the heart, the brain, apart of the alimentary canal, and the septum transversum-were constructed. The nervous system was closed exceptin the region of the tail where there was a posterior neuropore.The author points out that lateclosure of the caudal portionof the neural tube is not the invariable rule and enumeratesfive cases from the literature in which variations have occurred," With differences such as these it seems impossible tostate any definite time, length of embryo, or number ofsomites with which complete closure might be associated."

The flexures of the brain in this specimen differed so muchfrom those which are generally regarded as primary cerebralflexures that Professor Thompson suggests the possibilityof the formation of temporary bends which precede theprimary flexures usually described. Two lung buds arevisible as outgrowths behind the fourth pair of pharyngealpouches. This lends support to the view of "a ew whobelieve in a paired anlage and regard the mammalian

respiratory apparatus as arising from primitively pairedstructures." The model of the heart is of specialinterest in that it contains a clear indication of a fourth

chamber, the bulbus cordis. A description of the septumtransversum and the liver is to be published at a

later date. 2. The Form and Nature of the MuscularConnexions between the Primary Divisions of the VertebrateHeart, with eight illustrations, by Arthur Keith, M. D. Aberd.,and Martin Flack, B.A. Oxon. In a paper contributed toTHE LANCET of August llth, 1906, p. 359, the writers con-firmed and extended the discovery of Tawara relating tothe system of peculiar musculature (the auriculo-ventricularsystem) within the mammalian heart. The present paper setsforth the results of an extended inquiry made with threeobjects in view : (1) to ascertain the extent, nature, andposition of the muscular connexion or connexions betweenthe primary divisions of the heart in all classes of the

vertebrate kingdom ; (2) to seek in the sinus, auricle, andbulbus cordis for a differentiation in form and structure of a

system of muscle fibres corresponding to that now known toexist in the ventricle ; and (3) to trace the evolution ofthe auriculo-ventricular muscular system as found in thehuman heart from the simpler and more definite formseen in the hearts of 6shes. The hearts examinedwere obtained from fishes, amphibia, reptilia, birds, andhuman and other mammals; the method of preparation,a modification of Kaiserling’s, is fully described. Theresults of the investigation are tabulated in a concise sum-mary. 3. A Three-chambered Heart in an Adult, aged 35years, by Professor A. H. Young, F.R.C.S. Eng., LL.D.,University of Manchester. Illustrated. The patient to

whom this heart belonged presented the usual signs of onesuffering from chronic heart disease. The area of cardiacdulness was increased ; the apex beat was in the fifth inter-space slightly to the left of the nipple line; there was nothrill. A systolic murmur was audible on auscultation. Atthe necropsy the external appearances of the organ sug-

gested no abnormality. Further examination revealed onlya single functional ventricle containing practically no traceof a division. The inter-ventricular septum was repre-sented by a small ridge situated about the middleof the posterior wall of the common ventricle, whilea larger ridge on the right of the posterior wall

represented the right infundibular band. The remainsof the bulbus cordis, in the shape of a small

triangular fossa, were situated immediately to the rightof the latter ridge. The aorta and pulmonary arteries

were transposed. The paper concludes with some observa-tions on the Causation of Cyanosis by Professor J. LorrainSmith. 4. New Studies on the Folding of the Visual Cortexand the Significance of the Occipital Sulci in the HumanBrain, by Professor G. Elliot Smith, M.D., F.R.S.Illustrated. This is an abstract of one section of a paperread before the Anatomical Society of Great Britain andIreland in Belfast in 1906 and is also a sequel to an articlepublished in the Records of the Egyptian Government Schoolof Medicine, Vol. IL, 1904. 5. Report on a Cranium withgreatly Reduced and Irregular Dentition, by W. L. H. Duck-.worth, M.D. Cantab., Sc.D. The cranium described is arecent addition to the Anatomical Museum. 6. Descrip-tion of a Human Cranium from Walfisch Bay, South-west Africa, by W. L. H. Duckworth. The writer pointsout that "apart from the anomalous condition of the