229

according to Boussingault, and gives a criticism of them

all. The work itself is divided into four books. In Book I.

Physiological Calorimetry, Direct and Indirect, is dealt

with. The whole thermo-chemistry of foods is considered inall its relations, respiratory exchanges, and the applicationof calorimeter and other methods for the determination of

the gain, loss, and transformation of bodily energy, the

work of Atwater being given very fully (pp. 21-228).Book II. treats of Thermo-regulation, or Thermotaxis andThermogenesis, with an introductory chapter on heat as anexcitant in relation to living beings and its action on livingbeings, and then on the human organism as a whole. Next,the topography of temperature, homoio-thermal and poikilo-thermal animals, oscillations of temperature, normal andpathological, and the means of regulating the temperature bymechanisms more or less complete and varied are considered(pp. 229-610). Book III. deals with what the author calls" Etudes de Bioenergetique "-i.e., energy in all its relationsto living matter. There are many chapters on thermo-chemistry, thermo-dynamics, and muscular activities and

fatigue (pp. 611-804). In Book IV. the subject is continuedand considered in its application to general physiology, deal-ing especially with the energy value of foods, the extent towhich they are utilised in the intestine, the equivalentenergy value of different kinds of food, and the whole

question of dietaries and the " reserves of the body(pp. 805-1037). There is a full and ample index. iWe have said enough to show the magnitude and high

scientific character of this treatise, which carries forward insuch a comprehensive, exact, and characteristic manner thelast traditions and knowledge of a subject whose exactfoundations were laid by Lavoisier, so much so, indeed, thatthis subject has been claimed as essentially a French science.We give the work a warm and hearty welcome.

LIBRARY TABLE.

Handbook of Medical Treatment, a Guide to Therapeuticstor Students and Practitioners, with an Appendix on Daet. ByJAMES BuRNET, M.A., M. D. Edin., M.R.C.P. Edin., Lectureron Practical Materia Medica and Pharmacy ; Physician to theMarshall Street Provident Dispensary, Edinburgh. Edinburgh:John Currie. 1911. Pp. 168. Price 3s. 6d.-The author ofthis work in his preface states that the present manual" isan unambitious attempt to supply the main facts of medicaltreatment within the compass of a small volume convenientto handle and to carry about." The diseases are placed inalphabetical order, and the directions for treatment are givenvery briefly. So far as these directions go, they are accurateand well expressed, but they are too brief to be of any truevalue. The success of treatment lies in studying eachpatient individually, and not in giving the same drugs inevery case of any particular disease. In the volume nowbefore us this principle is not sufficiently emphasised, and ifthe directions therein given are always followed, mere

empiricism and not rational therapeutics would be the result.For rapid reference as to hints for treatment this book maybe useful, but as a " handbook of medical treatment wecannot comment favourably on it.Deutsche Heil- und Pflegeanstalten für Psychischkranke in

Wort und Bild. Redigiert von Dr. JOHANNES BRESLER.Halle a.S. : Carl Marhold Verlagsbuchhandlung. 1910.

Pp. 666. Price M. 28.-This work constitutes a guide book ona very large scale to the various institutions for the mentallydisordered in the German Empire. It is well and profuselyillustrated and contains many ground-plans of the variousbuildings described, so that a reader gets a very good idea ofthe character of the institutions. Perhaps the most strikingfeature is the development of the villa system, so that

many of the hospitals resemble garden cities and are con-siderably less barrack- or prison-like than are similar placesin our own country. In many institutions patients are

divided into classes according to the disease with which theyare afflicted, and it is satisfactory to note that the treatmentof acute mania by rest in bed is widely practised. The book

would be very useful to anyone whose duty it became to takepart in the building of a new asylum.

The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics for

Nurses. By JoHN FooTE, M.D., Assistant Professor of

Therapeutics and Materia Medica, Georgetown UniversitySchool of Medicine, &c. London and Philadelphia : J. B.

Lippincott Co. 1910. Pp. 194. Price 4s. 6d. net.-Thisbook limits the number of important remedies to be studied,briefly noticing other frequently used drugs and preparationsin an appendix. The classification according to chemicaland botanical groups is avoided as needless for those for

whom thA book is intended, and the-drugs are grouped atonce under their therapeutic properties and uses. The book

contains six chapters relating to definitions, weights, anddosage; how medicines act, important drugs and medicines,hypodermic and rectal medication, a reference list of

commonly used drugs, chemicals, and proprietary medicines,and therapeutic definitions and abbreviations. It seems onthe whole to contain a good deal of useful information andnot to be overloaded with unnecessary detail. It is, how-ever, in parts loosely written. We should like to knowwhen the plurals of infusum and either emulsum or

e7itulsio became infusæ and emulsæ (p. 11). On p. 47we are told that ’’ when a solution of a solubleiron salt, such as the chloride, is added to albumin,it precipitates the latter, forming a compound knownas an albuminate. Mercury compounds destroy and

corrode albumin; iron, however, simply makes albumin

insoluble and has no corrosive action." If this sentence

does not imply that mercury salts do not form an albuminatewe are at a loss to know what it does mean ; yet the authorhimself, on the next page but one, states : "Mercury saltscombine rapidly with albumin, destroying it and forming analbuminate which is quickly absorbed."Me Birds of the British Islands. By CHARLES STONHAM,

C.M.G., F.Z.S. With illustrations by LILIAN M. MEDLAND.London: Grant Richards, Limited. Part XVIII. Price

7s. 6d. net.-Mr. Stonham’s admirable work is nearing con-clusion. The eighteenth part has now made its appearanceand only two more sections remain for publication. The

eighteenth contains descriptions and pictures of the kitti-wake, the razor-bill, the guillemot, the little auk, and theskuas, whose name is said by gome to be an onomatoposicreproduction of its cry, but by Professor Skeat to have refer-ence to the Icelandic name for its grey colour. The skuas

are very interesting birds. The qualities of the great skuaMegalestris cattarrharctes (Linnæus) are summed up in its

happy name, which signifies I I great pirate rushing down."For these birds, and for that matter others of their kind,live by raids upon gulls and terns, whom they shadow andswoop down upon, forcing them to disgorge the fish whichthey have just swallowed. The great skua only breedsin Unst and Foula in the British Islands, though the bird is

occasionally driven further inland by tempestuous weather.It is extremely brave both against man and dog when

defending its young. Another skua, the pomatorhineskua, which is more abundant in the British Islands and morewidely distributed, is called stercorarius, the old idea beingthat the food which it obtained by chasing gulls and ternswas voided from the bowel of the victims and not from the

gullet. The whole family are very interesting, appearing tobe innate criminals, who prefer to secure sustenance bvrobbery, although there is no apparent reason why they

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should not obtain their food by honest effort. MissMedland’s pictures are very good in this part.

The Student’s Handbook of Surgioal Operations. By SirFREDERICK TREVES, Bart., G.C.V.O., C.B., LL.D., F.R.C.S.Eng., Serjeant-Surgeon to H. M. the King, Consulting Surgeon,to the London Hospital ; and JONATHAN HUTOHiNSON,F.R 0 S. Eng., Surgeon to, and Lecturer on Surgery at, theLondon Hospital. Third edition, revised throughout. With162 illustrations. London, New York, Toronto, and Melbourne:Cassell and Company, Limited. 1911. Pp. 512. Price7s. 6d.-The progress of surgery makes it compulsory thatany work on this subject for students should be frequentlyrevised, for old operations drop out. of use and new

operations appear, and it is essential that only thosemethods which are current saould be described. This useful

annual has been subjected to thorough revision by Mr.

Jonathan Hutchinson, and it may be taken to represent veryclosely present practice. For instance, lumbar colotomyand lateral lithotomy are no longer described in this volume,for these operations are never now performed. We are gladto see that severe efforts have been made to keep down thesize of the volume, for it is essential that works for studentsshould not be too large. In this book the student will

find all the knowledge on operative surgery which he willrequire for the ordinary examinations. We can commendsit with confidence.

On Writing Theses for M.B. and M.D. Degrees. By H. D.ROLLESTON, M. D. Cantab., F. R. C. P. Lond. London: John Bale,.Sons, and Danielsson, Limited. 1911. Pp. 27. Price Is. net.-The substance of this little book first appeared, as we learnfrom the preface, in the pages of the St. George’s HospitalGazette. Dr. Rolleston, as senior physician to St. George’sHospital, in which capacity he is constantly being asked foradvice as to writing theses, and as one who has himself beenthrough the mill of composing theses for his baccalaureate anddoctorate, writes with both authority and knowledge. His

advice may be commended, not alone to those who write thesesfor an academic distinction, but also to those who write

’ papers for the medical press. Besides the purely practical.advice contained in the book, Dr. Rolleston gives someinteresting historical facts as to theses and their mainten-ance. Disputation and maintenance are still carried out in. theory, but except occasionally in a Faculty of Medicine thereisbut little original work displayed in a thesis. A shadowyremanat of disputations still survives at Oxford in the rule. that a candidate for the degree of B.D. shall read two

theses on some theological subject approved by the Regius. professor, a custom which gave rise to Mansel’s witty if

fitter epigram," The degree of B D. it’s proposed to conveyTo an A double S by a double essay."

But theses have to be written also for degrees in medicine,.and Dr. Rolleston’s advice will certainly be found mosthelpful to those who have to write them.

Famous CczatZes and Palaces of Ita,ly. By EDMUND B.

D’AUVERGNE. Illustrated in colour from paintings. London:-2. Werner Laurie. 1911. Pp. 320. Price 15s. net.-The

.:’3:.lLtb.or of this book has opened up, we believe, new ground,-for, often as the cathedrals, the churches, the monasteries,and. the art galleries of Italy have been described, the castles3ia.ve so far escaped any systematic notice. This is possiblybecause the castles of Italy do not form, as, for example,did the numerous castles of the Anglo-Welsh border, onesystematic scheme of offence and defence. The Italiancastles are fortuitously situated, they were not necessarilyfortresses but often the seats of reigning families, and thehistorical events with which they are connected have to dowith the strife of separate ducal clans and not with the

struggles of a king against his people. The detailed

history of some of them in consequence is hard to come

by, but others, like the castle of Sant’ Angelo at Rome,are associated with historic events of real importance.Lurid stories of crime and wrong, and the terrific episodesarising out of the struggle between the mediaeval republicsof Italy and their rulers, and between their rulers and

Emperor or Pope, are largely buried in the archives ofextinct States, and Mr. D’Auvergne is to be thanked for theindustry with which he has unearthed some of these

interesting details, and the skill with which he has

woven them into a homogeneous volume. The beau-tiful illustrations, seven of which are in colour-repro-ductions from paintings by Mr. C. E. Dawson, give faith-

fully the appearances of such well-known buildings as

the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, the Castle of Ferrara-sceneof the loves of Parisina and Ugo-and the Bargello at

Florence, now the National Museum, and containinga splendid collection illustrative of Italian mediaevalart.

Meat and Food -Inspectors’ Examinations: Vodel Answersto Questions Set by the Royal Sanitary Institute and OtherExamining Bodies. Compiled by G. T. BILLING, MeatInspector, Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury ; and A. H.WALKER, Sanitary Inspector, Metropolitan Borough of

St. Pancras. London: Sanitary Publishing Co., Limited.1911. Pp. 156. Price 3s. 6d. net.-This book contains acollection of questions actually set at the examinations formeat and food inspectors, which should be of use not only tocandidates for that examination, but also for intending candi-dates for the examinations of the Sanitary Inspectors’Examination Board, the Royal Sanitary Institute, andthe Board of Education examination in hygiene. The

questions, which are grouped under such headings as

slaughtering, cowsheds, signs of disease and healthin living animals, general diseases of animals, fowls,and fish, appearances of flesh and fat in various

animals, organs in health and disease, carcasses, butchers’joints, parasitic and bacterial diseases, and preservation andstorage of food, are supplied with "model" answers. On

reading aloud the questions and answers, they give the verypractical effect of listening to a viva voce examination.Besides flesh food, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee and

tea, flour, lime-juice, beer and porter, potatoes, and cannedfoods are dealt with. There are also questions on the legalpowers and limitations of inspectors. The answers are

direct, clearly expressed, and to the point, as all examinationanswers should be, and, so far as we have tested them,they appear to be accurate, affording a very good survey ofthe subjects dealt with. The regulations for the examinationand the syllabus of subjects are prefixed.

JOURNALS.

The Medical Chronicle.-In the June number of this maga-zine Dr. W. B. Warrington discusses the subject of injury asan etiological factor in the causation of some well-definednervous diseases, such as tabes dorsalis and disseminatedsclerosis, and also tabulates the diagnostic points distinguish-ing some of these affections. Dr. G. E. Loveday writes onthe laboratory diagnosis of syphilis, dealing with Wasser-mann’s reaction and the different modifications introducedinto the technique of the test, and also with some otherreactions, such as the meiostagmine test, Porges’ reaction,and so forth.

Bristol Medico-Ckirurgical Journal.-In the June issue

Mr. Ernest W. Hey Groves writes on resection of the

posterior spinal roots, whioh he holds to be free from