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hiccough, and for that reason he was inclined to regard thecondition, not as a manifestation of influenza, as had beendone by Logre and Heuyer, nor of epidemic encephalitis, asmaintained by Sicard and Paraf and Achard and Rovillard,but as a rheumatoid or rheumatismal manifestation.Dr. G. LEVEN, in his paper on

Syrnptomatic Aerophagia,stated that although the diagnosis of aerophagia was aneasy matter, the practitioner should realise that the mosttypical aerophagia might sometimes accompany an organiclesion, and that the most careful and complete treatment ofaerophagia might fail because the symptoms masked a moreserious disease. He recorded three typical cases of aero-phagia which were associated with descending goitre,stricture of the oesophagus, and cardiac hypertrophy respec-tively, these three diseases being to a certain extentresponsible for aggravating the aerophagia.

DEVON AND EXETER MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL

SOCIETY.

Exhibition of Cases and Specimens.A MEETING was held at the Royal Devon and Exeter

Hospital on Feb. 17th, Mr. A. C. ROPER being in thechair.Mr. A. L. CANDLER showed: (a) X ray plate of a case of

Perthes or Legg’s Disease of Hip in a girl aged 17, who alsogave evidence of deficiency of endocrine glands; (b) Myomaof Uterus weighing 10 lb. with pregnancy of four months’duration; (c) three specimens of Ectopic Gestation-viz.,tubal, ovarian, and secondary abdominal pregnancies.Mr. NORMAN LOCK showed: (a) Two Ribs with Chondro-

sarcoma on the Inner Side removed successfully somemonths previously; (b) Large Stones in Kidney; (c) a

greatly. Thickened Gall-bladder containing a Gall-stone.Dr. RANSOM PICKARD exhibited Eyes removed for Sarcoma

of Choroid and Sarcoma of the Ciliary Region respectively.Dr. G. P. HAWKER showed a patient with Embolism of

Retinal Artery.Dr. R. V. SOLLY showed: microscopic slides of (1) Cattle and

other Ringworms ; (2) Basal-celled Carcinoma ; (3) CerebralTumour in Brain secondary to Sarcoma of Eye in a casewhere no other secondary growths could be found elsewhereat the autopsy.Dr. SOLLY also showed for Mr. B. DYBALL: (1) Myeloma of

Fibula; (2) Hypernephroma.Dr. F. A. ROPER showed X ray photographs of: (1) Osteitis

Deformans with commencing Sarcoma; (2) Hernia ofStomach into Left Side of Thorax following G.S.W.

NORTH OF ENGLAND OBSTETRICAL ANDGYNÆCOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Exhibition of Cases and Specimens.A MEETING was held at Liverpool on Feb. 18th, Mr.

CARLTON OLDFIELD, the President, in the chair.Dr. J. E. GEMMELL and Dr. LEYLAND ROBINSON showed

three specimens of Uterine Fibroids, complicated in twocases by a coexisting carcinoma of the body of the uterus.In the third specimen a left haamatosalpinx was present andwas evidently produced by torsion, as there was no evidenceof ectopic pregnancy.Dr. J. H. WILLETT and Dr. R. A. HENDRY (Liverpool)

showed a specimen of Hydatidiform Mole with a Well-developed Four and a Half Months’ Fcetus and Placenta.They were of opinion that this was a case of twin pregnancyin which one ovum had undergone vesicular degeneration.Dr. W. W. KING (Sheffield) described a case where acute

symptoms arose during pregnancy from the rupture of avein on the surface of a subperitoneal myoma of the uterus.At the operation a large quantity of free blood was found inthe peritoneal cavity. The tumour was removed by myomec-tomy and the pregnancy left undisturbed.A discussion took place on Dr. F. H. Lacey’s paper on

Induction of Labour for Moderate Contraction of the Pelvis,read at the last meeting of the society and reported inTHE LANCET, Feb. 12th. The opinion of the majority of thespeakers was that, although excellent results could, no doubt,be obtained in hospital, as Dr. Lacey’s figures showed, themethod was extremely tedious in private practice and apt tocause a good deal of anxiety to the patient and her attendant.Csesarean section should be the operation of choice wherethere was any reason to fear that delivery of a healthy full-term child by the natural passag.es was going to beimpossible.

Reviews and Notices of Books.TRUTH ABOUT VENEREAL DISEASE.

By MARIE CARMICHAEL STOPES, D.Sc., Ph.D.London : G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Ltd. 1921. Pip. 52.ls. 6d.

TRUTH, unfortunately, is a relative term. In regardto venereal diseases it has suffered very greatlyat the hands of its most eager disciples. Mrs. Stopeshas visited both warring camps-she acknowledgesindebtedness for much information from Mrs. A. C.Gotto and also from Mr. H. Wansey Bayly-and hasdiscovered as common to both the National Councilfor Combating Venereal Diseases and the Societyfor the Prevention of Venereal Disease a body ofascertainable facts, some simple deductions fromthese facts, and campaigning principles based on

these deductions. These are set forth with greatliterary skill and persuasiveness in a little pamphletof 50 pages, which, she states, was written at therequest or with the approval of Professor W. M.Bayliss, Sir James Crichton-Browne, and others. Thebook is divided into nine sections, of which the

headings are : Germs Generate Disease ; The DeadliestGerms; Pure and Happy Marriage is the Only TrueSafeguard of the Race; The Characteristics of theDeadliest of all Germs; Contact is the Sourceof Infection; Disinfectants do Disinfect; Disinfect-ants Only Disinfect; Disinfectants Disinfect, Theydo not Cure; Humanity can be Entirely Freedfrom this Terror. While the first eight sections areinstructive it is to the ninth that the informed reader,sick of controversy, will naturally turn. Mrs. Stopesholds that if we only dealt with the subject energeticallyenough we should stamp out the diseases in thiscountry more quickly and easily than plague, small-pox, or leprosy. To this end she is assured of thenecessity of a complete survey of everyone in thecountry, although it may be many years before thepublic demands it. Sex diseases, she thinks, wouldnever have saddled themselves on humanity had not allsex knowledge been befouled by prudery. "No onewould willingly sleep with a case of small-pox or theplague." She believes that a new and overwhelmingspiritual power is even now entering upon the earth,but that immediately to stem the onrush of con-

tamination some new factor of health and cleanlinessmust be brought into play during the hiatus, until theyoung generation grows to maturity. The concludingparagraph of the book runs:

It is the duty of the Churches to win the people by moralprecepts and teaching to a right view of life and pure living; it isthe duty of the doctor to see that people are decently clean ; it isthe duty of the reformer to see that people know facts essential totheir life and progress. In this respect the moralist and the doctorhave essentially the same message to teach.We believe that the chief merit of Dr. Stopes’s book

lies in the fact that after reading it every right-mindedcitizen will enlist according to his strength and abilityin the campaign against venereal diseases, and will beunlikely to embarrass the high command by violentadhesion to a particular battalion.

LECTURES ON DISEASES OF CHILDREN.

Fourth edition. By ROBERT HUTCHISON, M.D.,F.R.C.P. London: Edward Arnold. 1920. Illus-trated. Pp. 416. 21s.

AN author who publishes in book form a series oflectures prescribes for himself definite limitations, bywhich the writer of a text-book is unfettered. Each lecturemust be a composite whole, even though the teachingbe in accordance with consecutive tenets or theories,and the subject-matter of its title must stand out in relief.Though necessarily hampered by these restrictions,Dr. Hutchison has contrived to embody in his lecturesa great deal of information of first-rate importance con-cerning the diseases of children, and it is not to bewondered at that a fourth edition has already beencalled for. The author has rewritten the lectures