1434 REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

showed a card specimen of Tubal Pregnancy.-Mr. J.Jackson Clarke showed two patients illustrating some

points in his paper on Some Phases of Rheumatoid Arthritisand Gout. This paper was, however, postponed by consentuntil the next meeting in order to give time for the readingnf a paper by Mr. G. Lenthal Cheatle on Some PersonalExperiences of the late Boer War. The paper was illustrated

by a very fine collection of photographs which were shownnn a screen by means of a lantern. Mr. Cheatle alsoshowed a number of shells, bullets &c., collected from thebattlefield.-A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr.Cheatle for his interesting paper and the meeting terminated.

Reviews and Notices of Books.-Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley. By his Son,

LEONARD HUXLEY. London: Macmillan and Co. Twovols. 1900. Pp. 1007. 13 engravings. Price 30s. nett.

Two royal octavo volumes, including over one thousandpages between them, make a very large book, but not byany means too large a book to devote to the life of Huxley,crowded as it was with incident and varied by the mostdiverse public and private occupations. And when wehad read the book our wonder was rather how so muchhad been included in the space. Mr. Leonard Huxleypresents us with a complete account of his father’s chief

writings, doings, and sayings ; but he has effected a

saving of space by forbearing to attempt a critical digestof Professor Huxley’s contributions to biological science.For such a digest other modes of publication are, no doubt,preferable. Incidentally, it need hardly be said, there is a

great deal of comment upon biological discovery and

philosophical view ; but here, as elsewhere, the biographerwisely allows Professor Huxley to tell his own story, andthat mainly by means of letters.The feature of these two volumes is, in fact, the enormous

amount of correspondence, dating from the very lateI forties" and extending to three days before the death ofProfessor Huxley in 1895. These letters afford no evidenceof priggish compilation for the purposes of subsequentpublication ; on the contrary, indeed, they sometimes vergeupon the indiscreet, as letters written between friends are

apt to do. But Mr. Leonard Huxley, by the judicioususe of dots, dashes, and initial letters, has pruned away allthat could possibly cause any annoyance, however slight,to persons living or to the relatives of those who are nowdead. Professor Huxley was, as everybody knows, one ofthose who fearlessly expressed his opinions and that withdecision and precision ; it would be therefore impossible towater down any of his straightforward observations of menand things. "A hammer-handed man," observed an eminentdivine to the present writer some years ago-a remark whichconveyed, and was probably intended to convey, the impres-sion that Professor Huxley was apt to hit the right nail,and that well upon the head.The first volume begins with the inevitable searchings

after family trees, the eagerness of the search being, how-ever, tempered by an apt quotation from the professorhimself, who remarked that My own genealogical inquirieshave taken me so far back that I confess the later stages donot interest me." At any rate, Huxley’s father was a school-master at that now suburban but then pastoral place calledEaling. The influences of early surroundings upon a manof genius are often the subject of inquiry and some

philosophising, but there does not seem to be a great dealto extract from the early circumstances of Huxley’s life.His father had "that glorious firmness which one’s enemiescall obstinacy"; his mother, he tells us, was a lady ofextraordinary energy and emotions. Heredity, therefore,may have done and probably did do a fair amount for the

8avant but Ealing, Coventry, and Rotherhithe do not seemimpressive when we think of Agassiz among Swiss glaciers,and Buckland surrounded by the bones of ichthyosauriand plesiosauri at Lyme Regis. It is a curious example ofthe wise perversity of fate that Huxley was a biologistmalgrc ; he wished to be an engineer or at least some-body in the mechanical line. Fate in the guise of Sir JosephFayrer walked down the steps of Charing Cross Hospitalwith young Huxley and directed him to apply for an

appointment in the medical service of the Navy. It is

interesting but futile to speculate as to whether, if the otherevent had occurred, we should have had among us a colossalscientific expert. Probably not, since on another page thewell-known classification of those who are apt to banish thetruth concludes with the superlative " expert witness."Professor Huxley’s worst enemy could hardly accuse him ofwithholding the truth ; indeed, he was apt to rub it in with

I salt and pepper.. The voyage of the Battlesnalte, to which ship Huxleywas now appointed, was the means of his achieving great-ness ; it is hardly too much to say that the observations

I

and reflections made upon that journey contained the bestpart of his subsequent work in pure science. On his returnto England he found himself celebrated and was in the

following year (1851) elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,the youngest Fellow on record, since the number of electionsin each year had been reduced to 15. _ Huxley’s opinion ofthe scientific men of his day is in many ways remarkable.It shows plainly that a certain hackneyed phrase about thetendency of man to err is by no means a platitude, and isa warning to all of us not to be too positive in our judg-ments as men, and perhaps also as examiners. The two

leaders in zoological science are said to be Owen and

Edward Forbes. " The rest of the naturalists stand farbelow these two in learning, originality, and grasp of mind.Goodsir of Edinburgh should, I suppose, come next, but hecan’t write intelligibly. Darwin might be anything if he hadgood health." This order would, we suppose, at the presentday be almost exactly reversed. There is a good deal aboutthe late Sir Richard Owen in these earlier pages ; Huxleyfound him kind and courteous, and was gratified at

being told by the great anatomist, whom he thanked

for his assistance in the matter of the F.R.S., thatthe election was entirely due to his own merits. Ata dinner at the Geological Club Huxley met Lyell,Murchison, De la Beche, and Owen. "Owen was," he

wrote to his sister, "in my estimation great, from the fact ofhis smoking his cigar and singing his songs like a brick."Later, as the world knows well, there was much frictionbetween the conservative followers of Cuvier and the youngman who introduced into comparative anatomy a new orderof things. The friction led to some smart sayings, and someof the sparks thus evolved are truly Huxleyan in their

phrasing. "What a capital title it is they give him of theBritish Cuvier. He stands in exactly the same relation tothe French as British brandy to cognac." In fairness to

both great men we give a final appreciation by Huxley of thisvery nickname, contained in a review of Owen’s scientificposition. It runs thus : °6 It was not uncommon to hear our

countryman called the British Cuvier,’ and so far, in my

opinion, the collocation was justified, high as the praise itimplies."Huxley is known to his generation for the magnificent

clearness and sanity of his views and the large range of hisoutlook. He not only had sympathies that were boundlesslybroad, but a gift of expression and exposition both withtongue and pen I If my opinion were to be taken," saysMontaigne, " I should think the slow speaker would be moreproper for the pulpit and the other for the bar." As weknew him Huxley was a deliberate and impressive speaker,and it is clear that he in the main occupied the pulpit, though

1435REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

at times he was an advocate rather than a preacher. One ofthese latter occasions is dealt with by his son at some length.We refer to the celebrated meeting of the British Associationat Oxford in 1860, the year after the publication of "TheOrigin of Species." It was held at that time by men ofleading, if not of light, that Darwin’s explanation of the

cause of evolution was, as Professor Lankester has aptly putit elsewhere, a "capricious and anti-theological assertion

that men are descended from monkeys." This was thelimited view of persons of real culture and education. At

the long west room at the Museum, now occupied by thelibrary, the evolutionists, the anti-evolutionists, and theirsupporters held forth on Saturday, June 30th, in that year.The Bishop of Oxford "spoke for full half an hour with

inimitable spirit, emptiness, and unfairness....... In a lightscoffing tone, florid and fluent, he assured us there was

nothing in the idea of evolution; rock pigeons were what rockpigeons had always been. Then turning to his antagonistwith a smiling insolence he begged to know was it throughhis grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed hisdescent from a monkey ? " A great deal of obloquy hasbeen heaped upon the bishop for his part in the proceedingsof that historic day; no doubt he appealed to the ignorantprejudices of his hearers who were naturally in those virtuousdays of horse-hair furniture gratified by such an attitude.But need we crow so very much ? 7 It strikes us forcibly thatmany worthy persons would arise in their might at thepresent day, and protest in a precisely similar fashion, if

doctrines, which they thought impious because they couldnot understand them, were promulgated by a man of scienceand then denounced by a bishop. The personality of thebishop appears to us to be purely rhetorical and not to showany of the "insolence" which has been seen in it, andProfessor Huxley’s reply was fully as vigorous as the speechwhich precEded it. What chiefly is hard of understandingin these milder times is why tantae animals ccelestibus irae.

Huxley was fighting for freedom of opinion and depre-cated authority. It is curious that in these latter days, ’when the positions of affairs are exactly reversed, the sameold human love of authority should crop out in precisely thesame way. Freedom of opinion then meant the right tohold more or less the Darwinian views on the origin ofspecies. Nowadays it almost means the right to dissent

from them. In presenting a Royal Society medal to Darwinthe President of the Society of that day was carefullywatched by Huxley, who suspected him of the intent tointroduce some observation depreciatory of natural selection.The slighting remark was duly made, and that was, perhaps,the last flicker of the fierce flame that raged and attemptedto destroy the natural explanations of the phenomena ofNature. Now the flame is precisely as vigorous, but it hasbeen kindled by the then opposition, the school that in thegi sixties" was fighting for freedom of thought. Quiterecently a book purporting to overthrow some’ of the con-clusions of Darwin and his adherents was published and wasreviewed in savage terms because of its attempt to criticisethe founder of modern zoological speculations. On the other

hand, the most ridiculous assumptions, if they tend to

support natural selection, are at once accepted and theirauthors more than occasionally lauded with surprisingfulsomeness. We write as orthodox believers in the gene-rally accepted teachings of evolution, but with some doubtsupon details. And whatever may be the right way to clearup these doubts, which we share with many people, the

wrong course is to stifle discussion. It is noteworthythat Professor Huxley did not commit himself to some of themore extravagant excrescences which have now appearedupon the very trunk of the Darwinian tree of knowledge.From such a mass of information as that with which Mr.

Leonard Huxley presents us in these volumes it is hard topick out plums of general interest, not in the least from the

lack of them but from sheer embarrassment of riches. Huxleyknew intimately a large proportion of the illustrious peopleof his time and as he lived a long life the list is almost inter-minable. His strong objection to statesmen was natural in aman of his constitution and is made abundantly obviousagain and again. In inviting Ministers to the dinner of

the Royal Society Huxley, ’’ thinking to please the Society,made a shot at some Ministers. The only two I know

much about are Harcourt and Chamberlain, and the devil

(in whom I now firmly believe) put it into my head to

write to both. The enormous stupidity of which I had beenguilty in asking Chamberlain under the circumstances ......

never entered my head until this afternoon." He didnot think highly of our statesmen as philosophers. Thereare criticisms of Lord Salisbury’s address to the British

Association at Oxford and of Mr. Balfour’s philo-sophical speculations. Of the latter his estimation sinkslower and lower the more he reads of the " Founda-tions of Belief." Gladstone, as everyone knows, was

severely handled by him in the Nineteent7b Oentwry. ’There is an amusing tale told about Carlyle. Huxley con-fesses to the great influence which the sage had had uponhim, particularly because he " had inspired him with his

undying hatred of shams and humbugs of every kind." Butit appears that the veneration was not by any means re-

turned. "Years after [the publication of ’Man’s Place inNature’]," writes Mr. Leonard Huxley, "near the end ofhis life, my father saw him walking slowly and alone downthe opposite side of the street, and touched by his solitaryappearance crossed over and spoke to him. The old manlooked at him and merely remarking, ‘ You’re Huxley,aren’t you ? 7 The man that says we are all descendedfrom monkeys,’ went on his way." The great Napoleon’snephew, the Prince of Canino (why does Mr. L. Huxleygive him the sporting title of "Casino"?), noted in his

day as an ornithologist, attended the first meeting ofthe British Association which Huxley attended. He isdescribed as being singularly like the portraits of his

uncle, and seems a very jolly, good-humoured old fellow.I believe, however, he is a bit of a rip. It was remarkablehow proud the Quakers were of being noticed by him." Thelast sentence is somewhat cryptic to us. Of Darwin there is

naturally much said. A large number of letters exchangedbetween these two great men are given in full by Mr.Leonard Huxley. " The cheeriest letter-writer I know " was

Huxley’s verdict upon the promulgator of Natural Selection.To be able to address that revered person as ’’ My dearDarwin " seems to us to be the most dizzy height of eminenceat which a man could arrive. Copious letters, mainly toSir J. Hooker, Sir Michael Foster, and Professor Tyndall,deal with every possible variety of topic, from scientific ques-tions of the day and of the past to views upon the conduct ofGovernor Eyre of Jamaica, the proposed Gresham Universityfor London, and the sea-serpent. It was his interest in, andclear expression of views upon, such matters of general talkthat really gained for Huxley his widely extended fame. Tothe general public he was a strong exponent of views

generally at variance with those of respectable mediocrity ;he was not pictured as the hard-working student sittingamong bones and fossils and producing monograph aftermonograph of fundamental importance. Towards the endof his life a physical incapacity for bending over a

dissecting-table unfortunately cut short the steady output ofcontributions to science which had marked all of his pre-vious career. But when busy with all kinds of commissionsand other duties he would jump into a cab and snatch a briefhalf-hour of zoological work in his laboratory at South

Kensington. We mention this because Huxley the breezycritic of men, manners, and systems has rather dimmed thepublic recollection of Huxley the great biologist.One side of Huxley’s character is admirably developed by

1436 REVIEWS AND NOTIOES OF BOOKS.

his son in these volumes. Huxley was as delightful and tlwhimsical in his private and family life as he was uncom- rc

promising in his public life. The following letter was e:

written to a daughter who had requested an autograph for w

a friend :- Vi

The Epistle of Thomas to the Wonoan of the House of Harold. ir t1. I said it was an autograph book; and so it was. is2. And naughty words came to the root of my tongue. iJ3. And the recording angel dipped his pen in the ink and si

squared his elbows to write. Sl

4. But I spied the hand of the lovely and accomplishedbut vagabond daughter h

5. And I smole ; and spoke not; nor uttered the] naughty s

words. 06. So the recording angel was sold;7. And was about to suck his pen.

s

8. But I said, Nay I give it to me. e9. And I took the pen and wrote on the book of the i

autographs letters pleasant to the eye and easy to read.10. Such as my printers know not ; nor the postman ; nor i

the correspondent who riseth in his wrath and curseth over 9my epistle ordinary.

G

It will be consolatory to all our readers who have ever (failed to obtain an appointment which they sought to learnthat Huxley was for long most unfortunate in his attempts Ito secure a professorship. Three places refused him-viz.,Cork, Aberdeen, and Toronto. The professors of that day in 1these universities cannot be congratulated upon their insight;however, after a lapse of 50 years or so it is somewhat of ananachronism to be angry with the stupidity of one’s fore-runners.

Mr. Leonard Huxley concludes these two fascinatingvolumes with a list of his father’s" Essays, books, andscientific memoirs," which fills no less than 16 pages, andwith an excellent index.

The Theory and P’l’aotio6 of Hygiene (Notter and Firth). ByJ. LANE NOTTER, M.A., M.D. Dub., Professor of Hygienein the Army Medical School, Netley, Colonel, Royal’Army Medical Corps, &c. ; and W. H. HoRRoc7Ks, M.B.,B.Sc. Lond., Assistant Professor of Hygiene in the ArmyMedical School, Netley, Major, Royal Army Medical

Corps. London : J. & A. Churchill. 1900. Pp. 1085.Price 25s.

WE are glad to welcome a second edition of this work andto see that although it has been considered desirable to

re-write many of the former chapters and to make severalalterations it has not been found necessary much to increasethe size of the volume. The book is still used as a manual

and is, indeed, the standard manual in hygiene both in thiscountry and in America ; but if its size be further increasedit will pass from the manual class into a different category-a change which many would regret. The present volume con-tains but 51 more pages than the first edition, yet space hasbeen found for 39 pages devoted to the bacteriological ex-amination of water, a subject which during the last fewyears has assumed a position of great importance, equalling,if not surpassing, that of the chemical analysis. For this

portion of the work Colonel Notter is indebted to MajorHorrocks, the assistant professor of hygiene in the ArmyMedical School. Major Horrocks’s special section deals withhis subject systematically and, considering the space, verylucidly; he treats of the "collection of water for

bacteriological examination," of " quantitative bacteriologicalanalysis " (which he points out is of less importance than thequalitative), of " the preparation of water plates," of "quali-tative bacteriological examination," and of the classes of

micro-organisms. He then devotes some pages to the experi-mental researches on the duration of life of the bacillus

typhosus in water and sewage and to the methods whichhave been suggested-for the demonstration of the bacillustyphosus in water and to those proposed for the isolation of

he cholera spirillum from water. There is a succinct sum-

nary of the procedure recommended for the bacteriologicalxamination of water and a page on the methods of testingvater filters will be found very useful. Major Horrocks’s

Nork shows very considerable thought and care and he iso be congratulated on having contributed much valuable

‘

ndependent information to this new edition. Miss Triscott

s also to be highly commended for the pains she has takenn the preparation of the five new plates illustrating thissection of the work.

During the last few years many aspects of hygienelave undergone rapid changes and the law of progress hasshown itself in almost every part of the science. The parts)f the volume now under review which show the most con.siderable alterations from the subject matter of the firstedition are those relating to water-supplies, sewage disposal,immunity, disinfection, and infective diseases.The chapter on Water occupies 142 pages, 22 more than

in the first edition; in it all that is valuable in chemical

analysis is accurately set forth, so that the careful studentcan with its aid carry out the various processes without

difficulty. The portion of the work which treats of Air,Ventilation, and Heating is practically the same as in theformer issue and is of the highest value.

In the fourth chapter, on Food, there is a useful sectionunder the heading Shell-fish and Infection, in which Dr.Bulstrode and Dr. Klein’s report to the Local GovernmentBoard upon oyster culture in relation to disease is epitomisedand the late Sir Richard Thorne’s summary is given in fiveshort paragraphs. The characteristics of the outbreaks ofdisease transmitted by milk, as set forth by Mr. W. H.Power, are brought prominently forward and the questionof the preservation of milk receives considerable attention.

In the section on Habitations much useful and practicalinformation on the important question of Hot-Water-suppliesis introduced.

Chapter X., on the Disposal of Sewage and Refuse,has been considerably amplified. Here, under the Puri-

fication of Sewage by Biological Methods, the mostmodern processes are described, such as Dibdin’s or theSutton System, the Septic Tank System, the ThermalAerobic Sewage Filter of Whittaker and Bryant, the Systemof Open Septic Tank with Double Filtration in BacterialFilter Beds, Ducat’s Aerated Bacterial Self-acting Filter,and the Purification of Sewage by Intermittent BacterialTreatment of Coke Beds as studied by Clowes and Houstonfor the London County Council, and to this portion of themanual there are other important additions.

In the chapter on the Infective Diseases there are someexcellent new pages on immunity and protection; hereartificial immunity, passive immunity, the origin and modeof action of antitoxins, anti-microbic serum and natural

immunity are in turn considered, and a new section is

devoted to the etiology and prevention of beri-beri. New

paragraphs have also been introduced under the heading ofEnteric Fever, describing preventive inoculation, as in-

augurated by Professor A. E. Wright and Major D. Semple,R.A.M.C., of Netley, with a description of how the vaccineis at present prepared. It is also stated that the results

obtained by Professor Wright’s inoculations in India are

distinctly encouraging. The Malarial Parasites and the

prevention of malarial fevers are dealt with in some

interesting pages, while the marked diminution in the

fatality of scarlet fever at all age-periods is emphasised,and Dr. Newsholme’s table is quoted. This chapter onInfective Diseases occupies 100 pages and is by no meansthe least interesting and valuable.Much of the section on Disinfection has been re-written

and here there are several new woodcuts to aid the student;the value of formaldehyde as a gaseous disinfectant is dwelton, but it is pointed out that when Schering’s method’is

1437REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

employed as a rule too few tablets are used to insure

thorough disinfection.In the chapter on Vital Statistics there are some good

tables gathered from Dr. Tatham’s figures for the years1890-92, and observations on the question of occupation inrelation to mortality. The paragraphs in which the relationof the density of the population to mortality is discussedare also amplified.Much of the chapter on Military Hygiene (Chapter XIX.)

has also been re-written so as to bring it up to date andto make it inclusive of the most recent regulations. Under

the heading of War Rations the daily ration for each officerand man in our recent expeditions is set forth. The chart

given at page 1028 shows the difference in the admissionsfor primary venereal sores amongst British troops before,during, and after the Contagious Diseases Acts were in forceat 14 protected and 14 unprotected stations in the UnitedKingdom.Appendices XI. and XII. are new-the former deals with

the Sterilisation of Apparatus and the Preparation of CultureMedia and the latter with the Preparation of Ammonia-freeDistilled Water. A new table (after Vieth) is also givenfor correcting the specific gravity of, milk according to

temperature.The new parts of this work appear to us to be excellent

and the whole book has been carefully edited. Manymistakes in the first edition have been corrected, andalthough the present edition cannot be said to be free fromerrors, most of these are evidently due to the printer and areso palpable that they will not long trouble the student. The

letterpress is illustrated by many new explanatory woodcutswhich are at once both simple and practical. The bibliographyand references throughout the book are excellent, the authorshaving followed the useful plan of having a separate biblio-graphy at the termination of each subject. We can stronglyrecommend the volume which will doubtless have as large acirculation as its excellence deserves. The book is a veryworthy successor to the well-known work of the late Pro-fessor E. A. Parkes, which was subsequently enlarged andedited by the late Professor de Chaumont.We are glad to see that Colonel Notter mentions Major

R. H. Firth’s name in the preface, as it appears to us thatmuch of the information in the present volume is as that

officer left it when he co-edited the first issue in 1896, andthat a tribute is also paid to Major Horrocks for his help andassistance in bringing out the new edition. The omission

of the names of Colonel Notter’s colleagues from the coverof the work must of course be an oversight on the part ofthe publishers, but we would suggest that in future editions,which are sure to become necessary, the names of all the

authors should be duly set forth.

Medical Electricity. By H. LEWIS JONES, M.A., M.D.Cantab, F.R.C.P. Lond. Third edition. London : H. K.Lewis. 1900. Pp. 532. Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d.

To write a practical text-book on medical electricity whichwould reach a second edition, at a time when quacks hadmade the subject distasteful to medical men and when it wasregarded by the intelligent public with suspicion, was no meanaccomplishment. In the first edition the author found it

necessary to allot a considerable amount of space to technicaldetail in order to place the subject on a scientific basis, which,however, somewhat marred the book, as it rendered itdifficult reading to those who were not experts in electricity ;but the knowledge of the subject becoming more popular bythe almost universal establishment of public electric-lightsupplies, in the second edition it was found possibleto omit much unnecessary detail and to give morespace to treatment. In the present (third) edition

the material has so much increased and the progress

made has been so considerable that in order to

keep the book within the reasonable compass expected in atext-book the author has found it convenient further to

curtail the technical portions, to introduce two new chapters,and to add many illustrations, rendering it more completeand up-to-date. The book is so well known that it is onlynecessary to notice the additional matter introduced. A new

chapter on Dynamo Electricity is clearly and succinctlywritten, and the use which may be made of the street mains

are grouped together under the following heads-(l) theillumination of small lamps for special purposes; (2) theheating of a galvano-cautery ; (3) the driving of small

motors ; (4) the operating of small and large induc-

tion coils; (5) the charging of accumulators; and (6) thetreatment of patients; and in an appendix a list is

given of the towns having a public supply, together withdetails as to the current furnished. The chapter on

Statical Electricity has been added to and revised. TheHoltz and Wimshurst machines are described at sufficient

length, the author being evidently much impressed withthe work of Dr. Monell of Brooklyn, for he affirms that theeffects which large statical machines can produce are

almost startling to those who have been familiar only withthe phenomena produced by small machines and that thetherapeutic results of their use are obtained so promptly andso easily that it is a pleasure to use them.An additional chapter is given on the Roentgen Rays

which is intended as an outline of the methods and

principles concerned, and as it is condensed into some 20 oddpages this must be admitted to be the case. but we wishthat the author had found it practicable to allot more spaceto a subject which has become of such universal application.The chapter is illustrated by a coil and a bi-anodal focustube. We were disappointed in finding no mention of theapplication of electric light in the treatment of disease. Thebook is to be thoroughly recommended; the details suffice forthe requirements of a medical man who has not the time tostudy the subject of electricity exhaustively, and as in theformer editions the book raises the position of medical

electricity to its proper level and helps to remove the

reproach that still clings to the profession for having allowedothers almost to monopolise the practice. It may be con-sidered as an admirable text-book for students and a handybook of reference for practitioners.

LIBRARY TABLE.

NO’J’d’l’aoh at Home. By J. J. S. LUCAS, B.A., M.R.O.S.Eng., L.R.C.P. Lond. Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith. 1900.

Pp. 60. Price ls.-Mr. Lucas has made an attempt in his" Nordrach at Home " to supply the necessary informationfor carrying out the "open-air treatment" of pulmonarytuberculosis in the house of the patient without removinghim to a special sanatorium or to some expensive healthresort. The plan which he proposes is simple, practical,and inexpensive. There is nothing original in his sugges-

tions, which are based on the ordinary principles of

hygiene, but they are collated in a form which is likelyto prove of use. Probably most medical men at the presentday are already acquainted with the details of the treatmentas far as they are suitable for domestic application. Theymay, however, be saved trouble if they refer their patients tothis little work.

i The ]i’eeding of Infants. By W. LANGFORD SYMES,

F.R.C.P. Irel. Dublin: Fannin and Co., Limited. 1899.

Pp. 40. Price ls.-This small work is divided into two

sections, one dealing with the feeding of infants under oneyear old, and the other with that of children over that age.Much useful advice is contained in these few pages. Theauthor insists on the use of modified milk when breast-

feeding is impossible and condemns the use of patent or

1438 REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

proprietary foods; but what he means by the followingsentence, which appears on page 10, is most difficult tounderstand: 11 Starchy or ’ carbohydrate food’ is most

injurious to infants under one year of age; they have nomeans of digesting it." Considering that in the sentencewhich precedes it he advocates the use of sugar, apparentlyMr. Symes does not include sugar among the carbohydrates.Many authorities, including Jacobi, do not subscribe to theuniversal condemnation of farinaceous foods, even for veryyoung infants. All are, however, agreed that they shouldonly be employed in very small quantities.

.Design in Nature’s Story. By WALTER KIDD, M D.Lond., F.Z.S. London: James Nisbet and Co. 1900.

Pp. 165. Price 3s. 6d.-This booklet will act as a

reminder that there are arguments against, as well as for,the conception of natural selection as the main factor in

organic evolution. And to the medical mind such a

reminder is particularly valuable, for as a profession we areinclined to pronounced conservatism, and having once

accepted a theory we are not easily shaken in our allegiance.Although the acceptance of the proposition that there is adesign in nature does not necessarily exclude the doctrine ofevolution it is clear that Dr. Kidd has a very limited faithin the ordinary forces generally admitted to be the chieffactors in evolution-natural selection, for instance. Broadlyspeaking, his arguments in favour of the " unseen and

guiding hand " turn on two pivots-(l) that organic natureis so marvellously and wonderfully made that the end musthave been foreseen before the foundations were laid ;(2) everything is reciprocally adapted in animate and in-

animate nature and has been from the first beginningof life. In a retrospective examination of any com-

pleted chain of events in which the links are reciprocallydependent it is as legitimate to assume that the chain ofevents has followed on predestined lines as to assume thatthe ultimate result might have been different if one of thecomponent links had given way or owing to accident (varia-tion) had been differently constituted. In the marvellous

adaptation to the requirements of the human body of suchstructures as the nasal and thoracic ducts Dr. Kidd

finds evidence of design, and he regards the vermiform

appendix not as a vestigial relict dangerous to man,but as a 11 little sentinel" which stands between the smalland large intestine and acts as a It I death-trap " for themicrobe. Dr. Kidd is right in believing that he is raising a" thorny question" in taking this heretical view of thefunctions of this apparently ill-adapted organ. The authordeserves credit for the bold exposition of his views

although it is improbable that they will meet with anygeneral acceptance.

Sanitation and Health. By Brigade-General R. C. HART,V.C., C.B., &c. Revised by Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel T. H. HENDLEY, V.C., C.I.E., M.R.O.S. Eng., L.R.C.P.Lond., &c. Fourth edition. London: William Clowes andSons. 1897. Pp 56. Price Is. 6d.-This small pamphlet isa revised lecture delivered by Brigade-General Hart to thetroops stationed in Rohilkland, a district of India. It offerssound advice on general hygienic and sanitary matters, andis written down to the level of understanding presumablypossessed by " Tommy Atkins." The lecture is practicallysuch as would be appropriate for a St. John Ambulance class,with the addition of the local and climatic conditions ofIndia which are likely to influence the health of the soldierbeing taken into consideration. The fact that the pamphlethas reached a fourth edition and is authorised by the WarOffice for use in army schools is sufficient evidence of the

practical nature of the advice therein contained.Twice Captured A Record of Adventure during the Boer

War. By the Earl of ROSSLYN. Edinburgh and London :William Blaokwood and Sons. 1900. Price 10s. 6d.-The

author tells us that he acted as roving correspondent to the 1Daily Mail and the Sphere during the Boer War, and in thisvolume, which is well illustrated, he narrates his personal ’adventures and experiences in South Africa. Lord Rosslynsaw a good deal and has consequently a good deal to writeabout, some of which is interesting and well worth reading,but taken as a whole the book is somewhat discursive and

contains, in its earlier pages more especially, too manydetails regarding occurrences which are more or less

common to all travellers. In addition to his account ofhis captivities Lord Rosslyn adversely criticises the systemof " censorship pursued by the military authorities in .

regard to the treatment of press correspondents, and hasmuch to say of the general conduct of the war. With thebest intentions in the world an author, writing in a freea.nd discursive way of what he heard and saw during acampaign, cannot be always sure of his data, and the con-ditions in which the writer was placed were not, we fancy,those most favourable for forming any full and impartialjudgment in regard to current events and topics. We learnthat the book has been withdrawn from circulation.

How We Escaped from Pretoria. By Captain AYLMERHALDANE, D.S.O., 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders.Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons.1900. Price 1s.-We had the gratification of reading thisspirited and interesting account of " How We Escapedfrom Pretoria " on its original appearance in Blackwood’sMagazine. A renewal of our acquaintance with it now thatit is published in separate form has tended to revive and tostrengthen the very favourable impression which we derivedfrom its first perusal. It is a graphic and well-told storynarrated in a very natural, and therefore pleasant and

interesting, way and carrying the stamp of truth with it

throughout. Its author tells us that he has been enabled tomake some additions to his original account owing to thefact that the near approach of a successful termination tothe war enabled him to give a full record of the adven-tures of himself and his companions and of the material aidwhich they met with from their own countrymen. This he

could not do before without the risk of compromising thosewho had helped him.

JOURNALS.

The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. Edited

by E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S., ADAM SEDGWICK, F.R.S.,W. F. R. WELDON, F.R.S., and SYDNEY J. HICKSON,F.R.S. Vol. xliv., Part 1. London : J. & A. Churchill. 1900.Price 10s,-This part contains: 1. A long and interestingarticle by Walter Heape, M.A. Cantab., of Trinity College,on the Sexual Season of Mammals and the Relation of theProcestrum to Menstruation. Mr. Heape points out that inthe male the sexual season, called the " rut," from the Latin"rugire," to bellow, and therefore properly limited to suchanimals as stags and boars and to the male sex only, presentsvarieties according to whether it is confined to a singleperiod of the year or to certain seasons and should not beapplied to those animals which are capable of inseminatingthe female at all seasons of the year. In the case of thefemale the activity of her generative organs may be observedwhen there is no access of the male or when coition doesnot result in conception and when reproduction doestake place. In both cases the changes are complex. He dis-tinguishes between the procestrum or the period antecedentto heat, the oestrus or period of heat, and the ancestrum orperiod of rest, intercalating between the last two the

metoestrum, which is the period when, conception not havingtaken place, the excitement of the generative organs graduallysubsides. The females of some animals are monoestrous orhave only one season of heat--as the bitch or bear-whileother are polycestrous or have many seasons in the course of

1439NEW INVENTIONS.-ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.

the year, as the mare. Mr. Heape does not consider

that ovulation and the cestrus cycle are necessarily coinci-dent. He suggests that there is present in the blood

from time to time what may be called an cestrus

toxin which stimulates the activity of the sexual organs,and brings about the actual production of those gene-rative elements which nutrition has enabled the animal

to elaborate. 2. Mr. Richard Evans, M.A., B.Sc., givesa description of Ephydatia Clembingia, a fresh-water

sponge. 3. Mr. R. C. Punnett, B.A., describes a collec-

tion of Nemerteans from Singapore, with four plates.4. Mr. Arthur Willey describes the Protostigmata of

Molgula Manhattensis, a New England species of

ascidian. This paper is accompanied by a plate.The Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. Conducted by

Sir WILLIAM TURNER, F.R.S., D. J. CUNNINGHAM, F.R.S.,G. S. HUNTINGTON, M.D., A. MACALISTER, F.R.S., andJ. G. M’KENDRICK, F.R.S. October, 1900. Vol. xxxv.,

Part 1. With Plates and Figures in the Text. London:Charles Griffin and Co., Limited. Price 6s.-The contentsof the present part are : 1. Atresia of the Aortic Orifice dueto Anomalous Development of the Auricular Septum, byJoseph A. Blake, M.D. 2. Absence of the Inferior Cavabelow the Diaphragm, by Thomas Dwight, M.D., with aplate. 3. The Sternum : its Early Development and Ossifica-tion in Man and Mammals, by Professor A. M. Paterson ofLiverpool, with two plates. 4. Some Points in the Anatomyof the Digestive System, by A. Birmingham, M.D. Theauthor of this paper strongly advocates the use offormalin injections for hardening the tissues and organs ofthe body and in retaining them in their position. The partstreated of are the salivary glands, the tongue, the palate, thepharynx, the oesophagus, the stomach and intestines, the

levator ani, the liver, and the pancreas and the peritoneum.5. The Frequency of an Opening between the Right andLeft Auricles at the Seat of the Foramen Ovale, by ProfessorE. Fawcett and Dr. J. V. Blachford. In 306 cases theyfound the frequency to be 31’37 per cent. 6. Note on the

Configuration of the Heart in Man and some otherMammalian Groups, by Dr. Charles J. Patten, with threeplates. 7. The True Csecal Apex of the Vermiform Appendix;its Minute and Comparative Anatomy, by Dr. Richard J. A.Berry, with five plates. 8. Of the Movement of the LowerEnd of the Radius in Pronation and Supination and on theInterosseous Membrane, by Dr. James F. Gemmill. 9. The

Anatomy of the Ingestive Tract of the Salmon, by DrG. Lovell Galland. 10. Archasologica Anatomica: The

Parotid, by " A.M." 11. Anatomical Notes and Queries.12. Proceedings of the Anatomical Society of Great Britainand Ireland.

New Inventions.AN ASEPTIC DREDGER.

IT has struck me that the whole procedure of an asepticoperation or an aseptic dressing of a wound breaks downwhen the surgeon who wishes to dust on some antisepticpowder takes hold of a septic bottle or tin for that purpose.After the powder has been dusted on the surgeon has, withsurgically unclean hands, perhaps to unravel a strip of gauzefor packing or to cut a square of gauze to lay over the wound.With this idea in view I have devised a dredger made ofcelluloid which is light, transparent, and can easily berendered aseptic. The dredger is so made as to stand withsafety in a basin of antiseptic lotion from which it can bepicked out by the surgeon or dresser. The bottom of thedredger is weighted so as to keep it in a condition of stable

equilibrium if standing in antiseptic lotion of shallow depth,also to keep in position its centre of buoyancy if floated in adeeper basin of lotion. The projecting rim is to prevent water

from the surgeon’s wet hand, or from the basin, damping thepowder inside. The rim also keeps the head of the bottleabove water should it get upset, and so again keeps theinterior dry. Over the perforated disc there is a closely-fitting cap which should always be in situ when the dredgeris not in use. When the cap is on the whole dredger can be

immersed in antiseptic lotion before the surgeon requires touse it. I should suggest that the interior of the bottle be

’

sterilised by a tablet of formalin before introducing thepowder. The instrument has been made for me by Messrs.Revnolds and Branson of Leeds.

BERTRAM C. STEVENS, B.S. Durh., M.R.C.S. Eng.Leeds.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OFENGLAND.

AN ordinary meeting of the Council was held on Nov. 8th,Sir WILLIAM MAcCORMAC, Bart., K.C.V.O., the President,being in the chair.The SECRETARY reported the death on Oct. 27th of Mr.

William Anderson, Member of the Court of Examiners. Itwas then resolved:That the Council hereby express their deep regret at the death of

Mr. William Anderson and their sincere sympathy with his widow andfamily in their bereavement. That the Council do also record theirappreciation of Mr. Anderson’s services to the College while a Memberof the Court of Examiners and as Hunterian Professor, and deplore theloss to the College of a Fellow distinguished for his ability as a surgeonand for his refined and cultured attainments.

The PRESIDENT stated that the vacancy on the Court ofExaminers and the vacancy on the Board of Examiners inDental Surgery, occasioned by the death of Mr. Anderson,would be filled up at the next meeting of the Council inDecember.I The Council elected Mr. W. J. Walsham a member of theBoard of Examiners in Dental Surgery (Court of Examinerssection).A report was received from the Finance Committee on

the administration of the Sir Gilbert Blane naval medals. The

report stated inter alia that since the foundation of the fundin 1830 70 medals had been awarded to medical officers of thenavy and that a balance of nine guineas remains. New diesfor the medal have recently been made at the Royal Mint.’ The Council directed that the attention of the GeneralMedical Council should be called to the advertisements of aman at Bury St. Edmunds and his illegal assumption of thedescription "R.D.S., R.C.S. Eng.," and they were requestedto take the matter into consideration with a view to actionbeing taken under Section 13 of the Dentists Act, 1878.The PRESIDENT stated that the Bradshaw Lecture would

be delivered by Mr. John Langton on Wednesday, Dec. 12th,at 5 P.M., and that the subject of the lecture would be theAssociation of Inguinal Hernia with the Descent of theTestis.The Council resolved that the lecture hour for the course

of lectures in February and March, 1901, should be 5 P.M.

A SUM of .62350 has been promised towards theMary Kingsley Memorial Hospital which is being promotedby the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The principalsubscribers are local shipowners and merchants whose busi-ness connexions with West Africa have made them acquaintedwith the work of the deceased lady.