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Reviews and Notices of Books.NEW SYDENHAM SOCIETY.

Atlas of Portraits of Slein Diseases. Fasciculi 1., II., and III.1860-62.

A Guide to the Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of theUrine. Designed especially for the Use of Medical Men.By Dr. C. NEUBAUER and Dr. J. VoGEL. Fourth Edition,considerably Altered and Enlarged ; with Four Plates andTwenty-eight Woodcuts. Translated by W. 0. MARKHAM,Physician to St. Mary’s Hospital.WE are glad to find from the report lately issued by the

New Sydenham Society that it continues to prosper. Never-

theless, there has been a loss of 500 members in America duringthe last two years, materially diminishing the expected income,and leaving the Society with a considerable stock of volumeson hand. To some few this may be welcome, as all the workshitherto issued being in stock, new subscribers can obtain forfive guineas the entire series of twenty volumes. Of the judi-cious selection and practical value of the treatises publishedby the Society there cannot be the least doubt; and althoughthe learned character of the works which the original Societytook under its wing cannot be disputed, the present issue farexcels the past in direct and serviceable aims. The followingextract from the report is worthy of notice :-"The Society’s ’Year-Book’ having undergone very con-

siderable modifications of plan in the endeavour to adapt itmore closely to the wants of its readers, and the work havingreached its fourth volume, the Council deemed it wise to makea general inquiry as to the desirability of continuing it. Thishas been done by forwarding to every member, together withhis copy of the last volume, a circular, inquiring as to his ap-proval or otherwise of the work. Of the replies received,nearly two-thirds have been in its favour; and in many in-stances members have taken the opportunity of expressingvery strongly their opinions as to its great usefulness, moreespecially to those resident at a distance from large libraries.Under these circumstances the Council has felt no hesitationin giving effect to the wish of the Society, and a ’ Year-Book’for 1863 is accordingly in preparation. The principle aimedat in the first Year-Book,’ of endeavouring to furnish a com-plete classified catalogue of all publications during the year,has been abandoned as incompatible with the means at theCouncil’s disposal, and not satisfactory to a large number ofthe subscribers. The editors of the several departments arenow entrusted with full liberty of selection and exclusion, withthe understanding that of all really important papers abstractsin detail shall be given, or even considerable extracts trans-1ated. It is hoped that in this way the ’ Year. Book’ may cometo supersede, to some extent, the need for the issue of volumesof selected monographs.’" Taking them " all in all," we have regarded Hebra’s original

plates of cutaneous diseases as the most satisfactory representa-tions of a difficult subject which have hitherto appeared. We must candidly confess, however, that the copies and new plates of the Society are somewhat behind the originals. Still theyare better, to our mind, than any other plates in use amongstus; and there cannot be a question as to the Society’s issuebeing as popular as it is useful. It must be quite a boon tolecturers on medicine.The last volume presented to the members is truly a good

one, and is well got up. It is one of those works in whichthere is not an unnecessary line, nor even a word-a work,indeed, which we may occasionally wish had been a little morediffuse on particular points. It is quite the text-book uponurinology for the scientific physician, and may be handled like-wise by the youngest student.The great want of the Society is-what ? Alas, that mem-

bers would pay their subscriptions ! At the date of the auditof the Society’s accounts there was but an extremely smallbalance in the hands of the treasnrer; and although more thansix mcnths of the current year had then expired (and accordng to -the bye-laws all subscriptions are payable in advance),

not half of the subscriptions of the year had been received.The report observes :-" The long credit which not a few members take is a source

of very material diminution to the Society’s usefulness. Everyeffort has been made, and will be continued, by the executiveto get in the year’s income, and also the arrears still due forformer years. Upon the amount of success which may attendthese efforts will depend whether any other volume is publishedduring this year....... A list of these arrears will be given atthe conclusion of the year. It is hoped very much to diminishit in the interim."Now this is not as it should be, and we very much fear that

other Societies than the New Sydenham could make a likecomplaint.

Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London.Vol. II. New Series, pp. 468.

THis is a most interesting volume; and though its disserta-tions are confined to the Natural History of Man, the subjectsdiscussed are most various. There are thirty papers in all;some, indeed, are but of slight texture, whilst others are veryelaborate. The characters of the authors are very miscella-neous. One writer is a bishop, another a physician; one

an archaeologist, another a philological missionary. Though,as we have said, the topic is but one-Man-yet so varied arehis relations that he can be discussed by all-divine, physician,and philosopher. A good feature, as we think, of these Trans-actions is, that to each paper is appended a report of the dis-cussion which ensued upon its reading. This gives a life andinterest to the subject discussed beyond even what otherwisefairly belongs to it. It revivifies the corpse before the presentspectator. The memoirs more particularly connected withMedicine are those by Prof. Owen, " On the Osteology andDentition of the Aborigines of the Andaman Islands ;" byMr. Hunt, "On the Acclimatization of Man;" by the lateDr. Knox, " On a Collection of Human Crania preserved inthe crypt of a church at Hythe in Kent;" by Dr. Short, " Onthe Differences in Weight and Stature of Europeans and someNatives of India;" and by Mr. Blake, "On the Cranial Cha-racters of the Peruvian Races of Men." As papers of generalinterest, those of Mr. Robert Clarke, ’’ On the Colony of SierraLeone and its Inhabitants;" of Mr. Crawfurd, "On the Con-nexion between Ethnology and Physical Geography," and"On the Relation of the Domesticated Animals to Civiliza-

tion," deserve particular mention. Such as are interested in Lan.guage may be referred for instruction to the memoirs of Messrs.

Tylor, Walcott, and Crawfurd.The Council anticipates, we are told, that the appearance of

the future Transactions will not be so long retarded as thepresent have unavoidably been. The Ethnological Society ofLondon promises to rival the most popular scientific réunionsof the metropolis. It offers a fund of interest to so many dif-ferent classes of inquirers and philanthropists, that such is notsurprising. We trust that, unlike the New Sydenham Society,it will have its lists of subscription actually paid well filled up.Science and the printers, as well as soldiers and the commis-sariat, must, if they go to fighting, have " the sinews of war."

The Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. Edited byBERTHOLD LEEMANN, Ph.D., &C. No. IX., Sept. 1863.Hardwicke.Tnis publication maintains its interest. The editor continues

his revision of the natural order Bignoniaceae; Mr. Babingtoncontributes a paper on the Botany of South Pembrokeshire;and Sir W. J. Hooker favours us with a report on the RoyalGardens at Kew. Besides these, there will be found otherarticles and short comments of value to botanists.

CORONERS’ INQUESTS IN MIDDLESEX.—From an officialdocument just published, it appears that last year the expensesof the coroners and their courts cost the county of Middlesex.S9357.