Book Reviews

Your Baby and How to Care for It. Lindsey W. Batten, 1VLD., ~V[.R.C.P. New -gork~ ]940, Harper and Brothers. Pp. 182. Price $].50.

L e t ' s Talk About Your Baby. H. Kent Tenney, M.D., F.A.A.P. l~inneapo]is, 1940, Univers i ty of Minnesota Press. Pp. 115. Price $1.

Approximately a hundred books--good, bad, aud indi f ferent - -on the care of the baby have been published for lay consumption. As all cover more or less the same ground, and the differences, except in style, consist chiefly in the expression of relatively unimportant viewpoints or idiosyncrasies of the authors, they are rarely given review space in the JOURNAL. As a rule, they add little or nothing to the literature or advancement of pediatrics, and their circulation is in large part limited to the practice of some one pediatrician or locality. I t was the late Dr. L. Emmet Holt, Sr., who started this never-ending procession many years ago with the little volume, Care and Feeding of Children, which was a household classic in the early part of this century.

By coincidence, two books in this ]~eld came to the reviewer's desk recently which are so outstanding that the usual boresome task of reading became a pleasure. While both have the same purpose and cover the .same ground to a certain extent, they are as different as mght from day. Each has a distinctive style and, while we de not believe Dr. Bat ten ' s book could have been written by an American, we cannot conceive of Dr. Tenney's with an English author.

Your Baby, by Dr. Batten, an English physician on the staff of the Children's Hospital in Hampstead where he is engaged in "genera l pract ice ," covers not only the care and feeding of the infant, but the first two chapters, based upon his own experience, have to do with pregnancy and the child before birth. This, in the United States, would have meant a compilation of obstetrician and pediatrician. AL though the advice frequently differs in details from current American practice, the author is so sane in his viewpoints, so understanding of the problems of the young prospective mother and the mother with young children, and above all writes with a style so delightful and humorous that the book is outstanding. Af te r a discussion of nursing, artificial feeding, and diet, ~t concludes with three chapters on " b a d h a b i t s " and " m a n a g e m e n t " which alone are a noteworthy contribution. This coverage makes it rather unique, and i t is one of the few books in this field that a doctor might waut his own child to read. I t is obvious that Dr. Bat ten is preaching what he practices and that his pat ients are very for- tunate individuals. There is a brief foreword by H. G. Wells that might just as well have been omitted.

Le t ' s Talk About Your Baby, by Dr. Tenney of the Wisconsin School of Medicine, was written in ]934 and privately published by Dr. Tenney for his patients, l~eports of ~he book gradually circulated around, and in this way it came to the attention of a number of pediatricians who became enthusiastic about it. Now the book, with minor revisions, has been issued in an attractive format by the University of Minnesota Press and is available for general distribution. I t is distinctly American in its subject matter, make-up, and style. Dr. Tenney starts each chapter in a colloquial, even slangy, sort of way, and then gradually passes over into sound straightforward advice written in a simple direct way. Dr. Tenney, like Dr. Batten, has a knack of expression that carries over the meaning to register in the lay mind.

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The last chapter, " I m p o r t a n t Events in the Early Life of Your Baby , " gives a place to enter data graphically regarding the baby ' s development. There is an ex- cellent short foreword by Dr. Brennemann.

The change of title of Dr. Bat ten 's book has interested us. In England it is published under the distinctive and attractive title, The Single-Handed Mother. Why the change to the commonplace mediocre title, Your Baby, for the American public? I t is paralleled curiously enough b y the publication in England of the Aldrich book, Babies Are Huma~ Beings, under the title of Understand Your Baby. At least things, so far as titles are concerned, have been evened with our English colleagues, but the minds of publishers are beyond understanding.

B. S. u

A Manual of the Common Contagious Diseases. Phil ip M. Stimson~ M.D. Third edition. Philadelphia, 1940~ Lea and Febiger. Pp. 467. Price $4.

The third edition of St imson 's nlanual has been thoroughly revised and rewrit- ten to an extent that practically makes it a new book. Controversial questions are handled wi th impartial i ty. The newer chemotherapeutic methods of t rea tment are included. Five excellent color plates have been added. The new edit ion will uudoubtedly hold for this manual the position which it has so justly obtained.

The Compleat Pediatrician. W. C. Davison, ~[.D. Third edition. Durham, N. C., 1940, Duke Univers i ty Press. Price $3.75.

There ls no such radical change in the third edition as was made in the second edition of this book published two years ago. Many minor changes have been made which bring the material to date and are in keeping with the rapid progress of pediatrics in the last two years. The book continues to remain " a veritable mine of informat ion ~ and is invaluable for the office desk.