NOTES ON BOOKS

In Modem Methods of Amputation, by T. G. Orr (Henry Kimpton, price 16s.), modern amputation methods are briefly surveyed for the

especial benefit of the occasional operator. The main principles of

treatment are briefly referred to, and the essentials for a good functional result are described. Only the more generally useful amputations are described in any detail, and several which are almost classical?

Chopart's, Pirogoffs, and disarticulation at the knee?are mentioned only to be condemned. The chapter on artificial limbs illustrates the

many ways in which the surgeon can co-operate with the limb-maker

to ensure a useful stump; that on cinematiplastic amputations will prove of interest rather than of practical value to those for whom the volume is intended. The illustrations are numerous and excellent.

In the preparation of a second edition of his Introduction to Surgery (John Wright & Sons, price 15s.), Professor Rutherford Morison has had the assistance of his old pupil, Professor Saint of Cape Town

University, South Africa. The object of the work is to impress upon the student the first principles underlying the study of surgery, and to inspire him to think out for himself in the light of these principles the various problems met with in the course of his clinical work. In

this the authors are eminently successful, and the student who accepts their guidance in his studies will find his work in the wards not

only more interesting but also infinitely easier to accomplish. The

alterations and additions in this new edition all make for a clearer

comprehension of the principles of the science, and we can confidently recommend the work to those beginning the study of surgery.

Invalid Diet, by Dorothy Morton (Heinemann) contains valuable directions and recipes which should go far towards rendering the

invalid's diet more attractive. Complete menus for a number of

days are given in relation to each of the conditions dealt with, and

these should serve as useful examples of the method of introducing

variety into the dietary. The Diabetic Life, by A. D. Lawrence, M.A., M.D., second edition

(J. & A. Churchill, price 7s. 6d.). Very little new matter has been

added to the present edition, but as a general exposition of the treatment

of diabetes for patients and practitioners the work remains one of the

best of its kind.

The Engineer and the Preve?ition of Malaria, by Henry Home>

M.Inst.C.E. (Chapman & Hall, Ltd.) gives a clear and practical account of the methods of malaria prevention, and the book can

be

confidently recommended to engineers and medical officers. 640 ,

Notes on Books

A new (seventh) edition of Practical Physiological Chemistry, by Sidney W. Cole, M.A. (W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd, price 16s.) is we con .

In the present edition the author has published for t e rs

^ , . details of his new method of estimating sugar in the urine, a m

which should come into general use, possessing, as it does, t e a van

of simplicity, accuracy and speed. An account is also given o me ?f

measuring the hydrogen ion concentration of fluids, inc: u mg of quinhydrone electrodes. New chapters have been adde on 10

oxidations and on blood analysis. Although the book was origin intended for use: in practical classes of physiological c emis ry, usefulness for many workers in biochemistry could be en ianC? the inclusion of chapters on the analysis of feces and on oo g analysis.

The production of a second edition of A Text-book of Midwif y, by Kedarnath Das (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., price s. i

within five years is evidence of its popularity in India for w ose m <?

colleges and schools it is especially written. The boo bought thoroughly up-to-date by including most of the recen a in midwifery, and thus most chapters are good, perhaps the bes fe

on puerperal septicaemia; on the other hand it as 1 s . Points, for example, the few lines on pyelitis, the mechanism o

Posteriors, and the treatment of antepartum haemorrhage. whole, however, the subject is well stated and the illustrations clear and in some cases unique.

The Medical Annua/, 1926, edited by Carey F. Coombs, '

and A. Rendle Short, M.D. (John Wright & Sons, Ltd, Pnc "

^his, the forty-fourth number of the Medical Annua , main ces standard of excellence of its forerunner as a review of the ^ made in medicine and surgery during the preceding year. m

objects treated of, those dealing with the discoveries 0'

g of Barnard regarding the etiology of malignant growt s,, e

hh_ the Calcutta School of Medicine upon the role 0 trpntment of h?toinuS argentipes, as a carrier of Kala Azar, an e

tuberculosis by lanoxysepsin, should arouse particu ar In the fifth edition of Diseases of Infants and Children (^her^3?S| origina, author, Dr H. D. Chapin, has an

Dr R. T. Royster. The plan of the book ^'ns rs 'though some new matter has been added, an son

condensed h?e been thoroughly revised, that plan appears to ?

P^entation of the subject, with emphasis diseases and of s its 600 pages include an account of t -i^Unnrl it will be s?me of the commoner surgical conditions in

ra?ised that the exposition is largely one of summary statemen

64I

Notes on Books

Clinical Notes and Deductions of a Peripatetic, by Mary C. de Gabis, M.D., B.S. (Melb.) (Bailliere, 7s. 6d.). This racy little book is of interest as emphasising the author's views on obstetrics, with insistence on the fact, so often forgotten, that in the normal human

being, reproduction is a physiological function. Dr de Garis is an

upholder of the theory that dental sepsis is the cause of many of the

present-day ills.

Puerperal Septicemia, by George Geddes, M.D., C.M. (Aber.) (Wright & Sons, 12s. 6d.). "The determining factor in the incidence

of puerperal fever in any given district is the accident rate in that

district." This is the theory which the author sets out to prove, and by means of careful and numerous statistics derived from the county of Lancashire does prove to his satisfaction; for this he was awarded the Nicholls prize in 1924. Two-thirds of the book is devoted to the proving of his theory, the other third includes the clinical features, prevention and treatment of septicaemia, which are treated in too

summary a manner, especially as the views expounded are often heterodox to modern teaching. The first part of the book is well worth perusal by all those interested in obstetric work.

This little book, Modern Methods of Feeding in Infancy and

Childhood, by Dr Donald Paterson and Dr J. Forest Smith (Constable, 7s. 6d.), deals almost entirely with infants, and includes the practical details of breast-feeding and of the artificial feeding of healthy and sick infants. It appears in the series of Moder?i Medical Monographs, edited by Dr Hugh Maclean; but it does not detract from its value to say that it is in no sense a monograph on the subject. The first

chapter briefly describes human and cow's milk and the commoner

proprietary infant foods; and the remainder of the book deals

successively with the regulation of breast-feeding, of artificial feeding in early and later infancy, and with the common alimentary disorders- It can be recommended to the practitioner of medicine as a practical and reliable guide to the subject.

The Morison Lectures on Mental I?ivalids delivered last June by Dr C. C. Easterbrook, Physician Superintendent of the Crichton Roya'> Dumfries, and published later in this Journal, have now made a

welcome appearance in book form (Oliver & Boyd, 5s.). The problems of classification, causation, prevention and treatment of mental disorder are discussed comprehensively and out of a full experience.

Manual of Emergencies, second edition, by J. Snowman, M.R.C.P. (Lond.) (Bale, 10s.), is suitable for the pocket and is >ve

adapted for use in general practice. It deals with dangerous emergencies in medicine, surgery, and midwifery.

642

Notes on Books

Hysteria, by Dr Ernest Kretschmer, Professor of Ne^ol?Sy ̂ "d Psychiatry in Tubingen (Nervous and Mental Disease uvJericai Series No. 44) is a study, scholarly and illuminating, o

reaction type. This type is regarded as one in which reflex and

instinctive mechanisms are employed by a tendency to issi ^

'

In tracing the relationships of hysteria with the impu siv

instinctive life, the author seeks to correlate his own findings wi researches of Kraepelin and of Freud. His treatment o t e y ?f hysterical manifestations is particularly discerning and adroit.

Migraine and other Common Neuroses, by F. G. Ci '

M.D., F.R.C.P. (Kegan, 2s. 6d.). In two lectures the author ou the psychological views entertained about certain common Urging that the recognition of physical defect must not in

the predominance of the psychical lesion. He out mes a ?f examination and treatment based principally on the wor o

Clinical Disorders of the Heart Beat, by Sir Thomas Lewis (Shaw & Sons, 8s. 6d.), now appears in its sixth edition. t escr

|n a simple and lucid fashion the nature of the more common important disturbances of the cardiac rhythm, and explains o\

them can be recognised at the bedside without a.ny instru

assistance beyond a simple sphygmograph. Ihe chie va ue

book lies in its skilful presentment of the subject strippe 0 e , ^ng technicalities, and in its practical application to the every ay

the practitioner.

William Sands Cox and the Birmingham Medical School, by J. ? J ?

^?rrison, M.A., M.Sc., F.R.C.S. (Cornish Brothers, Ltd., pnee 5 ?;?

fVes a detailed account of the steps in the developmen Birmingham Medical School from its commencement in

l825> with a course of anatomical lectures by William an a room at Temple Row. The work should prove of inter value not only to those associated with the Birming am c j to all interested in the development of medical teaching.