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tinged liquid, but there was no evidence of either pleurisy or pneu­monia.

There were about a couple of ounces of clear straw-coloured liquid in the pericardium.

The abnormalities found in the interior of the heart were the following: In the interauricular septum there was a persistent foramen orale -of sufficiently large diameter to permit of the passage of a finger (see fig., A). In the natural state this foramen did not maintain the patent condition shown in the photograph, but it was dilated by means of a piece of stout glass rod during the process of preservation for museum purposes.

The position of the foramen in the interventricular septum corre­sponded exactly with that found in the previous case (see fig., B). The opening was elliptical in shape, the long diameter being placed transversely, and measured I~ by ! cm. The opening was situated immediately below the orifice of the aorta in the left ventricle. This foramen was quite patent in the natural condition and formed a free communication between the ventricles.

In view of the other lesions found, it appears to be probable that the abnormalities in the heart were not the immeuiate cause of death, but the advanced chronic congestion of the liver indicated that there was marked obstruction to the circulation.

!trvirW£i. A Guide to the Dissection of the Dog. By O. Charnock Bradley, M.D.,

D.Sc., F.R.S.E., M.R.CV.S., Principal of the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, Edinburgh, Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, University of Edinburgh. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1912. Price, 10/6 net.

ONE of the advantages of human medicine as compared with the sister science is that those who practise it require an intimate knowledge of the anatomy of one species only-the human. Veterinary practitioners, on the other hand, have to treat the diseases of several different species of animals, and a study of the anatomy of these species must therefore form part of the veterinary student's education.

But the brevity of human life, and the limited capacity of the human brain for learning, make it unreasonable to demand that veterinary students should be required to give evidence that they are as intimately acquainted with the anatomy of the horse, ox, sheep, pig, and dog (to mention only the most important of the veterinary surgeon's patients) as the student of human medicine has to be with the anatomy of man. In recognition of this fact the veterinary student has always been expected to acquire what may be called a full knowledge of the anatomy of the horse only, his study of the anatomy of the other species of domesticated animals being almost confined to the skeleton and the important viscera. In all probability that arrange­ment will continue, because the horse is likely to remain the most important veterinary patient. Nevertheless, the anatomy ofthe dog deserves more atten­tion than it has hitherto generally received in veterinary dissecting-rooms. In consequence of its smaller size, the body of the dog can be much more

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conveniently dissected than that of a horse, and canine subjects suitable for dissection can be obtained everywhere and at a nominal cost. Moreover, although one could not suggest that the horse and the dog should in this connection be made to change places, the dissection of the latter might with great advantage be used as an introduction to the study of equine anatomy. There can be no doubt that the comparative neglect of the dog as a dissection subject hitherto has been very largely due to the lack of a suitable text-book to serve as a dissection·guide, and for that reason both teachers and students ought to be grateful to Professor Bradley for having removed the difficulty.

Professor Bradley has achieved for himself a unique place among veterinary anatomists-past or present-in this country, and the present work will serve to enhance his reputation. The order prescribed for the dissection of the regions and organs appears to have been carefully thought out, the descrip­tions are terse and clear, and the illustrations, all of which are original, are good although many of them are semi-diagrammatic. The nomenclature is based on that which has in recent years been introduced into human anatomy, a plan for which much may be said, although some may think it is carried to pedantic lengths when the anatomical student is taught to speak of the liver as "hepar" and of the lungs as "pulmones."

Surgical and Obstetrical Operations. By W. L. Williams, Professor of Surgery and Obstetrics in the New York State Veterinary College, Cornell University. Embodying portions of ~he ONrationscursus of Dr Pfeiffer, Professor of Veterinary Science in the University of Giessen. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Ithaca, N.Y.; Carpenter & Co., 1912 .

THE third edition of this small work is very similar to the second. The description of trephining the facial sinuses has been improved, though too little attention is given to the initial procedure required in the average case of empyema, in which the operator would be well advised to begin by making only two openings-one into the frontal sinus, the other into the superior maxillary sinus at the lowest point of its outer wall. Perforation of the nasal boundary of either sinus is only necessary in a few cases, and as a rule the turbinated bones, so long as they are intact, should not be disturbed. As a provision for constant drainage the author suggests leaving the trephine openings unstopped .. In a way the suggestion is well founded, but in practice its adoption would lead in many cases to failure of treatment from closure of the holes before completion of the disinfection of the sinuses. Plugging the holes is advisable in most cases, using a solid plug for the frontal and a hollow plug for the maxillary opening. The method given for the repulsion of teeth cannot be commended. Removal of the external alveolar plate and separation of the "soft tissues" from the bone before applying the punch to the tooth are not of much advantage in this operation The comminution of a tooth within its alveolus is a very questionable practice, and seldom required. Arytenoidectomy has disappeared from this edition, and the only laryngeal operation now given for the relief of roaring is excision of the mucous lining of the ventricle. In docile horses it may be performed in the standing position, under local anresthesia, with the assistance of Blattenberg's burr, by which the mucous pouch is everted prior to excision. This method of everting the ventricular mucosa may shortly be superseded by extraction by suction -after the manner of the" vacuum cleaner "-and an operation which at one time was regarded as a delicate one may be brought within the reach of the meanest surgical capacity.