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diabetogenic activity by cestrin has been demon-strated,7 but Shumacker and Lamont failed tofind any effect of oestrin (in doses of 9 "rat units "per day) on the somatogenic, thyrotropic, adreno-tropic, or even gonadotropic activities, as indicatedby the changes in weight of the body and separateorgans after a period of 67 days. Engel 9 found thatthe effect of growth hormone on rats was not modi-fied by the simultaneous administration of malehormone or cestrin. On the other hand, BernhardZondek, in a paper published in our present issue,has demonstrated that administration of massivedoses of cestrin to young rats over a long period notonly represses development of ovaries or testes, buthas a most striking effect in inhibiting growth,reducing body-weight by as much as 43 per cent.as compared with control animals. In addition, heforecasts the publication of data showing effectson the thyrotropic and other activities of the pitui-tary, as well as changes in the anterior pituitaryitself. Correlating these observations with therecorded result of thyroid feeding on the anterior

pituitary and secondarily on the cestrous cycle ofrats 10 it seems that we are on the threshold of acloser understanding of the interrelationship of theanterior pituitary and the other endocrine organs,and of the manifold effects of administering a singlehormone. Such understanding should lead to a yetmore rational system of hormone therapy.

CARRIER LICENCES

THERE would not at first sight appear to be muchof particular interest to medical men in a treatise 11on " The Law Relating to Carriers’ Licenses, underthe Road and Traffic Act, 1933," unless indeed theywished for some strenuous intellectual exercise. Thenumerous full and complicated enactments from theRailway and Canal Traffic Act of 1854 to that of1933 offer an intricate study for anyone rash enoughto attempt their understanding without a trainingin the law. Mr. Maxwell has set out to make theirprinciples and precepts clear to all those concernedwith transport on the roads. And it is here that thedoctor will find his curiosity justified if he looks intothis volume ; indeed, he may see a certain cause foralarm. Mr. Maxwell shows him that he is, accordingto the wording of the law, subject to penalties inwhich he could not expect to be involved by theordinary use of his car. Here is one passage from the

chapter on offences : ’’ the conclusion can hardlybe avoided that every motor car fitted with anykind of convenience for carrying the luggage or

effects of passengers or any other kind of load is agoods vehicle, and that a license is required to carryanything in any motor car in connection with abusiness...." This definition seems certain toinclude the car in which the doctor carries his caseof drugs, his emergency outfit, his anaesthetic bag, andso on. Later on comes the more specific statement :"if an engineer needs a license to carry his toolsa surgeon should need a license to carry his instru-ments," and the author goes on to show that thetypist might need one to carry his typewriter, and

7 Barnes, B. O., Regan, J. F., and Nelson, W. O. : Jour.Amer. Med. Assoc., 1933, ci., 926 ; Nelson, W. O., and Over-holzer, M. D. : Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 1934, xxxii., 150.

8 Shumacker, H. B., Jun., and Lamont, A. : Proc. Soc. Exp.Biol. Med., 1935, xxxii., 1568.

9 Engel, P. : Klin. Woch., 1934, xiii., 1540.10 Campbell, M., Wolfe, J. M., and Phelps, D. : Proc. Soc.

Exp. Biol. Med., 1934, xxxii., 1205.11 The Law Relating to Carriers’Licenses under the Road and

Rail Traffic Act, 1933. By Eric F. M. Maxwell, of the InnerTemple and Northern Circuit, Barrister-at-Law. London :Sweet and Maxwell Ltd. 1936. Pp. 330. 15s.

perhaps the barrister to carry his briefs. It appearsthat much of the drafting of the bills governingtraffic is faulty, making the clear meaning of Thelaw difficult to discern and indeed, if taken strictly,not seldom reducing the law to absurdity. Mr. Maxwell,an authority on railway law, has been impressed withthe necessity of clearing up the muddle if peopleare to have a fair chance of evading liabilities forwhich they are unlikely to realise their,responsibility,and his book should be of service to the many personswho become involved in litigation through incidentsof road travel of one kind or another.

HEPATIC LESIONS IN CONGENITAL SYPHILIS

THE morbid anatomist nowadays sees relativelylittle of the lesions of acquired syphilis, at any ratein a frank and easily recognisable form ; the gummahas become a rarity and even syphilitic aortitis is

nothing like as common as it was. Stillmoreuncom-mon are the lesions of the congenital form of the disease,for antenatal and infant welfare and venereal diseaseclinics are making their influence felt, not to speak ofthe increased vigilance in this direction of the

general practitioner. Nevertheless, from time to timean unhappy infant slips through the therapeuticnet and may in due course present very puzzlingproblems to the unwary pathologist. In a scholarlyarticle in the recently established Indian Journalof Venereal Diseases (1935, i., 183)Dr. P. RamachandraRao discusses in detail the manifestations of congenitalsyphilis as seen in the liver. This organ, as he

points out, is particularly liable to be affected by thedisease, for the maternal blood passes directly to it

through the umbilical vein and only reaches therest of the body after it has passed through its

capillaries. The intense saturation of the liver with

spirochsetes, with the accompanying fine fibrosisand the development of miliary gummata, is theform of congenital syphilitic disease of the liver whichis familiar to everybody. Less well recognised arethe later or more chronic manifestations, for, as

Dr. Rao observes, it may be impossible to demonstratespirochaetes in them. Often enough the syphiliticnature of the lesions can only be presumed from theclinical history or the recognition of more cha,rac-teristic changes elsewhere in the body. Among thesemore obscure hepatic lesions Dr. Rao includes chronicperiportal pylephlebitis, pericholangitis, and endo-

phlebitis of the hepatic vein, illustrating his thesisby descriptions of interesting cases occurring in theautopsy practice of the King George Hospital of

Vizagapatam. A number of helpful photomicrographsare included and the value of the article is enhancedby a very complete bibliography.

USE OF MENTHOL IN CHILDHOOD

IN an annotation on the treatment of the commoncold in France, published a fortnight ago, we men-tioned the apparent unpopularity of menthol as aremedy. In adults toxic symptoms due to the useof this drug must be extremely rare, but as long agoas 1912, it seems, R. Leroux wrote in no uncertainterms of the danger of its use in childhood, andparticularly in infancy, even when given by intra-nasal instillation in vaseline. He thought that itwas liable to produce reflex inhibition of both respira-tion and cardiac action, and that its action and

dangers were exactly comparable to those of chloro-form anaesthesia in its early stages. It happens thatDr. Champeau has just recorded severe disturbances

1 Bull. de l’Acad. de Méd., 1935, cxiv., 448.