1764

the older writers, or books of receipts for popular remedies,intermingled with charms and magical formulas. A few

names of note stand out in the dreary record. In the fourthcentury Oribasius, who composed a text-book for students,wrote sensibly on diet and gymnastic exercises in the

treatment of disease. Later we have Theodorus Priscianus,whose work has recently afforded Dr. Theodor Meyer anopportunity for writing an excellent book on Roman

medicine. 1 Philagrius wrote on affections of the spleenand Poseidonius on those of the nervous system with

some degree of merit, and Cælius Aurelianus (fifth century)was a clinician of ability, who studied the methods of physical diagnosis and is noted for his recommendation of a sea voyage I,as a cure for phthisis. A prominent school of medicine existedat Byzantium in the sixth and seventh centuries after Christand produced some writers of celebrity, such as Aetius ofAmida, Alexander of Tralles, and Paulus of Argina. Their

works were translated frequently in later times and had con-siderable influence. We find that paracentesis abdominis waspractised at this time and also operations for the radicalcure of hernia.

As is well known, the continuity of medical tradition,founded on the system of Galen, was for a time kept up bythe famous Arabian school, upon which the names of Rhazes,Abulkasim, Avicenna, and Averroes throw an abiding lustre.The spread of Greek learning to the East was followed by aperiod of brilliancy in which mathematics were diligentlycultivated and the arts flourished. The influence of the

former study is seen in the curious attempts of Al-Kindi toapply numerical principles to medicine and to calculate thevalues of remedies according to the degrees of heat and cold,moisture and dryness, which they contained ; while in-

creased manual skill and improvements in the technicaldetails of medical procedure concealed the lack of advancein real knowledge of disease. Rhazes was a good clinician,who applied chemical knowledge to medicine and who is

celebrated for his treatise on small-pox ; Abulkasim was adistinguished surgeon; of Avicenna, who was an encyclopaedicwriter and who recognised the infectivity of tuberculosis, itis related that he failed to adapt his mode of life to his ownprecepts, so that his death was accelerated by his excessesin the service of Bacchus and Venus.

In spite of the somewhat depressing period with which itdeals the volume before us contains much that is of the

greatest importance to the student of medical history.Professor Neuburger’s style is clear and interesting, neithertoo brief nor too diffuse. We look forward to the publicationof the concluding portion of the work with the confidentexpectation that the whole will form an authoritative

treatise on the history of medicine and a monument to thelearning and literary skill of its author.

How to Feed Children : : a Manual for Mothers, Nurses, andPhysicians. By LOUISE E. HOGAN. Philadelphia : J. B.Lippincott Company. 1909. Ninth edition. Pp. 249.Price 5s.

NINE editions of this unpretentious little work are

sufficient guarantee of its value. Mrs. Hogan does notconfine herself to the subject of feeding of infants, but

undertakes to advise on the diet of children at all agesunder many and varied circumstances. The whole tone of

writing, like the advice given, is sound and sensible.The best chapters are those dealing with the feeding of

infants, and proper attention and space are devoted to thepreparation and use of modified milk. But the directions for

the preparation of modified milk would bear considerable

revision, for they are somewhat confused and would be

1 See THE LANCET, June 18th, p. 1700.

extremely difficult to follow if they were relied upon as aguide. It is to be assumed, however, that the authoressdoes not intend them to be taken as a complete guide topreparation, but would prefer to leave her readers to the

prescription of the physician and the laboratory of the milkexpert. Probably Mrs. Hogan’s wide experience has con-

vinced her that this is the safest line to take at present,though she says sufficient to induce mothers to direct theirattention to the value of modified milk.

Much of the matter in this little volume would appealmore to an American than an English public, especially inthe methods and ingredients of cookery. Many of the dishes.recommended for the nursery would be very expensive in

England, and quite prohibitive to any but the rich. BroiledPorterhouse steaks for the nursery dinner would astonishsome housekeepers even in Park-lane. The new chapter ondiet for Sbhool children and school luncheons is full of

suggestion, and might well be studied by social reformers ofthe day, but the writing is ill-arranged and evidently hasty,and too full of quotations strung together from other writers.The remarks on feeding children when travelling are veryjudicious ; probably more required in the United States thanin our little island, parents would find the advice very usefulhere. We should not at all mind sharing some of the

nursery dinners suggested by Mrs. Hogan, especially thewhite soup, upon which she has sound ideas.

LIBRARY TABLE.The S’ale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1907, and Forms,

Regulations, Urders, and Notices issued thereunder, with

Notes and Cases, together with an Appendix containing theother Acts relating to Adulteration, Chetnacal Notes, &c. BySir WILLIAM J. BELL, LL.D., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Fifth edition. By CHARLES F. LLOYD, of the

Inner Temple and Midland Circuit, Barrister-at-Law. The

Chemical Notes revised and enlarged by R. A. ROBINSON, ofthe Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London : Butterworth

and Co. and Shaw and Sons. 1910. 8vo. Pp. 386. Price

8s. 6d. net.-The Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875,supplemented by two amending Acts and two relating tothe sale of margarine and butter, contains the bulk of thelaw relating to the adulteration of food. There are older

statutes unrepealed as to bread, but the Bread Acts of 1822and 1836 are not often called into use, because the Sale of

Food and Drugs Acts provide heavier penalties and do notleave open the defence that the offender had not a guiltyknowledge when he sold the defective article. The earliest

repealed predecessors of the existing statutes providedagainst the adulteration of coffee, tea, hops, and

beer, the first of these, which affected coffee, havingbeen passed in 1718, when King George I. was on

the throne. These commodities were luxuries of the rich,marked out by their costliness for the exploitation ofthe fraudulent. To-day it is the cheaper foods of the poorerclasses which are the objects of the legislature’s solicitude, andthe " Butter and Margarine Act, 1907," is one of the recentamendments of the law which prompted a new edition of SirWilliam Bell’s useful text-book. It may be noted that this

statute contains a new and wider definition of margarine as’’ any article of food, whether mixed with butter or not, whichresembles butter and is not milk-blended butter." The old de-finition spoke of substances "prepared in imitation of butter."In addition to the Act referred to, Mr. Lloyd, the presenteditor, has had to record more than 50 decisions of superiorcourts affecting his subject and a substantial number ofdepartmental circular letters containing information and

recommendations for the benefit of local authorities.

Important among circulars of comparatively recent date

may be mentioned those of 1906, which recommend steps

1765

to procure the disuse of all preservatives in milk. Accurate

knowledge of recent decisions is, of course, necessary for

those concerned with the enforcement of Acts of Parlia-

ment, and the editing of Mr. Lloyd has placed suchdecisions in a compendious form, with a sufficiency of

judicious comment. A note on the subject of drugsand their adulteration points out that, although a SelectCommittee, considering an amending Bill in 1879, recom-mended the adoption of the British Pharmacopoeia as

a standard for drugs in proceedings under the Food andDrugs Acts, their advice was not carried out. To a limitedextent the British Pharmacopoeia may no doubt be used as

such a standard, as, for example, when a compound namedin the Pharmaeopmia, is asked for by the title under

which it there appears, and when the Pharmacopoeiastates exactly what the constituents of the article in

question should be and in what proportions they should becombined.

The Public Health (London) Act, 1891, with an A_ppendixcontaining Statutes affecting the Metropol2s. Second edition.

By ALEXANDER MACMORRAN, M.A., one of His Majesty’sCounsel, one of the Editors of " Lumley’s Public Health";and E. J. NALDRETT of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law.London: Butterworth and Co. and Shaw and Sons. 1910.

Pp. 569. Price 20s. net.-Messrs. Macmorran and Naldrett

have prepared a second edition of a work of great useful-ness which brings it up to date, or, as they would appa-rently express it, "down" to date. The Public Health

(London) Act, 1891, has not required any extensive revisionor amendment since its passage through Parliament nearly20 years ago, and the statutes affecting it which have becomelaw during that period take the form, to a great extent, ofLondon County Council (General Powers) Acts, the relevantportions of which are contained in a not over-voluminousappendix. The cases decided under the main Act, whichhave to be noted under the various sections affected,accumulate steadily, as is natural in the circumstances

of growth and development characteristic of modern

London. Thus we find that 18 pages of notes are devoted

to decisions relating to the definition of "drains" and

"sewers," very important problems for discussion when

questions -as to who should defray the costs of maintenanceare concerned. The definition of and distinction betweendrains and sewers were apparently left for inference and forelucidation in the law courts by those who framed the PublicHealth (London) Act, 1891, and as in the case of some othermatters so left to take care of themselves in Acts of Parliament,

’

the legal profession at all events can have no cause to com-plain. A late decision may be noted of a point for which theAct itself might well have provided, in the case of

J. Lyons & Co. v. The Lord Mayor, &c., of London (1909),where the local authority sought to treat as a case of traderefuse the removal from a restaurant of the debris which, inthe case of a private house, would be ’’ house refuse." At

present it seems to be established that if the refuse to be

removed is house refuse in character the mere fact that it

has been produced in the carrying on of a trade does notmake it trade refuse. The name of Mr. Macmorran is so

well known in connexion with the law of local governmentand administration that it is hardly necessary to say that abook on public health, edited by him, is an authoritative

guide to the subject with which it deals ; this second editionwill occupy the high position as a text-book hitherto

occupied by the first.

CAMBRIDGE MEDICAL GRADUATES’ CLUB. -Inconsequence of the death of his late Majesty King Edwardthe annual meeting and dinner of the club will not be heldas usual in July, but are postponed until November.

METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL SUNDAYFUND.

Up to Thursday morning, June 23rd, about £29,000 hadbeen received at the Mansion House, the collections at thechurches generally showing an increase. Among theamounts are :-

- -2- s. d.