1801

remove them with an elevator. The application of

the turnkey to such teeth converts a difficult operationinto a simple one. This is accomplished by placing thefulcrum upon the gum upon the side of the tooth which has

been broken away and the claw upon the opposite side ofthe tooth at the margin of the gum. This permits a properdirection of the force applied and admits of an easy andnatural removal of the tooth. Another example of the valueof the methods advocated can be gleaned from the followingreference to elevators, the pictures of which, by the way, arespmewhat quaint. The author says: "In applying theseinstruments the grooved face is adjusted to the surface ofthe tooth and the blade’ carried downward’to the alveolar

process. Force is then exerted in a direction to lift the toothfrom the alveolus." "

The description of plastic fillings is good and contains anaccount of recent works on the behaviour of amalgams. We

cannot, however, quite agree with all the views of the authoron the uses of the various amalgams. For example, fewpractitioners of experience would care to assert that copperamalgam has no equal as a filling for the posterior teeth ofchildren and that palladium amalgam has no good qualitieswhich are not possessed in a higher degree by copperamalgam.To sum up, this book may be considered a very fair work

on dental anatomy and pathology, but a poor one on opera-tive dentistry. The reproductions of photograms and micro-grams are excellent and are certainly the most pleasingfeature.

Malaria : i7ir Wesen, ihre Entstehung, und ihre Verkütung.. (Nccture, Origin, and Prevention of Malaria.) ) By Dr.

FRITZ KERSCHBAUMER, Vienna. Vienna and Leipsic :W. Braumuller. 1901. Super royal 8vo. Pp. 200. With12 plates. Price 7 marks.

‘

DR. KERSCHBAUMER’S book may be divided roughly intothree parts, in the first of which he gives a short res2cme ofthe arguments for and against the view that mosquitoes aloneare responsible for the spread of malaria and a conciseaccount of the sexual and asexual development of the

parasite. In describing the changes which the plasmodiumundergoes in the course of its development the author

employs the terms proposed by Schaudinn and Luhe andinserts two tables of synonyms compiled by the latter whichthe reader will find very useful in helping to clear away someof the confusion which at present exists in this matter ofnomenclature. These tables, he points out, are not given inLuhe’s original article but appear in an enlarged reprint,The second part is taken up with an account of the author’slabours at San Pelagio, and the third gives the conclusionsat which he has arrived as regards the best way of combatingthe disease. While the method advocated by Koch-viz.,that of protecting the mosquitoes from malarious patientsby killing the latter’’s parasites with quinine-may be of usein isolated communities, and the method already employedin many places of protecting people from malarious

mosquitoes by means of netting, &c., is also useful, the onlyremedy that can be applied on a large scale, in the author’sopinion, is that of exterminating the anopheles altogether.Obviously the first steps to take towards solving the problemof how best to do this were to study the life history andsurroundings of the insect. San Pelagio in Rovigno (Istria),was selected as a suitable spot in which to do this, becausehere malaria only occurs sporadically, and it was thoughtthat where this was the case the causes which gave rise tothe disease could-be isolated for observation more easily thanwhere it was rife. At San Pelagio the anopheles larvas werefound chiefly in shallow pools of clear water which were richin zooplankton, while foul water was fatal to them. In thisconnexion it is interesting to note that culex larvas thrived

1 Centralblatt für Bakteriologie, 1900, Band xxvii., p. 367.

in flasks of pond water which were kept sweet by the intro-duction of fresh eucalyptus leaves, while in the control,flasks the larvao died .apparently from fouling of the water.The anopheles larvæ are ferocious little animals and in theculex aquaria they play the part of a pike in a carp pond.The author has seen a hungry one bite a culex larva in two,and they even indulge in cannibalistic practices. While theIarva3 usually keep to the surface of the water they invariablydescend to the bottom of the pond to change their skins, butthey appear to be unable to do this where the water is morethan one metre in depth. If a pool in which they are livingbe artificially deepened to this extent the I’arv2e die. On thisobservation the author founds his proposal for the destruc-tion of the mosquitoes, which is to flood their breeding-places to the depth of more than one metre. In several

places (e.g., Mantua and Mexico) malaria appeared whenthe lakes surrounding these cities were drained. In the caseof the former it diminished again when weirs were built tokeep the swamps flooded. In some localities this methodwill doubtless prove successful, though obviously its sphereof usefulness will be limited by engineering and economic,considerations as much as other prophylactic measures

are by the difficulties peculiar to them. The author’s’

investigations throw a good deal of light on the developmentof certain species of mosquitoes in a temperate climate, andwe shall be glad to see the results of further researcheswhich he is about to make in this direction.

Clinical Pathology and Practical Morbid Histology. By T.STRANGEWAYS PIGG, M.A., Demonstrator of Pathologyin the University of Cambridge. Second edition.London: Strangeways and Sons. 1901. Pp. 107.Price 5s.

WE are glad to welcome a second edition of this excellentlittle book. The methods given are carefully selected, clearlydescribed, and especially suitable for use in a clinical labora-tory. It is necessarily in great part a book of receipts-it isa laboratory handbook pure and simple-and no attempt ismade to explain the methods, though there is a departure fromthis treatment of the subject in the account of the blood-cells and in the excellent scheme for making and reportingupon a blood examination. The only method given for thedirect estimation of haemoglobin is that of von Fleischel,but possibly there are sound reasons for selecting this one-method. It is perhaps to be hypercritical, but as the

surgical operations required for obtaining blood for bacterio--logical examination are so carefully described it might be aswell to mention the removal of the constricting bandagefrom the patient’s arm (par. 6, p. 30). It is doubtfulwhether anyone qualified to obtain blood by this methodwould require such elaborate directions. Would it not also-be better to place Operation 6 on page 46 between Operations4 and 5 ? Neisser’s method for staining diphtheria bacilli isstated in its original form but most workers find the times

given rather short. ’We would venture to think that there are-better methods for removing the serum from the collectingpipette in making the Widal-Griinbaum test than that given,as, in our experience, it is the exception rather than therule to find that the serum can be blown out as’ described.

The figures are, with the exception of the excellent blood

plates, somewhat rough, but they serve their purposes.The blank pages should prove very useful, as also would anindex, which is at present wanting. The book, in short,is an excellent specimen of what a laboratory handbookshould be and will certainly be of great service.

LIBRARY TABLE.

A Manual of Bacteriology. By HERBERT W. V’iLi.mns,M.D., Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology, Medical

Department, University of Buffalo. Second edition, revisedand enlarged. London : Rebman, Limited. 1901. Pp. 290

1802

Price 7s. 6d. net.-A few years ago text-books on bacteric-

logy were few and the student was dependent to a largeextent upon lectures for his knowledge of the subject. Nowthere is a constant stream of manuals, most of them writtenTvith an eye to the medical man or the medical student.

The present work is of this class and endeavours to describethe laboratory technique which the beginner must follow andat the same time to give a concise summary of the facts inbacteriology most important to the physician.

" The second.endeavour is more successfully accomplished than the

-first and the second part of the book is better than the first.Technique can only be learnt in a laboratory and though theprinciples underlying technical methods may reasonablybe dealt with in such a work as the present the actual’instruction required to carry out any method can onlybe given in the guise of a laboratory handbook where.-each step is set out in sequence. While there are no

- obvious errors other than those of omission in the technical*

- operations detailed, in very few cases would the student

by simply reading the first part of this book be able to get’successful results. The author, too, here seems a little

uncertain of his readers, as it is difficult to believe that itis necessary to explain that spirillum is the singular of

spirilla or that material for microscopic examination "is

(usually placed upon thin slips of glass called cover-glasses." , - tt is recommended that material for work should be obtained-so far as possible from nature rather than from laboratory- cultures, and this is good advice. The second part of the book is decidedly good, taking into consideration the necessity of conciseness, and especially the chapter on Bacteria in Disease, though, owing to the compression,probably the student would not get so much out of the t.chapter as the author has put into it. It is very difficult to ttreat of immunity in 10 pages of text, especially when vac- ..

- cination and the production of antitoxic serum are also described there. The needs of the practitioner are consulted i,by two chapters on Disinfectants, and the Sterilisation of

Instruments, Dressings, &c. The subjects are treated some- i;’what at length and in a practical manner by Dr. Carpenterand Dr. Chauncey P. Smith respectively. Part III. gives a short account of some of the commoner non-pathogenic bac- teria, and Part IV. is devoted to a description of the patho- I.genic microbes of the most common occurrence and clinical importance. Throughout the descriptions the facts of value i’to the medical man are kept prominent. On the whole the ,aims of the author seem to be successfully accomplished. ,The illustrations are in great part borrowed from the excel- lent works of Fraenkel and Pfeiffer and Giinther. They arewell reproduced, and the printing, paper, and binding are w,all satisfactory. The book will be useful to all medical men tlwho desire a short concise account of bacteriology as it

:affects clinical work. b,The End of an Epoch. By A. LINCOLN GREEN. Edinburgh

:and London : William Blackwood and Sons. 1901. Pp. 391. wPrice 6s.-We congratulate Mr. Lincoln Green on a powerful ttand in many ways original story. Incidentally we may mention that he might have spared us the harmonium

su

in Durham Cathedral. A "positive" organ would have b-taken up no more room and would not have been so in-

of - congruous. But to go on to the story, which is by no means. 0a cheerful one. Adam Gordon, a young bacteriologist, becomes acquainted with a direful old man, one Pro-

fessor Falk, who after long research has evolved a

- cross-bred microbe called B. paradoxus." "

It is quite new L(

.and sporulates with exceeding vigour, so that mankind is A

practically helpless against it. However, there is an antitoxin fe’for it ; the bacillus does not affect people over 70 years of ==

:age, and its spores are inactive at a temperature of 38° F.We will not be so unkind as to give away Mr. Lincoln Green’s plot ; suffice it to say that there is nothing theoretically deimpossible in his story. The book is well worth reading, tic

o- although we should say that the author is a young writer,e for he has not altogether surmounted the difficulties of

w writing a long narrative in the first person. But althoughn he is not a Defoe he has descriptive powers. Witness thet. incident of the starving pack of hounds and the horse in St.)e Paul’s Churchyard. Though a novel of the pathologicald order the writer does not go into unpleasant details, as is then custom of some authors. We look forward to Mr. Lincolnd Green’s next book.s The First 1llcn in the Moon. By H. C. WELLS. London :’’ George Newnes, Limited. 1901. Pp. 342. Price 6s.-Mr.s Wells, in his latest fantasy, follows in the steps of otherY writers of imaginary journeys. Lucian, Ariosto, Poe, and,1 Baron Munchausen all wrote about daring travellers who

arrived in the moon, while Jules Verne wrote an amazingly-e convincing account of how to get there. That his dauntless0three did not succeed in landing was due to influences quite

beyond their power to rectify. Cavor, who is Mr. Wells’at protagonist, had a simple theory which he converted intot fact. His argument was that if, as everyone knows is theefact, there are some substances which are impervious to light" rays or heat rays or electrical rays, so, also, there may be asubstance which is impervious to gravitation. He experi-e ments until he manufactures such a substance and then

constructs a sphere, or rather a polyhedron, which is coveredwith plates of the substance in question called Cavorite." "

These plates can be drawn up and down like blinds, so thatwhen they are drawn up that surface of the sphere which isuncovered is attracted by gravitation. When all the plates

,

are down gravitation is entirely cut off. Cavor and his

companion start in this manner by cutting off all gravita .tion, and when they get near the moon they draw up one ofthe plates on the side of the sphere nearest the moon. The

attraction of this body then pulls them into it. For theiradventures in the moon we must refer our readers to thebook itself. Suffice it to say that the polity of the Selenitesis division of labour pushed to its utmost extent. The book

is one to read and to enjoy.By-la.,7vs as to ffoilse Drainccrrc and Sanitary Fittinys Made

by the London County Council. Annotated by GERARD J. G.JENSEN and Another. London: Sanitary Publishing Company,Limited. 1901. Pp. 139. Price 3s. 6d.-The new drainageby-laws of the London County Council came into force onJune 14th last. The changes thereby involved are of thegreatest importance to architects, sanitary inspectors,builders, and others oflicially or otherwise interested in house-property in the metropolis. The object of the present workis to explain the by-laws in detail and thereby to assist thosewho are affected by them to a clearer conception ofthe various requirements embodied therein and to avoidunintentional infringement. The work has been preparedby Mr. Gerard J. G. Jensen, C.E., in conjunction with agentleman holding a high official position whose name is

withheld for the present. The information embodied inthe work will render it useful to every householder. Theannotations are clearly written and explain the by-laws insuch a way that no one after reading them ought to bebetrayed into unintentional infringement of the regulationsof the London County Council. A block plan map of theadministrative county of London and upwards of 100illustrations serve to make the work easy to follow.

A Versailles Christmas Tide. By MARY STUART BOYD.London: Chatto and Windus. 1901. Price 6s. Pp. 81,-A very pretty little story, although it does deal with scarlet

fever, with equally charming pictures by A. S. Boyd.

GLOUCESTER INFIRMARY.-At a special generalmeeting of the governors of the Gloucester Infirmary it wasdecided to make several structural alterations in the institu-tion at an estimated cost of £10,000.