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Reviews and Notices of Books.ANNALS OF THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL AT CLACTON-

ON-SEA DURING THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1919.By COMYNS BERKELEY and VICTOR BONNET,London: W. J. Clark and Co. 1921. Pp. 128.10s. 6d.THE branch of the Middlesex Hospital at Clacton-

on-Sea was offered to the War Office on the outbreakof war as a complete surgical unit for 115 men and15 officers. The offer was accepted and the hospitalwas employed as a First Clearing Hospital throughoutthe war. Owing to the fact that all the other members ofthe surgical staff were already employed on war work,the two gynæcological surgeons, Mr. Comyns Berkeleyand Mr. Victor Bonney, volunteered to do the workat Clacton as resident surgeons, each living there andcarrying out the whole work of the hospital for part of the week. The book before us gives a readableand interesting account of the work at Clacton.During the 4 years, 9242 patients passed throughthe wards and were thus under the care of thetwo surgeons, who were personally responsiblefor all the medical and surgical work of thehospital except that some assistance was given inthe matter of anaesthetics. The analysis of thecases given in Chapter IV. shows how varied theywere and gives some idea of the labour involved. Noless than 874 operations were performed, and all theX ray examinations were carried out by the twosurgeons themselves, after a little coaching from thelate Mr. Cecil Lyster. It is impossible to withholda tribute of admiration for the patience, resource,and versatility shown by Mr. Berkeley and Mr.Bonney in the work here recorded. Many hospitalswith an equal or smaller number of beds had alarge staff to carry out the work, which was heredone with high efficiency by two men. They havethe satisfaction of knowing that the personal sacrificesthey made in a time of national need set free othermen for work abroad. The proceeds of the sale ofthe book are to be devoted to the funds of the hospital.The book is well written and contains humorousdetails of life in a war hospital. It is illustratedby photographs and a few sketches and caricatures.and we feel sure that it will appeal to a wide circle ofreaders.

DICTIONARY OF APPLI]ED CHEMISTRY.Vol. I. By Sir EDWARD THORPE, C.B., LL.D.,F.R.S. London: Longmans, Green and Co.1921. Pp. 752. 60s.

IT is rightly pointed out in the preface to thisvolume that the war has exercised a great influenceon applied chemistry, for it has led to an enormousexpansion, more or less permanent, of certain branchesboth in this country and abroad. As there now appearsto be some likelihood of a really stable chemicalindustry being established in Great Britain, theappearance of a revised and enlarged edition of thiswell-known work is opportune. The chemical manu-facturer who proposes to make high-grade products,involving large capital outlay and technical skill,naturally hopes to sell his goods at a reasonableprofit. In many, if not in most cases he cannot doso at the present time and, if the industry is to be keptgoing, some assistance, such as has been outlined bythe Government, is an absolute necessity. Theinterdependence of chemical warfare and chemicalindustry is so well known that it would appear thatGovernment aid to the industry is at least prudentfrom a national insurance standpoint.The arrangement of the work is alphabetical. Vol. I.

starts at A and ends with Calcium. Special articlesare contributed by experts whose professional stand-ing shows that Sir Edward Thorpe has done hisbest to make the Dictionary a true record of thepresent relations of chemistry to the arts and sciences

The medical man will find much which is interestingin this volume. Professor Barger writes on alkaloids,aconitine, adrenaline, and aloes, Professor Halliburtonon bile, blood, and bone, and Dr. H. Robinson onanaesthetics. There appears to be little room

for constructive criticism in the compilation andmistakes and misprints are rare. References to theliterature are numerous, but some contributors adoptthe rather irritating fashion of quoting the numberof the volume and page but not the year ; in theforthcoming volumes the year of the referencesshould be added.

ANATOMY.

Anatomy of the Nerwous System. By STEPHEN W.RANSON. London and Philadelphia : W. B.Saunders Company. 1921. Pp. 395. 32s. 6d.

Professor Ranson has produced a work intendedfor the use of the student of medicine, and has writtenwith this object ever in mind. He begins with a shortbut clear exposition of the nervous system in inverte-brates and lower vertebrates, and thus leads on tothe study of the mammalian and human system.The descriptions of the various parts which make upthe whole complicated system are good and excellentlyclear, but we confess to being left with an indefinitefeeling of confusion, which is probably connected withthe arrangement of the descriptions. The illustra-tions are instructive, but we would recommend morecareful editing of the figures in future editions : forexample, the trochlear nerve is wrongly labelled inFig. 8, and a similar fault appears to affect the mesen-cephalon in Fig. 11. Such inaccuracies are the moreregrettable as the author makes such good use of hisfigures in his text. The book contains also a shortoutline of a laboratory course for students of wmrology,and ends with a full and excellent bibliography.

3fanual of Surgical Anatomy. Third edition. ByC. R. WHITTAKER. Edinburgh : E. and S.

I Eivingstone. 1921. Pp. 429. 15s.’

THIS third edition of a book which has a considerablevogue among students shows some enlargementand several new figures. Mr. Whittaker purportsonly to give outlines of the subject, and his book isa good example of a student’s handbook of its kind.The diagrams serve their purpose, and we especiallynote one or two of the skiagrams as unusually good.Fig. 46, however, would perhaps give a more naturalcolour to the retina with better registering, and thereis an evident gap in Fig. 2, which ought to containlines indicating the contributory fibres to the outercord. The text is readable and clear, but we thinkit would be as well to omit developmental descrip-tions where no direct reference is made to theirbearing on pathological or clinical problems. We areglad to see that this is one of the few English bookswherein Professor Marie’s objections to the conven-tional teaching of the schools regarding aphasiareceives mention, although no further details are given.A short appendix, giving Macewen’s results in studyof bone formation, epiphyseal junctions, and pelvicmeasurements, closes a good little manual.

ELECTRICAL METHODS IN UROLOGY.Notions Pratiques d’Électrotherapie Appliquée àl’Urologle. Second edition. By Dr. DErrIsCouRTADE. With a Preface by Prof. LEGUEU.Paris: E. Le Francois. 1921. Pip. 244. Fr. 18.As it title implies, this book deals with the uses of

electrical methods for the treatment of diseases ofthe urinary tract. In addition, the physiology andpathology of the tract are described in so far as theyare relevant, and also the properties and means ofproduction of the various currents used for treatment.The subject is presented in the form of a series oflessons. The first four of these are devoted to physicsand electro-technics and the remaining six to thosediseases of the urinary tract which can be successfullytreated by electrical methods These diseases are

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divided into two classes, of which one includes dis-orders of function, unattended by organic change, andthe other those in which organic changes are present.In the fifth lesson the connexions of the urinarytract with the nervous system are described, and thenthe various neuralgias-renal, vesical, urethral, pro-static, and testicular-with their symptoms, diagnosis,and appropriate electrical treatment. In the sixth andseventh lessons functional disorders of the urethral andvesical muscle, such as paralysis and spasm, are

considered, also nocturnal incontinence, sperma-torrhoea, and a condition termed " pollakiurie

"

(frequency of micturition without increase of the totaldaily quantity). The remaining three lessons dealwith diseases of the urinary tract accompaniedby organic changes. These include inflammationand new growths of the bladder and prostate.urethritis, stricture, and polypi of the urethra. Theauthor speaks of the value of ionisatlon, and13 pages are occupied by a description of this methodand its advantages. By means of ionisation drugscan be made to penetrate the mucosa of the bladderand urethra, while the epithelium of these passagesis impenetrable by the process of simple diffusion.The treatment of strictures by electrolysis is described,and the method termed " electrolytic dilatation " (acombination of simple dilatation and electrolysis) isrecommended by Dr. Courtade, who claims that itacts more quickly than simple dilatation, and thatthe benefits are permanent. If the stricture is com-posed of very dense scar-tissue, the method is slow,but good results are finally obtained.The book is a clear exposition of the powers of

electricity for the treatment of diseases of the urinarytract, and is based on the experience gained by Dr.Courtade at the H6pital Necker during the past30 years. He insists on the importance of knowledgeof physiology and pathology for successful treatment,as well as familiarity with physics and electro-technics. The first 99 pages contain an account ofthese subjects that can be clearly understood byanyone who is acquainted with the commonest electricalterms.

-

The English reader is left in some doubt regardingthe method of action of high-frequency currents-other than by the production of heat, and elsewherewhen more than- one method of treatment is described,the reader is not always given sufficient indication oftheir relative values. The book is attractively writtenand is a valuable addition to the literature of medicalelectrology.

SIDELIGHTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF MAN.

By KARL PEARSON, F.R.S. University of LondonEugenics Lecture Series, XIII. Cambridge Uni-versity Press. 1921. Pp. 27 7 plates. 3s.THE intention of this lecture is to set forth what

evidence can be adduced from the study of a singlebone-the femur-to support the contention that theline of man’s evolution followed that of the fiercer ofthe Primate series, rather than that of the arboreal ormore timorous group ; that he is more nearly relatedto ancestors which produced the modern anthropoidapes than to those from which the gibbons havearisen. The point on the evolutionary tree from whichthe gibbons started, and certain alleged resemblancesbetween Trinil femur and those of Dryopithecus, afossil gibbon of great size, have for years been indispute. Professor Karl Pearson is in agreementwith Sir Arthur Keith in believing that the modernanthropoids-the chimpanzee, orang, and gorilla-left the direct simio-human stem at a more recentdate than the gibbons. He regards the features ofthe Trinil femur as substantially those of modernman, and dismisses Dubois’s view that the convexityof the popliteal space is evidence of near relationshipto the gibbons, by showing that the same conditionis not uncommon in modern human femora.The author discusses in particular certain anomalies

or deviations from the accepted anatomical descriptionof this bone, the lateral protrusion, the degree of

bowing, the hypotrochanteric fossa, " pilaster,s," and I

the third trochanter. He gives statistics and measure-ment,s of these features which strongly support hiscontention, although those relating to the third .

trochanter are not convincing. The significance of

pilasters-occurring chiefly in bones showing excessivebowing-seems to be questionable. Professor Pearsonsays,

" I doubt very much whether man ever stoodupright until he had developed a pilaster," and thesame might be said of the possessors of the ricketybones with which all are familiar. The causation ofthe pilaster in both cases must lie in the nature ofthe muscular pull in a curved bone.

So far as the femur alone is concerned the case is astrong one, and the use made of the numerous indicesdeserves further study. When applied to a single bonein this manner physical anthropology - recalls themethods employed by Mr. Sherlock Holmes, in a casein which his client had left his hat behind him, todeduce the type of man he was.

PERSPECTIVE : THE OLD AND THE NEW METHOD.

By A. S. PERCIVAL. London : Longmans, Greenand Co. 1921. Pp. 42. 4s. 6d.

Mr. Percival, well known for his work as ophthalmo-logist and mathematician, has essayed the difficulttask of writing a book on perspective that shall beboth brief and lucid. The medical interest of the bookis slight, and Mr. Percival has not thought it necessaryto include the preliminary remarks on optics which,in other treatises, have mystified many art students.He comes straight to his subject and he sets out therules of perspective dogmatically and compre-hensively. What teachers at drawing classes, as

well as their pupils, may thank the author in par-ticular for is the opening section in which the field ofview is explained. It is quite usual in books onperspective of far greater ambition than this treatisefor the authors to make such muddling remarkson

"

distance," " station," "

point of view," and" vanishing points," that the whole subject of artisticperspective, which requires a clear mind for itsunderstanding, becomes involved in mystery fromthe start. So much information has never beforebeen given in so small a compass, but knowledgepacked closely by an author has always to beunpacked slowly by a reader. An art student tobenefit by this small book must read slowly, pencilin hand, and be resolved not to read one line aheadof perfect understanding.There are several misprints, which should be

corrected in any future issues.

JOURNALS.IN the Military Surgeon for May, Colonel A. N.

Stark, who was medical officer at headquarters ofthe American Army in the St. Mihiel and Argonneoperations ("Army Surgeon "), discusses the prepara-tion by the surgeon of an army for the medicalservice of a battle. He stresses the need for fullinformation of what is intended, observing that itis only relatively inexpert staffs which fail to give ethe senior medical officer information as soon as amovement is decided upon. The same thought is,by apt coincidence, expressed in the May R.A.1II.C.Jourrzal, where Major A. C. Osburn mentions it wasonly after 1916, when brigade staffs became moreinexperienced," that he had to find out for himselfwhat his field ambulance was wanted to do. ColonelStark goes on to say that after the chief surgeonhas prepared the perfect battle scheme and hasarranged therein for everything that can be foreseen.emergencies will still arise that can only be metby what he terms " esprit," developed in a spiritof mutual confidence and in friendly rivalry.—Major A. Parker Hichens, of the 1.-:-.8. Army MedicalSchool at Washington, speaking of anaphylacticcollapse, recommends small doses of epinephrin andof atropin, though his 1100 gr. of atropin sulphateseems rather a large dose, 0’5 mgm. being the suggestedmetric alternative. He also recommends epinephrinfor the urticaria which may arise after serum injections.