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191 Reviews and Notices of Books. PROBLEMS OF NEUROSES. By ALFRED ADLER. With a Prefatory Essay by F. G. CROOKSHANK, M.D., F.R.C.P. Edited by PHILIPPE MAIRET. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd. 1929. Pp. 178 + xxxvii. 8s. 6d. Dr. Crookshank opens with a lively criticisin, in which most psychopathologists would concur, of what Biot has called the necrological and veterinary schools of orthodox medical thought. He then points to a great, though unofficial,therapeutic advance, instanced in the new methods by which the cardiac neuroses- sources of suffering and wastage greater than that due to the so-called " organic " heart diseases-have, after centuries of neglect since Harvey’s time, become more amenable to treatment than are fibrillation, heart-block, and flutter. Believing that the most important contribution to the psychological school of medical thought will prove to be due to Alfred I Adler, he gives a description of that physician’s theory z, of organ inferiority, as applied to physical dysfunction and disease or the development of neurosis. Then follow an account of individual psychology and an eulogy of Adler " who, in easy, pleasant, simple sentences, helps us to solve the greatest and most important problem of all, that of understanding human nature." The case-histories related by Adler himself emphasise his view that the neurotic symptom is designed for an end ; they show, too, how the psychotherapist, by convincing the patient of this end, induces him to renounce it and take up anew the task of life. Adler’s ready insight into human motives is manifest, and we can picture him successfully leading the patient along the road to self-understanding. It is difficult, however, to find any relation between his methods or views and psycho-analysis, although Dr. Crookshank tells us that the Freudian methods of investigation are frankly accepted by the author. It is true that he offers his interpretations of patients’ dreams, but there is no hint of the revival of emotional memories not already accessible to consciousness-which is, historically and practically, the foundation of psycho-analysis, the key to the comprehension of the theory of the unconscious. The influence of such memories in the production of symptoms is equally ignored by Adler. The neglect of this aspect leaves, as it were, a naked-eye pathology, easily understood because it remains on the level of consciousness already familiar to us and makes no demands upon new conceptions of mental processes, but unsatisfying to anyone whose work has forced him to use such conceptions. There is ample scope for the application of Adler’s methods among the multitudes of neurotic patients, but his theory covers only a part of our knowledge of psychic mechanisms. A MANUAL OF MIDWIFERY. For Students and Practitioners. Fourth edition. By HENRY JELLETT, B.A., M.D., F.R.C.P.I., L.M.,.Iate King’s Professor of Midwifery, Trinity College, Dublin; ex-Master of the Rotunda Hospital; and DAVID G. MADILL, B.A., M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O., L.M., Gynaecologist to Adelaide Hospital, Dublin; ex-Assistant Master of the Rotunda Hospital. London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. 1929. PD. 1281. 25s. EXTENSIVE revision has been found necessary in the preparation of this fourth edition of the Manual’ of Midwifery, and the authors have not hesitated to’ make use of experts in special subjects, while numerous recent references are given. The book, in fact, is up to date and complete in the letter of obstetrics ; it is therefore regrettable that its spirit remains that of the obstetrics of ten years ago. The preventive side of midwifery is not I given the prominence which it now deserves, and the inclusion of chapters on the various aspects of midwifery treated from this point of view would greatly enhance the value of the work. It is, however, well arranged and clearly written ; its chief appeal will be to the post-graduate student and to the teacher. In the main, the teaching is that of the Rotunda, although the book is not merely an exposition of Rotunda methods without due reference to others. It has one fault, besides the neglect of the preventive side, which is common to most text-books on mid- wifery ; the minor abnormalities found during pregnancy are not given sufficient prominence. In practice major diseases and abnormalities are rarely missed, and usually receive correct treatment by the practitioner ; but the minor degrees of disproportion, doubtful cases of postmaturity, and signs suggestive of early toxaemia tend to embarrass the medical adviser, especially when the text-book of his choice has not warned him of the frequency with which he will have to deal with them. It is almost impossible to combine in one work definite teaching in preparation for examinations, instruction for the practitioner, and a philosophic outlook which will embrace the preventive as well as the curative side of any branch of medicine. This work succeeds in providing the first two of these in good measure, and readers must be content to look elsewhere for the third. HYGIENE AND PUBLIC HEALTH. (Parkes and Kenwood.) Eighth edition. Revised by HENRY R. KENWOOD, M.B., D.P.H., Emeritus Professor of Hygiene and Public Health, University of London ; M.O.H., Bedfordshire ; and HAROLD KERR, O.B.E., M.A., M.D., D.P.H., Professor of Hygiene and Public Health, Uni- versity of Durham; M.O.H., City and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. London : H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd. 1929. Pp. 823. 21s. THIS manual was originally written by Dr. Louis C. Parkes, with whom Prof. Kenwood entered into collaboration in later editions, and now Prof. Harold Kerr has joined with Prof. Kenwood in bringing it up to date. Many passages have been deleted and the space filled with new material, the editing having been so cleverly done as to provide connected teaching ; z, thus " Parkes and Kenwood " retains its high place in the rank of text-books in public health. A book of this kind will always show variations in quality depending on the personal interest of the authors in the different branches of public health. We find, for instance, that the chapter on air and ventilation is excellent, although the description on page 154 of the relation between- ventilation and diphtheria is not very scientifically expressed. The chapter on warming and lighting is likewise very good, although here, too, one misleading statement is. made at the very commencement, which gives the impression that the desideratum in a good heating system is warming of the air. It would appear desir- able to avoid reference to such commodities as smoke- less fuel by commercial names, since many of those sold under proprietary names are of equal merit. In the chapter on infection the discussion of susceptibility and immunity is hardly adequate. No attempt is made to estimate the significance of modern observations on the transmission of communicable diseases in relation to mass immunisation by unrecognised infections. In places throughout the book various means of attaining an object are described without discrimination as to their relative value. This criticism, for instance, applies to the descriptions of the treatment of swimming-bath water with " electrolytic fluid " or continuous nitration. In the same chapter considerable space is given to the description and illustration of the sterilisation of water by means of ultra-violet radiation ; if, as we believe, this is a very costly method, it is desirable that students should be told so. It is not strictly
