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Reviews and Notices of Books.HISTORY OF MEDICINE.

Proceedings of the Third- International Congress ofthe History of Medicine. Antwerp : De Vlijt.Pp. 320. 21s.THE fourth of this series of congresses has just

taken place in Geneva.1 The volume under reviewcontains the contributions presented to the Congresswhich met in London in July, 1922, and was attendedby some 150 delegates from 16 countries. In theepidemic section, Dr. Tricot-Royer contributes ananalysis of the orders of the town council ofAntwerp against plagues in the sixteenth and seven-teenth centuries, and also a description of thesixteenth century leper house of Hérenthals and itsdocuments. M. Jeanselme’s paper shows the con-

nexion of plague with the flood, famine, and earth-quake which precede it, and Prof. Sir W. Simpsonurges renewed attack on the problems of endemicdisease in our own day. Dr. Wickersheimer givesan account of the Black Plague as it affected and wasdealt with in Strasbourg in 1349, and of a

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regimen"dating from this time ; while Dr. R. Neveu describesthe plagues of Tuscany in the fourteenth and fifteenthcenturies, with an analysis of the reasons for the long-continued infections. Sir W. J. Collins gives a résuméof the work of Sir Edwin Chadwick, and Miss M. C.Buer discusses the decrease in epidemic disease inthis country between 1750 and 1830, ascribing it tothe improvement in medical science and popularhygiene accompanying the industrial revolution. Inthe anatomical section Dr. Ricardo Jorge’s paperdeals with the renaissance of anatomy and medicinein Portugal; MM. Laignel-Lavastine and Livetdiscuss the part played by symbolism in anatomy,with reference to the rules of divination, the teachingsof astrological medicine, and the idea of corre-

spondence between macrocosm and microcosm; Dr.J. G. de Lint publishes two new anatomical " flyingsheets " and a fragment of an obstetric MS. ; andDr. E. T. Withington and Mr. Donald Campbell con-tribute papers on the anatomical writings of Galen.Prof. Ménétrier attempts to rescue the reputation ofanatomists by citing instances of their humanitytoward " subjects " handed over to them imper-fectly executed and susceptible of restoration to life.Dr. V. H. Turkomian discusses the knowledge ofanatomy possessed by the ancient Armenians, andalso shows that that country was a pioneer centrefor propagation of the practice of inoculation for

small-pox. M. Fosseyeux’s paper describes theanatomical studies of Déscartes, and MM. M. Villaretand F. Moutier discuss plagiarism in anatomicalillustrations during the sixteenth century. Dr. K.Lander deals with the anatomical studies of womenbefore the nineteenth century. Mr. T. W. Parrydescribes prehistoric trephination in Great Britain. Inthe pharmacy section Dr. M. A. Van Andel describesthe history of human fat as a medicament, andDr. Van Schevensteen the use of remedies taken fromthe human body in the treatment of eye diseases. Dr.P. Dorveaux contributes a study of the seventeenth-century apothecary, Le Febvre Nicaise, and Mr.J. P. Gilmour sketches the history of pharmacy inthe British Isles. M. C. H. Fialon outlines the statutesof the Master Apothecaries’ Corporation of Lyons, andMr. C. J. S. Thompson gives the history of Hiera Picra.In the veterinary section M. M. Sevilla writes on the " colic " syndrome in the Graeco-Roman epoch,Major-General Sir F. Smith publishes an abstractof his paper on English veterinary anatomy from thesixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and M’r. F.Bullock an abstract of his account of the fifteenthcentury MS.

" Mulomedicina Chironis." M. L. Moule ;describes the conditions grouped by ancient writers

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under the term " Malleus." Among miscellaneous

papers are found one by Dr. F. G. Poynton on the (

1 THE LANCET, 1925, ii., 291.

early aeronautical work of medical men ; a study ofByzantine culinary recipes and ingredients by MM.Jeanselme and Oeconomos; and an account of theuse of the Danish amulet " Muskatnuss," by Mr.J. W. S. Johnsson. Of particular interest at thepresent moment is a description of the psychiatricideas of Roman jurists by Dr. S. K. Waard. MM.Laignel-Lavastine and J. Vinchon contribute an

account of the psychiatric work of Jean Schenck, andM. Jeanselme attributes the degeneration of theCarolingian family to hereditary neuropathic taints.Dr. N. G. Horner presents an amusing seventeenthcentury journal or daybook which belonged to Dr.John Westover, of Wedmore. Among the portraitspublished are one of Luis Mercado, physician to theSpanish court in the sixteenth century, and that ofa young man, by Moroni, showing an apparatus fordrop-foot. Of literary interest are Dr. J. Van Gils’scomparison of the doctors of Moliere with thosedelineated by Shaw, and a note by Dr. H. Leclerc onthe reference to the " sacred thistle " in Much AdoAbout Nothing. Newly published texts include thepreface of a thirteenth century Latin edition of thesixth book of " Epidemics " (Mrs. Singer), an ItalianMS. giving a large number of hitherto unknownnames of Salernitan doctors (Dr. P, Capparoni), anda treatise on air and winds published in 1642 byPanarolo (Dr. G. Hinsdale). The collection concludeswith a paper by Mme. Panayotatou on hygiene anddancing among the ancient Greeks.The volume may be cordially recommended to those

who have a taste for medico-historical hors d’ceuvres.

HANDBUCH DER TROPENKRANKHEITEN.Third edition. Vol. II. By various Authors.Prof. Dr. CARL MENSE, General Editor. Leipzig :Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth. 1924. With306 text figures, 4 black and white and 14 colouredplates. Pp 1019. G.M. 66-70.THE second part of the new " Mense " is a ponderous

volume comprising a vast amount of information upona great variety of essential tropical diseases and sub-sidiary subjects. As has been customary in previouseditions, the bibliography is remarkably complete.But the most important diseases do not appear to bearranged in any logical order ; thus we have leprosy,undulant fever, cholera, psittacosis, plague, tsutsuga-mushi disease, sprue, beri-beri, tropical skin diseases,and those caused by tropical poisons, both of vegetaland animal origin, treated in sequence-a lack ofmethod detracting from the real merits of the work.The chapter on leprosy by Dr. Georg Sticker, of

some 120 pages, includes a history of the diseasefrom the earliest times and is a definite contributionto medical literature. Interesting statistics are givenof the present-day distribution of leprosy ; in Chinaand the East Indies there are 50 lepers to every 100,000inhabitants ; in Finland, 2 ; in Egypt, 20 ; while inthe Marquesas islands there are known to be 250amongst a total of 4000 inhabitants. Dr. MartinMayer is responsible for a succinct and well-writtenchapter on undulant fever. In the treatment of thisparticularly intractable fever attention is directedto the injection of colloidal metals, notably collargol.Cholera, from the pen of Dr. Paul Krause, is mainlyremarkable for the chronological table of variouscholera epidemics from the year 1817 onwards ; theinformation being wholly derived from Russia from1914 up to the present time. The various methodsof treatment which have from time to time beenadvocated are given in detail, but no particular lineis specially advocated, while the injection of hyper-tonic salines receives but scanty recognition. Dr.Filippo Rho writes on psittacosis, though it is by nomeans clear why this somewhat exceptional diseaseshould be included in a treatise on tropical medicine.The article on plague is by Dr. P. C. Flu, of Leyden, andcontains a careful description of the bacteriologyof the disease, while the attention given tomorphology of the various plague-disseminating fleasis noteworthy. ’

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Tsutsugamushi disease, or Japanese river fever,by Dr. M. Miyajima, comes from an authoritativesource and is welcome on account of its comparativebrevity and the excellence of the illustrations. The

.story of sprue, by Dr. Hermann Dold, occupies a greatdeal of space, of which the greater part is taken upby a detailed account of the pathological anatomy.’The recital of many pathological items which.apparently have no bearing upon the aetiology of the- disease renders this section confused and inconclusive.Beri-beri, by Dr. Bernhard Nocht, is an extremely;good account of the symptomatology and treatment,of this peripheral neuritis ; the whole subject of- vitamins receiving adequate consideration. Tropicalskin diseases, including oriental sore, ainhum, climaticbubo, veldt sore, ulcerating granuloma, and other lesswell-defined conditions are described by Drs. A. Plehn.and Karl Mense, jun. We note that yaws and syphilisin the tropics, illustrated by some characteristicphotographs, are also included in this section, thoughmore generally regarded by other writers as beingsystemic in nature with cutaneous manifestations.’The same authors are responsible for mycetoma,tinea umbricata, sporotrichosis, and other fungus.diseases.

Poisonous symptoms due to tropical plant poisons-are thoroughly discussed by Dr. Rho. Originalityand thoroughness of this section make it the most.striking contribution in the present volume. Dr.E. S. Faust deals with the analogous conditionsproduced by animal poisons, including snakes, fishes,reptiles, arthropods, and mollusca.

The general printing and reproduction of theillustrations are, on the whole, good.

-AN INDEX OF TREATMENT.

By Various Writers. Ninth edition. Edited byROBERT HUTCHISON, M.D., F.R.C.P., and JAMESSHERREN, C.B.E., F.R.C.S. Bristol: John Wrightand Sons, Ltd. 1925. Pp. 1035. 42s.

AFTER an interval of less than four years theninth edition of this well-known manual of treatmenthas been produced. Recent additions to therapeuticalknowledge have rendered its issue advisable soonerthan was anticipated. Two subjects hitherto omittedappear for the first t,ime-namely, Infective Endo-carditis (Sir Thomas Horder) and Spinal Analgesia(Dr. Felix Rood), while additions have been made tothe article dealing with the general treatment oftuberculosis. The article on diabetes by Dr. EdmundSpriggs has been rewritten in the light of modernresearch, but we are glad to say that the same amountof space, or more, is still devoted to the informingtabular statements with regard to the composition.and value of different foods and their arrangement forthe various meals. It will be noticed that the articleon asthma has been excellently brought up to date,and other sections which have received notableadditions are those dealing with venereal and tropicaldiseases.

In its latest issue the Index of Treatment can berecommended, in accordance with previous notices,as a first-class book of reference.

INTERNATIONAL CLINICS.A Quarterly of Illustrated Clinical Lectures andArticles. Vol. 11. Thirty-fifth series. London :.T. B. Lippincott Company. 1025. Pp. 311.Per set of four volumes, 50s.THIS, the latest issue of a quarterly symposium of

lectures and articles on medicine, surgery, andobstetrics contains, like its predecessors, manyinteresting sections contributed by well-knownauthorities. Among the contents of this volumewhich are especially noticeable may be mentioned.a dissertation on the present status of affections of thekidney by Dr. I. W. Held of New York ; à paper on

cystic neoplasms of the ascending mesoeolon by Dr.C.G. Cumston of Geneva., in which the symptoms arewell set out and the diagnosis discussed ; and asuggestive essay by Dr. J. J. Walsh of New Yorkentitled " The Patient or His Disease." Throughoutthis last paper the valuable a.dvice is insisted on toobserve the patient’s mental attitude towards his owncomplaint; it is pleasant to note in this connexiona reference to a paper read before the Charaka Clubin New York by Dr. Frederick Peterson, which dealtwith the neuroses brought out among those whoserved in the American Civil War. It is clear fromthis paper that the experiences of more recent datewere not without precedent in America,, though theconditions of warftre were so different.

CLINICAL LABORATORY MErHoD.3.

Second edition. By RU83ELL LANDRAM HADEN,M.A., M.D., Professor of Experimental Medicine,School of Medicine, Kansas City. London :Henry Kimpton. Pp. 310. 18s.

Trms book differs from most of the myriad otherswhich have appeared in the last decade under closelysimilar titles in that theoretical and clinical con-

siderations have been almost entirely eliminated ;this has made possible the inclusion of a great dealof purely technical matter which must otherwisehave been omitted from a volume of this handy size ;and, while reducing its appeal to the student andgeneral practitioner, very considerably enhances itsvalue to the whole-time laboratory worker. Thesection devoted to biochemical procedures is by farthe best ; the author has limited himself to describingone technique only for each of the proceduresincluded ; his choice has not always fallen upon theparticular one most popular in this country ; in fact,as was more or less inevitable, it has usually failedto do so. In every case, however, the methodsdescribed are sound and well approved, and thedescriptions of them are clear and accurate. Veryvaluable chapters are those on the use of the colori-meter and on the standardisation of quantitativereagents. The bacteriological section is of less valueto English readers, and most of the illustrations arefamiliar.

THE ESSENTIALS OF HEALTHY L.IVING.

By WILLIAM S. SADLER, M.D., F.A.C.S., formerlyProfessor at the Post-G-raduate Medical School olChicago. New York : The Macmillan Company.1925. Pp. 481. los.

THIS appears to be at least the fourteenth bookon health matters written by Dr. Sadler for the laypublic as his contribution to the educational campaignnow proceeding in America and other civilisedcountries for creating an " urge for health," as ithas been called. As Prof. W. A. Evans says in anintroduction, " health cannot be greatly improvedfrom above downwards," and he quotes the bafflinghopelessness of trying to improve the health of ignorantnatives in tropical countries. Dr. Sadler believes that"

personal hygiene is the keynote to the health teach-ing of the coming generation," and this book is averitable text-book on the art of keeping healthy.It is a long way from the primitive poster with" Kill that fly " written upon it in large capitals taa volume of nearly 500 pages, but if only the intelligentsection of the community, or at any rate those thatcan afford a guide to health at the price of this volume,can be " won for health," the movement will slowlyspread downwards. Some of the chapters here strikean original note, particularly that on the history ofpreventive medicine with which the book opens, anione on " The Mission of Pain " which is full of common-sense teaching. The remainder of the volume deals along the usual lines with the different systemicdiseases, diseases of various organs, and matters ofgeneral hygienic interest.

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SYMPTOMS OF VISCERAL DISEASE.

Third edition. By FRANCIS MARION POTTENC.ER,A.M., M.D., LL.D., Medical Director, PottengerSanatorium for Diseases of the Lungs and Throat,Monrovia, California. London : Henry Kimpton.1925. Pp. 394. 28s. ,

THIS is the third edition of a book which the authorin his preface states to cover a unique field in clinicalmedicine, the uniqueness, we believe, being to makethe patient the chief object of study. We confessthat we are still puzzled, as we were in previousreadings of this suggestive book, to understand inwhat this claim to particular singularity consists. In

general arrangement the book remains as before-that is, an introduction being followed by three partsentitled (1) Vegetative Nervous System ; (2.) Relation-ship between this System and Visceral Systems ; and(3) the Innervation of Important Viscera and a

Clinical Study of the Germane Reflexes. The reflec-tions are often sound and sometimes obvious, and thework is beautifully illustrated.

A MANUAL OF PHARMACOLOGY.

Sixth edition. By WALTER E. DIXON, M.A., M.D.,F.R.S., sometime Professor of Materia Medica andPharmacology at King’s College, London. London :Edward Arnold and Co. 1925. Pp. 478. 18s.

WE are glad to receive a new edition of thisadmirable manual. It has been completely revisedin conformity with recent knowledge by Prof. E.Mellanby, Dr. O. Inchley, and Dr. A. J. Copeland, andadditions are included covering all accepted knowledgeon the subject of pharmacology. The information isimparted in a form useful alike to the student ofpharmacy and of medicine.We have noted before the essentially practical

nature of the work, which is at the same time anexposition of the relations between physiology andmedicine. Looking back on the way in whichpharmacology was taught as recently as 25 years ago,we can see how the large and varied researches inphysics and chemistry which have taken place in theinterval have enabled teaching to assume the logicalcharacter which Prof. Dixon and his collaborators giveto it. The reader, for example, of Chapter XVII. inthis book, which deals with the drugs acting locallyon the alimentary canal, will obtain arguments fortherapeutic procedures which he may have to under-take daily in the course of practice. He will knowboth what to do and why he should do it, and through-out the volume consultation will put him in the sameposition along other lines. The manual is in the firstrank of books available on its subject.

SCIENTIFIC PRESERVATION OF FOOD.

By THOMAS M. RECTOR, Consulting Chemist.London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd. 1925. Pp. 213.10s.

IT is not very evident for whom this book is intended.It gives a clear, but rather gossipy, account, freedfrom technicalities, of the different methods for thepreservation of foods. Indeed, technicalities are soeliminated that the book will make but little appealto the chemist, bacteriologist, or medical expertinterested in the scientific data underlying theproblems of food spoilage and their prevention.But to the medical man who wishes to obtain abroad general idea of the methods employed in foodpreservation, this book may make appeal, and it willbe found of considerable interest to laymen. It is,however, a serious defect in a book issued in 1925that the important subject of vitamins and theextent to which they are destroyed or damagedby food preservation methods is entirely ignored.Vitamins, indeed, are only incidentally mentioned.

In other directions words with a technical meaning-are used without adequate explanation, a defectif the work is intended for the uninitiated.

In scope the work is comprehensive and includes.short accounts of the nature of the main types of manu-factured and preserved foods. The causes of foodspoilage are discussed, including those from insectsand larger animals, micro-organisms, enzyme action,and physical and chemical conditions. The foodpreservation methods include simple storage, applica-tion of cold, dehydration, chemical preservation,preservation by fermentation, hermetically sealing,.heat sterilisation, and pasteurisation. In thedescription of these processes the author followscustomary lines, but here and there unusualpieces of information are quoted. For instance, itis mentioned that the United States Bureau ofFisheries during the war recommended the canningof dog-fish and other members of the shark familyunder the name of " grey-fish." When acted uponby many canners’it was discovered that the fleshof sharks contained urea which decomposed in timeto ammonia, spoiling the flavour of the product andswelling the container. This caused great loss tocanners and illustrates well the importance of scientificknowledge in relation to food preservation.

New Inventions.A NEW GASTRECTOMY CLAMP.

SURGEONS who have had practical experience of th&modification of the Billroth I. gastrectomy operationintroduced by Schoemaker of The Haguel will havefound considerable difficulty in applying Schoemaker’&crushing clamp to the stomach in certain cases.

That instrument has to be passed across the stomachfrom the greater curvature, and where the ulcer is.high on the lesser curvature, or the stomach not verymobile, it is sometimes impossible to apply theclamp sufficiently above the lesion. The clamp hereillustrated is designed to extend the range of this

ingenious and physiologically admirable operation.It is applied from the upper border or lesser curvatureof the stomach, with the inner and outer halvesclamped together by the central milled screw and byan interlocking device at the tip of the blades. Thetwo upper blades are set on a rocking joint so as tosecure even crushing of the stomach, and the upand lower blades are so ground as to fit into ( hother without risk of side-slipping or shearing -ne

stomach wall. The crushing is effected by tighteningthe wing nuts on the ends of the handles. When thedistal portion of the stomach has been cut awa"exactly as in the Schoemaker operation, the blade is removed by simply releasing its wing - and the central milled screw. I have found this instrument simplifies the Schoemaker operationconsiderably.

I am indebted to Dr. K. B. Pinson, anaesthetist tothe Manchester Royal Infirmary, for designing it,and it has been made for me by the General Radio-logical and Surgical Apparatus Co., Ltd., 204-6,Great Portland-street, London, W. 1.

JOHN MORLEY, Ch.M. Manch., F.R.C.S. Eng.1 Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics, December, 1921,

pp. 591-596.