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patient being recumbent, to place the outer malleolusof the right leg above the left patella, and then byrotating the thigh to bring the right knee into contactwith the bed. This position cannot be assumed wherearthritis of the right hip is present.The book is illustrated by upwards of 200 diagrams,

plates, and figures. Several of these provide opportuneillustrations of anatomical points arising in the text.A number of facts are tabulated and the whole forms avery useful compendium of blinical methods.

A TEXT-BOOK OF MATERIA MEDICA.

Third edition. By HENRY G. GREENISH, F.I.C., F.L.S.London: J. and A. Churchill. 1920. Pp. 568. 27s.

IN this third edition of Professor Greenish’s text-book, the purpose of which is to give an account of thecrude drugs of vegetable and animal origin, an increasednumber of drugs are dealt with, and other additionshave been’ made to the text. The drugs are fully de-scribed and their geographical and botanical or zoologicalsources, their cultivation, collection, and preparation forthe market, their constituents and common adulterantsare all amply treated. In many cases microscopicalcharacters are given by which the drug may berecognised in the powdered condition and adulterationof the powder detected. For the more importantdrugs, details of the assay processes by means ofwhich the proportions of active ingredients may bedetermined are also included. Interesting historicalnotes are added and an account is given of thetrade routes by which drugs and spices have reachedtheir markets in ancient as well as modern times. Ourattention was caught by the remark that Ibn Baitar, awriter of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, describedsome 2000 drugs in his " Corpus Simplicium Medicamen-torum " ; it would seem that even in the days when thechief centres of learning were those of the ArabianEmpire, the mastering of his materia medica was nolight task for the student of physic. Much recent workon the chemical composition of drugs is incorporated,and in this connexion we would suggest that the valueof the book would be further increased by the additionof references to the more important original papers.Excellently reproduced photographs are conspicuousamong the numerous illustrations. This text-book isthe standard English work on pharmacognosy for phar-maceutical students and pharmacists; and to thosemedical students and practitioners who wish to acquiremore than the bare and dull outlines required by thevarious examining bodies it can be strongly recom-mended as treating the subject in a fuller and moreinteresting manner than has hitherto been foundpossible in the case of text-books written primarily forthe medical reader.

PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH,Eutocia, and Nitrous Oxide-Oxygen Analgesia. ByC. HENRY DA VIS, Associate in Obstetrics and

Gynaecology in Rush Medical College. London:George Routledge and Sons. 1920. Pp. 160. 5s.

NITROUS oxide-oxygen analgesia has of late yearsbeen practised extensively in the United States, and inthis little work Dr. C. Henry Davis purports to givea brief, scientific, and readable discussion of thismethod of anaesthesia and also of painless child-birth and what he terms .eutocia. The descriptionis certainly brief and readable in the sense that thebook is better adapted for the lay public than for themedical profession, but we can hardly call it scientific.Indeed, in view of the real importance of the generaladoption of som& mode of anaesthesia in childbirthwhich will be safe and certain, and of the fact that theauthor claims an improvement on twilight sleep, it isa pity that Dr. Davis has not made better use of hisopportunities and given us a really scientific contribu-tion to an important subject. Nitrous oxide-oxygenanalgesia has many advantages, although it will never,on account of the cumbrous apparatus and the expenseinvolved, be very generally available. Nevertheless,in certain cases of operative delivery, and under properconditions, it is especially suitable. It is therefore all

the more unfortunate that the value of this book shouldbe discounted so largely by the introduction of unneces-sary padding. The author, however, gives an interest-ing comparative study of 104 cases, and his account ofthe technique of the method and his conclusions areinstructive.

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SURGICAL NURSING.Fourth edition. By RUSSELL HOWARD, C.B.E.,M.S., F.R.C.S. London: Edward Arnold. 1920.

Pp. 320. 7s. 6d.THIS text-book, which has now reached its fourth

edition, contains information of great value from boththe theoretical and practical standpoints. Definitions ofterms are clear and lucid and chapters are convenientlydivided into paragraphs which follow each other inwell-ordered sequence. The author covers a wide fieldin surgical nursing. While the chapter on ophthalmicnursing is of little clinical value, and that on the treat-ment of fractures scarcely up to date, the directions fornasal feeding and the chapters relative to bandagingand the nursing of infants are of exceptional practicalvalue. Within the limits he has set himself, Mr.Howard also deals successfully with massage from thestandpoint of the trained nurse who is not a certificatedmasseuse.

The book is fully illustrated with photographs anddiagrams, and is completed by an adequate appendix.

JOURNALS.I Anglo-French Review. November, 1920.-The advancementof scientific medicine by the work of five Frenchmen duringthe past 50 years is the subject of a contribution by Dr.Leonard Williams to this issue. The five are ArmandTrousseau, who died in 1867, but without whom the otherscould not have been what they were-Trousseau, who foundmedicine in a condition of stagnation and left it a scientific,respected, and progressive profession; Philippe Ricord,whose labours in venereal disease remain one of the chiefglories of French medical science ; Claud Bernard, the greatphysiologist; Jean Martin Charcot, one of the creators ofmodern neurology; and Louis Pasteur.-Amongst otherarticles of interest Lord Robert Cecil states his convictionthat France stands to gain more than any other Europeancountry by the establishment of a League of Nations, despitethe widespread belief that reliance for security upon such aLeague must mean reliance upon illusion.-Mr. EdmundGosse, in "The Splendour of France," deals with thenatural and architectural beauties of the country in a veinperhaps more likely to foster that sacred egoism whichsometimes interferes with alliances and threatens theexistence of such journals as the Anglo-French Review. Itgoes without saying that this article has the grace andclearness associated with Mr. Gosse’s work.

St. ltTary’s Hospital Gazette. November, 1920.-Dr. GrahamLittle discusses the significance of the new site of theUniversity of London from the standpoint of the medicalschools situated outside the Bloomsbury district.-Dr. C. M.Wilson explains the clinical value in Graves’s disease of thetest for determination of the basal metabolic rate, describedby him in THE LANCET of Nov. 20th, and Mr. C. A. Pannettdescribes the methods of estimating the risk in proposedoperations upon the urinary tract.-Dr. W. H. Willcoxcontributes an appreciation of nearly 11 years’ service to themedical school of Sir John Broadbent, the retiring dean,and the latter announces that J63000 have been collected frommembers of the staff towards the Appeal Fund.-Amongother examination results it is recorded that 14 studentsfrom St. Mary’s Hospital passed the recent Primary Fellow-ship examination, and that the University gold medal forthe M.B., B.S. has been awarded to Mr. R. M. Handfield-Jones. Professor B. J. Collingwood will in future act withDr. C. M. Wilson, the new dean, as joint editor of theGazette.

Zeitschrift fitr die flesananate Neitrologie urad Psychiatrie.Redigiert von W. Spielmeyer, Miinchen. Berlin : Verlag vonJulius Springer, 1920. Band xxii., Hefte 1 and 2. Pp. 120.-This excellent periodical, one that would seem to beessential for all practical neurologists, contains an originalpaper on the Pathogenesis and Psychical Disturbances as aResult of Inoculation against Rabies, by Professor A.Westphal, of Bonn, and no less than 207 epitomes ofrecent researches on the anatomy, histology, normal andpathological physiology, psychology, general diagnosis andsymptomatology, and therapeutics of the nervous system,special neurology and psychiatry, and forensic psychiatryand cognate subjects. One is struck by the small number of" referate 11 toit contributions by English writers, the chiefreferences being to German, French, and Italian periodicals.