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the sections relating to communicable diseases andtheir prevention, including a useful summary ofmodern work on the phenomena of immunity,while those on food adulteration have been revised.The edition deserves, and is certain to receive, fullyas much favour as its forerunners.

Die Chirurgie der l3lutefdsse und des Herzens.Von Dr. ERNST JEGER. Mit 231 Abbildungen im Text,Berlin: August Hirschwald. 1913. Pp. 331. Price9 marks.

ONE of the most striking advances in surgeryduring the last few years has been in the surgeryof the vascular system, and several works have

already appeared devoted to the consideration ofthe surgery of the heart and of the blood-vessels.In this book the author deals with both branches

of the subject, which is fully considered, both fromthe experimental side and from the point of view ofits application to practical medicine. Although thepractice of suturing vessels is still young, we haveadvanced sufficiently far to learn some of theessentials of operations on vessels, and rapidprogress is still being made. The book contains anaccount of most of the experimental work that hasbeen done, especially in the transplantation ofviscera. The chapter on experimental heart surgeryis especially interesting. The dedication to Dr.Alexis Carrel recognises his work as a pioneer inthis branch of surgery.

Das Wechselstrombad.

By Professor A. STRUBELL. Dresden : Theodor Steinkopf.1913. Pp. 210. Price 7 marks ; bound, 8 marks.

THIS monograph on the Hydro-electric Bath pro-ceeds from the Institute of Physical Diagnosis andTherapy of Diseases of the Heart at Dresden. Itis a good example of the thoroughness and scientificaccuracy of the German school of electrothera-

peutics. There are 400 cases, carefully tabulatedwith observations of the pulse frequency, the bloodpressure, and in many cases the electrocardiogram,taken at intervals of five minutes, before, during,and after the bath. The hydro-electric bath withsinusoidal current has been found useful in a

variety of diseases, in neurasthenia, goitre, andarteriosclerosis, as well as in myocarditis andvalvular disease of the heart. In addition to theaccount of the author’s own work the book containsa long chapter on the history of the hydro-electricbath and sections on the theory and indications forthe treatment, as well as a practical chapter on theinstallation of apparatus. It is illustrated withnumerous electrocardiograms, and will be for a

long time an authoritative work on this subject.

LIBRARY TABLE.

.MtM<s tn ll2stress : a tscfzocozcat !:it’/.lClY oithe Masculine and Feryainine lLTind in Healthand in Disorder. By A. E. BRIDGER, B.A.,B.Sc. Paris, M.D. Lond., F.R.S. Edin. London:Methuen and Co., Limited. 1913. Pp. 181.Price 2s. 6d. net.-This is a somewhat difficultbook to classify. Though written by a medicalman and treating of diseased conditions which,however obscure in their nature, are more or

less clearly recognised as nosological entities,the volume makes a clean sweep of the current

conceptions and the customary phraseology of

medicine, and on the tabula rasa so prepared setsout a new view of functional nervous disorders.

The attempt must strike the reader as ratheraudacious, and in spite of the admiration whichwill certainly be felt for the author’s courage andfor the energy and enthusiasm which he has broughtto this difficult task, it can hardly be said that theresult is altogether happy. Dr. Bridger prefaces histhesis by laying down two principles which hedescribes as " of universal acceptance, free of specu-lative theory, and reducible to the simplest terms."One of these principles is that mental comfort

depends on a " state of balance between twomain factors in the mind, one factor beingwhat he terms common sense, meaning therebythe accumulated experiences of the individualblended with the accepted opinions of his milieu,while the other factor is made up of thenew impressions from all sources which are

presented to the common sense as to a standard.A failure in the balancing of these two factors willgive rise to mental distress, varying in its mani-festations according to the type of the sufferer’smental organisation. And here we come to theauthor’s second main postulate-viz., the existenceof two main types of mind: the masculine, charac-terised by the predominance of the reasoning, andthe feminine, characterised by the predominance ofthe instinctive faculties. Loss of balance in themasculine type of mind constitutes, in the author’sview, the essence of neurasthenia, which he acceptsas synonymous with

"

hypochondria, psychasthenia,nervous breakdown, or depression," while on theother hand hysteria in all its manifestations trans-lates loss of balance in the feminine type of mind.If Nature would accommodate herself to schematicdivisions this extremely simple view of normal andmorbid psychology would perhaps serve some

practical end in classification, and its not over-subtle speculation might then be provisionallyadmitted; but in actual clinical experience it is tobe feared that the facts are more complex and moreobscure than they appear to Dr. Bridger’s philo-sophy. Interesting, therefore, and suggestive as

many of his remarks undoubtedly are, his views asa whole are hardly convincing.

Resucscitation from Electric Shock, TraumaticShock, Drowning, Asphyxiation from any Cause.By CHARLES A. LAUFFER, A.M., M.D. New York:John Wiley and Sons. 1913. Pp. 47. Price 2s.net.-This is a small volume relating to the use ofthe prone pressure (Schaefer) method of artificial

respiration for the relief of asphyxiation from anycause, and is intended for the use of those engagedin dangerous occupations as well as for the publicas a whole. As the author rightly points out, welive in the midst of dangers undreamt of by ourforefathers, and every new development for the

good of humanity brings its own risks and dangerswith it. Consequently it is more than ever

necessary that every active member of the com-munity should have some idea as to the properway to restore those rendered unconscious or

apparently dead from accident. The method ishere clearly described, so that it can be easilyunderstood by anyone of average intelligence, andthere is no doubt that a more general disseminationof this knowledge would be for the good of thepublic.

Dictionary of German and English und Englishand German. By MAx BELLOWS. Proofs revisedby CLARENCE SHERWOOD, Ph.D. Berlin, and WILHELMJOHANN EGGERS, M.A. Lond. London: Longmans,Green, and Co.; Brunswick and Berlin: GeorgeWestermann ; Vienna : Rudolf Lechner und Sohn;

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New York and Chicago: Henry Holt and Co. I1912. Pp. 806. Price, cloth, 6s. net.-This work thas been arranged on similar lines to the late a

Mr. John Bellows’s "French and English Pocket o

Dictionary." His son, Mr. Max Bellows, the com- n

piler of the present dictionary, hopes that a pocket f,edition may one day be published. The work is a

prefaced by general rules of grammar and tables tof verbs, and tabular comparisons between the metric and British systems of weights and measures. tThese we have tested in many instances, and have i

found no errors (excluding, of course, the altera- ttions made in the standards by the English Board s

of Trade and the United States Board of Stan- c

dards). The author says that he has endeavoured c

to bring the subject matter thoroughly up to date. (It certainly contains words for "Women’s Suffrage," I"Manhood Suffrage," and "Home Rule." The

dictionary contains a foot-note at the bottom of c

each page to state that " words common to both l

languages are given in the German division only." i

We do not see the word "Conservative" in the i

English portion, although it is to be found aunder

" Konservativ " in the German portion. A

German scholar would of course know where to look for it, but perhaps not another. We do not see the German equivalent for "Cinematographe," : &iacute;

which, according to Langenscheidt’s new Taschen- Worterbuch, appears to be "Kinematograph," but 1

picture palaces are advertised in German news-

papers as kino-theaters. We observe that "M.R.C.S." and "F.R.C.S." are both translated as "Mitglied des koniglichen Instituts fiir Chirurgie," but we do not see "L.R.C.P." or "L.S.A." In anotheredition the word "Referat," meaning "report" or ;"discourse," which is now so frequently used, might be included in both sections. But too much cannotbe expected of a dictionary of this compass, whichcontains a large amount of information on manyterms. Such, for instance, is voyal or Kabelar, anautical term, not found in some other dictionarieseither small or large. The work has evidently beenprepared with care, and is well printed in clear andneat type. It is a most useful addition to the libraryof the English or German scholar.

MISCELLANEOUS VOLUMES.

IN fiction and poetry a few books call formention. The " pathological novel " is still inevidence. One of the latest of such publicationsis Tantalu8 (London: T. Werner Laurie. Pp. 260.Price 6s.), by the author of "The Adventures ofJohn Johns." It is not a pleasant book, being amore or less accurate picture of the developmentof the neurasthenic condition in an exceedinglyobjectionable egoist. Medical men do not needsuch pictures in their fiction-they come acrossthem only too frequently in their professionalreading and in actual life-while they cannot bepleasant or profitable to the ordinary lay reader.According to

" A. de 0.," one Richard Carstairs was

a noted Queen Anne-street physician-or rathergeneral practitioner and hospital surgeon andobstetrician, for he appears to have undertaken allsorts of cases-who, being an excellent raconteur,was dared by some friends at a dinner party towrite a book of stories, his capacity for writingstories as well as he could tell them beingchallenged. He began to do so, but died before hehad more than put together the notes thereof, whichhe entrusted to " A. de 0.," who thereupon put themtogether and published them under the title of the

rndiscretions of Dr. Carstairs (London : WilliamFIeinemalin. 1913. Pp. 318. Price 6s.). The storiesare for the most part pathological, either of mind)r body, or both. We quite fail to see the useful-iess for public reading of any such passage as the’ollowing : " Directly I had cut through the musclesand opened the peritoneal cavity it was onlytoo clear that my worst fears were realised.rhe liver was studded with small grey nodules,the pancreas was hard and irregular in outline,tiodules of hard, dense tissue were abundant

throughout the intestine." The proper place forsuch a passage is a Students’ Aid to Pathology, notquasi-fiction&mdash;for we doubt if all the stories areentirely imaginary. The Indiscretions of Dr.Carstairs’s Patients would seem to be a more appro-priate title for the book. Perhaps the best of thestories, and the one to which least, if any, objectioncan be taken, is Adrift; but even that is marredby the introduction of prominent personages-notably Mr. Gladstone. What is narrated here, if it isnot a fact is an outrage, and if it is a fact, is indeedan indiscretion of Dr. Carstairs-or " A. de O."-Dr.

"

OsTON," whose stories of "

Queer Patients "

we noticed in our issue of Oct. 7th, 1911, has nowproduced in Born in Blinhers (London : Murrayand Evenden. 1913. Pp. 351) a plain, honest storyof plain, honest people, chiefly dealing with Edin-burgh University and the fortunes of threestudents thereof. The ending is conventional and

happy.-An intelligent story for those wholove an old-time flavour is Idonia: a Romance ofOld London, by ARTHUR F. WALLIS (London :Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., Limited. 1913.

Pp. 317. Price 6s.). It aims at the "

spaciousness "

of the Elizabethan age : we have high adventure byland and sea, a venturesome, none too tactful

youth, and a maid who retains her charm in anenvironment of crime. The story ends in the

peace of a reunited family. The manner inwhich the author consistently maintains throughoutthe Elizabethan diction-for the story is told in thefirst person-shows genuine literary skill.The present era is hardly tolerant of the senti-

mental, but as an exemplar of the ideal of romanticlove, Goethe’s Hermann and Dorothea remains con-spicuous, in Germany, at any rate. Captain VIVIANBRANDON evidently was engaged in a labour of lovein his translation thereof (London: T. Werner

Laurie, Limited. Pp. 95. Price 3s. 6d. net.) intododecasyllabics, the form of verse considered byhim the nearest convenient English equivalentof the original German hexameters. A continuedpoem in either hexameters or dodecasyllabicsbecomes generally monotonous in the uniformity ofits rhythm, though in Latin (and in English asSwinburne handled it) a skilful use of the c&aelig;sura

greatly mitigates this defect. Captain Brandon’sversification is flowing and smooth, largely due tohis grasp of English, and he uses a preponderance ofone-syllabled words. The writing of it lightened thetedium of his recent "enforced leisure " in theGerman fortress of Wesel. The reading of it mayalso lighten the enforced leisure of many a bed-ridden patient.The value of golf as a hygienic pastime, especially

to persons of middle age, combining as it does the

advantages of an outdoor life, much walking, and nottoo violent exercise involving the body as a whole,justifies a reference here to two recent books on thesubject. EDWARD RAY, open champion 1912, in InlandGolf (London: T. Werner Laurie, Limited. 1913.Pp. 234. Price 5s. net.) discusses the game from the