REVIEWS.

nection with these diseases are touched upon. One of these is the question whether pigs that have completely recovered from swine-fever may fur a time afterwards excrete the virus from their bowels, as is now known to be the case with some human beings who have suffered from typhoid. No definite answer can be given to this question at present, but experiments designed to furnish an answer are now in progress at the Board's laboratory. Under the heading of anthrax further evidence is given pointing to the conclusion that a large proportion of the outbreaks occurring m this country are ascrib­able to infection introduced from without, and not to soil infection persisting from a previous outbreak. Thus, out of a total of 305 confirmed outbreaks there were no fewer than 200 in which, after careful elimination of other causes, the evidence pointed to artificial feeding stuffs or manures as the source of infection.

Both reports are replete with matters of interest, and deserve careful con­sideration by veterinary surgeons who are concerned with the administration of the Contagious Diseases of Animals Acts.

Statistical and General Report of the Army Veterinary Service for 1906.

AN unavoidable delay having occurred in the issue of this report, the pre­paration of it has fallen to the new Director-General, Major-General F. Smith, although the facts on which it is based did not occur during his tenure of office. The report is cast on new lines, and it may without hesitation be said that the alterations in its form are decided improvements and add greatly to its interest as well as its value.

In that part of the report which deals with the army at home, the informa­tion is arranged under the heads of sickness and mortality, health statistics according to commands, health statistics according to branches of the service, health statistics according to age, and wastage. It is somewhat surprising to find that the death rate at home is very little less than that in India, and that the loss from death, destruction, and castings for disease is actually 2'6 per cent. higher at home than in India. The average number of anImals under treatment daily throughout the year was 1146, of which 41'81 per cent. were cases of wounds. In the opinion of the Director·General many of these are preventable, and it is also pointed out that 5~ per cent. constantly under treatment for diseases of the digestive organs is too high a proportion.

The report also contains information regarding the veterinary services in the South African command (reported by Lieutenant-Colonel Blenkinsop) and the army of occupation in Egypt (reported by Major G. M. Williams). The first of these reports contains much valuable information regarding the incidence of such diseases as horse-sickness, epizootic lymphangitis, piro­plasmosis, etc., in South Africa during the year 1906-07.

Essentials of Physiology for Veterinary Students. By D. Noel Paton, M.D., B.Sc., F.R.C.P.Ed., Professor of Physiology, University of Glasgow. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Edinburgh and London: William Green & Sons, 1908.

IN the new edition of this work the text shows few alterations, but it gives evidence of careful revision, and the illustrations have been considerably increased. The facts of general physiology are presented with admirable clearness, but, as a text-book for veterinary students, it still requires some amplification in the parts dealing with the special physiology of the domesticated animals.