diseases of joints and dislocations follow. There is an interesting chapter on the surgery of the nerves. We find no mention of congenital dislocation of the hip, or of ischaemic paralysis of the forearm. Book III., Regional Surgery, opens with a good account of diseases and injuries of the head. Affections of the spine, respiratory organs, and neck are accorded rather superficial notice, and this comment applies also to the account of affections of the mouth and tongue. Enough stress is not laid on the significance of pre-cancerous conditions of the tongue; while the difficulties. of diagnosis between the more severe ulcers of this organ are not impressed on the reader with the insistence that their frequency warrants. There are no illustrations of these

lesions.

Affections of the abdomen are described at some length. The chapter on the surgery of the genito-urinary tract is satisfactory exception might be taken to the statement that congenital cystic kidneys are never "diagnosticated during life, as they produce no distinctive symptoms."

The section upon Operative Surgery has a good account of the principles of antisepsis and methods of preparation of the skin, instruments, and appliances for an operation. Anæsthesia receives adequate attention. There are a number of very useful anatomical plates illustrating the surgery of the arteries. Short chapters on minor surgery and bandaging, X-rays in surgery, and on military, naval, and tropical surgery complete the work.

From what we gather by carefully going through this book, we can understand its wide popularity and welldeserved reputation. Compiled by distinguished surgeons under the able co-editorship of Drs. Keen and White, its contents have an assured worth. It covers an immense range of its subject, and touches on all of the most modern in surgery. But it has the faults of the time: it touches on the subject in a discursive way rather than attempting to present it exhaustively. If the object of a text-book is to present the subject in such a way as to teach it to the student, then this is not a text-book. It assumes-in many chapters, at least—a certain familiarity of the subject to the reader, and to such it. cannot but serve as a most valuable epitome of modern surgery. The book appears bound in two handsome volumes. The publishers are to be congratulated on the excellence of the paper, print, and illustrations. We suggest that in the next edition a note that Volume II. begins on page 625 should be printed at the head of each page of the index.

Medical Laboratory Methods and Tests. By HERBERT FRENCH, M.A., M.D. (Oxon.), M.R.C.P. (Lond.), Medical Registrar, Guy's Hospital; Gillson Scholar, Society of Apothecaries of London; Radcliffe Travelling Fellow, Oxford University. 152 pages, with 72 illustrations. London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox. Price 3s. 6d. net. THE author states in the preface that the book is intended to be a small hand-book for the medical laboratory, and we venture to think that it will prove of distinct value both to the student of medicine and to the practitioner. It is a very practical little book, clearly written, and giving a large amount of information. It does not enter into an examination of the patients, but describes in detail the more common methods of examining the fluids and other substances obtained from them, pointing out the various fallacies to which each test is liable. The first chapter is devoted to the examination of the urine, and in it are described its general characteristics, the urinary deposits, the tests for the substances in solution, and the methods of estimating the amount of its various constituents. In Chapter II. a good description is given of the methods of examining the blood, with the composition of the different fluids and staining reagents in common use. There is also a short account of the serum reaction for typhoid fever. Chapter III. deals with the naked-eye and microscopical characters of the sputum, the importance of the various appearances being clearly indicated. The methods of the examination of pus are described in Chapter IV., and a short account is given of the chief pathogenic organisms. Chapter V. is perhaps the best in the book, and contains the chemical and microscopical examinations of the gastric contents, with a short description of the different test meals. The next chapter is concerned with the examination of the fæces, and contains a description of the parasites which are found therein. The following two chapters are reserved for the microscopical examinations in the affections of the skin, for the examination of serous exudations, cerebro-spinal and cystic fluids. The last chapter contains a short account of the tests for the more common poisons. This little book is profusely illustrated with drawings, which add greatly to its value, but it is in reference to these that we make our only adverse criticism, for we consider that some of the drawings are too rough, and, in consequence, do not give quite an accurate picture of the objects they are intended to represent. This small blemish, however, is quite outweighed by the merits of this excellent little volume. "Medical Laboratory Methods and Tests" seems to meet a need which has long been felt for a small hand-book on this important branch of clinical diagnosis.

Manual of Operative Surgery. By H. J. WARING, M.S., M.B., B.Sc., F.R.C.S. Second edition, pp. 645; 472 figures. Published by Young J. Pentland.

THIS is one of the best of the excellent series of students' manuals. It is familiar to us as the text-book in use at "Bart's" in the course of operative surgery for the F.R.C.S. and M.S. examinations, for which it contains quite enough. The arrangement of the book is such as is the most convenient for this purpose, dealing with operations on the trunk first and then taking in order the neck, mouth, head, and spinal column, nose, and ear, before treating with operations on the limbs. But there is much besides the work of the operative surgery class: there are useful sections on Ophthalmic operations, and on plastic surgery, the treatment of strangulated hernia, retention of urine, etc., which raise the book from a mere class manual to the level of a reliable hand-book for the use of practitioners engaged either in general or hospital work. The indications for the various operations are given briefly before the description of the performance of the operations, and a very useful account is given of the practical and every-day methods of attaining asepsis in the preparation for and conduct of an operation, in the preliminary chapters of the book. Some of the illustrations are too small. Fig. 338 is not a good one, and the line of the incision in Fig. 344 is too oblique. No mention is made of the use of Wyeth's pins for use with the tourniquet in amputation through the hip and shoulder joints. But the object of the author to be as practical and concise as possible makes it necessary to use small figures and to omit descriptions of all the varieties of the same operation. As to the value of the manual, we have no hesitation in stating that it is the best text-book, within its scope, in its subject, and we readily recognise the success which Mr. Waring has obtained with this book. We have much pleasure in recommending it to students and practitioners.

The Medical Annual: A Year Book of Treatment and Practitioner's Index, 1904. Twenty-second year. Pages, 999. Bristol: John Wright and Co.

THIS issue of Messrs. Wright's well-known publication fully maintains the reputation gained by previous volumes. The range of subjects dealt with is wide and fully up to date. There is no doubt that, for the busy practitioner whose time for reading is limited, the Medical Annual is a most valuable publication.

Manual of Surgery. By THOMPSON and MILES. Vol. II. Young J. Pentland. Vol. I., pages 763; Vol. II., pages 723; illustrations, 418.

It was our pleasure some few months ago to speak very favourably of the first volume of this work. We are equally impressed by the second volume, which is now before us, and which makes a fitting companion to the first.

Much of the unpleasant grind of reading may be saved by the student who takes a work such as this for his text-book, for the easy fluency with which it is written will cause its rapid absorption by the brain of even the dullest.

Vol. II. deals with regional surgery, general surgery having been disposed of in Vol. I. Though the two together are by no means ponderous, it will be found on careful persual that the authors have not omitted anything important. On the contrary, the work is brought well up to date, and careful note appears to have been taken of all the more important recent literature of surgery. Each chapter commences with a short synopsis of the matter to be dealt with, and a brief and clear description of the anatomy and methods of examination by which the clinical signs and diagrams are elucidated. As before stated, both letterpress and illustrations are exceedingly good.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

From Young J. Pentland

Edinburgh Medical Journal. Vol. XV.

From John Wright and Co.

Diseases of Metabolism and Nutrition. VAN NORDEN.
From Félix Alcan-

Le Ventre; Etude Anatomique et Clinique de la Cavité
Abdominal. No. I. LE REIN par M. BOURCART.

From The Scientific Press Limited

How to become a Certified Midwife. DR. APPEL.

From Baillière, Tindall and Co.

Cleft Palate and Hare Lip. EDMUND OWEN, F.R.C.S. (Medical Monograph Library.)

Adenoids. WYATT WINGRAVE, M.D. (Medical Monograph

Series.)

From Smith, Elder and Co.

Index of Symptoms, R. W. LEFTWICH, M.D.

From J. and A. Churchill

The Development and Anatomy of the Prostate Gland.
W. G. RICHARDSON, F.R.C.S.

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR THE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.

The undermentioned gentlemen were successful at the recent examination in London for Commissions in the R.A.M.C., and for which 49 candidates entered :—

William Byam, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Charles Ryley, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London, D.P.H.London; Harry Theodore Wilson, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Lionel Victor Thurston, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Walter Hyde Hills, M.B., B.C., and B.A.Cantab.; Patrick Dwyer, M.B., B.Ch., R.U.Ireland; Philip Claude Tresilian Davy, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London, M.B.London; John Forbes Cook Mackenzie, M.B., B.S.Melbourne; Arthur William Gater, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; George Alfred Duncan Harvey, L.R.C.P. and S.Ireland; Harold Charles Winckworth, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London, L.D.S.Eng.; James Campbell, M.B., B.Ch., R.U.Ireland; Richard Collis Hallowes, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O.Dublin, B.A.Dublin Harry William Russell, M.B. B.Ch.Victoria; George Richard Painton, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C P. London; Meurice Sinclair, M.B., B.Ch. Edin; Evelyn John Hanaler Luxmore, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Kenneth Alan Crawford Doig, M.R.C.Š.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Herbert Owen Marsh Beadnell, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Herbert St. Maur Carter, M.D., M.B., B.Ch.Dublin, B.A. Dublin; Robert Harry Lucas Cordner, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P. London; John Patrick Lynch, L.R.C.P. and S.Ireland; Alastair Norman Fraser, M.B., B.Ch.Edin.; Nelson Low, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Percy Arnold Jones, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London, B.A.Cantab.; Cecil Roy Millar, L.R.C.P. and S.Ireland; Augustine Thomas Frost, M.B., B.Ch., R.U.I.; George Herbert Richard, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London; Harry Christopher Sidgwick, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.London, M.B., and B.A.Cantab.; John St. Aubyn Maughan, L.R.C.P. and S.Edin., L.F.P. and S.Glasgow.