July 7, 1917. THE HOSPITAL 275

THE INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARY. The Causes of Tuberculosis. By Louis Cobbett, Elements of Hygiene and . By M.D., F.R.C.S., University Lecturer in Charles Porter, M.D., B.Sc., M.E.G.P. , Cambridge. (Cambridge University (Edin.), of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at- Press. 1917. Demy 8vo, pp. xiii + 707, Law; Medical Officer of Health, Metropolitan with 23 Plates.) Borough of St. Marylebone. (London: Henry Frowde and Hodder and 1917. A better title for this book would have been Stoughton. The Comparative Bacteriology of Tuberculosis." 12s. 6d. net.) On that subject it gives the student of tuberculosis Dr. Charles Porter's book, although he de- the last wofd from the and is far and scribes it as a textbook 'for students and laboratory, " " practitioners away the best text-book in the language. In other of , is a handbook rather than a text- departments, although of course reaching a good book. It is not, and it does not profess to be, a standard of there is visible a textbook of for candidates for a in performance, falling hygiene' diploma off. More or less second-hand sources are quoted State medicine. It is intended, and is admirably too often in treating of demography and epi- fitted, to supply the medical man with a general demiology. Particularly does the author's inevit- survey of the work of the medical officer of health able lack of clinical handicap him. He in his relationship to the > It is "knowledge general practitioner. states that there is absolutely no reason to think devoid of formulae and statistical detail. It is that it [tuberculosis] is correlated with any other eminently hrief in description, and is in a sufficient Weakness," and quotes a provincial medical officer degree simple in matter and language to appeal to of health's remark that it is absurd, because half a large circle of non-medical readers?to the sanitary the Sheffield grinders die from tuberculosis of the inspector, the health visitor, and the infant-welfare lungs, to say that half the Sheffield grinders are worker, and it should find a place upon the library therefore weaklings, adding that he himself has been shelves of every nurse-training school. A fairly greatly struck by the fact that among friends and full index makes it a work of ready reference. acquaintances attacked by the disease many were That, within the 384 octavo pages of such a book, physically considerably above the average. Thus the treatment of such subjects as meteorology, do the sanitarian and the pathologist, the one from tropical diseases, and vital statistics should be frag- observation of a peculiarly predisposed class, the mentary and introductory is only to be expected; other from the narrow circle of a single personal room is, however, found to give an outline of them, acquaintance, speak without the book of a complete as also brief references to public health administra- knowledge of tubercle. Is not congenital heart tion and school hygiene. Forty-five pages are disease a "weakness," and is not its association devoted to the removal and disposal of refuse and with phthisis a commonplace of the text-books ? Or waste, including sewage, and within this section are ?Mongolian idiocy, 93 per cent, of the subjects of thirty-seven, of the ninety-eight illustrations which under conditions at Earlswood, the book contains. The illustrations are which, Jiving good " generally die from tuberculosis ? Or while the from fresh the common lunacy, high drawings, fairly practice'' death-rate from of lunatics is notorious? of showing pictures appearing in other publications phthisis" Or alcoholism, which fait le lit de la tuber- having been avoided; although we would suggest " culose ? Or a condition of underweight, which that it is unnecessary to give a figure of so familiar Parkes Weber and Kirkness, and indeed every an article as a dummy teat, the illustrations are'upon medical o,fficer to a life insurance company, describe the whole good and their subjects unconventional as predisposing.to phthisis? This statement is an and well chosen. One or two carelessly worded error, which should be removed from the in the book will no doubt he revised in later egregious passages " n?xt edition. By far the greater part of the work editions. The vague statement that a quantity of treats of however. Much's cream should always, if possible, be added to the "bacteriology, " granules " and the Splitter forms are not mentioned, but feeds of a bottle-fed baby is amplified in the model as^ an account of the great amount of work done in infant-feeding leaflet in the appendix. The objec- this country, largely as a result of the appointment tion to the attempt to use permanganate of ?f a of the Commission on Tuberculosis, it is very as means of domestic purification Royal potassium '' valuable. Although a text-book, it is far from drinking-water is not only that few persons really being dogmatic, and in fact teems with actuality. care to risk adding such materials to the water "; Calmette's results in obtaining pulmonary anthra- its inefficacy make? it a delusion and a snare. We cosis by mean of with Indian ink, etc., are believe that electric-lamp filaments are never made feeding " with the assertion that untreated con- of In connection with occupational " simple "platinum." trols show the same condition. The it is ear affections it cannot be accepted that.'' munition author, " " clear, does not regard experiment as a fetish. The workers commonly suffer from the sharp, pene- "! Scotch work as to the alleged excessive occurrence trating reports of'smaller guns of bovine tuberculosis in Edinburgh is effectively Dr. Charies Porter has found room for a mass his book we meet dealt with also. The book is very well printed, of useful material, and will, trust, considering the times; the author's preface not with the wide demand and the high estimation short, but good; the editors', short but pleonastic. which it well deserves. 27G THE HOSPITAL July 7, 1917.-

Painless Childbirth. By Marguerite.Tracts? and Mary large portion of the book should be devoted to the medical Boyd. (London: W. Heinemann. 1917. Price and surgical aspect of the war, especially in connection 7s. 6d. net.) with the of wounds of the abdomen, the spinal This is a book by two American women which repeats cord, and the jaw, but no department of medicine or in substance the errors and the of the book on prejudices surgery is A useful section of the book " " neglected. very Twilight Sleep published two or three years ago by is that dealing with public health, with subsections on Hannah Rion. If a shade less hysterical in tone than forensic medicine, State medicine, industrial diseases, the latter book, it is equally inspired by hatred and toxicology, and the school medical service. In this last an contempt of the medical profession, and gives equally section we find that it is considered desirable that sani- account of the atti- garbled and untrustworthy present tary authorities should have the power not only of cleansing tude 6i medical opinion towards the use of chloroform, verminous school children, but also of cleansing the other ether, scopolamine, morphine, and other anaesthetics in inmates of vermin-infected houses, for otherwise the childbirth. Like Mrs. Rion, these authors seek to children will immediately become reinfected. There is to their bring conviction readers by reproducing photo- certainly much to be said for this extension of the powers graphs of children who were born to. mothers under the of the sanitary authorities, but it is not difficult to see influence of It would be as valid scopolamine-morphine. that such powers might run the risk of being sometimes to publish the photographs of Caesarean babies as proof abused. There is an interesting chapter on recent inven- that all children should be similarly delivered. The tions, and on new drugs and pharmaceutical products; book is a tissue of muddled whole reasoning, misstate- and, lastly, there is a list of the chief ^medical works and and errors of the It is cal- ments, grossest description. new editions published during the past year. We think culated to do a great deal of harm should it ever attain much credit is due to the editor and publishers of this any wide sale amongst the public. work, considering the difficulties they must have How to Become a Dispenser: the New Profession encountered in obtaining contributions at a time when the for Women. By Emily L. B. Forster, Member of medical profession is overworked. the of late Lecturer to Society Chemical Industry, Poems of Purpose- By Ella Wheeler Wilcox. the Westminster College of . (London : (London : Gay and Hancock, Ltd. Price Is. 3d.) T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd. Pp. 99. Price 2s. 6d. net.) Mrs. Wilcox, like Martin Tupper, offers to criticism One of the more recent professions to be opened to the curious question why "the most widely read poet of " women is dispensing, and the success which those the day should be destitute of music, originality, and. who have entered it have achieved has created no small beauty. Of a new poet we expect novelty of form, and demand for women dispensers; and many public institu- originality of substance. Mrs. Wilcox's admirers would tions have availed themselves of their services. The -work not claim that ehe has added anything to poetic form. of a dispenser requires care and skill rather than strength, Her volumes are unanimous in declaring that she has and therefore it is work especially suitable for women. no new vision to give us. What is there then in her This little book should serve as a useful guide to those amiable commonplaces which makes her books run from who wish to enter the dispensing profession. It describes edition to edition ? What is the reason for this popularity ? the different qualifications which may be obtained, the The question itself is the answer. Popularity is not based training that is needed, and it discusses the openings on reason. It is the manifestation of a mood, and it is which may be expected to be available for the qualified among the mass that commonplaces have their currency. woman dispenser. The war has increased the demand for Mts. Wilcox has only to say "There are bo many little " women dispensers as so many men have* been called up, things to make life beautiful for the public to purchase and although for the higher qualifications a prolonged her books by the score. What other poetry, one wonders, training is necessary, it is possible for the student to do her admirers read ? We suspect no other, for those obtain the Apothecaries' Hall " Assistants' Certificate " who were ravished with rag-time were not acquainted with " " after only some six months' work and without the passing the syncopated rhythms of Beethoven's third Leonora overture. The measure of her is the measure of any examination in general knowledge, and this opens popularity of of other and who the profession to many women who cannot spare the time the public's ignorance poeta ; anyone the of the smaller and money required for the higher qualifications. A great turns pages Harmsworth papers, the responsibility, however, rests on the dispenser, for the papers which really pay, the women's papers, will find in life of the patients depends on her care, and therefore prose the sentiments which Mrs. Wilcox sets to rhyme so dispensing, like all other responsible work, should not be industriously. The use of such big words as "ideals," lightly undertaken. "chivalry," "high principles," without any indication of their is The Medical Annual: a Year-Book of Treatment meaning, always popular, and Mrs. Wilcox knows how to run them into The and Practitioner's Index, 1917. (Bristol : John rhyme. process is much for a definition is a but Wright and Sons, Ltd. London : Simpkin, Marshall, liked, challenge, repeti- Kent and Ltd. 668. tion soothes the feelings by the to Hamilton, Co., Pp. Price 10s. sending' imagination net.) sleep. E. This is the thirty-fifth annual volume of this ever- The Patriot's Birthday Book. Compiled by C. Thomas. useful publication, and in every way it fully reaches the (London: T. Murby and Co. 1916. high level which the medical profession has learned to Price Is. net.) expect from it. The production of a work such as this, The publishers of this book announce that they consider " so authoritative and so well provided with illustrations, it well suited for the preservation by nurses of auto- of We are sure would not be possible were it not that the book has a graphs military patients." not quite that such a if it is one very large circulation. It contains numberless articles on practice, exists, to be much all the medical discoveries and inventions of the past encouraged; and we believe that the title of this par- ticular and the extracts from year, and these accounts have been written by those birthday book, the speeches of various which adorn will be un- and surgeons who have special of politicians it, equally knowledge congenial to anyone who cares for Britain and the with is a really the subjects which they deal. It natural that Allied cause.