The book is clearly written, and is evidently the outcome of valuable experience. Those who believe in the necessity for the adoption of the American system of percentage feeding when a substitute food is required, will find increased support for their conviction, but there are many who do not admit that nature demands such exactitude, or even that the methods of the laboratory can without harm be practised upon the milk. To assist in the solution of the problem of infant feeding Dr. Vincent advocates a system of education, and the provision of a supply by the municipal authorities of milk more suited to the needs of infants. He would then even introduce severe punitive measures in cases of wilful neglect. The state of knowledge, however, which such a measure foreshadows seems to us so far off as to place it outside the need for present consideration, and moreover our own experience enforces the belief that the education process may with advantage include our own profession with the members of which the coroners are to act in co-operation.

"Doctors and Their Work; or, Medicine, Quackery and Disease." By R. BRUDENELL CARTER, F.R.C.S. 8vo., pp. 316. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1903. Price 6s. net.

We have read this book with great pleasure, and can give it our strongest recommendation. Mr. Brudenell Carter discusses in an admirable manner many of the problems of medical education and medical practice, and his remarks are evidently the result of ripe experience and sound judgment. We read in the preface: "It has been the aim of the writer, in the following pages, to bring about a better understanding of medical objects and methods than now commonly prevails, and to show patients in which way they may best co-operate with their physicians for the attainment of ends which both classes are bound to regard as of primary importance the relief of suffering and the prolongation of life." We consider that the author has accomplished his aim in a very satisfactory manner, and we believe that a careful reading of the book by medical men and others would help to remove much of the misunderstanding and to smooth away many of the difficulties of medical practice.

"Atlas of the External Diseases of the Eye." By Prof. O. HAAB. Authorised translation from the German. Second edition, revised. Edited by G. E. DE SCHWEINITZ. Pp. 232. London: W. B. Saunders and Co., 1903. Price 13s. net.

THE usefulness of this most handy atlas has been enhanced by the addition of eight chromo-lithographic plates representing the later stages of perforation of the cornea, keratoconus and anterior staphyloma, etc. The new plates are quite up to the high standard already attained by the old. The text has been revised, and some of the latest therapeutic measures are described.

Squint Occurring in Children." By EDGAR A. BROWNE, F.R.C.S.E., and EDGAR STEVENSON, M.D. Pp. 74. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1904. Price 2s. 6d. net.

THIS decidedly useful little book is written in an easy style, and is not loaded with statistics or measurements of any kind. The authors combat the idea that the condition is a muscular deformity, and therefore operation is practically not considered.

The two

The muscular balance of the globes is maintained by a due and adequate innervation, but in its early stage of development a small failure of the mechanism of perception may be quite sufficient to render an unusual position not only tolerable but comfortable. In this way it comes about that one macula does not fix, and is therefore not exercised and does not develop with its visual centre as does the other. ordinary theories are thus reconcilable and are each in a sense accurate according to the stage of the strabismus. The objects of treatment are (1) to arouse and stimulate the instinct for precise vision; (2) to arouse and cultivate the desire for binocular vision; (3) to lessen accommodative effort. Many simple and interesting methods of accomplishing these ends are adduced. One chapter of the appendix is devoted to bimanual drawing. There is a good index.

"A Manual of General Pathology for Students." By SIDNEY MARTIN, M.D., F.R.S., F.R.C.P. Pp. 502. London: John Murray,

1904. Price 15s. net.

THIS book attempts to give in a short space a clear account of the processes of disease, which it is necessary for the student to appreciate in order to follow the study of scientific medicine. The study of general pathology must go hand in hand with that of medicine and be preceded by practical work in morbid histology and anatomy and to some extent in bacteriology. Upon such a basis it is evident that the book is intended for students at a late period of their course when their views of pathology have been to some extent biassed and when, as a rule, they pin their faith to a reliable text-book on medicine. Their practical morbid anatomy and histology is to be memorised and upon such a storehouse of separate facts and details they are to draw for the illustrations of their general pathology. The process may suit some students, but, after all, is not medical education rather a training of mind and ripening of judgment? True, many facts must be imbibed, but why devour them before they can be assorted and pigeon-holed. Anatomy and physiology always go hand in hand and the study of the one helps the other. The views of the author apparently explain the peculiar arrangement of the book. Inflammation is followed by a chapter on changes in the body temperature in disease. Infection is next considered and then comes degeneration and regeneration of cells and tissues. Circulatory changes are next

described under the headings of effect of disease of the heart, effect of disease of the pericardium, effect of valvular lesions, and effect of arterial disease on the circulation. Then follow the changes in respiration in disease, changes in the blood in disease, hæmorrhage and pigmentation, the effects of disease of the liver, the effects of disease of the kidneys and of the ductless glands, changes in metabolism, and changes in the nervous system in disease. We do not see that the rearrangement presents any advantages, it rather suffers by comparison with some text-books on special pathology. But the book strikes one in quite another light. It forms a distinct advance in the conception of pathological teaching and is to be heartily welcomed as the herald of the amalgamation of what have been hitherto a somewhat separated branch, viz., chemical pathology and bacteriology with what has been previously called general pathology or rather general pathological anatomy. We cannot recommend it to students in its present form, but we do heartily commend it to the perusal of thoughtful men and to those whose policy shapes the course of university examinations. Naturally, by a writer like Professor Martin the subject matter is beyond criticism although in some places the space apportioned is slightly irregular. The figures are good, the diagrams exceedingly clear, the type is easy to read, but, if we may suggest an improvement, we would advise a lighter paper and binding for the next edition. At present the book is too heavy to hold conveniently.

A MONTHLY RECORD OF THE

Progress of Medical Science.

AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PHYSIOLOGY UP TO THE CAPTURE OF ALEXANDRIA BY THE SARACENS.

(An Address Introductory to the Course of Lectures on Physiology for the Session 1903-1904.)

By WILLIAM STIRLING, M.D., D.Sc., LL.D., Professor of Physiology and Histology in the Victoria University of Manchester; Dean of the Medical School.

"Whatever illustrates the progress of the human intellect, and the achievements of those who may have preceded us, is, at least a subject of legitimate curiosity to every man who desires to elevate his mind to the dignity of his actual condition."-E. Meryon, M.D.

It has often struck me as a great want in our system of medical education that in none of the English or Scottish Universities is there even a Lectureship on the History of Medicine. To-day I wish to enter a plea for the foundation of such a lectureship in the University of Manchester. From an historical survey of the past we can deduce instruction for the future. It has always been regarded as a duty to record the names and preserve the memories of those whose achievements in any walk of life have conferred benefits on society. More especially should this be the case in medicine. It is always a pleasant thing to study the career of those who have made the profession of medicine what it is—a high and noble calling. To-day some of you are entering for the first time on the real study of medicine. Up to the present most of you have acquired a knowledge of these sciences on which the study of physiology is founded. How, then, can I set forth to you the dignity and nobility of that calling which you have elected to follow as your life's work? Let me do so, not in my own words, but in the words of a gifted orator of the church. "Of

B

all earthly employments, it appears to me that the physician's is the noblest, and that of all the arts the healing art is the highest and offers to genius and benevolence their noblest fields. Casting no disparagement on the brave and gallant spirits who have guarded a country's shores, and some of them, falling in the ranks of battle, have offered most illustrious examples of soldiers, true both to an earthly crown and a Saviour's Cross-yet we know that the aim of a warrior is ingeniously to invent, and his business effectively to use, instruments of destruction. His greatest achievements are wrought where deadly wounds are suffered; his proudest triumphs are won where burning cities blaze over bloodstained hearths; and horrible to think of! where fields are fattened with human gore; his laurels are watered with tears; his course, like the hurricane, is marked by destruction, and it is his unhappy lot-perhaps the unhappiest view of arms as a profession—that he cannot conquer foes but at the sacrifice of friends. Now, in the eye of reason, and of a humanity that weeps over a suffering world, his is the nobler vocation-and, if not more honoured, the more honourable calling-who sheds blood, not to kill, but to cure; who wounds not that the wounded may die, but live; and whose genius ransacks earth and ocean in search of means to save life, to remove deformity, to repair decay, to invigorate failing powers, and to restore the rose of health to pallid cheeks. His aim is not to inflict pain, but relieve it; not to destroy a father, but, standing between him and death, to save his trembling wife from widowhood, and little children from an orphan's lot." Such is the work of an ideal physician and surgeon. From the Hippocratic writings we may gather counsel for to-day. Hippocrates tells us how the youths were trained for the practice of the mysteries of the healing art. Regarding the preparation of the neophyte he tells us, Whoever is to obtain a competent knowledge of medicine ought to possess the following advantages:-A natural disposition, instruction, a favourable position for study, early tuition, love of labour, leisure." This is equally true of the present-day neophyte of the healing art.

As to the method of reaching the goal, may I cull a story from the History of Alexandria in the brilliant period when Euclid was the head of its mathematical school. Ptolemy Soter is said to