researches on the heart and its functions. It is the purpose to publish a third volume this year which will contain Leonardo's papers on the organs of generation, and then to follow with the remainder of the hitherto unpublished Windsor papers. 'I'hc editions consist of 248 numbered copies; there will be no reprint. American libraries and bibliophiles should not neg¬ lect lo secure this great work, which is of signal impoli anee lu medical history and to a full understanding of one of the musí

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... ifted and remarkable men thai ever lived. The editors ate peculiarly well qualified for their difficult task--Vangensien is u philologist, Fiuiuhun a medical historian, and Hopstock un anatomist, Leonardo wrote from right lo left prob¬ ably booaUse lie was naturally left-handed, and the critical edit¬ ing of the manuscript consequently is associated with unusual difficulties which have been mastered in a brilliant manner according to the opinions of competent scholars in different countries. The translations appear to be highly successful, and the heliotyjies are beautiful. On many of the sheets the draw¬ ings take up but little space in comparison witli the text, but even the smallest sketch is reproduced with the most minute exactness so Hull there surely is no loss of clearness in comparison with the original: Front the technical point of view the publication reaches the top notch of the printer's art. X-Ray This book is based on a large experience in x-ray work in various institutions in Manchester. It is a record of personal work, and like all such statements from competent workers is interesting. As the authors intimate in their preface, the great difficulty with x-rays in medicine is that the work has as often as not been in the hands either of radiographers who knew no medicine or of physicians who knew precious little of x-rays, Bythell and Barclay are among the group\p=m-\may their tribe increase\p=m-\whoknow both, and they have furnished an excellent little book on diagnosis. The subject of x-ray examinations in its various anatomic localities has been excellently covered. At the end of each chapter there is a large collection of skiagrams with explanations illustrating the conditions which have just been considered in the text, and this is perhaps the best feature of the book. While the authors specifically disclaim any pretense of having offered an alias, the illustrations are so many and so well chosen that the work amounts almost to an atlas of diagnostic radiography. Little is said about technic or apparatus, so that the book is more valuable for the mature x-ray worker (han for the beginner. Only one, chapter 1-1 of its 145 pages -is devoted to .c-ray therapy, and this part of x-ray work is only sketched. The Milk Question. By M. J. Rosenau, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, Harvard Medical School. Cloth. Price, $2 net. Pp.309. with illustrations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912. This is a presentation of the N. W. Harris lectures for 1912, which were given by Prof. M. J. Rosenau, under the auspices of the Northwestern University. Why we have a milk question is fully explained in the first chapter. The author takes a sound attitude toward the exaggeration of the danger from milk, and his motto is "to enlighten, not to frighten." The presence of harmless as well as harmful bacteria is emphasized, since large numbers of harmless bacteria gain access to milk, so that nambers alone do not constitute danger. Special attention is given to pasteurization of milk, and although the author states that clean natural milk can never be replaced by treated milk, he admits that pasteurization has been forced on us and that clean, safe milk is at present problematic. In this connection he discusses the advantages and shortcomings of medical milk commissions and points out some disadvantages of the present system of inspecting dairies and recording the results on score cards. "Methods are much inure important lien equipment. Clean milk muy lie produced with clean nielli-oils und poor equipment, but good milk cannot bo produced With good equipment and poor methods." A -tiling plea is made for the eradication of tuberculosis among cattle. Tbc value of the tuberculin test is emphasized. Of special interest is the eighth chapter, which gives die "experience" of milk [rom farm to consumer) ¡nul shows the points where contamination may take place. Nevertheless, cer¬ tain statements seem rather radical. The value of the so-called germicida! action of fresh milk, which lasts but a few hours after milking, is probably of little practical value in reducing the bacterial content. This germicida] ¡ici ion prevents to Minu¬ it the multiplication of bacteria in lhe oistern. Also, it is disputed thai normal milk has "few or no leukocytes." Some authorities hold that the charring of cooked milk is due to lhe proteins in milk rather than lo the milk-sugar, us staled by lhe author. These ¡ire minor points, however. The keynote fur the solution of the milk problem is well expressed in the sentence. "To keep milk 'clean we need inspection; to render milk wife we need pasteurization-" This is an unusually useful book, containing, in addition to the material commonly found in laboratory guides, extensive tables of data which are likely to be useful to the laboratory worker. In laboratories where the exhaustive "Handbuch" of Abderhalden is not available, this small, compact work will be found of great use. There are, of course, in every laboratory special methods of technic devised and used with success, which will not be found described in this or any other book; but Pincussohn has made a good selection in most cases. We note with pleasure an occasional reference to the original description of a method, only to regret that such references are not more abundant. It often happens that, no matter how carefully the writer of a laboratory manual describes in abbreviated form a technical method, difficulty is found in making the method work. Then the worker needs to go to the more explicit descriptions available in the original articles for help out of his difficulties, and without any reference in his labo¬ ratory guide these ¡ire commonly difficult to locate. Hi our opinion the absence of satisfactory references is a serious deficiency in most laboratory guides, and the small amount of spine required for these could easily be spared. Die Puerperale Wundinfektion. In this monograph the author takes up the subject of puerperal infection seriatim and places under one cover a complete summary of our present knowledge regarding it. After several pages devoted to historical considerations, the significance of puerperal infection as a wound infection is taken up. Exogenous, endogenous and metastatic infection is included here as well as methods of bacteriologic examination for both aerobic and anaerobic organisms. The problem of bacterial virulence and of resistance to infection is intimately discussed. The pathologic conditions arising from the various forms of infection are briefly classified. This book is a practical one, laying special stress on diagnosis and treatment and less on pathology and etiology. This makes it rather more useful to the practitioner, perhaps, than to the student. While the book is the expression of a ripe experience, there are certain chapters that are especially elaborated because the author is particularly interested in that subject. Thus the chapter on "Pseudomasturbation" covers six pages and is admirable. The book will be useful to the practitioner who wants a small, inexpensive, but reliable book on diseases of children.