LIBRARY TABLE

1902 The Lancet  
manual of reference in routine pathological work and have seldom found it wanting in at least a short account of the lesion under consideration. If, indeed, we were asked to name the distinguishing feature of this book we should ' , , unhesitatingly mention its admirable perspective. We have had occasion to review in these columns more than one work of similar aims in which too much had been attempted and in which the concise and lucid treatment required by the modern student of medicine in a
more » ... eful text-book was conspicuously absent. Here this is not so and we can recommend the volume most heartily to students and practitioners as a first-rate guide to modern pathology. Our review would be incomplete without reference to the figures which so profusely illustrate the subject-matter. These include 13 full-page plates and no less than 453 illustrations in the text; a good many are in colours. They are clear and artistic and are printed with unusual distinctness owing to the fine character of the paper employed. It is not often that so well-illustrated a text-book is met with. Price 18s. THE eleventh edition of a work requires, as a rule, but few words from the reviewer. In this instance, however, the original author has been joined by his son and the result has been that the present volume, although retaining many of its old features, is so different from its predecessors as properly to be considered a new book. The principal changes have consisted in making the various articles conform more closely to a uniform and carefully-arranged scheme. The descriptions of the general effects produced by drugs in the lower animals, minor theoretical discussions, and other matters of less importance than those considered in the general text have been printed in smaller type. The literary references have been omitted from the body of the text and have been placed at the end of the various chapters. This plan makes the reading of the book pleasanter and the student's attention is not distracted by the constant interpolation of the names of observers and the work or publication from which the reference has been taken. An excellent method is adopted of giving a summary in large type of the action of all the principal drugs. This is most convenient for the purpose of reference and enables the student to systematise his knowledge in such a manner as to be easily retained. For English readers, however, the book has one great disadvantage-the preparations of the English Pharmacopoeia are not given ; consequently, although much information may be gained from the work as to the principles of therapeutics, from the point of view of materia medica the volume is of little use. -Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. Examiner in Forensic Medicine in the University of London and in the Victoria University ; Physician to the Salford Royal Hospital. Third edition, revised and enlarged. London : Charles Griffin and Co. 1902. Pp. 692. Price 21s. THE text of this very excellent work on forensic medicine and toxicology has been thoroughly revised in accordance with the results of recent scientific researches on the subjects of which it treats. The main additions are to be found in Part III. which is concerned with toxicology. The section on Arsenical Poisoning has been re-written, advantage being taken of the observations which were macte cluring the recent outbreak in Lancashlre. The remarks on the elimination of arsenic have been considerably amplified, Dr. Dixon Mann's own observations being fully incorporated in the general text. He points out that arsenic has been regarded as a non-cumulative poison, and when only a few -doses are taken this view is correct. "Cumulative," however, is a relative term and although arsenic does not appear to combine intimately with the tissues as some of the heavy metals do, still when small doses are taken into the system in close succession for a considerable period, as in chronic poisoning, a certain residuum remains in the tissues after the last dose has been taken for a much longer time than was formerly supposed. In one case Di. Dixon Mann found arsenic in tissues examined 52 days after the last dose had been taken. In chronic arsenical poisoning arsenic may be detected over prolonged periods (49 days) in the exfoliated horny scales of the epidermis, in the nails, and in the hair. These results are interesting and of considerable practical value. Some additional poisons , have been included in this edition, amongst these being digitalin, fly-papers, formalin, heroin, hydrofluoric acid, hyoscine, and paregoric:" The list of poisons is now very complete and forms a valuable source of reference for the practitioner. We consider this work to be one of the best text-books on forensic medicine and toxicology now in print and we cordially recommend it to students who are preparing for their examinations and also to practitioners who in the course of their professional work may at any time be called upon to assist in the investigation of a medico-legal case. LIBRARY TABLE. Atlas and Principles of Bacteriology and Text-boo7z of Special Bacteriologic Diagnosis. In two vols. Atlas, 69 plates text, 511 pages. Price 21s.-It is rather more than two.. years since we reviewed in these columns the German original of this translation. We were able to speak of it, and especially of its textual part, in terms of high commendation ; we have no reason for altering our opinion and, indeed, a perusal of this translation only inclines us to emphasise our former verdict. The plates forming the atlas are as good as can be expected in the case of inexpensive coloured figures and are of undoubted utility. Professor Lehmann's chapters on General Bacteriology are a most admirable epitome of current knowledge on the subject and well repay the reader. The larger part of the second volume is devoted to special bacteriology and is so arranged as to facilitate the recognition of the most important species which may be encountered. This is done by means of synoptic tables, designed on a more or less dichotomic basis, at the head of each great division of the family ; from these the student is referred to the detailed specific descriptions. A due sense of proportion is observed in the amount of space allotted to each species, those of practical importance being the more fully treated. A large amount of careful work appears to have been performed in the authors' laboratories at Wiirzburg in the way of correlating species which have been described under different name3; the task of identification is thus considerably reduced and we have found the work a more trustworthy guide to the recognition of unfamiliar species than any with which we are acquainted. The translation is accurate and readable, though here and there it is unmistakably American. We can recommend the book as a most useful adjunct to every bacteriological laboratory.
doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(01)83699-0 fatcat:d6jbhh67v5g3llf4vpsm6w5rpi