REVIEWS.

cent. A rather serious mistake is made in the strength of injectio morphinre hypodermica, British Pharmacopceia, which is a 5 per cent. solution of tartrate of morphine, not a I per cent. solution. - This mistake probably arose through confusion of the injectio with liq. morphinre tartratis, which is a I per cent. solution. Whatever is the origin of such discrepancies, however, they will require correction in future editions. Amongst the minor defects we find "per os" written" per orem " and also" radlitis" spelt " rhacites" (p. 236).

The work concludes with a useful epitome of modern treatment of diseases of the domestic animals, and a general index, which latter requires correction in several instances.

As we have already said, the work taken as a whole is very good indeed, and will be found both useful and interesting to all veterinary practitioners.

The work of the publishers is quite up to their usual high standard. G. H. W.

The Bacteriology of Diphtheria, including Sections on the History, Epidemi­ology, and Pathology of the Disease, the Mortality caused by it, the Toxins and Antitoxins, and the Serum Disease. By F. Lceffier, M.D., LL.D.; Arthur Neusholme, M.D., F.R.C.P.; F. B. Mallory, M.A., M.D.; G. S. Graham-Smith, M.A., M.D., D.P.H.; George Dean, M.D.; William H. Park, M. D.; and Charles F. Bolduan, M.D. Edited by G. H. F. Nuttall, M. D., Ph.D., Sc.D., F.R.S, Qwick Professor of Biology in the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Christ's College, and G. S. Graham-Smith, M.A., M. D., University Lecturer in Hygiene. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908.

As the editors of this important work remark in the preface, the space which can he allotted to the consideration of any single disease in the best of text­books on bacteriology, while it may be adequate from the ordinary student's point of view, does not allow of an exhaustive consideration of the subject. To satisfy the requirements of the advanced student, the bacteriologist, the physician, and the medical officer of health, a much ampler plan of treating the subject is necessary. The present work is designed on such a plan, and we gather from the preface that if it meets with the approval of those for whom it has been written it will be followed by other volumes on the same lines. It is greatly to be desired that the necessary encouragement to this important undertaking may be forthcoming.

On the present occasion space does not allow us to review the work at length, and we can merely indicate the scope and arrangement of the matter which it contains.

The first few pages are devoted to biographical notes and excellent portraits of the four men whose names stand out prominently in the roll of those who have brought our knowledge of diphtheria to its present position-Bretonneau, Lceffier, yon Behring, and Roux. The body of the work is divided into six sections, which deal respectively with the history of diphtheria, its epidemi­ology, its pathology, the diphtheria bacillus, immunity (including toxin and antitoxin), and mortality. When it is said that the work extends to 700

pages, and account is taken of the recognised authority of those who have collaborated to write it, an idea may be formed of the exhaustive manner in which each branch of the subject is treated. It may without exaggeration be said to be a monumental work, and to reflect the greatest credit on the editors and authors, as well as on the Cambridge University Press.

REVIEWS.

Die Kolik des Pferdes. Von Sven Wall, Assistant am Veterinarinstitut in Stockholm. Stockholm and Leipzig: Aktiebologet Sandbergs Bokhandel, 1908.

THIS monograph of 179 pages has a wider range than might be inferred from its title, for under the term colic the author includes all those morbid conditions of the abdominal part of the alimentary tract which take the form of a stagnation of the contents, followed by fermentation and putrefaction of the same, difficulty of respiration, and putrid or septic intoxication. At the outset there is given an interesting statistical analysis of the autopsies in 834 fatal cases of colic, in which the discovered abnormalities are grouped under three principal heads, viz. : (I) stagnation of the contents in consequence of paralysis; (2) stagnation in consequence of obstruction; and (3) fatal com­plications. As points of special interest in this table it may be noted that there were 264 cases of volvulus of the colon and only fifty-four of volvulus of the small intestine; that the 834 cases included no fewer than twenty-three (or 6 per cent.) cases of hernia through the foramen of Winslow ; that among the fatal com­plications there were 151 cases of rupture of the stomach; and, finally, that there were only five cases (or 0'6 per cent.) in which the colic was due to intestinal sediments and concretions.

The work gives an admirable exposition of the causes, symptoms, effects, and treatment of the various lesions responsible for colic, and useful diagrams are employed to aid the description of such alterations as hernia, volvulus, and intussusception. The author is to be congratulated on having made a really valuahle contribution to the literature on a subject which must always be of great interest to veterinary surgeons.

Das Zuriickhalten der Nachgeburt beim Rend. Von Dr Phil. C. Pomayer, Distrikts-Tierarzt in Obergiinzburg (AJ1gau). Berlin: Richard Schoelz, 1908. Price 2'50 marks.

RETENTION of the placenta, like colic, is one of the diseased conditions which h8ve an exceptional interest for the practising veterinary surgeon. In this small monograph (sixty-three pages and nine figures) Dr Pomayer discusses' in an instructive manner the etiology, therapeutics, prognosis, and prophylaxis of the condition.

Not the least interesting part i, that devoted to the consideration of the normal mechanism by which the after-birth is detached, and of the conditions which interfere with this. Regarding the latter point theories are copious, but for the most part they have hitherto been little supported by evidence de­rived from an examination of the changes observable in the connected fretal and maternal cotyledons in cases of retained placenta. This gap has at least in part been filled up by the author's investigations, which tend to show that the primary cause of retention is a partial or complete absence of those uterine contractions which normally suffice to detach the fretal cotyledons and expel the after-birth within twelve hours. When this period is exceeded bacteria invade the placenta, and quickly produce inflammatory (fibroid) changes in the maternal cotyledons, with the result that the fretal villi are firmly grasped by the tissue in which they are imbedded. Within twenty-four hours these alterations may have advanced so far as to make natural separa­tion scarcely possible, and the author therefore advises that the manual de­tachment of the cotyledons should be undertaken not later than the third day.