A Surgeon in the Early Nineteenth Century: the Life and Times of John Green Crosse, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.R.S. (1790–1850)

more famous grandson Charles, but his practical inventions included a speakingmachine, horizontal windmills, and a new type of carriage. As one of the leading members of the celebrated Lunar Society of Birmingham, he became a close friend of Boulton, Watt and Wedgwood, while he became involved in a bitter controversy with another member, William Withering, over priority in the use of digitalis in cardiac dropsy. In his brief comment on this episode, the editor completely misses the point, scientifically, by denying it to either since it 'had been known to Galen'. Nevertheless, this is a most useful and attractive little book which should introduce more readers to one of the more colourful characters in English scientific history than have ever been gained by the original texts. F. N. L. POYNTER