The Parathyroid in Health and Disease

SYNOPSIS OF ANO-RECTAL DISEASES. By Louis J. Hirschman. C. V. Mosby Company, St. Louis, 1937. 288 pp. $3.50. This is a synopsis of the author's Handbook on Diseases of the Anus and Rectum which has been one of the standard texts on the subject for nearly thirty years. The purpose of this work is to make available to the student and general practitioner a condensed version of that authoritative treatise. It is accomplished by omitting much detail and practically all historical references and bibliography. Approximately 175 excellent illustrations have been retained, however, to great advantage. It would be difficult to improve on the author's concise discussions of the diagnosis and therapy of the conditions commonly met with in the practise of proctology. This reviewer wishes that the author had seen fit to include a short discussion of the frequency and significance of ano-rectal complaints in personality disorders and a few words of caution regarding surgical procedures in the hysterical or highly neurotic patient. -ALBERT 3. SULLIVAN.