Μεληματα, Festschrift für Werner Leibbrand zum 70. Geburtstag

present day, with biographies of the many outstanding members and full lists of their coveted honours, distinctions and publications. K6rner's book is not only a series of biographies, but also a political and social history of the time, as he describes the political, social and scientific events which affected the Siebolds and indicated such influence as they occasionally had on them. There were outstanding professors of obstetrics amongst them, such as Carl Caspar, Eduard and Elias von Siebold. It may be of interest to the English reader that Charlotte von Siebold delivered the Duchess of the baby who subsequently became Queen Victoria and that Elias attended the birth of the later King George V. Bearing in mind the considerable nepotism which almost dragged some of the Siebolds into university chairs, it may be surprising that some of them nevertheless achieved academic distinction. The book as a whole is perhaps of more interest to the social historian than to the medical profession. The author has obviously carried out a vast amount of research, enabling him to provide full references to support every statement he makes: this includes facsimiles and family portraits. One can hardly say of such an opus that one reads it with aesthetic enjoyment, but this need not be the aim and object of its author. It should rather be regarded as a book of reference, recording much information which might well be useful to the student of any part of the period covered. BRUCE ETON