Ear, Nose, and Throat Diseases for Medical Students

EVERY text-book on anmesthesia has been expanding rapid'y during the past ten years. This latest edition in the "Aids" series is no exception, being nearly half as big again as the first edition published in 1941. The author states the book is written for the student and new'ly qualified house surgeon. As few are agreed about the teaching of anesthesia to undergraduates, the choice of some of the new chapters must have been difficult. The student whose reading is limited to an "Aids" would be unwise to dabble with the muscle relaxants and hypotensive techniques. It was refreshing to see the chapter on Dental Anesthesia rewritten so fully and so clearly, as this aspect of anesthesia is very often neglected in larger text-books. Dental anesthesia will probably occupy most of the occasional anesthetist's time, and he will derive great benefit from this chapter. There are many statements in the book which will not be generally accepted, e.g., "Blind intubation is the method of choice"; "In valvular heart disease . . . the an2esthetic of choice is Cyclopropane." There seems to be an over-emphasis of the perfection of the airway once an endotracheal tube is in situ. It would have been helpful to the student to explain why intravenous anesthesia in cases of oedema of the floor of the mouth is 100 per cent. fatal. The binding, paper, type, and illustrations are of a high order, and it can be safely said that the author has fulfilled the purpose he had in mind in writing the book, i.e., "to present in a concise form the essentials that must be known to anyone who administers an anaesthetic agent . . ." M. B.