The Medical Annual, 1923

The Medical Annual for 1923 is a volume which no practising general practitioner can afford to be without. It is particularly rich in articles of practical clinical value. Among many other articles perhaps that by Sir W. I. de C. Wheeler on " General surgical treatment" is the most interesting: he emphasises the necessity for team work, the use of written instructions to sisters in charge of the theatre and wards, and discusses the evils of a too warm theatre and of unnecessary trauma. Mr. Thurstan Holland deals with radiotherapy and discusses the different advantages of deep therapy and of the older method of repeated small doses. Mr. E. W. Hey Groves deals fully with the surgery of bones and joints, including a very careful discussion of methods in cogcnital dislocation of the hip. The section on heart disease is one specially written by several distinguished French physicians with the co-operation of Dr. Carey Coombs: photometry is dealt with, and of special value is the discussion on arterial tension and the value of a salt-free diet in such conditions. Of special value is the section on surgery of the thyroid: