Laboratory Practice

The author of this little book attempts to cover a very wvide field, and it may be said at once that he does so in a concise yet lucid manner. This is the third edition of the book, which shows that the author's efforts are appreciated. It has been completely revised and much of it has been rew%ritten, in order that the text should be thoroughly up to date. The emergencies caused by disease or accident to the various systems are first considered. Then follows a section oIn poisons, including protein poisons and food poisoning, which should prove of considerable value. The last section of the book is devoted to the dangerous emergencies in midwifery, hanmorrhage being especially fully dealt with. This book is essentially one foi-the busy geineral practitioner, as it is handy for carrying around and vet contains detailed information on the treatment of the various emergencies with wvhich he has to deal. The book is on the whole an excellent one, and this third edition should have as great a popularity and as extensive a circulation as the preceding edlitions. Professor Currie, in the introduction to this book, states that it is addressed primarily to medical graduates and licentiates, and therefore he assumes in the reader a knowledge of the scientific fundamentals which every qualified practitioner should have acquired during his me(lical training. Without such an assumption, it would have been impossible to convey in a work of its relatively modest dimensioins any substantial instruction in all the variety of topics treated. It is intended for use as a laboratory companion rather than for systematic study, yet, in spite of this limited field, it is easy to read, and in addition conveys a vast amount of theoretical information, particularly from the point of view of the value to public health of the various pieces of laboratory w%ork described. For example, in the case of a food-test, relevant standlards of food purity are noted, and in the case of a metazoon, its life history is described, so suggesting those stages against which repressive measures may most effectively be directed. Professor Currie himself is responsible for most of this work, including the sections on chemistry, bacteriology, and meteorology. But the section on entomology was written expressly for this book by Dr. Robert A. Staig, and the section on helminthology by Miss Margaret XV. Jepps, both of whom are Lecturers …