238

THE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

glands on the ground of well established facts and to

" separate out, a portion at any rate, of grain from
the heap of chaff." Speaking about insulin the author
not only discusses the physiological meaning of this
hormone but describes also the methods of its preparation, the generally used tests for sugar in urine and
blood, and gives indications for the selection of diabetic cases for treatment with insulin. These data
as well as other clinical indications concerning different ductless glands may be of use for the practitioners.
One may see that almost in all chapters the newest
literature is reviewed. The book is illustrated with
many diagrams and photographs.
The work of Professor Swale Vincent may be recommended to the students and practitioners and
looked on as a basis for more detailed study of physiology and pathology of the internal secretion.
B. BABKIN

The Relative Position of Rest of the Eyes, and the

Prolonged Occlusion Test. By F. H. Marlow, M.D.,
M.R.C.S. (Eng.), F.A.C.S. 100 pages. F. A. Davis
Co., Philadelphia, 1924
This booklet of 100 pages is a well presented argument for the trial of prolonged occlusion of one eye,
in the effort to more accurately measure errors in
balance of the extra-ocular muscles Out of a long
experience of this method, the author has developed
an enthusiasm which is infectious.
The brochure is well worth perusal. Some of the
disappointments which all have suffered, in the attempts to make the victims of muscle imbalance comfortable, may find explanation in the ideas advanced
here.
The whole question of extra-ocular muscle imbalance, as a factor in the causation of head-distress, has,
perhaps, not received the attention it deserves from
the average busy ophthalmologist. We believe this
is partly due to the extravagances of claims in
etiology and treatment made by certain enthusiasts
in the past. In this little book the question is presented in a reasonable and modest way; the conclusions are eminently sane; and altogether one can recommend its reading as enjoyable and profitable.
F. C. T.
The book-making is of the first order.

Medical Gynaecology.-By Samuel Wyllis Bandler,

M.D. Fourth edition, thoroughly revised, with
original illustrations. Price $8.00. Philadelphia
and London: The W. B. Saunders Company.
Canadian Agents: The J. F. Hartz Co. Limited,
Toronto. 1924.
In this book Dr. Bandler has presented in a clear
and forcible manner the importance of a careful study
of symptomatology and the necessity of painstaking
investigations of local and general conditions in one's
effort to arrive at logical and correct conclusions in
the matter of diagnosis of gynaecological disorders
and their interrelation with other factors pertaining
to the state of health.
So great a part of the successful management and
treatment of special diseases of women is non-surgical that the book should prove to be valuable, especially to general practitioners. Those engaged in the
specialty will find that the practice, suggested follows
F. W. M.
well established and sound principles.

Physical Diagnosis. By W. D. Rose, M.D. Fourth

edition. 755 pages, 319 illustrations. Price $8.50.
The C. V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, Mo., 1924.
This is a very readable book and is quite up to
the standard. The chapter on x-ray diagnosis is particularly good.
In the section dealing with myocarditis and
aortitis the author has endeavoured to indicate the
diagnostic value and the limitations of the signs which

are presented in clinical practice. Polygraphy has been

treated with great detail.
The illustrations are clear and the printing and
F. W. G.
binding are good.

Rheumatic Heart Disease. Carey F. Coombs, M.D.,

F.R.C.P., with an introduction by F. J. Poynton,
MI.D., F.R.C.P. 376 pages, illustrated. Price 12s.
6d. John Wright & Sons Ltd., Bristol. 1924.
This very exhaustive work upon a subject of such
vast importance is much in advance of its time and
takes the channels which we have not heretofore associated with this damaging disease. It is a book that
should be in the hands of all physicians who are
concerned with the care of children in either a public
or private capacity. There is in it also, much of value
to the general practitioner and whether time and further observations will bring us any substantiation of
the author's ideas we certainly much accept this volume as a distinct advance on the subject under disF. J. FOLINSBEE
cussion.
Human Constitution. A consideration of its Relationship to disease. By George Draper, M.D., Associate in Medicine at Columbia University, New
York City. Octavo of 345 pages with 208 illustrations and 105 tables. Cloth $8.25. W. B.
Saunders Co., Philadelphia and London, 1924.
In the belief that the physical form of an individual bears an important relationship to the diseases
to which that individual is most liable, Dr. Draper for
the past five or six years at the " Constitutional
Clinic'' of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York, has
been conducting an elaborately detailed systematic study
of the constitution of patients suffering from certain
diseases.
The book under review deals with his findings and
is apparently but the first of a series he proposes to

publish.

The practical importance of his subject is clearly

far reaching and of intimate interest to each one of
us, for, if by taking a number of anatomical measurements and considering them with certain other data
(e.g., blood grouping, infectious disease, history, kidney
fuaction tests and other physiological and immnunological tests) each of us could foresee to what infirmities he is by nature inclined, then he could by taking
timely steps adjust his mode of living towards the
avoidance of suieh. This is equivalent to a "'preventive medicine for the individual."
The detailed measurements of 298 adult patients suffering from one or other of the following six definitely
diagnosible diseases, gall bladder disease, gastric or
duodenal ulcer, pernicious anaemia, asthma, nephritis,
hypertension and pulmonary tuberculosis, are recorded
on numerous charts and tables.
Amongst the males, the tuberculous were found
to have the greatest stature; those with hypertension,
the shortest. Ninety per cent. of the gall bladder cases
were very fat, fifty per cent of the pernicious anaemia
cases were fat, and those with ulcer and tuberculosis
poorly nourished. Such, no doubt, are impressions
which clinicians have already formed. Dr. Draper,
by employing statistical methods, would replace impressions with facts and would carry us very much
farther towards certainty. His charts display very
strikingly the marked differences in proportions of
those suffering from the six selected diseases. To
take a few examples: the subcostal angle was always
very great in gall bladder cases, whereas in cases of
ulcer and tuberculosis it was small. The twenty-eight
tuberculous females and the sixteen hypertension males
had very narrow finger nails; the gall bladder cases
of both sexes broad finger nails. The gall bladder
and pernicious anaemia cases of both sexes have the
widest pelves. The bi-iliae-biacromial index (ratio of