REVIEWS AND NOTICES O F BOOKS 399

The illustrations in this monograph are excellent and intestinal obstruction to about 10 per cent. This book,
well chosen. All medical students would do well to which is well illustrated, sets out in detail the various pre-
read this book. and post-operative treatments and nursing care. The
various forms of intestinal suction tubes are well de-
scribed and the authors seem to favour the Cantor tube
Clinical Roentgenology of the Digestive Tract. By for intestinal decompression.
MAURICE FELDMAN, M.D., Assistant Professor of There is a comprehensive bibliography at the end of
Gastroenterology, UFversity of Maryland. Fourth the book and a very practical index.
edition. 102 x 7 in. Pp. 776 + xii, with 728 This large volume should interest the general practi-
illustrations. 1957. Baltimore : The Williams & tioner, who after all is the first doctor to see these acute
Wilkins Co. (London : Bailliere, Tindall and Cox). cases. The postgraduate student who is working for a
120s. higher surgical qualification will also find this book useful.
IT is nearly twenty years ago that the first edition of this
work appeared and now the fourth edition has been
published. During this period great advances in X-ray Operative Surgery. Edited by CHARLES ROB, M.C.,
examination of the gastro-intestinal tract have taken place M.Chir., F.R.C.S., Professor of Surgery, St. Mary’s
and to-day the diagnostic radiologist can give his medical Hospital, London ; and RODNEYSMITH, M.S.,
and surgical colleagues much information regarding diffi- F.R.C.S., Surgeon, St. George’s Hospital, London.
cult abdominal conditions. 11 x 8: in. Vol. 5, Part IX, Orthopredic Surgery.
Dr. Feldman’s clinical and radiographic experience Pp. 1-366, fully illustrated. 1957. London : Butter-
enables him to write with authority and he methodically worth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. 110s. per volume.
covers every phase of the gastro-intestinal tract from theTHEfifth volume of this work is devoted to orthopaedic
esophagus to the rectum. surgery and covers every type of operative technique.
The surgeon has come to rely considerably on the The contributors are representative of those specializing
help he may obtain from his colleague in the X-ray in orthopzdk surgery in the British Isles and all of them
department, and this book amply reveals that that help write on subjects that they have made their own. The
is forthcoming. whole volume is uniform with the preceding four volumes
The large number of radiographs which illustrate this and the illustrations are uniformly good.
work are beautifully reproduced and if taken alone with- Perhaps the outstanding contribution comes from
out the text would form an excellent atlas of gastro- H. L. C. Wood, who writes on replacement arthroplasty
intestinal conditions. of the hip and cup arthroplasty of the hip. The illustra-
The references at the end of each chapter are full tions contained in this section are truly excellent.
and comprehensive. This fifth volume is a great credit to British surgery
and will take its place as a reference book for the post-
graduate who wishes to take one of the higher exarnina-
Clinical Gastroenterology. By EDDY D. PALMER, tions in surgery.
M.D., F.A.C.P., Lt. Col., Medical Corps, United
+
States Army. 10 x 69 in. Pp. 630 x, with 216
illustrations. London : Cassell & Co. 137s. 6d. Peripheral Nerve Regeneration. Edited by BARNES
GASTRO-ENTEROLOGY is a large subject and one which WOODHALL, M.D., Professor of Neurosurgery, Duke
has made great strides during the last few years. The University Medical School, Durham, North Carolina ;
modern X-ray diagnostic equipment has facilitated in no and GILBERT W. BEEBE,Ph.D., Statistician, Follow-up
small way the great improvement in the diagnosis of Agency Division of Medical Sciences, National
gastro-intestinal lesions. Research Council, Washington. 95 x 6 in. Pp.
This large volume covers the whole gastro-intestinal 671 -1 xxiv, with 60 plates. 1957. Washington :
tract in a very efficient manner and the standard of the Veterans Administration.
many radiographs is very high. THEAmericans, like the British, have studied nerve
As a work this book is comprehensive and covers not injuries that occurred during the last war, but the plan
only the common but also the rare conditions of the of campaign was different in the two countries. The
alimentary tract. It should prove of value both to the British organized five centres to which the injured com-
busy general practitioner and to the advanced student batants were sent at the earliest opportunity and where
in medicine. they were treated by special teams, who also carried out
clinical and, in some places, experimental research at
Gastro-intestinal Obstruction. By MEYER 0. the same time. The British report was written entirely
by those engaged in this work. The American study
CANTOR, M.D., M.S., F.A.C. S., Associate Attending was not begun until 1946, one year after the end of the
Surgeon, Grace Hospital ; Attending Surgeon, Sinai
Hospital of Detroit; and ROLANDP. REYNOLDS, war, and it was, therefore, exactly as the title of this
monograph says, a follow-up study. There was no
M.D., F.A.C.S., Chief of Surgery, Grace Hospital ; connexion between those who had treated the patients and
and 3 other contributors. I O ~x 74 in. Pp. 566 +-
xii, with 415 illustrations. 1957. Baltimore : The those
the
who carried out this investigation. Furthermore,
work was done on a sample. The records of a little
Williams & Wilkins Co. (London : Bailliere, Tindall over IO,OOO patients were available ; the number examined
& Cox Ltd.). 144s. was 2662, who presented 3656 nerve injuries. Distin-
THISis a very comprehensive work devoted to an guished teams of neurosurgeons and neurologists under-
important subject which has become even more important took this work in five centres-at Boston, Chicago, New
in the last decade. York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. They were
There can be little doubt that the acute type of chiefly concerned with the results of nerve suture and
intestinal obstruction presents one of the most urgent this was tackled with extraordinary thoroughness.
diagnostic problems. But with gastric suction, modern The conclusions reached were as follows, and it is of
anaesthesia with relaxants, and the antibiotics, and some interest to compare them with those arrived at by
heparin, the surgeon to-day is in a better position to British workers : (I) The interval between injury and
deal with these acute cases than ever before. The repair of the nerve had an influence on motor but not
importance of fluid and electrolyte balance has also sensory recovery ; the British found that both motor and
played a part in reducing the mortality rate of acute sensory recovery were worse the longer the delay before