REVIEWS. 295

REVIEWS.

Anatomie und Pathologie der Spontanerkrankungen der kleinen Labora­toriumstiere. Herausgegeben von Rudolf Jaffe. Berlin, 1931. Verlag von Julius Springer. Price bound 102 Marks; unbound 98 Marks.

This work extends to 832 Royal 8vo pages, and it contains 270 figures in the text. In its production over 20 authors have collaborated with Herr Jaffe, and the result is highly creditable to the ability and industry of German scientists. The work deals only with rabbits, guinea-pigs, rats, and mice, and the object set before the authors was to help experimenters who have to make use of these animals in their researches to answer a question which often arises, namely, whether anything abnormal found in an animal is actually connected with the experiment or the result of some spontaneous disease. Obviously, to find a confident answer to such a question the experi­menter must have a good knowledge of the anatomy and histology of the animal with which he is dealing, and also of the diseases to which members of t hat species are naturally subject. It was with the object of gleaning, as far as possible, the existing knowledge on these matters that so many collaborators were employed in dealing with different parts of the subject.

In the first half of the work the chapters deal with the normal structure and the pathological anatomy of the different systems of the body. The remainder deals with bacterial and parasitic diseases, and tumours.

It must be admitted that a work constructed in this way makes it a little difficult to find the desired information, but there is a useful index at the end. It is not likely to have any competitor in view of the great cost of its production, and it will certainly prove helpful to many of those who are engaged in medical and veterinary research.

Veterinary Obstetrics. By W. L. Williams. Second Edition, 1931. Published by the Author, Ithaca, N.Y. Price 30s.

The first edition of this work appeared in 1917, and the author in referring to that in the preface to the present edition says that facts have since come to light which justify, if they do not demand, a radical departure from the traditional view. The present treatise is based upon the belief that the pathological phenomena of veterinary obstetrics are as natural as those of physiological birth, are authentically predictable, and subject to an important degree to control.

The work extends to 482 Royal 8vo pages, and it has 101 useful illustra­tions. The first part deals with the anatomy and physiology of the generative organs as far as these have a special bearing on obstetrics. Then follow chapters on the diagnosis of pregnancy, and the hygiene of breeding animals. The second half of the book deals with dystocia and obstetrical operations, and diseases incidental to pregnancy.

Regarding to the bacterial flora of the pregnant uterus, the author, after referring to the great number of different organisms that have been cultivated from the genital passages of the domesticated animals, says, " The presence of various types of bacteria is perfectly consistent with ideal reproductive health. The bacteria probably vary according t6 geographic and climatic location. They vary according to species of animal, and the. type probably