NATURE 



[April 4, 19 18 



hand this has undoubted advantages. One of 

 these is that coUineation groups form a very ex- 

 tensive family, which admits of geometrical or 

 quasi-geometrical interpretation. (This book has 

 no figures, but the reader should make illustra- 

 tive figures and models for himself, and think 

 out the arguments in as geometrical a form as 

 possible.) So far as we can judge, the treatment 

 is sound, though it involves some rather artificial 

 arrangements ; e.g. chap. ii. contains a good deal 

 of abstract group-theory, and so far as we can 

 see, the term "group" in its technical sense has 

 not been anywhere defined, and on p. 31 it seems 

 to be confounded with "set" and "class," which, 

 if meant, is very unfortunate. 



The discussion goes as far as linear groups of 

 four variables; there is a chapter on group-char- 

 acteristics (mainly, of course, after Frobenius and 

 Burnside) ; there are numerous references, and a 

 moderate number of examples. We hope the 

 book will have a wide circulation ; every advance 

 in the theory of groups is bound to result in an 

 advance in many other branches of mathematics. 



(3) Prof. Byerly's tract will be useful to those 

 who are interested in the classical problems of 

 the brachistochrone, etc., and also, it may be 

 hoped, to physical students engaged in their first 

 struggles with the Hamiltonian equations, least 

 action, least constraint, and so on. So far as we 

 know, a really good elementary treatise on the 

 calculus of variations has yet to be written ; mean- 

 while, such an outline as this is better than many 

 big and pretentious productions. G. B. M. 



I particular with her views on anatomy and pi 

 logy. In his second essay, "The * Anothomi 



MEDICAL HISTORY AND SCIENTIFIC 

 METHOD. 



Studies in the History and Method of Science. 

 Edited by Dr. Charles Singer. Pp. xiv + 304. 

 (Oxford : At the Clarendon Press, 1917.) Price 

 215. net. 



TPJURING the last ten years there has been a 

 -L^ notable revival of the study of the historical 

 development of medicine by the scientific methods 

 which have been applied to other branches of 

 history. In this country there has been no more 

 active worker than Dr. Charles Singer, who for 

 some time has been employed in unearthing for 

 convenient reference the medical historical trea- 

 sures of the Bodleian Library. The present 

 volume is the outcome of some of the studies of 

 Dr. Singer and his co-workers, and must be re- 

 garded as a notable contribution to certain 

 branches of medical history and evolution. The 

 book is splendidly got up, and in addition to forty- 

 one plates, many of which are excellently repro- 

 duced in colour, there are large numbers of figures 

 in the text. It is almost remarkable that such a 

 work should make its appearance in the fourth 

 year of the war, and especially at the moderate 

 pi ice of 215. 



The text contains seven articles and studies, 

 most of them of immediate historical interest. Dr. 

 Singer himself contributes two of these, the first 

 NO. 2527, VOL. lOl] 



a very learned account of the scientific views and 

 visions of Saint Hildegard, the German religious 

 mystic df the twelfth century. From the extensive 

 literature which has collected round this compli- 

 cated personality, Dr. Singer has managed to- 

 create a study of great interest, and has dealt in 



physio- 

 ia ' of 

 Hieronymo Manfredi," he has dealt with the 

 hitherto unknown account of the body written in 

 manuscript by Manfredi at the end of the fifteenth 

 century. As he points out, this is the most com- 

 plete post-medieval account of anatomy until we 

 come to the first of the anatomists, Berengario da 

 Carpi, who published his work in 1521. Dr. 

 Singer publishes the whole of the Italian manu- 

 script, and leads up to it with a masterly account 

 of the Early Renaissance anatomy, profusely 

 illustrated. 



In his "Blessing of Cramp Rings " Dr. Ray- 

 mond Crawford writes exhaustively of a treatment 

 of epilepsy which was in vogue for hundreds of 

 years. Although it is often regarded as spring- 

 ing up in the time of Edward the Confessor, it 

 cannot be denied that the idea of applying some 

 kind of constriction to inhibit the convulsions of 

 epilepsy can be traced back to classical times. 



One of the most interesting studies is Dr. E. T. 

 Withington's on "Dr. John Weyer and the Witch 

 Mania." Herein are traced the origin and de- 

 velopment of the most extraordinary superstition 

 which has ever disgraced the human mind, and 

 led to the sacrifice and mutilation of vast 

 numbers of unfortunate human beings even so- 

 late as the seventeenth century. It is particularly 

 ! remarkable that the witch mania should have 

 I reached its height at a time when the Renaissance 

 was in full tide and learning was opening men's 

 minds. Dr. Withington considers that at least 

 two causes co-operated for the development of 

 this madness, viz. the development of heresies 

 and the increasing prominence given to the sup- 

 posed operations of the Evil Spirit, a doctrine 

 supported by the pronouncements of Pope Inno- 

 cent VII. in 1484. It was then that the Church 

 called upon the civil powers to exterminate 

 witches, and Europe rang with the cries of the 

 innocents perishing daily on the rack and at the 

 stake. Amidst all the ghastly shambles we have 

 the vision of Dr. John Weyer, of Arnheim, trying 

 to stem the tide of this mania, but with ill-success. 

 Although his great work was published in 1563,. 

 the practice of torturing witches progressed or 

 increased, arid only finally began to die down in 

 the seventeenth century, being finally extinguished 

 in England so late as the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century. 



Mr. Reuben Levy contributes an article on " The 

 ' Tractatus de causis et Indicils morborum ' attri- 

 buted to Maimonides." This work was said to be 

 by the Jewish philosopher, and was considered 

 to be his chief claim as a medical writer. By a 

 complete examination of the only manuscript 

 known, Mr. Levy proves that it was by another 

 writer altogether, and thus clears away an error. 

 In his essay on " Scientific Discovery and Logl- 



