302 



NATURE 



[June 20, 19 18 



acres of land. In the year 1916 the annual pro- 

 duct of the acreage actually under treatment was 

 estimated at more than 22,000,000 dollars. The 

 contents of the book are deserving- of careful study 

 by engineers and others engaged in the develop- 

 ment of irrigation schemes. 



Brysson Cunningham. 



MEDICAL ELECTRICITY. 

 Medical Electricity: A Practical Handbook for 

 Students and Practitioners. By Dr. H. Lewis 

 Jones. Seventh edition, revised and edited 

 by Dr. Lullum Wood Bathurst. Pp. xv + 588. 

 (London: H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd., 1918.) 

 Price 155. net. 



DR. LEWIS JONES was chiefly responsible 

 for raising medical electricity to its present 

 honourable position. He rescued it from the 

 depths of disrepute into which it had been thrust 

 by the hands of charlatans. The best years of 

 his life were devoted to this work ; by painstaking 

 study he sifted the real from the sham, and by 

 original investigation and -patient experiment in- 

 troduced many new features in well-known elec- 

 trical procedures. He showed a readiness to adopt 

 new methods of treatment once he had convinced 

 himself of their value. It was owing to the influ- 

 ence of Prof. Leduc, of whom he spoke in terms 

 of affection and admiration almost verging upon 

 reverence, that he first realised the great possi- 

 bilities of ionic medication. 



On the death of Dr. Lewis Jones the question 

 arose whether the book that epitomised the history 

 of medical electricity should be allowed to pass 

 out of existence. If not, where was the champion 

 who would rescue it and keep alive the name of 

 its creator? Dr. L. W. Bathurst answered the 

 appeal. We may say at once that in the new 

 (seventh) -edition, which he has revised and edited, 

 he has carried out his difficult task in a worthy 

 spirit. AH the essential features of the book, as 

 we know it, have been retained, and such new 

 matter has been added as the experience of recent 

 months has shown to be worthy of adoption. 



Dr. Lewis Jones foretold the further expansion 

 of ionic medication and the use of the thermal 

 effects of electricity. Diathermy apparatus is now 

 fully established in surgical practice as a means 

 of coagulating the tissues.- The introduction of 

 drugs through the skin from electrodes moistened 

 with them (ionic medication) is becoming more 

 and more recognised as a valuable medical pro- 

 cedure. The drugs mostly used are the chlorides 

 of sodium, ammonium, and lithium, salicylate of 

 soda, sulphate of zinc, the iodides of potassium and 

 lithium, quinine sulphate, and cocaine hydro- 

 chloride. Condenser discharges were first intro- 

 duced into this country by Dr. Lewis Jones as a 

 good diagnostic method^ of testing for the re- 

 action of degeneration in diseases of the nervous 

 system. ^ These discharges are capable of accurate 

 quantitative adjustment, and their use as stimuli 

 for nerve and muscle gives more trustworthy 

 results than are obtained by the galvanic batterv. 

 NO. 2538, VOL. lOll 



The methods of using the condenser discharges 

 for treatment are described in detail. 



Prof. Leduc 's remarkable experiments on the 

 production of "electric sleep" by rapidly inter- 

 rupted currents passed longitudinally through the 

 nerve-centres are described. " The anode was 

 placed on the hinder part of the back of a dog 

 or a rabbit, and the kathode on the skull. The 

 skin was previously shaved. The current .was 

 increased gradually, and at a certain strength the 

 animal became unconscious. When this stage 

 was reached, a state of tranquil sleep was in- 

 duced, in which the animal remained until the 

 current was stopped. During this period of sleep 

 there was anaesthesia. As soon as the current 

 ceased, the animal jumped up and seemed quite 

 well, and no injurious results followed." In the 

 experiment of which Prof. Leduc had the courage 

 to make himself the subject " the current was not , 

 pushed to complete insensibility, the operators i 

 believing that this had been attained, although the * 

 professor was able to tell them afterwards that 

 consciousness had not been lost, though he was 

 quite unable to communicate with them on 

 account of his peculiar condition, which he com- 

 pares to that of one in a nightmare, aware of 

 some impending disaster, but unable to move or 

 cry out. The current used in these experiments 

 is the Leduc current (§ 63), with 100 periqds a 

 second and with closures of one-thousandth of a 

 second. The application of this electric sleep to 

 practical medical purposes remains untried, but it 

 seems possible that it may one day prove useful." 



The subject of death from electric shock is dis- 

 cussed in detail. The action of X-rays and radium 

 in treatment and the subject of X-ray dermatitis 

 come in for reasoned comment, though the scope 

 of the book does not permit of a very full account 

 of this -important branch of the subject. Chaps, 

 xi.-xviii. contain classified lists of diseases, with 

 the electric methods of treatment best suited to 

 each disease. Finally, we find a useful appendix 

 containing (i) a table of electro-chemical equi- 

 valents, (2) a comprehensive list of the towns of 

 Great Britain and Ireland with particulars of their 

 electric supply, and (3) plates, showing the motor 

 points in the head, neck, and limbs, the areas of 

 distribution of the cutaneous nerves, and the seg- 

 mental distribution of the sensory nerve-roots. 



" Medical Electricity " is a true text-book and 

 a valuable work of reference. A. C. J. 



INDUSTRIAL WELFARE AND HEALTH. j 



Welfare and Housing: A Practical Record of War- ' 



time Management. By J. E. Hutton. Pp. viii -f i, 



192. (London : Longmans, Green, and Co.„ 1 



1918.) Price 55. net. ^ 



'^F'HE employment to-day in munitions factories i 



-•- of women on work to which they were not 

 previously accustomed, and of men rejected by ' 



the Army on account of their inferior physique, j 



has raised in an acute way problems of industrial 

 welfare and health upon which efficiency and out- 

 put are directly dependent — problems with us in 



