282 



NATURE 



[June 12, 1919 



g-ame birds, for it runs from ducks and gfeese to 

 sandpipers, plovers, grouse, and do\'es, while it 

 includes all that are sold as g-ame in the local 

 markets. It aims at furnishing- full information, 

 from collected records, often much scattered in 

 print, from local sources, and from personal ob- 

 servation, to the game-hunter, the naturalist, the 

 legislator, and those concerned in bird preserva- 

 tion ; and with this object in view is compiled by 

 three- of the best ornithologists in the State, who 

 have had the further advantage of the use of the 

 unpublished papers of Mr, L. Belding on the birds 

 of the region. 



In a general review it is unnecessary to enter 

 upon details of the special part of the work, re- 

 lating to the particular species; but we may ex- 

 press our appreciation of the thorough way in 

 which this is carried out, a way reminding us 

 of Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway's "Birds of North 

 America," A glossary and keys to the main 

 groups and species are followed by full descrip- 

 tions, not only of adults, but also of the young, 

 while useful marks for identification in the field 

 are added, to precede the excellent accounts of 

 habits, distribution, and so forth. 



Obviously the main object of the writers is 

 economic; they devote their attention most closely 

 to that point of view, and emphasise strongly the 

 need for the protection of birds which form part of 

 the food supply; they examine and list the local 

 g-ame laws, and study their effect on the preserva- 

 tion of species. Moreover, the work is issued as a 

 publication of the University of California, with 

 the important aid of its zoological collections, 

 and also with the hearty co-operation of the Fish 

 and Game Commission of the State. 



The economic factors are thoroughly discussed 

 under separate headlngfs. A study of the list of 

 laws, coupled with Federal regulations, will show 

 the gfreat Importance attached to the subject of 

 this book in the United States, where, more than 

 in any other country, bird protection has become 

 necessary, and, as a matter of fact, has been 

 ungrudgingly granted. 



A goodly number of line drawings are dis- 

 tributed throughout the letterpress to explain im- 

 portant points of structure, while sixteen coloured 

 plates decorate the pages, though the coloration 

 is perhaps scarcely up to the standard of the text, i 

 Nine are the work of the well-known artist, i 

 L. A. Fuentes. ; 



WAR SURGERY. 

 Surgery at a Casualty Clearing Station. By C, 

 Wallace and John Fraser. Pp. xi + 320.' 

 (London: A. and C. Black, Ltd., igi8.) Price 

 10.9. 6d. net. 



lyTAJOR-GEN. CUTHBERT WALLACE and 

 iVl Major John Fraser have written a very 

 interesting book. Gen. Wallace was consulting 

 surgeon to the ist Army, B.E.F., and remained 

 In France during practically the whole war. His 

 NO. 2589, VOL. 103] 



experience entitles him to discuss the various 

 phases of casualty clearing station work, since 

 he has seen the CCS, compelled, by the force 

 majeure of war, to undertake and adapt itself to 

 surg-ery, for which it was never originally in- 

 tended, and for which it only gradually acquired 

 the equipment and personnel. The idea that 

 surgical operations could be performed near the 

 firing line was not accepted at the beginning of 

 the war. It was anticipated that casualties would 

 be dressed and fed at the CCS., and sent to 

 base hospitals for operative treatment. The 

 appearance of gas gangrene on a widespread 

 scale in wounds of all sorts, even the most trivial,, 

 made It Imperative that the surgeon should be 

 brought nearer to the fighting zone. 



Delay of even a few hours meant loss of limbs 

 and loss of lives. If, however, every wounded man 

 could have his wound excised (not merely dressed, 

 but the damaged tissues cut clean out) within 

 a few hours of receiving- his wound, gas gangrene 

 was practically abolished. This question and its 

 solution were not merely problems of academic 

 interest to the surgeon ; they were of vital moment 

 to the authorities responsible for the Army as a 

 fighting machine. A shortened period of inva- 

 lidism is fully as Important in maintaining the 

 numerical strength of an army as is the keeping up 

 of a supply of fresh reinforcements. The researches 

 of Gen. Wallace and Major Fraser into the 

 causes and methods of dealing with. gas gangrene 

 threw most valuable light on the whole subject. 

 Chaps, ill. and Iv., on "General Wounds and their 

 Treatment " and on "Antiseptics," are particu- 

 larly interesting in this connection. Although 

 many antiseptics and their modes of application 

 are described, the summary of all experience is 

 probably contained In the last sentence of the 

 following passage : " One may completely excise 

 the wound, wash the wound surface with a fluid 

 antiseptic, and immediately suture the wound, 

 hoping to get healings by primary intention ; It is 

 possible that the washing with the antiseptic may 

 even be omitted. " Before the war ended probably 

 no surgeon felt the least doubt that the ceremonial 

 washing with an antiseptic could be omitted, and 

 that the thing which mattered was the complete- 

 ness of the excision. 



The chapter on "Injuries of Bones " goes fully 

 into the different types of splints in vogue, but the 

 illustrations are singularly Inadequate. 



Abdominal wounds are excellently dealt with ; 

 the combined experience of the authors enables 

 them to speak with judgment and authority. In- 

 juries of the chest, of the head, and of the spine 

 are carefully considered and discussed. 



In the treatment of haemorrhage it Is interesting^ 

 to notice the change in teaching as regards the 

 application of the tourniquet. Gen. Wallace does 

 not go so far as to say that the man who leaves 

 a tourniquet on a limb Is guilty of criminal neglect, 

 but he points out the extreme dangers which 

 attend anything- more than a purely temporary use 

 of this means of arresting haemorrhage. 



