204 



NATURE 



[November 14, 19 18 



1. difficultii 

 ii.ni nl a worl< of this magnitude lei the condi- 

 tions he war, Scientific woi kei s w ill 

 also recognise tha( the Cambridge I ni ■ it] 

 Press has carried oul the printing with a; 



1 3 as w as the 1 ase with vol i< 

 produced u 1 able 1 onditions. 



The earlier volumes were compiled and edited 

 r the able ■ I >r. I lerbert Mi 



whosi ork is so well known. 



Since his retirement, in 1915, as director, Dr. 

 McLeod has continued to help with advice as 

 1 11 1 asii hi di m in 



The i"' 1 -! of chairman of the Committee of Pub- 

 lication was filled b) Prof. Silvanus Thompson 

 until his death, li will be agreed that no better 

 chairman could have been found. The interesl 

 which I '1 1 mpson tool in the history of 



si iem e a 11 ii ntific publications made it 



certain thai he would '.pare no pains in ensuring 

 thai the < Scientific Paj «i • • hould be 



an accurati 1 • 1 ord. 



The Author Catalogue, which has so far been 

 published for names alphabetically arranged from 

 A to Marbiit, contains 222,428 titles of papers 

 written by 39,088 authors, an average of about 

 six papers to each author. We may perhaps 

 assume that this number will be doubled before 

 the end ol the alphabet is reached. In that case 

 about 450,000 papers will be indexed as published 

 in the seventeen years 1884 1900, or about 27,000 

 a year. This number is, oi course, only an 

 averagi taps true for the year [892. 



During the last twenty years there has been .1 



great inct ei of scientific workers 



and also in the number of journals in which they 

 can publish 11 results of their researches, so that 

 before the war broke out the annual output of 

 scientific pape i rriusl have been at least twice 

 27,000. Reference to the volumes of the Inter- 

 national Ca Scientific Literature shows 



that in [913 more than 00,000 scientific papers 

 were publi : 



We ma) confidently look forward to the com- 

 pletion o!" this Author Catalogue. We hope thai 

 the Royal S01 iety will also be able to finish the 



corresp li ; Subject Catalogue, in which the 



volume hematics, mechanics, and physics 



■ id; a ipeared. Subject catalogues are 

 SO much more useful than author catalogues that 

 it is very important that the publication of the 

 remaining volumes of the series should not be 

 too long delayed. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



A Medica, iary. B) W. B. Drummond. 



Pp- i* '■ j. (London : J. M. Dent ami Sons, 



Ltd., n.d.) Trice 105. 6d. net. 

 This nev ''Medical Dictionary" includes much 

 more than its title may suggest, for, in addition 

 to contents hearing closely on strictly medical 

 subjects, we find articles dealing with subjects 

 relating to health, such as athletics, ambulani 1 s 

 (with a capital plate ol ambulance 

 cycling, diets, food, and COi . health reso 



V 1. 2559, VOL. I02] 



exercise, posture, psycho-analysis, .sanitation. 



ventilation and warming, wat and a 



hosi 1.1 others. We have tested ii and have tailed 



: any omission of moment. 



nore special medical sections dealing with 



diseases givi 1 summaries, including 



i. symptoms, complications, treatment, 



"i. The principal tropical diseases, 



such as malaria, sleeping-sickness, 



y, sprue, plague, and ankylosl 11 



feave brief descriptions allotted to them. Con- 

 ditions arising in connection with the v 

 not been omitted, and shell-shock, T.N.T. 

 rag, trench-fever, trench-foot, and trench-nephritis 

 are all alluded to. Venereal diseases are briefly 

 dealt with, and their control by the State is dis- 

 cussed. Sections an- devoted to anatomy and 

 physiology, anil all tin commoner drugs are men- 

 tioned, their nature and dosage. Under bacterio- 

 logy we find a brief description ol the nature 

 and classification of bacteria, of the part they 

 play in Nature and how they are studied, of 

 the •■■■■' theory of disease, and notes on the 

 principal disease-producing org nisms, the whole 

 being illustrated with three text-figures and two 

 full-page plates of photomicrographs. Physical 

 exercises are dealt with and are fully illustrated 

 with four pi. itcs. Under drowning Schafer's 

 method of resuscitation rightly has the foremost 

 place, other methods being also given. L'nder 

 consumption a good account of the open-air treat- 

 ment is given, with illustrations. 



Sufficient has been said to show the wide and 

 comprehensive scope of this dictionary. The 

 .author. Dr. Drummond, is fully alive to the 

 danger of a hook of this kind taking the place of 

 the family doctor, and we think he has managed 

 with considerable skill to avoid it. The dictionary 

 should be of the greatest service to the layman 

 as a book of reference on medical and cognate 

 subjects, and to the nurse as a guide in cases of 

 sickness, to the health visitor, minister, mis- 

 sionary, and others. R. T. H. 



inal Herbs and Poisonous Plants. Bv Dr. 



David Ellis. Pp. xi+T^g. (London: Blackie 

 and Son, Ltd., 1918.) Price 2S. 6d. net. 

 During the past three or four years a good deal 

 of interest has been taken in the collection and 

 cultivation of medicinal plants, for the most part 

 by persons who have not enjoyed a botanical 

 training. As a consequence, a desire has 

 felt for information concerning the properties of 

 medicinal herbs, the uses to which they are put, 

 the means by which they may be identified, their 

 commercial value, and so on. It is for persons 

 thus interested that Dr. Ellis's work is intended; 

 to make it more generally useful he has included 

 poisonous plants that are not, or not at 

 present, used medicinally. It may be said at o 

 that his object has been attained. The descrip- 

 tions of the individual plants are clear and 

 from undue technicalities; the) are accompanied 

 by instructive line-drawings and preceded by 1 

 shoii i hapters dealing with the stt ucture of Bowers 

 and the physiology of plants. 



