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NA TURE 



[November 25, 1922 



That the present system of prison administration 

 has elasticity and progressiveness is shown by the 

 policy towards these offenders at Birmingham and 

 other centres, where special arrangements have 

 been made for the observation and examination of 

 any prisoner whose mental capacity seems im- 

 paired, by trained and efficient medical men. Here, 

 after a period of detention on remand, where the 

 offender is carefully observed, his previous history 

 ascertained, and his psychology investigated, on the 

 report or evidence of the medical observer, sympathetic 

 justices dispose of the case in a manner which is most 

 suitable to the circumstances of the individual, and 

 not on the old stereotyped method of sentence following 

 crime. In regard to Borstal institutions also, which at 

 one time held out so much promise, the study of the 

 individual offender is all-essential, and, though this is 

 now done by the officials responsible, it is a matter of 

 great doubt whether it can be carried out at all efficiently 

 in a place where some 400 or 500 youthful offenders are 

 congregated. 



Dr. Gordon's book generally is well worthy of perusal, 

 although we cannot accept all her conclusions or 

 remedial methods on the subject of crime and criminals. 



Our Bookshelf. 



(1) Microbiology. Edited by Prof. C. E. Marshall. 

 Third edition revised and enlarged. Pp. xxviii + 

 1043 + 1 plate. (London : J. and A. Churchill, 

 1921.) 21s. net. 



(2) Laboratory Manual in General Microbiology. 

 Prepared by the Laboratory of Bacteriology and 

 Hygiene, Michigan Agricultural College. Second 

 edition. Pp. xxii + 472 + 1 chart. (New York: 

 J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and 

 Hall, Ltd., 1921.) 2i.y. net. 



(3) Die Anaphylaxie. By Prof. Ch. Richet. Autorisierte 

 Ubersetzung von Dr. med. J. Negrin y Lopez. 

 Pp. iv + 221. (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesell- 

 schaft m.b.H., 1920.) n.p. 



(4) A Treatise on the Transformation of the Intestinal 

 Flora, with Special Reference to the Implantation of 

 Bacillus Acidophilus. By Prof. L. F. Rettger and 

 H. A. Cheplin. Pp. vii + 135 + viii plates. (New 

 Haven : Yale University Press ; London : Oxford 

 University Press, 1921.) 12s. 6d. net. 



(<) Diagnosis of Protozoa and Worms Parasitic in Man. 

 By Prof. R. W. Hegner and Prof. W. W. Cort. 

 Pp. 72. (Baltimore, Maryland : The Johns Hopkins 

 University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, 

 1921.) n.p. 



(1) Prof. Marshall's volume is a text-book of general 

 and applied microbiology. The morphology, cultiva- 

 tion, and physiology of micro-organisms are first dealt 

 with, and an excellent account of these subjects is 

 given. If any chapter were to be selected for special 

 commendation, we should choose Chapter II., partly 

 perhaps, because of its novelty in a work of this kind, 

 in which the physical forces involved in biological 



activities are described. An admirable summary is 

 here given of such subjects as ionisation and dis- 

 sociation, surface tension, adsorption, diffusion, and 

 osmosis, colloids, and crystalloids — all of which are 

 of fundamental importance for the understanding of 

 biological activity. The second half of the book is 

 devoted to applied microbiology, and accounts are 

 given of micro-organisms in relation to air, water and 

 soil, milk and foods, fermentations and disease, includ- 

 ing the microbial diseases of plants and insects as well 

 as those of man and animals. Twenty-five specialists 

 in their various subjects contribute to the making of 

 the book, and Prof. Marshall has edited and co- 

 ordinated the whole. We know of no other book 

 which in so limited a space gives such an excellent 

 account, general and special, of micro-organisms in all 

 their aspects. The text contains numerous illustrations. 



(2) The second book on our list deals with micro- 

 organisms from the practical laboratory standpoint. 

 All the procedures employed for the study of micro- 

 organisms are adequately described, and a series of 

 class exercises for the study of organisms is detailed. 

 The book forms a valuable practical laboratory manual, 

 particularly useful for the teacher. 



(3) Prof. Richet's book on the difficult subject of 

 anaphylaxis is well known, and the volume before us 

 is a translation from the French. The phenomena of 

 the condition are full}' described, the hypotheses of its 

 causation are detailed, and a considerable bibliography 

 is appended. 



(4) The account of work accomplished in the Sheffield 

 Laboratory of Bacteriology, Yale University, consti- 

 tutes a valuable monograph, and will be indispensable 

 to all those working on the microbial flora of the 

 intestinal canal. An excellent historical review of the 

 subject is given in the opening pages, a copious 

 bibliography is appended, and the technique employed 

 by the authors is described. The theme investigated 

 is the transformation and simplification of the ordinary 

 mixed intestinal bacterial flora through the diet, in 

 conjunction with the oral administration of cultures 

 of bacteria. This was claimed by Metchnikoff to be 

 possible by the administration of milk soured with 

 the Bacillus bulgaricus ; but the authors state they 

 invariably failed to accomplish this. By the use, 

 however, of Bacillus acidophilus in place of B. bulgaricus, 

 the required transformation seemed to be attained. 



(5) Profs. Hegner and Cort have produced a useful 

 little book which gives a brief, and on the whole accurate, 

 account of the commoner protozoan and helminthic 

 parasites of man so far as is required for diagnostic 

 purposes ; in this respect the several illustrations are 

 a useful adjunct. It is just the book for the clinical 

 laboratory and the medical practitioner. 



R. T. Hewlett. 



Insect Pests of the Horticulturalist : Their Nature and 



Control. By K. M. Smith and J. C. M. Gardner. 



Vol. 1 : Onion, Carrot, and Celery Flies. Pp. vi+ 



76 + plates. (London: Benn Brothers, Ltd., 1922.) 



75. 6d. net. 



The three pests described in this work are among the 



most serious enemies with which the commercial 



grower has to contend. Unfortunately, no really 



adequate measures for controlling any one of them 



have so far been discovered. The celery-fly, in its 



NO. 2769, VOL. I 10J 



