lyo 



NATURE 



fJuNE 25, 1908 



(184S), wluii, in rofcroncc to the dassiticalion u( 

 winds, he says : — 



" I suggest that we niiglil for llii>~ last class of cir- 

 cular, or highly curved winds, adopt the term 

 ' cyclone,' from 'the Greek Ki;K\ni- (which signifies, 

 amongst other things, the coil of a snake), as neither 

 alVirming the circle to be a true one, thoiigh the cir- 

 cuit may be complete, yet exjM-essing suflicicnih- the 

 tendency to circulai- motion in these meteors." 



In the volume under notice the definitions given in 

 this comiectit)n are as follow : 



" A cyclonic circulation in w hich the \\ inds do not 

 exceed force 10 is termed a 'cyclonic storm,' while a 

 circulation in which the winds' are of hurricane force, 

 II to 12, is called a 'cyclone.'" 



.Vccording to the Beiuifort scale, slorni force is ex- 

 pressed by the nimiber 11 ; while employing this scale, 

 is it not illogical to define a circulation, in which the 

 winds do not exceed to, as a " cyclonic storm "? 



The copious rem.arks which accompany the charts 

 are interesting and instructive, and add greatly to 

 the worth of the volume. M. W. C. H. 



A TEXT-HOOK Of TI^OTICM. .MKIUCISh:. 

 Tropical MrJiciiic, Hyi;ienc. aitd Tanisilulo^y. A 

 Handbook for Practitioners and Students. Hy Gil- 

 bert K. Brooke. I'p. xvi + 4i)S. (London ; Charles 

 Griflin and Co., Ltd., ii)oS.) Price 12s. bJ. net. 



1^11 IS is a volume of the well-known medical 

 pocket-book series, and corresponds in size and 

 binding to Davies's " Handbook of Hygiene." It is 

 a book of live hundred pages, and is divided into four 

 sections. 



The first section deals with the hygiene of the 

 tropics, and discusses climate, food, exercise, clothing, 

 hygiene of the mouth, pregnancy, and infant feeding 

 in the tropics. The information and advice given in 

 this section are useful and practical. For example, 

 in regard to alcohol the author is of opinion thai 

 while it is not absolutely necessary for a man in any 

 climate, a small qu;mtity well diluted is often beneficial 

 in the tropics. Most experienced travellers will agree 

 with this, since the debility and consequent want of 

 appetite brought about by tropical heat renders the 

 stimulating effect of alcohol more necessary iji w arm 

 than in temperate climates. Three ounces of whisky in 

 the twenty-four hours is stated by the author to be ihe 

 maximum which should be taken by a man in health. 

 This will be thought by many dwellers in tlic tropics 

 to be a counsel of perfection, but certainly the .advice 

 is sound, practical, and necessary. In regard to mos- 

 quito-bite ])rophyl.ixis. Dr. I?rooke ri'conniiends various 

 external applications; but surely experience teaches 

 that these .are of little oi' no practical use. The best 

 protection is ,1 good mosquito net. The author, 

 speaking of mosquito nets, rightly says that the net 

 in common use is a snare and a delusion. The best 

 plan certainly is to have a permanent mosquito-proof 

 room, which can, if necessary, be rigged up with 

 ordinary mosquito-netting at the cost of a few shil- 

 lings. In this room, or part of a room, there should 

 only be a bed, .1 table, and a lamp. If one has to 

 NO. 2017, VOL. 78] 



dine out where mosi.|uiuies are numerous, <a pair of 

 Wellington hoots m.ay be found more productive of a 

 calm, equable mind th;m the ordinary silk socks and 

 pumps of fashion. Dr. Brooke seems to be of ojiinion 

 that tropical medicine is something quite dilfi'rent 

 from the medicine taught in the schools, and that no 

 one can pret(>nd to tre.at these diseases unless he h.as 

 liad special ir.iining. There seems to be ton much 

 made of this nowadays. Surely with a live years' 

 curricLdian it should bo possible to teach a student 

 the .irl of medicine sutlicienlly thoroughly to en.-ibU- 

 him to recognise a new disease when he comes in 

 conl.icl with il for the first lime! A carpenter is not 

 supposed 10 have made everything during his appren- 

 ticeship, lie is taught the principles of his trade, .and 

 afterw.ards a])plies them to his daily work, whatever 

 it m.iy he. 



The second section deals with medico-biology, ;md 

 includes the classification of animal and vegetable 

 parasites, notes on tapeworms, nematodes, mosquitoes, 

 fleas, ticks, ;md snakes. Here also a great deal of 

 useful information is compressed into some eighty 

 pages; and there are several plates giving figures of 

 the ova, larvjv, and worms most commonly met with. 

 Of course, as is unavoid.able in the compilation of a 

 text-book, nvore or less trivial errors are apt to creep 

 in, such as the name Streptococcus pyogenes aureus, 

 or Ihe assertion that S. scarlatinae is the cause of 

 scarlet fever, or that the tsetse-flies act as hosts in the 

 spread of I'iroplasma btjsjt'mtiiiiiH, and such-like slips 

 of the pen ; but these do not really take away from 

 the general usefulness of the section. 



The third section is devoted to the description of 

 ihe etiology, symptoms, and treatment of tropical 

 diseases. 'Lhese are arranged alphabetically, which 

 .arr.mgement has little to commend it, ospeciallv as 

 the author h.as tried his hand at nomenclature and 

 evolved two new names for sim-strt)ke, Phevbism and 

 Dialhorm.asia ! On tli<- whole, the descriptions of the 

 v.arious diseases .are clearly given ;md well illustrated. 

 In a rapidly progressing subject such >as that of 

 tropical diseases is at present, it is scarcely possible 

 for a text-book to be quite up-to-date. In the descrip- 

 tion of dengue, for ex.ample, there is no notice of the 

 recent important work which has been done in the 

 etiology of this disease. In Malla fe\er it is stated 

 tliat Ihe method of transmission of the disease is un- 

 certain. That is not so. This was clearly established 

 two yi'ars ago, when it was .shown that Malta fever 

 is carried from infected goats to man through the 

 mediimi of milk. .Since goats' milk was banished 

 from the dietary this fever has practically disappeared 

 from the l-'nglish garrison in iMalla. This fact should 

 be placed in the forefront of the descri])tion, and 

 everything els(' made subsidiary to il. .\g;iin, 

 what is the use at the present d;iy of writing 

 that .Manson considers the weight of evidence to point 

 to its diffusion by air-currents rather than by food 

 and w.iler? This is an old speculation which ought 

 to be decently buried and forgotten. Further, more 

 than half a page, in the account of the same fever, 

 is devoted to describing some experiments carried out 

 by two naval surgeons. These experiments ought not 



