112 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 733 



Though the families not represented in 

 Africa are mostly of local distribution else- 

 where and usually little differentiated into 

 genera or even species, a comparatively few, 

 like Magnoliacese, Styracacese and Polemoni- 

 acese, are elsewhere widely distributed and ex- 

 tensively differentiated. To one accustomed 

 to the weeds of highly agricultural countries 

 outside the tropics, with extensive interchange 

 of the wares of commerce, the introduced 

 plants of Africa appear peculiar, Aracese, 

 Zingiberacese and Myrtacese being prominent 

 among them while our own customary weed 

 groups like Graminese, Labiatse, Caryo- 

 phyllacese, Chenopodiacese, Amaranthaeese and 

 Umbelliferse are either unrepresented or little 

 prominent. 



If a much larger number of thumb-nail 

 details of genera had been substituted for full- 

 plate illustrations of species, and if references 

 had been given to monographs by aid of which 

 the African species of a genus might be de- 

 termined, the book would have been more use- 

 ful: but even without these it is going to 

 prove very helpful to those who study African 

 plants in the, field, herbarium or garden. 



W. T. 



Neurological and Mental Diagnosis. A Man- 

 ual of Methods. By L. Pierce Clark, 

 M.D., and A. Koss Diefendorf, M.D. New 

 York, The Macmillan Company. 1908. 

 The title of this work is a misnomer. The 

 book might be called a primer of nomencla- 

 ture of nervous and mental symptoms, with 

 description of the simpler methods of ex- 

 amination technique, but exclusive of all the 

 methods of actual neurological and psychia- 

 tric diagnostic reasoning. This holds espe- 

 cially for the neurological part, which gives 

 only a very elementary description of routine 

 of examination which could hardly be called 

 sufficient to lead to a diagnosis in a fairly 

 large number of cases with vital issues in- 

 volved. 



The second part is an epitome of terms and 

 definitions in psychiatry and ways of getting 

 hold of the corresponding facts, with the addi- 

 tion of a standard case for each of the three 

 standard types of dementia prsecox, for de- 



mentia paralytica or paresis, melancholia, 

 " the " two forms of manic-depressive in- 

 sanity, paranoia, alcoholic hallucinosis and 

 amentia, arranged in the set formula assumed 

 for the average examination. This is fol- 

 lowed by twenty-eight pages of a " glossary of 

 terms commonly used in psychiatry," adding 

 materially to the scholastic tenor given the 

 whole presentation. Very satisfactory pho- 

 tographs of the patients accompany most of 

 the histories. The photographs and drawings 

 of the neurological part give the positions in 

 testing for reflexes, and the points of electric 

 stimulation and the sensory segments. 



There is no doubt about the desirability of 

 outlines of examination, especially if they are 

 sufficiently perspicuous in the arrangement of 

 topics and the various steps to be followed to 

 serve during examinations, and if they are 

 small enough to be carried in the pocket, or 

 still better, if they serve as a sort of port- 

 folio, as a support in writing, as well as a pro- 

 tection against oversights. Neither of these 

 purposes is served by the book, nor can it be 

 called more than a partial summary of the 

 ordinary methods and their technique, with the 

 chief point, namely, the safeguards about in- 

 terpretation, left practically untouched. 



As a sample specimen of the neurological 

 work a composite case record — under the best 

 of circumstances likely to be a libel against 

 nature — is furnished with the heading: 



Oct. 1, 1907. William Johnson, 36, s., Eng., 

 in U. S. 10 years. 



Diagnosis: Tabes Dorsalis. 

 In the course of the not especially clearly 

 arranged notes, without any evidence of 

 change of heading or diagnosis or suggestion 

 as to what was aimed at, we find the man 

 married at 22, with 3 children ; then — " one 

 year ago (Oct., 1904) " a symptom-complex 

 suggesting cerebral syphilis is credited to him, 

 and in the direct examination the patient is a 

 " blond German," but still 36 years old. The 

 chief danger of records, the prevalence of 

 form over sense, is unnecessarily and uninten- 

 tionally exemplified. 



In the review of the methods in a mental 

 diagnosis the essential facts of the neuro- 

 logical diagnosis are done over. The general 



