[February, 
102 Analyses of Books. 
In treating on eledtro-optics he concludes that the ether and 
the eledtro-magnetic medium are the same, and that, as Maxwell 
puts it, “ light is a series of oppositely diredted magnetisations 
and eledtro-motive forces.” 
Mr. Glazebrook’s work seems exceedingly well suited for the 
class of readers to whom it is more especially addressed. 
The Relative Mortality after Amputations of Large and Small 
Hospitals , and the Influence of the Antiseptic (or Listerian ) 
System upon such Mortality. By H. C. Burdett. Re- 
printed from the “Journal of the Statistical Society.” 
London : J. and A. Churchill. 
It strikes us that the long title of this little work might be im- 
proved by the substitution of “ in ” for “ of” before the words 
“ Large and Small Hospitals.” As the title now stands a cap- 
tious person might ask whether the hospitals themselves had 
been amputated instead of the limbs of the patients ? 
Apart from this trifling slip in language we find here much 
that deserves attentive consideration outside the pale of the 
medical profession. The results of the figures given show dis- 
tinctly that the probability of recovery after a serious operation 
is greater, tangibly greater, in the so-called “ cottage hospitals” 
than in the larger establishments. Hence Sir James Simpson 
cannot have been far wrong in maintaining that there exists “ an 
inherent unhealthiness in large hospitals.” The attempt to ac- 
count for the difference, as one of the author’s critics has done, 
by the assumption of a “ difference in the surgical practice,” is a 
curious plea, since it would amount to something very like an 
admission that the surgical skill at command of the great city 
hospitals was inferior to that brought to bear in the cottage hos- 
pitals. Still more curious is the assertion, by the same critic, 
that the “ arrangements for nursing, cleanliness, and ventilation 
in cottage hospitals ” are far inferior to those of the city hospitals. 
This statement is either true or false. Mr. Burdett proclaims it 
“ entirely imaginary and contrary to the fadt.” If true, so much 
the worse for the critic in question ; for there must then, on his 
own showing, exist in the city hospitals some cause of mischief 
potent enough to overpower the advantages of the superior 
cleanliness, ventilation, and nursing which he claims for the 
large establishments. 
We are glad to find that the author fully appreciates the dangers 
of the water-closet and water-carriage system. He shows that 
in the original cottage hospitals earth-closets or old-fashioned 
privies outside the buildings were used. Now too many of these 
