276 
Book  Reviews. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1920. 
faction  processes  into  sulphocyanic  acid.  This  is  reversible  under 
the  action  of  a  suitable  oxidizer.  After  the  death  of  a  dog  that  had 
died  ten  minutes  after  taking  20  Cc.  of  a  i  per  cent,  solution  of 
potassium  cyanide,  the  organs  were  examined  for  hydrocyanic  acid 
the  second  hour,  and  the  eighth  and  thirteenth  day.  It  had  all  dis- 
appeared, having  become  transformed  to  sulphocyanic  acid,  but  it 
was  easily  transformed  back  again.  This  may  prove  useful  in  sus- 
pected cases  of  hydrocyanic  poisoning.  (From  Jour,  de  Medecine 
de  Bordeaux;  through  Jour.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  March  6,  1920.) 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
Transactions  oi^  thk  ColIvKge)      Physicians  of  PhiIvAdei.phia 
FOR  THE  Year  of  191 8. 
This  is  an  interesting  work  containing  twenty-one  papers  read 
before  the  members  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  and  also  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Sections  on  Ophthalmology  and  Industrial  Medicine 
and  Health.  An  interesting  paper  is  by  Dr.  Victor  G.  Heiser, 
member  of  the  American  Red  Cross  Commission  to  Italy,  on  "Some 
of  the  Accomplishments  of  the  ItaHan  Medical  Men  in  the  War." 
To  those  who  know  Italy  largely  through  the  poor  immigrants 
coming  to  this  country,  this  account  of  the  completeness  and  high 
efficiency  of  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Italian  Army  will  be  a  sur- 
prise, in  fact  the  medical  corps  of  our  own  army  could  possibly  learn 
much  from  this  report.  Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  work  per- 
formed is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  hospital  service  of  Italy  ex- 
panded in  two  years  to  i  ,000,000  beds,  while  in  the  whole  of  our  own 
country  are  only  300,000  beds.  The  location  of  some  of  the  military 
hospitals  was  an  object  of  interest,  one  was  located  at  the  very  front, 
thirty  to  forty  feet  underground.  It  was  supplied  with  artificial 
ventilation  and  modern  hospital  furniture,  with  wards  and  a  good 
operating  room.  Another  was  6,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
hewn  out  of  the  side  of  a  cliff,  it  contained  thirty  beds.  After 
emergency  treatment  the  soldiers  were  forwarded  to  the  railroad 
by  carriages  suspended  from  wire  cables  passing  over  chasms 
thousands  of  feet  deep.  The  improvement  in  lung  surgery  in  the 
Italian  Army  has  been  marvellous,  a  leading  officer  thought  it  possible 
to  keep  down  the  mortality  from  gunshot  wounds  of  the  chest  to 
5  per  cent. 
