Microbiology

THIS book may help to inform medical students and practitioners, whose knowledge of bacteriology is of necessity restricted in breadth as well as in depth, with the general aspects of the wider, but cognate, science now fashionably recognised as microbiology. This science assimilates what is still known as bacteriology, and invades the territory of the botanist and zoologist. It considers not only those bacteria and viruses important to mnan, but all microorganisms , including at least protozoa and algae, whiclh occur throughout nature. This book is, perlhaps, overloaded with detail for its length for those wvho would read for interest only, but with careful reading it does succeed in giving a relatively clear picture of the interrelation of the more minute forms of life. Chapters, such as those on the microorganisms of soil and water, will introduce many medical men to aspects of microbiology they have largely ignored. TIIE eleventh edition of Conybeare and Mann has been published twvo years after its predecessor. Many of the sections have been extensively revised and brought ul) to date, and the textbook remains a reliable guide for student and practising doctor. So much has been written about this textbook in the past that there is very little newv that need be said. There is no doubt that it is still in the forefront of medical literature and represents one of the best books available for the student. Certain sections are outstandingly good, and among these are the sections on diseases of the kidney and endocrine glands. It is a pleasure once again to recomnmend this textbook both to student and practitioner as a thoroughly reliable and up-to-date guide for the practice of imnedicine. IN this delightfully written little book I'rofessor (eorge Perkins has set out to help the student through his first difficult months in the surgical wards. The tone is set in the preface, in which he says: "The title is intentionally grandiose in order that a first-year student need not be ashamed to be seen reading it in a train. It should, of course, be called 'Surgery for Toddlers.' " Clinical and laboratory methods and their significance are explained with great lucidity, economy of words and humour. There is not a single illustration, and it is astonishing how clearly everything is explained without them. It is inevitable that the reviewer will find something to criticise in any first edition. Some statements …