Historical Review of British Obstetrics and Gynaecology

of knowledge, such as Colles' fracture, which every medical student is eventually called upon to recite. The dissecting guide is illustrated with 79 plates, which might well be somewhat larger, in black and white. The type is large and clear with major points emphasized in black, heavy type, thus facilitating review and minimizing the need for underlining. The book is bound so that it lies flat which means that hands soaked in cadaver fixative will not have to reopen the book constantly to the desired page. A particular merit of the book is the author's success in clearly presenting the highlights of anatomy while omitting, without serious consequence, the bothersome minutiae of detail and lengthy directions for tedious dissection that tend to confound and confuse the beginner. The reviewer speaks here on the basis of his own recent experience in freshman anatomy. In a large class, with laboratory instructors at a premium, this book will be a particularly useful guide to steer the student through the various fossae and fenestrae of anatomy. Progress in medical science is such that, at a given stage of knowledge, the next logical advance presents itself to a number of different minds. For the historian or for the contemporary writer it is often difficult to assign the credit where it is due. This task has been undertaken by Senior Fellows of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in a semi-jubilee volume written as a sequel to H. R. Spencer's History of British Midwifery 1650-1800. The work is done in a thorough and painstaking fashion with carefully documented accounts of the progress and contributions made by British obstetricians. For a book about the British and by the British, rather generous mention is made of advances from the European continent and America. Seven-eighths of the book is devoted to obstetrics. The 150 years are divided into three periods, each period being subdivided into chapters on various aspects of midwifery. This is followed by a fourth series of chapters recording the advances in special subjects. In places, this form of organization leads to a disconnected and occasionally repetitious account. Gynecology is limited to four chapters at the end. There is little or no discussion of developments in knowledge of reproduction, sterility, gynecological pathology , genital infections, endocrine abnormalities, or certain aspects of steroid hormones. Ovarian, vulvar, and corpus carcinoma is not mentioned. As in any volume with …