mational material, suitable pages on which the mother may
make records of the development and training of her own baby.
A useful accessory is a file in which clippings, photographs,
hospital charts and similar material too bulky for the book itself
may be filed. The book is artistically prepared, handsomely
bound, and in every sense of the word a de luxe baby book.
Crimes of Violence and Revenge. By H. Ashton-Wolfe, Interpreter
at the British Civil and Criminal Courts. Cloth. Price, $2.50. Pp. 360,
with illustrations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1929.
The detective story still holds a high place with the reading
public. Those who like their criminal literature more actual
will find here an astounding record which makes some of the
fictional works pale into insignificance. Here are accounts of
wholesale murders thoughtfully planned which constitute case
reports for the study of criminologists. Few of these accounts
have medical interest aside from this feature, but for the physi-
cian who is somewhat of a psychologist they represent some
hours of absorbing interest.
The History of Hemostasis.
By Samuel Clark Harvey, M.D.,
Professor of Surgery, Yale University. Cloth. Price, $1.50 net. Pp.
128, with 19 illustrations. New York: Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., 1929.
This monograph is a reprint with additions of an essay
published in the Annals of Medical History. It is, as is usual
with the Hoeber historical monographs, beautifully printed and
handsomely illustrated. The author traces our knowledge of
surgical hemostasis from the methods practiced by the ancients
to the work of Par\l=e'\,to the tourniquet and the ligature and the
hemostat. The volume is essentially a discussion of surgical
hemostasis and has little to say about such methods as involve
internal administration of hemostatic substances or the applica-
tion to bleeding vessels of hemostatic preparations. That, no
doubt, is the great development of the future.
Old Masterpieces in Surgery: Being a Collection of Thoughts and
Observations Engendered by a Perusal of Some of the Works of Our
Forbears in Surgery. By Alfred Brown, M.D. Boards. Price, $8.
Pp. 263, with illustrations. Omaha: Privately Printed, 1928.
With a persistence and an erudition that can come only from
true love of his material, Dr. Brown has been publishing each
month for some years bibliographic material relative to surgery.
In the present volume he has gathered sketches of ancient works
in this field which contain biographies of ancient masters in
surgery, facsimiles of their works, including title pages, illus-
trations and photographs, and literary notes concerning the
real source books in the surgical field. The student of medical
history will find the contribution delightful for its authenticity
and particularly for its directness and brevity. The reproduc-
tions are good beyond imagining and their quality accounts no
doubt for the price at which the work is made generally avail-
able. In any event, medical history is always a labor of love
and the audience, at least in our country, pitifully small.
Science and the Way to Health. By J. Mace Andress, Ph.D.,
Lecturer on Health Education, Boston School of Physical Education, and
Maud A. Brown, M.S., Director, Bureau of Co\l=o"\perativeSchool Health
Service, Extension Division, University of Kansas. Cloth. Price, $1.
Pp. 367, with illustrations. Chicago: Ginn & Company, 1929.
The indefatigable Dr. Andress offers here another textbook
for students of hygiene. The present book is for seventh and
eighth grade students and for junior high schools. It is a sort
of vade mecum since it covers history, statistics, physiology,
anatomy, personal and public hygiene, morals and what not.
On the whole, the advice is sound and the book is interesting.
One may well question the information offered on endocrine
glands and on eitquette as parts of such a work, but after all
the whole field is experimental and it is perhaps better to say
too much than not enough, leaving the future to decide. The
book is, like most textbooks of physiology for young people, off
the whole truth on such subjects as tobacco and alcohol.
Training Schools for Delinquent Girls. By Margaret Reeves,
Field Agent, Russell Sage Foundation. Cloth. Price, $3.50. Pp. 455,
with illustrations. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1929.
This book covers the whole subject of delinquency among
girls, listing the schools for delinquents. It is a comprehensive,
authoritative report of a thorough survey.
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Medicolegal
Sale of Spectacles by Unqualified Persons
(Kresge Co. v. Ottingcr, Atty. Gen., et al.: Roschen v. Same, (U. S.),
29 Fed., (2d) 762): Roschen . Ward, Atty. Gen. of . ¥., et al.:
S. S. Kresge v. Same, (U. S.), 49 Sup. Ct. 336)
A New York law makes it unlawful to sell at retail in any
store any spectacles, eye glasses or lenses for the correction of
vision, unless a licensed physician or duly qualified optometrist
is in charge of and in personal attendance at the booth, counter
or place where such articles are sold. The Kresge Company
and Röschen brought suits in the United States district court,
S. D., New York, to enjoin the enforcement of the law. The
Kresge Company alleged that it had fifty stores in the state of
New York at which spectacles were sold over the counter ;
that its employees did not examine the eyes of customers, nor
prescribe treatment for them, nor diagnose any eye troubles ;
that it offered a selection of spectacles with convex spherical
lenses, which are mere magnifying glasses and do not injure
the sight in any way ; and that customers try glasses until they
find what helps them. The company further alleged that it
would be impossible to continue the sale of spectacles in its
stores if it was required to employ a duly qualified optometrist
or physician to be in charge of the counter at which the sales
were made. Röschen made similar allegations, except that he
had one instead of many stores. Affidavits by manufacturers
and venders of spectacles were submitted, setting forth that
between 500,000 and 600,000 pairs of spectacles with convex
lenses are sold in New York annually over the counter, at from
10 cents to $1 a pair ; that there are about 5,000 places in New
York where spectacles are so sold ; that there are only 1,850
registered optometrists in the state ; that many communities in the
state remote from cities have no optometrists, and that if people
in rural communities cannot purchase glasses at a general store
or drug store, many who have reached the age of presbyopia
will have to go without anything to relieve their poor sight.
It was undisputed, the district court said, that a more certain
and scientific adjustment of spectacles and a more complete
correction of poor eyesight may be obtained when the lenses
are prescribed and fitted by registered optometrists than when
selected from a mass of different spectacles by the customer
himself without aid. It was contended, however, in the first
place, that the more scientific method of correction is expensive,
unavailable to persons in rural districts, and in most cases
unnecessary, and, in the second place, that the statute does not
command the optometrist or physician who is required to be in
charge of the place where-the spectacles are sold to do any¬
thing whatever. With respect to the first contention, the court
said it might equally have been made an objection to requiring
a license to practice medicine. There are remote localities that
might be better-off if persons having some experience in nurs¬
ing were allowed to practice medicine instead of being com¬
pelled to go without medical treatment because physicians are
unavailable. Yet the legislature has regarded the temptation
to use makeshift remedies and employ quacks as so strong, and
the results in general as so bad, that it has prohibited the prac¬
tice of medicine except by licensed physicians. With respect
to the second contention, the court said, to render an optometrist
available wherever eye glasses are sold is a long step toward
correcting existing evils. It seemed to the court that the
inevitable tendency would be for the customers to consult him,
and for a reputable optometrist to furnish assistance and advice
as to their needs. Moreover, the court said, if the effect of
the new requirement should finally be to render the sale of a
standardized product unprofitable, so that the customers in the
end would not purchase it, but would have their eyes carefully
tested and other glasses made according to special prescriptions,
it cannot be said that the result might not on the whole be
desirable. The court held that the act was reasonably calcu¬
lated to promote the public health and safety and was not uncon¬
stitutional. The court could find nothing in either complaint
showing an arbitrary or unconstitutional exercise of legislative
power. The suits were therefore dismissed.