Food and Nutrition

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This book by a well-known master of his subject, whose name is particularly associated with the surgery of the stomach and colon, will be welcomed by surgeons because nothing quite iike it has appeared since the fourth edition of Moynihan's classical two-volume work, Abdoninlal Operations, which appeared in 1926. The title is not quite indicative of the scope because the surgery of the liver, gall-bladder, spleen, and pancreas is included, and there is also a chapter on hernia, while the numerous lreferences to intra-abdominal hydatid disease remind us that, like all Australian surgeons, the author is frequently confronted with these cases. Except for a valuable chapter on gastroscopy by Dr. John Horan, this work is essentially the personal contribution of Sir Hugh Devine, whose experiences and methods constitute its text without a great deal of reference to other opinion. Representing as it does, however, the mature experience of a surgeon whose work in the field of abdominal surgery is widely known throughout the world, the book lacks nothing because of its individualist point of view, and its chief appeal will probably be to the graduate who is already familiar with surgical essentials but seeks guidance with some particular problem in connexion with the surgery of the alimentary canal. There are four parts. Part I, " The Diagnosis of Surgical Dyspepsia," is subdivided into a clinical section and one entitled "Consultative, Radiographic, and Gastroscopic.' The author discusses Napoleon Bonaparte's fatal illness, quoting a paper by Kalim of Helsingfors, who suggested that a penetrating ulcer rather than carcinoma may have been responsible. Part IL is headed " The Surgery of Surgical Dyspepsia and of the Upper Part of the Abdomen," and here also there is a division into two sections: (1) surgical procedures, and (2) post-operative complications. Part 111 deals with " Abdominal Emergencies " which may involve either the upper or the lower part of the abdomen, and Part IV with the " Surgery of the Lower Part of the Abdomen." The author has apparently no great belief in the efficacy of sympathectomy for cardiospasm-an opinion with which most surgeons will concur-but he does not mention superiorcervical ganglionectomy for upper oesophageal dysphagia. The use of his own design of frame retractor is well shown in the illustrations, which throughout the book are numerous and good. Other indications of the author's originality are shown by the adaptations to his frame retractor and by his instrument tray, abdominal spoons, etc. Several types of gastrectomy are illustrated, and here one would have liked to have seen the Moynihan II operation described. In the reviewer's opinion this is the best operation if the Billroth I procedure, which permits the gastric contents to enter the proximal part of the duodenum (the normal receptacle for them), is for any reason considered impracticable. It is rather surprising and a little disappointing that the name of the great Leeds surgeon does not appear in the index at all, and we should have liked to see some reference to his pioneer-ing work, which has produced a universal foundation on which the authorof this book has built so well. The volume is beautifullly produced on glazed paper and printed in clear type. It will make a strong appeal to both practising surgeons and postgraduate students of sulrgery. YEARBOOK OF OBSTETRICS The 1939 Year Book of Obstetrics anid Gvyecologv. Edited by Joseph B. DeLee, A.M., M.D,, Professor of Obstetrics. University of Chicago Medical School, and J. P. Greenhill, B.S., M.D., F.A.C.S., Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Loyola University Medical School. (Pp. 736; 123 figures. $2.50, or 12s. 6d.) Chicago: The Year Book Publishers; London: H. K. Lewis and Co.