Clinical allergy

BOOK REVIEWS SURGICAL DYSPEPSIAS. By A. J. Walton, KS., M.B., B.SC. Ed. 2, 720 pp., 286 iIIus., N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co., 1930. Too many textbooks are written by men who seem to be handicapped either by a Iack of clinica experience or eIse by a reluctance to depend on it for their inspiration. Too often they spend most of their time copying from oIder books, the writers of which copied from stiI1 older sources. As a rest&, the Iiterature on every subject is cIuttered up with statements which, aIthough hoary with antiquity, are wrong and misIeading. It is, therefore, a joy when one finds in a new book a thorough discussion of a subject by some man who has lived and worked and observed cIoseIy, and who has had the courage and the ability to describe we11 what he saw. The reviewer regrets that he hasn’t the time to read WaIton’s book from cover to cover. The distinguished London surgeon naturaIIy looks at disease of the digestive tract from the point of view of the surgeon, but this makes his book a11 the better for the gastroenterologist, who ought more often to Iearn when to render unto the surgeon what is his. Most of the space is devoted to a discussion of gastric and duodena ulcer, carcinoma and sarcoma of the stomach, surgical diseases of the Iiver, biIiary tract and pancreas, and the technique of operations on the stomach and gal1 bIadder. The Iast two chapters on the surgica1 treatment of visceroptosis, which in this edition have been greatly shortened, might we11 have been omitted. In these days, when many gastroenteroIogists are stiI1 hooting at the idea that there is danger in treating large gastric “ulcers” medicaIIy, it is refreshing to find an inteIIigent discussion of the problems invoIved. It is comforting also to find on page twenty-one the statement that “if the patient has been free from a11 abdomina1 symptoms untiI a few weeks or months before advice was sought, it is unIikeIy that the disease is one of chronic gastric or duodena1 uIcer, gal1 stones, or visceroptosis. If over middIe age, and the history has been short, it is probabIe that the condition is one of carcinoma of the stomach.” An American physician or surgeon writing such a book would probably have put in more detai1 about the preoperative and postoperative

care of patients, about the avoidance of dehydration, and about the use of modern Iaboratory methods, but the reviewer does not fee1 Iike caviIing about minor defects in an otherwise thoughtfu1, interesting, and useful book. Having himseIf Iived through Iong weary months, during which every spare moment was devoted to writing and to the correction of manuscript and proof, he has great admiration for and gratitude to the busy surgeon who couId find time to write so much and so weI1.

CLINICAL ALLERGY. By Francis M. Rackemann, M.D. 63 I pp., 30 ihus., N. Y., The MacmiIIan Co., 1931. Here is a practica1 and at the same time scientific work on “CIinicaI AIIergy.” The subject is discussed from every angle and the bibIiographic references at the end of each chapter render further data easiIy available. “Mechanism and Treatment of Asthma and Hay Fever” are aIso taken up in the most practical manner. Appendix A, with an “Alphabetica1 List of Those Foreign Substances (AIIergens), Except PoIIens, Proved to be Causes of AIIergic Manifestations as Recorded in the Literature and in Practice,” is invaluable and, we believe, unique in its completeness. Appendix B, with a discussion of “Asthma Nostrums” shouId enabIe the physician to annihiIate any patient’s faith in any of the substances Iisted. This is a type of monograph that is badIy needed in medica literature and the author is to be congratuIated on the production of a work that is a credit not onIy to himself, but to the entire profession.

How IT HAPPENED. By AdaIbert G. Bettman, M.D., F.A.C.S. IIO pp. PhiIa., F. A. Davis Co., 1931. Edgar Lee Masters for writing his “Spoon River AnthoIogy” has much to account for. “How It Happened” is one of the things he wiI1 have to take the bIame or credit for. We suppose it wouId be caIIed bIank verse, though we can see no verse to it at all. Rather triteIy and tartIy, the stories are toId of many of the probIems that the doctor must face. The boy, who “painted the town red” just once after the army examination and*then Ianded in the venerea1 squad, is here

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