Improved Universal Handle.

Abstract

We have not read a more intelligible statement of the position of these subjects up to the present time. At the end of the book the chief important events in the history of chemistry are added in chronological order. It is just a book of this kind which we should hope to see i4 great demand as an evidence of the people's desire for increased knowledge, and they may depend upon it for a clear understanding of the subject with which it deals. Third edition. With Numerous Illustrations. London : Charles Griffin and Co., Limited 1899. Pp. 350. Price 8. 6d.-This work is intended to give in a condensed form the information iisuaily contained in ordinary text-books on medicine. This condensation has been ruthless in regard to etiology and pathology, but the account of the diagnosis and treatment of the various forms of disease receives more adequate consideration. 'Ihe sections on the investigation of the respiratory, circulatory, and other systems are remarkably well done. The information in the book is accurate and clearly expressed and its compact size makes it convenient for ready reference by those who wish to -refresh their memories about the chief points on some subject in medicine and who have not time to read Lhe fuller treatises. A C01.rse of Elementary P1'actical Physiology and Histology. ' , , The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance which they have had from Miss Greenwood (now Mrs. Bidder) in the histological part The student must not expect full details of the structure of the various organs, but in showing how they can be preparei and examined by appropriate methods most of the salient points are mentioned.The Sunday at Home still maintains its popularity and the current issue, the first of a new volume, will strengthen its reputation as a healthy magazine for Sunday reading in the Christian household.The Leisure Ho2cr begins a fresh volume this month in a new form. The size of the page has been reduced, but the amount of literary matter has not been curtailed, ani its quality is quite up to the usual standard of excellence. In notion Sir Walter Besant's serial story, entitled " The Alabaster Box," of course takes the first place, while there are many papers which make interesting and profitable reading. Mr. Handle, which has been made to my design, may prove interesting to readers of THE LANCET As the illustrat,ion shows, the instrument is fashioned on the model of Liston's artery forceps, but having broad, flit, nonserrated blades, fitted with two parallel steel pins which, traversing two corresponding h«les in the tang of the knife, serve to keep it steady. The blades of the handle are made to grip the knife laterally and the whole is firmly clamped in position by the steel spring, forming a knife similar in appearance to, and as rigid as, a metal-handled scalpel. But by pressing the spring catch the blade can instantly be released from the handle and another substituted with ease and celerity. The prime object of all universal handles is no doubt portability, but the majority have the ...