SOME MEDICAL BOOKS.* Nerves and Common Sense, a cheerful and
reasonable book, deals with the ill results of worrying, rushing, grumbling, squabbling, and so forth. It is one of those mildly didactic little books which have a remedy for all minds. The remedy is that we should relax the strain ; we must not worry, and then we shall not worry : we must compel ourselves to be quiet, and then we shall be quiet; if things put us out, we must not let ourselves be put out : and so on. But, in spite of this rather childish way of talking, the book is fairly useful. It gives some good practical hints how we ought to keep our tempers and make the best use of ourselves, and be pleasant to live with and to work with. Its publishers proudly say on the paper wrapper that the book is " invaluable," which is absurd. It is not at all bad, and it is written with complete sincerity, and may be a safe adviser to many women, and not a few men, who are knocking the edges off their brief lives by restlessness and by aimless exaggeration of small troubles.
Mother and Child is an excellent little book. A girl just married could not have better advice bow to get things ready for her first baby, and how to nurse, dress, and watch it during the first year of its life. This advice is put in the form of letters from an old nurse to a young mother, and these letters have no more style than a feeding-bottle. But the advice is just what it ought to be, and happy is that baby whose mother, before and after its birth, follows the lines here laid down for her.
We cannot recommend Mating, Marriage, and the Status of Women. It is a foolish attempt to place and estimate, in one hundred and eighty-two diminutive pages, everything, from the mating of insects up to the feminist movement. It is obsessed by aboriginal brutalities and by the facts of biology; and, in brief, it is ill-balanced and thoroughly second-rate.
• (1) Nerves and Common Sense. B7 Annie Payson Call. London : Hodder and Stoughton. [3s. 6d. net.]—(2) brother and Child. By L. M. Marriott. London Walter Scott Publishing Company. [1s.]—(3) Mating, Marriage, after the Status of Woman. By James Corin. Same publishers. [2s. 6d. net.] —(4) Woman and Marriage. By Margaret Stephens. London : T. Fisher trnwin. [3s. 6d. net.]—(5) Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars. By Many Writers. Edited by T. N. Kelynack, M.D. London: P. S. King and Son. [10s. 64L net.]
Woman and Marriage is an outspoken book which should be carefully read by those for whom it was written. It is not a book for boys and girls ; it is a physiological handbook, thoroughly well written, orderly, wholesome, and practical There is a preface by Mrs. Scharlieb, and an introduction by Mrs. Barnett. We commend this work to all who want a full account in simple words of the physical facts of married life. All the difficulties of the subject are handled fearlessly, gravely, and reverently in this book, and, as it must be kept out of the reach of mere curiosity, so it deserves thoughtful study by those of us whose lives it touches.
We congratulate Dr. Kelynack on his very complete and useful text-book. Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars is the work of no less than thirty-six contributors, many of whom are experts of the highest authority. There are eighteen chapters on the more general questions which concern the health and happiness of school-children, such as the care of eyesight, hearing, and teeth; the supervision of athletics ; open-air schools ; diet ; and so forth. Then come fourteen chapters on the present methods of medical examination of schools and scholars in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and other countries. Each chapter throughout the book is provided with its own bibliographical references. Thus the reader is able to learn at once the exact position of the medical examination of school-children in any country of the Empire, and has all the necessary references for further study. There is a good introduction by Sir Lauder Brunton. It would be bard to find a better guide to the complete understanding of this important factor of the public health service.
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