Bishop Davenant. By Morris Fuller, B.D. (Methuen and Cc% 10s.
6d.)—John Davenant was Bishop of Salisbury for not quite twenty years (1621-1641). Previously he had been Lady Mar- garet Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and he was one of the English delegates at the Synod of Dort. His position in theology was that of a moderate Calvinist, as " moderation " was reckoned in those days. We should certainly consider his doctrine to be " high ; " but in the Synod he was certainly one of the least advanced, and acted, with his English colleagues, as a moderating influence. Apart from this, he is best known to posterity as uncle to Thomas Fuller. The Bishop was not one of those who neglected his own household. It would be harsh to call him a nepotist, for he leaves the impression that he would not have bestowed his patronage on an unworthy person. Mr. Faller has expended
abundance of pains in putting together this record of his "Life and Writings."
We have received the fourth volume of A System of Medicine, by Many Writers ; edited by Thomas Clifford Allbutt (Macmillan and Co. 25s. net). The contents may be summarised as dealing with the diseases of (1) the liver, (2) kidneys, (3) lymphatic and ductless glands, (4) respiratory organs, (5) nose, pharynx, and larynx. The matter is of course highly technical, and beyond the province of the non-expert reviewer. We may, however, direct attention to an article by Sir Dyce Duckworth, loaded with information, on "Obesity." We may venture to quote a recipe, which does not, however, come with Sir Dyce's own authority. "Weir Mitchell and Bouchard prescribe [for three weeks] half a pint of milk and an egg every three hours five or six times a day." It is only too true that "the monotony of this diet may prove hard to enforce in patients of feeble purpose." 4" Live on sixpence a day and earn it" was .A.bernethy's prescrip- tion. It is recommended by the fact that the agricultural labourer, whose wage approaches most nearly to this standard, is never fat.
Some volumes of a similar character may be mentioned together :—Music for the Soul, Daily Readings for a Year from the Writings of the Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D., selected and arranged by the Rev. George Coates ; and the Ian Matlaren Year-Book (same publishers), where the same kind of selection is made. Dr. Maclaren's works are of a more homogeneous kind, and, being purely religious, give greater scope for selections of this kind.—Old Testament Outlines, by the late Francis Aylmer Frost (Skeffington and Son), contains "Readings and Meditations for Every Day in the Year."
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