29 JULY 1916, Page 19

Burden's Hospitals and Charities, 1916. By Sir Henry Burdett. (Scientific

Press. 10s. 6d. net.)—The veteran editor of this familiar and indispensable book again asks in his preface for a successor, as he has worked for the voluntary hospitals through almost half-a-century. But who can replace Sir Henry Burdett, whose zeal and knowledge- are alike inexhaustible ? The total income of the charities of all kinds recorded by him amounted in 1914 to over thirteen and a half millions ; the income of the voluntary hospitals alone was four and a half millions, The London general hospitals, with 7,369 beds, treated 97,870 in-patients and a million out-patients at a cost of almost exactly a million sterling. These are remarkable figures which show how important it is not to obstruct in any way the sacred fount of charity.