A Handbook of Nursing. By M. N. Oxford. (Methuen and
Co. 3s. 6d.)—It is not quite clear what Miss Oxford, who is a Sister at Guy's, has contributed to this volume. It consists of three sections, headed respectively, "Nursing," "Surgical Lectures," and "Medical Lectures." The matter of all was originally given in lectures to the probationer nurses at Guy's. Miss Oxford thanks Mr. Bellingham Smith and Dr. I. H. Bryant for per- mission to make use of their notes on surgical and medical matters respectively. In the nursing she makes no acknowledge• ment, and so, we presume, it is her own. This is the part which will be most useful to the ordinary reader. No sensible person in a serious case will attempt to take the part of a trained nurse; but there are numberless contingencies in which it is well to have some idea of what the trained nurse knows, or ought to know, thoroughly. Trained help cannot always be got ; for influenza epidemics no possible supply can suffice, and it is not everybody who can afford it when it is available. No one, whether man or woman, but will learn something valuable from the first twelve chapters of this volume. We do not wish to depreciate the other sections, but they are for the nurse rather than for the outsider.
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