CURRENT LITERATURE
THE DIARY OF A SURGEON IN THE YEAR 1751-1752 By John Knyveton
If the reader is in doubt of the authenticity of 4, diarist—and the pub- lishers' synopsis of this book (Apple- ton-Century, los. 6d.) at least has the effect of suggesting such a doubt— it is perhaps arguable whether the diary form is capable of justifying itself from the'artistic point of view.- But its editor, or author, has at any rate presented a grim enough picture of a young surgeon's experiences in the middle of the eigh- teenth century. The years 1751-1752 come towards the end of what has been described as the golden age of Medicine, using the word gold rather literally, a half-century that had seen Blackmore, Radclyffe, Hans Sloane, and Mead earn unprecedented wealth and honours. The days of John and William Hunter and the birth of modern surgery were, on the other hand, only just beginning ; and both socially and professionally, in an era when anaesthetics were unknown
and not yet on the horizon, Surgery was at a definitely lower level. This book gives a very vivid representa- tion of the conditions in which it was practised - _and it can be commended to present-dy critics and pessimists for this reason. Having read it, they will at least admit that the progress of Surgery itself, of social services in general, and of Hospitals in particular, in the last 18o years, has amounted to a revolution, if not a miracle.
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