SHORTER NOTICES
THIS is the success story of a Hungarian who emigrated to America at the turn of the century, practically penniless, and decided to become a doctor. He paid his tuition fees, not by working on a farm or as waiter in vacation time as many do, but by playing in his college band as a snare-drummer (whatever that may be). He started as a doctor in general practice in the ghettos of Chicago, but after some years of this he decided to become a surgeon. Since there was no vacancy for him on the staff of any of the existing hospitals there, he collected money from his friends—and added some of his own—and built a hospital for himself, which says much for his courage and initiative. But the most important thing that Dr. Thorek has done is to conceive the idea of an International College of Surgeons. One might not think such a project would meet with opposition, but it did ; and he had to work hard to get it on its feet. It is now firmly established with branches in every civilised country. Dr. Thorek has a large number of stories, and he must be a good raconteur since so many of his friends have said to him, as he relates in the preface, "You ought to write a book." But to put a story across in print is another thing, and the subtle touch of an Arthur Binstead or a Valentine Castlerosse is not given to everyone. The account which Dr. Thorek gives of his domestic life is wholly charming, however, and it shines out on every page of the book that his wife has been his guardian angel and the mainspring of his life.
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