Burdett's Hospitals and Charities. Edited by Sir Henry Burdett, K.C.B.
(The Scientific Press. 7s. Od. not.)—"The area of givers has been very largely increased, and the number of those who do something each year in the cause of the sick is an ever-growing quantity." This eminently satisfactory fact is attributed in part to the personal example of the King and the Royal Family. Economy in hospital management is another satisfactory result of recent efforts, and here the editor of this volume is entitled to as much honour as any man. Of course much remains to be done in both directions : in extending the number of givers, and in taking care that what they give should be turned to the very best advantage. As to the latter, Sir Henry Burdett furnishes a remarkable evidence. A recently appointed secretary to a London hospital told him that he had far more important things to do than checking the figures of his accounts 1 In this year's volume we have a chapter on the expenditure of the societies which carry on the work of foreign missions, and we see that the British and Foreign Bible Society is included among these, and that it is reckoned as a non-Church of England society. Both these qualifications seem to us very doubtful. A very great part of its work is done at home ; and it certainly is not "non-Church of England" in the sense in which the Baptist, London, and Wesleyan Societies are so. This makes us think that Sir Henry Burdett is not quite as much at home in this subject as he is in others. But anything that he can accomplish in the direction of economy will be welcome.
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