A TEXTBOOK OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE AND TOXICOLOGY.- -By Ral Bahadur J. P. Modi, L.R.C.P. & S. (Edin.)i L.R.F.P.S. (Glasgow). Fifth Edition. 1936. Butterworth and Company (India), Limited, Calcutta. Pp. 823 plus cx with 1 coloured plate and 139 illustrations in the text.

Price, Rs. 15

The present edition of this book has, obviously, gone beyond the optimum in utility. An attempt has been made by a single author at a comprehensive treatise. Under all the old items additional facts and details have been amassed while recent advances have hardly been touched upon.

There is little or nothing said about the General Medical Council of India, the Provincial Medical Councils of India, and the employer's responsibility to the employee. The section of bloodstains and blood groups is not

only defective but also misleading. The serological test for determining the source of blood, as usually performed, is a ring test and not a turbidity test. Bernstein's theory of inheritance of blood groups deals with offspring of group A and group B, and also with offspring of group O and group AB. The combinations, group AB parent with group 0 child, and the group 0 parent with group AB child are not possible. The myth of ptomaine is still with us. On the

subject of toxicology a general remark on_ most books on the subject may be made here: Cannabis Sntiva and Strychnos Nux Vomica are unusually well illustrated but no useful information is given on poisonous mushrooms. Nearly every medical student knows all about the former before commencing toxicology but

very few medical men know anything at all about the latter even after qualifying. The treatment of snake-bite by Calmette's serum is

out of date. A combined serum against cobra and viper has been manufactured at Kasauli for over 20 years. In 1934 this serum was refined and concentrated.

The list of books recommended at the end leaves out

many recent publications. Even if all the points raised above were attended to,

there would still be left a want, felt by the practitioner and the student alike, which was so suitably supplied by the earlier editions of Dr. Modi's book. When all is said and done, however, one would not

like to be without a cop}' of the latest edition of a

book by a pioneer in the field of forensic medicine in India. His personal experiences and observations, and his collection of cases no medical man with forensic responsibilities could afford to leave unread.

The paper, the printing and the binding are good. No printer's errors arrest attention.