Forensic Medicine

There now appears on the market a second edition of Professor C. J. Polson's book, The Essentials of Forensic Medicine. This has been expected for some time, and a mere glance over the pages of the new edition shows that it is a substantial improvement on its predecessor. The volume is now well illustrated, and this adds tremendously to its value. As any experienced student or teacher knows, a good illustration can in many instances convey a more durable and realistic impression to the mind than paragraphs of print, and it is particularly pleasing to see that the author has taken to heart the main criticism levelled at his first edition. The first impression one gets is that this is a scholarly production, and this impression grows as one digs deeper and deeper into the book. It is simply bulging with references, and this will earn it a place on the shelves of every practitioner of forensic medicine, and of many in other fields of medical endeavour who want a helpful authority to turn to when a medico-legal problem presents itself. The literary style is good, and the whole volume is refreshingly different from most of the other standard texts on the subject. The chapter on identification is good, especially the section on the ageing of the skeleton. The chapter on wounds, however, is somewhat laboured with unnecessary repetition. The cases freely quoted throughout are both interesting and instructive, and tend to make the text live. Unnecessary detail in quoting them is avoided, and this brevity is praiseworthy. The illustrations are mainly monochrome, with only a few in colour, and the impression one gets is that they would be more useful if arranged closer to the section of the text which they are intended to illustrate. The section on self-inflicted head injuries is very good-a subject neglected altogether in most of the books. There is also a good paragraph on head injuries in pugilists. The chapter on blood is sketchy in the extreme. He nevertheless provides most adequate references for anyone wishing to dig deeper. The chapters on mechanical asphyxias could with advantage be condensed, particularly from the undergraduate point of view. In fact, the book is now too detailed for the average medical student, but ideal for the postgraduate or the practitioner. In the chapter on sexual offences detailed descriptions are given of the obsolete Florence and Barberio's tests, while no details are given of how to perform the acid-phosphatase test. This is a very valuable sorting and locating test compared with the two older chemical procedures. Finally, there is no toxicological section. As the book is addressed to the needs of the undergraduate, this is a defect. The undergraduate student could hardly be expected to wade through this large work and then tackle a book on clinical toxicology. One feels that there ought to be a chapter on the law on poisons, and possibly one each on the main categories of drugs and poisons. A book is rarely perfect in the reviewer's eye, and it is always so much a matter of opinion what to include and what to leave out. Nevertheless this is a splendid work, on which the industrious and painstaking author is to be congratulated. It is bound to succeed. GILBERT FORBES.