YOUR HEARING, HOW TO PRESERVE AND AID IT.

By Wendell C. Phillips, M.D., and Hugh G. Rowell, M.D. '15, B. Appleton & Co.

It is infrequent that authors of medical texts write with freedom and ease, conveying what they desire without masses of useless and uninteresting detail. There is a tendency to be led far afield and forced to delve and dabble with materials that do not pertain to the subject under consideration. It is very difficult to write a scientific book that confines itself to the realms of understanding of the average layman. Popular health series as a general rule give one the impression that behind them there is a financial incentive. After reading this volume one is fully convinced of the earnestness of purpose of these authors.

The frontispiece portrays an advertisement used by a popular insurance company that initiates the reader at once to the contents. A clear-cut picture of the auditory apparatus and the way it functions is given without one's patience being exhausted and without a survey of the localized anatomy being required. Following this there is a generalized discussion of ear trouble and to what length a physician might go to remedy it. Subsequent chapters take up the economic and social problems confronting the individual with impaired hearing, carefully stressing the necessity of preventative measures. A certain amount of historical interest is added in the manner in which "lip-reading" is treated. Gainful occupations of those so afflicted are not without mention. Finally the book is ended with advice, and it should be as regards the "racketeer."

May I say that from the viewpoint of the aurist this book is direct, concise, and compact. It contains all of the essentials, viewed from all angles, of the understanding that we should have of our everyday associates who have been so unfortunate as to lose what they once possessed.

This volume is to be recommended not only to practitioners of this special branch of medicine, but also to educators, child welfare workers, parents, and to everyone who has contact with individuals who have difficulty with hearing, that we all may understand as nearly as possible the world in which they live, thus helping us to minimize their number and to respect their position in society. —J.A. C.