seems that a detailed treatment of a subject is essential. The general principles are usually plain and not open to argument. The difficulty comes in the details of their application, and it is here that there is room for the free discussion in class without which the mere study of the cases is of little value.

The compiler of the present volume, however, has attempted to make it comprehensive in scope. He has covered the whole field of Equity Pleading and Practice, beginning with a consideration of Persons Capable of Suing and ending with cases on the special Bills of Interpleader and Bills to Perpetuate Testimony. Yet the book contains but three hundred and twenty-six pages. The result is that each branch of the subject is touched upon with an extreme generality which is unfortunate for the two special purposes of a case-book. And owing, doubtless, to the same lack of space, there is no attempt to indicate the historical or logical development of the law. If the author had made a judicious selection of the main divisions, if, for instance, he had confined himself to the ordinary course of a suit in Equity and treated the different pleadings more exhaustively, he would have produced a more valuable book for classroom work. In its present form, however, the volume gives a fair general idea of what the various pleadings are.

A TEXT-BOOK OF LEGAL MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY. By Frederick Peterson and Walter S. Haines. Philadelphia, New York, and London: W. B. Saunders & Co. In two volumes. Vol. I. 1903. pp. 730. 8vo. This work appears to be rather a medical text-book than a legal treatise. It is intended for the lawyer who may have occasion to investigate thanatological, biological, or toxicological matters. Thus the various chapters are written by men well known in the medical world and not by legal text-writers, and, with the exception of the two chapters dealing with the medical jurisprudence of life and accident insurance, the citations are principally to medical works. The more purely legal aspects of medical jurisprudence, such as the legal rights and duties of physicians and coroners, or the laws relating to the practice of medicine, are practically omitted, while the more purely medical aspects, such as the means of identifying partial remains, or the effects of various kinds of wounds and injuries, are fully treated. The work seems to cover very much the same ground as earlier works of the same class, as for example the fourth edition of Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence or the more extended work of Witthaus and Becker. But as it is somewhat later in publication, it naturally represents a learning in some respects more recent; thus the second volume promises to contain a chapter on the medico-legal bearings of the X-rays. The fact that it is a compilation of treatises by specialists on the various subjects considered would also tend to give it more weight as an authoritative work than it would have if written entirely by one or two men. The work could hardly be of very general service to an attorney, but, as it appears to be an excellent one of its class, it might well prove of considerable value in a case turning largely on medical evidence.

THE ELEMENTS OF THE LAW OF NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS. By John W. Daniel and Chas. A. Douglass. New York: Baker, Voorheis & Company. 1903. pp. xxxi, 418. 8vo.

The practical experience of Mr. Daniel added to the theoretical learning of Mr. Douglas, a teacher of the law, should make a distinct success of a work "designed exclusively for the use of students and instructors in law schools." Based on the larger work by the same authors contemporaneously published and reviewed in the present issue of this magazine, it necessarily reflects both its defects and its merits. In condensing their work into one small volume, the authors have apparently made it their primary purpose merely to set forth the

present state of the law. They thus furnish the student with much knowledge in convenient space; but by omitting any extensive treatment of the underlying principles of the law, their origin, development and successive applications, they provide little material for original thought and mental discipline. The condensed nature of the book leads likewise to an inadequate discussion of particular subjects. Thus the difficult subject of anomalous indorsement is dismissed with a single page. Few cases are cited, the authors preferring to refer the student to other text-books. The table of cases does not disclose the cases of Price v. Neal, 3 Burr. 1354 and Minet v. Gibson, 3 Term Rep 48. The case of Young v. Grote, 4 Bing. 253, is cited as if it were still law, no reference being made to the English and American cases which qualify it. Mechanically the book is very satisfactory; the type is large, the binding strong and flexible. The work may prove of value in many law schools where the text-book system still obtains.