THE COMPLETE DIGEST, Part II., July-December, 1887, though dealing with cases over a year old, fully carries on the good qualities of Part I., noticed in our December Miscellany. There it was said to be the most satisfactory digest which had appeared. Armed with that, The American Law Register, the local code, and admission to the law library, every city lawyer may consider himself equipped at a minimum cost to meet all the law his cases may require. And it may be the means of inducing the brethren in the country districts to see the wisdom of a local law library to consult when a reference needs to be tested. At least, here is a practical relief from the multitude of reporters, selected cases, and other modern ways of filling up the shelves. The younger men should patronize such a work, as it is within their means, and, with their support, ought to continue increasing in value.

INEQUALITY in Length of the Lower Limbs as a Cause of Lateral Spinal Curvature, by Thomas G. Morton, M. D., is an interesting reprint from the Philadelphia Medical Times; interesting to all persons of intelligence, but especially so to those who think of accusing a physician of malpractice in setting a limb or healing a fracture. The reader will rise from a perusal of this little pamphlet with a confirmed opinion that not only many men see better with one eye than the other, but very many have one leg longer by a quarter of an inch to more than an inch. And in a legal point of view, the author closes with the following mention

of a malpractice suit, tried in 1878, before Judge JUNKIN, of Perry County, Pa. Dr. Strickler was sued for so treating the fractured thigh of a child eight years old as. to be charged with making the injured limb five-eighths of an inch shorter than the other. The question of natural asymmetry of limbs arising as a point of the defence, the medical experts bethought themselves and measured the limbs of a lad present in court; this lad had never received any injury, and being the defendant's son, was a striking witness. His limbs differed in length three eighths of an inch, and the court nonsuited the plaintiff.

The author formulates his observations for fifteen years past in the Pennsylvania and Orthopaedic Hospitals of Philadelphia, as follows:

I. That inequality in the length of limbs in otherwise sound and healthy individuals is the rule, and equal length the exception.

2. That in many cases the inequality is slight and may be compensated by muscular adjustment, or by tilting the pelvis.

3. That where the difference is excessive, i. e., more than an inch or so, the inequality may be made up by limping or walking upon the ball of the foot, without producing lateral deviation of the spine.

4. That a minor degree of inequality occurring in a young adult favors the development of spinal

curvature.

5. That many cases of backache, sciatica, spinal irritation, etc., are due to lateral curvature arising in this manner.

6. That the cause of the deformity being recognized, the remedy consists in applying means to restore and maintain bodily symmetry.

7. That many cases of spinal curvature are promptly curable by these means.

8. That before applying a plaster jacket or mechanical appliance to a patient suffering with incipient rotary lateral curvature of the spine we should always measure the lower limbs to see if asymmetry will explain the cause of the deformity.

9. That the recognition of natural asymmetry of the lower limbs is of great importance in medicolegal sense in estimating the results of treatment of fracture of the femur. If one limb is found to be longer than the other after recovery from a fracture, it does not prove that the limbs were previously of equal length, nor, indeed, that the difference may not have been even greater before the injury.

.10. That it is not claimed that all cases of irregularity in the length of the lower limbs present symptoms, nor that all cases of lateral curvature of the spine are due to want of symmetry in the lower extremities, although this is an efficient, and often an unsuspected, cause of spinal deviation.

THE JUNE Magazine of American History, with which its twenty first volume is completed, furnishes in its table of contents a vigorous illustration of its unmistakable wealth of resource, and its scope which is as broad as the country itself. The number opens with a

charming sketch of "The Historic Capital of Iowa," now the seat of the State University, written by Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, of Iowa City, and nothing more readable can be found in the magazine literature of the month. The second contribution is an exhaustive and intensely interesting account of "The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts," by C. E. S. Rasay, M.A., the romantic story beginning with the first settlers of New England, and closing with the recent interchange of civilities between the Ancient and Honorable London and American Artillery companies, the two oldest military organizations in the world. Following these delightful papers, Georgia divides the honors of the number with Iowa and Massachusetts in an able article by T. K. Oglesby, on "Georgia and the Constitution," which no intelligent reader can afford to miss. "The Last Twelve Days of Major John Andre," by Hon. J. O. Dykman, unfolds a suggestive field of study, and is to be continued through two future issues of the magazine. "A Boston Writing School before the Revolution," by William C. Bates, gives a picturesque picture of men and scenes in that early period. No feature of the June number, however, will be likely to attract more attention than the " Evolution of the Constitution," by C. Oscar Beasley, which contains a volume of information in its few brief pages. "The Study of the Mental Life of Nations," by Franklin A. Beecher; a hymn, "The Washington Centennial," by J. R. Barnes; "A Hundred Years to

Come," by an unknown author; and three letters of Hon. Roger Griswold to his wife, contributed by Mrs. J. Osborne Moss, are among the choice bits of reading which make this particular number a welcome visitor. It is strong and substantial without a superfluous page. The several departments form a small compendium of his. tory in themselves.

Reports of CASES adjudged and determined in the Court of Chancery of the State of New York. Complete edition, copiously annotated, by embodying all Equity Jurisprudence, with tables of cases reported and cited, by Robert DESTY. Book V. Containing Paige's Chancery, Vol. 11, Barlow's Chancery, Vols. 1-3, and Chancery Sentinel, Vols. 1-6. Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Co., Rochester, N. Y., 1889. This, the fifth book of the New York Chancery series, is noteworthy as containing the Chancery Sentinel. This now scarce work is composed of abstracts of Chancellor Walworth's decisions, and was published in parts at irregular intervals from February 1, 1841, to May 24. 1847. In some respects it resembles the English Weekly Notes and the first volume of the Philadelphia Weekly Notes of cases, which, as is well known, was not originally intended to be the series of reports which it has since become. Of course many of the cases reported in the Sentinel are valueless, many of them unintelligible, some being mere transcripts of the chancellor's order

without anything to shed light upon the reasons for his actions, or, indeed, to show clearly what the action was; but, nevertheless, here and there are to be found cases of value which otherwise might have been lost. On the whole, the addition of the Sentinel to the Chancery Reports is to be highly commended.

The book is printed and made in the usual good style which distinguishes the "Co-op's" work.

A SELECTION of Leading Cases in Equity, with notes, by Frederick Thomas White and Owen Davies Tudor, of the Middle Temple, Esqs, Barristers-at-Law. Together with notes and American cases by Franklin S. Dickson, L. L. B. Volume 2. Philadelphia: Blackstone Publishing Co., 1889. This volume, which comprises Nos. 27 and 28 of the well known Text Book series, completes the presentation of White & Tudor, at a cheap rate, to the profession. In looking over the list of books printed by the Blackstone Company since it began its work, nothing is more striking than the admirable selection of its reprints; with but a very few exceptions all the books contained in the series are works of the first order, and of the highest importance. Of the book before us it is unnecessary to say anything; to praise White & Tudor were to gild refined gold, to paint the lily."

"

HENRY BUDD.

A NEW MAXIM.-God made the rivers, but man laid the rails.