HANDBOOK FOR NURSES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18413, 20 June 1925, Page 18

HANDBOOK FOR NURSES.

DR. H. C. BARCLAY'S NEW

VOLUME.

(?ROII OUR OWN CORRESFONDEKT.)

LONDON, May G,

Dr. H. Clifford Barclay, of Maidstone, formerly of New Zealand, has brought out a third edition of his handbook, "Elementary Anatomy and Physiology for Nurses." The volume is already well known and highly esteemed, not only for its excellent subject matter and illustrations, but for the charm of the author's style.

The present edition is revised, enlarged, and brought up-to-date. But the writer goes further this time. "Having acquired some knowledge of the actions of the nervous system," he savs, "it is easy to pass to the mental aspect of our brain and spinal cells. To omit it seems to leave a huge hiatus in our knowledge. . . . But psychology is the study of the mind of man, and as conduct (in the individual and in the mass) is based on mind, it is almost impossible to avoid references to human characteristics as we seo them manifested'in public and private life, and psychology imperceptibly steps up into the domain of sociology." A chapter on psychology has therefore been added, for, as the writer maintains, a well-trained nurse is a thera peutie agent in the euro of maladies, and it is necessary to have some notion of the fundamentals of psychology if she wishes to grasp tho derangements of insanity, the objects of hypnosis, or the delvings of the psycho-analyst. Dr. Barclay introduces his readers to the subject in a very clear way, and uses homely illustrations. The Origin of Knowledge, Association of Ideas, Telepathy, Limitations of the Senses, and Spiritualism are some of the headings under which he writes.

Spiritualism. "When men like Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir A. Conan Doyle talk seriously about the subject of spiritualism," says Dr. Barclay, "minor lights must sit quiet and respectfully listen. You know enough already to be saved from the absurd position of dogmatising on the subject. The elementary study of your own senses and your everyday experiences teach you that there may be some phenomena in the external world that reaches the consciousness of some people and not others. You are not justified as an educated person to say you definitely believe or disbelieve the statements of enthusiasts on either side."

The author gives several interesting cases he has treated successfully with hypnotism. He mentions that the only case of death ho has had on the operating table was that of a woman who faced tho operation with the sure and certain expectation of death, and she expired quite suddenly without any apparent reason. "Who knows but that the sure and certain hope in a life hereafter may help in the attainment of that fundamental aspiration?"

Know Thyself. "In psychology/' says Dr. Barclay, "we have already learnt that it is useless to study one side of a subject. To look at one side only leads to dogmatism and unbalanced judgment. . . . You cannot understand a patient and get in sympathetic, vibration with liimj you will never gain' the patient's confidence find, regard, if you do not grasp the working of his mind. '■'lt is some thousands of years ago when man was told: 'Know thyself.' Psychology is an attempt to unravel our thoughts, or rather methods of thinking. The limitations of our senses, the sraallness of our knowledge of anything, the poverty of our will, may all for the moment bo disconcerting, but if even a merely elementary understanding of basic principles and the sweeping away of the delusions in which wo are brought up, humiliate us, still we must remember—that truth as near as we can get to it is always to be desired."

Appreciation by the "Lancet." . "The book is a remarkable one," says the "Lancet, "its title giving no hint of its scope or worth. ... In his hands the result is a logical and orderly review of life, its origin, its conditions, and its meaning, commencing with the vague movements of an amoeba in search of food, and ending with what are, perhaps, the equally vague efforts of the human Psyche after happiness. . . . The author has succeeded in an ambitious undertaking. Writing in an easy and simple style, he manages to elucidate various difficult conceptions by homely illustrations; and to carry his reader with him throughout. For tho purposo for which it is intended tho book could scarcely be surpassed, but it ought to appeal to an even wider circle. No better introduction to medical work could well be placed in the hands of a student, and wc venture to think that there are few medical men who might not read it with profit." It will be remembered that Dr. Barclay was former);/ Colonel in the Russian Eighth Army, and a Major in tho E.A.M.C. When in New Zealand he was Examiner in Forensic Medicine to the University, and he was Superintendent of the Waimatc County Hospital. After the war he took a practico in Maidstone, and there lie is very happy, with an excellent connexion. Much of the text of his book is based on lectures delivered by him in New Zealand.