Abstract
THE work before us is a translation of a book by Prof. Kobert, the second edition of which was issued in 1887. While the author was engaged upon his “Lehrbuch der Intoxicationen,” by which he is for the most part known in this country, and with which the present work must not be confused, he allowed the latter to run out of print. In 1894 he wrote the third German edition, and it is this which Dr. Friedburg has now translated and edited, three years after its issue. As we have not had the opportunity of seeing the third German edition of the original, we are unable to measure either the quality or extent of Dr. Friedburg's editing. With regard to his translating, it is the worst which has ever come under our notice. In fact the English language, in Dr. Friedburg's hands, is extremely difficult to understand. As this is a very strong statement it behoves us to give an instance, which, by the way, is not the worst we could find. Dr. Friedburg is speaking of a rise of blood pressure of peripheral origin. “If this is the case, the rise must obtain after the injection of the poison into the blood of an animal even if the marrow of the neck has been cut through and whose spinal marrow has been drilled out.” We quote this instance, since it shows that the author is not only deplorably ignorant of the English language, but has no knowledge of the English equivalents of German physiological expressions. Dr. Friedburg's Latin is no better than his English; the plural of vagus is always written “vagii,” and so polymorphic is the declension of this noun that we find the nominative singular written “vagis.”
Practical Toxicology for Physicians and Students.
By Prof. Dr. Rudolf Kobert, late Director of the Pharmacological Institute, Dorpat, Russia. Translated and edited by L. H. Friedburg, Ph.D. Pp. xiii + 201. (New York: William R. Jenkins, 1897.)
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T., F. [Book Reviews]. Nature 57, 535 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/057535a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057535a0