Much of the material in this book originally appeared in a series of articles in the<i>Atlantic Monthly</i>; hence the primary purpose of the author was to write an informative and entertaining rather than a scientific article. The author writes in colloquial style with a conspicuous sense of humor, and his book is full of vivid descriptions of scenes en route and at the front. Unfortunately, the promises held out by the author in the beginning of the book that he had discovered and would explain the cause of shock are not fulfilled. In concluding he says: I sailed for my own country, bearing with me the certainty that fat embolism is a frequent, if not the most frequent, cause of shock as seen on the battle field; and the further certainty that the use of carbon dioxid respiration treatment is of advantage. The theory which he attempted to prove