College and Research Libraries T h e Catalogue represents the c a r e f u l bibliographic w o r k t h a t has been typical of the I L O L i b r a r y staff. T h e technical w o r k was done by Mariliese M u l l e r under the direct supervision of J a n e t F . Saunders. As with most catalogs, the user wishes for more subject entries. F o r example, the volume would have been of g r e a t e r use in locating reports on working conditions in specific countries if such titles as Industrial Labour in India had been entered under I N D I A as well as under L A B O U R — I N D I A . This, of course, would have added consider- able w o r k and pages. T h e usefulness of this catalog to those working in the field of industrial relations suggests the need for a similar catalog of the publications of the United States D e p a r t m e n t of L a b o r or at least of its chief publishing agency, the Bureau of L a b o r Statistics. T h e last subject index to the publications of the bureau was issued in 1915. T w o other publications in the I L O Biblio- graphical Contributions a r e : Catalogue of Russian Periodicals in the International Labour Office Library ( N o . 2 ) a n d List of Periodicals Indexed in the Library of the International Labour Office During 1950 ( N 0 . 3 ) . In preparation a r e : A Catalogue of the L i b r a r y of the I n t e r n a t i o n a l M a n a g e - ment Institute ( N 0 . 4 ) and a Bibliography on the International L a b o u r Organization ( N 0 . 7 ) . Both will be issued with French a n d E n g l i s h t e x t s . — R a l p h E. McCoy, Insti- tute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Uni- versity of Illinois. India and Libraries Library Catalogue: Fundamentals and Pro- cedure. By S. R. R a n g a n a t h a n . M a d r a s L i b r a r y Association, Publication Series, 15. London, G . Blunt & Sons, 1950. 463P. $6.00. Library Tour 1948: Europe and America, Impressions and Reflections. By S. R . Ranganathan. Delhi, Indian L i b r a r y As- sociation, 1950. 2i9p. $3.00. Public Library Provision and Documentation Problems: Papers for Discussion at the Ninth All-India Library Conference, In- dore, 11-14 May, 1951. Edited by S. R. R a n g a n a t h a n . Indian L i b r a r y Association, English Series, 2. London, G . Blunt & Sons, 1951. 223p. Colon Classification 3d ed. B y S. R . Ranganathan. M a d r a s L i b r a r y Associa- tion, 1950. D r . R a n g a n a t h a n introduces the Library Catalogue with the statement that it is "pri- marily a book in practical cataloguing." I t is not a book of rules, and is not concerned with theory or the routine involved in cata- loging books in a library. Based on the premise t h a t "cataloguing is, f r o m the point of view of teaching, a subject in which the practical performance must be the hub f r o m which everything else should radiate and indeed should get irradiated," D r . R a n g a n a t h a n has prepared a textbook which is characterized by many exercises and examples. Of special interest in this volume is Chapter 84, "Perspective of the P a s t and the Prospect of the F u t u r e . " D r . R a n g a n a t h a n comments upon the p r e - C u t t e r period, the efforts of C u t t e r to systemize the subject approach to books, and the failure of li- brarians to take full advantage of the values of classification. H e criticizes sharply the dictionary catalog and the blind acceptance of this type of arrangement. Since the libraries of India are j u s t establishing catalogs, he suggests that they take cognizance of this situation. "A great responsibility is laid upon Indian libraries to make full use of the fact that they are at present on virgin soil, that it is there t h a t new techniques can be forged and t h a t indeed the laboratory has shifted to India. L e t it not be said that her sons in the library missed the golden oppor- tunity and were inert and imitating when they should have been active and creating." Library Tour 1948 is a n a r r a t i v e of D r . Ranganathan's visit to Europe and America. I t consists of a series of comments on various subjects, such as national central libraries, city library systems, r u r a l library systems, university libraries, business libraries, ad hoc bodies, and the library profession. Considera- tion is given to the differences which exist in OCTOBER, 1951 32 7 the several countries visited. O u t of his observations D r . R a n g a n a t h a n has en- deavored to mold a plan f o r the libraries of India. Like his other works, this volume contains many penetrating statements which illustrate the a u t h o r ' s originality and g r e a t capacity to comprehend library problems. Public Library Provision and Documenta- tion Problems contains f o u r papers on public library problems and legislation in India, and 20 papers on various problems of documenta- tion. In the l a t t e r group are papers on documentation in several subject fields, abstracting, and a r r a n g e m e n t of materials. In the final paper, on " I n t e r n a t i o n a l Co- operation," D r . R a n g a n a t h a n expresses a hope for the establishment of a comprehen- sive Indian Subject Bibliography. T h e third edition of the Colon Classifica- tion suggests the continuing interest in the scheme of arrangement that D r . R a n g a n a t h a n has been enthusiastically supporting. Stu- dents of classification may be induced to read D r . Ranganathan's remarks on the Colon Classification which appears in Shera and Egan's recent volume, Bibliographic Organi- zation (University of Chicago Press, 1951). —Maurice F. Tauber, Columbia University. Father of Plastic Surgery The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi, Surgeon of Bologna, 1545-1599, with a Documented Study of the Scientific and Cultural Life of Bologna in the Sixteenth Century. By M a r t h a T e a c h G n u d i and J e r o m e Pierce W e b s t e r . P r e f a c e by A r t u r o Castiglioni. N e w Y o r k , H e r b e r t Reichner, 1950. xxiv, 538p. 77 plates. $15.00. T h i s volume, while it is a biography of the " f a t h e r of plastic s u r g e r y " addressed to the general reader, is also a dynamic picture of life in Renaissance Bologna. I t is both an in- teresting and informative w o r k . T h e collaboration of a distinguished plastic surgeon, D r . W e b s t e r , with t h a t of an accom- plished archivist of Italian Renaissance ma- terials, D r . G n u d i has produced a great w o r k of scholarship which dispels many previous e r r o r s relating to the great pioneer of plastic surgery. A t times, the publication reads like a detective story with the authors piling the evidence higher and higher in order to r e f u t e previous erroneous statements. T h e i r docu- ments are given fully in English and are re- peated in the original L a t i n or I t a l i a n in an appendix of some 70 pages. T h e authors provide an English translation of the preface to Tagliacozzi's w o r k De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem, 1597, reproduce all of its elaborate illustrations, reprint in full Alex- ander Read's translation of much of T a g l i a - cozzi's book, and provide a comprehensive bibliography and index. T h e story of the publication of T a g l i a - cozzi's work, of the difficulties encountered in the legal printing of such a volume, of the formalities and red tape involved and of the almost immediate pirating of the volume by others is a most interesting commentary upon publication activities in the sixteenth century. T h e book is a beautiful piece of typography. Appropriately it has been printed and bound in Bologna. T h e pictorial initial letters in- corporating scenes f r o m Bologna or f r o m Tagliacozzi's w o r k w e r e especially designed by Ivan Summers. T h i s publication should be of additional interest to librarians, f o r while it represents the culmination of more than 20 years of painstaking research, involving many archives in Italy, it is based in large measure upon publications amassed in a single special col- lection of a university library. M a n y li- b r a r i a n s take a dim view of special collections for a variety of reasons. O n e of the prin- cipal reasons which give a librarian a sense of f r u s t r a t i o n , is that so many collections seem to have been gathered solely f o r the love of the collecting and with no intention of or provision for putting the collection to work. T h e more than 12,000 volume J e r o m e P . W e b s t e r L i b r a r y of Plastic Surgery, lovingly and carefully gathered by its donor, not only provides the l i t e r a t u r e to support the day-to- day practice of plastic surgery, but has now been utilized to produce a great w o r k of scholarship in the history of the Renaissance a n d of s u r g e r y . — T h o m a s P. Fleming, Co- lumbia University. 388 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES