Books: Medicinal Associations

LIVES — Gustav Eckstein — Harper ($2.50 );

To his little brothers &; sisters the birds, St. Francis of Assisi used to preach. Dr. Eckstein, more catholic, includes in his audience, besides parrots, canaries, a pigeon and a macaw, cats, rats, three turtles, a Portuguese gardener and a million cockroaches. More modern than the Saint, the Doctor does no preaching, though he talks seriously to mischief-makers now & then.

In the Doctor's laboratory, as in a test tube, the Doctor's human isolation is broken down by the alchemical tricks of his more or less...