"A Gates Docror." By W. P.
Livingstone. Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.
The shores of Galilee must bu the most unromantic place on earth in which to carry on the work of Christian missions. The author's book on Mary Slessor, the Dundee mill-girl who tamed African' chiefs, did justice one of the great romantic careers of the last century, but the squalor, the meagre success in' Tiberias and the fact that the issue is still in the balance seem' to have taken the inspiration' from his pen. Letters or a diary from the hero of the book would surely have given us a work with more colour and life.
Dr. D. W. Torrance gave up the prospect of a distinguished career to go out to Tiberias and! found a medical mission there for the Church of Scotland. He had been there for 39 years, with the exception of the war period, and is now back again, assisted by his son. His medical fame brought Arabs on their camels 30 miles across the desert, but work among the Jewd was carried. on against overwhelming odds. The majority of the Jews were supported by' money from foreign countries, and conversion meant pauperisa~ tion. Sanitary conditions werd appalling, and the Turkish authorities were criminally! hostile. Happily the number of converts is no measure of success, but the story is one of strain and sacrifice with scarcely the hope of any striking results.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.